So Liu Che briefly described to his father the two-oxen farming method he had seen.
Then, Liu Chedao: "Since the Shang Dynasty, oxen farming has gradually become the mainstream. Farming with animal power instead of human power was the mainstream of the farming strategy in the Shang Dynasty's farming system. However, in recent decades, farming methods have stagnated.
, even cattle farming has never been popularized, and I often lamented this. However, the recently discovered farming method of two oxen carrying a pole has inspired me. If I can make something that can make cattle plowing
More convenient, simple and effective, this one thing can be worth several Zheng Guo Canals!"
After listening to Liu Che's words, Emperor Liu Qi also fell into deep thought.
Don’t think that the emperor doesn’t understand farming!
In fact, although the emperor of the Liu family was not an expert in farming, he was no stranger to farming.
In the spring of the 13th year of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen's reign, he issued an edict: I will personally lead the world's farmers in order to provide for the harvest, and the queen will personally lead the mulberry trees to offer sacrificial robes. This is a ritual. This restored the tradition of the emperor of the Western Zhou Dynasty personally cultivating his own land, and it became a system.
During the reign of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, this system was resolutely implemented.
The emperor went to the fields to farm, not just for show, but he actually went to the fields to work with crops!
Empress Dowager Dou's eye disease was caused by playing with needlework every day at that time!
As the heir and crown prince of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, he has never been to the ground or plowed the fields today. That is a lie!
To this day, although this system of the emperor personally cultivating his own land, only a formal ceremony remains.
However, his early experiences made Liu Qi no stranger to the lives of ordinary people.
Especially Emperor Taizong Xiaowen was an emperor who liked to teach his sons step by step.
Liu Qi still remembers that when the late emperor took his brothers to weed and water the fields in the palace, he instilled a lot of knowledge and principles into them.
Therefore, Liu Qi is no stranger to farming.
On the contrary, he is quite skilled.
"The prince wants to restore Lord Shang's cattle farming policy?" Emperor Liu Qi asked.
"Yes!" Liu Che naturally didn't hide it either.
"How difficult!" Emperor Liu Qi suddenly stood up and sighed: "Prince, do you know why the Qin Dynasty could generally use oxen to plow, but my Han Dynasty can only plow with aluminum pans and humans?"
When his father asked this, Liu Che was also stunned.
Liu Che is not the kind of guy who knows nothing about history.
During his more than ten years of life as a vassal king in his previous life, Liu Che read many books and gained some understanding of the history of the pre-Qin era.
Oxen farming is actually not a method that only appeared in the Han Dynasty.
As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, primitive cattle farming behavior had already appeared.
During the Warring States Period, Shang Yang reformed the Qin State. In the farming system he implemented, farming was centered on vigorously encouraging and promoting cattle farming.
For example, Shang Yang stipulated: Those who steal horses will die, and those who steal cattle will be punished.
This means that the crime of stealing a horse is punishable by death, and the crime of stealing a cow is punished by one penalty!
There are similar provisions in Han laws to protect farm cattle.
However, what surprised Liu Che was that after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, cattle farming seemed less enthusiastic than in the Qin Dynasty.
Previously, Liu Che thought that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather did not understand the meaning of cattle farming.
Now it seems that maybe this is not the case!
Liu Che was also honest. Since he encountered something he didn't know about, he knelt down honestly and said: "Please teach me, Father!"
"The people of Qin can farm with cattle because they have a place to raise cattle!" Emperor Liu Qi glanced at Liu Che and said earnestly: "During the Qin Dynasty, the King of Qin must first pacify Rongdi in the west, and then go south to the Central Plains, just to
Cut off the troubles on the back and gain pasture for grazing cattle and horses!”
"This is not the case with my Han family. The land in Henan fell into the hands of the Xiongnu and was replaced by the North. The Xiongnu have been suffering for a long time. They want to herd cattle but cannot do so. Not to mention cattle, there are very few horses!"
Listening to his father's words, Liu Che was also shocked.
That’s so!
Only then did Liu Che understand why, after the Xiaozhu rule and the war against the Huns, folk cattle farming gradually flourished.
Quite simply, winning the war against the Huns brought a lot of loot.
For example, Wei Qing regained the Hetao area and obtained more than one million cattle and horses for the Han Dynasty at one time, as well as the best horse breeding farm.
Huo Qubing went on many expeditions and brought back countless cattle, sheep, and horses.
At this time, Henan (Hetao) was in the hands of the Huns, and Daibei and Yunzhong were places where cattle and horses could be raised, but they were constantly harassed by the Huns.
Under such circumstances, the Han Dynasty was naturally in short supply of cattle and war horses.
Therefore, it is not that the Han Dynasty did not want to learn from the Qin people and vigorously promoted cattle farming.
Rather, the Han Dynasty did not have the conditions of the Qin Dynasty.
During the Qin Dynasty, the ancestors of the Qin State continued to fight against the Rong Di and other nomadic peoples in the west. Several Qin kings died in the wars with the Rong Di.
Through the war with Rong and Di, the Qin people obtained large areas of land and pasture, where they could raise war horses and cattle.
In its heyday, the Qin army defeated the Xiongnu, and the Donghu army had no pressure.
However, the current Han Dynasty does not have the same conditions as the Qin people.
Naturally, it is impossible to promote cattle farming.
It is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, and without enough cattle, no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to produce the prosperous cattle farming like that of the Qin Dynasty.
Liu Che thought for a while and said: "Since there are no cattle, horses can be used to plow the land. Using out-of-service horses to plow the land should not be less efficient than cattle plowing!"
Wouldn’t it be plowing if there were no cattle?
Liu Che remembered that in later generations of Europe, horses were generally used to plow the land, and horses were not necessarily any worse than oxen.
The Han Dynasty had built many horse farms because of their hard work in recent decades and the strong military pressure from the Xiongnu.
Naturally, it is impossible for all the horses in these racecourses to be war horses.
In fact, the cultivation of war horses is a difficult task, and not all horses can become war horses.
Therefore, a considerable number of rogue horses have strayed onto the market.
Therefore, Liu Che just hesitated for a moment and immediately decided on the horse.
Emperor Liu Qi looked at Liu Che with a smile.
This prince is really stubborn!
But then again.
Horse plowing can be regarded as a tradition. According to Liu Qi's understanding, horse plowing was popular in Daibei and Yunzhong regions. When he was the prince, he once returned to Dai with the late emperor and went to inspect the local horse plowing.
Liu Qi's understanding is that horse farming on behalf of the land is not suitable for large-scale promotion.
Because horses are smarter than cows!
Trying to tame a horse to plow the fields and training an ox to plow the fields are two different things.
Secondly, the harness of an ox and the harness of a horse are two different things.
Even in Daidai, the efficiency of using horses to plow the land is somewhat lower than that of using oxen to plow the land.
Of course, Emperor Liu Qi would not tell Liu Che these things.
In Liu Qi's mind, as a prince, failure is a good thing.
It is better to encounter setbacks in the position of crown prince than to slap your head and do some stupid things after ascending the throne!
So he said: "Since the prince is full of confidence, then I will wait for the good news from the prince!"
When Liu Che heard this, he had another meaning.
Therefore, Liu Che patted his chest and said, "I am willing to complete this matter within half a year!"
For Liu Che, half a year is enough!
As a prince, he personally supervises and has almost unlimited manpower and material resources to drive. If he still can't make a curved shaft plow or a horse plow, then there can only be one explanation - the people below are deceiving him. r1152
