Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 361 Kyoto Avenue!

The next day.

This is a day off for the court.

Zhu Biao got up early and left the palace with several attendants.

Walking on the thick snow on the ground and looking at the snowflakes falling from the sky, Zhu Biao felt exceptionally peaceful. Leaving the city was actually a relatively luxurious thing for him now. On the one hand, the court affairs were busy, and as the crown prince, he had to share Zhu Yuanzhang's worries and solve his problems. On the other hand, it was for his own safety.

It has been nearly twenty years since the Ming Dynasty came to power.

But the Northern Yuan Dynasty was not destroyed.

The remnants of Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng and other evildoers were still causing trouble in secret and had often attacked court officials in private. If they knew that he had left the palace, there was a possibility that assassins would come. For his own safety and to avoid hidden dangers, he had rarely left the palace in recent years, and was usually accompanied by a large group of people.

Zhu Biao tightened his clothes and said with a smile: "Why does the weather outside the city feel warmer than in the palace?"

Li Jinglong said: "Maybe there are too many people outside the palace."

Zhu Biao said, "I finally got out of the palace, so I won't rush to find Xia Zhibai. You can accompany me to stroll around the city. If I remember correctly, the last time I strolled around Yingtian Prefecture was a few years ago. Now that the Ming Dynasty is gradually getting back on track, there are more and more things to deal with in the court."

"I am increasingly running out of time."

Li Jinglong smiled and said, "Since Your Highness has such an elegant taste, I will follow Your Highness."

Zhu Biao laughed.

He glanced at the servants around him.

The servants around looked at each other and tactfully retreated to a distance.

“Don’t affect the normal lives of the people.”

Zhu Biao said again.

The servants who had originally retreated to the sides retreated again, and some of them even whispered a few words. They found clothes from somewhere and changed into new clothes. Their clothes were almost the same as those worn by the citizens in the city. If Zhu Biao had not known that these people were the Jinyiwei, he might not have recognized them.

See this.

Zhu Biao nodded with satisfaction.

Li Jinglong smiled and said, "Where do you want to go, Your Highness?"

Zhu Biao hesitated, but he didn't have too many thoughts. He asked, "Where do you think I should go? Where is the busiest place in the city right now?"

Li Jinglong subconsciously wanted to talk about the brothels and theaters on the Qinhuai River.

But he stopped talking quickly, laughed awkwardly, and then said, "Nowadays, the busiest street in the city is Kyoto Avenue, which is the street where Xia Zhibai opened several shops. Originally, the street had no name, but because Xia Zhibai opened several shops, they were named Kyoto. After a while, people there all called it that."

"Kyoto Avenue." Zhu Biao whispered a few times, nodded, and said with a smile: "Then let's go there."

Li Jinglong said, "I will lead the way right away."

When he got to the front, Li Jinglong wiped his forehead with lingering fear. Although there was not a drop of sweat on his forehead, only a chill, he was a little panicked just now. If he brought the prince to the Qinhuai River, he couldn't be sure how the emperor would scold him.

Fortunately, His Highness did not notice.

In order to avoid arousing Zhu Biao's suspicion, Li Jinglong was very proactive on the way and took the initiative to explain the situation of Kyoto Avenue: "Now on Kyoto Avenue, Xia Zhibai mainly runs four shops, a salt shop, a coal shop, a clothing shop, and a farm tool shop." "Farm tool shop?" Zhu Biao frowned.

He knew more or less about the other three, but what about this farm tool?
The agricultural tools of the Ming Dynasty were all designed by the imperial court.

Because his father was proficient in agriculture, the imperial court had spent a lot of effort on many agricultural tools, which were already considered the best in the world. He couldn't believe that the agricultural tools made by Xia Zhibai could be better than those of the imperial court.

Li Jinglong scratched his head awkwardly; he actually didn't quite understand.

As the son of an official, how could he have so much free time to learn about the new shops in the city?
Li Jinglong said ambiguously: "I don't know what's going on, but judging from Xia Zhibai's past, he rarely does thankless tasks. He may have developed a batch of new farm tools in Peking and then sent them here. It's so cold today, I'm afraid few people will buy them."

Zhu Biao nodded.

If Xia Zhibai could develop more efficient farm tools, he would be happy to see it.

As he thought about it, his steps became much faster.

When they arrived at Kyoto Avenue, compared to other sparsely populated streets, this one was obviously much more lively. From time to time, people were leaning against the doors at the ends of the streets, chatting casually, and many of them were wearing thick green clothes, the same as Xia Zhibai had worn before.

Zhu Biao stopped and looked at it for a few seconds, then nodded with satisfaction.

At first he thought Xia Zhibai would look better in it, but after taking a closer look at what others were wearing, he had to admit that, at least in appearance, there was no difference between the two, and the styles were almost the same.

As for what people on the street are talking about, it's nothing more than various family matters.

Zhu Biao was not happy to hear it.

The arrival of Zhu Biao and his party naturally attracted the attention of people on the street, but no one cared. Now this street is the busiest street in Yingtian Prefecture. Many people come here every day, including merchants, various travelers, some scholars who come here because of their reputation, and even some local officials. They are no longer surprised, and Zhu Biao looks no different from others.

At most, it's a little whiter.

Seeing that no one cared about him, Zhu Biao felt relieved.

He followed Li Jinglong and walked towards the farm tool shop. When he arrived at the shop, it was different from what he had imagined. Instead, it was very lively, and there was someone in the shop explaining a new type of farm tool.

Paddy field plowing.

Because of Zhu Yuanzhang, he had some understanding of plowshares.

After looking at it for a while, I found some differences. Compared with the curved plow commonly used now, the new farm tool launched by the farm tool shop replaced the plow with an iron plow, eliminating the plow arrow. A hole was dug in the middle of the plow tip, and wooden wedges were used to fix the iron plow and adjust the depth. The plow body was simplified as a whole.

According to the shop clerk, this type of paddy field plow is more suitable for the south, and its simplified structure will not affect the efficiency of tilling the land, but will make the plow more sturdy and durable, which not only prolongs its use time but also saves production costs.

Zhu Biao looked at it for a few seconds and nodded secretly.

The only downside is that the amount of iron used seems to have increased.

However, if it can really be used for a long time, it can be considered barely acceptable, reducing the production cost. Zhu Biao looked at other farm tools in the shop again. Others were basically the same as the paddy field plow, with certain modifications and developments, but more of the amount of iron used was increased.

Zhu Biao's eyes swept through the shop one by one.

But when he saw a piece of text on the side, Zhu Biao was stunned.

"Study on the transition from ordinary composting to composting with animal manure"

(End of this chapter)