"It's really good to collect grain in proportion according to Tozhi's farming method."
"We, the imperial court, share the risks of farming with the farmers, and we can indeed attract a large number of refugees who have been poached by aristocratic families to come back to help us farm."
"But this collection ratio is difficult to determine."
"Even if it is determined in the future, the amount of calculation involved will be huge."
"In addition, if the farmers who rent official fields and official cattle and the officials who collect grains conceal their reports at all levels, the grain we collect may be very little."
Xun You immediately pointed out the shortcomings of Chen Zhou's method.
On the surface, it seems more fair than counting cattle and losing grain, and the risks can be shared together.
But if we continue to implement it, there will be policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom. Never underestimate the dangers of human nature. For the sake of profit and to pay less food, people below will dare to do anything.
In the calculation of cattle and grain, the grain delivered every year is fixed, which avoids layer upon layer of concealment and layer upon layer deduction.
Cao Cao asked again: "How do you think Du Zhi can solve it?"
Chen Zhou smiled and said: "The calculation problem is actually easy to solve. I have a calculation method. If the Lord wants to implement my method, he can arrange for a few people to learn from me for a few days."
Mathematics during the Three Kingdoms period actually had a certain level.
"Nine Chapters on Arithmetic" is a book from the Western Han Dynasty.
It’s just that not many people can use it. Some arithmetic has great limitations and is not as simple as it would be more than a thousand years later. Chen Zhou can definitely teach them simpler mathematics.
"It is indeed serious about the level of concealment and the inability to collect food."
"But it's not impossible to solve it."
"Choose suitable and trustworthy people as the captain of the field, and then strengthen supervision."
"Concealing the truth is human nature."
"Naturally, it is also possible to conceal information artificially."
"As long as the people arranged do a good enough job, many problems can still be avoided. It mainly depends on the intensity of supervision."
What Chen Zhou said was just to avoid it as much as possible.
It is almost impossible to completely avoid it.
Anyway, how to supervise it is a headache for Cao Cao and the others. Chen Zhou only gives suggestions and does not really manage things. Now he is still hanging on to a sinecure job.
He doesn't want to interfere either.
"Everything Watano said is right."
Cao Cao hesitated, not sure whether he should do this, and said: "So what about the military camp?"
Chen Zhou said: "This is also very simple. All the food in the military camp is used for the army and does not need to be left for any soldiers. Then the lord needs to divide the soldiers of the army into two parts."
"Some of them are the elite of the army, those who can actually go to the battlefield to kill the enemy and fight."
"The other part are soldiers with low quality, or soldiers who are injured and are not suitable for fighting again, but can still farm."
"The second part of the soldiers will be used for farming."
"If all the army is stationed in the fields, it will affect the combat effectiveness of the lord's army. However, if those non-elite soldiers are used to station the fields, they may not be able to be used in the war. They are soldiers in wartime and farmers in peacetime. We will arrange training during the leisure time."
"Firstly, we can place soldiers who can no longer go to the battlefield. Secondly, we can declare more troops to the outside world and be able to bluff."
"The part of the soldiers who actually go to the battlefield to kill the enemy is called the regular army. They are the main force of the lord, while the soldiers in the military camp are the reserves."
"Unless absolutely necessary, there is no need to use reserves."
"My lord, what do you think?"
Chen Zhou also proposed the practice of military settlements.
In fact, he also wanted to create professional soldiers and achieve a true separation of military and peasants. Soldiers would only fight and do no other things. However, considering the specific conditions of this era, professional soldiers could not develop.
The method he proposed was to treat the regular army as professional soldiers and then use reserve forces to support the regular army.
Maybe it can have some effect.
As for whether it can develop, it depends on the abilities of Cao Cao and others.
Cao Cao and the three men suddenly fell into deep thought.
Xun Yu brought some cloth and pen and ink, and copied down Chen Zhou's insights. He didn't care whether they could be used or not, he just copied them, and then he would study them slowly.
"Watazhi's idea sounds very good."
Cao Cao agreed in his heart.
However, these are not only agricultural reforms, but also involve military reforms.
A single move affects the whole body.
Cao Cao did not immediately agree or object. As for whether he could proceed as Chen Zhou said, he had to consider it carefully and discuss with others in depth before he could give an answer.
If he was asked to make an immediate decision, even if he trusted Chen Zhou, he would not dare to do so.
"Du Zhi just said that there is a way to increase grain production, but how?" Cao Cao asked.
Chen Zhou could understand Cao Cao's current hesitation and uncertainty.
"Improving food production requires nothing more than two things."
"First, the land has sufficient fertility, perfect irrigation and water conservancy, and there is no salinization of the land."
“The second is the issue of good seeds.”
Regarding the quality of seeds, Chen Zhou has no solution for the time being. These include biological knowledge.
Chen Zhou didn't know much about biology or how to improve crop varieties. He could only start with soil fertility and said, "I found that our current method of fertilizing is not the best."
The fertilizer in ancient times could only be farmyard manure.
That is, feces, water, ashes of burned vegetation, etc.
There is nothing more than this.
Chemical fertilizers could not exist during the Three Kingdoms era.
"I see that farmers outside fertilize very simply. They just put manure, excrement and other things into the fields. This is a waste." Chen Zhou added.
"According to Du Zhi, what should we do?" Guo Jia asked.
"I have a method called retting."
"The method is also very simple, that is, during the off-season, all the manure, plant ash, etc. are collected and piled up and allowed to ferment naturally."
"Fermentation means to maximize the fertility in the feces."
"The accumulated manure can be used to fertilize, and the effect will be better."
"As the fertility increases, the yield will naturally increase. If the water conservancy and irrigation conditions are improved, the annual harvest will be basically no problem."
"If you don't believe it, you can follow my method and find a field to try."
Chen Zhou said again.
It’s been a while since I’ve tried it and given them so many suggestions.
These suggestions are beyond the understanding of this era. Whether to adopt them or not depends on their judgment.
This was the first time that Cao Cao and the others heard about the practice of retting.
It sounds somewhat reasonable.
They were a little hesitant.
Cao Cao was also hesitant.
But soon, Cao Cao believed that the change in retting had not a great impact on their internal structure, and could be determined on the spot, and said: "Then try Duzhi's method. If it succeeds, our grain output will be higher than before." , can be improved a lot.”
Xun You and Guo Jia both had no problem and nodded that they could give it a try.
"Watazuki also mentioned the problem of seeds."
Guo Jia continued: "How to increase food production through seeds?"
Chen Zhou shrugged and said, "I don't understand this either. Unless we can find better crop seeds, there is no solution to this problem."
During the Three Kingdoms era, there was no technology to transform seeds and it was impossible to hybridize crops.
So, no solution.
