"The morale of the military can be used, and the moral support of the people can be used!" Zhao Kuo said happily.
Although it was more comfortable to ride in a carriage, Zhao Kuo still chose to ride a horse. He liked the unrestrained feeling when riding a horse, but it would make his thighs sore after a long time.
"Your Majesty, there are more than ten knights in front requesting to join the army." The scout reported.
This is already the seventh time today. Just when Zhao Kuo wanted to refuse as before, Le Yi raised his hand and said, "Your Majesty, if you keep refusing, I'm afraid it will dampen everyone's enthusiasm."
There are many righteous people in the land of Yan and Zhao, and many people are willing to die for a "righteousness". They feel that Zhao Kuo has given them too much, so when Zhao Kuo needs them, they stand up without hesitation.
Not for anything else, just to repay Zhao Kuo.
And when this "righteousness" is not needed for a long time, everyone's enthusiasm will drop significantly, and even the "righteousness" of the entire Zhao country will be destroyed.
Zhao Kuo thought for a while and understood what Le Yi meant, so he asked: "What do you mean by Yi Wang?"
"Your Majesty can order them to rush to Dai District first, and let the governor of Dai County and General Pang Nuan select the troops that can be used. Those who have not arrived when the army arrives will be ordered to return," Le Yi said.
"Okay, let's do it as you wish." Zhao Kuo followed his advice.
Sure enough, in the next period of time, there were many fewer warriors waiting on the road asking to join the army.
"This year's wheat is good." Zhao Kuo looked at the fields and said.
There are large wheat fields on both sides of the road. Perhaps because of the heavy snow, the wheat seedlings this year are very strong and green, which is very pleasant.
Occasionally, you can see local officials organizing people to dig rivers and build dams.
But there are also some places where there is no human habitation for dozens of miles.
Moreover, the further north you go, the more places like this there are.
After Lingshou passed, there were even large areas of deserted land.
Seemingly seeing that Zhao Kuo was a little unhappy, Le Yi said: "These places used to be lakes. Later, when the water level dropped and the soil was exposed, they turned into saline-alkali land, unable to grow crops, so they had to remain abandoned."
The State of Zhao is located between the Taihang Mountains and the Bohai Sea. The Yellow River once flowed unbridled on this land, impacting a large area of plains. There are numerous lakes in the territory, countless. Even today, there are Daluze, Jize, Danze, and Haize. Gaoze and many other lakes.
As the former lakes gradually dry up, saline-alkali land will form in the former waters.
For example, Yecheng once had a large area of saline-alkali land. Later, Ximen Bao invited skilled craftsmen to survey the terrain, and led the local people to dig twelve canals to divert water for irrigation and wash away the local saline-alkali land.
At the same time, rocks are used to sink into the Zhang water to slow down the flow of water and cause the sediment to sink. The sediment is introduced into the fields to irrigate the land that contains saline and alkali, thereby reducing the saline and alkali content in the land, improving the soil and increasing fertility.
The white soil and saline-alkali land in the Zhang River Basin has turned into fertile farmland.
Saline-alkali lands like Yecheng are located in various areas of the Hebei Great Plains, with different scales. The smallest ones are only a few dozen acres, and some are as large as a hundred miles.
There is also a salty spring to the east of Dalu Ze. Due to the drop in water level, the salt content of the spring water is extremely high. Local people make a living by boiling salt, but the scale is far less than that of the salt pond in Hedong.
"Even if these saline-alkali lands are irrigated with river water and fertilized with silt, it will take at least five years to turn them into fertile farmland, and they must be capable officials," Lifu said.
This kind of place is not only found in Zhao State, but also in Yan State, Qi State, Chu State, Wei State, South Korea and Qin State.
Including the Great Plains of Guanzhong, there are saline-alkali lands. It was not until the State of Zheng dug the Zhengguo Canal, diverted Jing water to irrigate the cultivated land, and diverted silt to fertilize the fields, that it turned into ten thousand acres of fertile farmland, feeding millions of people in Guanzhong.
Therefore, the land in China is not actually good. It is just that for thousands of years, countless ancestors, adhering to the belief that man can conquer nature, tried their best in an era when manpower and material resources were scarce, and after generations of development, it became the fertile land it is now.
.
"Building water conservancy projects and reclaiming wasteland are arduous tasks and a long way to go."
Zhao Kuo racked his brains and thought for a long time, but he didn't think about how later generations managed saline-alkali land. It seemed to be similar to this era, and there was no substantial technological leap. Instead, he thought of several plants that are tolerant to saline-alkali land.
"It's a pity that these lands are left uncultivated. Since ordinary crops cannot grow, why not plant some salt-alkali tolerant crops?" Zhao Kuo said.
"Saline-alkali tolerant crops?" Everyone was a little confused. As we all know, the saline-alkali land is completely white, which means that no grass can grow. How can there be crops that are saline-alkali tolerant?
"I heard that there is a kind of tree called ash tree that can grow in ordinary saline-alkali land, and there is also a kind of insect called ash worm on the ash tree, which can produce white wax, which is used for lighting like beeswax." Zhao Kuo said.
Wax, which has been used for a long time, is just beeswax.
As for the wax of the white waxworm, it is not available yet.
But Zhao Kuo really didn’t know what the ash tree was called before ash worm cultivation.
"Ash tree?" This is the first time everyone has heard this name.
Sure enough, there is no such name now, Zhao Kuo thought speechlessly. But now he can't stop the army and lead people to find the ash tree!
But in addition to ash trees, there are other alternatives: wolfberry.
Fortunately, the name of this thing has not changed for more than two thousand years. It is recorded in the "Book of Songs" that "there are Qi in the southern mountains and plums in the northern mountains. A gentleman is a happy person and the parents of the people. A gentleman is happy and his virtue is endless." Although it cannot be said that Zhao
They are found all over the country, but they are by no means rare. As long as you send people to look for them, you will definitely find wolfberry.
Moreover, wolfberry is also a valuable Chinese medicinal material. Zhao Guo purchased a lot of them. Even if he does not look for plants, it is still too late to start planting now. At this time, spring is coming, everything is recovering, and it is the season for sowing.
"Let the farmer send a few people to try to grow wolfberry in the saline-alkali land. If possible, promote it nationwide. In addition, send some people to look for the ash tree. I will describe its appearance. It should be relatively easy to find." Zhao Kuo
said.
Although planting wolfberry in saline-alkali land will have a great impact on the yield, it is better than leaving the land empty. You can harvest as much as you want without losing anything.
Moreover, you can also plant wolfberry and white wax while treating the saline-alkali land. After a few years, it will turn into fertile land and then be replanted with crops.
As far as Zhao Kuo knows, this kind of saline-alkali land that is not caused by seawater infiltration is relatively easy to manage.
"I didn't expect that your Majesty also knows how to manage saline-alkali land." Li Fu said with admiration. Although monarchs from various countries attach great importance to agriculture, there are not many monarchs who really know how to farm, let alone manage.
"I only know a little bit about it. The specific operation still depends on you. Without you, I alone cannot make Zhao Guo strong." Zhao Kuo waved his hand and said.
Everyone was smiling. Although Zhao Kuo often praised them, they still felt happy every time they heard it.
