Seven days later, in the morning, the ships arrived in the town of Mudu, where they would rest for two days before continuing south.

The old house was empty, but it was still clean and tidy, and everyone cleaned up a little and rested.

Fan Ning went to the family, he left home earlier, and did not have much contact with the Fan family, only during the Ding Wei period of his father's death, he lived in Mudu, which became close to the family.

Accompanied by the patriarch, Fan Ning swept the tombs of his cousin Fan Zhongyan and father Fan Tiezhou, and invited dozens of clansmen to lunch in Mudu Town, and then followed his third uncle Fan Tieniu home.

Fan Tieniu is now the second member of Mudu Town, second only to the owner of Liu, his house is in the easternmost part of the town, covering an area of more than 20 acres, behind which is the endless farmland, he now has 5,000 acres of land, in addition to his own 2,000 acres of land, Zhu Pei's 3,000 acres of land was also handed over to him, in addition to Fan Tieniu also runs three restaurants in the town and the medical hall left by his brother Fan Tiezhou.

The restaurant and the medical hall were left to Fan Ning's half-brother Fan Mingxiao, and the child was passed on to Fan Tieniu, who is now Fan Tieniu's second son and is currently studying in Yanying Academy.

"How is Mingxiao now?" Fanning asked.

"This kid is very filial and obedient, but it's a pity that his studies are a little worse, and he was admitted to Yanying School exceptionally, he was only admitted to the county Mudu Town School, I personally feel that he is not suitable for taking the path of the imperial examination."

Fan Tieniu said very implicitly, after all, this is also Fan Ning's younger brother, and he can't deprive his child of the opportunity to study.

Fan Ning nodded, "Let him finish his county school and government school, and then I will arrange for him to go to Taixue to study medicine, and inherit the medical hall when he returns." ”

The Taixue of the Song Dynasty was not only scripture, but also martial arts, law, medicine, arithmetic, calligraphy, and painting.

Fan Tieniu has no objection to Fan Ning's arrangement, his eldest son Lu Min is wandering outside, and it is estimated that he will not return to his hometown, and he hopes that his second son will stay in his hometown to inherit his and his brother's career.

"How's Grandma?" Fanning asked again.

"She's fine, eats well, sleeps well, and has a tough body, but her ears aren't very good."

Fan Tieniu looked at the sky and said with a smile: "She happened to take a nap, you will come to see her later." ”

"Alright! Look at what you grow. ”

Fan Tieniu was in good spirits, and hurriedly took Fan Ning to the back house.

Other people's backyards are rockery fish ponds, flowers and trees, but Fan Tieniu's backyard grows vegetables and grains, but there is a two-acre fish pond, which is really fish.

"Last winter, I had a pond with mud and soil, the soil was very loose, and the fertility must be enough, so I was afraid that corn and pumpkin would have any special requirements."

"There are no special requirements, the key is to have enough sunshine."

"There's no problem with the sun, and there are no big trees in my backyard."

Walking into the backyard, I was surprised to find that the vegetable fields and grain fields in the backyard cover an area of ten acres, and there are ditches and ridges, Fan Ning is really a little speechless, how much the third uncle loves farming, Fan Tieniu was a little embarrassed and said: "I am farming outside, I will be laughed at by others, I have to hide at home and plant, I have been planting for decades, I can't leave it!" ”

Coming to the middle two acres of land, "This is a corn field, I planted an acre of land, and it has grown small seedlings, I will come every day to water and fertilize, and the growth is very good." ”

Sure enough, it was neatly overgrown with corn seedlings, one foot apart, green and shiny, and the growth was gratifying.

Fanning smiled: "It's very well planted!" It will be harvested in the summer, all the seeds will be kept, and all the 5,000 acres of land will be planted next year, and then the third uncle will wait for the knighthood! ”

Fan Tieniu grinned, but Fan Ning interrupted the third uncle's longing, "What about the pumpkin?" ”

"The pumpkin is here!"

Fan Tieniu hurriedly took Fan Ning to a corner, where a few stout low wooden shelves were set up to facilitate pumpkins to climb the vines, covering an area of about one acre, and the melon seedlings had also grown out and shone in the sun.

Fanning's heart was relieved, he was not worried about the corn, but worried about the pumpkin, afraid that it would not adapt to the water and soil here, and now it seems that he is worried in vain, and there is no difference between the pumpkin in later generations.

"Third uncle, these two crops are not available in the Song Dynasty, you have to be very careful, beware of hail in spring, it is best to build a shelf on both sides, in case of hail, quickly cover it with an oilcloth."

"I know, I'll make a fight later, I haven't taken such good care of my grandson!"

Fanning rolled his eyes, where is your grandson?

.........

After only resting for two days in his hometown, Fan Ning took Fan Mingxuan with him, and everyone set off south again, stopping in Wujiang for an hour, Fan Ning and Zhu Pei went to visit Zhu Yuanfu, who was nursing at home.

Zhu Yuanfu is indeed old, his hands and face are full of age spots, and his spirit is not as good as before, two months ago, Zhu Yuanjun died of illness and was buried in Hengyang, he was finally demoted to the governor of Hengyang County, where he came to the end of his life, his children and grandchildren buried him in Hengyang according to his last words, plus they have purchased industrial land in Hengyang, Zhu's branch is left in Hengyang.

This incident hit Zhu Yuanfu very hard, which meant that it was impossible for the divided Zhu family to recover.

"I also want to open, the branches are scattered, it is not impossible for the Zhu family to stay in Hengyang, a hundred years later, their descendants will come to Wujiang to find their roots!"

Compared with Zhu Yuanjun, Zhu Yuanfu cared more about his children and grandchildren, he held Fan Ning's hand and said with difficulty: "My four sons, the third and fourth are all mediocre people, and they don't seek to make progress, I have left them enough property, let them go!" Only my second son Xiaolin is shrewd and capable, understands things, and can make a career, A-Ning, you can help him! It's the last thing I beg you to do. ”

Fanning sighed and said, "Grandfather, don't say it again, rest well, I will definitely do my best!" ”

Zhu Yuanfu showed a relieved smile on his face, and then held his granddaughter's hand and said with a smile: "The most promising person in the Zhu family is still my Pei'er, how good it is to find Lang Jun, I am really relieved!" ”

Zhu Pei felt that her grandfather was confessing her last words, and she felt sad in her heart, and suddenly tears fell like rain, choking and unable to speak.

Fanning let his grandfather rest, helped his wife out of the room, and said to her, "Go and find the eldest brother and meet the grandfather!" ”

Fanning had a strong premonition that this might be the last time they would see Zhu Yuanfu.

Juppe nodded and walked out quickly.

At this time, Zhu Xiaolin asked Fan Ning to sit down and talk, Zhu Xiaolin and his brother Zhu Xiaoyun are siblings of the same mother, and the third and fourth children were born to two concubines.

Compared with Zhu Xiaoyun's gentleness, Zhu Xiaolin is more like his father Zhu Yuanfu, it is simply a copy of Zhu Yuanfu, in fact, among Zhu Yuanfu's four sons, Fan Ning also prefers the second Zhu Xiaolin, although Zhu Xiaoyun is his father-in-law, Zhu Xiaoyun is like a textbook, everything is according to the rules, meticulous, living in his house, even if he comes back later, he has to explain the situation to him, which makes Fan Ning very unaccustomed.

On the contrary, Zhu Xiaolin is like a popular book full of human feelings, gentle, shrewd, flexible, and very down-to-earth, not only Zhu Pei likes him, but even Fan Ning likes to chat with him.

Zhu Xiaolin asked with a smile: "I received a letter from the third uncle yesterday, saying that you persuaded him to invest in the textile workshop?" ”

Fan Ning smiled and asked, "Is the second uncle interested?" ”

Zhu Xiaolin nodded and said with a smile: "We have already divided the family property at the beginning of the year, the third and fourth children want gold, silver and land, your father-in-law is divided into antiques and calligraphy and paintings collected by your father, the strange stones are given to the eldest grandson, the house and the restaurant are divided among all the grandchildren, I inherit my father's property, forty-eight Zhu money shops and Zhu's fleet, A-Ning, I can't sit and eat empty!" ”

"What is the second uncle good at?"

Zhu Xiaolin thought for a while and said: "I have been in charge of the fleet for ten years, and what I know and are best at is fleet transportation. ”

"Second uncle, I'll show you the way, the imperial court has decided to set Yangzhou as the largest overseas material distribution center, and the second uncle will go to Yangzhou as soon as possible to buy a large amount of land along the Yangtze River and build a warehouse group; Secondly, the second uncle can consider building a largest seafood distribution market in Yangzhou; Third, the second uncle can be involved in shipbuilding and transportation, and build the Zhu fleet into the largest transport fleet in the inland waterway. ”

"You just said shipbuilding?"

Fan Ning smiled slightly: "When I say shipbuilding, I mean building giant ships of more than 100,000 stones, I remember that there are several historic shipyards along the Yangtze River, and it seems that a few of them are not very good, and the second uncle can buy them." ”

"100,000 stone is unlikely, the wood can't bear it, I think the wooden boat 30,000 stone is the limit, at most 20 sails."

In fact, Fanning also knew that it was unlikely that 100,000 stones would carry 6,600 tons, and wooden ships could not do it, like the famous treasure ships, which would carry 50,000 stones, about 3,000 tons, with a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons and a load of 100,000 stones, it was almost an aircraft carrier.

So Fanning just said this, but the point is not here, Fanning smiled: "Second uncle, I said to buy a boat!" ”

Zhu Xiaolin smiled, "You are talking about the ancient ship line of the Yang family in Jingkou, which can build a big ship of ten thousand stones, after the death of the proprietor Yang Qing, several sons fought for the family property, at the end of last year, they found the Zhu family, and wanted to sell the ship to the Zhu family at a price of 100,000 yuan, my father felt that the price was too high, and the counteroffer was 70,000 yuan, and they said that they would go back to discuss, but there has been no reply until now." ”

"The second uncle can consider taking it down, and then pay a high price to dig up an experienced old shipwright of the sea, and be sure to build a seagoing ship of more than 30,000 stones."

Maybe Zhu Xiaolin has to think about buying a boat, but going to Yangzhou to buy land is exactly what he wants, not to mention that Fan Ning also revealed such a major news, he can't wait, and he will set off for Yangzhou tomorrow.