Wear to the Ming Dynasty to farm

The neighbor's family got potatoes from Qian's family. Someone cut the potatoes into small pieces and cooked them in a pot with chicken; Some people directly chop potatoes into stuffing and make potato dumplings to eat; some people use potatoes to spread pancakes and roll up green onion tofu, which is a joy to eat.

It has only rained once since the wheat harvest, but the temperature continues to rise.Before I knew it, it was the beginning of June, and the ground seemed to be drying out, and the weeds were wilting and on the verge of withering.

When it was time to harvest hemp again, Qian Dayong and Qiao Jiwei went to the field early to bring the hemp to their homes. Only a dozen hemp plants were left in the field for next year's hemp seeds.

Then the hemp was sun-dried. Qian Dayong wanted to soak the hemp in water, but Qiao Jiwei stopped him.Qian Dayong was puzzled by this, he has been doing this for more than ten years.Now someone is questioning him. "Where do you put it if you don't put it in the water?"

"Put it in the oil."

It turns out that Wang Xizhe studied chemistry in college. If hemp is soaked in oil, the hemp threads will be tighter. He still knows this knowledge.In fact, the ancients may not have known about this practice. It may be that the cost of oil is too high, and ordinary people cannot afford this price.

In the end, Qian Dayong listened to Qiao Jiwei and soaked the hemp in soybean oil for a day. After it was wet, he pulled out the hemp threads and twisted them into coils, so that the hemp threads were ready.

This time, there is a large pot of soybean oil left in the bubble silk.The other returned to the market, Qiao Jiwei ordered Qian Dayong to cut the potatoes into slices and fry them in a frying pan, while he handled the pot of mashed potatoes by himself.Qiao Jiwei set a bunch of fried potato chips at six cents a bunch, which was actually higher than the unit price of mashed potatoes.After all, mutton skewers are only two pennies a skewer.

The price of fried potato chips is mainly due to the oil. Soybean oil has to be discarded after a day of use. Naturally, the cost will be deducted from the price of fried potato chips.

Some people wandering on the street saw that the two men had released new food, and flocked to buy the fried potato chips.

The potato chips tasted crisp and fragrant, and for a while they overshadowed Qiao Jiwei's old food mashed potatoes.These people eat potato chips and are exposed to the scorching sun, their foreheads

I was sweating profusely.Some people selling grilled skewers couldn’t help scoffing. The skewers they baked at home cost only three yuan a skewer, and potato chips and a vegetarian dish cost six yuan a skewer?However, things are always rare and expensive, and the entire state capital has this one, so I can't blame Qiao Jiwei for raising the price so high.

Not long after, a man came to Qiao Jiwei's stall with a raw chicken leg in his hand: "Brother? Can you fry this chicken leg for me?"

Oil was difficult to extract in ancient times, and it was relatively expensive. Ordinary people would not be willing to use oil to fry things. The man happened to have guests at home today. Seeing Qian Dayong's honest and honest face, he came to the stall.

Qiao Jiwei nodded in agreement. Seeing that Qiao Jiwei agreed so readily, the man didn't want to be burdened, so he bought a bowl of mashed potatoes.

This reminded Qiao Jiwei that since chicken legs can be fried in this frying pan, other things can naturally be fried as well.It would be a pity if the oil is only used for frying mashed potatoes.

In the next few days, he and Qian Dayong have been collecting various food raw materials near the village in the morning and dusk.Mainly chicken and various vegetables.The chickens he received from the neighbors were calculated at ten cents per catty. These days, people in the countryside were living in poverty, and chickens were considered part of their property.It's okay for the rooster, but the hen still has to keep the eggs, and these people are reluctant to sell them.In two days, the two only received less than ten chickens.

Reluctantly, the two went to the neighboring village to collect chickens, but Ma Er walked towards them from a distance before the chickens were collected.He smiled at Qiao Jiwei, and the wrinkles on his forehead disappeared due to the stretching of his face. "Little brother, do you still count what you said that day?"

Qian Dayong didn't understand, so: "What did you say that day?"

Qiao Jiwei smiled at him: "It counts. Then how do you sell this cow?"

Ma Er tentatively asked, "How about a tael of silver?" But then regretted it, fearing that Qiao Jiwei would think the price was too high.

Qiao Jiwei nodded, "But we didn't bring enough money."

Ma Er smiled and waved his hands, "That's easy to say, I'll bring the cow to your house, and you'll give me copper coins when you get home."

When Ma Er went home to lead the cows, Qiao Jiwei and Qian Dayong were waiting at the entrance of the village.Qian Dayong peeked at Qiao Jiwei from time to time, thinking that this young man was really talented.He had wanted to buy a cow for a long time, but suffered from no cash.Looking at Qiao Jiwei, he felt that the three liang of silver was worth the money. In fact, he didn't think Qiao Jiwei was a cash cow, but that he was very capable, and he already regarded him as a relative in his heart.

Things were going well at first, but Ma Er was about to lead the bull into Qian Dayong's house, but the bull refused to accept his life, and the back of the rein broke when he exerted force on his head.The free bull raised his legs and ran back, but Ma Er didn't respond to his shouts.Qian Dayong chased after the ox, his two legs were no match for his four hooves, even a few young men came to help him, but they were no match for the strong feet of the ox.Not long after, the cow ran up the mountain, and a dozen or so young men couldn't do anything about it anymore.

Everyone was anxious at the foot of the mountain, but Qiao Jiwei

With a calm mind, he used the village mill to grind one or two catties of corn into powder, sprinkled a little water on it, and placed it at the foot of the mountain.

Everyone frowned when they saw the corn flour: "Does this work?"

Qiao Jiwei: "Wait and see!"

At first there was no movement on the mountain, but after a quarter of an hour the cow suddenly ran down the mountain, Qiao Jiwei walked towards Qian's house with cornmeal, walking faster and faster, the calf followed behind, ignoring his former owner.

In a few days, the calf got along with its new owner more and more harmoniously. Qiao Jiwei stroked the white hair on its forehead from time to time, and Qian Dayong bought a bullock cart at this time.

When it was time to go to the county seat, Qiao Jiwei and Qian Dayong put chicken, potatoes, vegetables and other food and small wooden sticks prepared in advance on the bullock cart, and drove the cows forward.To be honest, Qian Dayong couldn't carry these things by himself, and Qiao Jiwei's small body couldn't handle them. It was just the right time to buy a cow.

When he arrived at the stall, Qiao Jiwei first cut eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms and other vegetables into pieces, and skewered them with small wooden sticks. The chicken had been spread with flour in advance, mixed with seasonings such as salt, chopped green onion and ginger.Qian Dayong lit a fire in front of the pot.When the oil temperature was right, the two put the vegetable skewers in the oil pan. The oil pan was bubbling uninterruptedly and hissing. scent.

Qiao Jiwei set the vegetable skewers as one penny, and the potato skewers at the original price. If someone wants to buy fried chicken, they can use a scale to weigh it first, and it will be calculated at thirteen pennies per catty.

In fact, the sales of these fried foods are better in autumn and winter. The hot weather and the citizens don’t want to eat hot foods. Even so, the sales of potatoes are the best. This time, there were only [-] to [-] catties of potatoes left at home. Qiao Jiwei stored these potatoes and planned to plant them in the field next year, or eat some pieces at home.

In the first ten days of June, the weather was so hot that people were uncomfortable all over. The men's backs were covered with sweat, making their whole bodies greasy and even smelling like sweat.These people wear linen clothes on their bodies. The linen silk is loose and dissipates heat quickly, so it is especially cool to wear in summer.Farmers only dared to pull weeds in the morning and dusk, and at noon they nestled at home or under a big tree to enjoy the shade, and everyone piled up and croaked.

Qian's mother used the hemp silk produced this year to make a sackcloth for Qian Dayong, but Qiao Jiwei refused to make it for him.The sun was so poisonous, she didn't want to move all day long, thinking that Qiao Jiwei was just bought for two dollars, so there was no need to treat him too well.

After weaving, Mother Qian put the sackcloth on Qian Dayong's body. Mother Qian's weavers were very meticulous.Qiao Jiwei saw that the linen clothes were the color of linen silk.When selling mashed potatoes, he noticed that the sackcloth worn by people on the street was basically the same color.

When he was in college, he was also considered a top student in the Department of Chemistry. He tried hard to recall the knowledge he had learned in the four years of college, and then realized that linen clothes cannot be dyed with natural dyes. If you want to dye linen, artificial dyes are a better choice.But it was wishful thinking to create artificial dyes in the Ming Dynasty.

Artificial dyes cannot be made, but the next best thing is to use enzyme dyes.Iron is a better choice, but how to dissolve it in water?acid!

At this time, craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty were able to produce aqua regia, but the acidity of dyed hemp was too high and it was not good.It just so happens that there is alkaline earth in this place. After dissolving the iron and neutralizing it with alkali, the solution can be poured into the dyeing solution.

As for weaving hemp clothes, this is not the scope of Qiao Jiwei's management.He must not be able to weave well himself.

During breakfast, Qiao Jiwei announced his thoughts to Mother Qian: "Ma'am, I want to sell some hemp clothes in the county. How about using the hemp we weave?"

Mother Qian thought that she was asking her to weave hemp clothes in disguise. She didn't have so much free time, and she had to chat with the women in the village. "Don't you just want a sackcloth? It's so convoluted, okay, I'll weave it for you! If others don't know, they think I only love my own son!"

Qian Dayong just took a bite of eggplant, and almost choked on hearing what his mother said.

Qiao Jiwei parted his lips and smiled, "Ma'am, I don't have that many twisted thoughts. I just think you are good at weaving, and it's a pity that your weavers are wasted."

Mother Qian will not be fooled easily, "You can sell dozens of clothes once you go to the county seat, how can I weave so many clothes by myself? You are thinking about exhausting me!"

The corners of Qiao Jiwei's eyes twitched slightly, "Of course someone will weave these clothes, so you can just watch them do the work. If they don't understand, you can guide them."

"Where do you find so many weavers?"

"There are so many ready-made ones in the village."

Qiao Jiwei and Qian Dayong went along the village looking for weavers one by one. At first, there were six people who agreed to go to Qian Dayong's house to weave linen clothes.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was no need to pay cloth tax, and the peasant women just wove clothes for their husbands and sons throughout the year, leaving much more leisure time than the previous dynasty.They always have to think of something to pass the time, and the leftover flax at home is just sold to vendors at a low price.

Qiao Jiwei agreed to give them [-] Wen for one piece of clothing, which is a relatively high employment price. This place is far away from the capital, located in a remote corner, and the economy is naturally relatively backward.Peasant women sometimes worry all day long about the small amount of money at home and have no other way to make money. Now they can get [-] Wen for knitting clothes. Naturally, they have no objection.

The next day these women arrived at Qian's house early, with their men carrying the loom behind them.In order to avoid suspicion, the two men in the family took advantage of the cool weather to go to the mountain to pick madder, grass, safflower and other plants. The leader of these people was Mother Qian, who was the best weaver in the village. Everyone agrees that the clothes are good, even if they are put on the market, they can be sold at a good price.

When she first married into Qian's family, she didn't even know how to tie her collar. Once her clothes were torn, her mother-in-law would beat them all over the yard with a broom. Damn, I can't protect her at all.Those years were not without frustration.