When Xu Xiake came to Jiangxi this time, he still had his mother's legacy to fulfill.
During the Yongle period, Zhang Zonglian was demoted to Changzhou Tongzhi. Because of his uprightness and integrity, he rescued the people. When he died of illness in office, thousands of local people mourned him in plain clothes and raised funds to build the "Zhanghou Temple" for him.
Two hundred years have passed, the incense continues, and the kindness is still remembered.
Xu Xiake's mother's seventy-eighth birthday was originally intended to be a birthday celebration, but all was donated to rebuild the collapsed Zhanghou Temple. After the repairs were completed, her mother told Xu Xiake that she should visit Zhang Zonglian's descendants in the future and bring Zhang Zonglian's portrait
, the relics and calligraphy treasures were enshrined.
Historically, he directly sought help from his own clan relative, Xu Fusheng, the prefect of Ji'an, and soon learned the news about Zhang Zonglian's descendants.
But now, Xu Fusheng is dead a long time ago, and he was stabbed to death by Zhao Han himself when he cheated the city!
Xu Xiake walked around Qingyuan Temple and felt that Zhao Han was not an evil thief. As for Xu Fusheng's great vengeance, he was too lazy to pursue it. His relationship with Xu Fusheng was not very close anyway.
"Xu Hongzu of Jiangyin, please see Mr. Zhao." Xu Xiake came to the General Military Mansion and asked to see him without any psychological burden.
Suddenly, another scholar came, accompanied by two servants: "De'an Chen Xisong, specially came to present the "Book of Agriculture", which contains a diagram of how to carry water and turn a large spinning wheel!"
The guard quickly said: "Mr. Chen, please come in." Then he said to Xu Xiake, "Mr. Xu, please wait a moment. I have to report first."
Zhao Han had already given instructions that those who offered water to spin the spinning wheel could be brought directly into the General Military Mansion.
Chen Xisong was brought into the living room, and not long after, he saw a young man coming.
In other words, more like a teenager.
Zhao Han cupped his hands and said with a smile: "My dear Zhao Yan, nice to meet you!"
"Zhao...Mr. Zhao?" Chen Xisong was quite surprised and quickly bowed, "Meet Mr. Zhao."
"Please sit down," Zhao Han asked with a smile, "Sir, are you from De'an?"
Chen Xisong replied: "That's right. He was born in the Chen family of Yimen in late life and has been living in De'an since the Tang Dynasty."
Zhao Hanzhen didn't know who the Chen family of Yimen was, so he only praised politely: "He is actually a descendant of a famous family, and he was welcomed from afar."
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Chen family in Yimen grew so powerful that the court was afraid of it. Wen Yanbo, Bao Zheng and others all suggested forcibly dividing the family.
How was it divided in the end?
The imperial court dispatched specialized officials to supervise and divide the Chen family's properties in Yimen across several provinces into 291 shares. The Chen family's children were also broken up into 291 shares. Then, the Chen family's properties in Jiangxi were divided into 47 shares.
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The Yimen Chen family was divided into 338 families in total!
Unfortunately, Zhao Han didn't hear anything about it. He only exchanged pleasantries and asked directly: "Sir, can you make water and spin a big spinning wheel?"
Chen Xisong asked his servant to open the box, took out a thick stack of ancient books and said: "This is the "Book of Agriculture". It records that water turns a large spinning wheel. It is also illustrated with pictures and texts. You can understand the reason at a glance."
"Wang Zhen's Agricultural Book" belongs to the Yuan Dynasty and was finalized in Yongfeng County next to Qianshan. It contains 5 collections of agricultural and mulberry secrets, 11 collections of grain records, and 20 books of agricultural implements. Hundreds of years later, the original cannot be found, only in
Part of the content was found in "Sikuquanshu" and compiled into 22 volumes.
Much of the content in Xu Guangqi's "Agricultural Policy Complete Book" refers to "Wang Zhen's Agricultural Book", and some of the content is even directly copied.
At this moment, there are only the manuscripts of "The Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs", which have not been compiled and revised by Chen Zilong.
Therefore, the "Wang Zhen Agricultural Book" in front of Zhao Han is the only existing agricultural book that takes into account both dry fields in the north and paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River!
"Mr. Zhao, let's watch." Chen Xisong took out one of the episodes.
As expected, the pictures and texts are both plentiful and Zhao Han can understand its principle at a glance. It consists of four parts: a spindle, a twister, a water wheel and a transmission device. However, the details have to be worked out by craftsmen.
The large water-spun spinning wheel is actually a water-powered spinning machine, but it can only spin long fibers such as ramie and silk. If you want to spin short-fiber cotton, you must improve it.
Zhao Han continued to browse other contents. This book only has 20 episodes on agricultural tools, and water conservancy spinning machines are also classified as agricultural tools.
These "farm tools" include simple machinery such as levers and axles, as well as transmission and transmission parts such as gears, cranks, sheaves, and connecting rods.
Zhao Han casually opened an article and immediately frowned: "How come such a sharp weapon is not used by farmers in Jiangxi?"
Chen Xisong looked over his head and explained: "This is a rice horse. Although it is convenient, it may crush the seedlings. Nowadays, most of the paddy fields in Jiangxi are cultivated by tenants, and no one person can get a share of the land. The rice horse seems a bit awkward."
It’s too much.”
The rice horse is like a small boat with its sides tilted up. Farmers can ride it. When planting rice, they can press the front end without bending.
Moreover, you can also put the seedlings into the boat and access them at any time, which saves effort and trouble.
Zhao Han decided to convert one hundred acres of his land into a special experimental field and set up an "Agricultural Encouragement Institute" to restore, improve, and develop agricultural tools. At the same time, he studied planting technology, and studied the selection and improvement of crops.
For example, this kind of seedling horse can be popularized by officials again.
Zhao Han put "Wang Zhen's Book on Farming" back in the box and said with a pleasant expression: "Do you know about farming?"
Chen Xisong replied: "I know a little bit. Wansheng has a manor, and he likes farming. In his spare time, he also plants seedlings and recruits craftsmen to make farm tools. A few days ago, after seeing Mr. Zhao's notice, Wansheng hurriedly came to present "Farming"
Book"."
This person's hometown, De'an County, is not far from Nanchang Fucheng. He obviously came here to make investments in advance. The thousand-year-old wealthy family is very good at observing the wind direction.
Zhao Han asked: "I want to build a farmer's office. Are you willing to be the director of the office?"
"I don't dare to ask my ears, I just want to do it." Chen Xisong said happily.
Zhao Han gave some instructions, stated his request, and sent someone to temporarily resettle Chen Xisong.
With the drawings in "Wang Zhen Nong Shu", the water-powered spinning machine could be made quickly, because he had found craftsmen who could make water-powered mills.
Water conservancy mills were not uncommon in the Ming Dynasty, but they were often in the hands of powerful people and wealthy families.
For example, successive German kings occupied the mills in Jinan City. The government built sluice gates on the Jinan moat and used the water level difference to drive the mills to work. The German kings even occupied the entire sluice gate and did not allow the people to use the sluice gates to irrigate farmland.
Zhao Han called his secretary Fei Yu and ordered: "The "Nongshu" will be handed over to the bookshop for engraving and printing. Three hundred sets will be printed first and distributed to officials at all levels for study. After the printing is completed, the engravings will be preserved so that they will be useful in the future."
Fei Yu took the order and left, immediately going to work.
For this kind of book that will definitely need to be printed many times over a long period of time, it is better to use engravings, not to mention there are a lot of illustrations of farm tools.
Until then, Xu Xiake was finally brought in.
Xu Xiake's reaction when he first saw Zhao Han was similar. He didn't expect the Zhao thief in Luling to be so young. He quickly clasped his fists and said, "I'm going to Jiangyin, Xu Hongzu, to visit the famous mountains and rivers to remember it. My late mother ordered me to visit Yongle."
The descendants of Zhang Gong Zonglian, an upright minister of the dynasty, searched for Zhang Gong's relics and enshrined them in Zhanghou Temple in Jiangyin."
Xu Xiake?
It looks different from the portrait in the textbook.
Zhao Han smiled and said, "Mr. Xu, are you asking me to help find someone?"
Xu Xiake replied: "I only know that Mr. Zhang is from Jishui, so I would like to ask Mr. Zhao for help."
"Okay, you can write down this person's name and official position," Zhao Han changed the topic and asked curiously, "Where is Mr. Xu going to travel?"
Xu Xiake replied: "First in Jiangxi, then in southern Hunan, then in Guangxi and Guizhou."
Zhao Han could only express his admiration. The war was chaotic and bandits were everywhere. Xu Xiake was lucky that he was not killed by the gangsters.
This man once slept in a cave for eight consecutive days, collecting wild fruits and vegetables and eating them raw along the way. He was also robbed by thieves, and he found an old friend in another place and mortgaged his property to get money.
In the end, both legs were lost. It was not known whether he was sick or bitten by snakes and insects. The servant took the opportunity to take away the belongings and ran away. Fortunately, he got help from the local chieftain and sent someone to escort him home. He died of illness less than a year after returning home.
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Zhao Han called a guard, took out the leggings and said, "Wrap this thing around your legs. It will not cause pain when climbing mountains. It can also protect against snake and insect bites. All my soldiers in the army use these leggings in battle."
"Thank you for your kindness," Xu Xiake pointed to his legs and said, "I have been wearing leggings for hiking. This thing is really useful."
Xu Xiake got lost while traveling in Yandang Mountain, surrounded by cliffs. He and his servants escaped by taking off their leggings to make ropes.
Zhao Han reminded: "There are many bandits at the border between southern Hunan and Jiangxi, so be careful."
"Please keep this in mind." Xu Xiake thought that this rebel was very good and a very kind-hearted rebel.
Zhao Han suddenly smiled and said: "Mr. Xu visited the mountains and rivers and wrote more about the local minerals. Copper, iron, gold, silver, tin, as well as saltpeter, sulfur, carbonate, etc., can strengthen the country and enrich the people, and this legacy will benefit future generations.
That’s the move.”
Xu Xiake thought carefully: "This is also feasible."
Zhao Han felt that it was time to provide financial support, so he asked someone to get five taels of silver: "I don't have much money, Mr. Xu, just use it."
A rebel thief who occupied several houses actually said that he didn't have much money.
Seeing that Zhao Han didn't seem to be faking it, Xu Xiake immediately stood in awe: "Thank you!"
The two chatted about various experiences. Xu Xiake traveled fifteen times and traveled all over the country. Many local customs were very useful to Zhao Han.
After chatting for a full hour, Xu Xiake left the General Military Mansion.
The servant who was going to take away all the belongings in the future asked: "Sir, this thief is not harmful to anyone."
Xu Xiake sighed and said, "Oh, it's more than harmless. I've traveled all over the country, and what I've seen and heard over the years is that only the rule of Zhao Yan is the most stable. In time, Zhao Yan will conquer the world. This is undeniable."
The servant was surprised and said: "Why did the master say this? Is the Ming Dynasty going to perish?"
"You don't know. You'll know if you go to the north more often." Xu Xiake didn't bother to explain that the servant who followed him on the long journey died of illness. Now this servant has been re-selected.
I originally chose two, but the other servant ran away halfway, unwilling to follow Xu Xiake and die.
After returning to the inn, Xu Xiake immediately wrote a diary and spoke highly of Zhao Han.
Of course, it only concerns character and virtue, and he did not dare to say in words that those who rebel against thieves will take over the world.
Zhang Zonglian's descendants were soon found, and they were living a good life. Although a large amount of land was taken away, they still kept their shop business.
The Zhang family whispered bad things about Zhao Han, and Xu Xiake couldn't say much. He just thought about the situation at home.
Alas, children and grandchildren will have their own blessings, no matter whether they will be divided into fields in the future.
Zhao Han was busy building roads, printing agricultural books, making large waterwheels, developing farmers' associations, and developing agricultural tools and agricultural technologies. Officials at all levels were working at full speed.
The Ming court was discussing how to deal with the Zhao thieves in Luling.