In Huile County, Lingzhou, Cheng Rui and Han Jian were copying information in the stall. Well, their cultural level was limited, so of course they copied it with the help of their subordinates.
Cheng Ru has abandoned the pseudonym Guo Yu. After all, he changed it when he committed the crime. Now that it is Lingxia, no one can hold him accountable. Why not restore his real name?
Appreciated by the King of Lingwu County, Cheng Rui was appointed as the governor of Yanzhou and took charge of the land reclamation affairs in Yanzhou, with the intention of developing this "inland" state and county that had been neglected for many years into a cash and grain base with certain grain production capabilities.
The Prince of Lingwu County has already said that Yanzhou has a mediocre foundation and does not need to develop much. Just finish what needs to be done and don’t leave a large area abandoned like it is now. The agricultural management method is farming and animal husbandry in parallel, but there is no way to provide They had to figure out the source of the beef cattle because they were all sent to Lingzhou, so they had to figure out their own solution.
Cheng Rui has been in office for more than four months. He has visited large and small villages and pasture lands in Yanzhou to carefully understand the local people's conditions. Although this is the first time he has heard of the Marshal's proposed method of simultaneously promoting farming and animal husbandry, But after thinking about it carefully, it is very suitable for the people of the northwest.
The land is vast and the people are sparsely populated. There is a lot of land but a small population. This is how it should be.
In fact, it is very difficult to do intensive farming, otherwise the average yield per mu would not be only one dendrobium. Unless your family only has a few acres or more than ten acres of land, and you can spend more energy to take care of the crops, otherwise there will be no such thing. Energy can only be managed extensively, sowing widely and reaping little.
In the early years of the Republic of China, Ding Nan was granted a hundred acres of land, of which twenty acres were Yongye fields. This was given to you by the court and could be bought and sold freely. Another eighty acres were divided into land parcels. After his death, the government took it back and granted it to others. 1 One hundred acres of land, tell me how to cultivate it intensively? Even in the Tianbao period, the household registration increased greatly, but in the north, it is common for every Ding man to own forty to sixty acres of land, and it is still impossible to cultivate it intensively.
Also in the south of the Yangtze River, such as western Zhejiang (Southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas), the average household in Yuanhe had 18 acres of land. This made it possible to farm intensively and harvest two crops a year, one of rice and one of wheat. The total annual output was only Five or six dendrobiums per mu. However, it consumes too much manpower. It is unrealistic to rely on intensive farming to increase yields at this time.
However, completely extensive management is not enough. In that case, the yield per mu can be reduced to a few bushels, and harvesting is also troublesome and you will not be able to keep busy at all.
Therefore, there is a balance point between intensive farming and rough management, which is the best profit point, that is, the average household is about sixty acres. A year, one can harvest sixty or seventy bushels of millet and wheat, more than thirty bushels of miscellaneous grains, and more than ten bushels of intensive farming. The income from an acre of farmland is about the same, but the labor is relaxed, and at the same time, the income is much higher than that of Guangzhongbo, which is roughly managed.
"Han Shijun, how is the wheat harvest of the three hundred farmers in Lingzhou this year?" Cheng Rui sat at the table with a pot of brewed tea, looking very relaxed.
"According to what Li Pushe said, two bushels of dendrobium and three bushels of wheat were harvested per mu. In twenty acres of wheat field, nearly seventy bushels of dendrobium were harvested." Han Jian said.
Two consecutive years of high yields have proven the feasibility of this model. Of the 60 acres of land, 20 acres are planted with wheat and the harvest is 70 bushels. After the autumn harvest, some miscellaneous grains can be planted and the harvest is about 15 bushels; After two crops of beans, more than twenty dendrobiums are obtained; twenty acres of Dawan alfalfa are used to raise cattle, and the milk produced in a year is not a small amount. The farmers make a lot of cheese, which they can eat at home and sell for profit. Not to mention It is said that cattle themselves are resources. Slaughtering one is a huge increase in family income.
There is a large surplus of agricultural products, which can support people in the city who are not directly engaged in agricultural labor. This is the prerequisite for the development of industry and commerce.
"In Huile, Baojing, and Huaiyuan counties, have 10,000 households implemented this method of crop rotation this year?" Cheng Ru asked again.
"Yes. According to the shogunate's assistant, there are actually more than 17,000 households. The extra families are sergeants, military academies, and officials' families who have enough money to buy cattle directly from various grassland ministries." Han Jian sighed: "If it were not close to the grassland,
How can there be so many cows?"
Cheng Rui nodded in agreement. He was captured by Li Kan in Jingnan and was supposed to be beheaded, but the king of Lingwu County asked him by name, so the whole family was sent over. In the land of Jingnan, rice and wheat are rotated, and the whole family is exhausted.
It is only enough to tend twenty acres of land and harvest more than a hundred bushels of rice and wheat every year, which is equivalent to the harvest of the three hundred farmers. But they still get a lot of milk a year, and slaughter two cows every year, and get a lot of meat, horns, and tendons.
, leather can also be sold for money, but the income is higher than that of Jiangnan.
Fortressing the south of the Yangtze River is well-deserved!
The Prince of Lingwu County was also very patient. He first spent three years on a trial planting with farmers in Longxing Temple. After success, he slowly promoted it in Lingzhou and other places, but it would take the third year to see results.
He is really patient! He is also really down-to-earth in his work and dedicated to serving the people. He is, uh, a magic weapon.
******
Near the Bogulu Canal in the southeast of Lingzhou, Xie Tong looked at the farmland with mixed emotions.
After he was taken back to Bianzhou, Zhu Quanzhong was very enthusiastic towards him. He often had banquets and gave him many rewards. But how can I put it, there is no place for someone to thank someone next to Wuxing County Prince. The number one counselor is Jingxiang, and the number two counselor is Li
Zhen, as for Xie Tong, he got the official position of training envoy of the Bozhou regiment, but he was just a idle official.
In order to show his value, Xie Tong volunteered and proposed to visit Lingxia to get a feel for the Prince of Lingwu and see what the potential of this powerful enemy was.
After Zhu Quanzhong hesitated for a while, he agreed. He also selected some elites from Tabai City to join a caravan and went to Lingxia to spy on intelligence.
They were walking from Guanzhong, and their first stop was Yanzhou. However, there was nothing much to see along the way. There were many cattle and sheep, but little farmland, and the household registration was not abundant. This made Xie Tong feel a little relieved.
However, after entering Lingzhou, his three views were greatly challenged.
The neat farmland looked quite pleasing to the eye, but there was always "grass" planted in it. Xie Tong didn't know what kind of grass it was, he only knew that it was for livestock.
The livestock pen was built on the edge of the farmland, surrounded by a low fence, and contained twenty cows.
It was Shenshi time, and every household opened the wooden door of the cattle pen. Without them having to drive them away, one cow after another slowly walked into the "grass" field and began to eat.
Some even poop while eating, eating happily and defecating happily.
Xie Tong knew that cow dung was quite valuable. The king of Wuxing County was in charge of horse administration in Henan, and the horse dung produced in the pasture had always been a big source of income for the livestock supervisors and officials, so much so that it was ridiculed as "eating dung".
But making money is not shabby.
Xie Tong gestured, and Xie Yanzhang, who was selling goods at the intersection, understood, pulled a farmer and asked: "May I ask what the grass in this field is?"
"Dawan alfalfa." The farmer said while picking the silk: "This grass is good. It grows three times a year, and it must weigh several thousand kilograms. It is strange. With so much grass, the land is not poor.
If you plant wheat later this year, you will get more than two hugs of dendrobium from one acre of land."
"Two dendrobiums?" Xie Tong was a little surprised when he heard this and asked, "Can you really collect so much?"
"The villagers in Longxing Temple have harvested two bushels of dendrobium and three or four bushels in the past two years. After harvesting the wheat, we can plant some miscellaneous grains, and we can still harvest a lot. We planted it in the first year, and we don't know what the harvest will be in three years, but it should be no different."
He said without raising his head.
"What's the point of this?" Xie Tong asked a little uneasily.
"Did you see those dung?" The farmer finally raised his head and said, "If the dung of twenty cows is piled up in a pile and put into the field, will the land not be fertilized?"
Xie Tong understood somewhat, but felt that it was more than that, and there were probably other reasons.
"Who came up with this idea?"
"Of course it's Prince Lingwu." Some expressions finally appeared on the farmer's wrinkled face, and he said: "We, the farmers, just point to the soil and eat enough. Prince Lingwu has been given by gods and men."
, came up with this method, as long as it works, we can’t wait to build a shrine for him.”
God-given teaching is, of course, nonsense. This method was not thought up by Shao Shude, but was the product of the accumulated experience during the agricultural revolution in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century.
With this method, agricultural output in Western Europe has tripled in more than a hundred years. The secret lies in two consecutive years of fallow and leguminous crops fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere, adding additional nitrogen to the soil. At the same time, cow dung is used to add nitrogen to the soil.
A considerable part of the nutrients absorbed by crops as they grow is returned to the fields.
And this fallow is not fallow in the literal sense. In fact, by planting beans and alfalfa, you can get additional harvests, and at the same time, nitrogen elements are added to the soil, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
In addition, rotating crops with different crops can also reduce pests and diseases and further increase yields. Farmers can also reasonably adjust the planting ratio of different crops according to the prices of various agricultural products, rather than a single grain, which is a bit like market-oriented commercial agriculture.
Finally, there is another benefit, that is, the mixed farming method has stronger resilience when encountering disasters.
"With sixty acres of land, the harvest of grains and beans is no less than that of millet and wheat. It also produces meat and milk..." Xie Tong muttered something after the farmers left.
In Henan and Hebei provinces, almost all the fields are planted with millet and wheat. They are planted every year without stopping. The more the fields are planted, the poorer they are. It is very difficult to maintain a yield of one bush per mu. In the land of Lingxia, the custom is like this
different!
"Thank you, Ambassador, if this is true, can you try it in Huaixi?" Xie Yanzhang came over and asked.
"I'm afraid it won't work. There are not even a few cattle in one village. Prince Wuxing is still worried about raising official cattle for loans. It is impossible for him to reach the level of Lingxia." Xie Tong shook his head and said.
While the two were talking, the village suddenly became lively. It turned out that a family was going to kill a cow. It was said that when they bought it from the grassland, it was an old cow and it had reached its end of life.
Xie Tong wanted to laugh after hearing this, but it was normal to think about it. People have their limits, and so do cows.
"Let's go and have a look." Xie Tong pulled Xie Yanzhang onto a dirt road and walked towards the village.
On the left side of the dirt road is a cattle pen. This family seems to be very particular about cutting the alfalfa in the field and feeding it to the cattle. While the cattle are chewing, they look at Er Xie with innocent eyes.
There is also a family on the right who is asking their neighbors if they have turnip seeds. Turnips can still grow slowly in winter. Planting them after harvesting miscellaneous grains can alleviate the dilemma of insufficient feed for cattle and sheep.
"The farmers in Lingzhou have made the most of their land." Xie Tong thought to himself.
The two of them quickly walked to the middle of the village, and after watching the incense sticks for about a while, someone suddenly shouted in the distance: "The king of Lingwu County is here!"
There was a gust of wind, and all the children who had gathered around the cow-killing scene ran towards the intersection. Some of them were holding cheese in their hands, and they looked like calves. They rushed to the intersection to look at the passing army.
Xie Tong and Xie Yanzhang also turned around and looked. They saw the horizon in the distance, a large group of cavalry leading the way, and behind them there were banners and swords everywhere.
"This is the Tianzhu Army!" said a child.
"Nonsense, this is a voluntary service to the army!" said another slightly older child.
"Aren't all the Yi Congjun members from the Party? Why don't we just go straight to the army?" A child in front of him made an argument.
"Sergeant Dangxiang also needs to grow his hair, you don't understand." The eldest child said disdainfully, and then turned to look at the cavalrymen who were getting closer and closer, his eyes focused and his expression extremely envious.
When you get a few years older, you can recruit a yamen army, put on this outfit, and go around the village. Shouldn't you just marry whomever you want?
The army moved forward without stopping.
Xie Yanzhang's whole body tensed up, as if he had seen a natural enemy.
Groups of soldiers went north from the post road at the entrance of the village. No one rushed into the village to plunder, and no one even looked this way.
Most of the sergeants had a dusty look on their faces, but perhaps because of their proximity to the countryside, they were in good spirits. No one was making any noise, the queues were orderly, and the leaders with identification flags on their backs constantly reminded the sergeants of the unit to pay attention to their formation. There were people on both sides.
The cavalry was cruising around, and the sentinel riders were passing orders. Everything was done step by step, busy but not chaotic.
After riding thousands of steps, a large banner (dào) appeared in the distance.
The children cheered enthusiastically, and some even dropped the cheese in their hands. Without panic, they picked it up from the ground and continued eating.
"These naughty boys actually even know each other. How can Lingxia martial arts be so strong?" Xie Tong smiled, but his mouth felt bitter.
Lingxia and Huaixi are almost two different worlds, with very different customs and agriculture.
A carriage decorated with an elephant chariot drove over, followed by eight knights holding axes and axes. Outside, there were hundreds of well-armored personal guards.
This should be the car of the King of Lingwu County. Xie Tong and Xie Yanzhang looked at each other and lowered their heads in tacit understanding. They were not children. If they kept staring, they would be considered to have evil intentions. It was better not to cause trouble at this time.
After the car drove past, there was another endless infantry group. Looking at the flags, it should be the Iron Forest Army.
Everyone now knows that Shao Shude did not have a pro-army, but the Tielin Army was his de facto pro-army. The troops he founded were better equipped, and the soldiers were very convinced of their commander. If they met in battle in the future,
You should pay special attention to this unit, as it is probably not easy to fight.
Behind the infantry, there are another cartloads of goods, copper coins, silk, cloth, gold and silverware piled up in the carriage.
The children almost all exclaimed in exclamation.
Every time we go to war, we bring back a lot of treasures and cattle and sheep. Now even the children know the benefits of going to war.
I feel happy when I hear the war, that's probably what I'm talking about.