Before winter, the weir pond halfway up the mountain has already been dug up, and all that remains is to continuously tamp the bottom of the pond and the pond wall.

Most of the workers were transferred down the hill, some laying the foundations for the tall drum trucks, while others were digging aqueducts at the bottom of the mountain.

The aqueduct, in particular, passes through the fields of many villagers along the way. If you put it in other places, this is a difficult part of the water conservancy project, and many canals have been abandoned halfway through it - land acquisition is required!

Zhu Ming did not forcibly expropriate it, but adjusted the ownership of the land and divided a piece of wasteland elsewhere to make it up for them.

As long as this canal is dug and combined with a high-drum truck, half of the village's paddy fields can be irrigated.

This year's winter is extremely cold, with temperatures plummeting at the end of the ninth lunar month.

In order to finish the project before the snow fell, Juming hired more young people. Wages can only be owed first, and then deducted from taxes or land rent next year.

The villagers were skeptical, but they came with their hoes on their shoulders. As long as Zhu Ming fulfills his promise in the future and really pays them wages, he will definitely gain a high degree of trust from the villagers.

In mid-October, the canal was still not dug and the sky suddenly began to rain and snow.

The construction can no longer continue, but fortunately, more than half of the excavation has been dug and the high drum car has been made.

"Test drive!"

With Zhu Guoxiang's order, the two ploughing oxen began to work, using gears to drive the tall cylinder car. At the same time, the river water, which is not turbulent, is also exerting a little momentum on the cylinder car.

There are two modes of high-speed water wheels, one is driven by water power, which can be used without gear devices, and is only suitable for places where the water flow is turbulent. The other has to use animal power, and the big cylinder car painted in the "Book of Agriculture" of the Yuan Dynasty obviously has wooden gears.

Under the watchful eye of many villagers, a 10-meter-high cart takes the river water into the aqueduct.

The aqueducts are all in the air, all made of wood, and supported by a number of brackets underneath.

The fact that the cylinder and aqueduct were built so high was purely due to the broken terrain. The high drum car was invented to irrigate the acres of high fields. As for the acres of low fields, when water is needed, you can open the gap in the ridge, and the water will naturally flow down.

In the future, it will be maintained every year, and the drum car and the diversion tank will be brushed with tung oil, and the seriously decayed wood will be replaced directly.

At this moment, the river passes through the paddy fields from a high altitude and falls into the canal at the foot of the mountain.

Behemoths, ingenious workmanship!

Even the villagers, who did not have paddy fields, cheered.

They never dreamed that there was such a magical machine in the world, let alone seen it, and they never even dreamed that there was such a magical machine in the world.

And the villagers who own the paddy fields have their faces full of excitement. Next year, I finally don't have to work hard to carry water, and with the help of a big cart, I can pay some water money for irrigation.

The new village chief Zhu is really more effective than the bandit leader!

Zhu Ming smiled and said to his father: "If this is a strategy game, it is estimated that there will be a message prompt: Di, your village has built a big cart, agriculture +3, free labor +3, and village chief prestige +10." ”

"You're relaxed, I'm tired enough from this big car." Zhu Guoxiang didn't have a good airway.

Dean Zhu was busy and used to play video games.

At first, it was a red police and a monster, but later he was taken by his wife to steal vegetables, and he could understand what his son said.

As the weather gets colder, the canal stops working completely, and the rest will continue to be dug next year.

More than ten days later, several light snowfalls followed by heavy snowfall.

"This ghost weather is worthy of the Xiaoice River period!"

Zhu Ming sat in the hall, throwing wooden blocks into the brazier from time to time, looking at the snowflakes floating outside with emotion.

Zhu Guoxiang rubbed his hands towards the fire: "There is no air conditioning, no heating, it's very difficult." The villagers in the mountains are fine, there are trees everywhere, and there is enough wood to roast the fire for the winter. The inhabitants of the city are in difficulty, and it has been snowing for so long that there must be no woodcutter to sell firewood, and the stored firewood can only be carried when it is burned out. ”

Zhu Ming kept stomping his feet: "This has to be minus ten degrees, and it's still cold when it's roasted." ”

"That's because you didn't close the door!" Zhu Guoxiang went over to close the door, and it was much warmer in an instant.

Zhu Ming dragged a bench and lay down: "The doors and windows are closed, and you can't enjoy the snow." Dean Zhu, do you still have cigarettes? ”

"What about yours?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

"It's done." Zhu Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang took out a pack of Huazi from his arms, counted them carefully, and the last five and a half. He handed the half cigarette to his son and lit a full one himself: "Tobacco from the Americas?" ”

"Yes." Zhu Ming didn't dislike it, so he picked up half of the Huazi and smoked it.

Zhu Guoxiang stuffed back the only four remaining cigarettes and said whimsically: "If our rebellion succeeds, is it possible to send troops across the Pacific Ocean to get some tobacco from the Americas and come back to plant it?" ”

Zhu Ming was amused: "Then the future history books, I'm afraid it will be written like this: the founding emperor and his wife were addicted to smoking, and they were unstoppable, so they raised soldiers, made giant ships, crossed the ocean, and returned the tobacco from the barbarians." ”

Zhu Guoxiang also laughed, bending down to play with the firewood in the brazier.

In the next room, several women were talking and laughing, chatting about interesting things and collecting soles for their families.

The children were at Meng Zhao's house, and Meng Xiucai personally taught the children to learn new words, and by the way, they also taught them Arabic numerals.

The name has also been changed accordingly: "one" is a positive number, "one" is a complex number, and "1" is a simple number.

Deng Chun, who had already married a wife and had children, heard that Meng Xiucai was teaching children, so he actually mixed in and followed the study. He knows more than 80 commonly used words, and also knows that "Kao" is a dead father, and "妣" is a dead mother, and he is familiar with the size and proportion of regular script and official script.

"Puff puff!"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Bai Sheng's voice came from outside: "Zhu Xianggong, Brother Zhu, there are good things!" ”

Zhu Ming got up to open the door, and suddenly poured in a cold wind.

Bai Sheng carried a goat and said with a smile on his face: "I went down the mountain to buy a goat, and I invite you brothers to eat it today." ”

This guy is also a cool person, he likes to make friends when he splashes his skin, and he loves to be generous with little money in his hand.

It has been snowing in recent days, which suffocated Bai Sheng, so he simply ran to buy a goat and come back for dinner.

Zhu Ming turned his head to look at his father: "Eat mutton hot pot?" ”

"Great idea!"

Zhu Guoxiang was also suffocated by the heavy snow, and arranged: "You come to kill the sheep and skin it, and I'll get vegetables and dipping sauce." ”

When the women in the neighboring house heard that they were going to cook, they put down their needlework and came to help.

Zhu Guoxiang braved the light snow and went to the field to cut white siads.

White woad is an evolutionary variety of Chinese cabbage, which belongs to the ancestor of Chinese cabbage.

The Chinese cabbage evolved into the form of cabbage, which was first recorded in the "Qing Yilu" in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty. Until the Southern Song Dynasty Ningzong period, there was finally a clearer record: the big one is called cabbage, and the small one is called woad.

At this moment, Zhu Guoxiang cut back the white siad, only two or three leaves in the middle are wrapped, and the surrounding leaves are all growing outward. Moreover, the stems are narrow and the leaves are broad, and the color is green and white, and the appearance is between small Chinese cabbage and Chinese cabbage.

In the winter, this is the only thing left for vegetables.

Dean Zhu went to pick vegetables, and Village Chief Zhu was sharpening his knife Huo Huo to the goat.

Carrying a butcher's knife, Zhu Ming stood for a long time without moving, he had learned to kill people, but he had no experience in killing sheep.

"Let me come!"

Zhang Guangdao pressed the goat into the snow, bent his knees to press the sheep's body, dragged the horns with his left hand, and stabbed down with a knife in his right hand.

Bai Sheng handed over a wooden basin, and the blood of the sheep could not be wasted.

Everyone was busy, and even the children came out to have snowball fights, sweeping away the depression that had been held in the house for half a month.

Today is light snow, and I can finally be active, but the heavy snow a few days ago is called helpless.

The ground is covered with snow, and it is knee-high!

Move the tandoor to the hall, set up an iron pot and start boiling the soup base. There are not many condiments, and there are no chili peppers, so I can only eat them.

Meng Zhao caged his sleeves and watched from the side: "Sir, is this going to be shabu-shabu?" ”

"Yes."

As soon as Zhu Guoxiang heard this name, he knew that it was the ancient name of hot pot.

Another name for rabbit meat hot pot in the Song Dynasty, that is called an elegant: Baxia offering.

It comes from two lines of poetry, the waves of the clear river and the snow, and the wind turning the evening glow - the tumbling white soup, like the snow and waves of the river on a sunny day. The chopsticks held the white rabbit meat, and when they were poured into the soup pot, it immediately turned red, as if the sunset was reflected on the wind.

The sheepskin was peeled off, and several big men chopped the bones and flesh, and dismantled the goat into eight pieces in a minute.

Remove the large bones and throw them into the pot to boil the soup.

Zhu Ming cut a large piece of fat and thin, and put it in a wooden basin to freeze in the snow. After a while, it was a little harder, and he got a slice of mutton back into the house.

In the middle of the afternoon, everyone sat around three tables, all of whom were village leaders and their families.

"Dad, you can say a few words." In front of outsiders, Zhu Ming gave his father a lot of face.

Zhu Guoxiang raised the wine cup and said: "You have worked hard this year, there are still two days of the winter solstice, let's celebrate in advance." When new tea is sold in the coming year, corn and sweet potatoes are planted, and the canal is completely dug up, Daming Village will definitely be even more prosperous. Fill this bowl! ”

"It's done!"

Zhu Ming shouted with a smile.

"!"

Not only were the men shouting, but the women were also shouting, but they didn't just toast.

Three small stoves were placed on the table, and clay pots were placed on the stoves.

You don't need anyone to teach this thing, you know how to do it. Only mutton, offal, blood wang and cabbage, ginger, garlic, vinegar, salt and pepper seasoning, but it is extremely delicious at the moment.

The big bones that have not been shaved are fished out of the soup and thrown to the children to gnaw on.

Shi Biao eats mutton silly, it's so cool here, the village chief not only takes care of him, but also knows many friends, and occasionally eats meat and drinks wine.

Zhu Mingsha rubbed the mutton and said, "Deng Chun, Deng Xia, Shi Biao, after the beginning of spring, you have to come over more and practice martial arts with the big guys." The land allocated to you can be given to the villagers, and you don't have to work so hard. ”

"I'll listen to the village chief!" The three of them hurriedly agreed.

After the father and son of the Zhu family finished speaking, Zhang Guangdao raised his glass again: "What I am most happy about is to make friends with many heroes, as long as the brothers work together, they can go anywhere in the world in the future." This bowl of wine, I drank it, to all brothers! ”

"Drink!" Bai Sheng raised his glass and responded.

At the main table, there were constantly people persuading them to toast, but Shi Biao and Meng Zhao kept sitting stupidly.

Yu Shanwei sat at the next table, pretended to stand up to add firewood to the small stove, and took the opportunity to secretly pat her husband's back.

Meng Zhao is not stupid, of course he knows how to toast. But most of the people here are reckless men, and they have no common topic with him, so since they can't get in, they just bury their heads and eat meat.

After being reminded by his wife, Meng Zhao finally stood up: "Thanks to Mr. and Da Lang for taking me in, I salute the two of you with a bowl, and I wish Daming Village a prosperous day!" ”

"Okay, done!" Zhu Ming said with a smile.

Zhu Guoxiang also raised the wine bowl.

Yu Shanwei listened to the movement again, feeling a little speechless. After the husband paid tribute to the village chief's father and son, he actually ate meat in a muffled voice and did not communicate with others at all.

There is a lot of wine in the village, most of which is left behind by the bandit leaders.

There are also some, from the little white staff's house, Zhu Ming didn't take any money at that time, but emptied the wine collection.

You have a bowl, I have a bowl, the wine is hot, and the atmosphere is more harmonious.

Bai Sheng drank too much and urinated urgently, and walked out crookedly.

Zhu Ming also followed, hooked shoulders and supported each other, and went to the thatched house to release water together: "After the Chinese New Year, you go down the mountain with me, first go to Shangbai Village to find Bai Sanlang, and then go to Yangzhou City and Xingyuan Mansion with him." I'll bring Shi Biao with you, you have a good brain, and watch him all the way. ”

Bai Sheng shook his head and was a little sober: "I remember." ”

When I went to Yangzhou City, I was looking for Zheng Fatzi and Li Hanzhang.

went to Xingyuan Mansion, but he sent corn and sweet potatoes to Lu Tixue.

By the way, bring back the custom-made weapons for nothing!

Lifting his pants and tightening his belt, Zhu Ming looked outside, and the snow seemed to be getting heavier again.

He didn't know that just these days, the Central Plains region was experiencing a serious white plague.

Inside and outside Kaifeng City, heavy snow fell for more than ten days, and more than eight feet of snow was accumulated on the flat ground. The gates of the houses and shops in the city were all blocked by snow, and the government mobilized the people to clear the snow every day. The ground was frozen, the horses could not walk, and Song Huizong ordered hundreds of officials to sit in a sedan chair to enter the court.

A large number of beggars froze to death, and there was a special person to collect the corpses every day!

This is the largest snow recorded in the entire Huizong Dynasty.

Lu Tixue's letter of recommendation and personal letters, due to some delays, were not delivered to Kaifeng until the heavy snow closed the road.

(Recommend Da Luoluo's "Kangxi, Your Qing Dynasty is Dead", you will know what to write when you listen to the name.) This book has reached the top of the list of new books in history, and if you like it, you can check it out. ）

(End of chapter)