Huang Jue, after three marriages

Chapter 458 Champaign Rice

Champa rice.

Xie Jue calmed down, sat down on the chair, and said in a deep voice, "Say."

Food is the most important thing for the people, and food is the foundation of the country. Just like border defense, it is the top priority.

In the last years of the former dynasty, wars raged for decades, the land was vast, and the population withered. When the Song Dynasty was established, the population of the country was only more than 2000 million.

The national policy established at that time was to cultivate life and rest, and there were extremely favorable laws and regulations on land reclamation and population.

After so many years, the arable land has increased by one-fifth, but the population has more than sixfold.

Although there is a lot of increase in food production, but with a population of more than 1 million, once a disaster occurs like last year...

Even if there is no disaster, the food and grass for the frontier army will not be enough every year.

At that time, the crown prince wanted to reclaim the wasteland and reclaim the land to increase production. He thought it should be so, but after traveling for so many years, especially after communicating with those old farmers, his thinking changed.

The land of the Song Dynasty has always been a land of farming, and the local residents have a very strong sense of their homeland. Unless they have no choice but to survive, they generally will not leave their hometown and carry their soil. It is very difficult for them to go to a foreign land to reclaim wasteland.

They would rather cultivate their own one-third of an acre of land intensively to increase production to make up for the shortage of fields.

But here in Jiangnan, this is particularly obvious.

Compared with the north, the grain yield per mu in the south of the Yangtze River is twice as high, because the farmers here have turned plowing into an art.

After seeing it, he had another idea.

If you can't reclaim more fertile land, then increase the yield per mu.

To increase the yield per mu, it is not only about water conservancy, fertilization, and intensive cultivation, but more importantly, the variety of seeds.

Take Champa rice for example, the maturity period is much shorter than that of Song Dynasty rice. Although judging from the temperature, it is impossible for Jiangnan to ripen three times a year like Champa, but it should be possible to do two crops, and the extra time can be Grow other crops.

It's just that the ruler of Champa City is very strict in management. It's okay to buy him rice, but he doesn't pass on the technology, and he doesn't let their people enter the interior, let alone he wants to poach one or two people.

Therefore, the year before last, he asked someone to bring Champa rice seeds over, and asked Zheng Qi and the others to test plant them in several places.

But for some unknown reason, the rice grows out, but there are more empty shells, and its yield is extremely low, only [-]% of the local rice harvest.

Zheng Qi stood with his hands tied, with excitement on his face, and said, "Master, it's done!"

"It's done?!" Xie Jue frowned, tightly grasped the armrest of the chair, and said, "Tell me in detail!"

After thinking for a while, Zheng Qi said: "It's like this. We planted in four places last year, and two of them suffered from floods, and that one became a swamp. It was not easy to drain water, and it was difficult to get in and out. So, at that time We put our minds on the other two places, thinking that we must not be flooded, but in the end, in the end..."

Zheng Qi laughed twice with embarrassment on his face.

Xie Jue snorted and raised his head to signal him to continue.

"During the Chinese New Year, my subordinates met Jiang Liu and the others. They also had four places to plant, but at that time, the floods there were more severe, and several places were washed away. After cleaning up, time passed. , they planted some radishes on it."

Glancing at Xie Jue, Zheng Qi sped up his speech and said, "This subordinate also thought that the two places that are empty are also empty, so why not plant something else, so I asked someone to check after the spring, and found that Many seedlings grew in the puddles."

"It's grown after being soaked in water for so long?" Xie Jue leaned forward, his eyes lit up.

"Yes, the old farmer sent by my subordinates said that maybe there was rice growing in that puddle last year, and the mature millet fell down below, so the seedlings were grown." Zheng Qiyi smiled excitedly: "The old farmer stayed there and scattered the seedlings. There was no drainage, but the ditch was dredged."

The voice paused, Zheng Qi couldn't help rubbing his hands, and said: "Five days ago, there was a report over there, saying that the entire rice field had grown, and they sent this over."

With that said, Zheng Qi took two steps forward, took out a handful of rice ears from a vase on the bookshelf, handed them to Xie Jue and said, "Master, look, the grains are full! Those old farmers said, in a few days They estimate that the yield will not be lower than the rice in the south of the Yangtze River. Moreover, the seeds can be planted immediately when they are mature, and the next round will be mature in September. Then, they can plant root crops such as radish, taro, and yam. Master, in this way, our one-acre field can get four times the output of other places."

Xie Jue took the ear of rice and kneaded it in his hands. Seeing the long, light yellow fruits rolling out of the ear, he couldn't help but feel happy on his face.

It turns out that the problem is here!

These Champa rices need water!

That’s right, whether it’s Champa or Cochin, it’s a place with a lot of rain. Once it rains, it won’t stop for two months. So, when he secretly took people into the rice fields to see it, he just thought The water in those fields is the accumulation of rainwater, but they did not expect that the crops in that place naturally have to adapt to the local weather. They not only adapt to the rainwater, but also grow because of the rainwater.

"Master, our two places can receive nearly [-] loads this time, and my subordinates think that all of them will be used as seeds and distributed to all our farms." Zheng Qi said with a smile.

Now the land under Xie Jue is extremely rare. There are already 20 mu on Liangzhe Road. Taking advantage of the extremely low land price after the flood, Jiangliu bought some more. His land has reached more than [-] mu. , Moreover, most of these fields are located in places where the temperature is suitable, and there are sufficient water sources, which can be transformed into paddy fields at any time.

As long as the seeds are distributed, their autumn grain will be guaranteed, and some places close to the south can also experiment with planting winter grain.

"That's it!" Xie Jue placed the ears of rice on the table, and said with a slight smile, "You want to share some with Mr. Gao?"

Zheng Qi's face was slightly restrained, and after thinking for a moment, he said: "This subordinate feels that although Mr. Gao is capable...but his mind is very righteous. If he can achieve results, it will be good for the master to spend more time on Liangzhe Road. "

What happened last year made Mr. Gao a thorn in the side of Cai Bing and the others. Although he was protected by the emperor, if someone was not good, he could be knocked down by Cai Bing at any time.

And Mr. Gao has no problem with his moral character, but his ability...

Just like this seed matter, if they didn't have their support behind it, I'm afraid that it would be caught by someone just like this.

If there is the merit of Champa Rice, then...

Xie Jue smiled and said: "There is no rush, we will wait until our fields are successful this year before we mention the matter of promotion. Remember, the matter of Champa Rice, the current trend, must not let others know. Don't plant all over, first find the most suitable one, and start planting in the place where it is easy to keep secrets."

Zheng Qi was startled: "Is there something wrong in the capital?"

Xie Jue sneered, and said: "It's nothing serious, it's just a fight between dogs and chickens, don't worry, now, Cai Bing has no time to trouble Mr. Gao."

(End of this chapter)