Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1881, technology is the primary productive force

On the fertile and vast fields in Liaodong, as the temperature begins to warm up, spring is coming, and the first spring plowing in Liaodong has officially begun.

I saw fields here and there, and cultivators were busy.

These cultivators include old-fashioned steam cultivators and new-style internal combustion engine cultivators. The old-fashioned steam cultivators emit billowing white smoke and whistle from time to time, while the new-style internal combustion engine cultivators are accompanied by chug sounds. The whole field is a busy scene.

On the road next to it, a convoy of dozens of cars pulled over and stopped. Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin got out of the car and watched the scene in front of them with great interest.

After leaving Daqing, Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin chose to take a car instead of taking the train, in order to facilitate Emperor Hongzhi to see the spring plowing in Liaodong along the way.

Liaodong is now one of the most important production areas of the Ming Dynasty. The annual grain output is enough for the entire Ming Dynasty to eat for several years. It is the granary of the Ming Dynasty.

The land in Liaodong is very fertile, and the black soil looks like anything, and the yield is very high. Even if there is no chemical fertilizer from later generations, the yield here is still very good.

But what really makes Liaodong the granary of Ming Dynasty is that the land here in Liaodong is very wide and flat, which is extremely suitable for mechanized farming.

Of course, the most important thing is that Liaodong is a land of immigrants, and the land here is different from that of the Ming Dynasty.

The local land in the Ming Dynasty was concentrated in the hands of a few landlords, gentry, and wealthy families, and the farmers who really cultivated the land did not have much land at all.

Liaodong is different here, because it is a land of immigrants, and the land here is in the hands of real farmers. There are no landlords, gentry, and no wealthy families here. Although there is a lot of land, it is evenly distributed. Everyone has land, and it's all about the same.

This has played an extremely important role in the agricultural development of Liaodong. The tiller has his land, so he can naturally exert his greatest enthusiasm and initiative.

Except for the grain paid to the court, the grain grown in this kind of land is their own grain, so every family lives well, with money and food in their hands.

Coupled with the emphasis and support of the Ming Dynasty on agriculture, the promotion of improved varieties and good planting methods, and the policy of providing interest-free loans and subsidies for the purchase of agricultural machinery, these have greatly promoted the development of agricultural mechanization and agriculture in Liaodong. , so that Liaodong, a former barren land, quickly became the granary of Daming, and became one of the wealthiest places in Daming, and its wealth has far surpassed that of the Jiangnan area.

Emperor Hongzhi has always wanted to come to Liaodong to see the agriculture in Liaodong.

Sometimes Emperor Hongzhi didn't trust the reports in the newspapers, nor did he trust the reports of his officials. It's unbelievable that this man cultivated thousands of acres of land.

This time, I finally have the opportunity to see and see the spring plowing and land in Liaodong in person.

The field in front of me is so big that I can't even see where its ridges are. Obviously, this field belongs to one person, so there is no need to divide the field into many pieces.

This is rare in the mainland of the Ming Dynasty. The land of the mainland of the Ming Dynasty, even in the plains, is fragmented and divided into countless small pieces.

Because every small piece of land has an extremely complicated history.

It is very likely that it belonged to a certain farmer in the past, but it was later stolen by landlords and gentlemen, so it is still necessary to keep the ridges so that there is a title deed.

Of course, it is also possible that although the land belongs to the landlord, when the landlord rents out a large amount of land to tenant farmers, it is impossible to rent a large amount of land to one person, so it is also necessary to continuously subdivide a large area of ​​land and then lease it to tenants. One tenant at a time, so that everyone has fields to farm and food to eat.

In short, in the mainland of Ming Dynasty, even in the plains, you can't see the phenomenon that a whole piece of farmland is a field like the one in front of you.

But in Liaodong, it is very common. Along the way, it is always like this. The whole field is very large, and you can rarely see the ridges.

There are no such terraced fields here in the south. There is a lot of land here. Many places are obviously good land, but no one cultivates them. Some fields are even falling fallow. There is no need for people to ask for land from the mountains. to develop terraces.

Xiao Huangmen quickly set up a big umbrella by the side of the road, set up the stove, boiled tea, and moved out the tables and chairs, so that Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin could watch the spring plowing scene in front of them leisurely while drinking tea.

"This cultivator is very efficient. It walks around and plows the land."

"It's much easier to do farm work. You don't need to face the loess and your back to the sky. You can easily complete the plowing by sitting on the cultivator."

Emperor Hongzhi looked at everything in front of him with great interest.

On the field, with the advance of the cultivator, the plow at the back turned the soil deeply, followed by a large number of birds, constantly looking for things like worms, eggs, and earthworms in the soil.

I have been hungry all winter, and it is rare to be able to have a full meal, which also attracts more and more birds to follow the rear of the cultivator, constantly looking for bugs and eggs in the soil.

These worms and eggs hiding in the deep soil are rich in protein and are the favorite of birds.

The cultivator walked around on the field, and the soil was turned up very fast. It can be seen that the farmers working are also very relaxed, and even have leisure time to look at Emperor Hongzhi and others, as if I also find it strange that a group of people who don't know where they came from are full of food and have nothing to do here to watch the fun, and they haven't even seen the cultivator?

"Your Majesty, this is the best way to cultivate the land."

"This is fast, efficient, and can cultivate more land. It is very easy for a farmer to cultivate thousands of acres of land."

"If hoes are used to plow the land as before, even if you are exhausted in the field, you will not be able to plow many barrels of land in a day, and you will not be able to plant a few acres of land after working hard all year long. , The little grain harvested is not enough to feed a family, so the farmers are very poor, and they will never become rich in their entire lives."

"It's different in Liaodong. Every family farms the land and uses mechanized farming. One person cultivates thousands of acres of land, and the grain produced in just one year is over one million catties. My family can't eat it all. Even The price of food is cheap, but if you cultivate the land for a year, you can quickly become rich and live a prosperous life.”

Liu Jin smiled and said to Emperor Hongzhi.

"Yeah, this kind of farming is good. Our Ming Dynasty has a high grain output, and the common people can eat enough, wear warm clothes, and live a prosperous and good life."

Emperor Hongzhi also agreed.

Emperor Hongzhi had personally experienced farming. Every year, he would go to the field to do farm work for a day in order to experience the hard work of the farmers. He knew the hardships and poverty of the farmers.

Thinking about the scenes of farmers working that I saw before, it was really hard work.

When plowing in spring, it is better to have cattle at home. It is relatively easy to use cattle to plow the land, but cattle are often only available to landlords, and most farmers do not have them.

So during the spring plowing, either a hoe is used to dig the soil and plow the fields a little bit, or a person is used as an ox, and a person in front drags a rope and keeps pulling it forward, with a wooden stick on his back. The person holding the plow is also pushing the stick hard on his shoulders, so that he can share the pressure of the person in front.

You can imagine how hard and hard it is for farmers in this way of farming. The husband and wife are exhausted in the field, and they can't plow much land in a day.

What's more, this land is rented by the landlord's family. At least half of the grain grown must be paid to the landlord. After a year of hard work, even a full meal is a luxury in the end. Don't even think about it for a lifetime Get rich.

Emperor Hongzhi went directly to the field, came to the plowed land, carefully gestured with his hand, and said to Liu Jin beside him: "This plowing machine is amazing, the plowed soil is more than one foot long. thick."

"Tsk tsk, look at the land in Liaodong. It's really fertile. The key is that the soil is very thick. It's more than a foot thick, and the soil is still good black soil."

"Isn't that right? This is one of the few black lands in the world. Otherwise, how could it become the granary of my Daming?"

Liu Jin also carefully looked at the plowed land in front of him. The technology of the cultivator is becoming more and more mature. The land is plowed very well. Basically, the insect eggs hidden in the soil can be plowed. If you come out, you will either be eaten by birds, or you will be frozen to death after a heavy snowfall.

The crops in this new year will rarely suffer from diseases and insect pests, and there is no need to use pesticides at all. Of course, there are no pesticides for you to use in this era. Sometimes farming depends on the sky. If you are lucky, you will get a harvest. When you are not lucky, There are also grain failures.

However, it is very cold in Liaodong in winter, and it is difficult for diseases and insect pests to survive. In addition, two spring plowings have further reduced the damage caused by diseases. Therefore, the agriculture in Liaodong has always been very good, with high harvest and large output.

"Ok!"

"The key is this machine. Without such a cultivating machine, it would be impossible to dig out a foot-thick soil, let alone such a cultivated land efficiency and planting area."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded, then clapped his hands and looked at the cultivator not far away and said.

"Technology is the primary productive force!"

"Whether this kind of land is good, or weaving and spinning, the extensive use of machines can greatly improve our efficiency, allowing us to produce more food and cloth with less time and less manpower. come out."

(End of this chapter)