Feng Yunshan also named and commented on the local officials of Qiongzhou Prefecture one by one, because there was information provided by the Special Service Department in advance, and the daily movements and behaviors of these officials were well understood.

When some of their daily habits and details were revealed in the emperor's comments, these magistrates all had a chill on their backs, and they were glad that they didn't do anything bad, of course, for the subsections, Feng Yunshan also let them go, and did not chase them carefully, no one is perfect, and it is this era. He deliberately revealed something, naturally to wake up, not only the officials of the Qiongzhou Prefecture, but also other state capitals across the country would naturally hear the news, so that the officials would be aware that there were secret agencies around them, and it would not be a bad thing.

After rewarding and spurring the magistrate, Feng Yunshan finally asked about the rubber: "Let's all be even." Serious matters. I came to Qiongzhou Mansion this time mainly for two things. First, the Hakka people who immigrated from Liangguang at the beginning, I came to see how they are living now; The second is how the rubber trees are planted, the tribute of the rubber I have already seen, your method...... I'll talk about this later. ”

Wu Chongyao, the governor of Guangdong, hurriedly played: "Your Majesty, Rong Weichen played: Since the beginning of the Taiping Holy Kingdom, from the two Guangxi immigrants to the Hakka people, until the end of the second year of the Taisheng, a total of 600,000 Hakka people have been migrated in the past three years, of which 360,000 have been relocated to Qiongzhou Prefecture, and the rest have basically moved to Taiwan Prefecture and Ryukyu Prefecture. Nowadays, the Hakka people in Qiongzhou Mansion have public farming cattle and farm tools distributed by the government, and also distribute seeds, clothing, rations and other things, and organize Hakka residents from all over the country to build villages together, such as this Lingao Ma Yuan Town. The Hakka people live and work in peace and contentment, and they are grateful for His Majesty's kindness, and the emperor's grace is mighty! ”

When Feng Yunshan heard this, although he knew that Wu Chongyao was saying beautiful words, he couldn't help but burst into joy, with a smile on his face, but his mouth was unforgiving: "Wu Aiqing, not long after you became the governor of Guangdong, you began to be like those original Manchu ministers, and you can say flowers on your lips?" I can't move here, is it really that good? ”

Wu Chongyao patted his chest: "Your Majesty, how dare Weichen bully the king?" If you don't believe me, just call the people of your hometown to ask, or see for yourself. ”

Feng Yunshan smiled: "You are confident!" He turned his head to Tang Jisheng, the prefect of Qiongzhou, and asked, "Governor Tang, tell me how the rubber is being planted in your Qiongzhou Mansion now?"

Tang Jisheng, the prefect of Qiongzhou, hurriedly raised his head and said: "Back to Your Majesty, now since the Qiongzhou Mansion accepted Hakka residents four or five years ago, the government has deliberately selected the mountains and forests in six counties, and established a number of Hakka farms in the way of 'leaning on the mountains and forests', and planting rubber saplings. So far, a total of 120,000 acres of rubber forests have been cultivated in the entire Qiongzhou Prefecture, and 80,000 acres of seedlings have been planted, of which 12,000 acres have ushered in the first rubber tapping period. The specific output, Weichen has not yet figured out, or by the county magistrate Wang Chenglie wants His Majesty to report as well, out of the 12,000 acres of rubber forest, more than 8,000 acres are his Lingao County, which is mainly around this Ma Yuan Town, there are more than 4,000 acres. ”

When Feng Yunshan heard this, he was very happy, he still had some idea of this number. 80,000 acres of rubber forests have been planted, of which there are tens of thousands of acres of rubber tapping, compared with the rubber produced in Hainan in later generations, there are naturally not much, but in this era, there are also a lot.

Immediately, he said excitedly: "Let's go, call a few Hakka fellows and take me to the rubber plantation they planted." ”

So the group, under the leadership of a middle-aged farmer with a dark face who said to be the head of Changfu Village in Mayuan Town, soon came to the Changfu Rubber Plantation three miles away.

There was a thin light mist on the edge of the bay, and people walked through the trees, and the mist penetrated through the cracks in the trees, like a flowing smoke cloud, making people feel the coolness of thin rain.

Go further, there is a mountain road, according to the mountain situation of Ma Yuanwan, in a green forest winding, and walk a section, only to see both sides of the mountain road, from the sunny slope to the shady slope, from the ditch to the top of the mountain, at a glance, it is all like a soldier arranging neatly arranged rubber forest. The trees in these rubber forests are not big, after all, they have only been planted for four years, and the spacing is relatively wide, and they still look a little sparse, but the most comfortable feeling is that they are neat.

"Your Majesty, this is the rubber forest of Changfu Rubber Plantation, with a total of more than 1,200 acres, which is the largest rubber plantation in Mayuan Town, Lingao County and even Qiongzhou Prefecture. There are more than 150 Hakka immigrants in Changfu Village, and each household has opened up more than 10 acres of mountain forests on average, most of which are used to plant rubber forests, and the rest are planted with some rations. Now that the rubber can be harvested, it can finally be relieved, but I don't know what the rubber is used for and how to ......sell it," Wang Chenglie, the magistrate of Lingao County, introduced on the side, and at the same time said the doubts in the hearts of everyone present.

They planted rubber according to the emperor's requirements, and blamed Feng Yunshan for not explaining it clearly, but just said that rubber must be planted and protected as a treasure, and everything needed will be satisfied. But what exactly this rubber is used for, Feng Yunshan did not elaborate, not that he forgot, but with the situation at the time, even if he said it, no one could understand it, and he was afraid that it would be known by foreigners.

Fortunately, the rubber sapling was finally planted. It's just that the planting is a little too dense, Feng Yunshan saw rows of them, about fifty or sixty plants per acre, and at least half of them had to be transplanted. I don't know how many of these rubber saplings were obtained by those people at the beginning, but fortunately, Brazil has long been separated from Europe and Portugal, and not many Europeans pay attention to this matter.

Feng Yunshan stepped forward and stroked a rubber sapling that had been scraped off a large piece of bark, a little speechless, how wasteful it was to scrape rubber like this, and it also hurt the entire rubber tree very much. Thinking of the words of the county magistrate of Lingao just now, he said slowly: "Are you people from the Agricultural Bureau of Qiongzhou Prefecture here, as well as you, Tang Governor, and County Magistrate Wang, you all remember it, and I will tell you about some uses of this rubber tree and rubber tapping methods." As for the sale, there is no need to consider, all by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Forestry Department of the unified purchase, as many as you want, the more the better, as for the price, you and the Forestry Department to discuss, a year, always let the rubber farmers eat well, eat well. I estimate that if this rubber plantation is planted well, there are 25 plants per mu, and the rubber yield per mu reaches 120 kilograms, compared with rice planting, the annual output value is less than 20 saint yuan, and the first five years of planting have little output, the state subsidizes rubber farmers a little more, according to 36 saint yuan, and the price is 3 saint yuan per 10 kilograms. ”

Seeing the emperor talking about rubber, everyone listened carefully.

"Nowadays, the planting of rubber seedlings has basically opened up the situation, but do not tap the rubber too early, so as not to damage the root of the rubber tree. It is best to start harvesting after 5 years of planting, so that the yield will be a little higher in the future. The key to planting rubber trees is a few points:

The first is to choose a good place, the rubber tree is suitable for growing in deep, fertile and moist, well-drained acidic sandy soil, but also in a leeward place, so as not to be directly blown down by a typhoon, these I think you are good here.

The second is to remove weeds under the tree and apply good base fertilizer, the current phosphate fertilizer is very good, you can buy more. It is best to cover the area around the rubber tree with dead grass. In addition, I saw that you have planted some soybeans and cotton between the rubber trees, which is very good, which can prevent soil erosion, increase soil fertility, inhibit the growth of weeds, and increase some income before the rubber trees grow.

The third is rubber tapping skills. When the rubber tree grows to the fifth or sixth year, it can be tapped. Remember, rubber tapping is done in the early morning when the sky is just dawn or before dawn, the new rubber tree is cut at a distance of 50 cm from the ground, the cutting line is slightly inclined from left to right, the length is half of the circumference of the tree, remember not to cut it all, so that the tree may die. The thickness of the bark cut off each time is one millimeter, and the wood layer should not be harmed, so as not to affect the bark regeneration. This kind of continuous rubber tapping method that does not damage the cambium tissue of the rubber tree and re-mowing on the original cut is taught by someone from the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, so that the rubber tree can be repeatedly tapped, of course, when the temperature is low in the morning in winter, the rubber tapping should be stopped.

Finally, these must be strictly controlled, and they cannot be circulated, let alone out of Qiongzhou Mansion. “

Having said that, Feng Yunshan still knew that these were difficult to control, so he could only send some captives to guard Hainan Island, check several ferries, strictly check the personnel entering and leaving the island, at least not allowing foreigners to enter and leave the island, and learn these rubber trees and rubber tapping methods. If you can delay it a little, you can delay it a little, at least, for a considerable period of time, you can maintain the superiority of the Chinese Empire in rubber production.

Seeing that Feng Yunshan said many important points and solemnly explained the secret, everyone felt a pang in their hearts and hurriedly bowed their heads to obey the order.

At that moment, Feng Yunshan personally selected the largest rubber tree, used the method he learned in later life, cut half a circle of rubber wire, and used the glue trough prepared in advance to catch some of the rubber flowing out. It's not much, but it's a good demonstration.

Then, like the leaders of later generations, Feng Yunshan led the crowd to observe several tea gardens and several dry lands cultivated by the Hakka mountain people in Changfu Village, planting some bales and sweet potatoes, and barely enough to make up for some rations. For these, Feng Yunshan has not much to do, Hainan Island is full of mountains and forests, the original Li people themselves grow their own rations, but also rely on hunting in the mountains and fishing in the sea to make up for it, as well as the most famous Li textile industry, a large number of clothes are sold to Guangzhou in exchange for food. Now, we can only insist on clearing the wasteland, and then slowly turn the wasteland into cooked soil with time, supplemented by phosphate fertilizer, it should not take long to achieve food self-sufficiency in Qiongzhou Prefecture.