The road in the Imperial Garden is vertical and horizontal, flat and wide, and the flowers and plants beside the road are intertwined, and the colors are bright; There is also a tangy aroma of grass, fragrant and refreshing.

"I'll wait here next, Xu Kucheng, please feel free." Wang Fangyi stopped to give a salute, obviously wanting to make Xu Qilin more convenient.

"Then there is Brother Lao." Xu Qilin was also not polite, arched his hand, glanced at Wang Fangyi thoughtfully, and felt that this name was a little familiar.

There was no hurry when he came in, Xu Qilin wandered around casually with the intention of watching and playing. There are many strange flowers and plants that he doesn't know, but he just thinks it's beautiful, and he wants to dig a few at home.

Well, get watermelons first, and then dig up flowers later.

Xu Qilin made up his mind, asked the gardener in the garden, and went straight to the watermelon field.

The big green and round watermelon, Xu Qilin saw it from afar, and immediately recalled the feeling of chilled watermelon, and couldn't help but salivate in his mouth, and his heart was surging.

"What is this, it's so big!" Wu Siong was very surprised, and let out an exclamation from the lower riba.

"Cold melon, also called watermelon." Xu Qilin swallowed his saliva and said, "Let's rush to it today, next year our Zhuangzi will plant it on a slope and eat enough." ”

"Food?" Wu Siong looked left and right, as if he was pondering how to put his mouth, "Such a big fruit?" ”

Xu Qilin didn't bother to explain, he stepped forward and knocked and patted, showing a foodie's technique, "This, picked it; This is also cooked......"

Wu Xiang picked up the watermelon, but it was still connected to the melon seedlings, hurriedly put it down again, and reached out to pull it.

Xu Qilin pulled out a short knife and slashed it when he stepped forward. One, two, three...... I didn't rush to the car, but seven or eight are no problem, let's prepare a bag for melons, take a ride on horseback, and have advanced physics knowledge!

The gardener, who acted as a guide, was a discerning man, and soon pushed a wooden cart over and loaded the watermelons into the cart.

Hey, haha, it's fun! Xu Qilin felt that this was the first time he had played with a knife in Datang, and his movements were spicy and neat, spicy and chic, and spicy......

Well, show mercy to your subordinates and give His Majesty Li Er a few more. Xu Qilin finally reluctantly put his hand away, and asked the gardener and Wu Siong to transport the melons to the door for bagging first, and he had to go shopping to see if there was anything else to take.

After watching the rose and peony flower garden, Xu Qilin felt that the sun was hot, so he turned to Yonglu and walked in the direction of the door.

Well? This plant looks familiar! Xu Qilin stopped in surprise and looked at a flowering plant on the side of the road.

The flowers are white and red, and they look pretty good. But Xu Qilin carefully observed and identified, but felt that this seemed to be, probably, probably, almost, it should be cotton.

"Now there is cotton in the Tang Dynasty?" Xu Qilin vaguely remembered that the cotton was transmitted from the Western Regions, but Gaochang hadn't beaten it yet?

The origin of cotton is India and Arabia. Before cotton was introduced to China, there was only kapok for pillows, and there was no cotton for weaving.

The introduction of cotton was in the Northern and Southern Dynasties at the latest, but it was mostly planted in the frontiers.

Xu Qilin looked around, stretched out his hand to greet, called a florist not far away, pointed and asked, "Excuse me, what kind of plant is this?" ”

The gardener replied respectfully: "This is a white stack, which came from the Western Regions. I heard that Gaochang has planted a lot of it, and it can also be used to weave cloth. ”

"Southern History? Yi 貊下 contains: Gaochang country has many plants and trees, there are grass such as cocoons, cocoons in the silk such as fine, the name is white stacks. The Chinese people take the weaving as cloth, and the cloth is very soft and white, and it is used in the market......

White stacks, well, it should be cotton.

Xu Qilin was basically sure, and he was ecstatic in his heart. There is no need to wait for Gaochang to make cotton, although this piece is planted less, it can be left for the planting of the experimental field, which is still enough.

"Well, this white stack should be easy to serve, and after the autumn spit is ripe, the imperial court will send someone to pick it." Xu Qilin said: "How to plant, there will be people who will come to you to ask for records." ”

The gardener is a little confused, and the flowering of this toy is not very good-looking, how can it suddenly become important, and it will alarm the court.

Xu Qilin didn't say much, smiled and turned away.

How much cotton can be in this small nursery, and it may not be enough to make a small cotton jacket when collected completely. But this kind of seed, you can plant half an acre of land in the first year, ten acres in the second year, and ...... in the third year.

Calculate the time, fight Gaochang in the autumn and winter of next year, and collect cotton seeds and transport them back to Chang'an after the war, how can it take two years. At that time, my house was covered with cotton mattresses, quilts, and small cotton jackets!

Xu Qilin pondered as he walked, until he saw Wang Fangyi. When I saw cotton just now and thought of the Western Regions, Xu Qilin finally remembered who this Wang Fangyi was.

As a famous minister and general during the reigns of Li Zhi and Wu Zetian, Wang Fangyi's greatest achievement was to build the "Broken Leaf City" of the four towns of Anxi, and defeated the Western Turkic rebellion, consolidating the Tang Dynasty's rule over the Western Regions.

However, such a famous minister and famous general who was honest and honest, made many military exploits, and was loyal to the imperial court, but because of his relationship with Li Zhi's queen Wang, he was exiled by Wu Zetian, and died of grief on the way.

In the second year after Wang Fangyi's death, the Tibetans invaded the Western Regions on a large scale, and all the four towns of Anxi, which were the symbols of Tang Dynasty rule, fell. Although the Tang Dynasty finally counterattacked and recaptured, it paid a heavy price.

Remembering Wang Fangyi's information, Xu Qilin suddenly had a good impression of him, was courteous and thoughtful, and was proud because of his low grade.

Speaking of Wang Fangyi, he is also a relative of the emperor, and his grandmother is the eldest princess Tong'an, the sister of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, but she was a bitter child when she was a child.

Because he lost his father at a young age, he depended on his mother Li for his life, but his mother was driven out of the capital and moved to Fengquan Villa in the countryside because of a discordant relationship with her mother-in-law, Princess Tong'an.

Don't look like a country house, but it has been uninhabited for a long time, desolate and dilapidated. As a young man, Wang Fangyi worked with other handymen to cultivate farmland, plant trees, repair fences and houses, and became a wealthy family.

Until the death of the eldest princess of Tong'an, Wang Fangyi went to the capital to mourn his grandmother, and Fang was reappointed by His Majesty Li Er and entered the palace as a guard.

Wang Fangyi, who has endured hardships, is only three years older than Xu Qilin, but this tempering has made him quite mature.

It is precisely because he has been exposed to the reality of the lives of the lower-class working people since he was a child that this has played a great role in his later years of being honest and honest and caring more about the living conditions of the masses.

In other words, Wang Fangyi, as a royal prince, does not have the kind of gentlemanly habit of being above the top and nothing, and his speech and demeanor are very similar to Xu Qilin's temper.

Out of the garden, Xu Qilin and Wang Fangyi walked together, chatting all the way, and their words were quite speculative.

"Xu Kucheng is especially good at financial management, although he has heard of it, he is also very admired." Wang Fangyi has been in charge of housework since he was a child, whether it is farming, planting trees and bamboo, he still has some practical experience in the way of money and food, and it is not all a compliment to say this.