The Transmigrated Li Jin's Daily Farming Life (Translated With Mtl)

Chapter 127

The man was visibly taken aback, “Is he Li Jin?”
Initially, when he saw the two mathematical texts, he assumed that the authors must be well into their forties, with many years of teaching experience.
That’s why he never associated the visitor Xiuzhi with the name Li Jin.
Wan Yun said, “Why would I deceive you? He is Li Jin. Whether to help or not is up to you.”
During the time Wan Yun was back, although the man stayed in Fucheng, he wasn’t always by Wan Yun’s side.
Moreover, Wan Yun didn’t want him eavesdropping on his conversations with Li Jin every time.
Hence, this person still doesn’t know that ‘Xiuzhi’ is just Li Jin’s courtesy name.
Hearing Wan Yun’s words, the man made up his mind. He looked up at Wan Yun, who had been opposing him, and said, “It’s indeed genuine, but it’s not what I want.”
After saying that, without waiting for Wan Yun to speak, he picked up the cup that Wan Yun had just brought out, drank the tea from where he had sipped, and said, “This is what I want.”
Wan Yun left in a huff, flinging his sleeves.
It turns out this man’s name is Mo Xulin, from a military family, and he is the fourth child in his family.
When Wan Yun was able to take the official boat back to Ningxing Mansion, it was thanks to him.
There is one thing that Li Jin doesn’t know, and Wan Yun only knows a little about it, that is, “Meng Xue Suan Jing” and “Nong Sang Suan Jing” were not only popularized in various villages, but also in Mo Xulin’s army.

After all, they only spend at most half of the year in battle. The rest of the time, the soldiers are farming halfway up the mountain.
Some of the soldiers were originally farmers and had experience in agriculture, but they didn’t understand how to cultivate crops on the slopes of the northwest.
After all, the crops in different places vary. Some crops prefer water, some prefer shade, and some prefer sunlight.
In order to increase yield and ensure that their comrades could eat their fill, they also sought advice from the locals. However, they not only had language barriers with the locals, but some people even deliberately deceived them.
The saying “poor mountains and bad waters produce cunning people” is not without basis.
In the early spring of this year (Jiachen year), His Majesty received two mathematical books submitted by the prefect of Ningxing Prefecture.
Therefore, the general who was still in the capital for retirement knew about this. At that time, Mo Xulin wrote back to ask his father about the cultivation of crops on the Northwest Plateau. The old general wrote some of his own experiences and also sent two sets of books.
The old general didn’t know that when Mo Xulin saw ‘Proofreader Wanyun’, his hands trembled and he flipped it several times without even opening the pages of the book.
Afterwards, with the help of this agricultural and sericulture classic, they indeed found crops suitable for sowing in spring and autumn, with a short maturity period and high yield. The soldiers could eat to their heart’s content.
The soldiers were well-fed, and naturally, they had more energy for training.
But the one that had a quicker effect was obviously another book, “Meng Xue Suan Jing”. Most of the soldiers were illiterate, and some people could only recognize their own names but not write them.
“Meng Xue Suan Jing” was originally intended for children’s enlightenment. It was easy to understand and provided many practical examples.
Mo Xulin sent a military advisor to teach the soldiers “Meng Xue Suan Jing”, telling them how to count simply and how to calculate multiplication within ten.
More importantly, it also analyzed for the cavalry how to shoot more accurately, from which angle to go down, the enemy can be killed with one shot.
Although “Meng Xue Suan Jing” does not have the second half, it talks about the problems of radian and simple parabola. The military advisor was inspired by it and analyzed a set of theoretical knowledge for the cavalry.
No matter where, the combination of theory and practice always yields remarkable results.
In early April, Mo Xulin’s army won a complete victory. The Hu people sounded the gong to retreat and signed a ‘peace treaty’ with their dynasty.
After Mo Xulin handed over the command to the deputy general, he finally couldn’t bear it. Holding the books whose covers and spine were about to be worn out by his fingers, he hurried back to the capital overnight.
On the day Mo Xulin went back, he happened to see Wan Bangyan riding a tall horse, slowly parading through the city under the respectful gaze of the city’s girls and citizens, in a glorious and bright moonlight.
In the beginning, Mo Xulin followed Wan Yun back to the Central Plains, with the excuse of looking for the compilers of “Nongsang Suanjing” and “Mengxue Suanjing”.
In fact, this was just a cover. After all, the fact that these two books played a major role in the army could not be exposed for the time being, otherwise, Li Jin and Wan Yun might both be in danger.
On the surface, Mo Xulin was busy with official business, but secretly investigated why Wan Yun had not married over the years.
Although he was thick-skinned, he never thought that Wan Yun would do this for him.
After all, they are both men. After the brotherhood has been sublimated, they are destined not to be together. There is nothing more frustrating than this.
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The next day, Mo Xulin personally visited Li Jin.
Li Jin recognized his appearance, and Mo Xulin explained: “This matter may affect you and Wan Yun. I disguised myself for safety.”
Li Jin nodded in understanding.
Although Mo Xulin was of noble birth and had military merits, he was not at all arrogant. His tone was very sincere when expressing gratitude.
As for Li Jin, he was neither humble nor arrogant. Even when Mo Xulin spoke of the great impact of these books, Li Jin was merely surprised for a few seconds, quickly regaining his previous calm demeanor. He showed no signs of self-satisfaction.
This made Mo Xulin respect him even more. Even without the connection to Wan Yun, Mo Xulin treated him as an equal.
In the end, he even left a token for Li Jin.
“These gifts of silver and money will be sent to you later. This jade is a token from the General’s Mansion. If Mr. Li wishes to compile other educational books, you can directly contact the people in the General’s Mansion for publication matters. They will also send a copy to the northwest. Some things might come in handy.”
After Mo Xulin left, Li Jin felt as if he had grasped something, but upon careful consideration, he found nothing wrong with Mo Xulin’s words.
It wasn’t until before going to bed that night that Li Jin caught the word ‘northwest’ in Mo Xulin’s words.
Wan Yun had also mentioned before that he had submitted a post to go to the northwest to spread  Nongsang and Mengxue Sutras. Could their destinations be the same place?
However, Li Jin was obviously not that curious.
After understanding this point, he gradually fell asleep.
When Master Pang learned that Li Jin was going to take his family to the capital, he did not express surprise, but directly gave him a land deed.
“This house was given to me by someone else. It has been cleaned all the time. You can live in it directly when you go. Anyway, you only live for less than a year. No one in the capital is willing to rent for such a short time. This house is temporarily lent to you.”
Seeing that Li Jin was about to thank him, Master Pang hummed, “There is also a pond in this yard, remember to practice your handwriting well.”
Li Jin laughed, “Thank you, Master, for your guidance. I will definitely follow Master’s orders.”
Master Pang was very satisfied and said, “You will try your best to take the imperial examination and the palace examination. You don’t need to put too much pressure. You can only perform normally if you have a good mentality.”
As for the others, Li Jin did not say goodbye in person, but left a letter, and set off from Ningxing Mansion with Wan Yun and Mo Xulin at the same time.
It’s just that their boats went west and north respectively. Not long after leaving Ningxing Mansion, they parted ways.
Wan Yun watched the boat carrying Li Jin’s family go further and further away, standing on the bow, his expression was very sad.
Li Jin also felt the same sadness of parting in his heart. Little Baozi clung to his leg and followed his father in silence.
Little Baozi didn’t know. Another reason for his father’s silence was that Wan Yun was indeed in league with Mo Xulin.
After a while, Li Jin sat cross-legged on the bow, pulling Little Baozi into his arms, his expression still melancholic.
“When will Uncle Wan come back to see Little Baozi?”
Li Jin rubbed the top of his head and said, “It will probably be a long time. Next year, Daddy will teach you to write, and you can write a letter to Uncle Wan.”
Little Baozi said sullenly, “Hmm, Little Baozi needs to learn to write quickly.”
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Five days later, the family was still drifting on the boat. The little leopard still had goat’s milk mixed with rice paste to eat, although this was the last meal.
And Little Baozi could only gnaw on cornbread with the adults.
He could persist after eating two meals. Later, Little Baozi couldn’t help but act like a baby with his two dads: “Daddy, Daddy, Little Baozi doesn’t want to eat cornbread anymore.”
Because the ancients would express their preferences more subtly, Qin Muwen taught Little Baozi to speak politely since he was a child.
As a result, the child applied what he learned and said the above sentence.
Upon hearing this, Li Jin could only feel distressed. He asked the boatman when they could dock to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables.
The boatman said: “No, we are all on the river, and the shore is all rocks, we can’t go there. I’ll ask my wife to catch some fish for you, you can eat it if you cook it.”
Li Jin said: “Thank you.”
Seeing that the person was so easy to talk to, the boatman breathed a sigh of relief, asked his wife to catch a few more big fish, and some shrimp.
Li Jin scraped the scales off the fish, removed the internal organs, and cut out the fish meat with clear texture.
There are few fish bones in the river. After removing the large spines from the backbone, there are few small spines elsewhere.
Qin Muwen steamed the fish meat and then poured soy sauce on it for seasoning. Fortunately, his family’s condiments were not used up. Qin Muwen received a basket and brought it up, and it finally came in handy now.
As for the shrimp, after Li Jin peeled the meat, he chopped the shrimp meat himself, added a small amount of flour, stirred it evenly with oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, etc., kneaded them into small balls one by one, and finally rolled them into a tongue shape, brushed a layer of oil on the bottom of the pot, and fried it in the pot until golden on both sides.
Little Baozi was indeed very satisfied with this meal and even ate two shrimp cakes.
Qin Muwen originally wanted to save the rest for Little Baozi to eat tomorrow. Seeing his movements, Li Jin asked with a smile, “Don’t you want to try it?”
Qin Muwen paused, and Li Jin also fed a piece to his own little husband.
“In two more days, we can dock. Before going to the post station, we can have a good meal. There is no need to save now.”
Qin Muwen chewed on the shrimp cake made by Li Jin, his apricot eyes were round, which was more delicious than the steamed fish he made.
Li Jin couldn’t help laughing and said, “The look in Little Baozi’s eyes when he eats is exactly the same as you are now.”
But unlike Little Baozi, who is praised as cute when seen by people, the little husband only shows his cute side in front of him. This realization makes Li Jin extremely happy.
After taking the boat for a full seven days, when they docked, Little Baozi didn’t need Li Jin to hold him, he jumped down holding his hand.
Li Jin paid the remaining money. After hiring a carriage here, he first went to the inner city to stamp the road guide, and then went to the post station to register.
The scholars who went to Beijing to take the exam could apply to take the carriage, but they could not bring their families.
This time, Li Jin was blessed by Mo Xulin. According to Mo Xulin’s statement, his second brother will escort the children at home back to Beijing tomorrow and will pass here.
Previously, these eight or nine-year-old children were thrown into the military camp for training for half a year. Seeing that the Chinese New Year is about to come, their mothers also miss their children.
As long as the Li Jin family rented a carriage from the post station, they could benefit from the light of the General’s Mansion and smoothly follow them to the capital.