Daqin: Compared with his sons, Ying Zheng is jealous

【After seeing the donkey, although there are other rare animals in the Animal Husbandry Department, for the pragmatic Qin King Ying Zheng and Prince Fusu, neither their value nor their significance is as great as the previous donkey.】

【Therefore, King Ying Zheng of Qin and Crown Prince Fusu simply glanced at them and turned away, heading to the River and River Division, one of the six divisions of the Ministry of Agriculture.】

【Because the Rivers and Rivers Division is mainly responsible for researching and optimizing the specific breeding methods of various fish, shrimps, crabs, turtles and other aquatic river products in rivers, lakes and ponds, its location is close to the Pei River on the left side of Shanglinyuan.】

【Unlike the Agricultural Division, which reclaimed acres of land, and the Animal Husbandry Division, which built sheds or fenced farms, the River Division mainly dug ponds of varying sizes.】

【Each pond is filled with a variety of large and small fish, shrimp, crabs, turtles and other aquatic products.】

【Xu Zi, who was standing in front, also introduced to King Qin Ying Zheng and Crown Prince Fusu:"This is the River and River Division. Currently, there are 27 common fish, shrimp, crabs, turtles, etc."】

【"There are ponds where various fish, shrimp, crabs, and turtles are raised separately, and there are also ponds where these fish, shrimp, crabs, and turtles are raised together."】

【Looking at the large and small fish ponds in front of him, Prince Fusu also asked:"Have you recorded the process and experience of how to plan, build, and manage fish ponds before?"】

【Xu Zi nodded and said,"According to your highness' previous instructions, we will start from choosing where to dig the fish pond, the reasons for choosing it, and how to manage the fish pond after it is dug and built."】

【"All of them have been recorded in detail, and have been sorted, summarized and concluded accordingly."】

【"In this way, whether the people from all over the country want to raise fish or the local officials want to guide the people to raise fish,"】

【"As long as you have this book on how to keep fish, you will have a reference template."】

【"Knowing what to do in the first, second, and third steps of raising fish will help you avoid being like a blind person, at a loss and unable to find the direction to move forward."】27

【Prince Fusu nodded upon hearing this, and then he scanned the fish ponds while recalling the various knowledge Master Xu had given him about raising fish, shrimp, crabs, turtles and other aquatic products.】

【In this era, aquaculture is not uncommon.】

【Like in the Book of Songs》、《Zhou Li》、《In Er Ya and the writings of various philosophers, there are records of aquatic production activities.】

【For example, the Book of Songs contains many chapters that record the fish that could be caught at the time, the fishing gear and methods used, and artificial fish farming.】

【For example,"Zhou Li" is a compilation of the official system of the Zhou royal family in the past and the current systems of various countries.》、《The articles such as"Diguan Situ" recorded the fishery officials and their duties.】

【Another example is Er Ya, a classic book on explaining words in this period. It includes the chapter on explaining fish, which lists more than 20 kinds of fish.】

【Another example is Fan Li's"Fish Farming Classics", which can be said to be the earliest book specifically on how to raise fish.】

【In the book"Yang Yu Jing", the structure of fish ponds, the size of broodstock, the ratio of male and female fish, the appropriate time for stocking, and methods of raising carp such as intensive breeding, rotational fishing, and seed retention are recorded in the form of questions and answers.】

【In addition, there is also the"Guan Zi"》、《Mencius》、《In the works such as Xunzi, and Lü Buwei's Lüshi Chunqiu, there are also records of fishing, fish farming and aquatic resource protection.】

【Of course, like the Guanzi》、《Mencius》、《Xunzi》、《Xu Zi did not teach him all the works such as Lüshi Chunqiu, but only taught him the thoughts and knowledge about farming, fish farming and other aspects of farming.】

【After looking around for a while, looking at the empty fish pond surface and the empty fish pond surroundings, Prince Fusu also realized that these fish ponds were missing something.】

【Then, Prince Fusu suggested:"Such a large fish pond cannot be used only to raise fish, shrimp, crabs and turtles, but also needs to be used further."】

【"In this way, the fish pond can produce more, and the people of Qian will be able to gain more in the future!"】

【Hearing this, Xu Zi was also a little confused. If the fish pond is not used to raise fish, shrimps, crabs, and turtles, what else can be raised?】

【But he knew that what Prince Fusu said was often true. Since Prince Fusu said so, he must have thought of other ways to further increase the output of the fish pond.】

【So Xu Zi also bowed with joy and said:"Your Highness, please tell me clearly."】

【Prince Fusu did not hide anything and said directly:"Sow some water chestnuts and lotus roots in these fish ponds. It would be a pity if such good fish ponds are not used to grow some water chestnuts and lotus roots."】

【"Moreover, compared with the per-acre yield of grains, water chestnuts and lotus roots are the truly high-yield ones!"】

【"At present, the per-acre yield of wheat and rice is only about 100 kilograms at best."】

【"But I estimate the yield of water chestnuts per mu to be conservatively over 1,000 kilograms!"】

【"As for the lotus root yield per mu, I conservatively estimate it to be more than 3,000 kilograms!"】

【"Moreover, the taste and texture of water chestnuts and lotus roots are good, crispy and sweet."】

【"When there is not enough whole grains as staple food, it is completely fine to eat water chestnuts and lotus roots as staple food."】

【After Prince Fusu finished speaking, the whole audience fell into silence.】

【Whether it was Xu Zi, King Ying Zheng of Qin, Zhang Han, or other peasant children, they all stared blankly at Prince Fusu.】

【Crown Prince Fusu, who had no idea what shocking words he had said, looked at everyone with a puzzled look on his face and asked,"Why are you looking at me like that?"】

【Prince Fusu was calm, but his doubtful words immediately broke the silence at the scene.】

【King Ying Zheng of Qin couldn't help but ask first:"What did you just say?"】

【"The yield of water chestnuts per mu is more than 1,000 kilograms?"】

【"The lotus root yield per mu is more than 3,000 kilograms?"】

【Hearing his father's words that seemed to be unbelievable, Prince Fusu also recalled in his heart that when he went out of the palace to inspect some of the old Qin people in Guanzhong, he saw wild rivers and ponds on the way.】

【Then he estimated the number of water chestnuts and lotus roots in the wild river pond where they were densely distributed.】

【Finally, multiply the size and weight of the water chestnuts and lotus roots you have eaten by the number of water chestnuts and lotus roots that are likely to exist.】

【Finally, Crown Prince Fusu nodded affirmatively and said,"Yes, the yield of water chestnuts per mu is indeed over 1,000 catties!"】

【"Similarly, the yield of lotus root per mu is more than 3,000 kilograms!"】

【In fact, the data of Prince Fusu is not exaggerated, but rather a conservative estimate.】

【The yield per mu of common water chestnuts, under traditional planting methods, is about 800 to 1,200 kilograms per mu.】

【If it is grown in some specific areas (such as Shantou), or in some special planting methods (greenhouse planting), the yield of water chestnuts per mu can reach as much as 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms.】

【There are even some very rare types of water chestnuts whose yield per mu can reach an astonishing 5,000 kilograms!】

【The average yield of lotus root per mu is between 3,000 and 5,000 kilograms.】

【If it is a better variety, coupled with scientific breeding methods, the yield per mu can reach an astonishing 8,000 to 10,000 kilograms or more!】

【It can be said that such a terrifyingly high yield per mu is not inferior to the high-yield crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn that were introduced during the Ming Dynasty.】

【At least when potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn were shouting"invincible", lotus roots and water chestnuts, which had existed in China since the pre-Qin period and even earlier, could give them a fight!】

【King Qin Ying Zheng's eyes fell on Xu Zi, wanting to get a positive answer from him.】

【After all, the per-acre yield of lotus roots and water chestnuts mentioned by Crown Prince Fusu is really amazing.】

【It was so surprising that even Qin Wang Ying Zheng, who had always trusted Prince Fusu, needed to find another professional to confirm it.】

【However, Xu Zi, who was considered a professional by King Qin Ying Zheng, shook his head and smiled bitterly at this moment:"I, your servant, have never paid attention to the per-acre yield of lotus roots and water chestnuts before."】

【After all, most of the farmers' time and energy have been spent on���In the study of how to increase the grain yield per mu of land by 10 or 8 kilograms,】

【Therefore, I naturally did not pay much attention to lotus roots and water chestnuts, which grow randomly in water and are mostly used as side dishes, and I am even less sure about their approximate yield per mu.】

【Otherwise, when Prince Fusu just mentioned the approximate yield per mu of lotus roots and water chestnuts, Xu Zi and other farm children would not have been so shocked that they were stunned.】

【Looking at the people who looked incredulous, Crown Prince Fusu thought for a moment and said,"You have all eaten or seen lotus roots, right?"】

【Qin Wang Ying Zheng, Xu Zi and others all nodded. Lotus root is one of the seasonal vegetables in autumn, and they have eaten it more or less.】

【After everyone nodded, Prince Fusu stretched out his hand and gestured in front of him, saying,"Since you have eaten or seen lotus roots, you should know that one lotus root weighs about one pound."】

【"A lotus root has four to six sections. If we take a middle number, we can say that a lotus root has five sections and weighs five kilograms."】

【"Is there any problem with this?"】

【King Qin Ying Zheng, Xu Zi and others all shook their heads. They had all eaten or seen lotus roots before, so they knew that what Prince Fusu said was correct.】

【Then Prince Fusu pointed to the one-acre pond in front of him and said,"So is it okay to grow 600 lotus plants in this pond?"】

【King Qin Ying Zheng, Xu Zi and others looked at the pond in front of them and shook their heads again.】

【Let alone growing 600 lotus plants in this pond, even if we grow 1,000 lotus plants, it won't be a big problem.】

【Finally, Prince Fusu clapped his hands and said,"There is a lotus root under each lotus flower. A lotus root has five sections, and each section weighs one pound."】143

143 ["The last 600 lotus plants and 3,000 lotus roots add up to about 3,000 kilograms. Is there anything wrong with the inference that the lotus root yield per mu is more than 3,000 kilograms?"】

【King Qin Ying Zheng, Xu Zi and others were all speechless and unable to refute】

【Because Prince Fusu's reasoning was simple, crude, and straightforward to the point that even a three-year-old child could understand and hear it, let alone them.】

【But precisely because they understood it, they had to believe such an outrageous thing as"lotus root yield of more than 3,000 kilograms per mu", which was actually true!】

【There is such a terrifyingly high-yield grain in the world!】

【Why hadn't they noticed before?】

【Compared with the yield of grains which is only a hundred kilograms per mu, the yield of lotus root per mu is more than thirty times that of grains, which is simply terrifying to an unbelievable level!】

【In addition, lotus root can temporarily replace staple foods such as grains, which makes the importance of lotus root suddenly rise to a level that surpasses grains.】

【At least at this moment, in the heart of Qin King Ying Zheng, lotus root is more important than other grains.】

【No matter whether lotus root has any other shortcomings, they are not worth mentioning compared to its advantage of a yield of 3,000 kilograms per mu!】

【With an acre yield of 3,000 kilograms of lotus roots, the Qin State would have more spare capacity and confidence in terms of military rations needed for marching and fighting, or in terms of disaster relief and rescue after natural disasters.】

【Seeing that everyone was silent and did not refute, Prince Fusu smiled and said,"The same goes for the same reason. A water chestnut weighs one or two taels, and there are about four or five water chestnuts on a plant."】

【"In other words, a water chestnut plant weighs between 5 liang and 1 jin."】

【"In the pond in front of us, it is no problem to raise one or two thousand water chestnut plants. So the yield of water chestnuts per mu is more than one thousand kilograms. Is there anything wrong with this inference?"】

【King Qin Ying Zheng, Xu Zi and others all shook their heads, saying they could not refute it.】

【However, for this, no matter it was Qin Wang Ying Zheng or Xu Zi and others, they did not feel angry at all, but were extremely happy.】

【Because this means that the yield of water chestnuts per mu is more than 1,000 kilograms, and the yield of lotus roots per mu is more than 3,000 kilograms. This is true!】......

PS1: In fact, since the pre-Qin Dynasty, and even more distantly, the Shang Dynasty, China actually had high-yield grains similar to potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn.

For example, lotus roots and water chestnuts are two of them, but due to various factors, they have not become mainstream grains like grains..