Chapter 180
The first blow of this "black technology" must be on food. Eighty-eight reading, o
After such a long period of statistics, Liu Yu already knew that in the Western Jin Dynasty, if one acre of land in Qingzhou area was planted with corn, the yield would be no more than three stones, and this was under the condition of good weather and good weather.
And if you switch to planting wheat, the yield from one acre of land will be even more impressive. About two stones is already very good.
With regard to this output, let alone comparing it with the modern agriculture of later generations, even if it were compared with the Tang and Song Dynasties, it would still be inferior.
The reason for this situation is that firstly, during the Tang and Song Dynasties, farmland cultivation was more perfect and meticulous, and secondly, many agricultural tools and equipment at this time were still in the initial stage of development.
Moreover, another important factor in the level of grain production is water conservancy and irrigation.
Liu Yu knew that after the Yongjia Year of the Western Jin Dynasty, there was severe drought in the north for several consecutive years, and various locust plagues emerged one after another.
Moreover, it is now the fourth year of Yongjia.
According to historical records, in the fourth year of Yongjia, there was severe drought in Jizhou, Youzhou, Bingzhou, Sili, Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, etc. in the north. Moreover, artificial irrigation was impossible due to war, and many farmland had almost no harvest.
While it is still early spring, Liu Yu's first priority is to prepare anti-drought measures in advance.
You must know that Liu Yu's current soldiers support themselves by relying on the output of their jobs. If there is a loss of crops and production this year, it will be difficult for the Qingzhou Army to have savings to prepare for a large-scale battle this year and next year.
Moreover, if the grain production in the fields decreases, the tax collectors who organize households and integrate the people will not be able to collect much grain at all. Maybe Liu Yu will need to find ways to raise grain and grass to provide relief to the victims.
So in order to cope with the coming drought, Liu Yu took out two irrigation tools that were commonly used in later generations.
One is a barrel wheel invented in the Tang Dynasty, and the other is a windmill that draws water in a non-directional manner.
Liu Yu immediately ordered his craftsmen to make a model of the barrel cart first.
However, contrary to Liu She's imagination, he originally thought that the barrel truck could solve the problem of water collection and irrigation, but he was soon slapped in the face by the reality.
It turns out that although there are dense rivers in the plain areas of Qingzhou, the water flow is not turbulent, and the efficiency of the barrel cart is not very high, but it does not require external force.
In this way, the speed at which the barrel carts set up in the river fetch water every day is simply a joke.
However, seeing the disappointment on Liu Yu's face, a craftsman quickly spoke to comfort him.
"General, the water flow in Qi's territory is gentle, but if this cart is used on hilly streams, the speed of water extraction will definitely be greatly improved."
Liu Yu felt slightly relieved after hearing this.
However, this barrel cart is no longer needed for the time being, because the hilly eastern part of Qingzhou is not a major grain-producing area. Even if the barrel cart is used, it will not be of much use.
Therefore, in order to face the four-year drought in Yongjia.
The only anti-drought artifact left is the uncertain water-drawing windmill.
This water-drawing windmill is like a giant sunflower. The windmill has twenty-four blades. Through a set of gears, it can change the direction of the wind with the direction of the wind.
However, the common water-fetching windmills in the West in later generations all drew water from the lower wellhead, but if a well was dug, it would cost even more manpower. 6 eight 6 eight 6 read 6 books, o
Therefore, Liu Yu ordered his craftsmen to change the water intake part of this non-directional water-drawing windmill, and turned it into a combination of a windmill and a barrel wheel.
In this way, as long as many waterwheels are set up near large rivers, even fields far away from rivers can receive timely irrigation in the face of drought.
However, in this case, we can only pray that the drought in Qingzhou is not so serious. If all the rivers and lakes dry up, it will only be cool.
When ordering his craftsmen to make this set of water-fetching windmills, Liu Yu discovered another problem.
That is the farmers farming in Qingzhou today. The farm tools used by many of them are wooden and iron-protected, or they are directly made of wood and are seriously lacking in iron.
This surprised Liu Yu. Didn't it mean that iron farm tools had been widely used since the Qin and Han Dynasties? Why were they still so backward in the Western Jin Dynasty?
Liu Yu asked the craftsmen around him about this.
"General, I don't know. In the past, these farmers used iron farm tools. However, in recent years, during the chaos, all the iron tools have been used to make murderous swords and armors, not to mention the basics. There is more and more iron for making farm tools, and even if there is iron, there are no blacksmiths to make farm tools. Making swords, guns, and armor for nobles can get much higher rewards than making farm tools."
After hearing this, Liu Yu felt melancholy for a while.
No wonder, it can be seen from this that war destroys productivity.
"This is not possible. If there are not enough farm tools, how will the farmers cultivate their fields? Moreover, a large number of refugees have just been resettled this year. What they need to cultivate are long-abandoned raw lands, and they also need sharp and lightweight iron farm tools." Liu Yu said to the leader of the craftsmen.
"Before spring plowing this year, at least 20,000 iron farm tools must be made."
"Well, if that's the case, we have to suspend the production of weapons. Otherwise, we won't be able to free up manpower to make so many farm tools."
As soon as the leader of the craftsmen said these words, Liu Yu suddenly felt powerless.
This is really stuck on the shortcoming of insufficient productivity.
Now the craftsmen in Linzi City have spent almost all their money to support them. After all, these craftsmen cannot create food, and they need to eat food every day.
Therefore, it is almost difficult for Liu Yu to increase the number of craftsmen under his command. If he increases the number of craftsmen, he will have to recruit farmers. In this case, the most basic food production will become a problem.
Liu Yu couldn't help but have a headache. Hey, it seems that the only way out is to quickly find ways to improve his technical level.
The problem today is how to manufacture iron farm tools quickly and in large quantities. It is impossible to rely on ready-made technology. In that case, the output will be too low.
Liu imagined that brainstorming might be effective, so he went to the smelting workshop in Linzi in person.
After years of melee, almost all the iron was used to make weapons, armor and other weapons. This led to a serious shortage of farm tools that also required iron, but there was no shortage of craftsmen with experience in making farm tools.
After Liu Yu talked with his craftsmen, it was even more confirmed.
Linzi City, smelting workshop.
"In the past, during the Taikang period, Emperor Wu went on strike. Iron tools at that time were very cheap." An elderly craftsman fell into memories.
"Unfortunately, in the past two years, there have been frequent wars. The nobles have only made weapons and armor, but they have never made farm tools."
The words of this old craftsman were immediately echoed by the craftsmen present. They all said that Liu Yu was able to arrange for them to make farm tools, which showed that the envoy was able to deal with people's livelihood and was not the kind to be militaristic.
From this point of view, the people of Qingzhou have hope for life.
Liu Yu was numb to the compliments from these craftsmen.
At the beginning, he hoped to get along with these people as equals, but soon, this childish idea completely went bankrupt.
In this era, these craftsmen were lower than farmers who farmed the land. It was completely impossible for them to get along with a warlord leader on an equal footing.
"Yes, I want to make farm tools, but I don't just want to make farm tools, but I want to use casting." Liu Yu expressed his thoughts.
The leading craftsman frowned upon hearing this.
"Your Majesty, if these farm tools are cast, they can only be cast with molten iron. But in this case, the farm tools will be hard and brittle, so I'm afraid they won't be durable."
Of course Liu Yu knew what this craftsman said. Because the furnace temperature and air supply in the Western Jin Dynasty could not meet the requirements, pig iron could only be melted and cast. However, the nature of pig iron is that although it is high in hardness, it is too brittle and is used for making farm tools. If so, it will be very easy to damage.
"Then we should use the steel filling method that you taught us before." Another craftsman said tentatively.
"It's possible, but the steel-filling method taught to us by the envoy is also very labor-intensive. As a result, the farm tools made will be too expensive."
In the end, Liu Yu discussed this issue with the craftsmen for a long time, and finally decided to use the molten iron casting method.
Because since the Warring States Period, cast iron farm tools have appeared in the Central Plains. Although these farm tools are very short of durability and weight compared with the steel-kou farm tools of later generations.
However, the good thing is that it is cheap and low-cost. It only needs to be smelted with molten iron and cast.
Although there will be many failures in these molten iron castings, it only takes more time. Compared with the time spent by the steel pouring method, it can be far saved.
Liu Yu thought that if he could make a high-temperature refractory crucible and a blast furnace to directly smelt molten steel and cast it, it would be a hundred times better than this bulky pig iron thing.
When he thought of this, Liu Yu ordered several leading craftsmen to find ways to find clay, graphite, etc. that could withstand high temperatures to see if they could make high-temperature refractory crucibles.
If the crucible can be broken to make steel, it would be equivalent to having Zenith Star black technology.
Although these craftsmen didn't quite understand what Liu Yu wanted to do by making such a thing, when Liu Yu told them that whoever could make such a pot would have an official position equivalent to a commander, everyone was I am eager to give it a try.
For these craftsmen who are almost in a humble profession, having an official position is more important than receiving a few more stones of corn or a few more bolts of silk.
What's more, the official position Liu Yu promised was equivalent to the level of county magistrate and county magistrate.
For these things, Liu Yu basically only knew a rough idea. When he told these craftsmen all the inventory he had in his belly, he gave them a general direction of the crucible steelmaking method. As for how to implement it in reality, then It depends on the level of these people.
After moving to a few more workshops, such as paper making and porcelain making, Liu Yu returned to the government office.
After all, in addition to these craftsmen, Liu Yuke still had more affairs with generals and officials to deal with.
After returning to the government office, Liu imagined that today would be the day when the young beggar soldiers in the school would be tested. Just as he was about to ask someone to make arrangements, someone came in in a hurry.
"General, we have found the islands you mentioned." The person who came was none other than Liu Yu's subordinate Wang Li.
Wang Li is Wang Mi's nephew. Although Wang Mi and Liu Yu have completely become enemies, Wang Li did some meritorious service when Liu Yu returned to Donglai County.
Therefore, Liu Yu could not do anything to Wang Li and could only arrange an idle position for him.
For example, this time, because Wang Li was familiar with the situation on the islands in the north of Donglai County, he was asked to follow the navy to find the "Guano Island".
In later generations, the most famous examples of people getting rich from guano were Nauru and Chile.
These two countries, thanks to thousands of years of guano accumulation, have abundant inorganic fertilizer ores, so even if they don't do anything, they can get rich by lying on guano.
In the Bohai Sea, although there is not as much guano fertilizer as in Nauru and Chile, there are still plenty of reserves.
On these small islands, there are lush green plants everywhere, and there are some snakes or birds, so a large amount of bird droppings are hidden on the ground.
"Okay, with these things, we can ensure that there will be no famine within a few years." Liu Yu was overjoyed when he heard this.
In the era when there were no artificial fertilizers, these guano fertilizers, as long as they were treated a little, were the best fertilizers. Although they could not be compared with various slow-release and controlled-release fertilizers produced industrially in terms of absorption, they were used in the Western Jin Dynasty. It's more than enough.
Now, with these guano natural fertilizers, as long as irrigation can be ensured, Qingzhou's yield per mu can easily be increased by half. In this way, a large amount of manpower can be mobilized to break through Liu Yu's production. Various technological points conceived.
In this way, a perfect virtuous cycle is like this.
"General, there aren't many things on that island except snakes and birds. However, if it were to be mined, the guano would have hardened into stone. Without tens of thousands of people, I'm afraid not much could be mined." Wang Li's words made Liu Yu think again.
Yes, the biggest shortage now is manpower. Digging guano and rocks on a desert island is much harder than farming. Where can we find so much labor?
"Yes, it requires so much labor. Where can we search for it?" Liu Yu was a little confused for a moment.
At this time, when Wang Li heard Liu Yu's words, he rolled his eyes and said.
"General, I'm afraid it's hard to find someone in Qingzhou now. In my opinion, it's better to think of a solution from outside."
"Where is it outside?" Liu Yu asked.
"Lelang County."
"Lelang County"
"Yes, I heard that recently Zhang Tong, the governor of Lelang County, had another war with Goguryeo. I heard that a lot of people were captured. Why not buy them as laborers. Moreover, we can also go to the sea to raid the Mahan Baekje people, and there will be more Catching some barbarians doesn't seem too difficult." 11
