My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 23: Zhuge worked overtime and made a plan every day. Zhuge took a vacation and made a plan every three days.

After Zhuge Jin had laid out enough information about his own sources of knowledge to avoid suspicion from the other party,

Finally, I can come up with my first tonic plan:
"In the notes of my conversation with Cui Shi, I wrote: When I traveled to Wuhui in my early years, I saw that mustard could be grown in Jiangdong during the winter. Mustard seeds could be planted after the autumn rice harvest and could be eaten in the spring.

But in the Huai River and further north, no one grows it. Firstly, wheat in the north and rice in the south, winter wheat has to compete with mustard for land, and secondly, the north is very cold, and mustard seedlings are easily frozen to death during the winter.

The first examiner felt that what he had heard from others and learned from books was always shallow, and he knew that one must practice it personally to truly understand it. Later, he asked farmhands to try planting in Langya, and repeated the experiment for several years, adjusting the water, fertilizer, and season.

In the end, they discovered that if the mustard seeds were planted at the normal rice harvest time in the south, the seedlings would indeed be frozen to death by the severe winter; but if the mustard seeds were planted a month in advance, the seedlings would be strong enough when the cold winter came and could survive the severe cold.

Our army is now in Huainan, which is not as warm as Jiangdong, but warmer than Langya. According to common sense, we only need to plant winter mustard half a month earlier than Jiangdong to ensure that the seedlings are strong enough in winter. In this way, there will be some freshly harvested leafy vegetables during the famine next spring to alleviate the problem of food shortage for the soldiers. "

Zhuge Jin certainly did not learn this knowledge from Zhuge Gui, but because he loved reading in his previous life and had a wide range of interests. He had read interesting popular science books such as "Shi Ri Tan" and listened to some history science bloggers on Bilibili and Douyin.

There are so many people on the Internet in later generations who study topics like "Which crops were introduced to China in which dynasty, and when did the ancients learn to grow something?" It has almost become a popular subject. As for American crops, there are even more people who brag about them.

The mustard greens of the Han Dynasty that he mentioned are between the green vegetables and rapeseed of later generations, so it is harmless to directly understand them as green vegetables.

At that time, rapeseed was not yet used for oil extraction, so mustard was not differentiated into green vegetables for eating leaves, rapeseed for oil extraction, and kohlrabi for making mustard. The organs of mustard in the Han Dynasty were relatively well developed, and people just ate them all when they were ready to eat.

But no matter where Zhuge Jin got it, Zhuge Gui had been dead for seven years, so it was impossible to verify it.

Liu Bei listened to him talking about agriculture and felt pleasantly surprised yet unsure.

What was surprising was that the Zhuge family was indeed unfathomable, and the key to their depth was not the conclusion, but the way Zhuge Jin described his family's academic approach.

They actually thought of conducting precise quantitative analysis and control experiments.

For example, Zhuge Gui knew that the weather in Langya was cold, and estimated that the winter mustard seeds would not survive because the seedlings were not strong enough when winter came. So he diligently set up many experimental control groups, started planting seeds very early, and then planted a few more seeds every few days. Finally, he counted the growth results of each batch of planting time and concluded, "The latest day the seeds can still survive, record the date."

This kind of systematic and precise biological control group experiment was impossible for the ancients to think of. They could only observe and summarize their daily experience at most, but they did not actively and rigorously design experiments and exhaustively cover all kinds of control variables.

Although Liu Bei didn't know whether the winter mustard could be grown in Guangling County, and whether it was too late to grow it now,
But he was very knowledgeable and had already realized that if Zhuge Jin's idea could be extended to other grains and vegetables for large-scale control group experiments, it would surely yield many results and discover many new possibilities, which would ultimately benefit people all over the world.

Agricultural progress does not necessarily require the discovery of new species. Instead, scientific stress testing of the characteristics of existing species, determining their limits, and then optimizing management can be used to see if new production models can be developed through intercropping, and then the experience can be written into books for promotion. This will also be of immeasurable merit.

Unexpectedly, today Ziyu brought up an experimental experience of Mr. Jun Gong in his later years, which was actually to alleviate the famine in Guangling...

Liu Bei sighed and expressed gratitude for a long time before he said, "This year's spring ploughing in Guangling was already affected by the destruction of Zuo Rong last year, and later the war affected some of the farming season. A lot of land was left idle and no one was growing rice. Using it to plant mustard in advance is a small improvement.

But if the spring rice planting season is completely normal in the future, can we plant winter mustard after the harvest? Isn't it said that the growth period of the two should overlap by half a month? Will the mustard seedlings be frozen to death before they grow strong enough? "

This issue is actually not very urgent, and it is not even a problem we need to face this year.

It’s just that Liu Bei suffered a lot in his early years and was well aware of the suffering of the people, so he couldn’t help but naturally show more concern.

Fortunately, Zhuge Jin was willing to talk a little more, so he answered casually: "This is simple. I have tried it when I was in Langya. You can dig some soil, fertilize and water it, and grow mustard seedlings separately. This way, you can at least get half a month before the rice harvest. When the mustard seeds start to sprout, you can sow them in the fields and they will still survive."

This statement once again refreshed Liu Bei's eyes.

The people of the Han Dynasty did not even have the idea of "raising seedlings/transplanting rice seedlings". Farming was just throwing seeds directly into the ground.

Historically, it was not until the Tang and Song dynasties that the technology of raising and transplanting rice seedlings was gradually perfected. The germination stage of the seedlings was moved to another place to complete it separately, without occupying the land of the main field.

This greatly saves the time of field use, allows for the planting of an extra season of vegetables, or allows winter crops to avoid growing conflicts with summer staple foods.

Even though Zhuge Jin had never farmed before, as a person from later generations, he could easily think of the ideas of raising seedlings, transplanting crops, and saving land by staggered planting seasons.

In later generations, even an elementary school student, who grew up in the city and has never been to the countryside for a single day, knows that rice needs to be planted.

The climate difference between Huainan and Jiangdong is not that big, as they are only separated by the Yangtze River. Even if it is a little colder, catalyzing the germination of mustard seeds in the soil for ten days or half a month in advance is enough to achieve the same planting conditions as Jiangdong.

...After listening to Zhuge Jin's casual chat, Liu Bei sighed.

Any random word from Tzuyu can be so inspiring and beneficial.

However, Liu Bei also knew that even if he could grow overwintering mustard, it would not be enough to completely solve Guangling County’s food problem this year.

How can you feel full just by eating vegetables?

Even if we let the soldiers put more mustard greens in their meals starting from the end of February next year, or even increase the proportion of mustard greens to more than half, regardless of the soldiers' hunger, we still can't hold out.

It is estimated that all the rice, wheat and millet will be eaten up before February.

The production method of farming is still too slow to produce food. The growing period of staple food is often more than half a year, and vegetables take at least nearly a hundred days. Distant water cannot quench immediate thirst!

Liu Bei hoped to have a new food source that would produce immediate results, preferably within ten days or half a month, so that starting from September, he could reduce the consumption of staple food.

But Liu Bei was too embarrassed to make such an incredible request. He hesitated for a long time and just sighed: "Sir, you can come up with so many wonderful strategies and good methods, which is a great virtue for the people. I just regret that the benefits of farming will take a long time to take effect. There is nothing I can do about it.

If we want to come quickly, we still have to rely on trade or fishing and hunting, but unfortunately you may not be familiar with those. Anyway, being able to do this is already a pleasant surprise. I will comfort the soldiers properly, and we will share the joys and sorrows and prepare to get through this famine winter and the famine next spring. "

Zhuge Jin: "It is human nature to hope for quick success in fishing, hunting, woodcutting and gathering. In the past ten days, I have actually considered these techniques and gained some experience. However, before I came to Guangling, I could not adapt to local conditions and try them out on the spot. It will take some time to verify.

General, please be at ease and deal with the other urgent matters first. Within half a month, I will come up with a solution that will definitely help. I am not sure yet, so I dare not boast for the time being."

Liu Bei was delighted again, but he felt that the feeling of surprise in his mind today was not enough.

I haven't seen Tzuyu for only ten days, but he has already prepared more than one big move? What kind of brain is this?
Liu Bei couldn't help but recall with longing that when he and Ziyu first met, they only spent two days together, and then he escorted the other's family away.

During those two days, Tzuyu gave him a plan every day, and the speed and frequency were explosive.

Ten days later, when they met again, he was able to give him three surprises at once: the first surprise was that he taught Zhang Fei to disguise himself as an enemy and steal Guangling. The second surprise was that he could think of planting winter mustard to survive the famine. The third surprise was what I just mentioned, that he planned to make some small improvements in fishing, hunting, and woodcutting.

By this calculation, if Zhuge Jin worked overtime with all his strength, he would make one plan per day.

Even if I'm in a state of idleness on my days off, I can always come up with a plan every three days - at least this number is still valid so far.

The speed of the brain is so terrifying!
Liu Bei was fascinated and immediately followed suit, asking for advice without any doubt:
"I wonder what the most pressing matters that you just mentioned are for our army? I will go and do them immediately, and then come back to listen to the rest of your remarks!

In my opinion, it seems that the most urgent matter for our army now is Yunchang, but it is not difficult. I can spend a few more days to help him completely force Ji Ling back to Xuyi, break contact with our army, and cut off Yuan Shu's intention to organize another attack immediately. It should be enough. The rest of the energy should be focused on rectifying internal affairs. "

Zhuge Jin nodded and said, "Yun Chang's case is indeed one of them, but there is another urgent but not difficult matter, which is that the neighboring Hailing County is still in the hands of Yuan Shu's army.

Please divide your troops and encircle the land, force them to land, and take over the county town in an orderly manner. Only in this way can our army's territory be completely stabilized, the border is solid, and there are no hidden dangers. After doing all this, the new method of raising grain that I mentioned should have a clue. "

Hailing County is the Taizhou City of later generations, plus a small part of Nantong of later generations (the main part of Nantong is still under the sea, and the two counties of Rudong and Rugao are still isolated islands, and it will take hundreds of years for them to be connected to the land by the alluvial sand of the Yangtze River).

It was located not far to the east of Guangling County (Yangzhou City), only about a hundred miles away. Liu Xun had originally stationed one or two thousand soldiers and some ragtag militia there.

Guangling fell yesterday, but Hailing did not follow the retreat. Now it is impossible for Yuan's army there to retreat home by land, as the retreat route has been cut off by Liu Bei. The only way they can retreat is by taking the Yangtze River waterway.

However, because Zhang Duo, a naval commander under Liu Xun, ran away with Liu Ye, Hailing's troops might not have enough ships to retreat, let alone a professional navy escort.

When Liu Bei heard this, he felt that the matter really needed to be urgent, and immediately said that since his third brother was still recuperating from injury and overwork, he would take the responsibility himself and send troops to Hailing County the next morning.

It is estimated that the march and preparation will take two days. It would be best to force the desperate enemy to land without mobilizing troops. In that case, the round trip and appeasement can be done in five days.

Liu Bei had nothing to do anyway, so he decided to finish the finishing touches first and then come back to listen to the master's instructions further.

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(End of this chapter)