Chinese New Year

Chapter 561 Li Yang
The people in Liyang have almost all been replaced. The main population is actually the newly relocated Yanzhou soldiers and their families, a total of 5,000 soldiers and more than 10,000 people.

With such a small population occupying such a vast and fertile area as Liyang, it is actually completely possible to implement a fallow system.

In fact, they did so.

Several plots of land are rotated. After planting the first plot, the second plot is planted next year. After planting the second plot, the third plot is planted the year after. In the fourth year, the first plot is planted again.

The benefits of doing this are enormous, because the land has ample time to recuperate and restore nutrients, resulting in higher yields.

To put it bluntly, the world is material and obeys the law of conservation of energy. How can a bare farmland be covered with tall millet and wheat in one year? How did it happen? If you create these things, will other things be less?

Nutrients and fertilizers are always the top priority in agricultural production.

But if you cultivate a piece of land vigorously without sufficient fertilizer and do not give it time to rest, the land will become increasingly barren and the yield will gradually become unsustainable.

Shao Xun circled around Liyang and finally stopped in a large grassland.

The more than one hundred households transferred from Jingu Garden also brought a batch of livestock, mainly sheep, as well as a small number of cattle and horses, and even more than ten camels.

"Is it speeding up to enter the Northern Dynasty?" Shao Xun thought to himself.

In history, the northern Hu regimes raised a huge number of livestock in Henan, Hebei and Guanzhong.

"The Biography of Erzhu Rong" once recorded that in the northern region "cattle, sheep, camels and horses are divided into groups according to their color, and the amount of grain is measured."

If there was still a nomadic tradition in the early Northern Dynasties, for example, when two sides were fighting for a city, you were grazing at the west gate and I was grazing at the east gate, by the Northern Wei Dynasty, people were basically fixed in a rough range and both grazed and farmed.

"Where are you from?" Shao Xun called over a farmer from Jingu Garden and asked.

The farmer was a little nervous, and answered reluctantly, "I am from Wen County, Hanoi."

It turned out to be Sima's fellow villager. Shao Xun smiled and asked, "How did you get to Jingu Garden?"

"First, recruit people to grow rice in Guangchengze for Queen Hui." said the farmer.

"What happened next?" Shao Xun asked casually.

The farmer looked at him and hesitated.

"Just say it when I tell you to. Why are you hesitating?" Shao Xun said unhappily.

"Queen Hui said that Mr. Chen practiced martial arts all day and needed to eat meat, so she asked us to grow alfalfa and raise livestock instead." The farmer said with his head down.

When these words were spoken, people far and near were shocked.

Shao Xun was speechless, and suddenly understood what it meant to act like he was dead. He had forced others to say this.

At the same time, he was a little annoyed. Yang Xianrong, you did it on purpose, right? He also felt a little guilty. That woman was a little crazy, but she really had nothing to say to him. She gave you everything and thought about you everywhere.

"How many acres of land do you have at home?" he asked awkwardly, changing the subject.

"Originally there were 30 acres, but now there are 60 acres."

"You have horses?"

"I have two horses, a cow, and more than 20 sheep."

"How do you farm sixty acres of land?"

When talking about his expertise, the farmer was not so nervous and immediately said, "Twenty acres of alfalfa for livestock, twenty acres of millet and wheat for our own consumption, and twenty acres of land left fallow."

"You don't plant any fallow land?"

"How can that be possible?" The farmer said with a wry smile, "The three cities of Heyang want horse feed, but they don't want hay, they only want beans. These twenty acres of fallow land will be planted with beans, and they can be harvested in March."

Beans have a short growing period and can be harvested in three months. They consume little nutrients from the soil, and their rhizobia can also fix nitrogen. In fact, they are a very good fallow crop.

Fallow land does not mean that the land is left idle. In modern agriculture, fallow land is often associated with crop rotation, that is, the land originally planted with staple food is replaced with vegetables and grains, and staple food is planted again after one or two years to give the soil time to recover nutrients.

This agricultural production model does not necessarily have lower returns than growing staple food without leaving the land fallow. It may even have higher returns. It can also reduce losses caused by pests and diseases, which was very important in an era without pesticides.

Of course, this can only be done when there are few people and much land. When the population explodes, it is no longer realistic to leave land fallow and it cannot be popularized on a large scale. We can only plant staple food season after season. The more we plant, the more we lose, and the more we lose, the more we plant.

Even until the Republic of China period, farmland in the north had become very barren, with wheat yields of only about 100 kilograms per mu. But people had no choice but to plant wheat because the population had grown to 400 million, almost eight to ten times that of the heyday of ancient times, but the cultivated land area had not increased by eight to ten times, and the yield per mu was only slightly higher than in ancient times - during the Northern Dynasties and the Tang and Song dynasties, the yield per mu of the upper fields in the north was higher and the yield per mu of the lower fields was lower, averaging about 100 kilograms per mu, not much different from the Republic of China period.

In the past two thousand years, the growth of agricultural yield per mu has actually been extremely limited. After all, matter and energy are conserved. In the era without chemical fertilizers, no matter how you improve agricultural technology, the marginal effect will only become lower and lower.

"How much grain can your family harvest in a year?" Shao Xun asked again.

"In two years, we harvested 140 hu of wheat and 60 hu of beans," the farmer replied.

"how many people?"

"Five people with big mouth and small mouth."

Shao Xun nodded, this income was enough for him to live on.

A family of five eats 60 to 70 hu of grain a year, which is enough to fill their stomachs but not make them feel full. However, they also have a lot of livestock and milk, so they don't go hungry.

After planting beans on the fallow land, you may be able to plant some fruits and vegetables and harvest them in a few months.

If you plant a few fruit trees in front of and behind your house, you will have even less.

This is the advantage of having more land.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it was common for a man to be granted dozens of acres of land, and even hundreds of acres of land.

With such a population-to-land ratio, even with extensive farming, the yield per acre of land would only be a few dozen kilograms, which is more than enough to feed a family.

There were only more than 10 million people in the early Tang Dynasty, and each male was granted 100 acres of land.

In Tang Dynasty poems, even ordinary farmers in the village had meat to eat and wine to drink during various festivals. It is not entirely accurate to say that people in ancient times could not eat meat, at least it was not a problem when there were few people and more land.

In a situation where there are few people and much land, as long as there are no wars or disasters, the common people can not only have enough to eat, but can also save a year's surplus grain by farming for up to three years - but now there can be no war, which will have a great impact on agricultural production. In the worst case, your family may have to plant half as much land this year because of the lack of adult men and the elderly, the weak, women and children who cannot farm.

"Call those generals over here." Shao Xun ordered.

Yang Qin and Liu Ling rushed out, looked at each other, and stopped.

"Go quickly." Shao Xun urged.

The two of them went together, and after a while, all the generals were called over.

"Greetings, Mr. Chen." They spoke in unison with awkward accents. Shao Xun looked at them, pointed at one person and asked, "What's your name?"

"Juqu Chong."

"Huns?"

"My ancestors were originally from the Lushui Hu people in Anding, and later moved to the north."

Anding and Beidi are close to each other and are both counties under the jurisdiction of Yongzhou.

"What is your occupation?"

"Raising cattle and sheep, and also planting some land."

“How to farm and graze?”

"Build a house next to the fields, plant crops on the east side and graze livestock on the west side. Switch sides every three years."

When Shao Xun heard this, he was delighted.

The Hu people also know how to rotate crops and maintain fallow land. That’s good, and things become easier.

"I would like to grant you land in Zhao County. What do you think?" he asked.

"As long as there is land."

"But this field needs to be cultivated according to the method of Golden Valley Garden, how about that?"

"Yes, sir." Juqu Chong agreed immediately.

In fact, he had already had contact with the people in Jinguyuan.

It's just crop rotation, but no one seems to understand it.

His tribe lived in Anding and the north, and had discovered the mystery long ago.

If a piece of land is cultivated for several years in a row and the harvest becomes lower every year, it is commonly said that the land has become "thin".

At this time, it is converted into grassland for grazing, and then planted again after a few years. The condition will recover immediately and the land will become fertile again.

They don't understand the reasons, but they can summarize their experience, and the metaphor of fat and thin is very appropriate.

"You are a straightforward person!" Shao Xun patted Juqu Chong on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I have raised tens of thousands of cattle and sheep in Anping, and I will give them all to you."

"Thank you, Mr. Chen." Juqu Chong was really happy this time and shouted immediately.

After expressing his gratitude, he turned around and repeated it in Hu language to the other chiefs, and everyone bowed to the ground, beaming with joy.

Shao Xun was also very happy.

He did not like those tribes with strong nomadic habits and those who moved around everywhere. He preferred these Hu people who practiced half farming and half herding and lived relatively fixed lives in one area.

As long as you don't leave, I can control you. As time goes by, customs change, and you slowly assimilate.

Moreover, he didn't want the agricultural production model in the Central Plains to be too single.

A too low proportion of livestock is not a good thing.

The Heyang Ranch of the Northern Wei Dynasty, with Ji County as its core, extended to Henei in the west and to the border of Dongqiu and Yangping in the east. There were a mixture of Hu and Han people in the area. Some people farmed, some herded, and some did both. As a result, there were "100,000 war horses" for "Luoyang security", and countless other livestock such as cattle, sheep, and camels.

This was a mixed farming and animal husbandry dynasty, at least there was no shortcoming in terms of external military power. Moreover, the population was not small, at least 20 to 30 million, and the population did not decrease significantly due to the vigorous development of animal husbandry. Not to mention that the Northern Wei Dynasty was in constant war and only controlled the northern half of the country.

"You seem to be a straightforward person, so I'll be frank with you." Shao Xun added, "If you take my land, you will have to serve in the war."

Juqu Chong blinked and asked, "But we should fight the Xiongnu?"

"Of course." Shao Xun said, "Are you scared?"

"It's embarrassing enough that I ran all the way to Hebei because I couldn't stand being squeezed by the Xiongnu in the north." Juqu Chong said, "I don't want to run away this time. If the Xiongnu attack us, we will fight them."

"What if the Huns don't attack?" Shao Xun asked back.

Juqu Chong was silent for a while, then said, "As long as you give the order, we will fight."

Shao Xun smiled and said, "Just now I said you were cool, but now you are not cool anymore. Don't worry, you will be rewarded for your meritorious service, and you will be rich and worry-free, and you can pass it on to your descendants."

"If it is really as you said, I will obey your order." Juqu Chong said.

Shao Xun glanced at him.

After all, they are Hu people. Even though they have become stray dogs, they are still unruly.

You still have to temper your temper and slowly conquer him.

I can even tame Liu's wild horse, so I don't believe I can't deal with you.

"You'd better do this." Shao Xun said, "Let's go. I'll take you to Zhao County to have a look."

This time, Juqu Chong was not asked to translate. Instead, the deputy governor of the Yicong Army, Qiao Hong, directly selected a few people who were eloquent and proficient in various foreign languages ​​and explained everything to the generals one by one.

The expressions on the faces of the generals varied, but none of them raised any objection on the spot.

That's right.

People who live under someone else's roof don't have the luxury of being picky. Even if they really want to get angry, this is not the time.

The group quickly left Liyang and headed north towards Dangyin.

Before leaving, Shao Xun called Liu Qia, the former lieutenant of Donghai who was guarding Liyang.

Liu Qia is now very calm. He is no longer afraid of seeing Shao Xun and keeps a low profile.

"After the spring ploughing is over, you will lead your troops westward to Chaoge and station there." Shao Xun ordered: "If the Xiongnu come to provoke you, you don't need to pay attention to them, just defend the city walls."

"Yes, sir." Liu Qia replied.

"Do your job well. I am not that narrow-minded. If you can accomplish something, you won't have to worry about wealth and honor. We are all from Donghai, so who else can I use if not you? Remember this." After giving the instructions, Shao Xun rode away on his horse.

Liu Qia was somewhat moved. After standing there for a long time, he bowed to Shao Xun's back.

(End of this chapter)