GBP Chapter 47 Xu Da's Grand Project
Chapter 47 Xu Da's Grand Project
Yang Shaofeng's idea of something good was soybean cake.
The Guanzi states, "If there is a shortage of beans and millet, and the supply of staple foods is not restricted, the people will inevitably show signs of hunger."
The term "粟" refers to millet, "末生" refers to industries such as industry and commerce that were considered frivolous skills under the prevailing policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, and "菽" is a general term for beans.
It can be seen that soybeans had already become an important crop and staple food during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. It was not until the Han Dynasty that rice, wheat and other cereal crops replaced soybeans as the staple food, and soybeans began to develop towards a wider range of applications as a side dish and seasoning.
For example, it can be pressed for oil, made into tofu, or brewed into soy sauce.
There are two ways to deal with the soybean residue left after pressing oil. One way is to continue using the soybean residue to make tofu. The other way is to press the soybean residue into soybean cakes, dry them, and store them. When needed, a piece can be broken off, soaked in water, and used as feed for pigs and chickens.
However, there are also a lot of problems with using soybean cake as chicken feed.
The first question is about the timing of planting and harvesting beans.
Based on the current situation in Ningyang County, soybeans can only be planted after the wheat planted last year has been harvested. Soybeans have a growth cycle of about three to four months. If soybeans are planted after the Grain in Ear solar term, the harvest time will be in the fall.
The second problem is that the soybeans during the Ming Dynasty were "rustic soybeans". Although the yield was not very high, the nutritional value of the soybean cake residue was high. Chickens and pigs could not be fed too much of them and had to be mixed with other things.
The third problem is that soybeans are a drought-resistant but water-loving crop. During their growth process, especially during flowering, pod formation, and grain filling, they need a lot of water. If there is a lack of water during the pod formation period, empty pods may occur, affecting the yield. Unfortunately, Ningyang County is very likely to experience a severe drought.
Besides soybean cakes, Yang Shaofeng thought of another good thing.
earthworm.
In the eyes of anglers who enjoy wild fishing in later generations, earthworms are an all-purpose bait for wild fishing. In the eyes of ordinary people, earthworms are a little helper for tilling and fertilizing the land.
Try to dig up a batch of earthworms from the ground, raise them, and let them multiply endlessly. Once the number is large enough, can they be used as a buffet for chickens and ducks?
Of course, it's not easy to dig for earthworms now, because it hasn't rained for a long time, and earthworms are all heading to damp places. Earthworms that can't find damp places are likely to die of drought, and even if you dig them up, they're not of much use.
The thought of the long drought immediately brought to mind the artificial lake for Magistrate Yang Shaofeng.
Then Magistrate Yang began to worry in secret.
After the hard work of three hundred able-bodied men, the artificial lake in Liumiao Village has now been dug to a considerable size. The area closest to the center has been dug to a depth of about ten feet, and the area from the center to the edge has been dug in a stepped shape to facilitate the removal of the soil from the center.
It is about 50 zhang long, which is about 165 meters, and about 30 zhang wide, which is about 100 meters. If the entire artificial lake is dug to a depth of 1 zhang, which is 3.3 meters, the total water storage capacity is about 50,000 tons.
However, the storage capacity of more than 50,000 tons of water is of little use. According to the calculation that one mu of wheat field requires 30 tons of water, more than 50,000 tons of water is only enough to irrigate about 1,800 mu of wheat fields. However, the entire Ningyang County has more than 30,000 mu of land that needs water for irrigation. The water storage capacity of the artificial lake is not only a drop in the ocean, but also better than nothing.
Of course, the actual situation is not a cold calculation, because it is impossible for God not to send a single drop of rain. Moreover, there are the Guanghe River and the Dawen River near Ningyang County, as well as several wells inside and outside the city. The actual water shortage is not as staggering as calculated on paper. It may only take two or three artificial lakes to meet the irrigation needs of Ningyang County.
The only problem now is whether the villages and communities in Ningyang County can finish harvesting the wheat and planting soybeans before the Grain in Ear solar term, and whether they can dig two or three artificial lakes and fill them with water before the drought arrives.
Just as Magistrate Yang Shaofeng was racking his brains over a bunch of messy issues like the artificial lake and the drought, Wang Er, the yamen runner left at the county office, rushed over to the chicken farm. Upon seeing Yang Shaofeng, he immediately bowed and said, "Your Excellency, Prime Minister Xu has sent a batch of cattle and horses, which have now been delivered to the county office."
Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback, then hurriedly led Wang Er to the county government office.
Upon arriving at the county government office, Yang Shaofeng was immediately stunned by Xu Da's extravagant gesture.
Twenty oxen plus ten ponies, twenty fat pigs plus one hundred chickens and ducks—these livestock were a considerable number, but not enough to astound the well-informed Magistrate Yang Shaofeng, much less to be considered a grand gesture by him.
What truly shocked Magistrate Yang was that Xu Da had actually sent over two hundred soldiers to Ningyang County.
Although these two hundred soldiers, like Lame Wu and his men, were all somewhat disabled and unable to fight on the battlefield, not being able to fight on the battlefield did not mean they could not farm or work, nor did it mean they could not serve as yamen runners.
More importantly, just as Magistrate Yang Shaofeng was worrying about how to speed up the excavation of the artificial lake, Xu Da sent a batch of cattle and horses, along with more than two hundred people. For Ningyang County, which was short of manpower, this was like a pillow falling from the sky just when they were about to doze off!
Suppressing his excitement, Yang Shaofeng, the county magistrate, summoned Lame Wu to settle the two hundred-plus new soldiers. Then, he plunged into his study in the backyard of the county government office, beginning to plan what to do next.
The first step was the excavation of an artificial lake.
With the arrival of two hundred new soldiers, the manpower at the artificial lake will be more than two hundred more. Even if the number is reduced due to their injuries, these two hundred men can still be used as a substitute for one hundred men, right?
Secondly, the number of yamen runners needed in the county government can be replenished quickly, and the manpower of the county government will not be as tight as before.
Before the arrival of these two hundred soldiers, the entire Ningyang County only had the yamen runners on duty, led by Lame Wu. The remaining fast and strong yamen runners were completely vacant. Although Magistrate Yang Shaofeng had considered selecting a group of yamen runners from the able-bodied men of Ningyang County, he had no choice but to give up as the construction of the artificial lake began. His original idea of having the yamen runners patrol the streets and villages had to be abandoned.
At the very least, surely it wouldn't be a problem to select twenty or thirty soldiers from the two hundred or so that suddenly appeared to patrol the streets?
More importantly, Chang Yuchun had previously sent more than a dozen wounded soldiers to Ningyang County, and now Xu Da had sent more than two hundred wounded soldiers to Ningyang County—did this mean that he could get more wounded soldiers from Xu Da and Chang Yuchun in the future?
With an increased number of wounded and disabled soldiers, many ideas that were temporarily shelved due to manpower shortages can be put on the agenda, and the development speed of the entire Ningyang County can be increased again.
After pondering in his study for quite some time, Yang Shaofeng, the county magistrate, finally emerged from his study and headed straight for Liumiao Village in the west of the city.