Hongwu Survival Guide

Chapter 157
While escaping the summer heat on Zhoushan Island some time ago, Zhu Yuan made a rough thermometer out of glass. The simple expansion with heat and contraction with cold cannot compare with the accuracy of later generations, but it is more than enough to ensure the hatching temperature of a poultry.

It was early August.

Taking advantage of the trend, Lin Jiu, an official of the Yinghai Division, approved the Mingzhou poultry breeding company. It has only been a month, and unexpectedly, there will be a group of ducklings.

Zhu Yuan knew that it must be derived from the new incubation method.

Standing up and pulling the bamboo basket closer, Zhu Yuan lowered his head and looked at it. There were five or six warm yellow furry little things squeezed into the small basket, chirping and chirping.The newborn birds are usually very beautiful, um, except for the swan. He reached out and took out one. The little guy struggled for a while, and stood on the palm of Zhu Yuan's side under the protection of Zhu Yuan's hands, tremblingly looking at the humanoid creature in front of him.

Sitting down again, Zhu Yuan put the duckling in his hand on the desk.

This is timid.

Without running around, Xiaoxiao moved a few steps and then lay down on her stomach, continuing to cry, with a pair of small eyes that seemed to be looking around curiously.

so cute.

Zhu Yuan couldn't help reaching out to cover it again, playing with it, and asked, "What are you feeding now?"

Whether it is chickens, ducks, geese, in this era, compared with hatching, what to use for breeding is the biggest problem in Zhu Yuan's opinion.If later generations needed a large amount of grain as feed, they would definitely not be able to raise it in this era, and Zhu Yuan would not allow large-scale breeding.

The previous plan was to use the offal of sea fish that was processed in real time during the fishing process as feed. Now that the ducklings are newborn, I don’t know if they can be fed directly. Thinking about the future, Zhu Yuan will ask for clarification.

In order to avoid the need for a large amount of food in the early stage of incubation.

On the opposite side of the desk, Kuang San said with a slight bow: "Don't pick anything, even if it's so small, you can eat anything. We just collected some fish from the sea and put them into the water. There are also some miscellaneous fish. Don't worry." Feed it every broken one, and let the dolls find some wild vegetables, they can eat it too.”

Zhu Yuan noticed one of the words: "Miscellaneous fish?"

Kuang San didn't understand, so he nodded and said: "Miscellaneous fish, too small and too messy, it's not easy to handle in the roasting workshop, people don't like to eat it, so I send it to feed the ducks."

Zhu Yuan turned to Lin Jiu: "It can't be fish fry, right? The Division of Ying Hai issued a special decree, and I have reminded you many times on many occasions that the fish fry must be released on the spot?"

Lin Jiu stepped forward and cupped his hands and said, "My lord, it's not fish fry. There are hundreds of fish in the sea. There are size and weight requirements for the fish to be disposed of in the roasting workshop. Some fish are not big enough, or they are really unpalatable. It is discarded, and now it has a place to go."

Zhu Yuan nodded, but said again: "Don't fool me, I will let people have a look, and then formulate more detailed regulations. As I said, eating fish fry is equivalent to pulling out seedlings. This is an evil act of not leaving food for children and grandchildren. , you must always remember."

Both Lin Jiu and Kuang San agreed, and even Qiao Wang who was standing aside also bowed their hands.

The prohibition of fishing fry or even small fish that have not grown into fish is not only a special decree issued by the Yinghai Division, Zhu Yuan and the officials of the department keep mentioning it, and even many occasions, whether it is various hulls or four walls, there are corresponding The slogan, unknowingly, has formed a subtle influence in at least Mingzhou.

After long-term indoctrination, as long as a solid awareness is formed, even in the past hundreds of years, it is only the force of habit that can ensure that fishermen abide by the rules.

The same goes for others.

This is why Zhu Yuan tried to promote the slogan in Mingzhou.

A catchy sentence may seem simple, but after a long time, it can be deeply ingrained in people.

Zhu Yuan continued to play with the fluffy duckling in his hand, and turned to Kuang San again: "It's so small, will it be indigestible if you feed it directly to the fish, don't you need to feed it some food?"

"That's it, that's it, there's not enough food for people," Kuang San shook his head quickly: "Chickens, ducks, and geese are born like this. They are still smaller now, and it's getting colder. They have to stay in the greenhouse. After a couple of days, they will be able to eat." If we find a place to raise them and let them find some food for themselves, it will be more worry-free."

Zhu Yuan nodded, then asked with a smile, "Is it one or two days?"

Kuang San was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses, and said with a smile: "In summer, less than ten days is enough. In winter, it also depends on the weather. If it is always warm and sunny, it will be released in ten days. If there is wind and rain, The weather is cold, so you have to push back."

Zhu Yuan praised: "You really know how to do it."

Kuang San grinned modestly: "I have been doing it all my life, so I don't understand."

Zhu Yuan looked at Lin Jiu and said, "You have read the books, but you can't be inferior. I always advocate the unity of knowledge and action. Although you are a manager, you should be more modest on weekdays. You are more like Mr. Kuang studying."

Lin Jiu again agreed.

As he was talking here, Zhu Yuan suddenly felt the little duck in his hand struggling, looked suspiciously, but saw that the little thing was already wagging its tail, and behind it, there was a small piece of yellow and white.

pulled.

The people on the opposite side also quickly noticed that Kuang San stepped forward with a look of panic on his face: "Oh, this little bastard, how could...how could it be like this..."

While muttering, he raised his sleeve and was about to come over to wipe it.

Zhu Yuan blocked it and found a few pieces of paper from the side. Lin Jiu and Qiao Wang who also stepped forward on the opposite side did not need him to move. Someone put the duckling back in the bamboo basket, and someone wiped the table carefully repeatedly.

Kuang San still kept apologizing nervously.

Zhu Yuan comforted the old man with a few words, and did not intervene in this little fuss. He leaned on the back of the chair, looked at the place that was just messed with by the little things, smiled, and said: "Suddenly remembered, this last link is also considered to be right. gone."

The three people on the opposite side looked over suspiciously.

Zhu Yuan said: "In the future, this duck feces will also be a good fertilizer... Well, it is better than human and livestock manure."

Talking became more interesting, sat down again, brought a pen and paper from the side, Zhu Yuan continued to write, "Do you know why?"

Lin Jiudao: "My lord, please clarify."

Zhu Yuan wrote down the words 'nitrogen', 'phosphorus', and 'potassium' on the paper, and then said: "The three kinds of fertilizers that demand the most from the outside world are nitrogen fertilizer, phosphorus fertilizer and potassium fertilizer. Phosphorus fertilizer, um , is very important for seed formation, food is seeds, but the content of this element is the least in traditional manure. In comparison, I have eaten a lot of internal organs of sea fish in the future... Well, no, the phosphorus element mainly comes from bones... You just Having said that, miscellaneous fish, it seems that this must be added."

Zhu Yuan babbled, and then he was no longer talking to the three of them, but was more inclined to brainstorm on his own, and there were more than half a page of various vocabulary on the paper.

After writing this, after a little deliberation, Zhu Yuan wrote three words on the paper again.

Guano Island!
Now that we manage the ocean, how can we forget the guano island that once even caused war?
After a little recollection, combined with common sense, Zhu Yuan quickly had an idea.

Guano islands usually exist in remote sea islands that are dry and less rainy. Because they are too close to the mainland and have too many habitats to choose from, seabirds cannot gather, and guano cannot accumulate naturally.

Then there is little rain.

For obvious reasons, too much rain washes away bird droppings.

Zhu Yuan doesn't remember any large-scale guano islands along the coast of China, probably because of these reasons.

However, even if it’s not the kind of guano islands that have accumulated tens of meters thick and even formed mineralized over time, there is no shortage of places where seabirds gather in the Zhoushan area, and even the entire coast of China.

Compared with the needs of this era, even a layer that is only a few centimeters thick is still a treasure.

Moreover, if the conditions are not enough, then create conditions.

For example, as long as birds gather, some artificial fortifications can be done to collect bird droppings to avoid being washed away by rain.Even further, according to the needs of various birds, artificially create islands suitable for seabird habitat.

There are always more ways than difficulties.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuan has already decided that a special department must be set up, and Guano Island will be listed as a key project of Yinghai Division.

After listing the information on Guano Island, Zhu Yuan listened to the little things still chirping in the bamboo basket, searched for memories, and remembered one more.

Ducks kill locusts.

Locust plagues are still very frequent in this era. Pesticides... like chemical fertilizers, are unrealistic in the short term, but I have seen ducks killing locusts in various news reports more than once. If it can be promoted, it will also be a great help to eliminate crop pests. .

The key to this is scale.

Not to mention thirty or fifty ducks, three or five hundred ducks will not work, the number needed is tens of thousands.

The emergence of thermometers has allowed large-scale artificial hatching to take place, a surplus of fish, and large-scale farming. This allows Yinghai Division to provide the scale effect it deserves for ducks and locusts.

And maybe not just locusts.

Before planting in spring and after harvest in autumn, if ducks can be released in the field to kill all kinds of pests, and by the way, some fertilizer can be applied on the spot, which will be of great benefit.

And then...

down jacket!
This was thought of before, now, and added.

Down jackets are second only to furs in terms of cold protection. Relatively speaking, after the scale is formed here, the cost is much lower than that of furs.The relevant poultry breeding project has been in operation for several years, and if it can provide more than [-] sets of down jackets every year, it will be easier for Daming to manage the north.

A major obstacle to the management of the north in the past dynasties was the severe cold.

In the end, meat... This cannot be ignored.

I want to eat duck neck in a blink of an eye.

I have to explain it at noon, and I need it in the evening.

In short, raising ducks is a good thing from top to bottom, inside and out, and there will be no waste.Moreover, not only is it an industrial chain itself, but it can also connect several industrial chains up and down.

Inside the office.

Before he knew it, he took another page and wrote a lot before Zhu Yuan finally stopped.

He also made a decision to tidy up these things at night and send them to Lao Zhu tomorrow.

Wen Zao has hurried north again this morning. However, after the previous arrangement was adjusted, as long as there is a need, Zhu Yuan can send letters to the north through the soldiers of the Gongwei Division every day.

By the way, send a few ducks in the past.

seeing is believing.

Finally putting down the pen, Zhu Yuan shook his sore wrist, looked at the result of the brainstorming in front of him, and suddenly laughed.

One thing comes to mind.

That is, as a time traveler, looking back on the past half a year, not to mention all kinds of cultural concepts, it is just a series of pens, glass, bearings, thermometers, hot air balloons, etc., and even the larger matter of Yinghai Division.

This……

In less than a year, I almost used up all kinds of golden fingers that are common to traditional time travelers.

How will you mess around in the future?
Of course, it was just a smile.

If I can push this land into the information age in just a few decades, rush directly out of the earth, colonize Mars, it doesn't matter whether I get along or not.

The truth is, of course not.

Withdrawing his thoughts, he glanced at the three people who were still waiting patiently. Zhu Yuan pointed to the bamboo basket that Kuang San moved to the opposite side, and said, "I just thought of something, so I plan to send some ducklings to my ancestors tomorrow. By the way, bring my thoughts, and I will give credit to you two."

When Zhu Yuan said these words, Lin Jiu was still able to maintain his composure, but Kuang San almost collapsed suddenly, his body was shortened by a lot in an instant, and he stared in disbelief: "What, you want... to give this duck to me. Grandpa Huang, ah... this, this... ah, my... my lord, let me go back, pick, pick, pick..."

Seeing that Kuang San seemed to have won the exam, Zhu Yuan joked, "I still have to choose, it seems that the few you gave me are not the best ones?"

Kuang San suddenly became shorter again, and quickly waved his hands to deny: "That can, my lord, that can, they are all the best, the best..." Then he grabbed one from the bamboo basket: "My lord, look , this lively one, I..." As he said that, he was about to throw the duck out, and when he was about to let go, he felt that it was wrong, so he grabbed it again, and explained: "This duckling, I throw it a foot away, and it can be well." It's good to be alive and kicking."

Zhu Yuan waved his hand to stop Kuang San's incoherent speech: "That's it for the time being, um, since you still have to pick, pick more, twenty or thirty, you really have to consider the journey, remember to send it early tomorrow."

Kuang San nodded repeatedly, but said: "Master, twenty or thirty is enough, and there are more than 600 miles in the greenhouse?"

Zhu Yuan put away the two pages in front of him and said, "That's enough, I just showed it to my ancestors."

While talking here, Lin Jiu seemed hesitant to speak, but he didn't dare to speak.

Zhu Yuan caught sight of his expression and understood what he was thinking. Since he dared not speak up, he didn't take the initiative to raise it.Before that time, it would be a great benefit for Lao Zhu to know the names of the two of them.No matter how much, it will not be too late to make more achievements in the future.

Then he said a few more things about expanding the incubation. After talking about the matter, Zhu Yuan sent the two of them away. Then Zhu Yuan turned to Qiao Wang and asked with a smile, "Have you read Qiao An's family letter?"

Qiao Wang nodded: "I have seen it."

After only two words, Qiao Wang became agitated and wanted to kneel down, but Zhu Yuan hurriedly stopped him: "No, you know I don't like this."

Qiao Wang gave up kneeling, but still bowed deeply to Zhu Yuan: "The Qiao family thank you for your kindness, and in this life and the next life, I only wish to repay it with ten thousand deaths."

"Don't talk about whether you are dead or not. I've been superstitious recently, so I can't listen to this," Zhu Yuan interrupted and said, "By the way, why did you come here with them?"

"Just happened to happen," Qiao Wang said with a smile: "My lord, this thermometer, heh, Manager Lin just told me to make more quickly."

"Then we'll have to wait until we go back to Jinling," Zhu Yuan said, "I want you to come here just to say, the glass workshop, together with the craftsmen, should pack up quickly and leave in a few days. I'm still the same as the original sentence, the key is craftsmanship. Don't give away the secret."

Qiao An said with a solemn expression: "The little one has been staring at it, so someone won't steal the craftsmanship."

After hesitating for a while, Qiao Wang still didn't mention some recent things.

Good things that are equivalent to gold, these days, of course, there is no shortage of coveting.

In addition to not killing anyone, Qiao Wang can be said to have used a lot of methods from officials to officials.I mentioned it to my daughter before, and I don't know if Xieyi told Zhu Yuan. At the moment, Qiao Wang feels that there is no need to use these messy things to distract adults who are busy with daily affairs.

Zhu Yuan actually knew about it, that's why he said it just now, but he didn't mention it at this time, and instead asked, "How many orders have you signed recently?"

Qiao Wang also understands these new words, and has already used them in his own contract. He couldn't hide his joy when he heard the words: "As of yesterday, there are 37000 catties in total, of which 26000 catties are ordered by various marine merchants, and there is another 11000 catties. Merchants from various provinces come to buy it and sell it locally.”

Zhu Yuan converted subconsciously, 3.7 catties, that is... um, multiplied by 16 taels per catty.

This hex is too anti-human.

I can only ask directly: "How much money?"

Qiao Wang was delighted when he heard this question, but subconsciously lowered his voice: "According to the contract, we should get a total of 65 guan, of which 1200 guan has been paid."

Grab money!
This was Zhu Yuan's first reaction.

so rich!
This is another evaluation of various wealthy merchants inside and outside the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuan was still feeling emotional. After Qiao Wang finished speaking, he hesitated a little, but couldn't help but said, "My lord, please forgive the little overstepping, but... the little one really can't figure out why the lord gave up [-]% of the shares for such a business. Officials, this... I really can't figure it out."

Zhu Yuan didn't answer for a while, and asked with a smile: "Is it because you think you have been squeezed to one point and your shares are too small?"

Qiao Wang shook his head quickly, almost kneeling: "How dare, how dare, my lord... the little one just thinks that this... this should be an adult's family property, which can be passed on to all descendants."

"The profit of glass is too high. Sooner or later, people will do everything possible to steal the craftsmanship. The huge profits will not last long, let alone be passed on to the children and grandchildren." Zhu Yuan shook his head: "What's more, we are using official manpower and material resources. Two achievements are not bad, don’t be greedy.”

"This..." Qiao Wang still disagreed: "Master Ying Haisi was created by himself, we just used some human hands and ashes, how can it be worth it... If you think it is inappropriate, our family can hire people to grind stones by ourselves, You can make grass ash by yourself.”

"I have my own considerations about this matter, so I won't talk to you about it," Zhu Yuan stopped the topic, and said in other words: "Besides, things are rare and expensive. Regarding the production of glass, you should take the initiative to control it and don't do too much." many."

Zhu Yuan didn't want to say more, and Qiao Wang didn't dare to mention it again. Hearing Zhu Yuan turned to production, he nodded and said: "The villain has also thought about it in private. It is enough to sell 10 catties of this glass a year, and more I'm afraid that the price will drop, what do you think?"

Zhu Yuan nodded.

No matter how rich the rich merchants are, no matter how great the consumption potential of domestic and foreign countries is, if it is just glass, there will be a limit after all.

Qiao Wang's price for glass is about one tael and one gold per two glasses.

Of course, this is average.

According to the difficulty of the process of different finished products, there may be adjustments.

Taken together, they supply 100 jin to the market every year and earn more than [-] million guan, which is equivalent to the current level of salt tax in Ming Dynasty.

Can't be greedy.

Having said this, Zhu Yuan thought about nothing else, and was about to see off the guests, but seeing Qiao Wang's hesitation, he asked, "Is there anything else?"

"It's the crystal," Qiao Wang said, "I recently discovered that some people used crystals to pretend to be glass, and almost succeeded. My lord...why don't you give us the crystal business, so you can take care of it?"

Zhu Yuan was taken aback.

I've heard of using glass to pretend to be crystal. This... using crystal to pretend to be glass is quite subversive.

If you think about it again, you probably understand.

Compared with natural crystals, the biggest advantage of glass at present is its plasticity.

For example, to make a cup, the glass can be fired at a normal furnace temperature, and then shaped, which is relatively simple.On the other hand, crystal can only be polished by hand. A crystal cup may take ten days and a half months or even longer for craftsmen to complete. The value of the final product is actually similar to that of glass.

Moreover, the appearance is often not as good as glass.

Zhu Yuan has seen many ancient crystal products in some museums, most of them are so 'rough' that no one picks them up in the trash.However, in ancient times, that is a treasure.

This is just polishing.

Furthermore, natural crystals are not crystal clear without impurities as most people imagine.In fact, most crystal ores have countless impurities and flaws. Just like the lenses manufactured by the Equipment Bureau, the materials are all selected from a pile of raw ore. Most of the materials are unusable and are only suitable for making buttons. This kind.

Relatively speaking, the glass made of selected materials is crystal clear and can have various colors, and the look and feel is much better.

Of course, there is another undeniable advantage of crystal, which is hard.

Glass is too brittle.

However, the moment is not a problem.

Porcelain is also brittle.

Maybe, on the contrary, the more brittle something is, the more valuable it is.

Probably wanting to understand, seeing Qiao Wang still looking at him, Zhu Yuan thought for a while, then nodded and said: "Yes."

Earlier, after Zhu Yuan mentioned the need for transparent crystals to make various lenses, Lao Zhu ordered them to go on, and soon found a crystal mine near Haizhou County in Huai’an Prefecture. On the return journey of the grain fleet, they all transport crystal ore here in boats and boats.

Therefore, it stands to reason that this is also public.However, anyway, the glass business official and the royal family accounted for the majority of the shares, so I just earned some hard work and won the management right, which is very reasonable.

This can be regarded as the fat water does not flow into the field of outsiders.

After thinking about it, he said, "When we get back to Jinling, we can think more about the equipment for processing crystals. It's still too slow now."

"Little one remembers."

After saying this, and nothing else, Zhu Yuan sent Qiao Wang out, and casually mentioned that he asked him to talk to Xieyi and arrange the return journey together.

After seeing Qiao Wang off, Zhu Yuan had just processed some documents, and before noon, someone came in a hurry.

It was Yao Feng's deputy.

There has been an accident.

Outside the west city, a hydraulic lathe used to make bearing balls by the Yongjiang River collapsed.

(End of this chapter)