Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 343
In fact, it is very easy to see the Zhuangtian of the Tang Palace, as soon as you leave Nanyang City—the farmland under the name of the Tang Palace is more than [-] hectares. It is a big technical problem to avoid their Zhuangtian when walking in Nanyang .Yang Menglong galloped on the field road for a long time on a fast horse, but he still didn't run to the end. He had to marvel, good guy, you have occupied so many fields around Nanyang City, you guys are really greedy!
However, I don’t know if it’s retribution. Although the soil in some fields is fertile and the irrigation conditions are good, the wheat seedlings that grow are sparse, sickly, and have unhealthy yellow spots. Needless to say, this year’s harvest will be affected. Very problematic.The tenant farmers wore thin clothes and endured the biting spring cold. They worked hard weeding and watering. When they occasionally raised their heads, they could see deep wrinkles on their faces without a trace of smile. The hardships of life were written on their faces. superior.Yang Menglong jumped off his horse and walked into the field. He dug a handful of soil and rolled it over. After observing the wheat seedlings for a long time, he said to Zhu Yujian who followed him into the field: "This field is not good. There is not much fertility left and the seeds have deteriorated." Now, if the production capacity per mu reaches 150 catties, you can just laugh."

Zhu Yujian said: "Last year, the manager told me that the yield of these farmlands was less than one stone per mu!" Tian less than a hundred catties?"

Yang Menglong said: "You all know how to use the fields to your death, but you never know how to raise the fields. It's a strange thing to have a good harvest!" He dug a few times into the soil moisture, and dug out some soil with earth and wood ash. , "This is the base fertilizer you applied, right? Is it enough to use this thing as base fertilizer? You don't top-dress the wheat when it turns green, and you don't prevent pests. What good harvest can you expect!"

Zhu Yujian said: "That's why I hope Wuyangwei can provide me with some phosphate fertilizer!"

Yang Menglong said: "Phosphate fertilizer is not a panacea! You only see that we get good harvests with phosphorus fertilizer, but you don't know how much manure we use per mu of field! Well, maybe you also know how much manure I need to use, but you don't know. I know how many processes these manures have gone through before they are applied to the fields! Phosphorus fertilizers have always been used as base fertilizers and topdressing fertilizers. If I use it as a single fertilizer, I will not be able to build several phosphate fertilizer factories!"

Zhu Yujian was at a loss: "Then what should I do?"

Yang Menglong pointed to the sparse wheat field that seemed to have been gnawed by sheep, and said, "In my opinion, don't take any wheat this season, and replant some less refined crops, and let the land rest."

Zhu Yujian called: "We don't want any more wheat, so what shall we eat!"

Yang Menglong said: "You can plant spring potatoes for a season first. This stuff is easier to feed. Apply some phosphate fertilizer and manure and it will grow wildly. It is not a problem to harvest twelve or three stones per mu. After planting spring potatoes, you can choose to plant another season. Autumn potatoes, you can also choose to grow flax for a season, anyway, if you don’t grow wheat this year, it will be a waste of effort.” Hehe smiled, “The most important thing is that the yield of potatoes is high. Will be grateful, because he still has two or three stones, which can fully fill his stomach."

Zhu Yujian did the math, and now the purchase price of a stone of potatoes is two to three silver coins, if an acre of land produces thirteen stones, and he collects ten stones for rent, then his income will be as much as two to three silver coins, and if If you grow wheat, you can be thankful that you can get one or two buckets of rent per mu of land, but here it is [-] to [-] times worse.The most important thing is that the burden on the farmers is also lightened. As Yang Menglong said, if he grows wheat, he will be scolded to death by the tenant farmers for renting one or two buckets per mu, while renting farmers who grow potatoes and earn ten stones per mu Will be grateful, this business, done!He said: "I understand growing potatoes. As long as they are planted properly, the yield is really high, but what is the use of this flax?"

Yang Menglong rolled his eyes: "Are you stupid from studying? You don't even know what flax is used for? Flax can be used to weave cloth, flaxseeds can also be squeezed for oil, and the seed skin can be made into glue. It is full of treasures! After all, The wonderful thing is that its growth cycle is very short, from sowing to harvesting, it takes less than three months, and the income of one acre of flax is more than ten times higher than that of one acre of wheat!"

Zhu Yujian was a little depressed: "How do you know so much?"

Yang Menglong said: "Because when I first arrived in Wuyang, there were too few military lands available for development, but there were more and more military households under my command, which forced me to think every day how to use so little land to develop To feed more and more people, think more, read more books, and understand more naturally.”

Zhu Yujian asked with interest: "For example?"

Yang Menglong said: "For example, if there are too few military fields, I will try my best to repair canals and irrigation wells, so as to turn wasteland that was not suitable for cultivation into good fields; for example, I will adopt crop rotation according to seasonal changes and plant multiple crops a year. , make full use of the land; for example, I will find ways to raise more livestock, accumulate manure, and increase the fertility of the land, instead of blindly fighting for land!" After taking a breath, he pulled out a dead wheat plant , Said: "The advantage of this is that even if the wheat I plant fails, I can still rely on potatoes and soybeans to feed the military households; even if my potatoes fail, the flax I plant can also reduce the loss." At the lowest level, even let me make a small profit. In this way, the income I can bring from an acre of land is ten times that of yours!"

Zhu Yujian muttered to himself: "Why has no one taught me this? It's not in the book..."

Yang Menglong said: "Because the people who teach you to read are nerds who don't eat the smoke and fire of the world. They don't know how miserable the common people are, and they don't know how hard it is to eat a bowl of rice and noodles. , Of course, they don’t bother to know, they only have the so-called way of saints in their minds!” Pointing to the peasants who are working in the distance, he said helplessly: “Even if I tell you everything I know, you still can’t do it. Come, for the problem is with the man, not with the earth."

Zhu Yujian asked curiously, "Why?"

Yang Menglong said: "They are starving, poorly clothed, scolded and whipped by their supervisors, toil day and night, and use their own blood and sweat to feed you princes and grandchildren, but their families may starve to death." Yu, if you were them, what would you think? Would you still work hard? Before, they had no choice but to suffer numbly. Now they have a better choice. Believe it or not, next year , your tenant farmers will run away, and then you can only see them in Wuyangwei's military fields or factories?"

If Zhu Yujian doesn’t believe this, it’s really impossible. In the past two years, [-]% of the tenant farmers in his farm have run away, and more and more ran away. The head of the palace complained that if this continues, no one will farm for the palace.The most troublesome thing is that the grain market, which has always been monopolized by Tang Palace, has also been strongly impacted by Wuyangwei. Potato starch and sweet potato starch, which are much cheaper than traditional flour and more than ten times higher in output, are put into the market. In the Jianghuai region, Wangfu's grain sales plummeted, and his income severely shrank.Grain income has always been the main source of income for the Tang Palace. Now that this income has shrunk, the blow to them can be imagined.What's more frightening is that this is just the beginning, and Wuyang Guard's momentum of expansion is far from reaching its limit. If you want to compete with Wuyang Guard in the grain business, it's purely brainwashed.

He frowned: "Then what should I do? Please ask the general to teach me!"

Yang Menglong said: "Give me another [-] hectares of fertile land, and I will teach you how to get ten times the income from the land and make farmers grateful."

One hectare equals one hundred acres, and four hundred hectares equals four hundred acres. Adding in the four hundred hectares given previously, my dear, nearly one-third of the Tang Prince's property was cut off at once.Zhu Yujian pondered for a long time, gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! The Tang Palace still has 150 hectares of fertile land in Biyang, all of which will be given to Wuyang Wei! There are also [-] hectares in Ye County. Although it is not considered fertile land, it can be regarded as middle farmland. Give it to Wuyang Wei!"

Yang Menglong was speechless. Hey, darling, he gave away tens of thousands of acres of land at his request. How generous!The money stringer stretched out his hand and said, "Bring the land deed!"

Zhu Yujian said: "The deed to the field is in the palace."

Yang Menglong said: "Let's go and get it quickly!"

Really impatient...

Zhu Yujian smiled and said, "Then let's go to the palace to have a chat."

Yang Menglong was very straightforward, pulled Zhu Yujian out of the wheat field, jumped on the horse, and flew towards the palace like a cloud of smoke...

The Nanyang Mansion is also in a bit of a mess because... it's time to pay wages to the Tang Prince's Mansion again.Just a few days ago, Fang Yizhi was informed that King Fushan, Zhu Yujian's uncle, had given birth to three more sons!This means that the financial expenditure of Nanyang Mansion has greatly increased. This always gentle and elegant prefect almost turned the table.The total tax revenue in Nanyang is not enough to pay the salary of the Tang Palace. How tragic this is!He is now discussing with the county magistrates of Xinye, Sheqi, Fangcheng, Dengzhou and other counties to jointly write a letter to the imperial court to ask the imperial court to reduce the salary of the clan, otherwise Nanyang will really be eaten by these phoenix sons and dragon grandchildren died!
The magistrate of Xinye lamented: "Ninety-nine out of ten of the fertile land in this county have become the farmland of the Tang Palace, and all the mountains, forests and lakes belong to the Tang Palace. The common people, let alone farming, can't even go to the mountains to cut firewood or go down to the river to fish. Got it!"

The county magistrate of Sheqi even smiled bitterly: "Your place is pretty good. You are sitting in the essence of Nanyang and your life is not bad. But it is different here. The land is originally barren, and the Tang Palace controls all the fertile land. The common people are pretty much the same." All gone!"

The county magistrate of Zhechuan also complained bitterly: "King Fushan just went to the court and begged for the mining tax in our area! Zhechuan is already poor enough, so it can only be supported by that bit of mining tax. If even the mining tax is taken away by him The people of Zhejiang and Sichuan really can’t live anymore!”

Fang Yizhi pondered for a moment, then said: "Why don't we go to the prince's mansion to face our grandson and argue with reason, asking him to reduce some rent and refund some mining tax?"

Several county magistrates shook their heads loudly, expressing that the ideal is full, but the reality is very skinny.They have learned a lot about how greedy the feudal king is, and it is so sad to want them to spit out the meat they ate!
The master came in and told Fang Yizhi: "General Yang has gone to Tang Palace as a guest!"

Everyone was horrified, it was a big taboo for the vassal king to have private contacts with the commander-in-chief of a place!Fang Yizhi waved his hand violently and called: "Prepare the car, go to Tang Palace!"

(End of this chapter)