Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 43 0041 [The Immortal Method of Planting Rice]

The dispute over land grabbing lasted for more than half a month, and the village finally gradually returned to calm.

Because the rape has started to be harvested, and the spring silkworms are also cocooning.No matter men, women, old or young, they have to be busy day and night, and they really can't spare the energy to make a fuss. Those who suffer can only acquiesce in the status quo.

After Zhu Ming told the story for a while, he stood up and looked into the distance.

Some rapeseed fields have been harvested and are being irrigated with water.There is a large water tanker and a canal by the river, both of which are owned by the Bai family, and the villagers need to pay water fees for irrigation.

Rapeseed fields next to each other often help each other.

Because they need to finish harvesting quickly, and then divert water to irrigate the fields together.For the land not adjacent to the canal, water must be drawn from the adjacent fields, and the gaps in the field ridges must be opened, and the water fees must be paid by everyone.

The next step is to plow the fields. Not every family has cattle, and they have to queue up to rent them.

I really can't wait, so I can only turn the ground manually.

Not only are all the strong laborers in the family dispatched, but the children also have to help, because the rotation of rice crops takes time.

Before harvesting rapeseed, villagers are raising seedlings at the same time.Seeds are sown in the traditional way, and now the seedlings have emerged. Although the seeds were sown later, they grow faster and stronger than Zhu Guoxiang's seedlings.

Zhu Xianggong seems to have overturned.

The seedlings he bred have become the laughingstock of the village.

"what!"

Zheng Hong leaned back on the chair and yawned, so he stopped urging, and he heard the story wherever it was told.

"come over!"

The little fat man took out the preserved fruit and waved to the horse.

But the horse didn't even shake him. It walked around in circles in the yard, trotting from time to time.

Seeing this, Zhu Ming smiled, took the preserved fruit and spread it in the palm of his hand, and shouted, "Cornucopia!"

Ma'er immediately turned around, walked up to Zhu Ming, took a bite of the preserved fruit, chewed it, and shook his head.

Zhu Guoxiang yelled in the kitchen: "Come and help!"

The little fat man's entourage was very clever, and he even ran ahead of Zhu Ming and ran to the kitchen to help lift the cocoon.

After the silkworm cocoons are soaked in boiling water, it is best to reel the silk immediately, so that the raw silk will be bright and smooth.

If there are too many silkworm cocoons but not enough manpower, cooked cocoons have to be made for storage, and cooked silk is reeled slowly.

In the Song Dynasty, there were two methods of making cooked cocoons: sun-drying and salt-soaking. The sun-drying method easily damages the cocoons, while the salt-soaking method is too expensive.

Right now what is being reeled is raw silk, soaked silkworms are carried to the courtyard, and the hand reeling cart is also brought out, Grandma Yan and Shen Yourong began to cooperate tacitly.

Zhu Guoxiang looked at it for a while and asked, "Is there only this kind of reeling cart?"

Shen Yourong replied: "There is only this kind in the countryside, and it has to be cranked by hand, and the reeling is not fast. There are bigger ones in the city, which can be pedaled, much faster than this."

"Is the raw silk reeled to be sold in the city?" Zhu Guoxiang asked again.

"Spin silk and pay summer grain." Shen Yourong said.

Shen Yourong's family was classified as a fifth-class household and grouped with the other six families.

Seven families, if they hand over a bolt of silk together, they will be considered to have completed the taxation of summer grain.

Taxation is not easy, because the price of a piece of silk is about two guan, and occasionally even rises to three or four guan.On an equal basis, a fifth-class household has to pay at least three or four hundred Wen, and the fifth-class households are all bitter haha.

Mrs. Shen's family is not bad, she should be classified as a fourth-class household, and Bai Erlang secretly manipulated her to downgrade.

The real fifth-class households are much poorer, and they can't afford summer grain if they don't pay attention.

Shen Yourong suddenly asked: "Mr. Zhu, can your seedlings still work?"

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "It's not right now, just transplanting. In half a month, it's almost time to transplant."

After planting rice seedlings, it is the moment to witness the miracle!

Zhu Guoxiang walked to his son and asked in a low voice, "Can you improve the reeling cart?"

"Dean Zhu, do you think I'm Doraemon? I can transform anything," Zhu Ming was speechless. "Besides, Mrs. Shen just said that there is a more advanced pedal reeling car." .Even if it needs to be improved, it will be more advanced. I haven’t even seen the real thing yet.”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "When I was young, there was a period of time when the central government called on people all over the country to raise silkworms and reel silk in order to earn foreign exchange through exports. Most of them sold silkworm cocoons to silk reeling factories, and some people kept some of them for reeling. I remember all Use the steaming method to make cooked cocoons. I asked just now, but there was no method of steaming cooked cocoons in the Song Dynasty."

"Then let's steam it." Zhu Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I only know about steaming, but I don't know the details. I'm afraid that if I'm not careful, I'll break the cocoons."

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "From now on, if you have money, you can explore it slowly."

There was a sudden snoring sound from the side, but it was the warm spring sun, and the fat man Zheng Hong fell asleep leaning on the armchair.

When he woke up, it was already mid-afternoon. He stood up stretched and said, "Da Lang, I'm going back to Yangzhou tomorrow. My family lives in Yingchun Lane, Anlefang. If you go, you'll know as soon as you inquire."

"When I have free time, I will go to play with you." Zhu Ming said.

"Then I'm leaving." Zheng Hong said goodbye with cupped hands.

Zhu Ming sent him out of the courtyard, turned around and whistled, and the horses rushed over immediately, and they went out for a walk one by one.

Back home again, Zhu Guoxiang was cooking, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were still reeling silk, and they might be busy all night tonight.

Orphans and widows are like this. The labor force is not enough, so they must work harder.

Zhu Guoxiang couldn't help either. He was afraid that he would be clumsy and ruin the raw silk, so he had to go to the kitchen to cook.

The days passed by.

Due to the drop in temperature in the past few days, the time for raising corn seedlings has become longer, and we have to wait a few more days before transplanting.

The villagers are just busy, and they still don't know that they will have to pay back taxes this year.

Finally, when it was time to plant rice seedlings, the paddy fields were full of people.

Zhu Guoxiang went to see his seedlings every day, and from time to time instructed the tenants to take care of them. Now he came to Lu An and said, "Call the tenants, we will plant the rice tomorrow."

Lu An was obedient, and called the tenant the next day.

Those two tenants were very impatient. Their family had cultivated several acres of land, and it was the critical period of transplanting rice seedlings, but they had to accompany this Mr. Zhu to fool around.

The seedlings cultivated by Zhu Guoxiang were sown earlier, and the growth was poor. In the eyes of the villagers, they were unqualified garbage.

The experimental field is not big, and the two tenants cooperated, and it took only half a day to complete the planting.

Then they all ran away, including Lu An.

They didn't even bother to read the jokes, because Zhu Xianggong's seedlings had already become the butt of jokes in the village.

A few days later, Zhu Guoxiang approached Lu An and said he wanted to make up some farmyard manure.

Lu An impatiently called the tenants and brought the farmyard manure to the edge of the field, and the three of them were dumbfounded for a moment.

Those malnourished seedlings started to grow rapidly after only a few days of planting, and they were as strong as ordinary seedlings.

After ordering the two tenants to do something, Lu An rushed back to report the news: "Master, it's really rare!"

"What's the matter?" the old white member asked.

Lu An reported in detail: "The seedlings raised by Mr. Zhu have shallow roots and weak seedlings before planting. After only a few days of planting, they grow rapidly and grow fast and strong!"

The old white member whispered: "Sure enough, I have some skills."

Another few days passed, and more and more villagers discovered the abnormality.

Because the contrast is too strong, the seedlings in the experimental field have not only caught up, but gradually come from behind, stronger than the seedlings in the surrounding farmland.

It is clear at a glance, and children can understand it.

After transplanting the rice seedlings, the farmers had a little leisure time, and many people came to watch.

"Is it more manure?"

"Definitely is."

"Isn't Chen Si just helping to serve? Just ask him."

"I asked yesterday, Fourth Brother Chen said, Mr. Zhu's field uses even less manure."

"Why do you grow stronger when you are less fat?"

"I heard that Mr. Zhu met a god when he went out to sea. This is a method passed down by the gods."

"I'm afraid it's really a fairy method, I don't know if we can use it."

"It would be great if it could be used. His method of sowing seeds early and staggering the busiest time can save a lot of hard work."

"..."

When the villagers saw Zhu Guoxiang again, their eyes were obviously different.

No matter how wonderfully Zhu Ming's story is told, it can only make people half-believed. What kind of daughter-in-law's marriage is more often a kind of talk.

But now, Zhu Guoxiang's seedling raising method can indeed make the seedlings grow better.Moreover, the changes before and after transplanting are very dramatic, like an ugly duckling turning into a swan.

Everyone is farming, and from the growth of the seedlings, they know that the experimental field will definitely increase production.

In view of the different weights and measures in the past dynasties, all were converted into new Chinese units, and only the rice output in the Taihu Lake area was compared: 276 jin per mu in Tang Dynasty, 450 jin per mu in Song Dynasty, 667 jin per mu in Ming Dynasty, and 550 jin per mu in Qing Dynasty.

Why did the rice production drop sharply in the Qing Dynasty? This historian has not figured it out. Anyway, he has everything.

Looking at the Song and Ming dynasties alone, the rice production in Taihu Lake increased sharply. In addition to the more complete water conservancy facilities, there is another important factor, that is, the promotion of flood control and drought seedling raising!

With Zhu Guoxiang's method, the rice production in the village is estimated to increase by more than 20%.

The busy farming season is over, and this evening, another villager came to listen to the story.

And before Zhu Ming started his lecture, everyone couldn't help asking: "Mr. Zhu, have you really got the magic of growing rice?"

Zhu Guoxiang went back to the room directly, the door was closed tightly, and he didn't want to talk nonsense.

That aloof appearance added a bit of mystery.

When the rice in the experimental field is harvested, I am afraid that the villagers' eyes will shine.

Shen Yourong purposely went to boil water and brew loose tea for the villagers. She was very happy at the moment, and felt that she was right.

"Aunt, Mr. Zhu is really amazing!" Shen Yourong said back into the room.

Grandma Yan was also very happy, and said in a low voice: "This afternoon, the old white member sent someone to come and ask you if you would like to remarry Mr. Zhu. If you are willing, he will come to match you. I only have one word, and you can remarry Now, brother Qi can't change his surname, he must continue to be named Bai Chuanxianghuo."

Shen Yourong blushed, buried her head and said, "It's all up to my aunt."

(End of this chapter)