Chapter 440: Continue to investigate
In the Shen family study
Shen Zhaonian held the teacup, blew it gently, and took a sip of tea.
Shen Keting looked at the letter in his hand seriously, frowning slightly.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the matter was not simple. At that time, the letter that Shen Huazheng sent to the capital was expedited, and the Shen family received it very quickly.
After seeing the contents of the letter, Shen Zhaonian and Shen Keting took it very seriously and immediately sent people to investigate Jiang Ran.
We need to investigate whether anything unusual happened before Jiang Ran left Luzhou, and also investigate where Jiang Ran went after he left Luzhou.
On the surface, Jiang Ran’s disappearance does not seem to have much to do with what happened in Pingyu Town.
But when Shen Zhaonian's people checked, they still found the connection.
The disappearance of people in Pingyu Town began at the end of last year, and Jiang Ran actually left the academy during the Spring Festival.
Moreover, according to the message sent back.
Some people have seen outsiders frequently appearing in Pingyu Town around the Spring Festival, but they seemed to be two groups of people.
According to that person's description, among those people who appeared in Pingyu Town after the Spring Festival, one of them was extremely similar to Jiang Ran in terms of age and appearance.
Chen Keting frowned, "Dad, it seems that Zheng'er's guess is right. Jiang Ran was very likely to have gone from Luzhou to Pingyu Town, and then went to another place. Could it be that he left the academy without saying goodbye, and really wanted to find Princess Lejia?"
The fact that Shen Huazheng was appointed as the Imperial Commissioner by Emperor Jingning and went to the northwest with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Works to promote potato cultivation had been posted long ago and was known throughout the country.
It was no secret that Princess Lejia and Zhou Ying were traveling with Shen Huazheng.
If Jiang Ran, who was far away in Luzhou at the time, had any information channels to learn about Jiang Yirou's imprisonment, then he would definitely also know that Princess Lejia went to the northwest with Chen Huazheng and others.
If that was the case, it was possible that Jiang Ran went northwest after leaving the academy.
Pingyu Town was just a small town he passed by on the way. His real destination might be Yuzhang County.
Chen Keting suddenly thought of another possibility: "Dad, do you think the strangeness in Pingyu Town is related to these strangers? And the group of people who appeared before the Spring Festival, are they related to the group of people who appeared later?"
When they first started investigating the events in Pingyu Town, they felt that the various clues were disorganized, like a tangled mess that made them confused.
No wonder the magistrate of Kangle County investigated for so long but couldn't find any useful clues.
After we started investigating Jiang Ran's whereabouts, things seemed to become clearer.
Shen Zhaonian put down the teacup: "It is still uncertain whether that person is Jiang Ran. Even if he really appeared in Pingyu Town, it is unknown whether the disappearance and madness of the people there are related to him. We have to continue investigating."
Although there is no clear evidence yet, Shen Zhaonian knows that as long as he continues to investigate along Jiang Ran's line, he will definitely find something useful.
Shen Keting nodded, then picked up the teacup and drank the tea.
No matter what, he would never allow anyone or anything that could threaten Zheng'er's safety to exist.
*
When Shen Huazheng wrote a letter to the Shen family, Princess Lejia also wrote a letter to Marquis Wenxin.
In the letter, she told Wen Xinhou what happened at the post station and specifically mentioned the strangeness of Pingyu Town.
Princess Lejia did not express her guess openly, but she knew that Marquis Wenxin had already agreed to let Jiang Jinrong investigate Jiang Ran's whereabouts.
He must have a lot of information about Jiang Ran in his hands now.
If Jiang Ran had really headed northwest after leaving the academy, Marquis Wen Xin would definitely have reacted immediately.
Sure enough, when Marquis Wenxin looked at Princess Lejia's letter, he instantly thought of the information he had asked someone to investigate.
According to the information he found, Jiang Ran had been heading northwest and passed Pingyu Town on the way.
Moreover, before Jiang Ran left Luzhou, someone saw him with several men.
The man said that judging from their accents, those people were not from Luzhou.
As for where the person was from, he couldn't tell.
At that time, Wen Xinhou just thought that Jiang Ran was making a fuss. He actually left without saying goodbye just because he was angry with Jiang Jinrong, and went to such a far place.
He just wanted to bring Jiang Ran back as soon as possible so that he could give Jiang Jinrong an explanation.
However, Jiang Ran or the people around him seemed to intentionally erase their traces, making it difficult to find relevant information.
After reading Princess Lejia's letter, Marquis Wenxin suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
When Jiang Ran passed through Pingyu Town, strange things were happening there frequently.
Thinking about what happened at the post station in Princess Lejia's letter, Marquis Wenxin became even more panicked.
Could it be that Jiang Ran left the academy to go to Aning? ?
Is he going to do something to Aning?
Do the strange things in Pingyu Town and the incident at the post station have anything to do with him?
Thinking about the fact that Princess Lejia brought a lot of guards with high martial arts skills when she left the capital this time, the imperial guards sent by Emperor Jingning will also be with them all the time.
Wen Xinhou's anxious heart finally relaxed a little. Fortunately, Aning brought a lot of guards and had martial arts skills.
Ordinary people can't get close to her.
As for the extraordinary people...
No, let’s send some more guards to protect Aning.
Although everything is still just speculation, there are some things that you cannot afford to gamble on.
Aning's safety is the most important.
Marquis Wenxin asked the Minister of Works for some inquiries and soon learned the seriousness of the matter.
He thought about it for a long time, and finally went to the palace to meet the emperor and told him the whole story.
Although Marquis Wenxin only wanted to report the matter first, in case Jiang Ran really caused any big trouble and implicated Jiang Jinrong, Jiang Can and Jiang Huai.
But looking at Emperor Jingning's expression, Marquis Wenxin couldn't help but be glad that he chose to enter the palace at this time and told Emperor Jingning all the news he knew.
This matter was definitely a hundred times more serious than he had imagined.
After leaving the palace, Marquis Wenxin sighed in his heart.
I hope nothing terrible will happen, otherwise...
Thinking of Jiang Jinrong's current frail health, Marquis Wenxin shook his head again.
Alas, one wrong move and the whole game is ruined.
The mistake my second brother made at that time might take his whole life to pay for.
If something really bad happens this time, I don’t know if my second brother can survive it.
*
Although everyone felt that Shen Huazheng's method of using sprout juice to germinate potatoes was a bit strange, some people even felt that this was a waste of the potatoes whose sprouts had been cut off.
After all, on one side are potatoes that have already sprouted and can be planted immediately.
On one side, there are potatoes that have been germinated but have not yet sprouted and need to be germinated a second time.
Who knows whether they can produce sprouts after the second germination.
If the potatoes still don't sprout, wouldn't it be a waste of the potatoes that had their sprouts cut off?
Although everyone had doubts in their hearts, they did not dare to show it on their faces.
But after a few days, they all got slapped in the face.
Those potatoes actually sprouted!!!
At this point, all the Northwestern officials were completely convinced by Shen Huazheng.
When it comes to potato planting, everyone follows her lead and asks her before making a decision.
Shen Huazheng had been busy for a few days and finally had a break today.
Zhou Ying asked people to prepare apple, orange and red date tea and taro paste and purple rice cake.
The taro paste is fine and dense, smooth like sand, and the purple rice is sticky and chewy.
One bite and your mouth will be filled with the sweet taste of purple rice and taro paste.
Wolfberry is added to the fruit red date tea, which tastes sour and sweet.
It tastes just right with taro paste and purple rice cake.
Princess Lejia picked up the fruit tea and took a sip: "The weather is really nice today. Zhengzheng, it's rare that you have a day off today, why don't we go out for a walk later."
While looking at the picture in her hand, Shen Huazheng responded: “Okay, let’s go out and visit the shops here later, and by the way, see what delicious food there is in the restaurants here.”
Although Yuzhang County had already designated several plots of land as their experimental fields, their main mission this time in the northwest was to assist local officials in promoting potato cultivation.
In addition to observing the crops in the experimental fields, they also had to visit the farmlands.
After all, after achieving successful potato cultivation, promotion is the most important thing.
In addition to visiting the experimental fields these days, Shen Huazheng and a group of officials will also visit nearby farmland.
Long before leaving Beijing, Lord Huang told Shen Huazheng and several officials who were traveling with him that if the conditions in the northwest were suitable for building greenhouses, they should assist local officials in building greenhouses here.
In this way, we can have a good harvest even in a cold winter.
There is no need to worry about food shortages in winter.
Shen Huazheng knew that Emperor Jingning asked them to leave Beijing and go to various places to assist local officials in planting potatoes in order to allow potato planting to cover the entire country.
Similarly, he also hopes that greenhouses can be promoted nationwide.
However, the situation in the northwest is somewhat different from that in Beijing, and permafrost is the biggest difficulty.
The altitude here is high and the winters are cold, so the land will freeze and form permafrost.
Even if a greenhouse is built here, the soil temperature required for potato growth cannot be reached.
The seedlings planted in the ground will also rot due to freezing and be wasted.
If this problem is not solved, greenhouses cannot be built.
Shen Huazheng thought about it for a long time, and suddenly thought of soilless cultivation, and suddenly he had an inspiration.
Since it cannot be planted directly on the ground, why not just not plant it directly on the ground?
The picture in her hand was just drawn this morning and is a basic idea.
When Princess Lejia heard about going out shopping and eating delicious food, she immediately became excited.
"Okay, okay. I'll take you for a good look around later. Aying and I have been there several times, so we are quite familiar with this area."
In fact, after two days of getting familiar with the place, Princess Lejia and Zhou Ying both discovered that there were many good places nearby.
It’s just that Shen Huazheng was too busy, so she only had time to go out with them today.
Zhou Ying picked up a piece of taro-paste purple rice cake and took a bite.
"Zheng'er, what are you looking at?"
After hearing Zhou Ying's words, Princess Lejia realized that Shen Huazheng seemed to have been staring at the paper in her hand since she sat down.
She leaned over to take a look and asked, "Zheng Zheng, what's in your picture?"
It looks a bit like a castle in the air. Could it be that Zheng Zheng also wants to write a storybook? ?
However, this idea is quite good.
Thinking of this, Princess Lejia blurted out: "Zhengzheng, is this a castle in the air?"
Shen Huazheng was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, “Yes, this is the castle in the air.”
Princess Lejia:!!!
Zheng Zheng really wants to write a storybook? ?
However, she is already so busy, and she still has to write a storybook. Is this enough? ?
Zhou Ying: ???
Hasn’t Zheng’er been thinking about how to build a greenhouse?
Why are you suddenly drawing a greenhouse?
Is it because you are too tired and want to relax by drawing? ?
Chen Huazheng didn't know that they had imagined so much, so she slowly spoke out her thoughts -
"But this is not for living, it's for growing vegetables."
Princess Lejia was even more surprised: "Growing vegetables?"
Shouldn’t vegetables be grown in the ground?
How can you grow vegetables in the air?
Even if it is really possible to plant it, people can't climb up there.
Could it be that Zheng Zheng is too tired and busy lately?
Princess Lejia suddenly remembered that she saw Shen Huazheng watching "The Madness of the Immortal" some time ago, and she said that the stories in it were very interesting.
The volume she was reading at that time happened to be about the fairy Dunhua who grew vegetables and raised chickens in heaven, which made all the gods cry with envy.
Princess Lejia thought to herself that something was wrong. Could it be that Zheng Zheng had been thinking about how to build a greenhouse in the northwest, and happened to read that story, and became obsessed with it?
"Zheng'er, are you too tired?"
Zhou Ying also looked at Chen Huazheng with some worry, thinking that she would have someone stew some soup to nourish Chen Huazheng.
From now on, I have to keep an eye on Zheng'er every day, make sure she eats well, rests early, and not get too tired.
As soon as Shen Huazheng saw the looks on Zhou Ying and Princess Lejia's faces, she knew they were thinking the wrong thing.
She was a little amused and said: "This is a vegetable growing model I specially designed for the Northwest region. It is said to be growing vegetables in the air, but in fact it is just off the ground, not in the sky."
In order to dispel their doubts, Chen Huazheng pointed to the picture on the paper and continued to explain: "You see, there is seasonal frozen soil in the northwest, which is not suitable for directly growing vegetables and fruits. So I thought of this idea. When the time comes, I can ask the craftsmen to customize a batch of large flower pots, and then build some wooden racks, and put the flower pots on the wooden racks. Add soil in the middle, and then you can grow vegetables and fruits."
With this design, combined with a greenhouse, we can achieve freedom in planting in the northwest winter.
Princess Lejia suddenly realized: "I see, I thought we were really in the sky."
She was so scared that she thought Zheng Zheng was too tired recently. After reading the notebook she wrote, she came up with the strange idea of growing vegetables in the clouds.
It turned out that Zheng Zheng was not possessed by demons, but they had misunderstood.
However, Zheng Zheng was really smart to think of growing crops off the ground.
Zhou Ying also laughed and said, "It turns out that I was thinking wrong. But why not just pile up bricks and stones to make a shelf?"
If the problem of frozen soil in the northwest can be solved by simply keeping it away from the ground, then wouldn't it be possible to build a frame by piling up bricks and stones like building a house?
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