flstandardbreds Chapter 165 Agricultural Society
Chapter 165 Agricultural Society
Yun Xi was stunned by his father's fighting spirit.
This is too curly.
"Let me think about it. You don't have to work so hard. Just enjoy your life. It would be nice to grow flowers and play with birds when you have nothing to do."
Yun Zhen: "...I can still grow flowers and play with birds every day? Then what would I become!"
"I was just kidding."
You really can't do that.
Yun Xi thought about it again. Her father’s title was “Yi Min”, so why not start from there and let her father become a real “Marquis Yi Min”, which would coincide with her infrastructure cause.
Next year, we will promote potatoes, sweet potatoes, cotton, rapeseed, and plant more watermelons and strawberries. Her father will be responsible for all these matters.
After sorting out his thoughts, Yun Xi said directly to his father: "Dad, your title is 'Benefiting the People', let's start with these two words. If you really do something that benefits the people's livelihood, maybe your title can be raised in the future, and you may even be named Duke of Yun."
Yun Zhen actually didn't care at all whether his title was promoted or not. He went from being a commoner to a marquis all of a sudden, and it was earned by his own daughter. He was extremely proud and satisfied.
There is no better daughter in the world than his daughter!
However, he is really interested in "benefiting people's livelihood".
Yun Zhen is a broad-minded and open-minded person. He grew up in a poor environment and only read some books and learned some characters after joining the army. He was deeply influenced by the Mu family. His father Yun taught him how to read.
At that time, there were no girls' schools, and girls from large families would hire teachers to teach them at home. Of course, their family couldn't do that, but he taught his original body all the characters and knowledge he had learned during his years in the army. This also benefited Yun Xi a lot.
"Then tell me specifically, what are we going to do?"
Dad Yun asked impatiently.
Yun Xi thought for a moment and said, "The common people have a hard life. First, because the crop yields are low, they can't get enough food. Second, because the tools used for work are not good, the labor efficiency is low, and they can only plant so little land after working so hard. Third, because there are few sources of income, farmers can only dig in the soil for food, and have no other source of income."
This world is like the feudal era of her time and space, emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce. Although agriculture is the foundation of the country, a society with farmers as the main body naturally lacks the motivation for innovation, causing the entire society to fall into a vicious circle of low-level repetitive labor. The level of social development is extremely slow, and may even stagnate and regress.
Even if agricultural productivity increases, if business does not develop, the price of agricultural products cannot be raised, and over time the society will still maintain a low level of development. The population may increase significantly, and the area of farmland and agricultural output may increase, but that's all.
Yun Zhen said: "I didn't expect that after you married into the Mu family, you would understand the lives of these lower-class people better."
Yun Xi smiled and said, "Dad, I already know about this. I have been in contact with ordinary people at home. When I arrived at the Mu family, there were all kinds of books in Mu Sheng's study. Not only farmers are concerned about farming, but also many celebrities and officials are concerned about it. I read some books and combined them with what I saw with my own eyes before. I used my brain when I had nothing to do, and naturally I thought a lot more."
Yun Zhen nodded and said, "It's good to read more books. Reading books can make people smarter. Now there are new varieties with high yields. What we need to do is to promote them as soon as possible and teach the people how to farm. Let everyone have enough food, this is the first step. The emperor is more anxious about this than we are. The Ministry of Revenue and the Sinong Temple will be fully responsible. What should we do next?"
Yun Xi said: "The next step is to improve everyone's work efficiency and make more handy tools. In this way, if a family can only cultivate 5 mu of land, they may be able to cultivate 10 mu of land if the tools are handy and the work efficiency is improved. There will be extra energy to reclaim some wasteland for cultivation. Or you can find some work to do in your spare time and earn some money to supplement the family income."
Yun Zhen thought for a moment and said, "You're right. So what should we do?"
Yun Xi said, "Dad, there's no rush for this. We have to do it step by step. First, we have to buy a farm. The previous one was too small for us. I have some new seeds, so I'll try to plant them next year. Then, I want to raise more cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks and geese. In addition, we have to find some skilled craftsmen and ask them to come to the farm to help us. Let's see if we can make new tools together."
Dad Yun nodded repeatedly after listening.
As soon as Yun Xi finished speaking, he stood up and said, "I'll go and buy the farm first."
After saying that, he left in a hurry.
Yun Xi: "..."
Is the execution so strong? Forget it, if you are willing to work, just do more! Anyway, her father is in good health now, and it won’t be tiring for him to do some work! It’s just right that she can rely on her father and be a salted fish.
After staying at the Yun family for a few days, Mu Sheng brought Mu Jinyan to pick her up, and Yun's father did not try to keep her.
"I'm busy here too, you can go home with your son-in-law. Just come back to see me when you have time. You don't have to stay at home all the time."
Yun Xi: "..."
Mu Sheng thanked his father-in-law with a smile and was about to go out with Yun Xi.
"I happen to have a day off today, so I can take you out to play. Where do you want to go?"
"Let's go to the farm. Didn't you tell me before that there's everything on the mountain next to Yunjiazhuang? Let's go and take a look."
Nature is rich in species. They can pick the gifts from nature or select some species for artificial cultivation.
Moreover, she was also thinking about the persimmons and chestnuts on the mountain, and wanted to see if there was anything else.
Mu Jinyan was also very happy. His father was on day off so he also had day off, and he could go out and play with his parents today.
The fields were barren at this time, the crops had been harvested, and the newly planted winter wheat had not yet sprouted.
Yun Xi took Mu Sheng and Mu Jinyan to the mountain. In addition to the guards, Da Zhuang also followed as a guide.
Yun Xi asked him, "There were so many wild fruits on the mountain before, such as plums and apricots. Besides eating them, how did you deal with them?"
Da Zhuang replied: "The children in the village would come and pick some, but most of them would fall to the ground and rot."
Yun Xi: "..."
What a waste.
She had picked fruits here once before, and later Dazhuang also picked some for her. They all tasted good. But they were a little small and not carefully cultivated, so they might not look that good. It was such a pity that they rotted away.
"Blame me." Yun Xi said, "I forgot to tell you how to make preserved fruit."
"What are preserved fruits?" Mu Jinyan asked in a soft voice.
"It's a kind of dried fruit." Yun Xi said, "Fresh fruit can't be stored and will go bad after a few days. But if it's made into dried fruit, it can be preserved for a long time. In winter when there is no fresh fruit to eat, you can eat dried fruit, and dried fruit is sweeter."
She turned to Da Zhuang and said, "Next year, when the fruits on the mountain are ripe, send someone to let me know."
"Yes."
Da Zhuang responded.
The master is now a marquis, and the eldest daughter is a princess and a first-rank lady. Although they know each other very well, with these titles, they always feel that the distance between them is a bit widened.
Da Zhuang now speaks to her in an unconsciously more respectful manner.
The golden persimmons have ripened, some of the mountain reds have fallen, but many are still hanging on the branches, and the hairy chestnuts are scattered everywhere. Yun Xi asked Da Zhuang to pick the best ones for her and send them to the Mu Mansion.
She was wrong before. Although candied haws used too much sugar, she could make some hawthorn cakes or hawthorn strips. She only needed to add a little bit of sugar to retain the unique sour taste and appetizing effect of the hawthorn.
Mu Sheng was a little puzzled, "Do you need so many sour hawthorns?"
Yun Xi: "...I'll pick them first and let me think about what to do with them. They're edible anyway."
The system teased her: "Host, you made so many sour things, he might think you are pregnant."
Yun Xi: "Shut up."
In her original world, it was discovered very early that hawthorn was edible. However, for a long time, hawthorn was not considered a proper fruit, mainly because it tasted too sour, so it was called sour hawthorn, also called qiu, monkey hawthorn, and mouse hawthorn, because monkeys and mice liked to eat it.
Hawthorn was mentioned in Guangzhi, a book on natural history written by Guo Yigong in the Jin Dynasty: "The wood is easy to grow, and can be planted in large quantities as firewood and to fertilize the fields." Qi Min Yao Shu also quoted this statement, but did not say how to eat sour hawthorn.
It was not until the Tang Dynasty that hawthorn became more common. Liu Zongyuan wrote, "The common people offer bitter bamboo shoots, and the rustic fathers present sour hawthorns." It can be seen that the status of hawthorn is similar to that of bitter bamboo shoots, just a local specialty, far inferior to real fruit.
Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty discovered the medicinal value of hawthorn, which promoted its popularity. In the Qing Dynasty, hawthorn officially became a fruit, and various snacks made from hawthorn became famous Beijing-style foods.
Compared with hawthorn, persimmon is much better. The "Qimin Yaoshu" has a detailed method of making persimmon cakes: "Pick the persimmons when they are ripe, dry them in ash juice several times, dry them until the juice is gone, put them in a container, and they can be eaten after ten days."