Busy days always pass quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it has come to the spring of the sixth year of Tai'an.

After the second day of February and the day when the dragon raised its head, Zhang Lingyang's southern tour was once again put on the agenda.

On his first southern tour, Zhang Lingyang had to return to the capital because of the affairs of the Rus Kingdom within a few days of arriving in Jiangnan.

This time, Zhang Lingyang felt that such a thing would not happen again.

Besides, the last time Zhang Lingyang toured the south mainly for fun, but this time it was not.

First of all, Zhang Lingyang wants to go to Mount Tai, last year he 'built' so great achievements, naturally he wanted to go to Mount Tai to seal the Zen to prove his merits.

Secondly, half of the construction of the new capital Luoyang has been completed, mainly the imperial palace has been completed, and Zhang Lingyang naturally wants to inspect it.

As for the other aspect, Zhang Lingyang also wants to witness the grand spring scene in the south of the Yangtze River.

The West Lake in Hangzhou, the Qinhuai River in Jiangning, and the gardens in Suzhou have never been seen by Zhang Lingyang, who is famous in the south of the Yangtze River.

They all slept in the south of the Yangtze River, the sunrise river flowers were red, and the river water was as green as blue in spring, which Zhang Lingyang had never seen in later generations.

The poems of the ancients describe such beauty, if you don't see it with your own eyes, it is indeed a great regret in life.

After it was determined that Chen Yiming, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, would supervise the country, and the six departments and Jiuqing would stay in the capital, Zhang Lingyang took Xiaofuzi, Han Xiao, Feng Xi and other cronies and concubines in the harem, and of course, the big Buddha of the Empress Dowager Xu was indispensable, and took the dragon boat and went south along the canal.

At the beginning of February, there was still a bit of steepness in the north, and standing on the bow of the boat, Zhang Lingyang looked at the land on both sides of the canal, which was already a little green.

On the shore, after the weather warmed up, the farmers came to the fields with hoes and were happily busy.

In the past, they used to farm for the landlord's family, although they still worked very hard, but how could they have a smile on their faces like now?

The land of one's own family is different from that of other families.

Fertilizing, plowing the land, sowing seeds, the fields were full of laughter.

However, Zhang Lingyang was not very happy, because he thought of a key thing.

At present, most of the land in the north of the Great Zhou Dynasty is spring ploughing and autumn harvest, and there is only one crop a year, so the grain output is not too high.

Zhang Lingyang remembered that in later generations, after the large-scale promotion of winter wheat, the northern land could also achieve two crops a year, but Zhang Lingyang was not very clear about the planting history of winter wheat.

Seeing Zhang Lingyang's frowning, Zhou Chang on the side stepped forward and asked, "Your Majesty has something on your mind?" ”

Zhang Lingyang nodded and said: "You see that the people have been working hard in the fields for a year, only harvesting a little harvest, and even once they encounter drought and floods, or even no harvest, I can't bear to think about it."

So I wondered, in the north, can the grain be double-harvested a year like in the south? ”

"I'm afraid I can't!" Zhou Chang shook his head lightly and said, "A few days ago, Wei Chen also learned a lot about agriculture there in the Royal Academy, in the words of the Xiyi people, even with the current science and technology, it can't be realized.

The climate in the south is warm and humid, and most of the rice is cultivated, which can be harvested twice a year. However, in the north, it is arid, and the crops planted have a longer growth cycle than rice, sowing seeds in spring and harvesting in autumn, which is also a matter of no choice. ”

"Not really!" Zhang Lingyang shook his head and said, "I think that just like this wheat, as long as you find the right variety, you can plant it in autumn and harvest it in early summer." At that time, if some crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes with a fast growth cycle are planted, it will be possible to achieve two crops a year in the north. ”

Zhou Chang felt that the son of heaven beside him was completely taken for granted, how could things be so easy?

If it were possible, I am afraid that it would have been popularized a long time ago, so why would it wait until now?

Zhang Lingyang believes that although the current science and technology are not as advanced as those of later generations, it does not mean that winter wheat cannot be cultivated.

If Zhang Lingyang himself remembers correctly, winter wheat is a variety that has been improved by natural selection.

As soon as he thought of it, Zhang Lingyang turned his head and instructed Zhou Chang: "You can draft a central decree for me now, and let the health centers in eastern Liaodong, northwest and other places specially open up a field to cultivate wheat." In addition, a letter was repaired to Xiao Wuzi who stayed in the capital, so that he could leave a vacant land in Huangzhuang after the autumn harvest to plant wheat! ”

Zhang Lingyang also understands that the improvement of seeds is not achieved overnight, and he can only achieve his own goals through this stupid method.

If some of the wheat planted after this year's autumn harvest survives the winter, then this batch of wheat can be planted after the harvest next year.

After repeating this, Zhang Lingyang believes that in a few years, suitable winter wheat varieties will be selected.

Of course, Zhang Lingyang did not know what kind of climatic conditions were needed to cultivate winter wheat varieties, so he chose Huangzhuang, which is already located in the north in the northwest and eastern Liaodong, as experimental fields, so as to find the answer as soon as possible.

In Zhou Chang's opinion, these were trivial matters, and naturally there was no need to advise, so he agreed to the situation and went to the cabin to draft the edict.

Cover with a jade seal, and have your own guards to deliver letters.

Before you know it, the dragon boat has arrived at the boundary of Shandong.

Shandong was originally a rich land, but I don't know how, over the past few hundred years, Shandong has become more and more poor. Although the people are not unclothed, they can't solve the problem of food and clothing for a while.

Because Zhang Lingyang had issued an edict before, prohibiting local officials from whitewashing the peace, after entering the cave, Zhang Lingyang saw such a scene: on both sides of the royal road, except for the local officials and gentry who were kneeling to take the car, they couldn't see a piece of good clothes on the rest of the people.

As for the faces of these people, most of them are yellow and thin. Looking at Zhang Lingyang's Luan Jia, there was awe in his eyes, but more numbness.

Seeing this, Zhang Lingyang was very confused, and after the palace settled down, he ordered the Jinyi Guard to send someone to take a look and go out to investigate.

He didn't want to be like before, and the officials of the Shandong region reported the disaster to defraud the treasury of money and grain.

In Zhang Lingyang's view, the reason why there are so many yellow-faced and thin-skinned people on the street is very likely that the local officials deliberately did it for themselves.

But Han Xiao's investigation results were beyond Zhang Lingyang's expectations.

"Your Majesty, according to Weichen's investigation, although the vast majority of the land in Shandong has been distributed to the people, this was only last winter.

In addition, in the past two years, the land boundary in Shandong has been drought, and the land is somewhat barren, so the people will be unclothed and thin. ”

"As far as I know, the land in Shandong is not much barren than that of Hebei, so why do the people of Hebei seem to be much healthier than the people of Shandong?" Zhang Lingyang was very puzzled by this......