Outside Plains County

Preparations for the reclamation of the wasteland were in full swing, and hundreds of gentlemen and township officials in long robes were running around all corners of Pingyuan County under Ma Qiang's orders, looking for places where they could be cleared.

Iron tools trekked through mountains and rivers through Bohai County to the Plains Country, where they were assembled into usable agricultural tools.

The good horses that were supposed to be used on the battlefield are now learning how to plow the land, and the Wuhuan cavalry looked distressed as their comrades put on the piso, the only thing that made them feel better was that this was only temporary, and when the livestock team from the steppe arrived in the Plains Country, these comrades could return to them.

Ma Qiang set up a huge blackboard in the open field, and hundreds of elected captains sat in front of him, all holding pens and bamboo slips in their hands.

In these days of study, these captains have learned to write simply, and even if they don't know how to write for a while, they know how to record it in a way that they can understand.

On the side of Ma Qiang, there are a few old farmers sitting, some of these old farmers are from Youzhou, some are local in the Qingzhou Plain, they are all veterans who have been planting land for decades, I heard that the minister of the country wants to teach everyone to open up the wasteland, and let them guide the mistakes, they are all nervous and proud.

Ma Qiang was drawing on the blackboard, in order to make everyone see it more clearly, he was sitting on a ladder to draw, and Yan Fa and Yang Chi were holding the ladder below.

In fact, he has never farmed, and when he was preparing for the class, the theory was greater than the practice, and whether it would work or not still needed these old farmers to check it.

"Okay, everyone, let's start class!" Ma Qiang turned around and shouted, the sound was not loud, the effect was very good, and everyone suddenly stopped making a little noise.

"The land we are going to open is all brine land, and I call this kind of brine land saline-alkali land.

Let me first briefly explain why there is a halogen, you also have an idea.

Although our plain country is not near the sea, it is also very close, and after entering the country of Le'an less than fifty miles, you can see the sea, the sea is salty, and there is salt in it, but where does this salt come from? I can tell you that all this salt was brought from the river.

I know you have questions, isn't the river light? The river water is indeed light, but it is not pure fresh water, but salt water with very low salinity, and these salts are brought from the depths of the land, such as Yuyang, or Yizhou, don't they all find salt from the depths of the land?

The salinity of the river water is so low that you can understand that there is less than a hair's of salt in the river, so we don't feel that the water is not only flowing in the river on the surface, but also in the ground, and if the ground is dry and there is little water, the salt will slowly accumulate and eventually form a brine.

If you know what is going on with the brine land, you should know how to treat it, that is, to bring water to wash the salt of the ground, the water will take away the salt, and the natural brine land can be restored.

Therefore, open the land, and do two great things! The first thing is to open up the wasteland! The second thing is to repair water conservancy!

The gentlemen of the Red Star Camp and the local officials are helping to plan the local and water conservancy rivers.

Water conservancy should be matched with the ridges of the fields, and each acre of field should be built with open ditches and hidden pipes, and the water from the open ditches and hidden pipes should be led to the dug water gathering area, and then discharged into the big river through the water collection area, so that the salt water can go where they should go! ”

Ma Qiang drew the grand plan in his heart for everyone on the blackboard, the method of saline-alkali land management is not difficult, the difficulty is who organizes everyone to do it, and the difficulty is who will pay for these costs in the early stage.

"So after we finish cultivating the field, we can't plant it immediately, but we should soak the field first, reduce the salinity of the field, soak the field as the name suggests, is to introduce water into the field, and then soak the field for a period of time, so that the salt of the field dissolves into the water, and then discharged, as for the standard of soaking.... When the field is dry, there is no white salt crystallization, I look at our field, and it is enough to soak it two or three times.

Since we have just reclaimed, the salt content of this brine land will definitely not be reduced too much at once, so all of our brine land this year is only planted with two things - millet! Artemisia! ”

The old farmer who was listening to it with relish immediately changed his face, is there a villain next to the prime minister? This sorghum is just that, what kind of weeds to plant.

What is Artemisia? There is a saying in the Book of Poetry, Yo Yo Deer Song, Eat the Artemisia of the Wild. I have a guest, Deyin Kong Zhao. In the eyes of the world, this artemisia is a worthless weed.

It's hard to open up the wasteland, and it's not a waste to plant this!

How many people still don't have enough to eat!

An old farmer clenched his fists, gritted his teeth and said, "Prime Minister of State! The grass people have something to say! ”

Ma Qiang happened to be thirsty, waved his hand and asked the green orange on the side to hand him clear water, nodded and said, "Uncle, please speak up." ”

The old farmer took a breath, and then said, "The grass people think that the artemisia is just a weed, and it is useless to plant it, so it is better to plant all the millet, and then you can eat it." ”

Ma Qiang returned the bowl to Qingcheng, and then said with a smile, "What the old man said is probably your confusion, let me explain."

Due to the high salinity of this brine land, most of the plants can not grow too well, and I think the old man also knows that such a land cannot feed wheat, and even if it is raised, the yield will not be too high.

And millet is the most tolerant plant of salinity among the grains, so let's put it this way, wheat can't live in saline-alkali land, he can grow as if nothing is happening.

And the artemisia I am talking about is Artemisia annua, which is a kind of medicinal material, because the cost of reclamation of these brine land is high, and the harvest is less than other fields, I let you plant Artemisia, first, this is also a plant that can grow well in the brine land, second, Artemisia annua is a kind of feed that sheep like very much after drying, and third, our prime minister will purchase this medicinal material at a high price in order to subsidize everyone. ”

The first two of the old farmers listened to it, and the third one understood that this was Ma Qiang's desire to subsidize everyone, and he couldn't help but feel a sour nose, how many years, so many officials came and went, and it was the first time I heard an official say that he was afraid that everyone would have a poor harvest from farming, and he wanted to subsidize everyone.

As for why you don't buy millet directly at a high price, it's probably because you're worried that some villains will buy millet and sell it to the Prime Minister's Office, after all, although the thing of yellow artemisia is not valuable, but you have to buy a lot of it really takes a lot of effort, after all, no one grows this thing, they all grow it in the field.

Although Ma Qiang wants to subsidize the people who open up the wasteland and plant the brine land this time, and these people seem to have been called by the minister from home, but there must be one and two, this is benevolence! The people of this plain country seem to have hope at last.

Ma Qiang was in class, and Jia Xu was shocked when he listened below, it seems that these methods can be used in Xiliang if they are changed.

In this way, wouldn't Xiliang also become the granary of the West one day?

There is also the yellow artemisia, although I don't know what Ma Qiang has a deep meaning, but from the news heard by all parties, Ma Qiang has not done any loss-making business, many times you think he is losing money, and when he makes a thing, you will find that his loss of money is in preparation for making money.