Prodigal Son of the Ming Dynasty

  Chapter 93 Chun Wei

   "Old Fang... I heard that three of your students are going to take exams."

  In addition to research, Zhu Houzhao inevitably had a few gossips with Fang Jifan.

   "Yes, pointing at them to provide for the elderly." Fang Jifan lay on the stone table, looking at the composition on the paper, concentrating.

   "I can take care of you in the old age." Zhu Houzhao said with a smile: "We can study science until we grow old."

  Fang Jifan looked up at Zhu Houzhao, then lowered his head: "This is different."

   "Why is it different?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

  Fang Jifan said seriously: "The three disciples are equivalent to my three sons. It is only natural for a son to provide for his father."

   "But we are brothers." Zhu Houzhao clicked his tongue and said angrily, "I am very loyal."

   "Not sure." Fang Jifan shook his head again: "My son is more reliable."

  Zhu Houzhao bared his teeth: "I also heard that you bet with someone, and you will lose. Then Tang Yin is Ying Tianfu Jieyuan."

  Fang Jifan didn't care about him.

  Zhu Houzhao lowered his head and studied his "science" for a long time: "You said that fireworks can lift firecrackers to the sky, can't they also lift people to the sky?"

  Fang Jifan glanced at Zhu Houzhao in amazement. His Royal Highness is really smart, and he has figured out the principle of the rocket: "Theoretically, yes."

  Zhu Houzhao's eyes sparkled: "But, if a person ascends to the sky, will he fall to his death?"

   "Just give him an umbrella. In fact, let Liu Jin try it." Fang Jifan was thoughtful.

  Zhu Houzhao became excited: "Okay, I can't wait any longer. But... can I borrow some money?"

   "Borrowing money?" Fang Jifan looked at Zhu Houzhao suspiciously, you are **** kidding me, you are the prince.

Zhu Houzhao said dumbfoundedly: "Father's monthly regulations are pitiful, but Zhan's mansion has a lot of offerings, but sometimes, my palace asks Liu Jin and the others to go out and buy some food. Who knows, after winter, the price will skyrocket. Liu Jin said In the past, a bunch of candied haws cost only a few pennies, but now it costs more than thirty pennies."

  Fang Jifan clicked his tongue when he heard this, this is robbery.

   Liu Jin has been corrupted?

  Zhu Houzhao said: "He said that due to the continuous heavy snowfall, the production of many fruits and vegetables has decreased, so the prices have skyrocketed."

  Fang Jifan suddenly realized that he still wronged Liu Jin. Liu Jin, this fellow, would not dare to put the abacus on Zhu Houzhao's head.

As the young master of the Fang family, Fang Jifan is indeed a bit out of this world. Only then did he think of one thing. The impact of the Little Ice Age was not just as simple as heating in winter, because the winter was too long and the Mid-Autumn Festival did not come. Then it began to snow. This kind of cold weather lasted for less than half a year, and the crops were bound to decrease. Fortunately, Daming's grain-producing areas are mainly in the Jiangnan area. After all, it is in the temperate zone, and the situation is slightly better. And food can be sent to the capital through the Grand Canal, coupled with Emperor Hongzhi's hard work, at least the food supply for the army and the people can be guaranteed.

But vegetables and fruits are different. The shelf life of these things is not long, and now the food production has been severely reduced. It is impossible to encourage them to send a variety of fruits and vegetables to the capital in the south of the Yangtze River. The area of ​​the capital is covered by heavy snow all year round. How can there be any fruits and vegetables that can survive? .

  Therefore, even for some vegetables and fruits that are hardy in the season, the price has skyrocketed to an outrageous level.

The horror of this Little Ice Age may not be understood by future generations. In other words, even in later generations, with the technical means at that time, production could barely be guaranteed, but in this era of small farmers, the impact was great. The contribution of the Little Ice Age was not small. Because of the extreme weather, many places in the north had no crops, and a large number of people became refugees. The refugees accumulated more, and finally gathered into a torrent, wreaking havoc all over the world.

  Take a deep breath…

  Fang Jifan sensed a business opportunity: "Your Highness, maybe we are going to get rich."

   "Ah..." Zhu Houzhao looked at Fang Jifan in surprise.

  Fang Jifan said: "If we can grow fresh melons and fruits at this time, won't we be getting rich?"

  When Zhu Houzhao heard the word "facai", his blood spurted with excitement.

   "Get rich, bring me... melons and fruits... What kind of melons and fruits can I grow this season?"

  Fang Jifan squinted his eyes, the greenhouse... What melons and fruits can't be grown by using the greenhouse to create a greenhouse environment?

And at this time of year, NIAO faded out of everyone's mouth. It's nothing more than ordinary people's homes. It's good to be able to eat enough. Serve a lot of delicacies from mountains and seas.

  What are delicacies from mountains and seas? The point is rarity. For example, melons eaten in summer can be eaten in this season when even vegetables are in short supply. Isn’t this the delicacy of mountains and seas?

  What is a rich household? A wealthy household eats what others cannot eat and buys what others cannot afford.

  Take a deep breath: "We have to try it first. The old rule is that one person buys half of the shares. But first, we have to do some research. We need a piece of land. It's best if the land is in the city. It's too far away to take care of it."

"Yes." Zhu Houzhao is a very real person. When Fang Jifan said he could make a fortune, he believed it: "In Zhan Shifu, there is land, the back garden, go to the back garden. There are many flowers and plants there, called Liu Jin and the others. Pulled out."

   What a boldness!

Fang Jifan likes to cooperate with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. How should I put it, I have decided on one thing, and I can do any crazy thing. The back garden of Zhan Shifu occupies a huge area, but the flowers and plants there are spent by countless masters. Planted with countless painstaking efforts, every flower and every tree, I don't know how many people's thoughts have been spent.

  That frankly is a garden, no, it should be called Yuanlin!

  But...what the hell, it's not my garden anyway, so why worry about it?

  The most important thing now is to find a place and try it out first. Hello Zhan Shifu, the prince is here to watch every day, and I have to be on duty every day, which is convenient. Once it succeeds, the wasteland near the coal mine in Xishan will come in handy. The reason for buying the wasteland is that coal can be mined in that area, so as not to get a share of the pie, but now it can be used. .

Fang Jifan cheered up: "This is easy to handle. From now on, shovel out tens of acres of land, dig out a kiln, burn bricks, build a greenhouse, and connect the flue. Anyway, anthracite is worthless, and heat the flue." Some, and put it on top..."

  What to put on it? There is no transparent plastic sheet in this era.

  Glass is fine, it is colorless and transparent, and has strong lighting performance, but it is impossible to build a glass workshop just because of the current experimental field.

  The purpose of this field is to verify the feasibility of the greenhouse in the Ming Dynasty. The glass must be burned. Anyway, the production cost of this thing is low, and it can be used for large-scale planting in the future. Maybe it can be sold together with the glass.

   But now, they can't spend so much effort.

Fang Jifan squinted his eyes and saw the window of the attic hall of Zhan Shifu not far away. This window was made of colored glaze, not the paper windows of ordinary people. The colored glaze is actually glass, but it is not transparent and colorless. As far as light transmission is concerned, it is actually not bad.

   That's it.

   "That... glazed window, dismantle it, cover it on the greenhouse, and then breed. This is easy. Let's try growing watermelons first. Speaking of which, I want to eat melons."

  Zhu Houzhao was in high spirits, so he did what he said, and rolled up his sleeves: "I'm going to call the craftsman."

  Getting rich is Zhu Houzhao's deep-seated grievance, although he obviously doesn't know how much he spent for this experimental field, such as the expensive colored glaze, such as the expenditure of large-scale construction, and such as the waste of precious flowers and plants in the back garden.

  Experiments always require sacrifices, and after large-scale planting, the cost will plummet.

  Fang Jifan comforted himself in this way, which made his conscience feel more comfortable.

  …

  Spring is approaching.

  Ouyang Zhi and the three of them can be said to be gearing up.

  In the past few months, they have written countless articles.

   Waited until the ninth day of February.

  They got up early, but saw that their mentor was rare, and they also got up early in the morning, waiting for them in the front yard.

  The three of Ouyang Zhi stepped forward and saluted their teacher solemnly.

  Fang Jifan glanced at them with satisfaction, and said, "Take the exam well."

  (end of this chapter)