Chapter 227 Sheep House Construction Begins
Sang Luo had long planned to cooperate with the Chen family, but Chen Dashan brought it up first, and Mrs. Chen happened to want to discuss it with Sang Luo, so she mentioned it in advance.
Chen Lie had seen how hard it was for Sangluo to make tofu, and it was not easy to make food with yam and mung beans, so he really supported this cooperation.
Knowing that they would need a large amount of yam and mung beans for their livelihood after the New Year, Chen Lie and Shen An did not dare to delay and hurried back to the mountain to start cultivating the land.
…
Chu Qichuang arrived very quickly. In just over half an hour, he returned to Daxingzhuang with the discussed plan and a team of yamen runners carrying scales and grain.
Chu Qichang, or should we say the governor, did not let everyone down this time. The grain exchange plan he proposed was to exchange grain and yams at an equal ratio.
Of course, grains are divided into coarse and fine grains. The government provides 70% coarse grains and 30% fine grains.
But to be honest, having fine grains was already a pleasant surprise. Sang Luo had been thinking about flour for a long time, so she immediately asked if there was any flour in the fine grains that could be exchanged.
Chu Qichang was stunned by her question, but he still nodded: "Yes."
Yes, it is true, because many of the governors and the garrison troops in Shezhou City are actually northerners, and they are more accustomed to eating wheat and noodles. Now the court does not pay these officials or garrison troops money, but food, and most of this food is not the grain stored in Shezhou City, but the military rations provided by the King of Qi and the families of his supporters.
However, Chu Qichang did not bring flour this time. Most people in Shezhou still eat rice as their staple food, and the poor eat bean rice. Only a few people would ask for flour, because most people couldn't cook it well, so he didn't think anyone would ask for it. Thinking about what he heard today about the Sang family coming from Dongjun, he understood.
Thinking that the governor had promised 30% of the fine grain, Sang Luo asked this question, and Chu Qichang agreed, saying, "Yes, there is, but I didn't bring it this time. If you want it, ask Brother Shen to come with me to get it."
Sang Luo was very happy just to hear that she could exchange it for flour. She quickly asked Chu Qichang to take people to move the yam to her side first. When they entered the woodshed, she left thirty or forty stalks as a token of her respect, and had the rest taken away.
"Please take a look at the storage method of yam and store it in the same way when you return home."
The officials knew that this was for seed, so they were very concerned. As they were moving the pieces, they asked about some things to pay attention to. When they were all moved out and weighed, they found 485 kilograms.
"Sister-in-law, our family can exchange for 145.5 kilograms of flour and 339.5 kilograms of coarse grains."
The clerk brought by Chu Qichang had not yet figured out how to use the bamboo abacus in his hand, but Shen Ning's eyes rolled and he reported the number with excitement.
Chu Qichang looked at her in surprise. After a while, the most calculating clerk under his command also worked out the result and nodded to Chu Qichang.
Chu Qichang: "..."
Who exactly is the Dongjun Sang family? He has never heard of it. After all, it is not a big family. It is probably similar to the Shezhou Lin family and Wang family. But isn't this too amazing? A girl in her teens has such a calculating ability.
Chu Qichang felt that he knew too little about places outside Huainan Road. That’s right, how many commoners did he know?
The governor still remembers the friendship between Sang and his wife as fellow townsmen.
Shen Ning was thinking about having delicious food as long as he had flour, and he had no idea that he had accidentally shocked Mr. Chu again.
Sang Luo smiled and turned her head to Shen Ning and said, "I promised Xiaotie to make rice cakes for me tonight. We can make whatever you want tomorrow."
Shen Ning's eyes curved immediately, "I'll help my sister-in-law."
If there weren't so many people around, she would have held her sister-in-law's arm for a while. She is very spoiled.
Like the Shen family, the Xu family also asked for flour in Daxing Village. Of course, the Xu family did not have as many yams as the Shen family to exchange with the government. After visiting several families, Chu Qichuang realized that it was not that everyone was reluctant to exchange more yams with the government, but that only the Shen family had a high yield this year.
I was shocked and thought that I was lucky as I had bumped into a true god at first sight.
…
In the second half of the twelfth month of the third year of Wuding, Chen Dashan and his six companions traveled through the mountains. Chen Lie chose an auspicious day and time, asked Chen Laohan and several other elders about some rules, and took Chen An and the Xiao Jin brothers back to Qiyang County. After asking for the opinions of the three brothers Shen Jin, Tian Ya was moved back to Shili Village from the county and buried next to the Li family's tomb.
After that, he led the young and strong men and boys selected from other families in the village, a group of more than ten people, and quietly returned to the inner area to bring back the things left in the mountains, especially the bottom of the valley, where not only food was hidden, but also more than 20 sheep raised by several families at the bottom of the valley.
The presence of so many people in the village would have been very noticeable, but at this time, the villages and farms outside Shezhou were busy with their own land reclamation, and few people were walking around, so no one noticed. Even the Zhao brothers who worked at the Shen family had already cleared the trees and shrubs on the hill where they planted yam, and happened to move to another hill to clear the ground for building a sheep shed. The site was located north and south, on the other side of the farm, so they didn't notice it at first.
It was only after two or three days that I figured out some tricks, and I also knew that Chen Lie, Chen Dashan and others would help the government to find people in the mountains, so I didn't think much about it.
The two brothers were getting more and more confused about the task at hand, especially when Sang Luo had already started to mark the ground line with a hoe. Zhao Si couldn't help but ask, "Madam Sang, doesn't your family have a sheepfold on the mountainside? Do you need to build another one?"
And it’s really big, more than an acre of land.
They worked for the Shen family. When they were chopping trees and weeding, they would usually pick up the grass and leaves that the sheep liked to eat and send them to the sheepfold. So the two Zhao brothers knew very well how many sheep the Shen family had.
There are five sheep. Two of the ewes should be pregnant with lambs now. So they don’t need a sheep pen covering more than an acre of land, right?
Sang Luo marked the place where the foundation would be dug in a few days and said, "There will be more than five sheep in a while. I asked Chen Lie to go into the mountains to trap sheep."
Her family raises six sheep at the bottom of the valley, so they have to have a source of sheep. Plus, they should be able to add a few more in the spring, so by next year they should have at least sixteen or seventeen sheep.
The Zhao family also has two sheep, which they exchanged from a village outside the village. Naturally, they know the abilities of Shen Lie and his people, so they are not confused. However, Zhao Siqi asked, "Isn't it good to raise them at the foot of the mountain? If it's not enough, just build two more. This acre of land can be used to grow anything."
Sang Luo said, "It's OK to raise only a few sheep. If we raise more, it's closer to home. The smell is unpleasant in the summer. Besides, the sheep are always locked up in the sheep shed, which makes them prone to disease. We have little time to herd the sheep, so it's better to build a sheep shed on the mountain to save trouble and make the sheep live more comfortably."
He stopped what he was doing, took out two folded pieces of paper from his sleeve, unfolded them, handed them to Zhao Si, and said, "Uncle Zhao, Uncle Zhao Si, you guys can have a look. I'm going to build a sheep shed like this."
The paper she made herself was not easy to show to others, so she used the paper given by the Wang family and the Chu family. Zhao Si took it, looked down and was stunned.
After hearing what Sang Luo and the governor said that day, the two brothers knew that Sang Luo's family background was extraordinary. But to be able to draw such realistic paintings... How could someone who had never touched paper and pen in his life imagine that?
The painting skills are secondary, the Zhao brothers are not literati, what they care about is reality. The important thing is the sheep shed in the painting, no, it should be called sheep farm.
Zhao Da looked over to his fourth brother and when he saw the first picture, he couldn't help but exclaimed, "Isn't this comfortable? This looks comfortable."
The first piece of paper in Zhao Si's hand had an overall picture drawn on it. It was only then that he finally understood why Sang Luo had asked them to cut down all the mature and half-grown trees on the neighboring hill, saying that they would be useful. And they really were useful.
We are building four sheep sheds. Even though they don’t seem to take up a lot of space, we will also need chicken coops and rabbit coops later. So won’t we need more wood?
It was only at this moment that I understood why Sang Luo had marked out many trees and some shrubs that sheep liked to eat on the land they were currently developing in order to prevent them from cutting them down. The entire sheep farm was surrounded by trees, and after removing some shrubs that sheep did not like to eat, the density between the existing trees in the mountains was naturally not enough, but it was very symmetrical in the painting.
The extra mulberry, mulberry and neem trees, whose leaves the sheep like to eat, in the area where they were going to build a sheep shed were probably transplanted to fill the gap.
The trees are fenced with bamboo or half-timbered trees to prevent sheep from jumping out and to protect against wild animals in the mountains. However, this area is close to the periphery, the mountains are gentle, and there are few wild animals. Especially this year, the soldiers and idlers in the city have found it difficult to find pheasants and rabbits, let alone other wild animals.
In the more than one acre of land, in addition to the natural barrier formed by trees and bamboo, there are some relatively small shrubs that sheep like to eat planted in front of the fence. There are only four sheep sheds. In the nearly 70% of the open land, except for a few visible paths, the rest of the area should be planted with grass and shrubs, which are the areas for the sheep to forage for their own food.
Turning to another piece of paper, there is a drawing of the sheep shed inside and outside and from different angles. The whole structure is raised up and the base is made of wood with some gaps. The reason why we know there are gaps is because there are some detailed small pictures drawn on the back of the two sheets. The sheep shed looks particularly refreshing.
The two brothers had never seen such a sheep shed before.
Zhao Si asked about the purpose, and Sang Luo roughly explained that when there are many sheep, the male and female lambs are separated into separate rooms, sick sheep are isolated in an isolated room, and the ground is raised to prevent moisture and cold, and gaps are left between the wood to facilitate cleaning and collecting sheep manure.
Don't ask her how she knew this. As a farmer, who hasn't bought fermented sheep manure fertilizer? She visited Taobao a lot and looked at many pictures of sheep sheds. In addition, she had raised sheep in the mountains for a few years, so she figured it out and applied it.
Just as they were talking about how to build a sheep shed, a little girl came running up the mountain and said, "Sister Aluo, someone is coming from the governor's mansion. Sister Aning asked me to call you."
Sang Luo was stunned, wondering why people from the governor's mansion would come to her house. She didn't dare to delay, so she put down her hoe and hurried down the mountain.
…
When Sang Luo hurried home, she saw a man dressed as a servant standing outside their house from afar, with Chen Ning standing beside him.
Sang Luo had a good memory and recognized the person coming as the young man who followed the governor when he came.
The young man had a serious face, holding a wooden box in his hands, standing straight. He saw Sang Luo from a distance. When Sang Luo approached, he greeted her before she could speak: "Madam Sang, my master asked me to bring a few scrolls of silk books to you and Mr. Shen."
As he said this, he handed the wooden box in his hand to Sang Luo.
When Sang Luo heard the word "silk book", she was surprised. She really couldn't understand why the governor's mansion would send a book to her family, and she had never heard Chen Lie mention this matter.
"I don't know what book it is?"
"This is the book my master is reading. There are some notes and insights in it. He asked me to hand-copy a copy and send it to you. Madam, you can take a look at it yourself."
Sang Luo looked at the attendant, stretched out her hand to take it, and handed it to Chen Ning who was standing beside her. She opened the lid of the box and saw at a glance that there were nine neatly wrapped volumes of silk books in the wooden box. The first volume on the top was inscribed with "Shangshu Annotations and Commentaries Volume 1", and the numbers after that were in order from one to nine.
Sang Luo's breathing became heavier. She opened the first volume and quickly read the preface. When she saw the name of Zeng Shi from Taiyuan in the preface, her heart skipped a beat. She looked up at the attendant and said, "Excuse me, may I know your name, Lord Governor?"
The long-servant said, "The family head's surname is Zeng."
Sang Luo's grip on the silk book tightened slightly: "But... Taiyuan Zeng family?"
"Exactly."
Sang Luo took a breath and finally recovered.
Although she didn't know what had caught the governor's eye, but when she heard the attendant talk about who this thing was given to, she and Shen Lie mentioned both her name and hers. Sang Luo guessed that it was somewhat related to the method of growing yam.
She bowed and said, "Please express my gratitude to the governor on my behalf. This gift is truly precious."
The attendant smiled, nodded, clasped his fists and said, "The book has been delivered. I must go back and report to my master. I will take my leave now."
Sang Luo walked a few steps forward, and the attendant stopped and said, "Madam, please stay."
He clasped his fists again and then strode away.
…
As soon as the long-servant left, Shen Ning breathed a sigh of relief. She walked towards Sang Luo holding the box in her hand. Seeing that her sister-in-law was still looking at the man's back, she whispered, "Sister-in-law, is the Zeng family of Taiyuan very powerful?"
Sang Luo nodded, looking at the slightly unfolded silk book in her hand, and murmured, "The Zeng family of Taiyuan was an expert in studying the Book of Documents. They were highly respected in the dynasties before the Great Gan. When the family was at its peak, three generations of the family had people who were among the Three Dukes."
I was a girl in the boudoir, so I had no idea about court affairs, especially those of previous dynasties. However, I had heard of Zeng Shi from Taiyuan. I heard my father and brothers mention her when I brought tea and snacks to the study.
At that time, the original body's father wanted to urge his sons to study hard, and he used the example of the Zeng family of Taiyuan to share with his sons the benefits of studying. Among them, the famous family listed as those who studied the Book of Shang in depth was the Zeng family of Taiyuan. When Sang Luo read the content of the preface, this memory of the original body emerged.
She had not expected that the governor of Shezhou came from such a prominent family and that he would send her such a box of silk books.
The nine volumes of silk books should not be the complete set. As the attendant said, they were just a few volumes that Mr. Zeng happened to have with him. However, even so, in an era when most people had no chance to read and learn, books were collected by aristocratic families and circulated by borrowing and copying. It was difficult for ordinary people to get a copy of the Book of Documents, let alone a version with annotations and explanations. And the one sent today was a gift from the Zeng family in Taiyuan.
For a moment, Sang Luo felt that the silk in her hand was heavy and tight.
He didn’t dare ask Shen Ning to do it, so he collected it himself and found a proper place in the house to put it.
Sang Luo was afraid of mice in the rammed earth thatched house they lived in, and she would not let the silk books be damaged, so she planned to go back to the mountain to roughly mark the foundation of the sheep shed and then copy all nine volumes of silk books on bamboo slips.
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