Chapter 246 Achievements
Looking at the things on the table, Xu Xiancheng hesitated for a moment and then his expression became relieved. He did not refuse and took them directly.

He understood Zhu Shenzhui's good intentions, and what he gave him was indeed useful. After all, studying abroad is not just for fun. This time, Xu Xiancheng planned to travel to various places, which would take at least a year, maybe even longer.

The next imperial examination would be in two years. Xu Xiancheng planned to wait until half a year before the provincial examination before returning. It would not be possible to be away for such a long time without preparation.

The Xu family was only a well-off family. Although Xu Xiancheng had prepared for his study abroad, he still did not have enough money. Originally, Xu Xiancheng planned to borrow some money from his classmates after returning to Pingshun. He also planned to bring some goods to the south on his study abroad trip and earn money by selling them.

But now he doesn't need it anymore, Zhu Shenzhui gave it to him directly, although it's not much, it's enough to support his study tour if he spends frugally. With this money, his study tour plan will be much smoother, not to mention there's also a badge of Zhou Anmin, which is a good thing, if there's any problem when he's out, asking Jinyiwei for help can save a lot of trouble.

Seeing Xu Xiancheng accept these, Zhu Shenzhui was relieved. In addition, Zhu Shenzhui told Xu Xiancheng that he had prepared gifts for the Xu family when he returned to Pingshun, and asked Xu Xiancheng to take them back. In addition to the gifts, there were two donkeys, one for the father-in-law to travel on weekdays, and the other one was for Xu Xiancheng to study abroad, so it was just in time for him to use it.

It’s not that Zhu Shenzui didn’t want to give Xu Xiancheng more silver. As he said, it would be inconvenient to carry too much money, and it would be easy for people to target him if he had too much silver on him. Forty taels of silver was not a lot, but it was not a small amount either. As long as he didn’t spend it lavishly, it would be enough for Xu Xiancheng to spend on his studies.

As for the donkey, Zhu Shenzhui also considered it specially. Zhu Shenzhui's Hengtong Trading Company has many horses. After all, the trading company has cooperation with the Mongolians, and horses are not rare in the Mongolian tribes. However, Zhu Shenzhui did not give horses but only donkeys, considering that horses are military supplies in the Ming Dynasty, so they are not a problem in Shanxi, but once they go to other places, a weak scholar with a horse on the road will attract too much attention and cause trouble.

As for the donkey, there is no problem. Riding a donkey is very common. Compared with horses that are difficult to take care of, donkeys are easier to take care of. They just walk slower. But traveling for school is not about rushing, so riding a donkey slower is safer.

The New Year has passed, and the third year of Tianqi has arrived.

The Lantern Festival came in a blink of an eye. After the lively Lantern Festival, Xu Xiancheng was ready to leave Pingyang.

Seeing her brother leaving, Xu Jingqiu felt very reluctant, but she also knew that her brother could not live at home forever. After all, she was no longer the daughter of the Xu family, but the daughter-in-law of the Zhu family. It was okay for him to visit as a brother-in-law, but it was not the same thing for him to live there forever.

Moreover, Xu Xiancheng was going to go on a study tour next. Xu Jingqiu understood the ambition in her brother's heart. Even though she was worried in her heart, she did not show it on the surface. Instead, she helped her brother pack his luggage with a smile.

Knowing what his wife was thinking, Zhu Shenzhui comforted her with some kind words and whispered his own arrangements in her ear. After hearing what Zhu Shenzhui said, Xu Jingqiu finally felt relieved and was touched by her husband's careful arrangements for her brother.

On the sixteenth day, Zhu Shenzhui and his wife accompanied Xu Xiancheng all the way to the city gate.

Xu Xiancheng told them that they didn't need to send him off anymore. He would walk along the official road out of the city and it wouldn't take long for him to get back to Pingshun. The weather hadn't warmed up yet, the ice and snow hadn't melted yet, it was windy outside, and my sister had just given birth, so it wasn't good to be exposed to too much wind.

In this way, Xu Xiancheng waved goodbye to Zhu Shenzhui and the others, got on a donkey, and the other donkey carried the gifts and luggage for the Xu family, and slowly went away to the distance of the official road. Seeing her brother's figure gradually getting farther and farther away, and slowly disappearing, Xu Jingqiu finally couldn't help but shed tears.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine on this study tour. I've already written to my brother-in-law, and he'll arrange someone to take care of me secretly." Holding Xu Jingqiu's somewhat cold hand, Zhu Shenzhui said softly to his wife.

Xu Jingqiu nodded and went home with Zhu Shenzhui. When she got home, she heard the child crying. Xu Jingqiu, who was worried about her brother just now, put other things behind her and hurried into the house. When she saw the child, she realized that he had woken up and was hungry. She held the child in her arms and fed him milk. The little guy ate with big mouthfuls, and the room became quiet instantly.

The days that followed were uneventful, and with the arrival of spring, the weather began to gradually warm up.

Zhu Shenzhu took some time to go to Zhaowuling to see the situation there. Because Feng Quan came to Shanxi, Zhu Shenzhu had not been to Zhaowuling for several months. Although there was correspondence between them, he knew that Zhaowuling had been going smoothly according to his plan, but some things were not enough just by letters, and he had to go and see them with his own eyes.

When we arrived at Zhaowuling, we found that it was just as written in the letter. Zhaowuling had changed a lot compared to the initial stage. Now the whole Zhaowuling had been completed as planned, and both the 100 households and the mines had grown to a considerable size.

Although the fields and mines had been idle for more than two months due to the winter, everything is now reviving in an orderly manner with the arrival of spring.

This year's land reclamation and field cultivation are more than last year's, because there are more cattle and horses transported from the grassland, and the manpower efficiency of land reclamation and planting has been greatly improved. As long as God does not lose his temper, I think this year's autumn harvest will be very good, just like last year. Although it has just begun here, after deducting the use of the hundred households and adding the distribution of the guards, Zhu Shenzui still has a surplus.

All of this is a good start. I think by the end of this year, a lot of food will be accumulated not only in Zhaowuling, but also in Yangtoushan.

But this is far from enough. Zhu Shenzui is very clear that the Ming Dynasty does not have any major problems in the next few days, but in a few years, the consecutive years of drought at the end of the Ming Dynasty will come.

This drought was unprecedented in 500 years. All fifteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty suffered from it, and it lasted for five full years.

The situation in the south is better. After all, the river system in the south is well developed. Even if there is a drought, only some small rivers and streams will dry up, and there is still water in the big rivers. Although the difficulties have not reached the worst situation, the impact on agriculture has not reached the point of complete destruction.

But the north is not so good. The north is not as well-developed in water resources as the south. One or two years of drought can be endured, but the five-year drought has dealt a devastating blow to the entire north. As the drought continues, many places in the north can be described as "a thousand miles of barren land". In particular, the drought has caused crop yields to decrease or even fail, making it impossible for the people to survive on their own.

This was also the cause of the chaos at the end of the Ming Dynasty. People could not survive without food, so they had to rebel to survive. Although Zhu Shencui did not know much about history, he had heard of the great drought at the end of the Ming Dynasty. He did not know the actual time period when it occurred, but now he could prepare in advance and store as much food as possible. This was the only thing Zhu Shencui could do.

The workshop was developing well. Zhao Da was a good worker. Ever since he was put in charge of the workshop and given an official position, Zhao Da had been working wholeheartedly and cared more about his work for Zhu Shenzhui than for his own family.

With Zhao Da's efforts, the workshop has developed steadily and has now grown to a considerable size. In addition to smelting, the workshop has also expanded its production of tools to a certain scale, with output increasing many times compared to the initial stage.

Walking around the workshop, Zhu Shenzhui was very satisfied with the neatly arranged items in the warehouse. There were all kinds of these items, including iron pots, hoes, axes, saws and other common iron products, as well as military equipment such as gun heads and swords, and even muskets and firearms, among which there were two imitation Portuguese cannons.

However, Zhao Da told Zhu Shenzhui that the Portuguese cannon had not yet been finalized, and the imitation was only a one-to-one imitation of the Portuguese cannon shipped from the garrison. However, the effect of the imitation was not good, but it was not a problem of craftsmanship. Zhao Da's craftsmanship was very good, and there were also professional craftsmen in Zhaowuling, so it was not too difficult to imitate this thing.

However, no matter whether it was a replica or the original one obtained from the garrison, the performance of the Portuguese arquebus was not satisfactory during use. According to Lao Jin and others, the Portuguese arquebus from the garrison was not the authentic one. It was originally a replica, and it was crudely made and could only be barely used. If it was imitated to this extent, no matter how good it was, it would still have inherent deficiencies.

For this reason, Zhao Da specially invited Lao Jin and others to come and humbly ask about the Portuguese cannon used by Qi's army before. However, although Lao Jin and others had used it before, they were not professionals. His identity was that of a soldier of Qi's army, not a craftsman. He naturally knew whether the things were good or not, but it was not so easy to explain the inside details.

But even so, Zhao Da still learned some details from Lao Jin. Combined with his own years of experience and exploration when imitating, Zhao Da still found all the tricks and methods. These days, Zhao Da has begun to design and research the production of the Portuguese arquebus on his own. However, whether it can be completed and what the effect will be after completion will take time.

Apart from these, there are two good news.

The good news is that the military training of Lao Jin and others has achieved initial results. After several months of training by Lao Jin and others, the one sentry and four teams have already taken shape. Zhu Shenzhui went to Zhaowuling specifically to watch the training. Compared with the initial training, these people are very different. They stand on the training ground with weapons in hand, and under the strict discipline, they have become a strong army.

Especially when Lao Jin and others separated the four teams, with Wang Jinwu and others as captains respectively, to conduct combat exercises, under the command and whistles, these soldiers deployed their formations, and whether attacking or turning, they changed their formations and advanced and retreated in a measured manner. They fought each other back and forth with shouts of killing, and Zhu Shenzui was even more delighted to see it.

(End of this chapter)

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