Chapter 561 Li Yang
The people in Li Yang have almost changed. The main population is actually the newly moved Yanzhou soldiers and their families, a total of 5,000 soldiers and more than 10,000 people.
With such a small number of people occupying a fertile and vast area like Liyang, it is actually possible to implement a fallow system.
In fact, they did the same thing.
Several plots of land are rotated. After planting the first plot, the second plot will be planted next year. After the second plot is planted, the third plot will be planted the next year. In the fourth year, the first plot will be planted again.
The benefits of doing this are huge, because the land has enough time to recuperate, restore nutrients, and produce higher yields.
To put it bluntly, the world is material and obeys the law of conservation of energy. Why did a piece of farmland that was originally bare become covered with tall millets and wheat a year later? How did it change? When you conjure up these things, does it mean that other things are missing?
Nutrition and fertilizer are always the top priority in agricultural production.
But if you cultivate a piece of land vigorously, without sufficient fertilizer supplements, and without giving it time to fallow, it will only become poorer and poorer, and the yield will gradually become unsustainable.
Shao Xun walked around Liyang and finally stopped in a large grassland.
More than a hundred households transferred from Jingu Garden also brought a group of livestock, mainly sheep, with a small number of cattle and horses, and even more than ten camels.
"Is it speeding up the entry into the Northern Dynasty?" Shao Xun thought to himself.
Historically, the Hu regime in the Northern Dynasties raised a huge number of livestock in Henan, Hebei and Guanzhong.
"The Biography of Er Zhurong" once recorded that in the northern region, "cattle, alpacas, and horses are divided into groups based on their color, but only the amount of grain."
If there was a nomadic tradition in the early Northern Dynasties, for example, when the two sides competed for the city, you grazed at the west gate and I grazed at the east gate, by the Northern Wei Dynasty, they were basically fixed within a rough range, with both grazing and farming. .
"Where are you from?" Shao Xun called a farmer from Jinguyuan and asked.
The farmer was a little nervous and answered bravely: "I am from Wen County, Hanoi."
It turned out to be a fellow villager of the Sima family. Shao Xun smiled and asked: "How to get there? "From Jinguyuan?"
"Recruit for Queen Hui to grow rice in Guangchengze," the farmer said.
"What happened next?" Shao Xun asked casually.
The farmer glanced at him, extremely hesitant.
"You can just say what you want, why are you hesitating?" Shao Xun said displeased.
"Queen Hui said that Mr. Chen practiced martial arts all day long and needed to eat meat, so she asked us to plant alfalfa and raise livestock." The farmer said with his head lowered.
As soon as these words came out, everyone near and far was shocked.
Shao Xun was speechless and suddenly understood what it meant to be dead. This was what he forced others to say.
At the same time, I am also a little annoyed. Yang Xianrong, did you do it on purpose? I feel even more guilty. That woman is a bit crazy, but she really has nothing to say to him. She has given you everything and always thinks of you.
"How many acres of land do you have at home?" he asked awkwardly, changing the subject.
"Originally thirty acres, now sixty acres."
"Raised horses?"
"Raised two horses, one cow, more than 20 acres Sheep.”
"How do you farm sixty acres of land?"
When talking about his area of expertise, the farmer was not so nervous and immediately said: "Twenty acres of alfalfa to raise livestock, twenty acres of corn and wheat for home use." There are still twenty acres of fallow land for food.”
“No way?” The farmer said with a bitter smile: “Three cities in Heyang want to harvest horse feed. , hay is not needed, only beans. The twenty acres of fallow land will be planted with beans, which can be harvested in March. "
Beans have a short growth period and can be harvested in three months. They consume less nutrients from the land. Rhizobium also has the function of nitrogen fixation, which is actually a very good fallow period crop.
Fallow does not mean that the land is idle. In modern agriculture, fallow is often associated with crop rotation, that is, the staple crops are originally planted instead of vegetables and miscellaneous grains, and after one or two years, the staple crops are planted again. The soil has time to regain nutrients.
This agricultural production model is not necessarily less profitable than growing staple crops without leaving crops fallow, or even higher. It can also reduce losses from diseases and insect pests, which is very important in the era without pesticides.
Of course, this can only be done when there are fewer people and more land. When the population explodes, fallow farming becomes unrealistic and cannot be popularized on a large scale. The only way is to plant staple food season after season. The more you plant, the more you lose. , the more you lose, the more you gain.
Even until the Republic of China, the farmland in the north was already very barren, and the wheat harvest per acre was only more than a hundred pounds. But people had no choice but to plant it, because the population had grown to 400 million, almost However, the area of cultivated land has not increased by eight to ten times, and the yield per mu is only slightly higher than in ancient times. During the Northern Dynasties, Tang and Song Dynasties, the yield per mu of upper fields in the north was higher, while the yield per mu of lower fields was lower. On average, the yield per mu was also The harvest of about one hundred pounds per mu is not much different from that in the Republic of China.
In the past two thousand years, the growth of agricultural output per mu has been extremely limited. After all, matter and energy are conserved. In the era without chemical fertilizers, no matter how you improve agricultural technology, the marginal effect will only get lower and lower.
"How much grain can your family harvest in a year?" Shao Xun asked again.
"In two years, we harvested one hundred and forty bushels of wheat and sixty bushels of beans." The farmer replied.
"How many people are there?"
"Five people, Dakou and Xiaokou."
Shao Xun nodded, this income is enough.
A family of five eats sixty or seventy grains a year, which is barely enough to keep them full but not full. But their family also raised a lot of livestock and had milk to eat, so they wouldn't be hungry.
After planting beans on the fallow land, if not enough, plant some fruits and vegetables, and the harvest will be ready in a few months.
If you plant a few fruit trees in front of the house and behind the house, there will be no shortage.
This is the advantage of having more land.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was common to grant land of tens of acres to one ding, and it was not uncommon to grant land of hundreds of acres.
With such a ratio of people to land, even if it is cultivated extensively, one acre of land can only yield a few dozen kilograms, which is more than enough to feed a family.
In the early Tang Dynasty, there were only more than 10 million people, and men were granted hundreds of acres of land.
In Tang poetry, even ordinary farmers in the village eat meat and drink wine during various festivals. It is not entirely accurate to say that people in ancient times could not eat meat. At least it was no problem when there were fewer people and more land.
With fewer people and more land, as long as there are no wars or disasters, the people will not only be able to eat enough, but they can also farm for up to three years to save a year's worth of food - but there can be no war at the moment. This will have a huge impact on agricultural production. The most serious problem is that your family will be able to plant half of its land this year. Because of the lack of men, the elderly, weak, women and children cannot farm.
"Call those Qu commanders over." Shao Xun ordered.
Yang Qin and Liu Ling rushed out, looked at each other, and stopped.
"Go quickly." Shao Xun urged.
The two of them went together. After a while, the commanders were called over.
"Meet Mr. Chen." They said in unison with awkward accents. Shao Xun looked at them, pointed at someone at random, and asked: "What's your name?"
"Juqu Chong."
"Huns?"
"Our ancestors originally settled in Lushuihu, and later moved to the north."
Anding and the north are close together. , all belong to the county of Yongzhou.
“What is your occupation?”
“Herd cattle and sheep, and also plant some land.”
“How to farm and herd?”
“Yu Build a house next to the field, farm on the east side, and graze on the west side."
When Shao Xun heard this, he was very happy.
The Hu people also know how to rotate crops and keep them fallow. Yes, things will be easier to handle.
"I want to grant you some land in Zhao County, what do you think?" he asked.
"As long as you have land."
"But the land needs to be cultivated according to the Jinguyuan method, how about it?"
"Follow the order." Ju Quchong responded. Got off.
In fact, he has already had contact with the Jinguyuan gang.
Isn’t it just crop rotation? No one seems to understand.
His tribe lives in Anding and the Northland, and has long discovered the mystery.
If a piece of land is planted for several consecutive years, the harvest will be lower every year. It is commonly said that the land is "thin".
At this time, it was converted into pasture for grazing, and then planted again a few years later. The land soon recovered and the land became "fertile" again.
They don’t understand the reasons, but they can sum up their experience, and the metaphor of fat and thin is very appropriate.
"He is a happy man!" Shao Xun patted Ju Quchong on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I raised tens of thousands of cattle and sheep in Anping, and I will reward you all."
"Thank you, Mr. Chen. "Ju Qu Chong was really happy this time and shouted immediately.
After thanking him, he turned around and spoke to the other chiefs in Hu language. Everyone fell to the ground, beaming with joy.
Shao Xun was also very happy.
He does not like those tribes that are too nomadic and wander around. He prefers these barbarians who are half-cultivating and half-grazing and living relatively fixedly in one area.
As long as you don’t leave, it will be easy for me to take care of you. As time passed, customs changed and people gradually assimilated.
Moreover, in his heart, he did not want the agricultural production model in the Central Plains to be too single.
The proportion of livestock is too low, which is not a good thing.
The Heyang Ranch in the Northern Wei Dynasty, with Jijun as the core, extended to Hanoi in the west and to the junction of Dunqiu and Yangping in the east, where the local Hu and Han people were mixed. Some people farm, some herd, and some do both farming and herding, so there are "one hundred thousand soldiers and horses" for "Luoyang security", and there are no other miscellaneous livestock such as cattle, alpacas, etc.
This is a mixed farming and pastoral dynasty, at least there is no shortcoming in external force. Moreover, the population is quite large, ranging from 20 to 30 million, and the population has not been significantly reduced due to vigorous development of animal husbandry. Not to mention the perennial wars in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and only half of the country in the north.
"Seeing that you are a happy person, I am the first to say something ugly." Shao Xun said again: "If you take my land, you have to serve in the war."
Ju Quchong blinked his eyes and asked: "But fight with the Huns?"
"Of course it is." Shao Xun said: "Are you afraid?"
"I was squeezed out by the Huns in the North and couldn't stay any longer, so I ran all the way to Hebei Come on, it's embarrassing enough." Ju Quchong said, "I don't want to run away this time. If the Huns come, I'll fight them."
"What if the Huns don't come?" Shao Xun asked. road.
Ju Quchong was silent for a while and said: "As long as Ming Gong orders it, we can fight."
Shao Xun smiled and said: "I said you were happy just now, but now you are unhappy. Don't worry, you will be rewarded for your meritorious service, and your wealth will be passed down to future generations.
Shao Xun glanced at him.
After all, they are barbarians. Even though they have become a lost dog, they are still unruly.
You still have to temper your temper and slowly subdue it.
I can even tame Liu's wild horse, but if you don't believe me, I can't handle you.
"You'd better do this." Shao Xun said, "Let's go, I'll take you to Zhao County to have a look."
I didn't ask Ju Qu Chong to translate this time. Qiao Hong, the deputy governor of the army, directly selected a few people who were eloquent and good at all kinds of nonsense, and made it clear to all the commanders one by one.
The expressions on the faces of the commanders varied, but none of them raised objections on the spot.
That’s right.
There are not so many picky people among people who live under someone else’s roof. To put it bluntly, even if an attack is really going to happen, it won’t be at this time.
The group of people quickly left Liyang and headed north towards Dangyin.
Before leaving, Shao Xun called Liu Qia, the former Lieutenant of Donghai who was guarding Liyang.
Liu Qia is now very calm, no longer afraid of seeing Shao Xun, and keeps his posture very low.
"After the spring plowing is over, you lead your troops westward to Chaoge and settle down." Shao Xun ordered: "If the Huns come to provoke, don't pay attention to them, just guard the fortress."
"Obey." Liu Qia responded.
"I am not that narrow-minded if I work hard. If I do meritorious service, why worry about wealth? We are all from Donghai. Who do I need you to use? Remember." After the instructions, Shao Xun rode away.
Liu Qia was a little moved. After standing blankly for a long time, he saluted Shao Xun's back again.
(End of this chapter)