The two boats stopped on the south island of the Diaoyutai Islands, Li Jing was about to take people ashore in a dinghy, and the two sisters were also clamoring to go, Li Jing said: "It's okay to go, but the baby on the island is very smelly, sticky to the body, don't get angry, you don't regret it then, let alone pull my ears." ”

"No, little brother, I've been suffocated on the boat for the past two days, and my sister and I will go down to breathe." Li Yue'er hurriedly said.

"Okay, then let's go, Mei Lan Zhuju, you take care of Miss. Boss Zhang, put down the rope net from the side side," said Li Jing took the lead in climbing down from the rope net, jumped into the dinghy, and everyone followed to get on the boat in turn. Soon it was filled with more than two dozen men, all armed with muskets and waist knives, and rowed towards the shore.

After going ashore, Li Jing lit a small gunpowder bag and threw it into the distance, several people hid behind the reef, there was a loud bang, and the flames and black smoke rose into the air, and millions of birds of all kinds on this island had never been so frightened, and suddenly flew up all over the sky, seemingly covering the sky. I feel like my head is dark. Soon the birds on the island were gone, and they would not return until the smoke and the smell of sulphur had not dissipated, and the fright had not passed.

After Li Jing cleared the field, he led everyone to carry shovels and pedal the island step by step. The good topography of Nanxiao Island is the main reason why Li Jing chose to land here, opposite Diaoyutai Island, where it is difficult to climb in mountainous areas. Minami Kojima has two triangular hills, one large and one small, with a large area of flat land less than 10 meters above sea level in the middle.

Minami Kojima, also known as Orochishima or Bird Island, is separated from Kitakojima by the Olive Gate Strait, which is about 150 meters long and 200 meters wide. Minamikojima covers an area of about 0.40 square kilometers, and there are 139 meters above sea level on the island, Fist Ridge and 89 meters high Thumb Peak. The flat land between the two peaks is about 400 acres.

The ground was full of bird droppings, and the stench was terrible, and Li Wei'er, Li Yue'er, and the four maids hurriedly covered their mouths and noses with handkerchiefs. Even a lot of rocks are made up of bird droppings that accumulate over the years.

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what their young master was crazy about, and what was there to play in this kind of place. There was a buzz around.

"Since the young master must have a deep meaning on the island, what do you killers know. What are you yelling about. Boss Zhang scolded unhappily, and immediately everyone didn't dare to squeak and fell silent.

The second daughter also gave Li Jing a look, and left quickly, this is really not a good place. Li Jing didn't seem to see it, but he didn't feel dirty, he broke off a gray-white guano rock with his hand, smashed it with the handle of a knife, and carefully studied it with a magnifying glass. Weiwei and Yueyue were speechless and stroked their foreheads with their hands, it seemed that this younger brother's head disease had been committed again, so they ran here to see the bird droppings, and said what kind of treasure it was, and they were angry.

Li Jing studied it for a while, and his face was happy, yes, this is a very good guano fertilizer, rich in phosphate fertilizer. Standing up, throwing away the gravel, patting the bird droppings and rock debris on his hands, Xiaozhu hurriedly came over and poured water with a water bladder to wash the young master's hands.

Li Jing turned back to Boss Zhang and said, "Do you know the grain yield per mu of our Ming Dynasty? ”

Boss Zhang thought for a while, bowed down and said: "Back to the young master, my Daming region is different, and the soil quality, climate, and crops of the fields are different. Compared with the previous Yuan, the cultivation level of my Ming Dynasty has improved, and in the north, "one husband cultivates thirty or fifty acres of land, and harvests more than one stone of wheat per mu." "Summer wheat and autumn millet are still 2 stones together. The yield per mu is 2 stones, and the amount of Han (small mu / small stone) is 3.2 stones, which is 5.4% higher than the 3.036 stone in the Yuan Dynasty, and the yield per mu of the city system is 300 catties. ”

Many of the sailors around him had been to the North China Plain, and they all nodded in agreement when they knew the details.

Li Jing asked, "What about Jiangnan?"

Lao Zhang, the helmsman behind Boss Zhao, bowed down and said: "Back to the young master, the old man's family is in the countryside of Fujian, and he has also been to the south of the Yangtze River. "The rent of Shiwu should be 2 stones per mu. The yield per mu is 2 stones, which is equivalent to 288 catties per mu in the current city system. Rice and wheat double cropping field, wheat yield if the field is extremely ripe, rice three stones, spring flowers one and a half stones, about three stones per mu is common.

Boss Zhang continued: "The ripe field that Lao Zhang said is "3 stones" of rice and "one and a half stones of spring flowers". Then, the rice yield of Changtian should be 2 stone per mu, and the yield of spring flowers should be 1 stone per mu, which is 3 stone per mu. The yield per mu of late rice in the south is 2.72 stone, and the double planting of rice, wheat or rice beans is 2 stone of rice and 1 stone of wheat (bean). The yield per mu is 4 stones of double-cropping rice, which is equivalent to 577 catties per mu of the city's system.

A steward surnamed Zhang went on to say: "Sichuan people are called the country of abundance, and it is also a rich land, with two crops a year, and one stone and two buckets of rice per mu are on the top, one stone is in the middle, and eight or nine buckets are down. That is, the medium level of the field yields 2 stones of rice per mu. ”

The sailor in charge of the lookout also said: "Hunan has 100 acres of land, and you can collect 100 stones of rent. According to the rent of half, the yield of rice per mu is also 2 stones. The property of 100 acres is rented 100 stones, and the property of 1,000 acres is rented 1,000 stones. It also refers to the average rice yield per mu in Hunan of 2 stones. ”

Zhang Laoda concluded: "The average yield of rice per mu in the south is 2 stones. Of course, most of what is mentioned here is the rice yield of rice-wheat double-cropping fields. The yield per mu of single-season late rice should be higher than that of multi-cropping field. Wu Zhongqiuhe's harvest of 1 mu is only 3 stones. Jinling Shangtian ten acres, a husband led the family to plough, the harvest of rice is only more than 30 stones. This rice is also considered a late rice, and the average yield per mu is a little more than 3 stones. That is, the yield of a single crop. Planting rice in two seasons can only yield 2 stones, and the rest depends on the yield of wheat and beans in the other season. In short, the average yield per mu of multi-cropping rice was 2 stones, and the average yield per mu of late rice in one season was 3 stones. ”

Li Jing nodded and said: "Okay, the yield, everyone said very clearly, I will briefly say a few words, the output of grain is directly related to the climate, the north of the Great Wall of Liaodong can only be planted for one season, mainly sorghum, soybeans, rhubarb rice, millet, spring wheat, etc., the yield of Shangtian is about one stone and can only be planted for one season." South of the Great Wall and north of the Yangtze River, there can be three seasons in two years, and two seasons a year in the area south of the Huai River. Spring wheat and millet are planted in two seasons a year, yielding two stones per mu. The output of the fields south of the Yangtze River can reach up to four stones in two seasons, which is less than 600 catties, and the 600 catties are still the millet that has not been hulled, and after being hulled, it is ground into rice flour, which is seven or eight percent, four or five hundred catties. ”

Boss Zhang and the others nodded and said, "What the young master said is right, but this is all the output of the upper field, and the lower field and the middle field are much less." The only place that can harvest more than 400 catties of grain per acre of land is a corner of the south of the Yangtze River. Guangdong can't do it, and the land in Fujian is less barren, and it can't be reached. Only Qiongzhou Island can grow rice for three seasons, and it may be able to harvest more than six stones. ”

Li Jing said: "Our family has a large population, and the grain grown in the field is not enough to eat, so we have to buy a large amount of grain from the Wusong area in the south of the Yangtze River every year, and spend thousands of taels of silver every year to buy low-priced miscellaneous grains and old grains for hired workers and men to eat. In addition to the 2,600 acres of paddy fields in our family, there are two crops of rice a year, and the yield per mu is less than four stones, because our land is not good and the fertility is not enough. ”

Boss Zhang said: "The young master is right, our family accumulates human and animal manure and compostes the rotten grass and trees every year, but the fertilizer is still far from enough, and at least two stones of fertilizer are needed on one acre of land to reach the yield of Songhu." But there is so much fertilizer. ”

Li Jing kicked his feet and said, "These guano accumulated over the years, and even the guano fossils, are very good fertilizers when they are crushed. I dare not say that when harvesting and ploughing the ground, a sufficient amount of fertilizer can be added as a base fertilizer, and at least the yield per mu can increase by 50%. ”

Li Jing's words suddenly shocked everyone, and the increase was fifty percent. Li Jing was not surprised by the reaction of the crowd, bird droppings are quite rich in solid nitrogen and phosphorus. In fact, it's even better than cow dung or horse manure. Cattle or horses eat only plants, while seabirds eat almost exclusively fish, and the abundance of protein in their food means that their droppings will be high in nitrogen. In addition, guano is a mixture of feces and urine, so it has more nitrogen and phosphorus than other animal droppings. The bird droppings are air-dried and then piled up layer by layer to form nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients.

Li Jing continued: "This big man is not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court now, and on this big island, there are 15 million mu of land that can be developed into fields, of which at least 10 million mu can be developed into paddy fields. The southern half of the region can produce three crops of rice a year, and the northern half of the region can produce two crops of rice. According to the richest standard, one hundred acres of paddy fields per household is enough to feed 100,000 households. Five or six hundred thousand people. If guano from these islands were to be extracted in large quantities for fertilizer, it would be enough to feed a million people. And the guano accumulated here over millions of years is everywhere, enough to last for decades. ”