Chapter 1308: Family

Chapter 1308: Family

Chapter 1308 Going Home (Part )

As the twelfth lunar month arrives, the festive atmosphere becomes stronger.

After Chen Kui arrived in Xiangcheng, he first inspected the workshop.

Well, to be precise, the workshop was just an empty shell with only a few staff members, most of whom were scion of the Xun, Zao, Xu and other families in Yingchuan, each with three or five servants.

They only make one thing, namely straw alkali, so some people go to nearby areas to buy firewood, then bring it back to burn, soak it in water, filter it, steam it, soak it in water again, filter it again, steam it again, and finally get the finished product.

After long-term experiments, they now mainly buy reeds because the ashes produced by burning this thing contain more ozone.

If there are not enough reeds, then settle for the next best thing and buy willow branches or something like that, which are slightly inferior to reeds.

Of course, crop straw and hemp crops may be better, but the former is used to feed livestock and the latter can be made into linen. Only someone would be crazy to sell them to you.

After producing the soda ash, the workshop would deliver the oil it received to the homes of familiar people, agree on a date for collection, and then no longer care about it.

Chen Kui frowned as he watched, but when he learned that the people making the soap were family members of the soldiers of the nearby Zuo Xiaoqiwei Mansion, he said nothing more.

But this behavior would obviously lead to the secret of making soap spreading out slowly, at least part of it would spread out - ordinary households probably don't have the ability to make soda ash, which requires a furnace and very fine gauze for filtering.

That’s all! The emperor is just like that. He likes to see all kinds of new things being mastered by as many people as possible, and he even says that this will prevent them from disappearing in wars and causing future generations to “reinvent” them.

"Wu'an, has the soap been sold?" Chen Kui asked.

"No." Zao Yong and Zao Wuan said.

This person is the grandson of Zao Song, the Minister of the Left Cao in the early years, and is 26 years old this year.

After Zao Song passed away, his sons were incompetent and could only be low-level officials. Zao Yong, as the third generation, was relatively capable. He had been in mourning before: after his grandfather Zao Song died, he mourned for his parents, and then for his uncle and aunt.

He has been in mourning for 26 years now. He married a wife last year - the long-term mourning affected the next generation's marriage, so he made a workaround and only married a wife without holding a wedding, which was called "Bai Shi" - there was no progress in his official career, and he was finally freed this year. So he first managed the workshop for the prince and waited for the opportunity.

"Why isn't it sold?" Chen Kui asked puzzled.

Zao Yong glanced at him and said, "Lin Dao, you are the head of the household, how could you not know? All the soaps made have been sent to the East Palace, and the subordinates and clerks have also distributed them. Where did you get the soap to sell?"

"This..." Chen Kui remembered it and was speechless.

"Actually, this won't work." Zao Yong said, "Some of the Crown Princess's actions may be debatable, but it's right for her to let the workshop sell soap to the outside world. If it only makes soap for the East Palace and doesn't make progress, this workshop will be like this. Look at how many people are just idling around now."

Chen Kui nodded slowly, and then reminded: "Wu An, what you said makes sense, but the workshop peers are all your fellow villagers, so you can't be too harsh on them, or you will suffer in the future."

Zao Yong smiled and said, "At worst, I can go home. I have been in mourning since I was fifteen to twenty-six, and I am used to it. If I can't stay in Changsha, I will go to Jiangnan."

"Don't say such angry words." Chen Kui said in a big brother tone, "The scholars of Yingchuan should unite and work together."

"The Minister of the Chancellery, Mr. Chu, is not from Yingchuan," Zao Yong reminded.

Chen Kui was so angry that he laughed.

Zhu Huo was from Yangdi. This county once belonged to Yingchuan, but now it belongs to Henan Prefecture (County). It is located at the junction of the two counties. It is generally believed that the Zhu family of Yangdi was a Yingchuan aristocratic family.

"How is your family settling down in Jiangnan?" Chen Kui asked, "Are there any difficulties?"

Zao Yong was annoyed by his attitude.

Is the Xuchang Chen family much stronger than the Changsha Zao family? You speak in such a condescending tone every day, and I don't know if you would think that the prince has ascended the throne and you are the prime minister.

However, he suppressed his emotion well and continued in his usual tone: "At the end of last year, I bought a piece of land in Piling and sent two hundred farmhands there, led by my second brother."

"How can two hundred families be enough?" Chen Kui asked.

"We don't have that much money and grain." Zao Yong said, "This year, the old house in Changsha had a good harvest. We asked someone to find a boat to transport the grain through the Suiyang Canal and the Feishui River to the Yangtze River and unload it in Piling. Fortunately, this batch of millet and wheat has arrived. Piling's harvest was not good this year. In September, we collected some disaster victims from Kuaiji and made them our own farmhands. My second brother said that these people from Kuaiji have never grown winter wheat, and it will cause a lot of trouble."

"Has your family already planted winter wheat in Piliang?" Chen Kui asked.

"No." Zao Yong shook his head and said, "I arrived too late last year. I only cleared the irrigation canals in winter. Some farmlands have been abandoned for a long time, and grass and trees have grown there, and there are even small stones. The people of Wu really don't know how to farm or maintain the land. We planted a season of millet in the spring. There was less rain in the south of the Yangtze River this year, so fortunately we planted millet..."

Chen Kui shared the same sentiment and said, "My land is in Danyang, and indeed there has been less rain. All the disaster victims have fled to the vicinity of Jianye, and all the land has been snatched up by various families."

Zao Yong smiled.

People are always the object of competition among different parties.

In fact, if the northern nobles had not come south in large numbers, the lives of these disaster victims would not necessarily be easy, because the harvests of Jiangnan farms were generally poor this year. But the northern nobles who brought Henan grain south were different. Many of them were short of farmhands, so they took in many disaster victims.

Of course, the imperial court also took the opportunity to register a number of people as civilians. I heard that another group was sent to Qingzhou, where they farmed and supported themselves in several coastal counties and towns.

Generally speaking, it has been almost two years since the first group of nobles from the north went south. The Yingchuan nobles were the slowest to act. The military nobles who went there first had already harvested three crops. Even the drought this year did not shake them. Instead, they took the opportunity to absorb many of the fleeing households.

According to Zao Yong, from the end of Kaiping to the second year of Zhenming, 50,000 to 60,000 northerners have moved south and poured into the south of the Yangtze River like a tide. The four counties of Xuancheng, Danyang, Kuaiji and Piling received most of them, while the counties of Baling, Wuchang, Poyang, Wu, Wuxing and Yixing received slightly fewer.

They took over old manors, reclaimed new wasteland, and brought northern farming methods to the Wu people, improving the level of agriculture in the south of the Yangtze River.

This is a southward movement that is almost as large as the migration of the elite to the south, and it is still continuing to develop in depth.

However, the pace may slow down a bit in the third year of Zhenming.

This year, there was a severe drought in the south of the Yangtze River and a flood in Hebei. Only Henan was still producing a large amount of grain steadily. In order to conquer Murong Xianbei, the emperor seemed to have collected a lot of grain in Henan and sent it to Youzhou and Qingzhou in batches.

As money becomes tight, the momentum of moving south will weaken, which is a very natural thing.

Of course, I heard that the harvest in Guanzhong this year was quite good, but it costs a lot to transport the grain from there, and not much of it can be used for the Eastern Expedition.

Chen Kui did not chat with Zao Yong for too long. After inspecting the place and explaining his affairs, he prepared to return to Yingchuan.

From Xiangcheng to Xuchang, you must pass Yingqiaofang on the way.

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Chen Kui and his party were resting in the inn when they saw groups of people heading eastward on the post road outside, often carrying weapons, mules and horses, and traveling in groups.

"Who is this?" he couldn't help but ask the postman.

The postmaster raised his head to take a look and said, "I heard that there was a rebellion in Kuaiji and Wujun a while ago, and Commander Zhang sent troops to suppress it, so they are going to sell some land and houses. The soldiers of the Left and Right Cavalry Guards received a letter from their comrades, so they sent their sons and daughters south to check out the land. They said that these lands will be sold first to those soldiers with extra money. It doesn't matter if you can't buy much, the land can be broken up and sold, and you can buy ten or eight acres of land."

Chen Kui suddenly understood. It turned out that not only scholars went south, but also the sons of government soldiers went south.

"To be honest, it was the nobles who went south first and set a good example." The post commander added: "Originally, few soldiers were willing to let their sons and nephews go south, but when the nobles, generals, scholars and nobles went south in batches, some people were shaken."

"Your family's post station is doing very well, so you must have some extra money. Have you sent anyone south?" Chen Kui asked.

"I can't bear to see my child suffer in the south." The postmaster brought up a large pot of stewed mutton and said, "Everyone has their own ideas. In the past few years, there were soldiers' sons who went to Pingcheng and Hehui to serve as soldiers. Now that they know there is land in the south of the Yangtze River, I think they regret it."

Chen Kui picked up a piece of mutton and started eating.

"Sir, this spice really enhances the flavor. It smells good to me." The postmaster said with a smile.

Chen Kui put down his chopsticks and said, "This is a good thing from Jiaozhou. It really tastes good when added to meat."

"I haven't seen this item for sale in Caoshi. Could it be that it can only be found in Xuchang?" asked the postmaster.

Chen Kui shook his head and laughed.

This was a gift from the prince, and it was rare in the market. He was very particular about food, and even when he was on official business, he would use his own teapot to make tea and ask the post station to add some spices when stewing meat.

It is normal that the post commander has never seen spices. This is not something they can enjoy.

Perhaps one day when Jiaozhou is able to transport large quantities of spices to the north by sea, this thing will become available to ordinary people.

Thinking of this, he sighed again. Fighting a war would delay things. If he had the time, wouldn't it be better to tidy up Yangjiang, Jiaoguang and other states?

What would it matter if Pingzhou, which was in danger of falling at any moment, was taken? There might be no trouble at the beginning of the Liang Dynasty, but there might be problems in the middle of the Liang Dynasty, just like the Qiang Rebellion in the Later Han Dynasty, which gradually dragged down the court's finances and led to the sale of official positions and titles.

And the King of Yan in feudal Liaodong will probably have to let his hair down and wear his clothes on the left side when he goes out, and learn from the Xianbei and Goguryeo people to apply oil on his face (to keep warm).

But these are actually all minor matters. If he were to unify the five counties of Pingzhou, or even conquer Goguryeo and Buyeo, and subdue the remaining Xianbei people, it would become a big problem.

The post officer left soon, and Chen Kui continued to eat meat, thinking about random things while eating.

King Zhao is still in the capital!

He was the governor of Ji County for two years, and he trained many county soldiers. It is said that he worked very hard. He was filial, friendly to his brothers, fluent in Yi language, good at financial planning, and even able to compose poems and essays, which deceived many scholars into praising him. To be fair, Chen Kui also thought that King Zhao had good literary talent.

If he could develop the skills of training, commanding and deploying troops, that would be incredible.

After finishing his lunch absentmindedly, Chen Kui generously gave a piece of silk to pay the bill and set off again with his entourage.

There seems to be a workshop on the other side of Yingqiao, selling something called "grass-alkali white paper".

The paper was indeed very white, whiter than ordinary rattan paper, and attracted merchants to come in carts to buy the goods.

However, the most common vehicles on the road are those pulling fur cloth. The price of fur cloth seems to have dropped again. In a freezing cold place, wearing a fur cloth robe is indeed warm. If every member of the imperial army has a fur cloth uniform, they will not be afraid of the severe cold. Could this be prepared for the King of Yan?
As Chen Kui walked and looked around, he almost didn't recognize Xiangcheng County. He felt that this was no longer the peaceful and tranquil village where chickens and dogs could be heard.

(End of this chapter)