December was supposed to be the dry season in Yongzhou, but God did not follow the rules very much, since yesterday morning, the light rain has stopped, it has been raining for a day and a night, and it has not stopped.

Xu Ping stood at the door of the warehouse with a hat, watching the inspector Zhang Rong lead people to move bags of sugar out of the warehouse and load them on the ox cart outside. Zheng Kongmu, who was on duty, counted the bags with the officials and kept accounts.

The third division finally gave instructions for the disposal of sugar, and 300,000 catties were transported down the Yujiang River to Guangzhou to supply Guangnan East Road and several states south of Fujian Road. 700,000 jin from Guizhou Yuewuling into the Xiangjiang River, and then directly into the Yangtze River to supply the states along the road. Each state has a distribution quota and price, which is directly converted into money. At this time, the three divisions were still more conscientious, and the implementation of a fixed performance appraisal would not be outrageous. In the next few decades, when the war in the northwest continued, and the imperial court's finances were tight, many times it would be changed to a comparative method, and even if the quota was completed, each place would still be ranked second, and the last place would be eliminated, which would torture local officials.

As a supplier, Xu Ping is relatively easy in this chain, and it is a great achievement to send out the sugar. The remaining hundreds of thousands of catties of the three divisions also agreed to stay in Yongzhou, but the money and grain in Yongzhou must be paid in full next year, and there is no preferential treatment for reductions and exemptions, and the money and silk subsidized by other states have also been revoked.

It is difficult for the local government to get benefits from the third division, Xu Ping has become accustomed to it, as long as the sugar stays in the state, he has a way to conjure up money, which is much more flexible than appropriation.

After filling the ox cart, Zhang Rong came out to say goodbye to Xu Ping. He was responsible for transporting the sugar to Yongzhou, delivering it to the Ningdu Supervisor of Benzhou, who had returned from Yongping Village, and then the Ningdu Supervisor sent people to transport it to the states, and passed it on from state to state until it reached the place designated by the Third Division.

Zheng Kongmu came over with the account book, asked Xu Ping to draw the monogram, and carefully put it away. He wants to follow Zhang Rong to Yongzhou, and he will settle the accounts here after the goods are delivered.

Looking at the continuous drizzle, Xu Ping asked Zhang Rong: "Inspector Zhang, where are you from Fujian Road?" ”

"Back to the judgment, the next official is from Nanjianzhou."

Xu Ping nodded, and asked again, "What about the brothers under you?" ”

"Most of them are from Nanjianzhou, and dozens of them are from Quanzhou."

"Okay, I got it. Hurry up and get on the road, the rain seems to be getting heavier and heavier, be careful on the road, and I'll talk to you again when I come back. ”

A total of more than 50 ox carts drove one after another on the slippery dirt roads in the countryside, and Zhang Rong led more than a dozen van troops to ride back and forth to take care of them, slowly dissipating in the rain curtain in the sky.

Since talking with Cao Keming in Yongzhou that day, Xu Ping was also a little touched in his heart, and he decided to simply do a big job in Yongzhou. As long as Yongzhou develops, all the surrounding problems will no longer be a problem. It is in the tropics, with good hydrothermal conditions, but because it is a limestone landform, poor water and soil conditions, and the land is barren, except for some alluvial plains in the mountains, it is not very suitable for growing grain, and the real dominant crop is sugarcane. Especially from Ruhe County to the west, along the line of Guwanzhai, Taipingzhai and Yongpingzhai, it is a rainless area in Guangxi, and the sunshine is very strong, especially suitable for the growth of sugarcane. When studying sugarcane machinery, Xu Ping knew that in his previous life, the annual output of white sugar in this area reached millions of tons, and now there is no such condition, as long as it reaches one percent of that output, a few tens of millions of catties a year is enough to attract the imperial court to invest resources here and eliminate all hidden dangers.

The first thing to do is to have people in the development of production, and Yongzhou has a scarcity of hukou, and it is not realistic to recruit barbarians from the mountains on a large scale, so it is still necessary to introduce foreign immigrants. The Ba Fujian region is narrow and densely populated, and the contradiction between people and land is the most acute in the entire territory of the Great Song Dynasty, and the water and soil there are close to Yongzhou, which is really the most suitable place.

On Guangnan West Road, there were thousands of Xiang troops from Fujian Road, and Xu Ping wanted to use these people to recruit some people from their hometown, which was also his intention to ask Zhang Rong's hometown.

Back in his courtyard, Xu Ping shook the rain off his body at the door.

Xiuxiu saw it under the eaves and shouted happily: "Official, you are back, come and see, I learned to weave with Sister Liu Xiaomei!" ”

Xu Ping glanced at the loom in front of her from a distance, and a piece of silk cloth on it had just taken shape, and said casually: "Congratulations." But when you were in the Central Plains, didn't you? ”

Xiuxiu pouted: "This one is different!" ”

In fact, because she has spent a lot of time with Su'er over the years, the skills she learned from Lin Suniang have slowly been abandoned, and now she has finally picked it up again.

By Xiuxiu's side, Liu Xiaomei stood there quietly with a restrained expression.

Her injuries have healed, and she was pulled by Xiuxiu to live with her, and usually followed her to learn some mountain crafts, such as weaving cloth, such as singing mountain songs.

Xu Ping is a mixed place here, the little girl can be a man, sweet mouth and diligent, everyone likes her, compared with her previous busy days in the mountains, it is like being in paradise, she is slowly getting used to it.

It's just that Liu Xiaomei still can't figure out what level of official Xu Ping is, she has never heard of this official position before. But Xiuxiu didn't understand, and she didn't know how to pretend to understand, so she told her that she was a very big official, and only Cao Zhizhou in Yongzhou City was about the same as her own official position. In Liu Xiaomei's impression, Zhizhou was really more domineering than the emperor who was far away in the sky, and saw that Xu Ping became more and more restrained.

In fact, the magistrates of the Song Dynasty were all drudgery, especially those with low positions and heavy power like Xu Ping, who were all cattle and horses. Only when the patriarchs and important ministers are delegated to the localities, that is the happiness of the elderly, but the general judgment of that kind of place, as well as the general judgment of Xu Ping, who partners with Wuchen Zhizhou, is even more difficult. The important ministers are not assessed, all the pots are judged to be back, and the credit is often not their own. Wuchen doesn't take the account money and food, so Cao Keming doesn't care at all, and all money-related things are pressed on Xu Ping.

The preferential treatment of officials in the Great Song Dynasty had to survive the hard life in the local area and be transferred back to Tokyo to enjoy it, and Xu Ping had at least two six years left before that happy moment.

Under the eaves on the other side, Gao Daquan and Tan Hu were tinkering with a machine with a few soldiers, and it had been quite a few days, and they had not yet debugged Lisuo.

This is a paper machine, the official name should be the liberation hand crank paper machine, Xu Ping's previous life from those yellowed stacks of books, is a small but complete semi-mechanized industrial era product when the founding of the People's Republic of China. It's a pity that Xu Ping doesn't remember it in detail, so he can only try it little by little.

Ramie is abundant nearby, hemp skin and hemp stalks are good raw materials for papermaking, and bagasse left over from sugar extraction can be used to make pulp. There are also huge miscanthus mines and limestone mines, and the caustic soda used for bleaching is also easy to make, and the conditions for making paper are very good.

The paper of this era is mainly leather paper and bamboo paper, the most sophisticated Xuanzhou of Jiangnan Road is the best-selling brand-name product in the world, followed by the bamboo paper of Zhejiang, Sichuan and Fujian, which is also very famous. But without exception, the whiteness of these famous papers cannot be compared with later generations, the main reason is the backwardness of bleaching methods. Generally speaking, the cleaner the lignin in the pulp is removed, the whiter the paper, and the longer and stronger the raw fibers. At this time, the bleaching in the papermaking process relies on lime water and plant ash, and the effect is very different from that of caustic soda.

Coming to the two of them, Xu Ping stood and watched for a while, and asked casually, "How is it?" ”

Gao Daquan wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said in a panic: "It's soon, it's fast." ”

The beaten pulp has been broken in a pool, relying on manual work, although some paper has been fished out, but the thickness is uneven, Xu Ping made an iron grinder to press hard, but it can be used. If you want to print books quickly and well, in addition to the white and strong paper, you also need to have an even thickness, which is the advantage of the machine.

Xu Ping smiled and patted Gao Daquan's shoulder: "You two don't have to worry, the more urgent this kind of thing is, the worse it will be." Gao Daquan, you can't compare to Qilang in this point, Qilang can't bear to do anything at all, and he can calm down as soon as he cleans up the machine, so he can do it quickly and well. You're the opposite of him, a usually calm person, but when you do this kind of thing, you're in a hurry. ”

Gao Daquan exhaled: "I don't know why, when I see this kind of thing, my head is big, and I am in a hurry when I touch my hand, and I can't do anything." - By the way, do the officials want to call Sun Qilang? ”

Xu Ping nodded: "Yes, I have already sent a letter to my family, and he will come over after the New Year." ”

"It's good that Shichiro is here, I'll leave these things to him, and I'll be able to take it easy. And Shichiro has a temperament, so we're more lively when we come here. ”

"It's not just a jump, Shichiro is a troublemaker." Xu Ping shook his head and looked at Huang Tianbiao, who was walking in from outside the door, wearing a hat, wearing a robe, carrying a bamboo basket in each hand, and carrying a big one on his back. "Plus this one, it's a perfect match, Ruhe County is just afraid that there will be no more quiet days."

Huang Tianbiao walked into the courtyard, put down the two bamboo baskets in his hand, and shouted to Xu Ping: "General judgment, there are the most fish and shrimp outside in rainy weather, why are you all nested in the house?" You see, I've only been out for half a day, and there are half a basket of prawns here, and a dozen crabs. By the way, I also caught three big oily fish, this fish is only produced locally, only grows in the cave water, and cannot be seen in the Central Plains! ”

When Xiuxiu heard this, she stood up suddenly: "Is there any fish to eat?" is still a good person in Huang County, who knows how to go out and find these rare and good things to give us outsiders to eat! ”

Huang Tianbiao smiled at Xiuxiu and said, "It's not just an oily fish!" You see, I also caught a pair of mandarin ducks for you, and you can raise them to play to relieve boredom. ”

As he spoke, he took off the big basket on his back, released a pair of small mandarin ducks from it, and paced it crookedly on the ground.

Xiuxiu cheered, regardless of the raindrops wetting her body, she ran out to the yard, bent down to look at the two little mandarin ducks, and asked, "County Lieutenant Huang, where did you find them?" ”

"Haha, these two little guys ran to the road by themselves and stopped me from walking, didn't they send them to the door themselves? I caught it easily, do you like it or not? ”

Xiuxiu nodded again and again, saying that she liked it.

Xu Ping, Gao Daquan and Tan Hu just shook their heads and smiled bitterly, Huang Tianbiao, as a county lieutenant, is also a serious court official, but he has never been serious, doing these children's things all day long.

In the past, when Zhu Zongping was there, he was in charge of the county's public security, Zhu Zongping left and replaced Zhang Ronglai, Zhang Rong didn't care about the local security, and Xu Ping had already gathered the county's households into a team, and there was still no Huang Tianbiao. He is also happy to be free, led by Yue Yue Yulu, hunting and fishing every day.

For example, the development of the area is not long, the land is planted for a year, and of course there is no landlord who owns a large piece of land, Xu Ping did not spend much money to collect all the land and make it an official land. The original peasant households were organized to work, and although they did not have the freedom they had before, the amount of money and grain they received more than doubled, and except for a few people, they did not encounter any resistance. A small number of dissatisfied people, including Huang Tianbiao, the original patriarch, had to be honest and obedient.

At this time, this area did not even have one percent of the population of later generations, and it was full of primeval forests and swamps, and if you were not afraid of tigers, leopards, black bears and poisonous snakes everywhere, you could fill your stomach by grabbing something. However, in order to live a life of food and clothing, the most efficient way is to organize and develop, and if it is not organized by the government, it is necessary to let the chieftains concentrate people as slaves, and only when people are concentrated can they change nature.