Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The dispute over land grabs lasted for more than half a month, and calm finally returned to the village.

Because the harvest of rapeseed has begun, and the spring silkworms are also laying cocoons. No matter men, women, old or young, they are busy day and night, and they really can't spare the energy to make trouble anymore. Those who suffer can only acquiesce in the status quo.

Ju Ming told the story for a while, then stood up and looked into the distance.

Some rapeseed fields have been harvested and water is being diverted to irrigate the fields. There is a large water tanker and a canal by the river. They are the property of the Bai family. Villagers need to pay water fees for irrigation.

In rapeseed fields next to each other, several families often help each other.

Because they need to finish harvesting quickly and then divert water to irrigate the fields together. For land that is not next to a canal, water must be diverted from neighboring fields, and gaps in the field ridges must be opened to connect one piece of land to another. Everyone must pay for the water together.

Next, we have to plow the fields. Not every family has a plowing ox, and we have to wait in line to rent one.

If you really can’t wait, you can only plow the ground manually.

Not only did all the family's strong labor force have to be used, but the children also had to help, because time was needed to rotate rice.

Before harvesting rapeseed, villagers are also cultivating rice seedlings. Using the traditional method of sowing seeds, the seedlings have now emerged. Although the seeds were sown later, they grew faster and stronger than Zhu Guoxiang's seedlings.

Mr. Zhu seems to have overturned.

The seedlings he cultivated have become a joke in the village.

"ha!"

Zheng Hong leaned on the chair and yawned, but he stopped urging him. Wherever the story was told, he heard it.

"come over!"

The little fat man took out the preserved fruit and waved to the horse.

But the horse didn't want to shake him off. It walked in circles in the yard and even trotted a few times.

Ju Ming smiled when he saw this, took the preserved fruit, spread it in his hands, and shouted: "Treasure bowl!"

The horse immediately turned around, walked up to Ju Ming, bit into the piece of preserved fruit, chewed it, and shook its head.

Zhu Guoxiang shouted in the kitchen: "Come and help!"

The little fat man's entourage was so smart that he ran to the kitchen to help Zhu Ming carry the cocoon.

The cocoons are soaked in boiling water and it is best to reel them immediately so that the raw silk will be bright and smooth.

If there are too many cocoons and not enough manpower, it is necessary to make cooked cocoons and store them, and slowly reel in the cooked silk.

In the Song Dynasty, there were two methods of making cocoons: sun drying and salt soaking. The sun drying method could easily damage the cocoons, while the salt soaking method was too expensive.

What was reeling now was raw silk. After soaking the raw silkworms and carrying them to the courtyard, the hand-operated reeling cart was also brought out. Grandma Yan and Shen Yourong began to cooperate tacitly.

Zhu Guoxiang watched for a while and asked: "Is this the only kind of reeling?"

Shen Yourong replied: "There is only this kind in the countryside. It has to be shaken by hand, so it is not reeling fast. There are bigger ones in the city that can be pedaled, which is much faster than this."

"Are the raw silk reels taken to the city and sold?" Zhu Guoxiang asked again.

"Spinning silk and delivering summer grain." Shen Yourong said.

Shen Yourong's family was classified as a fifth-class household and was grouped with six other families.

If seven families jointly pay one piece of silk, they will be considered as having completed the summer grain tax.

Taxation is not easy, because the price of a piece of silk is about two guan, and occasionally even rises to three or four guan. Divided evenly, a fifth-class household would have to pay at least three to four hundred cash, and all fifth-class households were suffering.

Mrs. Shen's family is pretty good, so she should be classified as a fourth-class household, and Bai Erlang secretly manipulates her downgrade.

A real fifth-class household is much poorer. If you don't pay attention, you won't be able to pay summer grain.

Shen Yourong suddenly asked: "Ms. Zhu, can your seedlings still work?"

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "If you can't do it now, just transplant it. In half a month, it will be almost time to transplant the rice seedlings."

After transplanting the rice seedlings, it’s time to witness the miracle!

Zhu Guoxiang walked to his son and asked in a low voice: "Can you improve the reeling?"

"Dean Zhu, do you think I am Doraemon? I can change anything," Zhu Ming was speechless. "And, Madam Shen just said, there is a more advanced pedal-type reeling machine. . Even if it needs to be improved, it will be more advanced. I haven’t even seen it in real form yet.”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "When I was a child, there was a time when the central government called on people across the country to raise silkworms and reel silk in order to earn foreign exchange through exports. Most of them sold the cocoons to the reeling factories, and some people kept some for reeling themselves. I remember them all. Use the steaming method to make cooked cocoons. I just asked, and there was no method of steaming cooked cocoons in the Song Dynasty."

"Then just steam it." Zhu Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I only know how to steam, but I don't know the details. I am afraid that I will damage the cocoon accidentally."

Ju Ming smiled and said: "In the future, if you have money, you can explore slowly."

Suddenly there was a snoring sound next to him, but the warm spring sun was shining on him, and the fat man Zheng Hong fell asleep leaning on the chair.

When he woke up, it was already mid-afternoon. He stretched himself and stood up and said, "Da Lang, I will go back to Yangzhou tomorrow. My family lives in Yingchun Lane, Anlefang. If you go, I will find out as soon as I inquire."

"I'll definitely come and play with you when I have time," Ju Ming said.

"Then I'll leave." Zheng Hong said goodbye.

Ju Ming sent him outside the hospital, turned around and whistled, and the horses immediately came running, and one man and one horse went out for a walk.

Back home again, Zhu Guoxiang was cooking, and his mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were still reeling silk there. They might be busy all night tonight.

Orphans and widowed mothers are like this. There is not enough labor force, so they must work harder.

Zhu Guoxiang couldn't help. He was afraid that he would damage the raw silk because of his clumsiness, so he could only run to the kitchen to cook.

The days passed.

Due to the cooling in the past few days, the time for corn seedlings to grow has become longer, and it will have to wait a few more days before transplanting.

The villagers are just busy and still don't know that they have to pay back taxes this year.

Finally, when it was time to plant rice seedlings, the paddy fields were full of people.

Zhu Guoxiang goes to see his rice seedlings every day, and from time to time instructs the tenants to take care of them. Now he came to Lu An and said, "Call the tenants, we will plant the rice seedlings tomorrow."

Lu An obeyed and found the tenant the next day.

The two tenants were very impatient. They farmed several acres of land in their home, and it was the critical period of rice transplanting, but they had to accompany Zhu Xianggong to fool around.

The seedlings cultivated by Zhu Guoxiang were sown earlier and grew poorly. In the eyes of the villagers, they were regarded as substandard garbage.

The experimental field is not big, so two tenants cooperated and planted it in half a day.

Then everyone ran away, including Lu An.

They didn't even bother to read the joke, because Zhu Xianggong's seedlings had already become a joke in the village.

It was not until a few days later that Zhu Guoxiang found Lu An and said that he wanted to add more farmyard fertilizer.

Lu An impatiently called the tenants and came to the field with farmyard manure. The three of them were stunned for a moment.

Those malnourished seedlings, after only a few days of transplanting, started to grow rapidly and became as strong as ordinary seedlings.

After instructing the two tenants to do their work, Lu An rushed back to report: "Master, this is really rare!"

"What's the matter?" Old Bai asked outside.

Lu An reported in detail: "The seedlings raised by Zhu Xianggong have shallow roots and weak seedlings before planting. After only a few days of planting, they have grown rapidly, fast and strong!"

Member Lao Bai muttered: "Sure enough, he has some skills."

A few days passed, and more and more villagers discovered abnormalities.

Because the contrast is so strong, the seedlings in the experimental field have not only caught up, but have gradually caught up, becoming stronger than the seedlings in the surrounding farmland.

It’s so clear that even a child can understand it.

After transplanting the rice seedlings, the farmers were a little more relaxed, and many people came to watch.

“Is manure being used more?”

"Definitely is."

"Won't Chen Si help with the wait? Just ask him."

"I asked yesterday, and Fourth Brother Chen said that Mr. Zhu's field uses less manure."

"How come Fatty is still growing stronger?"

"I heard that Mr. Zhu met an immortal when he went to sea. This is a method passed down by the immortals."

"I'm afraid it's really a magical method. I don't know if we can use it."

"It would be great if it can be used. His method of sowing seeds early and missing the busiest time can save a lot of physical labor."

"..."

When the villagers saw Zhu Guoxiang again, their eyes were obviously different.

No matter how wonderful Ju Ming's story is, it can only make people doubtful. The idea of ​​a daughter for the king's wife is more often a source of conversation.

But now, Zhu Guoxiang's method of raising seedlings can indeed make the seedlings grow better. Moreover, the changes before and after transplanting the rice seedlings are very dramatic, as if an ugly duckling turns into a swan.

Everyone is farming, and from the growth of the seedlings, they know that the experimental field will definitely increase production.

In view of the different weights and measures in the past dynasties, all were converted into units of New China, and only the rice yield in the Taihu area was used for comparison: the yield per mu was 276 jins in the Tang Dynasty, 450 jins per mu in the Song Dynasty, 667 jins per mu in the Ming Dynasty, and 550 jins per mu in the Qing Dynasty.

This historian has not yet figured out why rice production dropped significantly during the Qing Dynasty. Anyway, there are many theories.

Looking at the Song and Ming dynasties alone, Taihu's rice production increased dramatically. In addition to more complete water conservancy facilities, there is another important factor, which is the promotion of water and drought control rice seedling cultivation methods!

By using Zhu Guoxiang's method, the village's rice production is estimated to be increased by more than 20%.

The busy farming season was over, and in the evening, another villager came to listen to the story.

Before Zhu Ming started his lecture, everyone couldn't help but ask: "Ms. Zhu, have you really learned the magic of growing rice?"

Zhu Guoxiang went back to the house directly, with the door closed tightly, not wanting to talk nonsense.

That aloof look added a bit of mystery.

When the rice in the experimental fields is harvested, the villagers will probably be stunned.

Shen Yourong went out of her way to boil water and brew loose tea to entertain the villagers. She was very happy at the moment and felt that she had not misjudged anyone.

"Aunt, Mr. Zhu is really awesome!" Shen Yourong said when he returned to the room.

Grandma Yan was also very happy and whispered: "This afternoon, Mr. Bai sent someone to come and ask you if you are willing to remarry Mr. Zhu. If you are willing, he will come and act as a matchmaker. I only have to say something, and you will remarry." No, Brother Qi can't change his surname, he must continue to have the surname Bai Chuanxianghuo."

Shen Yourong blushed with embarrassment, buried her head and said, "It's all up to my aunt."