Chapter 586 583 [Imported Sheep]

Due to the intervention of local governments, more than 60% of the cotton fields in Jiangnan were replanted with drought-resistant crops such as millet, corn, and soybeans this year.

Because although cotton is drought-tolerant, it must not be affected by drought, otherwise the yield will be seriously reduced or even the harvest will be lost.

When there was a spring drought a few years ago, the government vigorously publicized it, but farmers were not very cooperative.

After suffering losses a few more times, cotton farmers learned the lesson.

This year's work went even more smoothly. Under the initiative of local officials and led by village and town farmers' associations, a large number of cotton farmers proactively contacted the government to purchase or borrow on credit seeds of millet and other drought-resistant crops.

In June of the New Calendar, the first batch of wool from Chahar was transported to Yangzhou for sale by merchants.

Textile merchants from Jiangnan gathered in Yangzhou to grab goods.

The foreseeable reduction in cotton production has caused the price of wool to rise, and even the lowest-quality felt has become a high-priced product.

"One dollar and a half, I'll pay a dollar and a half!"

"One dollar and five cents two!"

"I'll pay you one dollar and five cents!"

"..."

In the warehouse outside Yangzhou City, northern wool merchants actually held an auction here.

One dollar and a half, that is, one or two and a half pieces of silver, can be used to wholesale a load of medium-quality and roughly processed wool.

"One dollar and six cents, this boss has made a deal!"

Cao Fengji was so happy that Li Zicheng, the Shanxi businessman of the Fan family behind this guy, took advantage of the opportunity to pay him a lot of money. However, Cao Fengji was a blessing in disguise. The elder of the clan was beaten to the point of paralysis in bed. He took advantage of the prestige of Emperor Datong to separate from the Fan family and do business independently. He even changed his surname to Cao.

Through Zuo Xiaocheng's connections in Chahar, he obtained the right to purchase wool from several Mongolian tribes in Chahar.

The wool textile market in the south has been gradually developed.

Rumor has it that both emperors and empresses liked to wear woolen sweaters. The woolen cloak (actually a windbreaker) designed by the emperor himself became fashionable in Nanjing. The queen also taught her concubines to knit sweaters, and noble ladies in the capital also learned to knit sweaters. This kind of wool lining also became popular in Jiangnan.

"Boss, the wool sales this year are so good!" the clerk said happily.

Cao Fengji smiled and said: "The emperor likes to wear sweaters. This year's cotton production has been reduced, so the wool will naturally sell very well. You go back quickly and quickly, don't be stingy about the travel expenses, and go to the various grassland ministries to tell me that I will collect as much wool as they have! I There are tea leaves, iron pots, and salt bricks, and you can exchange them for wool!"

A severe drought in the south unexpectedly caused a shortage of wool, which also led to closer economic ties between Inner Mongolia's herdsmen and the Datong court.

…

Shanghai.

A Dutch merchant ship arrived at the port. It was obviously an official order. Otherwise, it would have been traded in Batavia and there would be no need to come all the way to Shanghai.

Several officials from the Ministry of Commerce, technical officers from the Animal Husbandry Institute, and some textile businessmen came to the Dutch merchant ship for handover.

The first is the textile merchant, squatting among the sheep to check.

You Jixian, an official from the Ministry of Commerce, asked: "How?"

Textile merchant Cui Dian stood up and said: "Yukozheng, there are two kinds of sheep here, one with coarse wool and one with fine wool. But what your majesty wants are fine-wool sheep, and the Dutch barbarians are trying to pass off the inferior ones."

You Jixian sneered: "How brave!"

The Dutch quickly explained: "His Majesty, the Emperor of China, wants English sheep, and these are English sheep. Our Dutch East India Company has no intention of deceiving His Majesty."

In fact, neither of the two sheep on board came from England.

Zhao Han was not familiar with the textile industry and did not understand the history of sheep. He preconceptionally believed that British sheep were the best.

But the actual situation is that the best sheep breeds in Britain have not yet been cultivated in this era.

The sheep breed with the best wool quality in Europe mainly lives in Italy and the Aegean coast. The Spanish Merino sheep are descendants of Phoenician fine-wool sheep. In order to save trouble, Dutch businessmen purchased a batch of Merino sheep and shipped them as sheep from England, which happened to meet Zhao Han's needs.

This batch of Merino sheep was scattered and fed on two boats, and there were naturally other goods on board.

While passing the Cape of Good Hope, the Dutch fleet encountered a storm. Although no ships sank, one of them was seriously flooded and drifted off the sea for half a month. All the merino sheep on board died.

What to do?

On the way, he went to Persia to buy black-faced sheep, continued to pretend to be English sheep, and shipped them to China for delivery.

You Jixian said to the animal husbandry official again: "Check it."

The animal husbandry officials were very careful and slowly inspected each animal. The teeth, hooves, hair, etc. were all opened and inspected.

Finally, 36 Merino sheep were selected, and You Jixian said: "We only need these. You can transport the remaining sheep back by yourself."

The Dutch knew they were at a loss but still wanted to make money, so they smiled and said, "The remaining sheep can be traded at half price."

"Half-price transaction, that's also the price of a Tianzhu horse!" You Jixian said angrily.

Shipping sheep from Europe is definitely not done at normal prices. In order to increase the enthusiasm of the Dutch, the landed price of each sheep is twice that of the Indian Marwari horse.

Dutch haggler: "Quarter the price?"

"One-tenth!" You Jixian bargained fiercely.

Persian black-faced sheep are mainly used for food. Although the quality of wool is not particularly bad, it is not much better than Chinese local wool. It was shipped thousands of miles away, but China was unwilling to trade, and it was impossible for the Dutch to ship it back.

After some haggling, the Merino sheep were sold at the order price, and the remaining black-faced sheep were sold at one-eighth of the price.

Sheep from Spain and Persia were shipped to Jeju Island in this way.

The horse breeding farm of the Datong imperial court is no longer on Jeju Island. There is a large Fuzhou horse breeding farm in Liaodong.

Today, Jeju Island has become an animal husbandry research base, mainly conducting breeding experiments on horses, cattle, and sheep.

The experimental methods are very primitive and bold, which is to cross-breed different species and create many strange and weird things. Of course, the main thing is to optimize crossbreeding and artificially correct the evolutionary direction of livestock.

This batch of sheep was brought to Jeju Island to focus on the optimal breeding of Merino sheep.

However, Spanish Merino sheep, Persian black-faced sheep, and East Asian native sheep will also be cross-bred with each other. What kind of thing can be produced by crossbreeding depends entirely on God's will. Even if they fail, they can still pick a few outrageous ones and send them to Nanjing for the emperor to see as a surprise.

Jeju Island, long ago renamed Jeju County, was originally part of Jiangsu and is now part of Shandong.

The county's registered population has rapidly increased to more than 50,000 people, about a quarter of whom are Han immigrants, and many are Koreans who have fled by boat in recent years. Three primary schools were built and one middle school was built, all of which taught Chinese.

…

"Are you knitting again?" Zhao Han asked with a smile.

"His Majesty!"

Liu Rushi and Tian Xiuying quickly stood up to greet them.

"Sit down." Zhao Han nodded.

The bamboo sticks for knitting sweaters were "invented" by Zhao Han himself, but the specific method of weaving had to be left to skilled craftsmen to study.

Skilled craftsmen invented one kind, and after it spread, folk women actually derived six kinds.

Tian Xiuying was so ingenious that she transformed gardens for the Beijing Imperial Palace and various ornaments for the Beijing harem. She had nothing to do and studied knitting sweaters in the harem, and actually invented a crochet method that could be used to crochet many patterns with wool.

Tian Xiuying's belly was bulging. With the help of the palace maid, she sat down carefully and said, "These are baby's wool shoes. They can be worn in winter."

Zhao Han picked up the half-knitted shoes. They were made of fine cashmere thread and would not irritate the baby's skin. He looked at it for a while and then said with a smile: "Is this a bat?"

"Knit a pair of bat shoes to pray for your children." Tian Xiuying already had a shadow in her heart. The sons she gave birth to to Chongzhen died one after another, and she only survived the last one. Now that I am pregnant with Zhao Han's child again, I really don't want to go through this again.

Liu Rushi smiled and said: "My husband is blessed, and the prince and princess are naturally blessed as well."

Compared with the slender figure in previous years, Liu Rushi's figure has become much plumper, and her relationship with Tian Xiuying is still the best.

Zhao Han suddenly said: "Your father has been found."

Tian Xiuying was suddenly startled: "Is my father okay?"

Zhao Han said: "When Li Zicheng was tortured for pay in Beijing, he was beaten half to death. With the help of his old friend Xiang, he hid in the mountains and became a monk. The Datong Army regained Hebei, investigated the Unscrupulous Monks, and confirmed his identity. In a few days, he It can be sent to Nanjing."

"Congratulations, sister!" Liu Rushi said happily.

Tian Xiuying also pursed her lips and smiled. The child in her belly was about to be born, and the whereabouts of her lost father had also been found. God was so kind to her.

Zhao Han said to Liu Rushi: "Your family has not been found yet."

Liu Rushi forced a smile: "It's okay not to look for it."

Zhao Han reminded Tian Xiuying: "The title of Datong is only awarded based on merit. When your father came to Nanjing, he could only give you a house and money. There is no title. Land can only be obtained if you live in the countryside. If you live in the city, you cannot divide the land."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty," Tian Xiuying said, "I will remind my father that he will never dare to make a mistake."

In the past few years, Zhao Han has been not only looking for the concubine's family, but also his former benefactor. The Tianjin officer who let him cross the bridge, the Tianjin woman who gave him water, posted notices with his facial features, and many people came to claim credit, but unfortunately none of them were up to the mark.

Liu Ru asked the palace maid to bring paper, pens and paints, unfolded the drawing paper and taught Zhao Han to paint.

Emperor Zhao is now also a cultural man with rich and colorful hobbies. The main reason is that I am too tired from reviewing memorials at work, so I have to find time for entertainment. In addition to reading, I am learning music and painting. I also learned to play Go, and even occasionally make cakes with Pan Qimei.

Under Liu Rushi's step-by-step guidance, Emperor Zhao painted a picture of flowers and birds today, which was quite comparable to that of a young child in a later Chinese painting training class.

"Husband, this parrot looks more and more like an owl." Liu Rushi couldn't help laughing.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Zhao Han laughed and said to Tian Xiuying: "Concubine Tian also paints a picture, we can't let Mr. Liu be arrogant!"

Tian Xiuying smiled and picked up the brush, and a flower and bird painting quickly took shape, crushing the emperor's graffiti.

As for the thing painted by Zhao Han, it was put away by Liu Rushi's personal maid. When her five-year contract expires, she can leave the palace and get married. Then she can collect it or sell it quietly. Anyway, the emperor's imperial pen is very valuable.

The waste coming out of the emperor's hands was generally not strictly managed.

Emperor Hongzhi of the Ming Dynasty also used coarse silk cloth to wipe his buttocks. One day he discovered that the coarse silk cloth he used to wipe his butt had been washed by the eunuch and sewn up to make a door curtain, which made him feel that he was too extravagant. Therefore, Sichuan was ordered not to pay tribute to this thing anymore, and from now on, just use toilet paper to wipe your butt.

Zhao Han continued to practice painting, but far away in Xuzhou, the Tianjin officer who had helped him finally found him!

(To put it bluntly, there is only one update.)