After Tian Yang stepped down, it was the report of the Ministry of Agriculture, another new department. Although the Ministry of Agriculture has not been established for a long time, it is busy. Therefore, there are two people who are each responsible for a piece, and the chief officer has not yet been decided, and today they will also report to each other.

When the Ministry of Agriculture was established, Chongzhen, who was inconsistent with what many officials in the court had envisioned, brought forestry, animal husbandry, sideline fisheries, and fisheries, which had not been included in agriculture in the past, under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture, thus forming a large agricultural management department.

Yang Jingchen and Fan Jingwen served as the left and right attendants of the Ministry of Agriculture, with the former being responsible for the management of forestry, animal husbandry, sideline and fishery in addition to the day-to-day administration within the ministry, while the latter managed agricultural issues alone.

For Yang Jingchen, he is still competent enough to set up a new department and preside over the day-to-day administrative work. But when it comes to how to manage and develop forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries, he is at a loss.

Most of the scholars of the Ming Dynasty may have studied agriculture, after all, agriculture is the foundation of all industries, and not understanding agriculture is equivalent to not understanding the real situation of the Ming society. Moreover, when entering the official career and serving as a local official, the most important things on weekdays are to persuade farmers and build water conservancy.

But for forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, most of the scholars do not care, because they are not the country's capital, may be able to improve the living conditions of some of the Ming people, but for the entire Ming Dynasty, the impact is not great.

Of course, this is not unrelated to the production technology of the above industries is too backward, compared with China's early-maturing agricultural farming technology, the development of forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery is not only greatly limited by the geographical environment, but also absorbs a very small number of people, and is not valued by the Ming society at this time, which is also a matter of course.

And the side business proposed by the emperor is, in Yang Jingchen's view, the benefits of silkworms and cotton weaving, for this point, there are still many scholars who attach more importance to this, after all, people still need to wear clothes in addition to eating.

Therefore, when Yang Jingchen made a report, he simply skipped the annual plans for forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery, and only focused on the development plan for the sideline business.

“… The ancients said: A husband who does not plow or suffer from hunger, and a woman who does not weave or suffer from cold. Therefore, the ministers believe that the development of this sideline business should focus on the word textile.

There are many materials that can be used for weaving, such as hemp, silk, and cotton. The first two are materials that have been handed down in China since ancient times, but the latter entered China relatively late, and it has only flourished for more than 300 years.

But today, the number of cotton textiles has far surpassed the first two, and it has truly achieved the four words of clothing in the world. There is a proverb in the south of the Yangtze River, and there is no way to harvest Weitang yarn and buy endless Songjiang cloth. It is to describe the production of cotton cloth in the south of the Yangtze River.

After careful study, the ministers found that although there were many types of hemp, the production was low and the use was not extensive, except for the use of summer cloth, ropes, and shipbuilding, there was basically no other use. And the value of the finished textile product is not high, and it is not cost-effective to develop as a rural sideline.

On the other hand, silk and cotton are two things, the former has a low output but a high price, and the latter has a large output and a medium price, which is an excellent target for the development of rural sideline industries.

The minister first talked about this silk, which is made of silkworms. However, silkworms are divided into two categories, the south is called mulberry silkworms, and the north is called silkworms. The former eats mulberry leaves, and the latter eats oak leaves; The former is domesticated, while the latter is free-range.

The most abundant silkworm is Shandong, mainly in the hilly and mountainous areas of southeast Shandong, and it is rare to see it in other provinces. This silkworm is stocked in the wild, does not bathe or feed, and has a lot of cocoons, and the only thing that needs to be paid attention to is to prevent birds, beasts and insect pests. Although the tussah silk is a cut short of mulberry silk, it is also an extremely valuable thing.

In addition, in addition to the oak tree, this silkworm can also eat the leaves of the green oak tree. It is a common tree species in the north and south, especially in the south of the Yangtze River. And this tree grows rapidly, the material is hard and corrosion-resistant, and can be used for furniture, building materials, and ship materials.

Therefore, the minister wants to select outstanding people who are stocking silkworms in Shandong this year, promote the method of silkworm breeding in the mountains and forests of various provinces, and plant green oka trees in the barren mountains of various provinces as a place for breeding silkworms in the future.

And the silkworm is the bulk of my Ming silk production today, with the largest number of eight provinces and one state in the south of the Yangtze River, accounting for half of the world's raw silk production, and the north is famous for Luzhou. There are 400-5 million acres of mulberry orchards in the south of the Yangtze River, and 35-360,000 quintals of raw silk can be obtained every year according to the calculation of 8 catties of mulberry garden silk per mu.

However, silk production is the most skillful, and it cannot be mastered without more than ten years of study. For example, today's well-known silk satin is just Lu silk, Hangzhou satin, and Shu brocade. The rest of the silk can only be called the middle and lower grades, and the price between the two is even more world-apart.

The reason why Lu silk, Hangzhou satin, and Shu brocade are excellent is mainly because the local weavers are skilled and the utensils are better than those in other places. Therefore, the minister thought that the provinces could be promoted to plant mulberry trees and feed silkworms in suitable areas, but the textile skills still needed to be specially taught.

In addition, if you want to develop silk weaving, please ask Your Majesty to stop the regular tribute of Lu silk, Hangzhou satin, and Shu brocade, otherwise the small people are afraid of the example of the tribute, and it may be difficult to invest in the silk textile industry. If the silk industry does not develop, too much raw silk production will only cause harm to the people. ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a long time, and finally said: "The weaving bureaus set up in various places in the palace will be changed to textile workshops, and weavers will no longer be forcibly recruited for weaving, and the previous Changgong regulations can also be abolished."

However, before that, the commercial tax rate of silk production needs to be readjusted, and how to determine the tax rate of silk can be discussed with the household officials and local weaving household representatives.

The tax on silk production is divided into 10 parts, one for relief for local weavers when they lose their jobs, one for local education, and one for incentives for new technologies developed in silk production.

Three copies were handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture for training in the promotion of sericulture and textile technology, and the establishment of a textile technology research school. One copy was given to the palace for the purchase of silk for each year. The remaining three were set aside for the household department and used for the imperial court expenditures. ”

Although Chongzhen did not completely abolish silk weaving, Yang Jingchen was already satisfied. Not only did he succeed in abolishing the nominally much-criticized Weaving Bureau, but he also secured an additional funding for his department, and there was no reason not to be satisfied.

As for whether the emperor will turn the weaving bureaus in various places into textile workshops, it will be a cover-up for people's eyes, that is no longer his problem. Yang Jingchen then continued: "Since Huang Daopo learned the textile skills from the Li people in Hainan, the scale of cotton cultivation in the mainland has swelled dramatically. Now my Ming people wear cotton cloth, and they have become accustomed to it.

The annual output of cotton cloth is tens of millions of horses, and in addition to the northwest region, the cotton planting area has spread all over the north and south of the river. However, when it comes to planting skills, it is better to take the north, especially in Shandong. However, the climate in the south of the Yangtze River is more suitable for cotton cultivation, and the cotton yield is much higher than that in other places.

Before last year, there was no spinning and weaving business in the north, and they were all milled seeds and transported to the south of the Yangtze River for processing, which was one of the several bulk goods exported from the north to the south.

Last year, after the Beijing Wensi Institute developed the technology of spinning and weaving in the north, the textile of cotton yarn and cotton cloth in the north increased sharply. However, unlike every household in the south who weaves at home, the textile workshops in Beijing are mostly produced by concentrated personnel.

For these two production methods, Chen feels that there are pros and cons. The former allows peasant women to not leave the family, and in addition to taking care of the family, they can produce cotton yarn and cotton cloth to subsidize the family, which is conducive to local stability.

Although the income of the latter is several times that of the former, so many young men and women are concentrated in a small place to work, the minister is afraid that if one or two traitors are mixed among them, they will be tempted to become traitors, and the local customs will be corrupted.

Therefore, the minister felt that in addition to vigorously promoting cotton planting technology in the north and south, it was more in line with the customs of our Ming Dynasty to promote the production method of textile at home. ”

Zhu Youzhen quickly interrupted what he said: "What kind of production method to use is still left to the people to decide, and there is no need for the imperial court to interfere more." In general, Yang Shilang's idea of promoting textiles as a sideline in the countryside is still correct.

What the imperial court needed to do was to popularize new technologies, new production methods, and improved seeds, and guide the people to improve the old production and management land methods, so as to increase income.

I don't have much to say about the side business, but for forestry, animal husbandry, and fishing, I feel that the plan formulated by the Ministry of Agriculture is too superficial.

Over the past decade, the weather has changed drastically, but we can still see that the damage in areas with dense forests is significantly less severe than in areas with too dense reclamation of plains and hills.

It can be seen that trees are the hair of the earth, and if there is no hair, the land will inevitably be dry. Mt. Wutai was originally a forested northern resort, but now it has become a bald mountain.

Shaanxi was full of forests in the Han and Tang dynasties, known as the heart of the world, and laid the great cause of the Han and Tang dynasties. Today, in addition to the Guanzhong Plain, it has become a barren land full of loess. In the event of a disaster, it is a catastrophe that spreads throughout the province.

In the final analysis, it is the result of disorderly land reclamation and wanton destruction of forest vegetation in the past. That's why I set up forestry as a separate department under the Ministry of Agriculture, hoping to control the deforestation and reclamation of the land by fishing for the sake of fisheries.

Not all land should be carved out as arable land, and where it is not suitable for agricultural production, forestry, animal husbandry and even fishing should be developed.

I hope that the Ministry of Agriculture will continue to develop plans for the development of forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries, and that I hope to restore forests and pastures in certain areas of the northwest to slow down the further deterioration of the climate in the future. In particular, deforestation and land reclamation are prohibited on both sides of the Yellow River and in the headwaters of the Yellow River to protect the flow of the Yellow River and reduce the mud content.

The policy of setting fires to the grasslands in Ningxia every summer was immediately stopped, and the Ethnic and Religious Committee was allowed to pacify the local Mongolian tribes, and then the population was relocated to build a cantonment camp in Ningxia.

In addition, all provinces are required to strictly investigate the situation of land reclamation and control the occupation of public forest land by displaced people for reclamation and mining. The areas for land reclamation should be planned in a unified manner, and no laissez-faire or disorderly land reclamation should be allowed, and if there is dereliction of duty, severe punishment will not be granted. ”