Since Qin Dong stayed in the Governor's Palace, Governor Patrick and other officials always asked the people around Qin Dong about Qin Dong's next itinerary, which is also a matter of common sense, only knowing Qin Dong's specific itinerary, Patrick and others can make preparations for safety work and other aspects of inspection work, but unfortunately they couldn't get any itinerary from the people around Qin Dong, in fact, even the people around Qin Dong don't know Qin Dong's specific plans after coming to Thrace Province.

Early in the morning of the second day after arriving in Edirne, Qin Dong sent people to summon the governor Patrick, the political envoy Fowler, and the provincial envoy Cliff, and others.

"See Your Majesty!" When a cadre saw Qin Dong, they saluted and worshipped.

Qin Dong just finished dressing, dressed in a capable regular clothes, like a son-in-law, but because his temperament is different, he does not have the impetuousness of an ordinary son-in-law.

"Oh, you're here? It just so happens that I'm going to inspect the construction of water conservancy and irrigation facilities in the farmland, so come with me to see it, and show me the way by the way! Qin Dong shook his hand and walked out of the door as he spoke.

Everyone glanced at each other, but they didn't expect Qin Dong to go to see the construction of farmland water conservancy facilities and irrigation facilities, and the political envoy Fowler hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, you can wait for the ministers to go back and change their clothes, and it doesn't look good to wear this to the fields!" ”

Qin Dong stopped and glanced back, "I see that you are all dressed very well, you don't need to change it, let's go!" "Say it, strode out of the lobby.

Seeing this, Patrick and the others could only bite the bullet and follow. Fowler originally wanted to take advantage of the time to go back to change into civilian clothes and quickly arrange for someone to notify him, so that he could show Qin Dong a good side when Qin Dong was on patrol, but he didn't expect Qin Dong to give them time to go back at all. Directly forcibly pulled them along.

Some officials speculated that there would be another officialdom earthquake this time, because no one could figure out where Qin Dong was going to inspect and what government affairs he was going to inspect, so the officials had no relevant preparations before. Qin Dong was completely going to attack suddenly this time, and he didn't give the Thracian provincial officials time to prepare, what he wanted to see was the real situation.

said that he wanted Patrick and others to lead the way, but in fact, Qin Dong didn't ask them to lead the way at all. He himself rode up with the Praetorian Iron Cavalry and in one morning reached the outskirts of Hafsa, a county east of Edirne.

Qin Dong asked the Praetorian Iron Cavalry to find an open field in the suburbs and set up camp. He took a group of officials with him to the fields by the roadside to check on the situation, where many people were digging canals, and there were already farmers plowing the fields with iron plows next to the canals, and the wheat in these fields had just been harvested. Some have been ploughed in the fields. Farmers have already planted cash crops such as beans, and the bean seedlings have already sprouted from the soil.

Qin Dong walked slowly along the ridge, the officials followed, and the peasants who were digging canals and working in the fields saw that Qin Dong and his party were dressed extraordinarily, and they all stopped what they were doing to look over, when a man in official clothes trotted over and asked, "Is there something wrong with this lord coming here?" ”

This official can be regarded as having a bit of eyesight, and he can see at once that Qin Dong is the leader, and the followers are behind. That's why he asked Qin Dong first, and Qin Dong smiled: "Are you the official in charge here?" What's the matter here? ”

"Yes. My lord, didn't the above allocate funds two months ago and order the peasants to build canals and irrigation facilities? It's been two months of busy work, and the villain is in charge of farmland and water conservancy in this town! ”

Qin Dong nodded, walked to the side of the canal that several farmers were digging and looked at it, the canal was not dug very deep, about sixty centimeters, it was enough to use this depth as a field canal, he turned his head and asked the official just now: "According to your current progress, how long will it take to finish digging?" ”

"I've been digging for two months, and if the weather is good, it will only take half a month to finish digging at the current pace!"

It's early May, which means that by late May, these new canals will be ready for use, and the hot weather and the need for irrigation is in June, so it's just in time.

Qin Dong nodded, looked at a few honest peasants in front of him, looked at one of the peasants and asked, "Has the local government paid you for the construction of the canal?" ”

The farmer who was asked was a little scared and didn't dare to speak, and the official next to him was about to speak, but Qin Dong raised his hand and said, "This lord, I was asking him, not you!" ”

The official's face turned red at this time, but he didn't do anything, his feelings told him, Qin Dong and these people were probably not easy to mess with, so he still endured it.

The asked peasant stammered under Qin Dong's forced gaze: "Great, my lord, I paid the wages!" ”

Qin Dong asked, "How much is it per day?" Tube the rice? ”

"Three or thirty copper coins a day, no matter what the rice is!"

Qin Dong nodded, this salary is okay, although it is not high, but it is not the lowest, it can only be regarded as average, and he asked again: "Then how do you solve the problem of food during the time when you are building canals and irrigation facilities?" ”

"My lord, we all bring food from home, and when it's time to eat, we boil some boiling water in a clay pot on the side of the road and eat this steamed bun," the farmer said, taking out a hard steamed bun from his pocket and showing it to Qin Dong.

Qin Dong looked at the steamed bun, the steamed bun was not bad, but it lost its moisture after being in his pocket for a long time, so it was hard, but Qin Dong didn't expect to get Thracian Province for a year, and the practice of this steamed bun has also been passed here.

Qin Dong asked: "As far as I know, in addition to paying taxes, peasants also have to engage in forced labor, so why do you have to pay wages for the construction of canals and irrigation facilities?" ”

The peasant obviously didn't understand this reason, but there was a peasant next to him who knew it, and this man said: "This lord, it's like this, the official said that the imperial court issued a decree very early, as if it was called the "One Whip Law", one of which was to convert the conscription into money and hand it over together with the taxes, and if there was anything to do with the conscription, the imperial court would invite us peasants to work, but we had to pay our wages!" ”

Qin Dong asked again: "Then do you think this one is good?" ”

The peasant said: "It's much better than before, take the villain as an example, after the villain's conscription is converted into money and handed in, the villain does not have to engage in the conscription of the imperial court, and the money earned by doing other work during this period is more than the money to be handed over after the conscription is converted, and the people who are recruited by the government to work earn more money than the conscription money they have to hand over, although for the government, the conscription is converted into silver money, and then when it is necessary to work, it seems a bit redundant. But in fact, it is much more convenient for the government and us peasants, I am the only man in our family, if I want to serve in the conscription, then there will be no one to work in the family, I might as well pay some money, and I can earn more by staying at home and working! ”

Qin Dong didn't expect that there would be such benefits after a whip law was really implemented, just like the peasant said, whether it was for the government or the peasants, it was convenient for both sides, the peasants were reluctant to serve the levy in the past, not to mention the delay in time, and it was very difficult to manage, after the promulgation and implementation of a whip law, the peasants only had to pay the money, and the work to be done by the government used the collected money to recruit people to do it, and the recruited people were very motivated, which was different from the previous reluctance to serve the levy service, for they have wages to take.

After this inquiry, Qin Dong also found that a whip law was implemented very well, and the funds allocated for the construction of water conservancy and irrigation facilities were also earmarked, as for whether there were any officials who were greedy for ink, it was not clear for the time being, at least for the time being, no reports in this regard had been received, and the Supervision Yuan had not received any reports and related news related to this matter.

Next, after seeking the consent of the officials in charge of the affairs next to him, Qin Dong took a few farmers who had just worked with him to ask about some agricultural matters.

Qin Dong walked on the edge of the field, pointed to a field that had been planted with green seedlings and asked, "What kind of grain is grown in this field?" ”

Just now the peasant replied, "My lord, these are beans, yellow and yellow, we call them soybeans, and when there is no grain to eat, the beans can be fried and eaten!" It's fragrant when it's cooked."

It turned out to be soybeans, and of course Qin Dong knew that the reason why soybeans were so fragrant after being fried was because the soybean oil in the soybeans was fried and exuded a fragrance.

Qin Dong said: "Soybeans? I know this, soybeans can not only be fried and eaten, it can also be squeezed for oil, the fried soybean oil is very fragrant, you can put a little soybean oil into it when stir-frying, which can increase the taste, lubricate the intestines, and facilitate the human body to absorb the nutrients of food, soybeans can also be made into soy milk and tofu! ”

"Soy milk, tofu? What is that? The farmer asked, puzzled.

Qin Dong said casually: "It is to soak the soybeans for a period of time and grind them into slurry, this is the raw soybean milk, wrap it in gauze and squeeze it, squeeze the soybean milk out of the gauze bag, generally squeeze it twice, boil it and drink it, if you want to eat tofu, add some salt brine or gypsum to the soybean milk, and after stirring it becomes a tofu flower, this is also edible, the taste is still very good, wrap the tofu flower within a quarter of an hour, press it with a wooden board, put a stone, and press it for about a quarter of an hour to become tofu." To make dried tofu, you need to scoop the tofu flowers into a wooden tray basin, wrap them in a cloth and cover them with a wooden board. Pile stones on the board and press the water to make dried tofu. ”

Qin Dong didn't care when he said it, but a farmer next to him heard it and went to his heart, and when he went back, he tried it a few times according to the method and steps of making zuò that Qin Dong said, and made the world-famous tofu. (To be continued......)