Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 92 Farmers offer their skills (3000)

From the most primitive slash-and-burn farming to the subsequent intensive farming, animal power and water power were widely used. These are the improvement and creation of agricultural tools and innovations in farming technology.

If Huan Xi wants to improve productivity, he can only find ways to innovate agricultural technology.

"Food is the most important thing for the people, and agriculture should be the top priority. I would like to offer a large reward to the craftsmen in the world to improve farm tools and innovate technology. I also ask your husband to take charge of this matter for me."

Wang Meng was not born into a noble family and had experienced a life of starvation. Otherwise, he would not have been forced to make a living by selling dustpans when he was young.

Dustpans actually belong to the category of agricultural tools. In fact, Wang Meng has personal experience of the importance of agriculture.

"Wang Meng will definitely handle this matter for our lord."

After leaving the main hall, Wang Meng immediately issued a decree, using Huan Xi's name to solicit improvements in farm tools and agricultural technology innovations from the public.

The documents from the General's Office were sent to the local areas, and officials from all over the country took them seriously and issued notices in the local area.

In Chongquan County, Fengyi County (southeast of Pucheng County, Shaanxi Province), a grain chief led the young people from the village to the county to collect grain.

The so-called grain chief is a new position created by Huan Xi after he pacified Guanlong and followed the methods of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.

The grain chief is not considered a national civil servant and does not receive any allowance. There is even a rotation system. The heads of households in each township take turns serving as the grain chief of the township every year and are responsible for collecting, collecting, and distributing grain taxes.

This move not only reduced expenditures for the government, but also prevented the grain chief from feeding the common people.

After all, we are all fellow villagers, and it is a rotation system. If you take the opportunity to act arrogantly this year, who knows you will not suffer retaliation next year.

Zhu Yuanzhang was born into a poor peasant class, and his parents and brothers died of starvation one after another. There is no doubt that he had a certain sympathy for the people at the bottom. After all, in the two thousand years of feudal history, no emperor had ever had as deep a sympathy for the suffering of the people at the bottom as Zhu Yuanzhang. know.

Many of the systems he implemented had good intentions, but they were limited by his own cognitive level and misinterpreted by future generations and people below him.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the establishment of the grain chief system allowed cunning people to create clever names and make huge profits.

But this was Guanlong where the land equalization system was implemented. There were not so many excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes under Huanxi's rule, and it was clear at a glance how much taxes the people had to pay.

Generally speaking, people in Yong, Qin and Liang prefectures need to bear land rent, household transfer and labor service.

The land rent is three stones of rice per year, and the household transfer is the head tax, which is one piece of silk and three liang of cotton.

The so-called forced labor, also known as corvee, requires adult men and women to serve the government for one month free of charge every year.

Of course, if you don't want to do corvee, you can also give out silk. Each ding can pay the standard of three feet of silk per day for thirty days in lieu of corvee.

As they were unable to pay the household transfer, Huan Xi also thought of a way for them, that is, they would be exempted from the household transfer by paying fifteen more days of corvée.

However, under the land equalization system, no one volunteered to bear more corvee labor in order to save a bolt of silk or three taels of cotton. On the contrary, most people were willing to contribute silk in order to be exempted from corvee labor.

Without the opportunity to make a name for themselves, and with the rotation system of grain chiefs, these grain chiefs naturally lost their opportunities in the fish and meat village.

Zhang Gaoping is a member of this grain transport team.

During Huanxi's Northern Expedition, many people from the three auxiliaries went to donate food and were exempted from taxes for two years. However, not everyone had the courage to go to greet the king. There were also many people who were afraid that the king would withdraw from Guanlong and the ferocious Jie People retaliate.

So when people who donated food could enjoy two years of tax exemption, Zhang Gaoping and those who were hesitant now had to make a special trip to the county under the leadership of the grain chief.

In front of the county government office, people from various townships who came to collect food had already lined up in a long queue. Zhang Gaoping saw a group of people gathering in front of the notice, and he was curious and walked over.

Naturally, he was illiterate, but fortunately, the local county magistrate also considered that only a few craftsmen and farmers were literate, so he specially arranged for several officers to take turns standing in front of the notice and read out the content repeatedly.

When he heard that General Zhengdong was spending huge sums of money to seek improvements in farm tools and agricultural technology, Zhang Gaoping was suddenly distraught.

To be honest, he really mastered a little-known agricultural technology. It was taught by an old farmer he helped when he was serving in Kanto, but he didn't know if the government would take notice of it.

But at least Zhang Gaoping himself used this technology to cultivate land, and the effect was quite remarkable.

It is a common problem for many people to cherish their own secrets. If it were not for seeing this announcement today, Zhang Gaoping would not have wanted to show it.

Of course, the more important reason is that Huan Xi exempted the laboring people from taxes for two years as promised, which made Zhang Gaoping realize that the general who conquered the east was still trustworthy.

But he is a cautious person, otherwise he would not have to come to collect food today. Zhang Gaoping did not say anything. He returned to the team silently, preparing to go to Chang'an and offer his farming skills.

Generally speaking, people cannot move around at will, but after the county government collects the food from each township, the grain chief must lead people to deliver it to the county town, and the county town of Jingzhao County is Chang'an.

Huan Xi was considerate of the people and only needed teams from each township to transport the grain to the nearest county. As for the transportation from the county to the state city, the prefects of various places would collect corvees and transport it by civilians.

With the presence of the Wei River, it is actually not hard for the people to transport grain. Even Liangzhou's grain transport team can switch to river transportation after leaving Chencang Road.

When Zhang Gaoping and his party arrived in Chang'an, it was already several days later. They were delivering food to the prefect's mansion. Zhang Gaoping excused himself and went straight to the general's mansion in Zhengdong.

But General Zhengdong’s Mansion was the prime minister’s office in the Western Han Dynasty. To the east was Changle Palace and to the west was Weiyang Palace. It was located in the imperial city of the Western Han Dynasty. All the people talking and laughing here were officials. How could a peasant enter? The place.

Before Zhang Gaoping even got close, he was stopped by the guard guarding the city gate:
  "How can you trespass on the important land of the government office!"

Zhang Gaoping was so frightened that he quickly explained:
  "I came here to offer a new technology to the general."

But the guard drove him away and said:
  "Go quickly! Go quickly! You should go to the county magistrate or prefect first for this kind of matter. The general will never have time to pay attention to you." Zhang Gaoping had no choice but to go back to the prefect's Yamen first.

Quan Yi concurrently serves as the prefect of Jingzhao County. Since this is the day when taxes and grains from each county are put into the warehouse, Quan Yi has been working in the government office and has not been to the military mansion for several days.

While working at the government office today, he was not surprised to learn that someone had come to offer new farming techniques.

I have actually experienced too much disappointment these days.

If you think about it carefully, it is not easy to improve agricultural tools and innovate technology.

But no matter how impatient he was, after hearing about this, Quan Yi still wanted to see it. If he really missed some tools or new technology, wouldn't it be a big mistake?

Zhang Gaoping was led in by the guards, and Quan Yi asked:
  "Who is coming?"

In the past, Zhang Gaoping could only meet the officials when he was collecting food. Occasionally he would see the county magistrate, and he would be astonished, let alone a high official like the prefect. He saluted tremblingly:
  "Zhang Gaoping, a native of Chongquan County, pays homage to Mr. Fu."

Quan Yi glanced at Zhang Gaoping and felt that the other person might be here to try his luck like those before, so he didn't have high expectations and asked casually:

"I heard that you have a new law, and I would like to hear the details."

Before Zhang Gaoping entered the door, he had already learned from the guards that the prefect was a confidant of General Zhengdong, so he had no worries.

He took a deep breath and talked endlessly with Quan Yi about the new technology he had learned.

What Zhang Gaoping said is that on the basis of plowing technology, an additional step of raking the soil into pieces is added between plowing and plowing.

The so-called tilling technology first appeared in the Han Dynasty. It refers to using agricultural tools to level the ground and break up soil after plowing to retain moisture in the soil.

The technique proposed by Zhang Gaoping can also be called raking technology. After plowing, the soil in the cultivated layer is raked and broken into pieces to form a soft soil layer on the ground. The capillaries in the soil are cut off to maximize the The soil reduces water evaporation and plays a role in protecting moisture and preventing drought.

The more Quan Yi listened, the more solemn his face became, and he no longer had the previous casualness.

Of course, he had no experience in farming. He was born into a noble family. Although he had never touched the spring water, he had heard about farming techniques and naturally understood the importance of preserving soil moisture.

In particular, the Guanlong area has little rainfall and is generally dominated by dry fields. If this technology is really effective, it will have a great impact on the agricultural production of Guanlong.

Quan Yi asked nervously:

"Have you ever tried it? What was the effect?"

Zhang Gaoping said:

"For many years, the grassroots people have been plowing and raking the soil in their fields. As long as there is no severe drought, even if there is a minor drought, the fields can still be preserved."

Quan Yi couldn't help but open his pupils slightly:

"What you said is true?!"

Zhang Gaoping said:

"How dare the ordinary people deceive the Lord!"

Quan Yi couldn't sit still anymore, he called Zhang Gaoping and said:

"Hurry up and follow me to pay homage to the Lord!"

With Quan Yi leading him, he would naturally not be blocked by the guards. When Zhang Gaoping arrived at the military mansion, someone came to search him.

Huan Xi didn't understand agricultural technology, but he had heard about harrowing.

Today, Zhang Gaoping presented the art of raking, and he realized that there is no such process as raking in today's agricultural farming.

This can't be blamed on him. After all, Huan Xi only cares about military and state affairs, and he really doesn't care much about things in the farmland.

Since the process of harrowing can be passed down to later generations and is still used, it is enough to prove its value.

Huan Xi immediately sent people to Chongquan County to inspect the land conditions of Zhang Gaoping's family. At the same time, he was also preparing to conduct experiments on a small scale. It would not be too late to promote the tillage technology after determining the effectiveness of soil conservation and drought prevention.

He said to Zhang Gaoping:

"You offered me this technique. If it is effective, how can I be grudge? I will give you one hundred thousand dollars as a reward."

Huan Xi obviously planned to use Zhang Gaoping as the bone of a thousand-mile horse to encourage those under his rule to improve agricultural tools and innovate technology.

"One hundred thousand dollars."

Zhang Gaoping was stunned and murmured, obviously his brain had shut down in the face of huge wealth.

　Thanks to the book friends for allowing me to reward them.

　　Plowing technology appeared in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. There is no record of the specific dynasty, and it is not known who added a new process, but it is of great significance to the Guanlong area where there is drought and little rain.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)