The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 171 This kid really has a serious illness
In July, the capital city is scorching hot and the heat is rolling.

It is still somewhat cool in Yanshan, especially in the Baihe River Valley north of the Summer Resort.

The upper reaches of Chaohe River leads directly to Gubeikou outside the Great Wall, but the upper reaches of Baihe River lead nowhere because the Baihe River is winding and there are mountain rivers and ponds everywhere.

If the northern barbarians came on horseback along the Baihe River Valley, they would have to be careful not to fall into the river pond after running a few miles, and they would have to be careful not to fall into the river pond again after running a few miles.

Therefore, there was originally no road in the Baihe River Valley.

The mountains here are high and the forests are dense, making it difficult to pass through.

But that's for ordinary people.

Wanli is not an ordinary person.

This guy actually mobilized over 100,000 soldiers from the Beijing camp to hack and dig wildly in the Baihe River Valley.

In the Baihe River Valley north of Beijiaochang, the soldiers of the Beijing Camp dug out a mountain road several meters wide.

The mountain road extended northward along the river valley and seemed to be more than ten miles long, but there were still dense crowds of soldiers from the Beijing camp cutting trees to clear the way ahead.

On both sides of the road, the trees on the hillsides had almost all been cut down, and countless soldiers from the Beijing camp were digging terraces.

If the civil servants in the court saw this scene, they would probably curse the little emperor in their hearts for his nonsense.

If you want to open up new land, you should find some low mountains near the open plains. Running to these mountains to open up new land, you must be crazy!
Wanli was certainly not mentally ill, nor did he want to open up wasteland and farm.

In other words, he reclaimed the land not to grow crops, but to grow medicinal herbs.

For the medical industry to develop, there must first be enough doctors and medicinal materials.

He had asked Li Jianzhong to order the gathering of this doctor, and thousands of people from Northern Zhili and its neighboring provinces had arrived one after another.

Medicinal materials are not something that can be inexhaustible just by a decree.

Because there are only so many medicinal herbs in the entire Ming Dynasty, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of people are not enough. Not many people grow medicinal herbs, and not even many people go to the mountains to collect herbs.

This is mainly because the medical industry did not develop in the Ming Dynasty.

It is true that the Ming Dynasty had a medical saint and a medicine saint, and this period can also be said to be the peak period of the development of medicine in the Ming Dynasty.

However, the pinnacle of medicine does not mean the pinnacle of the medical profession.

The Ming Dynasty’s household registration system was fixed, and the medical industry could not develop.

The vast majority of medical households can only practice medicine in their place of household registration, and they are not allowed to charge too much for medical treatment and medication. The vast majority of medical households can only make a living.

If ordinary people get sick now, they may not be able to see a doctor.

Because a doctor has to practice medicine in so many places, and they basically practice medicine by walking. It is amazing if they can walk more than ten miles back and forth in a day, and it is considered good if they can visit all the places where they need to practice medicine in a month.

This means that most people can only bear minor illnesses and die directly from serious illnesses.

After all, it is rare for someone to wait a month for treatment after getting sick. After a month, those who can hold on will naturally recover, while those who can't will most likely die early.

This is also one of the main reasons why the average life expectancy of ordinary people is less than 40 years old.

Therefore, the household registration system of the Ming Dynasty was stuck here. A practicing doctor could only see a few patients a day, and it was considered good enough if he could basically make a living for his family.

This means there is no benefit at all. Without the motivation of profit, who would grow medicinal herbs on a large scale? If you can't make money from growing them, wouldn't that be a waste of time and land?

You can earn some food by growing some crops, but if you grow some medicine for yourself, can you still be full?

Wanli had already learned about it in detail. It was not profitable to grow medicinal herbs at this time. The medicinal herbs that were easy to grow only earned a few cents per pound, which was not as good as growing grain. The medicinal herbs that were difficult to grow only earned more than ten cents per pound, which was also not as good as growing grain.

There are still many medicine dealers in Ming Dynasty at this time.

However, herbalists do not grow herbs, they go into the mountains to collect them.

A herbalist is actually a type of farmer, the kind who carries a basket on his back and goes into the mountains to collect herbs during the slack season.

At present, most of the medicinal herbs in the Ming Dynasty are actually collected by herbalists in the mountains, and there are very few people who actually grow medicinal herbs on a large scale.

He wanted to develop the medical industry, so he naturally needed a large amount of medicinal materials. So he thought of letting the garrison troops grow medicinal materials on a large scale.

Moreover, he asked Li Shizhen to take several sons and a group of guards into the mountains along the Chaohe and Baihe River valleys to look for any medicinal herbs in Yanshan.

As a result, the search was incredible. Li Shizhen and his sons found hundreds of medicinal herbs in just a few days. Although the quantity was not large, they could all grow wild in Yanshan Mountain, so there would definitely be no problem in planting them.

So he immediately summoned the Beijing garrison to open up the wasteland.

As for why they chose the Baihe River Valley instead of the Chaohe River Valley which already had a road, it was because there were obviously more medicinal herbs here than there. Moreover, there were many people traveling in and out of the passage in the Chaohe River Valley, so it was impossible to close it off to cultivate medicinal herbs.

The Baihe Valley is different. They only opened the road to the south end, and there was no road to the north. Moreover, the entrance to the south was the North Arena of the Beijing Camp, so other people could not enter at all. It was equivalent to a closed area.

There is no problem with developing this place in any way and cultivating as many medicinal herbs as possible.

The problem is how to cultivate medicinal materials on a large scale.

Wanli was very concerned about this, and he even specially found several experts in related fields for Li Shizhen.

Early in the morning at about noon, he brought Li Shizhen and his son, the Wan brothers, Qi Jiguang and others to the river valley that was being excavated.

Even though Wanli had been here more than once, the sight of the scene in the valley still left him stunned. Honestly, the sight of over a hundred thousand people reclaiming wasteland was truly rare, especially in the mountains. The hillsides were completely covered in people, so densely packed they couldn't even be seen in an anthill.

He raised his telescope and scanned the terraced fields on the nearby hillside, which were about to be opened. Then he asked, "How are things going, Doctor Li? Have you decided what to plant? We need to dig up the medicinal herbs in batches."

Li Shizhen nodded repeatedly and said, "This humble official has already thought about it. The variety of medicinal herbs here is really frightening. Among the more than 200 commonly used medicinal herbs, 40 to 50 can be found here.

Moreover, you can find a lot of ready-made seeds and even seedlings for many of them. For example, I have collected a lot of seeds and even seedlings for more than ten kinds of commonly used medicinal materials, such as Scutellaria baicalensis, Atractylodes lancea, Schisandra chinensis, Bupleurum chinense, Forsythia suspensa, and Ziziphus jujuba.

However, I have only opened a few medicinal fields and planted dozens of medicinal herbs. I am not sure if I can grow them on a large scale."

It’s okay, I’ve found someone for you.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Well, Li Huatou, do you think we can grow a large area of ​​medicinal herbs in this mountain?"

Li Huatou’s real name is not Li Huatou, his name is Li Fang. He is the foreman of the gardeners and is one of the best at growing flowers. All the flowers and plants in the palace are grown by him.

Herbs are mostly flowers and plants, so Wanli invited him here.

Li Fang took a quick look and then nodded slowly, "Your Majesty, there is plenty of water here, so growing flowers and plants shouldn't be a big problem. The key is fertilizer.

If it's just a single flower or plant, the accumulated fertilizer from the dead branches and leaves in the soil is enough. However, if you want to plant it in large areas like you would in a field, you definitely can't do it without fertilizer."

Upon hearing this, Li Shizhen nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, the medicinal fields need to be fertilized. Without fertilizer, they won't grow at all."

fertilizer?

There is no fertilizer to buy at this time.

Wanli frowned slightly when he heard this and asked, "What kind of fertilizer are you talking about?"

Uh, this.

Li Fang said with some embarrassment: "Your Majesty, most of these fertilizers are not elegant. I am afraid of offending Your Majesty by saying them out loud."

Indecent?

You mean feces or something?
Wanli smiled slightly and said, "It's okay, just tell me, I don't have that problem, I won't feel disgusted just by talking about it."

Then I will say it.

Li Fang said solemnly, "There's a slight difference between flower fertilizer and farm fertilizer. Farm fertilizer is generally based on human and animal feces and plant ash, but flower fertilizer can't just be that. It's best to add silt, bone meal, gypsum powder, etc. Some flowers and plants also need green manure."

Human and animal feces, wood ash, silt, bone meal, gypsum powder, etc. are easy to deal with, but what kind of fertilizer is green manure?

Wanli was a little puzzled and asked, "What is the green manure you are talking about?"

Li Fang explained carefully: "Green manure is actually flowers and plants. Before planting some flowers and plants, you need to plant specific flowers and plants in the flower field. After these flowers and plants grow, they are rooted and rotted and left in the flower field as fertilizer. This way, the flowers grown there grow very fast and are particularly beautiful."

Oh, it turns out that green manure is also flowers and plants.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then asked, "Do you want human and animal feces and mud to be dry or wet?"

Li Fang said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, this is naturally better, because it is better to grind it dry and mix it with other fertilizers."

That's good.

Wanli immediately pointed to a vacant lot of dozens of acres at the entrance of the valley and said, "Father-in-law, build a few water wheels there and a few greenhouses specifically for producing fertilizer. The water wheels will be used to crush the fertilizer raw materials and mix them. Is that okay?"

Of course there is no problem with this. We can crush all the ores, so how hard can a lump of shit be?

Yongnian Earl Wang Wei nodded repeatedly and said, "No problem."

Wanli then said to Li Fang, "Li Huatou, from now on you will follow Divine Doctor Li and help him cultivate medicinal herbs. You will also teach the garrison guards and their families how to grow medicinal herbs. I will initially pay you ten taels of silver a month. When the medicinal herbs grow in the fields here, I will give you a dividend of 10% of the net profit. You will get as much as you grow."

My God, how many medicinal herbs can be grown here?

You have opened up more than ten miles of hillside, which is probably thousands or even tens of thousands of acres. It seems that you are still opening up on the north side.

Upon hearing this, Li Fang bowed and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

Then there’s the issue of fertilizer.

Wanli directly issued an edict, ordering the Ministry of Works to mobilize young and strong people to dredge the moat of the capital, clear the silt accumulated in the Jishuitan, and open a river channel. The cleared silt must be dried beside the river channel, and then pulled to the Datong Bridge Canal Wharf for loading!

This guy has filled the entire capital with a strange smell.

The civil servants in the court began to mutter to themselves again.

What is the little emperor doing?

If you want to clear the silt, just clear it. Why are you drying the silt? There is all sorts of stuff in the silt, it's so stinking.

This kid really has a serious illness!

They didn't know that Wanli had ordered the border troops stationed in Hetao to dry all the cattle, sheep, and horse feces, sheep bones, and cow bones, and load them onto ships for transportation to the Mountain Resort. If they knew, many people would probably vomit.

In fact, none of these things cost money. The herders collect the manure from cattle, sheep and horses, dry it and use it for burning. You just need to bring some coal over to exchange it.

(End of this chapter)