"What? You want this meat?"

Upon hearing Zhang San's words, Xu Yun paused slightly with his left hand holding the meat.

After regaining his senses, he immediately pushed the bamboo basket towards Zhang San:

"Hey, if you want to eat it, just take it. Why exchange?

A boy eats a lot, he needs the nutrition to grow."

"That won't do."

Zhang San seriously shook his head as he took the bamboo basket:

"Exchanging white flour for meat is already a gain for me, how can I let you lose more food for no reason?

Although you don't earn wages, you still have to do some work with us. If you're not full, how will you have the energy to work?"

As he spoke, he quickly broke the steamed bun he was holding into two halves and handed the noticeably larger piece to Xu Yun.

Looking at this seemingly rough but actually value-conscious young worker, Xu Yun sighed slightly.

If that Teacher Luo from the future saw this, who knows whether he would continue on Zhang San's path of lawlessness.

Seeing Zhang San's firm attitude, Xu Yun had no choice but to stop refusing.

He took the half of the steamed bun, dipped it into the rice porridge, and as he ate, he asked:

"Third Brother, is the morning meal for servants in every mansion in Bianjing like it is in our household?"

"How is that possible?"

Zhang San happily picked up a piece of fatty meat, stuffed it into his mouth with some pickled vegetables, and mumbled:

"Our master is famously kind-hearted, so the servants' food is naturally the best.

But then, other grand mansions, although not as generous as ours, aren't too far off either.

At the very least... at the very least, the total of three meals a day is a half liang of fat pork."

Xu Yun nodded thoughtfully.

Generally speaking.

A serving of farmhouse stir-fried meat priced at 25 yuan in an ordinary local eatery weighs about 3 liang before going into the pan. The internationally recommended standard adult meat portion is 200 grams, which is 4 liang.

As for the "2016 Local Resident Dietary Guidelines," it's best not to mention it. They recommend a domestic adult yearly meat intake of 40-75 grams, and the controversy has never stopped since it began.

In short.

Compared to the later generations' adult intake, the Great Song's minimum meat intake of 25 grams was already quite a lot.

As for the source of providing this minimum amount of meat...

Clearly, it wasn't because the master was kind-hearted, but because of a solid economic foundation.

In his past life, while Xu Yun was writing a "Wu Fan Disappearance Manual," he happened to research some information:

For instance, the Song Dynasty's yield per mu was 225 jin, a full 30% more than the Tang Dynasty. Together with commercial tax and maritime trade, this made the Song Dynasty's economic level quite prosperous.

But what puzzled Xu Yun was.....

How could such a large country suddenly collapse?

In twenty-seven years, the Jin army would break through this prosperous Capital City, bringing about a disgraceful tragedy.

The mountains and rivers would be shattered, and the country's fate would submerge.

Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzhong of Song were captured.

The Empress, unable to bear the humiliation, chose to commit suicide, while the former Imperial Consort became a prostitute, leading to the complete destruction of the Northern Song.

Right now, he had a little over a year, was there a chance to do something?

To be honest.

If he was in the Late Ming, Late Han, or Late Tang periods, not to mention a year, even with ten years, Xu Yun would likely be unable to change the outcome.

Because a single person's ability is limited, and at the end of these periods, things reached a point of no return.

A person... to be more precise, a person with no power or influence, basically has no chance to turn the game around.

But this dynasty was somewhat special, its demise was quite controversial and sudden.

You could say, looking at the history of human civilization, domestic and abroad, ancient and modern, the Northern Song's series of wild actions were unique in history—even Byzantium fared a bit better than the Northern Song—after all, Constantine XI at least died defending the empire.

While the Song Dynasty was criticized for more than just the emperor, there were also factional struggles, and people like Cai Jing, Bai Shizhong, Li Bangyan, and Zhang Bangchang could be considered treacherous ministers.

However, their treachery wasn't enough to lead to the fall of the country, at least the Northern Song had popular support.

Otherwise, the later Rebel Army of Yue Fei couldn't have been formed, and the Battle of Fuping couldn't have rallied 400,000, with an actual 220,000 strong army.

For this reason, the Jin people later bragged:

"Since ancient times, only weary dynasties have been destroyed, but ours destroyed a strong Song."

Thus, compared to other dynasties, if operated properly, Xu Yun might have a chance to make a rescue.

If it didn't work out, he could pull a trick with water turning into oil to fool the metaphysical master Emperor Qinzhong of Song before leaving, and jot down a poem to extend things by a second if possible.

Of course.

These are considerations for the future; the immediate urgency for Xu Yun is not aiming too high but first establishing a foothold.

After thinking for a moment, he spoke to Zhang San, who was still swallowing his food:

"Third Brother, can I ask you another question?"

Zhang San was gulping down watery rice at that moment, and upon hearing this, he quickly put down the small bowl and wiped his mouth with his sleeve:

"What is it?"

Xu Yun deliberately put on a naive expression and asked Zhang San:

"What's with the stone pillar by the well earlier?"

Zhang San gave him a puzzled look:

"What do you mean? It's just to send water to the master's bedroom, isn't it?"

Xu Yun thought for a moment, spreading his hands to demonstrate a span, and said:

"Look, the well is at least thirty to forty zhang from the master's courtyard, right? The pipe's diameter is nearly a chi; how much of the water we pour actually reaches the master?

If the rest doesn't get there, won't it be wasted?"

"Oh, you're talking about that."

Zhang San waved his hand indifferently and explained:

"Actually, I asked Sister Yue Lian about it at first. I thought maybe there was another well beneath the master's house, and the water we pour in flows down at an angle indeed.

Later on, Sister Yue Lian told me the pipe was flat, just buried less than half a chi underground, but there's something inside it that can suck water over to the master."

Xu Yun's heart trembled, and he quickly put on a naive face, asking knowingly:

"Something that can suck water? Could it be a talisman given by an Immortal?"

Zhang San shook his head and said:

"It's not a talisman, it's something our master tinkered with. I don't know what it's specifically called, but I saw it once when they replaced it last time."

Xu Yun quickly asked:

"What does it look like?"

Zhang San took another bite of the steamed bun and recalled:

"That thing is about a chi long, half a chi thick, like a round pillar.

It seems the master specially commissioned it, saying that with it, water can be sucked over.

Oh, and do you remember the mill outside your house?"

Xu Yun was still imagining the structure of the object, and upon hearing this, he instinctively said:

"I remember, it's just outside my place."

Zhang San nodded:

"When we pour water, the mill outside your place starts turning with the donkey, there's a rope beneath the mill connecting to the thing that can suck water.

Once the donkey starts turning the mill, that thing activates, and we just need to pour the water in on this end."

Xu Yun thought for a moment, then realized:

"No wonder Sister Yue Lian came from my place's direction; she must have been checking the mill first?"

And as he pondered, Zhang San suddenly recalled a certain detail:

"By the way, there was one more thing!"

"What is it?"

"When they took that thing apart last time, I saw someone stuffing in several palm-sized disks; these disks were flat on one side and had many thin blades on the other side, looking very strange!"

"Disks? Blades?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Yun was momentarily stunned before he suddenly thought of something, his pupils constricted, and he blurted out:

"Damn, a self-suction pump?"

...

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