Four hundred and ninetieth eight chapters festival
The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month, in the fourth year of Xuande and the thirty-first year of Jianwen. The remains of firecrackers and the aftertaste of the festival still remain in the streets and alleys of Wuchang, just like a place where a banquet has been held, leaving a mess. According to folk tradition,
After today, the New Year is over, and you should take off your new clothes and start preparing for spring plowing; the whole year begins with spring, and the time after the New Year should be the busiest time. It is necessary to fatten, cultivate, cultivate and transplant rice, and even local officials have to shift their focus on government affairs.
Go to Encourage Farmers.
However, it is a sad day for children. When the busy farming season arrives, it is of course not as fun as the Chinese New Year, and they may have to be asked by adults to help. There is a folk custom in Huguang that children will tie hemp ropes to the feet of their beds when today comes.
Expressing the mood of wanting to preserve the New Year. Zhang Ning sympathizes with this sentiment. When he was a child, he also hoped that the New Year would be celebrated as slowly as possible, because adults had no time to pay attention to children during the busy farming period. At that time, his task could only be to take care of the children.
little sister.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was born in the common people, so he understood the sufferings of the people. After all, Zhang Ning was also born in a rural mountain village. He was by no means the prince who was raised in the hands of women. He also had a deep understanding of farming. The people still have the last day.
During the break, the yamen in various places have not yet opened their seals, but the Wuchang cabinet is already discussing matters. This time the discussion is not about military affairs. Zhang Ning decided to issue an order from the cabinet after the local government opened their seals: boil manure and fatten it.
Several ministers inevitably questioned this decree, because Zhang Ning could not explain it. He only remembered that in order to save money on purchasing chemical fertilizers, the way to improve natural fertilizers in rural areas was to boil dung water, which could greatly improve fertility; what exactly is this?
The principle, but I can't remember... Of course, bureaucrats will be cautious about such things. If it is a "fiddle", it is a waste of people's energy and is a bad government.
Yang Shiqi moderately suggested that you can choose a piece of official land in each county to test it first. If it really works miraculously, there is no need to force the officials and the people. People will follow suit in order to increase their income. If the judgment is wrong, the impact will not be big and it will not damage the official prestige.
.
But Zhang Ning is indeed a bit stubborn sometimes, and he is very stubborn when it comes to things that he is really sure about. There is no need to test this thing at all, it is his experience when he was a child, and it has been proven in practice; in vain, this year of growth is wasted.
Timing of the Agricultural Economy.
So the cabinet finally decided to issue decrees to nearly 200 counties controlled by more than 20 prefectures in Huguang and Jiangxi, ordering local officials to urge people to use the method of boiling manure for fattening. The implementation strategy was based on the severity of corvee; the exploitation of farmers in the early Ming Dynasty
The main ones are the two taxes and corvee. The government has administratively stipulated that in the next three years, all Ding households using the new fattening method will be exempted from half of the corvee to encourage the new law... and the government can reduce the loss of the corvee by increasing the two taxes on grain.
To make up for it, the grain tax is a commission. The higher the yield per mu, the higher the tax.
After this discussion, Zhang Ning naturally felt complacent again, feeling that he still had some ability to govern the country. The small trial method should be regarded as a method of administrative control. He believed that the economic system of the Ming Dynasty indeed lacked control means, especially in
The monetary policy was a complete mess. Both the early treasure money and the later fiscal period were in a mess. No wonder there was no money to fight the war later. He felt that if he were in power in the future, he should be able to do better.
...In the evening, the Lantern Festival Lantern Market outside the south gate of Chu Palace was extremely lively and prosperous. Yao Ji took Zhou Niang and others to the palace city to watch the fireworks and lights, and sent someone to invite Zhang Ning, but he did not go.
They said they would go over to stay vigil and eat glutinous rice dumplings together in the evening. There is a custom tonight to eat glutinous rice dumplings. It is said to mean blocking the mouse holes, which will save less property and save more in the new year. Staying vigil past the third watch will bring peace.
It means peace and hopes that there will be less disasters in the year. Anyway, these customs have auspicious meanings.
Zhang Ning is busy working on the "teaching materials" and has decided to personally train naval generals in the spring. Although the starting point is to further establish discipleship relationships with middle-level generals, since things have to be done, they cannot go through the motions. He was romantically involved a while ago.
Happy, it's almost time for the military generals to arrive in Wuchang, and the training plan and courses are not ready yet, so we have to rush to work.
When Yao Ji and others came back from admiring the lanterns, he had to go and have supper with her. There was no need to go to Emperor Jianwen's place anymore. He went to greet her ceremonially in the afternoon; but Yao Ji had a different relationship and needed to accompany her.
It's the Lantern Festival after all.
There was a group of women at Yao Ji's place, and I could hear them talking and laughing outside the door. As soon as Zhang Ning arrived at the door, the atmosphere in the hall turned cold. Is he really not that kind of person?
Zhang Ning stepped forward and only had to bow to Yao Ji. Everyone else was equal in terms of status, so he only had to accept the courtesy from others. Everyone did not dare to say anything and seemed a bit reserved. Only Yao
Ji calmly said casually: "I wanted to organize a lantern market tonight in the palace. You see there are so many people in the palace. It would be good for everyone to guess lantern riddles and win. But when I think about it, the battle is not over yet.
It’s better for the harem to calm down for a while.”
"Concubine Mother has thought everything through," Zhang Ning said hurriedly.
He looked around and saw that Luo Yaoniang was also there, but he didn't know whether she came voluntarily to set up a good way, or Yang Shiqi asked her to come. What's even more mysterious is that Xiao Qing, who could see the doctor and feel the pulse last time, also came with her; this girl
Isn't she an assassin? Zhang Ning didn't argue with her and let her go. This time she came again as if nothing had happened. Could it be that she was thinking about saving her father?
The women were all dressed neatly, and even though it was night time, most of their faces had light makeup, which showed that they had been carefully tidied up. Zhang Xiaomei looked at Zhang Ning quietly, but he did not dare to flirt with her; because although the women in the hall
Everyone pretended to ignore him, but it was obvious that people were paying attention to him, and it would be easy to be noticed if he didn't pay attention. Zhu Nanping was silent next to Tuesday's mother, but Zhang Ning generously made a special trip to talk to her and asked how much lucky money Zhu received during the New Year.
Nanping lowered his head and replied: "The imperial concubine gave me the ingot, and my aunt gave me the golden lock."
Yao Ji asked again: "You go to the Yamen in the morning. What are you busy with?"
Zhang Ning replied: "Of course it is a state matter. I thought of the Chinese New Year celebrations a few days ago, and suddenly I thought of a way to boil dung. I hurriedly discussed with the ministers to implement it."
"What?" Yao Ji looked at him slightly confused.
"Boiled manure." Zhang Ning had to explain, "It is the excrement of humans and animals. Farmers mainly rely on it to fertilize. If the fertilizer is insufficient, the harvest will not be good. Cooking manure before using it will not only double the fertility, but also greatly improve the harvest."
Fertility. It suddenly occurred to me that Ming Dynasty has not discovered this method yet..."
"Hey, that's enough." Yao Ji shook her head and said with a smile, "Stop talking, are you going to tell everyone to eat glutinous rice dumplings later?"
Only then did Zhang Ning notice that the women were making disgusted expressions, and hurriedly said: "I seem to have said something inappropriate, so I'm really sorry." He believed that excrement was also a matter related to people's livelihood, and there was nothing dirty about it, but the women present were resistant. It's understandable. They are now ladies, and they don't have to give birth. They don't have to worry about those things if their fingers are not wet. However, the economy determines the upper class. If Zhang Ning's power group is not managed properly, these women will not be able to have a romantic life.
Seeing that everyone was a little reserved and not having much fun talking or laughing, he thought it would be a bit uncomfortable to sit and wait for the third watch like this, so he said, "I have a suggestion, how about we all play cards together?"
After saying this, he suddenly got up and looked at Luo Yaoniang with a mischievous smile. Luo Yaoniang curled her lips and refrained from talking back in front of many people. Later, Zhang Ning realized that the last time she played cards, she was incestuous. Yao Ji also knew about it and hurriedly restrained herself. But she saw Yao Ji looking at him with a half-smile.
Fang Ling said: "Probably the only way to play leaf cards is with four people at a table. The younger sister and the princess don't know how to do it. Concubine Bai Ci probably hasn't learned it either?"
"We are not playing leaf cards. With so many people participating, we should choose another simple and interesting game." Zhang Ning said, turning back to a standing guard in white and saying, "Go and get a deck of cards, a pen and paint. .You can also come and play together later."
When the maid brought the props, he counted the number of people present, then randomly picked out the same number of cards, and while coloring with a pen, he explained: "This game is called 'Please close your eyes when it gets dark'. It's very simple. .The red card represents the prefect who wears red official robes and serves as the referee; the green card represents the subordinate police officer; the black card represents the assassin who wears night clothes and commits crimes; the uncolored ones are civilians..."
In Zhang Ning's view, leaf cards are similar to mahjong in later generations, but they are actually a kind of gambling; while the killing game he mentioned is actually a social game, which seems to be more interesting. During the game, everyone can Excuses and gags give you the opportunity to express yourself without feeling ignored or forgotten. It will bring people closer and get some simple care and fun.
We are all very smart women, and they understood the rules after Zhang Ning explained them once. They didn't show much interest at first, but since it was Zhang Ning's idea, and now everyone has nothing to do while sitting together. , so there is no reason to refuse. Playing casually is better than just sitting around.
But after two games, people got into the mood and gradually found it interesting. Zhang Xiaomei pretended to be innocent and naive, Yao Ji pretended to be righteous and serious, and Luo Yaoniang's spicy words showed their strengths. The hall gradually became lively, and laughter reappeared. Even the quilt The maid who was brought in to make up the numbers also changed her usual reserved and dull look, allowing people to feel her personality as a person.
Zhang Ning was once identified as the "assassin", and he took the opportunity to make fun of Xiao Qing: "I look like the big bad wolf, but in fact you all wronged me. But the real assassin is not only knowledgeable and ladylike, but also I know how to diagnose the pulse, so it’s wrong to just rely on feeling. Did I say something wrong?”
Xiao Qing's face turned bright red when she said this. When it was her turn to speak, she said that she had no choice but to do so.
Each person chatted a few words and joked for fun. Time passed very quickly, and the third night seemed to arrive in an instant.