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After Liu Xiaohu finished saying this, everyone present, including the emperor, looked at him like a fool, you must know that at this time, the cotton mentioned is kapok, and there is no "cotton" word in later generations at all, only "cotton" appears, referring to perennial kapok, that is, Asian cotton, "Wu Lu" said this cotton: "...... Tall, like a wine glass, with a cotton ,...... in his mouth"

And in the early Tang Dynasty, "Book of Liang. The Biography of Zhurong in the Northwest said: "Gaochang ...... There are many plants and trees, the grass is solid like a cocoon, and the silk in the cocoon is as thin as a cocoon, and it is called white stacks. Chinese people take more weaving as cloth, and the cloth is very soft and white ......", this is African cotton, that is, grass cotton was transmitted to China, but it was limited to Xinjiang and was not known and used by the Central Plains.

Silk and linen have always been the main clothing raw materials, cloth has appeared, but because of the small output, and not popular, the Northern Song Dynasty everyone used the main source of extracted cloth is still kapok, today's kapok, the output is very low, so the official price per catty is thirty to fifty wen, then you can understand when Liu Xiaohu said four or five hundred catties of cotton to everyone shocked.

"Liu Qing, do you have any evidence for what you said?" The emperor was the first to recover, and asked with a slight stammer.

Liu Xiaohu felt that sweat was dripping down his forehead, and his momentary hesitation immediately made Li Ding grab the handle and said coldly: "Liu Yanzhang is striving for fame and fortune, bold and reckless, and has lost the courtesy of the minister, please impeach." ”

Li Ding's loud voice startled Liu Xiaohu, raised his eyes to the emperor's suspicious eyes, stimulated him to extinguish a trace of hesitation in his heart, lowered his head and said in a deep voice: "This cotton seed is produced in the South China Sea countries, introduced from overseas in the early Tang Dynasty, scattered in the Nanhai counties of Fujian, but not planted on a large scale, the most suitable for dryland planting, the minister has been paying attention to it for a long time, a year ago he sent someone to collect seeds, cultivated in the cellar fire room at home, this spring transplanted in the ground, have grown, especially to play the Shengshang, go to check." ”

With the emperor's swing, ignoring the spring breeze in the middle of March, a group of officials left the palace and passed through the noisy street market, only to the most inferior dry land outside the capital, and saw that the few cents of the grass in the field, with the wind swaying seedlings, the ministers did not care about the etiquette or squatting or bending in it, this piece of high ground is surrounded by barren grass, not far from the good field of wheat is rising day by day.

"This was originally a bad land where wheat didn't even grow, but now it can grow, which shows that this thing is really extraordinary." Some ministers said, and then listened to Liu Xiaohu's detailed explanation to the emperor, and the people present were all moved, who of them did not have a hundred and eighty acres of land in their families, and naturally there were some inferior land, if they could really grow cotton, then what would grow would be real money, and even some people began to ask Liu Xiaohu where to buy seeds, and some people were worried about whether they missed the planting period.

"All places in Fujian are available, and it is extremely cheap, grab the cold tail and warm head sunny day sowing, because I am transplanting, so it is early, direct sowing, at the latest to the end of next month." Liu Xiaohu said with a smile, looking at the green cotton field in front of him, and then thinking of the cotton planted by Lindsay jade in the countryside, he couldn't help but say, "When it blooms in July, the posture is graceful, no less than the posture of a peony." ”

Deng Juan bowed down excitedly at this time and said: "Your Majesty, food, clothing, housing and transportation are important matters for all the people, and now the prime minister grows sweet potatoes to relieve my worries about the mouths of all the people, and now there are Liu Daren cotton seedlings, so that my Great Song Dynasty will no longer be hungry, no more cold, God bless my dynasty." As soon as he took the lead, many ministers followed and shouted that the emperor's life was peaceful in the world, and the emperor who shouted was also dizzy.

"Your Majesty, although this thing has been grown for a long time, it has not been planted in a large area, so I think it should not be promoted rashly." Prime Minister Wang Qi, who has never liked to express opinions, said slowly, while looking at Liu Xiaohu, "Then Mrs. Cao is proficient in farming, so it is better to ask her." As soon as the words fell, he felt that Liu Xiaohu's eyes looked straight, so with his natural personality, he hurriedly said: "Lord Liu can grow rice and wheat into a second crop, but he is not in a hurry to promote, it can be seen that he is acting prudently, and the minister is pleased that His Majesty has such a talent." ”

The emperor nodded when he heard this, and couldn't help but be happy and said: "Liu Qing, I am asking you to supervise this matter, choose a place to plant carefully, and see the results." ”

Liu Xiaohu bowed down, if he just chose the land and planted it carefully, it would be much easier, but he couldn't imagine that since he put the value of this cotton in front of people, things were no longer under the control of the emperor's words.

As the saying goes, the valley rains, the valley is born with rain, before and after the valley rain, the weather is warmer, the rainfall increases, it is the best season to sow seedlings and transplant seedlings, melons and beans, March 17 Jiangning Zhongshan foot of the small village, the sky is densely sprinkled with light rain, but the farmers in the field are still working.

Lindsay Yu, who was wearing a red satin shirt and a white thread skirt, stood at the head of the field with a hat, Yumei held an umbrella in one hand and held her tightly with the other, her face was nervous and worried, watching the rain cross the umbrella and sprinkle on Lindsay Yu's bulging abdomen, which quickly became wet.

"Let's go back, that's it, they'll all be there." Yumei couldn't bear it anymore, frowned and said, "Now that my body is heavy, I still stand in the field for half a day, the big officials don't say it, I must be worried and can't sleep at night, you don't see that the eyes are red, you are strong, you should think about him, right?" ”

Lin Saiyu turned her head with a smile, patted her abdomen gently, and said, "You are still a girl, what do you know, the sooner you give birth, you have to move around more, and then you will have a good birth." ”

Yumei snorted and said, "Madam, this is your first child." As he spoke, he helped her turn back and walk.

"Sweet potatoes are very worry-free, this kind of going down, relying on the rain, sprinkling grass ash a few times a month, it's fine, just wait for the cold dew to harvest it, and then you will roast and eat, fry it, boil it, fry it, and steam it......" Lin Saiyu rubbed his sour waist with his hands, squinted and said, smelling the fishy smell of rain and earth, and yawned with satisfaction.

Yumei smiled and said, "The maid is blessed, waiting to taste Madame's good craftsmanship." ”

The road at the head of the field was narrow enough for only one person to walk, and she had to go down to the field, and rushed to help Lindsay Yu with a foot of mud, but now she was used to it, and she turned a blind eye to the mud stain on the newly made red shoes on her feet.

"Madame said it easily, but the minister is like guarding the gold mountain, and now he doesn't go to our house, but he stays in the field day and day, and he can't wait to accompany the sweet potato seedlings day and night to live, don't you see it, Mrs. Wu was annoyed and said that he was good, and then went back." Yumei smiled, walked out of the field, came to the smooth path, and stomped the mud on her feet casually.

There are seven or eight families scattered here, the largest house in the village is the mid-mountain building by the stone bridge and the adjacent Su family farmyard, these two houses are surrounded by green mountains and green water, but they do not seem to be inconsistent with the environment, they are like other families here, with low earthen walls, and the mid-mountain building simply does not even have a courtyard wall, there is no painted decoration, it is just an ordinary house that can shelter from the wind and rain, compared to the courtyard of the Su family, the side of the mid-mountain building looks more elegant.

Under the eaves sat two mothers-in-law who were sewing small futons, and when they saw them coming, they hurriedly stood up and greeted them: "Madam, this has been out for a long time, it's not the old woman who is talking, she will give birth two months earlier, but be careful." ”

Because Lindsay Yu's body was heavy, Mrs. Su was not at ease, so she found two midwives early to send them in case of emergency.

"The person replied, the father-in-law didn't come, the mother-in-law came with the golden egg, and she had already set off." After changing into wet clothes, Su Jinnan took the tea handed by Yumei and sat down.

There was a hint of joy on Lin Saiyu's face, no matter what, Lu Shi was her mother, and she could be by her side when she gave birth, and Lin Saiyu felt a little relieved for no reason.

"How to frown? But I'm afraid that she will come and quarrel with her mother? Don't worry, the two won't be annoyed. Lin Saiyu sat down and stretched out her hand to support Su Jinnan's slightly furrowed brows.

Su Jinnan pulled down her hand and said with a slight smile: "How come, my mother knew that my mother-in-law was coming, and she didn't say anything, she had already asked people to clean up the house." After a pause, he looked at Lin Saiyu's scrutinizing gaze, hesitated, and said, "Lady, isn't the cotton you planted last year very rare?" ”

Lin Saiyu waited for a long time for this sentence, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and said with a smile: "It's not rare, it's just that there aren't many people who plant it." ”

Su Jinnan's complexion was much better, and he said with a smile: "My lady is a farmer, and now I am like a farmer, and I am curious when I see the growth of the field." ”

Lindsay Yu pursed her lips and smiled, is this just Aiwu and Wu? The smile on her lips hadn't dissipated yet, but Su Jinnan's next words made her freeze.

"That cotton is not a rare thing now, a few days ago, the price of cotton seeds on Fujian Road and even in Lingnan doubled several times, and the people who grabbed the seeds pulled out the rice and drained it into dry fields, and they all had to plant cotton......" Su Jinnan said with a smile, before he finished speaking, he saw Lin Saiyu sitting on him suddenly stood up, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly reached out to help, and said angrily: "Be careful, it's still so shocking." ”

Lin Saiyu blinked, a little unbelieving what he had just heard, so he grabbed Su Jinnan's hand, and asked a little strange and surprised, "What did you say?" Are you growing cotton? How do they know that cotton can be grown? ”

I know that the ancient farmers have extraordinary wisdom, but this wisdom suddenly exploded in a large area is too amazing, to be exact, the promotion of every fresh species is slowly approaching, think that rice or wheat to the south, are all under the mandatory requirements of the imperial court, wheat alone, from the early Northern Song Dynasty in the south to promote the planting of wheat, until the end of the Southern Song Dynasty has not been popularized, which is related to the eating habits, geographical environment and weather, but also shows that the difficulty of new crops to be accepted and widely planted.

So why is cotton, which has not yet had any value to show to the world, suddenly so popular that it is still used to make people pull rice and grow cotton?

"The court said that this cotton will be able to produce four or five hundred catties of lint per mu in the future, lady, think about it, according to the price of kapok today, where is the cotton, it is simply gold, lady, didn't you also say that cotton can not only produce cotton, but also squeeze oil, it seems that the court also knows, originally those officials privately picked and planted, but soon by some big families knew, now everyone is rushing to plant it, in this way, the seeds are not enough, are very precious, I heard the court said that it can be planted on dry land that no one wants, Speaking of which, we in Jiangning know late, there are only seven or eight families in total who have planted five or six acres, and I heard them say that there are more planted in the north, and those big households have pulled out all the wheat because they can't vacate the land.

Su Jinnan's words echoed in Lin Saiyu's ears, and her eyes couldn't help but widen, so that the words couldn't be heard clearly, and instead they were full of buzzing in her ears.

It's troublesome, she only has this one thought in her heart, and there was a thunder outside the house, and the dense light rain became heavier and heavier, and through the screen curtain, the ground in the yard was already covered with rain bubbles.

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