Chapter 17 Spring Plowing
Spring in Liaodong is later than in Jiangnan. When the first wave of ships from the south of the Yangtze River followed the south wind, they were about to arrive in Liaodong. He Xi is still preparing for spring plowing.
It goes without saying how important food production is.
And He Xi could certainly get two million taels, gold, silver, copper coins, and other hard currencies from Lan Yu. The unexpected situation of Shandong's great famine further aggravated the food shortage. Therefore, the importance of spring plowing is even more important.
The most important thing is the newly reclaimed land.
During this period, the entire Liaodong gave up all other labor. Except for the troops guarding the border to guard against the Tatars moving south, all the troops also went to farm.
This is actually the normal state of agricultural society. Even after liberation, for a long time, once the busy farming season came, factories would stop working, schools would suspend classes, and everyone would go to work in the fields.
And the land reclaimed by the original guard station in Liaodong.
In fact, there is no need for He Xi to worry too much.
Because regarding the matter of farming, Ming Dynasty had already formed a system. There are certain rules. He Xi doesn't need to worry too much. In fact, in He Xi's opinion, their farming model has some room for improvement. But He Xi also knew that this was not the time to change farming methods.
After all, agricultural production is mainly about stability. Once something is changed, it will be bad. Furthermore, I don’t know how many things happened today. Just stop looking for trouble for yourself.
But in the matter of reclaiming wasteland. We must find ways to improve.
Because of the immigrants from Korea and the hungry people in Shandong, the number of people eating has increased. More food is needed. And generally speaking, the output of newly opened land is very low in the first year. If you want to have enough food, you can only find ways to increase the cultivated area.
Moreover, this condition also exists in Liaodong.
There are a large number of war horses and pack horses in Liaodong. Moreover, Shenyang Iron Factory has whatever kind of agricultural tools they want. In addition, on the Liaohe Plain, there are enough plains for cultivation. Only then did He Xi make this decision.
At this moment, He Xi was taking a few followers with him and was looking at the situation in front of him.
Looking at the spring plowing situation in front of me.
The rocks on the ground have all been cleared away. All large trees and grass were cleared away.
Following an order, dozens of horses pull the plow together. This plow is really big. It takes two horses to pull a plow, and at least two people must stand behind to press the plow. It can turn four or five furrows at once, and the plowshare is made of steel. Considered a steelhead.
Therefore, the work efficiency is much higher than that of ordinary cattle farming.
But it's not without its shortcomings.
The disadvantage is that horse plowing is shallower than oxen plowing.
Nowadays, many wastelands are in their first season of planting. The yield won't be too high either. This small problem won't have much impact.
"Ahem." Ye Wang coughed twice, and Ye Chen supported his old father. Follow each other step by step. Ye Wang said: "In this first season, soybeans are planted. The advantage of soybeans is that they do not choose the land. They can survive on both raw and cooked land. And the time for spring plowing is not too tight. From spring to early summer, You can plant it. As long as it doesn’t get too cold in the fall, you can get a harvest.”
Speaking of which.
Ye Wang coughed violently a few more times.
After Ye Wang was knighted, it seemed that his wish was fulfilled. He is also older. The body is getting weaker day by day. If possible, He Xi would not let Ye Wang worry about it. It's just that among the people in He Xi's group, the one who is most proficient in farming in the field is actually Ye Wang.
Even Huang Zicheng, who presided over the farming in Guohetao, was not as good as him in this regard.
Without him, although the Ming army's farming tradition is too deep-rooted, Ye Wang has done the most farming work in Liaodong for so long. He is the most familiar with the land in the Northeast. What should be planted and what can be planted? How to deal with this situation.
He has considered it all.
He Xi also had no objection to Ye Wang's choice to plant soybeans for one year first.
I don’t know if the heroes had the same views. Ye Wang felt that Liaodong was suitable for growing soybeans. Many people in later generations also made the same judgment. Northeastern soybeans were famous for a long time. Soybeans also existed as a staple food for a period of time during the Qin and Han Dynasties.
But soybeans have inherent flaws. There is a beany smell, poor digestion, etc. More importantly, the yield is low. The yield of soybeans is only four to five hundred kilograms, while in ancient times the yield was even less. About a stone. More than a hundred pounds. This is the same reason why millet, a traditional Chinese grain, has withdrawn as a major food crop.
But now in this special situation, the advantages of soybeans, such as not choosing the right place, have come to light again. However, even so, the yield per mu this time was less than a few dozen kilograms, less than a hundred kilograms.
Therefore, He Xi worked hard to reclaim wasteland, trying to make up for quality with quantity.
All new immigrants will be grouped together, arranged in a unified manner, and work in groups. What they have to do is not only reclaim wasteland, but also establish a basic irrigation system.
He Xi looked at everything in front of him, along the line of the Liao River, the entire east bank of Liaodong, and part of the Xi'an bank of the Liao River. There are almost hundreds of thousands of men, all working hard at spring plowing. There are also large plows that require horses. There are also ox-drawn plows. There are even people pulling plows.
In terms of animal power, although Liaodong has captured millions of cattle, sheep and horses from the last Naha expedition. But these spoils of war cannot be distributed only to Liaodong. At that time, Liaodong was sparsely populated. Not much was left.
After all, generally speaking, the entire Ming Dynasty has always been in short supply of means of production.
And such deployment is no less difficult than sending troops to fight. Moreover, it was a big battle, He Xi thought to herself, it might not be possible to achieve this level. Only this veteran general who has been rooted in Liaodong for more than ten years has such means and prestige.
He Xi asked: "Old General Ye. How long will spring plowing last?"
Ye Wang said: "It will last for about a month. After that, we can allocate manpower to do other things."
He Xi sighed and said, "Time waits for us."
Even if He Xi got more than two million taels from Lan Yu, it would still be enough to support the expenses of so many people. and engineering construction. It's also very difficult. The money was spent like running water, and it was gone in a flash. This is because He Xi used many means to suppress it to maintain stability.
Don’t say anything else. Just a month ago, He Xi reformed Liaodong's salary, pretending that it was convenient to withdraw, and turned the physical salary into food stamps, which could be withdrawn from the warehouses of various health stations.
The people below were also very down-to-earth, and they immediately made the payment.
He Xi even thought of many ways. For example, some government items can be sold directly with food stamps instead of using grain. In addition, He Xi's deduction was good. The private grain reserves in Liaodong are still sufficient. I dare not say too much. But every household probably has a few months of food.
This was all posted before He Xi.
Food is not the most important thing.
After a month of twists and turns, the food stamps were finally established. In this way, the remaining food can last for several months. But no matter what, it cannot last until the autumn harvest. There was probably a gap in between.
After all, there are still many Koreans who do not have salaries. But you have to eat.
Eating also consumes food.
Although agriculture is the foundation of all industries, the current situation in Liaodong cannot be saved by agriculture.
He Xi said: "Ye Chen."
Ye Chen said: "The end will be here."
He Xi said: "You take good care of your father. You should worry more about things here. Don't make your father tired."
Ye Chen said: "I will understand. I will definitely take good care of my father."
Ye Wang said: "My lord, this old man won't die for a while. It's just my lord. I don't know what your lord is going to do? But this gap is too big. I look at this old man with fear. Can you please slow down a little, and death will be smooth. .”
He Xi sighed and said: "Old General, I don't understand about war, but you don't understand this. You don't know that once the gears of industry turn, they can't stop. He is a steel behemoth, You can’t stop for even a quarter of an hour to rest. Just rest assured about this matter.”
"I can't go wrong."
He Xi actually wanted to stop more than once.
However, he ignored one issue. That's the sunk cost.
Agricultural production and industrial production have their own laws.
