Daily life of noble ladies of the Three Kingdoms

Chengping County, as a desolate area in the north far away from the capital, has had no owner for these years, and Siqi is the No. 1 in the past hundred years.

The governor of Chengping County was surnamed Chen, with a single name of "Xing". He was in his early thirties and came from a family. He was tall and tall with a fair face.

Chen Xing behaves well and speaks orderly. He is quite prestigious among the local people and is very comfortable to get along with.

Because Chengping County has not had a master for a long time, the palace dedicated to the king's residence is also dilapidated.

Out of curiosity, Si Qi asked Chen Xing to take them to inspect the palace.

Chang Wang rode hard all the way, and as soon as he entered the city, he went to Qiyuan, the residence that Chen Xing had chosen for them, to rest.

Liu Yun was in high spirits, even more excited than Siqi himself, always walking in the front and evaluating all the way.

Even if Chen Xing used words to beautify the environment of the palace, after walking in such a circle, in Si Qi's mind, there were only four big characters left in the impression of his mansion - broken walls and ruins.

It is a big project to repair such a dilapidated palace.

Like Siqi, Liu Yun did not have much hope for the environment of the palace, so he proposed to choose another mansion and buy it as Siqi's palace, just like the landscape garden in Xuchang.

Anyway, he was rich, so buying a new mansion was considered a gift to his daughter.

Chen Xing obviously had no feelings for this dilapidated palace, he was the first to support Liu Yun's decision: "Your Majesty is right, this will save a lot of trouble."

Chen Xing hadn't finished speaking, but the staff who were serving at the side couldn't say anything.

Liu Yun wondered, "Why did you say that, sir?"

The staff member looked a little old, no matter his figure or clothes, he looked a little fairy-like, which also added a bit of credibility to what he said.

"My lord, the location of this palace is the place with the best Fengshui in Chengping County. The previous generation of princes chose this place for three full years, and moved the entire government office of Chengping County for this reason, changing the layout of the city. I came here just for the sake of the palace. Although it is indeed easier for the king to change the residence, but such a good place, wouldn’t it be a pity to just abandon it and use it?"

After hearing this, Si Qi paid attention to the surroundings of the palace.

There is water in the east, roads in the west, fields in the south, and mountains in the north, which is an excellent Fengshui.

As a pure ancient man, Liu Yun is still not a complete materialist. Regarding Feng Shui, he still feels that he would rather believe in its existence than in its non-existence.

Liu Yun also stopped mentioning the matter of building another house, and said to Chen Xing and the accompanying officials: "Success, then expand and repair the original place."

Chen Xing responded, and said again: "This house is really old, and there is not even a decent table or stool to sit people in, so please invite the lord and the king to sit in the Qi Garden first, and use some food mats , the evening banquet is also arranged in Qi Garden."

After a brief meal, Chen Xing took Si Qi to the study room, and the accounts of nearly three years were lined up on the table for her to look over.

The accounts in the account books are all listed in detail and clearly, and the taxes that need to be handed over to the central government and the taxes left in the localities have been calculated in detail.

The work of checking the accounts does not need to be done by Si Qi himself. Liu Yun hired a good accountant from Beijing to bring them over, and delivered these account books to them.

In the past, Chengping County had no master, and the central government paid the bulk of the tax. Now that Siqi has become the king's lord, a large half of Chengping County's income no longer needs to be paid to the central government, but directly paid to the king's Siqi as food.

Calculating tax accounts for three years is a big job, and it can't be done in a few days.

Knowing that Chen Xing knew more about these things, Liu Yun asked him to roughly estimate a figure for Si Qi to calculate his annual salary.

After Chen Xing thought about saying a number, Liu Yun's face became a little embarrassed.

The annual output of Chengping County is really pitifully small, which is worse than that of a superficial prince whose fief is occupied and only receives compensation from Cao Cao every year.

Si Qi also didn't expect that the amount he got every year would be so small.

Although it is better than nothing, it should not be the productivity that a county should have.

The tertiary industries developed in modern society are agriculture, industry, and service industries. In ancient times, if a city-state wanted to rise, it had to focus on the development of agriculture, manufacturing, and commerce.

But judging from the conversation with Chen Xing, we know that all kinds of local industries in Chengping County are underdeveloped, and agriculture is naturally no exception——

The production is small, the population to support is small, and the labor force is not abundant. The loss has gradually become serious in recent years.

No matter in what era, agriculture is the foundation. The lack of agricultural development here is not because the climate is not suitable, but because the region is not developed enough, and the ideology and production tools cannot keep up.

Solving these things is actually simpler than solving weather problems.

Seeing that Si Qi was resting on his chin and worrying, Liu Yun spoke to comfort him.

They originally asked the emperor for the title of Lord Weng, but they didn't want this fief, they mainly wanted to get a name.There is nothing missing at home, so naturally Siqi cannot be short, so she doesn't have to worry about these things at all.

Chen Xing sent someone to submit the local criminal law, the garrison list, and the conscription records of the past few years. A thick stack of bamboo slips was piled high on the case.

These are things to be presented to the king. Siqi can modify those local rules and regulations according to his own ideas.

Seeing that Si Qi seemed a little tired, considering that the new lord was only an eight-year-old girl, Chen Xing thought for a while and said: "They have been preparing for so many days, and when they heard that the lord has arrived, So I rushed to send these things over, lest I be too late and disrespectful to you. These things are not in a hurry, and it will not be too late to give advice when the king is free."

Seeing the respectful attitudes of Chen Xing and the others, Si Qi suddenly realized that in her fief Chengping County, she herself was the only master, and all the local people were her subjects, and she could make rules and give orders.

Although she has only one child now, everyone regards her as a serious master, and she also has the right to say what she wants like a king here.

After Si Qi and Liu Yun returned to Qi Garden, they went to rest after the dinner.

After sleeping for a whole night for nearly five hours, Siqi regained his vitality the next morning.

Because he promised Siqi to teach her how to ride a horse after the new year, Liu Yun specially chose a young guard with excellent equestrian skills to accompany him. Seeing that Siqi was in good condition early this morning, he asked her if she wanted to learn how to ride a horse.

Si Qi agreed, and used the time of learning how to ride a horse to ride a horse around the fields in the outskirts of the city, and when he returned to Qi Garden, Si Qi had an idea in his mind.

Chang Wang has his own social life, so he didn't go out with Liu Yun and Si Qi. When Si Qi returned to Qiyuan, he found that Chang Wang was still waiting for them to eat.

Now that it was already dark, Si Qi ate two pancakes to satisfy his hunger on the road, but Chang Wang didn't feed him at this time, Si Qi felt strange.

Chang Wang welcomed Si Qi and Liu Yun in, and said a little embarrassedly that there is a local pavilion chief named Liu Chun, who can be regarded as a real relative of the family, and came to visit them early this morning.

Liu Chun himself is a very good drinker. Once he went to Xudu and drank Siqi's brewed wine at Xun's house. , Immediately came on horseback, and insisted on taking the money to buy two altars.

Chang Wang was not short of money, he didn't want to sell wine, and he didn't want to save Liu Chun's face, so he casually offered a sky-high price, twenty gold.

As a result, the other party gave the money without blinking an eye.

Chang Wang was dumbfounded now.

Chang Wang had already blown it out during the conversation just now, that Si Qi is his own niece, who admires him the most, Liu Yun and him are very close, the two families are usually so good that they don't distinguish between you and me.

But now that the other party opened his mouth, he couldn't save face, so he had no choice but to agree, and after receiving twenty gold, he gave two jars of wine.

Chang Wang originally thought that this business was a bloody profit, but now he is not sure after seeing the other party's attitude.

Fearing that he would unintentionally sell off the rice wine that his niece and daughter worked so hard to brew, Chang Wang couldn't eat enough rice, so Babaer waited for Si Qi and Liu Yun to come back.

Si Qi took the gold that Wang Chang handed over, and comforted Uncle Wang: "This wave of business is not a loss."

She handed over the gold to Chen Xing, and asked people to put up a list outside the yamen to recruit talents who are good at organ skills, and the top winner will be rewarded with [-] gold.

Liu Yunqi asked, "What is the purpose of recruiting these people?"

Si Qi smiled mysteriously.

Drip irrigation technology, greenhouse construction, combine harvesting device... which one does not need this kind of talent?

At the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, the mechanism art flourished. Cao Jun’s catapult Siqi had seen it before, and it was much more convenient and practical than her resemblance.

Zhuge Liang is also a great master in this regard. The mechanism beast, Zhuge crossbow, bridging gun, Muliu cattle and horses are all made by him.

While Liu Yun was still hesitating, Chen Xing on the side had already asked someone to prepare for the announcement.

It was also at this time that Liu Yun suddenly discovered that the current Chengping County is the real Siqi's territory, and even if he is the king's father, he can't speak as well as the current king's Siqi.

On the second day after Chen Xing posted the list, it was spread throughout the city that the new lord was very rich, and he posted a list outside the government office to recruit people, and gave out twenty gold as a reward.

Si Qi went to the outskirts of the city to look at the fields yesterday, and went to the commercial street in the city early this morning.

It doesn't take much in-depth research to see that the commodity transactions in Chengping County are very scarce.

In fact, the geographical location of Chengping County is really not bad. It is located in the relatively fertile plains in the central and western regions, close to the Hexi Corridor, the climate is suitable for the development of agriculture, and it is convenient for trade with various ethnic groups in the Central Plains and foreign regions.

Liu Yun slept well last night. The bed here is neither big nor soft, which is very different from Jingyuan's dormitory environment. He was dragged out by Si Qi early in the morning to go shopping with him, so he inevitably yawned frequently.

Si Qi walked from the south to the north of the most prosperous commercial street in Chengping County, when the idea of ​​building an official caravan suddenly popped into his mind.

Making money is only one aspect. Today’s cities are very inconvenient, and many daily necessities are hard to find. At the same price, the quality of items bought is far lower than those in big cities such as Xuchang and Luoyang, let alone Improved quality of life.

With the caravan, the commodity economy will become prosperous, and the convenience of life will be greatly improved.

Liu Yun was not interested in business. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty emphasized agriculture and suppressed business, the environment of the entire Han Dynasty was very unfriendly to businessmen. As a prince of the Han Dynasty, Liu Yun naturally had prejudice against businessmen.

Before Liu Yun could speak, Chen Xing said yes first.

He came from a family in the Central Plains, and was later sent to Chengping County as a sheriff. After so many years in a huge gap, he felt very empathetic to Si Qi's words.

Liu Yun gave Chen Xing a dissatisfied look. This man always likes to show off in front of his daughter, and he always wants to overwhelm his father, so he has no eyesight, how did he become the county guard.

Chen Xing put all his attention on Si Qi, didn't see any change in Liu Yun's face, and was a little excited to think about the formation of the caravan with Si Qichang.

Si Qidao is not in a hurry. The establishment of an official business organization that can meet expectations is by no means a matter of one day. The first thing to do is to select personnel, which is the basis of everything.

Team leaders and guards are even more critical. The north is full of nomads. If there is no strong guard to support them, and they go out with valuable goods and money, they will only be robbed.

When it comes to selecting candidates, Chen Xingdao said that young and middle-aged talents in the city signed up enthusiastically after the list was published, and there were also many people from outside the city. Now the selection is going on in Hongwen Pavilion, may the lord want to go and have a look?

Si Qi nodded and said yes.

The exam questions are thought out, and the candidates need to design an efficient, convenient, and controllable automatic irrigation device for the field.

As Chen Xing said, there are many people who come to Hongwen Pavilion to take the exam, and a large part of them come from Linzhou. They are all very smart young people.

The young people who came to participate in the competition a few days ago took design blueprints, and later they produced real objects, and the competition schedule was upgraded.

Fifteen days after the No. 15 list was made, a young man named Zhou Ke finally came out on top, designing the most practical and convenient items.

Si Qi decided to give twenty gold coins, and other contestants also distributed travel expenses and souvenirs.

After meeting Zhou Ke, Si Qi returned to Qi Garden in a good mood, but received a letter from Mrs. Zhang, saying that he had chosen a young lady for Liu Heng to be his grandson-in-law, and wanted to ask Liu Yun to go back and help him make up his mind. Let her and Liu Yun go back earlier.

Immediately afterwards, Siqi received a letter from the Xun family, and Cao Cao was about to send troops to attack Yuan Shao, and now he was marching towards the river, please come back early to Siqi, after all, staying outside is no safer than returning to Xu.

Now even if Si Qi wants to stay in Chengping for a few more days, he can't.

After reading Zhang's letter, Liu Yun pinched his fingers to count the days, and sighed to Si Qi: "It's been more than a month, and it's really not a short time for us to go out this time, and it's time to go back."

Hearing that Si Qi was leaving, Chen Xing showed great disappointment on his face.

After obtaining the king's permission, he is already implementing the business of the caravan, and the candidate for the captain of the guard has also been preliminarily selected.

There is a family of martial arts in the local area for generations. It has been the most loyal to the Han family since its ancestors, and the head of the family is the best choice for the captain of the guard.

But now that the business of the caravan has not been written down yet, Si Qi is about to leave, and Chen Xing is inevitably disappointed.

Si Qi comforted Chen Xing: "These things are not in a hurry. Now that I have just taken over Chengping, I don't understand many things, and what I want to do is still in its infancy. With you at the helm, I can rest assured. You Take good care of the people in the county, just move forward with the caravan business slowly."

Before leaving, Siqi left the design drawings and asked Chen Xing and Zhou Ke to make some institutions that can be used in farmland to improve efficiency and output value, and asked Chen Xing to guide the local people to focus on planting some flax (sesame), soybean and fruit.

Now that she has basically mastered the technology of extracting edible oil, she will make these two crops into flax oil and soybean oil for sale in the future, and she thinks there will be good response.

The climate in Chengping County is very suitable for growing fruits, and the fruits produced here are sweeter than those in the Central Plains.Nowadays, fruits are very popular among the nobles. Because of the cost of shipping, only the upper class nobles can eat the fruits produced in the northwest region. Although planting fruits cannot fill their stomachs, they can be exchanged for food and money to fill their stomachs.

It will take at least a few years to form a large-scale harvest, and caravans must have something that can be sold if they want to conduct commercial exchanges with others.

In other words, it will always take some time to complete primitive accumulation.

After Chen Xing left, Si Qi couldn't help but sighed to Liu Yun: "Chen County Guard is also impatient. Through the investigation in the city for the past few days, I found that Chengping County has a huge hidden danger besides poverty."

Liu Yun asked, "What is it?"

Si Qi said: "Nowadays the princes are fighting for hegemony, and there are many melees. If someone really has the idea of ​​​​Xingping, depending on the strength of the army in our city, it is probably impossible to defend the city. But the establishment of a strong army does not happen overnight. Without good generals, not even a decent arsenal, it is not easy to build a large army."

Liu Yun also said: "This matter is indeed difficult. Whether it is recruiting troops or buying new ordnance, it requires a lot of money."

Si Qi said: "Yes, so we still need to start by earning more money."

Once you have money, you can develop little by little.

This is the first time Liu Yun discussed these things with Si Qi, and expressed his admiration for his daughter's growth rate: "Did you learn all these things from Mr. Guo?"

Si Qi said: "That's right."

In the past, I just had some vague ideas, and I asked Mr. Guo a lot. Guo Jia was also willing to teach, and made a lot of knowledge that I didn't understand before concrete.

Liu Yun patted Siqi on the shoulder in relief, it seemed that the tuition was really worth it.

Chang Wang recently found an "eminent monk" in the city to discuss the Tao together. During this period of time in Chengping, he was very happy. Hearing that he will leave in two days, he is also very happy: "It's just right, let's stop by He'an to see Look. It’s now in April, and it’s a good time to go out. Our He’an is a good place. There are delicious food and interesting things, and the suburbs of the city are full of flowers. I will show you around then. "

Chang Wang said it was hype, but Liu Yun was unmoved.

It's not that he didn't go to He'an, it's just a county town, not half the size of Chengping County, the geographical location is average, and it is not valued by the ruler, compared to her daughter's Chengping County. It's better, there is such a fairyland as he said.

He'an is not too close to Chengping, and it took nearly ten days of walking and stopping to reach the city.

Chang Wang, like Liu Yun, is a person who has extremely high requirements for the quality of life. Chang Wang's mansion is as big and comfortable as a garden.

After leaving Xudu, Siqi first drove for half a month, and then he was full of worries when he arrived in Chengping. He lost a lot of weight visibly to the naked eye. Now that he has been raised in He'an for a few days, his face is much rosier than before. It was a surprise to Liu Yun.

In the afternoon of this day, Chang Wang sent someone to invite Liu Yun and Si Qi to visit his alchemy room.

Si Qi is not very interested in these things, but looking at the face of the other party, "I will take you into my alchemy room for a visit because I treat you as my close relatives", Si Qi said the words of refusal, and in the end he followed with kindness. went.

Liu Yun, the king of Li, used one courtyard to store books, while Liu Wei, the king of Chang, used two whole courtyards for alchemy and Taoism.

In the evening, the sky began to drizzle.

Si Qi was a little sleepy when he came out of the alchemy room, so he cheered up and accompanied the two elders to feed, then returned to his room, and fell asleep half an hour earlier than before.

Si Qi sleeps in a daze until midnight, hearing noisy conversations outside, louder than louder.

Si Qi put on his clothes and went out.

Liu Yun lived in the yard next door, so he also came to find him at this time.

Seeing Si Qi's bleary-eyed look, he comforted his daughter, "Don't worry, Duke Cao's subordinates marched through He'an outside and wanted to pass through this place. Your Uncle Wang is planning to take someone to the city gate to have a look."

Si Qi recalled the geographical locations of He'an, Xu Du and Heshang in his mind, and then remembered the conversation with Guo Jia, and suddenly he lost all sleepiness.

"Father, send someone to tell Uncle Wang that you must not open the city gate."