The turbid river flowed slowly, and Zhou Nan stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the more and more white saline-alkali land on both sides, and a puddle of water. He had never been to this area before, and he did not expect that a land that had flourished thousands of years later would now be a desolate scene with no grass.

If there is still some anger, it is the flying waterfowl and the fish that leap out of the water from time to time. In the distance, you can also see a reed bud at the water's edge, revealing the tip of the pale red and yellow bud, and some have changed from the tip of the bud to a slender and fat green seedling, revealing vigorous vitality. There are also small white flowers at the water's edge against the backdrop of green leaves, one after another, petite and gorgeous.

"The water chestnut is also blooming, this spring is so fast!" Xiao Jiu said with a sigh behind Zhou Nan.

"What I just passed is the Xiaolongwan River, and more than ten miles later, it is Wuqing County." Yu Shen, who had probably finished taking notes, had already come out of the cabin, stood behind Zhou Nan and said, "Don Ma, even those craftsmen, some of them have only heard of those water drains, water mills and other things in the Southern Dynasty, and please explain them carefully for us in our spare time." ”

"It's okay, when these craftsmen make it and place it in the river, it can also be used by the people." Zhou Nan also has some plans for what he just said, needless to say, this is obviously a complete industrial chain!

"Is there coal and iron smelting in the western mountains of Yanjing?" Zhou Nan asked Yu Shen.

"Yes! The poor people could not afford to burn charcoal, or the craftsmen smelted iron and porcelain, and most of them used charcoal to burn, one of which had great firepower and the other was cheap. Therefore, there is also iron smelting near Xishan. Yu Shen replied.

Coal mining, iron smelting, iron making, using the impact force from the mountains and rivers in Yanjing, driving water energy machinery, can greatly improve the efficiency and productivity of these industries, and most importantly, can ultimately improve the quality of iron, to see if you can smelt the steel you need - steel that can withstand the blasting force of gunpowder. At that time, you will no longer need to rely on bows and crossbows to fire rockets, and if sophisticated firearms are not enough, small portable artillery will be able to meet your needs. Hundreds of small artillery pieces were fired together, and the target several miles away suddenly collapsed, and such an army was enough to lead the Great Song Dynasty and the Jin Kingdom for a hundred years.

In addition, the application of water energy machinery, or the application of machinery that liberates manpower, is not only the improvement of the iron smelting industry, but also other applications such as weaving, production, and even transportation, which can also greatly improve efficiency.

The more Zhou Nan thought about it, the more excited he became, and even had a faint worry in his heart, if it continued to develop like this, would the rapid development of the handicraft industry usher in the early arrival of capitalism?

Zhou Nan's worries are not unreasonable. In fact, many scholars in later generations believe that in the Northern Song Dynasty, agriculture and handicrafts were extremely developed, and the market trade was huge, that is, its commerce was very developed, and there was paper money, and in these aspects, the Northern Song Dynasty had the germ of capitalism. If the Jingkang Rebellion had not occurred in the Song Dynasty and there had been no foreign invasion, the germ of capitalism would have been developing according to its own model, and there was a high probability that it would have developed into capitalism.

As for some scholars, the self-sufficient natural economy, centralized power, and feudal land ownership system of the feudal society of the Northern Song Dynasty are inherently relative and contradictory to the capitalist individual supremacy of individual rights, socialized mass production, and primitive accumulation, so even if the Northern Song Dynasty had not been invaded by foreign enemies, capitalism would not have developed. Zhou Nan did not think so, with the improvement of social productive forces and the consciousness of people's minds, this self-sufficient production system will definitely be replaced by a more advanced production system, it is just a matter of time.

When he leads the craftsmen to drive all kinds of production machinery with water-driven runners, will the water-powered machinery he will build in the future be the wheels that will drive towards capitalism?

Although Zhou Nan was a little worried, he did not regret it, after all, he came through and relied on the knowledge of the next generation, if he gave up these knowledge and the changes that these knowledge brought to him, then he was just one of the most ordinary hunters among all living beings.

Zhou Nan was a little excited for a moment, turned his head and said to Yu Shen: "You don't have to take a boat into Wuqing County, just get off the boat from here." Walking into Wuqing, along the way, let all the farmers, craftsmen, and you all see with their own eyes and discuss how to control water, fields, and rice. ”

Yu Shen saw Zhou Nan speak, so he ordered the boatman to dock, and after the group went ashore, they walked from the field to Wuqing County in the southeast. Zhou Nan's pro-army guards followed not far behind.

I went ashore and walked on the ground, and my feet were full of white saline ground. In this era, the coastline invaded the inland more often, and the sea flooded day after day, so that the land contained a lot of salt, and the tide receded.

The problem of saline-alkali land will also be a problem in later generations. The only way to deal with this is to use the methods of later generations to build sluices at the mouth of the river to prevent the water from pouring in. Another is to use the method of polders, divide these fields into polders, build drainage ditches around the fields, and use the fresh water of rivers to wash these built polders to reduce the salt in the land and achieve the conditions for crop growth.

To be honest, there are many wetlands and rivers here, and rice is indeed grown. It's a pity that these saline-alkali lands can grow rice, and the yield is definitely not high.

"You've all grown rice, let's talk about it, can you grow rice here? How? Zhou Nan asked the thirty farmers who were following him.

Some of these farmers were talking in twos and threes, some squatted down and twisted the clods of soil from the ground with their hands, and some grabbed the soil and put it in their mouths to taste, and when they heard Zhou Nan's questioning, they all stood up, and one of the dark and thin men said to Zhou Nan: "The villain sees that the ground here is wet and salty, and if you want to grow rice, you must remove the saltiness to grow rice." ”

"How do you get rid of saltiness?" Zhou Nan asked next.

"The southerners have long had a way to release water to wash the fields in Henan, and they always have to wash it several times before they can grow rice." The swarthy man replied.

"That means you can plant?" Zhou Nan saw that the man's answer was accurate, and asked happily.

"Where does the villain dare to deceive the pony?" The man hurriedly replied, "It's just south of the Jiehe River, where rice is grown in the southern direction, and the terrain is slightly higher, which is different from the terrain here, and it is not as troublesome as here." ”

"What do you think?" Zhou Nan asked the other farmers again.

About seven or eight farmers nodded and said, "Li San is right. "Only by flushing can we cultivate. It is also necessary to drain the seawater from time to time. ”

"This Wuqing and Ninghe rivers are hundreds of miles in circumference, where are there many rivers to wash the ground?!" A man suddenly objected.

(End of chapter)