Chapter 118: Beauty Measured with a Ruler

Zhao Xing had never seen a donkey-shaped horse.

It is the Xi people who lead the horses, and there was a Xi site in Fangshan, Beijing, where the remaining Xi people's beds rarely exceed one meter and six five. When the ruins were discovered, the scholars once exclaimed that China had found northern dwarfs, but after a detailed investigation, they learned that this was the site of the northern Han of the Song Dynasty - Xi people.

Zhao Xing had never seen Xi Ren, but he knew with his heels: it was impossible for a person with a height of more than 1.7 meters to sleep in a bed of 1.6 meters. Therefore, Xi Ren, the "Northern Han" in the history of the Song Dynasty, is never more than one meter six tall.

The full name of these Xi people is called "Kumo Xi" people, the piano used by Xi people is called "Xi Qin", and the modern "Xi Qin" is called "Erhu", which is one of the top ten national musical instruments in China.

The head of the horse led by the Kumo Xi people rarely exceeds the height of the Xi people, and the horse's shoulders are at the same level as the shoulders of the Kumo Xi people, or even slightly lower.

Is such height a horse?

It can only be a donkey!

Zhao Xing didn't know: in modern times, some people even calculated the height of horses based on the height of Xi people, and came to the same conclusion as him, that is, in the Song Dynasty, the height of Mongolian horses had declined to the same level as donkeys.

The officer was still beside Zhao Xing, and he couldn't leave, Zhao Xing was impatient, he grabbed the bow, pulled it for three full moons in a row, returned the bow to Zhang Yong with a relaxed expression, and answered Zhang Yong's question: "Guan Jun (the honorific title of the senior commander in the Song Dynasty), this bow does not have three stones, and one stone is not enough." ”

There has never been a three-stone bow in human history. Because drawing the bow is a process of continuous force, and the initial damping effect must be overcome, it takes at least eight stones of strength to pull the bow with all its might. In the Song Dynasty, one stone was 92.5 Song jin, and one stone was equivalent to 59.2 kilograms. Eight stone bows, it takes at least 480 kilograms of strength to pull it open, half a ton - oh my God, Azhu, come out and see the Martians!

However, the ancients, although exaggerated, often boasted that their bows were more than three stones, or even five stones. But no matter who can't blow Jin Yong Jin Daxia, in his book, Guo Jing can pull out the thirty-three stone bow. Such a bow requires 4,882 kg of strength to pull it once with all your might. Then, Guo Jing can easily lift 1953 kilograms of heavy objects - it is estimated that he usually exercises with "Santana" as a dumbbell and carries the "Hongyan heavy truck" up and down the stairs.

Li Gonglin was still arguing with Zhao Xing, Mi Fu had already pulled Li Gonglin's hand and walked out, shouting in a straight voice while walking: "Where is the stable?" Shaoyou, you lead the way, let me see is believing. ”

Hearing the noise in the courtyard, Chen Buqun, who was the most idle, ran in to probe his brain, Zhao Xing glanced at Chen Buqun and ordered: "Take the two adults to your father's place...... Mi Gong, Chen Gong, and Ji Chang are trying to ride a new horse in the backyard, and the two of them will go by themselves, and I will accompany Zhang Guanjun to try a new bow. ”

Zhang Yong couldn't pull open the big bow even if he held back his strength. He dejectedly took the bow in his hand and looked closely.

There is no carving on this bow, but the body of the stick is filed with a file, which is smooth and warm to the touch. The wood of the bow body exudes a faint aroma, and it has a bit of agate-like translucency. A non-slip wood grain is added to the handshake in the middle of the wooden stick, although Zhang Yong can't pull the bow, but he can't put it down when he sees the material and feel of the bow. He shook his head regretfully: "What a bow, it's a pity that the bow is too strong." ”

It is understandable that the soldiers of the Song Dynasty could not pull such a bow, and modern people have a famous discussion about the physical strength of the soldiers of the Song Dynasty, that is, the "Fan Yang hat principle." Soldiers in the Song Dynasty did not wear helmets, but felt hats - Fan Yang hats. The study found that this was because the Song people were weak in physique, and they could not trek and march and fight while wearing helmets.

Why were the soldiers of the Song Dynasty so weak? The conclusion of further discussion is that their eating habits are not reasonable. Although there were many delicacies in the Song Dynasty, they rarely ate meat, the people did not have the habit of eating pork, and there was little mutton, so they could only supply the court and high-ranking officials, and eating beef was a crime.

Strictly speaking, the Song people were similar to the Japanese and Koreans in the Heian period, and due to the prevalence of Buddhism, vegetarian food was popular throughout the country. The import of Champa rice made the Song State not worry about the lack of food, so the vegetarian diet was very popular among the common people.

Su Shi once talked about his food patterns during the "Wutai Poetry Case" and his exile - most of them were vegetarians, and only one article "Huangzhou Good Pork" talked about meat, and rarely talked about fish.

Zhao Xing knew the reason for the other party's emotion, so he reflexively went back to the room and brought the small bow. This children's bow made of thin twigs may be suitable for Zhang, Zhao Xing handed it to the other party and said, "Guan Jun try this bow, this is the bow I used when I was a child...... If you try to do it, I'll give it to you. ”

Zhang Yong was really able to pull the bow, he pulled it a few times, it felt very good, so he couldn't put it down and stroked the wood of the bow body, and asked: "What kind of material is this, it feels like jade and has good elasticity, how can there be such a material in the world?" ”

Zhao Xing shook his head: "I don't know!" I heard that this is a kind of overseas strange wood, this kind of wood cuts the bark, will shed red blood, the local people use the branches of this tree to make a bow, they say: this kind of bow shoots arrows, can penetrate the dragon scales. ”

"Dracaena!" Zhang Yong was surprised: "It's too precious...... I'm sorry, I'm sorry. ”

He said that he was embarrassed, but he didn't mean to let go at all, and he beckoned the servants to send the arrow target and test shoot it in Zhao Xingyuan, forgetting the intention of watching the war horse.

"It shouldn't be a dragon's blood tree", Zhao Xing also pulled the bow and shot arrows next to him, and said while shooting: "I have been to black Africa and seen the real dragon's blood tree, which is a spice tree, the sap from the branches can dye the cloth, mixed with tung oil can be used as red paint, and the color of the brush is said to be unfading for thousands of years." ”

The two of them had a good time, and time passed unconsciously. Soon, Qin Guan led the two great painters back from the backyard, Li Gonglin was obviously shocked, and his expression was depressed - of course, the horses often said in modern times: Hequ horses, Yili horses, individual body is majestic, but when it comes to the equestrian competition field, compared with those famous horses, it is like a donkey breaking into the herd.

This is a tradition of castration for thousands of years, resulting in the degradation of the population.

Li Gonglin obviously accepted Chen Yu's advice, and he kept silent about the war horse after he came back. When the officer arrived on duty, holding the newly obtained bow and saying goodbye, Li Gonglin said softly: "Zhang Yong's Japanese army is a horse army, and the official family sent him to take a look, maybe to see if your horse is really as majestic as the legend." ”

Zhao Xing already knew the customs of the Song Dynasty at this time, and he had begun to look at the Song Dynasty with the thinking of the Song Dynasty, and he no longer looked up to the majesty of the royal family, so he only shook his head gently: "The cheap body is heavy, and those donkey-shaped horses of the Imperial Horse Supervisor may not be able to carry me." I specially bought these horses from overseas, and the horse army wants to breed them, and they want to exchange horses with me. ”

Mi Fu asked softly: "Overseas such horses, are there many?" ”

Zhao Xing shook his head: "The sea is unpredictable, horses are originally grassland animals, transported by boat, which requires a lot of space, and is extremely unsuitable for the bumps on the sea." I hauled hundreds of horses in a boat, and only these four survived, and in one voyage there were only ten horses on board, and nothing but horses could be transported—and by this calculation, these four horses were worth more than fifty thousand yuan each. ”

Li Gonglin shook his head: "The stallion is useless, and if you are dragged into the imperial horse prison, you will be castrated...... I advise you to sacrifice the mare. ”

Zhao Xing replied without hesitation: "Yes!" ”

Asking for the only mare in Zhao Xing's herd, Li Gonglin felt very embarrassed. And all these turmoil was caused by Qin Guan. Qin Guan was also a little embarrassed, and Zhao Xing looked very generous: "Everyone, why be so depressed - horses are used to ride, and if this matter is not resolved, I don't dare to ride a horse on the street." Now is the right time to do so! In the future, I can ride as many horses as I want. ”

In this way, everyone is also connected, Mi Fu first spoke: "Okay, okay, since you can think about it, why should I wait for his things to the corner...... Well, seeing that it's almost dinner, I've heard that your food is good, what to do, you know it yourself, ah, hurry up and set the meal, everything that should be served is up, I have to take a look if I can't eat! ”

It was not dark yet, it was bright, Qin Guan first shouted to change out of his official uniform, and when he came back, he was already carrying the copper lamp that he had occupied last night, and he was babbling, for fear that people would not pay attention to his hands. When Zhao Xing saw the lamp, he remembered the words of the reminder: "Shaoyou, don't you carry this lamp to the street?" ”

"How?" Qin Guan asked puzzled.

"I asked you to go to the treasury to choose, you really chose a treasure, didn't you find it, such a purple red glass lamp, there are no more than ten in the warehouse."

Mi Fu loves to fiddle with gold and stone, the most sensitive to such things, hearing Zhao Xing's explanation, immediately exclaimed: "Mo is a purple gold lamp?!" ”

"Exactly!" Zhao Xing nodded.

Zijin was also called "lazy gold" in ancient China, because gold and copper are often associated ores, and if you are too lazy to refine gold from the associated ores, this is lazy gold.

Modern research has shown that when the ratio of gold and copper reaches a certain composition, the gold and copper atoms will show dynamic equilibrium in a wonderful co-vibration state, and such purple gold will have a "self-cleaning" effect, and dust will not settle on it.

The lamp that Qin Guan took away was a purple gold glass lamp. Generally, such valuable lamps are hung in the corners of the eaves by large households, and carrying such lamps to the street is a sign of thieves. Self-safety is in question.

Qin Guan originally loved the style and color of this lamp. This lamp is shaped like a Chinese-style octagonal pavilion, the purple-red pavilion cover imitates the shape of tiles, layers of fish scales, in the faint starlight, by the surrounding lights, flickering, bright like a star. Now, when he heard that the lamp was so valuable, he quickly put it in his bosom and refused to show it again.

Mi Fu heard that this lamp is so precious, has been heartbroken, ready to rely on the moon star in Zhao Xingfu to the moon, but also mixed with such a lamp to carry home. He is not afraid of thieves now. Because I heard that the Bianliang gang had recently suffered a devastating blow, the governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, Yin Qian Xianqian Mufu, brought the beggar gang to the bottom in one fell swoop.

Now that he has made up Lai's mind, after dinner, the twilight is vast, Mi Fu shouted tea, Kabuki, he wants to listen to the new song "Bright Moon Night" sung by Sumen disciples in private is wonderful. Zhao Xing kept looking at the sun outside the house when he was eating, and when the sun set, he shook his head in disappointment and muttered in his mouth, everyone didn't hear what he said clearly. But the time happened to be the time of Mi Fu's questioning.

Mi Fu was dissatisfied, just about to ask Zhao Xing what he was talking to, Cheng Xia led a sweaty young man ran in, the young man was speechless, took out a pair of new boots from his arms and handed them to Zhao Xing, he rolled his eyes and softened to the ground.

It was Zhao Xing's custom-made high heels, and the boot shop owner hurried to finally fulfill his promise and complete Zhao Xing's order at sunset.

Before Zhao Xing had time to look at the pair of boots, a group of widows chattered into the hall, they pulled Zhao Xing's arms without any scruples, and put the clothes in their hands on Zhao Xing one by one. ”

This is a pair of cross-era high heels, the side of the boots is hit with copper nails, the boss uses ribbons to make shoelaces through the copper nails to decorate the boots, the shape of the whole shoe is like the last quarter moon in the sky, the arc is very beautiful, the only regret is that the boots are made of bare cowhide, there is no color on it, it is a cowhide color.

Zhao Xing called the widow who could draw "Tang paintings", pointed to her boots and said, "How about painting on them?" First, use a layer of oil paint to dye it into a uniform color as the base color - just red, it should be red like autumn cherry blossoms. Then draw a few daisies on it, yellow daisies, how to lay out the picture, it's up to you to design. ”

The widow snatched the boots from the arms of others, nodded solemnly, and replied vigorously: "Yes!" ”

Then she whispered, "I want it too." ”

Hearing the painting, Li Gonglin and Mi Fu's eyes immediately lit up, and they asked in unison: "Oil paint?" Can you paint on leather? Painting boots? It's incredible, that girl, you can also paint? ”

In fact, Zhao Xing just ordered the widow to paint boots in person, which was a kind of temptation for the two masters. In this era, people had the habit of painting on clothes, and of course they could also think of painting on other objects.

As soon as the two masters spoke, Zhao Xing hurriedly introduced them to both sides: "This widow girl learned Tang painting techniques, have you ever seen the 'hairpin lady'...... Really seen it? When will it be stolen out for me to see as well...... Okay, okay, let's get back to the question of stealing or not, and then the boots:

The use of bright colors to depict intricate scenes – a technique that the Wa Kingdom learned from the Tang Dynasty people, who called it 'Tang painting', is imbued with the style of 'hairpin ladies'. The Japanese also invented colored ink that could be drawn on cloth, and this time I will let them try their hand at painting on their boots...... Red boots with yellow daisies, plus green stems, I think those boots will be beautiful. ”

The two masters couldn't wait to say, "Hurry up, let's see!" ”

The name of the widow girl is Zhao Xingde, which is much better than the "Cuihua" with sauerkraut, Zhao Xingshun pushed the boat and shouted to the other party: "Cuiyi, these two are the national players of my Celestial Empire, you have to learn from them." ”

Mi Fu and Li Gonglin did not leave, and they stayed at Zhao Xing's house that night, discussing the technique of painting with the widow.

The two masters and the widow girl were talking excitedly, and at this time, the son of the boot shop owner who had been awakened by Cheng Xia had his eyes shining, and he gathered around them desperately to memorize the content of the discussion, Zhao Xing repeatedly called but did not get a response, so angry that he jumped forward and knocked on the other party's head.

"Hold: this is seal skin, which is made of shoes, which is soft, breathable and waterproof; This is a small buffalo leather, only polished and not dyed; This is a beaver pelt...... The boots you made are too high. The weather is about to warm up, and such a high boot can't be worn, so the new boots will cut off sixty percent of the boot height, and then order a pair of boots for the two ladies of the Su family according to this height. Also, make some short flat boots for Sue, my students, and me, and I'll tell your father the style.

It's still that price, two days to complete. Two days later, all the women here will go to your place to order shoes, a pair of ...... each."

Zhao Xing handed over not only seal skins, but also all kinds of animal skins, and even unknown furs with animal fur. As a result, the boot industry opened a new door, because the technical threshold for the production of boots was not high, and a large number of imitators immediately appeared in boot shops everywhere, and all kinds of new fabrics were also renovated, which made the spring of 1087 even more violet......

At the banquet that night, Chen Shidao and Li Di were not there, and they went to visit Su Shi, who had left the tribute courtyard and returned home. In order to avoid suspicion, Zhao Xing did not come to the door that night. By the day of the next day, according to the news from Su Shi, the work of judging the file was still not over, and the senior brother Zhang Lei was still struggling. Su Shi sent a message and told Zhao Xing not to report too high hopes, and it is estimated that the ranking will not be too high.

This sentence also means that Zhao Xing's examination is no longer a problem, but in order to avoid suspicion, Su Shi and Zhang Leihui will press Zhao Xing's ranking very low.

This is actually a practice of imperial examinations before the Song Dynasty and the Yuanyou period, and the ranking of students participating in other examinations is very low. In order to avoid suspicion, the examiners even forced the top prize ranking to the center of the list - this is how several great writers in the Song Dynasty lost the title of champion.

After a night of discussion, the next day, the pair of boots was placed in front of Zhao Xing - it was dazzling and brilliant on the table, with a variety of styles, which made people feel full of brilliance; The red boots are gorgeous and glamorous, like flames, like blooming red lips, and the drunken charm is fascinating; The yellow daisies are graceful, arrogant, and hold incense branches, arousing people's solemn feelings with their extraordinary elegance......

Cheng Azhu was by Zhao Xing's side with anticipation early on, and when she saw such perfect boots at the moment, she didn't rush to put them on herself, she reflexively hugged Zhao Xing tightly, her eyes closed, and tears rolled down - she knew that she wasn't sad, but why couldn't she stop crying.

When Chen Yiyi saw such beautiful boots, she was about to go crazy with jealousy, she grabbed a handful of popcorn she bought yesterday, and chewed it crackling in her mouth. If it weren't for the atmosphere at the scene that was not suitable for speaking, it is estimated that she would have asked for one out loud.

Li Gonglin, Mi Fu is also intoxicated looking at the pair of boots, last night when they were busy they already felt that the painting was very beautiful, but they didn't expect that this thing was placed in the light, in the spotlight, it was so beautiful, beautiful and suffocating.

The group of widows had been waiting in the house early, waiting for their sisters' masterpieces, and even the orchids had heard of them, and now they were all holding their breath, staring intently at the red boots, imagining the swaying and graceful steps of the young women when they put them on......

Zhao Xing looked the boots up and down, he didn't expect that the two masters would be able to create such a masterpiece when they joined forces, for a long time, as if he was afraid of alarming the sleeping elf, he lowered his voice and asked, "Do you know why it is so beautiful?" ”

"It's because red is paired with yellow", the widow Cuiyi always focuses on the color, so her answer is not out of her true color: "The two colors are in contrast to each other, so they are eye-catching." ”

"Hmph, can we be ordinary together?" Mi Fu triumphant.

"I'm also satisfied," Li Gonglin said in a humble tone.

"In addition to color, there is also proportion - take a ruler", Zhao Xing shouted.

"Hey, what do you mean, can you tell us why it's beautiful with a ruler?" Mi Fu asked unhappily.

"Of course – all the beauty in the world can be measured with a ruler. And let me tell you why it's beautiful? Zhao Xing replied with confidence.