After pondering for a while, Xu Ping said to Zhao Zhen: "Your Majesty, the Central Plains produces only two or three stones of fertile land per year. In the first year of this year, only more than one hundred hectares of farming were launched. It would be great if you could collect 20,000 or 30,000 stones of grain and rice."

"Everything is difficult at the beginning. There are 20,000 to 30,000 stones in the first year, and there are 100,000 stones in the second year. Do you take your time?"

Zhao Zhen still has this concept. There are roughly how much land there is, how much grain it produces, and how much tax it collects across the country. As the emperor, Zhao Zhen would roughly remember this number, otherwise he would read so many memorials every day in vain.

Yan Shu said on the side: "What Your Majesty said is that as long as the head is ready, the food will increase soon."

Xu Ping breathed a sigh and took the opportunity to say, "In the first year, we have to organize the fields, dig ditches and canals, and recruit people. The field management is still short of large animals such as oxen mules and horses, and everything is complicated. I have thought about it. Zhijixianyuan and the prince Zhongyun Wang Gongchen were the top scholar in the eighth year of Tiansheng. Since last year, he has been practicing the work in the Sansi Regulations. He has a broad knowledge and reliable work. He can serve as the first field management supervisor. He can be responsible for the amount and take the course exam every year."

"Wang Gongchen?" Zhao Zhen pondered for a while and nodded, "It's OK, but I'm a little younger."

"Your Majesty, Wang Gongchen is only two years younger than Weichen, and is not considered young."

Xu Ping has always been a mature person in his work. In the impression of Zhao Zhen and the ministers in the court, he had long forgotten that he was only in his twenties and only regarded him as an old man who had been living in the officialdom for many years. When Xu Ping said that Wang Gongchen was only two years younger than he was, Zhao Zhen and Yan Shu suddenly understood, but they were not thinking about Wang Gongchen's age, but about Xu Pingyuan being so young.

Zhao Zhen said: "By the way, I have been the top scholar for several years. Why haven't I heard of Wang Gongchen getting married?"

Xu Ping said: "I heard that there has never been a suitable family."

Zhao Zhen was deeply moved by this and nodded, "You must choose the treasures in your family in a good wife, not to be careless."

Yan Shu on the side smiled and said, "But by chance, when I returned to the capital, someone just happened to ask me to be a matchmaker for Wang Gongchen."

"Which one? It's such a coincidence?"

Zhao Zhen and Xu Ping both found it strange and looked at Yan Shu.

"Shishoulang Xue, a scholar in the Zizheng Hall, has five daughters, and four of them have no one yet. I returned to the capital and asked me to find a suitable family. I saw Fan Zhongyan two days ago and talked about this. It happened that Ouyang Xiu lost his wife and had not married him. The second daughter of the Xue family promised him. I thought about it after thinking about it. Wang Gongchen, the top scholar, is the most suitable in the capital. Xue Shu also liked it very much, but he had not had time to ask him what he thought. Today, it just happened to be said, isn't God's will?"

Xue Kui was trusted by two emperors. He was an old and had asthma, and was basically in a state of retirement. This was a real powerful family, and he was enough to be the top scholar Wang Gongchen.

Xue Kui had a son who died young, and after that, he had daughters all the time, and he could not adopt his nephew and inherit the incense. Now he is almost seventy years old and has four daughters left at home and not married. He is so anxious.

Nowadays, men are really secondary to their appearance. As long as they have a good temper and can manage their families, they are good virtuous supporters. Besides, the third wife of the Xue family may be pretty, so Wang Gongchen just couldn't take a look first.

When he heard it was Xue Kui's family, Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "This is a good family, who is enough to be the top scholar. It is the best thing that Wang Gongchen works in the capital and marrying the daughter of Xue Shilang's family is his blessing."

Xu Ping did not interrupt. He was still somewhat rejected in his concept of such arranged marriages. Although he was also responsible for his parents, he grew up and knew the roots and bottom lines, which is different from this.

The matter was settled like this. Wang Gongchen served as the first official of the field affairs officer. As for the marriage with the third wife of the Xue Kui family, it depends on Yan Shu's clever mouth. This is not the first time that Yan Shu has become a matchmaker. If you have experience, you will definitely be able to do it well.

After discussing the matter of the field business, Zhao Zhen changed the topic and said to Xu Ping: "A few days ago, I heard that your village has planted a lot of kapok this year. I also planted a few plants in the back garden. Let's go and have a look."

With the opening of the field business, Zhao Zhen was very interested in Xu Ping's farm in Zhongmu, and specifically asked Sun Qilang what they planted in the farm, how many cattle and sheep, how many chickens and ducks. He also brought some interesting species planted in the farm, and he also planted himself in the royal garden. There were still few planted in the back garden, and more were planted in the Yujin Garden in the south of the city.

It’s not that I have to talk about national affairs with Xu Ping, but that I have to talk about major national affairs with Xu Ping. Such things are hard to ask. If it really comes to other ministers around me, they are not willing. Sun Qilang, a small official who often does miscellaneous work in the palace, asks the question just right.

Cotton is very adaptable, and Xu Ping also knows the value, but textile tools have not been cleaned up well, so he did not promote them on a large scale. Sun Qilang's wife said that she could weave cotton cloth, but the tools she used were very primitive and had no competitiveness as a commodity. Xu Ping's cotton textiles were all in large factories in his previous life, and he had never seen them, and he didn't know what the ancient hand-made textile tools that had disappeared at that time looked like.

There was no choice but to use the original tools used by Sun Qilang's wife, plus the tools used to weave linen and silk, and combined with his own knowledge of machinery, he almost completely created a new set of weaving cotton tools.

Now it has roughly taken shape. One of the newly opened businesses specializes in textiles. In order to provide experimental raw materials, his farm started to grow cotton on a large scale. If everything goes well, it will be promoted next year.

The places with a lot of wasteland in the south of Jingxi Road are an important cotton production area in China. When the cotton industry becomes available, you can go there to start farming. With the help of cotton, a textile such as cotton can truly achieve the rapid takeoff of the agricultural, industrial and commercial consortium.

Such a large industry cannot be eaten by one or several companies. With the help of the three corpses, Xu Ping's Zhuangzi can also drink soup and eat meat. If you just want to make the money from the farm, the industry will not be able to grow.

First build the industry and form a agglomeration effect, so that the competition later becomes meaningful. Before the industry develops, it only thinks about the benefits of monopoly and can only kill the industry. Xu Ping is still very clear about this.

When he arrived at a sunny place, he looked at about half an acre of cotton field. The cotton seedlings that looked a little thin in the field, Zhao Zhen frowned and said, "Is this kapok? I always look like it. I heard that the kapok trees in the south are extremely tall, and the flowers bloom brightly and look like the sea. This small seedling is so delicate that it can never grow into a big tree."

Xu Ping stepped forward and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, the people of Guangnan of Kapok are called Jibei. There are many kinds. Some are as tall as trees, but there are also these that are not big. Although there are differences, they are actually one. In terms of textile fabric, the thread of this kind of kapok is much longer, so it will not be easy to break when spinning, and it is much stronger than that of tall kapok trees. So, this kind of textile fabric is all used to plant it."

Regardless of the Kapok tree, the cotton in later generations is also called Kapok, which can grow into tall trees in Guangdong and Guangxi, and this is the type of Jibeibu produced in Qiongya. However, the Xuping Village is a variety from Xu Ping's previous life, with excellent quality, which is far from comparable to the Kapok trees in this era. Afraid of the deterioration of the varieties, Xu Ping also brought some cotton seeds from Lingnan and carried out various hybridizations in the village, hoping to select better varieties.

Good varieties are like many things in the world. Generations of farmers want to choose the best from the best and keep the best quality seeds. Thousands of years later, they found that good varieties have encountered bottlenecks and hybridized with the original species will have better results. Looking back, they found that the original species have almost disappeared. This era of primitive species is rich, so Xu Ping did not want to waste it.

Listening to Xu Ping's introduction, Zhao Zhen looked at the cotton seedlings in the field and said, "I don't know how much cloth a mu of kapok can produce every year. There are also places in the palace who pay tribute every year. They all say that it is more precious than silk. But for my wish, in my opinion, kapok is much worse than silk."

"Of course, cotton cloth now only occupies a lot of things, which is actually far less than silk. Judging from the situation in my farm, cotton has much more cloth than silk than hemp. If you plant it well, there is a lot of potential."

Yan Shu said: "Xu Wai-Make. Since cotton has so many benefits, and there are seeds in your farm, why not spread out to the people around you? As long as there are more cloths produced than hemp, you will benefit endlessly."

"It is difficult to spin and weave cloth. Compared with silk and hemp, cotton yarn is not long enough, and existing weaving tools are not useful. The spinning tools used by the native people in Qiongya are extremely difficult to deal with, and they are easy to break, and it is not easy to become a piece. I have hired craftsmen and am improving the spinning tools and weaving tools in a new business. As long as the spinning tools are made, cotton can be planted in large quantities."

Yan Shu and Zhao Zhen nodded and said nothing. Because they didn't understand at all, and they didn't even know what Xu Ping meant, they couldn't ask at all. Anyway, they just knew that there were still some difficulties in weaving cotton cloth. At present, they could only watch it planted in the field, but could not use it on a large scale.

Xu Ping continued: "In life, people pay attention to food, clothing, housing and transportation, national economy and people's livelihood. The most important thing is these four things. Planting fields and farming rice and wheat, so that the people in the capital can eat and drink well. If cotton can be smoothly woven into cloth, they will grow cotton on a large scale, and the people will have clothes. They will have no worries about food and clothing, and the court will be able to rest assured."

As for housing and transportation, that is what happened later. Only by ensuring that food and clothing can one have higher pursuits. The huge benefits of scale must also be based on food and clothing. This era is not yet time to start the real estate and vehicle industries.

From opening business, to opening a shop, to opening a farm business, Xu Ping slowly created an economic chain under the jurisdiction of the Three Divisions, including agriculture, industry and commerce. At the beginning, he didn't have this idea, but he just went to this point as things were done step by step. This is how things are. As long as you keep doing it, miracles will always happen.

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Chapter completed!