The Soul of the Han Dynasty in the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 177 Xu Guangqi

On May [-]th, a group of people headed by Xu Guangqi, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, rushed to Yongping Mansion.

This Xu Guangqi is not an ordinary person. He is a famous expert in the fields of Confucianism, Western learning, astronomy, mathematics, water conservancy, agriculture, and military science in the late Ming Dynasty.
He is unanimously recognized by later generations as a scientist, thinker, statesman, and military strategist. He is also a devout Catholic leader and apologist, and is known as the first person in China who opened his eyes to see the world.

He translated and promoted "Principles of Geometry" and other western scientific classics. The nouns such as point, line, plane, right angle and quadrilateral are all derived from him.Even the place name Xujiahui in Shanghai originated from him.

He should be a member of the Donglin Party, but he is definitely not now, because according to Catholic doctrine, a devout believer should be pure and cannot join a party, even the party of Wei Guangzheng.

Xu Guangqi's scientific achievements are reflected in many fields, but agricultural science runs through everything, because his good wish is to make the world "abundant in food and clothing, and free from hunger and cold".

The establishment of slaves harmed the land of Gyeonggi, which led to the longest occupation by the Hou Jin army. More than half of the acres in Yongping Prefecture, which reached less than half a year, missed the farming season. Xu Guangqi took the initiative to ask for an order to come to Yongping to guide production and help himself.

Already in his early sixties, he is old and strong. In the year of Tianqi, he set up experimental fields in Liangxiang, Tianjin and other places to try to grow sweet potatoes. Using cellar insulation technology, he successfully introduced this high-yield crop that was originally only grown in the south to the cold climate. In the north, the result was a bumper harvest.

He found that the agricultural planting level of the people in the north was not high, and the grain output was seriously insufficient, so he reclaimed canals in Fangshan and Laishui areas, cultivated experimental fields, and through various experiments, he finally succeeded in introducing more high-yielding grains to this area. Crops - rice.

After Wei Zhongxian monopolized the government, he wanted to frame the Donglin Party members. Although Xu Guangqi was no longer a party member and hated the scum of the Donglin Party, he sympathized with Donglin gentlemen such as Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou.

He didn't bother to serve the rich and powerful, so he simply retired and returned to his hometown, continued his agricultural experiments in Songjiang Mansion, and finally compiled his epoch-making scientific masterpiece - "The Complete Book of Agricultural Administration".

This time, in order to ensure that the people of Yongping Prefecture have a good harvest, he deliberately brought a new crop that has just been successfully tested. This thing likes coldness, and it is a crop that likes low temperature. It is easier to grow in northern Daming than sweet potatoes. Of course, this thing is potato.

According to the research and statistics of later generations of scholars, the total amount of cultivated land in Daming is not less than 5000 million mu, and the population will not exceed [-] million.

It can be seen that men, women and children have an average of more than four acres of cultivated land, and four acres of cultivated land can only maintain a fragile balance. Once a natural disaster occurs, a large number of people will starve to death.

The population of later generations is close to 14 billion, and the red line of arable land is 18 billion mu. Natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and typhoons occur every year. After the reform and opening up, I have never heard of people starving to death, but I often hear that food waste is serious and there are too many restaurants. Half of the dishes on the table will turn into swill.

It can be calculated from this that the grain produced by one mu of land in later generations can satisfy a person's full food, and can also meet the supply of poultry eggs and meat.

Poultry eggs and meat are actually converted from grain. Generally, three catties of grain are converted into one catty of eggs, and less than seven catties of grain are converted into one catty of pork.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the output of more than four acres of land could not meet the food and clothing line of the common people, causing a large number of ordinary people to starve to death. The comparison of the hatchback is enough to show how low the grain yield per mu at that time should be.

Xu Guangqi came to Yongping full of enthusiasm to guide farmers to save themselves in production, but unfortunately he suffered a cold reception.

Since he was a high-ranking member of the imperial court, he came to the local area for disaster relief but did not bring food or real money, which made everyone scold the war refugees who gave hope.

Although Xu Guangqi is a wise man and a great scientist, he doesn't understand people's hearts. Nine out of ten, he only brought over fifty officials, servants and a few horse-drawn carts who followed him to participate in the breeding, equivalent to future generations of agricultural technicians. Potato seedlings, sweet potato seedlings.

Farmers in this era are even more ignorant. Basically, no one pays attention to these agricultural scientists, and no one is willing to spend energy on growing these unknown things.

The officials of Yongping Mansion didn't like to see the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, who basically came to disaster relief empty-handed, but on the surface they were polite to this official of the third rank, and they would completely refuse to ask them to help with things.

Officials at all levels have very good reasons. The Yongping Mansion is waiting to be built, and the people who are in trouble in their homes are waiting to be fed. We are busy every day, and we are doing our best to share the worries of the court. We really have no time to help Mr. Xu and force the people to plant you Novelty crops brought.

Xu Guangqi is in a hurry. The seedlings he brought need to be planted in time. When the vines grow, a second selection of seedlings will be required to meet the large-scale planting.

Farming time waits for no one, and if the time is delayed for a few days, the maturity of sweet potatoes may catch up with the frost, which will directly affect the yield.

Although he didn't have a personal relationship with Zheng Guochang, the chief minister, he was acquainted with each other, so he came to the door hoping to get help.

Scientists think that it is impossible, even if they do not hesitate to issue an administrative order, these disciples must be cultivated through hard work. The seedlings he brought along in order to rush all the way in a hurry are planted in the ground.

This is the sad part of the late Ming Dynasty. Xu Guangqi has successfully cultivated sweet potatoes that can be grown in the north of the Ming Dynasty, although long-term consumption of this stuff as a staple food will lead to malnutrition and a decline in intelligence.

Later, the Chinese were short and weak with yellow complexion and thin body, so they were called the sick man of East Asia by the Westerners.But being able to have sweet potatoes to satisfy one's hunger is better than starving to death!
The normal cultivation of sweet potatoes in later generations can reach five to six thousand catties per mu, and the high-yield cultivation can reach more than ten thousand catties. This is because there are good varieties and chemical fertilizers available. Of course, there would not be such a high yield in the Ming Dynasty. According to the records of the Qing Dynasty It is still possible to harvest [-] to [-] catties.

Therefore, it is actually potatoes and sweet potatoes that supported the so-called Kangxi and Qianlong prosperity and fed a population of [-] to [-] million.

Zheng Guochang is really busy. The Yongping Mansion just won is a waste of time. There are so many problems that he, the highest official, has to solve.

The first problem is still the food problem. Too many people have been looted and become abjectly poor, and they cannot survive without relief. However, the food seized in the capture of Yongping City is only more than 4 shi, which is barely sufficient to maintain the population of Fucheng this year.

In fact, the later Jin army hoarded 10,000+ stones of food in Yongping Mansion, but the "Red Banner Army" who took the lead in entering the city preemptively took away [-] to [-] stones.

The white pole soldiers were not to be outdone and took about [-] shi, and the other battalions reached out again, so when Zheng Guochang took over, there were only [-] shi left.

(End of this chapter)