I

Across the Yellow River to Luoyang, an important trade hub in the north.

Most of the goods transported from Hetao, Qinghai, and the Western Regions have to pass through Tongguan to Luoyang, and then trafficked further south.

The population of Luoyang increased rapidly, and the commerce was extremely developed. What appeared in front of Li Zicheng was a huge city of incomparable prosperity. Although it is definitely not as good as the early years of Chongzhen, it is only a matter of time before the last years of Chongzhen can be thrown out of the eight streets, and the Ming Dynasty can be restored and surpassed.

All the way east to Kaifeng, here is more prosperous.

Because Kaifeng not only has business travelers from Luoyang, but also some business travelers from Shanxi. Li Zicheng, who had been squatting in Hetao for several years, was almost not dazzled when he first came to Kaifeng.

"It's such a good life." Li Zicheng couldn't wait to go to Nanjing. He heard Zhang Yunyi say that Nanjing is a hundred times richer than Kaifeng.

Zhang Yunyi said triumphantly: "Don't just look at the city, the countryside is really prosperous. Since the founding of the Datong New Dynasty, I have dredged and excavated more than 10,000 canals in Henan. In the northwest of Henan, as well as Shanxi and Shaanxi, Not only repairing canals, but also digging irrigation wells. Even if there is another severe drought, they will not be as helpless as before."

The method of well irrigation began in the Ming Dynasty and was mainly popular in several northern provinces.

In view of the severe drought during the Little Ice Age, well irrigation became more popular in the Qing Dynasty. In Shaanxi province alone, there were 130,000 wells dedicated to irrigation until the Qianlong period. Later, Zuo Zongtang, governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, encountered a severe drought. Zuo Zongtang encouraged the digging of wells and dug tens of thousands of irrigation wells in one go.

As for the Datong court, since the last severe drought in Shanxi and Shaanxi, officials from the two provinces have been digging wells crazily.

The town mayor and village head took the lead in organizing, and farmers helped each other digging. More than 80,000 irrigation wells were newly dug in Shaanxi, more than 60,000 new irrigation wells were dug in Shanxi, and more than 10,000 new irrigation wells were dug in the northwest of Henan. Even if there is another severe drought in the future, they will not be as desperate as before, and the ability to resist natural disasters will be greatly improved.

Li Zicheng came to the countryside of Henan, which was indeed richer than the countryside of Shaanxi.

All the silted irrigation canals in his impression have been dredged, and many new ones have been dug. Farmers who have just had a bumper harvest happily go to the government to pay taxes, and livestock can be seen in groups from time to time in the countryside. When he ravaged Henan, he robbed all the livestock. How could he see such a scene?

Like Shaanxi, the people in Henan speak the accents of the southern provinces, and many of them immigrated in the past ten years.

After watching and watching, Li Zicheng didn't want to watch it anymore, feeling that it was meaningless to toss half his life.

However, Niu Jinxing bought the latest version of "The Collection of Datong". According to the content in the book, and comparing it with his experience in the countryside, he suddenly had a deeper understanding of "The Collection of Datong".

I took a boat and passed by Xuzhou.

Li Zicheng pointed to the black smoke rising from the suburbs: "What is that burning?"

Zhang Yunyi said: "Steam factories are more common in the south, but rare in the north. Xuzhou produces coal, and it is adjacent to Shandong cotton production areas. There are more and more steam factories. By the way, His Majesty has ordered that the chimneys of the factories must be built at least five feet long." (more than 16 meters) high, so as not to damage the people with black smoke. Which factory dared to disobey, immediately demolished the chimney and stopped working.”

"Can you go and have a look?" Li Zicheng asked.

"Of course." Zhang Yunyi smiled.

When visiting the factory, Li Zicheng found that there were many female workers, while the boiler workers and porters were all men.

The twisted cotton sliver is driven by the machine, and the twisting and winding are done overnight, and it becomes cotton yarn in minutes. Li Zicheng, Niu Jinxing and others are dumbfounded.

"Uncanny craftsmanship, uncanny craftsmanship!" Niu Jinxing repeatedly exclaimed.

Zhang Yunyi smiled and said: "This kind of steam engine has many functions. In the past, the imperial court had to use water to roll the silver coins. The silver coins produced were often bent and deformed, and workers had to hammer them flat. After replacing them with steam engines, not only the speed It has been doubled, and it is stamped and minted, so there will be no more bent silver dollars."

Return to the boat and continue south.

Li Zicheng found Niu Jinxing, and said without hesitation: "The Emperor Zhao of Nanjing, is it really a fairy reincarnated? This kind of machine can also be made. Cotton yarn can be spun so fast, how can people in the world worry about having no clothes?"

"Yeah, it's really a reincarnation of a god." Niu Jinxing was also shocked.

Both of them can only see the benefits of the steam engine, and they cannot consider the damage to the small peasant economy.

When the two of them passed by Yangzhou, a city second only to Nanjing, they had already become a little numb, and after entering the city, they stared blankly at everything in front of them.

More than 20 Mongolian youths, not far from them, were also looking at the Yangzhou market in a trance. These are the eldest sons of the Mongolian leader, who are going to Nanjing to study at university, and they are also hostages.

For the rest of the journey, Li Zicheng and Niu Jinxing stopped talking, they really didn't know what else to say.

The accompanying young people were even more excited, their fathers were all Dashun generals. Most of them spent their childhood in Shanshan and Shaanxi, and lived in Hetao in their youth, and the further they went to the south, the more they refreshed their three views. At the same time, they are also looking forward to their future more and more. They dream of graduating from the military academy and becoming officers, and then they will be promoted to generals after meritorious service.

...

Nanjing, Forbidden City.

Chen Xisong, who persuaded the Secretary of Agriculture, brought a young man to meet the emperor.

The young man's name is Xu Jin, he is not yet thirty years old, and he is the director of Jiangnan Institute of Advising Agriculture.

Xu Jin seemed to be not good at words. After meeting the emperor, he kept silent and only handed in an experiment report.

The agricultural researcher at the Jiangnan Institute of the Department of Persuading Agriculture has been observing and summarizing in Jiangnan for ten years, and finally came up with this summary report.

There are no vain words, and the whole article uses data to speak, summarizing the effect of cotton and rice rotation on disease and pest control.

The method of cotton and rice rotation appeared in the south of the Yangtze River in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Although they don't understand the principle, farmers still find that it is most appropriate to plant cotton in two years and rice in one year.

To use the original words of "Nongzheng Quanshu", it is: Fan Gao Yangtian, who can produce cotton and rice, plant cotton for two years, and turn rice for one year, that is, the grass roots will be festered, the soil will be thick and thick, and insect borers will not grow. Over the years, there will be insects.

Translated into vernacular: two years of cotton and one year of rice can accumulate soil fertility and prevent pests and diseases.

But, with the famine in the south of the Yangtze River at the end of Ming Dynasty and the development of prevention and control technology, this kind of rice rotation has been messed up. After the famine, rice was planted one after another. And the textile merchants crazily tempted farmers to keep growing cotton.

There are also some states and counties that do not know the benefits of cotton and rice rotation.

I have to admit that ancient Chinese agricultural technology is really developed. Even hundreds of years later, agricultural experts used scientific methods to experiment and found that the ancient "two cotton and one rice" is the best (without using pesticides).

Let’s look at a set of modern scientific experiment data:

In the first year of cotton planting, the incidence rate of Verticillium wilt is 1.3%-3.8%.

In the second year when cotton is planted, the incidence rate of Verticillium wilt is 3.9%.

In the third year of cotton planting, the incidence of Verticillium wilt surged to 38.8%-70.1%.

If cotton is not planted in the third year and rice is planted for one year instead, the incidence of verticillium wilt will drop back when cotton is continued to be planted.

Not only verticillium wilt, but also other diseases and insect pests can be controlled by cotton and rice rotation.

The scientific explanation is: cotton and rice rotation is a kind of paddy and dry rotation, which can effectively inhibit the breeding and reproduction of insects and pathogens by changing the natural environment. At the same time, it can also regulate the soil and maintain the fertility of the soil.

Xu Jin cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, these data are the results of long-term observation and summary of more than ten counties and counties in the south of the Yangtze River in the past ten years. There will never be any mistakes. Nowadays, cotton planting in the south of the Yangtze River, because of the development of textile machines, planting The method has become more and more chaotic. Many people do not believe in evil. In order to make more money, they continue to plant cotton after two years. I didn't know there was a method of crop rotation with cotton and rice. And..."

"If there is anything else, just say it." Zhao Han said.

Xu Jin bowed his head and said, "The imperial court's blindly imposing heavy taxes on cotton fields has also disrupted the rotation of cotton and rice."

Um, this is purely accidental, who made the high officials in the court not know how to grow cotton?

Instead of being angry, Zhao Han admired this person even more, and asked, "Which school did you graduate from?"

Xu Jin replied: "Your Majesty, I did not study in school. I used to study in a private school, and later I taught myself elementary and middle school courses. When Your Majesty recovered Jiangnan, I also followed the county's scholar uprising, and did not go to the county to be an official." Members, but chose to join the peasant encouragement office at that time."

Zhao Han said: "Immediately resign from your position as the director of the Jiangnan Office of the Department of Encouragement of Agriculture, and promote you to be a member of the Department of Encouragement of Agriculture, Wailang, and first go to Jiangnan to serve as an envoy to persuade farmers. I will let the Ministry of Household Affairs and the local government cooperate. From now on, no matter whether it is Shandong or Jiangnan, Cotton fields must abide by the law of cotton and rice rotation. In addition, in order to regulate grain production, it must be strictly restricted to each town. The time of cotton and rice rotation must be staggered in the farmland of a town. It is impossible for everyone to grow cotton in the past two years. Then in the third year, we planted rice together, which caused a severe shortage of food in the first two years, but in the third year, the rice was cheap and hurt the farmers.”

This involves government intervention, and people who are proficient in mathematics must be allowed to reasonably arrange the cotton rice planting area in each town.

As long as the arrangements are made in the first few years, there is no need to interfere in the future, and farmers can plant according to the law of "two cotton and one rice".

In this way, the red line of grain production in cotton-producing areas can be guaranteed, and the cotton output can be scientifically increased to achieve a double harvest of cotton and rice.

In addition, the heavy tax on cotton fields can also be slightly reduced, so as not to interfere with the rotation of cotton and rice.

Everything must be based on science, not just the development of industry, but also the development of agriculture.

Zhao Han continued to say to Xu Jin: "Please polish this report again. I will let the Ministry of Rites print it into a book, print thousands of copies, and let the Ministry of Officials send people to distribute it. Officials at all levels in the cotton-producing areas must be familiar with it. read."

"Follow the order!"

Xu Jin was overjoyed. After ten years of hard work, he finally produced results. Not only can he be promoted, but he can also benefit thousands of people.

Zhao Han asked Chen Xisong again: "You have studied agriculture for more than ten years, and you have been unable to be promoted in the Department of Advising Agriculture. It is time to be promoted to be a political officer. You will be promoted to the right servant of the household department, and you will report to the official department after you return. Bar."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Chen Xisong also became happy.

The two bowed and retreated, Zhao Han said, "Let Li Zicheng come in, I want to see what he looks like too."