Chapter 1201 The Gift That Changes Destiny

Chapter 1201 The Gift That Changes Destiny

Chapter 1201 The Gift That Changes Destiny

After nightfall, the howling of the cold wind suddenly intensified, and the snow also became heavier, blowing right into people's necks.

The whole earth was silent and almost no one was willing to go out.

At this moment, the dull sound of horse hooves broke the silence.

"Stop!" Several soldiers wearing fake bells rushed out from the thatched pavilion beside the road and shouted at the knight.

The knight squinted his eyes and saw the black chevaux de frise in the middle of the road in the dim firelight. He thought to himself, that's right, this is it!

He then dismounted and handed over a wooden box containing an official letter.

A lieutenant from the imperial army stepped forward, asked some questions carefully, and then led the man into the thatched pavilion. Then he trotted to the outside of the Liang Mansion and handed the wooden box over.

Inside and outside the Liang residence, swords and guns were everywhere, and the security was tight. It was obvious that an important person was staying here overnight. Considering that this person was a personal soldier, the identity of this person was obvious.

Tong Qianjin was wiping his sword in the side room. After taking the wooden box, he carefully checked the seal first, then said, "Let the messenger rest in the courtyard, warm up a pot of wine for him, and serve two side dishes."

"Yes." The soldier took the order and left.

Tong Qianjin put the knife back into the sheath and felt a little tired when he stood up.

After returning from the expedition, the emperor privately gave him 100 pieces of silk and a concubine named Li Cheng.

Silk and satin were fine, but the concubine named Shangguan made a murderous man like Lao Tong feel a little excited. Whenever he had a little free time, he would go home and beat her severely. He even felt like taking a nap in the quiet evening, even though he had never felt tired before.

Overindulgence! Be moderate! Wealth and honor are given by the emperor. Do your duty well, and there will be more wealth and beauties in the future. Don't lose the big picture for the small.

After putting on a thick bearskin cloak, Tong Qianjin took the wooden box and came to the backyard.

The soldiers stood on guard every three steps and a sentry every five steps, and they never looked around.

Tong Qianjin looked towards the bedroom where the dim light was shining, then lowered his head and sat down in the central hall.

This house was originally a place where Liang Pushe worked as a farmer, and it was not very big. Later, it was slightly expanded and renovated, especially the bedroom and study for the young master, which were all made with great effort.

Liang Pushe is staying in Luoyang City tonight, but in the past, he basically came back here every day to train his five-year-old grandson Liang Zhang and enjoy family happiness.

He is now very concerned about this grandson, and even has lost some of his sharpness when he was an official. He adheres to the principle of forgiving others when possible, is kind and tries not to offend others, as if only in this way can he let this grandson grow up safely.

Judging from this incident, the emperor seemed to be a son-in-law who would have nothing to do after completing the task of having children. Tong Qianjin secretly complained to himself, sitting in the middle hall, waiting quietly, because the sound in the bedroom next door had not dissipated yet.

"Why haven't you come to see me for so long?"

"Please forgive me, Queen. I am very busy with my duties. After I finished the affairs of the Northern Frontier, I hurried here to report."

"Be gentle." A satisfied sigh sounded leisurely.

"The Queen has been so kind to me, and I can only live up to my conscience if I risk my life and fight with all my might."

"Be quiet, the soldiers outside will hear it. After all, I am the queen of the previous dynasty, I have to... uh... maintain my dignity."

Tong Qianjin curled his lips, stood up, and tiptoed to the door.

The soldiers in the corridor were wearing thick bear-skin hoods, with leather gloves on their hands, leaning on their lances, and looking forward.

Tong Qianjin stood there for a while, and when he realized that he couldn't hear the noise inside clearly, he felt relieved. But looking at the faces of the soldiers, they obviously knew what was going on inside.

The emperor can avoid the people of the world, but he cannot avoid the people around him.

He did not avoid the people around him and gave them all the benefits they deserved, including money, beauties, and official positions. He was very generous.

Tong Qianjin just stood there.

The stronger the wind and snow, the whiter everything became. I didn’t know what was happening back home in Anyang.

We suffered a hailstorm in early summer, and after receiving some relief grain, we sowed wheat in the fall. Now it is snowing heavily. Logically, the wheat should grow well in the spring next year, but the snow is so heavy...

After thinking about it for a long time, he calculated the time and found it was about time, so he turned around and went back to the hall.

"Who am I trying to kill?"

Awkward silence.

"Who am I trying to kill?"

"Charge and kill... the Queen. Don't ask, please don't ask."

"I am guilty of a capital crime. I disturbed the Queen. I was so infatuated with her beauty that I couldn't help myself."

After a series of intermittent rooster crowing, Liang Lanbi slowly came back to her senses and said aggrievedly, "I didn't even recognize you just now."

"I really love the Queen, but I got you very late. I am always unsatisfied, so I became more intense."

"You've really been wanting me for a long time? When did it start?"

"Very early on, at Qilihe, I wanted to take you home to be my wife."

"It's a lie. What about Wenjun?"

"..."

"You still like Wenjun." After a faint sigh, Liang Lanbi said softly: "You must treat Wenjun well. I... feel sorry for her."

……

Tong Qianjin seemed to have turned a deaf ear to the message, and his expression did not change. After a long while, he stopped one step outside the bedroom door and said softly, "Your Majesty, the King of Qi has returned to the capital and sent someone to deliver an urgent message."

"Urgent?" There was a rustling sound from the inner room. After a moment, Shao Xun opened the door and asked curiously.

Dalang is now the "Inspector of Education" of eight states, namely Si, Ji, You, Bing, Qing, Xu, Yong and Qin. The so-called urgent documents he sent back are probably related to the county schools, prefecture schools and bookstores.

Shao Xun, wearing only a single garment, sat on the Hu bed.

Tong Qianjin had already lit the copper stove for heating in the central hall, and it was warm not far from Shao Xun.

Shao Xun took the wooden box, opened it and looked at it carefully.

Tong Qianjin brought the candle closer and turned around to make ginseng tea - this was the high-quality Shangdang ginseng presented by Liu Runzhong, which was also one of the important sources of income for the Shangdang Liu family.

"Da Lang finally has some ideas of his own." After reading it, Shao Xun smiled with satisfaction and said, "He actually suggested that each county should set up a doctoral degree in mathematics and teach arithmetic in the county school."

Tong Qianjin was like a silent statue.

In the dim candlelight, hands accustomed to killing left uninterrupted silhouettes on the wall: pouring water, cooking, removing foam, stirring soup, nurturing, etc. The movements were busy but not chaotic, and very familiar, and it was obvious that he was used to doing this.

"Hmm, what is this?" Shao Xun found some grain seeds wrapped in paper at the bottom of the wooden box.

He carefully opened the paper, which had words written on it, and after reading it, he was overjoyed and said, "Da Lang has finally done something serious."

Tong Qianjin was like a deaf person. He heard nothing and just concentrated on making tea.

He was the commander of the imperial army and also a cook. Sometimes when the emperor stole game, he would help keep watch. Apart from that, he didn't care about anything and knew nothing.

But today Shao Xun obviously had no intention of letting him go.

"Da Lang met a Hu merchant from the Western Regions in Longxi and got some seeds." Shao Xun stood up and said with a smile.

Tong Qianjin could no longer play dumb, so he smiled and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty."

Shao Xun reacted and said, "You, congratulations without even knowing what I'm talking about."

Tong Qianjin smiled innocently and said, "Your Majesty has his own strategy, I will just follow your lead. This will definitely be a great thing that benefits the country and the people."

"Sly." Shao Xun laughed and said, "But this time it's true. This is called 'rye', produced in the former land of Dayuezhi. I have wanted to get it for a long time."

"Since it's called 'wheat', I guess it can be planted widely?" Tong Qianjin said after he had finished making tea.

"This wheat is extremely cold-resistant." Shao Xun said, "If Tuoba Xianbei had this, how could they resist frost?"

Rye is rare in China and is mainly grown in the Northeast or the colder northern mountainous areas. It has three main characteristics: cold resistance, drought resistance, and resistance to barrenness.

The crop is native to the high-altitude mountainous areas of Afghanistan. Given the climate and soil environment there, one can imagine the nature of this crop.

Compared with its resistance to drought and barrenness, its cold resistance is its biggest selling point. It can survive at minus 35 degrees Celsius and can even be grown near the Arctic Circle. Historically, it has been the main crop in Eastern Europe, Northern Europe and Russia. The Russians also rely on rye to manage their business in the Far East - Khabarov made his first fortune by growing rye in Yakutsk and selling it to the Cossacks.

However, this thing was not cultivated on a large scale in China until the Qing Dynasty, when it began to be planted in large quantities in the high-altitude mountainous areas of Shaanxi and the Shengjing area of ​​Northeast China. Before that, there were only sporadic records of its cultivation, which were not necessarily true.

In modern times, it is mainly grown in colder places such as Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang.

To put it bluntly, this is a crop prepared for bitter cold lands. It cannot adapt to high temperatures - temperatures above 25 degrees will affect its filling.

"We need to find a cooler place to plant this." Shao Xun closed the wooden box and said, "Qianjin, where do you think is a good place?"

"Pingcheng?" Tong Qianjin said.

Shao Xun hesitated.

Tong Qianjin stopped disturbing him and skillfully poured a bowl of tea and brought it to him.

Shao Xun took a sip of the ginseng tea, sighed comfortably, and said, "Let's try planting it in Mayi County and Yuyang State."

The western half of Mayi County is mountainous, and Yuyang State is almost entirely in mountainous areas with a relatively cold climate. So we chose these two places as pilot areas to plant these precious seeds.

No, that's not safe.

After much deliberation, Shao Xun decided to find a relatively cold mountainous area in the Central Plains to try planting.

These seeds are extremely precious and hard to come by.

In his opinion, the Yixin Mountain, where the Helan tribe once occupied, could be used to grow rye. They had actually tried to grow millet before, but failed, because there was still snow on the northern foothills of the Yinshan Mountains in May, and there was no other way except to graze.

Considering that we are now in a Little Ice Age climate and the weather is getting colder, the few remaining places where people can grow crops north of the Yin Mountains will sooner or later become disaster-prone due to the climate, and eventually farming will become impossible. Even the southern foothills of the Yin Mountains will be affected to a considerable extent.

Rye, a crop that can withstand temperatures as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius, is tailor-made for this cold climate. Its stems can also be used as feed and are rich in nutrients, making them suitable for mixed agricultural and pastoral areas.

That's it!

Barley can only tolerate temperatures between a few degrees below zero and 10 degrees Celsius, and wheat is not much better. Once the weather gets cold, winter wheat can no longer be planted, and the northern region cannot implement the two-year, three-crop agricultural production model, and grain production will drop significantly.

But even winter rye can be grown in northern Europe.

Moreover, this thing grows quite aggressively, making many weeds fail in competition. Its only drawback is that its yield is only 70% to 80% of that of wheat.

Shao Xun felt that as the Little Ice Age deepened, rye might not only be prepared for the Hu people, but also for the people in the Central Plains.

Without winter crops, food will be a problem sooner or later.

(End of this chapter)