The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 478 Why Raise Pigs
Mountain Resort, North Teaching Field.

Huge workshops and rows of connected courtyards are rising from the snow-covered grassland. Tens of thousands of craftsmen are still busy in the snow, and the black spots are constantly wriggling like tireless ants.

At this moment, a cloud of black smoke suddenly emerged from a row of unfinished courtyards, and then thick smoke began to billow out of the towering chimneys.

Wanli was still walking around the courtyard next to the chimney.

He walked into the connecting corridor in the middle and suddenly realized a problem.

It was too dark in here. The light came from the courtyards on both sides. There was not a single window on the wall of this corridor.

He couldn't help but frown slightly and said, "Father-in-law, why are there no windows in this corridor?"

Yongnianbo Wang Wei carefully explained, "Your Majesty, it's so cold that the window glass seems to be cracking easily.

In the past two years, when it was not so cold, some craftsmen's windows had cracks in their homes, and this year there are even more cracks.

I guess the window glass cannot withstand the cold.

Moreover, we have too many courtyards to build this time, and the glass workshop can barely guarantee the glass for the windows of the two side rooms. If we want to install windows in this corridor, we will have to expand the glass workshop. "

It can't be so dark in broad daylight.

Wanli pondered, "This passage is used as a chicken coop, cattle shed, and sheep pen. In winter, the garrison troops will have to come here every day to feed the chickens.

It's so dark in here even though the sun is shining brightly now. If it's cloudy, you won't be able to see your hand in front of you.

In this case, if you come in to feed poultry and livestock, you have to light a lamp. The lamp is flammable, and a spark may ignite the grass or something, which is very unsafe.

Therefore, we need to install glass windows in this corridor. The glass cracks easily because it is too thin. We can make thicker glass.

As for the glass workshop, it will definitely be expanded. We are not just developing this one location; there are many more locations to develop in the future."

As they were turning, a wisp of white mist began to emerge from the heating pipe.

There is steam flowing through the pipe, and there is some ice on the pipe.

As the heating air comes in, the temperature in this almost sealed space will definitely get higher and higher, but I don’t know how high the temperature can get.

This thing is very important, because Nurgandusi is a cold and bitter place in the far north. No matter they are clearing wasteland and farming there, or guarding the place, or even cutting wood, mining, etc., they have to build warm houses for people to live in, otherwise the vast territory there will be wasted.

Fortunately, the steam temperature in the pipe is at least 70 or 80 degrees. No matter how low the temperature outside is, the heat inside can gather and not dissipate, so there is no problem in heating up.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the house became noticeably warmer.

Wanli took off his gloves and felt them, then ordered his men to take off their heavy sheepskin coats and try them out. He nodded slightly and said, "Well, it looks like keeping warm won't be a big problem."

After that, he led everyone to the empty room next to the kitchen and took a look. Then he asked, "Father-in-law, is this a pig pen?"

Yongnianbo Wang Wei nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, it's right next to the kitchen, convenient for feeding the pigs."

Wanli nodded slightly and asked, "Are there any soldiers in the Beijing camp who feed pigs at home?"

Yongnianbo Wang Wei nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, almost every family raises pigs. They will come to inform us when they kill the pigs, and we often buy some meat to eat."

That's good.

Wanli said without hesitation: "Then let's build a few pig pens first, and then go to the soldiers' homes in the Beijing camp to buy a few dozen pigs. We will raise them and give it a try."

We raise?
You are the emperor's pig farmer!
Upon hearing this, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Your Majesty, do you want to try raising pigs?"

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Yes, I want to try raising pigs."

You really want to raise pigs!
What's so good about raising pigs?

Pigs eat everything. Leftover rice, leftover vegetables, vegetable leaves, rice bran, wine dregs, tofu dregs, etc. Just boil them in a pot and pour them into the trough.

Upon hearing this, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei was stunned for a moment, but did not ask any more questions.

His Majesty must have his own reasons for trying pig farming, so it would be bad to ask too many questions.

Zhu Changxu couldn't help but ask, "Father, why do we raise pigs?"

To improve physical fitness.

Do you think severe cold alone can make people strong?

People need to consume enough energy to become strong in a severe cold environment. If they do not consume enough energy, they will not become strong, but will freeze to death or get frostbite!

However, you definitely won’t understand what I’m saying.

Wanli thought for a moment, then patiently explained: "Raising pigs is actually very important?

It is extremely cold in Nurgandusi. If you don’t eat some fatty meat in winter, you can’t go out.

You will understand this later.

There is another more important point, which is that you are what you eat, and you can only grow meat if you eat meat.

The reason why most of the Japanese pirates were as thin as monkeys was that they did not eat poultry and livestock, and ordinary people could not eat meat.

Look at how strong the people in the nomadic tribes are. The more cattle and sheep they have at home, the stronger they are.

If we want to make the garrison strong and meet the standards for participating in the war, we must let them eat more meat. In the future, we will not only let them raise pigs and eat meat, but also let them buy beef and mutton.

Also, making bacon from pigs is a good way to make money, and bacon is much more expensive than grain.

This way we can also save on shipping capacity. The value of one shipload of bacon is much higher than the value of ten shipsloads of grain, and it is also more sustainable than ten shipsloads of grain."

Oh, it turns out there are so many benefits to raising pigs.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Changxu asked with great interest, "Father, how do we raise these pigs?"

That would be raising them with feed, of course. Wanli patiently taught: "Didn't I just say that you grow what you eat? Let's try raising pigs with fish."

what?
You're going to lose a lot of money!

Fish is not much cheaper than pork, and some fish are even more expensive than pork.

Upon hearing this, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei was stunned.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Changxu was very interested and asked, "Father, how do you raise pigs with fish?"

You'll have to try it to find out.

Wanli actually took his second son Zhu Changxu with him to prepare pig food.

He actually ordered people to bring over several carts of frozen fish to feed the pigs!
However, he did not directly order people to throw the fish into the pig feed and cook it.

He wanted to try making feed.

In fact, he didn't know how to make pig feed. He just vaguely remembered that pig feed contained fish meal, rice bran, bean dregs, corn, wheat and so on.

Among these raw materials, only corn needs to wait, the others are easy.

His method of making feed was quite crude, which was to dry and grind various raw materials into powder, and then mix them according to various proportions.

It just so happened that they had boilers and steam pipes, so he just had to order people to make a simple oven to dry it.

As for the grinding and mixing machines, the Summer Resort has them. These are used in medicine making and are driven by water wheels, which is very convenient.

It is quite quick to make such a rough feed. In a few days, several kinds of feed with various proportions were made, and each kind weighed several thousand kilograms.

Yongnianbo Wang Wei has always been efficient in his work. He ordered people to build the pigpen in just a few days and bought hundreds of piglets weighing about 30 kilograms.

Next comes feeding.

The fact that he raised pigs as an emperor was truly eye-popping, and everyone who heard about it was stunned.

Of course, he didn't raise it himself.

He just needs to explain.

Wang Wei, the Earl of Yongnian, recruited a bunch of family members of the soldiers from the Beijing camp, and each of them was an experienced pig farmer.

His method of raising pigs is quite special.

When other people raise pigs, they just cook all kinds of food in one pot and pour it into the trough.

He had to weigh the pigs he raised. Not only the pigs had to be weighed, but even the feed had to be weighed. He had to weigh them every day and every meal, and he had to write down all the information after weighing.

I don’t know how troublesome it is to raise a pet like this. Most people simply can’t afford it.

Fortunately, he was the emperor, so as long as he gave the order, someone would naturally go to weigh and record.

They spent this New Year raising pigs!

Zhu Changxu followed him happily every day to check on the growth of the pigs, and he never got tired of it.

The results of their pig farming are quite amazing.

Because all the pigs are fed only boiled feed and nothing else.

Even if the feed ratio is not correct, the pigs can still grow about one kilogram a day. If the feed ratio is correct, they can grow more than one kilogram a day, and the growth will be faster as time goes by!

What is this concept?
If calculated on a monthly basis, that would be thirty to forty to fifty kilograms!
In other words, a 30-pound piglet can grow to more than 200 pounds in about six months if it grows slowly, and more than 200 pounds in about four months if it grows quickly.

This speed is more than twice as fast as feeding with omnivorous food!

Excluding the two months it takes for a piglet to grow to 30 kilograms from birth, it usually takes about ten months for a pig fed with omnivorous food to grow to more than 200 kilograms.

His speed in raising pigs is truly admirable.

Is this emperor so good at raising pigs?

In fact, it’s not that he is great, but that the pigs can grow so fast because he raises them regardless of cost.

For ordinary people, raising pigs doesn't cost much. Leftovers, including vegetable leaves peeled from the fields, are free of charge. It only costs firewood and labor.

All his raw materials cost money.

Fortunately, the more fish meal, which is the most expensive component, the better.

He found that there was actually not much difference between the fish meal ratio of 10%, 20%, 30% or 40%.

Once the cost of fish meal comes down, the cost of other raw materials will be nothing.

In fact, it is quite cost-effective to raise pigs in this way. Basically, the cost of feeding each pig is less than two taels of silver. According to the current price of pork, a pig weighing more than 200 kilograms can be sold for about three or four taels of silver.

In other words, feeding in this way can about double the value of the raw materials invested.

This is already very scary. After all, the grain produced in Nurgandusi is hundreds of millions of dan.

Moreover, he calculated the cost of raw materials based on the grain prices in the capital.

The food in Nurgandusi is definitely not as expensive as in the capital. Even if we calculate it based on one tael of silver to four shi, the cost of feeding a pig is only about one tael of silver.

That’s tens of millions of taels of profit every year!
Of course, feeding so many pigs does not necessarily mean you can sell them.

However, it is a good thing to be able to improve the physical fitness of the garrison guards.

(End of this chapter)