Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 372 Zhu Biao asks about farming, technology and hard work [Please subscribe]

After Liu Kuan sent someone to the palace to report the good news and safety to Zhu Yuanzhang, he continued to think about names for his two children.

It was finally decided that the son would be named "Liu Changan" and the daughter would be named "Liu Ruoyue".

Of course, in order to avoid Zhu Huilan's complaints about him not waiting until the child was one month old before giving the child a full name, Liu Kuan temporarily kept the two names in his heart and planned to announce them to the public after the child's full month banquet.

When Zhu Yuanzhang learned that Zhu Huilan and her child were safe and had given birth to twins, a boy and a girl, he was very pleased. He issued an edict to reward the two children with various treasures and a farm of thousands of acres each.

Liu Kuan seriously suspected that if the two children were not yet a month old, Zhu Yuanzhang would most likely have directly conferred the title on them.

The next day.

After the regular court session.

Liu Kuan was taken to Fengxian Hall by the eunuchs.

Old Zhu and Zhu Biao are both here.

After Liu Kuan saluted, Zhu Biao smiled and bowed, saying, "Congratulations to my brother-in-law on having a pair of wonderful children!"

Old Zhu also smiled and said, "Liu Kuan, you are truly a very blessed person. Not only did you have the chance to come to our Ming Dynasty, but you also had a pair of twins, a boy and a girl. That's incredible."

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "If I am blessed with great fortune, then Your Majesty will be blessed with great fortune."

"Hahaha," Old Zhu laughed heartily, "You're actually trying to flatter me, and you're so skilled at it."

After laughing, Old Zhu and Zhu Biao began to talk about business.

"After more than two years of breeding sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes, we now have a large number of seedlings. Therefore, we plan to promote the large-scale planting of sweet potatoes and corn in Zhili, Henan, and Shandong, and potato planting in Liaoning this year."

"Zhu Zi (Prince of Tan) will be in charge of promoting potato cultivation in Liaoning, Zhu Chun (Prince of Shu) and Zhu Bai (Prince of Xiang) will be in charge of promoting potato cultivation in Henan and Shandong, and Biao'er will personally take charge of the promotion of potato cultivation in Zhili."

"You come from the future, so you must have seen the planting of sweet potatoes and corn, right? I hope you and Biaoer can go to the experimental fields in Yingtian Prefecture to take a look."

Liu Kuan felt a little helpless after hearing what Old Zhu said, and explained: "Your Majesty, although I come from the future, I have never grown sweet potatoes or corn. I have only heard of some planting methods and watched a few videos of others planting them, and now I only remember part of it."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Then you are better than those officials who have never seen the scene of sweet potato and corn planting."

Since Old Zhu said so, Liu Kuan had no choice but to accept the task.

April is the season for planting sweet potatoes and corn in Zhili, so that afternoon Liu Kuan followed Zhu Biao to the sweet potato experimental field in Yingtian Prefecture.

The two of them went to take a look at the seedling field first.

In a fertile field of over a hundred acres, the sweet potato seedlings that Liu Kuan remembered were growing vigorously, swaying slightly in the breeze of late spring and early summer in the fields, which was very pleasing.

Although Zhu Biao had already known from the memorial that the sweet potato seedlings were growing well, he was still very happy after seeing it with his own eyes.

The two walked into the seedling field. Zhu Biao asked with a smile, "What do you think of these sweet potato seedlings, brother-in-law?"

Although Liu Kuan had never grown sweet potatoes, the little knowledge about sweet potato cultivation in the Ming Dynasty was compiled by him from various computer materials, so he did not really know nothing.

He bent down and moved the sweet potato seedlings to take a look. Seeing that the sweet potato seedlings were growing strong, he nodded and said, "It looks good."

Zhu Biao sighed, "You probably don't know, but these one hundred-plus acres of sweet potato seedlings were infested with insects a month ago. The agricultural officer in charge reported this to me, and Father immediately mobilized his soldiers to patrol day and night, pruning the infested seedlings. Thanks to our sheer numbers, we were able to eradicate the infestation in just a few days."

Liu Kuan nodded and said, "Nowadays, farming mainly depends on the weather for food, which is really not easy."

Zhu Biao subconsciously asked, "What about future generations?" Liu Kuan replied, "In addition to relying on the weather, future generations can also rely on technology and hard work to farm."

"how do I say this?"

Liu Kuan said, "If the fields are short of water, we can use pumps to draw water from low and far away for irrigation. We can even use drip irrigation to continuously ensure the moisture needed by crops."

"The land for growing crops needs fertility, and later generations have various fertilizers produced by the chemical industry, such as nitrogen fertilizer, phosphorus fertilizer, and potash fertilizer."

"Your Highness probably knows that newly reclaimed fields need to be planted with a round of bean crops first, and it is best to burn the bean stalks into ashes and spread them on the fields."

"In some places, fields are left fallow to maintain soil fertility, while in other places, crops are rotated, with legumes planted in between. Why? Because legumes can fix nitrogen, which is an important nutrient for many plants."

"With the advent of nitrogen fertilizers in later generations, we can apply nitrogen fertilizers and still get a good harvest every year without leaving land fallow or rotating crops."

"For example, some experienced farmers along rivers and coasts secretly use fish and shrimp waste to make a fertilizer to increase the yield of crops. This is because fish and shrimp contain a lot of phosphorus."

"In later generations, the proper use of phosphate fertilizers in the fields naturally resulted in abundant harvests... It can be said that the reason why crops like rice and wheat yield several times more per mu than today is not only because of the availability of excellent grain varieties, but also because of the availability of various chemical fertilizers and pesticides."

"By the way, in the future, if a certain area has been cloudy for a long time without rain, we can use artillery shells to bombard the clouds to achieve the purpose of rain in a short period of time."

Although Zhu Biao was looking forward to the technological farming methods of future generations, he was still shocked after hearing what Liu Kuan said. He did not expect that so many technologies could be applied to farming.

After coming to his senses, Zhu Biao asked, "So, brother-in-law, when do you think our Ming Dynasty will be able to develop chemical fertilizers?"

Liu Kuan shook his head. "Chemical fertilizers were developed on the basis of the chemical industry, but the chemical industry in Ming Dynasty is practically non-existent. There is almost no foundation."

"Even with the information I've provided, it would probably take another ten years to develop fertilizer and start large-scale production."

"Ten years?" Zhu Biao sighed. "That's not too long."

Liu Kuan suggested, "In fact, the court can collect the secret farming methods of old farmers, optimize these methods, and then promote them."

"For example, how to make better farmyard manure, grow beans to fix nitrogen, use fish and shrimp to make organic phosphorus fertilizer, and so on."

“If it’s done well, it can effectively increase crop yields before chemical fertilizers are developed.”

"Also, based on the experience of later generations, the extensive use of chemical fertilizers can actually pollute the water and soil, and in the long run, it can cause some harm to the health of the next generation."

"Of course, these injuries are nothing compared to having enough food to eat and coping with famine."

Zhu Biao listened thoughtfully, then nodded and said, "I've taken note of your brother-in-law's words. I'll have someone do it later. Let's go and continue inspecting the sweet potato fields."

According to Liu Kuan, the more than 100 acres of sweet potato seedlings in front of him were planted after the first generation of sweet potato seedlings were cultivated in February last year using the "sweet potato vine hibernation method".

Next, in April, we need to select healthy sweet potato seedlings, plant them by cuttings, and then water and fertilize them properly to get a good harvest.

Although the Ming Dynasty did not have the pesticides and chemical fertilizers that were full of technology and labor like those in later generations, it did have pest control methods and various organic fertilizers based on the wisdom of the ancients, and they were all pollution-free.

The sweet potato, corn and potato experimental fields will be well cared for by agricultural officials and veteran farmers. As long as there are no major accidents, there will be no problem in getting a good harvest this year.

　Second update.

　　[Continuing to visit relatives and friends for the new year, I have to drive for a long time every day. I am speechless.]

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)