After the eighth day of the new year, the family was temporarily born, Li Zicheng began to get busy again, first went to a craftsman's workshop, although he knew that M1841 would not have any good news for the time being, he still had to put his own attention, but also to give the craftsmen a kind of pressure, in fact, during the New Yuan period, the craftsmen only had three days off.

Carpenters and blacksmiths also have to make a reasonable quyuan plow, especially the blacksmith, but also face the task of smelting high-quality steel, and there are not many people, it is impossible to be idle, however, Li Zicheng gives a very generous salary, compared with the previous days when they were so poor that they had no pants, they are extremely afraid of returning to the old life, and their expectations for the New Yuan holiday are much lighter, although they have been working overtime since the fourth year of junior high school, they are still in full swing.

Li Zicheng's most urgent thing is the production of glass, if what Xia Jing and Dong Liang said is true, a large amount of trona has been deposited in the West Sea, then the raw materials for making glass have all been prepared, as for the glass factory, Li Zicheng took a lot of trouble, and finally decided to put it in Hutou Mountain, that is, the series of peaks near Chen Youdao's Datusi Mansion.

Hutou Mountain produces sand and limestone, as long as the trona is transported over, and more importantly, Hutou Mountain is far north of Xining, whether it is the Mongols from the west, or the imperial army that may come from the east, it is difficult to reach Hutou Mountain in time, let alone look at this inconspicuous land.

In the future, glass will be produced, which can be transported along the Beichuan River and by waterway to Xining.

In order to investigate the terrain, Li Zicheng personally went to Hutou Mountain, glass is a top-secret commodity, not only to beware of the imperial court and the Mongols, but also to prevent merchants and local people from making trouble.

Hutou Mountain is located on the west bank of the Beichuan River, facing the direction of the Beichuan River, there is a huge "C" shaped opening, the north almost reaches the shore of the Beichuan, and the south is only a few miles away from the bank of the Beichuan River, almost a closed structure, if a gable wall is built here to enclose it, it can form a world of isolation from the world.

This kind of terrain was exactly what Li Zicheng needed, and several households in the mountain col were forcibly moved out, and houses were rebuilt for them, and arable land was divided, and their original houses happened to be vacated for craftsmen and guards.

Last time Li Zicheng left Hutou Mountain, he left some soldiers behind, and now he has joined two more personal soldiers to go in, which can be regarded as his own eyes.

Back in Xining, it was already the thirteenth day of the first lunar month.

Xining has gradually begun to regain its inherent inertia, and the military and political personnel are ready to devote themselves to the work of the new year at any time, and even the students of the Xining Girls' School are returning to Xining one after another, ready to start the new year.

However, the snow has not completely melted, and the grass is still covered with ice, which is as hard as a dog's head, and it is not possible to reclaim cultivated land for the time being.

However, the barbecue craftsmen in the craftsman's workshop have all taken action, most of them are rushing to Hutou Mountain, only Xia Jing and Dong Liang took a team of soldiers to the West Sea, ready to fish for trona.

The work of the New Year is complicated, and Li Zicheng basically has no time to rest during the entire New Year holiday, from New Year's greetings to marrying Sun Mengjie, and then to the craftsman's workshop, although these things are properly arranged, he has no spare time, and he is faced with a choice to find new crops for Xining.

The question of whether to send someone to find new crops such as sweet potatoes, he thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to send his own manpower, originally counting on Mu Qingshan, but Mu Qingshan is a businessman, and it is uncertain when he will go to Jiangnan, even if he goes to Jiangnan, he will mainly focus on commercial activities, and will never concentrate on helping to find it.

These new crops are Li Zicheng's life# roots.

Of course, self-sufficiency alone is far from enough, and if Xining is like Shaanxi, there is a famine, then these crops are an important guarantee for stabilizing the people's hearts.

In addition, Shaanxi is now in turmoil, what if thieves break into nearby Xining? Do you drive them back, or do you take them in?

If they are driven back, they will be cut off from their livelihood, but if they are taken in and let them live, there must be enough food, otherwise Xining will surely become a new place for thieves to cause trouble.

Li Zicheng calculated, if Xining has enough grain, even if it is a coarse grain like sweet potatoes, then it can recruit people from nearby Shaanxi, whether it is to develop agriculture, industry and commerce, or to expand the army, a large number of people are needed.

In terms of the candidates sent, Li Zicheng carefully considered and finally selected Ren Erxi.

Ren Erxi is a small flag officer of the pro-soldier, when He Xiaomi is no longer around, he will serve him, and he has tasted the sweetness of being a pro-soldier, this guy should have really returned to his heart, and he can rest assured to use it, and he has appeared a few times, and he is also decent, and he should be able to take charge of himself on not particularly dangerous occasions.

Another point, Ren Erxi is a native of Xining, not only has his aunt and children at home, but his parents are still alive, they are all hostages who stayed in Xining, if he wants to take away the silver and go to settle down in other places, his aunt can remarry, and the child can be reborn, but his father and mother cannot be copied.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Li Zicheng gave him five hundred taels of silver, plus four personal soldiers to accompany him, and left Xining to the southeast.

Li Zicheng specially explained that as long as you get these three crops, no matter how much, of course, it is best to have more, the more seeds, the faster they can multiply, and they can enter the people's table as soon as possible.

Sending Ren Erxi away, Li Zicheng came to the school on time on the morning of the 16th day of the first lunar month.

The ten students on the contract, plus Sun Lin, Chen Qiudie, and Mu Sirong, three supernumerary students, are all upright and waiting for Li Zicheng to start classes.

The first section is Chinese as usual, Li Zicheng has finished teaching pinyin, after a brief review, he will check these academic matters, handed over to Sun Mengjie, Li Dan, Sun Mengjie has been resident in the back office, but in the afternoon, there is still time to go to the school to go around, Li Dan is to eat and live with the students, with the name of the deputy class leader, naturally have to do some responsibility.

The teaching of Chinese characters starts with "one, two, three", Li Zicheng wrote the three characters "one, two, three" on the blackboard, first phonetized the three characters, taught the students to read them, and explained for a while, that is, writing.

Chen Qiudie hurriedly said: "Sir, it turns out that Chinese characters are so simple, students already know it, one is one horizontal, two is two horizontal, three, it is three horizontal!" ”

"That's right, the observation is also very careful," Li Zicheng stopped the whip in his hand with a smile and said with a smile: "However, there are still hundreds, thousands, and thousands, do you have to write like this?" ”

The students thought for a moment, and then burst into laughter.

Chen Qiudie made a big face, blushed and said, "Sir, what about the hundreds, thousands, and thousands?" ”

Li Zicheng wrote the words "hundred, thousand, and thousand" on the other end of the blackboard, and said: "These three words, in fact, are not particularly difficult to write. ”

The students saw that these three words were really not thousands of strokes, especially the two words "thousand, ten thousand", but only a few strokes, which was almost the same as the word "three" just now.

Chen Qiudie was so angry that he glanced at Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng smiled and did not respond, in front of learning, he couldn't fake, and he didn't have a face problem, but he was facing everyone: "Let's start practicing writing, pay attention to the length of each horizontal!" He went to the students and instructed them in the correct way to write.

Whether it is reading or writing, these three characters are indeed very simple to Chen Qiudie, and Li Zicheng taught the two Chinese characters "four" and "five" according to the students' acceptance.

After class, Sun Mengjie found Li Zicheng, "The Chinese characters that Mr. teaches today are very different from the previous ones, the previous Chinese characters are very complicated, and the writing is also cumbersome, why is it?" ”

Hearing Sun Mengjie's question, other students gathered around, watching how the husband and wife fight, Sun Mengjie's marriage on the sixth day of the first month, they all knew that they originally thought that she would not come to the school again, but they didn't expect Sun Mengjie to come to the school as always, as last year, they were a little curious.

Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Then tell me, which is easier, the Chinese characters taught in the past or the Chinese characters taught today?" ”

Sun Mengjie thought for a while and said, "If Chinese characters are all what they are today, it is naturally easier to learn Chinese characters now!" ”

"Although the Chinese characters taught in the future are slightly more difficult to write than today, they are not much worse, and they are very different from the Chinese characters taught and learned before." Li Zicheng is accustomed to simplified Chinese characters, and he doesn't know many traditional Chinese characters, but it is more suitable for his military identity.

If it's to fool others, it's okay, now it's in the classroom, teaching his unique teaching content, so he naturally chooses to simplify Chinese characters to facilitate learning to read and write.

"Sir, the student understands a little," Mu Sirong came out of the gap between the crowd, raised her little face and said: "This is what the adults said, it can allow us to master what others have learned in ten years in three years." ”

"That's right," Li Zicheng looked at his future wife with a smile and said, "The so-called gentleman is not only born before the student, but also to find an easier way for the student to learn." ”

The crowd laughed again.

Mu Sirong asked, "Sir, you say, can I also use three years to learn the knowledge that others can learn in ten years?" ”

Such a cute question, Li Zicheng wanted to reach out and touch her head, of course, there was no evil intention, but he still restrained his impulse, in this era, "men and women do not kiss", Mu Sirong is his wife, but that is in the future, now the students probably don't know that they should go to Mu Qingshan, there is no marriage ceremony, maybe even Mu Sirong himself does not know.

He smiled faintly and said, "What I said can be achieved by ordinary people, how can you be such a smart person who knows a little bit?" Unless ......"

"Unless what?" Mu Sirong was very proud when she heard Li Zicheng's praise at first, and her little face was slightly red, but after listening to the final turn, she was shocked, her face changed color slightly, and the light red disappeared.

"Unless you get married too early and don't want to enter the academy," Li Zicheng said with a smile: "You are a supernumerary student, and you don't have a contract on you, if you don't come to the academy, Mr. can't control you!" ”

"No, the student will definitely continue his studies," Mu Sirong shook her head violently, worried that Li Zicheng would not be at ease, and continued: "Sister Jie'er is married, isn't she still in the school?" ”

After finishing speaking, she suddenly felt that something was wrong, as if she was in a hurry to get married, her face suddenly turned red, she got into the crowd, and disappeared in an instant.

Li Zicheng took math class again, and just returned to the back office with Sun Mengjie and Chen Qiudie, Song Yulian had already stepped on the meal and prepared the meal, he had just picked up the bowl, He Xiaomi, and hurriedly reported: "My lord, Wang Anping, the chief flag officer, is here, and he wants to see my lord!" ”