Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 394 The Future of Shu
"Hahaha, Uncle King of Shu, so when Zhu Shengpang was dragged to the clan residence, almost all of his teeth were knocked out?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. This time I was summoned to the capital and first went to the clan house to report. And then I ran into this incident."
"How did the Grand Master handle it?"
"Of course Zhu Shengpang was detained first. As for Chen Zizhuang and the other scholars, the Grand Master gave them a stern lecture and that was it."
"Hahaha, very interesting. It's a pity that the imperial examination is coming soon and I can't contact the scholars in advance, otherwise I really want to meet Chen Zizhuang. Well, go for it, I like this sentence of Cantonese people."
Then he raised his head slightly and said to Fang Zhenghua beside him: "Send someone to find out whether the story of Zhu Yunkeng and Zhu Shengmiao is really as those Guangdong scholars said. If it is true, then help them repay their bank loans, and the funds will be taken from my inner treasury. In addition, tell Zhang Shize about this matter. The six major newspapers should focus on promoting this matter. I need such a royal family benchmark. As for Zhu Shengpang? Humph, how can he be confined in Fengyang? Ask Lao Wei to come forward and take him on a one-day tour of the East Factory. Tell him that if he doesn't change his ways, I don't mind using his body to contribute to the advancement of the torture science of my Ming Dynasty."
"Yes, I obey your command."
After Fang Zhenghua left, Zhu Youdong gestured to Zhu Zhishu, "Uncle Shu, please take a seat. Ah, by the way, the Shu clan was also an old clan founded during the Hongwu period, and there are many relatives in this family. How is it? Are there any poor relatives blocking the door of Uncle Shu?"
"I am ashamed to say that there were indeed a few useless relatives who came to the mansion to ask for money. I have made all the arrangements. But please rest assured, Your Majesty, since the time of King Xian (the first King of Shu), Shu Clan has not considered business as a cheap thing. Over the past two hundred years of the imperial dynasty, Shu Clan and its fiefdoms and relatives have actually been running various businesses. Therefore, most of Shu Clan's descendants have at least one store. After the promulgation of Your Majesty's new policy for the royal family, they dared to step out from behind the scenes and personally run various businesses. From this point of view, they are grateful to Your Majesty."
"Yeah." Zhu Youdong believed at least half of what Zhu Zhishu said: Shu Fan has been good at doing business and making money since the first Shu King Zhu Chun. When Zhu Laosi was in power, a considerable part of the military expenses were provided by the Shu King. For more than two hundred years, Shu Fan was the leader, and the county kings in Sichuan were the assistants, and the generals and lieutenants who originated from Zhu Chun were the end. The entire Sichuan and Qinghai-Tibet, Yunnan, and Guizhou business circles were basically controlled by Shu Fan. It was not difficult for the descendants of the Shu King to make a living on weekdays.
Under Zhu Chun, the successive Shu kings may have had problems of one kind or another, but they were generally very foresighted in making money. Take this Shu king for example. In order to cope with the locust plague in North China, Zhu Youdong asked the princes for food. In exchange, he gave the cement technology to the princes who provided the food. As a result, the other princes built a cement factory and sold cement to the court. The Shu king built a cement factory and also built the Chengdu-Chongqing highway: Now, there is cement road transportation between Chengdu and Chongqing, and the Shu Palace has made a lot of money by collecting tolls on this road.
"Uncle King of Shu, I asked you to come to the capital this time mainly for two things."
"Your Majesty, please give your instructions."
"First of all, I want to ask how the hybrid rice project is going now?"
"Your Majesty." Zhu Zhishu sat up straight and bowed his hands seriously. "Your Majesty has entrusted me to test-plant the rice seeds that the factory master and the Grand Marshal have cultivated for many years in the Chengdu Plain. During the test planting, we strictly followed the rules of Fangshan Laboratory and selected the best rice seeds near Chengdu as a reference. In the first year, the experimental field of Hybrid No. 1 had a gross weight of , and 263 kilograms after shelling and drying. Compared with the gross weight of 250 kilograms in the control field, which was only 175 kilograms after shelling and drying, the advantage is huge. Moreover, Hybrid No. 1 has a well-developed root system, strong tillering ability, thick stems, large ears and many grains, excellent rice quality, wide adaptability, and strong resistance to adversity. It is truly a magical thing.
However, in the second year, after I used the rice seeds produced in the first year to plant directly, the average yield of the ten mu test field dropped by more than 10%, and some fields even dropped by 30%. In the third year, the yield of the second year's seeds dropped to the same level as the control field, and some fields were even worse than the control field. "
"Yeah." Although he didn't study agriculture, Zhu Youdong knew that hybrid rice, while showing the advantages of both the paternal and maternal lines, also contained the disadvantages of both lines. Self-retained seeds could easily show the disadvantages of both lines at the same time in the second generation: the result was that they were worse than ordinary rice seeds.
"I understand. Then, Uncle Shu, my Fangshan Laboratory will be in Beijing. There is too little land here that can be used as an experimental field and a high-quality rice seed breeding base. I want to put the agricultural laboratory in Chengdu. When the time comes, please take care of me."
"I obey your order. Your Majesty, rest assured that the Shu clan will do its best to provide food for the people of the Ming Dynasty. Please give me a note, and I will go to Fangshan Laboratory and make arrangements with the professors there. Then I will allocate 10,000 acres of land in Chengdu to cultivate high-quality rice seeds."
In fact, with the high-yield crops in America such as potatoes, corn and sweet potatoes, and the future large grain-producing areas in Southeast Asia, at least for now, the research and development of hybrid rice is not particularly urgent, it is just a precaution. His real purpose is to find a cold-resistant rice variety through hybrid rice so that the black soil in Northeast China can be truly opened up in the future - for the Han people of this era, places that are not suitable for farming cannot be defended even if they are conquered.
Therefore, Zhu Youdong was not particularly anxious about this matter. After Zhu Zhishu agreed, he naturally opened a new topic.
"Uncle King of Shu, I know that the Shu clan has been engaged in various businesses in Sichuan over the years, and their interests are deeply involved. I just want to ask, if all the clans and vassals want to go to sea to establish their country, then Uncle King of Shu wants to go first or later? If he wants to go first, where do you want to go?"
"Your Majesty." Zhu Zhishu stood up and said, "I have figured it out. Everyone in Shu Fan knows that we must leave. In this case, it is better to leave early than late. As for where to go, I think the Irrawaddy River Plain of the Burmese is very good."
"Hahaha, I thought so at first. But it's a pity that Ahua Nalong is so smart. During the conquest of Siam last year, if he had been a little slack, I could have killed him. But he actually figured it out. But Uncle Shu, don't worry. As long as this guy dies, Myanmar will soon fall into the hands of the Ming Dynasty. Then I will appoint Uncle Shu to rule there."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Well, Uncle Shu has called together all the wealthy merchants in Sichuan to focus on building the road from Chengdu to Yangon, and has invested heavily in building the Yangon Port. This move is excellent. I am very happy that Uncle Shu has such determination and vision. Please rest assured, Uncle Shu, I have already informed the governor Hong Chengchou over there, and everything will be convenient for Uncle Shu."
"In that case, I would like to thank the emperor again. Please rest assured, the Shu clan has been a staunch supporter of the royal family since the Jingnan Campaign. It has been so for more than two hundred years and will continue to be so in the future."
"Hahaha, then I will have to continue to trouble Uncle Shu in the future."
"No, this is the duty of a subject. In this case, I will take my leave."
"Okay, I'll see Uncle King Shu off."
When Zhu Youdong had just sent Zhu Zhishu out, Tian Ergeng came hurriedly: "Your Majesty, I have something important to report to you."
