Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 191 Modern Grain Storage, a Divine Artifact in the Eyes of the Ancients! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

In the Song Dynasty, one shi (石) was equal to 120 jin (斤), so 1,000 shi of wheat was 120,000 jin, which is equivalent to 60 tons.

With so much wheat, the Wu Cheng King's Palace was transformed into a sea of ​​wheat, with even the area outside the main gate overflowing with it.

As Zhou Yi watched this scene, he felt a sense of wonder, as if Jiang Ziya had used magic to create a fountain of wheat.

However, if we look at it from another angle, Xin Qiji used a thousand shi of wheat to commemorate King Wu Cheng, which was unprecedented in scale... Shandong people are particular about everything, whether it's drinking or eating, and now they are doing it right in commemorating King Wu Cheng!
Xin Qiji realized he had done something wrong, so he quickly presented Su Baoheng's official seal and letter as proof of his position as Minister of Works, asking Zhou Yi to keep them. Then he cautiously asked:
"Immortal Master, what should we do with this grain?"

Zhou Yi found the seal quite interesting and said with a smile:

"I'll go down the mountain later and see where I can buy a grain storage box. I'll buy two sets and store the grain inside. It's very simple."

I remember the grain station in town had a grain pumping device that could pump grain directly onto trucks or piles like water. I'll borrow it later and, since there are so many people today, seal up all this wheat.

When Xin Qiji needed it again, he simply transported the entire granary of wheat away.

Hearing the commotion, Chen Tang ran over, saw the grain in the Wu Cheng King's palace, and then sized up Xin Qiji:

"You stole from someone's granary?"

These words inspired Xin Qiji:

“There are many large landowners in Shandong who are in cahoots with the Jin Dynasty. If I have the chance in the future, I will secretly transport their grain here. They are all exploited by the poor. I can use this grain to support the rebel army.”

If someone else had come up with this idea, Zhou Yi would have thought it was a wild idea, but Xin Qiji was different. This guy was too bold and seemed to have never been afraid.

Xin Qiji thought Chen Tang had an extraordinary appearance and took the initiative to bow to him.
"My name is Xin Qiji. May I ask if you are General Zigong in person?"

Chen Tang laughed heartily:
"I was originally planning to impersonate Xin Qingji, but I didn't expect you to see through me. I'll take a picture of you later so that Xin Qingji can have a good look at you... The descendants of the Xin family are so impressive, I really admire them."

So you're just pretending to be someone's ancestor because you're envious?

After exchanging pleasantries, Chen Tang put his arm around Xin Qiji's shoulder and asked:

When do you plan to start the uprising?

Xin Qiji pondered for a moment, then said earnestly:

"Shandong has been a place of rebellion throughout history, but in the end, no one succeeded. I think it's because the people don't understand rebellion enough. They only know how to rebel, but they don't know why they rebel. There is a lack of unity and depth in their thinking. So I plan to occupy the Yimeng Mountains and develop quietly first. It won't be too late to start an open uprising when Wanyan Liang marches south in a big way."

These words immediately made Zhou Yi look at him with new respect:
"Wow, that's impressive. You even figured out this problem."

Regarding the ideological aspect, Xin Qiji also elaborated on it in "Ten Essays on the Beauty of Celery". Only when the army and the people are united as one and take the fight against the Jin Dynasty as a continuous strategy can the Wanyan clan be driven back to the old forests of the Northeast and frozen into silly roe deer.

Unfortunately, throughout the Southern Song Dynasty, no one took these words seriously.

Even among the pro-war faction, many people only shout slogans to seek political gain, rather than truly wanting to liberate the northern lands.

From Zong Ze's three cries to cross the river and his subsequent death, to Xin Qiji's dying cry to kill the traitors, the hearts of these passionate men gradually grew cold.

To prevent Xin Qiji from going astray, the Book of Changes says:

"I'll find you some books later. Take them with you and study them carefully. If you want to help the poor, rebellion alone is not enough. You also need to distribute fertile land to the real farmers, instead of letting landlords interfere. Think about the specifics."

Zhao Xu hadn't arrived yet, so Zhou Yi went to the kitchen and started stewing pork ribs and pork belly, adding a lot of dried green beans, and also steaming a pot of rice. Then, he asked Li Qingzhao to watch over the kitchen, and then drove down the mountain to buy and store grain.

In the past, every household had a grain storage box, some made of bamboo, some of sorghum or reeds, and some of sheet metal.

But nowadays, large harvesters are used, and the wheat is harvested and taken directly to be sold. Households rarely store grain, so it's harder to buy grain that has been stored away.

Zhou Yi went to the town to inquire and found that there was no such thing.

Finally, following Jia Ziwang's directions, they drove to the northern outskirts of the county and found a processing plant that made custom grain storage containers.

Modern grain storage bins are made of thickened galvanized steel sheets, with reinforcement every 20 centimeters, making them quite strong.

Grain storage bins come in all sizes, ranging from two thousand kilograms to tens of thousands of kilograms.

Zhou Yi bought four grain bins, each 3.5 meters in diameter and nearly 4 meters high. Each bin could hold tens of thousands of kilograms of wheat or corn when fully loaded. The purchase of these grain bins also included a flexible grain suction machine.

After paying, Mr. Zhang, the owner of the processing plant, immediately began loading the materials onto the truck and followed Zhou Yi to the mountain to install the equipment on site.

Arriving at the entrance of the Wu Cheng King's Hall, Boss Zhang looked at the wheat covering the ground, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and asked:
"Wow, you Taoist priest are also a big landowner? How come you've hoarded so much wheat?"

Zhou Yi chuckled:
"Fearing a famine, all the grain harvested this year was transported to the mountain. We thought it would be safe to store it in the temple, but the granary inside collapsed and all the grain spilled out."

Mr. Zhang was an impatient man. Seeing the grain spilled on the ground, he felt distressed and quickly told the workers he had brought to start assembling the grain bin. The first step was to assemble the bottom of the bin. Then, several sections of curved sheet metal were connected with rivets and fixed to the bottom. The lower half was done. Next, two more layers were added, and the lid was made. The main body of the grain bin was then complete.

After finishing, Boss Zhang took a steel bar and wrapped it around the grain bin from top to bottom to prevent it from bursting open due to excess grain.

By noon, all four grain bins were ready, two on each side of the main gate of the Wucheng King's Palace. Boss Zhang also provided a frame, which could be used as a ladder to enter and exit the grain bins, and at the same time, the grain suction machine could be placed above the grain bins for easy dumping into them.

Zhou Yi checked everything, confirmed there were no problems, paid the remaining balance, and saw Mr. Zhang and his group off down the mountain.

A little while later, Zhao Xu also arrived, looking around the grain bin from left to right:
"If the Song Dynasty used this to store all its grain, the losses would be minimized."

Zhou Yi took several enhancement talismans and pasted them on the grain bin, saying with a smile:

"The losses of the Song Dynasty did not lie in this aspect, but in the supervisors. In every dynasty, once a major problem arose in the accounts, it would be like a fire burning down the granary. What snakes, insects, and rats ate was nothing compared to corruption."

Zhao Xu cupped his hands and said:

"I have already begun to handle this matter. I don't expect everyone to be a Zhuge Liang, but at least we can't be too blatant about it."

When Xin Qiji first met Zhao Xu, he strode over to pay his respects, but Zhao Xu stopped him.
"There's no need for formalities with Master. I never imagined that the Song Dynasty would fall to such a state. Next time, I'll bring you some weapons to help you succeed."

Since arriving here, Zhao Xu's perspective has changed a lot, and he has become less concerned about the Wang Chao family.

The Zhao family had already usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty. Now, rather than be usurped by someone else, they might as well support their own successor.

Zhou Yi checked the time; it was already midnight and Huo Qubing still hadn't arrived, so he decided not to wait for him any longer.
"Let's eat, let's eat. After we finish eating, let's start working with the food. I've never used this thing before, I need to figure it out."

Upon entering the kitchen and lifting the pot lid, the aroma of braised pork ribs and dried green beans was incredibly tempting. Zhou Yi then picked some lettuce from the garden and made a bowl of lettuce with oyster sauce. With just two simple dishes, it was time to eat.

Li Qingzhao quickly picked up a piece of pork rib with cartilage for herself and took a bite with relish.
"Master, is this dish easy to make? If it is, I'll make it for my master when he comes back. Knowing how much he loves to eat, he can easily eat three bowls of rice."

The Book of Changes says:

"It's not difficult, it's just that I don't know if your master's body can withstand it."

If Su Dongpo could hold out until he became the magistrate of Fengqiu County, I could strengthen his body. Anyway, there are still quite a few treacherous officials in the Song Dynasty; I could easily make up for it by killing a couple of them.

However, Zhou Yi was still unsure how much change the body-strengthening technique could bring. He planned to strengthen Zhao Xu's body after dinner to see if he could turn this only thin emperor of the Song Dynasty into a muscular monster.

While people were enjoying their meal and drinks, on the northern grasslands of Dingxiang in the world of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, a great battle finally broke out after a long-distance communication between Gongsun He, Su Jian, and Huo Qubing.

Yizhixie personally led his army in a counterattack, and the Xiongnu reserve forces hidden in the mountain valleys also came out to fight.

The moment he appeared, he was clearly seen by Zhao Ponu, who was clad in heavy armor:
"Huo Biaoyao, they've been mobilized."

Huo Qubing sat upright on his horse, gripping his lance with both hands, and issued the battle orders:

"Attack!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than twenty heavily armored soldiers, led by Zhao Ponu, took the lead at the head of the column.

The armor Li Shimin provided was mostly light armor, with only about twenty sets of heavy armor. However, for the Xiongnu people, who couldn't even equip themselves with a full set of leather armor, this was already a devastating blow.

The heavily armored soldiers, all riding the strongest warhorses, formed an iron torrent, leading the light cavalry straight towards the Xiongnu's reserve army.

Before the Xiongnu could even form ranks, their heavy cavalry rammed a large gap in their ranks. Zhao Ponu, wielding his spear, charged through the Xiongnu ranks with incredible speed and skill.

Then, they outflanked the Xiongnu and attacked them from the front. The Xiongnu, who had been lying in ambush for several days, fled in disarray before they even had a chance to go to the battlefield.

When the Xiongnu on the battlefield saw that the reinforcements had been driven away, they panicked and also ran away.

These foreign tribes, who only know how to fight when things are going well, will never know what it means to hold firm or what it means for military orders to be absolute.

Sima Qian, mingling among the light cavalry, was so excited that his voice became hoarse:
"It is a pity that the nobles in Chang'an know nothing about such a wonderful battle... After returning to Chang'an, I will record the details of this battle in detail so that the world can admire the bravery of our army!"

Huo Qubing, who was drinking water, heard this and asked with great interest:

"Sima Qian, would you be interested in summarizing the entire Battle of Dingxiang North? If so, I can borrow a set of your historical books for reference."

Sima Qian readily agreed:

"I am willing. I have also aspired to write history, but unfortunately, I am not talented enough and do not know where to begin. If you could provide some guidance, I would be extremely grateful!"

Huo Qubing chuckled inwardly. When he got to his master's place, he would print out "The Biography of General Li" from the Records of the Grand Historian and let him give an impromptu critique. That scene would surely be quite a spectacle!

(End of this chapter)