Chapter 1097: Transporting Grain

Su You said: "The eldest princess of Shu helped Wei'er manage the pharmacy. The shops that she used to marry, Zhuangzi, are all under her own management now... She is a capable person in the first place. In the past, she spoiled the prince-in-law to the point of arrogance.

"

"I hope everyone can learn some lessons. Being a couple is not that easy."

Speaking of this, Zhang Dunli suddenly burst into laughter: "The way of husband and wife... your Dasu family is still so narrow-minded! Chen Jichang is now famous all over the world!"

…

Chen Zhen and Su Shi are now in charge of the waterway transportation of grain from Han River to Shangzhou.

The meeting between Chen Zhen and Su Shi is also legendary. It was still snowing when Su Dongpo arrived in Huangzhou. Su Dongpo took his family along the stream while reciting poems.

Spring is coming, the valley water is gurgling,

Bright plum blossoms among the thorns.

One night the east wind cracked the rocks,

Half-way through the mountains with the flying snow.

Who brings wine to soothe the deep and quiet?

I feel bored and depressed...

As soon as I chanted here, I saw a person walking on the road ahead, wearing a square hat and holding a bamboo stick. The more I looked at him, the more familiar he seemed.

When the man approached, Su Shi couldn't help being surprised and happy: "Ji Chang, why are you here?!"

Chen Zhen smiled strangely: "Why is Zizhan here?"

Su Shi said that I had been demoted to Huangzhou. Chen Jichang "bowed down without answering, looked up and smiled" and invited Su's family to rest at his home.

It turns out that after Chen Zhen received Su You's letter, he immediately sold his huge garden in Luoyang, and at the same time sold all his land in Shaanxi, totaling thousands of acres. Without saying a word, he brought his family to Huangzhou, where he lived in Qi.

Ting settled down.

This is the kind of person who is chivalrous and can make a promise worth a thousand pieces of gold.

However, people become somewhat Buddhist when they reach middle age. Da Su "practiced" in Dongpo, and Chen Jichang also began to understand Buddhism inexplicably. Da Su was known as Dongpo layman, and Chen Jichang was also known as Longqiu layman.

The two of them were so good together, but everyone was harsh and said that the other was pretending to be a spiritual practitioner.

Two middle-aged urchins met in a friendly place. They chatted in the same room and forgot all about health care. They often stayed up all night long when chatting.

Wang Runzhi and Wang Chaoyun were used to Dasu, but the Liu family of Chen Zhen's family was different.

Chen Jichang often entertained guests. If a prostitute was called, Mrs. Liu would hit the wall with a big stick and yell and curse, which would often scare the guests away.

So Su Shi wrote the famous poem "Hedong Lion's Roar" in a letter to his friend Wu Deren, making fun of Chen Jichang.

Wu Deren is not a good bird either. He really has no virtue and takes it out to publicize it - Dasu has new poems! Everyone, come and take a look!

An allusion to later generations was passed down alive.

After learning about it, Huang Tingjian wrote to Chen Jichang: "Mrs. Liu needs medicine when he is examining her. In his old age, the father-in-law wants to seek pure happiness gradually. My concubine has nothing to do. How can my wife get sick because of her thoughts?"

The joy of schadenfreude is beyond words.

…

"Ah sneeze!" Chen Zhen, wearing a raincoat and a bamboo hat, was standing by the roaring Han River, watching the large fleet start to take off.

Dasu also wears hemp shoes and a bamboo hat. The robe is rolled up on his belt, and his back is already wet: "You have a cold? Remember to make some ginger soup when you go back. I have the Shengsanzi recipe handed down from Chaogu."

Chen Zhen rolled his eyes at Da Su and said, "It's okay. I keep sneezing these days. It must be that more and more people are thinking about me. Also, don't emphasize the word 'self'. My wife is very virtuous."

"Ah?" Seeing Chen Zhen start to glare again, Da Su quickly said: "Yes, yes... I think you are going to get sick, but you are still keeping in good health. You are really like the harmful Zen master Parrot Zen, the five-point balloon Huangmen concubine!"

The worst thing is a bad Zen master. A bad Zen master is not good at his business and only knows what others say like a parrot. The five-way balloon leaks everywhere. The concubine of the middle official can only look at it but not use it. Su Shi made fun of Chen Zhen for practicing useless Zen.

"You care about me!" Chen Zhen looked at Da Su with contempt: "You can't do Buddhist scriptures?"

Da Su tilted his head: "How do you know I can't do it?"

Chen Zhen said: "Buddhist scriptures flow out of Samadhi. Your words are all spoken after thinking, so you can't write Buddhist scriptures."

Da Su smiled and said: "You don't know this. I can already blurt it out without thinking. If you don't believe me, just point to something and I will blurt it out for you."

Chen Zhen turned around and left: "I won't be fooled by you! Do you want to come again?! You didn't leak out your samadhi, you wrote everything!"

Before, the two of them were bored and did not do anything serious all day long, just imitating the Jin people and talking about Xuan Lun Buddha.

Da Su was dissatisfied with Chen Zhen's parrot Zen, thinking that "if you don't save your original mind, you just make up the form. If this is not established, how can you rely on the other."

So he teased him, saying that he had recently understood Buddhism and was able to point out objects and understand the mind.

Chen Zhen didn't believe it, so Da Su asked him to point to something at random, and he could write an article after opening his mouth.

Chen Zhen pointed to the fish pillow crown on his head: "Then you do this."

Dasu smiled and said, "I'll do the talking, and you'll write it."

As a result, Da Su not only blurted out the words, but also spoke eloquently and non-stop, so fast that Chen Zhen had no time to dip his toes in the ink. He really thought that Da Su had realized the meaning of Zen, and was astonished by the admiration of heaven and man.

It took a few days to realize that Dasu was sneaking around with Hanbaowazi!

It wasn't until Su You's letter came that the two of them got down to business, and there was less nonsense.

On the way back, Chen Zhen said to Da Su: "Your method is better. Exchange the old grain with the new and send the old grain to Shaanxi. It is 20% cheaper than sending new grain, which is a full five hundred thousand shi more."

Dasu said: "There are still many things to do. The warehouse has been freed up, and repairs need to be stepped up. New grain will be put into the warehouse soon!"

…

In Xingluocang, Shen Kuo finally received the first batch of grain this year.

The old site of Xingluocang was once buried in the wilderness. Shen Kuo consulted local chronicles and consulted with his elders, and found the Heishiguan Ferry in the Tang Dynasty.

Historical records indicate that the other side of the river is Xingluocang.

Although Xingluo Cang had been destroyed by war after the wars in the late Tang Dynasty, those large warehouse pits were still in use!

The entire Cangcheng is one thousand meters long from east to west and 350 meters wide from north to south. The warehouse is kiln-style, and the superstructure has completely disappeared, leaving only an outer diameter of seventeen meters, an inner diameter of ten meters, and a depth of ten meters.

Huge warehouse pit!

One such warehouse pit can store 500,000 kilograms of grain, and there are as many as 700 such warehouse pits in rows from east to west and columns from north to south.

There are still 500 that can be repaired and put into use!

Moreover, on the west and south sides of Cangcheng, there are canals dug during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. After restoration, canals can be transported directly here.

At this time, the province was booming, and Shen Kuo immediately wrote to Zhao Xu, requesting that the Xingluo Cang Canal be repaired and the warehouses repaired. One warehouse could hold five thousand stones, and the entire Cangcheng could hold twenty-five million stones of grain and grass!

Shen Kuo also studied the methods of the ancients on how to keep this kind of warehouse, which is mostly underground, dry. After digging a large pit, he would first use fire to grill the bottom, and then avoid applying plaster mud, then lay planks and nail beams.

Lay the planks, add straw mats, and store the grain.

The kiln mouth is reinforced with special rammed earth, which is covered with a mud wall and tile roof, and ditches are opened around it to drain water.

But that was the method of the Tang Dynasty. Now the Song Dynasty has konjac glue, butyl rubber, and cement. The measures to prevent moisture and water leakage are definitely countless times better than those in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

After bidding, the order was won by the Sitong Engineering Department. Now the first batch of five warehouses has just been completed and the first batch of grain has arrived.

The steam engine rumbled, driving the long belt rollers. The warehouse guards put the grain on the ship into sacks and threw them on the belts. The bags were automatically carried up the slope.

Go and see Commander Caoding dumbfounded.

I... I also want to go to Luoyang for a few days to appease the young ladies and eat steamed buns made with yokan...

Damn it, it seems like the grain can be unloaded in half a day!

Shen Kuo stood on a high hillside, in the black smoke and steam of the boiler, waving a goose feather fan in his hand, looking like a wise man: "Zhuge Kongming is like a wood cow or a horse, can he survive this?"

Ambassador Bianbancang was a military leader born in the right class, and he was flattering: "The bachelor is very clever and resourceful, I think he is as good as Zhuge Liang! But... what to do with those cave dwellings that were blown up in Luokou?"

Shen Kuo's expression froze: "It's warm in winter and cool in summer, so it's been used as a weapons repair workshop to pile up weapons and supplies!"

The military leader smiled and said: "That's not bad. Since it's warm in winter and cool in summer, I'll buy an area for the bachelor as a resting place."

Shen Kuo was so frightened that he almost dropped his goose-feather fan. It is warm in winter and cool in summer to properly keep explosives and fire oil. You arranged for me to live next to the gunpowder barrel?
Chapter completed!