It was getting dark, and the sun was setting. Only on the western horizon there was a fading sunset, and between the glow, a faint remnant of the sun could be seen, and the shadows of the trees in the distance were still clearly visible against the backdrop of the remnant sun.

When the sun sets, the adults who herd cattle in the official fields drive the cattle towards their homes, although many of the official fields are rented to the people, but near every village, there are always some abandoned official fields, although they are put aside, but for the people, it is not wasted at all, they will lead their cattle to the abandoned official fields, where they raise their own cattle, if it is the official field near the river, every time the sun sets, there will always be many children who go to school to carry bamboo baskets to beat pigweed, in order to go home to feed the pigs, Although most of the pigs have been fed with sweet potatoes in recent years, the sweet potatoes in the cellar have long been eaten, and it is the season to pull the pigweed.

As the sun set, the children who were threshing pigweed and the people who were petunia were rushing to their homes, and this village near the river slowly quieted down. The setting sun covers the houses, trees, and roads of the village.

The village was somewhat silent at this time, broken only by the smoke rising from the chimney, but occasionally from the bridge, from the streets, and in front of the houses, there was a slight soothing sound.

Some men who had just worked for a day, holding pots of tea in their hands and carrying cigarette pouches, although they were tired and tired, sat and watched, but from time to time they drank tea and chatted, mostly about new things, perhaps many of them had not read the newspapers, but this did not prevent them from talking about the news that only the newspapers would mention.

What a crusade to the west.

What a war.

What a slave.

In short, the war did not seem to affect them in these seemingly peaceful years, but the people still talked about the war, after all, there were people in their villages who participated in the war - every village had children in the army.

The war that seems to be far away from them is actually very close to them, and there are even people who talk about it.

"The sixth son of Liang's shop is gone, I heard that it was on the side of Tianshui, and the gun hit the heart of the top door......"

From time to time, the wounds of war are mentioned, and people have some pity on their faces.

"Liang Lao Liu, there are four sons, one died, nothing ......"

It's a pity that there will inevitably be people talking about other words on the side, big guys, you and I are talking word by word, there is a group of children running and watching by the field on the other side of the river, chasing and watching, laughing, and you can vaguely hear them singing a little tune there.

The war doesn't seem to have had any effect here.

At this time, two people walked on the other side of the bridge, and when the person had not crossed the bridge, the villagers on this side of the bridge saw that the identities of these two people were not simple, although the older and the younger were dressed as ordinary people, but they were all riding horses, and they were all tall horses.

"Uncle, where does Wang Tian live?"

The older one asked the villagers at the head of the village with a smile.

"This old man, enter the village, pass four houses, and then ...... east"

Looking at the pair of nobles who looked similar, obviously father and son, walked in the direction of the Wang family, the silence at the entrance of the village was broken, and everyone seemed very curious, curious, how these two people remembered to go to the Wang family.

When I came to Wang's house, I looked at the blue brick houses, and through the open courtyard door, I could see an old man in his fifties at the door of the hall, and the old man was carrying wheat seeds there, throwing the wheat seeds in his hands to the ground from time to time, and the chickens around him would immediately eat the wheat seeds into their stomachs.

Seeing the scene in front of him, the corners of Yan Yan's lips lifted, and then he knocked on the door and said.

"It's Wang Tian in the courtyard, Brother Wang?"

Wang Tianwei, who was carrying wheat seeds, listened to the voice, looked up at the door, and when he looked at the comer, there was some doubt in his eyes.

Who are they?

However, because of their dress, especially the horse they were leading, Wang Tian didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly got up to greet him.

"This old man?"

"Oh, I'm a friend of Wang Yuming of the former king, and I've heard of you from him, so I came to visit Brother Wang."

Wang Yuming...... Ouch, Master Wang? He's a big man, you'...... Sit down, sit ......"

As soon as he heard Wang Yuming's name, Wang Tianwei became more polite, that was the biggest official in Fang Yuan's more than ten miles, although he didn't know, how did Master Wang know about him, but when he heard that he was his friend, Wang Tianwei didn't dare to slack off.

Ask to sit again, let the family make tea, and finally, Wang Tianwei became more and more cramped and uneasy, after all, the two people in front of him didn't look like they were from ordinary people.

"This old man ......"

"My surname is Yan, my single name is Yan, Brother Wang just needs to call Brother Yan."

As he spoke, Yan Yan reached out and took out a handful of wheat from the bag on the side, and then said.

"Dude is picking seeds?"

When asking, Yan Yan glanced at the seeds in his hand, and all of them looked very neat and full, which was the most basic premise for picking seeds.

"Well, it's okay to be idle, it's foolish." ，

Wang Tianwei's face was still honest, but at this time, he no longer picked seeds.

"Dude, it's okay, you go on."

"Then even if you are afraid of doing your own work and letting the guests watch, Master Yan is from there?"

Wang Tianwei's answer made Yan Kun on the side secretly happy in his heart, he had already seen that this Wang Tianwei was unwilling to reveal his method of picking seeds.

According to the county, the same acre of land, he planted an acre of wheat more than other people's three buckets, although because wheat is not as drought-tolerant as sorghum millet, so the people in the north do not plant much, only along the river or irrigation is convenient and there is no shortage of water will be planted, but even so, the yield of winter wheat planted by Wang Tian is one acre to harvest one stone and four buckets to one stone and five buckets, which still aroused Yan Yan's interest.

"Peixian people."

As soon as Wang Tian heard that he was from Pei County, he looked at Yan Yan seriously and asked after a while.

"Then what is your relationship with Master Yan of Peixian Sun Moon Hall?"

Sun Moon Hall is the hall name of the Yan family, Wang Tian asked this, Yan Yan said with a smile.

"Brother Wang is well-informed, Pei County is hundreds of miles away from here, you have actually heard of the Yan family's Sun Moon Hall."

"How can I not have heard of it, Sun Moon Hall Lord Yan, that is our Ming loyal minister, when the Tartars entered the customs, Lord Yan scattered all his family wealth to recruit volunteers to resist the Qing Dynasty, and when the Tartar soldiers surrounded Nanzhuang, his wife and concubine died, and his son was also fostered in a friend's house. But even so......"

Listening to Wang Tianwei mention the old affairs of the Yan family, Yan Yan, who seemed to be calm, set off a wave in his heart, and when he was the son of the Yan family, he was fostered by his father's friend's friend's family. For more than ten years, I didn't know the whereabouts of my father and younger brother, and it was not until now that I recovered Jiangbei, and my father returned from Beizhili before he was reunited with his father.

"On the boundary of our Xuzhou territory, when it comes to loyal ministers and righteous people, Master Yan's family, there are a lot of them, why don't I know? The troupe sang all the operas, but they all sang Master Yan. ”

In recent years, a lot of dramas are about the Qing army after the entry of those loyal ministers and righteous men who resisted the Qing Dynasty, the opera troupe loves to sing, the people love to listen, the scholars who write also love to write, and the people also love to watch, the reason is not anything else, but the "traitor monument" in various places For the local gentry and people, there is no doubt that the kneeling statue by the West Lake, the "traitor monument" that must be able to be seen when entering the city makes the local people deeply ashamed, and in order to offset this sense of humiliation, they naturally want to carry out the local loyal ministers and righteous people. It also saves others from saying that they are the place where traitors come out. So one by one and the local loyal ministers and righteous people related to the drama and literature, in the past seven years have emerged, in Xuzhou such as Yan Ermei loyal to the Ming Dynasty of the righteous people, naturally no exception, just the drama is three or four plays, like Yan Ermei's wife and concubine "Tears of the South Garden", the listener is not sad and crying.

It is precisely because of this that the reputation of the Yan family's loyal and righteous family is known to everyone at least in Xuzhou. For such a trend, the imperial court is naturally happy to see it, after all, this is a good thing to promote the righteousness of loyal ministers and righteous soldiers, and in the South Park, there is also an emperor decree for Yan Ermei's wife and concubine Zhang Fan to build the righteous memorial arch.

“…… Hey, this loyal and righteous man has a good reward, I heard that Master Yan's family has been a big official in the dynasty for two generations, so it should be, if the loyal ministers and righteous people don't use it, is it difficult to use traitors and lackeys? In my opinion, the emperor is really too benevolent and righteous to those traitors, just like Huang Qiansong in Huangzhuang, who has been a traitor, and he didn't do anything......"

Wang Tianwei complained while putting away the selected seeds, which seemed to be a casual action, but in the eyes of the Yan family's father and son, this action was probably deliberate. Yan Yan, who knew that this trip would definitely be fruitless, chatted with Wang Tianwei for a while, and then left. However, because it was late, he did not go far, but went to the social studies, and after the social studies in the village clarified his identity to the teachers, he stayed in the social studies. In recent years, officials in the Ming Dynasty, if they are in the countryside, are often accustomed to sleeping in social studies, and in this regard, social science teachers have long been accustomed to it.

During the meal, I chatted with the two teachers about the situation of social studies for a while, and after exchanging articles with the two teachers, Yan Yan, who felt a little tired, did not go to rest, but chatted with his son in the teacher's public room.

"Kun'er, you see, why is that person unwilling to hand over the method of seed selection and farming to the government?"

"I cherish myself, this kind of thinking is really normal."

Then Yan Kun said again.

"Actually, father, from the child's point of view, there is no need for us to come here at all."

"Oh? Why? ”

"Because he grows wheat, it's not suitable for growing in the north at all."

As a student of the agricultural department of Qinghe Academy, Yan Kun certainly knew a lot about Mai Zuo, and looked at his father and continued to explain.

"Father, according to the experiments of the past few years, the average annual precipitation in most areas of Beizhili and Shandong is between 17 inches and at least 23 inches, and the annual variation is large, and the seasonal distribution is unbalanced. Precipitation in autumn, winter and spring is scarce, of which winter precipitation generally accounts for 5% of the year, and spring only accounts for 10~15% of the year. This precipitation pattern can not meet the needs of winter crops, so every winter, the land in most areas of Beizhili and Shandong will enter the winter idle, taking Beizhili and Shandong as an example, winter wheat is sown from September to April during the growth period, the average water demand in most areas of Beizhili and Shandong is different, the water demand near Beijing is about 10 inches, and the water demand near Jinan is about 15 inches, and the actual precipitation is 3.2 inches and 4.3 inches respectively. Judging from the statistics of the two years since Xingqian, there is hardly a year of precipitation that can meet the normal growth needs of wheat, and in addition, the temperature rises rapidly in spring and the soil evaporates vigorously, often forming a severe situation of nine droughts in 10 years, which greatly affects wheat production. ”

Looking at his silent father, Yan Kun continued.

"Although there is a tradition of sinking wells, they are mostly used for gardens and rarely for irrigation of wheat fields. On the one hand, the people are accustomed to relying on the sky for food, and on the other hand, many objective factors also restrict the popularization of well irrigation. First of all, the sinking technology is backward, whether it is an earth well or a brick well, the depth of manual excavation is limited, and only the shallow surface groundwater can be drawn. Secondly, the water drawing tool wheel, orange tree and so on can be used to irrigate the vegetable garden can also make do, if used to irrigate the wheat field, the efficiency is too low, when the drought is serious, although the whole day is drawn, "there is still no seedling of salvation", therefore, the north will be planted more drought-tolerant sorghum, millet, as for wheat, especially winter wheat, after crossing the Huai River, it will not be able to rely on the sky. ”

His son's words made Yan Yan nod and then said.

"How can a father not know that he can't grow winter wheat without canals and water sources, but ......"

Yan Yan looked at his son and asked rhetorically.

"The reason why my father is here this time is because he grows wheat, and logically speaking, many people can't grow wheat at all, and there is no canal for irrigation, how can they plant? But even so, when he saw us going, he was still cautious that others would know how to choose seeds, lest he would teach others and starve himself to death. ”

His father's rhetorical question made Yan Kun stunned, he only saw that the water-consuming wheat was not suitable for large-scale cultivation, but he didn't see that his father came here for another reason.

"This time, His Majesty instructed the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Rites to collect agricultural technology from "Tian Xiucai", how many useful agricultural technologies can be collected? We don't know yet, but judging from the current situation of the collection, it seems that it is not ideal......"

After sighing like this, Yan Yan, who looked serious, lay down on the bed, and then said to his son.

"Kun'er, go to bed early, you have to get up early tomorrow, before leaving, don't forget to give money, don't break the rules."

The rules in Yan Yan's mouth refer to the rules that you must give money when you stay in social school. Although he told his son to rest early, he was lying on the bed, unable to sleep, still thinking about what happened today, and even with a faint sadness between his eyebrows......