"The art of farming has advanced thousands of miles since the Qin, Han, Tang and Song Dynasties. The yield of farmland has already been several times that of our predecessors. However, even so, whether the people in the world can have enough to eat still depends on God's eyes. In recent years, disasters have occurred Every day is getting better and better. Just relying on the old land, no matter how hard you cultivate it, cannot meet everyone's needs. Under such circumstances, there are only two ways to improve..."
Huang Shijun didn't know much about farming, but he also knew the truth and truth of what Zuo Mengeng said.
China is a farming nation. In order to meet people's survival needs for thousands of years, countless people have worked hard to improve planting technology, and various agricultural works have emerged in endlessly.
However, manpower is sometimes poor. Facing the particularly tragic and successive natural disasters, it is really hard to do anything.
In the past, when talking about the current turbulent situation, many people would blame the emperor and the court.
It seems that as long as the emperor and the court cultivate their moral character and promote benevolent governance, the country and the people will be peaceful and the weather will be smooth.
It cannot be said that the emperor and the court have no responsibility at all, but it would be too harsh to blame them all.
Huang Shijun himself was a high-ranking official of the imperial court, and he was extremely familiar with everything the emperor did and the operation of the imperial court. Naturally, he could not be like those white-eyed scholars who were either black or white.
Today, he could not help but admire Zuo Menggeng when he saw that he had put aside the deeds of the emperor and the court, and even ignored the evil deeds of landlords, vassals, and officials, and only talked about the most basic farming.
Although this man is a rebel of the Ming Dynasty, his opinions are fair and far superior to those in the world.
To be able to achieve such a huge foundation is indeed an incomparable feat.
Compared with Zuo Menggeng, the emperor in the Forbidden City really pales in comparison.
Zuo Mengeng didn't know that Huang Shijun was overwhelmed with thoughts and thoughts.
He was still talking about his own opinions.
"The first way to properly deal with natural and man-made disasters is to continuously improve farming technology. If one day we can still have abundant crops regardless of the weather or location, then there will naturally be no need for hunger."
This statement made Huang Shijun shake his head and sigh.
"Although it is a wise saying, the way of heaven is permanent and it is beyond the reach of human beings and cannot be implemented."
Zuo Mengeng nodded and did not refute.
Although he knew of countless amazing agricultural technologies in later generations, to be honest, even in later generations with such advanced technology, agriculture could not be completely separated from the influence of weather and climate.
"The second way is to actively expand externally. The more land you have in hand, the better the cost of losses can be shared. In this way, although natural disasters are still there, the people will have more ways to harvest, and they will naturally be able to have enough food and clothing. .”
The second method is what he is doing, and what European countries are also doing in this era.
Huang Shijun disagreed.
"It is the emperor's wish to expand the territory. However, for thousands of years, even though it is as strong as the Imperial Han Dynasty and as prosperous as the Tang Dynasty, it cannot escape the decline of the country and the retreat of the people. His Highness, King Xia, must not get lost."
After all, he was still stuck in Confucianism.
Zuo Mengeng laughed loudly.
"Mr. Yu Yu, do you know that our Xia Kingdom has expanded its territory thousands of miles and produced countless grains? This is the fundamental reason why our Xia Kingdom is able to live in peace and prosperity."
Huang Shijun was stunned and couldn't believe it.
"Now that the world's pattern is clear to my mind, although I am stupid, I am always paying attention to it. I really don't know that the Xia Kingdom has expanded thousands of miles, so what are you talking about?"
Zuo Mengeng is very proud of his achievements.
"The Xia Kingdom is different from the Ming Dynasty in that its vision has never been limited to the Central Plains. Today, the Xia Kingdom has established a province in the far north of Liaodong. This place is farther than Liaoshen, where the Manchus occupied, but it has fertile fields and vast land. Fertile. Except for some uncivilized indigenous people, it is actually an unowned land. Now these lands are in the hands of our Xia Kingdom, and the migrating people have cultivated them carefully. Just a few years ago, a report came from there, The harvest is already here.”
Zuo Mengeng was like a child showing off his toys. He asked people to bring a map and show it to Huang Shijun.
When Huang Shijun saw where Jilin Province was, he understood everything and couldn't help but pause and lament.
"Alas, back then Emperor Taizu sealed off the sea and prohibited people from entering the sea, which is why we are as evil as we are today."
He is a man of great wisdom, and he immediately saw the problem with Ming Dynasty.
It was the policy of seclusion that started from Zhu Yuanzhang that caused Ming Dynasty to lose the opportunity to forge ahead with the outside world.
However, there were still some things he couldn't understand.
"It is said that it is very cold in the far north. It is extremely cold. Can we grow food in this barbaric land?"
Zuo Mengeng explained in detail.
"It is true that the Far North is extremely cold for most of the year, but there are also a few months when spring comes, flowers bloom, and everything revives. In addition, this kind of place has never been cultivated, and the land is extremely fertile. With a little care, the products produced there Far better than the Central Plains. According to the report there, one acre of land will produce about one and a half dan of wheat this year."
He used the Ming Dynasty's measurement units, but Huang Shijun was confused.
"This output does not seem to be much higher than that of the Central Plains."
Zuo Mengeng smiled.
"Does Mr. Yu Yu know how much farmland each person cultivates in the far north?"
Huang Shijun knew there was much to it.
"How many?"
Zuo Mengeng stretched out three fingers.
"In order to encourage people to immigrate there, our country of Xia has stipulated that each people can be allocated land in the far north...three hundred acres."
Huang Shijun was shocked and pulled off a strand of his beard.
But he couldn't care less about the pain and was completely frightened by the number.
"Three...three hundred acres? How can it be so much?"
Only then did he finally understand what Zuo Mengeng said about using more land to dilute the damage caused by natural disasters.
Each person has 300 acres of land. Unless it is completely destroyed by natural disasters, even if only one-fifth of the land can be produced, the harvest will be very considerable.
And even if the output per acre of land in the Far North is slightly less than that of the Central Plains,...
Three hundred acres of land!
Added together, the output is terrifying.
Zuo Mengeng also made it clear that the land there was newly cultivated and not yet mature, so the output was so small. If after years of cultivation, the raw land becomes mature, I am afraid it will be even more pleasant.
"This year, disasters occurred in many parts of the Xia Kingdom, and the field losses were heavy. However, it was precisely because of the bumper harvest in the far north that the people were not at risk of starvation. This was the peaceful and peaceful scene that Yu Yugong saw. "
Zuo Menggeng is quite proud of the development of Jilin Province.
Just this year, all the investment paid off.
According to statistics from Jilin Province, all cultivated land in the province produces as much as 1.5 billion kilograms of grain.
But the current population of Jilin Province cannot even eat one-tenth of the food.
Therefore, while the sea is calm in winter, excess food has begun to be transported to the mainland and North Korea, which greatly alleviates the food pressure in the two places.
At this point, the last voice against the development in Xia Kingdom disappeared.
Also due to the smooth development of the Far North, the Xia Kingdom's confidence was greatly enriched. Let Zuo Mengeng prepare to break out of hibernation and start looking at the whole world.
