The ice lanterns were not popular among the people heading north, but the people in the capital.
The people in the capital who liked to use ice lanterns were not high-ranking officials or aristocratic families, but businessmen. After the 15th day of the lunar month, people immediately followed suit.
Low-ranking craftsmen could carve beautiful ice lanterns with a little money. The empty space in the middle was bigger, or the bottom was higher than the ground, so they did not have to worry about candles going out. In the worst case, they could dig a hole in the ice where it would not be easily discovered.
Businessmen used ice lanterns as advertising signboards, especially in the busiest night markets in the eastern and western markets. Every shop would have an ice lantern in front of it, even if the weather was gradually warming up.
After the 15th day of the lunar month, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan finally found out where Li Xun was going. He was enfeoffed as the Prince of Tong 'an County and was in Huainan County.
Normally, a fief like Li Xun would not allow him to go there. The fief would only collect a portion of the local tax. It was more of a title.
However, due to various reasons, Li Xun was really sent there.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan did not know if the two of them had changed history, or if the history they had arrived at was as such. In any case, Bi Gou, who was supposed to be dead, was still alive, and Li Xun, who had also died early, was still growing up healthily.
The two of them were now studying Tong 'an County. They did not know where it was. At first, they thought it was in Xuzhou. The name was too confusing, so they kept changing it. Later, they felt that it was wrong.
Fortunately, the two of them had a map sent by the local government. It was very detailed. For the sake of playing the game, it was a military map and business blueprint. Other than the palace, the other detailed map of the entire country was in the hands of Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. The two of them needed to gather and distribute the benefits.
"Lake Tai, I see Lake Tai. That means it is not far from the sea. It belongs to Jiangsu, right? No, it is not a lake, it is a place. Where is it? "
Wang Juan found the two words Lake Tai from the index. After a moment of joy, she realized that it was wrong.
"It belongs to Anhui Province. Go up the river and down the river, it is Jiangsu. It is a little different from what we expected. How big is Li Xun? Was Tong 'an County a county or a province? You can call it a province, but it's a little smaller than a normal province. You can call it a county, but it's a little bigger than a normal county. "
Zhang Xiaobao rested his chin on his hand as he fretted. He hoped to be closer to the sea so that transportation would be more convenient. He didn't have to make money through logistics. The main thing was that he could sell the local specialties and buy the useful goods back.
"Come, look at the map. I've found the specific location. It's next to the Yangtze River. It's easy to transport. Oh, will there be frequent floods?"
Wang Juan's hand tapped on the map, where a river was clearly drawn.
Zhang Xiaobao gestured on the map, "This doesn't look like the terrain of a flood."
"Why not? If the Yangtze River kept going east, it would be fine. But here, it turns to the northeast. It's so big, just like the Yellow River." The more Wang Juan looked at the place, the more uncertain it was.
Zhang Xiaobao was depressed. Why did he have to face danger wherever he went? He stared at the map and said after a while, "I don't believe that we will be able to get rich when we get there this year. I've decided. When we get there, no, right now, we will see if we have anyone doing business there.
Plant more trees. Plant more trees along the Yangtze River in Shuzhou. Build dikes. If there's really a flood upstream, the willow trees will grow fast and survive easily. Tell me, the damage to the trees isn't too bad now. Why is it that they can flood? "
"It has nothing to do with that. If a lot of vegetation is damaged, flooding is inevitable. But it doesn't mean that there won't be flooding if there is a forest. The geology is always changing. Besides, what's the use of planting trees? It's not a sudden flood. It's accumulated from upstream. If you really want to plant trees, plant them upstream. "
Wang Juan didn't complain about the environmental damage. Even if they planted trees, it could only reduce the disaster, but it couldn't prevent it. Besides, if there were too many trees, it was easy to cause forest fires. As long as the earth was still moving, as long as the geology was still changing, no one could say that there wouldn't be disasters.
The only way was to reduce the probability as much as possible and invest more money in prevention and emergency.
Of course, the Tang Dynasty destroyed the vegetation too much for food. But the creation of the desert couldn't be blamed on cutting down trees. There were many reasons to change the environment, and people were only one of them.
Wang Juan didn't object to Zhang Xiaobao planting trees. Since people could destroy, they could also fight with nature and carry out maintenance. In the process of increasing and decreasing, many disasters that shouldn't have happened could disappear.
But she and Zhang Xiaobao couldn't go upstream to stop people from destroying the forest and building farmland, unless they could find higher yield food earlier. Why would people care about environmental protection? Compared to a disaster that they might not encounter in their lifetime, being able to eat tomorrow was the most important thing.
"Xiao Bao, why don't you work hard to repair the dam? It's useless to only plant trees in one place," Wang Juan suggested.
Zhang Xiaobao laughed and said, "Don't I know that planting trees is useless against floods? It's just an excuse. There must be good farmland nearby. If you want to plant trees, will they let you? Isn't it to strengthen the dam?
I don't have a deep impression of this place. My father has to develop there. The transportation can't be compared to places where there are canals, and the mineral resources are not easy to develop. How can we not think of some access?
Looking at the map, we know that the place is not big. As long as it is planned well, planting food will not be delayed, and we can also plant some medicinal herbs. I found that people nowadays pick medicinal herbs instead of planting them. Let's plant willow trees there. In the name of disaster prevention, we can plant medicinal herbs in the space between the willow trees. In the future, we can sell medicinal herbs.
A hundred-year-old ginseng may have mutated parts, but I don't think there is any difference between a twenty-year-old ginseng and a five-year-old ginseng. At most, we can increase the dosage. Since we don't know how to plant ginseng now, we will plant what we can. "
"Is that what you think? But where will we sell the medicinal herbs after planting them? " Wang Juan understood that Zhang Xiaobao's thoughts were not on disasters at all. Excuses, all excuses.
"Of course, we will sell them to our own families and hospitals. I don't know if it's because of the development of our society at that time or the current society. You say that doctors are important, right? They are. Even the palace has imperial doctors. On the other hand, their social status is too low.
We can help craftsmen by organizing competitions, and doctors should be the same. This profession is the same as teaching. If we can guarantee their moral character, it will play a very big role in promoting the development of society.
I am prepared to wait until the day comes when the people of the Great Tang can enjoy treatment at an extremely low price. In the spirit of internationalism, good things should be shared with other countries and races, and they should be able to enjoy better medical treatment before the people of the Great Tang.
The price should be lower. For example, a stone of copper ore can be exchanged for a medicine to treat colds. For example, the Yinqiao Tablet in Chinese medicine should be used to help them. Also, Japan, which has been living peacefully with us, should enjoy the same or better treatment. There should be a lot of silver there, right? One tael of silver for such a big pill that can help digestion. It's cheap. "
Zhang Xiaobao finally showed his dirty tricks. His hand drew a circle with a diameter of about three centimeters to show the size of the pill.
Wang Juan nodded. "I understand. You're planning to shift the losses from the subsidies to others. The benefits you speak of are only for the people of the Great Tang, and then you'll have others pay the bill. What's the difference between that and the western countries of our time? They used various means to pressure their own people's welfare on other countries. "
"That's not the same. The social system is different. They are capitalist, which I am very disgusted with. I want to protect imperialism. Compared to our time, the current medical treatment is backward, but now it is advanced for other countries.
Nowadays, the people of other countries yearn for the Tang Empire just like how we yearn for the western countries in the first 50 years of our time. They would rather spend 50 or 60 RMB to buy fried chicken from a foreign chain store than spend 30 or so RMB to buy a roast duck. This is not only related to the value of the goods, but it also represents a kind of consumer psychology. "
"It's not the international standard price. At that time, the money to eat abroad was cheap compared to the currency of that time." Wang Juan also knew about that period of history.
How is it cheap? It's not cheap to have fewer things. Without vegetables, the price of vegetables is high in foreign countries, and they pay attention to the nutrition. In China, there is only meat and vegetables. Fortunately, I didn't live in that era. Let's go and ask Grandpa Bi. Has my father's matter been settled? "
Zhang Xiaobao seemed to have specially studied the history of that period. He pulled Wang Juan to ask about his father.
When the two of them found Old Man Pi, the Old Man Pi first said to them, "Xiao Bao, Cuckoo, now you can rest assured. The place has been settled, and the official of Lower Class 3 is in our hands."
"Lower Class 3? I thought it was Upper Class 4. " Zhang Xiaobao was stunned for a moment. At the same time, he had other thoughts in his mind. Back then, he thought that Shuzhou was like Zhongzhou, which was Upper Class 4. Now, his father was Lower Class 4.
Since he could be Lower Class 3, he must be the provincial governor of Shangzhou. If it was Shangzhou, there must be a lot of food, and the economy must be prosperous. Was that place really that good?
While Wang Juan was happy for Zhang Xiaobao, she also asked, "Grandpa Bi, what about my father? My father is still a Lower Class 4 scattered official. "
"This … this is not easy to handle. We will find a way in the future." Old Man Pi didn't expect Wang Juan to ask for an official position for her father at this time. It was indeed not easy to achieve this wish. He had just arranged a position for Zhang Zhong, which was a position that was exchanged for benefits. It was a bit too much to add another one in immediately.
Zhang Xiaobao knew that Old Man Pi had done his best. It was not easy for a person who was already idle at home to help. He didn't get any benefits from the exchange.
Since it was not easy to handle, then it would be delayed.
"Grandpa Bi, when will my father take office? We can't delay the spring plowing. "Zhang Xiaobao asked the thing he was most concerned about.
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