Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 113 Big Brother, AK47
At the end of September in the golden autumn of the 13th year of Hongwu, the people of the Ming Dynasty were filled with joy of harvest.

At this moment, I am in the county government office in Changhua County, Hangzhou Prefecture.

County Magistrate Wu was sitting in the hall in the courtyard of the county government office. He raised his head to look at the dilapidated county government mansion, shook his head, and continued to copy with the brush in his hand.

In recent times, the salaries of officials across the country have increased significantly, which is a good thing. It allows County Magistrate Wu to finally have some extra money, so he can hire a ghostwriter to help him copy the official documents issued by the court.

But it was also during this period that the Crown Prince began to govern the country, requiring officials from all regions to not only send a large number of notifications to the people, notifying them at their homes, but also to have the state government count and assess the numbers.

Notifications are nothing.

However, the content is that it requires all the people in the county to replace rice seeds for use in next year's spring farming. The rice seeds will be delivered to the county government office next month, and the people will be asked to come to the county government office to collect them.

Isn't this nonsense?

"Although I heard that the new rice can produce eight or nine shi per season, and one mu of land can produce more than ten shi of grain in a year, but we are in Changhua County. Alas."

County Magistrate Wu sighed and said, "This poor and remote area depends entirely on those few acres of land. Changzhou and Huzhou are so rich that even if they don't grow any grain, people won't starve to death. If something goes wrong here, people will really die."

The master who was also copying official documents laughed and said, "Master, are you worrying too much? Since it is the imperial decree, it means it is not groundless. Maybe it has been verified. Besides, the prince is steady and will not easily do something that will harm the country and the people."

"My family has been farming for generations, and I've only heard of good fields that can occasionally produce five or six shi a season, but I've never heard of good varieties that can produce eight or nine shi a season. This is really incredible."

Magistrate Wu didn't realize that he was being empiricist and said, "I'm also afraid that the prince has been deceived. If it's fake, I'm afraid..."

The literacy rate was low in the early Ming Dynasty.

In the entire county government, only the county magistrate, the chief clerk and the old clerk could read.

Changhua County was poor, the county government office was in tatters and there was no money to repair it, so they couldn't afford to hire anyone. Even if the county magistrate himself was incorruptible, he could only hire a legal advisor after raising his salary.

Therefore, today, when the county magistrate happened to go to the government office to deliver official documents and the chief clerk went to the countryside to deal with public security issues, County Magistrate Wu could only take his legal advisor and clerk to copy the notices - these notices had to be sent down to every village, and a lot of copying had to be done.

There were two clerks next to them. After each of the three people finished copying a document, they would hand them a piece of paper that had not been written on but had an official seal on it.

“It shouldn’t be fake.”

The old clerk grinned, revealing a missing front tooth, and said, "I heard that the prince planted 5,000 acres in the imperial farm and invited many Jiabaolizheng from Huzhou and Changzhou to go there. After they confirmed it, they began to promote planting in the counties of the two states."

"Yes, County Master. Besides, the Diannong Guards have already moved in and are collecting all kinds of rotten leaves, bone meal, and feces."

The lawyer also advised: "We don't have anything else, but we have plenty of rotten leaves and bone meal. Let the hunters hunt and send the remaining bones to the county government. The boss can rest assured."

"Alas, I am indeed a little worried. After all, we in Changhua cannot afford to gamble."

County Magistrate Wu smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Changhua County can be said to be a typical representative of eight parts mountains, one part water, and one part farmland. More than 95% of the county's land is mountains and forests.

The only farmland is a very small part of the farmland along the banks of Zixi River. It is already very difficult to feed the people of the entire county with just this little bit of farmland. Many people have no surplus food in the winter and have to go up the mountain to hunt and dig wild vegetables to survive.

So he is very cautious about the emergence of new crops.

After all, it is already very difficult for Changhua County to maintain the status quo, and many people would starve to death during the occasional minor famine.

Once a major famine occurs, most people in the county may be separated from their wives and children and their families may be destroyed.

Even though this new rice variety is indeed excellent and can achieve a very high yield per mu, everyone knows that it is not acclimatizable to the local climate and soil.

Oranges born in Huainan are oranges, while those born in Huaibei are oranges.

What if the new rice variety does have a high yield in other places, but cannot grow rice here?
If this is true, the people in the county will have no way to survive.

"I hope the new rice seeds are indeed useful. If the rice seeds planted in Huzhou and Changzhou have such a high yield, then it should be fine."

County Magistrate Wu thought to himself.

The two states of Huzhou and Changzhou have a total cultivated area of ​​more than one million acres.

Such a large base number should be able to prove that these new rice varieties can adapt to any place just like the previous ones.

This way he can give an explanation to the people.

"The County Lord."

At this moment, a young man in his twenties walked in quickly from outside. He was wearing a green robe and was an eighth-rank official.

Changhua County was just a lower-level county, and the magistrate was of the seventh rank, so the visitor was naturally the county magistrate of the eighth rank.

Seeing him coming back, County Magistrate Wu asked hurriedly, "Mingcheng, did you get any news during your visit to the prefecture? When will the rice seeds be distributed? Is the new rice produced in Huzhou and Changzhou going smoothly?"

The county magistrate, whose courtesy name was Mingcheng, was not in a hurry. He walked to the table, poured a cup of tea, drank two sips slowly, and looked at the county magistrate, whose face was as anxious as an ant on hot pan, with a smile.

"Hey, Mingcheng, please say something."

County Magistrate Wu said anxiously.

Seeing him so anxious, the county magistrate put down his teacup and said with a smile: "Reporting to the county lord, the news has come back. The yield per mu of the more than one million mu planted in Huzhou and Changzhou is as high as nine shi, as low as seven shi, and all between eight shi."

"Eight stones?"

The master's face showed a stunned expression, and he sighed, "I have never seen a field that can produce eight shi in my life. I have only heard that the imperial farm can produce so much before. Now I can really see it."

The old clerk smiled and said, "The Crown Prince is a man of foresight and would not act without a purpose. The success of the trial planting in Changhu Prefecture may have been within the Crown Prince's expectations, so he asked us to copy the notice these days to facilitate the people to change their planting."

"Good good."

County Magistrate Wu was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly. He then thought for a while, pointed outside, turned back to the desk and said, "Quick, change the notice again and add the news."

"Yes."

Everyone was smiling.

Although changing the announcement would certainly be troublesome, how could it be as troublesome as telling the good news to all the people in the county?

The end of September is when the second crop of rice matures.

In Changxing County, Huzhou, in late autumn, the sun is still shining brightly in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, and the temperature is just right, making people feel comfortable.

On the side of Changxing County close to Taihu Lake, at a glance, you can see golden rice swaying in the wind.

As there were many fields but few rice crops, the imperial court selected more than ten counties along the shores of Taihu Lake, allocated tens of thousands of acres of rice seeds to each county, used chemical fertilizers mixed with organic fertilizer, and had the Diannongwei carry out centralized farming.

Except for a small number of soldiers, the rest of these Diannongwei were all farmers recruited by Zhu Biao in the imperial farm. They guided the rest of the farmers in planting. At this moment, in the fields along the shore of Taihu Lake in the east of Changxing County, countless people gathered near their fields.

The magistrate of Changxing County sent people to beat drums and gongs, calling on nearby neighbors to come and watch.

Today is the day for rice harvest.

"I've seen it once a few days ago, but watching it today still makes me feel a bit like I'm dreaming."

"Yes, I have never seen such big and plump rice in my life."

"Look over there, that's the field of Wang Zhuang next door. The rice is so small. The people in Wang Zhuang must be regretting it now."

"The county government originally chose their land for cultivation, but the villagers were afraid that it would ruin this year's autumn farming season, so this good thing ended up falling on Lijia Village."

There were crowds of people on the ridges of the fields in the distance.

Changxing County has a target of more than 40,000 mu this time, and the county originally planned to put all of it in the good farmland near Taihu Lake.

But some villages were unwilling to do so and voiced strong opposition, so the county had to arrange them piecemeal, most of which were placed at the foot of Guzhu Mountain in the northwest of the county.

The rest are scattered around Taihu Lake in the east of the county.

At this moment, the rice in the fields of Lijia Village has grown to waist-high, with full rice ears hanging down, and each plant is at least the size of a fist.

The magistrate of Changxing County stood at the edge of the field and said joyfully, "Thanks to the great blessing of Your Majesty and the protection of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, this year's new rice harvest is good, with an average yield of eight shi per mu. This is a cause for celebration. I declare that the rice is harvested!"

At the command, many people standing by the fields holding sickles rushed into the fields excitedly, waving their sickles, and skillfully cut the rice and put it into the rice carts.

Some of the people on the shore were excited, some were envious, and some put their hands behind their backs and headed home with heavy hearts.

This year, many counties around Taihu Lake even held grand celebrations to celebrate the great harvest.

After all, in ancient society, people did not pay attention to industry, finance, work, study, examinations, or 996. For the vast majority of people, they only cared about one thing - whether the crops could grow well this year.

Therefore, farming has always been the top priority in feudal society. Even in chaotic times such as the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Han people still had to cultivate their own land and support their families.

A few days later, large tracts of farmland were harvested. This year, more than one million acres of farmland produced eight or nine million shi, or 16 billion modern jin, which is equivalent to one ninety-fifth of the total output of all farmland in the Ming Dynasty.

This means that if the new rice variety is promoted to 100 million mu, it can reach the output of the original 700 to 800 million mu of land in the Ming Dynasty. This output has more than doubled? It has increased seven or eight times.

However, for Zhu Yunfeng and others, they actually know that this is only a short-term phenomenon.

Firstly, Zhu Yunfeng used a large amount of chemical fertilizers, mixed with farmyard manure, diluted pesticides and farming techniques to barely make the more than one million acres of land reach a yield of eight stone per mu.

Secondly, the rice seeds are only the second generation now and have not yet degenerated. By the fifth, sixth or seventh generations, it is only a matter of time before the problem of degeneration occurs.

Thirdly, ancient farmland had not yet experienced the situation where chemical fertilizers overdrew the soil's fertility, so it was normal for the yield to increase significantly in a short period of time.

If this is promoted nationwide, chemical fertilizers will not be able to keep up, and if we only rely on organic fertilizers, the yield will be greatly reduced.

In addition, farming technology is difficult to be promoted throughout the country quickly. Even if it is promoted to the areas around Taihu Lake, it is done with national-level forces, and it takes a lot of time to promote it nationwide.

Therefore, taking all factors into consideration, after this huge output explosion, the output across the country will definitely not be as explosive as it is now.

Perhaps next year the grain yield in the entire Ming Dynasty will only be around six dan per mu.

But even so, compared with the previous yield of two to three shi per mu, this is already a huge improvement. As long as everything goes well next year, the grain yield in Ming society will show an exaggerated level.

In early October, news from the Taihu area reached the Qianqing Palace. Crown Prince Zhu Biao looked at the official documents in his hand and hurried towards the direction of the imperial farm.

Some time ago, the three little ones were exhausted from successfully transporting power generation equipment and mechanical manufacturing equipment to Daming, so they wanted to take a few days' rest.

Ji He then suggested going to Changsha to wash feet.

This suggestion was agreed by Zhu Yunfeng and Zhu Di.

Zhu Biao also wanted to go.
But he couldn't go, so after dealing with state affairs, he could only watch helplessly as Zhu Yunfeng and his friends were having fun in Changsha by running to Zhu Yunfeng's home in Zhujiaping, Shangfeng Mountain, and watching through video.

After playing for more than ten days, they had almost finished all the fun. Zhu Di felt it was boring anyway, so the three of them returned from Changsha.

A few days ago, Zhu Di went to the craftsman's workshop and started tinkering with his AK plan.

Zhu Biao had not come to check on the progress these days because he had been dealing with state affairs. Today, he happened to receive a new official document, so he hurried over to check on the situation.

When Zhu Biao rode a horse, followed by dozens of guards, all the way to the imperial farm and entered the workshop, Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He were watching by the lathe.

Zhu Di was seen holding a black spear with a metallic texture in his hand. After putting down the hammer in his hand, he fumbled with it lovingly.

It is not easy to make this AK, because many stamping parts for making guns are not available in our country.

Therefore, the stamping parts must be processed by other machines first.

To this end, Zhu Di listened to Odebiao's songs and AI commentary, and watched videos of the Peshawar gun workshop in Pakistan for a few days before he made some small gun stamping parts.

But having small parts alone is not enough, there must also be specific structural drawings.

Although Xiao Liu had drawn the design of AK before, Zhu Di had no knowledge of science and engineering, so it was still a bit difficult for him to just look at the design.

This is the last resort.

He then spent a long time on Bilibili looking at the AK structure diagram, AK trigger group principle, etc., combined with the design drawings drawn by Xiao Liu before, he basically figured out the internal structure and shooting principle of the AK.

Then it went through the manufacturing processes of cutting, grinding, polishing, extruding, punching, drilling, assembly, etc., and finally this thing was made.

That is to say, springs and steel cables can be bought nowadays, and other raw materials such as steel pipes, steel plates, wooden boards, etc. are also available.

There is still a lot of it in Zhu Yunfeng’s warehouse.

Otherwise, even with so many mechanical tools, it would be very difficult to complete the task.

"This is."

Zhu Biao walked in and saw Zhu Di admiring the gun in his hand, and was stunned for a moment.

When Zhu Di saw Zhu Biao coming over, he happily raised the gun in his hand and said, "Brother, AK47!"

The gun that shone with metallic luster was the famous AK in later generations.

Even the wooden stock on top is exactly the same.

(End of this chapter)