Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 577: Agriculture Prepares for a Rainy Day
There is no party outside the party, and the so-called emperor's thinking. There is no faction within the party, and there are all kinds of strange things. As the "emperor's teacher party" that is now "in power" in the Ming Dynasty, its internal structure is certainly not a monolithic entity: if it were a monolithic entity, then Zhu Youdong would have trouble sleeping.
When there are factions within the government, there will naturally be struggles. For example, the appointments of Ni Yuanlu, Ma Shiying and others were the of a secret maneuver between the first and second assistants: the arrogant second assistant Yuan believed that his students could achieve good results in Huai'an and Changsha, which had been developed for many years and had complex social relations. The far-sighted first assistant Wen believed that his students could draw a grand pattern on a blank sheet of paper...
Zhu Youdong knew all about these things, and he had no intention of stopping them: this was orderly competition, and it should exist. As long as it didn't turn into a party struggle just for the sake of opposition, it would be fine.
Moreover, appropriate competition can indeed help solve the hidden dangers that exist in the Ming Dynasty today.
Confucius said: Food and sex are human nature. The first need of living things to survive in the world is to eat to ensure their own survival. The second need is to reproduce, pass on their DNA, and allow themselves to perpetuate in another way. This is the natural attribute of all living things, and this is especially true for humans.
Therefore, solving the food problem is the first problem that Zhu Youdong and his colleagues face in their respective countries.
The cultivated land area of the Ming Dynasty at that time was close to 1 billion mu. Even if the minimum yield per mu was calculated at two dan, the annual harvest was at least 120 billion kilograms. Then, after the implementation of the land tax system and the establishment of Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Northeast China, the Ming Dynasty's population skyrocketed to 180 million. On average, each person could get about 666 kilograms of grain per year - enough to eat anyway.
But, theory is just theory.
The Little Ice Age has come. Now the cultivated land area in the north of the Ming Dynasty that is affected by disasters all year round has exceeded 200 million mu. There is also a lot of land in the south that is sometimes affected by floods. In addition, there are frequent locust plagues, pests and diseases in China. The actual average per mu output value of Ming Dynasty agriculture, even if the output of those high-yield crops is included, is estimated to be difficult to reach 2 shi/mu.
Then, with the rise of industry in recent years, a large amount of land has been abandoned. On the other hand, the number of factories has increased, and the increased demand for raw materials has led to the conversion of grain fields to cash crops. This has led to a continuous reduction in grain fields and a continuous reduction in agricultural labor.
Of course, with the advancement of science and technology and the development of society, the reduction of labor in the primary industry is an inevitable trend, and Zhu Youdong is not prepared to restrict it. However, the reason why the agricultural countries in later generations can produce a lot of food with very little labor is that they have three major weapons.
Mechanization, improved seeds, and fertilizers.
But now the Ming Dynasty only has one good variety - and this is a weakened version.
As for the remaining two, mechanization, Zhu Youdong thought that if this game lasted for a long time, he might still see it in his lifetime. And the large-scale use of fertilizers? Haha, in the words of a 21st century agricultural student, only a country that can build nuclear submarines has the ability to produce fertilizers on a large scale.
Although there are many varieties of modern agricultural fertilizers, the most basic raw material is only one: synthetic ammonia. This substance is produced by hydrogen and nitrogen under high temperature and high pressure. To create such a high temperature and high pressure environment, the pressure resistance of the reactor must be extremely strong, basically as high as the pressure resistance of the hull of a nuclear submarine. This is the field of materials science and has nothing to do with medicine, which Zhu Youdong is good at.
Therefore, although the Ming Dynasty has made great progress in the development of gunpowder and has widely used ammonia, this production capacity is not enough to meet the needs of the army, let alone use it as fertilizer.
Any species in this world must follow the law of conservation of energy. Hybrid rice or high-quality wheat varieties only raise the upper limit of crop yields. But to reach this upper limit, crops must absorb enough nutrients and energy. These things are far from enough to rely on sunlight, rain and soil alone. If you really want rice and wheat to reach a yield of thousands of kilograms per mu, it is absolutely impossible without fertilizers.
However, the Ming Dynasty is currently unable to produce fertilizers on a large scale.
However, no matter what, efforts must be made to increase the total grain output of the country: in the future, if the Ming Dynasty wants to dominate the world, it must at least form a modern army of more than five million, and it will continue to recruit soldiers from the country because of the large number of casualties caused by the bloody war. While further reducing the rural labor force, the country's consumption of grain will increase exponentially. In the next few decades, the Little Ice Age climate will become more and more severe. Without prior planning, how can we cope with the food shortage in the future?
Collective farms use industrial production methods to carry out agricultural production. Even if mechanization and chemical fertilizers are not available now, as long as they are properly managed, their output will always be much higher than that of small farmers who slowly cultivate their two or three acres of land.
This was the first major move Zhu Youdong made after he traveled around the country and gained a deep understanding of the conditions at the grassroots level of the Ming Dynasty.
In order to ensure the success of this plan , Zhu Youdong urgently summoned Xu Guangqi, Song Yingxing and others during his tour. After collective efforts and repeated consultations and discussions, they finalized the basic management methods of the Ming Dynasty collective farms, as well as some teaching materials on grain planting and pest control.
Perhaps someone will say: Isn’t the agricultural labor force in the Ming Dynasty constantly decreasing? And with new wasteland being reclaimed, where will the labor come from?
Zhu Youdong had naturally thought of this problem. However, in his opinion, even without mechanization, under the collective farm production method, the land that a farmer could take care of would be far more than that of an ordinary small farmer. Not to mention, for the convenience of management, he planned to recruit some Korean and Japanese farmers to come in and cultivate the land.
In short, the establishment of collective farms entered the implementation stage in May 1628 after the proposal of Sun Chengzong, the Minister of Personnel, was passed by the State Council, drafted by the Cabinet, and approved by the Imperial Household Department. With the appointment of Ni Yuanlu, Huang Daozhou, Ma Shiying, and Gao Hongtu, the collective farms were put into practice.
At this time, Zhu Youdong and his party had already toured Jianzhou, Baoyuan Prefecture, Sichuan Provincial Administration.
"Father, is this the most important pass in Bashu, Jiange?"
"Yes, this is Jiange. What do you think of this place, my son?"
"It is indeed a dangerous terrain. It is really a situation where one man can block the passage of ten thousand men."
"Hahaha, Yi'er, Yan'er, tell me, how many times has this Sword Pavilion been breached in history?"
Zhu Ciyan, who was only seven years old, jumped up and clapped his hands: "Brother, brother, don't say anything yet, let me count, um, Qin destroyed Shu once, Wei destroyed Shu Han once, Later Tang destroyed Former Shu, Northern Song destroyed Later Shu once, and my Ming destroyed Xia once. A total of five times, father, is that right or not?"
"Haha, Yan'er's speaking is not bad." You really can't ask too much of a seven-year-old child, you can only encourage him. But for the ten-year-old Zhu Ciyan...
"Father, I have carefully thought about the history of the five times that the separatist regimes in Bashu were eliminated, and suddenly I realized that Jiange seems to have never been breached head-on."
"Hahaha, Yi'er is right!" Zhu Youdong nodded with satisfaction, raised his finger and pointed at the attic above Jianmen Pass and said, "Qin destroyed Shu because the king of Shu coveted wealth and opened a path for Qin to break in. Wei destroyed Shu Han because Deng Ai attacked through the Yinping trail. Later Tang destroyed Former Shu because all the soldiers of Former Shu had no intention of fighting and surrendered as soon as the Tang army arrived. Song destroyed Later Shu by attacking from eastern Sichuan. As for the Ming Dynasty destroying Xia, haha, Duke Ying (Fu Youde) also used Deng Ai's old trick to get in from Yinping."
"I understand my father's teachings. No matter how strong a place is, if there are no defenders with strong will and command, it will be full of loopholes."
"Yes, children, you must remember that in this world, the most precious thing is always people, and the most important thing is always people."
"Father, speaking of people, my teacher Mr. Li has gone to the plateau. Who is my new teacher?"
"Huh? Hahaha, mention the devil and he'll appear."
"Your Highness, I, Chen Zizhuang, pay my respects to His Majesty and Your Highnesses."
"No need to be polite, no need to be polite. Alas, Jisheng, you have worked hard in Osman these years. Moreover, you came back from such a long distance, but I didn't even let you go home to rest. I directly called you to Sichuan. You must be exhausted."
"I dare not. Your Majesty has summoned me, so why should I not come as soon as possible? Besides, I have been in Ottoman Empire for many years, and I have a lot of experiences in the local area that I need to report to Your Majesty."
"Hahaha, that's right. So, Jisheng, what I mean is that I want you to replace Ma Shiying who went to Jilin to serve as the governor, and become the new Minister of Public Administration. And what about Ciyi?"
"Father."
"Jisheng, this is my eldest son. How about you become his teacher in the future?"
"I will obey the emperor's order."
"Okay, that's the arrangement. You've come a long way today and you must have worked hard. Go down and have a good rest first. We will hold a formal apprenticeship ceremony another day."
"Your Majesty, this time when I came back, in addition to bringing back the entire Ming Dynasty delegation, I also brought back one more person. This person is a Frenchman named Richelieu."
"What? What did you say? What's his name? Richelieu!"
