Chapter 93: Busy with farming, skills increase.
Xu Shisheng was intercepted and killed by Japanese pirates, and the news that his life and death were unknown quickly spread to the Nanping County Government.
Inside the Nanping County Government Office, Bai Zhixian felt uncomfortable looking at his subordinates who had their own concerns.
Qian Xianxian was about to promote people to become officials, and he was about to reach the ceiling of promoting people to become officials. He was already fifty years old, and he just wanted to have meritorious service and no faults, to pass the examination and be judged to be above average, and to be appointed as the county magistrate and earn enough money to support his retirement.
Chief Li was the official candidate in Shandong. He stopped taking the imperial examination after passing the imperial examination at the age of thirty-five. He only wanted to make money. He was closest to Xu Shisheng, and he was the one making the most noise at this time.
"The Japanese pirates have arrived thirty miles outside the county town! Why don't you tell the government immediately and ask the Yanping Guards to come out of the city to clean up!"
Baizhi County almost rolled his eyes. Chief Li is becoming more and more arrogant. Does he think he is a novice in officialdom? Dig a hole in front of you and make yourself jump?
If Japanese pirates appear within 30 miles of the county seat, what is the official letter reporting their safety every month?
Should we report that Japanese pirates invaded Nanping County and half of the county was in ruins?
The next day, Bai Zhi County will be dismissed and investigated!
The county magistrate Qian, who usually always pretends to be confused, can't stand it anymore. The magistrate and the county magistrate are responsible for the safety of the entire county. Chief Li is about to hurt himself.
Qian Xian Cheng coughed and said, "I don't think they are Japanese pirates. Li Hu, did Xu Shisheng die of an emergency?"
Li Hu had a bandage on his shoulder. Hearing Qian Xian Cheng's words, he immediately said:
"The second master is wise, indeed It was Xu Shisheng who suddenly fell ill and died."
Chief Li suddenly became anxious. He pointed at the wound on Li Hu's shoulder and said, "
Li Hu was injured by a lead bullet from a blunderbuss!"
Li Hu knew that he was involved. There was a fight between the county offices, but Qian County Magistrate was helping Baizhi County, and there was definitely no future for him to seek refuge with Director Li. He immediately said: "My subordinate was injured when he fell while walking, not from a robbery." Director Li still wanted to fight
. , Bai Zhixian said decisively:
"Li Hu, you take your injured subordinates to collect pension money, and Minzhuang, who is on an errand, has one tael per person, but if there is any gossip in Nanping County, I will ask you for it!" "Yes!
"
Li Hu immediately retreated.
Baizhi County looked at Qian County Prime Minister and Chief Secretary Li and said: "There are no Japanese pirates thirty miles outside the city." "
Xu Shisheng died of illness. I personally told his family about this." "
Find an experienced scribe from the household to replace him." Xu Shisheng went to Fuzhou City. This time I asked the magistrate to send Yanping Guards to escort him." "
Starting today, we will strengthen the night curfew in the county and recruit more people."
After saying these four sentences, Qian County Prime Minister immediately agreed, and Master Li also There was no way to refute it, and the news that Xu Shisheng died of a sudden illness spread in the county government.
However, this incident did not cause much trouble. The clerks in the household were busy fighting for the power left by Xu Shisheng, and even Xu Shisheng's relatives were busy seizing the property of his widowed wife and underage son.
As a jackal, you will also encounter jackals when you die of old age.
However, Xu Shisheng's death still had some aftermath.
The most anxious one is the Yanping Wei Yu family, who finally managed to get through Xu Shisheng, but now that he is dead, he has to send someone else.
The new clerk in the Household Department, whose surname was Huang, had nothing to do with Xu Shisheng and had no friendship with the Yu family.
Moreover, after Xu Shisheng's death, Baizhi County asked Secretary Huang to set off immediately.
Commander Yu could only send his second son Yu Zongyuan to Fuzhou City to catch up with Huang Shuli and take care of it.
The news of the county government's blockade was like a sieve, and the news of the presence of Japanese pirates outside the city quickly reached the ears of the wealthy households in Nanping County.
These wealthy families have moved into the county with their families, and when caravans leave the city, they will hire more boxers and Arhat foot guards to protect them.
But all this has nothing to do with Changning Wei.
Hai Hou'er made one last visit and handed over the agreed cotton brown sugar and fifty muskets to Chang Ning Wei.
Su Ze also sold the unidentified goods among the goods purchased by Xu Shisheng to Haihou'er at a price, thus settling the payment.
Hai Hou'er brought the final news. The Deer King had arrived at the outer sea, and Nanpi Island had begun to evacuate.
"What are Master Tiger planning to come back?"
Haihou'er said with a sad face: "Master Tiger said that he might not come back this time." "
Why is this?"
"Master Tiger said that the court's attitude towards suppressing Japanese pirates has become more and more serious in recent years. Be tough, I'm afraid it won't be easy to do sea trade in the future."
"Then what are Mr. Hu planning to do?"
"Master Hu said he is going to Nanyang to try his luck."
"Go to Nanyang?"
"Oh, Nanyang is not easy to get along with now. The Western Barbarians are powerful, so it’s hard for us Chinese businessmen to do business."
Now that he has gone to Nanyang, Zhang Haihu no longer intends to wear the skin of a Japanese pirate, so he simply calls himself a Chinese businessman.
Su Ze also had regrets. Zhang Haihu was a good trading partner. Now that they are gone, it will be troublesome to sell goods in the future.
Haihou'er took out a wooden sign from his arms, handed it to Su Ze and said,
"This is what Master Hu gave you."
He only saw a half-moon carved on the wooden sign, and a red "moon" on the back. The whole wooden sign is full of traces of wear and tear, and I don’t know how many times it has changed hands.
"This is the road guide for Yuegang. This is not the ship guide issued by the Yuegang Chamber of Commerce. You cannot sail into Yuegang, otherwise it will be sunk by the coastal defense artillery. This guide is the certificate for entering and leaving Yuegang from land. Master Hu said that there was no need for it, so he made a good relationship with Changning Wei."
Su Ze's eyes lit up when he heard the word "Yue Gang". This is the largest smuggling port in the southeast region, and Zhang Haihu actually gave this to him. .
Haihou'er said: "This is not a boat guide, nor is it a valuable thing. Lord Tiger is not planning to come back, so this is the end of his thoughts." Haihou'er sighed: "I was born
here, grew up here, but here There is no place for us to stand."
After saying this, Haihou'er stood on the boat, cupped hands with Su Ze and said: "Brother Su, Lord Tiger said, now we are parting, I wish we could get to know each other sooner. The sky is high and the water is long, We will see you later!"
Haihouer's boat left the dock. Su Ze looked at the sea in the distance and said, "Maybe we will see you later?"
The owner of the ghost market was well-informed, and the news of Japanese pirates outside Nanping County had spread. On May 10th, The ghost market was not open at the end of the tenth day of the month.
But in the past, it was just a small matter. When the spinning and weaving industry is established, Changning Wei will also need to consider serious shipping and purchasing channels.
Fujian also produces cotton, but Fujian's cotton production is not large-scale, and most of them weave their own homespun cloth.
The business of the Ming Dynasty was indeed very developed, but behind the development there was an indescribable backwardness. Obviously there are many kinds of goods on the market, but a large number of transactions are still barter.
On the one hand, there is strong market demand, on the other hand, there is unstable production and supply. This is the economy with Ming characteristics.
Next, Su Ze resumed his daily life and developed life skills.
The first is the "Imperial Examination" and "Calligraphy" skills related to the Imperial Examination. After studying for two hours every day, the "Imperial Examination" skill has finally reached Level 4, 20/400, and the "Calligraphy" skill has also reached Level 3, 135/300.
With ten points of experience a day, plus studying at the county school in the middle and end of each month, Su Ze estimated that his imperial examination skills would reach Level 5 next month.
In addition to the imperial examination skills, the results of shooting skills are gratifying.
Shooting skill is one of the best skills that Su Ze found to master.
You only need to fire the blunderbuss once, and your shooting skill will be +1. The only pity is that the blunderbuss' firing and reloading speed is too slow, and it can only be fired twice a minute.
Su Ze has upgraded his shooting skills to Shooting: Lv3, 100/300. If he continues at this rate, he will be able to reach Lv5 before the end of the month.
The last time he led people to hunt down Xu Shisheng, his military skill suddenly increased by 30 points. Now it has reached level 3, 31/300. Su Ze judged that the increase in this military skill was related to the strength of the enemy.
The last time I participated in a weapon fight and defeated Zhu Qi, my skills and experience gained were far less than this time. It should be that the stronger the enemy, the more I gain.
Nowadays, these four skills are most likely to break through to Level 5. Among them, Imperial Examination and Art of War are also skills that Su Ze plans to master for a long time.
After dealing with the system, Su Ze began to assemble the textile machine.
Lin Xianzong's craftsmanship was quite good, and Su Ze hand-made the core components of the loom. In this way, the first Jenny loom of this era was born in Changningwei.
From now on, this machine will be called "Suze Loom".
Su Ze worked hard for three days and finally assembled ten looms. He found his old grandfather again.
"You want to open a weaving workshop in Changningwei?"
Su Ze nodded, and the old man said in confusion: "But many people in Changningwei can weave, why do you need to set up a special weaving workshop?"
Fujian is not Songjiang Prefecture. , large-scale weaving workshops have not yet formed, and Fujian homespun cloth is basically woven by families.
It was difficult for Su Ze to explain to his grandpa what a leap in productivity was. He just said: "I invented a new loom and I want to find someone to try it." Hearing that
Su Ze had invented a new loom, his grandpa It’s not surprising anymore.
These days, Su Ze has brought too many surprises to Changning Wei.
It's like there's nothing in the world that he can't do.
My grandpa has met many scholars, but this is the first time he has seen someone like Su Ze who is proficient in everything and learns anything quickly.
Last time Lin Xianzong saw Su Ze doing carpentry, he was amazed. Su Ze was just an ordinary apprentice at the beginning, but he rose to the level of a master in just one month. The progress was so fast that Lin Xianzong wanted to accept Su Ze as his direct disciple. .
Maybe this is genius. My old grandpa has become numb to Su Ze's inventions every now and then. He nodded and said, "
My daughter-in-law, Lu, is very good at weaving. How about asking her to find some people to use your machine to weave?"
Su Ze He said: "Grandpa, I don't charge for this loom. I will deduct the cost of cotton and purchase the cloth according to the market purchase price. What do you think?" The old
grandpa said directly: "Your manager, Ning Wei, can rest assured. Everyone knows that you won’t cheat everyone.”
Now Su Ze has handed over the salt farm at the seaside to the children, and Su Ze takes all the coarse salt produced by the children according to the price of coarse salt on the market.
Many families have discovered that they can make more money by letting their children go to the seaside salt fields to dry salt than by helping with farming at home.
Moreover, Su Ze would also give lectures to children working on the farm and teach children how to read on the beach. Now the Changning Guards are willing to let their children go to the seaside salt fields to bask in the salt.
However, the income from salting has gradually become unstable. Storms at sea have gradually increased in May, and the weather suitable for salting has become less and less.
Salt production and sugar production are also facing the problem of insufficient soybeans. The ghost market is not open at the end of the tenth month, and large-scale purchase of soybeans can easily arouse suspicion, allowing interested people to decipher the secret recipe of salt and sugar production. It happens that during this period, sugar and salt production are all over the place. Encountering a shortage of raw materials, Su Ze planned to plant next season soybeans in Changningwei.
It happened that the wasteland reclaimed by Luo Hanjiao and Zhu Qi could be planted with soybeans as nitrogen-fixing fertilizer in the first year. Su Ze selected the best beans from the previous soybeans for breeding, and then gave them to Zhu Qi and Luo Hanjiao for planting, and promised them The soybeans grown are purchased at market prices.
These Arhats and Saltmen originally thought that Su Ze would use them as slaves until they died, but they did not expect that Su Ze would give them the reclaimed wasteland for planting and give them seeds.
They often listened to Su Ze's lectures on weekdays, and now they were even more grateful to Su Ze. A few of them even voluntarily signed contracts with Su Ze and became Su Ze's domestic servants.
After finishing his work in Huangtian, Su Ze came to his sweet potato field again.
At this time, the fields were full of green leaves, and Lin Cainiang, the little carrot head, was taking care of the sweet potato field.
Since the last time she ate sweet potato porridge, Lin Cainiang has been obsessed with this sweet food. After reading every day, she would go to the fields to weed weeds.
When Lin Cainiang saw Su Ze, she excitedly came over and pointed at the sweet potato field and said, "Brother, these sweet potatoes are growing so well! My seventh uncle praised how well the field was taken care of!"
Su Ze's farming skills have reached Level 5. , he nodded and praised: "You have worked hard these days."
"Not hard!"
Su Ze said again: "But if the leaves of sweet potatoes grow too well, they will squeeze out the nutrients of the roots. Come on, let me Teach you how to control the growth."
After saying this, Su Ze found a woven basket, then walked into the field and started pinching the leaf seedlings growing at the top.
Lin Cainiang also followed her into the field. Although she didn't understand what Su Ze meant by "nutrients", now that he was farming in Changning, Uncle Lin Qishu also said that Su Ze's accomplishments in farming were not the same as his. Up and down, the little carrot head had some unconditional trust in Su Ze, and started to pinch the leaf seedlings along with him.
After working hard for half a day, Lin Xianyang came to the sweet potato field and called Su Ze to the weaving workshop. The basket was already full of fresh sweet potato leaves.
Su Ze handed the basket to Lin Cainiang and said, "Take these leaves back and fry the sweet potato leaves for you to eat in the evening."
Lin Cainiang happily returned to her family temple with the basket, while Lin Xianyang took Su Ze to the wing behind the family temple. .
"Those Luo Hanjiao and Zhu Qi have already moved into the empty house of Changning Guard. Only Xiong Wu is still locked up in the punishment hall. My father told you to put the weaving workshop in the back of the ancestral hall, so that the guard can There won't be anyone gossiping here."
Su Ze quickly lamented that it was his grandpa who took care of everything. After all, this is the Ming Dynasty, and etiquette is very strict. Even military guards like Changning Guards are very strict with men and women.
Su Ze knows that changing customs cannot happen overnight. To change this trend, working women must make money.
Lin Xianyang added: "My sister-in-law has been helping the family since my brother died for the country. She is quick and good at work. Brother Aze, as long as you teach her, she will naturally lead others to weave." ."
As they spoke, Su Ze and Lin Xianyang arrived at the ancestral hall. A middle-aged woman wearing a cross-collar short shirt was already standing behind the grandfather, waiting for Su Ze.
"Sister-in-law." Lin Xianyang saluted his sister-in-law, Mrs. Lu, and then said to Su Ze: "My sister-in-law is a chaste woman who was given a royal title by the county government. The weavers you want, brother Aze, were all summoned by my sister-in-law." New volume
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