I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 82: A Leopard

...

"Shishi? Her last name is Li, so she must be Li Shishi."

"Li Shishi? !!!"

Zhang Chun stared at the beauty in front of her, who could be picked out at a glance among the beauties in the palace: "Are you really the most famous prostitute in history, Li Shishi?"

Just looking at Li Shishi's stunning appearance and incomparable temperament at the age of ten, Zhang Chun guessed that she must be the Li Shishi who made Zhao Ji obsessed with her and who was willing to neglect state affairs and even dig a secret passage to meet her.

At this time, Li Lin, Ye Shiyun, Ma Xiaojiao and Yuan Qingcheng also gathered around.

Yes.

They don't know much about history.

But no matter how ignorant they were, they must have heard of Li Shishi's name.

But they are still not sure whether this Li Shishi is the Li Shishi they know?

Zhang Chun asked calmly, "Shishi, who are you?"

Li Shishi replied calmly, "I don't know. I was sold to Fanlou when I was a child. The other day, Fanlou lured Prince Duan here, causing a series of incidents that shocked the court and the people. The late emperor was furious and ordered the house to be closed down. I and the others were sentenced to serve in the Jiaofangsi. Later, the Ministry of Rites selected palace maids for Your Majesty, and I was selected along with them. After going through various rounds of selection, I was fortunate to be able to serve in the palace."

"Li Shishi from Fanlou, that's right!"

Zhang Chun was overjoyed, "The officials of the Ministry of Rites are really good at their job. They even selected Li Shishi to enter the palace. I'll have to tell Zhao Ya later and give them a good promotion and reward!"

Although Li Lin and the other three girls could not determine whether this Li Shishi was the most famous prostitute in history as they knew, they knew that Zhang Chun would definitely be able to determine it.

At this moment, seeing Zhang Chun's expression as if she had found a treasure, how could they not know that this elegant and refined little girl, who had already revealed her stunning beauty at the age of only ten, was none other than the famous prostitute Li Shishi in history?
The four girls' eyes could not help but sparkle with surprise and curiosity. They thought to themselves, "It really is Li Shishi. No wonder she is so charming at such a young age. She is the first prostitute in history. She is really not a joke!"

Ye Shiyun acted like a spoiled brat on the spot. She shook Zhang Chun's arm and said, "I regret this, Sister Chun. Can you please return Shishi to me? At worst, I'll just be your maid in name only."

"Get out of here." Zhang Chun hugged Li Shishi into his arms and said, "I've already kicked you out."

After a while of commotion, Zhang Chun, Li Lin, Ye Shiyun and Yuan Qingcheng referred to Ma Xiaojiao's specifications and each selected four personal maids and ten palace maids for chores. They were surrounded by people and were accompanied by a fragrant breeze wherever they went.

Afterwards, Pei Sui arranged accommodation for Zhang Chun's four daughters.

Here, the four girls took the initiative to ask for the corner where Ma Xiaojiao was, which was the area close to Guanjia Hall and Qincan Palace. This was convenient for them to work and take care of each other.

After that, the four girls received all the treatment they deserved and lived the life they had always dreamed of, with everything provided for them.

——Because Zhao Ya had not yet given the four girls specific identities, Pei Sui arranged them according to Ma Xiaojiao's specifications. She would ask Zhao Ya and Zheng Xiansu for instructions later.

In short, after coming to Zhao Ya, the four girls finally completed the class leap, from palace maids to the emperor's women, and could enjoy wealth and glory.

To celebrate, the five girls had another mutton hotpot.

During the banquet, they drove out their maids and sang and danced freely.

After being exhausted, they began to reminisce about their lives in the original world.

In the end, the five girls all said that they couldn’t go back, but fortunately their current life was acceptable, and they could still change the world and realize their own life values ​​and dreams.

in the afternoon.

Ma Xiaojiao took the four girls, who had eaten, drunk and played enough, to her studio, which is Qincan Palace.

What surprised the four girls was that this not-so-big palace was densely packed with things inside and outside, and there were hundreds of people busy in various areas in a chaotic yet orderly manner.

Ma Xiaojiao introduced it to the four girls with a bit of boasting: "This is just a small part. I still have a large part of my men and things in Prince Shen's Mansion. I have to go back and check on them from time to time."

Zhang Chun asked in disbelief, "You can still leave the palace?!"

"Of course I can, but the rules in the harem are numerous and strict. It's very troublesome to leave the palace. I have to tell Pei Sui first and ask her to communicate with all parties to arrange guards, entourage, and carriages for me. Moreover, I can only go to Prince Shen's Mansion. If I want to buy something on the way, I have to discuss it with the eunuchs. There is no way for me to ask the emperor directly. So, unless there is a problem there that they can't solve, I will definitely not go." Ma Xiaojiao said helplessly.

Zhang Chun knew very well how difficult it was for a concubine to leave the palace, and it was even more difficult for someone like Ma Xiaojiao who could leave the palace whenever she wanted.

Let me put it this way, in this era, concubines in the harem were usually not allowed to leave the palace at will, unless there were some special circumstances, such as participating in special ceremonial activities, or being extremely favored to go home to visit their families, or leaving the palace with the emperor.

But no matter what the situation is, the concubines in the harem can only leave the palace occasionally for a short time under extremely strict etiquette standards and protection. Moreover, the process will have extremely strict regulations and restrictions, including time, accompanying personnel, etc., to ensure the dignity and safety of the royal family.

For someone like Ma Xiaojiao, who could leave the palace whenever she wanted, that was definitely the ultimate honor and favor, and there was no precedent for it.

Unexpectedly, Ma Xiaojiao still looked reluctant, which really wasted the privilege given to her by Zhao Ya.

Zhang Chun said with some jealousy, "Zhao Ya is too good to you, isn't he?"

Ma Xiaojiao said, "It's okay. Whatever I ask him for, as long as it's available in this era, he will send someone to find it for me. But that's also because I'm good enough to him. Look, I wholeheartedly help him with various research and development, and even give birth to his children. I've also completely gotten rid of my jealousy. Now I don't care who he fools around with. As long as I look for him and he comes to see me, that's enough. Tell me, where else can he find a wife as good as me?"

Zhang Chun sneered, "In the last life, it was indeed as you said, but in this life, it must be because Zhao Ya favors you, otherwise how could you live such a happy life?"

Hearing Ma Xiaojiao say that she could leave the palace at any time, Li Lin's eyes lit up and asked, "Jiaojiao, can you take us with you next time you leave the palace? Let us go see the outside world too!"

Yuan Qingcheng immediately agreed, "Yes, let's go and take a look. If it weren't for the changes in my body and age, I would have suspected that I had not traveled through time, but had fallen into the trap of "The Truman Show."

Zhang Chun and Ye Shiyun were also quite moved.

Ma Xiaojiao shook her head and said, "If this were in the past, it wouldn't be a big deal. I could have just told the government and taken you out. But now it's more troublesome."

"Why did it become troublesome?" Li Lin was puzzled.

"I was always going out before, but who would have thought that the censors would find out and report me. It just so happened that the government had already built part of the large factory next to the land in Qingcheng for me. I had people move things there yesterday, so I won't leave the palace in the future to save trouble." Ma Xiaojiao explained.

When the four girls heard this, they were greatly disappointed.

Seeing this, Ma Xiaojiao said, "You don't have to do this. As long as you can make the general happy, why worry about not having the opportunity to leave the palace?"

The four girls thought the same thing. It didn’t make sense that Ma Xiaojiao could leave the palace but they couldn’t. Aren’t they all Zhao Ya’s women?
Ma Xiaojiao greeted the four girls and said, "Come on, I'll show you the project my team and I are developing."

Ma Xiaojiao first took the four girls to a very large irrigation cart and said, "This is one of the emperor's favorite inventions, the wooden ox and horse irrigation cart."

Then, Ma Xiaojiao lowered her voice and said to the four girls, "It's actually a water-powered agricultural system." "Agriculture in this era relies on manual irrigation, which is inefficient, especially in the paddy fields in the south, which require frequent water diversion."

"With the waterwheel as the core, I designed a 'pedal-operated chain-driven waterwheel' that uses river water power to automatically pump water. It is then paired with bamboo water pipes to divert water to terraced fields or dry land."

"I also installed a 'gear-linked rice pounding machine' that irrigates the water while driving the stone pestle to pound the rice, achieving 'one water for two purposes'."

Ma Xiaojiao then shared her proudest achievement: "I also added a wooden windmill on top of the device. When the water flow drives the windmill to rotate, it drives the wooden figure to strike a gong, alerting farmers to water level changes. It's both practical and entertaining. Isn't it great?"

The four girls all complained in their hearts at the same time: "It seems that this part is the most useless."

Ma Xiaojiao continued, "According to my calculations, using the wooden ox and horse irrigation cart can save at least 50 percent of irrigation manpower and increase rice yields. Furthermore, my gear transmission technology can inspire improvements in folk machinery and promote the advancement of handicrafts."

Ma Xiaojiao took the four girls to see a lot of research and development. Some of these things were useful, some were just fun, and some were simply useless inventions.

Soon after, Ma Xiaojiao brought the four girls to a loom and introduced it, "This is a pedal-operated multi-hedged and multi-treaded loom..."

The mainstream clothing materials in this era were still silk and linen. There was a small amount of kapok in the south, but its fibers were short and difficult to weave.

Cotton (also known as Gossypium herbaceum) has not yet been introduced to the Central Plains on a large scale, but some people in the northwest region have already started to grow it.

Zhao Ya knew about this, so he offered a reward and sent people to find Cao Mian.

In fact, textile machines already existed in this era, namely the "traditional twill loom" and "jacquard loom".

The former is already widely used, but it requires the cooperation of two people (one to lift the sheath and the other to throw the shuttle), and its efficiency is relatively low.

The latter is used in complex silk weaving, but relies on manual memory of patterns and is cumbersome to operate.

These two types of textile machines are time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the clothes produced are also rough.

Moreover, if Zhao Ya succeeded in promoting cotton, there would be a lack of suitable and efficient textile tools.

Ma Xiaojiao increased the number of pedals and controlled the lifting and lowering of the healds through connecting rods, so that this new type of textile machine can be operated by one person. In addition, this new type of textile machine uses bamboo and wood gear transmission to increase the switching speed of the healds.

A rough estimate shows that the textile machine improved by Ma Xiaojiao can increase efficiency by two to three times, greatly reducing labor costs and laying the foundation for the subsequent explosion of cotton textile technology.

In addition, Ma Xiaojiao is also developing modular spinning machines and hydraulically driven twisting machines.

In short, according to Ma Xiaojiao, as long as Zhao Ya could get people to grow cotton in large quantities, she could provide Zhao Ya with technical support, so that the Northern Song Dynasty could enter the "cotton era" a hundred years earlier and change the people's livelihood of "wearing linen".

Moreover, the increased production of high-quality fabrics could also promote the export of silk and cotton along the Maritime Silk Road, and the imperial court could also obtain new sources of revenue through "loom taxes" or monopolies.

Crucially, this can make it easier for women to participate in textile production, reduce clothing costs, enhance civilians' ability to keep out the cold, and indirectly improve the population's ability to resist disasters.

Of course, it is not easy to achieve this level.

At the current stage, the land is in the hands of high-ranking officials, gentry, and wealthy families. They are keen on renting out the land and earning huge rents, and are not at all keen on improving planting techniques. Farmers do have this intention, but they do not have the conditions.

This means that the existing land can barely support the existing population, and there is no extra land to grow cotton on a large scale.

Therefore, if we promote cotton planting on a large scale without carrying out land reform and improving land use efficiency, something bad will happen.

Zhao Ya has a clear understanding of this.

Of course, there is definitely no problem in planting some in a small area.

According to Zhao Ya, we should first develop these things and promote them, and the market will eventually find a balance point.

After the four girls and Ma Xiaojiao finished touring part of her lab, they finally understood what it meant to say that a leopard comes out of nowhere. While they were hitting a wall everywhere, or even failing to accomplish anything, Ma Xiaojiao had already accomplished so much.

This couldn't help but cause the four girls to reflect.

"Are we not as good as Jiaojiao?"

"No, we didn't get Zhao Ya's strong support before."

"The key is not us, nor Jiaojiao, but Zhao Ya. Without his support, we are doomed to achieve nothing on our own. But as long as we have Zhao Ya's support, we will definitely be able to realize our own values ​​and dreams like Jiaojiao."

Except for Ma Xiaojiao's four daughters, they all thought at the same time: "I still have to find a way to get Zhao Ya and make him work for me!"

……

It was also afternoon.

Zhang Dun came to Chuigong Hall again and said that after he went back, he thought about it and felt that Sima Guang and others' acts of treason must be settled, and their property must be confiscated and their clans must be interrogated, otherwise he would not be able to explain to the soldiers who died on the front line. He handed Zhao Ya a list and said that the people on it all supported giving the territory of the Zhao Song Dynasty to Western Xia, and it would be no problem to kill them all with a sword, but confiscating their property and interrogating their clans would be too easy for them.

When Zhao Ya took a look, he was surprised to see that there were hundreds of people on the list, and Su Che, the prime minister of the old party, was among them.

Zhao Ya thought to himself: "You are trying to catch all your political enemies in one fell swoop."

Zhao Ya immediately pushed the list back without saying another word.

Zhang Dun knew that Zhao Ya had not changed his mind, but was taking Empress Dowager Xiang into consideration. He might not want to carry out a purge when he just came to power, making his throne, which was already unstable, even more unstable.

In just over an hour, Zhang Dun came back.

This time, there were only a hundred people left on the list.

Zhao Ya still disagreed.

Zhang Dun went back and discussed with Cai Bian and others for a while. By dark, only fifty people were left.

Zhao Ya thought about it and decided that he couldn't let Zhang Dun and the others gain nothing, otherwise, would they still work hard next time?

So, Zhao Ya combined the list of officials that Li Yan gave him who were definitely corrupt, and circled out nine from the list that Zhang Dun gave him. Including Sima Guang, there were ten people in total. Zhao Ya also wrote down a list of three major corrupt officials in his own handwriting, held it in his hand and let Zhang Dun take a look.

Afterwards, Zhao Ya threw the list into the brazier beside him...

……

(End of this chapter)