Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1168
The women walked around like butterflies wearing flowers, laughing and laughing constantly.

Zhang Hui held the newborn baby with a smile on his lips, almost thinking that he had returned to the heyday of Prince Liang's mansion.

She is the mistress and concubine, surrounded by concubines Li, Chen, and Shi, talking about family affairs with her aunt Zhu.

The daughter-in-law and daughters personally decorated the house, and the family happily prepared to welcome the arrival of the winter solstice.

"Mother..." Mrs. Zhang walked over with a dyed woolen sweater, and said, "The new sweater from the Shaofu was issued by the Shangfu Bureau."

Zhang Hui only glanced at it, then turned his attention to the child again.

This is the fourth child in her life.She gave birth to a son and a daughter to Zhu Quanzhong, and also gave birth to a son and a daughter to Shao Shude.

The person who is speaking is Zhu Yougui's wife, Zhang Shi, a servant of the Provincial Palace, who just turned 17 last month.At this time, she glanced at the baby in Zhang Hui's hand enviously, and reached out to touch it.

Zhang Hui handed over the baby, and Mrs. Zhang took it with a smile on her face.

The saint is generous, and the queen is also kind. The children born to the concubines can often be brought by themselves.Although there are officials in the court who believe that this will lead to the monopoly of foreign relatives, no one has paid attention to it at present-the largest foreign relatives in Xia Dynasty are Zhejia, and Queen Zhe can take care of her own children.

"Hey!" Zhang Hui touched his daughter-in-law's head and sighed softly.

A few years ago, Mrs. Zhang was pregnant with a child, but she had a miscarriage because of her young age or some other reason.Losing such a precious opportunity, I don't know when the next time will be.

There was a burst of laughter from outside.

Zhang Hui looked up, only to see Shao Shude walking in with his four-year-old daughter Shao Hui in his arms.Zhu Shi, the head of Shangfu Bureau, followed behind, looking at the child eagerly.

Zhu Zhangzhu is the sister of Zhu Shi and Zhu Quanzhong, the wife of Pengcheng County in the former Tang Dynasty, and the wife of Yuan Jingchu, the successor of Nanyang County King Yuan Shuji.The Yuan family is a big family in Songzhou and married Zhu Quanzhong.All loyalty was destroyed, the Yuan family was convicted, and the three clans were exiled to Taozhou.

The Zhu family became a palace official in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and gave birth to a daughter for Shao Shude.

But Shao Sheng doesn't seem to have much interest in Zhu Shi.This may have something to do with the fact that Zhu did farm work when he was a child, and his appearance is only above average.

After making sister Zhu Quanzhong's stomach bigger and completing the achievement, Shao Sheng's interest quickly shifted to other women.

"Officials." Zhang Hui immediately stepped forward to salute.

"Are you used to living in Suyu Palace?" Shao Shude sat down.

Palace servants Shi Shi and Chen Shi immediately stepped forward and rubbed his shoulders very hard.

The women of Zhu Quanzhong's family, from Zhang Hui down, Zhu Shi, Shi Shi, Chen Shi, Li Shi, Wang Shi, Zhang Shi and the two older daughters have all moved to live in Suyu Palace in Dongduyuan.

As for Zhang Hui's own daughter, Shao Shude has adopted her as a righteous daughter and made her a princess.There are rumors that this adopted daughter will be used to marry the Qian family in Hangzhou, but it is not known whether it is true or not.

"The official family and Suyu Palace are people I know well, and I can still see the baby from time to time, so I am very satisfied." Zhang Hui got up, poured a bowl of boiled tea for Shao Shude, and said.

This is the truth.

As the palace where the emperor lived temporarily while hunting and visiting, Suyu Palace itself was not very big.But everyone he knows lives by his side, Zhang Hui is really at ease.

After the Ministry of Internal Affairs released a large number of Chang'an Palace people brought by King Le'an, they selected and recruited some of them.Shao Shude sent more than ten people to Zhang Hui's side, including Liu Shi, the daughter of Liu Renyu, the general of Bianzhou Prefecture, who applied for the recruitment.

Every day when I open my eyes, there are people serving me, and I live a life of rich clothes and fine food.There are still familiar people around, except for the change of the male host, there is almost no difference from before.Well, another small difference is that the previous generations can't be counted, it's all messed up, although they still use the old titles in private.

Of course, this was something that Shao Sheng acquiesced and even encouraged.He liked that Zhang's name was Zhang Hui's mother, and that Zhu Quanzhong's daughters still regarded Zhang Hui as their aunt.

"Okay, that's good." Shao Shude picked up the teacup and took a sip, and said, "The matter of Niang Xuan..."

"But it's up to the officials." Zhang Hui said with a sigh.

"You don't pretend." Shao Shude laughed loudly, put down the tea bowl, put Zhang Hui in his arms, and said, "Hangzhou Qian's is not bad. If they are obedient, how can I not use it in the future?"

Xuan Niang is Zhang Hui's biological daughter, she is 13 years old this year.Shao Shude intends to marry him to the Hangzhou Qian family to consolidate the relationship between the two parties and jointly deal with Yang Xingmi.

Yang Xingmi is really paving the way for his son.Following the sudden execution of An Renyi, which aroused the fear of Tian Xun and Yang Shihou, the rebellion and counter-rebellion war began.

Just over two months ago, the city of Xuanzhou was destroyed, and Tian Yu was given the title.Yang Shihou decisively voted for Qian Liu.

Yang Xingmi mobilized a large army to attack, and fought several consecutive battles. Qian Liu also surrendered his capital, but the fight was not very smooth, so he was in a hurry and asked Luoyang to send troops to rescue.

And since there is a need for the court, it is natural to let go of your figure, giving property and craftsmen are all what they should be.In addition, the envoys sent by the imperial court should also entertain them well, and present their household registration and military registration, and check them carefully.

As a traditional means of political alliance, marriage is naturally also on the agenda.

"The officials have thought carefully about it," Zhang Hui said.

"Don't worry. Qian Chuanguan is in Luoyang, and he won't go anywhere. After he married Xuanniang, I will give him an official job when he finishes his studies at the Imperial Academy. The couple both live in Luoyang, and they won't marry far away. "Shao Shude straightened Zhang Hui's hair and said with a smile.

"Really?" Zhang Hui was a little surprised.

"Can this be false?" Shao Shude smiled: "What I say is naturally untrue."

Zhang Hui was overjoyed and hugged Shao Shude tightly.

"What do you think of the new sweater made by Shaofu?" Shao Shude asked again.

"It's much better than before." Zhang Hui said, "There's less smell, the hair is softer, and the color is better than before."

"Yeah." Shao Shude nodded, then smiled again: "I will take off your clothes by myself at night, and then put on the little woolen sweater in the middle. My concubine can give it a try."

Zhang Hui blushed, chuckled lightly, and said, "Officials can play tricks on people."

Seeing her obsequiousness, Shao Shude felt great.

Zhang Hui has completely regarded him as his own man, even if it is forced by reality, it makes Shao Shude extremely happy.

"The quality of sweaters is getting better and better, and the output is also getting bigger." Shao Shude said: "We can't relax, we have to continue to improve."

The sweaters made by Shaofu are naturally of very good quality.During the production process, Shao Shude even went to supervise once or twice in person, and found that there were more and more slender soft hairs on the sheep, and no special selection was needed, which was obviously the result of the gradual improvement of the breed.

This year's Yunzhou war, when the north wind was blowing, woolen military uniforms also played a huge role.Everyone who wears it says it is good, and the ability to keep out the cold is really strong.

In fact, Dunhuang has long donated cotton, and Lingzhou has also planted a batch of cotton on a small scale experimentally, and its ability to keep out the cold is also good.

That breed is very different from what later generations saw, and I don't know where it came from.To be honest, there are not many places suitable for planting in the north, and as the temperature drops, there will be fewer and fewer places suitable for planting unless you breed new species.

Moreover, cotton has two huge defects: it occupies arable land and consumes fertility.

The occupation of cultivated land is obvious.If one mu of land is planted with cotton, it will only produce cotton, and there is no other harvest, and the yield does not seem to be high.

But if an acre of land is planted with leguminous pastures to raise sheep, the sheep will not only produce wool, but also produce additional outputs such as meat, milk, and hides.

Cotton is also very depleted of nutrients in the field.

Energy is conserved, your crops will not grow out of thin air, you must consume various nutrients, and the consumption of cotton is very large.However, leguminous pastures can fix nitrogen and subsidize the nutrients in the ground. Sheep manure can also fertilize the field, which plays an important role in maintaining soil fertility.

Therefore, under the constraints of various factors such as variety, cultivated land, fertility, and output, it is impossible to promote cotton in the north at present.Then, the main force to keep out the cold can only be wool.

The study of wool by Shaofu and the people is also deepening day by day.

Wool degreasing technology has now generally used soda ash.This substance is abundant in Guanbei, especially when the weather is cold, a large amount of soda ash will be precipitated at the bottom of the densely packed salt lake on the grassland, which has a miraculous effect in removing fat, and the output is large and the cost is not high.

Before that, Shao Shude had joked that he could use urine to degrease wool.Well, it's not purely a joke.In fact, Europeans did this at the beginning, but later the development of the Hungarian Salt Lake produced a large amount of soda ash, which replaced the smelly urine degreasing technology.

The grassland lacks everything except salt, whether it is edible salt (sodium chloride) or soda ash (sodium carbonate).One of the major tasks of the herdsmen in the Yinshan Mountains in winter is to salvage soda ash from the salt lake and sell it to the Central Plains.And as the production model of both agriculture and animal husbandry in the Central Plains is expanding and stabilizing, the scale of this business is also expanding day by day.

Both the Li Fan Yuan and the Privy Council of the North Yam have mentioned that there are Fan tribe chiefs who are keen on doing business, corrupt, extravagant, and full of copper stink.Ordinary shepherds have also received a lot of benefits, their living standards have improved, and their combat effectiveness has declined.

They believe that if this continues, at least the tribes in Qinan will become more and more degenerate.In the future, once more vicious enemies come to seize the territory, they will most likely not be able to defeat them.

Shao Shude commented on this: "Understood."

He is not ready to make any changes just yet.Nowadays, there are fewer people and more land, which is very suitable for the three-crop crop rotation system.This time the Khitan campaign was carried out, and more than [-] cattle, sheep, horses and camels were harvested, enough for tens of thousands of households to complete the agricultural reform.

Everything is under control and there is no reason to change.

"The ambition of the official family surpasses the ancient sages." After solving the matter of the eldest daughter, Zhang Hui did not hesitate to offer all kinds of compliments.

"There must be a reward." Shao Shude said.

"What reward do the officials want?" Zhang Hui asked with a chuckle.

Shao Shude took out the black eyepatch made by Shaofu, put it on his head, attached it to Zhang Hui's ear, and explained in a low voice.

(End of this chapter)