After the meal, the workers lay down in the shade to rest. The children were sleepier than the adults, and they were still growing!
The people responsible for copying the map were all concentrating on drawing, which was not difficult.
They were people recruited from the calligraphy and painting stores of Yingtian Mansion, Taiping Mansion, and Ningguo Mansion.
They collect calligraphy and painting, but also sell calligraphy and painting, especially antiques and famous calligraphy and painting.
Anyone who can open such a shop must either have powerful copying and counterfeiting skills, or have such people under his command.
If you don’t even know how to make fakes, how can you identify fakes?
They can even imitate landscape paintings and flower-and-bird paintings to the point where they look real. It is not difficult to draw a simple map that does not require brushwork style.
When each of them was drawing, there were guards with knives beside them to protect them and prevent them from running away with the map.
They themselves also know what is in front of them and just draw it. Some people force themselves to forget as soon as they want to remember it.
Some people even didn't understand the situation and were prepared to be executed at any time, thinking that they would die after finishing the painting.
When Zhu Wentian and others went to the fields to plant rice in the afternoon, another group of painters transferred from other prefectures arrived.
After discovering the situation, Zhu Xi went to comfort him personally and scolded him, "Why do you have to die if you just draw a picture like this?" This picture will be engraving and printed in the future. If you don't draw well, you will die. If you draw well, you will be rewarded...
After being scolded, the person who was worried before became happy and wanted to print it! Then don't be afraid.
…
“Each stone costs seven buckets. Shandong’s production will be reduced by about half this year, but they will replant a crop of soybeans.
The yield is not as high as plowing the ground and planting again, but there is always an extra batch of grain, which makes harvesting wheat tiring.
Not all places are willing to obey. Officials are sometimes afraid of taking responsibility. You will have to be in office for another two years. "
Zhu Yuanzhang did not go to see the paddy field. He took the officials of Ningguo Mansion and the magistrate of Xuancheng County to the wheat field.
Speaking of things in Shandong, the winter wheat harvest in Shandong was done without stubble, let alone plowing.
The locals directly planted the soaked beans, following the methods taught by the imperial court.
Men followed women's example of chopping the wheat by its roots, leaving as short a stubble as possible. Anyway, it didn't rain, so it took more time.
In this way, when the soybeans are harvested and plowed, the previous wheat stubble is almost rotten, and the roots of the soybeans are not affected and can be pulled out.
Zhu Yuanzhang meant to tell the officials in Ningguo Mansion and Xuancheng not to worry and to stay well.
"Or you can be promoted normally. How high can you be promoted? Promoted to the first rank? Can you earn more salary?" Zhu Yuanzhang made it clear.
"I am willing to be the prefect." Magistrate Song expressed his position, and others said they liked it here so much that they would not leave even if they killed him.
Li Zhixian also told the truth: "Being an official here can not only get the benefits of Xiaqiu Village, but also make money by raising bamboo rats and poultry.
The little salary given by the imperial court is not enough for anything. During the holidays, Chen’s family secretly makes some rock candy and doesn’t sell it, just for personal reasons.
No one else knows! When you return the gift, please give it accordingly. I have to avoid asking for it.
The children at home are not short of sweets and soap, all of which are obtained from Xiaqiu Village. "
Other officials nodded, saying that Zhixian Li was right, and we don't want to leave even for this benefit.
"Yeah, uh-huh!" Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "The key is to cooperate with Xiaqiu Village to get things done, and not to do it in secret.
We don't allow officials to be corrupt and take possession because we are afraid that officials will harm the people. We also take possession of things in Xiaqiu Village.
After the Dragon Boat Festival, we leave beforehand and send rice dumplings back to our families for food. We call this... high salary to support integrity, yes, that's the saying. "
After speaking, he looked at the officials waiting next to him and nodded.
The other party stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the individual measurement of an acre is one stone and seven buckets. I think the confiscated amount is about the same."
"Okay! If you send it to the north to plant it, even if you keep it for one stone and five buckets, it will still be a lot more than before." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled.
He knew that the yield of one stone and seven buckets of rice could not be grown anywhere else. Farming is not only about seeds, but also about taking care of it at all times, which requires methods and skills.
But good seeds are stronger than the original ones, with more seeds on each ear and larger particles.
If people who grow grain can produce one-fifth more crops, they will not be afraid of periods of drought.
People tend to get sick easily when they are hungry. When children grow up, they don’t have enough to eat and are so hungry that they are skin and bones. They look pitiful. When I was a child...
…
On the fourth day of May, the copying of the Ming Dynasty map was completed. Everyone who participated in the copying was rewarded with a piece of money, twenty meat rice dumplings, twenty date rice dumplings, and twenty kilograms of dried salted fish, and sent away.
And the officials started giving things to them yesterday. According to their rank, those in the court, like Hu Weiyong and Wang Guangyang, each received a hundred guan of things.
Other officials followed in descending order, and the escorting sergeants also had at least the same amount of money to take.
The officials of the Ningguo Mansion who could not go back to celebrate the festival did not ask for many rice dumplings because they could not eat them all at home. They wanted oil, soybean oil and rapeseed oil would be fine.
Then I asked for braised chicken and roast duck, and sent someone to take them home quickly, including those from other yamen who didn't come.
Those people are housekeepers and deal with various affairs, which is not easy.
"Sure enough, he is a good player. It looks almost the same as the original one." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the newly copied map.
He spread the sixty-one maps on the cement floor and spliced them one by one. The current map of the Ming Dynasty territory appeared in front of everyone.
The ministers stood on the prepared shelves and looked down at the map with telescopes. They were all excited. It was so magnificent. This was the Ming Dynasty.
The state capitals, counties, mountain names, and river trends seemed to be flying in the sky, overlooking the entire Ming Dynasty.
Looking at it, everyone looked at Li Chang who was standing not far below with his hands behind his back in a tacit understanding.
Of course, when I looked at him, I was not thinking of him, but of the master who had been hiding in Xiaqiu Village.
What a skill this is! How can it be? Where were you before? Why did it only appear a few years ago?
"If he had stood up to assist His Majesty during the wars in various places a few years earlier, he would have been able to become the Prime Minister by now, right?"
Wu Lin, Minister of the Ministry of War, suddenly said what was in his heart. After speaking, he shrank his head and looked around.
"Even if he comes out now, we will give him a chancellor. In the past few years, we have relied on him to help Ming Dynasty get through the difficult days."
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care what Wu Lin said. Anyway, he knew that he was not the chief, and the chief could not draw pictures.
He saw many manuscripts in the box, which obviously did not match the writing in the text. The writing in the text was average, far worse than that of an expert.
"Chongba, put it away! Birds will fly here soon, from the sky..."
Queen Ma is also standing on the shelf. She has this qualification, and the officials have no objection.
When Zhu Yuanzhang went to war, she was in charge of logistics arrangements. Who would dare to disapprove? She is not only a queen, but also the commander-in-chief of the army.
"Take it, wait for it to be carved, and print a few more sets. We will hang it on the wall in the palace so that you can see it when you look back."
Zhu Yuanzhang followed the good deeds and just took a look. What should he do if a bird flies around and drops bird droppings?
(End of chapter)
