Pillars of the Wu family

At this time, Huzai Zongyi had already left Asayama Nichijo aside, and walked slowly into this ordinary village called Shirakawa Village. At this time, there were almost no men in the village, and all of them were called to work on the river embankment. , the advantage of working for the Kira family is to take care of the food. In the simple mind of the peasants, this is not a general enlistment but good governance, which is better than the decree.

Eating is a problem these days. It is the top priority for farmers to have enough to eat. A man is the breadwinner of the family. How much he can earn depends on how much the family can eat for a group of old and weak women and children. At the same time, men are the most food in the family. In the case of a disaster year, a strong laborer must eat enough to have the strength to work, so it is often necessary to give up the old, weak, women and children in exchange for a chance to survive.

At the beginning of this year, in response to the call of the country's lord, what kind of laoshizi composting method was used, and later sowed food that had never been grown before. Fortunately, the followers of the Kira family brought a group of people, and the farmers from Omi taught them how to turn the soil, weed, and fertilize. , Raising ducks in the rice fields is said to be to catch bugs in the fields.

"This female Tanyue is so polite!" Huzai Zongyi saluted a woman, scaring the young woman into a bewilderment. Seeing the young monk with delicate features at first sight, the little woman got a big blush. The woman followed suit and laughed.

Huzai Zongyi took a few steps back in embarrassment and said together: "The poor monk is very frightened for bothering you girls Tanyue! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

The women had never seen such a good-looking monk, so they looked more curiously. One of the pungent women pushed these big girls and young daughters-in-law to sit on the side, came over and clasped his hands and said: "This little Zen master came from Where did you come from? Your accent doesn't look like my Echigo's!"

"The poor monk came from Kyoto and went to Echigo to preach the Dharma..."

The shrewd woman is not afraid of him, and the monk is different from the warrior.Usually, I often pass by Sanbu monks on the streets of Echigo Mountain.Come and beg for something to eat.She was still able to teach a scripture, so the woman immediately covered her mouth and smiled and said, "Hehehe...you really know how to teach the Dharma, little Zen master? Then what kind of Dharma can you teach?"

"Uh... this female Tanyue is joking." Huzai Zongyi took a few steps back, clasped his hands together and said, "I don't know what female Tanyue is doing?"

From a distance, he saw a group of women cleaning up a large pile of things that had fallen into a hill. After removing the mud on them, he saw round and shiny things, but he didn't know what they were called.

"What are you talking about! This is a potato. On the contrary, it can produce more than eight stones of grain. It can be eaten boiled or baked. One potato can keep you hungry. And the samurai masters said that it can be cut into pieces. It’s really delicious when you put some chili on it.”

"Potatoes? Eight stones?" Huzai Zongyi shook his head. He had never heard of this kind of crop, and his tone was full of disbelief.

"It's true! We won't lie!" Seeing that Huzai Zongyi still didn't believe it, a little woman shouted dissatisfiedly: "If you don't believe me, you can ask the little Zen master. Our village is the only one who has traveled ten miles and eight villages." With such a high grain output, no other village can grow as much as ours!"

Huzai Zongyi took another step back, bowed together and said, "This female Tanyue means that other villages are also planting new crops?"

"That's right! If you don't believe me, little Zen master, go and see more!" A group of women said in unison: "I will never tell lies!"

Huzai Zongyi is still very clear about the concept of "eight stones for grain production".This grain production is equivalent to saying that Echigo will immediately get rid of hunger and poverty, and tens of thousands of farmers will not have to go to the mountains to plan wild vegetables when they are short of food.It is a great good deed to benefit thousands of living beings not to abandon old parents and drown newborn babies in times of famine.

"Nanwu Master Sakyamuni Buddha!" ​​Huzai Zongyi put his palms together silently and prayed for the common people: "May thousands of people be freed from the sea of ​​suffering."

The surface height of Echigo is only about 40 shi, and even the inner height will not exceed 45 shi, because a large number of swamps, lakes, and dry lagoons in the territory cannot be used. At present, the most productive crops are similar, mainstream rice, non-mainstream wheat, On the other hand, the yield of soybeans is around one stone, and there is no more than a few cents. If there is really an exaggeration of eight stones per mu, the current land area of ​​Echigo will exceed 320 million stone!

Of course, this is absolutely impossible. Neither the ministers of the imperial court nor the samurai of the shogunate can give up rice to eat potatoes, corn and other crops for a living. As long as they continue to plant rice, it is like a dream to counter production ten stones. Two more land Even less likely.

Seeing Huzai Zongyi put his hands together and said nothing, a woman thought he still didn't believe it, so she hurriedly said: "There are really eight stones! If you don't believe me, go to the village to see those corns and potatoes. There are pumpkins that produce eight stones in one turn, and the largest one produces more than ten stones in one turn!

The only disadvantage of planting this new grain is that it requires too much fertilizer. On the other hand, the land needs to be fertilized with more than a dozen rocks a year. For this fertilizer, our family even went to dig silt in the river ditch and graze cattle and sheep on the side of the mountain. Taking manure and manure, I heard that some people are selling livestock manure now, and I don’t know how much it costs per stone... By the way, we also need to dig trenches and top-dress fertilizer at night. When fertilizing, our whole family is dispatched, and we are busy from morning till night. After a few days, it was really hard to think about that day! "

"A little bit of hard work will pay off after all! The crops in our village of [-] square meters can produce more than ten times the grain. After calculating the annual tribute, there is still [-] shi of grain left. I heard that in the past few days, China, Vietnam, Subterranean people from various villages in Xiayue will come to us to observe the new grain, and then we can sell the seeds we can’t use to them.”

A group of women kept saying what they said, but the pungent woman pinched her waist and scolded lightly: "Oh! What are you talking about selling! That's called exchange! We need to exchange them with corn, pumpkins, and potatoes of equal weight. Brown rice, wheat, and soybeans! This is what Master Fengxing taught us! Don’t let the time slip, and be careful of the guy at home who beats your ass.”

"Giggle!"

When the group of women turned around, they found that the young monk with delicate features had disappeared. The group of women sighed annoyedly, and then complained again: "If you didn't keep nagging, that little Zen master would definitely not be able to see you." going so fast!"

"It's not you. You speak faster than anyone else. I can't even understand you. The little Zen master is from Kyoto. How can I understand your accent!"

"It's just that you don't speak backwards, and that you don't babble!" The two women scratched each other's itch.

Stayed by the elders of the village, the two monks had a vegetarian meal here. The sweet pumpkin rice with corn kernels was really delicious, as well as roasted potatoes and miso soup. Compared with the brown rice they ate in the past Pickled radish should have a lot of flavor.

Under the guidance of Elder Su, the two monks visited several drying yards and saw that there were at least [-] to [-] shi of grain piled up like mountains.A small village has such an exaggerated grain production figure, if all the land in Echigo is planted with these crops, what kind of amazing change will it be.

"Nanwu master Shakyamuni Buddha!" ​​Although the expressions of the two were plain, the shock in their eyes could not be concealed. The two monks made the same movements at the same time, and they did not know that they were praying for all living beings. Or are you trying to hide your excitement?

Then the two visited several villages southward along Guanchuan. The doubts in their hearts gradually dissipated, and shock and excitement gradually covered their faces. They had already walked out of the exaggerated numbers.What is more concerned now is why these grains are so high-yielding, and what is the reason for the 8-fold yield.

With this question.The footprints of the two monks soon spread all over the east and west banks of Guanchuan, and soon they found that only the direct leader of the Nagao family had the new type of grain planting, and no other areas had any. They also gradually understood the reason.

Standing outside a village near Zhijiangjin, looking at the dark and crowded scene in Zhuangzi, they are old underground people from Zhongyue and Xiayue villages. They were invited to accept the visit, and the crowd exclaimed and excited from time to time yelling.

It is conceivable that these skeptical land attendants will suddenly see the new crops and how the new farming methods will have a great impact, completely breaking the inherent traditional cognition of these peasants for thousands of years. Maybe some people still don't believe it, but this is irrelevant In the big picture, the unrepentant will be conquered by the facts sooner or later, and the collective will cannot be stopped.

"It turns out that the lord that these peasants are talking about is Lord Wu Wei! It's really beyond the expectations of the poor monk!" Huzai Zongyi let out a long breath, and returned to his usual calm and calm expression.

Chaoshan Richeng was yawning lazily, and when he saw Huzai Zongyi looking at him, he changed his serious expression and said, "The poor monk thinks it's no big deal! Wu Weigong has made great achievements in helping people, and today he found so many people to save people." The seed of life is really the reincarnation of a Bodhisattva... Maybe it is the one who was destined that day!"

"The man appointed by God?" Huzai Zongyi frowned, and then smiled and said, "Master Richeng is talking nonsense again! Master's temperament of lying must be changed. Lord Wu Wei doesn't like such a tempered monk as Master!"

"That's what the poor monk said, I'll just listen to what you say! Hehehe..." Zhaoshan Nichicheng played sloppy eyes, which made Huzai Zongyi quite helpless.

Before the winter, the autumn harvest statistics of Echigo counties were integrated. Excluding the experimental fields of the Nagao family in the Joetsu Seki River Basin and the new fields developed, the total stone height of the seven counties of Echigo was 41 stones, which means that in the From the original 39 shili, the Shangyue 36 shi test field was removed, and on the basis of the remaining [-] shi, the grain production was increased by [-] shi.

This production made all the lords of Echigo feel very satisfied. Under the leadership intentionally or unintentionally, the people of Echigo’s seven prefectures readily paid Duanqian and Dongbetsen for the first time in more than [-] years. At the same time, Kirayoshi issued a government order , Considering that Echigo is seriously short of money, all taxes paid by the franchise this year are converted into rice and grain for unified collection.

In this way, although a lot of copper coins were collected, it is not bad to collect [-] shi of rice and grain. But this piece of mind is touching.

On the other hand, Joetsu Xintian has developed a land of [-] town steps, which is equivalent to three slightly larger villages. This is because there is not enough time at the beginning of the year, and only so much wasteland can be developed before the spring sowing. You must know that Nagao’s family is in The land in the Joetsu Sekigawa and Naoetsu River Basins totaled more than [-] town steps, and there were only a dozen villages, large and small.

One town is equal to one hectare, and five hundred towns is about 490 to six or seven hectares. Compared with those rich and powerful Chinese in some neighboring countries, who often have [-] towns of land, the Nagao family is really weak. exploded.

Seeing the development of Xintian and the amount of land that can be developed at a small cost in the Joetsu wasteland, Kira Yoshitoki smacked his lips and said to himself: "It is a waste to not reclaim a large piece of wasteland, even without the financial resources of my Kira family. , he can also expand a little bit, what a waste!"

After several years of exploration in Kinai, the basic experience of pollination and fertilization was gradually worked out. This was done under the guidance of farmers from the Ming Dynasty who lived abroad in Kyushu. The two brushes in Kirayoshi's time were not enough to go out and be ashamed.

The yields of major crops such as corn, potatoes, pumpkins, and sugar beets planted in Joetsu Xintian and the experimental field have been calculated. The average yield of these four crops is about eight stones. Among them, sugar beet has the highest average harvest of eleven stones per turn, but it is not counted. Food crops, so the least planted.

Grapes, peppers, alfalfa and other crops do not need to be planted on the plains, but are simply placed on the mountains and do not occupy arable land. These three are not food crops, so we only try to plant a few plots on the mountains, and the yield of peppers per plot is as high as ten There is no problem with stones. Alfalfa yields about eleven stones per mu of fresh grass, and four stones at most after drying. Grapes need two years to bear fruit, and the current output has not been calculated yet.

The yield of these kinds of crops is very gratifying, but it is really troublesome to grow. Each crop has different requirements for fertilizers, and such as corn cannot be directly planted and continued to be planted. It is necessary to cultivate a special field for special breeding. It is used for pollination and cultivation. Fortunately, these things don't need to bother him. That is something that Omi's stay-at-home policy and Hosokawa Fujitaka and others have to worry about.

He only needs to know that in the 28 towns of arable land, a total of 16 shi of grain is produced, and they need to pay an annual tribute of [-] shi, and at the same time pay various taxes including other donkey money. Five thousand stones. (To be continued..)