Chapter 1714, you can't imagine the poverty of the past
I enjoyed a delicious mutton feast here in Borut, the Mongolian. I have to say that this Golden Continent is really a chosen place. The cattle, sheep and horses here are all fat and strong, and the mutton is also extremely delicious.
Delicious and no mutton smell.
After eating and drinking, Wen Yongzheng and Xiao Yan took their team and continued to move towards the outlet of the Xibi River, where they planned to take a boat back to Penglai City to rest for a while.
As we get closer and closer to the Sibi River and Penglai Bay, we gradually begin to see large tracts of cultivated fields, with faces stretching as far as the eye can see.
"I have been to Liaodong once, and the fields in Liaodong are similar to here. The fields are very large, and some fields often cover dozens or even hundreds of acres."
"I have also been to Jiangnan. Here in Jiangnan, the fields are very small. Even a large flat field has to be divided into countless small fields. The maximum is only one or two acres, and many fields are even one acre.
They have to be divided into several parts, and they are often irregular.”
"The fields here and the fields in Liaodong are still pleasant to look at. The roads are straight and the fields are large and straight. They are straight, square and square."
Holding a telescope and carefully looking at the vast fields in front of him, Xiao Yan also recalled the scenes he saw in the Ming Dynasty.
"You are young and may not understand very well."
"When I was a child, our Ming Dynasty had not yet expanded to the outside world, so everyone was concentrated in the mainland of Ming Dynasty. Many families, with more than a dozen people in a family, lived on a few acres of land, and they lived on those acres of land throughout the year.
I work so hard that I don’t even have enough to eat.”
"At that time, land was very precious. It was the lifeblood and something passed down from generation to generation."
"Anyone who talks about selling the land inherited from our ancestors will be stabbed in the spine and scolded as a prodigal."
When Wen Yongzheng heard this, he also remembered his life as a child.
"At that time, I was really poor."
"That kind of poverty is unimaginable to the new generation like you. It's so poor that you don't even have enough to eat. It's so poor that many poor families wear trousers for several people."
"How can several people wear the same pair of pants?"
Someone next to me asked quickly, very curious.
"How to wear it?"
"Of course we take turns wearing them. If you have to go out for something, you wear pants. If you don't go out for anything, you stay naked at home."
"You young people have no idea of the poverty and suffering back then."
Wen Yong sighed as he spoke, then pointed to the land in front of him and said: "Look at this great plain, what a wonderful land it is."
"The terrain is open and flat. The land here is fertile and deep, and the water is abundant. In the past, such land would not be wasted at all. It must be cultivated to grow food."
"But look at the farmland in front of you. It's already midsummer. However, even though there are large tracts of fertile land that have been cultivated, no one is planting them. They are just here barren."
"Look at the crops grown here. Not many grow food. Most of them grow sugar cane. Why grow sugar cane?"
"Because sugar cane can be used to make sucrose, and sucrose is expensive and easy to sell."
"As for food, the most indispensable thing in this Golden Continent is food. Look at those corn fields and wheat fields. They are overgrown with weeds and seriously lack of care. Because food is too cheap, farming is not profitable at all."
"If this had been done a few decades ago, in the Ming Dynasty, we would have been scolded to death. Such a wasteful waste of natural resources, waste of land, and lack of hard work in farming would have been scolded to death."
"The land at that time, even a little bit of land in the corner, had to be used to grow food, because food is the most precious thing and is the guarantee of survival."
Wen Yongzheng was also inspired by this. He recalled the scene when he was beaten when he was a child because he dropped a few grains of rice while eating. Then he thought about the children in his own family who were picky about what to eat, and half of them dropped half of the food.
Times have really changed.
The people are really rich, because there is so much fertile land that can be cultivated, and the food produced is so much that the people of Ming Dynasty cannot eat it all even if they open their bellies.
The grain produced in Liaodong and Hezhong in one year was enough to feed the entire Ming Dynasty for several years.
"Were we really that poor at that time?"
The young people around me have all just graduated from school. They have all grown up in the new era and have not experienced those difficult years.
"I said it very lightly."
"None of you know that when there is a great famine, the bark of the trees will be chewed up, and those who eat the Guanyin soil will feel like they are pregnant in ten months. There are some things I am embarrassed to say."
Wen Yongzheng smiled and said.
"What is Guanyin soil?"
Someone asked again immediately.
"It's the ashes left after burning incense."
"Can that thing be eaten too?"
"Is there any bark left to eat?"
"I don't know either. Only hungry people know."
Wen Yongzheng smiled and said.
At this time, he looked at a farm in front and said, "Let's go, let's go to the farm in front to have a rest and see if we can order some tea."
Here at the farm, the farmer Su Laosan is lying leisurely under the tree, drinking tea and reading the newspaper.
As one of the first people to pan for gold, Su Laosan was very unlucky and missed every opportunity to get rich overnight. He organized more than a dozen expeditions to look for gold and silver, but came back empty-handed every time.
All the savings he had saved from sailing for many years were used up.
In the end, he simply chose to lie down and not go out for adventure. He put aside his thoughts and ideas of getting rich overnight and returned to his farm to live a comfortable life as a farmer.
"I heard that this steam cultivator and steam harvester are very efficient. Using the machine, one person can cultivate thousands of acres of land."
"Would you like to buy one and give it a try?"
"This machine is just too expensive. One machine costs nearly 300 taels of silver. When will I be able to get my money back? The food in this Golden Continent is so worthless."
Su Laosan looked at the newspaper, which reported in detail about Liaodong's agriculture, mentioning steam cultivators and steam harvesters. He then looked at the price of life and immediately shook his head.
The food is worthless and cannot be sold for a price. I have invested the money and I don’t know when I will get my money back.
"With this money, I might as well buy a few more European female slaves. They can give birth to children, work, and take care of everything in an orderly manner. I don't have to worry about the machine breaking down and needing to be repaired or something."
Thinking of this, Su Laosan put down the newspaper in his hand and looked at his farm. He could see dozens of women in his family busy in the fields.
Ever since he gave up the idea of exploring, Su Laosan has lived a happy poor life. When he got rich, he bought several European female slaves. He bought more and more, and now he has more than thirty.
Everything at home is left to them. As for Su Laosan himself, he just drinks tea, reads newspapers, and makes people in the evening. The children have made a lot of them. At this moment
You have a great time playing around the real farm.
"Discovery team?"
At this time, he saw Wen Yongzheng, Xiao Yan and others coming towards his farm in the wilderness ahead, and he immediately became energetic.
Although he has given up the idea of exploring, he has always been very concerned about this period. Every time an expedition team passes by, he will excitedly go up and have a good conversation.
"This expedition is quite large, with more than a hundred people, bringing so many slaves to work."
Taking a closer look, Su Laosan's eyes lit up. Such a powerful large-scale expedition team is rare, and it takes a lot of money to set up.
Establishing an expedition team often requires a lot of money. The expedition team's manpower, horses, supplies, etc. will cost thousands of taels of silver to organize any expedition.
This is still a small expedition. If we want to organize such a large expedition with hundreds of people, it will cost more.
Soon, Wen Yongzheng and Xiao Yan rode their horses to Su Laosan's farm.
"Fellow, we are the expedition team of Daming Petroleum Company in Penglai City. We are passing by your place, can you ask for a bowl of tea?"
"Okay, okay, of course~"
Su Laosan nodded repeatedly, and then enthusiastically welcomed Wen Yongzheng, Xiao Yan and other Ming people into his home. As for the slaves, they were naturally resting in the open space outside.
"Hurry up and make tea, and bring some watermelon to entertain the guests."
Su Laosan was very enthusiastic and became excited when he saw the expedition team. He also quickly ordered his woman to prepare.
"Oil Company?"
"What is this oil?"
While Su Laosan entertained them warmly, he also started chatting with Wen Yongzheng, Xiao Yan and others.
"Petroleum is a kind of black oil. It is mainly buried underground, so it is difficult to find. This kind of oil is very rare in our country of Ming Dynasty, but now it seems to be of great use, so our boss also established an oil company.
Trading company, let us come to Golden Continent to look for oil."
Wen Yongzheng also replied that the people of this Golden Continent are warm-hearted. Whether they are the nomadic Mongolians or the farming Ming people, they are very warm and they receive warm hospitality when they come.
"Dark oil?"
When Su Laosan heard this, he was slightly dumbfounded, because not long ago he discovered some dark oil seeping out of the soil when he was in his own land.
At that time, Su Laosan and his family were shocked, thinking that there was something evil in this place, otherwise there would be black oil coming out of nowhere.
"This is oil!"
Su Laosan's eyes lit up, thinking about the oil underground in his home. If this was really useful in the future, wouldn't it make him rich?
In the past, those who were adventurous and adventurous were looking for wealth, but they never thought that there would be oil beneath their homes.