The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 392 Xu Yungong's Experience
After handing over the work, Xu Yungong set out on the journey back to Luoyang.

Liaodong (Heilongjiang) is still too desolate. The general area is in its original state, with only a village or town far away.

This also leads to a relatively chaotic order, and you can encounter a group of bullies collecting protection fees every ten miles.

After learning Xu Yungong's identity, they just politely sent him away without any fear.

And Xu Yungong did not try to send them to the authorities.

These road bullies collected protection fees, but they also did maintain the safety of this section of road.

To put it bluntly, without them, if something goes wrong, the government won’t know who to hold responsible.

With them around, the government can directly blame them if something goes wrong.

This is the general situation in Liaodong. The population is too sparse and the imperial court has no better solution.

Only in areas near cities where the population is densely developed and can be managed by the imperial court, there is no living space for these people.

Once we entered Liaoxi (Jilin) ​​territory, the situation improved a lot.

Several main roads run through the main prefectures and counties of the province, and transportation is much better than in Liaodong.

The population is also much denser, and the density of villages and towns is much higher than that in Liaodong.

The village is surrounded by neatly laid fields, and a few rice fields can be seen from time to time.

Xu Yungong knew that these were all experimental fields.

The Champa rice and Jiangnan rice, which have short growth cycles, are hybridized with the Bohai rice from the Northeast.

Try to cultivate new rice varieties with short growth cycle, good taste and high yield.

This project was initiated by Chen Jingke when Liaodong was just taken over, and he has been paying attention to it over the years.

Knowing that it was his own brother who did it, Xu Yungong naturally paid more attention and went to the rice field to take a look first.

But it’s not time to plant rice yet, so I can’t see anything.

He also went to the local research laboratory to inquire about the situation.

Upon learning that he was here on behalf of Chen Jingke, the old farmer in the laboratory was very enthusiastic and took him to visit the nursery.

I also told him about my experience and results.

After five years of construction, the Rice Seed Research Laboratory has developed its own set of experience processes.

There are detailed steps from seed selection to seedling cultivation, transplanting, harvesting, etc.

At the same time, several research laboratories throughout the Northeast region have also strengthened their communication mechanisms.

For example, every winter we get together to hold meetings and exchange experiences.

They would also exchange the better rice seeds they had cultivated with each other.

Of course, the hybrid rice they cultivated is still a relatively primitive natural hybrid.

The hybrid rice produced by Yuan Lao and his team is completely different in technology, and the yield is not on the same level either.

The only advantage is that once the rice seeds are successfully cultivated, they will not degenerate.

You can save the seeds and plant them from generation to generation.

During the Song Dynasty, this technology was used to hybridize Champa rice with native Jiangnan rice, and cultivate rice varieties with short production cycles and high yields.

The Southern Song Dynasty was able to feed more than 80 million people with such a small amount of land, and the new rice varieties played a vital role.

Now, the laboratories established by Chen Jingke use this primitive breeding method.

After several years of this, the results have been good, and we have developed several rice varieties that have performed well.

The one with the highest yield, when planted on black soil and with meticulous care, can produce up to 400 kilograms per mu.

Ordinary cultivation can also produce about 300 kilograms.

(During the Ming and Qing dynasties, rice yields reached 400 kilograms per mu, a peak in ancient times.)
Compared with rice in the south, this yield is considered relatively high.

However, the south can harvest at least twice a year, while the Northeast can only harvest once a year, so the total output is still not as good as that of the south.

But for the local area in Northeast China, this output is more than enough.

What they need to do now is to screen out the rice varieties with the most stable traits.

"By that time, this bitter cold land of ours will be able to become a granary."

Xu Yungong was very excited to hear the news.

Having lived in Liaodong for so long, he knew too well the reasons for the instability here.

It was not because of the large number of tribes or the bitter cold, but because they could not produce enough food.

There are many tribes here, but they are weak and would be no match for the Ming Dynasty if a real fight broke out.

Their advantage is delaying the war and destroying the Ming Dynasty's logistics.

As long as the Ming Dynasty can establish a stable stronghold here, these tribes will not be able to cause any trouble.

As for the bitter cold?

The Northeast has rich wildlife resources and cotton, enough for the people to have a set of winter clothes.

What the Northeast lacks the least is forestry resources, which are enough to keep people's kangs burning for the entire winter.

When it comes to winter, the comfort in the north is unimaginable to people in the south.

Of course, the prerequisite is to have heating equipment such as a kang.

In the past, Bohai Kingdom and Goguryeo were able to establish a stable order here. Could it be that the Han people could not do the same?

It can be said that the natural environment here is not an obstacle.

What really hindered the Han people from surviving here and establishing a stable order was the lack of a high-yield food crop that was adaptable to the local environment.

Once this problem is solved, Han people can be relocated and villages, towns and cities can be established.

With these strongholds, we can slowly develop the surrounding areas and assimilate the local tribes.

No one likes to live a precarious life. No tribe is willing to wander if they can fill their stomachs by farming.

The Ming Dynasty allocated land to them and provided them with farming tools and seeds. But how many tribes were still willing to live in the deep mountains and forests?

As long as they are settled, the conditions for assimilating them will be met.

It can be said that if you want to achieve effective rule over Liaodong, it is impossible to do so by relying solely on force.

Food is the primary issue.

It is precisely because he understands this that Xu Yungong admires Chen Jingke even more.

When he had just conquered Liaodong and others were still immersed in joy, he had already begun to plan and research rice seeds.

Many people didn’t take it seriously at first… or to be more precise, no one took it seriously.

Even Xu Yungong himself felt it was meaningless.

The Ming Dynasty was in a state of disrepair and needed manpower everywhere. How could we waste precious resources here?

It was Chen Jingke's insistence that made this project possible.

Now, facts have once again proved how correct his decision was.

It was as if he knew the result in advance, and he pointed directly to the most correct answer.

The phrase "far-sightedness" has been said countless times, but knowing his layout, one still can't help but say it over and over again.

After inspecting the rice research laboratory, Xu Yungong set out on his journey home again with a lot of information.

The closer to the Central Plains, the denser the population and the more prosperous it is.

When we arrived in Liaoning Province, except for the colder climate, the popularity here was almost the same as the remote areas of the Central Plains.

Especially in areas where there are several important traffic arteries, it is no exaggeration to say that they are prosperous.

This made Xu Yungong full of confidence in the future of Northeast China.

Just like the south, Jiangnan was still a barren land during the Tang Dynasty, but became an economic center during the Southern Song Dynasty.

Now, even Lingnan, where criminals were exiled, has become prosperous.

One day, the Ming Dynasty will be able to turn the Northeast into a prosperous place.

We continued walking and soon arrived in Peking.

Then he was shocked by the prosperity here.

The people lived and worked in peace and contentment, the streets were bustling with people, and from time to time you could see a group of merchants passing by.

If he hadn't been told that this was Peking, he would have thought he had arrived at an important city in the south of the Yangtze River.

As a brother-in-law, he paid close attention to Zhu Di.

After deciding to go to India to establish a fiefdom, the court lifted the restrictions on Zhu Di and allowed him to develop his own power.

In recent years, the strength of Prince Yan's Mansion has grown explosively.

It is not surprising that Beiping, as the temporary fief of Prince Yan's Mansion, was developed along the way.

But what he didn't expect was that it developed so well.

So he went to find out what had happened.

The answer was not complicated and he soon got the general idea.

It all started with the monk named Daoyan.

The Prince of Yan was busy with grassland affairs, so he entrusted the government affairs of the Prince of Yan's Palace to him. He then implemented the New Deal in Peking - the New Deal that he had improved.

In addition, this place is an important land transportation route to the grassland and the Northeast, with favorable geographical conditions, so its development is naturally fast.

It is truly amazing and admirable that a monk could have such great talent.

Xu Yungong decided to visit this capable man in person.

When the people in Prince Yan's Mansion heard that it was Young Master Xu who had arrived, they were naturally very respectful.

Then he told him that Daoyan accompanied Doctor Bai to Guanting Mountain.

The imperial court was planning to build a reservoir there, and he went with them to survey the environment.

When Xu Yungong heard about Doctor Bai, his eyes lit up and he decided to go to Guanting Mountain immediately.

Doctor Bai is Bai Ying, one of the busiest people in the Ming Dynasty.

I travel around the country basically all year round.

Sort out the water systems of several major rivers and adjust the existing river layout to make better use of water resources.

Repairing dams, reservoirs, etc. are all within his job scope.

He went to Liaodong the year before last and managed the Liaohe River.

The Liaohe River is one of the most important rivers in Liaodong, and that’s where the word “Liao” in Liaodong comes from.

However, this river brings more suffering to the local people.

Every summer, the Liaohe River would flood, and the area within a radius of seven or eight hundred miles downstream would become a swamp.

It not only seriously threatens the lives and safety of local people, but also hinders traffic.

It was under such circumstances that Bai Ying was ordered to sort out the Liaohe River system.

Xu Yungong went personally to protect his safety.

As his bodyguard, Xu Yungong accompanied him throughout the Liaohe River system and witnessed with his own eyes how hard he worked.

I naturally admire him from the bottom of my heart.

According to his plan, the Liaohe River has now been restrained.

The swamps downstream turned into fertile plains.

The imperial court built a city on the Liaohe Plain and named it Bailiao City.

This is to commend his achievements.

The local people also spontaneously built a shrine for him.

Building a shrine for a living person elsewhere will be punished by the court.

But the imperial court turned a blind eye to the Liaodong area.

Moreover, the local government discovered that as soon as Bai Ying's name was mentioned, the people immediately became reasonable.

So now, whenever they have policies that they cannot implement, they always bring out Bai Ying to appease the people.

This trick is very effective.

Closer to home.

Knowing that Bai Ying was here, Xu Yungong naturally had to go and meet her.

After asking about the location of Guanting Mountain, he took his men and rushed there.

Successfully met myself in a canyon.

Bai Ying is less than 40 years old this year, but he looks like a man in his 50s or 60s.

After greeting each other, Xu Yungong said excitedly:

"Doctor Bai, please take care of yourself."

Bai Ying smiled and said, "Thank you General Xu for your concern. Now that this reservoir is designed, I can have a good rest."

Seeing his puzzled look, he explained: "The court wants to revise books, not only the classics of hundreds of schools, but also the skills of hundreds of craftsmen."

“Water management is also included.”

"Chen Bandu asked me to help with the book revision, but he wanted me to have a good rest."

This was the first time Xu Yungong had heard about the book revision, but he was not interested in it. Instead, he smiled and said:

"That's great. When it comes to flood control, who in the world can compare to you?"

"It's a good opportunity to improve my health while studying."

Afterwards, Xu Yungong greeted Daoyan again:

"I haven't seen you for several years. You are even more elegant than before."

Daoyan smiled faintly and said, "Amitabha, General Xu, thank you for your praise..."

"Congratulations to General Xu on your successful mission..."

Daoyan has indeed not changed much. At first glance, he is no different from seven or eight years ago.

It was as if time had never left any trace on him.

Of course there are changes, that is, I am more calm than before.

In Daoyan's view, Xu Yungong had changed a lot.

When they met a few years ago, Xu Yungong still seemed immature.

Now he looks calm and composed, and although he is not particularly strong, he exudes a sense of confidence and solemnity.

There is a bit of the shadow of Xu Da in his prime.

Obviously, these years of military career have given him enough training.

The theoretical knowledge I learned from my elders was integrated into my mind and became my own way of employing troops.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the three of them turned to business.

The first thing we talked about was naturally the Guanting Mountain at our feet.

It was only after Bai Ying's introduction that Xu Yungong learned the details.

The situation in Peking is very similar to that in the Liaohe River Basin.

Although there are large plains and many rivers in the lower reaches, the water distribution is very uneven.

In the dry season, the river dries up and the downstream area falls into drought.

During rainy seasons, the lower reaches become a swamp.

The fact that Peking is located on a vast plain but agriculture has never developed is directly related to this.

"Peking has developed well in recent years and has sufficient resources to support large projects."

"Chen Bandu suggested building a reservoir on Guanting Mountain to regulate the amount of water throughout the year."

Before Xu Yungong opened his mouth, Daoyan spoke first:

"The lower reaches of Beijing experience flood disasters every year, which trap countless people and seriously restrict local development."

“I have thought about how to solve this problem, but I have never been able to figure it out.”

"I didn't expect that Chen Bandu, who is far away in Luoyang, can be familiar with everything here and can think of a solution."

"I really admire you."

Not to mention Bai Ying, whose tone was full of admiration:
"Chen Bandu has the whole world in his heart, including the Yellow River, Huai River, Pearl River, Liao River... and now Peking..."

"He is familiar with all the problems and knows how to solve them."

"I am able to achieve what I have today thanks to his guidance."

"It was only because he didn't want to take credit that I got to enjoy the credit."

Xu Yungong felt proud when he heard others praising him.

After all, he is my brother...

At least it used to be.

As for the future...I feel sorry for him anyway.

Daoyan and Bai Ying praised Chen Jingke for a long time, and it was obvious that they admired him from the bottom of their hearts.

The difference is that Bai Ying focuses on water control and modesty.

Daoyan's emphasis is on the ability to foresee the future.

After meeting the two people, Xu Yungong originally wanted to return to Beijing.

But Daoyan said that he was waiting here for Prince Yan to return to the capital to report on his work, so it would be better to wait for a few more days and they could go back together.

Xu Yungong was very surprised. Returning to Beijing to report on his work at this time?
Could something have happened?

Daoyan did not hide it from him and told him directly that the court was preparing to take action against Tianzhu and summoned Prince Yan back to discuss the matter.

Xu Yungong was even more shocked. Why did they suddenly attack Tianzhu?
Don’t you need to rest and recuperate?

But Daoyan didn’t know what exactly happened and couldn’t answer his question.

After this incident, Xu Yungong was no longer in a hurry to return to Beijing, and stayed here to explore the terrain of Guanting Mountain with Bai Ying.

(End of this chapter)