Infrastructure masters in the red building

Five, nine, sixty-nine, look at willows along the river, seven or nine rivers open, □□ swallows, ninety-nine plus one-nine, cattle go everywhere.

After a heavy snowfall in the middle of Beijing during the time when Yujia visited the garden, the weather was cold for a few days, and finally gradually warmed up.The ice floes on the surface of Qinfang River gradually disappeared, and the green willows on both sides of the river sprouted new buds.After a spring rain, many spring bamboo shoots grew in the Xiaoxiang Pavilion one after another, and Fuya asked Fuya to take a few young girls from the house to break them off.

Half of these bamboo shoots enriched the tables of Rongguo Mansion, and the other half were sent to Sun's workshop in the south of the city to see if they could be marinated into sour bamboo shoots.If it succeeds, there will be another ingredient in the world that tastes "odd" but is inseparable from the world.

After Rong Ning's Second Mansion picked him up, Jia Fang spent a few days of comfort.Although there have been rumors in the Rong Mansion that the garden he built and his performance that day were not so amazing that the Rong Mansion would benefit from it.At least after Yu Jia returned to the palace, he didn't say a word about this visit to the garden, as if he had never been here at all.But Jia Fang didn't care.

After taking over this time, his mentality has completely calmed down. He built this garden for himself, not for others.What other people said and what the emperor thought were not in his consideration.

This day he got up early, routinely did weight-bearing activities back and forth between the small courtyard and the well, went for a run in the Grand View Garden, and returned to his small courtyard to take a shower.Mrs. Sun has already reheated the breakfast from the big kitchen and sent it to Jia Fang.

Jia Fang took a look, the regular rice porridge, and a small square of steamed millefeuille oil cake.He took a sip of the porridge, frowned, and asked, "Sweet?"

Sun nodded: "I added milk and sugar."

Jia Fang is not a sweet person, but he rarely has the chance to eat sweets in this time and space. He suddenly ate a mouthful of sweet porridge, the warm sweetness wrapped in the aroma of milk, and the taste was quite good.

He glanced at the mille-feuille oil cake on the plate next to him, and saw that the white and plump oil cake was dotted with red and green silk, so he asked again: "Is it sweet too?"

Mrs. Sun nodded: "This thousand-layer oil cake is marinated with pork suet and sugar, marinated into diced sugar suet, and then layered with sugar and oil to make a full 64 layers, and then steamed in a pan. oil cake."

Made of lard and sugar... no wonder it's so sweet and plump.

Jia Fang remembered that this seemed to be a famous southern dessert in his time and space, so he asked: "Why, has a new cook been hired in the mansion? This is like a southern dessert."

Mrs. Sun immediately corrected: "We are all from the south, so the cooks in the house should make these. This thousand-layer oil cake was the old lady's favorite dish when she was here. After the old lady left, Mrs. Shi When you are at home, you don’t do these things.”

Jia Fang: ... I forgot that the Jia family's ancestral home is Jinling.

"Then how did you pick up these foods again?" Jia Fang asked.

Sun's expression was a little strange, and he said: "It's because the price of sugar in Beijing is cheap recently. The mansion bought a lot at once, and the cook occasionally made a taste of the south, which reminded the old taste of the old man, and then Ask the kitchen to make more, so that everyone in the house can taste it."

Jia Fang: ...I dare to love because the price of sugar is cheap!

However, something like sugar was indeed a luxury in ancient times.Take Taoyuan Village as an example. They used to worry about eating salt all day long, because salt is a necessity, and if there is no money to buy salt, no one in the village has the energy to go to the fields.

But sugar is nothing. Almost no one in Taoyuan Village buys sugar, and the children have hardly seen lumps of sugar, let alone desserts made with sugar.

Jia Fang in Taoyuan Village once saw a group of children pick wild flowers on the side of the road, and then picked out the flower hearts to taste a little bit of nectar.He also saw villagers find wild sugarcane in the mountains, cut it and brought it back, cut it into small pieces, and distributed them to the children in the village—each child held a small piece of sugarcane and chewed it. Non-stop, with smiles blooming on his face.

Sweetness represents warmth and satisfaction, but it is not easy to enjoy in this time and space.

Like Rongfu, people in Taoyuan village must not even think about steaming dim sum with lard and sugar.

Jia Fang: Wait...the sugar should be produced in the south!

He once heard Jia She said that all the sugar in Beijing was transported from the south, and the technology of making sugar from beets in the north seems to have not appeared in later generations, so this means that the cost of sugar transported from the south to Beijing Reduced?

Jia Fang specifically asked Jia Amnesty for confirmation, and this "know-it-all" told Jia Fang with certainty: "Who said otherwise?"

"A while ago, Prince Jian Guo tried out a new policy to promote the reduction of road tax. The road tax of each state was cut by more than half, and the cost of transporting sugar from the south to the capital was much cheaper. I heard that there is still sugar transported by sea, and then the sugar is sent to the capital through the canal. Yes, it's cheaper then."

Jia She giggled and said, "Some people say they don't want the New Deal, but they make a lot of money from it. Third, what do you call it?"

Jia Fang: ...it's called "speaking upright".

According to what Jia Amnesty said, Jia Fang secretly guessed: The person who transported sugar from the south to Beijing to do a lot of business should be the subordinate of the third prince.The third prince now looks like a scholarly leader in Beijing, and he is moral and benevolent when he speaks, but in private, he is doing business well and earning a lot of money.

It's really a balance of fame and interests.

However, with the introduction of the new policy, sugar from the south was transported to the north, and the rich families in the north began to use sugar generously to make all kinds of exquisite snacks. The villagers in Taoyuan Village still had to cut a piece of wild sugar cane from the mountains and bring it back to their families. Children, let these little children taste the sweetness.

All the money was taken away by these wealthy and powerful merchants, but the people living in the sugar producing areas still had no relationship with sugar.This is a bit like "a person covered in silk is not a silkworm farmer".

"Third brother, don't ask me about this!" Jia She patted his brother on the shoulder, "It's useless to think too much. Let's take care of ourselves. As for sugar, if it's cheap, let's buy more to honor our parents. It's expensive Just buy less, what else? You and I always do what we should do well."

Jia Fang nodded, Jia Amnesty's pragmatism was quite to his liking.

Following Jia Amnesty's guidance, he returned to the Grand View Garden to guide the progress of the two projects of Hongxiang Garden and Zhuijin Building.

As Shuangwen said before, the restoration progress of Hongxiang Garden is very fast, and the structure of this small hall has hardly been moved, as long as the exterior decoration is refurbished.

And Shuangwen also took over the job of repairing the peony fences located on the four sides of the Hongxiang Garden.With a few small workers, she cleared away the old branches that had not bloomed for many years in the peony pen, and then took newly "cultivated" peony seedlings from Hengwu Garden and planted them in the peony pen.

The cultivation nursery of Hengwu Garden is very special, and the seedlings cultivated there almost grow by chance.The newly planted seedlings, within a few days, are already like two-year-old branches.Looking at it this way, when the weather is warm this spring, it should be no problem to appreciate peonies in this red incense garden.

After Jia Fang had seen the situation in the garden, he went to Daoxiang Village alone, and from there went to Taoyuan Village through the "Shrinking Ground Whip".

As soon as he left the Xianliang Temple, he found a cloud of black smoke rising directly across the Qingfang River.

Could it be a wildfire? ——Jia Fang jumped up and rushed straight to Qingfang Bridge.At this time, many people gathered in front of Qingfang Bridge.Jia Fang grabbed a villager at random and hurriedly asked what was going on. The villager was overjoyed and said, "I found a big beehive in the forest—Master Jia, wait until you take out the honey. Ladies, there will be honey to eat!"

But Jia Fang's first thought was: "Don't bees sting?"

The villagers around immediately replied: "So you see that firewood is being lit over there, just to smoke away those bees, and then pick the hives to get honey."

When Jia Fang heard this, he rushed to the Qingfang Bridge, ready to cross the bridge to have a look, but the villager grabbed him and said, "Master Jia, you can't just go like this!" He took off his outer coat, stuffed it in Jia Fang's hand, and said, "I'll lend you this coat. Tie it tightly over your head and face so that your eyes are exposed, so you won't be afraid of being stung by bees."

The villager's coat was taken off, and there was still some sweat.Jia Fang was originally a very clean person, so it was difficult to accept this.But others took off their own clothes to protect him from bee stings, and he was naked. What kind of trust and enthusiasm is this.

Jia Fang really appreciated the kindness, thanked him, and quickly put the villager's coat on his head, and tied up his two sleeves to cover his entire face, only showing a pair of eyes.The smell of sweat is just the smell of sweat, anyway, I get used to it after a while.

He set off immediately, crossed the Qingfang River, and came to the open space in front of the river beach on the right bank.

The villagers who are watching here are all dressed like Jia Fang.Everyone covered their heads with only one pair of eyes showing.

The smell of smoke here is already very strong, and it seems that some herbs have been added to the firewood lit by the villagers. The smell is so strong that even Jia Fang couldn't help coughing a few times.Unexpectedly, the people around him greeted him, "Master Jia, are you here?"

Jia Fang took a look: I didn't recognize any of them.

The two people around him took off the clothes covering their faces, one was Village Chief Tao and the other was Village Chief Qin.

Jia Fang was surprised: "How did you recognize me?"

Village head Tao smiled and pointed to the ugly fish jade pendant on Jia Fang's waist.Only then did Jia Fang suddenly realize that he has his own marks on his body, and he will be recognized wherever he goes.

"How is it over there?" Jia Fang was curious about the newly discovered hive.

"It's bees, not wasps." Village Chief Qin explained the difference to Jia Fang with a smile, "Wasps can sting people, and they can easily sting people. But bees are good. Let those bees be temporarily smoked away later. Cut half of the honeycomb, the honey is for nourishing people, and the beeswax can also cure diseases, both of which are good things.”

Jia Fang suddenly asked, "Cut half of the hive?"

Village Chief Qin said with a smile: "Master Jia, you don't know anything now. Cutting half of the hive and leaving half for the bees is a way of life. In the coming year, the hive will grow again." If I get the new half, I still have honey to take. If I take all of it at once, there will be no honey to take in the coming year."

Everyone in the world knows the truth that you can't fish and burn forests instead of hunting when marshes are dried up. Even beehives found by chance in the mountains and forests will be carefully protected so that there will be no honey to eat in the coming year.

But Jia Fang narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, and asked, "Why don't we harvest the whole hive, and then we raise bees ourselves?"

"Beekeeping?" Village Chief Tao and Village Chief Qin asked in surprise.

"There are many kinds of mountain flowers around here, which means that the honey source is sufficient, and artificial beekeeping can be considered." The more Jia Fang thought about it, the more reasonable it became, and he immediately ordered, "Let everyone pick off the whole hive later and split the hive. When the time comes, find the position of the old queen bee and the royal platform, and then separate the two parts, hey, wait for me—"

Jia Fang turned around and ran to the Finance Office to find Lao Jin and Lao Tu.Seeing a "masked man" rushing in with his head covered, the two were so frightened that they almost rang the bell to call the inspection team.

But Jia Fang asked excitedly: "You two, where are those 'cash boxes' that we made bigger last time?" "

As early as around the New Year's Eve, the Finance Office invited a carpenter from the village to build several wooden boxes for temporary storage of coins for the Finance Office, which were specially used to collect management fees for the fair and food courts.

These wooden boxes are designed as deep-mouthed wooden boxes. There is a horizontal slot in the middle of the top cover for throwing coins. The upper cover and the lower cover of the cash box can be opened completely, so that the currency notes and coins inside can be poured out. come out.

But the first time I had poor communication with the carpenter, the wooden box was made twice the size originally ordered.Lao Jin and Lao Tu almost need two people to cooperate to carry a wooden box, which is naturally not practical.But we can't let the carpenter work for nothing, so we have to re-specify the size and order a new batch.These enlarged wooden boxes were stacked in the office of the Finance Office, ready to see what they could be used for in the future.

Jia Fang asked Lao Jin and Lao Tu to take out the wooden boxes, and he carried one in each hand, crossed the Qingfang Bridge, and came to the scene of "demolition of beehives".

This time he finally saw the hive clearly.I saw that the diameter of the hive was more than two feet, and I don't know how long this group of bees has been operating here.

The connection between the hive and the big tree has been completely cut off, and the hive has been taken down and placed horizontally on the ground.A villager from Sancun wrapped his hands in thick sackcloth and held a machete, slowly cutting open the beehive.

Next to this villager, there was a companion holding a torch, one end of which was wrapped with vines, and black smoke billowed after it was lit.No matter how brave the worker bees are, they dare not approach the nest after being smoked with the black smoke.

The layers of combs in the split hive are extremely neat, and there are still many bees crawling back and forth on it, but the power of the billowing thick smoke is too great, and they are really powerless to resist.

Jia Fang put the clothes on his head tighter, approached bravely, and then pointed out: "Look for the queen bee, and see if there is a queen bee for dividing bees..."

Jia Fang understands this, thanks to a project he watched from beginning to end when he entered the industry. At that time, the architect asked the designer to stay on site so that he could communicate at any time.So Jia lived at the construction site for two months, surrounded by a bee farm two miles away except for the work sheds.Jia Fang was extremely bored, so he visited the bee farm a few times, and even made friends with the beekeeper there, who taught him a lot about beekeeping.

Unexpectedly, this trip turned out to be an inspirational trip for Jia Fang.The beekeeper specially lifted the honeycomb out of the hive for Jia Fang to watch, and asked him to observe the neat hexagonal columns.Historically, mathematicians have calculated that if the container with the largest volume is built with the least amount of material, that is the structure of the hive.

It can be seen that bees are one of nature's most creative designers.

After spending two months in the apiary, Jia Fang introduced the hexagonal structure of the hive into his next design work, which brought a simple and elegant design to his design work, but it also has the post-industrialization period tough and practical style.

That piece brought him a lot of praise and accolades, but the experience taught him many more practical things.

Seeing that Jia Fang simply took a closer look, he stretched out his finger and pointed: "That is the royal platform, separate the honeycomb where it is located from the other parts of the hive..."

The so-called "king's platform" is the "small room" used by bees to cultivate the queen bee.

Fortunately for them this time, the group of bees seemed to be approaching the time of natural separation, so the royal tower had been built, and a new queen was about to hatch.

Just divide the entire beehive into two, and store them in the two large wooden boxes brought by Jia Fang.

According to what Jia Fang said, the villager with a hatchet said that when he mentioned the beehive, he was going to put it in the beehive, but Jia Fang said: "Chop off the thicker one and cut it in half. Be careful not to hurt the queen bee's nest."

The villager took off a large piece according to his words and held it in his hand. He saw thick golden honey slowly oozing out of the honeycomb made of beeswax.

Jia Fang ordered people to put the two wooden boxes on the ground, and then, together with the torches used to smoke the bees, they retreated slowly, allowing the bees that had recovered from their stress to return to their nests slowly.

The two wooden boxes are placed far away, with a slight distance.The same swarm of bees was a bit confused at this time, not knowing which nest to return to, they flew around for a while, seeing that it was getting late, these bees still refused to return to the nest.

Jia Fang told the villager who took down a large piece of honeycomb: "Go and get some honey, and then spread it on the lid of the wooden box, and then quickly close the lid."

These villagers did what Jia Fang said, and they went there without any hesitation, and spread a layer of honey on the lid of the box.

At this moment, all the scattered bees flew back and crawled densely on the lids of the two beehives.The heavily armed villagers then carefully put the lid on.

"It's done!" Jia Fang clapped his hands, "Tomorrow I will ask the carpenter to make two more brackets to put these two beehives together."

In this way, the two tops have covers to prevent rain, and the hive with the inlet and outlet below is ready.

The villager who worked hard today held the remaining half of the honeycomb in his hand and handed it to Jia Fang: "Third Lord, what do you want to do with this honeycomb?"

Jia Fang taught him to remove the layers of honeycomb inside. It was all beeswax and had many uses. "As for the honey in it, everyone has worked hard all day, so this honey belongs to everyone. Take it home and let the children in the family enjoy it!"

As soon as Jia Fang finished speaking, there was a burst of cheers at the scene.

"Children, there are honey cakes to eat!" The villager who took the honeycomb shouted.Hearing this sweet call, a large group of children emerged out of nowhere, cheering one by one, and ran towards the villager holding the beehive, as if what he was holding in his hand was not the beehive just now, but the sweet Honey, fragrant, freshly baked pancakes.