Friday, February 25, 1088 A.D.; The first day of the second month of the Year of the Dragon; That is, the 4th year of Liao Daozong (Yelu Hongji) Da'an, the 3rd year of Zhezong (Zhao Xu) of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Wuyin day of the second month of the Wuchen year of the Chinese calendar; Heavy snow.

As soon as the door opened in the morning, Deng Yufu brought his wife Li Damiang to visit, he looked at the sky worriedly, and nagged: "It's February, why is it still snowing?" ”

Zhao Xing looked at Deng Yufu and smiled, he bowed to Aunt Li, Aunt Li returned the salute with her lips and replied: "I heard that if you are happy, I bring a few gifts, all of which are worthless children's clothes, come and see the widows, the things made by themselves, and I hope that the judgment will not be disliked!" ”

Zhao Xing thanked him: "Where is it, Aunt Li's craftsmanship, I didn't say it." It's just that there is no one at the helm of the family now, and it is a mess, and I hope the aunt will not be surprised. ”

Zhao Xing is not too self-deprecating when he says this, in the Song Dynasty, all the officials were women. For example, the Aunt Li in front of her. It is said that when Deng Yufu first got married, he was devoted to writing about his farming, and basically didn't care about family affairs.

One day when he came back from outside, he saw a strange man carrying wheat into his yard, and he was very surprised, so he scolded Aunt Li. Aunt Li replied: "That person is my tenant, and he is carrying our wheat." ”

Thanks to Aunt Li's hard work, Deng Yufu was able to write with peace of mind. And people like Mrs. Li abound in the Song Dynasty, and Su Shi's mother, Mrs. Chen, is also such a housekeeper. People who don't listen to things outside the window, as a result, after Mrs. Chen died, the Su family also fell into poverty from a big rich.

Deng Yufu is a typical Song Dynasty man, while Li Damiang is a typical Song Dynasty housekeeper. He couldn't wait to serve his husband to the teeth, while Deng Yufu was completely enjoying the home life of a little man in the Song Dynasty who stretched out his hands and opened his mouth. So Zhao Xing said that Cheng Azhu was pregnant, ignored housework, and lost the host at home, which is completely understandable to Aunt Li. She grinned and said teasingly: "It's also a judgment that pampers your own lady too much, how can you leave the housework after a few months of pregnancy." I'll take a look. ”

Aunt Li said goodbye and bowed to leave. Zhao Xing smiled bitterly at Deng Yufu.

The problem of his family is not that Cheng Azhu doesn't care about things, but that Cheng Azhu is happy, and the other two women are too strong. Liao Xiaoxiao thought that Chen Yiyi had not yet officially rounded up. wanted to meddle in housework, but Chen Yiyi was used to being domineering, and he knew how to tolerate Cheng Azhu, why let Liao Xiaoxiao, so the female and female porridge at home could not live in peace.

Deng Yufu on the other side couldn't realize this. Now this little man has become famous, published a large number of farmers, and became a petty official. Before and after earning thousands of furniture. He was ready to take care of the housework himself in order to repay the hard work of the lady in the past few years, so he only cared about why the snow kept falling, so that the farming plan could not be carried out unexpectedly. When will it be sown? I think this year must be a famine. ”

Zhao Xing nodded and replied, "News from Liao." The famine in their land had spread throughout the Nanjing Road, and 200,000 horses had died of starvation, and the Emperor of Liao had ordered the opening of a warehouse for relief. We don't have to worry about people, it seems that we are going to prepare for famine this year. ”

Deng Yufu also echoed and said: "Yes, the horses brought from Jinzhou are as skinny as firewood, and the fleeing Liao people are batch after batch, as long as they are given food, they will get on the boat, and now there are tens of thousands of people in Linhai Village, so I can evacuate quickly." ”

Zhao Xing has not said that there are not many people in Jinzhou who have fled to Linhai Village, and now there are 30,000 people who have been dragged to Tamluo Island by him. The local area was already overwhelmed, and the large number of immigrants from Jinzhou also interfered with Goryeo's plan to reclaim Tamna.

Generally speaking, the food hoarded at the people's homes is only enough to eat until February and March, and when they enter March, it is called "green and yellow". If it is still snowing in March, then the number of people dying of starvation will increase.

Zhao Xing was also very worried about this situation, because it was impossible to store grain in ancient times, so last year's rice and rice were stored in small quantities by this time, and they could not cope with large-scale famine. If snow does fall until March or April this year, then mass famine is inevitable.

"How many horses are we transferring this year?" Zhao Xing looked at the heavy snow and asked worriedly.

"There are 30,000 horses that have come ashore from Dengzhou, and there are 8,000 horses that have been landed from Mizhou, and there are 8,000 horses before and after." Deng Yufu replied.

"Tomorrow there will be a batch of hard sailing ships from Quanzhou, about a hundred or so, and all the people who can drive boats in Mizhou will be counted as one, and those who are willing to buy boats will be sold to them, and let them go to Liao to transport horses...... There were 200,000 horses that died of starvation, and we also wanted dead horses, and horse skins could be used to make clothes and armor, and shoes could be made, and horse flesh was salted and saved from famine...... Didn't we open a private salt factory, where the salt is not sold, but all used to process food? ”

Although Zhao Xingkai's smuggled salt factory produced a large amount of output, it was not sustainable because salt was only valuable when it came to the inland, and the road situation for smuggling smuggled salt in the inland was very complicated. Zhao Xing didn't know what was going on, so his salt farm could only be wholesale. Wholesale to salt dealers, and even close salt works. Although he made a lot of money, the profit was not large, and he caused a lot of criticism, so he decided to take this opportunity to simply stop selling salt to the outside world, and only claimed to be a salt farm for the Mizhou regiment to practice for his own use.

"Yes, several nearby official salt farms only produced 300 stone of salt from last year to this year, and they need a lot of firewood to boil salt, and our salt farms do not make fires, but the output is larger than it, and it is more stable to send them to these salt farms than to send them to salt dealers", it's over, Deng Yufu is such a good person, he was taught by Zhao Xing for a few days, and he was so smug when he talked about smuggling salt. After talking about smuggling salt, Deng Yufu turned the topic to his leather workshop: "No, we still go to Fujian to buy a batch of potatoes, and the collected hides are piled up in the warehouse, and if we don't process them, we will have no income...... Leave people. You said April seed potatoes, can you catch the trip? ”

"Don't ask me, you're an expert in agronomy," Zhao Xing said with a hippie smile.

The heavy snow was still falling, and the snowflakes had already spread a thick layer on the two of them, Deng Yufu felt a hint of cold, he stomped his feet, and suggested: "Let's go back to the room and talk...... I've heard that the best time to process potatoes is in June, but I'm afraid I won't be able to catch up with it. ”

Halfway to the living room. Cheng Shuang rushed to report: "Linhai Village is coming to visit. ”

Qu Fubo is no longer General Qu, he is Deputy General Qu. "Adjutant General" is the official official title, from the ninth rank, his rank official is "only after work". Rank 55. Qu Fubo, who was dressed in an official uniform, presented a New Year's gift to Zhao Xing, confessed his guilt, and said with his hands in a square inch: "Lord Sign, I was going to give you a New Year's greeting a year ago, but the village was busy, and a group of soldiers asked me to go to Jinzhou to run the waterway." It's been delayed back and forth. Forgive sins, forgive sins! ”

Deng Yufu didn't know the origin of Vice General Qu and Zhao Xing, so he scolded sharply: "Duh, is the word Jinzhou said casually?" ”

Qu Fubo confessed repeatedly. said innocently: "Isn't this only the Lord who signed the judge and the Lord who pushed the official?" I would never say it in front of others. ”

Zhao Xing is an old peacemaker, he looked at Qu Fubo's official uniform, and said with a smile: "I should call you Deputy General Qu now, and now you are also an official official of the imperial court, now you should be satisfied?" ”

Qu Fubo hurriedly bowed his hand and replied, "Thanks to the grace of the judge!" It was originally stubborn and unbearable, and the clan disliked it. The Hun family has been repeatedly scolded. Now I have finally earned a birth, and it is all thanks to the grace of the judges. The villain should have come up to thank him this year. However, there are many guests in the mansion of the signing judge, and the small official position is small, so he does not dare to disturb. Forgive sins, forgive sins! ”

"Only a deputy general is satisfied, Banqiao is about to be established as a county, Linhai Village is under the rule, there is going to set up an inspection office, Zhang Tuanlian said, I am ready to let you be promoted again, promoted to the general from the eighth grade, add the water army to inspect, do a good job."

The New Year's gift given by Qu Fubo was the seafood he had trafficked from Jinzhou, some black, dry charcoal-shaped things, plus some coral and mink skins. Zhao Xing's return gift was five taels of silver and a war knife. In addition, give him a few pieces of silk. His return gift was heavier than the gift sent by Vice General Qu, this was not a reward from Shangguan to his subordinates, and Deng Yufu realized that the two had a close relationship.

After General Qu retreated with gratitude, Deng Yufu picked up the dry charcoal and asked curiously: "What is this black, hard thing?" Is it a charcoal fire? Why did he send some charcoal fire in his eyes? ”

Zhao Xing picked it up and sniffed it, it was not charcoal, it had a fishy smell, and he smiled: "This thing actually stumped you, an agronomic expert?" This is a sea cucumber. Sea ginseng, a great tonic, it is full of collagen, spongy, especially nourishing for women, what do you look like? ”

Sea cucumber, didn't the Song Dynasty have the habit of eating sea cucumber? Deng Yufu really didn't understand, looking at the other party's puzzled expression, Zhao Xing understood a little - eating sea cucumber should be the habit of the Manchus in Liaodong, maybe it was the Jin people who invaded the Central Plains and brought this habit to the Han people.

However, the Chinese diet pays attention to the form of supplementation, eating liver to supplement the liver, eating feces (bat feces called luminous sand) to supplement the eyes, this thing water is soft and soft, dry and hard. Although Deng Yufu didn't understand what "collagen" and "spongibe" were, he looked at the shape, smiled lewdly, clapped his hands, and said ambiguously: "Brother and sister are happy, you can eat this thing again...... Hehe, I forgot, you still have two concubines to deal with, and you have to make up for it. ”

Deng Yufu said contemptuous words, but he did not slack off at all, and after a while, half of the dried sea cucumber was pulled aside by him, and he said shamelessly: "In this cold day, I also want to make up for it." ”

Zhao Xing looked at him with disdain: "Speaking of eating, I won't teach you, will you eat?" …… Come on, bring some warm lime water, put this dry goods into the water, let it start, and have a sea cucumber fried leek tonight. ”

A plate of fried sea cucumber and leek was eaten cleanly, Deng Yufu wiped his mouth with satisfaction, and said, "I don't think this thing is so delicious...... You said that there may be a big famine this year, and we don't grow grain and seed potatoes, is it appropriate? ”

Zhao Xing hiccuped and saw the maid dodging at the door, he beckoned the female envoy to come in and explained: "I have sent a fast boat to the south to transport seedlings and seeds, and in about ten days, the ship will arrive." This year we can't grow food, I'm going to plant apple trees, potato stalks and sweet potatoes. ”

The envoy walked in and made a gesture and said, "The lady in the backyard eats sea cucumbers." I felt that it was very tasteful, and I didn't vomit after eating it. The young mother asked if there was anything else, hoping to make another one. ”

Zhao Xing replied: "Go to the kitchen, fortunately I got all the sea cucumbers today." Let them all be fried, give the students a taste, and I will go to Liaodong to pull a boat back. ”

After the maid left, Deng Yufu immediately asked: "What are the apples and sweet potatoes that Liren just said, are they the Pinpo fruits that the Tang people said?" ”

Zhao Xing rolled up his sleeves and said, "Let me teach you, an agronomist a lesson, apples." It's Apple. The earliest fruit known as Pinpo fruit is a subtropical nut that grows in the Lingnan region. It is quite close to the Indian variety of Pinpo fruit, which was called red cuspider in the Han Dynasty and acacia or red bean in the Tang Dynasty.

This fruit is a nut. That is, a fruit with a hard shell like a walnut. And Apple - anyway, I can't tell you clearly, I'll know when I see you. ”

Zhao Xing didn't know that when apples were introduced to China at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, their original name was "Pinpo Fruit". What did the ancient apple look like? The Yuan people are no longer clear. They borrowed the "color dan and run" in the Buddhist scriptures to call it, once written Pingbo, Pingpo, to the Ming Dynasty is still fixed as Pinpo. Also known as Ping Po. In the late Ming Dynasty, it began to be abbreviated as apple.

In other words, the "Pinpo fruit" in early China is not the same thing as the "Pinpo fruit" after the Yuan Dynasty.

Apples are a good thing, especially applewood, which has a fragile texture and will shatter and break when hit. This property makes it the best material for riding guns, throwing guns, and arrow shafts. Especially with the cavalry spears, the knights rammed at high speed, and the cavalry guns rubbed against the target and shattered. Can perfectly protect the knight. And completely transfer the kinetic energy of the knight to the target.

The anti-collision urn on the side of the modern highway uses this principle to hit the car as soon as it hits. The anti-collision urn shatters in a way that absorbs the impact energy and protects the driver. In the most straightforward way, this characteristic is: I am only allowed to hit others, and no one is allowed to hit me.

To explain it in terms of the principles of physics, the action force is equal to the reaction force. When the knight's huge impact energy hits the enemy, the more violently he stabs the enemy, the stronger the counterattack force he receives, and if there is no protection from the barrel of the gun made of apple wood, then the knight and the enemy will die together in a battle scene. And with this kind of apple wood barrel, all the kinetic energy of the knight is transmitted to others, but he is protected by the fragmentation of the barrel.

The throwing gun shaft also adopts this principle, in order to prevent the enemy from picking it up and shooting back at itself, it needs to be specially designed, and this kind of throwing spear and arrow shaft made of apple wood will shatter when hit, so that the enemy can not pick it up and return fire.

In order to commemorate his ex-wife Wang Fu, Su Shi planted 100,000 pine trees and wrote the poignant and beautiful "Jiangchengzi. Ten years of life and death. Zhao Xing didn't plan to commemorate anyone, but he was ready to plant 100,000 apple trees in order to cope with the war decades later.

"Sweet potato, that's a kind of tuber food eaten by the Mayi natives, with high yield and drought tolerance, I am going to introduce this species to Mizhou to deal with the upcoming famine year." Zhao Xing only explained the origin of the sweet potato lightly, he did not elaborate on the secrecy measures taken by the Mayi people for the sweet potato species, in order to steal this species, he spent a lot of effort before and after, and sacrificed a lot of people for this, of course, he also tried to exterminate several tribes before collecting enough seeds.

Heavy snow in Michigan fell intermittently until March, so it seems that Deng Yufu, an agronomist expert, made a good prediction. In March, the official directive of the imperial court also came down, and Banqiao Town officially became Jiaoxi County, with three villages and one town under its jurisdiction. And Zhao Xing was not surprising and was appointed as the general judge of Banqiao Town and County.

The newly established Jiaoxi County is a small county, and as long as there are two officials in this small county, the county magistrate and the general judge, and the county lieutenant and the chief secretary are vacant. The new county magistrate of Jiaoxi County is a fellow jinshi named Lin Ji, and at the same time, Wang Gong, the new governor of Mizhou, has also arrived.

On the day of Wang Gong's arrival, it was the third day after the snow in mid-March, the road was a little muddy, and the officials were wearing thick winter coats to greet Wang Gong at the official pavilion outside the city. Wang Gong came from Jinan Mansion along the Yellow River, and did not suffer much on the way, he saw Zhao Xing, who was tall in the crowd, beckoned cordially, and said with a smile: "Leaving people, I came to Mizhou with you, Qin Shaoyou once said that the level of officials in the ninth grade, the poetry of the eighth grade, the seventh grade of Langzhong, the sixth grade of the merchant, the fifth grade of the ruling level, the fourth grade of the farmer, the third grade of the cook, the second grade of the house-building ability, and the first-class to please women."

I don't plan to leave Michigan this time, I plan to buy a piece of land, and please build me a good house. Didn't say it. That's you! ”

Wang Gong was demoted out of Beijing because of "common corruption", who is right and wrong here, Zhao Xing does not intend to investigate the roots, but Wang Gong is now speaking so rudely, presumably this guy is not so innocent.

For a long time, Zhao Xing has wondered, it is said that there are many unspoken rules in the officialdom of the Great Song Dynasty, and extorting taxpayers' money according to the unspoken rules is called "reasonable and illegal income" in modern times. With this income and official salaries, the imperial court treats officials like the United States, why are they still greedy?

This guy is still so arrogant when he is greedy, why don't he return the stolen goods. Not to be raided? …… Well, thinking that after Su Shi was demoted, he also went to Huangzhou with his family property, and thought that there was still a Lu Huiqing in the backyard of Mizhou, and he was free with his official family...... Zhao Xing endured it!

The cost of corruption in this Great Song Dynasty is low enough, right?

Zhao Xing was also depressed about Wang Gong's statement: "That's right, how can I be a ninth-rate official?" Isn't my medical skill good? Why did Qin Shaoyou get a seven-grade rating? Also, how can you talk about pleasing women first-class? Slander. Absolutely slander! ”

Zhao Xing participated in this kind of officialdom. Liao Xiaoxiao must arrive, because Zhao Xing needs her to remind officialdom of etiquette. So Wang Gong didn't need to find evidence, he pointed to Liao Xiaoxiao behind Zhao Xing, and continued to tease: "Ten uniques in the capital - there are two million people in the capital, how many are there?" When people saw you, they didn't listen to what you did, and the little girl ran away.

And that's not all. Where is Mei Sanniang, who was cut off in the capital? Where did Qian Wan'er go? After you leave, there will be no master in Beijing! It made us all have our hands sticking out of our throats. Don't you blame this? It seems that your ability to please women is not ordinary, this trip to the capital, Shengsheng got rid of the three best women in the capital, why is it not a first-class means? ”

Wronged, I'm just a woman who likes to collect some special talents, how can I ......?

The officials who remained in Michigan slapped the new Sima fart tightly, claiming that they were "absolutely correct", "incisive", and "to the bone", and even nodded slightly in agreement with Suo Wen's general judgment. At this time, Wang Gong's concubine Rouyun girl was getting off the carriage, seeing Rouyun's dress, Zhao Xing couldn't help but be angry, this woman who followed Wang Gong and exiled to the ends of the earth is still a servant girl, Wang Gong actually married a new lady again, it seems that he is definitely demoted...... Yes.

Zhao Xing solemnly saluted Rouyun, and Wang Gong was still croaking: "The level of a ninth-rate official, do you need to say, how many things have you done in Mizhou......"

Wang Gong paused, and then stopped abruptly, and the other Mizhou officials nodded frequently.

Yes, how many things have been born, but unfortunately most of the things Zhao Xing does can be done but cannot be said, but they can only understand and not speak, so they only nodded and did not say anything.

However, Wang Gong gave Zhao Xing a very high evaluation of the level of governance, because Zhao Xing has been in office in Mizhou for less than half a year, and the Mizhou regimental training is now very rich, and even with it, the people in Mizhou who participated in the horse trafficking and smuggling also bulged their pockets, which made the court ministers know it, but they didn't say anything about killing them.

How can farming be higher than the level of governance? I haven't started farming yet, have I?

Liao Xiaoxiao smiled very proudly behind Zhao Xing's back, she bowed to Wang Gong and thanked the other party for his disguised compliment, Deng Yufu rubbed Zhao Xing tightly on the side, Wang Gong seemed to see Zhao Xing's doubts, clapped his hands and said: "Your farming skills are not my praise, it is Jieshu and Chao Buzhi's saying, Chao Buzhi's father wrote a letter praising your Zhuangzi full of flowers, full of novel species, I heard that the people of Hangzhou introduced peppers, cherries, and new vegetables from your Zhuangzi this year, and they are in full swing." It is said that the farmers who planted the land last year have made a lot of profits. It's not easy. ”

Zhao Xing couldn't stand being rubbed by Deng Yufu, he grabbed the latter, and pushed all the credit to this agricultural expert: "Lord Wang, this Deng Congyi is the author of one hundred and twenty volumes of "Lunar Calendar", and he once praised the words of cultivation and weaving, herding and all kinds of farming, health preservation, and preparation for famine, and taught "Qi Min's Technique" Youmi, which is all the credit of Congyi, and we also plan to promote new varieties in Mizhou." ”

Wang Gong's wife Lu Shi also got out of the carriage, and at this time, Wang Gong found that he had snubbed other officials, and hurriedly took Suo Wendao's hand affectionately and said, "Talk in the city, talk in the city!" ”

Behind Wang Gong's queue is the new Jiaoxi County Commander Lin Ji. This official is in his forties, but he looks honest, he and Zhao Xing have met, the two have talked a few words, knowing that the other party has nowhere to live, Zhao Xing invited him to his home to settle, the two finished polite words, and caught up with the official's team.

After the official banquet, Wang Gong left Zhao Xing to chat. As a Shangguan, although he did not have a house to live in, it was inconvenient to live in the house of his subordinates, so he lived in the post station, and after his wife and children were settled, he chatted with Zhao Xing about anecdotes in the capital, and brought Zhao Xing a large package of letters sent by friends in the capital.

"Your teacher is presiding over this year's imperial examination, and when I left, he said that he also planned to go to Beijing to seek foreign appointments...... Oh, there's an interesting fact.

Your teacher went to Zhang Hou's house not long ago, and found that Shengzhi, the concubine of Xu Junyou, the governor of Huangzhou, was flirting with Zhang Houzhi at the banquet, saying that these love words she had said to Xu Junyou were quite unpleasant.

At first, Katsuyuki pretended not to know your teacher, but when your teacher burst into tears, she laughed out loud. The sadder Lao Po is, the louder Shengzhi laughs; The louder Katsuzhi laughed, Zizhan couldn't help but howl at the desk. Zhang Houzhi and the guests present were stunned, all looked at each other, bowed their heads and discussed. This is the first time that Brother Zizhan has lost his temper in front of people, and after he returned, he thought it was a precept and often advised his disciples not to take concubines and concubines...... By the way, he has already begun to dismiss his concubines and maids, leaving Miss Chaoyun alone. ”

Zhao Xing jumped up: "Ah Ye! Were those concubines ever pregnant? I'm afraid it's not good to be dismissed like this? ”

Su Shi dismissed his concubines and maids, leaving a mysterious case in history. It is said that at that time, he had two concubines who were pregnant, and those two concubines were Cai Ling and Shi Cui. After that, Liang Shicheng and Sun Mo, among the six thieves in the Northern Song Dynasty, said that they were born to Su Shi's two concubines. Liang Shicheng said that his mother was Cailing, and Sun Mo said that his mother was Shicui.

Zhu Xi and Cheng Yi have a teacher-student relationship, adhering to Cheng Yi's hostility to Su Shi, he said in "Zhu Zi Language": "Su Dongpo has passed, Fan Chun and Fuzi Wen, all enter and exit the Liang Division, and take their father's affairs." And someone else did the same. When the teacher dies of his wife, Wen and his desire to mourn is a mother's gift, and he is suspicious of someone, and he has to decline as a last resort, and someone will decline under the curtain first. ”

However, later generations pointed out that Zhu Xi showed his usual nonsense here. Because the Song Dynasty did not have a system of eunuchs and palace maids in the Ming Dynasty, Liang Shicheng was a eunuch, what kind of "wife" did he have? Without a wife, how could there be a wife after her death, Su Guo and Fan Wen "mourned with a mother's ceremony"?

That's what Zhao Xing was worried about. Su Shi dismissed the concubines and maids, which was not too much from the point of view of the Song people. Because the treatment of concubines and maids in the Song Dynasty is very unique, they are a group of working girls who work with their bodies...... But if his concubine is really pregnant, this is too cold.

Thinking of this, Zhao Xing couldn't sit still, he jumped up regardless of etiquette, and called out to his students: "Cheng Shuang, go quickly, ride a fast horse to the capital, find all the little maids dismissed by the master, buy them at all costs, and send them to me!" ”