Chapter 500: The Divine Stove
Mr. Ding asked cheerfully: Is it okay for the research to come and take a look at Huaxi Village?
Zhao Yulin looked at Meng Gong and said: The old man is teasing them again. Tai Jiantang is on an inspection tour, and we, his subordinates, dare not neglect them.
Meng Gong immediately said with a laugh, "Mr. Ding is coming. Please let someone know. We will go to the main intersection to greet him."
Hu Lan and A Qian went up to help Mr. Ding and Mr. Li walk towards the village. Zhao Yulin saw that Shi's son was silent behind them, and said with a smile, "It's the countryside. That's it. Let's go and see how the newly built pig farm in Huaxi is."
As he spoke, he led the way forward.
Hu Lan began to loudly introduce the ditch repairs, road construction and newly created fields in Huaxi Village.
When the investigating officials heard that it was Zhao Yulin's family who paid the wages to straighten the road and repair the ditches for the common people, and that houses were being built for the common people on both sides, they were stunned.
What? He, Zhao Qi'er, used his own money to build a house for Bu Yi?
You also want to repair ditches and roads, and become a good person?
They have never done such a thing, let alone heard of it.
Because in the past, all they thought about was how to squeeze money out of these common people, so why would they give money to common people to do things?
Not to mention thinking about building houses for common people.
When they arrived at the pig farm, they were even more amazed. How could this be called a pig house? It was built better than an ordinary house. The house was tall and ventilated, and the wheat straw on the roof was neatly covered. The piglets in the two rows of pig pens on the left and right were crying loudly, but there was no stench.
After careful observation, they discovered that fresh water was brought into the pig house to flush the pigsty, and the floor was not covered with pig manure as they had imagined.
Wei Rensheng, a young deacon from the Ministry of Industry, came over to explain: The pig manure from the pig farm is collected every day and applied to the fields as fertilizer. The pig urine and wastewater from flushing the pig pens flow directly into the biogas digester to ferment and produce gas for cooking pig feed.
The crowd continued to move forward and saw two large pots of cooking pig food, steaming and bubbling, but no one was seen transferring firewood to the stove. Everyone opened their mouths in surprise.
What kind of stove is this? Is this a magical stove that can produce fire without burning wood?
Could it be that underground fire was discovered here?
Wei Rensheng asked Ding Gong to move over and take a look. Ding Gong saw from the small hole under the stove that the bottom of the pot was wrapped in a large ball of blue flames. The hot air was blowing towards him but there was no smoke or smell.
The old man was surprised and kept exclaiming "What a good thing, what a good thing!" He exclaimed that this biogas digester was truly amazing. He said that if it were built all over the country, people would no longer be afraid of having no firewood.
Everyone ran to line up and watched with wide eyes.
Zhao Yulin explained to everyone that biogas cannot be produced everywhere. The weather in the north is cold and it is difficult to produce gas without sufficient ground heat.
If there is no gas for combustion in the biogas digester, it will be of little practical significance.
Hu Lan asked everyone to keep going forward. The ministers came to the dry rice seedling raising site at the bottom of the slope. Farmers were carrying water and sprinkling it on the seedlings. Everyone was shocked again when they saw the strong seedlings growing on the dry and white soil.
The young deacon from the Agricultural Affairs Bureau pulled up a few seedlings to show Mr. Ding, Mr. Li and Shi's son. The small group of well-developed roots beneath the sturdy seedlings were particularly attractive.
Mr. Ding took it and played with it carefully, then gave it to Mr. Li and asked everyone to take a look, saying, "Our Agricultural Department has come up with a new method of growing rice seedlings, which is great."
The young deacon immediately said that it was not he who came up with the idea, but Commander Zhao, the third young master.
Zhao Yulin immediately said: This was a collective effort by the Huaxi Village constables, and the Agricultural Affairs Bureau has summed up a lot of experience, which is good and very good.
Those deacons from the Ministry of Revenue were happy, because the Third Young Master was praising them in front of so many officials.
Zhao Yulin introduced to everyone that this kind of dry seedling cultivation and the next step is to practice seedling throwing, all of which are to reduce the burden of farmers' labor. The common people work hard in the face of the loess and back to the sky just to avoid starvation, but the income they get throughout the year is actually not much, we should think of more ways to let them earn money.
Meng Gong said with a smile that dry-rooted rice seedling transplanting could reduce people’s working time, allowing them to have more energy to earn money, and the people of Huaxi would definitely become rich.
Mr. Ding, Mr. Li and Shi's son all nodded continuously.
Shi's son pointed to the straight roads and ditches and said: If we just repair those ditches, we can create a lot of new fields. This is a good idea.
The crowd walked and watched, constantly admiring.
Back at the Zhang family compound, Ding asked the office to take the investigating officials to Guanghua New Village across the street for lunch and dinner. They wanted to stay and talk with the two managers of Huaxi Village.
The researchers knew that the small Huaxi Village could not accommodate so many people for dinner, so they followed the people from the office and ran to the other side.
The old man smiled and said that he knew there was no food here and had already made arrangements.
Meng Gong said cheerfully, "It's still appropriate to entertain you gentlemen, right?" Then he turned his attention to Hu Lan and A Qian.
The two women kept nodding their heads and quickly prepared the wine and food.
However, Mr. Ding asked for the wine glass to be taken away, as he would not drink during official hours.
Zhao Yulin smiled and pursed his lips at the maid, and Hu Lan immediately said, "Let's use tea instead of wine and try this year's West Lake Longjing."
The maid quickly made tea and brought it out.
Just as they were about to start eating, they heard the sound of hurried horse hooves coming closer and closer outside, and Cao Youwen's cheerful laughter came from the gate, and everyone immediately went out to greet him.
Old Cao shouted to Mr. Ding: Taijiantang is inspecting Huaxi Village, and Cao must not be absent.
Everyone laughed and sat down again. Meng Gong asked Hu Lan to say a few words on behalf of Huaxi Village to welcome all the leaders of Taijiantang to Huaxi.
Hu Lan said that the real person would be here soon, and she invited Zhang Yunhai, the chief of Huaxi Village.
As they were talking, A Qian came in, supporting Old Zhang.
When had Old Zhang ever seen so many court officials? He sat on the seat Hulan gave him and his hands and feet were shaking. He trembled and raised the wine glass above his head to toast the adults, thanking the court for not forgetting them, the common people who farmed the land. After saying this, Old Zhang drank it all.
Hulan asked him to sit down and eat again, but Old Zhang refused resolutely. Firstly, he saw that the adults did not drink and knew that the court had issued a ban on alcohol. Secondly, he knew that the adults still had things to discuss, so he dared not disturb them.
Meng Gong said with deep feeling that Zhang Dubao was an honest farmer. When he was young, the Dubao in his hometown was as decisive and efficient as Zhang Dubao.
Lao Cao picked up the tea bowl and asked everyone to go away.
The gentlemen ate and chatted.
Lao Cao happily told everyone that the king had agreed, and he would go east to inspect Jiankang Prefecture.
Mr. Ding said to him unhappily: He just can't sit still and wants to run away again.
Everyone offered tea to Lao Cao and wished him a safe journey.
Zhao Yulin knew that Lao Cao was going to take a detour to the northwest, but he didn't point it out. He joined everyone in complaining about Lao Cao's dishonesty, and left Ding Gong and the other leaders of Taijian Hall to go out and have some fun.
However, Shi's son said with emotion: After seeing the tremendous changes in Huaxi today, I deeply feel that their colleagues from Liangzhe need to go out and see more and learn more.
He proposed that Tai Jiantang arrange this group of investigation officials in batches, and send them to the prefectures and counties to take a good look. Only when they have a thorough understanding can they do a better job.
Mr. Li immediately said that it was too early to discuss this matter and that they had to complete their studies first. Many problems could be seen from the Yihongyuan incident. These investigating officials still needed to study hard and correct their understanding of the equality of all people in our New Song Dynasty.
Seeing that Shi's son looked embarrassed, Zhao Yulin coughed and said that he must first learn the laws of the New Song Dynasty. It is not enough to abide by the law without understanding it.
He said: There are many talented and capable officials here. The Ministry of Personnel and Caotang Academy can investigate and organize a group of them to conduct research in nearby Wenjiang, Huayang, Qiongzhou and other places in advance.
Mr. Ding immediately said: "That's good. A large sum of salary was confiscated the other day, which is just right for doing some research work."
Zhao Yulin laughed when he heard his explanation that the official who pleaded for the bald man was fined one month's salary.
He said that all the officials from Liangzhe had come here with their families. If Mr. Ding didn't punish them like this, how could they live? The Ministry of Personnel had regulations on punishing such minor offenses. They could give admonitions, warnings, etc., which was better than deducting their salaries.
Shi's son said expressionlessly: These subordinates just don't learn their lesson, they deserve to be punished. Ding Gong fined them one month's salary, which was considered light. If the Ministry of Personnel gave them a demerit or a warning, they would be more uncomfortable, and they were afraid of losing their official positions.
Everyone laughed.
Zhao Yulin smiled and told Mr. Ding that they should not live too tightly, as the old man's way of raising money was a role model and an example of frugality for us.
However, people who don’t know would think that the king is inconsiderate and does not get along with the old man.
The old man immediately told him not to say that, the King of Feiyan was very thoughtful. All the old men's cars were replaced with new ones, and the heads of each group in the research room were also equipped with carriages. They had just allocated 500,000 strings of money, which was enough.
Lao Cao laughed and told him not to worry, Taijiantang was not short of money.
Mr. Ding said to him cheerfully: Your suggestion to arrange some investigation in the prefectures and counties first is a very good one. Let's go back and discuss it carefully.
Shi's son was very happy, this was exactly what he wanted.
After seeing off the gentlemen in Taijian Hall, Meng Gong told him that the Ministry of Justice was inspired by his brother's experiment here and was also planning to do a legal pilot project.
Song Ci of the Dali Temple believed that the initial establishment of judicial systems in various places did need to be standardized step by step, and it was very necessary for the Ministry of Justice to further standardize the three links of inspection, trial and prosecution to avoid ineffective inspections, lax law enforcement and the occurrence of false and wrongful cases.
Zhao Yulin believed that Song Ci chose Jiading to pilot legal reforms when he first arrived, and now he could still go to Jiading Prefecture to continue deepening the reforms. He said that Jiading's economic development was much faster, so Song Ci could be allowed to temporarily serve as the prefect and vigorously promote legal reforms.
Meng Gong was overjoyed and said happily that he would bring this matter to the attention of the officials for discussion later.
Zhao Yulin is very happy. Everyone has ideas and is working actively, which is great.
At night, he stroked Hu Lan's belly and said that they were about to leave and go to Jiangdong.
Hu Lan's heart immediately skipped a beat and he asked him: Cao Gong is also going to Jiangdong, is there going to be another war?
Zhao Yulin hugged Hu Lan and kissed her lightly, and told her not to ask about military affairs, because even if Cao Gong was going to inspect Jiangdong, he would also go to inspect Jiangdong.
Hu Lan was thinking about his two brothers, and his heart was in turmoil. He silently curled up in his arms and pretended to take a nap.
Zhao Yulin knew the struggle in her heart, but he didn't point it out to her. He just waited for her quietly until she fell asleep.
