Wentang

Chapter 561
Unknowingly, time has entered June, which happens to be the season for harvesting grain crops in the north. Taking advantage of the relatively free time these few days, Yue Shan accompanied his family to wander around his field.

"Is the grain growing well this year?" Yue Shan asked joyfully looking at the full pods in the field.

The main food crops of the ancients were never wheat and rice, and these two crops did not become the staple food until after liberation.

The reason is simple, the yield of wheat is low, and the requirement of rice is too high for the farmland.

At that time, the staple food was all kinds of beans. When sweet potatoes and potatoes were introduced to China, the staple food became beans, sweet potatoes, and potatoes.

It was not until the founding of New China that the country vigorously promoted various fertilizers, and wheat and rice with better taste and richer nutrition became the staple food.

During the Tang Dynasty, beans were still the staple food. Only high-ranking officials and nobles ate wheat, and even fewer people ate rice.

Speaking of crops, many people immediately think of potatoes. After all, they are too high-yielding, and they say that America is a godsend.

However, few people would think of another more magical crop, soybean.

Why do you say soybeans are magical?Rhizobium.Rhizobia can fix nitrogen and restore soil fertility.There is a legend that planting soybeans can nourish the land.

I don't know if planting soybeans can raise land, but nitrogen fixation is true.In ancient times when there was no means of accumulating fertilizer, planting soybeans did prolong the lifespan of cultivated land and maintain the fertility of the land to a certain extent.

Moreover, soybeans are rich in influence, mainly due to their high protein content, known as vegetable meat, but soybeans have always been a staple food in ancient China.

From this perspective, soybeans are really the most precious wealth bestowed by God to the Chinese nation.

"It would be better if there were no locusts. Half of the credit is due to you. The retting fertilizer is really effective. After using the fertilizer, each mu of land can produce three to five buckets more." Yue Laosi walked in front with his hands behind his back, and said .

"The locusts this year should not be as serious as last year, right?" Yue Shan asked knowingly.

Last year, the entire population was mobilized to eradicate locusts. This year, there have been several heavy rains in succession. Although the number of locusts is still higher than usual, it is not as serious as last year.

I believe that after this year, this round of locust plague will be completely wiped out.

"No, no, if it is still so serious this year, how will the people survive. Thanks to the sage, he insisted on exterminating locusts, and even exchanged grain for locusts. If we caught them last year, there would be fewer locusts." Speaking of catching locusts, Yue Laosi suddenly became interested, and said eloquently:
"You don't know, the whole family went out to catch locusts together. Last year, we could catch several baskets in one day and exchange several buckets of grain."

"It was only later that everyone discovered that this locust is just a piece of meat, and it grows after eating it. Although locusts are hard to eat, they are better than starving. This guy can also cure night blindness. I heard that the pharmacy has a big one and a small bag. It's a scam."

For the high price of locust powder sold by the pharmacy, Yue Lao Si despises it from the bottom of his heart.

"Ever since I knew it was so expensive, the big guys didn't want to sell it anymore. After the food was enough to eat, I kept the locusts I caught, dried them and ground them into powder and added them to the food for cooking. "

"This year, before the beginning of spring, everyone is looking forward to the stars and the moon and waiting for the locusts to be born. A few days ago, there was a fight in the village next door to catch the locusts."

"Fighting to catch locusts? What's going on?" Yue Shan asked hastily.

"There is a river between the two villages, and the embankment is jointly managed. Everyone went there to catch locusts. Some people thought of a wrong idea and sneaked to the opposite field to catch locusts, and a fight broke out." Yue Yue The old four.

This... Yue Shan was a little dumbfounded.

Actually fighting because of this matter, there is no one else.

Locusts are a catastrophe. Last year, everyone wished that people all over the country would go to their fields to catch locusts.This year it was reversed, and the locusts became treasures instead.Whoever dares to catch it from the field at home is taking food from the mouth of a tiger.

While speaking, the group of people arrived at the field, looking at the crops in the field, Yue Laosi was very proud.

He, the fourth brother, has no other skills, and he is definitely a good hand in growing crops in ten miles and eight villages.

But soon his face darkened. It turned out that a group of children were catching locusts in the field, and he yelled:
"You little rascals, don't you know if the beans are about to ripen? You've blown up the pods and lost all the beans. You little rascals really pissed me off."

As soon as the group of children saw the master coming, they ran away. They could hear the sound of "cracking" pods from all the way to Yueshan, and Yue Laosi jumped up and down in anger.

"Siweng, don't be angry, we're going to catch locusts for your family, and save the locusts from eating your crops." At this time, a child turned around and shouted.

"You...you..." Old Yue was so angry that he almost fainted, but there was really nothing he could do about those children, so he could only say dryly, "I'm so mad."

Parents are more expensive by virtue of their children, so the status of his father, Yue Lao Si, who was named Marquis of Yue Shan, naturally rose, which can be seen from the title.

As long as they are not of the same race, those who are older than him will call him fourth brother affectionately, those of the same generation will call him fourth elder brother regardless of age, those who are younger than him will call him fourth uncle, and children will call him fourth brother.

Let me say a few more words here, the ancient names are very messy, and each era has its own characteristics.Wengpo, grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, mother, and father are the most widely spread and most widely used titles, which can be used in any era.

It's just that grandparents, fathers and mothers are more used in writing, and Weng mothers are more used in oral.

As for the Tang Dynasty calling his father Aye, this is a characteristic of the times.But in this era, it is also no problem to call one's father an adult or father.

There is also the title of brother, which is a kind and respectful title most of the time. It is not a problem to call one's own son, one's peers, or even one's father and grandparents.

In ancient times, fathers called their own sons, and they were affectionately called the third brother and the fifth brother, and they can also be used to call brothers of the same generation.It is also no problem to call the father and grandparents the eldest brother and the second brother.

There are 56 ethnic groups in China, and some ethnic minorities were all influenced by the Tang Dynasty, and they still use elder brother to call their grandparents and fathers.

But in the Tang Dynasty, this elder brother could only be used in private, which seemed intimate, and a more formal title was generally used in public.

There is nothing wrong with Li Lizhi calling Brother Yueshan, so book friends who have read Chang'an Twelve Hours should not compare it to the truth.

Closer to home.

Looking at the group of 'arrogant' children, Yue Shan stood aside and did not speak.

angry?Not worth it with a bunch of kids.

Happy?Children's witty playfulness?Hehe... In ancient times, grain was more valuable than gold. It's so funny that this group of children who have just escaped hunger wantonly spoil the fruits of other people's labor.

In the previous life, there was a meme 'Give children a perfect childhood' circulating on the Internet.It seems that it is necessary to give these children a perfect childhood and let them know what is moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor.

In the future, a notice will be issued to each family that all school-age children must go to school.Arrived at school, hum...

Later generations often say that planting is a talent rooted in the genes of the Chinese nation, right or wrong.

What is right is that after thousands of years of long development, the talent of the Chinese nation in planting has indeed been fully tapped.

What is wrong is that there is nothing in this world that you can get for nothing. The planting talent of the Chinese nation has been cultivated through generations and thousands of years.

From the period of the legendary Three Emperors and Five Emperors, to the Three Dynasties, and then to the invention of the plow by Mozi in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, various agricultural implements have increased, and planting techniques have been perfected day by day through summarization.

By the time of the Tang Dynasty, slash-and-burn farming had almost been bid farewell, and it was more planned land reclamation.There are systematic methods for the spacing of seedlings, weeding, irrigation, seed selection, etc.

But there is still a big shortcoming, that is fat accumulation.

In fact, the Chinese have known the concept of land fertility for a long time, and summed up the most primitive method of restoring land fertility, the wheel shift.

But shift shifts are actually only slowing down the loss of soil fertility, and cannot fundamentally solve this problem. The best way to solve the problem of soil fertility is to accumulate manure.

The best fertilizer is animal manure, but the manure is too high in heat and will burn the crops to death. It must be fertilized to release heat before it can be used as fertilizer for crops.

However, the composting technology was not invented until the Ming Dynasty. The method of manure accumulation in the previous dynasties was either to burn crop straw or to recover naturally.

But the ancient times were poor, and farmers in the 21st century are worrying about the issue of straw recycling.But ancient straw is also a precious wealth, and no one is willing to burn it.So the way to restore the fertility of the land is to change the rotation.

After Yueshan crossed, he naturally brought over his retting skills.

Fourth Yue Yue used it dubiously, and was shocked to find that this retting fertilizer really worked, and it was easy to charge three or five buckets more per mu.

Then Si Xingping began to learn the technology of retting.

When Li Shimin discovered that the crops in Sixingping were obviously better than those in other regions—then he promoted the retting technology across the country.Moreover, there is a by-product of retting. The juice produced by retting is a natural insecticide, which can effectively kill crop pests.

Some people want to ask, if retting juice is so good, why not use it in the 21st century?

It's very simple. Insects in the 21st century have experienced the baptism of various insecticides, and their resistance is too strong, and ordinary insecticides cannot kill them.

The worms in Datang have never eaten insecticides, and a simple manure juice can kill them easily.

This can be regarded as Yueshan once again benefiting the people of Datang.

When the group of children left, Fourth Yue sulked for a while and forgot about it.If it was in the past, he would definitely find the child's home and ask the other party to compensate.

But now, farming is more of a way of life and fun, and people don't count on the crops in the field to make a living, so people have become more magnanimous.

It is said that it is easy to go from frugal to extravagant and difficult to go from extravagant to frugal, which is not wrong at all.

When Yue Shan first made a fortune, Yue Laosi couldn't adapt to the sudden change, and hid in the fields every day to work, and when he got used to it, he would be able to deal with it calmly.

He also began to hire tenants and servants, and he still often went to the field, and he also cared about his own crops, and he would be happy that the crops were growing well, and would be proud of the high yield of his own crops.

But working has changed from a necessity of life to a habitual pleasure.

Although he didn't develop such bad habits as liking leisure and loathing work, he gradually learned to enjoy it.He would be angry if the crops in the field were ruined by a child, but he would forget it in a blink of an eye, and would not go to the child's house to ask others to compensate him.

This is change.

Today Yue Laosi came to the field to harvest soybeans, and usually he would do it together, but today he wanted to accompany his son, so he just told the servants and went to another field with Yue Shan.

"This land is planted with cotton, not only us, this year ten miles and eight villages grow cotton, and the cotton seeds are all bought from our family." Yue Laosi pointed to the lush cotton seedlings in the field.

"Didn't everyone think that cotton could not be eaten before and they were unwilling to grow it? How did you change your mind this year?" Yue Shan asked.

Most of the ten miles and eight villages are planted with cotton, at least tens of thousands of acres. This planting area is already quite a lot for Datang.

At least enough for military use.

"Cotton can be sold for money. The imperial court bought it at a high price, which is more cost-effective than growing grain. The main reason is that locusts don't eat it, so everyone can rest assured when planting it." Yue Laosi said:

"Not only around us, people from other states and counties also came to buy cotton seeds, and people from the government asked me for advice on cotton planting techniques. Just wait and see, in less than two years, the entire Guanzhong area will be full of cotton plants."

Speaking of this matter, Yue Laosi became even more excited.

Although cotton was produced by Yueshan, its development and growth cannot be separated from the efforts of Yue Laosi. He has been helping to manage and summarize planting techniques over the years.

But farmers are the most vulnerable. Generally, they will not grow crops that they are not familiar with, even if they find that such crops are very profitable.

Yue Shan's family has been growing cotton for several years, and the actual output is more cost-effective than growing grain. However, not many people are willing to follow suit, and his idea of ​​promoting cotton planting has never been realized.

Moreover, Yue Shan didn't want to use administrative orders to promote this thing. He came from later generations and he knew very well what consequences would happen once this method was adopted.

Even in the 21st century, tractors have been used to destroy farmers' wheat fields and grow walnut trees to plant other crops.

Why does this happen?Because the top ordered to vigorously promote it, the people below did disgusting things in order to flatter, which is the so-called "response to the call".

This is still the case in the 21st century, if it was in ancient times, hehe...

So even though Yue Shan really wanted to promote cotton planting, he had been reluctant to use administrative orders to do so.

Although the speed of spontaneous promotion will be very slow, the key is to be safe.Besides, he doesn't lack this time. He is only seventeen or eighteen years old, so he has plenty of time to wait.

But there is another village where the willows are dark and the flowers are bright, and the locust plague has actually promoted the promotion of cotton planting.

Think about it too, the food of locusts is mainly grasses, and all food crops except buckwheat are within the scope of its diet.Cotton is not a grass crop, and locusts don't eat it.

Although farmers seek stability, they also know how to adapt.Under the threat of locust plagues, it is natural not to bite the bullet and grow food with technology.

And once farmers have tasted the sweetness of growing cotton, they will grow it themselves without being urged, and even recommend it to relatives and friends around them.

After walking around the field, Yue Laosi went to the field to cut beans with the others, while Yue Shan returned home.

As soon as he got home, he saw a panicked Zhao Meng: "Yue Hou is not well, someone found a rooster that turned into a male, and stabbed the matter to the court."

(End of this chapter)