sjar Chapter 403: Singing and dancing.
Chapter 403: Singing and dancing.
Xiahou Chang was afraid and increased his control over the people, causing panic among the people.
The economy of the Central Plains seriously deteriorated, the monetary system gradually collapsed, and the people resorted to barter.
Even the social system in the Central Plains region has degenerated into a slave society, and the common people have no room for activities!
Under Ye Kun's rule, the country was peaceful and prosperous with singing and dancing.
The campaign to suppress bandits in the southern mountainous areas also achieved initial success and entered the critical stage.
Ye Kun ordered Song Poliu to lead 30,000 naval forces to suppress bandits along the coast and further squeeze the living space of small princes and bandits in the south.
These 30,000 navy troops were reorganized from the Jiangdong navy. They had undergone maritime training and were equipped with guns and cannons. They should be considered the most powerful navy in the world at that time.
In addition, Ye Kun also has a marine corps that is well-equipped, familiar with naval and land battles, and can adapt to all-terrain combat on islands and jungles.
After the autumn harvest, Qin Chou reported on agricultural development.
Grain production in all regions has basically doubled.
The treasury is full, and more granaries are needed.
There are still large amounts of fertile land in Jiangdong and Jingzhou that have not yet been restored to cultivation, and there is great potential for future growth.
The price of food in the market is very low, two cents per pound of brown rice.
Because the prices of salt and iron are benchmarked against grain prices, their prices have fallen further.
The prices of tea and sesame oil have fallen across the board and are starting to enter the homes of ordinary people.
Because the area of Brassica rapa cultivation has expanded, it has also driven an industry, beekeeping, so the honey production has increased more than ten times.
The mulberry and hemp industry is also developing rapidly.
Such achievements are due, on the one hand, to the increase in productivity and the improvement in planting methods.
The most important thing is the stability of the rear area.
There have been bloody battles in the Jingxiang area for years, and the common people have been killed or fled. A large number of fields have been left uncultivated, a large number of mulberry and hemp fields have been destroyed, floods have been left unattended, and agricultural production has almost come to a halt. How can there be any output?
Once the rear area is stabilized and the people settle down, grain, mulberry, hemp, and aquatic products will naturally recover quickly.
Ye Kun was most concerned about the cotton production and asked for specific figures.
Qin Chou replied: "This year's lint cotton is estimated to be more than 200,000 catties, and cotton seeds may be more than 50,000 catties. Because the cotton harvest in various places has not yet ended, the specific amount cannot be determined."
Ye Kun smiled and said, "With tens of thousands of kilograms of cotton seeds, we can have a bumper harvest of cotton next year."
Fifty thousand catties of cotton seeds can guarantee a planting area of more than 20,000 mu. If one mu of land yields 100 catties of cotton, that is 2 million catties of cotton.
However, it will take another one or two years to promote it nationwide and have every household grow cotton.
Qin Chou was itching to do so, so he asked, "My Lord, you said cotton is good for making clothes, have you made any yet?"
"It's already been done. I'll take you to see it."
Ye Kun invited nine ministers to visit the textile factory in the south of Xiangyang City.
The textile factory was built in the spring and specializes in cotton spinning. It used last year's cotton stock to conduct experiments and develop textile machinery.
Because of the wool spinning industry, the cotton spinning industry was easy.
First use the slingshot method to make the cotton fluffy, then spin it into yarn, and then make it into clothes. It is a very simple thing.
Taking into account the actual situation among the people, Ye Kun did not make large-scale equipment, but instead developed a single-person spinning wheel and a double-person small loom.
This will facilitate promotion across the country.
The first batch of cotton thread, cotton yarn, cotton cloth, cotton clothes and cotton jackets were all made into samples, which were limited to viewing and trying on.
Nine ministers came to the cotton mill, and after visiting and trying on clothes of all four seasons, they all praised it highly.
Cotton clothes are much more comfortable to wear than linen clothes.
Because it is breathable and odorless, it is also more comfortable than leather jackets.
"You should all know now why I want to vigorously develop the cotton industry." Ye Kun gave a lecture on the spot and said:
"Comparing the cotton and linen industries, cotton has many advantages. The linen industry occupies a lot of land, it is difficult to produce linen silk, it pollutes the environment a lot, and linen cloth is not suitable for wearing. Cotton is different. It has very few processing steps and is comfortable to wear, far better than jute and kudzu..."
Zhuge Feng said: "The cotton is indeed good, but the yield is not high."
"The low yield is due to the variety problem. With our efforts, we will be able to breed better varieties in the future. And any crop has an adaptation process and a self-adjustment process, and it will always get better and better."
When it comes to crop breeding, Ye Kun is like a blind man riding a blind horse, groping around in confusion.
How to cultivate high-quality rice varieties?
Ye Kun mixed seven or eight kinds of rice together, germinated them, and transplanted them into the same field to allow them to pollinate each other.
Or you can plant the same variety in different places in the east, west, south and north to see the final results.
Or in the same region and with the same variety, different water and fertilizer conditions can be provided to create differences.
It is through such random experiments that some excellent varieties have been selected in recent years, which has increased the overall yield and improved the taste quality.
The same goes for cotton breeding. Ye Kun asked agricultural experts to experiment boldly and try different methods.
Whoever can produce results will be rewarded handsomely!
Jiang Youde, who was still in charge of the cotton mill, came over and asked, "Will you give me all the cotton this year?"
"I can only give you 10,000 kilograms to meet the test requirements." Ye Kun smiled and said:
"Today, there are only 200,000 catties of lint cotton. I will keep half of it to make gunpowder fuse and other military equipment. I will give you 10,000 catties to make samples, debug the spinning and looms, and train cotton spinning technicians from all over the country.
The remaining 90,000 kilograms will be sent to all the major provincial capitals throughout the country to set up cotton spinning technical schools to promote the technology locally and expand it. "
It takes several years to promote a crop.
It will take several more years to popularize the technology.
Therefore, Ye Kun made arrangements in advance and raced against time to set up cotton spinning technical schools in Chengdu, Chongqing, Hanzhong, the four counties of Hexi, Qiantang, Jinling, Lujiang and other places.
Each school only needs to train 100 people, and after expansion, the cotton textile industry can be fully established in three years.
The Ministry of Industry immediately ordered all prefectures to send ten skilled women to Xiangyang to learn cotton spinning techniques. They also ordered carpenters to learn how to build spinning wheels and looms.
There are standard drawings for spinning wheels and looms, as well as assembly and maintenance tutorials.
While everyone was discussing heatedly, Xiahou Chang sent an envoy, hoping to buy some food from Ye Kun and exchange it for steel.
Zhuge Feng said angrily: "Food is the foundation of the country, how can we sell it to the rebels?"
Ye Kun thought about it, but stopped Zhuge Feng and summoned the envoy from Central Plains.
The envoy from the Central Plains expressed Xiahou Chang's intention that the drought in the Central Plains had led to a poor harvest in the autumn and there would definitely be famine in the winter. He hoped that Ye Kun would consider the lives of the people and trade a batch of grain.
Ye Kun smiled and said, "I conquered Jiangnan and collected more than 10 million kilograms of iron from Jiangnan. With the stable production of iron mines in various places, there is no shortage of iron."
There were countless armors, swords and spears in Jiangdong’s arsenal, and the defective ones were all used by Ye Kun to make steel.
There is also a large amount of refined steel and refined iron ore in stock.
Ye Kun now has no shortage of iron or copper.
But there is a lack of coal!
And the gap is huge.
The distribution of coal in China is very strange, with less in the south and more in the north.
The last large coal mine developed in Qianbei is an underground coal mine. Although it has huge reserves, it is difficult to mine.
First of all, the problem of underground lighting cannot be solved.
There is flammable gas in the coal mine, and you can't light a torch, so you can only work in the dark. Isn't that overwhelming?
The foot-operated generator and glass bottle bamboo charcoal filament light bulb invented by Ye Kun are only slightly brighter than fireflies.
They also often break down, have unstable quality, and cannot provide good lighting conditions.
Therefore, Ye Kun hopes to get a batch of coal from the Central Plains to support the growing industrial industry.
The Central Plains envoy was anxious, clasped his fists and said:
"Excuse me, King Han, what do you need? As long as we have it, we can trade it. If you like beautiful women, we can also select three thousand beauties and send them to you."