Although he has been here many times, along the way, Wang Pin is still amazed by the sights he saw along the way. Just after the Spring Festival of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, there was no work in the farmland, so the military households began the winter training in the open space at the head of the village and the grange under the leadership of their own 100 households. Single-piece sandwich padded jackets, lightweight thin-soled fast boots, uniform dogskin hats, and the majestic momentum of hundreds of people, including the soaring mist exhaled by everyone, all make the continuous grange show a special vitality that is extraordinary.

The horse's hooves with a large bowl mouth stepped on the hard and dark earth, the sound was crisp and loud, and the children of military families and sentries who were shocked along the way saluted Zhu Ping'an and his party solemnly.

Zhu Ping'an staggered slightly, and put his right fist in front of his chest, as a return salute.

Wang Pin behind him couldn't help but be a little surprised. Fengyang has been in drought for two consecutive years, military households have been displaced, and the guards such as the Bancao Army and the Huling New Army have not said that they are ten rooms and nine empty, and now most of them have fled, not to mention the routine exercises every season, even eating is a problem.

But the thousands of households directly under Zhu Ping'an are thriving day by day. For a long time, Wang Pin was secretly thinking about this question, what method did Zhu Ping'an use to do this. But later, when he thought of Lu Zhenfei, Wang Pin was relieved, and couldn't help but secretly scold himself for being confused.

That Lu Zhenfei is Zhu Ping'an's mentor, can he watch his protégé be embarrassed, he must have given a lot of support in terms of money, food, weapons, armor and staff, etc., although Lu Zhenfei is a capable official, but for his students, how can he not have a little selfishness? Speaking of which, this is also human nature!

But it also shows the talent of the pair in another way.

Now, the eternal king Zhu Cijiong, born to Tian Guifei, has gradually grown up, although his master has occupied the position of the East Palace, but the emperor's favor for Tian Guifei is becoming more and more intense. If this continues to develop, I don't know that in the future, there will be no change in the future where the son is dependent on the mother.

Moreover, Tian Guifei's biological father, Tian Hongyu, is currently the governor of Zuodu, and he has a hot fight with the noble generals of the Beijing Division, and relying on his daughter to be favored, he began to unscrupulously make friends with the senior officials of the court and the palace officials. However, the grandfather of his master, Jia Dingbo, only knows how to accumulate wealth, and there is no aid in the DPRK and China, once there is a change, how can he control the overall situation.

Wang Pin thought about it, Fengyang's Lu Zhenfei was quite favored, but it was very likely that he would stay in the central cabinet, if he was brought over, it would be tantamount to holding Zhu Ping'an in his hands again. With such a literary and martial arts, they are all capable talents of the country, and the influence of the two of them is enough to compete with the Tian family.

It's just that he hinted at it many times, but Lu Zhenfei didn't say anything, so that Wang Pin was at a loss, it seems that he still has to focus on Zhu Ping'an's body, and gradually influence Lu Zhenfei's attitude through him.

Wang Pin's cranky thoughts, Zhu Ping'an naturally had no way of knowing, and when he saw the horse whipping into the grange, not far away was the mansion of the Zhang brothers.

The courtyard wall of the loess city was more than a man high, and when I heard the sound of horses' hooves, the watchdogs in the neighborhood all barked and gathered around, but the horses rushed to the front, but they scattered and fled.

Hearing the movement in the courtyard, several big men like black towers hurriedly ran out, it was Zhang Dagou, Hong Fatzi, Yue Jinfeng, Qiu Ze and others. A man in the army, rude and straightforward, although he had a dispute with the old soldiers when he first came, Qiu Ze's ability was admired by Yue Jinfeng and others, so before the end of the reorganization, several people were already familiar with each other, and Qiu Ze simply recognized Zhang Dagou's wife as his stepmother and moved straight to Zhang's house to live.

When everyone saw Zhu Ping'an, they were all happy, and when they saw Wang Pin in brocade clothes behind them, they all muttered, stepped forward to lead the horses, and after the salute, they looked at each other, but they didn't know how to speak.

Wang Pin smiled freely, and threw the horsewhip into Wang Jinfa's arms next to him, "Don't be formal, our family is following Lord Zhu to have lunch, all like this, don't you welcome our family!" ”

When Wang Pin said this, the atmosphere immediately eased up. In the Ming Dynasty, it was not uncommon for eunuchs to supervise the army, take charge of the imperial horse prison, and Beijing camp. Many eunuchs are also from the army, in addition to their special status, they are also proficient in military affairs, and their kung fu on foot is no less than that of the generals who command the army. In order to win the hearts of the army, some lieutenants simply lived in the barracks and ate and lived with the soldiers, and they were no different from ordinary soldiers. Therefore, in fact, in the Ming Army, the internal officials are not extremely repulsive.

Zhu Ping'an also smiled, "The prince is a distinguished guest who can't be invited, it's rare to come to our grange today, you guys have to cheer up and serve, don't wait for you." Sue Aunt Sù, don't be reluctant to let the vegetables and fruits in our greenhouse go! ”

"That's nature!" A few people applauded, and here Zhang Dagou called his brother and two dogs to the backyard to dig out the old wine buried in the ground to entertain the distinguished guests.

At this time, every winter, the farmers, including the people of the state city, are to harvest the remaining grain in the autumn for the winter, the family is a little better to have a cellar, can store some vegetables planted in spring and summer, etc., but this is after all a minority, with the Chongzhen years of thieves in the north, even the well-off family in the capital may not be able to eat vegetables in winter, and only the rich and wealthy families are equipped with ice cellars all year round, which can eat vegetables and fruits.

Walking into the courtyard, on both sides of the road paved with bluestone bricks, there were suddenly two tents about a foot long, Wang Pin was very surprised, hurriedly walked in to take a closer look, and found that the tent was actually built with light-colored tarpaulin.

Zhang Dagou saw Zhu Ping'an nodding, so he took two quick steps and pulled up the curtain of the tent. ”

"Hehe, my father-in-law will know it at a glance!"

Wang Pin hesitated a little and looked at it, but found that it was a neat tuft of land, dotted with bright green and crisp things, and if you looked closely, it was a unique vegetable and other crops in winter.

Wang Pin couldn't help but be curious, hurriedly got into the tent, and as soon as he entered the door, he hurriedly took off the cloak on his body, and threw it to the entourage behind him.

Not only are there vegetables growing on the land, but there are also large and small shelves in the tents, and there are also courgettes that have not been seen in the hotel for a long time, and they seem to be larger, and others such as pineapples, sword beans, lentils, peppers, water chestnuts, yellow leeks, etc. are readily available.

Even in winter, the dishes in the palace may not be as complete as those in such a tent.

Wang Pin's voice became trembling, "Brother Zhu Xian, this is, this is ......?" ”

"This is called a vegetable greenhouse", Zhu Ping'an explained: "Fengyang has been dry for many years, the land is barren, and this winter is extremely cold, so the younger brother collected some vegetable seeds and built a greenhouse with oilcloth to prevent cold and keep warm. In this tent, it is like a spring day, and the aunt's family has worked intensively to achieve such a harvest. ”

"Vegetable greenhouse!" Wang Pin muttered these words, "Brother Xian is really talented, there are so many kinds of dishes in this winter, it is really an eye-opener for Brother Yu, it turns the tide and changes the season of growth, it is really, really magical, whimsical!" ”

In fact, this is just one of Zhu Ping'an's many experiments, and the vast majority of the technologies and knowledge of later generations are difficult to achieve in this era, and the development of science and technology and productive forces has its own laws, and it is impossible to become fat in one bite. So Zhu Ping'an planned to use those simple and easy things first.

The idea of vegetable greenhouses has long been there, but in the era of the Ming Dynasty, there was no suitable thing to play the role of thermal insulation plastic film, and this is the most basic material for greenhouse construction.

After a long period of speculation, Zhu Ping'an finally discovered the material of oilcloth. Oil cloth first appeared in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, the people accidentally left the cloth in the oil drum, but then found that the cloth soaked in oil became tough, smooth and impermeable, so they used it for waterproof purposes, mostly used for tents, umbrellas and other things.

During this period of the Ming Dynasty, it was very difficult to find a material that was denser than the tarpaulin, although the insulation and light transmittance of the tarpaulin were far inferior to that of plastic film, but now it can only be settled.

Fortunately, after the practice, Zhu Ping'an finally selected the material to soak the cloth with tung oil, which was built by the king of the horseman, and used with some viscous substances, such as leather glue, etc., and finally made the greenhouse oil cloth born in the world. Although it is not as good as the plastic film, the effect of heat preservation is immediate, and at the end of last year, the first batch of vegetables was finally produced.

The only downside is that the cost is too high. This cost does not refer to labor and vegetable seeds, as well as cycles, but refers to tung oil and cloth, in comparison, only cloth, this greenhouse is not affordable for ordinary people.

Therefore, at present, it can only be used as a luxury product for early adopters. If you want to promote it, you must ensure that there is enough cloth to use, and the price of this cloth must not be too high.

Suddenly, Zhu Ping'an saw a red and bright thing hanging on the branch, and was a little stunned, pointing and asking Zhang Dagou, "Big dog, this thing is actually alive?" ”

Zhang Dagou grinned, "The things that the adults personally explained, my mother is careful, you haven't come here for a while, and you have already married a few earlier, and they have all been put away as treasures by my mother!" ”

Suddenly, Zhang Dagou's face changed, "My lord, I, I only stole one, you must not sue my mother!" ”

Zhu Ping'an looked at those red and glamorous fruits, his heart suddenly soured, and the memories buried deep in his heart poured out like a tide. When he was young, before the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, he and his parents bought a large number of these fruits, chopped them up and put them in glass bottles for infusions, and sealed them tightly. When winter comes, you can enjoy the delicious taste of summer. Now, after coming to this world, it is the first time I have seen this kind of thing, but I can't go back to the old days.

Wang Pin didn't notice Zhu Ping'an's strange appearance, pointed to the glamorous fruit and asked Wang Pin, "Brother Xian, what is this?" ”

Zhu Ping'an looked at it, "Father-in-law, this thing is called Western ......, oh, it's called tomato, it was brought in from overseas Fanbang, and it was also a coincidence. This thing was originally sown in spring and harvested in summer, but under the younger brother Shiyàn, he actually planted it in this greenhouse! ”

"This thing is so brightly colored, can it be eaten?" Wang Pin will be skeptical.

"Of course", as he spoke, Zhu Ping'an plucked one from the branch, opened his mouth and took a mouthful, and the bright red juice flowed down the corners of his mouth, "Sweet and sour, very delicious!" ”

Zhu Ping'an took another one and stuffed it into Wang Pin's hand, "Father-in-law, please try it too!" ”

Zhu Ping'an turned to leave, but Wang Pin hid the tomato fruit in his sleeve.