In the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, the two holidays of New Year's Day and Lantern Festival passed away, and the talents returned to their heavy daily work from various poetry and wine parties.
Political envoy Li Cong completed his six-year examinations in office, and with this achievement, he directly stayed in Beijing and became the right servant of the Ministry of Housing. The prefects and magistrates who accompanied him to Beijing were also commended, and the officials calculated their merits, and they would be promoted only after three years or the next big time.
After the officials who presented sweet potatoes left, the planting of sweet potatoes was naturally put on the agenda when the ice was breaking and the river was opening and the atmosphere was warming up. The farmers brought by Li Cong instructed the house attendants of the Siyuan Supervisor to grow potato seedlings in the warm shed. Cui Xie, the person who wrote the planting guide, was often able to promote the work of compiling the meeting code, and went to the inner garden to record the planting time and water consumption. , Daily budding status... If there are yellow leaves or diseased leaves, ask the reasons and remedies in detail.
It happened that a glass craftsman who was familiar with his family had already made a microscope with a decent magnification and could observe leaf cells, so he brought this into the palace as well. When encountering new sprouts that are not long, or have yellow leaves, use tweezers and a knife to thinly cut off a piece of epidermis, and place it in the glass slides and coverslips made of crystal, and draw while watching. Cell map, and then compared with normal leaf cells.
As for how to treat it, of course, it is still left to experts to study.
The precision of the microscope is not enough, and it is too subtle to be seen, but it can also see the cell wall and the swimming chlorophyll, which can be recorded for future reference.
The house attendants and farmers who grow sweet potatoes did not dare to touch his microscope, which was wrapped in fine wood with a croissant and a crystal lens. Just looking at the pictures he drew, they all felt very miraculous. After hearing about it, the emperor also asked him to point and look at it again, and exclaimed: "It turns out that the inside of the leaf is like this, and it looks like a honeycomb hive. The face is slippery and the bones stand up... I seem to have gained something. This microscope is a sharp weapon, and it is difficult for Mr. Wei to make it. "
Cui Xie humbly put the reason on the prince: "It was because the prince asked the minister about the focus of the lens, and the minister thought of using two lenses together to make things bigger. Your Majesty usually draws inferences from one case, and pays special attention to his studies, which is the blessing of the Sheji."
Hongzhi smiled and said: "The prince is indeed smart, but he has not yet determined it. A while ago, he asked a few servants to help him do the math, and now he is looking around at the high platform with a telescope, saying that he will see all the Daming territory... I don't know if he wants it again tomorrow. Falling in love with something. This temperament needs to be slowly guided by the elders in the future."
Just don't fall in love with Baofang and Liu Jin.
Cui Xie was very satisfied with such a prince, even a little proud, and praised him for being a father, and dedicated the microscope to the prince.
Emperor Hongzhi asked the craftsmen to start imitating a few, and after the imitation was finished, he gave one to Cui Xie. Some can be seen clearly, some are white, but can't see what they are, so the craftsmen are asked to prepare dyes for dyeing. It's just that it's rare to be able to dye the dye, and the color is almost only floating in the water, and it's still impossible to see what should be seen.
Fortunately, Tianjia is not doing research, and it is also fun to pick and see what can be seen.
The prince's favorite chambermaid was quietly replaced by someone who could fiddle with microscopes. Liu Jin just learned arithmetic with a sigh of relief, but before he counted the little Fengyu, he fell behind the skillful servant who could cut potato seedlings and observe the tip of the stem for the prince.
He was full of ambition, but he was so overwhelmed that he couldn't make it out. The prince no longer likes to complain to him about the complicated schoolwork, and the papers Mr. Cui produces are annoying, and he doesn't complain that the two uncles control him strictly. Instead, he often holds a telescope and studies how to go out and fight the war like the two uncles are dreaming. .
In fact, every eunuch also has a dream of governing the country and the world.
There are three eunuchs in the distance, and Wang Zhen and Wang Zhi are close by... Although the latter two did not end well, Liu Jin was still very envious of the grand scene of them commanding hundreds of thousands of troops to kill at the border.
So he also talked to the prince about the border war.
The prince was a little interested, and told him about the major event of delaying the governor Wang Song's order to dive out of the border town to close the gates and connect them with cement stone fences.
Under Wang Song's appointment, there was a Yulin Weizhen to help Liu, and he had unique experience in building Guanzhai. Due to the close proximity of the enemy in the delay area, there were often pirates patrolling it. When they built the building, they always brought cement with their strength, but not many people who worked. If there is a pirate attack, when the soldiers are unable to fight against the enemy, they will pour water on the spot to build stone piles, so that the Tartars will not take away the cement powder and guess the formula; For the wall, build a stronghold faster.
Although there was no astonishing victory, the frontier troops also eroded the grassland step by step, and the areas they occupied were covered with stone forests, and the Tartar cavalry could no longer charge in large numbers.
After the prince finished talking about this bloodless, yet heart-warming battle, he also commented in a lofty manner: "When the sweet potato harvest is good this year, we will cultivate a lot of seedlings, and we will be able to transport them to the border next year. Call a sergeant. They planted."
Sweet potatoes are sweet and fragrant, and can be made into various desserts. If they are grown at the border and added to the military rations, the soldiers at the border will be able to eat better and win more battles!
Liu Jin even praised that this year-on-year victory was due to Emperor Hongzhi's Tianwei and the prince's blessing; he also praised the prince's heart for the frontier army, which was a blessing for the soldiers.
The crown prince was praised so full of himself that he wanted to hear his opinion on the war, and whether he could understand his high argument that he was called the side army sweet potato, but a new petite servant beside him suddenly reminded the prince: "My servant heard that the northwest is arid and extremely cold. The wind and sand are everywhere, and the strong wind can blow away the mounds on the ground. If you want to grow sweet potatoes there, I am afraid that you must first follow the fertile soil method written by Mr. Cui, and plant beans that can fertilize the land for a few years.”
Liu Jin managed to arouse the prince a little interest, and in a blink of an eye, people crowded in and hooked the prince to study how to improve the soil, prevent wind and sand.
The prince is full of romantic imaginations about the wind and sand in the northwest and the sand dunes that move when the wind blows. However, as a prince who cares about the soldiers and the common people, after imagining himself riding a horse on the sand dunes, he still wants to know how to deal with the wind and sand.
When he was in class the next day, he asked Mr. Cui.
The prince took the initiative to care about the livelihood of the people on the border, which is a sign of being a virtuous king!
Several lecturers were moved, and Cui Xie also felt a sense of pride in changing history. However, how to prevent wind and sand, maintain soil and water... He really doesn't remember much. He has left the knowledge of water cycle and ecological circle that he talked about in biology class to his previous life. The only thing he remembers is to return farmland to forest and restore the natural ecology.
Are there poplar trees in that area? It seems that only this kind of tree can be planted in the desert
Cui Xie really didn't understand this issue, but everyone from the prince to the senior lecturers stared at him with confidence, as if he should know everything, and he didn't want to disappoint everyone, so he had to pretend to be a famous teacher. The attitude said: "I don't know about this matter, but Your Highness can know."
The little prince was shocked by the answer, and said in amazement: "There are things in this world that the gentleman doesn't understand, but the Gu can know? But Gu also doesn't know..."
Cui Xie shook his head with a smile: "I don't know, it's because I was born in Beizhili since I was a child. I don't know the local climate of Yansui, nor the land and properties. How can I think of a way to govern it? It is not difficult to know. I, the pastoral officials, soldiers, and eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, must have recorded the festivals, customs, and mountains and rivers of the place. His Highness asked someone to record them, and see where there are mountains and water. , what kind of land can grow what kind of food or weeds..."
"Even in the desert sand dunes, weeds will grow. Your Highness only sees what kind of wild grass and wild trees are native to those places, and asks people to divert water to plant them. If the barren soil can be covered with yellow sand, it will not be easy to blow up the sand when the wind blows again. ."
As for why planting trees and grass can maintain soil and water, this is why the prince is asked to go back and observe the grass roots, take an empty flower pot containing soil and water the flower pot with flowers, and compare the amount of water flowing out of the bottom of the pot.
Invisibly, he left a bunch of homework for the prince.
The prince didn't think it was hard, but felt that this method of learning was more interesting than the teacher's own long-winded discussion. When he went back, he passed the homework to the eunuch, and he was only responsible for the final guidance. But he couldn't find such detailed documents in the palace. The prince wanted to care about farming and refused to give up, so he asked his father to issue an edict to ask the eunuchs guarding the borders to check the water and soil conditions of the border gates and the local forests and weeds for him.
Even if the eunuchs were released to serve as supervisors, they were essentially serving the heavenly family. All of a sudden, the officials and generals in Jiubian lacked a guard eunuch to control them, and no one was holding back when they were doing things.
The ones who won last year's victory were sweet, and those who read other people's battle reports also learned the tactics. Usually, they only dared to shrink in the fort and watch the robbers loot the town. , shooting arrows and throwing rocks behind the solid and tall walls to drive away the enemy, and retrieved more than a dozen corpses to repay the credit.
In the past, it was deeply imprinted in the minds of the generals, thinking that the Tatar cavalry was running across the border, and the idea that the Ming army could not fight gradually faded away, and another idea was born in the hearts of the generals.
- These pirates can be defeated, and they can also go out to kill the enemy.
This idea gradually became stronger in Ma Wensheng, Minister of War, in the hearts of several patriarchs and ministers in the center. When the sweet potatoes were first harvested, Cui Xie had just finished writing the planting guide and was about to print the popular science version of the comic book, when Li Dongyang handed him an outline of "The Fortress of Jinyiwei".
It tells the story of the Jinyi Guards who went deep into the grasslands, found out where the little prince and royal court were located, led the imperial army to attack and kill the Tartar tribe, and drove these Mongolian and Yuan remnants into the extreme northern wasteland.
Cui Xie was moved and said: "My teacher is so busy, yet he has to worry about my comic book. The disciple is really ashamed. In fact, the disciple has been optimistic about Li Xianji, Zhu Zhishan and others writing this book..."
Li Dongyang smiled and said: "Thank you for what! This is what I am willing to write, and I also have to thank you for printing it. Daming has been invaded by the Tartars, Oara, Nuzhi, etc. for all these years, and he has the shame of Tumu Fort. … Ping pirates is the big thing that we old men really care about. No matter how busy we are, we can find time to write what we really want to write. Besides, this is just this outline, and you need to find someone else to write it. "
Cui Xie flipped through the hundred pages of the book, saying it was an outline, but it was actually a manuscript as detailed as a novel. Print it as finely as the Jinyiwei in the early years."
Li Dongyang waved his hand: "No, no, you should focus more on serving the imperial front and teaching in the East Palace. This is only to choose those who are good at writing articles, and it is enough to ask your painter to add pictures."
How can that be. This is a manuscript written by Teacher Li, and it is Xie Ying's main hero. If he doesn't draw it himself, he has to draft and review it himself, and he must not be perfunctory.
When he got home, he sent a message to the resident authors of his family, and wanted to hold a sweet potato literary meeting.
Yes, it's sweet potatoes again, this time it's a bumper harvest of sweet potatoes.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the sweet potatoes that were planted in Huangzhuang were harvested smoothly, and the yield was about 600 catties per mu. The emperor was overjoyed, and the civil and military affairs of the Manchu dynasty celebrated with each other. Immediately, the department and Taoist officials wrote the book, and asked to promote this thing in the military colonies of various places.
Emperor Hongzhi immediately approved this book, and ordered people to distribute the potato seeds to various prefectures, and asked the local officials to cultivate potato seedlings and spread them to the common people.
The newly harvested sweet potatoes will naturally be given to the minister again. Nowadays, the more plants are planted in Beijing, the more they are given, and almost everyone has a share. Unlike last year, Guangzhou was only able to contribute a few thousand catties, and those with lower official positions could not receive gifts. In the spring, the Cui family used sweet potatoes left over from the Chinese New Year as seeds, and set up a small vegetable garden to plant them. In autumn, they harvested hundreds of pounds, not only enough to give away, but also to make sweet potato starch, sweet potato vermicelli and vermicelli. .
The food at this sweet potato cultural meeting has finally evolved from mixing sweet potatoes with food to mixing food with sweet potatoes.
All the talented people ate snacks made of new sweet potatoes, and leisurely discussed what style of articles should be written at the conference, and whether they should write a few poems and songs by the way. Cui Xueshi, who presided over the meeting, drank the sweet potato syrup, coughed, and made a serious speech at the beginning: "Today I invite you to come to the writing meeting in the humble house, because there is a new comic book to be printed, and I would like to ask you to write a manuscript. I am here now. I asked people to reprint a few outlines, please take a look first, and then make a decision."
Immediately, several big men held the outline of the colored seal printed on the snow-white mulberry paper and placed it in front of the talented people.
Everyone looked intently, and saw the vast desert on the cover, the wind and sand filled the sky, and the orange sun hung between the dark clouds. The sun, sand dunes, and dead trees in the picture are slightly bent and deformed, as if they are separated from the viewer by a layer of hot fireworks.
In the center of the picture, there is a red-clothed figure standing on a horse. The drawing is very small, and the facial features are not clear, but the tall and straight posture shows a strong spirit, as if to break through this desolate world and the setting sun.
On the left side of the cover are written eight thick and colorful characters: The Fortress of Jinyiwei is on the rise.