Walking through the vegetable field and at the foot of a hill, the Gu commander pointed to a plum blossom in front of him and said, "Yun Ju, there is a flower garden." Most of these plum blossoms are bought from Luoyang, and there are some rare varieties, which are specially entrusted to buy from Yangzhou. ”

Liu Juan said: "You have a heart." Due to the local climate, it is not uncommon to have early plums in this season, and it is not easy for this plum blossoms to bloom. ”

Commander Gu said: "Zaomei has it, and there is a yellow flower over there, which was bought from Yanling County. This flower garden has a fire channel in it, and every time the weather is cold, the furnace is turned on to light a fire, which is why it is opened so early. It's not just plum blossoms, but chrysanthemums are blooming right now. ”

As they spoke, they entered the flower garden. The plum blossoms here are still dominated by wax plums, and it is the flowering season. Other varieties of plum blossoms bloom only sporadically, and all of them rely on fire channels to raise the temperature, and some of the flowers and trees forget the season.

It is located in the north-south transition zone, and not only flowers and trees from the north, but also some flowers and trees from the south can be planted. In addition, the coal in the iron prison is the same as the money, and the fire tunnel can be placed, and some of them break the seasonal limit.

Du Zhongxiao is a person who is mainly practical, and does not have much poetry and painting of literati, so he built a flower garden here, the main purpose is to introduce plants from the north and south. Cultivate new varieties, and at the same time do the things of introducing southern species to the north and northern species to the south.

In addition to carefully selecting and selecting good genetic traits from generation to generation, the cultivation of improved varieties of agricultural crops is also particularly important. Especially between varieties at different latitudes, hybridization can prevent the degradation of varieties and produce new improved varieties.

Tang and Deng prefectures are located in the north-south climate transition zone, where most of China's plant varieties can be grown, making it a rare seed cultivation base. Starting from the camp and field affairs, every place he went, Du Zhongxiao deliberately set up such a place. In the south, Yingtian Town is mainly a base for grain, oil crops and cotton seeds, and here it is vegetables, melons, fruits and flowers.

During the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian traveled to the Western Regions and brought back a large number of crop seeds, which not only enriched the crop types of the Central Plains, but also improved many crops. The most typical example is wheat, which introduced excellent traits from the interior of the continent, and the yield increased a lot after the Han Dynasty. Since then, the introduction of large numbers of crop-improved indigenous varieties has mostly come from the sea. There are even some varieties that have undergone a second introduction. For example, onions were originally brought back by Zhang Qian from the Western Regions, and later new varieties were introduced from the sea, which makes people forget that China has a history of cultivation for thousands of years.

Since the Song Dynasty, new varieties of China's main food crop, mainly rice, have been emerging, and the yield has been increasing. A very important reason is that it is constantly developing to the south, from the south of the two lakes to the south of the Yangtze River to the south of the Lingnan region, new varieties of rice have appeared under different climatic and geographical conditions, and newer varieties have appeared in the exchange of varieties in various places, and they have been constantly iterating. However, due to the long-term severance of ties with the Western Regions, especially the large-scale destruction of agriculture in Central Asia, dryland crop varieties have not been updated for a long time, interrupting the trend of increasing yield per mu like rice.

After entering the flower room, Commander Gu had already arranged for someone to set up a feast. Ruan, who was in charge of this place, couldn't stop persuading him to drink, and introduced the surrounding flowers and trees.

After drinking a few glasses of wine, Du Zhongxiao said to the commander of the valley: "In the future, when all the people of the iron prison are here, there will be as many as 10,000 or 20,000 people, and the hundreds of acres of vegetable land here cannot actually meet the supply." Most of the meat and vegetables eaten by the people of the Iron Prison are still purchased from outside, do you know why? ”

Commander Gu said: "The lower officials want to come, because they are sympathetic to the subordinates, and we people are not skilled in farming after all. In addition, the local people also rely on growing vegetables and raising chickens, and can earn some money from the iron prison to use. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled: "What you said is good, this is one of the reasons, but not the main reason." The reason why you have opened so many fields and not allowed you to supply all the meat and vegetables in the iron prison is that the most important thing is that what you do is not to supply the iron prison, but to select good varieties for the surrounding people. You don't have to grow a lot of vegetables here, except for some rare dishes, and you mainly plant vegetables that are less grown by the surrounding people. There are those dishes that are rare in the two lakes in the south of the Yangtze River and the Central Plains, and you should pay special attention to them. I managed to take the seeds and try them out in the vegetable garden. Wait until the introduction of seeds is successful, and then sell the seeds to the surrounding areas for the people to plant. ”

Commander Gu's face was full of doubts: "Judgment, I don't know why you did this?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "The iron prison is a place where iron and iron tools are produced, and grain, rice, meat and vegetables can be purchased from outside. If it is expensive for a while, you can move farmers from surrounding states and counties and let them open up their fields. In a year or two, it will inevitably be the same as a normal place. This garden was set up for two purposes. First, you are the benchmark here, and the food must be so good that the iron supervisor will buy it. The second is to prevent the collusion of food supply and raise prices. This is your job, but it is not the most important achievement. This area is located between the north and the south, and most of the world's melons and vegetables can be planted here. In Tangzhou to the south, there is even sugarcane cultivation, not to mention other crops. Bringing the fruits and vegetables of the world to the north is what you have to do. ”

Commander Gu made a promise, his heart was confused, and he still didn't understand what Du Zhongxiao meant.

Du Zhongxiao is looking at things from the world, and the local political achievements are still secondary, how can Commander Gu make these people have this kind of awareness.

At this moment, Zuo Du rolled his trouser legs and brought a few soldiers and a few big fish in his hands. Hand the fish to Ruan Dutou and go up to greet him. said: "The lower officials have seen the officials. A few new big fish were caught and the officials were served. ”

Du Zhongxiao ordered to sit down and said to him: "It's all hard work. I don't know what kind of fish I caught? ”

Zuo Dutou said: "Back to the judgment of luck, it is a few big herrings." No one here knows how to make fish tart, so I have to take it and burn it. ”

Du Zhongxiao said again: "Are there only these fish in that reservoir now?" ”

Zuo Dutou said: "Huiguanren, the common fish in the Central Plains are all there." But they are all wild fish, some more and some less. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, and said: "In such a reservoir, in addition to wild fish, everyone has to find a way to buy some fish fry to raise." Especially for the rare fish in the Central Plains, we have to think of more ways. Just like the Wuchang fish in the Hanyang Army area, you can also raise it if you want to come here, so you should find a way to buy some to raise. ”

Zuo Du scratched his head: "Yun Judgment, since the fish is called Wuchang Fish, it is naturally only available in Wuchang." Wuchang is Ezhou, although it is only a few hundred miles away from here, it is not far away, but after raising it here, it will inevitably be different if it changes the water and soil. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "But the variety of fish is still the same. The water and soil have changed, but the flavor has changed, and the fish is still a good fish. Like this kind of aquatic product, you can think of more ways to bring it to us. On Jinghu North Road in the south, there are many lakes, and I don't know how many aquatic products there are. It is a great achievement to choose those good ones, bring them to us to raise them, and sell them to the Central Plains. Rare is expensive, what is the meaning of these ordinary aquatic products. ”

Zuo Dutou made a promise, and felt that this matter was extremely difficult to handle. Not to mention the difference in water and soil, it is difficult to survive the aquatic products introduced, let's say hundreds of miles, how to transport live fish? Not to mention, many fish attract and will not spawn. Without fry, it will be difficult to do.

Turning his head to look at the Gu Commander on the side, he saw that he was also embarrassed, so he could only shake his head secretly. It's just that it is not difficult to raise fish and supply iron supervisors, if according to Du Zhongxiao, it is not easy to have such a variety of tastes.