Chinese New Year

Chapter 400: Sericulture and Heyang

"If you want to plant mulberry trees, you need to choose beautiful mulberry trees." Under the warm sunshine, a group of women dressed in red and green gathered around Yu Wenjun, listening to her carefully.

Yu Wenjun was a little nervous.

She had been reciting it for a long time these past few days to make sure that there would be no mistakes, but when the time came, she couldn't help but feel nervous.

Yin quietly handed over a mulberry branch and paused.

Yu Wenjun calmed down and continued, "Cut off both ends of this branch and only take the middle part, because its seeds are larger. If you plant them, the trunk will be strong and the leaves will be thick. After taking out the seeds and planting them, wait for them to sprout."

After that, he led the women to an abandoned garden that had just been cleared and said, "The seeds are ready, just plant them like this."

Two older women took the mulberry seeds from Yu Wenjun's hand, demonstrated how to plant them, and let the crowd watch.

Actually, Shao Xun’s shogunate is not that out of touch with reality.

The families of many officers who came from grassroots backgrounds have planted mulberry trees to some extent and are quite familiar with this.

But the mistress is demonstrating, so no matter how well you understand, you have to hold it in and not interrupt her in front of her.

Of course, the majority of people still don’t understand.

Especially the wives and daughters of the aristocratic generals, who stood there chatting and laughing, not taking the matter seriously.

What a joke! The imperial court talked about planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms every year, and even the empress performed the silkworm ceremony, but who really took it seriously? Such menial tasks were naturally done by the wives of the farmhands, so how could they be allowed to get involved?
However, Mrs. Yu seems to be serious?

"Silence." Xun stood up, with a stern look on her small face. She said, "Madam just talked about how to select good seeds, and then talked about the method of planting seeds. You all watch and listen carefully, and don't make any noise. After you go back, each of you must plant a garden and take care of it from time to time."

After these words were spoken, everyone finally quieted down. As for what they were thinking in their hearts, no one knew.

Yu Wenjun looked at the little sister gratefully and continued, "After the seedlings emerge, pick up all the seedlings, cut off the stems, and leave only the roots. Every three roots form a plant, like the shape of a Chinese character "品", and plant them under a bamboo tube. After a long time, the bamboo tube will rot and the three roots will become one, making it easier to grow. This is called raising seedlings."

"First plant the mulberry seeds, then raise the seedlings, and then transplant them to the fields in the middle of the first month of the next year..."

The intermittent "lectures" lasted until noon, and the women took their mulberry leaves and left one after another.

After a few days, they will come over again to observe the silkworm room.

"Are you tired?" Shao Xun asked after he had just finished tidying up the silkworm room.

"Growing mulberry trees is so troublesome." Yu Wenjun sighed.

"If you want to blame someone, blame God." Shao Xun said as he wiped the statue of the god, "First, there was a severe drought, which destroyed most of the mulberry forests. The next year, there was a locust plague, which destroyed the remaining mulberry trees. Since then, Henan, which was once full of mulberry trees, has been flooded with silk from other places. Only one out of ten local mulberry trees remains, which is a pity. When I rewarded the soldiers, I felt that the silk was not enough and I often had to use grain to offset it."

Previously, when Zhou Fu was in Shouchun, he had submitted a memorial to the emperor, requesting that the four states of Yang, Jiang, Xiang and Jing each transfer 140,000 pieces of silk, totaling 560,000, as the first batch of expenses when the emperor moved the capital to Shouchun.

Regardless of whether Zhou Fu has the ability to make these four states bleed, his memorial alone shows that the sericulture industry in Jiangnan did not suffer heavy losses in the two consecutive years of the Genesis disaster, and its scale has been maintained quite well.

Compared with them, Henan and Hebei are so miserable, not to mention Guanzhong.

Shao Xun wanted to restore the sericulture industry in Yuzhou, but he had to start from planting seeds and raising seedlings, which was really too difficult.

But if we don’t do these things this year, we will have to do them next year. If we don’t do them next year, we will not be able to escape them later.

Some things always need a beginning, and some results take time to accumulate.

This is a place where bones were scattered all over the field and famine was everywhere a year ago. Even the hair of cattle and horses had been eaten away. No one knew how many people had starved to death. But it is not so easy to recover.

"I will take care of it with them." Yu Wenjun threw herself into Shao Xun's arms and said, "We have all done this, so the people in the counties and towns should follow suit, right?"

"Of course." Shao Xun kissed her forehead and said, "Okay, sit there and rest for a while."

The little girl is too clingy.

Wherever I go, I will hold his hand, and when there is no one around, I will hug him.

Every time she came back from going out, she would throw herself into his arms from afar.

Only two months after getting married, the childishness on her face gradually faded away, and she even showed some feminine charm.

I like this clingy guy more and more.

However, the other two concubines in the family seemed to have objections.

Can women monopolize the milk source?
"What is my husband doing?" Yu Wenjun asked curiously after sitting down.

"This is the silkworm god. Place it in the silkworm room and worship it from time to time. It is said that the growth of silkworms can increase a hundredfold." Shao Xun said.

"Is it a hundred times as much?" Yu Wenjun laughed.

"If you believe it, it will be there. If you don't believe it, it won't be there." Shao Xun said, "When we get some silk, we will weave some cloth and make a new dress for my wife. If there is any leftover fabric, maybe we can make another one for our child."

Yu Wenjun lowered her head in shame.

The reason why she kept dominating her husband was that she wanted to give birth to a boy or girl as soon as possible. But her husband was always worried about her health, and in the end...

"Okay, the statue is safe." Shao Xun clapped his hands and said, "Encourage people to engage in agriculture and sericulture. This is the foundation of kingship and hegemony. If this is not done well, everything will be over."

******
The relatively peaceful life continued until the end of March.

On this day, Zuo Sima Chen Yougen and You Sima Yang Chen came one after another to report on the matter.

"There are two issues being discussed in the court today," Yang Chen said, "One is to attack Xin'an Wang Mi, and the other is to defend the three islands of Mengjin."

After listening to this, Shao Xun looked at Chen Yougen again. "Mingsir, these two places make Luoyang very uncomfortable." Chen Yougen said, "Xin'an occupies the location of Hangu Pass, which is too close to Luoyang. It can be reached in a moment. If the bird city is not demolished, it will be very uncomfortable."

"The Imperial Army only has 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers. How can they conquer Xin'an?" Shao Xun said, "Siege warfare is the most brutal. Even if all the best soldiers and generals are used up, they may not be able to conquer it."

Xin'an City is actually a leftover from the last Hun invasion.

Shao Xun broke through numerous blockades and returned to Xingyang from the Luoyang Basin. He left in a hurry and strategically ignored many enemy troops, such as Wang Mi and Shan Zheng.

Shan Zheng later withdrew, but Wang Mi continued to build the city in Xin'an and ultimately did not leave.

According to the latest news, the Liu Han court should have handed over the northern half of Hongnong to Wang Mi.

Mi had 30,000 soldiers who had been cultivating land in the four counties of Hu, Shaanxi, Hongnong and Xin'an.

This year, Huayin County was also handed over to him. So far, Wang Mi has control over five counties.

The 30,000 men were both farmers and soldiers, equivalent to the auxiliary troops of the Tuntian Army under Shao Xun's rule.

As for the other counties, Xin'an City is really too close to Luoyang, and it has a geographical advantage, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. Just outside the mountains is the flat Yiluo Basin, which poses a huge threat to Luoyang.

It is understandable that the court wanted to drive Wang Mi away from Xin'an.

The Mengjin Sanzhu place is actually a strategic location.

The so-called three islets are Gaozhu, Mazhu and Taozhu.

Zhu is a sandbar in the water.

Mazhu is to the west of Mengjin. There is another small ferry to the west of Mazhu, called "Xieshijin" or "Heqingdu". Because the water is relatively turbulent, it is less used and is not as important as Mengjin.

When Erzhu Rong went south to attack Yuan Hao, he ordered Erzhu Zhao and Heba Sheng to tie wood together to make a raft and cross the river to the south.

Gaozhu is near Mazhu.

Taozhu is more important, has a larger area and is very close to Mengjin.

During the Cao Wei period, Du Ji "received the imperial order to build a tower ship. He tested the ship in Tao River, but it sank due to a storm."

Taohe is another name for the section of the Yellow River separated by Taozhu.

In the early years of the Guochao Dynasty, Du Yu built a floating bridge here, spanning the north and south, but it has now been destroyed in the war.

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, cities and floating bridges were built on both sides of the Yellow River and on Taozhu, and a General of the Central Army was posted to lead troops to garrison there.

During the Tang Dynasty, the sandbar in the river was larger in area, and the river bank in the Jin Dynasty might have been connected into one, so the Jiedushi of the Three Cities of Heyang was set up to guard the northern gate of Luoyang.

"The court doesn't want to sit and wait for death." Shao Xun said, "It is still actively trying to save itself."

Chen Yougen chuckled.

Yang Chen smiled bitterly, "That's true! Anyone with a knife against their neck would try to struggle."

"How is the court meeting?" Shao Xun asked again: "It is impossible for Xin'an and Sanzhu to come at the same time."

"The court discussed stationing troops and building a city on the islet to prevent the Xiongnu from crossing to the south." Yang Chen said, "The islet is connected to the south bank by a floating bridge."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"The court has appointed Si Tu Fu Zhi as the governor to build the city and the bridge, but the Xiongnu are powerful, fierce and brutal, so they need a large army to guard them." Yang Chen said, "The court wants you to escort them."

"Use me till I'm dead." Shao Xun said with a smile: "However, I really appreciate the court's actions. I can finally stop living a life of idleness and waiting for death."

Chen Yougen couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Yang Chen looked at Shao Xun quietly.

"Actually, I'm also quite interested in this matter." Shao Xun said, "If we fight against the Xiongnu in the north in the future, it would be a good place to cross the river. Can the court hand over this bridge to me?"

"I'm afraid the imperial court would be more than happy to receive this." Yang Chen said.

"Reply to the court." Shao Xun thought for a moment and said, "Establish Heyang County on the Hezhu, and have a general guard it. Send craftsmen to repair boats and oars, and mobilize the people to grow fruits and vegetables and graze horses, cattle and sheep. If you want to do it, be more ambitious. Also build a city in the area of ​​Zhamadi on the north bank of the river. Together with the middle city on the Hezhu and the south city at the Mengjin ferry on the south bank of the river, they are called the 'Three Cities of Heyang'. The three cities are connected by floating bridges, and more food and soldiers are stored to firmly control Mengjin in our hands."

Chen Yougen and Yang Chen looked at each other. With this situation, it would be inconvenient for the Huns to move south from Hanoi, unless they waited until the Yellow River froze in winter.

But anyway, if the three cities of Heyang are successfully built, they will become a thorn in the eyes of the Huns, and they will definitely send a large army to attack.

In a sense, the imperial court finally gained some initiative and seized the Huns' weak spot, which is exactly what they meant by "attack while the enemy must be rescued".

"When will the city be built?" Shao Xun asked again.

"We will have spare capacity only after the first batch of grain arrives in Beijing in May," said Yang Chen.

"Okay, I'll wait for the emperor's order." Shao Xun said.

At a time of great chaos in Guanzhong, it was indeed a good opportunity to build the three cities of Heyang.

After passing this village, there may not be this store.

By the time the Huns withdraw from Guanzhong, the three cities of Heyang will have been completed, and the situation will be completely changed.

However - this imperial court is really capable of making trouble!
Don’t fucking start a full-scale war with the Huns. I don’t want to fight this year.

(End of this chapter)