Late Tang Dynasty: I

Chapter 75 This emperor has been rare since ancient times
Kong Wei has been worrying recently, the court has just settled down, and His Majesty the Emperor, who has only been enthroned for a year, is gradually showing the appearance of a faint king, and this habit...is really hard to talk about.

It happened that Xu Yanluo from Yushitai came up to persuade the emperor to work hard to restore the glory of the Tang Dynasty, and not to play heresy.

The two came hand in hand, wanting to confront the emperor face to face.

Li Ye was also puzzled, as the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, what the hell happened to me raising a few pigs on my own territory.

Not only did they raise a few pigs, but they also reclaimed hundreds of acres of land by the Taiye Pool.

The Daming Palace is really too big, and there are many damaged palaces, such as the Linde Palace complex beside the Taiye Pool, which is the place where the Tang Dynasty gave state banquets.

The entire main hall is supported by more than 1000 pillars, and it is the largest palace except for the three main halls.

During the Tang Dynasty, 3500 soldiers of the Shence Army were entertained here at the same time, and it was not too crowded.

It's a pity that this hall was destroyed by Li Keyong.

Looking at the ruins is really worrying.

Li Ye simply made use of waste and built more than 30 pigpens on the west side of Taiye Pool with these destroyed wood and stones.

As for the royal family, it is natural to be vigorous, and to raise a pig, you need to start with a hundred.

But this taste, it is.

Li Ye frowned, feeling a little worried.

The dormitory is just opposite the Taiye Pond, so the smell should not be so far away!
A septic tank was dug behind the pigsty, connected by a hole.

Listening to Kong Wei and Xu Yanruo's nagging, Li Ye's face turned dark.

You call this not doing your job properly, if it makes more sense, go ahead.

How about the crop production level of Datang, you have no idea.

Li Ye shook his head, maybe he really didn't count, the dignified prime minister, who cares about this.

The output of wheat and millet is about 100 catties per mu, so there is a lot of room for improvement.

If you want to have a high yield, the seeds with large and plump seeds are the first choice. In order to avoid cross-seeding during pollination, I specially found a place near Taiye Lake where there is no other farmland.

The second is planting, which is Li Ye's weakness. He knows about rice, but not so much about wheat and corn.

The distance between the plants should be tested.

A sample of half an acre, the distance between the plants of each sample is different, as well as how to water and when to plant, all are recorded one by one.

As for the purpose of raising pigs, of course it is to bring the "cheap meat" in the eyes of these scholar-bureaucrats to the table of Datang.

It happened that a few skilled swordsmen came. They were specially castrated eunuchs in the palace, and they brought a set of special tools for castration.

With the knife in hand, dozens of boar's balls fell down, and the wound was simply plugged with plant ash.

But the masters didn't dare to slack off. Looking at the crowd of piglets, their hands trembled a little.

"This……"

Although Kong Wei was quite old and already inhumane, he still felt cold down his crotch.

Your Majesty is too... Apart from His Majesty, there is not even room for a boar in this palace.

"It's called castration. This kind of pig grows fast, has a docile temper, and doesn't have a fishy smell."

Kong Wei looked at the emperor with a clear expression in his eyes, "Do you think I will believe you?"

Not long after, the concubines of the harem brought the prince over.

"Yeah, yeah, can I farm?"

Li Ye picked up King De, this little guy was so cute, at a young age, his face was well-defined, and he still had baby fat on his face.

It can be confirmed without DNA testing that it is Li Ye's seed, the two look too much alike.

No wonder according to the original history, more than ten years later, Zhu Wen forced Emperor Zhaozong to move his capital to Luoyang. Zhu Wen is such a thick-skinned ugly guy, but even so, he was ashamed of himself when he saw His Highness King De, and he has been thinking about getting rid of De Wang ever since. king.

"Of course, the sage said, if you don't work hard, if you don't know the five grains, you are not a good person. Let's go, yeah, I'll go fetch water with you."

Kong Wei's face suddenly turned red.

"Yeah, I want to plow the land."

I have seen a lot of water carrying, but I have never seen a horse-drawn plow.

Zhao Xi, the housekeeper, was also a lovely person. He quickly put the plow saddle on the horse, and sat on the plow with Xiao Dewang in his arms, feeling very happy.

Li Ye shook his head. Although the reversing plow was made, the cost was too high. Hundreds of blacksmiths had been busy for half a month, so they had to find time to improve their ironmaking technology, which was too exhausting.

The craftsmen also felt that the emperor was a bit outrageous. For this plow, it is usually enough to wrap a small iron sheet on the tip of the plow. How can it be made of pure steel.

Do you want to know how much this so-called turning plow is used to make steel?Including wear and tear, a full 1000 pieces of broadswords can be used, and the best hundred-steel-smelting broadsword can only be bought with a hundred guan.

So the turning plow was left in the palace, and only the emperor in the world could afford it.

But this reversing plow is really a good thing. The same horse can turn over the ground five times faster than the Quyuan plow.

And what Li Ye has to do is to transfer some of the craftsmen who will be the supervisors to study for the emperor how to reduce the cost.

Where there is no need to use steel, replace it with iron, and where there is no need to use iron, replace it with wood. Even if the cost is reduced by a hundred times, it is not affordable for ordinary people. There is no way, iron is too expensive, and steel is a hundred times more expensive than iron.

How to do?
Li Ye can't help it either. Although he vaguely remembers the schematic diagram of the blast furnace in high school physics, the schematic diagram is not the same as the actual blast furnace.

There is no problem with refractory bricks, and Datang also has iron-making furnaces, but the iron plates wrapped around them are not easy to make now.

Even if a blast furnace is made, can you make iron?

That was dreaming.

There is still such a thing as "craft" in this world.

How to feed?The ratio of iron ore to carbon powder? How to deal with hot air above 500 degrees?Even Li Ye was a little bored with all the technical problems.

If the blast furnace does not come out, the price of pig iron will not come down, let alone other things.

Flipping the plow will not be able to do it for a while, Li Ye can only put limited resources on Quyuan plow.

Li Ye ordered the generals and supervisors to stop all the weapon workshops, and ordered the prefectures and counties to recruit a large number of carpenters and blacksmiths to rush to manufacture a large number of improved Quyuan plows.

The non-essential horses in the forbidden army were all sent to the state capitals and counties.

At this time, the big things are not as important as spring plowing.

Although this matter is a great benefit for the court, it is not easy to keep things going.

One mistake can turn a good thing into a bad thing.

For example, how the poor horses and the plows are distributed, and to whom, there must be a regulation.

Li Ye has worked at the grassroots level, so he naturally understands that dealing with the common people is not just about showing kindness.

For example, if the horse is distributed like this and kept for spring plowing, the horse will become a waste horse and cannot be used anymore.

why?Human nature, the poor have evil tricks, the rich have a conscience, this is not just for fun.

Even if you can't get enough to eat, you can still serve a good beast for you.As for working, the horses of the imperial court are not your own, so why should I cherish horsepower for you.

I can't wait to work one day as two days.

Just imagine, no matter how good a horse is, it can't get enough to eat, and it hasn't worked day and night, how can it be unbearable.

If you can't do it for a month, you will be exhausted, or even die from exhaustion.

You must know that the horses of the imperial court are not easy to come by.

Most of them were bought by the imperial court from Tubo and Huige. The price of a horse was 40 pieces of silk, and the price of a piece of silk was only 500 Wen during the reign of Emperor Taizong, and as low as 200 Wen during the Kaiyuan period. Now, it is 4000 Wen.

For a horse, the court would have to spend 160000 yuan to buy it, not counting those who died of illness, robbery, food and drink on the way, and the money spent on escorting officers and soldiers along the way.

If these are counted, it will almost double, and the court will spend three hundred guan for a horse.

If a spring plow is wasted, the imperial court will be bankrupt economically.

How much food can be bought with three hundred guan?
Li Ye never let go of any opportunity to train Datang's civil servants, the dozen or so people in Zhaoyi are examples.

There are quite a few officials of the eighth and ninth grades in Chang'an, and from time to time a group of people are called to discuss politics in the Xuanzheng Hall.

The questions asked by the emperor are very down-to-earth, such as how to distribute horses and plows to farmers, how to maintain security in Chang'an, and how to manage household registration to suit the present.

Those who are literary and empty talk will be sent back directly, but there are also people with true knowledge and insight.

A man named Juniper proposed: Since the imperial court organized households in Baojia, ten households have one Jia, and ten Jia is the guarantee. One hundred households have about [-] mu of land, and they need five horsepower and five plows.

The imperial court can post a notice that each insurance company can borrow horse plow tools from the government on credit. If the horse dies, the insurance will pay for it together.

Li Ye immediately promoted this man from the school secretary to the third rank, and promoted him to be the inspector of the household department and the inspector of Chang'an, Fengxiang and Binning.

Take office that day.

(End of this chapter)