Chapter 2 Impression Tokyo ()

Xu Qing's family had no horses, only a small donkey, and Erzhu was sitting on the shaft of the carriage, happily whipping the flowers.

The Song Dynasty itself was the dynasty that lacked the most horses in the Central Plains in history. The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were sold to the Khitans of the Liao Kingdom by Shi Jingtang, and the northwest was split by Li Yuanhao. Therefore, the Song Dynasty was inherently inadequate and lacked suitable horse farms. In addition to the small number of horses traded by the Western Xia people, good horses among the people were extremely scarce. A good horse was sold for two or three hundred trump cards, which could not be afforded by a wealthy and wealthy family. The horse that Xu Qing's father "drunk driving" at the time was just a cracked horse produced in Sichuan and Yunnan. Since the "BMW" had that serious "traffic accident", he had never dared to stay. Later, in order to facilitate Xu Qing's mother to go out for medical treatment, he bought a docile little donkey.

The Xu family is in the southeast corner of Tokyo. After leaving the Xu family, they walked north along the street. The drizzle was clear, the trees on the roadside were green, and people were coming and going on, bustling, and the shouts of hawking were endless. The east wind in April moved people's thin spring shirts, and the whole city of Tokyo seemed so full of vitality.

Xu Qing couldn't help but feel happy. This is the Tokyo Bianliang written by Zhang Zeduan. A vivid Qingming Festival map of the River During the Qingming Festival is presented to him. Only by being there and looking at all this with more than a thousand years later can you realize what a wonderful thing this is.

"Young Master! The Bian River has arrived, wow! The river has risen a lot. Young Master, you haven't taken Xiaoyan to fly a kite by the river for a long time. Can we come tomorrow?" As soon as you left, Xiaoyan, the optimistic school, was excited and rarely stopped in your mouth.

"I can't finish a pancake in the morning. Are the pancakes made by Aunt Lan very unpalatable? Look at you, you are flying kites, be careful to be taken to the sky by the kite!" Seeing Xiaoyan's cute look squeezed beside her, Xu Qing couldn't help but flick her fingers gently on her forehead.

"Young Master lied to me. Didn't the young master bring someone here last time? He didn't fly to the sky! At that time, Xiao Yan was lighter than now. Besides, the young master just pulled Xiao Yan at that time."

The honest Erzhu listened to the car and the whip flower was even louder. The little donkey shook his head and headed towards the bridge and rushed to the road.

It seems that Xu Qing had a very easy-going personality in the past. He spoiled this little girl, but it felt good. If this little girl was trembling in front of him all day long, Xu Qing felt that he would not adapt.

A six or seven zhang wide inner city river running through the east and west of Tokyo. There are hundreds of boats competing in the river, with mows like forests, and the docks are crowded with people carrying goods, which is a busy scene. There are four major rivers passing through the city, namely the Bian River, Cai River, Jinshui River, and Wuzhang River. The four rivers form a huge water conservancy network near Tokyo City, which makes the water transportation in the capital develop unprecedentedly, forms a favorable position of "the pivot of the world", and greatly meets the material supply of Tokyo City. Taizu Zhao Kuangyin once cited the Bian River, Cai River, and Wuzhang River to the "Three Belts of Kyoto". This is the most important canal channel in Tokyo, Bian River.

Not far from the Bian River, the car turned east and after a few streets, he arrived in front of a tall city gate. The city gate was crowded, and the people and cars and horses were like a boiling river. On both sides of the gate were two teams of imperial guards, Fan Yang hats, red tassels, and red military uniforms were vivid and powerful. Xu Qing looked at all this curiously. Erzhu had jumped out of the car and tightened the reins of the donkey. As the crowd slowly led the entrance to the city gate, it suddenly became clear. Xu Qing turned around and looked up the city gate, and saw the three big words "Xin Song Gate" engraved in the square of the city gate. Not far north of the new Song Gate is Xin Cao Gate, which is the two most important gates on the east side of Tokyo City. There are countless pedestrians, cars and horses entering and leaving the two city gates every day. Here you can see that the Song Dynasty is in a prosperous era at this moment.

After leaving the city, he walked about ten miles and arrived at the Xu family's farm. It was said to be a farm. In fact, there are only four or five families in the small village who are still farming for the Xu family. There are about dozens of families in the small village, surrounded by mountains and water, and the environment is very beautiful. The remaining twenty acres of paddy fields in the Xu family are the best nearby fields. There is a small river next to it, so it is easier to get water and irrigate. After all, it was impossible to sell land to subsidize the household income at the beginning, so I would definitely not be willing to sell the good land first. It was obviously not the first time Xiaoyan came here, and she couldn't wait to jump down as soon as the car stopped.

"Young Master, I'll go to Mr. Fang's house to ask for a net bag. There are so many fish in the river. I'll catch them back and keep them in the lotus tank at home." Before he finished speaking, Xiao Yan drifted into the courtyard of a family like a wind. The small courtyard consisted of several adobe houses, and some morning glory was blooming on the bamboo fence in the yard. The purple flower room was still stained with some crystal water droplets. It was a long time since I saw morning glory. Xu Qing couldn't help but walk over and take a closer look. Morning glory was usually invisible in the cities of the tall buildings in the previous life. This kind of flower should belong to the countryside. It is leisurely and elegant, and naturally exudes a kind of wild fun. I remember that when I was a child, the walls of my home were also covered with this morning glory. Now I suddenly saw this flower again, which reminded Xu Qing of many things in my childhood. Although the scenery of my hometown when I was a teenager was far apart, it is always the most unforgettable.

"The morning light only opens for a quarter of an hour, but it is no different than the pine tree of a thousand years." Thinking of the past childhood, coupled with the current identity transformation spanning thousands of years, this fresh and timeless poem can't help but blurt out from Xu Qing's mouth.

"Young Master, Mr. Fang's family is busy in the fields. Let's hurry up. Xiao Dan said there are so many fish in the river now." Before Xu Qing could sigh too much, he saw Xiao Yan holding a five or six-foot-long bamboo pole in his hand and rushed out of the yard again. There was a small net bag at the end of the bamboo pole. As soon as he saw Xu Qing yelling. She was also accompanied by two eight or nine-year-old children, one of whom was holding a small pot, probably for Xiao Yan to use to hold fish. She was not afraid of being angry when she saw Xu Qing.

"Let's go when Erzhu tied the donkey." Xu Qing replied casually.

Going out of the entrance of the village, I walked around a small bamboo forest, and saw a wide and gentle slope. The fields were below Xu Qing’s fields. The seedlings in the fields were already planted, and the sound of frogs by the water became a piece. Along the way, Xiaoyan chirped and said, asking Xu Qing would weave garlands, and then asked Xu Qing what fish he liked to eat. It seemed that as long as his young master liked to eat, he would focus on raising them later. Xu Qing also had no choice but to joke that he liked to eat whales the most and asked her to catch them. Uh, what kind of fish is a whale? Xu Qing didn’t know how to explain Xiaoyan’s curious question. Nowadays, people probably regard whales as monsters, so they had to pick some newly bloomed wild flowers, weave a garland on her head, and knocked off the lark that could not stop.

"The boss is here!" Uncle Fang's family was a tenant farmer of the Xu family, and they planted six acres of land in the Xu family. When they saw Xu Qing coming, they hurriedly ran up from the fields to say hello. Uncle Fang was in his fifties and looked very strong. Before Xu Qing could answer, Xiaoyan and Uncle Fang said hello and took the two children from the Fang family to the river.

Xu Qing had no choice but to shout to them from behind: "Be careful, don't fall into the river, otherwise even if you eat less, you won't be able to float up."

"It's okay, the river is not deep and the water flows fast. Xiao Dan's parents are watching by the field." Mr. Fang said from the side.

Xu Qing nodded, sat down with Erzhu and Uncle Fang on the grass slope, and then chatted with Uncle Fang casually: "Is the crops growing still good? I see that the seedlings are quite strong."

"It's still good, it's growing well. Our fields are backed by the river. It's not like a severe drought. The harvest is still acceptable." Seeing the boss asking, Mr. Fang replied with a smile.

"How much can one acre of land be collected?"

"It can usually collect about three stones. Our farm has the best harvest nearby, and the rest can only collect more than two stones." Seeing Xu Qing, who only knows how to endorse these questions, Mr. Fang didn't find it strange.

Xu Qing looked around and saw that he was sitting on this nearly 100 acres of grass slope, so he picked up a dead branch and dug it. The soil under the turf was still quite fertile. He asked, "Who belongs to this grass slope?"

Seeing the young master asking, Erzhu rushed to answer: "More than 100 acres of land below, this slope and bamboo forest were all from our family. This slope could not grow crops, so no one wanted them, so he had to sell the paddy fields."

Xu Qing thought, it is definitely not OK to grow rice or wheat on this slope, what about other things? Corn, peanuts... Well, these crops should not have one in the Northern Song Dynasty. Columbus was born hundreds of years. Now his economic situation is not good, and such a large area of ​​land is deserted. It is a pity. After thinking for a long time, Xu Qing suddenly remembered the yam that someone had grown in his hometown in the countryside when he was a child. Yam is our local crop, with high nutritional value and can also be used as medicine. It is not suitable for this drier slope planting.

Well, compared with more than a thousand years later, the types of crops grown now are too single. Now the crops grown in the folk are mainly rice and wheat, and there are basically no other cash crops. This should be a way to make money. When I came to this era, I have never changed the great ideals of all mankind. But if I have some income generation and make more silver in my pocket, it will be more safe. I was so happy when I thought of this, Xu Qing couldn't help but ask Erzhu: "Is there any yam sold in the city? How much does it cost per pound?"

"Yam is common in pharmacies, but it is relatively rare in the market, about seven or eight cents per pound!" Erzhu thought for a while and replied.

However, when Xu Qing first arrived, he was confused about the concept of a penny, so he said again: "How much does a dou of rice cost now?"

"Now, the rice is 70 mins!" Mr. Fang knew it, so he quickly answered Xu Qing, but he didn't know what Xu Qing asked about yam and rice again.

Xu Qing calculated silently. According to the Song system, one dou is equal to 12 kilograms and one kilogram is 16 kilograms. If it is calculated as the kilogram system of later generations, then one dou of rice is equivalent to about 8 kilograms. In this way, a penny now is equivalent to about 50 cents of later generations.

"So the price of a pound of yam and a pound of rice on the market is basically the same. OK! Mr. Fang, can you find someone to open this grass slope? Let's use it to grow yam,"

"Can this work?" Uncle Fang was deeply suspicious of Xu Qing's strange thoughts.

"Don't you have to dig yams in the mountains? Young Master, have you never seen anyone grow yams?" This is Erzhu's generous speech.

"Stupid! It's just that no one has ever planted us, so we can make money! Well, this is how we can't chew too much. Uncle Fang, let's first open a few acres to try planting. If you hurry up now, you should still be able to keep up with the season." Seeing Uncle Fang silently expressing his opinion, Xu Qing naturally knew their concerns, so he continued: "Why don't you just start work and plant it, you just take care of it. I'll pay the amount of wages at that time. In the end, it won't matter whether you make or lose money. It should be fine."

"Okay, since the boss said that, I will find someone to drive the land together tomorrow. It just so happens that the fields are not busy now, and everyone can take time. As for how to plant it, it depends on the boss."
Chapter completed!