The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 98 Potato Harvest

Fujian, which has eight mountains, one water, and one farmland, originally did not have much flat land suitable for growing rice, so until Wang Wenlong's later generations, the top three food crops in Fujian were still rice, sweet potatoes, and potatoes.

Among them, potatoes and sweet potatoes are crops suitable for cultivation on wasteland, and the largest planting place for potatoes is Zhangquan, which is also a special sandy land.

Using sandy land to grow potatoes in winter can reduce the land use window period and avoid competing with rice for water and land.

This year, due to the influence of the belief in the melon and vegetable fairy who rescued famines, a large amount of land in Quanzhou was planted with potatoes, and the earliest place to receive the goods was Zhangzhou in the south.

When potatoes began to be harvested, farmers realized the power of this crop.

At first, the people planted the fields themselves and knew that the potato harvest would be good. But when the yield per mu was reported, Xu Xueju himself was shocked.

The potato yields promoted for the first time in Fujian generally reached one thousand kilograms per mu, and the good ones could even be close to two thousand five hundred kilograms.

In comparison, the average yield per mu of rice, the staple food, is only about three hundred catties, and the yield per mu of good fields is only six to seven hundred catties.

Of course, the data cannot be calculated like this, because the water content of potatoes is too large. The calories that fresh potatoes can provide under the same weight are less than one-fifth of rice. But even so, the output of this thing is still comparable to that of the staple food. Rice is quite good.

The key is that this food does not compete with the staple food for fields and can be planted in winter. This food instantly impressed the people. Xu Xueju has made up his mind to vigorously promote potatoes throughout the province this year. At the same time, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, etc. Crops must also be vigorously promoted.

At the same time, Yuan Wuya from Suzhou sent Wang Wenlong a sample book. Half a month after Wang Wenlong left Suzhou, his "History of Portugal" could finally be printed in Suzhou.

The main text of "History of Portugal" is only more than 20 words, and it can be printed in only a few volumes. On the contrary, the preface written by friends from Wushan Society attached before the main text made Wang Wenlong dumbfounded.

Every one of these people was a famous book seller at that time, and they were extremely business-minded. In the preface, they praised this "History of Portugal" to the heavens and the earth. Ye Zhou was the most exaggerated, directly praising Wang Wenlong. With the same status as Tai Shigong, Wang Wenlong was called "the first person to write the history of Westerners since Tang and Yu".

Feng Menglong announced in the preface that he spent several months reviewing "History of Portugal" to promote the subsequent review book in advance.

Yuan Wuya even got Li Zhi's article from some unknown source. Wang Wenlong took a closer look and found that what Li Zhi wrote was not "History of Portugal" at all, but a comment on Tianyan Lun. He didn't know where Yuan Wuya got it. But he was also stitched into the recommender list of "History of Portugal". It was really bullying in this era of underdeveloped information. If it were to be left to future generations, Yuan Wuya's stitching method would have been accused long ago.

Wang Wenlong remembered that Li Zhi would be arrested and taken to the capital in two years to face charges. Li Zhi would directly commit suicide in prison, which was deplorable to think about.

However, Li Zhi's death did not greatly affect the spread of his articles in the world. After Li Zhi's death, many of his disciples were still actively publishing his books. .

……

In early March, Junshan Town, Pingtan, Fuzhou.

A group of farmers happily started working along the field edges. They waved their hoes and soon dug out round and plump potatoes the size of fists from the soil.

"I would like to bring good news to Lord Fantai. This year, the potato yield per acre in the village will be at least [-] kilograms!"

When Baojia from the village came to report the incident, the smile on his face could not fall off.

This place was the Pingtan Experimental Zone in later generations. By the time Xiao Wang traveled through, local private builders were said to be able to contract more than 20.00% of the country's tunnel projects, with an average betrothal gift of more than 30 yuan. The housing prices were close to those in first-tier cities. That's a sign of wealth.But these days, Pingtan has a standard maritime climate, which is very unfavorable for farming, and the people are so poor that they are complaining.

Especially in the Junshan Town area, the ground is covered with sea sand. "Sand blows up wherever the strong wind passes" is a description here all year round. The maritime climate and sandy soil make the soil evaporation here often greater than the precipitation. Coupled with the erosion of sea salt, Basically nothing can be grown.

When there is a drought in Zhangquan every year, the situation in Fuzhou is somewhat better, but only the Junshan Town area is bound to be affected.

The weather has been dry this summer and autumn. As winter approaches, the people of Junshan Town are ready to flee the famine with their families. Even the children in the village who were born a year ago have been sold out.

It's not that the parents are cruel. According to the experience of the people here, children born in famine years cannot be fed. They can still survive if they are sold. Most of the children left at home will starve to death, or even worse, they will be abducted and eaten.

Under such conditions, it was suddenly discovered that a kind of crop could achieve a bumper harvest on such sandy land. For the people here, it was simply a dream.

Xu Xueju watched the farmers digging potatoes in an acre of land, and then, surrounded by people, he came to the stage at the end of the village.

A beautiful statue of a famine-rescuing melon and vegetable fairy had been placed under the stage. The statue was pink and white, painted with gold and painted with colors. At first sight, it was obvious that a lot of money had been spent on it.

The statue of the god sits in an official sedan decorated with flowers, followed by a row of accompanying gods. The leader is the "Potato God", followed by the "Xian" who represents the sweet potato that Xu Xueju will vigorously promote in Fujian this year. "Shu Gong", followed by "Pan Pu Po", the symbol of pumpkin.

These statues were carried around the streets of each village. Firecrackers had been set off all morning. The people burned incense and burned the statues. They were already full of the smell of incense ash. After today's parade, each village will take them to the statues built in their own villages. It is enshrined in the temple for worship and will be taken out next year when the gods visit.

The person in charge of hosting today's event is called Zhao Fan, who came specially from Zhangpu.

Zhao Fan is a descendant of the royal family of the Zhao and Song Dynasties. He was a Jinshi in the fifth year of Longqing's reign and served as deputy envoy to Zhejiang Province. He resigned ten years ago and returned home to work as a country squire. He shouldered a large number of family responsibilities in his hometown of Zhangzhou and actively contributed to water conservancy projects in his hometown for the people. , and also encouraged the family's children to help the court resist Japanese pirates.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, when the Zhao family fled to Fujian, they formed a fortress to protect themselves. The Zhaojia Fort was modeled after the two capitals in Kaifeng and Hangzhou during the Song Dynasty. Its layout included outer city, city walls and other facilities, just like a city.

Zhangpu was often harassed by pirates. After Zhao Fan returned to his hometown, he expanded his family's castle and built his family's house on a high mountain. Whenever there was a warning from the seaside, he would notify the villagers down the mountain in advance and open the castle to provide shelter for the villagers.

This time the second Zhangquan Prefecture was hit by the disaster. In addition to using folk beliefs to encourage people to plant melons and vegetables, Xu Xueju also contacted a large number of squires to help. Among them, Zhao Fan was the most active. He planted all his fields in Zhangpu with potatoes. , which is why the farmland had a bumper harvest more than ten days ago.

Zhao Fan reached this social position and no longer needed to make a small amount of money by selling grass high and selling low. Instead, he needed to win over Sangzi and make friends with Fujian officials, so he took the initiative to sell potatoes, which greatly suppressed the price of grain in Zhangzhou, which had more than doubled. .

After receiving the invitation, Zhao Fan actively came to Fuzhou to participate in Xu Xueju's celebration event.

Seeing that the farmers had a good harvest, Zhao Fan was also very happy. He wore a brand new robe and shouted loudly on the stage: "Please give Xu Fantai a lecture!"

Xu Xueju came on stage with a smile on his face and started speaking after coughing: "Farming is the foundation of the country. Fujian suffers from the scarcity of arable land. In previous years, people had to flee when there was a famine. This year, they used melons and vegetables instead of melons and vegetables, and introduced a new crop of potatoes, which produced great results." Success is due to the great kindness of the emperor, the hard work of the officials, and the hard work of the people... This year, melons and vegetables have relieved the severe drought. This method will be spread and practiced, and Shinto will be established. I hope there will be no famine in Fujian in the future!"

The people in the audience did not understand the refined vocabulary, but they knew that Xu Xueju had indeed done good things for them. At least he did not flee the famine this year, and the people in good health also survived the winter. Such a feudal official was naturally a first-class good official.

After Xu Xueju's speech, Wang Wenlong and other staff members hurriedly applauded, and a burst of applause spread among the people.

(End of this chapter)