The officials who accompanied the inspection were still pointing at it and talking about it.
"This cow is really strong, with a round nose and tall shoulders."
"The Xizhen cattle are a good breed, and the cow is a buffalo from Jinghu. The king said that we should try to use crossbreeding to improve the breed and increase the livestock production."
Xi Jihu was very interested in this and soon became involved in the topic.
"You test love for animals?"
"Huh? You, an official from the south of the Yangtze River, also know how to herd?"
Xi Jihu said: "Of course I understand. We Jiangnan people can even raise northern Hu sheep. I just say that there is a cattle and sheep department in Lin'an, which has a supply house, a cheese house, etc., and is responsible for sacrificing the livestock for the palace banquet.
The cattle and sheep are raised in the stables, and each flock produces more than 30,000 sheep. Every year, the palace enjoys the feast and eats 100,000 sheep."
"Oh? Is Jiangnan Animal Husbandry so powerful?"
There was actually a Mongolian man in the crowd who stood up and said in Chinese: "I don't believe that the people who raised cattle and sheep in the Song Dynasty can still raise cattle and sheep better than us grassland people?"
Xi Jihu said: "Eastern Zhejiang and Fujian are the places where cattle are produced. My hometown worships the gods and kills thousands of cattle at a time."
"What should we do if we raise livestock in a warehouse and get sick?"
"..."
When Li Xia came back, this was what he heard.
According to Xi Jihu, livestock breeding, breeding, breed improvement and breeding, veterinary technology, etc. were all very mature in the Song Dynasty.
A large number of poultry and livestock were raised in Jiangnan, and there was also a complete set of anti-plague institutions, such as medicine and honey warehouses, animal husbandry prisons, medical and horse hospitals, etc.
Xi Jihu casually mentioned more than forty books on the treatment of animal diseases.
In fact, agriculture and animal husbandry in the Song Dynasty were very developed.
Even some farm tools and books before the southern crossing have been lost. It can be predicted that if historical trends are followed, more agricultural technologies may be lost in the next hundred years.
Li Xia couldn't help but wonder whether Song Dynasty could have made a qualitative breakthrough in agriculture if it had not been interrupted by the war and if it had not gradually decayed.
Similar to the British Agricultural Revolution and Enclosure Movement, the Industrial Revolution came first, and only after the industrial foundation is established can we talk about other things.
Food is the most important thing for the people.
Agriculture is the foundation of a country.
Although Li Xia is not knowledgeable, this is what he has learned in textbooks after all. The content of the agricultural revolution is nothing more than a few points. For example, the use of farming tools, such as Chinese plows; the promotion of crop rotation, replacing land fallow with feed crops, and some feed crops
It can increase soil fertility and feed livestock, and livestock manure also continues to increase soil fertility; improve livestock breeds and increase output...
He believes that these methods are suitable for today's Guanzhong.
Chang'an, as the capital of the world for thousands of years, was actually overwhelmed.
In the past dynasties, cities and palaces were built here, and a large number of trees were cut down. As a result, water and soil erosion were serious. With the continuous expansion of the population in the Tang Dynasty and the wars at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the land lost its fertility and the cultivated land area decreased.
Li Xia moved the palace from Hanzhong to Chang'an. He had only been king for two months, but already a large number of officials and soldiers had moved to Chang'an with their families.
Given the speed at which the capital is gathering population, Chang'an may need to transport grain supplies from Sichuan and Sichuan again in two or three years.
Therefore, maintaining the rapid and sustainable development of agriculture has become Li Xia's top priority after the founding of the country.
The officials who came from Lin'an today had two details that gave Li Xia some confidence.
First, from Lu Xiufu, he saw the incompetence of the Zhao family. Even so, it was still difficult for Mongolia to destroy the Song Dynasty; second, from what Xi Jihu said, although the Song Dynasty was full of shortcomings, its economy and technology were indeed booming. As long as there were
With good guidance, given time, the national power may surpass Mongolia.
…
After a group of people discussed around the ox, they went to see whether the newly cast iron plow was easy for the people to use.
The person responsible for explaining this time was a young Taoist priest named Sun Deyu who accompanied Li Xia on his tour.
"This is called Shuanghua Plow. We just made a batch last winter. How is it different from ordinary wooden rake plows?"
Lu Xiufu said: "It has two more wheels."
"Yes! But it's more than that."
Sun Deyu pointed his finger, raised his head, and introduced it proudly.
"This plow was made by me based on the curved shaft plow. It is shaped like a spoon and is more than six feet long. I have added a plow blade, which can be used for deep plowing or shallow plowing. The plow wall is like this. If the soil is turned aside, it will ease the progress of the plow.
It can overcome the resistance of the time and turn over the soil to cut off weeds. However, the ordinary curved shaft plow is heavy and requires a lot of force, so I added these two wheels."
"oh."
"You must not underestimate my improvements. First of all, I switched to iron shafts, eliminating the need for plow arrows, making the plow body simpler without affecting the cultivated land. It is more durable and durable. With these two wheels, even without oxen, one person can do it.
Pull.”
As he spoke, Sun Deyu called over some nearby farmers and said, "Tell me how useful this plow is."
"It's easy to use. If you have a cow, you don't need this wheel."
"I used this iron plow, and the furrows plowed are straight and deep."
"..."
Sun Deyu was overjoyed. He looked around and saw that Lu Xiufu was interested in this thing. He said again: "Come on, try putting it on and plow over there. This thing looks simple, but it is not an ordinary metallurgist."
What a blacksmith can make..."
What he said is true. The iron plow and the wooden plow look like they are just made of different materials, but the requirements for forging are epoch-making. In particular, it is extremely difficult to achieve mass production.
Nowadays, this iron plow is only manufactured in Hanzhong and a few places around Chang'an for trial use. In fact, most farmers in the countryside don't even have wooden farm tools and are still digging in the loess with hoe after hoe.
Li Xiancai did not listen to Sun Deyu's bragging. Instead, he asked the magistrate of Fuping County and the old men in the village to ask carefully to find out how many acres of land one person could plow before and how many acres they could plow after changing to the iron plow.
He needs to have people write down these actual numbers and then discuss whether to promote it.
Today, it was Qin Jiushao who accompanied him on his tour and took notes by his side.
Qin Jiushao looked miserable, as if he thought he was being overqualified.
But his talent is indeed remarkable, and he recorded it casually. When Li Xia asked, he didn't even need to do any calculations. Li Xia wanted to know immediately. How many more acres of land can a family use a new plow to plow, and how much can the output be increased?
The county's land has increased production by a certain amount, and then the cost of farm tools has been calculated. In two sentences, the cost and income have been clearly calculated.
Li Xia had heard about it and had just recruited Sun Deyu and asked him if he could mass-produce farm tools.
Among the disciples that Hao Xiuyang snatched from the Quanzhen Sect, Sun Deyu was obedient and smart. For two years, he had been receiving his salary with an open-minded attitude of taking things as they came, and his face became much rounder.
"Of course, as long as the king has said it, the trail will naturally be completed seriously. But there are still so many weapons and armors to be built, there are not enough iron ores, there are not enough manpower, and, especially, there is not enough coal..."
When Sun Deyu started complaining, he was a little bit endless. He was not afraid of Li Xia and spoke with the attitude of doing as much as he could get.
"I haven't carried coal back for more than half a year. Of course I can't smelt iron anymore. Now that I've moved to Chang'an, I'm not even allowed to cut down trees. As far as trails are concerned, compared to Hanzhong, Chang'an is really bare. There's really nothing good about it."
of."
"knew."
It's just that after the war is over, you can smuggle some coal back with some Mongolian princes. When governing a country, there are often countless clues to do something.
…
Over there, Lu Xiufu tried to pull the Shuanghua plow. He pulled it in front while Xi Jihu supported it from behind.
By the time Li Xia finished his inspection for the day, the two of them had not even plowed half an acre of land, but they were already sweating profusely from exhaustion.
The farmers welcomed them back to the fields and said with a smile, "You gentlemen are so noble, how could you do such menial work?"
Lu Xiufu wiped the sweat from his face, panted heavily, and finally had a smile on his face again.
The frustration and helplessness he had accumulated in his heart about Lin'an and his party dissipated in the profuse sweat.
Xi Jihu asked: "Is the ground we turned over okay?"
The old farmers just laughed and scratched their heads, and said, "How can you, my husband, do such menial work?"
The accompanying officials all laughed.
In fact, many of them may feel that such tours are tiring and they are tired of dealing with old farmers. But the King of Qin did this, and it was effective. They must also show an attitude of attaching importance to agriculture and loving the people.
This is how the atmosphere is formed.
At dusk, on the way from Fengli Canal to the post house, Xi Jihu sighed: "Lin'an was still in the same party fighting against differences, but when we arrived in Chang'an, it was completely different. The King of Qin came to the throne and did not build palaces or set up ceremonial guards. It was rare that he could calm down and work hard to govern so quickly.
"
"I didn't calm down so quickly." Wu Zedao: "I never became impetuous because of becoming the king."
"It is truly remarkable that such a young man can control half of the country. Once he became independent, the whole country was shaken, but the King of Qin still did not care about him."
"Yes, we all say that the King of Qin does not look like a young man." Wu Ze said with a smile: "The King of Qin himself also joked that he is not as good as a boy like Jia Sidao."
"Jia Sidao pretends to be calm and composed, but in reality he feels like he is facing a formidable enemy this time."
"It's not necessary if you are faced with a formidable enemy. The imperial court has been in a corner for a long time, and its horizons will inevitably be too narrow. In fact, the king is not called the King of Qin for the imperial court to see."
Xi Jihu suddenly realized something and asked: "Is it for the Central Plains?"
"That's right, Lin'an doesn't dare to go to war, so we don't care how to react, whether to be canonized or not. What should be seen is Kublai Khan's reaction. Uncle, let's see. In Kaiping or Yanjing, Kublai Khan may not have time to prepare properly.
Then we have to declare our country in a hurry."
"Kaiping, Yanjing." Xi Jihu chewed on these two place names.
This is a place so far away that no one has even heard of it in the past few years.
In the past, when considering the general trend of the world, there was no need to consider the sixteen states of Yanyun.
In my mind, the Huaihe River to the north seems to be a place that cannot be seen, and it is bleak.
But I just arrived in Chang'an today, and even Kaiping, north of the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, seemed to be lit up. At least it must be taken into consideration when analyzing the situation in the future.