The second day was another day of preaching, and on the third and fourth days, I went to the field to demonstrate. To Xu Ping's surprise, the most interesting thing for these owners is the cultivator shovel, followed by the seeding machine, and some other small farm tools such as the rake for land preparation and the suppression wheel for pressing the land after planting are all bought, but the harvester is completely unwanted.

Just because when explaining, Xu Ping said that this kind of harvester may not be able to harvest rice and wheat, and the price is 50 yuan per unit. This price is not too expensive, you must know how much that box of brass gears is worth.

But the old rich have their own accounts. Fifty yuan is enough money to invite several villagers, and they can only harvest crops such as sorghum and alfalfa, and whoever eats them can grow them in the ground.

By the fifth day, the farm work in Xu Pingzhuang was almost busy, and only some finishing work remained. Xu Ping invited the owner of the village to visit his village and make a final effort.

Naturally, the inside of the village and the wine field cannot be visited, Xu Ping mainly took these people to visit the place where he raised cattle and sheep, so that they could see the real benefits.

Cattle and sheep are raised behind the Zhuangzi and next to the vegetable patch.

As soon as they arrived at the place, these landlords and old fortunes were shocked.

I saw a series of cattle sheds with no end in sight, neat, clean and tidy.

Guo Shi was also taken aback, he didn't expect Xu Ping to have such a large scale here, and couldn't help but ask him: "Little farmer, how many cattle and sheep do you raise here?" ”

Xu Ping said: "It's not too much, there are twelve big yellow cows and thirty-nine calves." There are thousands of sheep large and small. ”

Guo Shi sighed: "Thousands of cattle and sheep, this village of the small farmer looks inconspicuous, but it is extremely rich!" ”

Xu Ping took the opportunity to complain: "Don't hide it from the master, most of the crops in my village are pastures, and I can only raise cattle and sheep." And cattle and sheep are mixed up to raise is the best, but a sheep is also worth two or three times, a big yellow cow can only be sold for five or six times, cattle raising is a loss-making business! Now these dozens of cattle are still raised by themselves for farming, which is very uneconomical! ”

Guo Zhiqi said: "Why are cows and sheep so different? ”

Xu Ping looked at Guo Shi's face before he said: "Actually, it shouldn't be so bad, but sheep can be killed to eat meat, and they don't have to worry about not being able to sell them." The price of cattle is limited by the government, and even beef is only allowed to be sold for 20 yuan a catty, which is much cheaper than pork, and a cow can only be sold for five or six yuan. ”

Guo Shi didn't say anything, and Xu Ping whispered again: "I heard that there are cattle slaughtered in the countryside, and the meat is sold for 100 yuan a catty, and a cow can be sold for 20 or 30 yuan, and there is still some interest." ”

Guo Shi looked at Xu Ping and sighed: "Don't fight this idea, the little village owner, it's not a joke that the imperial court bans the slaughter of cattle and horses, if you dare to commit it, I will dare to arrest it!" ”

Xu Ping hurriedly said: "I'm just talking, can't I complain?" ”

The price of cattle is controlled by the government, and it is forcibly stipulated that a cow can only be sold for five or six yuan, that is, it is killed by the sick and old to sell meat, and the price of meat cannot exceed 20 yuan, so as to prevent farmers from killing cattle under the pretext of killing cattle.

This practice, which completely violates the laws of the market, is naturally aimed at preventing cattle from being slaughtered, but it also restricts the market for cattle, so that peasant households have no choice but not to raise cattle, and it is not clear in one sentence whether the supply of cattle is good or bad. Of course, the Great Song Dynasty court will always do something interesting, farmers are not willing to raise cattle, then the government to raise them, farmers want to use it to rent it from the government. The price of renting cattle is preferential, but it can't prevent lower-level officials from scraping money from it, and the cattle rented to the family have to be provided by grandfathers, and they come to the door to ask for money when they are a little worse.

However, there are prohibitions where there are prohibitions, and the slaughtered beef is sold for 100 wen a catty, which is more expensive than pork and mutton, and this is the law of the market at work.

After entering the shed, everyone saw that each room was exactly the same, a shed in the north, a trough and a trough in the south, and a sheep activity venue was paved with fine sand in the middle. The number of sheep in each pen is basically the same, five or six, and the ewes and lambs are kept separately.

Guo Zhi read it and said to Xu Ping: "The little owner is also tidy up here." It's just that you raise so much, what do you do with the forage they eat in winter? ”

Xu Ping said: "Didn't I put it in the cellar and store it?" ”

Guo Zhi said with a smile: "I see that you are buried in the ground wet, I just wanted to talk about it, it won't take long for this appearance to spoil, and where will the cattle and sheep be willing to eat." Have you really figured it out? ”

In this era, there is no concept of silage, and this cannot be blamed for Guo Zhi's lack of knowledge. Common sense is that verdant stems and leaves will rot quickly, Guo Zhi is right. However, silage is fermented under anaerobic conditions using the action of anaerobic bacteria to make the feed more delicious and the nutritional value is higher, which is knowledge beyond the times.

Xu Ping thought for a while before coming up with a barely plausible answer: "The main book only knows one thing, but I don't know the other." My family makes sake brewing, and most of it is leftover sake paste, which is mixed with sake paste when storing feed in the cellar. After a long time, these feeds are nothing more than good feeds like wine paste. ”

Guo Shi shook his head again and again, if Xu Ping hadn't given him a lot of surprises, he would have scolded Xu Ping for talking nonsense. How can feed be confused with winemaking?

After thinking about it, Guo Zhi had no choice but to say to Xu Ping: "Don't make a mistake about the little farmer!" Thinking like this today, I won't talk about you, if you really encounter a problem that can't be solved in the future, just come to me, and I will find a way with you. ”

Xu Ping hurriedly thanked him.

Guo Zhi did this, first, he was indeed a good official for the sake of the people, and secondly, he reclaimed wasteland and collected more money and grain. The Song Dynasty took the system of grinding officials to the extreme, and divided the political achievements of either party into very small and trivial, which is the evidence of the promotion of the term of office, as long as the self-motivated officials will not take it lightly.

After seeing the place where Xu Ping raised cattle and sheep, a few people outside the staff were moved again, and found Xu Ping to discuss the purchase of a harvester, and asked him to reduce the price.

How Xu Ping is willing to surrender! This one was different from other farm tools, and it really took him a lot of thought.

Fifty dollars is not a decimal number after all, and you can buy a horse of about the same size. Although Xu Ping put a lot of thought into it, he didn't sell a single one after all.

Guo Shi comforted Xu Ping: "The little farmer doesn't have to take it to heart, think about it again, can you change this machine to be able to harvest rice and wheat." If you can harvest rice and wheat, I will give you a letter to the court, and the government will make up some money for every car you sell, and then you will lower the price, and then it will be easy to sell. ”

Xu Ping was stunned for a moment, listening to this, this master still has to apply for agricultural machinery subsidies for himself? This is a new thing, but I didn't expect these officials to be quite fashionable.

In fact, Xu Ping thought a little badly. In this era, agriculture is much more important than in his previous life, and the government will certainly think of many ways to stimulate the development of agriculture. Not to mention agricultural machinery subsidies, there are subsidies for water and soil management, subsidies for the promotion of improved varieties, and subsidies for reclamation of wasteland.

The tax on agriculture in the Song Dynasty was relatively low, and if only the positive tax was calculated, it was almost the lowest in all dynasties. Of course, the Song Dynasty had a lot of exacting taxes and miscellaneous taxes, but most of these exacting taxes were limited to one time and one place during the Northern Song Dynasty, and there were also special reasons, such as the resistance when Sichuan and Shu were unified, and the difficulties when attacking Taiyuan, all of which had led to an increase in taxes in the surrounding areas. However, even if the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes are included, the agricultural taxes of the Song Dynasty are still not high.

The central income of the Great Song Dynasty, which was unprecedented in ancient Chinese history, came mainly from industry and commerce. This is not to say that the industry and commerce of the Song Dynasty were the highest level in ancient China, and the actual level was not necessarily more developed than that of the Ming Dynasty. This kind of income is because the Song Dynasty government completely controlled the economic lifeline through various guilds and various government-run industries and commerce, thus also controlling the redistribution of social wealth and ensuring the government's source of income. The government does not compete with the people for profit, this kind of thing did not exist in the Song Dynasty, and it was the instinct of the Great Song Dynasty to compete with the people.

And it is precisely because of this background that the Song Dynasty's policy on agriculture was still very favorable.