Northern Song Dynasty: Starting from the son of Song Renzong

Chapter 176: It seems that I have seen Wei Qing

Spring is coming.

It's the growth season for all things again.

Early in the morning.

At around seven or eight o'clock, when the sun had come out a little and the dew was about to dissipate, when Zhao Xin rode out of the city, he could see that the fields were already full of people working hard on the farm.

Zhang Kang was also explaining the construction of roads and water conservancy facilities along the way.

In general……

Zhang Kang did a pretty good job.

At present, water conservancy construction in all areas of Xuchang has basically been restored.

Those large tracts of abandoned land are now being cultivated.

Zhao Xin spent the whole day walking about fifty or sixty miles. Wherever he rode his horse, he didn't see any abandoned land.

Everywhere you look, you see a thriving scene.

It’s just a feeling…

The people have to rely on the weather for their food by farming like this, which is really inefficient.

But what can he do?

Even in later times, automatic seeders and automatic harvesters are not something that ordinary people can own.

When it comes to chemical fertilizers, I dare not even think about it.

He only knew that nitrogen seemed to be needed to make fertilizers. Although nitrogen accounted for 70 to 80 percent of the air, it was a gas that was extremely difficult to use.

High pressure and a catalyst are required to convert it into the materials needed to make fertilizer.

It sounds like this is something that no decent person can do.

Potassium nitrate can be used directly as fertilizer.

But potassium nitrate is very different from the general fertilizers.

and……

Potassium nitrate was not necessarily very common in ancient times, but it could be used as fertilizer.

"Ugh……"

Then Zhao Xin sat on the horse and sighed.

Zhang Kang asked, "What is your Highness Prince Yu dissatisfied with?"

Zhao Xin said, "If there is something that can be spread on the ground and can make wheat yield 600 kilograms per acre, or even 1,000 kilograms or 1,500 kilograms, that would be great!"

Zhang Kang laughed at Zhao Xin for not knowing how to farm when he heard what Zhao Xin said, and said, "Your Highness Prince Yu, this acre of wheat, in a normal year, only produces two dan, and in many cases, only a little more than one dan. Even if you add more manure, it will never exceed two and a half dan. You said that one acre produces 1,500 kilograms, which should be about seven and a half dan. Where in the world can you find such a thing?"

Zhao Xin said, "That's because you haven't seen it, so you naturally think it's impossible. With good seeds, plus knowing the nutrients wheat needs, and when it needs to be irrigated, make sure to irrigate well. As long as there are no pests, maybe you can produce that much."

Zhang Kang did not refute Zhao Xin's naive idea.

After all, His Royal Highness Prince Yu probably just needs such a beautiful fantasy.

In addition to looking at whether the fields have been fully developed, how much has been developed, and how the rivers and canals are constructed.

Next…

Zhao Xin also focuses on people's production tools.

Is there anything missing? Is there any room for improvement?

Things like stone mills certainly existed in ancient times, but there was only one in a village, so many people still used sticks to pound rice.

But how to give them use is also a problem.

We can choose a place and build more water-powered mills to see if we can help.

Or maybe just use a steam engine in the future.

If too many water mills are built, it will greatly affect irrigation.

Share these ideas with Zhang Kang and the craftsmen.

At that time, the mill would symbolically take a portion of the grain from the people as a means of covering the daily expenses of the mill and even the government.

At least when it comes to eating, there shouldn't be any problem.

Even the excess can be used as military rations.

Grinding a hundred pounds and extracting two pounds, one-fiftieth, shouldn't be too much, right? Zhao Xin also asked Zhang Kang and others, if the rich families in the Song Dynasty lend their mills to others, how much would they charge?

can only say……

I must have collected a lot.

Otherwise, why would the people stay at home and pound the rice themselves?

of course!

It will also depend on the price of steam engine fuel at that time.

When the technology is not yet mature, this can easily become a losing business.

After reading the above, Zhao Xin inspected the arsenal in Xuchang.

Of course, Zhao Xin didn’t take Zhang Kang in to see it.

Mainly he went in to see it himself.

It can only be said that the arsenal has not yet produced too many muskets and artillery on a large scale.

It is expected that this year, the number of their artillery will be maintained at at least one hundred, and the number of muskets at no less than seven thousand.

Let’s wait until we sell all the silk and cotton this year.

otherwise……

In fact, he was quite short of money.

Moreover, more craftsmen need to be trained so that production capacity can be quickly increased when needed in the future.

These can be said to be considerable expenses.

After visiting the arsenal, I briefly discussed some technical, chemical and physical issues with the craftsmen.

Finally, Zhao Xin went to visit Wang Anshi.

Wang Anshi raised horses in Ruzhou, which is to the west of Xuchang and is also a sparsely populated place.

To raise a horse, one needs the food rations of at least twenty-five people. So, it is not that the Song Dynasty cannot raise horses or does not know how to raise horses. The Song Dynasty is just too lazy to do so.

Over the years, Wang Anshi actually wrote quite a few memorials to him.

For example, let’s discuss how to raise a horse well.

And how to breed to produce a good horse.

In the Song Dynasty, Huijiao was resisted, but Wang Anshi clearly stated in his memorials that he hoped to use this method to train better war horses.

The so-called backcrossing is between mother and son, that's it.

Horses are different from humans. What matters about horses is the purity of their bloodline. The purer the bloodline, the easier it is to produce excellent war horses.

However, this method was despised by the literati of the Song Dynasty.

He thought this was immoral and against Maren's will.

But this is actually nothing. The bad horse policy of the Song Dynasty actually means that the people of the Song Dynasty don’t want to raise horses and are too lazy to raise horses.

It is better to raise sheep than horses.

It was because of lazy governance that the Song Dynasty had no horses.

As for the rest, anything else can only be considered an excuse.

The key point is that the horse breeding department seems to sell a lot of horse manure every year, and everyone just sits there waiting to get their share of the money.

After returning, Zhao Xin felt that it was time to clean up the situation.

Should we let Wang Anshi go, or should we let Wen Yanbo go?

I feel that using Wen Yanbo's words is a bit too deliberate.

cough!
It’s still Wang Anshi!

This will make the transition more natural.

When Zhao Xin arrived in Ruzhou, he saw that Wang Anshi had also hired some local people to help him raise horses.

They are all young people who look like they are only in their teens or about to grow up.

When Zhao Xin saw them riding their horses with such agility, he felt as if he had seen Wei Qing.

(End of this chapter)