Guo Song returned to Jiuyuan County ten days later. This trip to three towns took him a full month, and it was already early March when he came back.
At this time, the ice and snow in Fengzhou had already completely melted, and the vibrant breath of spring was everywhere. The air was filled with the fragrance of wild flowers and soil. Jiuyuan County was busy with spring plowing, and farmers drove their cattle to turn over the soil in the wheat fields.
Sow seeds and there will be vitality everywhere.
Guo Song did not return to the city immediately. When he was still three miles away from the county seat, he took a branch road to the south of the city. He wanted to see the progress of the army's farming.
There was still some way to go from the Juntun land, and Guo Song saw a newly emerged river. The river was about two feet wide, flowing eastward calmly, and flowing into another main north-south canal more than ten miles away.
This is the new irrigation canal that appeared after dredging. It is an irrigation branch canal in Fengzhou. There are six main irrigation canals in Fengzhou, connecting the north and south Yellow Rivers, including two in Yongfeng County, three in Jiuyuan County, and one in Feng'an County. The main irrigation canals are all
It flows in the north-south direction, and then there are countless branch canals connecting the main canals, forming a grid-style irrigation system on the Toyoshu land.
Fengzhou's irrigation system was most developed during the Eastern Han Dynasty. It disappeared for a time and then re-emerged in the Sui Dynasty until the prosperous Tang Dynasty. After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, it fell silent again, but the silence did not last long. The main irrigation channels basically remained the same.
The original appearance during the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
It's just that some branch canals are dry and blocked. This southern branch canal was dry and blocked twenty years ago. Today it was dredged again, and sparkling water once again appeared in the dry river bed.
Guo Song and his entourage walked along the new river for several miles, and finally saw a large area of newly cultivated fertile land. Countless soldiers were driving cattle to cultivate and sow wheat fields, and many soldiers continued to dig irrigation canals. These small canals would
The river water is directed into the wheat fields.
At this time, Guo Song suddenly saw Li Ji. He and several young men who looked like scribes were giving instructions on the farming situation. There was also a middle-aged man beside him who was observing the soil quality.
Guo Song quickly waved his hand and urged his horse to go over. Li Ji also saw Guo Song and quickly led everyone to greet him.
"The envoy is finally back!" Li Ji said happily.
Guo Song smiled slightly and said: "There is no way. This time I went to the three towns not for inspection, but to solve problems, so it took a little more time."
"How about it? Are the soldiers willing to move their families?" Li Ji asked with concern.
Guo Song nodded, "Most of the soldiers are very enthusiastic. Now we will wait for the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs to approve our plan. Once the plan is approved, we will start implementing it."
Speaking of this, Guo Song glanced at the people behind Li Ji and asked, "Who are these people -"
"Let me introduce you to the envoy!"
Li Jila passed the middle-aged man and introduced him: "This is Zhang Nong, the deputy envoy of the Shuofang Army in Lingzhou for farming. He has more than ten years of farming experience and is here to give us advice."
The middle-aged man stepped forward, clasped his fists, and said with a smile: "I have heard of Guo Shijun for a long time, and I am very lucky to see you today!"
Guo Song had never seen him before, so he quickly said politely: "Thank you for your hard work, Zhang Tuntian Envoy."
Li Ji introduced three more young people, "These three are newly recruited military officials to strengthen the military affairs department. Soon Luo Liang, the head of Kai Cao, will be appointed as deputy military envoy. He is taking over the job now and will report to the military affairs department tomorrow.
, he will be responsible for the specific affairs of the Farming Department from now on."
The three young men already knew that the person in front of them was the military envoy of the three towns and the governor of Fengzhou. The three of them hurriedly saluted, "See you, envoy Guo!"
Guo Song smiled slightly and asked, "Are you all locals from Fengzhou?"
The three of them nodded, and Guo Song added: "There are not many scribes in Fengzhou, so now you have the opportunity, I hope you will seize the opportunity and be pragmatic and capable as soon as possible so that you can take the lead in the future."
"Thank you Guo Shijun for your love!"
Guo Song smiled and asked Li Ji, "How is the farming situation now? How much land has been reclaimed?"
Li Ji smiled bitterly and said: "Our goal is to cultivate 3,000 hectares of wheat fields, but it seems that we can only cultivate half of it at most, and the remaining half can only be planted next year."
"Take your time and cultivate 1,500 hectares of wheat fields, which is already very good. If one acre produces 300 jins of wheat, it will be more than 300,000 shi of grain a year. Not only will it provide military rations, but there will also be a surplus. If
Once everything is cultivated, we can also export grain."
Guo Song smiled and asked Zhang Nong again: "Can one acre of land here produce three hundred catties of wheat?"
Zhang Nong smiled and nodded, "There is no problem at all. The Hetao Plain has sufficient light, heat and water, the land is fertile, and the soil moisture is good. One acre of land in Lingzhou can produce 350 kilograms of wheat, and Fengzhou is about the same."
"Then what shortcomings do we have now?" Guo Song asked again.
Zhang Nong thought for a while and said: "To say it is insufficient, the main reason is that the irrigation canals have not been laid out. However, they have been excavated now and hope to complete them before April. April and May are the times when wheat fields need water the most, and irrigation is very important."
.”
Guo Song immediately told Li Ji, "You can arrange this matter. If it doesn't work, send more manpower. We must complete it before April."
"I will definitely do my humble job."
"Is there anything left to be desired?" Guo Song asked with a smile.
"There are no other big problems. Then there is the construction of the warehouse and the arrangements for composting next year. I believe you can do this well. Then there are some details. I also told Captain Li just now that a large number of fish must be raised in the canals. Fish are not only
Eating aquatic plants can also eat the eggs of many diseases and insect pests, so the damage caused by diseases and insect pests in wheat fields will be greatly reduced."
Guo Song glanced at Li Ji, who quickly said: "There is no problem with fish farming. I have made arrangements to catch a large number of fry in April."
Guo then carefully visited the soldiers' plowing and sowing conditions, and asked Zhang Nong some key points of farming, before leaving the military field and returning to Jiuyuan City.
He stayed in the military field for an hour and a half. It was already noon when he entered the city. Guo Song did not go to the military office, but went directly back to his house.
As soon as he entered the mansion, he felt that his servants looked at him a little strangely, and he was really a little suspicious. At this time, Butler Liang came out and Guo Song asked: "What happened in the mansion?"
Butler Liang hesitated and said, "I can't say. Master, just go to the inner chamber and take a look."
Guo Song handed the horse to him and walked quickly to the inner house. When he entered his yard, he heard Xiaoyu Niang's voice coming from the yard next door, "Ling'er, you are not mistaken! Why are your eyebrows raised?"
"
Then I heard Liang Ling'er's smiling voice, "Then you don't understand. This is called Emei colored eyebrow. It is very popular in Chang'an. It has three colors of red, green and black. The lips can only be painted with a little rouge on the tip of the lips. This is called dot lip."
, you need to apply three layers of powder on both cheeks, very evenly, so that you will have the feeling of snow-white like pear blossoms, this is called snow pear makeup.”
Guo Song just felt that his brain was a little short-circuited. He couldn't imagine what Xiaoyu Niang had become.
Guo Song hesitated for a moment, then passed through the small door and walked towards the other party's yard. As soon as he entered the yard, he saw Xiao Niangyu and Liang Ling'er swaying out in palace clothes. This kind of palace clothes is also called lady's clothes.
The chest is exposed with a large amount of white flesh, the floor-length green dress, the arms are wrapped around the long silk, the two of them have high buns, their hair is full of pearls, their faces are painted as white as silver basins, and their eyebrows have been shaved
Then, I used three colors to draw a thin triangle shape on my eyebrows, and applied a little bright red rouge on the tip of my lips.
The two of them walked out of the room triumphantly, but Xiaoyu Niang saw Guo Song standing in the yard with a look of astonishment on her face. She was so frightened that she screamed, turned around and fled back to the house.
Liang Ling'er also stayed for a long time, then turned around and ran away.
In fact, Guo Song is somewhat knowledgeable. This is indeed a very popular makeup in the Chang'an harem. Women with slender figures and plump bodies are indeed very beautiful when dressed up. However, these two girls, who are only fourteen years old, are only over thirteen years old.
One thing, especially Xiaoyu Niang is very thin and small. Her skinny little breasts can't be stretched out, but she wants to imitate the dress of a mature woman. It's really nondescript.
Guo Song knew that they still had to remove their makeup and paint their eyebrows, so he shouted, "I'm going to the government office and won't be back until tonight, don't be in a hurry!"
He turned around and left the mansion, walked to the door, and asked Butler Liang, "How long have they been dressed like this?"
"It's been half a month! But they don't dare to go out because they will be stoned by children. They are just walking in the house."
Guo Song shook his head and quickly went to the government office...
Xiaoyu Niang took off her makeup, changed into ordinary clothes, and cried loudly on the bed. Liang Ling'er looked at her guiltily. Although she was a bit rebellious, she was not stupid. She heard her brother Liang Wu say
, Brother Guo actually didn’t want Xiaoyu Niang to stay with him, but he didn’t drive Xiaoyu Niang away out of gratitude.
Now that he has gotten into trouble, Brother Guo will probably not tolerate Xiaoyu Niang anymore.
"I'm sorry, I'm going to pack my things and leave now!"
She turned around and left silently. Xiaoyu Niang wiped away her tears and said, "Where are you going?"
"I...I'll go find my brother and ask him to arrange for someone to take me back to Lingzhou."
"What are you doing back to Lingzhou now? You are a guest. You leave as soon as the host comes back. This is not the way to treat guests. If you really want to leave, you should ask the host for his opinion."
"But....."
Liang Ling'er bit her lip and said, "I seem to have caused trouble and made Brother Guo dissatisfied with you."
"This is my own business. I will explain to him. If he really wants to drive me away, there is nothing I can do. It has nothing to do with you." Xiaoyu Niang lowered her head and whispered.
Tears welled up from Liang Ling'er's eyes, and she finally couldn't help crying, "It's all my fault. I encouraged you to put on makeup. I went to Brother Guo to admit my mistake. I'll let him beat or punish me, but I can't drive you away."
"
Xiaoyu Niang sighed softly, "Young Master may not drive me away, but I feel uncomfortable in my heart. I don't want Young Master to see the way I dress today, but he did, so I cried. Don't feel guilty."
"
Liang Ling'er gritted her teeth and said, "No! When Brother Guo comes back, I will explain it to him for you."