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In ancient times, Jiangxi really wanted to grow wheat.

For example, "Jianchang Prefecture Chronicle" records: "Wheat is planted in October and harvested in April."

In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, double-cropping rice and triple-cropping rice were successfully promoted in the south and northeast of Jiangxi.

However, in other places in Jiangxi, due to insufficient water and heat conditions, they can only practice multi-cropping planting - continuous planting of winter wheat and late rice, or continuous planting of buckwheat, rape, beans and late rice.

Zhao Han was currently receiving a Confucian businessman. He was passing through Yongyang Town on business. Seeing that the rebels here attached great importance to agriculture, he took the initiative to offer advice.

This man's name was Li Fenglai. Although he was a scholar, he talked about farming very clearly: "This rice can be planted late. After the wheat is harvested, the late rice can be planted. The same field can harvest the staple food twice a year."

"Except for planting time, what are the differences between early rice and late rice?" Zhao Han asked.

Li Fenglai explained: "Early rice can mature in three or four months, while late rice takes longer to mature. The later it is sown, the slower it will grow. It can take as short as four or five months, and as long as it takes half a year."

"Headquarters!"

Suddenly a secretary knocked on the door.

Zhao Han frowned and said, "Say."

The secretary replied: "The magistrate of Luling wants to see you."

Um?

Zhao Han thought he heard wrongly, and then almost laughed out loud and said, "Invite him in."

Wang Tiaoding was invited into the office and he cupped his hands and said, "I, Wang Tiaoding, the magistrate of Luling County, have met Mr. Zhao."

Zhao Han bowed his hands in greeting and said, "Please sit down and wait a moment."

Li Fenglai also stood up to greet him and said, "Li Fenglai, a scholar from Nanchang Prefecture, has met Wang Zhixian."

Then, Wang Diaoding was left hanging there.

Li Fenglai continued: "If you want to plant late rice, ordinary rice seeds will not work, and you must use 'Fanjing' seeds. Farmers tend to late rice in roughly the same way as early rice, but there are some subtle differences. I can write down the differences. Mr. Zhao can just ask someone to try the seeds."

"Is Luling County suitable for growing late rice?" Zhao Han asked doubtfully.

Li Fenglai said: "I don't know, but late rice is planted in many places in southern Jiangxi, and there is also late rice in Nankang and Raozhou. You can plant wheat and rice continuously, you can plant buckwheat and rice together, you can plant beans and rice continuously, and you can plant oil and rice continuously." If you sow it, it will be harvested twice a year, and you will reap twice as much food.”

Zhao Han cupped his hands and said, "I would like to ask Mr. Li to send some japonica seeds, and I will have people try planting them on my own land."

"Put it on me." Li Fenglai said with a smile.

As a businessman, it is naturally impossible to be courteous for nothing.

Li Feng came to offer advice just because he wanted to buy Zhao Han's grain. I don’t talk about lowering the price, just buy it at the market price, and it is mainly shipped to Jiangsu and Zhejiang for sale.

This is a long-term large-scale business. As long as you have a good relationship with Zhao Han, you can harvest grain here every year in the future.

Li Fenglai added: "In those mountainous and sloping areas, after harvesting wheat, corn can just be planted. Corn can also be interplanted with sweet potatoes, which can increase production by countless amounts."

Zhao Han said: "I have already bought the corn seeds. I will plant them as soon as the wheat is harvested."

Li Fenglai said with a smile: "It's time to breed now. Direct sowing has lower yields. You can first breed with dung soil balls, plant sweet potatoes in ridges, and then plant bracts in the furrows. In this way, each can benefit from the benefits of bracts, cereals, and bracts. All sweet potatoes can increase their yield."

Zhao Han stood up quickly, bowed his hands and said, "Sir, you are really a great talent!"

Li Fenglai returned the gift and said, "I don't dare take it seriously. Since I am a grain merchant, I am naturally familiar with farming."

Zhao Han said: "As long as you teach me the art of growing grain, I will definitely give priority to selling grain to you on my territory from now on."

"Easy to say, easy to say," Li Fenglai was very happy and glanced at Wang Diaoding again, "Since Mr. Zhao still has distinguished guests, I won't bother you!"

"I'll see you off, sir." Zhao Han kept sending Li Fenglai out.

"By the way," Li Fenglai stopped at the door and took out something, "This is a tobacco stem. It can be ground into powder and scattered near the roots when planting rice seedlings to drive away pests."

Non-polluting pesticides?

Zhao Han said happily: "Sir, please buy tobacco stems. I want to buy in large quantities during the rice transplanting season next year."

"Easy to say, easy to say." Li Fenglai said with a smile.

Zhao Han was in a happier mood. Not only did he send Li Fenglai out of the front yard, he even sent him out of the General Military Mansion.

Corn and sweet potatoes can be planted on a large scale this year.

Don't think that without the improvement of improved seeds, the yields of these two crops will not be high. The Native Americans have been cultivating them for thousands of years, so don't they know how to breed them?

At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, sweet potatoes had replaced all miscellaneous grains and became the staple food for farmers in southern Jiangxi. By the mid-Qing Dynasty, sweet potatoes had spread throughout Jiangxi and became the staple food of farmers in mountainous areas. Farmers vote with their stomachs, and they know very well whether the yield is high or not.

At this moment, Wang Diaoding was sitting in the room, his mind still a little confused.

He impulsively ran to see the rebels, but he didn't expect to be left hanging there for a long time. What's even more interesting is that he didn't feel angry, but listened carefully to the conversation between Zhao Han and the grain merchant.

Zhao Han returned to the office and said with a smile: "Wang Zhixian, you are so brave, aren't you afraid of being chopped by me?"

Wang Tiaoding asked: "What good will it do to Mr. Zhao if you chop me down?"

"Haha, you are an interesting county official," Zhao Han said with a smile, "What do you want from me? Just tell me."

Wang Tiaoding actually stood up, straightened his clothes, and bowed straightly: "Mr. Zhao, please give me some advice, how can all people be united as one?"

Zhao Han said: "It's nothing more than four words: education and moral governance."

Wang Tiaoding asked again: "How to educate all people?"

Zhao Han explained: "I want the world to be unified, so I find like-minded people and ask them to preach the principle of world unity. This principle should not be too difficult and must be understood by the common people. Just talking about it is not enough, it must be shared with the people. Tian, ​​get rid of excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes. In this way, everyone can be united. You are an official, and you can't do what I can do."

"Yeah, I can't do it." Wang Diaoding said sadly. He really couldn't allocate land to the people.

Of course, Wang Diaoding also made mistakes. There were many bandits in Xian County, and many landowners were killed. After he wiped out the bandits, he also distributed land to the refugees.

However, in the first year it was distributed to the peasants, and due to excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes, it was annexed by large landowners in the second year.

Wang Tiaoding asked again: "How can the government and the people be united?"

Zhao Han said with a smile: "The people are not stupid. If they are good officials, they will naturally support them. How to turn officials into good officials? First, we must set aspirations for officials and let them understand that being an official is not for the sake of being prominent in front of others, nor for fame and wealth." , but to help the world and save the people. Second, we must select talents and appoint them, and rewards and punishments must be clear. Those who are capable should be promoted, and those who are incompetent should be promoted."

"So simple?" Wang Diaoding asked doubtfully.

Zhao Han said: "In the world, many principles are very simple. The real difficulty is whether they can be implemented. Can the court select talents and appoint talents? Can the court distinguish rewards and punishments?"

Wang Diaoding was silent.

Take Wang Diaoding himself as an example. He suppressed bandits, built city walls, and resettled refugees in Xianxian County. He should be promoted regardless of his political achievements. The results of it? After working for three years, he was transferred to Luling County just because he didn't give gifts to the Department of Literature and Selection - no one dared to take this position. Everyone knew that all the officials at the prefecture and county levels had been killed by the rebels.

Sighing secretly, Wang Diaoding raised his hands and asked: "Mr. Zhao is such a talented person, who knows which famous scholar he studied under?"

Unable to answer this question, Zhao Han was very naughty and whispered: "I pretend to be a scholar, but in fact I am just a child. This is very embarrassing. Don't go out and say it everywhere."

Wang Tiaoding was amused and said: "Mr. Zhao voluntarily withdraws from Fucheng because he wants to accept recruitment in the future?"

"Why should I recruit people?" Zhao Han asked.

Wang Diaoding said: "How can half a county resist the imperial army? Now, Governor Li is conquering the rebels in Duchang. When the thieves are successfully conquered, he will be able to train strong troops. How will Mr. Zhao deal with it then?"

"Poof!"

Zhao Han slammed the table: "I have eight hundred soldiers, and I dare to capture Fucheng. Now there are thousands of elite soldiers, if they offend me, they will go and defeat Nanchang. How many soldiers can that Governor Li train? Now, under my rule There are more than 60,000 people aged 12 and above! If the army were to be recruited by force, 15,000 people could be recruited!"

"It's not like I haven't fought before," Wang Tiaoding expressed disbelief. "There are more than 60,000 young men, and there can be at most 30,000 males over the age of 15. You take half of it to fight? Do you have enough food and grass?"

Zhao Han grinned and said, "Believe it or not, if I give the order, the farmers will bring their own food and follow me to fight."

When Wang Tiaoding thought about what he saw today, he actually believed it and felt a sense of fear for no reason.

"Even if I can't defeat him, I can still run into the mountains," Zhao Han asked. "How many troops do you think the court will have to send to completely wipe me out?"

Wang Diaoding estimated: "We will get an army of fifty thousand."

Zhao Han stretched out two fingers: "It's a must of two hundred thousand! If you push me hard, I will not only be able to enter the mountain, but I will also be able to carry out the coercion. By then, even if I am destroyed, the whole of Jiangxi will be destroyed."

Wang Diaoding felt a little heavy, he could imagine that scene.

With Zhao Han's terrifying organizational power, if he were to hold them all the way and rely on countless mountains, it would be difficult for an army of 200,000 to wipe them out.

Not to mention two hundred thousand, even an army of one hundred thousand would require several provinces to send troops at the same time. Firstly, the imperial court had no troops to use, and secondly, even if it could send troops, it would have to destroy Jiangxi.

"Do you want to change the dynasty?" Wang Diaoding asked.

Zhao Han did not answer directly: "I just want the world to be unified."

Wang Tiaoding stopped talking again and didn't know what he was thinking.

Zhao Han suddenly said: "Otherwise, you can forget about being a thief."

Wang Tiaoding said: "I'll think about it."

The conversations between the two were more outrageous than the other, and they didn't know who was the official and who was the gangster.

Zhao Han did not press for it, but asked: "If I expand the peasant association to the entire Luling County, will you recruit village warriors to conquer it?"

Wang Tiaoding avoided the question and asked: "Do you all treat landlords like that?"

Zhao Han explained: "It is not my territory, so the methods can be gentler. I just need to establish farmers' unions in each township to unite tenants to resist rent and interest, and unite small landowners and farmers to resist taxes."

Wang Diaoding thought about that situation carefully, shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Then I can no longer be the county magistrate."

Zhao Han asked again: "What if I expand the farmers' association to the entire Ji'an Prefecture?"

Wang Diaoding sighed and said, "When that time comes, Mr. Zhao will raise his arms and the whole Ji'an will be yours."

Zhao Han continued to ask: "What if I develop the peasant association to the entire Jiangxi, to two capitals and thirteen provinces?"

"Farewell!"

Wang Tiaoding stood up suddenly, he did not dare to continue talking.

Zhao Han did not see the guests off in person, but shouted to Wang Diaoding's back: "If you figure it out one day, Mr. Wang County can come and be a thief at any time!"

Wang Diaoding walked out of the General Military Mansion and looked up at the sky, always feeling that the world had been turned upside down.

(Thanks to the leader of A Fishing Alone for the Autumn River for the reward, and to all the book friends for the reward and subscription. I am asking for monthly tickets as usual.)