"When did Zixuan come?"

Standing in the field, Shi Yiwen smiled at Zhang Jingxiu, this is a rare guest.

"Just arrived,"

After answering, Zhang Jingxiu also walked to the field. Looking at the cotton seedlings in the field, he wondered.

"Zhiyuan, I see that your cotton seedlings here are not the same as those in other places."

"It's really different, these cottons are upland cotton that I brought from overseas, and they are native to ...... Well, tens of thousands of miles away on the other side of the ocean, the fiber is long and the yield is large. ”

Shi Yiwen explained with a smile that most of the domestic species in this era were tree cotton and grass cotton originating in India or the Middle East, with small output and short fibers, and upland cotton represented by "American cotton" was not introduced to China until the end of the Qing Dynasty. It was not until the fifties and sixties that tree cotton and grass cotton were completely replaced.

"Oh, Zhiyuan, it seems that you have brought a lot of good things from overseas, just like the chili pepper I ate here earlier, it tastes fresh, but it is too spicy."

Until now, Zhang Jingxiu still remembers the experience of being so spicy that he almost didn't shed tears when he was eating here.

"The spicy taste is good, and when I eat hot pot in winter, I feel ...... Well, when it's winter, please eat authentic ......"

Sichuan hot pot ...... At least there shouldn't be chili peppers yet. However, there are base ingredients in the supermarket, and with the carefully boiled base soup, the taste should not be that bad.

"Then the little brother will be blessed by then."

Zhang Jingxiu said with a smile.

Idle and bored in the field, the two walked south along the stone road leading from Zhuangkou to Zhangjiawan. The two walked and talked.

"Last time, you said that you wanted to let the people in the north get the benefits of cotton spinning, and the little brother always had a question in his heart."

"Huh? You said. ”

"That is, if all the people in the north switch to cotton, where will the food come from? After all, grain is cheap and flowers are expensive, and the people are profit-seeking, so they are naturally willing to grow cotton. ”

"Is it possible to grow cotton entirely?"

Shi Yiwen asked rhetorically.

"Why can't it be? Jiangnan is not now just "mulberry rice for the field", "flower rice for the field" thing, the younger brother heard that in Jiangnan, most of the people are changed to mulberry cotton, after all, the income of planting mulberry cotton spinning and spinning is much higher than growing grain. Even if the imperial court collects rice as a tax and pays it when he buys rice, as far as he is concerned, his income is much higher than that of rice planting. ”

"Market supply and demand ......"

Shi Yiwen explained casually.

"For the same acre of land, if the income from growing cash crops is higher than growing crops, then people will naturally turn to cash crops. However, the demand of the market is always constantly adjusting, and now the flowers are expensive and the grain is cheap, so the people are willing to plant flowers, but if the food is expensive, they are naturally willing to grow food, and besides, even in the south of the Yangtze River, there is a family that is bold enough to change all their fields into mulberry fields? ”

Turning his head and looking at his Zhuangzi, Shi Yiwen said.

"Just like my Zhuangzi, in order to let them plant all cotton and cultivate good seeds, I took a lot of effort to get them to agree, the farmers are generally conservative and stable, no matter what they do, they will leave the food ration field, even if the cotton is more profitable...... Cotton can't be eaten, so they have to keep rations, if I don't give them grain at the rate of 400 catties per person, the fields in the Zhuangzi, even if they are my fields, they don't want to grow cotton all. ”

Looking up at a cotton field in front of him, Shi Yiwen said.

"You see, out of Zhuangzi, we have gone so far, there are only a few households that grow cotton, these cotton are underwritten in the factory, and even prepaid silver, but even so, each household is planted on one or two acres, at most two or three acres, even they themselves know that cotton is not only worthless, but even can't even eat.

"So it's the same reason that the grain hurts the peasants after the harvest?"

"It's different, after the grain harvest, the grain hurts the farmers, no matter how it hurts, the grain is still edible, and the stomach will not be hungry, but if the silkworm cocoons and cotton can't be sold, it's cheap, and there won't be much food in exchange, but it will starve to death!" Who would dare to risk the lives of a family? ”

With a smile, Shi Yiwen mentioned Jiangnan again.

"Gangnam...... There are only hundreds of millions of acres of cultivated land in the south of the Yangtze River, and one acre of land is planted with mulberry and silkworms, and the income is more than a dozen taels, more than ten times that of rice, but have the people used all the land to grow mulberry? In the end, there will still be food ration fields. ”

It's true that people are profit-seeking, but they are not idiots.

"Little brother understands."

Nodding, Zhang Jingxiu did not continue to ask on this question. Then they continued to walk along the official road, chatting about the sky, just as the two were about to return to Zhuangzi, the scene in front of them attracted Shi Yiwen's attention. On the official road, several ragged people, dragging their children and daughters with wooden sticks, walked in the direction of the city in a daze. And under the willow trees on the side of the road, there are a few people with yellow faces and thin muscles.

This is the first time Shi Yiwen has seen - homeless people.

Although it has been more than a year since he came to this era, Shi Yiwen has never seen the legendary "homeless people", perhaps because of the environment, he has not been able to contact them.

"I don't know there's another disaster there."

Zhang Jingxiu said softly, with a little pity in his eyebrows, he took the initiative to go forward and give a few copper coins,

Following him, Shi Yiwen then asked a little, and sure enough, as Zhang Jingxiu said, they were all people who were forced to come out to beg for survival because of the drought at home.

Seeing Shi Yiwen and the two stopping, a group of ragged victims immediately surrounded them.

"Childe, pity my ......"

In the midst of the begging, when she took out some copper coins to give alms, a woman with two children in her hands pushed the little girl in front of her and bowed repeatedly.

"This son, you are a good person at first glance, my daughter is only eight years old, very sensible, I will starve to death if I follow, just save you with kindness, buy her home, be a maid, and give her a way to live......"

The little girl who was pushed in front of the woman, a pair of big eyes flashed with panic, her little black hand tightly grasped the woman's hand, looked back at her nervously, and said timidly.

"Mother......

The girl's voice was not loud, but as soon as she spoke, tears flowed down both of them.

"Xi'er, don't blame my mother for being ruthless, if not, our mother will starve to death......"

This scene in front of him made Shi Yiwen's heart tighten, although he had seen the words "selling children and girls" countless times in the book, but he never thought that this scene would appear in front of his eyes.

Looking at the poor mother and daughter, watching the woman puff and pull her daughter to kneel down and kowtow to him:

"Childe, you bought my daughter. She is young, eats less, and works well, so she only asks her son to be kind and give our mother three ways to live......"

When he saw the woman kneeling on the ground and prostrating her head and praying, his heart was touched, and when he was about to take the money, he saw greed flashing in the eyes of a beggar nearby.

Even if the money were given to this woman, she would not be able to keep it, in case someone robbed her? This man was not saved, but harmed.

After pondering for a moment, Shi Yiwen slowly squatted in front of the little girl and reached out to support her little hand.

"You two get up, there is no shortage of maids at home, but there is still a cook in my factory, although it is harder, but you can also have no worries about food and clothing, are you willing to go?"

"Willing, willing, thank you Childe, thank you Childe for your great kindness......"