Changxing (Later Tang Dynasty) three years, the first month.

It coincided with the New Year, Li Congyan's mansion was full of lights, and the mansion was dressed in the new clothes given by Li Congyan, and many servants and maids came and went, decorating the mansion with joy and excitement.

Accustomed to the boring Spring Festival in later generations, Li Congyan likes the festive atmosphere of this era very much, it is very New Year's flavor, and it is extremely lively. The folk not only have the same customs as the later generations, such as sticking Spring Festival couplets, sticking door gods, and making dumplings, but also hold a puppet opera to drive away the bad luck of the old year and welcome the joy of the new year.

Some teenagers over the age of 12 and under the age of 16 should first be selected to wear masks, put on special clothes, and be arranged in groups of 24 and 6 people, presided over by a person called "Fang Xiangshi", and arranged for the "singing handsome" to be responsible for leading the singing, and dozens of people in groups of 10 people are responsible for drumming, in addition to "Taibu Ling", "Wizard" and others are responsible for exorcising ghosts. The whole process is very majestic.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, Li Congyan led a group of his subordinates down to the street, watched the folk opera with great interest, and returned to the mansion surrounded by Wu Conghan, Li Wei, Li Ren, Wang Zuhe, and other shogunate officials and army generals.

On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, Li Congyan held a banquet in the mansion and celebrated the New Year with his subordinates.

During the banquet, Li Congyan picked up the wine glass and said with a smile: "It's been a year, you have worked hard for a whole year for the prosperity of Dengzhou and the happiness of the people of Dengzhou. ”

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but feel warm in their hearts, and they raised their glasses to congratulate each other.

Li Congyan drank this glass of wine and said with a smile: "Today is Chinese New Year's Eve, you all have to let go of eating and drinking, whether it is the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Military Affairs or the generals in the army, if you don't drink ten or eight, tonight's banquet can't end!" ”

When everyone heard this, they agreed with each other, and then they began to drink and toast each other, and the atmosphere of the banquet suddenly became warm.

At this banquet, everyone brought all kinds of gifts to Li Congyan. It's just that Li Congyan has always strictly ordered everyone to be honest and self-controlled, so the gifts sent by everyone are not valuable property, but some heartfelt gifts.

For example, Wu Conghan sent a horizontal knife carefully selected by himself, Li Wei sent a custom-made round-necked robe, Li Ren and Wang Zuhe pooled money to send a pair of exquisite saddles, and so on. Li Congyan was very happy and accepted all these gifts, after all, they were all the intentions of his subordinates, but they were disrespectful.

At the same time, Li Congyan also prepared gifts for everyone: a pair of glass bottles, ten catties of sea salt, and ten catties of two-pot wine in glass bottles for each person, and according to the level of the position, each person has a "year-end bonus", ranging from 200 to 3,000 yuan.

When Li Congyan finished reading the list of return gifts, everyone immediately thundered with joy and toasted Li Congyan without mentioning it.

When the banquet was over, Li Congyan took advantage of the drunkenness to come to the door of the lobby, and only then did he have time to look at the gifts sent by everyone.

Suddenly, Li Congyan was attracted by a plant, looked at it carefully, and showed a trace of ecstasy on his face, and his drunkenness disappeared.

"Who sent this?"

The servant on the side crossed his hand and said, "Your Majesty, this white brocade was given by Li Sisheng, the director of the Industrial Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. ”

"Call Li Sisheng back immediately!"

"Whoa!"

The so-called white brocade is the cotton of later generations, and cotton is regarded as an ornamental flower at this time, and it has such a nice name.

Li Congyan has always wanted to make warm clothes such as cotton clothes and quilts, but he has no cotton in hand. The current winter is no longer as warm as the Tang Dynasty, but has become extremely cold, the importance of cotton is self-evident, especially for the army and business, cotton is a big killer!

Now that the coveted cotton is in front of her, Li Congyan's joy can be imagined.

Soon Li Sisheng rushed back out of breath, and after the ceremony, Li Congyan asked directly: "Where did you get this white brocade?" ”

Li Sisheng was slightly stunned and said: "Your Majesty, this white brocade is sold by the Yuanguang Pavilion in Dengzhou City, and the subordinates saw that this white brocade was very good-looking, so they bought it and gave it to the lord." Yes, is there something wrong with that? ”

"Yuanguang Pavilion?"

Li Congyan remembered that this Yuanguang Pavilion is a shop in Dengzhou City, specializing in selling all kinds of exotic flowers and plants, and the price is not low, it is a shop for large families to purchase flowers and plants, and it is very famous in Dengzhou.

"There's nothing wrong with that, I'm just interested in this cotton!"

Li Congyan couldn't say the name Bai Jinhua, so he simply called out the word cotton.

"Cotton?"

Li Sisheng didn't know why Li Congyan called Bai Jinhua like this, and was about to ask, but Li Congyan said excitedly: "You go to Yuanguang Pavilion again tomorrow and buy all the cotton and cotton seeds, no matter how much." Let Yuanguang Pavilion send craftsmen who know how to plant cotton to report to the Reclamation Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs without delay! ”

Li Sisheng immediately received the order, and Li Congyan instructed again: "Remember to ask where the seeds of this cotton came from, and buy the news at any cost." ”

"Whoa!"

Early the next morning, Li Sisheng bought 27 cotton plants and 421 catties of cotton seeds.

As for the origin of this cotton, it turned out that the people of the Yuanguang Pavilion accidentally encountered it in the mountains and fields a few years ago, and they collected it when they thought it was beautiful, and those seeds were cultivated by the Yuanguang Pavilion itself over the years. This white brocade has been sold in Dengzhou for several years, but Li Congyan has been busy with government affairs since he arrived in Dengzhou, and has fought with Liu Yu and various families, so he has no time or opportunity to go to a place like Yuanguang Pavilion, so he accidentally discovered the existence of cotton today.

Li Congyan couldn't help but sigh for a while after listening to Li Sisheng's explanation, and then summoned Wu Conghan, Minister of Civil Affairs, and Li Dongxian, the director of the Reclamation Division, and ordered them to immediately promote cotton in Dengzhou, and to start planting it widely this year.

"For all the people who are willing to plant cotton, the shogunate will give a subsidy of 500 yuan per mu, and after the cotton is harvested, the shogunate will send someone to buy it at a high price, which is definitely more profitable than growing grain."

Li Congyan was worried that cotton planting would affect food production, so he added: "Choose Muping County to promote cotton planting in Muping County, and the rest of the places must not spread it!" ”

"In addition, cotton is a controlled material, and no one is allowed to plant or buy it privately except for Muping County. From now on, shops in various places are not allowed to sell cotton, otherwise they will be punished as collaborators! ”

Wu Conghan and Li Dongxian were very surprised when they saw this, and they didn't know why Li Congyan was so entangled, they wanted a variety of cotton, and they limited the scope.

It's no wonder that Li Congyan wants to spend a lot of money to promote cotton, but he also has to prevent all the people from planting cotton and no one from growing food, and at the same time, he has to prevent profit-seeking businessmen from rushing in to stir up the situation, so he has no choice but to act like this.

However, Wu Conghan and Li Dongxian didn't have time to ask more, so they hurriedly went to make arrangements. With the promotion of Li Congyan, the name of Bai Jinhua gradually became unpopular, and Dengzhou began to call it cotton.

Muping County. Nantang Village.

Tang Yi's father's real name is Tang Tu, and people who have been familiar with him for many years have called him Tang Laohan, and over time, no one is calling his real name, but on this day, Tang Tu's name was handed over by the village, and Tang Tu received a small bag of seeds after responding.

The village is giving out a seed to each family, saying what it is called cotton, at this time Tang Tu looked at the small bag in his hand, and his heart was a little drumming.

"Murazheng, in this way, from now on, the government will not let us grow food in Nantang Village?"

"It's not that Nantang Village is not allowed to plant, but that the entire Muping County does not grow grain, but grows cotton!"

Tang Tu was a little anxious when he heard this, and the surrounding villagers were also dumbfounded, what did so many people in the village eat? Let's drink the northwest wind together in the coming year!

Standing on a high place, Muramasa said loudly, "Everyone listen to me!" This cotton was asked by Li Tingshi to be planted, and when the planting time comes, Li Tingshi will also send someone to teach us how to plant, don't you still believe Li Tingshi? ”

When Tang Tu and the others heard that the cotton was planted by Li Congyan, the doubts in their hearts suddenly dissipated a lot, but they were still a little worried, after all, there was no food in their hands and they were panicked.

"This thing should not be eaten or drunk, what is the use of growing it?"

Muramasa said: "I don't know what this cotton is for, but there is one thing, that is, Li Tingshi will never treat us badly!" The order issued by the shogunate has reached the prefectural government, and after the cotton is harvested, the prefectural government will send people to buy it at a high price, and the purchase price of a pound of cotton is five times that of grain, which is five times that of grain! Moreover, the shogunate will also give everyone a subsidy, a subsidy of 500 yuan per mu, and as long as we plant cotton, this subsidy money will be available every year, will you do it? ”

As soon as the words fell, the men, women and children in the village were excited, planting this kind of cotton not only has Li Congyan's call, but also can make a lot of money, why not do it?

As for food or something, if you have money in your hands, you can't buy anything delicious!

Seeing that the surrounding villagers were still excited, Tang Tu was the first to react, and immediately stood up and said loudly: "I have 300 acres of land at home, all of which are planted with cotton, but these seeds are not enough, the village is giving me more!" ”

Mura Zheng said loudly: "Okay, Tang Laohan's family has 300 acres, and the subsidy money is 150 yuan, so give the money now!" ”

The surrounding villagers saw Tang Tu pushing one hundred and fifty yuan of money with a small cart, and they immediately exploded, and many people's eyes were red, and then they rushed to the village and rushed to register to receive the seeds, for fear that they would fall behind and not be able to share the cotton seeds. At this time, the seeds are no longer seeds in the eyes of the villagers, but genuine golden bumps, which are all money!

Tang Tu returned home, looked at the one hundred and fifty yuan piled on the bed, and burst into tears with excitement: "Now the money for Yi'er and Ming'er to marry is enough, I want to find a matchmaker, and then give them a big show!" ”

When he thought of his two sons who were still serving in the army, and looked at the piles of money in front of him, Tang Tu's heart felt extremely happy, and tears of excitement welled up in his eyes.

A few days later, the village was bringing a few Yuanguang Pavilion men to Nantang Village, and at this time, Tang Tu and other villagers had already taken care of their own land and gathered in the fields to wait for sowing.

After the introduction of the village, the men, women and children of a village began to sow cotton under the guidance of a few men.

At the same time, this is the case in the entire Muping County, almost ninety percent of the county's arable land is sowing cotton, and when the data report was sent to Li Congyan, Li Congyan breathed a sigh of relief: "By this time next year, maybe you will be able to put on cotton clothes and cover with quilts!" ”