People in Hongwu, from heavenly master to emperor master

Chapter 191 The best landlord, double the food in the world

Today's metropolis should be called Beiping!

A while ago, the emperor was happy and changed the name of Dadu.

After the fall of the capital of Yuan Dynasty, Xu Da strictly ordered the soldiers to slaughter the common people. The ancient books, wealth, and noble captives in the hands of the Mongols were taken to Yingtian.

What Lao Zhu values ​​most is the wealth confiscated from the Mongols, which can be used for the construction of the Xuanwu Army.

After the Xuanwu army got the Xuanwu cannon from Lao Zhu, they had temporarily changed their minds.

At the beginning, Lao Zhu only wanted to build about ten treasure ships, which cost about 10 taels of silver, plus the cost of training the navy, and the matter was solved at about 20 taels.

But with the basalt cannon, the emperor's ambition instantly swelled.

The battleship Zhang Yi said, if it cooperates with Daming's Fuchuan, it must be a remarkable fleet.

So with a swipe of the emperor's pen, ten warships were also put on the agenda!

Adding other ships temporarily added, the budget instantly reached more than one million.

The ministers in the DPRK have already written to oppose it, including Li Shanchang and Liu Ji, who have also clearly written to oppose it.

Now that the imperial court is short of money and food, it is obviously a foolish move to open another army.

If he hadn't met Zhang Yi, Lao Zhu probably wouldn't have made such a choice, but what he couldn't hold back right now was ambition!
"Before Mu Ying and the others come back, I want to prepare for them a mighty army capable of sweeping across the East China Sea... But, military expenses..."

Zhu Yuanzhang was worried, if only he could find a way to get money quickly.

But where to find it?
The emperor was in trouble.

And Zhang Yi also encountered another kind of trouble.

Since getting more land, it means more troubles, at least Deng Zhongxiu needs to trouble him.

Classmate Xiao Deng is like a chicken blood, telling him about the land every day.

Zhang Yi has been forced to do nothing these days, so he and Deng Zhongxiu went to check his property in person.

Lao Mo drove the car, and Deng Zhongxiu took Zhang Yi on the journey.

Along the way, when Lao Mo pointed out to Zhang Yi the fields full of ears of rice, he himself was surprised.

It is said that the ancients were country bumpkins, but in certain matters, Zhang Yi himself was the country bumpkin.

It's not that he has never seen such a large field, but when Deng Zhongxiu told them that these fields were all his own, Zhang Yi was also dumbfounded.

After all, in his previous life, he was just an ordinary person who was worried about the house. When someone suddenly told him that all he looked at was his own property, he probably had the same expression.

Zhang Yi has an urge to build a big wild here.

But rationality told him, think about it and forget it.

It's not that the villa can't be built, it's just that he can't live in it.

Zhang Yi dared to live in a villa today, and many censors dared to sue the imperial court tomorrow. Living in ancient times, he paid attention to his duty in everything.

This is also the reason why Zhang Yi doesn't like this era and is too lazy to bother.

In his opinion, the thousand hectares of land are all his burden, how good is it to make money by writing books?

It's okay to tell fortunes to people if it's not possible. With his understanding of psychology, it's common to fool a few people.

But he couldn't change the enthusiasm of the ancients for arable land, so he was tied up by Deng Zhongxiu.

When he reached a small village, Zhang Yi saw a group of people gathered in front of him.

Ragged and thin...

Everyone looked at Zhang Yi poking his head out of the car, full of curiosity and awe.

Zhang Yi's white and tender butt has already marked his class.

Those people looked at him and avoided their gazes.

Zhang Yi sighed, this was also the reason why he was too lazy to go outside to deal with people.

The ancient times in modern people's imagination, there are only gorgeous buildings, princes and beautiful ladies!

But he has been reincarnated for many years, and the more he sees, he becomes a poor commoner.

The appearance of these people was different even from the beggars he had seen in his previous life.

This is the real ancient times, Daming after the troubled times.

Zhang Yi is not a god, he is powerless to change the world, it can be seen that there are more sufferings in the world, and he really can't bear it.

I am also lucky to be born in the Zhang family.

Since he couldn't change the world, he simply isolated himself.

"This, is our master?"

Seeing that Zhang Yi came down first, the common people whispered.

A few days ago, the official who was in charge of them brought a Taoist priest over and told him that this was their new master.

Sure enough, after Deng Zhongxiu got out of the car, he pointed to Zhang Yi and said:
"This is your master, Master Zhang!"

"Master Taoist!"

"Hello, little master!"

The people bowed to Zhang Yi with awe. ,
Does that kind of careful flattery make Zhang Yi in a daze, he has become a landlord?
This change made Zhang Yi feel inexplicable, and he couldn't explain clearly.

He nodded and asked:
"How's the year going?"

"Back to the master, it's relatively ordinary, but now the world is peaceful, even if the harvest is almost there, there is always a way to go!"

Zhang Yi asked again: "Then how much rent did you pay before?"

A man stepped out of the crowd and took the initiative to answer Zhang Yi's question.

After going back and forth, Zhang Yi also knew that his surname was Meng, so he simply called him Lao Meng.

With Lao Meng's introduction, Zhang Yi also got a general understanding of the life of the people at the bottom of this era.

Life is as cheap as a dog in troubled times, but Lao Zhu has included Nanjing in his territory for some time.

What the common people want is nothing more than stability, and it is relatively good to be able to farm for the royal family.

Production was sluggish in the early Ming Dynasty. Even if the fertile land Zhang Yi now owns is a good field for planting rice, the current yield per mu is only 1.7 shi, which is low.

Mingyishi rice is about 150 catties, which is equivalent to around 250 catties per mu.

The yield per mu is far lower than the later yield of more than 2 stones per mu.

In the new dynasty, the price of rice was relatively firm, and a stone of grain could be sold for half a tael, which meant that the yield per mu could not even be sold for a tael.

As Zhang Yi listened, he vaguely felt something was wrong.

In his impression, the yield of rice should not be so low.

With a flash of inspiration, he probably understood the reason.

The world is constantly changing and developing. From the perspective of modern people, they may feel that the production technology in ancient times has not changed much.

But in the Ming Dynasty, from the perspective of grain production, we can also see the progress of the ancients in terms of productivity.

According to the impression he remembers, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the good rice output in the south of the Yangtze River should be about 3 shi, and the worst is 1 and a half shi.

If it is a fertile land of his quality, it will cost 3 stones anyway.

The soil strength of these fields is far from exerting its due output.

Zhang Yi is not interested in collecting rent, but he is interested in increasing grain production.

Sweet potatoes may not be found when they go to sea, but if they can increase productivity and allow Daming to master the production technology in the middle of the Ming Dynasty a hundred years in advance, it will also speed up the recuperation of the world.

Don't underestimate the changes in these details. If done well, it will be a way to double the world's grain without using any killers like hybrid rice.

"Why did grain production increase sharply in the late Ming Dynasty?

The promotion of Champa rice is one of the reasons!
Then what is the reason? "

Zhang Yi tried his best to recall the materials that later generations had read, and he probably knew why?
It is nothing more than the difference between production technology and fertilizer technology.

As far as the use of fertilizers is concerned, the ancients did not only use organic fertilizers such as stool.

Fertilizers such as bean cakes and cotton cakes began to be used in large quantities for farming in the future Ming Dynasty, and inorganic fertilizers such as sulfur, arsenic, black alum, brine, snail shell ash, clam and oyster ash were also used in the late Ming Dynasty.

These centuries-old technologies were placed in the Hongwu Dynasty, and the changes they brought about were also huge!
What's more, after the mixed retting technology was invented in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, even if there was no chemical fertilizer, the grain output would have greater changes due to these changes!

The more Zhang Yi thought about it, the more worth trying.

He began to ask more questions of the people.

Lao Mo and Deng Zhongxiu just watched Zhang Yi go further and further away, and he even took off his Taoist robe and jumped into the paddy field.

The two looked at each other and smiled. This guy was reluctant when he came just now, but now he cares more than anyone else.

I know Deng Zhongxiu's expression, who can refuse to be a noble landlord?
Anyway, he dreamed of owning his own field.

"Um……"

Zhang Yi asked very detailed questions, and he also decided to use his own land to do an experiment!
If he can, he will probably see the results next year, and then promote this method.

But he has never farmed, after all, it is just talk on paper.

Since the experiment is going to be done, the cooperation of the tenants is needed.

Zhang Yi turned around and said to those people:

"After this year's harvest, Pindao wants you to farm in my way, is it possible?"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.

The land belonged to Zhang Yi, so logically he could do whatever he wanted.

But he doesn't depend on the land for food, and the livelihood of the whole family of the farming people depends on the land.

A landlord, who knows how to farm, is nothing more than a child messing around.

But his nonsense will cost everyone a little money and food at most, and they will go hungry.

Seeing the expressions of the farmers, Zhang Yi probably understood their concerns.

He thought for a while and decided on his own method.

The exploitation between landlords and tenants in the early Ming Dynasty was not serious.

The "iron plate rent" of later generations almost did not exist in Daming.

Because there are fewer people and more land, if you push the people too hard, they can completely reclaim wasteland.

So Zhang Yi remembers that even at the time when the income was the most, the landlords only took [-]% of the taxes distributed to the farmers. Compared with the end of the Ming Dynasty, the landlords could get [-]% or [-]%, which is already very conscientious. practice.

Zhang Yi said:

"I know you have concerns, let's put it this way, this year's grain harvest, I take it as a standard!
Next year you follow my practice, I want to ensure that your harvest next year will not be lower than this year, is it feasible? "

Lao Meng and other tenants were overjoyed when they heard the news.

There is nothing wrong with this, everyone depends on the sky for food, even if this little Taoist does nothing, next year may not have this year's harvest.

But the benefits Zhang Yi gave them were not only that, he continued:

"Next year, if the food production is more than this year, I will also lower your rent by [-]%, which is the price for your cooperation with me, but Pindao first explains, what I ask you to do, what do you do for me?
If I can't do it, I'm going to chase him away! "

"Master Xiaodao, we will do whatever you say..."

After what Zhang Yi said, he has become the best landlord in the hearts of the tenants.

The kind of people who are stupid and have a lot of money.

As long as there is enough food, Zhang Yi can do whatever he wants with the fields.

Zhang Yi asked Deng Zhongxiu to come here, and immediately signed a simple contract with the tenants.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

Deng Zhongxiu complained to Zhang Yi when he got in the car. What happened to Zhang Yi? Didn't he take the initiative to hand himself over to the tenant?

Brother Xiao Deng decided to teach Zhang Yi the principles of life:

"If you do this, those farmers will think you are easy to bully..., and you don't know how to farm, junior brother. The so-called art industry has specialization, so why use a large fertile land for experiments?

If it affects the harvest..."

Seeing Senior Brother Deng nagging in his ear like an old mother, Zhang Yi was angry and funny.

Deng Zhongxiu and him depended on each other for life, and he had long regarded him as a relative. Although Deng Zhongxiu talked about himself, it was out of kindness!
Although Zhang Yi felt annoyed, he was not angry.

"It's just [-] shi of food, the phone can divide [-]% of it, and we only got [-] shi, if we give them another [-]%, we will give them another [-] shi!

Brother, a thousand shi of grain is only 500 taels of silver, why do you do that? "

"It's different!"

Everything is inferior, only the rent is high!
The ancients had an inexplicable obsession with the matter of being the local owner. Deng Zhongxiu wanted to persuade Zhang Yi again, and Zhang Yi quickly waved his hand:
"Brother, let's put it this way, if nothing changes this year, we can probably get [-] shi of grain according to the original harvest, but if I follow my approach, next year today, the rent we will receive Definitely more than [-] shi, do you believe it or not?"

Deng Zhongxiu shook his head, this is impossible.

Even if the rent was reduced by [-]%, how could there be more harvest next year?

This year is neither good nor bad, unless next year is a good year, otherwise it is absolutely impossible.

Zhang Yi chuckled:
"You've been following me for so long, don't tell me you still can't trust my tricks!

If my experiment is done well, it will be fine to double the grain production in the world! "

"Really?"

Zhang Yi has previous achievements, Deng Zhongxiu is dubious.

"Just watch it tomorrow..."

Although the conversation between the two brothers was quiet, it was heard by Lao Mo who was driving the car ahead, and he laughed.

Although he belongs to the emperor, he has been with Deng Zhongxiu and Zhang Yi for a long time, and he also likes these two children very much.

"It's good to be young..."

Lao Mo was talking to himself when he suddenly stopped what he was doing, and the carriage gradually slowed down because of his distraction.

"It seems that someone..."

As a person who spent the first half of his life on the battlefield, he later turned to Lao Zhu to become a master of the school.

He instinctively felt that someone was following Zhang Yi.

It's just that when Lao Mo looked back, he didn't find anyone else.

So, Lao Mo put away his vigilance and continued to move forward.

After the carriage was far away, someone came out from the shadows and quickly retreated.

Soon, the palace!

"What kind of mess is that brat going to do recently?"

Every move of Zhang Yi is under the eyes of the school inspector, and valuable news will be sent back to the palace as soon as possible.

Zhu Yuanzhang opened the secret music, his expression changed slightly:
"He has such a big tone, how to double the grain production?"

(End of this chapter)