Daqin: Compared with his sons, Ying Zheng is jealous

【"There are actually yields of over a thousand or even three thousand kilograms of grain per mu!"】

【"If I promote it throughout the world, will there still be famine in the world?"】

【King Qin Ying Zheng looked at the empty pond in front of him, as if he saw a pond full of lotus roots and water chestnuts, and muttered to himself:】

【After discovering that lotus roots and water chestnuts could produce over 1,000 or even 3,000 kilograms per mu, Qin King Ying Zheng immediately became less interested in crops such as wheat and rice, which originally produced only about 100 kilograms per mu.】

【After all, the yield per mu of more than 100 jins is ten times or even thirty times higher than that of more than 1,000 jins or 3,000 jins.】

【What can wheat, rice and other grain crops use to fight lotus roots and water chestnuts?】

【Xu Zi, who was standing by, was also laughing and crying:"We can produce 1,000 catties of water chestnuts and 3,000 catties of lotus roots per mu!"】

【"very nice!"】

【"The common people of the world no longer have to worry about starving to death!"】

【"If I had discovered earlier that water chestnuts and lotus roots had such a high yield per mu, so many people would not have starved to death!"】

【"It's my fault. I feel sorry for the people of the world. I have eaten water chestnuts and lotus roots many times, but I never noticed that their yield is so high."】

【Xu Zi was happy about discovering lotus roots and water chestnuts, but at the same time he felt guilty for not discovering their high yields earlier.】

【After all, the yield of lotus roots is 3,000 kilograms per mu and the yield of water chestnuts is over 1,000 kilograms per mu. If it can be promoted early, it will save too many people.】

【For example, the 400,000 Zhao soldiers who were killed by Bai Qi in the past】

【For example, why did Bai Qi want to kill 400,000 Zhao soldiers?】

【The fundamental reason was that the Qin State could not afford to support 400,000 prisoners at that time, and if these 400,000 prisoners were released directly,】

【After a simple rest or two, these 400,000 prisoners will be transformed into an army of 400,000 to attack and resist Qin!】

【In the future, these 400,000 prisoners will become an army of 400,000, which will bring greater troubles and cause deeper damage to the Qin State.】

【Therefore, after weighing the two options, Bai Qi resolutely decided to kill 400,000 Zhao soldiers.】

【If the Qin State had discovered this earlier and promoted the planting of lotus roots with an output of 3,000 jin per mu and water chestnuts with an output of over 1,000 jin per mu,】

【Then Qin would have enough food to feed the 400,000 captives.】

【If Qin could afford to take 400,000 prisoners, then Bai would not have chosen to kill 400,000 Zhao soldiers at 720.】

【After all, in this era, there is a saying that"killing prisoners is unlucky"】

【Even when Bai Qi was later sentenced to death, many people believed that this was retribution for Bai Qi's killing of prisoners.】

【For example, in the past, due to famines caused by various natural disasters and man-made disasters, many people starved to death.】

【If the common people could have discovered this earlier and promoted the planting of lotus roots with an output of 3,000 kilograms per mu and water chestnuts with an output of over 1,000 kilograms per mu,】

【Then maybe they wouldn't have to starve to death, and the whole family could survive.】

【In a word, there are two kinds of edible grains with a yield of 1,000 kilograms per mu and a yield of more than 3,000 kilograms per mu.】

【The role that can be played in this era is far greater than that in any future era.】

【After all, as time goes by, with the accumulation of farming experience and technology from generation to generation, the per-acre yield of other crops and grains in the future will also gradually increase.】

【Relatively speaking, even if the people of later times did not have a grain yield of 1,000 catties per mu or more than 3,000 catties per mu, they could still obtain more grain per mu than the people of this era, and it would be easier for them to survive various natural and man-made disasters.】

【While King Qin Ying Zheng and Xu Zi were losing their composure, the other farm boys present were also shocked. They didn't even bother to greet King Qin Ying Zheng and Crown Prince Fusu and turned around and ran in a certain direction.】

【Because they remembered that in the nearby Niu Shou Pond, there were lotus and water chestnuts growing there.】

【Where there are lotus flowers, there are lotus roots】

【So they couldn't wait any longer and prepared to immediately dig up the lotus roots and water chestnuts in the Niu Shou Pond and then put them in various fish ponds for breeding.】

【Seeing everyone losing their composure because of his words, Prince Fusu couldn't help but say,"Father, Master Xu, you overestimate the role of lotus roots and water chestnuts."】

【"Although lotus roots and water chestnuts can be promoted for cultivation, it is currently impossible to promote their cultivation on a large scale."】

【"Lotus roots and water chestnuts alone cannot solve the famine problem of the people of Qianshou for the time being."】

【King Ying Zheng of Qin, Xu Zi, and the other people all turned their heads to look at Crown Prince Fusu, their eyes full of confusion.】

【Why can't lotus roots, which yield 3,000 kilograms per mu, and water chestnuts, which yield 1,000 kilograms per mu, be cultivated on a large scale?】

【Are there other problems with lotus roots and water chestnuts that they don’t know about?】

【Seeing the puzzled look on everyone's faces, Prince Fusu further explained:"The first question, I just said that when staple foods such as grains are insufficient, lotus roots and water chestnuts can be used as staple foods."】

【"However, if you only eat lotus roots and water chestnuts for a long time, it will easily cause diarrhea, vomiting and other problems."】

【"I have asked the palace physician Xia Wuqie about this."】

【"This means that lotus roots and water chestnuts can only be eaten as emergency disaster relief food, or mixed with other grains and other staple foods, and cannot really replace grains."】

【After discovering the amazing per-acre yield of lotus roots and water chestnuts, he took the lotus roots and water chestnuts to ask the palace physician】

【However, the palace physician Xia Wuqie replied that lotus roots and water chestnuts can be eaten, but not for a long time, otherwise it will cause various diseases.】

【In the past, he had secretly asked Zhang Han to arrange for someone to experiment with this.】

【This proves that if a person only eats lotus roots and water chestnuts for a long time, although it will not kill the person, it is easy to suffer from abdominal distension, abdominal pain, vomiting and other diseases.】

【"The second question is that if you want to promote the cultivation of lotus roots and water chestnuts, the first prerequisite is to have sufficient water!"】

【"Because if you want to cultivate lotus roots and water chestnuts, you must dig fish ponds, or lotus root and water chestnut ponds to store water for cultivation."】

【"If we only dig one, two, or three lotus root and water chestnut ponds, perhaps the water from the surrounding rivers can still provide enough water for the crops."】

【"However, if too many lotus roots and water chestnut ponds are dug, then unless there are large rivers, lakes, etc. around as the water source for the lotus roots and water chestnut ponds,"】

【"Otherwise, the surrounding areas will inevitably fall into a state of water shortage and water flow interruption, resulting in no water available in the surrounding areas."】

【"The third question is that a lotus root and water chestnut pond must be dug at least several feet deep to be able to cultivate lotus roots and water chestnuts."】

【"However, if you have to dig several feet of soil for an acre of land, then this project will require much more time and energy than farming!"】

【"If a family of several people were to dig out a pond of one acre in size and several feet deep to grow lotus roots and water chestnuts, it would take at least several years."】

【"And this is just the time and effort required to dig a lotus root and water chestnut pond of one acre in size."】

【"If you dig a lotus root or water chestnut pond of two acres, three acres, or even larger, the time and energy required will increase exponentially!"】

【"In addition, after digging the lotus root and water chestnut ponds, we need to continue to dig a drainage channel."】

【"Drain the nearby water source into the lotus root and water chestnut pond, so that the lotus root and water chestnut pond can be considered a success."】

【"This step will take at least a year and a half."】

【"The farther the water source is, the longer this step will take."】

【"After these two steps, if a family does not store enough food to meet the needs of the whole family for three to five years, or even seven to eight years,"】

【"Then, before they could dig a lotus root or water chestnut pond, the whole family would have starved to death."】

【"If the whole village were to gather their strength to dig a lotus root and water chestnut pond and a drainage canal, then a lotus root and water chestnut pond and a drainage canal could be dug in a short period of time."】

【"However, the lotus root and water chestnut ponds dug by the whole village will either be directly owned by all the villagers, or everyone in the village will dig an identical lotus root or water chestnut pond."】

【"Otherwise, in the end, trouble will inevitably arise because of inequality rather than scarcity."】

【"If everyone in the village digs a lotus root or water chestnut pond, then we will be back to the second question I just mentioned, which is whether the water sources around the village are sufficient to support the production?"】

【"If it can only support half, or a small half of the lotus root and water chestnut ponds,"】

【"Then the remaining people who cannot store water will inevitably become restless, causing many troubles."】

【At this point, Prince Fusu also sighed softly.】

【Although he is naturally intelligent, he can't find solutions to all problems.】

【Of the three questions just raised, the first one is that lotus roots and water chestnuts cannot be eaten for a long time. That is a natural drawback and there is no solution.】

【The second problem is the water source needed for lotus root and water chestnut ponds. This is a geographical problem. Although it can be solved by building various water conservancy projects, the amount of work involved is too large.】

【It is so big that it is almost unrealistic, so this problem has no solution.】

【The third problem is easier to solve. Either the excavated lotus roots and water chestnut ponds are directly owned by all villagers, or the excavation is carried out through reasonable organization and dispatch of manpower, so that each person has one lotus root and water chestnut pond.】

【These are difficult and troublesome problems, but they can be solved.】

【However, if the first two problems cannot be solved, then solving the third problem alone will not be very meaningful.】

【It was precisely because of these problems that he had not reported to his father about the amazing per-acre yield of lotus roots and water chestnuts.】

【Because even if the per-acre yield of lotus roots and water chestnuts is amazing, if they cannot be truly promoted on a large scale, then their role and significance will be reduced from the strategic level of a national defense to the level of a general rare treasure.】

【As for the pragmatic Qin, rare treasures are fine if they exist or not.】

【After listening to Prince Fusu's story, everyone present, including King Qin Ying Zheng, inevitably showed a hint of disappointment.】

【However, Xu Zi was the first to recover, still smiling, and said:"Even if it is impossible to promote the planting of lotus roots and water chestnuts by the people of Guizhou on a large scale, it still has an extremely important role and significance."】

【"At least the Qin State could use the relevant manpower and material resources to dig some national lotus root and water chestnut breeding ponds, and then breed lotus root and water chestnut in large quantities."】

【"After the lotus roots and water chestnuts are harvested, they can be stored and used as emergency relief food in times of disaster."】

【Hearing this, King Qin Ying Zheng also nodded slightly.】

【Although lotus roots and water chestnuts are not as strategically important as he initially thought, as Xu Zi said, it is still very useful for the government to raise some of them as emergency relief food.】

【And Fusu said that lotus root and water chestnut cannot be eaten alone for a long time, so it should be okay for him to mix lotus root and water chestnut with other staple foods.】

【This can more or less reduce some military supplies or other food expenses.】

【Prince Fusu also nodded and said,"Well, in addition to official breeding, I think a more suitable way for the common people is to gather the strength of the whole village to dig a fish pond of several acres that belongs to all the villagers."】

【"While raising fish, we also raise lotus roots and water chestnuts."】

【"The seedlings of fish, shrimp, crab and giant prawn can be purchased by all villagers."】

【"Then, when the fish, shrimp, crabs and lobsters have grown up at the end of the year, they will be fairly distributed according to their respective contributions."】

【"As for lotus roots and water chestnuts, we just need to find someone to dig some lotus and water chestnuts from the mountains, lakes and ponds, and then throw them into the fish pond for breeding."】

【"Because lotus roots and water chestnuts are not valuable, they can be fairly distributed according to the population of the village when they are harvested at the end of the year."】

【"After all, the more people a family has, the more effort they put into digging the fish pond, so it makes sense for them to take more."】

【"In this way, the people of Guizhou can also taste some extra fish, lotus roots and water chestnuts at the end of the year."】

【"Even if the common people do not eat the fruits themselves, they can sell them like the fruits harvested from the fruit trees planted in front of their houses and behind their houses, and earn some extra income for their families and supplement their household expenses."】

【"Also, didn’t you say before that you are studying whether river and pond silt can be used as fertilizer?"】

【"If it is proven to be usable, then at the end of each year after the fish, shrimp, crabs and lobsters are harvested, the silt in the fish pond can be dug out and distributed equally to the villagers for use as fertilizer."】

【"Or the excavated mud can be piled up around the pond to form a wide and flat field as the foundation, and then some mulberry trees, rice, vegetables, fruits, etc. can be planted."】

【"As for how to distribute the harvest from the mulberry trees, rice, vegetables and fruits around the fish pond, it is also decided by the villagers."】

【"In addition, the pond base built up by these silt piles can also play a certain role as a dam, thereby alleviating certain flood disasters."】

【"Regarding fish pond aquaculture, the general idea is these"】......

PS1: Although lotus roots and water chestnuts are very productive, they have great limitations.

This is also the main reason why lotus roots and water chestnuts can compete with high-yield crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn in terms of per-acre yield, but are not as well-known and promoted as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn..

Tagged: Naruto789