Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 373: Blaming the Imperial Court for Being Too Good? Yields of Thousands of Jin per Mu! [Subscription Request]

After inspecting the sweet potato experimental field, Zhu Biao took Liu Kuan to a nearby corn experimental field.

According to the information provided by Liu Kuan and the experience of many veteran farmers in Yingtian Prefecture, the planting period for sweet potatoes and corn is from late March to early April.

The growth cycle of corn is shorter, only 100 to 120 days, and it can be harvested around August.

The growth cycle of sweet potatoes is relatively long, but they can be harvested in September and October.

"This planting and harvesting season conflicts somewhat with rice," Zhu Biao said as he rode his horse. "But after two years of growing sweet potatoes and corn, experienced farmers have speculated that they can also be grown in late May or early June."

Liu Kuan nodded. "After all, the Jiangnan region is warmer, so the planting and harvesting time should be able to be delayed by a month or two."

"However, as long as we can experiment with growing sweet potatoes and corn in the mountains and hills of Jiangnan, there won't be much of a problem with them competing with rice for land."

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "Yes, besides their high yield, the biggest advantage of sweet potatoes and corn is that they can be grown in mountainous areas. Half of the corn experimental field we will be inspecting is mountainous land."

The two experimental fields were not far apart, and Zhu Biao, Liu Kuan and his party arrived soon.

But the corn had just been planted, so nothing could be seen at present.

Finally, Zhu Biao took Liu Kuan to see the corn stored after last year's harvest.

Liu Kuan found that both the corn and the corn cob after peeling the corn were much smaller than he had imagined.

Zhu Biao had seen corn from later times in some videos and noticed this problem. He couldn't help but say, "This corn still looks a little small. No wonder the breeding fields only yielded a little over 300 kilograms per mu last year. Brother-in-law, what is the yield per mu of corn in later times?"

Liu Kuan recalled and said, "It should be between 800 and 1,300 kilograms per mu. There are many factors that can affect corn yields, and the yields vary from place to place."

Zhu Biao couldn't help but admire, "Even if we calculate based on the lowest corn yield in the future as my brother-in-law said, it's still twice as much as it is now."

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Your Highness, firstly, the corn seeds used in later generations are all improved, and secondly, there are pesticides, fertilizers, etc."

"The Ming Dynasty lacks these conditions. The agricultural officials and veteran farmers in charge of the breeding fields have achieved a yield of over 300 kilograms per mu using the corn they brought back from America. This is already quite remarkable."

Zhu Biao nodded first, then sighed, "It seems that cultivating high-quality grain varieties requires decades of consistent work. There's no rush."

Liu Kuan said, "The Ming Dynasty still has a large population and a large land area. As long as the water conservancy projects are well developed, there is basically no need to worry about widespread famine."

"Indeed." Zhu Biao smiled, "We have plenty of time."

The next day.

Liu Kuan continued to follow Zhu Biao to the countryside.

Because they had been notified in advance, everyone from Zhu Biao and Liu Kuan to the personal soldiers wore casual clothes outside today.

Of course, Zhu Biao had more than 3,000 personal soldiers with him, and even if there were only a few hundred riders following him, others could see that they should not be provoked.

Zhu Biao first inspected a sweet potato experimental field on a mountain, and then came to a village not far away.

"This village is called Gejiazhai, and it's said to have existed before the Song Dynasty. Only three or four percent of the farmland in this village is paddy field, and the rest is dry land."

"The local government wanted to relocate them, but the villagers were unwilling to do so. There were no wealthy families in the village that met the imperial government's relocation policy, so the relocation plan was abandoned."

Zhu Biao had obviously done his homework in advance. When he arrived outside the village, he introduced the situation of Gejiakou to Liu Kuan.

Finally, he smiled and said, "Because the sweet potato experimental fields are nearby, the government chose this village as one of the pilot villages to promote sweet potato cultivation."

Liu Kuan couldn't help but ask, "Why not promote corn planting in this village as well?"

Zhu Biao said, "First, the village has limited dry land. Second, it's already difficult to get villagers to learn to grow one new crop. If we expect them to learn to grow two new crops in a short period of time, I'm afraid we'll end up making things worse."

"Therefore, this year, the promotion of sweet potato and corn cultivation in Zhili is mostly separate. Of course, if farmers actively request to plant two new crops, local agricultural officials will also teach them."

Liu Kuan nodded.

I thought to myself that grassroots work is really not easy. If you don’t get involved, it’s easy to take things for granted, fail to get things done, or even turn a good thing into a bad thing.

It was rare for Zhu Biao, as the crown prince, to be able to go deep into the countryside and understand these situations.

After walking a little further, before entering the village, Liu Kuan saw a minor official in a green robe, accompanied by several clerks and a dozen patrolmen, confronting and arguing with dozens of villagers on a hillside.

Zhu Biao immediately signaled everyone to dismount, and only took Liu Kuan and other attendants and dozens of guards with him. Each of his guards was a "master of the imperial palace" who could fight ten men at once. They wore fine soft armor, equipped with real tempered steel swords, and a pair of fine short guns.

With this kind of strength, let alone the dozens of villagers on the opposite side, even an ordinary army of hundreds of people would be nothing but food.

When the villagers saw a group of strangers coming, who were all very strong, they immediately became alert.

When the green-robed official saw the Jurong magistrate who was following Zhu Biao, he guessed Zhu Biao's identity and his face turned pale and he looked nervous.

The Jurong County Magistrate's face was also unhappy. He whispered to Zhu Biao, "Your Highness, that person is Dunwen, the official of the local agriculture department. He is responsible for promoting sweet potato cultivation to the Ge family."

The Ming Dynasty used the Lijia system at the grassroots level: one hundred and ten households formed a Li, and the ten households with the most land and the highest productivity took turns to serve as Lizhang, and in some areas also served as grain chiefs; ten households formed a Jia, and the remaining one hundred households took turns to send someone to serve as Jiashou.

The important task of transporting grain (paying taxes) every year was entrusted to the village head and ten village heads. For a long time, farmers were responsible for delivering grain to designated places to pay land taxes, rather than officials coming down to collect them. Officials only came down to notify and urge collection.

Historically, the Ming Dynasty's Lijia system was finalized and implemented nationwide in the 14th year of the Hongwu reign. When the Yellow Book was re-edited in the 24th year of the Hongwu reign, a Du was established above the Li, with 550 households forming a Du.

Later, districts were set up in large counties with dense populations, but the system was rather chaotic. In some places, one city was divided into several districts, while in other places, several cities were combined into one district. The fundamental purpose was to collect land taxes more efficiently.

Although the Lijia system had various aspects that people complained about, it helped the Ming Dynasty to gain a more firm control over the villages and towns in the early days, allowing the imperial power to extend to the grassroots level of the country.

Unfortunately, after Xuande, the grassroots system of the Ming Dynasty quickly deteriorated and became a mere formality.

Grassroots rights were also taken away by gentry and landlords.

When the group arrived at the edge of the field, the Jurong County Magistrate, after receiving a signal from Zhu Biao, asked, "Fang Dunwen, what's going on?"

Fang Dunwen wiped the sweat from his forehead and explained, "Prefect, we previously agreed with the Ge family that they could use the dry land to grow sweet potatoes according to the method we taught them. If the yield per mu is less than 300 kilograms, the government will exempt these lands from the autumn tax."

"But today, when I came here to give them instructions on how to farm, they changed their minds and refused to plant sweet potatoes no matter what."

The magistrate of Jurong also wanted to show off in front of Zhu Biao, so after hearing Fang Dunwen's words, he did not blame him blindly, but went forward to communicate with the villagers of Gejiakou in person.

He came up to the old man in the lead and said, "I am the magistrate of Jurong. What is your name, sir?"

"It turns out to be the county magistrate." The old man was shocked and was about to kneel down and kowtow.

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, common people did not have to kneel when they met officials on the road or in the wild unless they were going to court. Later, common people would kneel when they met officials, and even lower officials would kneel to their superiors. These were all bad rules and customs that were gradually formed under the influence of bureaucratic culture.

The Jurong County Magistrate naturally did not dare to show off his authority to the common people in front of Zhu Biao. He hurriedly supported the old man and said, "This is not the county government office. There is no need for such great courtesy."

The old man didn't insist on kneeling. He bowed and said, "I am Ge Sanqi from Gejiacun Village. I am honored to meet the County Magistrate."

The magistrate asked, "Mr. Ge, could you tell me why you've agreed to something and now regret it?"

Ge Sanqi said, "Our village has been farming here since before the Song Dynasty. We haven't produced any high-ranking officials, but we were lucky enough to avoid being destroyed in the war. We've been able to pass on our legacy for so long because we're all honest people in our village and never go against the government."

"So, I heard Mr. Fang say that we should plant sweet potatoes that can produce more than 500 catties per mu. If the yield is less than 300 catties per mu, the tax on these dry lands will be exempted."

"When we first heard about it, we thought it was a good thing, and since it was a task assigned by the government, we agreed without giving it much thought."

"But when the villagers looked around, they felt something was wrong."

Gejiakou was a large village, with dozens of households and hundreds of people. Ge Sanqi, having been appointed village elder, was undoubtedly better than the average villager, and his speech was quite coherent.

"What's wrong?" asked the magistrate with a frown.

"The biggest problem here is, of course, that sweet potato can produce over 500 catties per mu. My Lord, I'm 59 years old now. I started farming when I was less than ten years old, but I've never heard of anything producing over 500 catties per mu, unless you count rice and wheat straw."

"Secondly, Master Fang said that if the yield per mu is less than 300 catties, taxes will be exempted. Emperor Hongwu is kind to the people. We know that if the court reduces or exempts taxes due to disasters or poor harvests, the common people can understand."

"But the fact that the tax is exempted if the yield per mu is less than 300 catties is something my ancestors have never heard of in their entire lives."

"We ordinary people can't believe such a good thing has happened. We feel uneasy. How can we dare to use all the dry land in the village to grow sweet potatoes?"

The magistrate of Jurong smiled bitterly after hearing this. He didn't expect that the reason why the villagers refused to grow sweet potatoes was that the policies given by the court were too good to be believed.

Zhu Biao and Liu Kuan were also a little amused and helpless when they heard this.

Zhu Biao immediately stepped forward and asked, "Mr. Ge, if these sweet potatoes can really yield more than 500 catties per mu, and if they are well cared for, they can even yield 800 catties per mu, would you be willing to plant them?"

"Would you deliberately reduce the yield of these lands to less than 300 kilograms of grain in order to exempt them from taxes?"

Ge Sanqi tilted his head and asked, "Who are you? Can your words be more effective than the county magistrate's?"

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "Don't worry, old man. My words are more effective than those of the county magistrate and even the prefect."

Ge Sanqi looked at Zhu Biao suspiciously for a moment, then said, "If these sweet potatoes could really yield over 500 kilograms per mu, we wouldn't resort to trickery and deliberately reduce the yield."

"If we can really produce 500 catties per mu, even after paying taxes, the harvest will still be more than 300 catties. My father-in-law will do the math."

Zhu Biao said, "Mr. Ge, about ten miles from here towards the county town, there is a piece of government farmland. Last year, they planted sweet potatoes there."

"The court hired several veteran farmers to direct some young men to cultivate the land intensively. Guess how much grain they harvested that autumn?"

About ten miles away, Ge Sanqi had heard about the government farmland. People in several nearby villages had privately said that all kinds of crops were grown there. He couldn't tell whether it was true or not, and was very curious.

Following Zhu Biao's words, he asked, "How much did you collect?"

Zhu Biao smiled and gestured, saying, "The yield per mu is over a thousand catties!"

"How much?!" Ge Sanqi widened his eyes, looking incredulous, and asked again.

"The yield per mu is more than 1,000 kilograms!" Zhu Biao still smiled and answered patiently.

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)