Outside Qu'a City, in a test field surrounded by a military camp, Bai Tu held the plow with one hand while driving the traction oxen in front, plowing a crooked furrow in the field...
"It's an artifact! You're stupid and you add a stupid ox, and you can actually plow the ground 'barely'!" Lu Lingqi, still dressed as a guard, walked beside Bai Tu and whispered to him at this time.
Bai Tu glanced at her and ignored her to maintain his image - after all, Lu Lingqi's voice was so low that others couldn't hear her.
The old farmers, cattle doctors and craftsmen who were specially invited to witness this scene all around were filled with tears of excitement.
At first, Bai Tu felt a little great, but when he thought of what Lu Lingqi said, and then looked at their expressions...it felt really awkward!
It is true that Bai Tu was not good at plowing. The reason why these people were excited... was really because Bai Tu and a "stupid ox" were able to plow the land "effortlessly".
The so-called stupid ox refers to buffalo. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, cattle were rarely used for farming, and most of them were so-called "vegetable cattle".
The main reason is that buffaloes are not as docile as cattle, and are nearly half the size. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, when cow nose rings were not common, it was difficult to use their animal power...
Therefore, in the Han Dynasty, it was only prohibited to kill farm cattle without permission - buffaloes were not included.
There were mostly buffaloes in the south, and it was inconvenient to cultivate the land. This was one of the reasons why the population in the south was small at this time.
Oxen farming has already appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period. Oxen farming appeared in various places during the Han Dynasty, and was even promoted by the government. However... even in the north, using oxen to plow the land requires two oxen to pull a plow, and among the people there is such a "
There are too few people in the trenches.
What Bai Tu has made now is just two things - the curved shaft plow and the bull nose ring.
The curved shaft plow appeared in the Tang Dynasty. Compared with the current long straight shaft plow, it was more mechanically consistent, more labor-saving and easy to rotate. It was an "artifact" that was still used until the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
In Bai Tu's information, there are specific records of the complete eleven components of Quyuanli. Although it is only on paper, with such a big guide, it is easy to get the finished product after repeated trials and determine the specific details.
Manufacturing process of components.
In comparison, the craftsmanship of the cow nose ring is more complicated, because it is not just a matter of a ring, but also how to wear it to achieve the greatest effect and the least harm to the cow. Otherwise, ordinary people will not take risks with cows.
, not even buffalo!
Therefore, Bai Tu also found specialized old cows and cattle doctors - at this time, those who treated horses were called "veterinarians" and those who treated cattle were called "cow doctors". The classifications were clear.
Now Bai Tu's vision has finally been fulfilled. With one ox, one plow and one person, the land can be plowed.
This is also the advantage of the curved shaft plow. It only needs one ox to pull it. The cultivator can hold the plow with one hand and drive the buffalo with the bamboo pole tied to the nose ring with the other hand!
Of course, in some fields that meet special conditions, there are more convenient methods of ox farming, such as two people and one ox pulling a large plow. However, the "single ox curved shaft plow" can also be regarded as the "complete embodiment of animal power farming".
"form.
There are many ways to improve farming efficiency, such as optimizing breeding, intensive farming, building water conservancy...
But these can only be done slowly, and now Bai Tu is just doing it temporarily!
At the same time, Bai Tu also pointed out the government decree of the "garrison system", which is a system in which the army, or slave laborers, and landless refugees are used to cultivate official land in order to obtain army supplies and tax grains.
Different from technology and crafts, in order to light up the decree, you don't need to make actual items, but you have to submit a report to Cheng Ji.
Usually this kind of decree requires small-scale experiments and constant adjustments before a report that can actually be passed can be formed.
But for Bai Tu, the "farming system" was not that difficult.
During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, the initial farming system had already appeared, but it was limited to the border areas - it was a supplement to the policy of "immigrating people to consolidate the borders".
During the Three Kingdoms period, starting from Cao Cao's acceptance of Zao Zhi's suggestion, the farming system became popular. The largest farming system was the development of Huainan in the later period of Cao Wei. He designated large areas of uninhabited land in the declining Huainan as official land, and then carried out military and civilian settlements.
Combined collective farming.
Bai Tu is naturally very clear about the disadvantages of the farming system. Firstly, military camps occupy troops. No matter how they are allocated, they will take up training time and reduce the elite level of the army. Real elite soldiers will not participate in farming; secondly, it is more serious.
Yes, as the farming system develops in depth, it will almost inevitably get out of control and seize the people's land, especially when Bai Tu is unable to restrain the aristocratic families.
By the time of the Western Jin Dynasty, the farming system developed directly into the "land occupation system" that allowed wealthy families to legally compete for land.
However, for the advantages of the farming system and the imminent drought, Bai Tu felt that it was still necessary to build one farm first.
The purpose of the farming system has never been to harvest much food, but to enable the army to be self-sufficient, which means to reduce transportation consumption. Therefore, the farming during the Three Kingdoms period was always at the border.
For example, when Cao Wei planned to conquer Wu, he settled in Huainan; when Bashu wanted to invade the Central Plains, he settled in Wuzhangyuan...
The area where Bai Tu practiced farming was also concentrated along the Yangtze River. At first glance, it really looked like he was preparing to capture Huainan. Only Bai Tu himself knew that this was to make it easier to go to Huainan to rescue people.
As for Kuaiji County and Yuzhang County, which are far away from the Yangtze River, there is no need to farm. Otherwise, the efficiency of farming will be lower than that of self-planting. In addition, including transportation consumption... it is a waste of time!
In addition to food, the farming system has two additional benefits. One is that it is conducive to the harmony between the army and the people. From a human perspective, after soldiers get used to working, they will have more empathy for the people, which prevents soldiers from killing the people.
Harmful to the people, it is easy to cultivate benevolent and righteous teachers; secondly, it allows soldiers to start families and establish careers where they are stationed, giving soldiers a greater sense of belonging. Even if they are defeated in the future, they will try to come back.
Ji Zao's soldiers seemed not to have to think about this, but... After Bai Tu wrote the report and pointed out the decree on the military camp system, he found that the "juntun" itself had additional effects - after the military camp was implemented, military discipline improved and the troops were defeated.
Then he took the initiative to return.
Of course, there is also a note: it will reduce training efficiency!
"My husband, in the past few months, I have been bothered to stay in the army for a while." Bai Tu said to the invited old farmers.
This is also what was said before.
"Sir, you are so polite..." Several old farmers dared not say it.
"There is one more thing that I would like to discuss with a few of you. In the past, if there were droughts, floods, or locust plagues, and the grain harvest failed, what would each of your families eat to satisfy their hunger?" Bai Tu asked.
"Usually I go to the mountains..."
"Well, of course, local governments provided timely relief, and the county magistrate was very kind..." the oldest old man said first.
"To be honest... it won't affect your body too much!" Bai Tu's brows jumped.
"Ahem, it's usually bran, chaff... and some kinds of wild vegetables, grass roots, and sometimes bark." The old man said it when he saw Bai Tu, he didn't mean to make a rhyme, but really asked for advice.
"Well, I'd like to trouble you all during this time. I'll invite a few more doctors to come over and we'll come up with a formula for disaster relief food. In short, we must try to save food as much as possible without having too much impact on the body!"
The elders looked at each other, but they all agreed.