@@@@@

Talking about the silkworm, after Xu Er opened the chatterbox, there was no previous restraint, and the two chatted while chopping mulberry branches;

Yang Yi asked casually: "Second Brother Xu, I traveled all the way and found that most of the families planted some mulberry trees behind the houses on the edge of the village to raise silkworms, but only you have opened up a large mulberry field here, I'm afraid there must be hundreds of acres, right?" ”

Xu Er smiled and said: "There are not so many, only more than 80 acres, and the mulberry garden in our village was also planted four years ago, and I bought it back in Runzhou;

The leaves of the mulberry trees we originally planted are small and thin, I heard that there are many varieties of green mulberry, white mulberry, large and small plum, red chicken feet in the south of the Yangtze River, the leaves are hypertrophied, and the leaves of an acre of mulberry field are twice as many as those here, so I deliberately went to Runzhou to buy some mulberry and came back to sow it, and the mulberry leaves grew better than our original. ”

"Oh, how could Second Brother Xu think of going to Jiangnan to introduce mulberry seeds, this road is not close."

In these years, there was a lack of transportation, ordinary people usually had to walk on two feet to go out, and most people had never traveled a hundred miles in their lives.

Before Xu Er could answer, his delicate little sister couldn't help but proudly replied: "My brother is ......... harm."

"Third sister, don't talk nonsense, brother, this is nothing." Xu Er drank his sister, and then said to Yang Yi: "My third sister is used to being rude, and if you are rude, you can hope that Yang Daguan is not strange." ”

"It's not rude, Second Brother Xu went to Jiangnan alone to introduce mulberry seeds, which is indeed a great feat. I'm afraid that few of them can do it. ”

Xu Er said with some embarrassment: "Don't hide it from Yang Daguan, if the villain goes alone." The villain really didn't dare, the villain had a cousin who was a boatman. often travels back and forth between the capital and Suzhou and Hangzhou, and the villain takes his boat to go back and forth, which makes the big officials laugh. ”

"Even so, it is commendable that Second Brother Xu has such thoughts."

"The villain is also forced to be helpless, the land in our village is short of water, not suitable for growing rice and wheat, and after the Yang scholar recovered Hexi a few years ago, the price of this silk has been rising. The villain estimated that there were many kinds of mulberry trees to raise silkworms, maybe to add some income to the family, my cousin walked a lot, once heard him mention the silkworms in the south of the Yangtze River, so he begged him to take me over to see. ”

From Xu Er's fragmentary words, Yang Yi heard a lot of information, first, with the opening of the Silk Road and the rise of maritime trade, the price of silk continued to rise;

Second, the technology of mulberry and silkworm cultivation in the south of the Yangtze River leads the country. But it has not been effectively promoted, like Xu Er, if he didn't have a cousin running a boat on the Bianhe River, he might not know the situation of silkworm cultivation in the south of the Yangtze River for the rest of his life.

Forget about the Gyeonggi side, this side belongs to the plain area. Most of the land can be used to grow rice and wheat, but Quang Nam is mostly mountainous, so it is not possible to grow rice and wheat. These species of corn have not yet spread from the Americas, and large areas of mountains and slopes in Quang Nam can only be abandoned as useless wasteland;

When Yang Yi returned from Quang Nam. Although Ma Yingfang, the governor of Qinzhou, vigorously promoted sugarcane and fruit planting, it was far from enough;

Today, more than half of the two vertical and horizontal straight roads in Quang Nam have been built. With the continuous deepening of development, we still need to find more ways to get rich as pillars.

Yang Yi used to be active in the southwest in his previous life, and knew that at that time, mulberry cultivation and silkworm cultivation in Guangxi were very common, and it was one of the provinces with the largest cocoon production in the country.

Like Xu Er, one person can drive a village, if the power of the government is used to promote, the effect will be magnified countless times, and the two Guangzhous will develop, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places will be in the palm of their hands, and they can even radiate the entire Indochina Peninsula.

After having this thought, Yang Yi asked more carefully: "Second Brother Xu, just now I heard you say that your mulberry field is planted by sowing seeds?" ”

"Exactly, Runzhou is also planted like this, Yang Daguan is afraid that he doesn't know, this mulberry tree can't let him grow too tall, and if he grows too tall, he won't be able to pick leaves, so he has to cut down the branches every winter, so that it can send out new shoots from the roots next year, so that the new seedlings are not high, so that they are easy to pick;

But every year, cutting down branches like this also hurts the mulberry village, and generally such old roots can only be left for a few years, like my family's few acres of mulberry fields, I am afraid that tomorrow I will have to dig up the old roots, re-turn the soil layer deeply, and then sow seeds.

In the second year of sowing, because the mulberry seedlings are too small, there are not many silkworms, and it is necessary to wait until the third year to keep up with the yield of mulberry leaves. I heard that there are people in Runzhou? ”

"Secondleaves?" This word made Yang Yi very puzzling.

Xu Er said to Yang Yi as a family treasure: "Miaoye is to buy and sell mulberry leaves, Runzhou is called so, generally because of the abundance of silkworms, in the year when silkworms are generally raised well, many families have to dump silkworms because of the lack of leaves, and people with conditions will rent other mulberry gardens, and people over there will call this second leaf;

Some are because after digging out the old roots this year, the newly sown mulberry seedlings in the second year are too small to produce leaves, so they have to rent other mulberry fields to raise silkworms, which is more costly, and it is not much profit to raise silkworms. ”

Yang Yi stopped and asked curiously, "Are you all sowing seeds?" Isn't it possible to plant cuttings? ”

"Cuttings? I've heard of it, but none of us here have used it. ”

Yang Yi couldn't help but laugh when he heard this, for the people, farming is related to their lives, before seeing the results, you let him try a new cultivation method, they have no bottom in their hearts, and most people dare not take this risk.

Mulberry trees and mulberries are very common in the poems of the ancients, such as this one describing mulberries:

The mulberry house is secluded and covered with green bushes, and the breeze path is fragrant.

The uneven red and purple ripe prescription is good, and a wisp of sweetness is dissolved.

The poem is written very freshly, but this is not the main thing, as far as the mulberry trees used to raise silkworms that Yang Yi saw in the world are basically not flowering or fruiting, this is probably because most of the mulberry trees in later generations used the method of asexual reproduction.

If this inference is true, then it means that most of the ancients used sexual reproduction, that is, the method of sowing mulberry fruits.

Now Xu Er's statement also imprints this.

Yang Yi suddenly remembered another thing, and he couldn't help but feel a move in his heart, but he didn't say anything. Just kidding, a stranger. Promote the technique of planting mulberry to others, and the ghost will believe you. said that people will only hehe twice.

Yang Yi helped cut the mulberry branches for nearly half an hour, which made Xu Erlang's family of three very unhappy, although Yang Yi was dressed very ordinary, but just looking at those snacks and the treasure knife in his hand, he knew that it was from a rich and noble family, and a rich son came to help with farm work, but he couldn't persuade them, why not teach them to feel uneasy.

Soon after, Xu Er's father drove an ox cart to pull the mulberry branches. This is a thin old man in his fifties, one leg is a little lame, and it is not very convenient to walk, which is probably why he did not go down to the ground to cut mulberry branches.

After Yang Yi greeted him, he went to help load the bundles of mulberry branches into the car, and the old man Xu couldn't persuade him, so he inevitably complained to Xu Erhao again, saying that he neglected the guests.

In the sunset at dusk, Yang Yi drove the carriage. Follow Old Man Xu's ox cart to his house.

It is a small village, with more than a dozen families scattered on a low slope, and there are many bamboos at the head and end of the village, which are lush and green;

There is also a large pond of twenty or thirty acres at the bottom of the slope. A flock of fat geese is swimming ashore from the pond and flapping their wings a few times. While quacking, he walked majestically. The high-spirited goose walked towards Xu Erlang's house;

It's an idyllic scene. Looking at Yang Yi and Qing Niang were very happy, what Yang Yi didn't expect was that although the village was small, the houses were neat and bright brick houses, and the villagers he saw were also dressed neatly, without the slightest sloppiness or tatters as he imagined, such a village can definitely be called a well-off village in the Great Song Dynasty.

Xu Erjia's house is the best in the village, three main houses, two wings on each side, all of which are brick structures, surrounded by a large courtyard in the middle, but there is no high wall in front of the yard, only a half-person-high fence wall is inserted with bamboo, and the fence wall is covered with morning glory vines, which adds a bit of wild interest.

There were also a few low thatched huts behind the main house, and those fat geese walked to the thatched hut by themselves, apparently the thatched hut was used by the Xu family to raise poultry and livestock.

Before the mulberry branch was pulled to the door and had no time to unload, Old Man Xu instructed Xu Er to catch a fat goose to kill as a treat to the guests.

Xu Er's mother is also around fifty, the Zhuang family does not have too many rules, and also came out to see Yang Yi and the others, seeing that Yang Yi and the two people are extraordinary, after all, they are a little embarrassed, and after saying hello, they hid in the kitchen to cook on the fire, and Xu Er's mother and sister-in-law took the killed fat goose to the front of the yard to hair......

The village was not big, and more than a dozen families were alarmed, and they came to greet the guests, and they were very enthusiastic.

As soon as Old Man Xu saw people coming, he warmly entertained guests, and instructed Xu Er to kill a fat goose again, good guy, the fat goose weighed more than ten catties, and two were enough for these dozen or so families to eat.

The hearty enthusiasm of the country people is indeed touching, and when the sunset sinks to the side of the mountain, the food is served, and the men form a table in the courtyard, and the women of Qing Niang open another table in the hall.

Yang Yi took the good wine in the car, and drank happily with seven or eight villagers, thirsty for such a mellow wine, everyone knew that it was extraordinary, and a gray-bearded old man next door couldn't help asking: "This Yang official doesn't know what he does for a living, you are a rich person, you can look down on us rural villagers, it's really a rare thing, I'm just afraid that the hospitality will not be good, and we will neglect the distinguished guests." ”

Yang Yi poured wine for him, and said with a smile: "Uncle Xu doesn't have to be polite, I have a few acres of thin fields at home, and I don't have to worry about food and clothing on weekdays, I am useless, I love to go out and wander on weekdays, and I play some tricks and tricks, today I passed through the mulberry field of Brother Xu's house, and suddenly had some ideas in my heart, planning to make a thing for picking mulberry leaves, if it can be done, it should be able to increase the picking speed by four or five times............"

The villagers at the table didn't care much at first, but when they heard that he was going to make something that could increase the speed of picking mulberry leaves by four or five times, although they didn't believe it, they couldn't help but be full of anticipation;

All of a sudden, no one bothered to inquire about Yang Yi's origins, and they all asked him how he could increase the speed of picking mulberry leaves.

I don't blame them, the temptation of what Yang Yi said is too great, the most difficult thing to raise silkworms is to pick mulberry leaves, picking all day long, and it is not enough to feed how many silkworms, if you can increase the picking speed by four or five times at once, then a person can raise several times more silkworms;

It can be said that if what Yang Yi said is true, it will bring earth-shaking changes to the sericulture industry in the future.

*************************

PS: Thank you for the support of the two old friends for their monthly ticket support, and thank you for the evaluation votes cast by AKiTo1981, thank you.

(To be continued.) )