I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 620: Persuading Farmers
If there is any technological advancement that is more important than the advancement of textile technology in Liu Bian's mind, it must be farming technology.

In September, when winter wheat was being sown, Liu Bian personally led the plowing in Luoyang.

Most of the ministers in the court were present, but everyone's attention was on the emperor. Next to the emperor was the Agricultural Encouragement Captain, who had been working hard outside all day and had just returned from Luoyang.

"Official documents have come from Jing, Yang, Xu and other places, saying that the rice harvest has been good and winter wheat is urgently needed... Your contribution to the promotion in the early years must be acknowledged!" Liu Bian used a three-legged plow cart to plant wheat seeds for a while, then handed them to Huang Xu beside him and turned to talk to Zao Zhi.

The rice seedling transplanting technique may seem simple, but it is actually very complicated to combine it with rice-wheat rotation, and then match it with intensive farming which is further accelerated under the leadership of Zaozhi.

But after several years of hard work by Zao Zhi, as well as the support and cooperation of the court, officials and people, the results are now gradually becoming apparent.

"I dare not take credit for it. The transplanting of seedlings originated from Your Majesty, and when it was promoted, everyone was united. I was just doing my duty!" Zao Zhi did not take credit for himself. He is now in charge of the new wheat seeds in the north... Although the new seeds have performed very well in the past two years, in Zao Zhi's opinion, the reliability of the new seeds cannot be simply verified in one or two years. Zao Zhi is a little worried that the emperor is eager to promote the new wheat seeds.

"I have read your memorial about continuing to verify the new wheat seeds. It is a prudent move. We will do as you say." Liu Bian continued.

Zao Zhi did not expect that the emperor would put his mind at ease as soon as he thought of this. In addition to being delighted, he decided to speak up at this time, saying, "Your Majesty is wise! Nowadays, in various places in the north, more and more people grow wheat and fewer and fewer people grow millet. However, when I was in the north, I saw that the people ate wheat and steamed it in a pot, just like rice and millet. The people called it wheat rice. However, wheat rice is coarse and difficult to swallow. It is easy to be poorly digested after eating it, which causes abdominal pain. Some people in the folks say that wheat rice is poisonous."

"But if we grind wheat into flour, we don't have to worry about this. I think it's because stone mills are expensive to ordinary people... Today's stone mills are either powered by water or by animal power. The rivers in the north are not as deep as those in the south, and the water in small ditches is not enough to drive the stone mills. And animal power is very expensive... Today, the people are richer than before, so they can afford to grind flour, but the stone mills in the folk are not enough."

Zao Zhi's remarks were somewhat beyond Liu Bian's expectations, but after thinking about it carefully, he understood why no one had mentioned this to him before - after all, there had been constant natural disasters and man-made disasters before, and it was good to have something to eat. Now, the transition from wheat rice to pasta is just a reasonable pursuit from not starving to a normal diet.

Thinking of this, Liu Bian said to Zao Zhi: "Since you have mentioned this, please submit a memorial on this matter, counting the number of stone mills in various places and estimating how many more stone mills need to be added."

Liu Bian felt that the imperial court should still support matters concerning the welfare of the country and the people. Even if the national treasury could not pay out the full amount, subsidies could be given to help the people obtain stone mills.

Moreover, this year was a bumper year, and even taking into account the expenses of building the canal, the national treasury should have a surplus.

After hearing this, Zao Zhi immediately complied.

As the captain of the Agricultural Promotion Department, he had traveled extensively over the years and had gathered a group of capable officials who were active in the countryside. These things that were difficult for others were not difficult for him, not to mention that he had already paid attention to this matter.

In addition to meeting Zao Zhi, Liu Bian also met the breeder of improved wheat varieties, Li Ye, the captain of the military farm.

At the end of the meeting, Liu Bian decided to appoint the two men as Guannei Hou.

In other words, Li Ye’s wheat seeds still lack the test of time, otherwise he would definitely be awarded the title of marquis.

As for Zao Zhi, even though the rice seedling transplanting technology was proposed by Liu Bian, in the process of his agricultural research, he greatly accelerated the intensive farming that was already in the process of development. The four words "intensive farming" seem simple, but all aspects involved - from the farming season, the selection of seeds and farm tools, to the sowing method, the timing of water diversion and irrigation, and when to go to the field to remove insects and weeds, all need to be summarized step by step through experiments.

In Liu Bian's view, he could become a marquis in the future.

Although Zao Zhi and Li Ye were not granted the title of Guannei Marquis because of their military merits, almost no one raised any objections, whether it was Ma Jun's previous title of Marquis or this time. After all, any discerning person could see that the role of these two was definitely not inferior to military merits.

After expressing his importance to agriculture through practical actions, Liu Bian returned to the palace.

He planned to go to the West Palace to pay a visit to Queen Mother He first. Since the trip to Nanyang, Queen Mother He has become more cheerful than before. When Liu Bian arrived in front of the palace, he could still hear bursts of laughter coming from inside, some from women and some from children.

When Liu Bian entered, he saw his two sons and one daughter taking turns riding on a wooden dog and having a lot of fun. The wooden dog was so ingeniously designed that it could even move.

In addition to Liu Bian's concubines, there was another person who accompanied Empress Dowager He, someone Liu Bian had met several times - Huang Yueying.

Liu Bian's attitude towards Huang Yueying was somewhat complicated, after all, he "stole" someone else's husband.

After the greetings, Liu Bian briefly told the people in the harem some interesting stories about farming. For example, Dong Situ, who had always been in poor health, refused to admit his old age and boasted that he had experience in farming when he was young. However, he ended up breaking the plow cart, which was very embarrassing.

Fortunately, later on, Situ Dong finally regained his former feel and recovered his lost face - at least he was much better at farming than the officials represented by Yuan Shu who had hardly ever touched farm tools.

Of course, because of Yuan Xin, Liu Bian did not mention Yuan Shu's performance.

The atmosphere at the scene did not cool down because of Liu Bian's arrival. Only Huang Yueying seemed a little out of place among the concubines and palace maids and eunuchs.

Before long, Liu Bian also noticed this. Just as he was about to get up and leave to handle official business, a eunuch suddenly came to report - it had rained heavily for several days, the Han River in Hanzhong overflowed, and people were displaced!
This time, Liu Bian did not waste any time and immediately returned to Yuntai Palace.

Just after Liu Bian left, Huang Yueying, who heard the news of the flood, couldn't help but worry about the people affected by the disaster, and wondered if she could do something for them.

At this time, Cai Yan, who was friendly to her, also said to her with a worried look on her face: "In the past, whenever the counties and states encountered disasters, Your Majesty was always worried. Hanzhong is mainly dependent on rice, and now is the time for harvest. I wonder if any granaries will be washed away by the Han River..."

Before coming to Luoyang, Huang Yueying had heard many rumors about Luoyang, the most serious of which was its extravagance... However, after arriving in Luoyang, Huang Yueying had to admit that even if there were powerful people in Luoyang who lived an extravagant lifestyle, at least the emperor and the empress were not extravagant people.

At this time, Huang Yueying looked at the wooden dog being ridden, and thought that the roads in Hanzhong were just like the mountains in Jingzhou, with rugged and difficult sections... Perhaps, she could try to improve the wooden dog...

(End of this chapter)