Heavy rain overnight.

In the early morning, the heavens and the earth seemed to have been washed by the heavy rain of last night, the sky was clear, the earth was clean, and the air was fresh.

In the early dynasties, the Ministry of Rites played a game, saying that Hanchuan County Taishou said that he found wild silkworms cocooning, all over the mountains, Hanchuan Taishou ordered the people to harvest, get more than 10,000 cocoons of stones, made silk cotton, think that this is auspicious from heaven, God blesses. Therefore, the special performance was reported to the imperial court, and at the same time people were sent to pay tribute to the cocoons made by wild silkworms into hundreds of silk horses.

In fact, this wild silkworm is not the traditional silkworm, the silkworm is also called the mulberry silkworm, eating mulberry leaves to form cocoons and draw silk, which can be spun into silk. But the wild silkworm is actually also known as the silkworm, which is named because it likes to eat the leaves of the oak tree. It is also very different from the ordinary silkworm, which is whiter, while the silkworm is greener, like a big green worm.

However, the wild silkworm is like a cocoon, and its cocoon can weave silk, but it is not common to have a large number of cocoons in a large area, and the ancients will regard it as auspicious whenever they encounter this situation.

In the eyes of Emperor Luo Cheng, this is actually just a natural phenomenon like a plague of locusts. It's just that it is rarer for silkworms to form cocoons in large areas. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, some people found a way to artificially stocking silkworms.

This time, Luo Cheng did not refute this auspicious statement, and even asked the imperial court to issue an edict to reward Hanchuan Taishou.

After going to court, Luo Cheng immediately summoned the people of the Inner Servant Province. The Ministry of Internal Service was equivalent to the emperor's court steward, and there was also a department responsible for raising silkworms and weaving silk.

Luo Cheng instructed that a team should be immediately sent to Hanchuan County to investigate the local situation of silkworms in detail, and to carefully study the situation of silkworms, so as to be able to find a way to artificially stocking silkworms.

After all, artificial silkworm breeding should not only plant mulberry but also pick mulberry and feed leaves, etc., and if this silkworm masters a good stocking technology, it can enhance a silk source, you must know that in later generations, the most famous silkworm production area Dandong, can produce more than 30 million catties of cocoons a year.

Hanchuan Taishou also thinks that this is auspicious from the sky, but Luo Cheng thinks that this is a good industry, as long as it is studied and the stocking method is found, it can be greatly profitable, and it is worth studying.

Even in addition to the silkworm, there are maple silkworms that eat maple leaves, castor silkworms that eat castor leaves, and silkworms that eat stinky leaves in history, all of which can produce characteristic silk, but in comparison, it is more promising to stockpile silkworms.

Silkworms from eggs to cocooning, generally only about 50 days, from spring to autumn, a year can be stocked for many seasons, if the management is appropriate, the yield is high and efficient.

In addition to cocoon silk weaving, the silkworm also has many other functions, such as the silkworm pupae and the silkworm pupae are edible, and the residue can also be used as feed for fish, livestock and poultry.

"Aye, can this wild silkworm really be tamed and stocked, won't they run away?"

The prince came to ask for peace, and after seeing Luo Cheng's instructions to the Ministry of Internal Affairs about going to Hanchuan County to investigate and study the artificial stocking of silkworms, he couldn't help but ask at lunch.

"Although the silkworm belongs to the moth, it has never been able to fly until it breaks out of the cocoon, and when it grows mature and begins to form a cocoon, it also needs a period of time in the cocoon to evolve into a moth, and finally break out of the cocoon and fly. As long as the silkworm farmer grasps the time, collects the cocoons before they break the cocoon, and then boils them, so that when the silkworm is still a chrysalis, it will die in the cocoon, and it will not break the cocoon and fly away. In this way, the cocoon can be spun and the silkworm chrysalis can be made into food. ”

"Isn't that cruel?"

Luo Cheng stroked the prince's back with his hand, "Prince, everything in the world has its own purpose, raising silkworms, harvesting cocoons and weaving silk, can make clothes and warm people's bodies, this is not cruel." It's like if you raise chickens and eat meat, it's not cruel, but if you don't eat it, you abuse and kill chickens, that's called cruelty, understand? ”

"But that's also killing."

"Wolves eat sheep, sheep eat grass, this is the law of nature, and man is the primate of all things, above everything, both meat and vegetarian, eating into the stomach is not called killing, torture and killing is called killing. We're not monastics, so we don't follow the same rules as they do. ”

Luo Cheng hurriedly corrected the prince's naïve thoughts, the prince was already ordinary enough, if he became a monk in the future, wouldn't it be over.

"Is lamb delicious?"

"It's delicious, it's even better when roasted with anxie fennel."

"Is the chicken delicious?"

"The white chopped chicken is delicious."

"Is the fish delicious?"

"The water basin fillet is delicious."

Luo Cheng smiled and patted the prince's shoulder, "Isn't that right, you said that if you can't eat these in the future, isn't it boring?" ”

"Hmm." The prince licked his lips, he was already drooling when he said these dishes.

"Give you a task, give you twenty silkworm eggs, hatch them, and then pick mulberries and feed them until they form cocoons."

The crown prince nodded, although he didn't quite understand the task assigned by his father, he still worked hard to do it.

Just like his father told him to raise horses and dogs, he also did it himself, although he had the guidance and help of the groom and dog slaves, he would still do it himself.

"By the way, what happened to the horse and dog you raised?"

"It's good, the horse is very well-behaved and tame, but the dog is too naughty, often pees in my temple, and pulls shit, not as good as the horse at all."

"Is that because you didn't teach him well, and your dog servant didn't tell you how to make rules for dogs?"

"I taught, but I didn't listen."

"That's because you didn't teach it well, you have to reward and punish the dog, teach it how to do it first, do it right, reward it for eating, and if you do it wrong, you have to beat, so that it can remember for a long time, and then you will understand the rules."

"The dog is so cute, it's still so small, it's not good to beat it hungry."

Luo Cheng shook his head, "Prince, the rules have to be established early, and there are no rules." If you don't set rules for this dog now, then this dog will grow up to be a dog without rules, and this dog will not be qualified to stay with you, and then he will be pulled out and slaughtered. You see, you're not really doing good to the dog by doing this now, you're just hurting it, you know? ”

"Father, can silkworms be raised in the palace?"

"Of course, you can raise it, but you have to plant oak trees first, so you can't row it. My father asked him to go to Hanchuan to study the silkworms, because not only Hanchuan, but also from Guanzhong to Hanchuan, to the Central Plains, Henan and Shandong, to Hedong, Hebei, and even to Liaodong outside the Guanwai, there are many oak trees, and some places are all over the mountains, so there are good conditions for stocking silkworms, which can reduce the cost of silkworm cocoons, and it is profitable to stockpile silkworms. ”

"Father, the teacher said that a gentleman does not speak for profit."

"Which teacher said that?"

"What the scholar Li Zhanshi said."

Luo Cheng laughed twice, Li Gang's person, the crown prince Zhan Shi, and then entered the Hanlin Academy as a scholar, they are all people who worship the prime minister, but in the end, they are still a bit nerdy.

"The gentleman doesn't explain it like this, do you know where this sentence comes from?"

It was said by the sage Mencius, from the "Liang Hui Wang Chapter and Sentence" of "Mencius", Mencius saw Liang Hui Wang. The king said, "Suo! Thousands of miles away, there will also be Eli my country? ”

Mencius said to him, "King! Why bother? There is also benevolence and righteousness. Therefore, Li Zhan taught his sons and ministers to govern the country with righteousness, why bother with profit. ”

Luo Cheng then taught his son, "The gentleman does not say that he does not want profit at all, but he does not want profit at all, but he is not profit-seeking, the reason why Mencius said so resolutely is because people at that time only wanted profit and did not know that there was a word benevolence and righteousness in the world, so he pulled out the source and saved its disadvantages, and the heart of this sage was also." We and other future generations should understand the situation at the time of the sage's words, and we should not look at the words and judge the meaning. ”

"But Li Zhanshi also said that Confucius also said that the gentleman is righteous and the villain is profitable, and Xunzi also said that righteousness is important in prosperous times and profit is important in troubled times."

Luo Cheng was speechless, "You little rabbit cub, you can drop your bookbag, and the exit is the words of a sage, but I want to teach you that as a prince and a prince, then you should be righteous and profitable, and a gentleman should not be ashamed of his words." It's just that you have to grasp righteousness and profit, you can't emphasize profit over righteousness, you can't just emphasize righteousness over profit, you can get both righteousness and benefit, and master the balance, understand? ”

The prince scratched his head, what his father said was completely different from what the teacher Li Gang said.

"Li Gang's teachings, some of them have to be listened to, some of them can't be listened to, you have to listen to your father's too, understand? You have to remember that it is better to believe in a book than to have no book at all, and there is also a saying that if you listen partially, you will be dark, and if you listen to both, you will be clear. ”

"Prince, it's not enough to talk about benevolence and righteousness, as a king, you still have to seek food and clothing for your people, you have to live and work in peace and contentment, you know etiquette only when you are sufficient, if you can't even solve the food and clothing of your people, then you are full of benevolence and morality all day long, and you are just a hypocrite, remember!"