I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 525 "Agricultural Policy Encyclopedia" Planting Rice and Turning Cotton

Zhu Yijiong just looked at the memorial report submitted by the agricultural college and couldn't help but sigh, this Xu Guangqi is simply a genius!

His understanding of farming and agricultural administration is still timeless even hundreds of years later, and is even simpler and more practical than the advanced science of later generations.

Huang Xu said: "Your Majesty, after several years of experiments, I and my colleagues at the Agricultural Academy have successfully verified that the method of planting rice and turning cotton in the "Agricultural Policy Complete Book" written by Xu Gong is correct. Cotton-rice rotation can not only greatly reduce the cost of field work, but Damage by diseases and insect pests, and root rot can further improve land fertility and increase cotton and rice yields.”

The experiments conducted by the farm were basically no different from those of later generations. They selected some experimental fields and used mathematical methods to individually number each experimental field.

Then, these experimental fields were evenly divided into four groups, and different methods were used for farming experiments:

The first group, according to the standard of "Agricultural Policy Encyclopedia", planted cotton and converted to rice in the first two years, and switched to rice in the third year.

In the second group, cotton was grown normally for three years without any unnecessary experiments.

The third group also planted all cotton in three years, but the cotton planting method in the third year was in accordance with the "Agricultural Policy Encyclopedia" and took remedial measures.

The fourth group grew rice normally for three years without any unnecessary experiments.

Finally, it was concluded that if the second group did not carry out remediation, the pest rate of cotton planted in the third year directly increased by ten to twenty times.

The third group that underwent remediation was not much different from the previous two years and could still grow cotton normally.

The first group that planted cotton and turned rice had less pests and diseases than the fourth group that purely grew rice. Their rice yields also increased slightly. There was no significant decrease in soil fertility and less fertilizer was used.

"Thank you Huang Qing for your hard work, and everyone in the farmhouse did a good job." Zhu Yijiong said.

Huang Xu spoke a little bluntly, and directly said with his hand: "Your Majesty, the method of planting cotton and turning rice has been proven to be feasible, and it should be widely spread among the people as soon as possible. Now in the Jiangnan area, due to the promotion of new cotton spinning machines (not steam engines), the original people Cotton cultivation in China has been completely disrupted. In order to earn more money, many people continue to plant cotton regardless of the risk of a surge in pests and diseases in the third year. No one has informed these people how to remedy the situation. In addition, some local officials also Convert rice fields into cotton fields and invite investment to build cotton spinning workshops.”

This involves the first wave of pains of the Industrial Revolution. Steam spinning machines had not yet been promoted, but human-powered spinning machines had become popular, which had already begun to have a severe impact on agricultural production.

The common people are planting a large amount of cotton. This cannot be blamed on the common people, nor on the merchants. Because people wanted to make more money, and merchants did spend more money to purchase cotton, and even built cotton spinning workshops in local areas. With these cotton spinning workshops, ordinary people and women will have more opportunities to get out of their homes and further liberate productivity.

And those state and county officials who switched to rice and cotton did so not only for political performance evaluation, but also to allow the people to earn more money.

Many of these local officials are young people, and they are not completely rotten. Even if they are rotten, they don't mind allowing the people to earn a little more.

Moreover, this kind of situation began to occur only after the emperor and cabinet approved it, and generally after the two lakes, the world's granary, were recovered.

Zhu Yijiong never considered that there would be such sequelae. He did not get angry and nodded and said: "I understand. If there is anything else, I will tell you everything."

Huang Xu said: "There are also heavy taxes on cotton fields, which should also be reduced."

The issue of heavy taxes on cotton fields was really unexpected. Not only did the emperor not think about it, but neither did the cabinet ministers.

Due to the vigorous promotion of folk cotton spinning machines, although they are not as abnormal as steam engines, they are several times faster than hand spinning, or even ten times faster, so the demand for cotton is also higher.

Naturally, the imperial court had to impose heavy taxes on it, in order to curb the excessive expansion of merchants and disrupt the market.

Unexpectedly, the market was not disrupted, but private cotton cultivation was disrupted first. To put it simply, a field is classified as a cotton field. Because cotton is more expensive, the tax is heavier than that of rice. Especially after the promotion of cotton spinning machines, the tax on cotton fields further increased. But cotton fields cannot really grow only cotton, but for other types, especially rice, they also have to bear heavy taxes on cotton.

Which farmer would like this?

The so-called cheap grain hurts farmers, it is nothing more than this.

In order to make up for the losses, people had to bite the bullet and plant cotton every year.

Zhu Yijiong said: "I understand what you said. You no longer need to be the dean of the Agricultural College in the future. You can directly become the Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture! The Agricultural College will be directly merged into the Ministry of Agriculture, and the original residence does not need to be relocated. As for the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture , they will be transferred from the Ministry of Household Affairs, including the field account books of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and I will also issue an order to gradually hand them over to the Ministry of Agriculture. From now on, the cotton and rice rotation cultivation in the Jiangnan area will be completely handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture, and I will let the Ministry of Household Affairs Fully cooperate with local officials.”

As soon as the emperor opened his mouth, the power of the Ministry of Household Affairs was once again weakened, and a new ministry was born. Huang Xu was directly promoted from the original dean of the Agricultural College to the rank of first-rank minister, which could be regarded as a step to the sky.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Even if Huang Xu was not good at words, he couldn't help but be overjoyed at this moment.

Zhu Yijiong thought for a while and added: "Huang Qing also needs to pay attention to the fact that the future cotton-rice rotation farming in the Jiangnan area must be strictly divided into villages and towns. It is necessary to make overall plans in advance and not to have rice planted in all places in the third year. As a result, low grain prices hurt farmers. In addition, emergency plans must be made. If local governments do not abide by court regulations in private and insist on planting cotton in the third year, prevention and control should be done in advance."

"The minister obeys the order."

Huang Xu quickly responded with his hands raised.

This requires finding someone who is proficient in calendar mathematics to conduct overall calculations, stagger each township, and reasonably arrange the cotton and rice planting area in Jiangnan.

Moreover, there are heavy taxes on cotton fields, which must be coordinated and discussed by the Cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs to see how low they can be reduced. Try to protect the market economy and court tax revenue while not interfering with local cotton and rice planting.

This cannot be accomplished in one or two years. It will take at least three years to see results. However, as long as it can be successfully promoted and popularized, farmers in the Jiangnan area themselves will be able to realize the benefits.

In addition to cotton and rice rotation, other crop rotations can also be tried. Moreover, the current main grains of the Ming and New Dynasties, such as corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc., can be experimentally cultivated to see if they can be more productive and efficient.

Zhu Yijiong returned the memorial report in his hand: "You will modify and polish this report again, and make sure that the people at the bottom can understand it. After polishing, submit it to me for review. If there are no problems, you can order the publicity The Ministry of Agriculture will publicize it to the world so that people in Jiangnan can understand the benefits of cotton-rice rotation. In this way, the Ministry of Agriculture will take charge of promoting cotton-rice rotation in the future, and the resistance will be much smaller."

Huang Xu had no objection. This was originally the purpose of the agricultural academy's experimental research for so many years. Unfortunately, this could not be regarded as the achievement of the agricultural academy. They were just picking up others' wisdom.

When Huang Xu bowed and retired, Zhu Yijiong picked up the "Complete Book of Agricultural Policy" on the table. This "Complete Book of Agricultural Policy" was dedicated to the court by Xu Erlu, the youngest grandson of Xu Guangqi.

It is said to be the original handwritten by Xu Guangqi, which contains many things that have not been deleted, and this is only part of it.

Zhu Yijiong did not take Xu's "Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs" for free. He generously rewarded him with an uncle's position, which was reduced to a hereditary rank.

Xu Guangqi is also worthy of this title, and this is what Zhu Yijiong deliberately showed to the world. The emperor not only liked to be deviant, but also liked farming and miscellaneous knowledge.

(End of this chapter)