Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 17 0016 [Equatorial Ecliptic]

Today's meal actually has meat!
Stir-fried bacon with leeks.

Not too much bacon, not too little, just cut into three slices, and the rest are all leeks.

One piece for Zhu Ming, one piece for Zhu Guoxiang, one piece for the child, and three slices of bacon.Unable to refuse at all, Grandma Yan picked up the meat with her chopsticks and forced it into their bowls.

The corn porridge was also replaced with corn rice, which was still not shelled, and the taste was not good, but it was dry at any rate.

After breakfast, Grandma Yan went out with a hoe, saying that she was going to weed the wheat.Her family has more than 20 mu of land, most of which are leased to villagers, but they also keep one mu to cultivate themselves.

Shen Yourong went to wash the dishes, then fed the chickens, and then swept the floor.

After sweeping several houses, I came to sweep the yard again.

When sweeping the yard, there was an unexpected harvest, and two lumps of horse manure were found.Horse manure is of course collected and used for composting crops.

After cleaning the inside and outside of the house, Shen Yourong went to weed under the fence and brought dish water to water the vegetables in the vegetable bed.

As for the little boy, he is concentrating on practicing calligraphy.

Possibly to save paper and ink, Bai Qi dipped a brush in clean water, squatted in the yard and wrote on the ground.

Don't be afraid of hurting the pen, this broken pen is self-made, and I bought the one that I wrote "San Zi Jing" for Zhu Ming.

"Hey, Dean Zhu, what are you looking at?" Zhu Ming stretched out his hand to block his father's sight.

Zhu Guoxiang looked a little embarrassed, looked away and said, "I'm looking at what vegetables the people in the Song Dynasty grew."

Ju Ming joked, "Why do I feel that you are looking at the person pouring vegetables?"

"I'm not a pervert." Zhu Guoxiang beat him to death and refused to admit it.

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "If you peek, just peek. What are you arguing about? An older bachelor suddenly becomes younger, and it's normal to have turmoil in his heart."

"It's not what you think," Zhu Guoxiang hurriedly explained, "Does this Mrs. Shen look like your mother when she was young?"

Ju Ming said sarcastically: "In your old eyes, as long as she is a beautiful woman, she is like my mother when she was young. Anyway, the final interpretation is yours."

Zhu Guoxiang said anxiously: "I'm not talking about looks, but about the temperament. Do you understand the temperament?"

"Temperament is a mysterious thing, you can explain it whatever you want. I understand it, no need to say it again, explaining is just covering up," Zhu Ming said with a smile, "If a person in his 50s marries a pretty widow in her early twenties, Do you think this should be called an old cow eating tender grass? Say yes, you have become younger again. Say no, your mental age..."

"Get out!" Zhu Guoxiang became angry from embarrassment.

Zhu Ming chased after the victory: "I'm in a hurry, someone is in a hurry. I know who it is, but I won't say it."

"Too lazy to talk to you." Zhu Guoxiang walked away angrily.

Winning the bickering, Ju Ming was so triumphant that he whistled happily.

Zhu Guoxiang walked slowly behind Shen Yourong, looked at the rapeseed field in the distance and asked, "In a few months, these rapeseeds will be ripe. What should we plant after harvesting the rapeseed?"

Shen Yourong was still watering the vegetables, without raising her head, she replied, "Planting rice."

"Is rapeseed and rice rotation planted in Xixiang County?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Shen Yourong stood up and rubbed her waist: "I didn't know how to grow crops in rotation before, so the soil was wasted for nothing. I heard from my father that it was brought over by the people in central Sichuan, and the transshipment envoy ordered all states and counties to promote it."

Zhu Guoxiang asked again: "Ms. Shen's family also grows rapeseed and rice?"

"Orphans and widowed mothers can't plant that," Shen Yourong said, "When planting rapeseed in different seasons, it's okay to plant less. If you plant more than one or two acres, it will be very troublesome to drain and plow the land. If there is a slight mistake, the farming time will be delayed. This rapeseed Rotating crops with rice, the family needs a strong laborer to keep busy."

"Rape seedlings are raised and transplanted, why can't we be too busy?" Zhu Guoxiang said.

Shen Yourong asked doubtfully: "I only know about transplanting seedlings, but can this rape seedling be transplanted?"

"Yes." Zhu Guoxiang began to inquire carefully about the farming methods of the Northern Song Dynasty.

After a while, I understood the question, and went back to discuss with my son.

Zhu Ming smiled wickedly: "Okay, Dean Zhu, we're starting to hook up."

"Don't talk nonsense," Zhu Guoxiang said with a serious expression, "I don't know about the south. I only say that the rice planting process in Hanzhong is basically mature, but I don't know how to control flood and drought. Therefore, rice planting is affected by climate and geographical conditions. The constraints are even more serious, unable to reach the limit of ancient rice production."

Hearing that he was talking about business, Zhu Ming also put away his smile: "How much can the production of seedlings be increased by controlling flood and drought?"

Zhu Guoxiang carefully explained: "It's not easy to count, it depends on the specific situation. The advantage of this method is to improve the quality of seedlings, reduce the cost of seedling cultivation, and enhance the ability to prevent and resist diseases."

"Why does dry seedling cultivation improve the quality of seedlings?" Ju Ming was curious.

Zhu Guoxiang sorted out his words and tried his best to make Zhu Ming understand: "Controlling water and drought, seedlings grow in arid environment, soil moisture affects the differentiation of seedling roots, controls the occurrence of some seedling roots, thereby increasing the number of latent roots. At the same time, The concentration of cytoplasm in dry seedlings increases, the accumulation of nutrients is rich, and the plants are always in a state of high energy. When dry seedlings are transplanted into paddy fields, the root primordia that has differentiated but not elongated will quickly develop into new roots, forming the explosive power of hair roots ..."

"Stop, stop, stop, you don't need to talk anymore." Zhu Ming was really not interested in this thing.

The technique of controlling flood and drought to raise seedlings appeared and was popularized in the Ming Dynasty, which made the rice yield per mu in the Ming Dynasty quickly exceed that in the Song Dynasty!
Although Zhu Ming doesn't know how to farm, he knows how to use it: "If we guide technological innovation and help the people increase their production and income, we will quickly gain the respect of the villagers and thus gain a firm foothold in Xixiang County."

Zhu Guoxiang continued: "Also, farmers in the Hanzhong area have mastered the technology of rapeseed and rice rotation. But they don't know how to raise rape seedlings and transplant them, so they have to rush to plant when they change to rapeseed, and they need to double their labor in a short time. If rapeseed is used Seedling cultivation and transplanting technology can not only reduce labor input, but also improve the quality of rapeseed seedlings, enhance the disease resistance of rapeseed, and increase the yield per mu of rapeseed."

Zhu Ming couldn't help asking: "Isn't it easy to raise seedlings and transplant them?"

"It's very simple, but there are tricks," Zhu Guoxiang said, "and it can be combined with the technology of water-controlling and drought-raising seedlings, because drought-raising seedlings can delay transplanting, so that there is no need to rush for time when planting rotations."

Water and dry crop rotation can improve the air permeability and water permeability of paddy fields, improve soil fertility, and reduce the damage of diseases, insect pests and weeds.

The emergence of rape and rice rotation is a breakthrough in ancient southern China agriculture.

At present, the rapeseed rice rotation method only needs drought seedling raising and rapeseed seedling transplanting. If it is completed, it means that this method is completely mature.

Zhu Ming asked: "Ms. Shen's house, do you grow rice?"

Zhu Guoxiang shook his head and said: "No, most of her family's land is rented out, and I only grow some wheat and millet on the dry land. Serving the paddy fields requires a lot of labor, and it also involves plowing cattle and irrigation. It is not good for orphans and widows. alley."

Zhu Ming said: "You can't tell the farmers directly about your two new methods. They won't believe you if you talk empty teeth. We need to make some achievements first, let the villagers know that we are agricultural masters, and then they will be obedient. Wait for the increase in production and income. After tasting the sweetness, the farmers will be completely convinced and respect us."

"But Mrs. Shen's family doesn't grow rice and rapeseed. We have no place to demonstrate. It is impossible to take back the paddy fields rented out by tenants. It is tantamount to smashing the tenants' jobs, which is bad for Mrs. Shen and our reputation. "Zhu Guoxiang said with a headache.

Zhu Ming said: "We have sweet potatoes and corn seeds, which can be planted in the mountains, and they will definitely be famous when they are harvested. Do you have any other tricks?"

Zhu Guoxiang looked at the mountains in the distance: "Collect wild shiitake mushrooms from the mountains, make your own strains, and artificially grow shiitake mushrooms. By the way, make ganoderma ganoderma strains, and grow ganoderma that is as big as a millstone!"

Artificial shiitake mushroom planting technology also existed in ancient times, but it had to wait until Zhao Jiu established the Southern Song Dynasty.The inventor of this technology is Wu San, who is honored as "Wu Sangong". After his death, a temple was built to worship him, and the folks regard him as the "Mushroom God".

Zhu Guoxiang pointed to the vegetable patch under the fence and said with a smile, "Did you see it? Day lily."

"I see, it hasn't bloomed yet." Zhu Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "With day lily, colchicine can be extracted to induce plant polyploidy to breed improved varieties. Vegetables, grains, including mushrooms, can be done in this way."

Zhu Ming asked, "Do you need high-end equipment to extract colchicine?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "First, we need to get distilled wine, which is above 50 degrees. Wash the yellow flowers, soak them in alcohol, and extract them under high-temperature reflux. The supernatant obtained is rich in colchicine."

"So simple?" Zhu Ming asked in surprise.

Zhu Guoxiang asked back: "How complicated do you think it can be?"

After Shen Yourong took care of the vegetable patch, he went to the kitchen to cut some of the firewood he had brought home into small pieces and moved them to the kitchen, and the rest were neatly stacked against the wall.

So far, the farm work is still not done.

Shen Yourong took out a clean linen cloth, wiped the mulberry leaves picked in the morning one by one, and brought them to the silkworm room to feed the silkworm babies.

After feeding the silkworms and composting the silkworm excrement, Shen Yourong finally came to the courtyard and said to Zhu Ming, "Da Lang, please explain the Three Character Classic."

Not only for children, but also for adults.

Because Bai Qi was young and couldn't remember it, only if Shen Yourong could remember it by heart, it would be convenient for him to tutor his son in the future.

It was already noon at this time, but there was no smoke in every household.

Zhu Ming sat down in the yard and asked, "Madam Shen doesn't understand anything, you can point it out."

Shen Yourong actually knew many allusions about Meng Mu, Dou Yanshan, Huang Xiang, Kong Rong, etc., and the first question he asked was: "It's called the zodiac, where the sun goes. It's called the equator, and it's right in the middle. What's the meaning of this sentence?"

Ju Ming went to the firewood pile under the eaves, broke off a dead branch, and drew a pattern on the ground: "This is the earth, and this is the sun. There are 365 degrees in a week, and the sun moves by 1 degree every day. It looks like a circle. This circle is called the "ecliptic".

Then, Ju Ming drew another big sphere: "This is the celestial sphere, which wraps the earth. The upper part is the celestial pole, the lower part is the celestial south pole, and the north and south poles are connected in series to form an axis. Draw a circle around this axis in the center of the celestial sphere. The drawn circle is the 'equator. '. This is called 'the equator, the middle right'."

This thing is somewhat similar to the geocentric theory, the universe is a celestial sphere, the earth is at the center of the celestial sphere, and the sun revolves around the earth.

Ju Ming can't explain more, and it's impossible to talk about modern astronomical knowledge.

After all, Shen Yourong couldn't even figure out the zodiac and the equator, so what's the use of saying more?
Looking at the pattern on the ground, Shen Yourong pondered carefully, and after digesting it for a long time, he finally figured it out. He said with sincere admiration, "Da Lang is really knowledgeable!"

Bai Qi, a little kid, stared at the circle representing the earth in a daze, and couldn't help but ask, "Is the earth round?"

Before Zhu Ming could speak, Shen Yourong said, "The sky is round and the earth is square."

Bai Qi asked again: "The earth is floating in the celestial sphere, why doesn't it fall down?"

Shen Yourong couldn't answer, looked at the pattern on the ground, and couldn't help but look up at Zhu Ming.

Zhu Guoxiang, however, doesn’t like to be fooled. He took dead branches from his son and drew a model of the solar system on the ground: “The earth is round, not only round, but also a ball. This is the sun. And the five stars of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, revolve around the sun day and night. Here is the moon, and the moon is also a ball, revolving around the earth."

Shen Yourong was dumbfounded when he heard it, but Bai Qi's eyes were shining, this little kid thought it was amazing.

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Guoxiang relied on the solar system model to explain why the moon waxes and wanes, and why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Shen Yourong clenched his fists tightly, thinking the fist was the earth, and said in a daze, "We live on the ball, but are there people living under the ball?"

"Someone." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Shen Yourong was worried for the humans on the other side of the earth: "What will happen to those people if they fall?"

"I can't fall, the earth has gravitational force." Zhu Guoxiang said.

"What is gravitation?" Shen Yourong asked.

Listening to his father's continued explanation, Zhu Ming curled his lips and walked to the fence to look at the scenery in the distance.

With this one-hundred-thousand-why attitude, don't even think about talking about the "Three Character Classic" today. Since Dad is so busy, Zhu Ming doesn't bother to get involved.

(End of this chapter)