Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

In Changsheng Garden, several agricultural officials came to report.

The leader was called Jiao Derun, and he was regarded as Zhu Guoxiang's second disciple. After the meeting, he asked his subordinates to open an agricultural map of Jiangnan.

Jiao Derun said: "During the Tang Dynasty, rice cultivation was mainly used in Jiangnan, supplemented by mulberry, tea and other crops. The rice field fallow method was prevalent at that time. Until the early Song Dynasty, some rice fields in Jiangnan were still fallow."

"But in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, most of the mature fields in Jiangnan were planted with rice, which had been harvested once a year and were no longer left fallow for fertilizer. Also in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the area under multiple planting of rice and wheat in Jiangnan increased."

"This situation changed after the introduction of Champa rice in the former Song Dynasty. In the south of the Yangtze River, there were two crops of rice a year, or two crops of rice and rape, and the area under double cultivation of rice and wheat gradually decreased."

"Cotton spread to Jiangnan, and the situation changed again..."

Jiao Derun pointed at the map with a bamboo stick: "From Jiangyin along the river bank and coast to the north of Hangzhou Bay. The soil in these prefectures and counties has high sand content and high salinity, so it is not suitable for growing rice, but it is suitable for growing rice." Cotton. Although rice and cotton are rotated here, cotton is mainly grown. This area can be called a cotton area. "

"Yanguan County on the north side of Hangzhou Bay and this area to the northwest of Hangzhou belong to the agricultural transition zone. You can grow anything. It's not clear, so it can be called a transition zone."

"From the south of Taihu Lake to the north of Hangzhou, this area is low-lying and fertile. In fact, more rice is planted. In the slightly barren land, mulberry trees are mixed with other crops. Three mulberries and seven rice. This can be called a sericulture area."

"There are also hills in northwest Zhejiang, southern Jinling Prefecture, and west of Taihu Lake. Most of them are planted with mulberry trees. They can also be called sericulture areas."

"North of Taihu Lake, the area between Danyang, Jiangyin, and Wuxi is basically planted with rice. This can be called a rice area."

"The plain east of Taihu Lake is also mainly planted with rice, mixed with cotton and mulberry, and has a large number of textile factories. It can be called a rice weaving area."

"There are also some places that can be called Chazhu District."

After a few simple explanations on the map, Zhu Guoxiang understood it immediately, much more clearly than those civil officials who talked about it for a long time.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Is this formed naturally by farmers, or is it guided by you agricultural officials?"

Jiao Derun said: "It's a combination of both. In the early stage, farmers were mainly farmers, and in the later stage, agricultural officials were mainly responsible. But it is really recent. This agricultural map of Jiangnan is a joint effort between agricultural officials from Zhejiang Province and Jinling Prefecture. draw."

"You did a great job." Zhu Guoxiang nodded and smiled.

Jiao Derun said: "In order to make more money, farmers often don't listen to us and rush to plant cotton. Even now, the division of this agricultural map is not absolute. Especially in rice areas, there are still many farmers who are cotton." Planting in one rice rotation is okay, but it’s a waste of fertile land.”

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Does the government need to take action?"

"It's generally not necessary," Jiao Derun said, "but the government can persuade the farmers in those places that even if they insist on growing cotton, it is better to grow two cotton and one rice instead of three cotton and one rice."

“We have done experiments, including the cost of fertilizers such as soybean meal, and deducting the yield reduction caused by different planting methods, and planting two cotton and one rice in a pure rice area. The overall income of farmers is higher than that of three cotton and one rice, one cotton and one rice, and single rice. Growing rice is higher.”

"In addition, in some areas, if rice and rape are rotated, the income is higher than two cotton and one rice."

"All of the above are based on the current rice, cotton, and oil prices. If any of the prices fluctuates too much, the specific method of planting that is most beneficial will change."

Zhu Guoxiang was even more satisfied after hearing this, nodded and smiled in approval.

Jiao Derun said: "In each region, we will engrave monuments in the countryside, describing different planting methods, and listing the approximate harvests of the upper, middle and lower fields. After seeing the contents of the inscriptions, farmers can choose how to plant."

Zhu Guoxiang clapped his hands and praised: "You have done an excellent job and should be published in the "Da Ming Yue" for commendation."

Hearing these words, all the agricultural officers present laughed happily.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, these farmers' persuading officers were all doing practical things. They would visit the countryside every now and then, and they usually stayed in their own experimental fields.

Take the people in Jiangnan as an example. At first, they didn’t take persuading agricultural officials seriously.

I have been a squire and farmer for generations. How could there be any mistakes in the farming methods passed down from our ancestors? Do we still need you officials to teach us how to farm?

But year after year, the people became more and more convinced of the agricultural officials.

Not only convinced, but respected.

When other officials go to the countryside, the people are on guard and extremely vigilant. Instead of persuading the peasant officials to go to the countryside, the squires and farmers rushed to receive him and took the initiative to bring out all the delicious food.

Some squire families celebrated their birthdays and even sent people to have banquets to entertain agricultural officials.

If any mutated varieties appear in the fields, ordinary people will also remember the instructions given by the Agricultural Officer, and while taking good care of them, they will quickly report them to the Agricultural Officer.

…

Zhu Guoxiang stayed in Changsheng Garden to eat with these agricultural officials, and was rewarded with thirty silver dollars each before leaving.

The next day, Wang Chongdu of the treasure hunting trio came to see him again.

"Are you funded by the emperor?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Wang Chongdu said: "The initial ships, manpower and funds were all given by His Majesty. We established a trading company, and the royal family held 70%. Later, when Australia was discovered, His Majesty awarded another 10% of the shares. Not only the three of us have shares, but more than a dozen people in the trading company also got them. His Majesty said that when the five-year period in Australia is over, he will give us another 5%. At that time, the royal family will hold 55% and the senior staff of the trading company will hold 45%."

In fact, it doesn't matter how many shares are held at this stage, and the income and expenditure situation is completely a mess.

Fearing that the enthusiasm of the sea exploration team will be dampened, Zhu Ming didn't even send supervisors. Even if those guys stuffed money into their private pockets, Zhu Ming would just pretend that it didn't happen. After all, exploring unknown waters is extremely dangerous.

Historically, the explorers of Portugal and Spain were in almost the same situation. They went on voyages with the support of the royal family. Although it was stipulated how much profit would be distributed to the royal family, it was impossible to check in actual operation.

When the explorers completely opened up the situation, the Portuguese and Spanish royal families sent other people to pick peaches.

The Dutch East India Company was in a mess, and even in its heyday, it suffered losses every year. Major shareholders and expatriate executives frantically made money by constantly attracting investors to raise the stock price, so small and medium-sized investors and retail investors made money by speculating in stocks.

In the end, it collapsed. Major shareholders, former executives, and investors who had already withdrawn made a lot of money, while the rest of the investors who did not have time to withdraw lost all their money.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Are you here to do business in Hangzhou this time?"

Wang Chongdu said: "Reporting to the emperor, doing business is just a side job. The news that Australia is rich has long spread throughout Zhejiang. There are many people in and outside Hangzhou who live in poverty. They were reluctant to go to sea before, but now they are actively signing up."

There are actually not many dual-income families like Xu San and his wife in Hangzhou.

It is mainly men who make money, while women do odd jobs to earn money for the family, such as sewing, working as maids, etc.

At the end of the year, the family can save two or three strings of money, which is the limit.

If you encounter a serious illness, you will immediately return to poverty and it will be difficult to continue. Even if you recover from the disease, you have to work twice as hard to pay off your debts.

Every year, people become beggars, and welfare institutions such as the poorhouse can't collect all of them.

Because the court encouraged immigration, local officials, including those in Hangzhou, liked to throw beggars to the immigration office and quickly send them to the border areas.

Wang Chongdu targeted these urban poor!

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "How many people are there in Australia?"

Wang Chongdu replied: "A few died of illness. There are also many who are lucky and have returned home after panning enough gold. After deducting these, there are still more than 16,000 gold diggers in Australia."

"So many?" Zhu Guoxiang was extremely shocked.

Wang Chongdu said: "There is too much gold there. One person who brings gold back home can attract ten or a hundred people to go out to sea. All the people who went there were rough men, and the common people transported two batches of indigenous women from Nanyang. There are more than 3,000 indigenous women, and most of them married gold diggers."

The brothel business is not easy to do in Australia.

Although there are many gold diggers, they are so tired that they can't even stand up straight every day. How can they have the energy to find prostitutes for entertainment?

But there are many who are willing to spend money to buy Aboriginal women as wives. Most of them are bachelors who don't have money to get married in their hometowns. They get married in Australia not entirely to meet their physical needs, but more to meet their spiritual needs.

First, those bachelors are crazy about getting married. They can't wait to get married in their hometowns after making some money in gold mining in Australia.

Second, after a tiring day of gold mining, there are wives waiting in the shacks to cook meals, wash their dirty clothes, and mend their torn clothes. That kind of life makes countless gold diggers envy.

Zhu Guoxiang asked, "Is there enough food in Australia?"

Wang Chongdu said, "Some people have stopped panning for gold and have bought land to grow food. But most of the food is still shipped from Java."

Zhu Guoxiang asked again, "Are they willing to give up gold for food?"

"Gold panning is too tiring after all," Wang Chongdu said, "We captured many Australian aborigines to farm, but those aborigines were very stupid and could not be taught no matter how hard we tried. So we thought of other ways and asked the aborigines to do the hardest and most tiring land reclamation work. Cut down trees, burn weeds, roughly remove tree roots, stones and other things, and then dig a canal to divert water. After doing this, there are gold diggers willing to buy land for farming."

Zhu Guoxiang nodded, "I see."

It is difficult for the aborigines to perfectly reclaim land, but most of the hard work has been done.

Gold diggers buy land and only need to further remove the stones and tree roots that the aborigines have not picked up, and then they can start farming for the first time in that piece of land. There are even simple canals. Beans can be planted in the first two or three years, and the land can be cultivated slowly in the next few years.

Wang Chongdu said: "We also transported some oxen, and there are more people willing to buy land and cattle. There is also a sailor who has been to the north and suggested transporting more horses, donkeys and sheep. Australia has large grasslands where people can graze."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Farming and grazing are very good. Gold will eventually be mined, but farming and grazing can be passed on to future generations."

Wang Chongdu said: "In addition to us, there are several trading companies that are also bringing people to Australia. However, since we have occupied the gold mountain, they can only occupy other places, and their small-scale operations are not enough. Even the price of rose gems has been driven down by those guys, and they can no longer sell at the sky-high price at the beginning."

As he said this, Wang Chongdu took out a large pile of opals and presented them to Zhu Guoxiang and his concubines and children.

Although the price of this thing has been reduced again and again, it is still extremely valuable, but it cannot be sold at a sky-high price.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "How many people do you think will be willing to stay after all the gold is mined there?"

Wang Chongdu shook his head: "It's hard to say. It is estimated that 70% to 80% of the gold diggers will go home, but those who make a lot of money dare not go back. If more land is reclaimed there and grazing can also make money, more people may stay."

"I will transfer a few agricultural officials to you. Agriculture and animal husbandry can also be developed overseas," Zhu Guoxiang said in a joking tone, "Agricultural officials are treasures, you have to give them more money."