Chapter 689 Daily Life Before the Lunar New Year

Chapter 689 Daily Life Before the Lunar New Year

Chapter 689 Daily Life Before the Lunar New Year (Part )

Since the Han Dynasty, iron smelting in Xin'an County has been on a large scale because there are large amounts of easily mined iron ore in the area.

Maybe it’s not quite right to say “large amounts”. After all, historically, the mineral was almost exhausted by the Tang Dynasty, or it could mean that the easily minable part of the surface is almost gone.

Currently, Liang State only had one iron smelter, namely the Jiudian Iron Smelting City in Xiping County, Runan County. It was huge in scale, with more than 10,000 blacksmiths, apprentices, miners and transfer personnel.

There are three iron smelting bases in the area controlled by Shao Xun, namely Xingyang, Yiyang and Nanyang.

The first two were restorations of old smelters that had declined due to wars since the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The Nanyang Yongrao Smelter has always existed and has water transportation for iron ore, which is very convenient, and its scale has been expanding.

As for other smaller iron smelting workshops and blacksmith shops, there are many of them. Many counties have one or two, but they are not government-run. Instead, they are controlled by the gentry and powerful families, who mine local ores for smelting.

There are too many such as Gongxian, Guancheng, Yangcheng, Luyang, Duyang, Wenxian, Dangyin, Linlu, Langling, etc. There have been large and small iron mines since the Han Dynasty. Most of them were mined out in the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties - perhaps there are still some in later generations, but for modern industry, they are not valued at all and have no mining value.

The book that Wang Huifeng brought over was a summary of the Wang family of Langya’s experience in mining and iron smelting.

Maybe it's more than that, because when Shao Xun turned to the back, there were many words and sentences that mentioned how other families did this and that. Could it be that the Wang family of Langya seized the wealth by trickery and then gathered all the achievements? It's quite possible.

"I will give this book to Zao Taichan." Shao Xun shook the book in his hand and said with a smile: "Hui Feng, you have helped me a lot."

Yang Xianrong felt disgusted and had already returned to Huangnu Palace. If she were there, Shao Xun would never have said the second half of the sentence.

"In previous years, we made more weapons. I heard that we will make more farm tools next year. I knew you needed this, so I sent someone home to ask. If there was such a book, I asked someone to copy a copy and send it to you." Wang Huifeng said, "When the war started, even the forts and manors were making weapons day and night. The people were short of farm tools and suffered terribly..."

During the war years, most households used wooden farm tools.

In times of peace, the price of iron farm tools has greatly dropped, and they are used more frequently.

Of course, this is not absolute. In the late Tang and Five Dynasties, when a farmer's husband died, his wife would chop the ground with a horizontal knife, and the child would throw seeds into it. The family had steel knives but no farm tools, which was very characteristic of the times.

"Hui Feng is indeed a man of great love." Shao Xun praised.

If you didn't have this great love, I wouldn't know how to start.

Of course, Wang Huifeng's character was also very attractive to Shao Xun. Perhaps, for some people with literary and artistic feelings, they would rather watch Wang Huifeng from a distance and help her secretly than be abrupt, but Shao Xun was too narrow-minded and just wanted to carry Wang Huifeng home.

Wang Huifeng smiled shyly and said, "It's not as good as you said. I was just pointing fingers at the sidelines and I don't know if it's right or not."

Shao Xun observed silently and found that in the past month, Wang Huifeng's expression became more and more lively.

effective!
He boldly stepped forward and stretched out his hand to hold her waist. Wang Huifeng had been paying attention to his movements and slightly avoided him. Shao Xun did not change his movements and took her hand.

The two looked at each other, Wang Huifeng chuckled, and turned away with a red face.

Shao Xun has already found out.

During the day, when outside, in crowded places, Wang Huifeng would not allow him to hug her. But in places where there were no people, such as in the carriage, he had already hugged her.

Now that he has someone outside, he can hold hands, which is a huge improvement. Wang Huifeng is thin-skinned and has a moral dilemma in his heart. He is so entangled.

But Shao Xun was confident that the salami-slicing tactic was effective and he just needed to take it slow.

******
On December 13th, there was light snow in Longxiang Prefecture, Zaoting, Puyang.

Shao's personal army, which had expanded to more than 1,300 people, arrived with a large number of vehicles.

After the carriage wobbled to a stop at the entrance of the village, Shao Xun woke up from his doze.

Wang Huifeng's face was buried in his chest, but she didn't fall asleep. Instead, she opened her eyes and looked at him. When she found that Shao Xun had woken up, she felt a little embarrassed and said, "You go."

In fact, she was not willing to go out with Shao Xun for such a trip, and it was not suitable for her to show up, after all, she was not the mistress. But Shao Xun had been obsessed with her recently and insisted on dragging her out.

Wang Huifeng agreed reluctantly. After all, she also wanted to see what the situation was like outside.

Officials from Longxiang Prefecture and even the township were waiting to welcome him at the entrance of the village. Wang Huifeng was reluctant to go down to avoid suspicion, but Shao Xun did not force him and lifted the curtain of the carriage and went down.

"Greetings, Lord Liang." More than ten people bowed.

"I'm not here to see you." Shao Xun said with a smile, "Lead the way, I want to see if the boys have been wronged or if their families can't make ends meet."

Everyone laughed dryly. Those of higher status followed behind, while those of lower status led the way in front. The commander of the troops, Liu Bin, lagged behind Shao Xun by half a step.

Shao Xun randomly chose the fifth house at the west end of the village, pushed open the wooden door, and looked around.

Palace soldier Shen Su was standing in the courtyard. His wife Zhang was holding a child in her arms. Behind them were two other children, a boy and a girl. They were holding onto their mother's clothes, revealing half of their faces, and quietly looking at the people who were coming.

"My lord..." Shen Su hesitated, not knowing what to say.

"Has the house been expanded?" Shao Xun asked, pointing to the old and new houses.

"Yes."

“How was it expanded?”

"I went on several expeditions and received some money and silk as rewards. In the past few years, I have saved up some grain and cloth, and with the help of my brothers, I was able to build it."

Zaoting Longxiang Mansion has been established for four years, and its troops are composed of the best hereditary soldiers of Xuchang who have participated in major wars.

During the four years, the wars were not frequent, and there was even a year of rest, so the burden on the government soldiers was not heavy.

Furthermore, the soldiers knew each other and had a deep friendship. When someone built a house, they would usually bring their own soldiers to help each other and provide some food.

Shao Xun looked at his wife's clothes again. They were still made of white linen, which was actually not bad.

Linen is also divided into different grades. Some soft and wear-resistant linen is not cheap - but most of what she wears is produced from her own fields. After solving the problem of hunger, some people will use part of their fields to grow sesame seeds.

Linen clothes should be filled with cotton, wadding, etc. to keep warmer.

Shen Su was wearing a sheepskin coat.

This living condition is indeed far beyond that of ordinary people. After all, many people do not have winter clothes and shiver in the winter, let alone wearing fur coats - the Hu people are poor, but almost every Hu person has a fur coat, so from this perspective, they are not poor.

"Have you been to Heyang this year?" Shao Xun asked again.

"Yes, I went with General Liu. We first settled in Zhongyuhezhu and then moved to Beicheng."

"Is there a war?"

"When the bandits attacked the north city, we fought for several days. Later, when Governor Wang was chasing the bandits, my troops were ordered to stay behind and we didn't catch up."

"It is not easy for a warrior to travel far away from home, eating ice and sleeping in the snow." Shao Xun clapped his hands after he finished speaking.

The guards came forward quickly, holding two pieces of silk, two pieces of linen, a string of money, and a few pieces of meat, and handed them to Shen Su's family. Shen Su and his wife thanked them profusely.

The baby in your arms may be woken up and cry loudly.

The two boys hiding behind their mother stared at the jerky and almost drooled.

Shao Xun laughed and said, "This is not the Huns' jerky."

When everyone heard this, they all laughed, full of contempt and mockery for the Huns.

"This coin is also new money minted in Luoyang." Shao Xun added: "It is of good quality and heavy. Don't be cheated when you use it."

Unlike the Han Dynasty copper coins which had "Wu Zhu" written on them, the Xinmang copper coins which had "Huo Quan" written on them, and the Three Kingdoms coins which had "how much money was written on them", the first new coin minted in the history of the Qing Dynasty had four words written on it: "Yongjia Tong Bao".

"This is the new money of Yongjia." Liu Bin echoed, "It is heavier than the five-zhu coin. Don't let others fool you."

Shen Su quickly asked his family to keep it away, as he had no intention of using it.

Shao Xun was stunned and slowly typed a question: Bad money drives out good money?
Shen Su saw Shao Xun's bad face, and he seemed to understand something, and said: "There are still some things missing at home, so I will spend the Yongjia money tomorrow. If there is Liang Gong's money, I will definitely save it and not use it."

The warriors following Shao Xun heard this, but they didn't think there was anything wrong with this sentence and continued laughing.

Some even shouted: "Mr. Liang's money? It would be best if it's the money of the King of Liang."

Shao Xun did not scold them. He shook his head and laughed. After exchanging a few more pleasantries, he went to the next house.

This time, I visited a random household: the home of Ding Dayong, a soldier in the imperial palace.

The Ding family did not build a new house, but they had a lot of good things at home.

Shao Xun picked up something and asked, "Did you steal it?"

Just as Ding Dayong was about to speak, he was scolded by the Sima of the other division of the defense: "Don't talk nonsense in front of Lord Liang. You don't drink tea, why buy a teacup?"

This is a celadon saucer, a tea drinking utensil.

The celadon of the Ming Dynasty mainly came from the former Eastern Wu territory. The mass production of celadon in the north did not begin until the Northern Wei Dynasty, while the south started large-scale production during the Eastern Wu period with a very high level of technology, which led to the coinage of the term "Six Dynasties Celadon".

One of the major sources of profit for Guanqiu Lu was selling Wu celadon to the north.

Ding Dayong smiled awkwardly when he heard this and didn't dare to say more.

It was New Year's Day, so Shao Xun was too lazy to pursue the matter. The army was not allowed to privately collect spoils of war, but it was impossible to completely prevent it. Especially for the government soldiers who had no military pay, they would think about how to plunder when they went out to fight.

Shao Xun raised his head and looked at the furnishings in the room, and actually saw several Hu beds.

This item was made by Shao Xun more than ten years ago.

Huchuang is a piece of furniture similar to an armchair with armrests and a backrest.

The rope chair is something like a small stool in later generations.

He even asked someone to get a recliner and gave it to Cao Fu.

Unexpectedly, more than ten years later, these things became popular in a small range.

The Huchuang in Ding Dayong's family should have been bought not long ago, as the wood color is relatively new, which can be seen at a glance.

Thinking back to the stone mill he had just seen in the yard, Shao Xun suddenly realized that he had already made considerable changes to this society.

Before leaving Ding's house, he glanced at the equipment rack and asked, "Where did this bow come from?"

"I asked someone to make it in Jiyin." Ding Dayong didn't say anything, and the commander of the other department came up and answered: "There are many old mulberry trees preserved in the Bian family manor in Jiyin. The craftsmen are good at making leather armor and good bows. The bow tips and bowstrings of the 300 soldiers in this defense are all from the Bian family in Jiyin."

Shao Xun nodded and said, "Practice well."

The personal guards left the same gifts to the Ding family and then left.

Shao Xun stayed in Zaoting for several days, and then went to inspect the two Longxiang prefectures of Weicheng and Yangjiao without any complaints. He even took the time to visit Shibing's family in Linqiu, and then hurried back to prepare for the New Year.

"With more than 200 gifts being sent out at once, these people will be delighted and will spread the news everywhere. It won't be long before all the soldiers in Puyang will know about it." The carriage was shaking, and Wang Huifeng was no longer resistant to being held in Shao Xun's arms. He even felt a little warm - habit is a terrible thing.

"When you are a military leader, you can't be bothered by troubles." Shao Xun said, "You must let people know you, know you, and publicize you. Such troops cannot be taken away by others. If the commander of the army wants to rebel, he will lose his head on the first day he summons the soldiers."

Shao Xun was somewhat proud when he said this. He was no exception when it came to bragging in front of women.

"No wonder the scholars and military strategists can't beat you." Wang Huifeng said softly.

"Scholars don't know where the lower-class soldiers live, what they eat, or what their families are like. If you have the time, you might as well have a casual chat." Shao Xun's hands were well-behaved. Wang Huifeng could accept and even slowly began to enjoy being held by him, but she could not accept being touched by him casually.

But I've already let him hold me, so how could it be too late? The position was slightly wrong when I held him, it was just a test of the edge, and this line of defense was made of paper and was useless.

Wang Huifeng hummed and turned away awkwardly. She didn't know if it was because of the jolting of the carriage or something else, but Shao Xun's voice was getting closer and closer to her ear.

"The warriors are having a good time now, but the civilians are still a little worse off." Shao Xun said, "We still need to work hard."

Wang Huifeng turned his head and asked curiously, "How far do you want to go?"

"A tall building will be built in the Liang Palace." Shao Xun said softly, "When the world is at peace, we will go up to the tower together at night and overlook the earth. It will be enough if we can see the lights of thousands of houses and hear the laughter and joy."

Wang Huifeng was stunned by what he heard.

Shao Xun gently pressed his hand on her face.

Wang Huifeng was shocked and was about to struggle, but Shao Xun whispered again: "You have to help me. I have killed too many people, and I am afraid that I will become a tyrant or a tyrant. You must restrain me."

Wang Huifeng’s strength to struggle disappeared.

Shao Xun pressed it on her mouth without hesitation.

Wang Huifeng clenched his hands tightly, at a loss, and trembled slightly. After a long time, his hands gradually loosened and gently hugged Shao Xun's waist.

The day before New Year's Eve, Shao Xun returned to Bianliang.

After Wang Huifeng returned to her temporary residence in Fangzhou Pavilion, she was silent for a long time. She put away some old things that she treasured very much, and then, in front of the mirror, she combed her hair into a new bun with unskilled movements.

Psychological hint: How to restrain a jackal?

(End of this chapter)