Chapter 24 The Lion Opens His Mouth
Mi Zhu clearly knows that the little things in the treasury are enough to last Liu Bei until the summer harvest.
Therefore, Liu Bei wanted to farm at this time and put it into practice. This made Mi Zhu very confused. He was surprised at Liu Bei's courage and also suspected that the other party was hiding some resources that he didn't know about. .
Mi Zhu understood Liu Bei's desire to farm.
Right now, various supplies are indeed in short supply in the field.
Without farming, money and food can still support us.
But once the farm is established, the funds, materials, and food will inevitably be stretched everywhere, and it will be difficult to make ends meet.
But I can’t help but think that the benefits of farming are too great now.
If farming begins now and can be successfully implemented, Xuzhou's difficult situation will be greatly improved starting next year.
The effect of farming is not limited to just one year. The earlier you farm, the earlier you harvest. The resources invested are the same, but the earlier, the greater the output.
Mi Zhu originally thought that with Liu Bei's steady character, he would seek stability and slow down the pace of farming.
First try to save money and compress expenditures to save supplies. Wait until the supplies are almost exhausted before starting to farm.
In fact, just as he judged, although Liu Bei did not say it explicitly, he did not make any advance preparations for farming.
But now it seems that my judgment was wrong.
Mi Zhu did not expect that the other party would be so bold, or maybe... it was actually Liu Feng who persuaded Liu Bei to change his mind temporarily?
Mi Zhu thought a lot in his mind, but his face did not reveal anything, and he was modest: "Young Master is overly complimentary. Uncle Fang cares about the people's livelihood and gave special orders. Yuan Long worked hard to cultivate the people and cultivate the fields. I am just climbing the dragon. Ji, I just did something within my power, and I don’t deserve such praise from the young master.”
Liu Feng smiled, and the next moment, he went straight to the point: “If my father also wants to farm, I wonder if Biejia can help me. "
Mi Zhu really wanted to farm. Since Uncle Fang had made up his mind, he had already wanted to repay the favor, so he replied seriously: "Young Master, don't worry. As long as Ming Gong and Young Master have orders, Zhu will do it. Go all out."
Liu Feng was a little surprised that Mi Zhu actually brought him along.
Is this selling directly to yourself?
Liu Feng entered the next step step by step despite doubts, and the lion opened his mouth.
"To be honest, Bie Jia needs a lot of money and food this time. The whole of Xuzhou may have to rely on Bie Jia."
Liu Feng looked at Mi Zhu and made a concession. The other party was surprised by the number.
“It is estimated that it will require rations of 70,000 shi, 100 cattle, 2,000 sets of clothing and shoes, 1,000 sets of bedding, 30,000 jins of iron, millions of money, and 30,000 shi of grain.”
< br>During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were three main food crops in Xuzhou, namely corn, wheat and rice.
Rice has the highest requirements for planting. It not only requires abundant water resources, but also has relatively high requirements for sunlight and soil fertility. However, its yield is the highest. The average yield per mu can reach more than three stones, and the field can even produce more than four stones.
Wheat is the next best. It is not as picky about land as rice, and its yield is not as good as rice, but it is still more than three stones.
Corn is the lowest, but it is also the easiest to grow. It is not only drought-resistant, but also has the lowest land requirements, but its yield is also the lowest.
The yield of corn per mu is less than two dan, but corn can be planted multiple times, and the annual output can barely reach three dan.
The grain output ratio in the Han Dynasty was roughly around 1:20.
That is, 1 stone of seeds can produce 20 stones of grain.
Although there will be slight differences in different grains, this is roughly the ratio.
Liu Feng planned to cultivate 500 hectares of rice fields, 1,000 hectares of wheat fields, and 2,500 hectares of corn fields this time. A total of 4,000 hectares. If one acre requires 10 kilograms of seeds, then eight million kilograms of seeds are needed.
One stone in the Han Dynasty was 120 kilograms, which translates to about 30,000 kilograms of various grains.
4,000 hectares of land is equivalent to 400,000 acres of land. A farmer in the Han Dynasty could generally cultivate 80 acres of land, which would require at least 5,000 households.
Based on the average of at least 4 people per household, that is 20,000 people.
Liu Feng had to prepare rations for them for at least half a year to last until after the summer harvest.
Two adults need 3 kilograms of food per month to survive. At this time, there is very little non-staple food and almost no meat. They can only rely on food to provide energy, so people eat a lot.
Such a family of four, two adults and two children, needs at least five shi of food every month.
After all, these farmers have to work in the fields. If they don't have enough food, they won't have the strength to do the heavy farm work.
For five thousand families, Liu Feng would prepare 100,000 shi of grain for them to sustain them until the harvest.
This investment is quite large, but once the farming is successful, the income from the farming will be extremely generous.
In terms of grain alone, 600,000 shi of grain can be produced every season.
Even if Liu Feng was kind enough to give him a 50-50 share, he would still be able to earn 300,000 shi of food.
And 300,000 shi of grain is enough to cover Liu Bei's expenses for raising an army of 5,000 for another year.
Besides, this is only the first harvest. With the maturity of agriculture in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, many crops can be harvested three times every two years, or even twice a year.
As long as the farming operations are done properly, starting from the second year, the grain output is likely to reach millions of dan, not counting the output of farmers' textiles, mulberry farming, etc.
There are so many benefits to farming, but the key to the matter lies in whether Liu Feng can raise enough rations and grain.
As for whether the Mi family has so much rations and grain, the answer is yes.
Lu Su's family was no more powerful than a county. They had two large round granaries, each containing three thousand hu of rice. When Zhou Yu ran to him to borrow grain, Lu Su pointed to a granary and lent him three thousand dendrobium rice.
The Mi family is rich all over the country and has been the richest man in Xuzhou for more than a hundred years. How can their family wealth be dozens of times stronger than that of the Lu Su family?
Liu Feng clearly remembers that when Mi Zhu married his sister to Brother Big Ear, he gave Liu Bei two thousand servants, gold, silver, silk, armor and weapons, etc., which made Liu Bei very popular. Vibrate.
And within half a year, he quickly regained his strength and had tens of thousands of troops, which attracted Lu Bu's attention and uneasiness.
Therefore, as long as Mi Zhu is willing to borrow this food and supplies, he will definitely have it.
Liu Feng's lion opened his mouth, which really shocked Mi Zhu.
He originally thought that before Tao Qian was farming, he sponsored 10,000 shi of grain, and now Liu Bei is also farming.
Who would have thought that Liu Feng had such a big appetite, and the food alone increased tenfold, requiring 70,000 rations and 30,000 grain seeds.
If you include millions of money, 100 cattle, 2,000 sets of clothing, 1,000 sets of bedding, and 30,000 kilograms of iron, it is more than twenty times what Tao Qian had at that time. .
Mi Zhu has one advantage, and that is his calm temperament.
Therefore, although he was shocked inside, he remained calm and composed on the outside.
After a while, Mi Zhu slowly shook his head: "Sir, this... is really too much."
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(End of this chapter)