Da Ming: Father, step aside, I'll be the prime minister!

Chapter 381 What is a hybrid? This is science!

Xu Guangqi was a little confused. He thought he had come here to study, but he didn't expect to go through such a long detour and be insulted, both openly and subtly.

If it were a military general like Qi Jiguang, he probably would have fought him on the spot. But Xu Guangqi was, after all, a scholar, and he was reasonable.

"I have never provoked Commander Zhang, so why is he humiliating me like this?"

When he said this, Xu Guangqi's face showed some grief and indignation.

Bullying!

After the Lantern Festival, someone from Xishan came to tell him to stay at home and not to leave the capital in the near future, as Zhang Yunxiu would summon him when he had time.

At first, Xu Guangqi was overjoyed. He had always wanted to meet this legendary playboy of the Ming Dynasty, and was particularly interested in the inventions and achievements of Xishan.

Unexpectedly, this wait lasted for more than a month, until he had almost run out of money in the capital, but Zhang Yunxiu still showed no intention of summoning him.

Just as he was about to give up, people from Xishan finally arrived. However, after arriving at Xishan, he hadn't learned anything or received any rewards. Instead, he was immediately called a "bastard."

Even a clay figure has a temper!

Zhang Yunxiu was taken aback for a moment and said, "Zixian, you seem to have misunderstood. When did I say you were a bastard? I said this pea is a bastard, but you are you and the pea is a pea. How can you confuse the two?"

Although he was explaining, to Xu Guangqi it sounded like he was being openly or subtly mocked.

"Commander Zhang! An army may lose its commander, but a common man cannot be deprived of his will!"

Xu Guangqi's eyes were red and he was almost crying, but he still straightened his back and said.

"Although I, Xu Guangqi, am not from a prestigious family, my family has always been a family of scholars and farmers. We have never committed any crimes or offenses. For five generations, no one in my family has any foreign blood. Why does Commander Zhang slander me like this?"

Does Commander Zhang think that having money and power allows him to bully others at will? He is sorely mistaken.

Xu Guangqi's demeanor, refusing to bow and scrape before the powerful and wealthy, was truly a man of unyielding integrity.

Zhang Yunxiu laughed in anger, and immediately waved his hand and said.

"I see you're refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit! Guards! Drag Scholar Xu to Coal Hill, and no one is to let him out without my permission."

Xu Guangqi was terrified. He looked around and his legs went weak with fear.

No matter how many books he read, he was still just a scholar, and being a newcomer to the capital, he had no background whatsoever.

The only person I could count as a connection with was the Catholic missionary Janella.

But who is Zhang Yunxiu? He is someone who can subdue even the Grand Secretary and the Minister of Rites, and even Xu Jie is helpless against him.

Xu Guangqi immediately regretted it. How could he, a mere scholar from Songjiang Prefecture, possibly contend with such a person?

In the blink of an eye, Xu Guangqi, showing remarkable flexibility, immediately knelt down before Zhang Yunxiu.

"Commander Zhang, please calm down! I acted on impulse. I am quite capable. I am well-versed in agricultural books and know some arithmetic. I think I will be useful in Xishan."

If Commander Zhang does not despise me, I am willing to serve him like a dog or horse!

Seeing Xu Guangqi kneel down instantly, Zhang Yunxiu couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion. He truly deserved to be called a great man of his generation.

This man, who had served as the second-highest-ranking cabinet minister in history, was clearly not a fool.

He patted Xu Guangqi on the shoulder and said with a smile.

"Get up."

Xu Guangqi looked around and, not seeing any Jinyiwei officers nearby, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that he's stood up, he speaks much more gently.

"What Commander Zhang means is..."

Zhang Yunxiu looked at the other person with a rather speechless expression.

“I’m trying to talk to you nicely, but you won’t listen. I’m just trying to scare you. I’ve made it very clear that this bastard is a pea bastard, not your bastard. Do you understand?”

These words still sounded very strange, but Xu Guangqi dared not say anything more and nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, Commander Zhang is right."

"I want to speak for you."

Zhang Yunxiu was furious. He had overestimated the understanding of the ancients; there was still a "generation gap" between them!
He sighed and said.

"Zixian, you claim to be an expert in agronomy, so I'll test you on how to cultivate a good field."

When the conversation turned to scholarship, Xu Guangqi became quite adept, shaking his head as he spoke.

"There is only one key to farming: the first is timing, which means following the seasons and taking advantage of the land. This way, you can achieve more with less effort. The second is understanding the nature of the soil. The 'Essential Techniques for the Common People' says: 'For good fields, mung beans are the best, followed by red beans and sesame seeds.'"

The third is farming, the fourth is disaster prevention.

He spoke eloquently, but to Zhang Yunxiu, not a single point was relevant.

Zhang Yunxiu shook his head and said, "These methods are indeed essential for farming, but if we want to grow high-yield, high-quality grains and fruits, these things are clearly far from enough."

"not enough?"

Xu Guangqi roughly understood the meaning. Having learned a little about the Xishan Military Colony, he obviously had the answer.

"Commander Zhang means superior breed?"

“Farming is like cultivating talent,” Zhang Yunxiu said metaphorically.

"So-called talent not only needs external forces, but also its own innate qualities and hard work."

The same applies to seedling cultivation. If you want high yields, then cultivate high-yielding seedlings. If you want seedlings to be tolerant of poor soil, drought, and waterlogging, or even to shorten the maturity cycle, you need to cultivate seedlings.

Xu Guangqi suddenly felt as if he had come across a martial arts manual, and he said with a serious expression.

"What does Commander Zhang mean by cultivation? In agriculture, there is indeed the concept of selecting good seeds, but good seeds are hard to come by and cannot be sought after. The cultivation process is not something that can be done overnight, but rather takes decades or even centuries."

The ancients were not incapable of "hybridization" techniques; they simply lacked a clear theoretical framework.

For example, in the process of cultivating crops, ancient people would also adopt the method of selecting the best among the best, so as to preserve excellent genes.

Alternatively, hybridization can be achieved by adjusting the planting layout of various melons, fruits, and beans, relying on pollination.

However, the lack of a systematic concept makes this hybridization extremely inefficient.

While superior varieties have indeed emerged over thousands of years, the emergence of a single superior variety can take a span of one or two hundred years.

It wasn't that the imperial court didn't value improved crop varieties; rather, this cultivation method was simply too inefficient.

It would be better to directly import superior varieties of crops from abroad; Champa rice is a good example.

This is why Zhang Yunxiu's proposal to cultivate new crops and grow grain yielding forty shi per mu was met with ridicule and incomprehension from so many people.

Because, fundamentally speaking, cultivating high-quality crops in a short period of time is a pipe dream.

In fact, it is not an easy task to cultivate a new variety in later generations.

However, if this process is to be accelerated, the agricultural community of the Ming Dynasty must popularize the concepts of "genes" and "heredity".

Therefore, Zhang Yunxiu patiently explained.

"That is why I brought you here today."

He casually picked up a pea sprout.

“Look at this pea plant. Its stem is exceptionally tall. It was specially selected by the officers and workers of the agricultural settlement. After several generations of cultivation, the seeds produced all grow from peas with tall stems.”

Similarly, we can select peas with short stalks, cultivate them for several generations, and maintain this short stalk trait. Xu Guangqi, however, was somewhat dismissive of this, even thinking the other party was talking nonsense.

"Like begets like; a dragon begets a dragon, a phoenix begets a phoenix, and a rat's son knows how to dig holes. This is common knowledge."

This was easy for the ancients to explain; it was simply a matter of having good "seeds" at home, and being able to research something from those "seeds".

Zhang Yunxiu, however, seemed unhurried and led the other person to another pea field, asking questions as he spoke.

Is this field a tall pole or a short pole?

Xu Guangqi felt that the other party was treating him like a three-year-old child, but with the groundwork laid earlier, he had completely given up any thoughts of "rebellion".

Xu Guangqi cupped his hands and said, "Reporting to the Commander, this is a short pole."

But after he finished speaking, he felt somewhat helpless. Anyone with eyes could see that, so why did he need to answer?

"wrong."

Zhang Yunxiu said with absolute certainty.

"The so-called 'field' is the result of a cross between purebred tall and purebred dwarf varieties, not simply tall varieties."

Xu Guangqi was stunned. He seemed to have grasped something unusual, but he still continued to explain.

The "Lunheng Chubing Pian" states, "Plants and trees grow from seeds. When they emerge from the soil, they sprout into stems and leaves, which become long, short, large, or small, all of which are derived from seeds."

This must be due to the seedlings and seeds.

Zhang Yunxiu shook his head and pointed to the pea field next to him, saying, "When Zixian entered this greenhouse just now, he frowned. I suppose he saw that the peas in this field were of varying heights."

This seedbed is cultivated from seeds taken from the mother field, so why are all the mother field plants tall, while the seedbed plants are of varying heights?

Xu Guangqi felt as if he had been tapped on the forehead, and seemed to have a sudden realization, but he didn't know what he had grasped.

When purebred tall and short peas are crossbred, tall peas are produced. However, when these tall peas are further crossbred, the resulting peas exhibit varying heights.

This phenomenon is not unnoticed, but most farmers simply don't have the time or energy to think about it.

Even for a scholar like Xu Guangqi, this was a problem that was easily overlooked.

Until one day, Zhang Yunxiu put this problem on the table and devoted himself to studying the underlying principles, and Xu Guangqi finally noticed the difference.

Why is that?

Xu Guangqi's curiosity was thoroughly aroused. He stared intently at the pea field of varying heights, looking here and there, and even used the magnifying glass provided by Xishan to examine the pea flowers closely.

Zhang Yunxiu stood aside, not in a hurry to answer his question.

Good teachers always let students find the answers themselves.

Xu Guangqi looked very troubled, and it took him a long time to finally manage to utter a single sentence.

"I think the taller one is more powerful. When a taller one is compared to a shorter one, the more powerful one naturally shows itself."

However, these dwarf stalks also have 'seeds', so when further hybridization occurs, they can easily become apparent by chance.

This matter depends on the right timing, location, and people; it is not absolute.

There are often rumors about the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren, with grandchildren resembling their grandfathers more than their fathers. Such situations have led to many ethical and moral issues.

Ultimately, it's not surprising that a grandson resembles his grandfather; it's possible that the resemblance in facial features was hidden in the father's generation.

As he spoke, he seemed to lose confidence, and his voice grew softer and softer.

"Mr. Zhang, am I correct in saying this?"

Zhang Yunxiu glanced at the other party with considerable surprise. This Xu Guangqi actually had a lot of dialectical thinking.

He nodded slightly and said.

"That statement is about 80% correct."

Xu Guangqi was somewhat pleased and cupped his hands in greeting.

"Please give me some advice, sir!"

The title has now changed.

Zhang Yunxiu said with a smile, "What you said is not wrong, but it could be more precise."

"accurate?"

Zhang Yunxiu spoke eloquently, saying, "Just as you mentioned about the grandfather and grandson, all living beings in the world have something within them that controls their behavior."

Xishan calls it 'gene'.

When the word "gene" was mentioned, Zhang Yunxiu paused to allow Xu Guangqi to understand.

"Genes are the basic units of biological heredity."

An ancient book says that even the smallest kernel of a plant contains color, fragrance, odor, taste, flowers, fruits, branches, and leaves.

"Ren (仁) is a seed, and a seed is the carrier of gene propagation."

These words clearly left Xu Guangqi somewhat confused, but fortunately, he had been well-versed in literature since childhood and was still able to roughly understand Zhang Yunxiu's meaning.

Zhang Yunxiu then continued to provide examples.

"Returning to the pea, as you just said, the tall stalk represents the dominant trait, and the short stalk represents the recessive trait. If the two combine, the tall stalk will naturally become visible."

At this point, the peas produced will have both obvious and hidden traits. If they are cultivated and combined again, the traits of the resulting peas will become uncertain.

Some are purebred tall specimens, some are one tall and one short, and some are even two short specimens; naturally, there are tall ones with short ones.

To explain better, Zhang Yunxiu took out paper and pen as he spoke and started writing and drawing on them. First, he wrote two big tall characters and one small short character, and then drew a tree diagram with them as the paternal line.

This tree diagram would be easy for even a primary school student to draw in later generations, but it seemed incredibly ingenious to Xu Guangqi.

Xu Guangqi stared at the pea field for a long time, completely bewildered.

In the end, I had a feeling that I only vaguely understood it.

"I understand what Mr. Zhang said, but there is still one thing I don't understand."

Zhang Yunxiu stood with his hands behind his back, not disappointed, but even quite relieved.

When he tried to explain concepts like "hybridization," "genes," and "traits" to the artisans at the settlement, it was like talking to a brick wall.

Even though Zhang Sishu, who had some education, understood a little, he was still lacking in some essential skills.

If students from the academy come over, they can understand the general principles, but it will be difficult for them to apply them to actual agricultural practices.

After all, which of these academic geniuses in this era has ever actually worked the land?

Finding someone who understands both farming practices and theory is extremely difficult.

Xu Guangqi was the best candidate among them.

So Zhang Yunxiu nodded and said, "Please speak freely."

Xu Guangqi thought for a moment and then asked.

"I understand these theories, but they seem to be nothing more than guesses. We can't see or touch 'genes,' so how can we verify them?"

(End of this chapter)