national surname chiming

Chapter 186

Three days after Hong Chengchou officially surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

On the first day of April, Wuchang Mansion.

God, who has been in Chongzhen for 15 years, really did not spare his face at all. The land in the south of the Yangtze River is ushering in uneven floods and droughts for two consecutive years——

Either the upper reaches of the Yangtze River are flooded and silted up, while the lower reaches are dry, or the lower reaches of the Yangtze River are intercepted in advance during the flood season, and the middle and upper reaches are dry.

Even if Shen Shuren, a traveler, appears now, and builds water conservancy projects in several prefectures around Wuchang to increase the potential for irrigation and storage, it is impossible to completely solve the harm of natural disasters, at best, it can only be slightly alleviated.

And at this point in history, apart from floods and droughts, plagues occurred one after another in several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. Fortunately, this kind of man-made disaster has not happened now——

According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty", the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the 15 years of Chongzhen should be a place full of thieves.After Zhang Xianzhong temporarily broke through Xiangyang last year and killed King Xianggui, he should rely on the gold and silver from several palaces and buy people's hearts to expand his army. Merge and conquer one of them.

The massacre and looting of Zhang Xianzhong's troops will obviously lead to a large number of corpses that cannot be buried and disposed of. This is also an important reason why the Jiangnan area was also spread by the great plague that year in history.

But all of this has obviously been completely changed by the butterfly effect. The Fifth Battalion of Gezuo was completely wiped out by Shen Shuren. No development is permitted in mountainous areas.

Zhang Xianzhong didn't come, so where did the great plague come from in the south of the Yangtze River?

There was no plague, and the flood and drought were slightly relieved. In the late spring, Wuchang Mansion, and even the surrounding mansions, looked a little bit angry. They seemed out of place in this late Ming Dynasty, even compared with the land of Wuyue. Don't give up.

The Jianghan Plain, which is covered with lakes and swamps, is now full of lush greenery, and the crops are growing gratifyingly.

As early as when Shen Shuren returned to Nanjing for the Chinese New Year, he left behind Zhang Huangyan and others who were in charge of civil affairs, and they worked diligently to persuade farmers to ensure that spring plowing proceeded in an orderly manner.

After Shen Shuren and his party returned at the beginning of March, they checked for leaks and made up for vacancies, and stepped up to rectify agricultural production to meet the urgent needs of the people.

Shen Shuren knew very well that if Zhang Xianzhong had crossed the border, a considerable part of the people here would be coerced into thieves.But this kind of thing can only be blamed on Zhang Xianzhong, not the people. The people are just short of food and clothing. Only by solving the problem of productivity and turning these miserable poor places into barely survivable places can Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong’s source of troops be cut off from the root.

Fortunately, the people under Shen Shuren are also very capable, not only clean and efficient in terms of administrative efficiency, but also quite beneficial in terms of science and technology and scientific management.

For example, Fang Yizhi, the newly elected prefect of Wuchang by Shen Shuren, is a combination of a civil servant and a scientist.In history, he was able to write "Physics", which shows that he is still very good at summarizing the laws of nature, far from being comparable to pedantry.

In this world, Fang Yizhi has obviously gone further than another time and space in terms of engineering and technical practice. A few years ago, Shen Shuren took him to tinker with the flying shuttle loom and made several small inventions. The skill tree of Fang Yizhi was distorted, so that after he took office in Wuchang, he continued to allocate his spare time to deal with these civil affairs gadgets.

The dignified magistrate actually made some slightly optimized agricultural tools within a few months and promoted them.And Shen Shuren invited Song Yingxing's family to live in Daye County. Besides developing iron mines, making steel, and researching machinery, Song Yingxing would also occasionally discuss with Fangfutai.

Fang Yizhi is interested in the laws of science, and Song Yingxing is interested in engineering application technology. The two of them are more theory-oriented and more practical. After discussing each other, they can be regarded as a golden wind and jade dew, and they soon became friends.

So much so that Fang Yizhi can spend one or two days a week to discuss practical techniques with Song Yingxing.

Although the price of doing so would be distracting Song Yingxing and delaying the development of new steelmaking technology and gun manufacturing, Shen Shuren did not hinder them.

Shen Shuren is very clear that what is most needed for scientific research and exploration is a relaxed ideological environment, and we can't always use engineering problems to force the R&D personnel to catch up with the progress.

To catch up with the progress can only be "filling the gap in the country", which is to imitate the cottage-style research and development, and is not suitable for exploring unknown areas.

To explore scientific research management in unknown fields, we must be like Google, allowing employees to allocate [-]% of their time and energy to do their own whimsical ideas, even if no benefits are produced in the end, they cannot be punished.

So at the beginning of the month, after learning that Fang Yizhi and Song Yingxing would often discuss "useless learning" together, Shen Shuren said very generously:

In the future, the projects arranged for Song Yingxing will add [-]% of the additional scientific research funds, which can be used for researching other things at will. Similarly, two days out of every ten days are allowed to do private work.But the premise is that the accounts must still be clear.

It is acceptable to spend money on useless things, but it is not acceptable to just greedy them.If the scientific researchers feel that the salary is poor, they can raise the salary separately. This is another problem, and one thing is one thing.

This kind of treatment was absolutely unique in the late Ming Dynasty, and neither Chinese nor foreign capitalists could do it.Shen Shuren trusted Kuanren so much, which also made Song Yingxing feel the incomparable kindness of knowing him, and became more motivated.

When Song Yingxing first wrote "Tiangong Kaiwu", he also involved some agricultural technology. After all, Song Yingxing was the first scientist in the history of the Han civilization to record "cotton picking stars to suppress the top advantage".

Now Shen Shuren has given a more relaxed environment, and it just so happens that March and April are the season of busy farming and persuading the farmers. He and Fang Yizhi collided with each other, and Shen Shuren occasionally came to point out a few words of genius, and really came up with something. .

For example, according to Shen Shuren's original plan at the end of last year, corn can only be vigorously promoted in a few prefectures north of the Yangtze River. This year's main promotion place is Liu Guoneng's Xinyang Mansion.

In places such as Wuchang Hanyang in the south of the Yangtze River, because the growth cycle of rice cannot be perfectly connected with corn like winter wheat, this year the plain fields are still mainly planted with double-cropping rice.Only some sloping and mountainous areas can find ways to grow potatoes as a supplement, but corn has little chance to play in Jiangnan.

But this year is coming to an end, because the weather is not right, the plan is not as fast as changing. In the early spring of Chongzhen 15 years ago, the rain in the lower reaches of the south of the Yangtze River was relatively dense. Changing the state of Zhejiang's severe drought the year before, it seems to be to make up for the little rain the year before. return.

A slight flood in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River caused the warm and humid airflow clouds to be exhausted early in the lower reaches, and the precipitation in Huguang and other places in the middle reaches decreased significantly.

Although it is not yet a full-scale drought, at least some fields with poor irrigation conditions will not be able to grow early rice.

Of course, the farmers would not wait for the spring rains to sow the rice seeds. They must have sowed them before it rained, so there was no way to waste some of these seeds.

Fortunately, Fang Yizhi and Song Yingxing also have a lot of research on agricultural science, so they suggested that they can find a way to temporarily replant peas with a very short growth cycle on these insufficiently irrigated fields, so as to barely make up for one season's rations.

If it is confirmed that the drought will continue this year, some fields will not be able to grow rice, and after the peas are harvested, there will be time to replant corn in the second season. The growth period of peas is extremely short, and they will mature in a little more than two months, which is a full three times shorter than winter wheat. months, which is just enough to ensure that the seeds will be planted in early spring, mature at the same time as the winter wheat, and be connected with corn.

After learning about this situation, Shen Shuren of course did not hesitate to go to Hanyang, Wuchang, and Jiujiang in the south of the Yangtze River to persuade farmers to inspect and understand the agricultural situation, and then the government organized seed trade, lent farmers peas to grow grain, and asked them to replant peas.

As for Shen Shuren's hometown Huangzhou, although it is located in Jiangbei, similar situations exist in some areas, and peas are also promoted.

After Shen Shuren first heard Song Yingxing's coordinator say that when the early rice irrigation is insufficient, he can replant peas for emergency, he couldn't help asking Song Yingxing and Fang Yizhi:
"Since we knew that the pea growing season is so short and so flexible, why didn't we promote it in previous years? Is the yield too low? Is it lower than edamame/soybean?

As long as it is taller than edamame, it should be promoted in the future. After all, planting beans can enrich the fields, and the harvest of other species will be good in the future. "

Song Yingxing answered this question at the time: "The yield of peas is much higher than that of soybeans. Of course, the difference is not much worse after drying. In previous years, peas were not allowed to be widely promoted, mainly because they were not easy to store.

Peas are more tender and wetter than soybeans, and they have some oils that are prone to rancidity. They cannot be stored for a long time simply by drying them in the sun. "

Shen Shuren was just asking casually at first, but after getting this answer, his heart was moved: It seems that after entering the 19th century, canned green beans and freeze-dried pea products became very popular in the West.

Even when he played "Red Dead Redemption", which is known for its realism, in his previous life, the American cowboys who went westward had a large number of canned green beans in their supplies.

It seems that this problem can be solved by precooking and sterilizing the food and putting it in cans.

Of course, it is the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the cost of using tin cans is too high, and the food itself is not worth the money.But you can also find a way to package it in a porcelain jar with good airtightness.

It’s like how people from Sichuan in later generations make kimchi. Turn a bowl upside down on the mouth of the jar and fill the gap with water to isolate the internal and external air circulation, so that the airtight effect of the can can be achieved.

For the military rations that will be moved, the mouth of the altar can be sealed with melted paraffin wax after precooking, and the paraffin wax has been cooled and sealed.

Wuchang is close to Jiangxi, and Jiangxi's pottery and porcelain industry is already very developed, and there is overcapacity. Let some artisans come to make porcelain jars to make canned peas, and spread it to the people, which can also prevent people from starving to death when rice cannot be grown in drought years. Many, at that time rush to plant a season of peas, even if you can't pay taxes, at least you have something to eat and save your life.

And peas have a little advantage over edamame: when the bean sprouts are relatively tender, the bean shells of peas can barely be eaten, unlike edamame whose shells are full of itchy fluff, which cannot be eaten together with the shell.

(Note: The peas at the end of the Ming Dynasty are not the sweet peas of today. The shells are still relatively hard, but relatively smooth. When you are about to starve to death in a famine year, you can eat the shells together, at least it is more nutritious than eating grass.)
Historically, Western canning technology originated during the Napoleonic Wars. It is not difficult to put it bluntly.It is nothing more than the two ideas of "precooking and sterilization" and "ensuring airtightness". The specific material of the can is not important, and it can be airtight without iron sheets.

So, in the whole three months, Shen Shuren traveled all over the prefectures under his rule, one prefecture and one county to supervise the local officials' work of persuading farmers, and when he found that the drought caused the early rice to fail to germinate, he urgently asked for the corresponding land to be replanted.

During this process, the canning technology was invented by the way.

At the end of March, when Shen Shuren was on his way back to Wuchang, he passed by Huangzhou on the other side of the river as the last stop. The people of Huangzhou saw how diligent and caring Mr. Futai was, and they couldn't help but kneel down to him at the wharf of Huangjiakou Town. Seeing him off, I also want to give him the Wanmin Umbrella.

Shen Shuren reluctantly took away the Wanmin Umbrella. A respected local old man, leaning on a cane, praised on behalf of the people:

"Your Majesty Futai does not know that in Huangzhou, the local official who has been the most loved by the people for hundreds of years was originally Su Xueshi in the Northern Song Dynasty. According to old legends, now we can grow rice twice a year. The '[-] day ripe' passed in from time to time,
And the reason why hundred-day crops were popularized at the beginning was that Su Xueshi encountered a drought when he was in Huangzhou. When the rains came, the rice seeds that had been planted early were rotten and did not have time to germinate, so they needed to be replanted. '[-] day ripe' grows very fast.Later, Su Xueshi learned about Hangzhou, and when there was a drought again, he handled it in the same way.

This year's drought is worse than in previous years. Even the "[-]-day ripe" can't be saved, but the adults can think of persuading me to wait for the peas to be connected with the corn, and they have specially studied the "sealing" method to store peas for the common people. His merits are by no means inferior to that of Xueshi Su.

In the future, my lord will definitely be a Wenqu star who will be famous in history and will last forever. It is really a blessing for my elders in Huangzhou to have an upright official like your lord for three years! "

The "hundred-day ripeness" mentioned by this old Huangzhou township is actually Champa rice, which is the later early rice, and its growth period is shorter than that of the rice species before the Song Dynasty.Early rice was introduced from Champa during the Northern Song Dynasty, so it was not until the Song Dynasty that double-cropping rice was popularized in the south.

Of course, Su Shi did not have the ability to introduce double-cropping rice, but he has promoted double-cropping rice in several places in history.

When Shen Shuren was praised by others, he also felt a bit like a world away.When he came, it was already halfway through March, and the Qingming Festival and cold food had already passed by the lunar calendar.

When he heard the people comparing him with Su Dongpo, he couldn't help but think of Su Dongpo's poem "I came to Huangzhou, and I have passed three cold meals", which is called the third running script in the world.

He also passed three Hanshi from beginning to end, but he just came to be an official in Hanshi the year before last, and this year Hanshi has already returned to Wuchang, and he just passed through Huangzhou.His official luck is much stronger than that of Su Dongpo.

He is an all-rounder in both civil and military affairs, so Su Dongpo can compare his literary aspects, but other aspects naturally need to be compared and supplemented by other heroes of his life.

……

Because of Shen Shuren's return to the post of logistics in the civil affairs department, and the erratic travel trails, when he returned to Wuchang, he found that the people who wanted to find him had already lined up the long queue.

He had to ask his staff Gu Yanwu to arrange the sequence and meet them one by one.

"Why are there so many people coming here all of a sudden? Are they all urgent business?" Shen Shuren just sat down in the mansion, washed his face, and couldn't help asking Gu Yanwu who was in charge of staying behind.

Gu Yanwu also shrugged helplessly: "Some are on official business, and some are just here to flatter. They all say that Futai will be used by His Majesty."

"Useful?" Shen Shuren was taken aback, feeling a bad premonition.

Gu Yanwu said as a matter of course: "What? During Futai's inspection in Huangzhou and other places, did he not know that your book "On the Thieves" written by you last year has just been fulfilled? Just a few days ago, Li Zicheng threatened to kill Wang Qiaonian and killed Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying merged their tribes.

Now there are rumors all over the world, saying that you are definitely the Wenqu star who will go down to earth, Zhang Liang will be reborn, Zhuge will be resurrected, and the enemy will be thousands of miles away, counting the enemy several months later.Elder Yang Ge seems to be sending someone to discuss military affairs with you. "

Shen Shuren suddenly became overwhelmed by one head and two: "There is no one who is half-hearted in doing things. Old Yang Ge sent someone here to help Li Zicheng. Sigh, I want to get rid of Zhang Xianzhong first, so why did Li Zicheng get involved?"

-

PS: It's been a while since the map was switched back just now.Shen Shuren's timeline has also passed a month, and the timeline needs to be rebalanced, so this chapter is more current.

Now the timeline is bridged, and the plot will be normal starting tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)