Chapter 1253, looking at an empire from the perspective of agriculture
"In the Transoxiana area, we don't even dare to say that we are from the Ottoman Empire. Otherwise, there is no doubt that we may not be able to get out of the Transoxiana area."
“When we arrived at Longtou Town, the first town in the river area, we stupidly told them that we were from the Ottoman Empire. As a result, in Longtou Town, even with gold, we could not buy any food or any inn.
Willing to accept us."
"The Ming people here are full of hostility and hatred towards us."
"But shouldn't this be because we hate the Ming Dynasty?"
"Their army slaughtered hundreds of cities in our Ottoman Empire, sold millions of our people as slaves, and forced us to sign treaties that were humiliating and degrading to our rights. We are the ones who should really bear the grudge."
"But the people of the Ming Dynasty didn't think so. They thought we were the ones to blame. They thought we were the ones who provoked the war. We were the first to massacre several towns in the Hezhong area, causing them to lose their relatives and friends."
"The Ming Dynasty people in the Hezhong area kept this in mind and said that they would hold regular sacrifices and commemorative activities every year."
"This is really terrible!"
On the four-wheeled carriage, Ali Pasha looked at the scenery outside the window and recorded his itinerary with a pen.
"The agriculture of the Ming Empire was extremely developed~"
"In the river area, they cultivated a large amount of fertile farmland with towns as the center. These towns are basically located next to rivers, with fertile land and sufficient water sources."
"The agriculture of the Ming Dynasty is completely different from what I have seen in other places in the world. They used a large number of machines for farming."
"Here in a town, we learned in detail that when they plow the land, they use a steam cultivator. This is a very powerful machine that can plow the soil deeply. A person driving this machine can easily cultivate the land in a day.
Hundreds of acres of land can be cultivated.”
"When harvesting, they use a steam harvester, which is extremely efficient. Only three people are required to operate it. One harvester can harvest hundreds of acres of wheat fields in one day."
"In addition to steam harvesters and steam cultivators, they also have steam shellers, steam mills, and a series of other machines powered by steam."
"The use of these machines has greatly improved the efficiency of agriculture."
"These towns in the Hezhong area each have a population of only more than 10,000, but the cultivated land area exceeds tens of millions of acres. On average, each person has to cultivate several thousand acres of land. This is a terrible number.
.”
"It's the harvest season now, so the most we can see along the way are huge granaries filled with grain."
"There is so much food produced in the Hezhong area that we can't even eat it all, and the price is extremely cheap."
"Here, one tael of silver can buy almost 2,000 catties of grain, but in our Ottoman Empire, the same one tael of silver can only buy less than 200 catties of grain. The price difference is very big."
"But there is so much grain produced here. Even if the price is so low, grain merchants are still unwilling to purchase this grain."
"Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty had a special department that purchased grain on a large scale, so the farmers here did not have to work in vain for a year."
"Now I finally understand why, except for the fields around the town, there is wilderness everywhere. It's because the people of Ming Dynasty are not short of food at all, and they don't need to cultivate too much land to get enough food."
"The land is vast and sparsely populated, the population is highly concentrated in towns, mechanized farming is used extensively, and grain production is very large. This is the Hezhong area of the Ming Dynasty."
"In addition to being a huge granary, the river area is also a huge meat warehouse."
"Because there was a large amount of grain that could not be eaten, and there was no shortage of grain in other areas of the Ming Dynasty, the people of the Ming Dynasty continued to deeply process grain and develop animal husbandry, wine making, etc."
"Outside every town, there are a large number of breeding farms, which raise a large number of cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, horses, etc. The scale is very large and the output is huge."
"Along the cement road going east, I can see a large number of scenes of making cured meat and dried meat. These cured meat and dried meat are the most important export products in the Hezhong area, and the price is also very cheap."
"The price of a pound of meat here is less than half of the price in the Ottoman Empire. They have too much food."
"And the Hezhong area itself has a large number of extremely fertile grasslands. The Ming people divided these grasslands into different areas and carried out regular rotational grazing to protect the grasslands and avoid excessive grazing."
"The agriculture of the Ming Empire was extremely developed. In addition to what is written above, I also learned that the Ming court had a specialized agricultural department."
"The agricultural department is responsible for cultivating and promoting new high-yield food varieties and crops. Here, they plant a large amount of corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. These three crops are all high-yield crops introduced from the Golden Continent."
"The yields of corn and sweet potatoes are extremely high, and corn stalks and sweet potato vines can also be used to feed livestock. The livestock manure raised in large quantities is used as fertilizer in the fields, making the crop yields higher."
"This series of measures has turned the Hezhong area into a real granary and meat warehouse. I heard from people here that the grain produced in the Hezhong area in one year is enough to feed the entire Ming Dynasty for a year, and the dried meat produced in the sun is sold every year.
With more than one billion catties, hundreds of thousands of fine horses can be produced here every year."
"Because the number of horses is large and the output is high, horses are widely used in life and work."
"Although people here live in towns, almost everyone can ride a horse."
"The children here have had enough food and a high proportion of meat since they were young. Therefore, they are all tall and strong. In addition, they cannot live without horses. They only need a little training to become elite cavalry."
"I think I finally understand the power of the Ming Empire."
"Their strength lies not only in their powerful army that sweeps the world, but also in their strong agricultural foundation."
"With such a developed and strong agriculture, they have enough food, warm clothing, strong bodies, and a large population. Naturally, the national strength is strong, and they can mobilize a powerful army at any time."
"If the people at the bottom of a country have trouble even eating, how can such a country be strong?"
Ali Pasha slowly stopped writing and looked outside the carriage. He saw a vast expanse of plains, among golden wheat fields, with a large number of steam cultivators harvesting wheat. Both sides of the cement road were filled with generations of grain.
Four-wheeled carriages loaded with food headed toward the town.
"What a wonderful horse, it is actually used to pull a cart."
Ali Pasha looked at the horses pulling the cart and couldn't help but sigh slightly.
There are really too many horses in the Hezhong area. Not only does the Hezhong area itself have a large number of horses, but the Kazakh Khanate in the north also attacks the Ming Empire with 100,000 good horses every year.
A large part of these 100,000 good horses came to the Hezhong area, followed by the Western Regions, so there are very many horses in these two places. Every household has horses, and they are inseparable from them. They are used to pull carts casually.
In the past, these horses were rare and good horses.
"Thinking carefully, I found that the agriculture in the Daming River area was based on that strange steam engine. This kind of steam engine that smoked and whined. It was extremely powerful. Driven by the piston, it could
The machine provides great power."
"Steam plows and steam harvesters are important reasons why they can cultivate large amounts of land. Without these two machines, it would be difficult for them to plant fields of this scale."
"I'm going to Daming. I plan to let people learn the manufacturing technology of this steam engine. I feel that its role is far more than just being used for farming. It should have many, many roles. It can be used in all aspects to greatly improve efficiency.
Reduce the burden of work.”
Ali Pasha firmly recorded the steam engine in his diary. This machine impressed and shocked him so much.
It was the first time I saw such a machine and I was deeply shocked by its terrifying efficiency. However, there were countless questions in my mind: what exactly is the principle of this steam engine, how to manufacture it, etc.
"The Ming Dynasty was vast and sparsely populated, with a lot of land and extremely high grain yield~"
"In my opinion, the Hezhong area is already the richest place in the world, but from the people here, I know that the Hezhong area is only average compared to the entire Ming Dynasty."
"In the Ming Dynasty, their Liaodong region is also a huge granary. The land there is black soil, which is more fertile than the Hezhong region, and the grain output is higher. It is said that the grain produced in the Liaodong region alone is enough to feed the entire Ming Dynasty.
Three years.”
"In addition, there are the land of Tianfu in Sichuan, the Great Plains of North China, the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, the granary of Huguang, the rice granary of Nanyang, the Australian meat granary, etc. In any place, the output of grain is very large."
"In addition to these grain-producing areas, the Ming Empire also had a large number of animal husbandry areas. The northern grasslands stretched as far as the eye could see, producing a large number of cattle, sheep and horses every year.
Overseas Australia, the North and South Golden Continents, etc.”
"With so many pastoral areas, the number of horses owned by the Ming Empire was unbelievably large. This is why the Ming Empire's army, even if it is not a cavalry, can easily ride one man per horse."
"Becoming an enemy of such a powerful empire is probably the stupidest decision our Ottoman Empire has ever made!"