Song Dynasty Iron Armored Army

Chapter 339

Dongping Mansion is next to Yanzhou. Coal resources are very rich and the price is low, so the temperature is very hot. People shiver outside and sweat inside.The cotton planted in this greenhouse is not for harvesting, but for scientific research and observation. Of course, a large part of it is to make myself, a cheap old man, happy.In addition to an old farmer from Cangzhou in this shed, there are also three agricultural technicians from the Sinong Yamen of Dongping Prefecture, who are learning technology.

"Father-in-law, this peach-shaped one is called a cotton boll. It will bloom after a while, and after it produces white cotton, it must be picked. If it takes too long, the quality will decline, and it will affect the cotton weaving. .” Chai Lin introduced.

Cheng Wanli observed very carefully, holding a pen and paper in his hand, brushing with skillful hands, and after a few strokes, it was a picture of cotton, with the branches and leaves drawn very clearly.As for the three agricultural technicians who were listening, it was not good to disturb Mr. Cheng.

"How can we produce more bolls and more cotton?" Cheng Wanli asked.

"There is no good way to do this. Field planting is nothing more than using more water and fertilizer. When plowing, add more soil and miscellaneous fertilizers. Weeding frequently in the early stage, and replenishing water in time when drought occurs in the later stage. When the growth is vigorous, it is necessary to shoot the tip, just like this, pinch the bud tips of the side branches This will slow down their growth, so that they can grow more bolls. In the first year of planting in Chaijiazhuang this year, the average yield of lint cotton per mu is [-] catties, which is already good, but it will be difficult to grow any higher." Chai Lin said.

Cheng Wanli was getting old, and his back hurt after squatting for a long time, so he found a Mazha to sit there and said, "According to what you said, farmers only need to plant two or three percent of the cotton in their homes, so they don't have to suffer from the cold."

"My father-in-law is right and wrong."

"What's this called? Yes, it's not right. You explain it."

Pointing to the cotton, Chailin said: "Cotton is still very different from traditional grain. Grain is grown to fill the stomach, and cotton is grown to keep warm, but it cannot be worn directly. After planting cotton, it needs to be stretched." Cotton, the lint of the seed cotton processing factory, if it is okay to make cotton clothes, it can be directly filled with lint, but if it is used to weave cotton cloth, it will take a lot of work, just like silkworm cocoons, it has a certain degree of complexity.”

"Anyway, this is a major discovery. You are a local tyrant. How do you know the hardships of the people? Every winter, a large number of people freeze to death. With cotton jackets and quilts, many people will freeze to death. What? When it can be widely promoted in my Dongping Mansion, a mansion can plant tens of thousands of acres and no people will suffer from the cold?" Cheng Wanli asked.

"It's only the first year of planting this year, and we don't get many seeds. We have arranged almost everything in Cangzhou, so how many seeds are there to plant in Dongping Prefecture. Why don't my father-in-law promote more sweet and delicious croissant crispy small melons?" Chai Lin suggested. .

Cheng Wanli said with a cold face: "Don't give me sloppy eyes, you boy. The croissant is like a melon. You don't care if you are hungry or full, and you can't wear clothes. It's just a snack. If you can't sell it, you have to use it as fertilizer. I It’s about cotton, I don’t care if there are seeds or not, I just look at the results, at least plant a thousand acres of seed fields, and I’ll subsidize you two taels of silver per acre.”

Chai Lin was overjoyed: "Okay, okay, then I will plant 1 acres and give me a subsidy of [-] taels of silver."

Cheng Wanli wanted to kick Chailin a few times, this is really a trick, just now he said that there are no seeds, and when he heard that there is a subsidy of two taels of silver for one mu of land, he actually planted [-] mu at once.

"Father-in-law, don't be angry, come, come and see the sweet potatoes in this shed. There is only one acre of sweet potatoes planted for observation." Chai Lin led Cheng Wanli to look at the sweet potatoes.

This crop, which integrates grain, processing and feed, grows very well in the greenhouse.

Cheng Wanli had eaten sweet potatoes before, and Chai Lin sent his father-in-law a hundred catties of sweet potatoes, which are still good for porridge.

"The growth is really good. The leaves are so tender that they can be eaten as vegetables. Dongping Prefecture has many mountainous areas. Is it really like you said that the mountainous land can produce four to five thousand catties per mu?" Cheng Wanli still doesn't believe it. The annual grain output I have all the data, and I have checked it myself. The yield of these two common grains, wheat and sorghum, is only about [-] catties per mu.Rice is a little higher, yielding about [-] catties of rice.

"Four to five thousand catties is less to say. Considering the farmers' planting skills, land fertility, and the amount of soil and miscellaneous fertilizers, I dare not say more. The yield of planting on my farm is as high as more than eight thousand catties. There are also two thousand for sliced ​​and dried. Five to six hundred catties, the output is extremely high, and it is most suitable for relief in times of famine," said Chailin.

"Exaggeration is prevalent. Hearing is believing, seeing is believing. I have to test it myself. This is a great plan for the future, and I can't be fooled by you." Cheng Wanli said.

Chai Lin smiled and said, "Isn't there an open space in the back garden of my father-in-law, I think there is still some three to five acres of land."

"Yes, five acres of land. I originally planned to dig a lotus pond, but then I thought it would cost too much money and food, so I didn't do it. You plan to plant sweet potatoes in my garden?"

"That's right, the plowed sweet potatoes are enough to feed dozens of people in your father-in-law's house through the winter." Chailin said.

"Burning pianos and cooking cranes is indecent." Cheng Wanli regretted that after all, a good garden was used to grow sweet potatoes.

"Just now you lamented that poor people would freeze to death every year and starve to death, but now it changes again in a blink of an eye. Let's talk about elegance after eating and dressing warmly. Farmers have a process of understanding new crops, and there are few seedlings. It won't be widely popularized in three to five years, and it will be more than ten years or even decades after large-scale planting. The most important thing about sweet potatoes is that both the roots and leaves can be eaten." Chailin said, pinching two handfuls of fresh and tender sweet potato leaves for Cheng Wanli, The leaves are not tasty, but they are certainly edible, and they taste good.

"Are there any other uses for sweet potatoes other than cooking or roasting?" Cheng Wanli asked.

"It's very useful. Sweet potatoes can be fed directly to pigs. They can also be sliced ​​and dried, and then powdered to make sweet potato pancakes. They can also be fed to livestock. Sweet potato flour tastes sweet, and horses, cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks like to eat it. Sweet potato seedlings are very good. Forage, horses, cattle and sheep like to eat the most."

"It turns out that it is so useful that there is nothing left from the roots to the leaves. Well, let's turn the garden into a sweet potato field, so that I can supervise it so that no one will cheat. I'll go back and see it another day." Cheng Wanli said .

Cheng Wanli, the cheap father-in-law, apart from being a little bookish, is generally good, not greedy for money, capable, and able to do things for the people.

Chai Lin said: "Dongping Paper Mill donated [-] catties of sorghum rice, and my father-in-law arranged for someone to open a porridge shed?"

"Okay, it would be great if all the merchants were like you, but I don't need to arrange for people to open a porridge shed. You can just ask the shopkeeper Chen Long to open a porridge shed at the port. There are too many things in the yamen. Every day Besides, I am not so narrow-minded, as long as I sincerely treat the people well, I will not be jealous, I understand your thoughts." Cheng Wanli sighed.

"Okay, it's good if the father-in-law agrees, so as not to do something good and cause trouble." Chai Lin said.Throughout the ages, you have to be more careful about doing good things than doing bad things. If you do too many good things, others will think that you have ulterior motives and win the hearts of the people. This is a big problem. Therefore, Chailin must ask Cheng Zhifu to be a ward. If he agrees, it will be another time. It's over.

10,000 catties of rice is not much. If it is enough to cook [-]+ bowls of gruel, it will be fine for a winter.The main beneficiaries are hungry people and refugees wandering from other places, and there are very few people in Dongping Prefecture.The operation team of Dongping Paper Mill has matured, and there is no need for Chai Lin to intervene in such trivial matters, and Chen Long can arrange them properly.

(End of this chapter)