Chapter 660: The County Marquis of Great Sorrow and Great Joy
Master Jiang noticed Li Zhi beside him and asked, "Who is this child?"
Zhang Yang explained awkwardly: "This is my wife's brother."
Master Jiang nodded and said, "Since he is your wife's brother, you should also be your own brother."
"Brother-in-law is very good to me." Li Zhi said, holding a skateboard in one hand.
Master Jiang squinted his eyes and smiled, stroking his beard and saying, "All our children in Lishan are doing well."
Li Zhi saluted again obediently and sensibly, "I also want to live in Lishan forever."
When Master Jiang heard this, he stopped smiling and said, "Home is still home, and you have to go home after all. You are still young and ignorant, but you will understand when you grow up."
Now Master Jiang is the person in charge here, and he arranges all matters in the blacksmith shop.
Zhang Yang pulled a cart of iron materials into the blacksmith's workshop and handed it over to them for arrangement.
Master Jiang added: "I thought it would be rare to see you, so I wanted to have a drink with you. However, there is a rule in Lishan that you cannot drink alcohol while working. It is a pity."
"I have recently been helping to cast some things for His Highness the King of Wei, so I rarely have time."
Master Jiang couldn't help but nod, "Sure enough, His Highness the King of Wei's affairs are also important."
Seeing the child here, it was hard to say anything, so Master Jiang walked into the blacksmith shop by himself. Every family had its own difficulties. Maybe the boy himself had something to hide, so it was not good to ask more about his family affairs.
Master Jiang thought so in his heart.
After leading Li Zhi away, Zhang Yang walked in the fields and looked at the growth of the crops. Shangguan Yi was also picking seeds and some unknown potted plants in the distance.
"Mr. Shangguan." Li Zhi stepped forward and saluted.
"His Royal Highness King Jin." Shangguan Yi bowed and saluted.
"What are you doing, Mr. Shangguan?"
Shangguan Yi explained: "This year, envoys from various countries came to congratulate the Tang Dynasty. Officials from the Ministry of Rites told the envoys that the current Minister of Rites was serving as the Minister of Taifu Temple and was collecting crops from various places, so they brought crops from their own places.
"
Li Zhi nodded and said: "Those envoys were mostly trying to please the Ministry of Rites. The Ministry of Rites is responsible for diplomatic powers. If the Ministry of Rites gave them more courtesy, their situation would be much better."
"I guess so."
Shangguan Yi nodded politely.
Zhang Yang simply took a bench and sat down, helping to pick crops. He picked up a half-dead potted plant and asked curiously: "Huh? Is this an apple?"
"What fruit?"
It’s hard to tell what kind of crop it is from its half-dead appearance. Since the Western Regions opened up Persia, the Hexi Corridor has gradually regained its prosperity. More and more merchants have entered the Hexi Corridor, which has also brought a lot of goods to the Central Plains.
There are more and more things like pepper in Chang'an City now.
Zhang Yang put down the potted plant and looked at other crop seeds. After Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions that year, many crops from the Western Regions entered Guanzhong.
But now if you want to find something else, you have to go further.
"Where did this come from?" Zhang Yang picked up a flat seed.
"I remember this was sent by the Western Turks. They said it was a kind of food that could be eaten by burning it in the fire."
Zhang Yang breathed quickly, "This is not eating, these are pumpkin seeds!"
"pumpkin?"
"That's wrong!" Zhang Yang thought, "Normally, this thing should be farther away. How could this thing appear in Western Turks?"
Shangguan Yi couldn't help but shake his head, "I don't know, either."
To put it bluntly, how could Shangguan Yi know the origin of this kind of seed? Of course, growing pumpkins requires fertile land, which most places in the Western Regions cannot grow.
Ordinarily speaking, according to the current situation in the West, if more and more resources are opened up with the expansion of cannibalism, this thing is at least separated from the Central Plains by a large plate.
But after thinking about it again, Zhang Yang figured out that in the process of the rise of the West, Rome expanded several times. After the coastal trade of the Mediterranean began, the West also became active. From North Africa to going south along the Nile River, it was not
It's not impossible.
And with the rise of food in the two rivers and the migration of people, exchanges between many places began.
Until now, Dashi has begun to rise and invade the West.
However, the seeds of this crop are good things, but they still need to be cultivated carefully.
There were a dozen seeds wrapped in a piece of cloth. Zhang Yang smiled bitterly, "They actually use this thing as food."
Regardless of the current survival rate of this kind of seed, if one of these dozen seeds can be planted, it will be a huge wealth.
Even if these seeds cannot be planted, the worst possible outcome would be to level the whole of Europe.
Pumpkin is also called pumpkin, which is the name when it was first cultivated in the Central Plains. Shangguan Yi also wanted to cultivate shallots.
He flipped through the classics and explained: "Scallions have been around since the Han Dynasty, but they have never been properly cultivated. They thought of using black soil to grow them."
Beets, cowpeas, shallots, and eggplants all need to be cultivated, as well as this pumpkin.
Shangguan Yi planned to plant grapes and courgettes in Guanzhong, so Zhang Yang picked some of the seeds and took them to Lishan.
Some potted plants are so withered that you can't tell what they are just by looking at them.
Ask Li Zhi to hold a potted plant that looks like an apple, and take some seeds of crops to the mountain to cultivate.
Taifu Temple has to do what it should do. This is what the teacher teaches.
After overseeing the construction and accounts of Yan Liben's Taiye Pond, he had not heard anything about the trivial affairs of the court for a long time.
This feeling is very good, Zhang Yang feels that his retirement life has arrived ahead of schedule.
Li Zhi looked at the potted plant in his hand curiously, "What is brother-in-law's apple?"
"Once upon a time, there was a guy named Niu. He was reading under a tree, and then he was hit by an apple."
"Really?" Li Zhi asked with a wink.
"Then he thought about gravity."
"This apple is so powerful, what if I get hit?"
Tongyanwuji...Zhang Yang didn't want to explain too much to him. It seemed that in Li Zhi's perception, this apple was a magical fruit of enlightenment, and he could become enlightened if it was smashed.
Childhood fantasies are beautiful, so don’t break them.
After returning to the mountain, Zhang Yang began to cultivate these crops. He first made culture soil, using farmyard manure and loose soil.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Li Yue looked at her husband concentrating on handling the crops. She was in a good mood and returned to the house to continue making new clothes for the child born in the future.
Aunt Wang whispered: "The clothes you wore when you were a baby are enough. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but Xiao Qingqing's old clothes are still there."
Li Yue nodded, "Aunt, my husband has not interfered with the affairs of the court for a long time."
If you think about it carefully, since His Majesty appointed the county lord as the Minister of Taifu Temple, he has indeed not interfered with the affairs of the court.
In fact, the county prince's talents were outstanding, so His Majesty transferred him to Taifu Temple. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.
Although Aunt Wang said she didn't understand, Li Yue smiled and didn't want to dwell on the reason, "It's like a good family. My husband currently serves as the Minister of Etiquette. He often quarrels with his father and often gets angry."
I have long heard that the county princes often quarreled with His Majesty, and I have almost become accustomed to this kind of thing. During the Chinese New Year, when Your Majesty came to see the Supreme Emperor, he had a dispute with the county princes.
It would be better not to think about this troublesome problem. When I think of Li Yue, I feel very embarrassed.
After half a month of peaceful days, Zhang Yang looked at his seedbed and saw that the seeds on the cultivation soil still showed no intention of germinating.
I took a long sigh, maybe I really failed.
I thought Datang would finally have pumpkins, and I was happy for many days.
Li Zhi whispered: "Brother-in-law, are you going to throw away these seeds?"
"Just leave it, I'll take a look again."
If there is no sprouting in half a month, it can actually be concluded that the cultivation has failed. However, the shallots and beets are both good, and even the apple tree shows signs of new growth.
In addition to these crops, Lishan Mountain is also full of vitality. In spring, everything revives, and the surrounding weeds begin to grow wildly.
Only the pumpkin seeds have remained silent so far.
Sanhe horses like to eat young grass, and they don't want to leave home.
Xiao Wu plucked up the courage to sit on the horse. No matter how she urged him, the horse just stood still.
After a while, Xiao Wu was very disappointed.
In the workshop, Zhang Yang used a lathe to polish iron nails. The blacksmith shop in Lishan can make iron nails. Master Jiang and the others became more familiar with the use of nuts.
The principle is not complicated at all, and these experienced blacksmiths can understand it at a glance.
The parts you want to use on the gun must be fine and fine.
Zhang Yang used a flywheel to polish the edge of the iron nail. After polishing with the flywheel, he often measured it with a vernier caliper.
This kind of delicate work can only be done slowly and step by step.
There was a crisp sound as the iron nail being polished broke.
The workshop was quiet for a long time until the flywheel stopped rotating.
Li Zhi was still playing skateboard at the door, but he heard a roar in the workshop.
"Damn it! It took me half a day to polish such an iron nail and it broke off! Do you know how tired I was during this half day? My feet were almost worn out by stepping on them, and you just broke them off for me."
The roar frightened Li Zhi, and he looked into the workshop again, only to see his brother-in-law pointing at the lathe and still cursing.
"As long as the foundry technology of the Central Plains can be further improved, I will have to work hard for half a day and waste my time? You bunch of bastard saints who only know how to get involved in moral standards will make me have to do it all over again and waste half a day!"
After cursing, Zhang Yang kicked the lathe hard, took off his apron and walked out of the workshop quickly, washed his hands and face, took off his coat, washed it in the Huaqing Pool and put on clean clothes.
Then he lay expressionless at the door of his house, looking up at the sky with lifeless eyes.
Sometimes I lament, sometimes I feel sad, and sometimes I feel heartbroken.
This appearance made the younger brothers and sisters very worried. They were worried that their brother-in-law was in a bad mood and would not repair toys or make delicious food, so what should they do?
Li Zhi walked over quickly and said, "Brother-in-law, that pumpkin has sprouted."
Zhang Yang lay on the recliner, turned over, turned his back and whispered: "Don't comfort me, I don't have the heart to make toys for you now."
"Brother-in-law, the pumpkin has really sprouted."
"Young slave, you don't have to say that, I don't want to make delicious food today."
"It's really sprouting."
This kid was still holding on to the corner of his clothes. Zhang Yang reluctantly got up and walked towards the seedbed.
After taking a closer look, I saw three or two dots of green in the culture soil. I blinked hard to confirm that I had seen it correctly.
Maybe it was weeds. Zhang Yang squatted down and looked sideways at the little bit of green in the soil. It would be great if he had a magnifying glass.
After touching his chin and thinking for a long time, Zhang Yang dug up some culture soil, and it turned out that the seeds had some roots.
"Hahaha!"
He burst out laughing suddenly, which still frightened Li Zhi. He looked worried, "Brother-in-law! Brother-in-law, are you crazy?"
Zhang Yang calmed down and said, "Everything has gains and losses. It seems that what happened today is not all bad."
Li Zhi whispered: "The seeds will surely germinate in the soil. This is not a gain or loss, this is inevitable."
"I say there are gains and losses, there are gains and losses." Zhang Yang was in a good mood, "I will make duck blood soup for you today."
"good!"
The brother-in-law was in a good mood, and Li Zhi's mood also improved accordingly.
After the meal, the children were still playing by the Huaqing Pool. After Zhang Yang calmed down while drinking tea, his thoughts became much clearer. Perhaps he thought wrongly, and the pumpkin germination cycle was much longer than he expected.
Moreover, the seeds have suffered serious water loss, and it is now rare to have three survive.
Sometimes I feel like God is making things difficult for me, especially when it comes to manufacturing technology.
But now I think about it, God is really helping Datang and making Datang strong.
The warm and suitable climate has led to several bumper harvests of grain in the Central Plains, and the price of grain in the Central Plains has dropped to five cents a dou.
This is all the work of God.
Someone sent another stone of fine salt from the palace, and Aunt Yang said: "Not long after this year's Qingming Festival, Your Majesty and the Queen distributed a lot of fine salt to the clan and dignitaries. Each household did not give much.
We at Lishan give us the most.”
Li Yue looked at the fine salt and said with a smile: "My father must have a lot of fine salt in his hands now."
Li Shimin got the salt lake in Tubo. The emperor must have endless salt in his hands. The current price of fine salt in Guanzhong is 60 yuan a dou, and the price of coarse salt is 40 yuan a dou.
These are the prices obtained from the recent records of Taifu Temple.
Many ordinary villagers do not use money to buy salt most of the time. It is too expensive. Ordinary families exchange salt for salt because it is too expensive.
When Zhang Yang looked through the records of Taifu Temple, he also saw that the price of salt in the fourth year of Wude was 100 yuan a dou. During the war, when the situation was turbulent, the price of salt would be even more expensive.
After the world became peaceful, the price of salt naturally dropped.
Whether salt is cheap or not is related to food, the social situation, and productivity.
In order to make the Tang Dynasty stronger and the children of the Tang Dynasty stronger, the cheaper the salt, the better. At the same time, it is necessary to increase productivity.
His Majesty ordered the Wei Mansion to be renamed Zhe Chong Mansion, and ordered that young adults could only join the army if they were twenty years old or older. The number of people entering Zhe Chong Mansion would also decrease accordingly. This also illustrates Li Shimin's determination to rule the world.
In the next few days, Zhang Yang would go to see how the crops were growing in the seedbed every day, which made Li Yue a little dissatisfied. She raised her chin and said displeased: "My husband cares about the crops, but he doesn't care about the children anymore."
"Daughter-in-law, look at this seedling growing taller."
Just taking a glance, Li Yue turned around and said, "Is there any?"
"Um."
"Huh, still so small."
"We're going to have pumpkins at home."
Hearing this, Li Yue's expression improved a lot, "Well, is the pumpkin delicious?"