Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 122: Color Maps Are Also Needed for Surveying and Mapping

Zhao Yifu finally understood why Sun Zhenghe looked embarrassed during dinner last night... In fact, measuring the land is a hard job that is both mentally and physically exhausting!
He first measured the land for the Sun family, and the head of the Sun family had to accompany him throughout the process to prevent disputes among the clan members over whether to mark too much or too little land.

That's what this guy is.

It is best not to pay taxes.

But since they can't escape paying taxes, they all want to allocate more land to themselves and take advantage of others.

If we think about it from another angle, it is impossible for the government to calculate the acreage of land so accurately, so they must round it off, right?
Then they will try every possible means to make the "change" that is erased bigger.

For this reason, Zhao Yifu had to constantly refuse the inquiries from the people during the surveying... Several times, the egg with poop stuck on it almost got stuffed into his mouth!

Helpless, Zhao Yifu quickly called a halt.

Yiyi, the black cat that had been running around in the fields under the sun with a hemp rope on its back, immediately climbed down.

In order to help its master, it worked very hard to help Zhao Yifu pull the string. When had this little girl ever suffered such hardship? She was terribly exhausted.

Zhao Yifu felt distressed when he saw this, and he also understood why every time the court wanted to measure the land in the country, there were complaints and resistance. After all, this work was too time-consuming and costly.

This required sufficient manpower and a sufficient number of people skilled in arithmetic, which meant that each measurement would be extremely costly and could even lead to deficits in the local treasury.

Zhao Yifu found it very difficult to do it himself at this time, and this was already a case of the Sun family being very willing to cooperate.

If an ordinary official comes to survey, and local forces or people are unwilling to cooperate, how much accuracy can he ensure in the survey?
"Zhao County Magistrate, what should we do?"

Sun Zhenghe asked anxiously, "How about we send some people from my clan to help?"

He was very concerned about this, because after Zhao Yi Fu remeasured it, he would no longer have to bear so many taxes, which was very helpful for the Sun family.

Zhao Yifu said, "Not for now. Patriarch Sun, go and rest first. Let me think of a solution. There's always a better way."

Upon hearing this, Sun Zhenghe seemed to want to say something but stopped himself, and then said goodbye and left.

After the Sun family leader left, Bai Na Taoist said, "What can we do? Things like this require human resources. There may be many mistakes, but we can only turn a blind eye."

Zhao Yifu shook his head and said, "Let's go back to the yard first. I need to think of a solution."

Taoist Bai Na didn't say anything and followed Zhao Yi Fu back to the courtyard in the town.

He had just closed the door when he saw Zhao Yifu stomping his feet on the spot.

What is this doing?
Who knew that the next moment, Zhao Yifu would call out softly, "Old Huang, come quickly!"

Immediately afterwards, a yellow smoke appeared on the ground where Zhao Yifu stomped his feet. As the yellow smoke rotated, a figure appeared in the yellow smoke.

"This...this is..."

Taoist Bai Na was shocked. He recognized the identity of the person in the yellow smoke, but he had never seen such a move!
"Sir, what are your orders?"

The key point is that the God of Land who appeared in the yellow smoke actually bowed to Zhao Yifu, which made Taoist Bai Na feel confused.

He knew that people from the Danqing Sect liked to be officials, and he looked down on them.

But I have never heard that people from Danqingmen can become officials in heaven. If that is the case... He began to hesitate. Is it too late to affiliation with Danqingmen now?
Zhao Yifu said nonchalantly, "Old Huang, I have a letter for you to take to my master."

As he spoke, he pulled out a fresh piece of letter paper from his sleeve. The ink on it was not dry yet, so he blew on it twice before carefully folding it and putting it into the envelope.

The ink-splashing technique is convenient. You can type whatever you want directly through brain-computer connection.

Old Huang took the envelope and carefully put it away. He then asked, "Sir, do you have anything else to say to Master Liang?"

Zhao Yifu thought for a moment and said, "I've written down everything I wanted to ask. But please, Old Huang, wait a moment. My master will have a reply for you to bring back."

Old Huang nodded after hearing this, then asked with a smile, "Why don't you ask about the situation at home?"

When Zhao Yifu heard this, he asked a few questions.

He knew that everything was fine at home, and most importantly, he knew that his Master Zhou's Yongyi Battalion was ready to start training to suppress bandits.

He said, "Please keep an eye on Master Zhou, but remember not to show yourself in front of him."

"Pay attention to the water patterns and geography over there. If you have any important matters, you can tell my second uncle."

"We must ensure that Division Zhou's training is a success."

After hearing this, Old Huang nodded repeatedly, then said goodbye and disappeared.

Taoist Bai Na asked curiously, "Why is this land god so respectful to you?"

Then he suddenly realized something and said, "If this matter involves any confidential information, I should have never mentioned it."

Zhao Yifu smiled and said, "My family moved to a new plot of land that had no land to protect it. So I discussed with Mr. Huang and asked him to be the landowner of our new plot of land. This will also provide an extra layer of security for his shrine."

"Later, when my master found out, we decided to let him take care of Moshan as well... and officially granted him a deity position as the land god of Moshan..."

When Taoist Bai Na heard this, he exclaimed, "Wow, there is such a thing?"
He understood that most of the lands in the mortal world were self-proclaimed by mortal dynasties, and such lands would generally disappear and change with the change of dynasties.

But from what Zhao Yifu said, can Danqingmen ask the Heavenly Court to confer a title on the land?

That’s awesome.

The awesomeness is booming.

Can't be bothered, can't be bothered.

Taoist Bai Na now had another reason not to offend the Danqing Sect.

A moment later, Lao Huang came back, carrying a large book.

Zhao Yifu looked at the thick book in confusion.

Huang Lin said, "Sir, this is what Master Liang found for you. He said it will be helpful for what you are going to do next."

"He said this is the foundation of formation cultivation in the world. Although it's complicated, it's widely spread."

Zhao Yifu quickly and carefully put away the book and said, "I understand. Old Huang, you can go back first. By the way, thank Master for me."

Huang Lin laughed heartily and then disappeared in a cloud of yellow smoke.

Taoist Bai Na was itching to get the big book that Zhao Yi had obtained.

Zhao Yifu saw his expression and understood what was going on, so he said, "Senior, why don't we read this book together?"

Taoist Bai Na immediately became serious and said, "This book belongs to your master. How can you show it to others casually? I am just curious about its content."

Zhao Yifu laughed and said, "Senior, didn't you hear what my master said?"

"My master said that this book has been widely circulated and didn't ask me to burn it after reading it. This means that he doesn't mind me spreading it outside."

Taoist Bai Na immediately understood what Zhao Yi Fu meant. He pondered for a moment and said, "You can read it first. When you have finished reading it, you can give it to me."

"By the way, is there anything you need? I'm quite experienced in refining equipment. If you need anything, just tell me."

Zhao Yifu understood what Taoist Bai Na meant. He didn't want to owe anyone a favor.

He thought for a moment, then pulled out the black iron and some other rare minerals from the Qian family's inventory from his sleeves and said, "How about you use these materials to make me a pair of shoes?"

Taoist Bai Na asked curiously, "You use black iron to make shoes? Aren't they too heavy?"

Zhao Yifu smiled proudly, then raised his leg and kicked a small tree in the yard. The next moment, the tree was suddenly covered with ice and snow, and icicles hung on it.

Seeing this, Taoist Bai Na nodded and said, "So you still have some leg skills, but why didn't you show them before?"

Zhao Yifu smiled but said nothing. It was impossible to say that all these previous methods were self-sealed by the "Shou Ren Law".

Taoist Bai Na didn't ask any more questions and went back to his room to think.

Zhao Yifu began to look through the book that Liang Zhongzhi asked Huang Lin to bring.

The title of the book is "The True Numbers of the Universe".

It's a big name, but when you look at its contents, you will find that it covers everything. It is a method of measuring the entire world by using some extremely ingenious characteristics of all things.

The key is to master clairvoyance first.

For example, if you observe a leaf with spiritual vision, check the length of its spirituality, and then look at the length of its veins, you can calculate its growth cycle.

The more acute and accurate one's clairvoyance is, the more comprehensive one's deductions will be.

Others use the length of the spiritual power of plants and trees on the ground and the shadow of the sun to calculate the distance, and some use the stars, time, temperature and humidity, and the concentration of spiritual energy to calculate the time of rainfall...

As such.

Zhao Yifu was overwhelmed by what he learned, but he picked out some content about using ground vegetation to measure distance, which was enough for now.

He learned the corresponding formula, then closed the book and prepared to try it out.

He turned his head to look at the monk's room and asked, "Senior, I'm going to try a new method. Do you want to come with me?"

The monk replied impatiently, "I'm busy. What's there to see?"

Zhao Yifu nodded and didn't care. He just said, "I put the book 'The True Numbers of the Universe' here. If you want to read it, come and get it yourself."

With that he left.

He would certainly have to find time to read the entire book, but for now it was enough.

When he came to the field again, he first re-measured the land he had surveyed in the morning.

This time he didn't use a hemp rope to measure the length, but simply raised his right hand and used his thumb and the remaining four fingers to count.

This is a high-level "finger cracking". Although he can do mental arithmetic once he becomes proficient in it, it is better to crack his fingers first to ensure accuracy.

But it is undeniable that when he showed this attitude, the people around him were in awe.

This looks weird no matter how you look at it...

Then Zhao Yifu's eyes lit up: "Got it!"

"The result is three acres and twenty-two square steps."

This is almost the same as his previous measurement, the error is almost negligible, and it is highly likely that the error existed in the first measurement.

Then he became interested and began to walk on this land.

I counted on my fingers and muttered to myself as I walked, and before I knew it I had walked for the entire afternoon.

When he came back to his senses and turned around, he saw that Sun Zhenghe had come to his side at some point and was following him closely.

Zhao Yifu smiled and said, "Master Sun, you've arrived just in time. I've already walked through this plot of land. You can just have someone point out the boundaries of each family's land."

It was already past noon, and there were still some farmers working in the fields.

Zhao Yifu simply negotiated with the farmers on the land west of Fengkou Town.

Because of Sun Zhenghe's pressure, many disputes were quickly settled.

When Zhao Yifu had finished asking all his questions, he said, "Okay, let's go back."

Sun Zhenghe asked curiously, "Is this the end?"

Zhao Yifu said, "Go back and find me a big table. I need to draw the plan overnight."

Produce a picture?

Sun Zhenghe felt that he didn't quite understand, but he still had to obey his superior's request.

So he took Zhao Yi Fu back to the house and directly used the study that was used as decoration.

Zhao Yifu gave some instructions in the study and asked people to move everything away. Then he spread a large piece of paper about three meters long and two meters wide on the ground.

He didn't want the table anymore, so he just lay on the ground and started painting.

But this time he drew a map, a map of the west of Fengkou Town.

This map gives a clear outline of the entire farmland area in the west of the town, and then draws in the fields and ridges.

Then he described the land of each household clearly and even marked out the dimensions.

He is drawing the plot map in the spirit of engineering drawing.

Every detail has been carefully considered and is true to size.

He even drew the surrounding water patterns clearly.

Hillsides, woods, streams, and wells.

When Sun Zhenghe, who was standing next to him, saw the painting being completed, a complete scene of the west side of the town had already appeared in his mind.

"Awesome, so awesome!"

Patriarch Sun couldn't help but admire.

Zhao Yifu smiled triumphantly, but that wasn't the end of it. He even mixed some gouache paint to color the painting...

This is my first time making a yellow book of fish scales. How can I be worthy of my master's kindness if I don't include a colored scroll for future generations?

When a scene of beautiful mountains, clear waters and fertile fields appeared on the scroll, the owner of the Sun family was already numb.

He thinks that officials nowadays are too arrogant?
If all officials had to have this kind of talent, then he would have given up the idea of ​​letting his descendants take the imperial examinations.

I can’t get it to roll over. I absolutely can’t get it to roll over.

Only after Zhao Yifu finished his drawing and boldly stamped his seal on it did he throw his pen into the brushwasher and twirl his wrist, saying, "I'm getting rusty, rusty."

Sun Zhenghe asked, "Sir, this painting..."

Zhao Yifu said, "This painting will be hung at the intersection west of the town tomorrow, and the people living on that plot of land will confirm it. Once they have confirmed and signed it, I will compile it into a book."

"Tomorrow I'll go survey the farmland plots in the east of the town... No, I've found a trick now, so I can go faster. Tomorrow I'll go to the north of the town first, then to the east and then the south."

"I'll map all these farmland plots in one go, and I'll produce the maps tomorrow night."

"We'll try to finish all the work in Fengkou Town within three days, and then we'll go visit the villages under your jurisdiction."

Sun Zhenghe could only nod in agreement now, because he felt that the county magistrate in front of him was too capable, so he should just cooperate with him honestly. He was too lazy to use his own brain.

　I had a meeting yesterday afternoon and felt dizzy.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)