Chapter 1882, technology is the primary productive force
In the fertile and vast fields of Liaodong, as the temperature begins to warm up, spring is coming, and the first spring plowing in Liaodong has officially begun.
Everywhere in the fields, cultivators were busy.
These cultivators include old-fashioned steam cultivators and new internal-combustion engine cultivators. The old-fashioned steam cultivators emit billowing white smoke and make bursts of whistles from time to time, while the new internal-combustion engine cultivators make a churning sound.
The whole field is a busy scene.
On the road next to it, a convoy of dozens of cars pulled over and stopped. Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin got out of the car and looked at the scene in front of them with interest.
After leaving Daqing, Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin chose to take a car instead of taking a train so that Emperor Hongzhi could see the spring plowing in Liaodong along the way.
Liaodong is now one of the most important production areas of the Ming Dynasty. The grain produced every year is enough to feed the entire Ming Dynasty for several years. It is the granary of the Ming Dynasty.
The land in Liaodong is very fertile. You can grow anything on the black soil and the yield is very high. Even without later generations of chemical fertilizers, the yield here is still very good.
But what really makes Liaodong the granary of the Ming Dynasty is that the land in Liaodong is very wide and flat, which is extremely suitable for mechanized farming.
Of course, the most important thing is that Liaodong is a place of immigrants, and the land here is different from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty.
The land in the Ming Dynasty was concentrated in the hands of a few landlords, gentry, and wealthy families. The actual farmers did not have much land at all.
It's different here in Liaodong. Because it is a place of immigrants, the land here is in the hands of farmers who actually cultivate the land. There are no landlords, gentry, and no wealthy families. Although there is a lot of land, it is evenly distributed. Every household has
Everyone has land, and it's pretty much the same.
This has played an extremely important role in the development of agriculture in Liaodong. Farmers have their own land and can naturally exert their greatest enthusiasm and initiative.
The food grown in this kind of land, apart from the food paid to the court, the rest is their own food, so every household lives a prosperous life, with money and food in hand.
Coupled with the Ming court's emphasis on and support for agriculture, the promotion of improved varieties and good planting methods, and policies such as interest-free loans and subsidies for the purchase of agricultural machinery, these have greatly promoted agricultural mechanization and the development of agriculture in Liaodong.
, Liaodong, a previously barren land, quickly became the granary of the Ming Dynasty and one of the richest places in the Ming Dynasty. Its level of wealth has far exceeded that of the Jiangnan region.
Emperor Hongzhi has always wanted to come to Liaodong to see the agriculture in Liaodong.
Sometimes Emperor Hongzhi didn't quite believe the reports in newspapers or the reports of his officials. This man cultivated thousands of acres of land, which was unbelievable even if he told it.
This time, I finally have the opportunity to see it in person in Liaodong and see the spring plowing and land in Liaodong.
The field in front of me is so big that you can't even see where its ridges are. Obviously, this land belongs to one person, so there is no need to divide the field into many pieces.
This is rare in the mainland of the Ming Dynasty. The land in the mainland of the Ming Dynasty, even in the plain areas, is fragmented and divided into countless small pieces.
Because every small piece of land has an extremely complex history.
It is very likely that it belonged to a certain farmer in the past, but was later taken away by landlords and gentry, so it is necessary to keep the field ridges so that there is a title deed.
Of course, it may also be because although the land belongs to the landlord, when the landlord leases it to tenants, it is impossible for the landlord to rent a large amount of land to one person, so he also needs to continuously subdivide his large area of land and then rent it to
Each tenant is a tenant, so that everyone has a field and food to eat.
In short, in the mainland of the Ming Dynasty, even in the plain areas, you will not see the phenomenon of an entire farmland being one field like the one in front of you.
But here in Liaodong, it is very common. Along the way, it is like this. A whole field is very large, and you can rarely see the ridges of the fields.
There are no terraced fields like those in the south. There is a lot of land here. Many places are obviously good land, but no one is cultivating it. Some fields are even lying fallow in rotation. There is no need to ask for land from the mountains.
to develop terraced fields.
Xiaohuangmen quickly held up a big umbrella on the roadside, set up a stove, boiled tea, and moved out tables and chairs so that Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin could drink tea and leisurely watch the spring plowing scene in front of them.
"This cultivator is very efficient. It plows the ground just by walking around."
"It's much easier to do farm work. You don't need to face the loess and turn your back to the sky. You can just sit on the cultivator and complete the plowing easily."
Emperor Hongzhi looked at everything in front of him with great interest.
In the fields, as the cultivator advances, the plow behind it turns over the soil deeply, and a large number of birds follow closely behind, constantly looking for bugs, insect eggs, earthworms and other things in the soil.
After being hungry all winter, it is rare to have a full meal, which attracts more and more birds to follow behind the cultivator, constantly looking for bugs and eggs in the soil.
These bugs and eggs hidden in the deep soil are rich in protein and are a favorite of birds.
The cultivator walked back and forth on the field, turning up the soil very quickly. It could be seen that the farmers who were working were very relaxed, and they even had the leisure to look at Emperor Hongzhi and others, as if
I also find it strange that a group of people who don't know where they come from are here to watch the fun after eating and having nothing to do. They haven't even seen a cultivator?
"Your Majesty, this is the best way to farm."
"It is fast, efficient, and can cultivate more land. It is very easy for a farmer to cultivate thousands of acres of land."
"If we continue to cultivate the land with a hoe as before, even if we are exhausted in the field, we will not be able to cultivate many buckets of land in one day, and we will not be able to cultivate many acres of land after all the hard work in the year.
, the little grain harvested is simply not enough to feed the family, so the farmers are very poor and will never get rich in their lifetime."
"This is different in Liaodong. Every household cultivates land and uses mechanized farming. One person cultivates thousands of acres of land, and produces millions of kilograms of grain in just one year. His family cannot eat it all. Even if it is
The price of food is cheap, but if you farm for a year, you can quickly become rich and live a prosperous life."
Liu Jin smiled and said to Emperor Hongzhi.
"Yes, this is the best way to farm. The grain output of our Ming Dynasty is high, and the people of Ming Dynasty can eat well, wear warm clothes, and live a prosperous life."
Emperor Hongzhi also said in agreement.
Emperor Hongzhi had personal experience in farming. Every year he would go to the fields to do farm work for a day to experience the hard work of farmers. He knew the hardship and poverty of farmers.
Thinking about the scenes of farmers working that I saw before, it was really hard work.
During spring plowing, it is better for those who have cows at home. It is relatively easy to use cows to plow the land. However, cows are often only available in landlords' families, and most farmers do not have them.
So during spring plowing, you either use a hoe to dig up the soil bit by bit, or you have people acting as oxen. A person in front drags a rope and keeps pulling it forward. There is a wooden stick on the back, and behind the wooden stick is a handrail.
The person holding the plow is also pushing the stick hard on his shoulders, so as to share the pressure of the person in front.
You can imagine how hard it is for farmers to farm in this way. The husband and wife work very hard in the field, and they can't plow much land at the end of the day.
What's more, this land is rented from the landlord. At least half of the food grown must be paid to the landlord. After a year of hard work, even a full meal is a luxury in the end. Don't even think about it after a lifetime of hard work.
Make a fortune.
Emperor Hongzhi went directly to the field and the land that had been plowed. He carefully gestured with his hands and said to Liu Jin beside him: "This cultivator is amazing. The soil it plowed out is more than a foot."
It’s thicker.”
"Tsk tsk, look at the land in Liaodong. It's really fertile. The key is that the soil is very thick. It's more than a foot thick. It's still fine black soil."
"Isn't that right? This is one of the only black lands in the world. Otherwise, how could it become the granary of our Ming Dynasty?"
Liu Jin also looked carefully at the plowed land in front of him. The technology of cultivators is becoming more and more mature. The land is plowed very well. Basically, the eggs of insects and pests hidden in the soil can be plowed.
If you come out, you will either be eaten by birds, or you will freeze to death in a heavy snowfall.
This new year's crops will have few pests and diseases, and there is no need to use pesticides at all. Of course, there are no pesticides for you to use in this era. Farming sometimes depends on the weather. If you are lucky, you will get a harvest. If you are not lucky, you will have a good harvest.
There are also some grains that are not harvested.
However, the winter in Liaodong is very cold, making it difficult for pests and diseases to survive. Coupled with two spring plowings, disease damage is further reduced. Therefore, Liaodong's agriculture has always been very good, with high harvests and large output.
"Um!"
"The key is this machine. Without such a cultivator, it would be impossible to turn out a foot of soil, let alone such a plowing efficiency and planting area."
Emperor Hongzhi nodded, then clapped his hands and looked at the cultivator not far away and said.
"Technology is the primary productive force!"
"Whether it's this kind of land, whether it's weaving and spinning, the extensive use of machines can greatly improve our efficiency, allowing us to produce more food, cloth and other things with less time and less manpower.
