Chapter 30 Super Harvest(1/2)
A.D. 225, August.
The Chengdu Plain has become busy again, and the golden rice in the fields has reached the harvest season.
One morning.
Emperor Liu Chan of the Han Dynasty once again led a group of court officials to appear in the fields in the suburbs.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty!"
"Congratulations, Your Majesty!"
An old man in his sixties said excitedly to Liu Chan: "The rice planted by your majesty has achieved a bumper harvest. Congratulations to your majesty. Congratulations to your majesty."
Liu Chan looked at the rice harvested in a day, and said with a smile: "I plant these rice, and I don't care whether my rice fields have a good harvest. I care more that the Han people can have a good harvest every year from now on."
The old man nodded and replied: "Your Majesty is wise. Your Majesty has improved the method of rice cultivation. From now on, the Han people will definitely follow suit. The coming year will be a bumper harvest."
The old man's name is Zhang Yi, also known as Junsi. He is from Chengdu, Shu County. He is currently the chief historian of the Prime Minister's Office.
"Then I owe it to Chang Shi Jiyan," Liu Chan said with a smile: "This important task of promoting rice planting methods must be taken care of by Mr. Lao Changshi."
This is Liu Chan's purpose.
Improve the grain output of the Han Dynasty so that the Han Dynasty will no longer have to worry about food.
"Old minister obeys the order!"
Zhang Yi was very excited. As a native of Yizhou, he could do something for the people of Shu. Of course he was willing to take on this responsibility.
After all, Prime Minister Zhuge Liang also treated him well. Now that the emperor has improved rice cultivation methods, he has given him the important task of promoting it.
This shows that His Majesty the Emperor trusts him, a native of Yizhou.
The other civil and military officials who were accompanying him suddenly felt envious of Zhang Yi. After all, it was easy to accomplish this. When the people of Shu began to use Liu Chan's method of growing rice, it would be another great achievement.
Alas——
I'm jealous...
Liu Chan today is different from the previous times. The previous times he came here, he would personally go to the fields to plant small and large rice seedlings.
We arrived at Tianbian today.
Liu Chan is not in the fields because harvesting rice can only be done manually, unless he can invent a harvester now.
This rice field is exactly one acre, and this was deliberately chosen by Liu Chan. He wanted to prove with facts that the yield of his planting method was higher than that of the rice grown by ordinary people.
Harvesting rice is completed by Zhangfu Buqu.
Today, Zhang Shao specially called some tribesmen to serve as laborers, as well as the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, and Emperor Liu Chan personally came to the scene.
These members of the Zhang family work very hard, and they are all scrambling to be the first. They are so busy that it is not easy to enjoy.
The onlookers at the scene, in addition to the court officials brought by Liu Chan, Queen Zhang Yuan, and people from nearby villages, they had long known that the rice grown by the emperor was better than the rice grown by them in terms of growth and earing.
Be good.
However, they want to know more.
How big is the difference between the yield of the rice field planted by Liu Chan and the yield of theirs?
Curious.
Envy.
Delighted.
The faces of the common people were full of joy and excitement.
Although the rice they planted this year is not as attractive as Liu Chan's, they have watched Liu Chan's entire planting process.
Next year they only need to follow Liu Chan's method to plant rice, and then they will also get such an attractive harvest.
This is the future.
This is hope.
After working for more than an hour, one acre of rice was harvested and returned to the small courtyard.
I spent more than two hours in the afternoon.
Looking at the rice piled in the yard, everyone's eyes widened.
"How many stones does this cost?"
"Why is the output so high?"
The people outside the small courtyard started talking with envy, and the Han officials in the courtyard were all surprised.
The time has come to witness the miracle.
Five or six grain officials weighed the rice on site. This was their task today.
Everyone is looking forward to it.
Liu Chan seemed very calm, and this kind of harvest was within his expectation.
With improved planting methods, it is no surprise that rice yields have increased.
The weather this year is also normal.
"Your Majesty!"
Zhang Yuan asked doubtfully: "How come your Majesty is not excited at all?"
Zhang Yuan has been holding back these words for a whole day.
Since arriving here in the morning, she has discovered that everyone, including the court officials and the people watching, are amazed when they see the abundant rice in the field.
Only Emperor Liu Chan seemed relatively calm.
As if this is a normal thing.
"The queen wants me to be excited?"
Liu Chan asked deliberately, and then suddenly whispered softly: "If the queen tells me that the queen is pregnant with my dragon seed, I will definitely be very excited."
"Your Majesty!"
Zhang Yuan's face immediately turned red when he heard this, and he hurriedly avoided Liu Chan and turned to watch the officials weighing the rice.
After a lot of work by the grain officials, all the rice in the yard was weighed, and everyone was looking forward to it.
At this moment.
A middle-aged man in his forties, after confirming the recorded number, trotted up to Liu Chan.
"Your Majesty!"
"Nine and a half stones in total!"
"Pfft——"
"How much?"
When Liu Chan heard this, he was so shocked that he spat out the tea he had just drank.
The tea just hit the man's face.
The man was not angry, but quickly wiped the tea from his face and reported excitedly again.
"Your Majesty!"
"A total of nine and a half stones."
Nani?
Liu Chan couldn't believe his ears, it was too scary.
According to his previous life’s understanding.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, one stone should be one hundred and twenty kilograms, so nine and a half stones would be more than one thousand kilograms.
This?
Isn’t it too scary?
Super bumper harvest?
Impossible.
This is absolutely impossible.
The yield per mu is more than 1,000 kilograms, which has already caught up with the yield in the early days of rice improvement in later generations.
And he just improved the planting method.
Rice has not been improved.
There are also things like deworming and fertilizing, which are not as good as those of later generations, which will be blessed with various high-tech products, such as insecticides, various chemical fertilizers, etc.
The yield of rice per mu is only over 1,000 kilograms.
Impossible.
To be continued...