My Ancient Stepson Bootcamp

Chapter 114 What's the secret?
Not long after, Zhang Tang found old man Tao in Shichuan County. With the 100 taels of silver awarded by Fei County Magistrate, he decided to open a small carpentry shop in the small town.

Hearing Zhang Tang say that the general's wife wanted to see him, old man Tao dared not delay, followed Zhang Tang into the general's mansion in fear and trepidation, and then saw Lin Shuran.

"The unicorn woodcarving was carved by you yourself, the old man?" Lin Shuran was always kind to others, and she was also gentle and friendly when talking to the old man Tao. The old man was taken aback, and nodded hurriedly, "The old man's craftsmanship is really good!" Lin Shuran praised him again.

The old man Tao is even lower, and the rich family has many rules. As a countryman, he was afraid of offending the other party, so he replied respectfully: "Thank you, madam, for your praise, little old man!"

Afterwards, Old Man Tao told Lin Shuran that this woodcarving was a handicraft handed down from his family, but woodcarving in the fields and villages could not earn a few pennies, so he kept making farm tools, tables, chairs and benches to support his family.

"It's a pity to abandon such exquisite craftsmanship!" Lin Shuran said with sincere regret, but soon she smiled and looked at old man Tao, and said, "Old man, I heard from Guanshi Zhang that you are going to open a shop, and I will order some in your shop. Objects, the price is up to you, how about it?"

Old man Tao asked in surprise: "Thank you Madam for your love, I wonder what Madam would like to order?"

What kind of carpenter can't be found in the general's mansion in the capital, Lin Shuran specially asked him to make things, old man Tao felt strange.

"It's not anything special, but to make a few incense boxes. In addition, I plan to make some new farm tools. Let's make them all at your place. After I'm done, let Zhang Guanshi settle the bill with you." Lin Shuran smiled He said, and then asked Zhang Tang to take old man Tao out.

After returning to the room, Aunt Hong walked up to Lin Shuran and told her that the hidden shop had opened, but the first shop was not in the capital, but in Southeast County where rich merchants gathered in the Jin Dynasty.

Lin Shuran nodded after hearing this and didn't say much. It's the end of summer now, and it's about to enter autumn, and the few acres of farmland in her farm have been continuously improved and cultivated by her in the past few years, and the output should reach a small peak this autumn.

People around the farm in the southern suburbs only know that her few acres of fertile and good land have high grain yields, but they don't know that after three years of hard work, even wasteland can be reclaimed to grow high-yield grains.

At night, when Xu Junze returned to the mansion, Lin Shuran saw that he had stayed in the study after dinner, so she prepared some summer snacks for him.

"Go to bed earlier, you don't have to wait for me tonight!" After Lin Shuran entered the study, Xu Junze said to her.

Seeing that he was frowning, Lin Shuran glanced at the desk full of documents again, and asked him, "Is there something going on in the army?"

Xu Junze shook his head, and did not hide it from her, saying that it was a matter of the court, the implementation of the new decree was not very smooth, and seeing that the autumn harvest was approaching, it would be another difficulty to collect taxes.

Lin Shuran thought that Xu Junze was originally a great general who led the army to fight, and now the emperor has few people available around him, and he, a soldier, also needs to help worry about various affairs in the court. It's just that he is good at military affairs, but not necessarily good at farming, so he dealt with these matters. Matters related to land property seem to be a bit difficult.

"You should also take a rest. You have been busy all day in the imperial court. You shouldn't be too tired at night, and I have nothing to do. Why don't we chat for a while." Lin Shuran simply turned around and sat down in the study, smiling at Xu Junze.

Xu Junze was indeed tired from dealing with those princes and nobles and officials today, and when he saw Lin Shuran looking at him with watery eyes, his heart moved, so he also smiled and said to her: "Okay!"

"In another month, my Southern Suburb Marriage Farm will have its autumn harvest. Let me tell you a secret—" Lin Shuran leaned forward and said in Xu Junze's direction with a mysterious face.

Seeing her deliberately teasing him, Xu Junze simply got up and walked to the chair next to her to sit down. Following her example, he leaned closer to her and asked in a low voice: "What's the secret?"

Xu Junze's voice was deep and magnetic, and the breath that spewed out spread over Lin Shuran's pretty face. Immediately, her face turned slightly red, and she quickly sat upright, coughed lightly, and said, "I have planted a total of [-] acres in the southern suburbs. Among them, [-] mu of fertile land and [-] mu of wasteland, half of which is wheat and half is rice. Last year, the harvest of wheat was about [-] catties in one season, and the harvest of rice was nearly [-] catties in one season. Brother, they burned my high-yield rice field, and the total output is even higher than this. I predict that the output of my [-]-acre farmland will be higher this year. You say I am very powerful? Others have an acre The highest output of the land is only three to four hundred catties, and I can double that of them!"

Lin Shuran was speaking to Xu Junze in a chatty tone with a bit of show off, but Xu Junze stared straight at her after hearing this, which made Lin Shuran feel nervous for a while, but fortunately she was also strong, and soon faced him calmly.

"What's wrong? Don't you believe it?" The output of her farm has not been deliberately concealed since last year. In the previous two years, no one except Zhang Tang and the long-term laborers who planted and harvested the land knew exactly how much her output per mu of land was. Later, she Distribute the selected grain seeds to the nearby people to cultivate together. The crops grown by those people this year are all good.

"I believe, it's just—" Xu Junze stood up slowly, looking at her with a serious expression, "It's just that why haven't you heard about it?"

Lin Shuran could understand what he said. Such a phenomenon of high yield per mu of land had never occurred in the Jin Dynasty, or in the history of this time and space, but it was also under the eyes of the emperor. Things have been going on for three years.

"At the beginning, I had nothing to do in the farm. I liked to take care of flowers and plants. I thought that crops, like flowers, would grow well if I put my heart into it. So I tried to increase food production. I was afraid that others would laugh at me, so I didn't allow Zhuangzi The people in the village casually said that after two years, I found that the yield using my method was getting higher every year, so I thought about distributing the seeds to some people near the farm, and hoped to help them to some extent. Unexpectedly, this year they I also cultivated according to my method, and with the weather being good, it seems that there will be a good harvest in autumn." After finishing this, Lin Shuran sighed again, and continued, "However, as for why no more people know about it, I think it is Those officials of the imperial court didn't care about these things at all. How much grain the people could produce per mu of land was enough for them? It didn't matter to them. They only thought about their own interests. It’s not fast, it’s normal if you haven’t heard of it!”

What Lin Shuran said was well-founded and reasonable, so Xu Junze didn't think about it any more, but he seemed to remember that the fourth brother Xu Mingfan mentioned to him that the crops in the farm had a good harvest, but he didn't take it seriously at the time. "Excellent" is really excellent, so good that he even needs to go to the palace now.

(End of this chapter)