Due to the intervention of local governments, more than 60% of the cotton fields in Jiangnan have been replanted with drought-resistant crops such as millet, corn, and soybeans this year.
Because although cotton is drought-tolerant, it must not be affected by drought, otherwise the yield will be seriously reduced or even the harvest will be lost...
When there was a spring drought a few years ago, the government vigorously publicized it, but farmers were not very cooperative.
After suffering losses a few times, cotton farmers learned the lesson.
This year's work went even more smoothly. Under the initiative of local officials and led by village and town farmers' associations, a large number of cotton farmers took the initiative to contact the government to purchase or borrow on credit seeds of millet and other drought-resistant crops.
In the sixth month of the New Calendar, the first batch of wool from Chahar was transported to Yangzhou for sale by merchants.
Textile merchants from Jiangnan gathered in Yangzhou to grab goods.
The foreseeable reduction in cotton production has caused the price of wool to rise, and even the lowest quality felt has become a high-priced product.
"One dollar and a half, I'll pay you a dollar and a half!"
"One dollar and five cents two!"
"I'll pay you one dollar and five cents!"
"..."
In the warehouse outside Yangzhou City, northern wool merchants actually held an auction here.
One dollar and a half, which is one or two and a half pieces of silver, can be used to wholesale a load of medium-quality and roughly processed wool.
"One dollar and six cents, this boss has made a deal!"
Cao Fengji was so happy that Li Zicheng, the Shanxi merchant of the Fan family behind this guy, took advantage of the situation and kicked off his salary. Cao Fengji got a blessing in disguise, as the clan elder was beaten to paralysis in bed. He took advantage of the opportunity to become independent from the Fan family by leveraging the reputation of Emperor Datong.
When he went out to do business, he even changed his surname to Cao.
Through Zuo Xiaocheng’s connections in Chahar, he obtained the right to purchase wool from several Mongolian tribes in Chahar.
The wool textile market in the south has been gradually developed.
Rumor has it that both the emperor and the empress liked to wear woolen sweaters. The woolen cloak (actually a windbreaker) designed by the emperor himself became fashionable in Nanjing. The empress also taught the concubines to knit sweaters, and noble ladies in Beijing also learned to knit sweaters. This kind of wool
Lining also became popular in Jiangnan.
"Boss, the wool sales this year are really good!" the clerk said happily.
Cao Fengji smiled and said: "The emperor likes to wear sweaters. This year's cotton production has been reduced, so the wool will naturally sell well. You go back quickly and quickly, don't be stingy about the travel expenses, and go to the various grassland ministries to tell me that I will collect as much wool as they have! I
There are tea leaves, iron pots, and salt bricks, and you can exchange them for wool!"
A severe drought in the south unexpectedly caused a shortage of wool, which also led to closer economic ties between Inner Mongolia's herdsmen and the Datong court.
…
Shanghai.
A Dutch merchant ship arrived at the port. It was obviously an official order. Otherwise, it would have been traded in Batavia and there would be no need to come all the way to Shanghai.
Several officials from the Ministry of Commerce, along with technical officers from the Animal Husbandry Institute and some textile businessmen, came to the Dutch merchant ship for handover.
First there was the textile merchant, squatting among the sheep to look at them.
You Jixian, an official from the Ministry of Commerce, asked: "How?"
Textile merchant Cui Dian stood up and said: "Yukozheng, there are two kinds of sheep here, one with coarse wool and one with fine wool. But what your majesty wants are fine-wool sheep, and the Dutch barbarians are trying to pass off the inferior ones."
You Jixian sneered: "How brave!"
The Dutch quickly explained: "His Majesty, the Emperor of China, wants English sheep, and these are English sheep. Our Dutch East India Company has no intention of deceiving His Majesty."
In fact, neither of the two types of sheep on board came from England.
Zhao Han was not familiar with the textile industry and did not understand the history of sheep. He preconceptionally believed that British sheep were the best.
But the actual situation is that the best sheep breeds in Britain have not yet been bred in this era.
The sheep breed with the best wool in Europe mainly lives in Italy and the Aegean coast. The Spanish Merino sheep are descendants of Phoenician fine-wool sheep. In order to save trouble, Dutch businessmen purchased a batch of Merino sheep.
They were shipped pretending to be English sheep, which just happened to meet Zhao Han's needs.
This batch of Merino sheep was scattered and fed on two boats, and there were naturally other goods on board.
When passing the Cape of Good Hope, the Dutch fleet encountered a storm. Although no ship sank, one of them was seriously flooded and drifted off the sea for half a month. All the merino sheep on board died.
What to do?
On the way, he went to Persia to buy black-faced sheep, continued to pretend to be English sheep, and shipped them to China for delivery.
You Jixian said to the animal husbandry official again: "Check it."
The animal husbandry officials were very careful and slowly inspected each animal. The teeth, hooves, hair, etc. were all opened and inspected.
Finally, 36 Merino sheep were selected, and You Jixian said: "We only need these, you can transport the remaining sheep back by yourself."
The Dutch knew they were at a loss but still wanted to make money, so they smiled and said, "The remaining sheep can be traded at half price."
"Half-price transaction, that's also the price of a Tianzhu horse!" You Jixian said angrily.
Shipping sheep from Europe will definitely cost nothing at normal prices. In order to increase the enthusiasm of the Dutch, the CIF price of each sheep is twice that of Indian Marwari horses.
Dutch Haggler: "Quarter the price?"
"One-tenth!" You Jixian bargained fiercely.
Persian black-faced sheep are mainly used for food. Although the quality of wool is not particularly bad, it is not much better than local Chinese wool. It was shipped thousands of miles away, but China is unwilling to trade, and it is impossible for the Dutch to ship it back.
After some haggling, the Merino sheep were sold at the order price, and the remaining black-faced sheep were sold at one-eighth of the price.
Sheep from Spain and Persia were transported to Jeju Island in this way.
The horse breeding farm of the Datong imperial court is no longer on Jeju Island. There is a large Fuzhou horse breeding farm in Liaodong.
Today, Jeju Island has become an animal husbandry research base, mainly conducting breeding experiments on horses, cattle, and sheep.
The experimental method is very primitive and bold, which is to cross-breed different breeds and create many strange things. Of course, the main thing is to optimize the cross-breeding and artificially correct the evolutionary direction of livestock.
This batch of sheep was brought to Jeju Island to focus on the optimal breeding of Merino sheep.
However, Spanish Merino sheep, Persian black-faced sheep, and East Asian native sheep will also be cross-bred with each other. What the hell can be produced by cross-breeding depends entirely on God's will. Even if it fails, you can still choose a few outrageous ones.
Yes, send it to Nanjing for the Emperor to see as a curiosity.
Jeju Island, long ago renamed Jeju County, was originally part of Jiangsu and is now part of Shandong.
The registered population of the county has rapidly increased to more than 50,000, about a quarter of which are Han immigrants, and many are Koreans who have fled by boat in recent years. Three primary schools and one middle school have been built, all of which are in Chinese.
teaching.
…
"Are you knitting again?" Zhao Han asked with a smile.
"His Majesty!"
Liu Rushi and Tian Xiuying quickly stood up to greet them.
"Sit down." Zhao Han nodded.
The bamboo sticks for knitting sweaters were "invented" by Zhao Han himself, but the specific method of weaving had to be left to skilled craftsmen to study.
Skilled craftsmen invented one kind, and after it spread, folk women actually derived six kinds.
Tian Xiuying was so ingenious that she remodeled the gardens of the Beijing Imperial Palace and remodeled various ornaments for the Beijing harem. She had nothing to do and studied knitting sweaters in the harem, and actually invented a crochet method that could be used to crochet many patterns with wool.
Tian Xiuying had a big belly. With the support of the palace maid, she sat down carefully and said: "These are baby's wool shoes. They can be worn in winter."
Zhao Han picked up the half-knitted shoes. They were made of fine cashmere thread and would not irritate the baby's skin. He looked at them for a while and smiled: "Is this a bat?"
"Knit a pair of bat shoes to pray for the child." Tian Xiuying already had a shadow in her heart. The sons she gave birth to to Chongzhen died consecutively, and she only survived the last one. Now she is pregnant with Zhao Han's child, and she really doesn't want to go through it again.
Liu Rushi smiled and said: "My husband is blessed with great blessings, and the prince and princess are naturally blessed people as well."
Compared with the slender figure in previous years, Liu Rushi's figure has become much plumper, and her relationship with Tian Xiuying is still the best.
Zhao Han suddenly said: "Your father has been found."
Tian Xiuying was suddenly startled: "Is my father still okay?"
Zhao Han said: "When Li Zicheng was being tortured in Beijing for payment, he was beaten half to death. With the help of his old friend Xiang, he hid in the mountains and became a monk. The Datong Army recovered Hebei, conducted an inventory of the Unscrupulous Monks, and confirmed his identity. In a few days, he
It can be sent to Nanjing."
"Congratulations, sister!" Liu Rushi said happily.
Tian Xiuying also pursed her lips and smiled. The child in her belly was about to be born, and the whereabouts of her lost father had also been found. God was so kind to her.
Zhao Han said to Liu Rushi: "Your family has not been found yet."
Liu Rushi forced a smile: "It's okay not to look for it."
Zhao Han reminded Tian Xiuying: "The title of Datong is only awarded based on merit. When your father came to Nanjing, he could only give you a house and money. There is no title. Land can only be obtained if you live in the countryside. If you live in the city, you cannot divide the land."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty," Tian Xiuying said, "I will remind my father that he will never dare to make a mistake."
In the past few years, Zhao Han has not only been looking for the concubine's family, but also for his former benefactors. The Tianjin officer who let him cross the bridge, the Tianjin woman who gave him water, posted notices with her features, and came to claim credit.
There are quite a few, but unfortunately none of them match the numbers.
Liu Ru asked the palace maid to bring paper, pens and paints, unfolded the drawing paper and taught Zhao Han to paint.
Emperor Zhao is now also a man of culture, with rich and colorful hobbies. The main reason is that he is too tired to write memorials at work, so he has to find time for entertainment. In addition to reading, he is studying music, painting, and also learned to play Go, and even occasionally does it with Pan Qimei.
pastry.
Under Liu Rushi's step-by-step instruction, Emperor Zhao painted a picture of flowers and birds today, which was quite comparable to that of a young child in a later Chinese painting training class.
"Husband, this parrot looks more and more like an owl the more I look at it." Liu Rushi couldn't help laughing.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Zhao Han laughed and said to Tian Xiuying: "Concubine Tian also painted a painting, and we can't let Mr. Liu be arrogant!"
Tian Xiuying smiled and picked up the brush, and a flower and bird painting quickly took shape, crushing the emperor's graffiti.
As for the thing painted by Zhao Han, it was kept by Liu Rushi's personal maid. When her five-year contract expires, she can leave the palace and get married. Then she can keep it or sell it quietly. Anyway, the emperor's royal pen
Very valuable.
The waste that comes out of the hands of the emperor is generally not strictly managed.
Emperor Hongzhi of the Ming Dynasty also used a coarse silk cloth to wipe his buttocks. One day, he discovered that the coarse silk cloth he used to wipe his buttocks had been washed by an eunuch and sewn up to make a door curtain. He felt that he was too extravagant. So he ordered Sichuan
Don't pay tribute to me anymore, just use toilet paper to wipe your butt from now on.
Zhao Han continued to practice painting, but far away in Xuzhou, the Tianjin officer who had helped him finally found him!
