Chapter 371 Listen to the tune but not the announcement
The afternoon sun is very warm, and it is very comfortable to shine under the verandah.
Several sparrows that survived the cold snap flew down, jumped in the snow, and seemed to be dancing to Qin Lang who was sitting on the deck chair.
Qin Lang chuckled, grabbed a handful of millet, and sprinkled it on the snowy ground under the corridor. The sparrows immediately jumped for food, chattering non-stop.
"Teacher, sparrows are all pests and eat crops. Why don't the heavy snow and cold wind freeze them to death, instead feed them?" Cheng Qian sat next to Qin Lang, and didn't quite understand his behavior.
Last year's winter was very cold, and today's spring came very late. Many sparrows froze to death and starved to death.
These few are also the lucky ones, and they are also very smart. Knowing that it is hard to live in the wild, they ran into the city, and even came here often after getting food in the Duke Yi's mansion.
"This sparrow is petite. It is called a sparrow because of its brown and black spots on its body. These little guys are distributed in mountains, swamps, grasslands, and hills. They don't like dense forests, but bushes and grass."
"They also have another characteristic, that is, they like to move around inhabited places. They are very active, bold and approachable, curious, and alert. They also like to live in groups. In autumn, they often form hundreds or even Flocks of thousands of finches, and in winter, small flocks of a dozen or dozens."
“These little ones are very intelligent and show an affinity for those who help them that lasts a long time.”
Chengqian listened carefully.
"But they are pests and eat crops."
"You only see them eating crops, but you don't see them eating pests. When sparrows are brooding, they mainly prey on insects, especially crop pests. In winter and early spring, they eat grass seeds. "
Sparrows can lay six eggs in one oviposition period. The incubation period is only half a month, and the young can leave the nest in one month. They can hatch two broods a year.
These sparrows are noisy, and they will eat crops in groups in summer and autumn, but they also eat pests.
Qin Lang remembered that at the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, sparrows were listed as one of the four pests, and the whole people were mobilized to hunt sparrows, but later found that without sparrows, crops were actually more pests and losses were even greater.
"So do you understand? Although sparrows can eat crops, they will also kill insects for the crops. If there are no sparrows to catch insects, the yield loss caused by crop insect pests is actually much higher than that of crops eaten by sparrows. We can look at it from another angle. Look, the food the sparrows eat is actually just a little reward for killing insects for us."
When you look at things, you have to look at both sides, not only the bad side, but also the good side.
"You can't ignore the benefits of their hard work in catching insects just because it can eat food."
From this point of view, sparrows should belong to beneficial birds, and they like to be with people, so they should be called human partners, just like cats and dogs.
"Cats catch mice for people, but they also need to be fed. Isn't it the same as sparrows?"
Chengqian was surprised that he could still treat the sparrow like this.
"Actually, many things are like this, just like the current situation in Lingnan. Many people in the court said that Feng An and others refused to accept Wang Hua and wanted to send troops to attack him, but we can't be so arbitrary. Feng An is actually just like this sparrow. Same, there is a bad side, but there is a more useful side, the court needs to face up to it.”
A Huang walked in, bowed to Cheng Qian first, and then said, "Feng Zhidai is asking to see you outside."
Qin Lang smiled and said, "I expected him to come, let him come."
Now in Chang'an City, there are more and more voices of dissatisfaction with Lingnan. Qin Lang knows that there are actually many conflicts of interests involved. Further control of sugarcane planting in the upstream industry of white sugar has been achieved.
But the most suitable land in south of the Five Ridges for growing sugarcane, the land that grows the most sugarcane is the local emperors like Feng Anningchun.
The other is the nautical trade that is currently on the rise. The rise of foreign trade has not only promoted the prosperity of the Silk Road, but also led to the rise of maritime trade.
As for several important trading seaports, there is only one Dengzhou Port in the north. Yangzhou Port is actually in the south of the Yangtze River. Hangzhou Port, Guangzhou Port, Qinzhou Port and Jiaozhou Port are even in the south. Although Canton Port is under the control of the imperial court , but the coastal routes of Qinzhou Port and Lingnan were severely controlled by the three families of Feng Ning and Xian.
The dignified aristocratic families in the Central Plains are not willing to be restrained by these local tyrants, and even have to obey their assignments, so the voice of using force against Lingnan naturally became louder.
To put it bluntly, it is all for the sake of fighting for interests.
It is impossible for Feng An and others in Lingnan not to know the direction of the wind in Chang'an. Each of their families has sent children to the imperial court. On the surface, they are officials or study, but they are actually protons. Actively inquire about the news of the court.
Feng Zhidai would come to Qin Lang, he had expected it earlier.
Feng Zhidai came in with a child in his arms. This child was less than two years old. It was the son of Qin Lang's eldest son, Qin Jun's wet nurse, Xian Shi. The child was Feng Junheng, Qin Jun's breast brother.
Earlier, Feng Zhidai asked his son Feng Junheng to be Qin Jun's companion. The Feng family was originally from the Central Plains. After he was born in Bi Wan, Bi Wan's ancestor was named Bi Gonggao, who was the concubine son of King Wen of Zhou. Highly enfeoffed in Bi State in Xianyang, his descendants took Bi as their surname.
After the fall of the Bi Kingdom, the descendants of the Duke of Bi were reduced to civilians. Some lived in the Central Plains, some lived in the barbarians, and Bi Wan lived in the Jin State. Later, he was granted the title of Wei, and his descendants later called the Wei family. This branch of the Feng family took Feng as the surname because they got Feng Township as the town.
During the Yongjia Rebellion in the Western Jin Dynasty, the Feng family moved to the west of Liaoxi and served as generals under the Murong family of the Western Yan Kingdom.
Later, the Northern Yan was defeated by the Northern Wei Dynasty. Feng Hong, the king of the Northern Yan Dynasty, fled to Goguryeo with his subjects. In order to plot a counterattack and restore the country, he ordered his son Feng Ye to take 300 people to the south to join Liu Song in the Southern Dynasty.
Later, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty recognized Feng Ye's meritorious service, granted Feng Ye the title of Marquis of Huaihua, and granted him the title of Shepherd of Xinhui County. Since then, the Feng family of the Northern Yan Kingdom has settled in Lingnan, and it has been 200 years since then.
The branch that fled to Goguryeo that year later returned to the Northern Wei Dynasty and became a famous family in the north.
The branch that went south, although it has been in Lingnan for two hundred years, and has been married to the leader of the Li tribe, the Xian family, but the Feng family still retains many customs of the Central Plains, and also retains many customs from when they were in the north.
For example, this companion is a tradition when they were in western Liaoning.
Back then, the Feng family served Murong in western Liaoning, and according to the custom of Xianbei Murong, they selected companions for the children of the family from an early age. This companion should be a partner or friend, ranging from a few to dozens of people. Then fight side by side together, and share life and death.
Feng Zhidai took the initiative to let his son be Qin Jun's companion, naturally he wanted to cling to the Qin family, this is actually the same as his father Feng An sent him to Chang'an as a hostage.
Although the child is still young, because of this relationship, the relationship between the Qin and Feng families is naturally extraordinary.
Feng Zhidai talked about homework first, and then offered a lot of gifts.
Qin Lang took the gift list and read it for a while. The things are very rich, and it is not an ordinary gift for meeting.
"My grandfather wrote a letter from Gaozhou, saying that the weather in Lingnan this year is good, and the sugarcane has been planted, and the sugarcane has sprouted, and the growth is gratifying. This year, sugarcane is planted more widely than last year, and it is expected to squeeze more sugar. The public provides more gray sugar."
Qin Lang chuckled.
Whether it's the Feng family, the Ning family or the Chen family, even the slang like Tan Dian, they can't ignore the benefits of sugarcane planting now. The weather in Lingnan is good, and rice can be grown three times a year, so that kind of rice is basically There will be no shortage of food, but the transportation cost of growing food to the Central Plains is too high.
It’s different to grow sugar cane. The weather over there grows sugar cane well and yields high sugar. What’s more, sugar cane can be squeezed on site to make rough sugar, which can then be sold in the north. The sugar yield is high and it’s easy to transport and sell.
Especially now that Chang'an has mastered the most advanced white sugar method in the world, the sugar income in Lingnan is even higher.
Lingnan grows sugar, but they only master the lowest-level gray sugar production method. They can only sell gray sugar to Qin Lang and process it into white sugar, so they can't do without Qin Lang.
Feng Zhidai first used sugarcane planting as an example, probably because he wanted to show their importance to Qin Lang.
"I heard that there is some chaos in Lingnan recently. It seems that your father is fighting again in the Hall of Peace Talks? And Lingbo Fengxuan and your cousin Xian Baoche are also fighting with your father?"
Qin Lang shook his head at the somewhat nervous Feng Zhidai, "It has been six or seven years since Lingnan returned to the Tang Dynasty in the fourth year of Wude, and now it has been the second year of Zhenguan, but Lingnan is always in such chaos, Chang'an is very dissatisfied of."
"Do you know that yesterday His Majesty summoned me into the palace and brought up the recent disturbances in Lingnan, and he became angry. He even sent troops from dozens of Jianghuai states to fight against the Lingnan rebellion. I strongly advised and stopped it."
Feng Zhidai was sweating profusely on his forehead.
He knew it was true.
"Mr. Yi, my father has always been loyal to the imperial court. Since returning to the Tang Dynasty, he has never dared to have a second heart. Now it is Tan Dian and other scumbags who incite Luodou and other prefectures to make chaos. My father is also for the stability of Lingnan and the peace of the court. Mess."
Qin Lang smiled.
"Of course I believe in your father, but the problem is that many ministers and ministers in the court don't believe it."
"Also ask Duke Yi for help."
"Actually, this matter is also simple. As long as your father asks for an order to enter the court and come to Chang'an to present the situation in the South of the Five Ridges to His Majesty and show his loyalty, all these suspicions will disappear." Qin Lang said.
Feng Zhidai was a little startled when he heard that his father was allowed to enter the court, but he didn't dare to refuse.
In fact, it’s not that his father has never been to Chang’an. More than 20 years ago, in the first year of Renshou, the scumbags in the five states of Lingnan rebelled. In the seventh year of Daye of the Sui Dynasty, he led his children into Luoyang, followed Yang Guang to conquer Goguryeo, and moved to General Zuo Wuwei.
Feng An is now the governor of Gaozhou, Shangzhu Kingdom, and Geng Guogong, who is in command of Gao Luochun, Baiyadan, Linzhen Bazhou, and several other sons are also governors of any prefecture.
Generally speaking, Feng An has a very large territory. Later generations Hainan Island, Leizhou Peninsula, Zhanjiang, Maoming, Yangjiang and other places are all his territories. He is adjacent to the Ning family across the Yunkai Mountain. The area, and the whole of Hainan.
(end of this chapter)