Chapter 36 0035 [Controlling water and drought to raise seedlings]
Bai family, study room.
Li Hanzhang compared the scriptures and meanings he had just written with a copy of "Selected Editions of Shi Wen", shook his head and sighed: "For the same scripture meaning, the Shi Wen I wrote is just not as good as those of Jinshi. I'm afraid the provincial examination (National Conference) will be held the following year.
(Test), I failed again."
"No matter how hard you work, you can always make progress." Bai Chongyan was not only motivating his friends, but also cheering himself up.
In the late Northern Song Dynasty, not only did the eight-part essay not exist, but even the classics and meanings lacked a fixed format.
After Wang Anshi's reform of the imperial examination, poetry and poetry were cancelled, and classics and meanings became the focus of the examination. The imperial court published some model essays, and scholars summarized several routines based on those essays. Candidates can generally write according to the routines, but they can also use their own free play to mark papers.
Officials treat this equally.
The routines of classic essays in the Northern Song Dynasty became more standardized in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the marking became more and more strict, so the prototype of the eight-legged essay appeared.
If Ju Ming took the imperial examination, he could directly copy the eight-part essay!
"How come Fatty Zheng hasn't come to cause trouble these days?" Li Hanzhang suddenly asked.
Bai Chongyan said: "He listened to Zhu Dalang telling stories."
Putting the brush on the pen holder, Li Hanzhang stretched and said, "Let's go too. We have to work hard for a few days. It's time to have some fun."
The two of them went out together to Mrs. Shen's house, followed by several servants.
Zhu Ming and Zheng Hong were located in the corner of the courtyard, one sitting on the bench and the other on the chair, both eating snacks brought by the little fat man.
Tell stories while eating.
They went over to listen, and happened to be talking about Sun Wukong's battle with Erlang Shen.
Li Hanzhang suddenly said: "Isn't Erlang Shen's surname Li? He is the son of Li Bing, the prefect of Shu County."
Bai Chongyan said: "If the surname is not Li, it should be Zhao Cai."
The Erlang Shen of the Song Dynasty was actually not Yang Jian?
Ju Ming really didn’t know, so he could only lie: “Over there in Guangnan, Erlang Shen’s name is Yang Jian.”
Li Hanzhang did not doubt that he was there, and suggested: "It would be better to change it to Li Erlang. After all, he is the official Lang Junshen."
"Yes." Zhu Ming followed the good advice.
Erlang God was originally a Buddhist deity, Duken Erlang, the son of King Bishamonten. According to legend, he not only helped Li Shimin fight the war, but was also summoned by Li Longji to aid Anxi.
By the Five Dynasties period, the statue of Du Jianerlang had appeared in Guankou Tianwang Temple.
The Taoist priests in Qingcheng Mountain were not happy and organized the launch of "Zhao Erlang" (the prefect of the Sui Dynasty, who killed dragons and eliminated harm) to compete with the Buddhist "Du Jian Erlang". The people also gave birth to "Li Erlang", who is said to be the son of Li Bing.
, quickly gained recognition from the people, and "Li Erlang" was also absorbed by Taoism.
As it developed into the Song Dynasty, chaos arose.
First, Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty named "Zhao Erlang" the real king. Then Renzong of the Song Dynasty named "Li Erlang" the god of Langjun. In a few years, Song Huizong will also take action and make "Zhao Erlang" the real king.
.
Taken together, the Erlang God officially recognized by the Song Dynasty should undoubtedly be Li Erlang.
Zhu Ming replaced Yang Jian with Li Erlang and continued to eat snacks and tell stories. The three young masters gathered around him and listened carefully.
Time passed slowly, and in the afternoon, Zhu Guoxiang suddenly shouted: "Come and help!"
Zhu Ming immediately ran over and came to the eaves of the thatched house.
Zhu Guoxiang pointed to the compost pile and said, "It's almost time to turn the fertilizer over. Use a shovel to turn it over."
"How long will the compost pile last?" Zhu Ming asked as he took the shovel.
Zhu Guoxiang explained: "Composting is divided into two stages. The first stage is to decompose organic matter and kill insect eggs and germs; the second stage is to generate more fertile humus. The whole process takes 45 to 60 days, and we can't wait that long.
It will be ready for use after the first phase is completed.”
The three scholars all came over to watch Ju Ming gain weight, and they seemed to find it quite interesting.
The "Qi Min Yao Shu" of the Southern and Northern Dynasties recorded a primitive composting method. By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, aerobic composting had been basically mastered, but in terms of ingredients, it was not as scientific and comprehensive as Zhu Guoxiang.
Li Hanzhang asked: "You two compost to plant flowers?"
"Grow food." Zhu Guoxiang said.
A few days passed like this, and Mrs. Bai's birthday party was approaching.
The rice-growing field had been plowed and exposed to the sun. Lu An came to tell him about the situation, and Zhu Guoxiang asked him to call two tenants.
On the day when the soil was leveled, not only Zhu Ming, Li Hanzhang, Bai Chongyan, and Zheng Hong were present, but even Bai Chongwen, the eldest son of the Bai family, came to watch. A few villagers who were not busy with farm work also came to watch the fun.
"Drain the water in the fields. Stop when I tell you to stop."
Zhu Guoxiang's first sentence stunned the two tenants because it did not conform to their common sense.
Bai Dalang watched from a distance with a sneer on his face, thinking Zhu Guoxiang was a liar and just waiting to see the next joke.
The tenants opened the gap in the field ridge and watched the water drain out little by little.
After a long time, Zhu Guoxiang shouted: "Stop, seal the hole!"
The field water has not been completely drained, and there is still a bit left.
Then, Zhu Guoxiang directed the tenants to pour the cooked farmyard manure evenly into the fields.
Under the gaze of everyone, Zhu Guoxiang rolled up his trousers and went to the fields in person, holding a hoe and pole in his hands, and stepped on the fields splashed with manure.
The dignified Prime Minister Zhu refused his daughter the king's offer to marry him, but he swung a hoe in the manure and dug out mud to build a seedbed. He then put the hoe aside, smoothed the seedbed with a pole, and occasionally picked up some debris and threw it away.
Lose.
After leveling a section of the seedbed, Zhu Guoxiang turned around and asked the tenant: "Have you seen it clearly?"
"You see clearly," said the two tenants.
Zhu Guoxiang then returned to the field ridge: "Follow this, the width of the seedbed will be just like that."
The two tenants took action immediately without any difficulty and did not even need Zhu Guoxiang to correct them.
After the seedbed was finished, Zhu Guoxiang turned around and left, saying: "Let it dry for three to five days, then you can sow the seeds."
The tenants looked at each other. The water in the fields was almost drained, and the seedbeds were raised above the water. If they were left to dry for a few more days, wouldn't there be little moisture left in the soil?
How to sow seeds?
Lu An hurried back to report the situation and said: "The person named Zhu is messing around. I'm afraid the seedlings will not grow well."
Old Bai Yuanwai thought: "He is not stupid, he probably has other methods, you just do it. From the beginning to the end, you should remember everything he did. If it can really increase rice production, next year it will be better."
Farm the fields his way."
"Yes!" Lu An bowed and stepped back.
Zhu Guoxiang soaked the grain seeds and called the two tenants to sow the seeds on the day before Mrs. Bai's birthday party.
"Go to the field and level the seedbed."
"Go and fetch water, not dung water. River water or well water is fine."
Zhu Guoxiang gave instructions one after another until he asked the tenant to water the seedbed thoroughly. The tenant finally couldn't help it: "It's draining again, drying again, the water is almost dry, and now it's drenched with water again. Zhu Xianggong is
Are you entertaining me?"
Unable to explain the scientific principles to the tenants, Zhu Guoxiang could only rebuke: "Just do as I'm told. If you have any complaints, take them to Mr. Bai!"
The tenant immediately shut up and picked up the water ladle.
The rice-growing field is not far from the Bai family's mansion. Tomorrow is the old lady's birthday, and many villagers have already come to help in advance.
Those who slaughtered pigs killed pigs, those who slaughtered sheep slaughtered sheep, and there were still people standing there, hoping to get some offal and blood.
Some people who were watching the fun spread the news about Zhu Guoxiang's farming methods, and many villagers laughed and ran to watch the show.
They thought that Mr. Zhu might be good at fighting pirates, but farming was just nonsense.
"It's time to sow seeds. Sow them thinly the first time..."
"Okay, spread it again for the second time..."
"The third time... use a wooden board to gently press down the grain seeds a little, don't use too much force..."
"Has the soil been sifted? Spread the soil on the seed bed, and cover the grain seeds tightly with soil... pour the manure on the covering soil..."
Riverside.
Since noon, passenger ships have been arriving one after another.
Ninetieth birthdays were not easy in ancient times. Many local tyrants from all over the country, officials promoted by Lao Bai and prominent figures in the county were invited to the birthday banquet.
Moreover, guests from far away arrived a day in advance. The guest rooms in the Bai family were not enough, and the tile-roofed houses in the neighboring village were also packed up to accommodate the guests.
"Master, Master, Xiangzhi County is here!"
Old Bai was surprised and muttered: "I just sent out the invitation casually, and he actually came. Please help me out to greet him."
Xiang Zhixian had already disembarked from the boat with his entourage, and before walking far, he saw many villagers watching the fun around the nearby paddy fields.
He sent someone to inquire about the situation, and his entourage asked carefully and explained all the steps of Zhu Guoxiang's farming.
The magistrate Xiang laughed loudly after hearing this, and said to his entourage: "This pedantic scholar is ignorant, industrious, and indifferent to grains. Maybe he found an ancient book somewhere and felt that he was the reincarnation of Shen Nong. Bai Yuanwai is actually a believer."
Already."
Everyone started laughing, and they all said that Mr. Bai had looked away.
Even Grandma Yan felt it was unreliable, and said to Zhu Guoxiang that night: "Ms. Zhu, I don't think your field method is good. The grain seeds have just been sown, but they can still be picked up and used tomorrow. Just sow the seeds according to the old method."
Okay. If you find it troublesome, I will help you pick up seeds in the fields early tomorrow morning."
However, Shen Yourong had confidence in Zhu Guoxiang: "Aunt, Mr. Zhu has a cautious temperament and will never miss the target. His method will definitely work."
Grandma Yan said: "You have only planted on dry land and never on paddy fields. But I have, and I can transplant rice very quickly."
Shen Yourong said: "In the past, the county asked rapeseed and rice to be planted in rotation, and the farmers at that time didn't believe it, but now many people use this method."
Grandma Yan was speechless for a moment, but she still thought Zhu Guoxiang had made a mistake.
Except for Shen Yourong, no one in the whole village was willing to believe it.
Except for the old member Bai, who can count half of it, he is doubtful.
