Of the twenty sceneries in Wangchuan, six have been restored so far.
Zhu Guoxiang personally gave the instructions, Li Qingzhao and Wen Xiaomei provided suggestions, and the technical officers from the Ministry of Industry went to design and supervise the construction.
Construction is still ongoing and the Emperor has not moved to Wangchuan Villa yet.
On this day, Zhu Guoxiang came back from the experimental field outside the city. Immediately a eunuch reported: "Your Majesty, the official family has sent a girl who was once a concubine that Wu begged for."
"I know, arrange a cleaning job for her." Zhu Guoxiang said casually.
The eunuch quickly explained: "The official family has made him a nobleman."
Zhu Guoxiang was extremely angry. Rumors about himself as a "good wife" had spread throughout Kaifeng and Luoyang. Now that another one was sent here, wouldn't this reputation be confirmed?
After being annoyed for a while, Zhu Guoxiang said: "Bring her over."
This concubine of the Jin Dynasty, who was just over 30 years old, had been washing clothes in the Clothing Bureau for a year and a half, and was even beaten, scolded and humiliated by female officials.
Her hands were calloused and she looked a little haggard.
But today I dressed up, put on new clothes, and put on makeup. The combination of haggardness and beauty made me look even more charming.
The woman was extremely nervous at this moment. She secretly hid her calloused hands in her sleeves and bowed to pay her respects using the Ming Dynasty etiquette she had just learned.
Zhu Guoxiang couldn't help but look at it a few more times and asked, "What's your name?"
The woman replied: "Li Zhen."
Zhu Guoxiang acted like a serious man, but said to the eunuch: "Promote her to the rank of Taishang Jieyu (third-class concubine), and find a courtyard to settle down."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Li Zhen was so excited that she knelt down and kowtowed.
The levels of concubines in the Song Dynasty did not change in the Ming Dynasty, but several more concubine titles were added.
The noble is the lowest concubine, followed by the talented, the beautiful, and the concubine.
Above Jieyu, there are a bunch of second-class concubines with titles.
Among the second classes, Taiyi, Guiyi, and Shuyi are the most noble, and those going up higher are concubines.
The concubines are all first-class, and the imperial concubine is the highest.
It's just that Zhu Guoxiang created an imperial concubine. She is a first-class one.
Li Zhen stood up, took a peek at Zhu Guoxiang and then lowered her head, her heart filled with joy.
Although this overlord has gray temples, he has few wrinkles on his face and his skin is smooth and rosy. He also has a solemn and upright face. At first glance, he is a virtuous and blessed man. According to ancient aesthetics, he is a standard old handsome guy.
Throw Wu Qimai out of the eight streets!
Zhu Guoxiang took two steps and suddenly stopped: "Give her a piece of watermelon. Remember to collect the watermelon seeds."
But it was Zhu Guoxiang who came back from the experimental field and brought two large baskets of watermelons into the palace.
The eunuch was very smart in his work. He held a watermelon in his arms and took Li Zhen to choose a residence. He also asked the female officer to arrange for the maids to serve him.
After choosing the palace, Li Zhen bent down and asked, "I don't know what the names of the people in Japan are."
The eunuch said quickly: "We dare not praise you in front of Your Majesty Jieyu. My name is Yang Mao, and my nickname is Yang Aliu. Madam calls me Aliu."
Li Zhen pointed to the watermelon: "What is this?"
There are also watermelons in the Jin Kingdom, but they are cheap and are mainly used as a backup water source when marching on the grassland.
Yang Mao replied: "This is a watermelon. The emperor has been cultivating it for several years. Every year he abandons bitter melon seeds and only selects non-bitter seeds for cultivation."
The palace maid from this courtyard has not been arranged yet, so Yang Mao said: "Madam, if you want to eat watermelon now, please remember to collect the watermelon seeds and write down the quantity with a piece of paper."
The more Li Zhen listened, the more confused she became. She was afraid that she had made a mistake and hurriedly ate it while the eunuch was around.
The two men cut the melon immediately, and the eunuch also went to find a knife.
Soon, two palace maids came and were also invited by Li Zhen to eat melon.
Yang Mao introduced while cutting the melon: "This kind of watermelon is different. The seedlings are soaked in Shennong water (colchicine solution). The emperor said that this is a tetraploid. It can also be used as a female parent, unlike ordinary watermelons.
Watermelons were hybridized to create triploid seedless watermelons.”
Li Zhen was confused after hearing this, and felt more and more that the Emperor was very knowledgeable.
Yang Mao got a piece of watermelon and said: "Spit all the watermelon seeds on the paper, even the weak seeds, and record the number of watermelon seeds. This kind of tetraploid watermelon has fewer seeds than diploid, so keep the seeds."
It becomes even more important.”
Li Zhen praised and said: "Yang's servant is worthy of being the emperor's sidekick, and he is also so proficient in farming."
Yang Mao was quite proud in his heart, but he was very humble in his words: "Since the first year of Hongwu, we have followed the emperor to farm. These are left with the emperor, but we are just getting started."
The two new palace maids, who had never eaten watermelon before, followed Li Zhen and started chewing slowly.
Tetraploid watermelon was a technologically advanced technology in ancient times, but they could be considered to have enjoyed it hundreds of years in advance.
Collect the watermelon seeds and take them back to Yang Mao for return.
Although the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty had little real power outside the palace, Yang Mao was extremely prosperous.
Because he knows agriculture!
Colchicine solution was called Shennong water by agricultural officials.
Although the agricultural promotion system does not take it seriously within the system, it is extremely mysterious among the people.
Many gentry, including many gentry, had heard about Shennong Water, but they didn't know what it was. They found that the yields of crops in the agricultural experimental fields were often higher than those in the private sector, and even the appearance characteristics of some fruits and vegetables were different. So they thought it was
The credit for Shen Nong Shui and the fact that it was a secret that was not told, most of the time they did not dare to inquire about it.
Even the Taoist priests who studied chemistry secretly obtained the "recipe" of Shennong Water. They believed that Shennong Water contained the energy of heaven and earth and could cultivate ordinary elixirs into elixirs. They also suspected that the Ganoderma lucidum as big as a millstone was Zhu Guoxiang.
Produced with Shennong water.
The eunuch Yang Mao knew how to prepare Shennong water and how to increase the yield of many crops.
"Your Majesty, I got the watermelon seeds back." Yang Mao said, holding a small paper bag.
Zhu Guoxiang nodded: "Let it go."
The sun is about to set, and strong winds are blowing in the yard, taking away the scorching heat. It looks like it may rain tonight.
Shen Yourong, Wen Xiaomei, Li Qingzhao, and An Niang were eating melon around Zhu Guoxiang with their children.
The taste is still not very sweet, but there is no bitterness either. It is very comfortable to eat when dipped in sugar.
The white sugar was presented by Wang Zhuo, a Sichuan agricultural officer, along with the sugar-making process a few days ago.
Wang Zhuo himself was from Sichuan and was proficient in poetry and music. Since he failed to succeed in many trials and the sugar industry was developed in his hometown of Suining, he simply took the time to study how to make sugar.
When Ju Ming raised troops to occupy Sichuan, Wang Zhuo did not dare to "surrender to the traitors". He waited until the founding of the Ming Dynasty before he belatedly came to seek an official position. Unfortunately, he missed the opportunity and only got a scribe position.
Wang Zhuo did not want to be a scribe, so he continued to study sugar production and presented "Frost Sugar Manual" in the fourth year of Hongwu.
This book starts with how to grow sugar cane and divides sugar cane into several varieties. He clearly writes which ones are suitable for making brown sugar and which ones are suitable for making rock sugar.
Then, the sugar making process was recorded in detail, and the main focus was on making rock sugar.
Purple rock candy is the best, dark amber is second, light yellow is third, and light white rock candy is the worst...
Zhu Guoxiang got the book "Frost Sugar Speculation", met with Wang Zhuo in person, and asked him to take the lead in researching the white sugar production process.
Another four years later, Wang Zhuo presented "White Sugar Book".
"Where's the melon?"
Ju Ming suddenly shouted outside the hospital: "You can eat melon without even calling me!"
Shen Yourong took his concubine and children to greet him, but Zhu Guoxiang was still eating watermelon dipped in sugar.
Zhu Ming bowed his hands to the cheap mothers, then sat down and said, "Why can't I understand this craftsmanship?"
"I don't understand either." Zhu Guoxiang said.
Ju Ming held a copy of "White Sugar Manual" in his hand: "It's a bit like the yellow mud water method, but it's very different."
Zhu Guoxiang said something that the concubines could not understand: "Small workshops in Sichuan, Fujian, Guangxi and Hainan still used similar indigenous methods to make sugar in the 1980s. I have some impression, but it is only an impression. I don't know the specific principle. It may be made by taking advantage of the difference in solubility of sugar at different temperatures."
In this process, a funnel-shaped pottery is placed on top of a pottery urn for a sealed connection. The mouth of the funnel is then sealed with straw, syrup boiled with lime three times is poured into the funnel, and the top is sealed with soil.
One day later, the syrup is completely cooled. Take out the sugar drain, remove the sealing grass, insert bamboo strips into the syrup to form a conduit, and the sugar seeds with impurities will flow out slowly.
After a month, there will be crystallized sugar on the inner wall of the sugar drain, and the area close to the sealing mud is the purest.
Crush the crystallized sugar into pieces to make white sugar.
Straw was used to seal the leaks, and yellow mud was used to seal the mouth, which is inconsistent with the records in "Tiangong Kaiwu".
And it's not instant, the whole process takes a month.
Rather than saying it is the yellow mud water drench method, it is better called the mud sealing method.
Zhu Guoxiang said: "This so-called mud-sealing method for making white sugar is actually very similar to making rock sugar in the previous Song Dynasty. It's just that the process that took half a year was accelerated into just one month."
"The frosting method in Sichuan in the former Song Dynasty was to leave it from the beginning of spring to summer, and the rock sugar was precipitated through natural temperature changes. However, this mud sealing method artificially controlled the temperature changes."
Ju Ming took another bite of watermelon: "This Wang Zhuo is very good. How old is he?"
"He is in his fifties," Zhu Guoxiang said. "He is a fan of officialdom and has always wanted to seek an official position. Unfortunately, he is too timid to become a thief. He has been living in Sichuan, but has missed several opportunities to seek an official position."
Ju Ming smiled and said: "Then give him a job as a county magistrate. From now on, as long as he is not a big corrupt person, he can be spared his life. If he is an honest official and a capable official, at his current age, he may be able to retire as a magistrate."
The sugar-making process has been shortened to one month, and the output has increased compared to before. This has made a huge contribution.
It is not too much to reward a county magistrate.
After Zhu Ming finished chewing a piece of watermelon in his hand, he went to the basket next to him and took out two more: "I'm leaving, you can eat slowly."
"Hey, I got this back. If you want to eat it, go out of the city and get it yourself!" Zhu Guoxiang said angrily.
Zhu Ming didn't look back: "No time."
The four stepmothers covered their mouths and snickered, and the younger brothers and sisters also laughed.
Li Qingzhao said to Zhu Guoxiang: "The officials are acting coquettishly to ask for rewards."
Zhu Guoxiang said angrily: "He is not asking for reward, he is openly robbing!"
Ju Ming had already reached the entrance of the courtyard and turned around with the watermelon in his arms: "Dongxi Garden is quite cool. I went there last year. You can go there to escape the summer heat."
