(PS: I found that the time of the story was wrong. The rain during tea picking had been changed to the vernal equinox. Mrs. Bai’s birthday was also one month earlier.)
Letting the servant support him, Old Bai stood up with a cane and personally sent the father and son out to the courtyard.
Leave Bai's house and walk for a while.
Zhu Ming gave a thumbs up and said: "Okay, Dean Zhu, the heat is just right. You don't deliberately put on airs. You sit there like a leader. This is the first time I have seen you like this since I was a child."
"What does it mean to be like a leader? I am a leader originally, and I say what I pretend to do," Zhu Guoxiang began to teach his son, "What kind of airs to use depends on the occasion. It is too tiring to do it at home, but it is too tiring to do it in front of the students."
It's too much. If you act too pretentious in front of your colleagues or in front of your boss, you're courting death. The state just now was specially made for a specific group of people."
"Um……"
Ju Ming thought carefully and said sincerely: "In this aspect, I have to learn more from you."
Zhu Guoxiang warned: "Don't learn. You don't have enough experience. When you learn, you will look deliberate. If you draw a tiger, you will become an anti-dog. In the end, you will end up like a clown. You just need to be more steady and don't behave like a lunatic from time to time."
"
"My true temperament is to mingle with the people," Ju Ming said in his own words.
Zhu Guoxiang exposed it with one sentence: "You have lacked discipline since you were a child, and you have developed a lot of bad habits. No matter how hard you talk, you can't change them!"
Ju Ming curled his lips, he knew it, but he didn't want to admit it.
Inside the Bai family mansion.
Old Bai had already returned to his study and quickly summoned the housekeeper: "Go and find out if there are any marriageable women in the village, and help the Zhu family and his son find matchmakers."
This butler was an absolute confidant and immediately asked: "Sir, I have been extremely kind by selling them a lot of mountain land. Now I am helping them with the matchmaking. Isn't it too honorable for them?"
"What do you know?"
Officer Lao Bai scolded him, but he still explained: "Both father and son are not economical. They have to arrange a family for them. Only when they have a family can they have care. When they have care, it will be easy to handle!"
The housekeeper understood immediately and admired Mr. Bai very much.
He knew the situation in the village well and pondered: "I'm afraid they will look down on ordinary village girls. The third sister from the shopkeeper Sun's house in Mipu is quite suitable. Third sister Sun knows a few words. She is fifteen this year."
Get married."
Old Bai Yuanwai nodded and said: "Shopkeeper Sun is not bad. He has been a slave in my family, so he must be trustworthy."
In the late Northern Song Dynasty, the slave system was at a critical point of transformation.
It was not like the early and middle Song Dynasty, which regarded slaves as the private property of their masters. Nor was it completely converted to a slave employment system like the Southern Song Dynasty, which even stipulated that employment contracts should be signed for a maximum of ten years.
In the Huizong Dynasty alone, the number of official slaves was extremely rare.
Private slaves who have completely lost their freedom only exist in the homes of certain powerful people.
Rich country people like Lao Bai basically hired slaves to work, and all slaves were from good families. However, many slaves also had the status of clients and relied on the Bai family to live their lives.
Shopkeeper Sun of the rice shop in Baishitou was born as a slave. Because of his intelligence, he attended the Bai Family School for free and was trained as a shop assistant. He was gradually promoted to the shopkeeper of the rice shop. Now he has got rid of his identity as a customer. The official government was changed to the principal household, and the descendants could even take the imperial examination to become officials, because their ancestors were all from good families for three generations.
We have to admit that the period from the late Northern Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty was the period when slaves had the highest status in ancient Chinese feudal society.
The housekeeper continued to look for candidates and said: "The youngest daughter of Mr. Bai Wu's family is fourteen years old this year and is not yet married."
The so-called fifth master Bai is the cousin of the old member Bai. The family has been separated for decades. He is considered a small asset in the village (between a small landowner and a rich farmer).
Lao Bai said: "Whether it is fourteen or fifteen, it is appropriate to ration the young scholar Zhu. Is there anyone who is a little older? It is not too old, but the seniority must be higher, so that the father and son will not marry a woman of the same generation. ."
"Master, have you forgotten about Erniang Shen?" the housekeeper said with a smile, "Mrs. Shen is very smart and has read many books. It happens that there is a rumor in the village, so why don't you say that you will be a continuation for Mr. Zhu?"
Member Lao Bai thinks this is feasible: "Just choose these three, and after the spring plowing, we will invite matchmakers to visit. If the Zhu family and his son are not satisfied, they can also look for women from neighboring villages, but they must not be single. Only then can the family live a peaceful life."
"I've written it down," the steward said.
Member Lao Bai added: "That Mr. Zhu said he could increase rice production. I have promised to give him a paddy field and let him guide the farming. Your uncle can be responsible for this."
"yes!"
The housekeeper bowed to leave and called his eldest son Lu An.
…
Lu An was already in his forties this year. When he learned that he was sent by Lao Bai, he didn't dare to be negligent. After receiving the assignment, he ran to Mrs. Shen's house.
Zhu Ming was not at home and had gone into the mountains to cut grass.
The skinny horse's appetite increased day by day, and all the weeds nearby had been eaten by the beast, so it had to be cut back from the mountains to feed.
If you want to grow strong, you can't just feed them with grass, they must also be mixed with hay, and beans and salt are indispensable.
If you want to raise a military horse well, the food it consumes every day is enough to feed two or three villagers!
"Xianggong Zhu!"
Lu An stood outside the courtyard and shouted.
Zhu Guoxiang, who was tutoring Bai Qi with his homework, got up and opened the courtyard door: "What's the matter?"
Lu An bowed and saluted: "I am sent by an old man. My name is Lu An, also known as Lu Da. Mr. Zhu wants to plant rice. If you have any errands, just ask him."
Zhu Guoxiang arranged: "Go and pick up a pound of grain seeds. I will take a look and dry the seeds."
"Does this mean we have to sow the seeds in the sun?" Lu An expressed his confusion and reminded, "The early rice is sown before the rains, and the late rice is not yet ready. When should the rice be planted at this time?"
In traditional rice cultivation, seeds must be sown before the rains.
If it is rapeseed and rice rotation, the sowing time will be delayed by one to three months.
Zhu Guoxiang explained simply: "My method of raising seedlings will take longer to raise seedlings. Just follow it."
Lu An had no choice but to run back and report the news to Lao Bai.
Lao Bai said: "Whatever he arranges, you can do it."
"yes!"
Lu An went to get a pound of grain seeds and ran to Mrs. Shen's house out of breath.
Zhu Guoxiang grabbed a handful and observed carefully. The grains were quite plump, and he didn't know what kind of rice it was.
More than a hundred years ago, Champa rice was introduced in the Song Dynasty. At first, it was only grown in the Jianghuai and Zhejiang regions. Now it has been extended to Hanzhong, and many subspecies have been cultivated. Here is the Sichuan subspecies of Champa rice.
Zhu Guoxiang ordered: "Leave the rice seeds. I will choose a sunny day to dry the seeds. You take me to see the rice seedling fields."
The rice-growing field, as the name suggests, is specially set aside for rice-growing.
Lu An took Zhu Guoxiang to a paddy field. Before he could speak, Dean Zhu had already started to take off his shoes.
He tied the hem of his clothes around his waist, rolled up his trouser legs and stepped into the field. Although the fields had not yet been plowed and watered, it had rained in the past few days, and when he stepped on it, the mud could cover his calves.
Zhu Guoxiang bent down and grabbed a handful of mud. He glanced at it casually and praised: "What a field!"
It is sandy loam soil, very suitable for growing seedlings.
It is not a formal cultivation experiment, and there is no relevant scientific conditions, so there is no need to measure soil composition.
Zhu Guoxiang dug his hand deeply into the field, dug out deeper soil, and carefully observed the physical properties of the soil. With his decades of agricultural experience, he could tell with the naked eye that most of the soil was slightly acidic or neutral.
The Bai family takes good care of the rice field.
Zhu Guoxiang returned to the field ridge, went to the paddy field nearby to wash his hands and feet, picked up his shoes and said: "Tomorrow, you will find oxen to plow the fields. Be sure to plow deeply. After plowing, let the sun shine for a few days."
"I've written it down." Lu An said.
Zhu Guoxiang added: "Prepare the manure, and you need the cooked manure."
Lu An nodded repeatedly: "I remember."
"Come back to me after the fields are dried." Zhu Guoxiang left with his shoes.
Lu An ran back to Bai's house again and explained the situation in detail.
Mr. Bai also knew a lot about farming. After listening to this, he said to Lu An: "This guy named Zhu seems to be really good at farming. You can't see anything unusual yet. Just do what he said. Is it any different from me farming?" If you are in the same place, come back and talk to me again."
afternoon.
When Ju Ming came back from cutting a lot of grass, he didn't know what the horses wanted to eat, so he asked the tea farmers in the mountains to cut the grass that the cows liked to eat.
This beast is really not picky. When he sees the delicious grass, he immediately goes to chew it.
Ju Ming took out the hatchet again, chopped the wheat straw into pieces, and prepared dry fodder for the horses. While chopping, he complained: "I have lived for more than twenty years, and it has never been so hard for me to serve my girlfriend. You beast, you have accumulated virtues from eight generations of ancestors." !”
The skinny horse has gradually gained weight, but its ribs are still prominent.
This is a characteristic of the yellow gelding. Zhu Ming did not understand it and thought it was malnutrition.
Zhu Guoxiang didn't help, he just squatted aside and watched, asking: "You are so interested in horses, do you really want to go to war in the future?"
"What else?" Zhu Ming said angrily, "If it wasn't for the fight, I would have killed this beast and eaten its meat!"
Perhaps because he was tired of eating the grass, the horse suddenly came over, chewed a few mouthfuls of straw, and rubbed against Ju Ming affectionately.
"Go, go," Zhu Ming was impatient, pushed the horse's head away, and cursed, "don't disturb me from doing my work!"
Zhu Guoxiang picked up a straw, brought it to the horse's mouth, and said: "This thin horse is also the first companion we have when we travel through time. Think about it carefully and give it a name."
"How about we call it rhubarb?" Zhu Ming chuckled and started to act inappropriately again.
As the farming business was about to get on the right track, Zhu Guoxiang also had the leisure to joke and said with a smile: "It would be better to call it prosperous."
Ju Ming stood up and observed the horse carefully.
It has yellow hair all over its body, with white spots on its sides and belly, and white hair as round as a full moon on its head.
This is a standard yellow gelding, popularly known as "Xiliang Yuding Hay Yellow". It is also nicknamed "Tougulong" because of its exposed ribs.
Touching the tuft of white hair on the horse's head, Zhu Ming thought hard for a long time, but couldn't think of a cool name, so he decided to pick one at random for the time being: "The yellow hair is gold, and the white hair is silver. It's good to call it 'Treasure Bowl'."
Zhu Guoxiang suddenly couldn't laugh or cry. He really couldn't keep up with his son's out-of-the-box thinking.
When Zhu Guoxiang thought about it, when his son named a thin horse, it was probably some colt, some dragon, or Qilin, Lightning, Windwalker, etc. He never expected that it would be a "cornucopia" that wouldn't touch anything.
Would anyone in their right mind give a horse such a ridiculous name?
"Zhu Dalang, I'm here, I want to hear a story!"
A little fat man and his servants shouted at the top of their lungs all the way.
Zhu Ming greeted him warmly, pointed at the horse and said, "Zheng Xiaoguan, this is the horse I picked up. I just gave it a name and called it a cornucopia."
Zheng Hong was confused: "Why is it called a cornucopia?"
Ju Ming explained: "The yellow hair is gold, and the white hair is silver. The body is covered with gold and silver, which means great wealth."
Hearing this meaning, Zheng Hong actually clapped his hands and exclaimed: "What a good name. Even if I try hard, I can't think of it!"
Zhu Guoxiang fell into silence. He had already felt that the little fat man in front of him also had a hole in his head.
(Thanks to the head coach of Qidian Eight Million Eagle Knights, Asakusa Yunfeiyang and other brothers for their rewards and support.)
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