Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 169 Slowly accumulating
In Chang'an in October, there will always be thick morning fog in the morning, and the ground and branches are covered with layers of frost. Even so, the ministers will rush to court in the morning fog without being shaken.

The officials in the early years of Zhenguan were the most difficult to be, because they had a hardworking emperor.

In the early court, Li Shimin asked everyone to discuss the papers jointly signed by Qin Qiong, Yu Chigong, Cheng Zhijie, Hou Junji and Dugumou. The general suggested that a grand military parade be held before the autumn hunt.

However, this so-called military parade is different from previous years. Several generals suggested that it be held on Suzaku Street in front of the imperial city and open to the public to watch. They mentioned in the memorial that this move can boost the confidence of the people and at the same time deter Xiaoxiao. When Li Shimin saw it, he was a little moved. In history, he was an emperor who loved military parades very much.

Of course, he would not hold such a military parade just to show the world his military power. In fact, Li Shimin decided to send troops to Shuozhou when Qin Qiong presented him with cotton armor, and took down the rebel forces. A military parade with great fanfare is a good way to boost the morale of the people.

Everyone knew Li Shimin's thoughts, so almost no one in the court objected. After all, autumn hunting and training is a common practice. Datang's soldiers train every year after the autumn harvest. Not bad, except for the small drought in Guanzhong, all parts of the country have bumper harvests, and Lingnan has also produced new rice with an yield of ten stones and three per mu.

The time for the military parade is set on the eighth day of October, and there are only seven days left. During these seven days, the government soldiers in Guanzhong will gather at the camp outside the city and put on new equipment. Generals are busy.

Therefore, Sun Xiangfu in the prison is rarely forgotten. These days, he has been in meetings with the people from Xingfu Village.

"The empress promoted me to be the supervisor of the Fisheries Department, and appointed Er Lige as the deputy supervisor of the Agriculture Department, and the supervisor of the Food Supervision Department was Changsun Chun, who had just returned to Chang'an, and now he is cleaning up. The mess made by Lin Wenfu, but when Master Changsun went to Yangzhou, most of the 200 million shi soybeans will be returned to the bean paste workshop."

Shi Bao told Sun Xiangfu about the situation of the Animal Husbandry Supervision Office.

In this era when great power is the last word, although Sun Xiangfu is the largest shareholder of Yangzhou Farm, at this time, he can't speak. The small account will definitely be wiped out.

In fact, the news that Shi Bao said was just a loss of money to Sun Xiangfu. If he was not the emperor's retainer, the money that should have been distributed would be gone. This is a small amount, and Sun Xiangfu did not let it go. in the eyes.

"Er Li, there may not be any rain or snow this winter, will it affect the harvest in our village?"

Sun Xiangfu nodded and signaled to Shi Bao that he knew about these situations, and he tried his best to Sun Er, who had just become an official and was still very uncomfortable.

"It shouldn't be a problem. We should have finished harvesting these few days. The broad beans are not very full, but you can harvest more than two stones per acre. The leeks are too old to eat. They are all taken to the workshop to make feed. This is a good thing." Let the feed reserve be sufficient." Sun Erli replied.

"Well, since the feed reserves are sufficient, don't feed all the chicken manure and pig manure to the fish next year. I will dig a deep pond and store them. It’s still a drought year, please go to each family to inform them, don’t keep any grains, and plant all the drought-resistant and water-retaining purslane and golden cauliflower. In case of a locust plague, if you eat these things, you can grow another crop Come out, in addition, if there is no snow after winter, the fields will have to be plowed shallowly, and the farmers of each family should not be idle, go to the riverside to collect locust eggs, and tell them that this is the concentrated feed for chickens."

The two nodded after hearing the words.

Before that, Sun Xiangfu chose to feed the fish with chicken manure and pig manure because there were not many sources of feed. However, although the fish fed with manure were large in size, they tasted bad. Bean dregs and other feeds are gone, so it is natural to change to other feeds.

Planting food in a drought year is a waste of seeds, so Sun Xiangfu simply asked everyone to plant some crops that are resistant to drought, have tenacious vitality, and can retain water for the soil. , fish, and poultry food sources, when necessary, although these things taste bad, they can also be used to satisfy hunger and will not poison people to death.

"Well, what about courgettes and cotton? We won't plant them next year?"

"It is estimated that the white species is planted in Guanzhong. Let's get more seeds and go to Luoyangxi Village! Next year will mainly rely on the output there. In addition, the farms in Yizhou can also plant a lot. The old people who planted were sent over to build the greenhouse, and the new vegetables we hybridized should be more diverse, and Chang'an should not leave so many people here."

For the defense against drought, Sun Xiangfu used all the means he could think of, but only to minimize his own losses. It is unrealistic for you to ask millions of people in Guanzhong to go to other places to escape now. Well, what should come will still come, even if the emperor wants to stop it, it will be difficult to do so.

After talking about farming, Sun Xiangfu began to talk about craftsmen again. Wang Fu, Wang Gui, Zhang Quan and Ma Lin all brought their achievements to show to Sun Xiangfu. What Wang Fu showed was a pile of mud prints , Combining these mud prints together, brushing ink, and pressing one press can quickly print the content of mud prints on a page, which Sun Xiangfu calls movable type printing.

This kind of printing is faster and cheaper than woodblock printing. Sun Xiangfu invented it to reduce the cost of reading for the people of Tang Dynasty.

Wang Gui took out several bottles and cans and a bundle of big goose feathers, and after opening those jars, he said to Sun Xiangfu, "This blue dye is made of indigo grass. This red dye can be made of madder. , safflower, made of safflower, yellow, you can use 櫆花, gardenia, turmeric, purple with comfrey, perilla, black with gall, hematoxylin.

What color do you want to write, use this quill pen to draw dye juice, and you can write. These things are all made of plant juice, which is harder to decolorize than ink, especially black dye. The production cost is very low, but the quantity is not large enough . "

"Well, let's explore slowly. These plant dyes are also good for dyeing fabrics. They won't hurt the body. Find out a more comprehensive production method and hand it over to the garment workshop. It will be of great use."

Sun Xiangfu nodded and affirmed Wang Gui's work during this period. Although some dye houses have mastered most of the plant dyes he made, but with constant exploration, the old will be replaced by the new.

Of course, reducing the cost of studying is only a long-term plan of Sun Xiangfu, and what is really practical is the research of Zhang Quan and Ma Lin.

"The caves in the village have produced coking coal according to the method you passed on. We have tried burning this thing. The temperature is very high, and it can easily melt iron ore."

"It would be a bit wasteful to melt the ore with coking coal. After returning home, add a small amount of carbon to the melted molten iron. According to different proportions, keep testing to find the proportion of the piece of steel with the highest toughness, and use this proportion to make steel and create swords. And the armor and protective gear, first complete for the guards, and then make hundreds of sets as a reserve."

Although all the people present were from our own people, if they were not in order, they would be captured by others. Sun Xiangfu was no longer Li Shimin's retainer, so it was naturally not easy to give him an excuse.He just said to make more as a reserve. In fact, secretly, he will secretly transport a batch of armor and weapons to Lingnan. There are still hundreds of people without equipment!

Of course, Sun Xiangfu did not do these things for the purpose of rebellion. He wanted to slowly accumulate some strength so that his overseas trips would become more secure.

(End of this chapter)