After sending away his disciple and Guan Yinping, Zhang Xi finally settled his worries.
But there are many other important things that need to be done by Zhang Xi, the surrender commander.
Nanzhong is still rich in minerals, but that is something that aristocratic families need to consider. Minerals cannot be used as food.
What normal people need to consider is their daily lives, eating, drinking and defecating.
Among them, eating is the most important.
To put it bluntly, there needs to be enough food for the people to survive.
In this regard, the Nanzhong area actually does not meet the conditions.
Nanzhong included most of later Yunnan, western Guizhou, mountainous areas in southwestern Sichuan, and a small part of Guangxi.
In these places, except for Jianning County, which is the plain area of Kunming in later generations, there is basically not much arable land.
This is due to factors such as Nanzhong's topography and immature development. Many arable plains are still in a state of barren or swampy fields due to limited development and manpower.
Even in later generations, there were only three types of plants grown in Nanzhong.
The largest output is wheat, followed by corn, and finally rice.
In this era, although wheat was grown, wheat rice was not delicious and no one knew how to grow it. Corn was still lying around in South America. Only rice, which was not too high-yielding, was grown by the people in South China in this era. mainstream.
According to Zhang Xi's memory, the agricultural distribution in Nanzhong seems to be like this.
So, after Zhang Xi thought about it, he felt that he still had to get the steamed buns and noodles out.
The one we built in Xinye was just a taste of it at best, but now, in order to allow the people of Nanzhong to live a life without shortage of food, they must not only be encouraged to plant wheat on a large scale, but also a whole set of mills must be put in place. The noodle tools and food are sorted out.
Therefore, Zhang Xi planned to pirate Zhuge Liang's steamed buns and noodles.
In fact, it's really not that difficult.
Back in Xinye, it was difficult for Zhang Xi to build a stone mill, but now, it is just an idea and a single command. With different status and rights, the things he can do are also different.
Moreover, there is absolutely no shortage of stones or masons in Nanzhong, especially in Zanggao County.
With the stone mill, Zhang Xi even began to wonder if he could make the cross-bridge rice noodles, a traditional Yunnan delicacy of later generations.
But just thinking about it, Zhang Xi gave up the idea as soon as he thought about the ingredients and making of rice noodles.
You can't make rice noodles without cornmeal.
Another thing, how can I have so much oil to make cross-bridge rice noodles for you these days? !
Speaking of oil, there is oil in Nanzhong, but it is tung oil.
Although it is of great use in the military, it cannot be used for food.
However, there is not enough cultivated land for edible oil. Who can grow soybeans? Naturally, there is very little soybean oil.
Therefore, Zhang Xi was very curious about when the famous Yunnan rice noodles in later generations were born. Not to mention, where did so much oil come from? !
Is it purely based on animal fat from raising cattle and horses? !
Zhang Xi was very puzzled until he saw yellow and orange rapeseed flowers all over the mountains and plains outside Wei County in late April.
Really, Zhang Xi was dumbfounded. It turned out that what grew on these hillsides were not shrubs and weeds, but rapeseed flowers all over the mountains and fields? !
Well, Zhang Xi finally knows where the oil in Yunnan rice noodles comes from.
I really don’t blame Zhang Xi. Zhang Xi was not from the countryside in his previous life. When the rapeseed flowers were not blooming, Zhang Xi would not even be able to recognize that this thing was rapeseed.
And Zhang Xi really doesn’t understand. These rapeseed flowers are just growing like this, and no one is here to manage them. Do you Nanzhong people really have no shortage of cooking oil? !
Zhang Xi hurriedly called the magistrate of Wei County to inquire, and learned that these wild flowers that grow on the mountains that no one cares about are called Yucai in Nanzhong, and there is a very beautiful legend.
Legend has it that there was a Yi man named Alu who was very industrious and kind-hearted. Every day when he went up the mountain to cut firewood, he would pass by a river. There was always a beautiful girl wearing a yarn by the river.
Aru is a very innocent young man. Every time he passes by, he only dares to glance at her secretly, and he doesn't dare to go up and talk to other girls.
But one day, when Alu was passing by the river, he happened to find that Huan Shanu had accidentally fallen into the river.
Without saying a word, Aru jumped down to save others and rescued the girl.
The girl was very grateful to Aru and wanted to marry him, but Aru refused because his family was poor and he was afraid that the girl would suffer along with him.
Huanshanu was very moved and told Alu that she was a fairy from the sky who secretly came down to earth. Because Alu was hardworking and kind, she fell in love with Alu and hoped to become a couple with him.
But Aru felt that since he was a fairy in the sky, he was even more unworthy as a poor boy, so he persuaded the fairy to return to the sky.
The fairy returned to the sky and brought Alu the divine creature Brassica as a gift in return. Alu planted the Brassica in the ground, and when it grew up the next year, yellow flowers bloomed.
This is the legend of Rapeseed Flowers. This legend proves that the shameless clothes thief Dong Yong came out to be beaten! ! !
Well, in short, it is such a legend, and in this legend, Aru finally escaped poverty and lived a good life by relying on this corn sprout, and the specific method was-using it to feed cattle.
Yes, at this time, although there were people who cultivated the Brassicae, that is, rapeseed flowers, they did not manage them very well. They counted as much as they could, and they were all used to feed the cattle. It is said that the cows ate the Brassicae mixed with it. The forage will grow very strong.
Although Zhang Xi doesn't know what the principle is, Zhang Xi feels that the oil extracted from the seeds of this thing can make people grow very strong.
Zhang Xi wanted all the rapeseed flowers on the mountain and immediately sent people to protect them.
No matter who planted it, as long as conditions are met, the Governor's Mansion will collect it all.
In fact, no one paid much attention to the rapeseed flowers on the hillside.
The amount of cattle fed every year is so small. The common people will not ask the government for money for such a trivial matter, and the wealthy people will not offend the governor's office of Gajiang for such a small amount of money.
Therefore, in fact, Zhang Xi had collected them all, and no one would come to claim them.
In May, these rape flowers finally matured and set seeds. Zhang Xi quickly sent people to harvest them, and then began to experiment with pressing canola oil in the same way as soybean oil.
It happened that Zhuge Liang arrived at Wei County at this time.
Zhang Xi saw the extremely high oil yield of rapeseed at the first time, and Zhuge Liang also watched the result.
Therefore, the first thing Zhuge Liang did when he arrived at Nanzhong was not to ask Zhang Xi about the complicated relationships between local aristocratic families, nor to discuss the local security issues in Nanzhong, but to discuss the rapeseed flower with Zhang Xi. Its growing conditions, climatic factors, land requirements, etc.
Obviously, Zhuge Liang is interested in rapeseed flowers.
Nonsense, there are only so many oil crops these days. Even the soybean oil produced by Zhang Xi in Xinye and Zhuge Liang also did it in Chengdu, but due to insufficient food and the limited planting area of soybeans, there has been no way to expand the scale of production.
Even so, Zhuge Liang still made a strict rule that part of every hundred acres of land in each county must be used to grow soybeans. Whether it is used to extract oil or to feed livestock, soybeans are useful.
Now that I have seen rapeseed flowers and seen that rapeseed flowers have a higher oil yield than soybeans, if I don’t want to promote it, I would really be sorry for Zhuge Liang’s IQ.
Rapeseed flowers are not very picky. Zhang Xi remembers that they grow from south to north and can be grown on hills and valleys.
But this thing takes a long time to plant. It is usually planted after the autumn harvest and harvested in May and June of the following year. It also requires very high fertilizers.
Moreover, this thing is not suitable for interplanting with other crops. In terms of maturity time and cycle, it is suitable for planting with rice, but it conflicts with the planting cycle of corn, so it is better to choose another planting site.
Zhuge Liang heard that it could be planted on hills and in low-lying ditches, and that was enough.
This means that the rapeseed flowers do not occupy fertile land.
But what Zhang Xi said requires relatively high fertilizers, so Zhuge Liang needs to think about it again.
After all, current corn and rice have high fertilizer requirements. If rapeseed flowers also take up fertilizer, it means that they cannot be planted all year round, otherwise the fertility of the land will be damaged.
This is a thing that has pros and cons, but considering the amount of oil it produces, Zhuge Liang directly asked Zhang Xi for a large number of seeds, intending to go back and give it a try. Maybe a large number of this kind of things can be grown in Chengdu. .
There is no way, oil is really useful in this era.
Whether it is for human consumption or used for military supplies.
When talking about this military material, Zhang Xi gave Zhuge Liang another surprise.
There is tung oil in Nanzhong, which is inedible and poisonous, but can be used for burning. But the tung trees in Nanzhong grow wildly and there is no management at all. If Zhuge Liang has good management talents on hand, then Zhang Xi can try it. Tung trees are planted in Nanzhong, and the tung oil produced is specially used as military supplies, while rapeseed oil and soybean oil are better left for human consumption.
As soon as Zhuge Liang heard this, he immediately started looking for people from among his entourage, and soon found two candidates.
One is named Gong Lu, a Brazilian who lives not far from Nanzhong and is relatively familiar with Nanzhong’s living environment and climate conditions.
The other one is Wang Shi, a native of Jianning County, who is now a meritorious official in Chengdu.
Both of these two people have good abilities and are locals. It should be no problem to ask them to come to Jianning County to help and leave them to Zhang Xi's command to be responsible for the management of agriculture and mountains and forests.
After talking about this, Zhuge Liang formally told Zhang Xi about the mineral resources in Nanzhong and the major families in Nanzhong.
Although Zhuge Liang came here to take charge of the distribution, he was not familiar with the place after all. He must first figure out the friendship relationship here before he could really start.
Not only did he have to ask Zhang Xi, Zhuge Liang also wanted to meet Li Hui, Meng Huo, and even Wang and Lu Kai who were far away in Yongchang County. Zhuge Liang also planned to summon them.
At the same time, Zhuge Liang also brought Liu Bei's edict of reward.
Just like in history, at Zhuge Liang's suggestion, Liu Bei divided the four counties of Nanzhong into six counties.
Zangqi County and Yongchang County were not moved, and Yuexun County and Jianning County were divided into two.
Yuexun County is divided into Yuexun County and Yunnan County, and Jianning County is divided into Jianning County and Xinggu County.
The purpose of this is to divide Nanzhong and prevent another large-scale rebellion in Nanzhong.
Immediately afterwards, there was a burst of official titles and rewards.
The Wang couple and Lu Kai who stayed in Yongchang County were each promoted. Wang and his wife were promoted from Yongchang County County Cheng to Yongchang County Prefecture, while Lu Kai was transferred to the newly established Yunnan County Prefecture.
Li Hui was named the governor of Jianning County. At the same time, in order to express Li Hui's achievements in suppressing the rebellion, Liu Bei also worshiped Li Hui as the general of Anhan.
At the same time, Ma Zhong, who was represented by Zhang Xi, was promoted from the county magistrate to become the prefect of Zangda. Ma Su was appointed as the prefect of Yuexun, and the other prefect of Xinggu was appointed Meng Huolai.
Zhang Xi was naturally the commander-in-chief of the surrender and the Sima of the Hanzhong Palace. At the same time, Liu Bei also specially gave Zhang Xi a general rank - General Xinghan.
(End of chapter)
