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Cao Fengji couldn't help but laugh from ear to ear. The Fan's Shanxi businessman behind this product was copied by Li Zicheng.Cao Fengji was blessed by misfortune, the elders of the clan were beaten and paralyzed in bed, he took advantage of the prestige of Emperor Datong, took advantage of the situation to become independent from the Fan family to start a business, and even changed his surname to Cao.

Through Zuo Xiaocheng's relationship in Chahar, he obtained the right to purchase wool from several Mongolian tribes in Chahar.

The wool textile market in the south has been gradually cultivated.

Rumor has it that the emperor and empress both like to wear woolen sweaters.The woolen cloak (actually a windbreaker) designed by the emperor himself became very fashionable in Nanjing.The empress also taught the concubines to knit sweaters, and the noble ladies in Beijing also learned to knit sweaters. This kind of wool lining became popular in the south of the Yangtze River.

"Boss, this year's wool is selling really well!" said the man happily.

Cao Fengji smiled and said, "The empress likes to wear sweaters. This year, the cotton production has decreased, so the wool is naturally sold very well. You go back quickly, don't be stingy with the travel expenses, and tell the various ministries on the grassland. I will take as much wool as they have! I There are tea leaves, iron pots, and salt bricks, and you can exchange them with wool!"

The severe drought in the south unexpectedly caused a shortage of wool, which led to the closer economic ties between the herdsmen in Inner Mongolia and the Datong court.

……

Shanghai.

A Dutch merchant ship arrived at the port, which was obviously an official order, otherwise it would have been traded in Batavia, and there was no need to travel all the way to Shanghai.

Several officials from the Ministry of Commerce, together with technical officers from the Animal Husbandry Institute and some textile businessmen, came to this Dutch merchant ship for handover.

The first is the textile merchant, squatting among the sheep to check.

You Jixian, an official from the Ministry of Commerce, asked, "How?"

Cui Dian, a textile merchant, stood up and said, "Youkezheng, there are two kinds of sheep here, one with coarse wool and the other with fine wool. But what your majesty wants are fine wool sheep, and the Dutch barbarians are trying to pass them off as good ones."

You Jixian sneered and said, "How courageous!"

The Dutch quickly explained: "His Majesty the Emperor of China wants English sheep, and these are English sheep. We, the Dutch East India Company, did not intend to deceive Your Majesty."

In fact, neither of the two sheep on board came from England.

Zhao Han is not familiar with the textile industry and the history of sheep, so he preconceived that British sheep are the best.

But the actual situation is that the best sheep breeds in the UK have not been bred in this era.

The sheep breed with the best wool quality in Europe mainly lives in Italy and the Aegean coast.Spanish Merino sheep are descendants of Phoenician fine wool sheep.In order to save trouble, the Dutch businessman bought a batch of merino sheep and shipped them as English sheep, which happened to meet Zhao Han's needs.

This batch of merino sheep was fed separately on two boats, and there were naturally other goods on board.

While passing the Cape of Good Hope, the Dutch fleet encountered a storm.Although no ships sank, one of them was severely flooded and drifted away from the sea for half a month. All the merino sheep on board died.

So what to do?

Halfway to Persia to buy black-faced sheep, continue to pretend to be English sheep, and ship them to China for delivery.

You Jixian said to the animal husbandry officer again: "Check it out."

Animal husbandry officials are very careful, inspecting each head slowly, breaking teeth, mouths, hooves, hair, etc. to check.

In the end, 36 merino sheep were selected, and You Jixian said: "We only need these, and you can transport the rest of the sheep back by yourself."

The Dutchman knew he was in the wrong and still wanted to make money, so he apologized and said with a smile: "The rest of the sheep can be traded at half price."

"Half price deal, that's the price of a Tianzhu horse!" You Jixian said angrily.

The sheep are transported from Europe, and there must be no one at the normal price.In order to increase the enthusiasm of the Dutch, the CIF price of each sheep is twice that of the Indian Mawari horse.

Dutch haggling: "A quarter price?"

"One-tenth!" You Jixian bargained fiercely.

Persian black-faced sheep are mainly used for food. Although the quality of wool is not particularly bad, it is not much better than native Chinese wool.It was shipped all the way, but China was unwilling to make a deal, and it was impossible for the Dutch to ship it back.

After some bargaining, the Merino sheep were sold at the order price, and the remaining black-faced sheep were sold at one-eighth of the price.

Sheep from Spain and Persia were transported to Jeju Island in this way.

The horse farm of the Datong imperial court is no longer in Jeju Island, and there is a large Fuzhou horse farm in Liaodong.

Today's Jeju Island has become a scientific research base for animal husbandry, mainly for breeding experiments of horses, cattle and sheep.

The experimental method is very primitive and unrestrained, which is to let different species crossbreed, and come up with a lot of strange things.Of course, hybridization is the main preference, and the evolutionary direction of livestock is artificially corrected.

This batch of sheep was brought to Jeju Island, and they must focus on the optimal breeding of Merino sheep.

However, Spanish merino sheep, Persian black face sheep, and East Asian native sheep will also be cross-bred with each other.To be able to hybridize what the hell is completely depends on God's will.Even if it fails, you can still pick a few outrageous ones and send them to Nanjing to surprise the emperor.

Jeju Island, which was renamed Jeju County a long time ago, originally belonged to Jiangsu, but now belongs to Shandong.

The county's registered population has rapidly increased to more than 5, about a quarter of which are Han immigrants, and many Koreans who fled by boat in recent years.There are three primary schools and one middle school, all of which are taught in Chinese.

……

"Are you knitting again?" Zhao Han asked with a smile.

"His Majesty!"

Liu Rushi and Tian Xiuying hurriedly stood up to greet them.

"Sit down." Zhao Han nodded.

The bamboo sticks for knitting sweaters were "invented" by Zhao Han himself, but how to weave them has to be studied by skilled craftsmen.

Skillful craftsmen invented one, and after it spread, folk women derived six kinds.

With ingenuity, Tian Xiuying transformed the gardens for the Beijing Imperial Palace and various ornaments for the Beijing Harem.In her free time, she studied knitting sweaters in the harem, and unexpectedly invented a crochet method, which can be used to weave many patterns with wool.

With a big belly, Tian Xiuying carefully sat down with the support of the maid and said, "These are baby's fur shoes, which can be worn in winter."

Zhao Han picked up the half-knitted shoes, which were made of fine cashmere thread, which would not irritate the baby's skin.He looked at it for a while and said with a smile, "Is this a bat?"

"Weave a pair of bat shoes and pray for the child." Tian Xiuying already had a shadow in her heart. The sons she gave birth to Chongzhen died in succession, and she only kept the last one.Now that she is pregnant with Zhao Han's child again, I really don't want to go through it again.

Burning text

Liu Rushi said with a smile: "My husband is blessed, and princes and princesses are naturally blessed."

Compared with the slender figure of the previous years, Liu Rushi's figure is much plump, and her relationship with Tian Xiuying is still the best.

Zhao Han suddenly said, "Your father has been found."

Tian Xiuying was startled suddenly: "Is my father okay?"

Zhao Han said: "When Li Zicheng was tortured in Beijing, he was beaten half to death. With the help of his old friends, he hid in the mountains to become a monk. The Datong Army recovered Hebei, tracked down the undisciplined monks, and confirmed his identity. It can be sent to Nanjing."

"Congratulations sister!" Liu Rushi said happily.

Tian Xiuying also pursed her lips and laughed, the child in her belly was about to be born, and the lost father also had a whereabouts, God was so kind to her.

Zhao Han said to Liu Rushi: "Your family members have not been found yet."

Liu Rushi forced a smile: "It doesn't matter if you don't look for it."

Zhao Han reminded Tian Xiuying: "The title of Datong is only rewarded by merit. When your father came to Nanjing, at most he bestowed a house and silver. There is no title, and the land is only available in the countryside. You can't divide the land if you live in the city."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty," Tian Xiuying said, "I will remind my father that he will never dare to make mistakes."

In the past few years, Zhao Han has been looking not only for his concubine's family, but also for his former benefactor.The Tianjin military officer who let him cross the bridge, the Tianjin woman who gave him water, posted notices with his facial features, and there were quite a few people who came to ask for credit, but unfortunately they were all wrong.

Liu Rushi asked the court lady to bring paper, pens and paints, and unfolded the drawing paper to teach Zhao Han how to paint.

Emperor Zhao is also a cultural person now, with rich and colorful hobbies.The main reason is that I am too tired to review memorials at work, so I have to find time for recreation. Besides reading, I am studying music, painting, and playing Go. I even occasionally make cakes with Pan Qimei.

Under Liu Rushi's hands-on teaching, Emperor Zhao drew a picture of flowers and birds today, which is quite at the level of young children in the traditional Chinese painting training class of later generations.

"My husband, this parrot looks more like an owl." Liu Rushi couldn't help laughing.

"Hahahaha!"

Zhao Han laughed loudly and said to Tian Xiuying: "Concubine Tian also draws a picture, we can't make Mr. Liu look like no one!"

Tian Xiuying picked up the paintbrush with a smile, and a picture of flowers and birds was quickly formed, crushing the emperor's graffiti.

As for the thing Zhao Han painted, it was taken away by Liu Rushi's personal maid.When her five-year contract expires, she will be able to leave the palace to marry. At that time, she can either collect it or sell it quietly, anyway, the emperor's imperial pen is very valuable.

The waste from the emperor's hands is generally not strictly managed.

Emperor Hongzhi of the Ming Dynasty even used a thick silk cloth to wipe his buttocks.One day, he found out that the coarse silk cloth he used to wipe his butt was washed by the eunuch and sewn up to make a door curtain, so he felt that he was too extravagant.Therefore, Sichuan was ordered not to pay tribute to this object, and to wipe the ass with toilet paper in the future.

Zhao Han continued to practice painting, and the Tianjin military officer who helped him in Xuzhou was finally found!

Chapter 584 [The Grace of Saving Life]

Xuzhou.

It has been more than a year since Zheng Sen was promoted to Zhizhou of Xuzhou. The 23-year-old Zhizhou is a very rare existence in the Datong New Dynasty where the officials are generally young. . .

"Xiao Songzi, are you going out of the city to inspect again today?" Zhao Zhenfang took out a set of official casual clothes and asked the maid to help Zheng Sen change into them.

While changing his clothes, Zheng Sen said worryingly: "Henan has been raining for days, Xuzhou has swelled very much, and the Zhenkou gate has just been repaired. If I don't personally inspect the river embankments, I really don't feel relieved."

"School is on holiday, let me go with you." Zhao Zhenfang said.

Zhao Zhenfang's identity, in addition to Princess Rongfu and Mrs. Zhizhou, is also a member of the Physics Society of the Datong Mathematical Society, and even served as the secretary-general of the Mathematical Society for a time.Now she came to Xuzhou with her husband to take up the post, and she also applied to be a teacher in Xuzhou Middle School, teaching mathematics (geometry), physics and other subjects.

As for Xiaosongzi, that was Zhao Zhenfang's nickname for her husband, and Zheng Sen had a nickname "Fusong".

The couple walked out of the backyard of the state government together, and only asked a few servants to follow, and then let the driver drive the carriage out of the city.All the good horses are confiscated for military use, and all the people are bad horses. Even the carriages provided by the Xuzhou government are not much bigger than donkeys.

The levee in the north of the city had been inspected, and Zheng Sen and Zhao Zhenfang took a car all the way upstream.

After driving for a while, I saw people gathering by the river.

Zheng Sen got out of the car and went to check, and found that it was Yang Ding, the magistrate of Xiao County, who was also leading people to inspect the river embankment in the territory.

"Greetings to the princess, and the prefect!" Yang Ding recognized the two and immediately bowed to each other.

Zheng Sen and Zhao Zhenfang returned the salute at the same time, and began to ask about the situation of the embankment.

Xuzhou is a big state with four counties under its jurisdiction.

Yang Ding sighed and said, "Today's water level is half a foot higher than yesterday's. If this continues, Henan will have to dig up dikes to release floods. People in Shandong are suffering!"

"It's really hard, I just hope that the management of the Yellow River will succeed soon." Zheng Sen also felt a little emotional.

This year's disasters are already obvious, with floods in the north and drought in the south.

The drought in the south of the Yangtze River has dried up the river, but it has been raining continuously in Henan.According to the usual method, the water level rises to a certain level, that is, in the eastern part of Henan, the Yellow River North Dike is opened to release the flood.In this way, one or two counties in Henan will be flooded, and several counties in Shandong will be flooded.

As for Xuzhou, which was transferred to Jiangsu, it was the safest.

Zheng Sen took Yang Ding to inspect the embankment together, and said: "At the end of autumn, the water level is dry and shallow, and the water has not yet frozen, so we have to organize the people to dredge the river. Now that the north has been recovered, the water transportation is becoming more and more busy, and the downstream is too silted. It is extremely unfavorable for ships to sail.”

"What the prefect said is true," Yang Ding said hastily, "The lower officials are only the magistrates of Xiao County. In the case of dredging the river, you have to take the lead and bring Pei County, Feng County, Dangshan into governance."

Zheng Sen nodded and said: "After the flood is over, let the magistrates of these four counties come to the state government to have a meeting to discuss."

Near noon, when they reached the ferry, everyone stopped to rest and eat and drink in the wild shop near the ferry.

The rules of the imperial court are cumbersome. Officials are strictly prohibited from drinking alcohol at noon on weekdays, and they can only drink when they are having dinner.

There wasn't much good stuff in the wild store, so after cooking a few side dishes, Zheng Sen clinked glasses with Yang Ding with tea instead of wine.

Yang Ding was a bit cautious, and it was fine when he met the Zhizhou, who was still the son-in-law, and the princess herself was at the same table.

"Is Yangzhi County from Sichuan?" Zheng Sen asked casually.

Yang Ding replied with a smile: "From the east of Sichuan, before General Huang (Huang Yao) led his troops into Sichuan, the subordinate officials followed the former Mingzhi County, dedicated the city and surrendered General Qin (Qin Liangyu). As an official, he was promoted all the way to the magistrate. This was not possible in the former Ming Dynasty, and the subordinate officials came from a family of officials, and their descendants were not even eligible to take the imperial examination."

Zheng Sen joked: "Haha, no matter where the hero comes from, my family used to be a pirate."

"The prefect is joking." Yang Ding didn't dare to say more about it.

Zheng Sen asked casually, "What is the difficulty in Xiao County?"

Yang Ding said: "Several coal mines have been discovered in the county. Some steam engines have been developed in the south in recent years. I heard that coal needs to be burned to weave cloth. The coal in Xiao County can be mined and shipped to the south of the Yangtze River to sell silver. But this mining involves expropriation of land, and the state has approved it, but the province has refused to approve it. There is coal in Xiao County, so I can't dig it out and sell it!"

Zhao Zhenfang suddenly said: "Why do you want to dig coal and sell it to the south? I know the steam engine. The steam spinning machine has been developed, and the steam loom is still being improved. You can contact local merchants in Xuzhou to order steam engines in the south. The county opened a textile factory, and then bought cotton from Shandong, and used the coal from Xiao County to spin and weave cloth in Xiao County. At that time, Xuzhou’s waterways will extend in all directions, no matter whether it is sold to the south or the north!”

"Yes!"

Yang Ding slapped his head fiercely: "Shandong has been immigrating for several years, and food and cotton are recovering. The quality of cotton in Shandong is better than that in Jiangnan. We Xuzhou is next to Shandong, and the freight for buying cotton is also cheap. We use coal to spin and weave more fabrics. Good. As expected of Her Royal Highness, your brain is ten thousand times smarter than ours!"

Zheng Sen said with a smile: "In this case, I will visit the province and help get the approval for opening a coal mine. The peasants whose land has been expropriated, you have to resettle there. It is a good thing to open a coal mine first and try it out." Just keep doing it, if it’s not good for people’s livelihood, stop it.”

"Thank you prefect!" Yang Ding was even happier.

The two tables next door were all followers brought by Zheng Sen and Yang Ding, and they were peeking at the princess while eating.

The people in the state government are okay, the guards from Xiao County are very curious about the legendary princess, and have peeked at it countless times all the way.

"If you look at it again, your eyes will pop out!" Liu Mang scolded in a low voice.

Ying Dagao said with a smile: "Liu Touer, this is a princess. I don't see much today, and it won't be easy to see her in the future. It's also thanks to the county lord. If we didn't accompany the county lord on tour, where would we meet in this life?" Princess."