Northern Song Dynasty: Starting from the son of Song Renzong

Chapter 177 Reform
"Who are you?"

"This is a military horse farm, no one is allowed in."

The people around Zhao Xin wanted to say to the other party, "You don't even know His Royal Highness Prince Yu. It's really not conspicuous at all." However, they were quickly stopped by Zhao Xin, who stopped his horse and stood at attention, saying, "I'm looking for Wang Anshi. I know him."

Then the young man opposite said, "So you're here to look for the pastoral supervisor. You guys wait here!"

After saying this, he sent someone alone to call Wang Anshi.

This area is so wide that it seems like security checks are needed when passing through it.

At this time, Wang Anshi was also studying the issue of horse mating.

The kind that you can observe on site.

can only say……

It is really not easy to raise good horses in the Song Dynasty.

This is like, if the melons and dates are already crooked and deformed, how can they possibly grow good melons and dates?

Among all the horses in the world, those from the northwest are the best, those from the southwest are also okay, the horses from the Liao Dynasty are at least one level lower than those from the northwest, and the horses from the Song Dynasty are worse than all the ones mentioned above.

It is the last level.

In addition to the poor seed source, there are also other factors such as the environment.

However, environmental factors, including diet, can be improved artificially. For example, he raises horses, and when the weather gets hot, he lets the horses go to the cool valley to escape the heat.

But this won’t work, it’s really hard to deal with!

He read from some ancient book that if the 'backcrossing' method was used, the horses could be closer to the level of the excellent horses of the first generation.

How to say this method?

The advantages of an excellent horse will be continuously diluted through hybridization, and "backcrossing" is to restore the excellent characteristics of the first generation of excellent horses step by step through blood relationships.

This is just like some pet cats and dogs in later generations, which use "backcrossing" in order to maintain stable desired characteristics.

Of course, "backcrossing" is not without disadvantages. After all, as everyone is familiar with, close relatives marrying can easily cause problems and make people more susceptible to disease.

But if you don't do it, you will be dead. If you do it, maybe you can get back some of your original advantages.

This horse is already bad enough, but if you bet on it, you might be able to win a good one.

and……

As for horses, as long as they are not too disabled, they can be used to pull goods. If they are not able to do so, they can be slaughtered and eaten.

When Wang Anshi heard that someone was looking for him, he was a little impatient at first. After all, he was at a critical moment now.

Don’t you know that now is the season when all things grow?

He had to watch over the horses for mating and even gave them numbers, A, B, C, and D.

It will be convenient for him to observe later.

"Who's looking for me?"

Wang Anshi asked.

"Hmm... I forgot to ask, but he seems to be of a very distinguished status, with quite a few followers. He said he knows you. His age is probably about the same as ours, maybe even a little younger."

After hearing what the other party said, Wang Anshi could roughly guess who it was.

only……

Again, now is the critical moment!
So he said to the man, "Take them to a place and wait there. I'll be there when I'm done."

"Here!"

then……

Wei Qing, who was not yet grown up, passed the message back.

Afterwards, seeing that everyone was sitting there bored, he also brought them a pot of boiled water.

I can only say that the conditions are very difficult!

There wasn't even a tea cake.

The living quarters were also very simple, just randomly built thatched huts.

After waiting for a long time, Wang Anshi finally rushed back from the breeding farm with dishevelled hair and a dirty face.

If you don’t know him, you might think he is a beggar.

Zhao Xin blinked his eyes at the sight.

After confirming that it was Wang Anshi, without waiting for him to salute him, he said, "Wang Anshi, I asked you to raise horses, but you didn't have to do this, right? Or did you hear that I was coming, so you made yourself like this?"

Wang Anshi looked confused, then slowly saluted, "I greet His Royal Highness Prince Yu! This is indeed a bit rude. I wonder why His Royal Highness Prince Yu is here?"

Zhao Xin said, "Of course I came to see how your horses are doing. By the way, let me tell you about genetics."

In fact, Zhao Xin still remembers what dominant genes and recessive genes are.

only……

How should he tell the other party what is a dominant gene and what is a recessive gene?
These were originally written in books, and when I was learning them, I never questioned them at all.

You can't ask him to grow a kind of peas for Wang Anshi, right?

Besides...planting peas is just a guess.

It is believed that the ancients had already mastered this rule, otherwise they would not have noticed that if backcrossing was used, it would be possible to breed good horses.

If you really want to explain what is a dominant gene and what is a recessive gene, you need to provide more evidence.

Then...

The two of them discussed horse breeding.

In fact, even a fool knows that if you mate a good horse from the northwest with an inferior horse from the Song Dynasty, you will definitely produce a horse that may be slightly worse than the good horse, but better than the inferior horse.

So how can we make the next horses as close to the original good horses as possible without continuing to introduce good horses?

Wang Anshi easily gave the answer, which was what the ancient books said about allowing the mare to mate with the foal.

Zhao Xin also asked: "Then do you know why? Why is it possible to get a better quality horse by doing this?"

Wang Anshi also directly brought up the saying that a dragon gives birth to a dragon, a phoenix gives birth to a phoenix, and a mouse raises a child under the same roof.

Zhao Xin had never heard of the second half of the sentence.

But it’s actually similar to knowing how to drill holes.

Zhao Xin didn't explain too much and just used the terms dominant genes and recessive genes to explain it.

I originally wanted to make it yin and yang or something.

The more I thought about it, the more confused I became, so I just used what I was familiar with and let others adapt to me.

Zhao Xin said, "I heard that every person, every animal, every tree has genes, just like blood."

"It is impossible for species with different genes, such as humans and mice, to give birth to sons."

"And genes are also divided into dominant and recessive."

"For example, in a horse, being tall is dominant and being short is recessive, and both dominant and recessive genes are in the same horse. When the dominant and recessive genes meet, there is a 50% chance that the horse will be tall and a 50% chance that it will be short."

"So, when I take this horse with hidden power and mate it with my son, who is also a tall horse with hidden power, there is a three-quarter chance that the horse will be a tall one. Only a quarter of the chance that the horse will be a short one."

"Of course, doing this is actually inhumane. It will also trigger other genes, such as genes that cause disease."

"Whether it's humans, horses, flowers, plants, or trees, they all have countless such genes that are either visible or invisible."

“So if you backcross the horses in that way, you might get more good horses, but you don’t know, it might also bring other problems.”

"It's like the royal family of Li Tang. Li Yuan had rheumatism, Li Shimin had rheumatism, and Li Zhi had rheumatism, but Li Chengqian and Li Tai didn't have rheumatism. Maybe they did, but there's no record of it, or they died before they got old. But we can tell from the people who came after them that some had it and some didn't."

"The royal family of the Li Tang Dynasty had genes that caused them to suffer from rheumatism, and these genes appeared from time to time in their descendants."

“That’s pretty much it.”

Wang Anshi listened quietly, then asked, "But the Li Tang royal family has no close relatives."

Zhao Xin said, "It's the same. His rheumatism may be subtle. If it is obvious, or obvious, it may not be easy to get sick. It may even be related to men but not women. In short, I am just giving examples. I can't say I fully understand the knowledge here, so you can just use it for reference."

Then Wang Anshi asked again: "Why is it obvious and hidden, obvious and hidden? It can't be obvious and hidden, or obvious and hidden?"

Zhao Xin: "Well! If you think that way, then I can't help you. Anyway, just follow the actual situation and compare it."

Wang Anshi asked anxiously, "Your Highness Prince Yu, where did you learn this? How come I have never heard of this before?"

Zhao Xin said, "I came up with this myself. It may not be correct, but I think it is basically correct. And... the process of two people mating is actually the process of each other showing or hiding one part. It's like, each parent gives half to form a son or a daughter."

Wang Anshi stared at Zhao Xin.

This made Zhao Xin feel a little guilty.

Fortunately, Wang Anshi did not continue to ask, and replied: "I understand your advice! But why is it half for each person?"

Zhao Xin said, "That's just my guess. In fact, if you grow a kind of rice or crossbreed different kinds of rice, or fruits and vegetables, you can also find such a situation."

Only then did Wang Anshi understand!
I imagined how His Royal Highness Prince Yu knew this, and it was very likely that he knew it this way, so I said:
"Your Highness Prince Yu is truly knowledgeable!"

Bowed respectfully.

Zhao Xin felt embarrassed. After all, anyone who has been to school should know these things.

Too bad he's a science student.

I haven’t studied history since the second semester of my sophomore year in high school, so naturally I’m not very interested in things like Wang Anshi’s Reforms.

Besides, it’s enough for him to pass the history exam, he doesn’t need to get a very high score.

However, he now vaguely remembered that there did seem to be a reform by Wang Anshi in history.

But what's the use?
Anyway...

He remembered that in Chinese history, few reforms were good, and they only aggravated the contradictions in the country. Therefore, he did not intend to let the other party reform.

It is better to take care of your own interests first, and then worry about other things.

What he needs now is someone who can help him do things, not someone who wants to change the law, make trouble, cause chaos in the court, and make the people of the world suffer.

But in fact, what he is doing now can be considered as reform.

There is just no action program and no slogan.

Just quietly doing what you want to do.

(End of this chapter)