Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 964 Sweet Sorghum and Haiying Vegetables

Zhao Yingong said with a smile: "If the adults have such intentions, the students can help."

Sun Yuanhua kept his beard silent, Zhao Yingong mentioned "Garntian" just now, and he already vaguely understood what the other party meant.It is true that the price of land in Dengzhou Tuntian is indeed very cheap, but handling wasteland reclamation involves a lot of things and requires a lot of investment. It is not easy to get rich if the person in charge has endured hardships and is smart enough.This person gave up the good life in Hangzhou and Guangdong, and ran here to start reclamation. What is he trying to do?He couldn't help being suspicious of Zhao Yingong's purpose.

If Zhao Yingong hadn't been strongly recommended by the Hangzhou Church and the Society of Jesus, he would have just made a fuss and served tea to see off guests.However, since this person has been recommended by the Jesuits and has gained the trust of the Church in Hangzhou, it shows that this person is "reliable"—especially the attitude of the Jesuits.Although the Jesuits are "not my race", at least they have nothing to do with the terrible strife within the imperial court. What Sun Yuanhua fears the most: it is neither foreign aliens nor the tartars of the late Jin Dynasty, but those princes in the court and in the court.

He tentatively asked: "There is no fertile land in the Denglaiqing area, and the land is very saline. I wonder if you have any wonderful ways to open up wasteland?"

Zhao Yingong knew that his suggestion of land reclamation was a bit abrupt—things of no benefit would always arouse suspicion, he was prepared for this, and immediately ordered Jiying to deliver a casket.

Sun Yuanhua opened the box, and inside were a pinch of crop seeds, some dried stems and a gray dried vegetable.Sun Yuanhua has a certain amount of research on agronomy, and he immediately recognized the seeds of the crops as milo, which is common in the south of the Yangtze River.Occasionally, there are sorghum species in villages by the river and sea, which are actually a kind of sorghum.

Sorghum is a common crop in the north, and Sun Yuanhua is no stranger to it. Although milo is a crop that does not pick the land and the climate, it is very suitable for the barren land in Dongsan Prefecture, but the best yield per mu is only [-] It's only a catty, and it has no advantage over the millet soybeans that are commonly grown here.And it is unpopular as food crops to eat coarse grains.

"This is millet, which belongs to sorghum." Sun Yuanhua didn't take it seriously, "What's so good about it?"

Zhao Yingong thought that the old grandson was worthy of being the disciple and son-in-law of an agronomist, but he actually recognized it as miliflower, and he was not a person who discriminates all kinds of grains. He said: "Since your lord knows that this is miliflower, you must know the wonderfulness of the stalks of miliflower. place?"

"The stalks are very sweet when they are young, and children in the countryside often think of them as sweets."

"Yes, this straw has a sweet taste, so it can be boiled to make wine..."

"Boil sugar to make wine?" Sun Yuanhua was taken aback. Wine is made from grains or fruits. I have never heard that straw can be used to make wine—what kind of taste could that be?As for boiling sugar with straw, it is even more unbelievable.Sun Yuanhua knew that millet, sorghum and other grains could be used to make "sweet syrup"—actually maltose.The straw is first used as feed for cattle, sheep and horses, and secondly used to return to the field as fertilizer.Now someone tells him that it can be used to boil sugar to make wine, of course he finds it unbelievable.He shook his head, but couldn't believe it.

"This is the secret technique that the students got from the Australians." Zhao Yingong said in a low voice, "My lord always knows that Australians have secret techniques in agricultural work, which can often make people rich?"

Sun Yuanhua nodded, he had heard of this kind of saying too—for example, the Australians sold Guoshi Wushuang in Guangzhou, and he had sent people to buy a lot of them as favors. After some research on the wine, he believed that the so-called Guoshi Wushuang was just a particularly well-distilled shochu.

Although it is just shochu, he himself is not capable of making an exquisite cauldron to make such a wine.It wouldn't be surprising if the Australians had a way of making sugar and wine out of millet stalks.

He was skeptical, picked up the dried vegetable and looked at it, and saw that it was gray and black in color, and there was nothing unusual about it.There are some traces of salt frost on the leaves.

"This is sea yingcai." Zhao Yingong introduced, "It can tolerate salt and alkali and drought, and countless people can survive in famine years."

Sun Yuanhua nodded appreciatively.Natural disasters were frequent at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and agronomists paid great attention to the study of famine. Among them, looking for and trying various edible wild vegetables became one of the things they often did.In addition to many books like "Wild Recipes" that specifically introduce the appearance, origin, and eating methods of wild vegetables.

"This product is beneficial to the country and the people." Sun Yuanhua said, "Could it also be produced in Australia."

Zhao Yingong said: "This species is very abundant in Nanzhi seaside, and it can grow everywhere, but few people know about it. Only the saltmen and fishermen on the seashore eat it. The students thought that it can also be introduced in the seashore of Dongsanfu, and there is no need to plant and cultivate it. Although it is not very useful, it can be used in emergencies."

These remarks greatly moved Sun Yuanhua.It also aroused his interest in reclamation, and now he had a discussion on local agriculture.Dongsan Prefecture is firstly mountainous and hilly, and the second is beachy and saline-alkali land.Even a contemporary agronomist like Sun Yuanhua has a headache about how to do a good job in agriculture.

Zhao Yingong then showed off what he had heard in the old time and space and what he had heard and seen in the Nanhai farm on weekdays.Even though they are all trivial details, many of the concepts and ideas are very novel, especially some views on the development of mountains and hills in Dongsanfu, which made Sun Yuanhua feel like he met a bosom friend.

Zhao Yingong also proposed that he wanted to recruit refugees from all over Shandong to reclaim wasteland in Denglai, hoping to give them a name so as not to be criticized by the local government.

"Recruiting refugees, you first file a record with the governor's yamen in the third east mansion, and the governor will issue a letter to each prefecture and county, allowing you to do things cheaply, but the third west mansion is not easy to deal with." Sun Yuanhua expressed his embarrassment. The third west mansion is under the jurisdiction of the governor of Shandong. , cannot interfere by itself.

"However, refugees have feet—"

"Students understand." Zhao Yingong said quickly.

"It's good that you understand." Sun Yuanhua said with a smile.The two talked about the current situation from the flood in Yizhou, and gradually they talked about the plight of the court.He suddenly asked Zhao Yingong: "Mr. Zhao, in your opinion, what is the most important task of the imperial court?"

Zhao Yingong was taken aback for a moment, it was more of a question of what he meant.He is not Sun's staff member, nor Sun's subordinate, so it seems a little strange to ask about such a big policy all of a sudden.

He figured out what Sun Yuanhua meant, and said calmly: "The court's top priority is neither to suppress bandits nor to capture captives, but to raise wages."

"Pay raising?" Sun Yuanhua said, "Mr. Zhao really has different insights." He nodded as he spoke, "It makes sense, no matter whether the imperial court is training soldiers, suppressing bandits or capturing captives, the most important thing is still paying for it!"

"What your lord said is very true. Salary is the source of soldiers. As long as the salary is sufficient, why worry about recruiting elite soldiers and brave generals, why not defeat the enemy?" Zhao Yingong's words were completely in line with the thinking of the people at that time.But these words are not wrong: the situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty was almost completely ruined by the poor fiscal policy of the Ming court.

Sun Yuanhua, Zhang Tao and others were training troops in Shandong and planning coastal defense. The biggest difficulty was the lack of food and salaries.Such an army, just maintaining stability is already exhausting, so why go out to fight.

Just a few months ago, Dongjiang Town had a mutiny in Phi Island due to the issue of military pay. Although the matter was resolved later, the matter attracted fierce attacks on Sun Yuanhua from the court. If Xu Guangqi and Zhou Yanru hadn't dealt with it, It was very difficult for him to pass this level.

"However, there is a lack of salary sources. It is impossible to save money, and it is difficult to increase income." Sun Yuanhua sighed.

Zhao Yingong said: "Actually, the salary is barely enough, but the loss is too much..." As he spoke, he paid a little attention to Sun Yuanhua's expression.

Of course, Sun Yuanhua understood what he meant: food and pay were not enough, and civil officials and military officers at all levels exploited layer upon layer, and it would be considered good if [-]% to [-]% of the soldiers could get into the hands of the soldiers—the Pidao mutiny was also related to the general’s embezzlement of military pay.But this matter is too big and complicated, and it is not appropriate to discuss it in depth with such a new friend.He asked again: "Mr. Yi, where can this open source be?"

This is Zhao Yingong's strength.He immediately cheered up and began to demonstrate the contribution of industrial and commercial taxation and overseas trade to finance.Of course, take his beloved Da Song as an example.He talked a lot about the argument that "the Southern Song Dynasty was able to resist Jin and Mongolia for more than 150 years in a state of only half of the country, relying on the income from industrial and commercial taxes and overseas trade."Among them, a large number of paper materials and data specially found in large libraries are incorporated.He actually spoke clearly and logically.

"Sir, talkative." After listening to his high-spirited talk, Sun Yuanhua nodded slightly noncommittal.

Zhao Yingong suddenly became alert. It was the first time he had an audience with Sun Yuanhua. No matter what he said was right or not, he would always give people a sense of his superficial arrogance. "The student is lying."

Sun Yuanhua said with a smile: "Where are you lying, you will have to rely on your great talent in the future." He said, "For your business, I will arrange it at the Yamen in a few days by handing in the post."

"Yes!" Zhao Yingong bowed his head and replied, "I always ask the adults to cultivate it."

"It's easy to say, easy to say!" As he spoke, he picked up the tea bowl.

Zhao Yingong got up hurriedly when he saw it, Sun Yuanhua sent it out, please stay in front of the hall, but the master refused, until he stopped at the entrance of the flower hall, Sun Yuanhua turned around and left.

When Zhao Yingong left the governor's office, he had already got most of what he wanted.And the most important thing is a famous post from Sun Yuanhua. With this thing, although it is not unimpeded in Dongsan Mansion, at least it can guarantee general safety.Of course, Sun Yuanhua also reminded Zhao Yingong that the army around Dengzhou was frequently mobilized, and the guest army sometimes passed through the border—most of the guest troops were lawless, and theft and robbery happened from time to time, so he should try to avoid it—if he wants to open up wasteland, he must build a village.As for his proposal to open a shipping company, Sun Yuanhua also expressed his support, saying that he would take care of people to issue license tickets to prepare for smooth sailing at sea.

(End of this chapter)