Yang Anxuan set the time to go to Dangyang to attack Jiangling at the end of April because the most important thing at the moment was farming.
If you want to defeat Liu Yu, resist the Wei army, and annihilate the Xia Kingdom and the Western Qin Dynasty, in an era where cold weapons are dominant, you can't do it without enough soldiers.
Although the population of Yongjing is growing rapidly, it takes more than ten or twenty years for a person to reach adulthood from birth. Yang Anxuan does not want to wait until he is 70 or 80 years old to ascend the throne and become emperor. He needs to become famous as early as possible, and the same is true for being an emperor.
Don't you see, it was because Liu Yu was getting older, and regardless of the existence of a powerful enemy like himself, he hurriedly killed Jin'an Emperor Sima Dezong, making it clear that the next step was to force Sima Dewen to abdicate and proclaim himself emperor.
If he remembered correctly, Liu Yu had only a few years to live, and Yang Anxuan could wait until he died before calmly sending troops to Jiangnan.
But being able to defeat such a heroic figure who can swallow thousands of miles like a tiger head-on is very attractive to Yang Anxuan, and it is not worthwhile for him to travel through time.
Yang Anxuan planned to add 200,000 soldiers and horses in three to five years. In addition to recruiting tribal warriors from Northern Yongzhou, he also wanted to find ways to attract people from Jiangnan, Northern Wei, Northern Yan and other places to join him. The third was to use war Capture prisoners.
These methods are not a permanent solution. If you want to increase troops on a large scale in a short period of time, the best way is to liberate young people from the land.
To liberate the labor force, we must improve the efficiency of farming. Yang Anxuan has been committed to promoting the Yangjia plow, and the number of cattle has nearly doubled. Coupled with the construction of water conservancy facilities and the extensive use of iron farm tools, the cultivated area has doubled, and grain harvests have been bumper year after year.
The area of cultivated land has reached a certain level, and the growth rate has slowed down. The output of grain fields is enough to support the needs of the people and the consumption of war, and the grain warehouses of counties and counties are full.
In addition, Yang Anxuan also built large-scale granaries in five places, including Xiangyang, Luoyang, Chang'an, Hanzhong and Linqiu, with grain storage exceeding one million dan. Having a large amount of food in hand laid a solid foundation for Yang Anxuan to conquer the world.
Precisely because he no longer had to worry about food, Yang Anxuan acquiesced to the promotion of cotton cultivation and secretly began to use grain and cotton to deal with Jiangnan.
After the New Year, the officials of the Agriculture Department of Yonggong Prefecture began to get busy. Yonggong planned to summon agricultural divisions from prefectures and counties to Xiangyang for a gathering in late February.
Since early February, oxcarts have been pulling farmers from various states into Xiangyang City and staying in the posthouse. The more than 100 houses in the post house were quickly filled up, and most of the 300 farmers were farmers who had been farming for most of their lives.
Most of these people were honest farmers before they were hired as agriculturists. They had been working with the fields all their lives and had never left the county. Many of them had even been to the county after being hired as agriculturists.
This time I came to Xiangyang at the invitation of Yonggong. Officials from the prefectures and counties were sent to greet him. They beat gongs and drums to promote the news along the way. Guanyi received him warmly along the way. When he arrived in Xiangyang, Yonggong sent officials out of the city to greet him with great momentum and grand etiquette.
The farmers were so grateful that they had never received such courtesy in most of their farming lives. It was really like living in a dream.
The Agriculture Department was under the jurisdiction of Hu Cao. Hu Cao Zhu Kun was entrusted by Yang Anxuan to go to the post house to entertain these farmers from afar, and asked Li Chu, the envoy of the Agriculture Department, to take these farmers around.
After watching the excitement in West Market and South Market, we headed to Xiangyang Academy. After hearing the news, the mountain chief Guo Gao brought the Confucian masters from the academy to greet them and personally led them to visit the academy.
The academy was full of scholars with Eguan degrees and fluttering sleeves. These scholars looked at these uninvited guests curiously. These people had dark skin and many wore short brown clothes. They were clearly farmers working in the fields. What they were doing in the academy was whispered by the scholars coming and going.
Seeing the strange looks from the scholars, these farmers were at a loss and behaved uneasily. Guo Gao said with a smile: "Yonggong once told Yu that farmers use fields as paper and plows as pens to write articles on the earth, and they are no worse than scholars. If there are no farmers farming, how can the world get food and clothing?" "
Li Chu, the envoy of the Department of Agriculture, said at the side: "Yes, I have heard my lord say this. Everyone knows that Yang Jiali was created by my lord. My lord has said to us more than once, 'Food is the most important thing for the people. , 'Farmers are the foundation of the world. To be honest, the Agriculture Department ranks at the forefront among all the departments in Yonggong Mansion."
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These words made these illiterate farmers feel inspired and their chests felt much straighter. Zhai Tao, a farmer from Runan County, boldly asked, "Secretary Li, I wonder why Duke Yong called his servants here?"
Li Chu smiled and said, "Of course it's for farming."
Seeing those farmers looking at him with wide eyes, Li Chu raised his voice and said, "Yonggong invites you to come here because he wants to brainstorm ways to cultivate more intensively and produce more food for the farmers in the world."
Guo Gao twirled his beard and praised: "Good! Lord Yong served the country and the people with great benevolence."
In the next few days, Li Chu organized these farmers to speak and record their farming experience. These farmers discussed each other one by one, and there were scribes recording them next to them. In the evening, these remarks were compiled into a book.
Soon, the farming technique of "plough-rak-rak" (1) took shape. The emergence of the Yangjia plow saves time and effort compared to the past, and can plow deeply. However, in the eyes of these farmers, the depth and width of the cultivated land depend on the time and the location. What is "the plowing is deep in the autumn, and shallow in the spring and summer" and "the plowing is deep in the beginning, and the plowing is shallow in the spring and summer". The words of experience such as "the soil is shallow" came from the mouths of the farmers, which made Li Chu marvel. If he was not familiar with farming, how could he know so clearly? The Lord invited the farmers to gather together to discuss, and indeed the results were outstanding.
In addition to plowing, farmers have emphasized harrowing and harrowing. The so-called "raking" refers to using iron-toothed rakes, iron-toothed loaves, etc. to rake the soil into pieces; "raking" refers to smoothing the plowed land to make the soil particles more crispy and to protect moisture. The purpose of raking and raking is to break up the soil and form a soft soil layer on the ground, which can reduce water evaporation and protect moisture and prevent drought.
Li Chu was appointed as the director of the Department of Agriculture by Yang Anxuan, so he naturally knew about farming. He also knew that the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River had a dry climate and little precipitation, which easily affected crop production due to drought. Although many water conservancy projects were built, the annual statistics of disasters in various places were still classified as drought. Lord.
According to Yanzhou farmer Yan Shi, this method of farming passed down from his family "no matter how hard you work, the land will ripen, and the drought will also protect the soil." Li Chu knew that if this method was popularized, the grain output would increase by at least 30%, so he immediately ordered his people to cultivate it. Write down his name and declare that you will ask Yong Gong for him.
Everyone looked at Yan Shi with envy and asked Duke Yong for credit. This old man Yan might be promoted. Many people were so excited that they had forgotten all their thoughts about hidden skills. They all spoke out about their own experiences, including techniques such as crop rotation, planting green manure, and breeding improved seeds.
Li Chu's eyebrows were filled with joy. He knew that if the methods mentioned by these farmers were compiled into a book and promoted throughout the world, farmers all over the world would remember his reputation, and he would be remembered in history books to benefit future generations.
On February 26, three hundred farmers gathered together to wait for the arrival of Yonggong Yang Anxuan.
At the right time, Yang Anxuan appeared outside the lobby of the post house surrounded by officials from Yonggong Mansion. Zhu Kun and Li Chu led the farmers to greet him. These farmers had never seen Yang Anxuan, but they had long heard of Yonggong's great reputation. He defeated Yao and Qin, fought for Qiao and Shu, and defeated Wei divisions several times. Even Song Gong was defeated by him. I originally thought that Yonggong was a powerful warrior with leopard eyes and steel beard, but when we met, we found out that Yonggong was a handsome and upright young man. He bowed his hands and bowed to everyone with a cheerful face.
Yang Anxuan had seen the farming strategies presented by Li Chu in advance and greatly appreciated the farming methods proposed by the farmers. In the book "Tiangong Kaiwu", Yang Anxuan mostly remembered the making of equipment, but did not remember the farming methods recorded in the book, so he thought of inviting farmers to gather together. Sure enough, there are specialties in the arts, but farming depends on farmers.
According to Li Chu's report, Yang Anxuan appointed Yan Shi as the seventh-grade agriculture chief, and several farmers who provided farming techniques were promoted to eighth-grade agricultural technicians. Farmers who provided good methods were rewarded.
The promotion in court excited the hearts of those farmers. Some people shouted: "Master Yong, I have the method of composting and can offer it to you."
There was a lot of shouting in the lobby, for fear of being left behind. Yang Anxuan smiled and raised his hand to signal, and when the hall became quiet, he said: "Don't be impatient, gentlemen. If you have a good method, you can present it to the officials of the Department of Agriculture afterwards. A fool will reward you based on your merits, and your contributions will never be wiped out." .”
Li Chu stood up and said with a smile: "You guys want to present good laws, there is no need to rush. I went to the Agriculture Department Yamen a few days ago. As long as you go there, someone will receive you, you can just go to Yu. Yong Gong came despite his busy schedule. I have something to say to you all, and I hope you will listen carefully.
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Everyone fell silent, and Yang Anxuan said loudly: "I have seen that Li Sushi collected the good farming methods from the public and promoted them to farmers all over the world according to the methods in the book. The harvest can be increased by at least 30%, and everyone in the world will have enough food and clothing. In the future, Later generations will mention that we should remember the kindness of all the lords, and I would like to express my gratitude to all the lords on behalf of the people of the world."
As he spoke, Yang Anxuan stood up and bowed deeply to the farmers sitting on his left and right. The farmers stood up one after another and responded in a flurry of words. Everyone was talking in a confused manner and could not hear clearly what was being said.
When everyone sat down again, Yang Anxuan said loudly: "I don't know that there is a saying among the people, 'Teach the disciples and starve the masters. Some of these good methods are obtained by your own hard work, and some are passed down from your ancestors and learned from your neighbors. Do not want to take them lightly. Teach it to others.”
Many of the farmers present nodded secretly. Although they were eager to see Yanshi and others promoted and rewarded, some were still unwilling to give away their treasured skills.
"I heard from Secretary Li that he brought the princes to the Xiangyang Academy a few days ago to browse." Yang Anxuan said: "There are disciples of great Confucian professors in the academy, and there are more than a thousand disciples studying there. Yu Zaizhou County Guang built an academy , ask teachers to teach children how to read and write."
Yan Shi sat on the left side close to Yang Anxuan and said loudly: "Yong Gong is right. Both of my two grandsons are literate in the academy. Without Yong Gong, they would never have the chance to learn." Master Guo from the academy said Farmers use their fields as paper, their plows as pens, and their crops as writings on the ground to impress their servants. Scholars teach knowledge to others, so what do servants and other farmers have to cherish?"
Yang Anxuan smiled approvingly and said: "Yan Weng's words really resonate with me. Techniques will only continue to be introduced, and complacent skills will eventually be eliminated. For example, the plows used by the princes were originally slash-and-burn farming, and then there were straight-hook plows. , and the Yangjia plow, I believe there will be better plows in the future; at first it was human power, now it is animal power, who can predict what will be used to plow the fields in the future."
During the banquet, all the farmers and masters were talking among themselves. They believed Yang Anxuan's words deeply, and many people's hearts were moved.
After everyone discussed for a while, Yang Anxuan raised his voice and said: "Masters, I invite you here this time. Firstly, I want to brainstorm and collect good farming methods. Secondly, I want to use you as teachers to promote good farming methods to the world. All gentlemen, Seeing the respect students have for their teachers, farmers all over the world will regard you as their teachers in the future. Just like students seeing their teachers, history books will also write down your names, and you will be ranked with those great Confucians, admired by future generations, and incense held by all generations."
The farmers were all excited when this big cake was painted, but even Zhu Kun, Li Chu and others were so excited that they could not restrain themselves. As the Lord said, if good farming methods can be promoted all over the world, it will benefit the present and the future.
"Note (1): After the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, northern my country basically followed the plowing, harrowing, and harrowing technical system for intensive farming. The calculated time is almost thirty to fifty years later than what is stated in the book. There should be people among the people who are already using this method. Work the way you want.”
