My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 346: God fails to fulfill his wishes

"First, go find the old warehouse clerk of the old Chang'an warehouse."

Seeing that Old Shi Fen beside him had a bleak look on his face and Taicang Ling Shi Jian also had a look of despair, Liu Rong finally made the decision after a brief consideration.

——In fact, when Liu Rong received the news that the old wheat in Taicang had become moldy and sprouted, he vaguely realized the root of the problem.

But Liu Rong couldn’t say;

Because once the truth comes out of Liu Rong's mouth, the nature of the matter will become extremely bad.

"Here."

The emperor issued an order, and no matter how desperate he was, Old Shi Fen still obeyed immediately;

Not long after, an old official with white hair and beard, but still wearing an official robe, appeared in front of Liu Rong under the guidance of Shi Fen.

Without even waiting for Liu Rong to ask any questions - just by taking a look at the wheat stored in the granary, the old warehouse clerk immediately frowned.

"Why is this wheat being stored the same way as millet?"

Just this one sentence revealed the real cause of this sudden incident.

——Wheat and millet have almost nothing in common except that they are both crops and food.

Even the time for sowing and harvesting are completely opposite - millet is plowed in spring and harvested in autumn, while wheat is plowed in autumn and harvested in summer.

Furthermore, the two have very different requirements for temperature and humidity during the growth period and the fruit storage process.

All of this was revealed to everyone with the old warehouse clerk's subsequent interpretation.

"Your Majesty."

"——Compared to millet and rice, the biggest difference between wheat and rice is that it doesn't like water or moisture very much."

"When farmers grow millet, in addition to rainwater, they should also use canal water for irrigation, and the amount of irrigation should not be less."

"As for rice, especially the rice in the south, it has to be soaked in water from sowing to transplanting in order for it to grow."

“But Sumai is different.”

"When sowing, the best way to irrigate old wheat is for farmers to pour water at the root of each old wheat stalk one scoop at a time."

“You don’t need to add too much water;”

"If there is enough rain, not only will there be no need for irrigation, but we will also have to worry about the wheat seedlings being drowned."

“Therefore, when storing wheat, we must be more careful - we must not let the granary get too wet and must ensure that the granary is dry.”

···
"In addition to the fact that the barns for storing wheat need to be drier than those for storing millet, the temperature is also different."

“——Millet fears cold and likes heat, so the granary where millet is stored only needs to be ‘not too warm’, that is, ventilated and cool;”

"However, wheat is planted in autumn and grows in winter and spring, so it is not very afraid of cold."

"So the granary for storing wheat must be cooler than the millet granary."

"Otherwise, once the barn is slightly warm and moist, the barn wheat is very likely to germinate."

"Even if the temperature is cool enough, if it is too humid, the wheat in the warehouse will become moldy..."

After the old warehouse clerk said this, everyone present looked at each other in bewilderment;

There are so many tricks?
Old Shi Fen and his son Shi Jian had thoughtful looks on their faces, with an expression of 'so that's how it is', but secretly, they both breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

——Thank goodness!
Although the old warehouse clerk's words meant that the problems with the wheat storage in Taicang could still be classified as "poor storage", it was still very different from simple poor storage.

If it was Su who was at fault, then Shi Jian would be dismissed from office at the very least, and there was a high probability that he would be held accountable and convicted;
As the father and the first recommender, Lao Shifen would also be implicated. Even if Liu Rong wanted to give the old minister some dignity, Lao Shifen would have to take the initiative to resign.

But the problem was with the microphone, and the reason for the problem was professional knowledge that everyone - at least the vast majority of people - did not understand before.

The seriousness of this problem has been reduced by more than three or five levels.

At most, Liu Rong would criticize Shi Jian sarcastically, saying something like "Study the professional knowledge well and don't do it again", and then the matter would be resolved without any change.

Everyone present had different thoughts, but Liu Rong felt embarrassed at this moment.

The embarrassment of Liu Rong was that even if he realized the key to the problem, he absolutely could not say it out loud himself. Instead, he had to use the words of such an old warehouse clerk to point out the key cause of the problem.

——The Shaofu treasury changed its storage from millet to wheat, and wheat was made the country’s top priority grain storage. This was a major policy of the country that Liu Rong decided on as early as when he was the crown prince regent!

Although this matter was carried out through the imperial edict of Emperor Xiaojing at the time, everyone in and outside the court knew that the real driving force behind this matter was Liu Rong, the then Crown Prince Regent and now the Emperor.

There is nothing wrong with changing the staple food in the country's warehouses from millet, which had been used for hundreds of years, to wheat.

After the change, I found that wheat was not easy to store - at least not as easy to store as millet, and could not be stored for as long as millet, but that was not a problem either.

Just grope.
After all, at the beginning, no one expected that winter wheat, which can be grown in winter, would be so "delicate" that it is so difficult to store.

Moreover, compared with millet, wheat products are indeed more delicious, more nutritious, and especially more filling.

——After several years of promotion and popularization, the wise Chinese nation has already discovered the many benefits of wheat, or pasta.

For the lower classes, wheat is easier to fill up than millet, wheat is more resistant to hunger than millet, and people feel more energetic after eating it.

Eating pasta as the staple food for a long time can significantly improve your physical condition!

If a person with poor health eats pasta, his body will gradually become stronger;

People who are in good health will become stronger and their hands and feet will become more powerful by eating pasta.

Children who eat pasta grow faster and taller;
When the elderly eat pasta, the frequency of minor illnesses and disasters is greatly reduced, and their health condition is significantly improved.

Nowadays, although pasta has not yet reached the level of mythology among the people, a social consensus has basically been reached: wheat flour pasta is a better fine grain than millet!
Taking economic factors into consideration, it is no exaggeration to say that pasta is the best food that ordinary people can eat and afford, without a doubt!

The lower class people consider satiety, nutrition, and cost-effectiveness, while the nobles consider more about taste.

——In the past, when wheat flour and pasta did not exist as a staple food, not to mention the nobles, even the empress dowager and the emperor in the palace could only eat those few delicacies.

The reason is not only the single seasoning and cooking method, but also the single main factor.

In the past, what was the staple food that the nobles could eat?
It's either sorghum rice or millet.

The methods of both are the same - either steaming rice or cooking porridge.

That is to say, before the advent of pasta, the meals of the nobles all over the world were almost fixed.

——In front of them is either a bowl of rice or a bowl of porridge as the staple food;

Decent dishes include roasted meat, boiled meat, minced meat (meat soup), cooked vegetables (hodgepodge), and some pickles.

Looking at the present?

Hey!
The advent of pasta did not just add a staple food category to the nobles' tables! Baozi!

dumpling!

Steamed bun!

pancake!

Soup noodles!
Pull the noodles!
Noodles with meat sauce!

There is also a series of food that extends from the core logic of breaded meat and breaded vegetables, which can be said to have greatly enriched the Han people's diet.

What steamed rice, meat soup or cooked vegetable can compare to a plate of dumplings?
What rice porridge and pickles can compare to two steamed buns?
Ever since wheat flour and pasta became available, a large number of gourmets have even begun to emerge among the aristocratic groups in Chang'an City!
In the past, these people either engaged in cockfighting or bullied men and women and exploited the people;
Nowadays, they all lock themselves up in their houses, thinking hard: What new tricks can be made with pasta?

Once you have an idea, just do it - make it and try it out!

As these dandy young men gradually showed a tendency to transform into greedy maids, even the civil and criminal cases in Chang'an City, especially the lawsuits with nobles as defendants, have visibly decreased in recent years.

To sum up, today, before the incident of "changes in wheat storage in Taicang" happened, Liu Rong's promotion of wheat as the first staple food of the Han Dynasty had not been found by even one person to be "inferior to millet" or inferior to other staple foods.

After understanding these, it is easy to understand that this matter can only be talked about through other people's mouths, and cannot be said directly by Liu Rong.

——By speaking through other people’s mouths, especially through professionals’ mouths, Liu Rong can say: Ah? Is that so?
I don’t know!
I am the same as everyone else. I thought that all grains were the same. If millet can be stored for more than ten or twenty years, then wheat can definitely be stored for as well!

Who knew this wheat was so special—not only was it incredibly delicious, but it was also incredibly difficult to store?
But if Liu Rong took the initiative to say: I know, it must be that wheat is not easy to store;

That's a big deal.

——What did you do so far?
——You know it’s difficult to store, but you still promote wheat as the staple food?
"Hi……"

"It's my fault for not thinking of this earlier..."

It was not until today that Liu Rong vaguely discovered some fragments from his dusty memories of his past life.

——Millet, as the most important staple food in China's feudal era, is also the only staple food that has not been used in the new era. It is extremely special.

Compared to rice, millet does not require much irrigation;
Compared with wheat, millet does not have overly sophisticated requirements for storage.

As long as there is irrigation, millet can grow!

As for fertilizing, weeding, and pest control, they do not affect whether millet can grow and bear fruit, but only affect the yield.

It can be said that millet is the easiest and most labor-saving staple food crop to grow among all the staple food crops that have appeared in the history of Chinese agriculture. It also has the lowest planting cost and the highest relatively high yield.

This does not mean that the yield of millet is really higher than that of rice, wheat and other staple foods that are familiar to people in later generations;
Rather, it means that under the same climate, conditions, soil fertility, and farming precision, millet has the highest yield.

Or it should be said that millet is the least affected by external factors. Although the upper limit of its output is not as high as the staple food of later generations, its lower limit is extremely high.

——In the present Han Dynasty, quite a few places still retain the extremely primitive "slash-and-burn agriculture".

Some extremely lazy people would even do something bizarre like scattering a handful of seeds in the fields in the spring and only appear in the fields a second time in the fall to wait for the harvest.

But millet can really grow!
Not to mention the yield - just sow a handful of seeds in the spring and leave them alone until the autumn harvest, and they will really grow and bear fruit relying solely on rainwater irrigation!
Liu Rong promoted winter wheat as the staple food because he actually considered that winter wheat had higher yield and higher nutritional value.

At the same time, old wheat and the existing millet are off-season crops. If we are willing to put in the effort, we can grow both millet and wheat in one year, thus doubling the total value of Han’s agricultural output as quickly as possible!
The only thing that Liu Rong overlooked was the warehousing cost.

Wheat is not easy to store.

At least it is not as easy to store as millet, nor can it be easily stored for more than ten or twenty years BC without cold storage or air conditioning like millet.

Thinking of this, Liu Rong's views on the future staple food of the Han Dynasty - mainly millet and wheat - also had some changes in his mind.

The current situation reminded Liu Rong of future generations.

——High-yield hybrid rice has high yield, low planting cost and is easy to store, but it doesn’t taste good;

Other staple foods, such as wheat and rice, are good in every way except that they are difficult to store and their yields are average.

Therefore, in later generations, China used hybrid rice as a strategic reserve grain, and wheat and rice as daily staple foods.

For Liu Rong - and for the current situation of the Han Dynasty, this case in later generations is obviously of great reference value.

"Millet will still be used as strategic reserve grain, and wheat will be used as daily staple food and military rations..."

"Um……"

In a moment, Liu Rong had a general idea.

But right now, there is still a problem waiting for Liu Rong to decide.

——Accountability standards for Shi Fen and his son Shi Jian;

To be precise, it is the characterization of the "improper storage of Taicang wheat" incident...

"Since ignorance is not a crime, let's just leave it as it is this time."

"——Shi Jian, the magistrate of Taicang, did not know the importance of storing wheat in the warehouse, and did not even ask the old official for advice. He was arrogant and conceited;"

"He will be fined half a year's salary to serve as a warning to others."

···
"Shaofu Shi Fen, who was the one who recommended Taicang Ling, and was also the father of Taicang Ling Shi Jian, knew that he was wrong but did not correct or teach him;"

"Deduct one year's salary to wait for the consequences."

···
"Any Taicang magistrate who fails to store grain properly will be fined three months' salary, and this will not happen again."

"Write: Zheng Er, the former warehouse clerk of Chang'an, is appointed as the deputy of Taicang, and assists the warehouse magistrate Shi Jian in re-drafting the strategy for storing wheat in the warehouses."

"——Another order to the Imperial Treasury: Starting this year, all grain stored in the granary must be no more than ten years old for millet and no more than three years old for wheat."

"When storing millet and wheat in warehouses, the ratio should be 9:1 - mainly storing millet, supplemented by storing wheat."

"I tell all the people of the world: wheat is not easy to store, so you should eat it now; millet can be stored for a long time, so you should store it in warehouses."

"I will order the Shaofu again to buy ten million dan of grain to fill the Taicang warehouse, which will serve as the foundation of the country."

"The wheat stored in Taicang will either be sold at a fair price or exchanged with the prime minister's office for millet and stored in the warehouse."

"In short, from now on, the official warehouses of our Han family should focus on storing grain."

"Jimai..."

After characterizing the incident, Liu Rong looked at the granaries storing winter wheat in the distance with some regret.

In the end, he smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"The bento is for the common people and the generals in the army to eat better..."

(End of this chapter)