"Don't worry, I've brought Xie Bing, who isn't trained, to help with the harvest."
Si Xitong's eyes shone brightly, filled with excitement, making her radiate with the joy of a happy occasion.
She asked her happily, "Lanzhi, this harvest has far exceeded my expectations."
Xie Lanzhi did not tell her that in modern times, 1.6 shi per mu was common, with the highest value reaching 1,500 jin, or about 1.3 shi per mu. The average value was around 9 shi.
Six stones is at best a below-average result.
At this crucial juncture, she shouldn't be a spoilsport, because the best grain production record in the Great Jin Dynasty was an average of three to four shi (a unit of dry measure), with five shi being rare. Now, six shi was indeed exciting.
Her expressionless face, devoid of any sign of surprise, made the Minister of Agriculture uneasy.
The agricultural official checked the records from the southern regions. The highest yield was seven shi (a unit of dry measure), and the average yield was three to five shi. The average yield was about the same, and the high yield was simply due to the favorable geographical conditions.
And the marshal's expression—was she dissatisfied with this revenue generation?
Hsieh Lan-chih often feels out of place in the world because of her past experiences.
Under the harvesting of a thousand Xie soldiers, twenty acres of farmland were harvested in less than an hour.
The harvested grain from each acre was stored in its respective field, awaiting inspection by the agricultural official. With unease, the official had several farmers help him weigh the grain, carrying it on shoulder poles and in baskets.
With each mark the agricultural official made, his throat tightened with tension. He breathed a sigh of relief when the weight reached 100 jin (approximately 50 kg), at least it was up to standard. But the carrying pole wasn't level, and the weight was tilted; clearly, it wasn't steady enough.
The official in charge of agriculture swallowed hard again, and slid the lining about 100 jin six times.
The official in charge of agriculture finally calmed down and loudly announced, "Five shi and three dou!"
The common people who helped carry the scales looked on incredulously, forgetting the difference in status between themselves and the officials, overwhelmed by the joy of the bountiful harvest. They surrounded the official in charge of agriculture, saying, "Sir, are you sure you didn't weigh it wrong? This isn't fertile land. Can ordinary land yield five bushels?"
"A full 600 jin, 600 jin per mu, that's enough for an ordinary family like ours to eat for a year."
"Even if the government only eats rice for each meal, it only amounts to 300 catties a month. In twelve months a year, that's only 3,600 catties."
"If we can get 600 catties per mu, does that mean we can have a meal of rice every day from now on?"
Although you can still feel full by mixing millet, corn, and sweet potatoes.
"Sir, if we could produce this much, we could eat white rice too. This humble citizen isn't dreaming, is he?"
"Don't crowd, everyone. This yield is the same every year. You can easily eat thirty meals of rice a month." The Minister of Agriculture didn't mind at all. He was beaming with joy and answering every question. Xie Bing next to him was also helping to weigh the grain. The reported yield was an average of four to six shi (a unit of dry measure).
The average yield of fertile fields is between 5.5 and 6.3 shi, which means the highest yield is 680 jin.
In other words, the yield from six mu of land could feed an official for a year. This was already the highest standard of living in the Great Jin Dynasty. In the event of a poor or average harvest, even officials couldn't afford to eat white rice three times a day; two meals a day would be considered good.
Now, even with three meals a day, the yield will still be more than sufficient. Besides, the government's landholdings are numbered in the hundreds.
During the late Jin Dynasty, according to the new policy issued by Si Xitong, each person was entitled to one mu of land. Because arable land was scarce, only one mu could be distributed per person. There were corresponding adjustments in the countryside, and many people temporarily reorganized their families for the sake of land. Moreover, the one mu was ancestral land that could be inherited for generations.
Later, in order to develop wasteland for planting sweet potatoes, each household was allocated five mu. Since wasteland was not valuable and it didn't matter if they had more land, each household contributed an average of ten mu of land, and some even had fifteen mu.
The people originally thought that they could only grow sweet potatoes on this barren land, and that it would be good enough if they didn't go hungry. Now that new fertilizers have appeared, it means that wasteland can be turned into fertile fields, and rice can also be grown.
This is absolutely wonderful news!
The agricultural officials and the common people were overjoyed at the bountiful harvest.
Xie Bing and the others were also muttering to themselves, "The fields here don't look as good as ours in the Southern Region, but the yields are almost catching up with those in the Southern Region."
"The Marshal and the Mistress have spent so much money. If they still haven't gotten anything out of it, I'll start to wonder if the Ministry of Works is just good at spending money."
"There's another acre over there, who's going to harvest it!" The captain in charge stopped the soldiers who were talking. He pointed to an acre in the corner of the field. The rice was a bit short and the grains were crowded together. He didn't know if the ones in the middle had grown well.
This acre is short and stunted; it probably won't yield much.
Several Xie Bings rushed over with the same feeling. After they finished cutting, they thought it would be no more than two shi (a unit of dry measure), as the rice stalks looked like more than rice grains.
The official in charge of agriculture happened to be there with his men to harvest the rice. After harvesting, they weighed another mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.165 acres), which yielded about four or five shi (another Chinese unit of volume, approximately 1.5 tons), a good harvest.
After threshing this last acre, the villagers were repeatedly shaking the rice stalks, realizing that although this acre seemed small, it yielded a considerable amount of grain. Everyone worked together to thresh the rice, patting each stalk repeatedly to avoid wasting a single grain. The threshed stalks were piled up at the edge of the field, to be used later as wood ash to provide fertilizer for new crops.
The agricultural official, accompanied by several people, weighed the produce. Each basket contained two hundred catties (approximately 100 kg). After weighing three baskets, the official was somewhat surprised; this mu (approximately 0.067 hectares) looked small, but actually contained six shi (approximately 100 liters). Not bad.
He was about to register it when the captain came over carrying a basket: "Who among you is so careless as to leave a basket of these left in the field!"
The agricultural official asked in confusion, "Sir, which end does this basket belong to? We have to calculate it by the acre first, and then calculate the total amount again."
The captain pointed to the corner of the field he had just been working on, the one with the most rice.
The official in charge of agriculture immediately ordered someone to weigh it, and it came to a total of 220 jin. Sure enough, the Xie family's military officers were strong.
"I remember, three baskets plus one more basket total..." He stopped abruptly. The official in charge of agriculture was stunned, and the captain was also puzzled by the words that were half-choked in his throat.
The official in charge of agriculture looked down at the baskets to make sure he hadn't miscounted, then counted again with his fingers: "One, two, three... four. Four!!"
"A new record!" The official in charge of agriculture suddenly trembled, his finger hovering above the basket, stamping his feet excitedly: "It's eight, eight shi!!"
"The highest recorded yield per mu is eight shi!!"
That is, 880 jin.
No one expected that such an unassuming acre of land, with its short rice stalks, would contain so much grain. It's truly the king of grains!
The captain, his soldiers, and the civilians were all shocked, thinking they had misheard.
Eight shi (a unit of dry measure)? Was this a mistake, or did they take the wrong one? Eight shi per mu (a unit of land area)?! Only divine rice could produce such a high yield!?
"Minister of Agriculture, are you sure?!" the captain pressed repeatedly. "I must report to the Marshal immediately! You're sure you didn't make a mistake?!"
The official in charge of agriculture immediately said firmly, "My lord, how could I dare to deceive you? It's true! The baskets you just carried weigh 880 jin in total."
Captain: "Then, what if that basket at the edge of the field isn't from the same acre of land?"
The official in charge of agriculture bent down and scooped up a handful of rice. Comparing it with the rice from other acres, he found that the grains in this acre were plump and large, and the golden, round husks made it look like a giant compared to the other rice.
No wonder it didn't seem like there were many; it turns out the grains were quite large.
"It's the same acre, please take a look."
The captain took the grain from his hand and immediately rushed excitedly toward the carriage parked on the main road in the field.
"Marshal! Huge success! Huge success!!"
Xie Lanzhi had heard their conversation from afar and hadn't missed a single word. Now that the captain had shouted, Si Xitong heard it and immediately jumped out of the carriage to go down to the field.
She immediately helped her beloved wife up and made her sit on it instead of getting off. The roadside was muddy and occasionally mixed with unknown excrement, and it would be very uncomfortable to step on it.
Little Phoenix has already integrated well into the community and no longer needs to do everything herself.
Si Xitong was quite helpless. She sat in the coachman's seat and asked the captain in a flat tone, "How much?"
The captain bowed and clasped his hands, saying, "Your Highness, it's eight shi!! The highest yield per mu is eight shi!"
Si Xitong's face lit up with joy.
"Lanzhi, can you hear me?"
"Hmm, not bad."
It seems the grain variety on this acre is different; it's just a lucky deviation. Xie Lanzhi thinks this acre of rice is worth paying attention to; perhaps it can be used as seed.
Eight shi (a unit of dry measure) is definitely over 900 jin (a unit of weight). If one shi is 110 jin (a unit of weight), then a yield of 900 jin per mu (a unit of area) is already considered medium to high level.
Modern super rice yields 700 kilograms per mu (approximately 1250 kilograms per hectare), which is 1400 jin (approximately 720 kilograms per hectare). 900 jin is only 500 jin short of 1400. In this context, 900 jin would be considered an ancient version of super rice.
Xie Lanzhi couldn't help but applaud: "Well done! Order the Minister of Agriculture to keep that acre of rice for seed, and allocate hundreds or thousands more acres for planting during the late rice season."
Si Xitong added, "In addition, since the new fertilizer is effective, we need to increase investment and then send people to teach the local people how to plant it for free. As for lime, it should be sold at the regular price and should not be increased."
She knew the merchants in the countryside well; they were only interested in profit. Lime powder was an ordinary thing, and apart from the epidemic prevention, only medical clinics needed it. Now, as a new type of fertilizer, it was suddenly put into large-scale use. If it was not regulated, unscrupulous merchants would definitely take the opportunity to raise prices and make a fortune from the national crisis.
In this chaotic world, only the south remains relatively stable. Even so, it is still in a stage of rebuilding after the devastation, so it is not an exaggeration to call it profiting from the national crisis.
Captain: "Yes, sir!"
The captain hurriedly went down to the field to deliver the orders, while the official in charge of agriculture still had something he wanted to report to His Highness.
Unexpectedly, the marshal had already driven away the carriage, and the coachman led the marshal's horse, running after him.
On the way, Si Xitong would occasionally peek out from inside the carriage and ask her, "Lanzhi, why are you in such a hurry to take me back to the palace?"
"Do you still remember your identity?" Xie Lanzhi asked helplessly. "I did say I wanted to integrate into the masses, but have you ever considered that the masses on your side are not the same as the masses in my world?"
A note from the author:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2021-12-24 20:06:40 and 2021-12-25 20:00:20!
Thank you to the little angels who watered with nutrient solution: Misaka Kuroko (20 bottles); Hongyan (10 bottles); Xinxin (3 bottles); Luoxi and QAQ (2 bottles each);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 97 Peanut Oil and Commercial Tax
"As the saying goes, when the granaries are full, people know etiquette. As a monarch, you cannot risk your life for anything. Even the leader of my world is protected by multiple layers of security when he goes to the countryside."
The leader of a country holds the fate of that country in his hands.
As the emperor who was to quell the chaos and establish a new dynasty, Si Xitong could not afford to encounter any risks before becoming emperor.
Si Xitong began to reflect on herself. Lan Zhi was right; she did need to pay more attention. She also realized that Lan Zhi had become so worried because she was about to go to Honghe and couldn't bear to leave her behind. That's why she was giving her so many instructions.
A warm feeling flowed through her heart, and Si Xitong quietly tugged at the clothes on her shoulders.
"My dear wife, I have many questions for you before I go to the Red River."
While driving the carriage, Xie Lanzhi reminded the woman behind her who was trying to get close: "Go inside. We can talk about it when we get home. How can I feel at ease if you keep acting like this?"
Although she had reminded her wife to let her brother-in-law gain more experience and run errands for her, she still felt uneasy. Si Xinian hadn't achieved anything significant in the court yet, and after more than a year, she no longer knew his capabilities.
It seems necessary to test my brother-in-law's abilities before leaving Beijing.
"And also, don't call me 'wife' in broad daylight." Xie Lanzhi suddenly cracked her whip, not because she was thinking of some woman who always called her "wife" in bed.
The thought of it in broad daylight made her restless.
"Hmph!" Si Xitong released her, sat back in the carriage, and her indifferent voice came from inside: "Then I'll trouble Master Xie to drive carefully. I get carsick!"
Xie Lanzhi was embarrassed: "The car I told you about is not that car."
Sometimes, making her learn so quickly is a happy burden; she even uses modern witty remarks so readily. She doesn't resemble an ancient person at all. Xie Lanzhi is almost certain that as long as Little Phoenix travels to the modern world, she won't need to learn anything special and can immediately integrate into modern life.
Indeed, those who are naturally gifted and destined for greatness are truly extraordinary beings.