Zhang Yuan's family has 120 acres of fertile land on the east bank of Jianhu Lake, since last year's punishment of the domestic slave Zhang Dachun, the income from the rent of autumn grain fields has doubled, the fields on both sides of Jianhu Lake are rich and fertile soil, a year can be planted with one season of wheat and two seasons of rice, after the late rice harvest in late autumn, immediately sow wheat, to April of the following year, harvest wheat, rush to plant early rice, as long as diligent, this virtuous land will be produced without stinginess, of course, except for natural disasters - since the beginning of spring in the forty-first year of Wanli, although most places in Shaoxing Mansion have been rainless, But the wheat is still harvested, last winter's heavy snow nourished the wheat field, and the wheat is also drought tolerant, after the wheat is harvested, it is necessary to rush to plant early rice, and it is this rice that is affected by the drought - early in the morning of April 18, Zhang Yuan went to Jianhu Grange to see the tenants planting early seedlings, Shi Shuang, Wuling followed, the big girl Yiting because she was more familiar with the situation of the grange, also followed, before the field rent was collected by Yiting accompanied Zhang Yuan's mother to go, but at that time Zhang Dachun and Xie Qifu and other four tenant farmers teamed up to deceive the master's family, Zhang's mother Lu is a woman's family, was kept in the dark, although Yi Ting was suspicious, he didn't say anything, now the situation is very different, who can deceive Zhang Yuan?

Yiting pulled Mu Zhenzhen and her companion, and Zhang Yuan a total of five people rented a canopy boat through the East Pond to Jianhu, the Eastern Han Dynasty will be Ji Tai Shou Ma Zhen dredge Jianhu Nahuiji, Shanyin two counties 36 source water, the early years of Jianhu Lake known as a radius of 800 miles, since the Jin and Tang Dynasties, the lake mud gradually silted, Haojia around the lake occupies the field, the current water area is only more than 100 miles, these months do not rain, the water level of Jianhu Lake drops a few feet, the shore of the lake is exposed a large area of silt, Zhang Yuan's grange is on the east bank of Jianhu Lake, not far from the Matthew Temple, Zhang Yuan's five people in the east of the lake boat landing, It's only a half-mile walk away.

The east shore of Jianhu Lake was originally a lake area, after the lake receded was a large area of flat wilderness, now all have been reclaimed into fertile fields, the farmland can be seen everywhere the figures of people bending to work, some fields have been cut off the wheat stubble exposed, some are still heavy wheat ears golden yellow, some are driving oxen to plow the field, some have rushed to plant seedlings - farmers are hard, from the first month to start busy, soil, cellar manure, mulberry, February to renovate the ridge, March selection, seedlings, April will be very busy, wheat, hemp, reclaim the field and plant seedlings, when Zhang Yuan arrived, Xie Qifu and other four tenant farmers led their wives and children to plant more than 100 acres of early seedlings, and they were a little free, preparing to celebrate the Seedlings Club in the field.

Zhang Yuan hurriedly said: "I'm just coming to see today, the wheat rent is still paid in early June, not in a hurry, not in a hurry." ”

Xie Qifu thought that Zhang Yuan saw that this year's wheat harvest was good and wanted to increase the wheat rent, so he complained: "Young Master Zhang, this year is a big drought, this early seedling planting is planted, but who knows if there is a harvest." ”

Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "Lao Xie, don't complain first, I'm not here to collect rent or increase rent, I'll come to see how much the drought has affected our field this year, and I will reduce some grain rent for you as appropriate." ”

Xie Qifu and the other four tenant farmers were overjoyed, and said: "The young master has a good heart, and the young master has a good heart." "Thank you so much.

Xie Qifu led Zhang Yuan and the five people to the field to take a look, the thin ridge road, Yi Ting didn't dare to go, Mu Zhenzhen said: "Sister Yi Ting, although you go in front, I will protect you in the back, and I won't let you fall into the seedling field." ”

Yi Ting said: "I really want to protect the young master, how can I have no time to control me." ”

Zhang Yuan smiled: "Am I a foot-bound woman, although the ridge road is narrow, it is also a foot wide, and I strode forward." He also said: "I want that woman to wrap her feet, her good feet are wrapped into semi-disabled, and she will suffer for life, Sister Yiting and Zhenzhen are really lucky not to wrap their feet." ”

Yi Ting said with a smile: "That's because the young lady has a good life to be wrapped, where do they have to take such a road, they will take a boat and take a sedan chair when they go out." ”

Zhang Yuan said: "The young lady who is not bound is considered lucky, otherwise in my opinion, it is not as good as you." "Sometimes the maid is indeed much freer than everyone else, such as Zhenzhen, you can also follow him to the restaurant, and although those deep ladies are waited on by others, they have no worries about food and clothing, but it is difficult to go out for a single step, which is equivalent to prison house arrest - Yi Ting looked at Zhang Yuan and smiled, and said: "Young master, this is a compliment to the life of my young grandmother who has not passed the door, right?" Yi Ting also knew that Shang Ran was not bound to his feet.

Zhang Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, it's really rare." ”

Yi Ting and Mu Zhenzhen both laughed, Yi Ting said: "Of course Miss Shang can marry such a reasonable person as the young master, of course it is a good fate, I and Zhenzhen are both hard-working, Zhenzhen still has a father, I don't even know who my father and mother are, she sold me at the age of six, fortunately, the main mother has a good heart, and I didn't suffer anything." ”

Yi Ting said so, and Mu Zhenzhen walked on the ridge road one after the other, Meng summer weather, clear sky, although it has not rained for several months, but this Jian Lake has not been affected, the grass on the ridge is like grass, the mulberry trees in the field are in rows, a large area of seedling fields in the early summer sun glowing with water, sniffing the grass and trees seedlings and green gas between the noses, at this moment Yi Ting and Mu Zhenzhen The two maids feel that their lives are not bad, they have grown up peacefully, and the main family treats them well, walking on the ridge road, the mood is really good - Zhang Yuan, Shi Shuang and the others followed the tenant farmer Xie Qifu around the more than 100 acres of land, Zhang Yuan saw that the canal that led to the water of Jianhu Lake was blocked, and if the water level of Jianhu Lake dropped by one more foot, the lake water would not be able to attract it, and the seedlings would soon die without water, so he said to Xie Qifu and the four tenant farmers: "Your waterwheel must be ready, it is not possible to irrigate the fields without diverting water, and this ditch must be dredged with force." ”

Xie Qifu said that the two waterwheels were decayed, this had just rented two oxen to plough the fields, and paid the official dues, the four families could not afford to make a new waterwheel with silver money for the time being, Zhang Yuan went to the grass shed to see, the two waterwheels were made of the 12th year of Wanli, and they had always been used less, poorly maintained, and they were all rotten, so he said: "I will help your four families with one or two silver, and if you are not enough, the four of you will get together, and quickly find a carpenter to build a waterwheel. ”

Xie Qifu was overjoyed and quickly kowtowed to thank each other.

At this time, it was already lunch time, Xie Qifu had already instructed the Hun family to kill a chicken and stew, the aroma was overflowing, and the other three tenant farmers took four tails of Jianhu anchovies, some picked fresh vegetables, and some brought the old wine village to brew, and made up five or six dishes to entertain Zhang Yuan's five people, Zhang Yuan came this time, and specially asked Shi Shuang to buy two baskets of pastries and desserts to give to the children of the four tenants, and the tenants of this kind of cake were willing to buy for the children to eat, so the six or seven children of the four tenants ate the cakes happily.

Shi Shuang and Yi Ting didn't dare to dine at the same table with the young master, Zhang Yuan said: "Is it good to let Lao Xie and them cook another table of dishes to invite you?" Sit, sit together. Shi Shuang and the four of them sat down around the square table, and after walking all morning, the five people were hungry and had a great appetite, Zhang Yuan smiled and said: "The peasant food is delicious." "In fact, the fish, meat and vegetables in Shanyin City are also picked by the villagers on the outskirts of the city to sell in the city, could it be that the cooking skills of Shishuang's wife Cuigu are not as good as the Hun family of Xie Qifu?

With lunch, Zhang Yuan went to the nearby Matthew Shou Shrine to the statue of Matthew Shou on three incense, this shrine is a little dilapidated, wipe the remnants of the monument, Zhang Yuan saw the Southern Song Dynasty champion Wang Shipeng rebuilt the Matthew Shou Shrine when the poem was written:

"Huiji is sparsely chiseled from the Eastern Capital, and there is no after the success. It can make the Yue people nostalgic for virtue, and the temple has eaten Hejia Lake so far. ”

The wind and rain in Shanyin have been smooth for many years, and there are no drought and flood disasters, so no one thinks of sacrificing Ma Tai Shou, and it is estimated that the incense of Ma Tai Shou Shrine will be prosperous in the future.

Red and westward, the canopy boat crossed the Jianhu Lake and rowed towards the county seat of Shanyin, the double oars hit the water very rhythmically, Zhang Yuan closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the water at the bottom of the boat, thinking about the natural disasters of this Xiaoice period, he could not do anything about it, he was not a local official, or the role of the local official was limited, even Shaoxing such a water town would suffer from drought, the national fortune of the Ming Dynasty was really decaying, what Zhang Yuan could do now was to take care of his own few tenant farmers and help them survive the famine year, it is estimated that the fields by this Jianhu Lake will not be harvested even if they are affected, and there is also the establishment of Yicang, This matter has to be explained to the ancestor of the clan Zhang Rulin, and the establishment of Yicang Tun to accumulate disaster relief food should also be implemented as soon as possible - in the evening, Zhang Yuan went to the West Zhangbei Courtyard to meet the ancestor Zhang Rulin after dinner, and said that what he saw when he went out of the city today and said that Lu Yunpeng and others thanked each other with land deeds and silver money and he wanted to use this to set up a righteous warehouse, Zhang Rulin frowned and said: "You are only sixteen years old, and studying is a serious matter, is this a bit overly careful?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "The grandson of the clan thinks that there is a line in the knowledge, there is knowledge in the line, the grandson of the clan reads the book of the sages, the reason of the world, is to use the truth, such knowledge is the true knowledge, read thousands of books, travel thousands of miles, blindly bury in the study, what he has learned is outdated knowledge, how to help the world." ”

Zhang Rulin laughed, nodded and said: "You are open-minded, your ambitions are not small, very good, my uncle is willing to help in this matter, can you think about what the name of this Yicang is?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "I was about to borrow the fame of my uncle, please ask my uncle to give me a name." ”

Zhang Rulin thought for a moment and said, "How about calling Yang and Yicang?" "Yanghe is the number of Zhang Rulin's father, Zhang Yuanbian.

Zhang Yuanxi said: "Very good. ”

Zhang Rulin said: "The matter of preparing for the establishment of Yicang has to be given to the Hou County Order, the Hou County Order is your teacher, you tell him, you want to act in my name and I will follow you, but these things have to wait for the government test to release the list, if you pass the government test, it is a child, I donate 300 stones to Yicang, if the government test can not pass, then nothing will be mentioned." ”

Zhang Yuan crossed his hands and said, "Yes." ”

But I heard Zhang Rulin smile and said: "If you are lucky enough to win the head of the government test, then I will donate 500 stone rice, haha." ”

Zhang Yuanxin said: "At present, the price of rice is about one tael of silver and two stones, and five hundred stone rice is two hundred and fifty taels of silver, and two hundred and five is not very good, but the price of rice will rise soon, and it is not uncommon for the price of rice to double in a few months." ”

Zhang Yuan returned to Dongzhang's house, it was already dark, the moon had not yet risen, and the big stone came to report that Hou County Commander had sent a disciple to pass him to ask questions, Zhang Yuan didn't know what was going on, so he took Wuling and hurriedly followed the door to the county government - Shaoxing Mansion Examination, tens of thousands of candidates, 20,000 eight-share essays, calculated according to 400 words, that is, 8 million words, to complete the evaluation and release of the case within half a month, if the prefect Xu Shijin bears it alone, it will never be completed, Xu Shijin summoned the county orders and county studies and teachings of the eight counties of Shaoxing Prefecture to the government office to read the papers together, so that together with him and the professors of Shaoxing Fuxue, there were eighteen people, and the burden was greatly reduced, and the county orders and teachings of each county were responsible for the examination papers of the county, and the primary election was 300 people, and a total of 2,400 people were selected in eight counties, and the primary election was completed, and the county orders and teachings of the eight counties were returned to their own counties, and the rest of the reading papers were completed by Xu Shijin and the professors of Fuxue - in early April, all the candidates in the eight counties ended the government examination, and the primary selection began on the 12th, and the primary selection was completed on the 18th. Shanyin County ordered Hou Zhihan to return to the county office, and asked the disciples to pass Zhang Yuan, and when he saw Zhang Yuan, Hou Zhihan said: "Zhang Yuan, today the primary election of the government examination has ended, and there are 300 candidates of more than 1,600 candidates in Shanyin County who have passed the primary election, and then Xu Zhifu will admit 120 people from these 300 people as children, and there is a quota limit for children, Shanyin and Huiji are big counties, there are 120 people, and the other six counties are 100 people-I call you today, I want to ask you how to solve the problem of those two eight-strand essays?" ”

Zhang Yuan recited the "Zhao Mengzhi's Place" and "The Gentleman Yu Yuyi" to Hou County's order, Hou Zhihan frowned and said: "It seems that there are no two crafts among the three hundred people in my primary election, what's going on, is it missing!" ”

Hou Zhihan has high hopes for Zhang Yuan, if Zhang Yuan doesn't even pass the primary election of the government examination, then even he will be greatly frustrated, Zhang Yuan is the head of the case by him, Zhang Yuan can not pass the government examination, which is equivalent to saying that he is ignorant of people, but with his memory, it seems that he has not read Zhang Yuan's two eight-strand essays, so he asked Zhang Yuan to recite the two eight-strand essays to him completely, confirming that he has not read this exam paper - Hou Zhihan said in his heart: "Could it be that Xu Shijin wants to deliberately suppress Zhang Yuan and take Zhang Yuan's exam paper away, which is also too deceitful!" He asked Zhang Yuan about the scene of handing over the papers, and heard Zhang Yuan say that Xu Zhifu was very appreciative of his two crafts, Hou Zhihan laughed and said: "You didn't say it earlier, but I was worried about you, so it seems that Xu Zhifu has already taken you as a child, okay, you go back and wait for good news, I am so tired and dizzy these days, I want to rest early." ”

Zhang Yuan returned to the house, and after that, he read with peace of mind, practiced calligraphy, played with his two little nephews, and waited for the government to release the list.

Before noon on April 24, Zhang Yuan was reading the twenty-third volume of "Zhaoming Anthology" in the study room of the West Building, this volume is a selection of ancient poems of the Wei and Jin dynasties, and the poetry of the Wei and Jin dynasties has a frank atmosphere, and it is really refreshing to read good poems, and he can't help but chant aloud:

"Subtle and charming, Feihong resounds. The sky is ashamed of the clouds, and the perched river is sinking. Virtue and wisdom are clumsy, and the ability to return farmland is not responsible. Favoritism against the poor sea, lying on the empty forest. The pillow is waiting for the festival, and the opening is temporary. Listen to the waves and raise your eyes to look at the mountains. The first scene is changing, and the new yang is changing the old yin. Spring grass grows in the pond, and the willows in the garden become songbirds......"

"The pond grows spring grass, and the garden willow becomes a songbird" was appreciated by later generations of poets, Xie Lingyun himself also said, "If there is divine help", Zhang Yuan is tasting poetry, Wuling ran up, and said loudly: "Young master, Mr. Qin from Hangzhou is here." ”

"Mr. Qin?"

Zhang Yuan didn't understand who it was for a while, and then realized that it was Qin Minping, and thought, "Why is Qin Minping here?" "Hurry up and put down the scroll and go to meet you.

Qin Minping stood respectfully outside the bamboo fence gate with six native soldiers, and when he saw Zhang Yuan coming out, Qin Minping took the lead in kneeling down, Zhang Yuan couldn't help him, and quickly knelt down and said: "Brother Qin, you are tormenting the little brother!" ”

Qin Minping said solemnly: "Brother Xian, you must accept this worship, Brother Fool is to thank you on behalf of 100,000 Shizhu people." ”

When Zhang Yuan heard Qin Minping say this, his face was immediately full of joy, he got up and helped Qin Minping up, and asked, "Is it true that the imperial court's edict to pardon General Ma has come down?" ”

Qin Minping was also full of smiles, nodded and said, "Exactly, so the foolish brother rushed to tell the virtuous brother that I came here to kowtow to Ling Zun and Ling Tang." "The people of the earth value righteousness, which is commensurate with Zhang Yuan's brothers, and Zhang Yuan's parents are also his Qin Minping's elders, so they must kowtow to their faces.

Zhang Yuan couldn't refuse, so he entered the inner courtyard and said to his mother, and helped his mother to the front hall, that Qin Minping knelt down and kowtowed three times, Zhang's mother Lu quickly asked Zhang Yuan to help Qin Minping up, and said a few words, Yiting helped Zhang's mother Lu to go in, Qin Minping was about to leave, saying that he wanted to rush back to Kuizhou in eastern Sichuan, Zhang Yuan said: "How can this be reasonable, my brother has come from a long way, and he always has to rest for one night before leaving." ”

Qin Minping said: "I can't rest, the foolish brother is like an arrow, the ancestral hall of Gonggong Zhong has been built, I left fourteen soldiers to help build the ancestral hall, I have resigned to Gonggong Zhong this time, I don't have to go back to Hangzhou, go back to the west." He made a detour of hundreds of miles to Shanyin just to inform Zhang Yuan and kowtow to Zhang Yuan's mother - Zhang Yuan said: "In this case, then I will not keep my brother more, but a meal is indispensable." "Let Xiaoshi go and call Mu Jingyan to come, and go to the Fuxue Palace Cross Street Restaurant to invite Qin Minping and his party of seven to drink.

While I was drinking and talking, I suddenly saw many people running on the street from the long window on the second floor, and someone shouted: "It's been released, the list has been released." "Rush to the government to see the list of documents.

Zhang Yuan's heart jumped suddenly, but he was silent, and continued to drink and eat with Qin Minping, whether he was anxious or not, the list had been determined there, and it didn't hurt to know it later, but this Shaoxing wine was glass after glass, and he drank without feeling - most of the people on the cross street ran to see the list, and the street was rarely quiet, and it didn't stay quiet for long, so I heard the gongs and drums coming from the sky, and the firecrackers "crackled" and exploded, and a group of drummers blew suona and beat gongs and drums and walked quickly across the cross street, and turned around the Fuxue Palace.

Zhang Yuan recognized this group of drummers, and he went to his house to report the good news three times, and it seems that this is his house, it seems that he has won it, so I don't know if it is the head of the case?

Qin Minping saw Zhang Yuan frequently looking out of the window, suddenly woke up, put down the wine glass, and said, "By the way, the virtuous brother also participated in the government exam, hurry up and go to see the list." ”

Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "Don't argue about this time, the person who reported the news will come soon." ”

Sure enough, the group of drummers blew and beat and came around again, and it was Wuling who walked in front, and he led these drummers to the restaurant.

(To be continued)