The soldier asked Li Erlang to wait in the study, and specifically told him not to move around or disturb anything in the study.

The soldier closed the study door, leaving only Li Erlang standing behind the door.

Li Erlang was carrying a bundle on his back. Sandwiched between the bundle and his back was a strip of linen wrapped tightly. He stood on the spot and looked around the room curiously.

The study is not big, and the layout is simple but not simple. There are almost no superfluous things.

The bookshelves were empty, not a single book or ornament.

When Li Erlang entered the study, he realized something strange in the study. Like the bookshelves, the desk and floor were covered with a thin layer of dust. The soldiers pushed the door open and stirred up the dust floating in the room. The room was filled with a pungent dust. taste.

This room seemed to have been unoccupied for a long time.

Is this really Vice General Cao's study?

Just when Li Erlang was confused, he looked to another part of the study and saw a wooden bed on the other side. The bed had a different scene: the quilt pillows placed on it were clean and tidy, and they looked like It seems to be open and used frequently.

Li Erlang lowered his head and glanced from the threshold until he raised his head and looked at the bed.

It just so happened that starting from the study door, the floor to the left to the desk was covered with dust, while the tiles to the right to the bed were spotless.

Soon, he saw more unusual places.

Could it be that Vice General Cao really used this place as a resting place after training? Because I usually only come here to take a nap, is that why I let the dust collect in places other than the wooden bed? Is it possible that Vice General Cao is really so filthy that he doesn't care whether the place where he lives is clean?

Looking at the spotless footrest in front of the bed, you can tell that someone has cleaned and wiped it today.

Even if his residence is like this, outsiders will not know it if they can't see it, but this is a military mansion, a place where official business is conducted. The only place left to gather dust must be Deputy General Cao's special confession.

Li Erlang observed carefully, then looked carefully again, and finally saw the small traces left by the friction between the bookshelf and the floor, and instantly understood the meaning of Vice General Cao's letter asking him to be ready for training at all times.

He smiled and did not go over to check the traces under the bookshelf. Instead, he followed the instructions left by Vice General Cao and continued to wait.

Somewhere, a person said: "Is it because we think too highly of him? Can't find anything unusual about him? If he is such an incompetent person, why would the deputy general take a fancy to him?"

Another person said: "Although he is a stupid young man, he is not as simple as we seem... You didn't see his expression at that moment, you clearly saw through it."

"Hey! Could it be that he has already discovered it but didn't reveal it? What a cunning person!"

The two of them whispered in the dark.

Li Erlang remained unmoved, as if he couldn't feel any boredom. He just stood there, seemingly in a daze, but in fact his thoughts had drifted back to Shandan.

After Ji Qingyue released two barrels of fish fry, he took his two children to the Sun tenant's house as a guest.

Tenant Sun's home is not far from Zhuangzi. It is surrounded by fields rented by his family. It is very convenient to work in the fields.

Ji Qingyue walked behind the couple and came to the yard of a mud house.

The busiest autumn harvest has passed. As if a layer of flesh has been peeled off, the tenants look more or less weak. Nowadays, we no longer have to be forced to harvest corn from morning to night. Everyone goes to the fields to sort out the straw, pick up the lost ears, and go home to rest in the afternoon.

The Sun tenant couple lived with their parents. When the old man saw his son and daughter-in-law coming in with a young man, they were all shocked.

My son and daughter-in-law have told me in advance that their family will have a new boss in the future.

This must be the new owner...

Although the new owner was wearing the linen robes that could be seen everywhere on the road, there was an indescribable sense of nobility about him. Different from the wealth of wealthy people and the talents of scholars, the new owner seems to have a sense of arrogance in his movements, which makes people unable to understand. Anyway, the new owner is different from ordinary people at first glance. Good appearance is one thing, but good temperament is another. Another thing is that even wearing ordinary clothes can't hide the natural temperament.

The old man looked at each other and saw the amazement in the other's eyes. They both secretly made up their minds to wait for the new owner to leave and then told their son and daughter-in-law to follow the new owner well in the future.

The most common food for farmers is multigrain porridge and pickled vegetables. The Qing Dynasty came more and more suddenly, and the family did not prepare any decent dishes. The old man hurriedly cut a bowl of bacon, steamed it and put it on the table.

In fact, Ji Qingyue didn't need them to spend so much money. He explained that he and his two children were used to simple meals, but the old man still insisted on steaming bacon. He said that Ji Qingyue was both the owner and the guest, so he should be treated warmly. Now they didn't have time to kill the chicken and stew the sheep, but You can still make a bowl of bacon right away.

Unable to refuse the warm hospitality, Ji Qingyue was arranged to sit at the main seat. After shirk, he finally started the lunch.

Ji Qingyue seemed very gentle and loved to answer conversations. He would hardly let the conversation go silent. The old man kept chatting away.

The old man was confused, and his son and daughter-in-law said that the boss had something to ask him: "What does the boss want to ask?"

"Don't be nervous, old man. I just want to ask about some farming matters."

The family secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "My boss, just ask."

Ji Qingyue sorted out his thoughts: "How big is the farmland around here?"

The old man tried to understand Ji Qingyue's statement and thought for a while: "If my boss is asking how much farmland there is under the jurisdiction of Shandan County, after calculation, there are about 890,000 hectares. With the continuous development of open fields, there may be nearly 80,000 hectares." One hundred thousand hectares of farmland. If my boss asks how much farmland there is under Tai'an Tower's name, there will always be thousands of hectares of farmland."

One hundred acres equals one hectare.

Ji Qingyue nodded and continued to ask: "So, what is the number of tenants?"

This was a heavy topic. Fei lowered his head dully. He was an honest man and didn't talk much. When the old man was chatting with Ji Qingyue, he just listened and engrossed in his meal, and did not take the initiative to speak.

The old man sighed: "Most of the farmland that my boss can see outside Shandan County is rented by tenants. Some of the tenants like us promised some money to build houses on the ground, and some live in the county. More They are villagers from nearby villages. The rent promised by each owner is different. The owner of Tai'an House is kind and only takes half of the rent. Don't think it's too much, it's already very little. Some people can be harvested after the autumn harvest. It takes 60% or even 70% of the food, and even 80%..."

Ji Qingyue was secretly surprised. No wonder Sun Fei and the others were so excited when he said he didn't want to rent food. They looked at him with terrifyingly eager eyes.

If this is the case, we still have to start from the countryside. Tenants have no decision-making power and cannot decide what to plant, and at least half of the crops produced in the fields must be handed over. But to let the people enjoy the benefits of cotton, we cannot avoid a large number of Planting issues.

If controlled by landowners and powerful people, cotton may be like spices and silk cloth, either speculated as a luxury product, or turned into a hard currency that easily affects the prices of other commodities.

The main reason why cotton cannot be widely planted today is the extremely high mortality rate of cotton seedlings, which is so high that the entire cotton field is wiped out, and it is reduced to an ornamental flower as a last resort.

Scientific planting methods and seed processing methods are not difficult to figure out. He doesn't believe that people who grow cotton don't know the method of sun-seeding!

The wisdom of the ancients cannot be underestimated.

Sun-drying seeds is indeed a good sterilization method, but it is not enough to remove germs on seeds. High-incidence pathogenic bacteria and other reasons make cotton seedlings sick, and then infect other cotton seedlings, which will affect the entire cotton field. Once an infectious disease occurs in cotton seedlings, it spreads very quickly, often catching people off guard.

In order to test some arguments, he specially planted cotton seeds in pottery pots, placed them in his bedroom to prevent wind and heat, and took good care of them.

After more than ten days of careful care, when I checked this morning, I finally saw young cotton buds emerging from the ground.

Ji Qingyue couldn't help but feel excited, and he couldn't help but sigh that he hadn't seen plants growing at a normal speed for a long time.

"I heard Sun Fei say that the fields are mainly planted with corn, beans and wheat. Are they always planted with corn and the latter two in rotation?"

The old man nodded: "If you want corn to grow well, it must be planted on fertile land, but you cannot plant it on the same land all the time. If so, the fertile land will become thin after being planted for a long time, and it must be planted in rotation with beans and wheat. , mix some night scented seeds every year, and rotate the planting, so that the farmland can be maintained well and beautifully."

Ji Qingyue nodded humbly. In an era of insufficient fertility, this was what he had to do.

"We have a lot of land here, but there is not enough night fragrance, so we can only take turns fertilizing and nourishing the land. The reason why we know this is due to the agricultural technology innovation of Emperor Hui fifty years ago. Whether it is a new method of cultivating the land or Emperor Hui sent people to teach the innovation of agricultural tools to the people without reservation." It can be seen that the old man missed this kind and wise monarch very much: "We have little water and dryness here, and we can't produce much food. If we grow corn in the south, one acre of good land will be enough. But we can harvest three or four stones! It’s a pity that they don’t eat corn, they only eat rice.”

Ji Qingyue continued to ask more questions about farming, and both old men answered enthusiastically. As they chatted, Ji Qingyue had a general understanding of the powerful forces near Shandan.

Among them were many powerful people who came to him to buy groceries through Tai'an Building, and he still had the famous cards in his hand.

After lunch, someone came up to me again.

The other two tenants heard that Ji Qingyue was coming and brought their families over to recognize him.

Ji Qingyue on one side chatted enthusiastically with the tenants, while Li Erlang on the other side was left out in the cold.

Li Erlang stood for a long time, unable to hold on any longer, and finally moved his feet and moved his ankles. Li Erlang looked blank on his face, but his heart was calm.

In a test of patience, he was confident that he could win.

Every year he pulled the plow, he had already developed the patience and endurance of an old ox.

Li Erlang ate pancakes when he was hungry and drank water from the water bag when he was thirsty, just to avoid exposing the mystery in the study.

In this way, he waited until the dismissal bell sounded outside.

People were leaving work quickly, greeting each other in groups and going to drink, which was in sharp contrast to the quiet study.

Li Erlang was still joking in his mind. If he was forgotten in the military mansion and found during a night patrol, would he be considered a suspicious person who broke into the military mansion at night? If it counts, the people behind the wall will definitely not be able to escape.

Thinking like this, Li Erlang continued to wait with peace of mind.

After a while, Li Erlang's thoughts drifted to the clean bed again.

If Vice General Cao never comes, can he borrow a wooden bed to lie down for one night? I've been traveling for the past few days and haven't been able to sleep well. Until now, to be honest, I feel a little tired.

At this time, before the figure arrived, a voice came first: "Li Changxiang is in the study!"

Someone replied: "Reporting to the deputy general, this person has been waiting for four hours and is still in the study."

Vice General Cao laughed loudly: "Those two bastards asked you to do this again!"

"Reporting to the general is exactly what the two lieutenants ordered."

The study door was pushed open, and Li Erlang took a step back to get out of the way.

Vice General Cao strode into the study and immediately saw Li Erlang looking at him meaningfully, waiting for an answer.

Vice General Cao glanced at the bookshelf, and before he could reprimand him, two people suddenly appeared at the door. They clasped their fists and saluted, and said in a loud voice: "Well, Vice General!"

"Tishou, Yikang, have you two acted without authorization again?"

The two people called "Ti Shou" and "Yikang" raised their heads, and only then did Li Erlang see their appearance clearly.

One of them replied: "The deputy general asked his subordinates to come to the military mansion to pick him up. The subordinates are eager to know what is so special about this gentleman, so as not to be like the previous times where he cried and begged to leave within two days. I made other adults laugh at me, so I gave it a try."

"Let you rest for half a day to pick up someone, so you can seize the opportunity to test it out. I'm afraid you have been preparing for several days, right?" He was very busy during this period. He rested in the military camp, and the temporary accommodation in the military mansion was very busy. Come less. "Liu Tishou, what have you tried?"

The young man with a mustache replied: "It's just ordinary."

They didn't expect Li Erlang to compete with them in terms of endurance. This man deliberately turned his head to look at the inconspicuous "cat's eye" on the wall, even once, and looked at it several times.

He must have discovered something fishy about the bookshelf.

Vice General Cao looked at Li Erlang with interest: "Xianglang, can you explain?"

Li Erlang stood all afternoon and changed his posture several times until he reached this point. He didn't feel unhappy at all, but his feet were numb. He replied: "It is not difficult to judge whether there are intentional abnormalities in the study. It's just that these traces are very small and you have to look carefully to find them." He told Deputy General Cao his inference and pointed to the bookshelf. Details: "There are two fingerprints left on the bookshelf, the fingerprints of the thumb and index finger of the right hand."

He continued: "Even if you clean and cover it deliberately, you can still observe the traces on the ground: two faint white marks left on the ground on the left and right sides of the bottom of the bookshelf, which seem to be traces of pushing and pulling, and finally there are Deliberately leaving a shallow footprint." He pointed to the bottom of the bookshelf where it was in contact with the floor. It was really hard to find half a footprint there.

The other half of the footprint was pressed by the bookshelf, leaving only the back heel exposed.

This means someone disappeared in front of the bookshelf.

After hearing this, Vice Admiral Cao clapped his hands with dignity: "Your eyes are indeed so sharp! Sharp eyes are the second best, and sharp thoughts are the key!"

After revealing the temptation behind it, the two had to express their temporary admiration.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like