After a few months of busyness, an unprecedented migration is finally slowly coming to an end, and the New Year Festival of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen is also quietly coming.

The new emperor ascended the throne, the whole world celebrated, this year, the people did live a very happy life, because they saw hope, the hope of the Ming Dynasty to enter the prosperous era.

The Chongzhen Dynasty that had gone through hardships finally passed, and the Ming Dynasty ushered in a new beginning, the Yongxing Dynasty.

In February of the first year of Yongxing, Zhang Bin quietly stepped on the train to the south before the smell of the New Year in the capital was gone, and he wanted to go to the Central Plains to see how the lives of the victims were doing.

The train swayed out of the capital, out of Shuntianfu, slowly to the south, Zhang Bin's eyes have been looking out the window, the disaster in Beizhili is not very serious at this time, the grain output is declining, but it has not yet reached the situation of no harvest, at this time the farmers have begun to be busy in the field, the Gyeonggi area is no longer a barren, all the cultivated land almost has signs of turning, the fields are full of peasant workers, I don't know what is happening to the Central Plains, which is in serious drought.

Fortunately, all the way south to Kaifeng Prefecture, the number of farmers working in the fields has not decreased, and the land has basically been turned, which proves that at least the local officials have allocated the land to the common people in accordance with the will of the imperial court, and they are still actively organizing them to cultivate land for production.

In other words, this year of drought, the grain planted is almost no harvest, why does Zhang Bin still let people plant, isn't this a waste of seeds?

He had people grow not food crops, but cash crops, more drought-tolerant cash crops, such as potatoes, such as rape, such as cotton.

These crops only need sufficient water at the seedling stage, and there is not much requirement for water at the maturity stage, and they can be planted in places with drought and little rain, but it is more troublesome and laborious to plant.

The train swayed for more than a day, and finally arrived at the station on the north bank of Luoyang City, Li Yan, the head of the household department, had already waited on the platform for a long time with a group of officials from the Henan Chengxuan Political Envoy Department and several directors of the Ministry of Industry, Zhang Bin got off the train and exchanged a few words with everyone, and then rushed to the bank of the Yellow River with a large group of people.

At this time, there was no way to build a railway bridge over the Yellow River, and he had to take a ferry to reach Luoyang City on the south bank of the Yellow River, but he did not rush to the pier of the ferry, but rushed to the source of an aqueduct near the pier, because he wanted to see the large waterwheel designed by the Ministry of Industry.

"Click, click, click", before approaching the bank of the Yellow River, he heard a loud noise, he looked away, good guy, there is really a big waterwheel in front, this waterwheel is really scary, just the top of the bank has a zhang high, and I don't know how long it is below.

At this time, the water volume of the Yellow River is actually quite abundant, there is a tragic incident of Li Zicheng flooding Kaifeng in history, and the city of Kaifeng with a population of millions can be submerged, which is enough to prove how abundant the water of the Yellow River is.

However, no matter how much water there is in the Yellow River, it can only ensure that the cultivated land along the coast for about ten miles can be fully irrigated, because there are no pumping machines at this time, and most places still rely on people to carry water for irrigation, so Zhang Bin thought of letting the Ministry of Industry design such a big guy.

The structure of this waterwheel is actually not complicated, its main transmission part is similar to the bicycle chain of later generations, a driving wheel on the shore, driven by a steam piston, and a passive wheel in the water, just follow the rotation, but the chain is not driven by the wheel, but a string of huge buckets.

Looking at the half-human-high bucket constantly pouring river water into the aqueduct, Zhang Bin couldn't help but say excitedly: "Okay, it's very good, Weimin, how much farmland can this waterwheel irrigate?" ”

Li Yan said with some regret: "This diversion canal can be dug for more than 20 miles at most, and it will not be able to pass the water if it is dug longer, so a waterwheel can irrigate up to five or six thousand acres of land." ”

Zhang Bin smiled and said: "Five or six thousand acres is already a lot, and the entire northwest is only 500 million acres at most, and it is almost enough to make tens of thousands of such waterwheels." ”

When Li Yan heard this, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded, such a big guy, doing tens of thousands, this country's grandfather really dared to think about it!

Zhang Bin really dared to think, because most of the parts of this thing are made of machine tools, and it is not very troublesome to mass produce, he asked the officials of the Ministry of Industry with confidence: "How many of these waterwheels have been made?" How many do you do in a month now? ”

A director of the Ministry of Industry hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "Returning to China, our Ministry of Industry has been trial-producing this kind of large waterwheel since October last year, and we have made about 500 of them, and now if we start working at full speed, we can make about 200 of them a month." ”

This amount, this production, is too little!

Zhang Bin frowned and calculated for a while, and then said decisively: "No, the output must be increased by at least ten times, at least 2,000 units a month, and within two years, the irrigation problem of the entire northwest must be solved." ”

"Hiss", it's really a mouth above, and a broken leg below, Zhang Bin's mouth, the director of the Ministry of Industry and the Department of Water and Qing Officials couldn't help but gasp, and the output increased tenfold, how many people, how much, how many machine tools!

Seeing their expressions, Zhang Bin couldn't help frowning and said, "What's the matter, is there any problem?" You just have to let the household allocate the money, and the machine tool can be made by the Dongfan side, are you still afraid that you won't be able to recruit people? ”

When several directors of the Ministry of Industry heard this, they couldn't help but suddenly feel for a while, yes, the money is all from the imperial court, and they don't need to pay it, they just make some efforts, not to mention ten times, even a hundred times, it's not a problem!

They shook their heads again and again, "No problem, no problem." ”

Zhang Bin nodded, and led everyone along the aqueduct for a while, during which he chatted with a few farmers about family life, and then rushed to the ferry terminal, crossed the river by boat, and came to Luoyang City.

At this time, Luoyang City has long ceased to be prosperous, here after several military disasters, and in the drought is more serious area, the population loss is very serious, the street pedestrians are sparsely populated, the open shops are also very few, it looks like it gives people a desolate feeling!

Zhang Bin looked at the deserted streets and couldn't help sighing: "Alas, natural and man-made disasters, I don't know when I will be able to restore the prosperity of the past for thousands of years." ”

Li Yan, who was accompanying him, finally couldn't help but ask at this time: "Grandpa Guo, can this farmer not grow grain, but only grow some rape, cotton, and potatoes, and potatoes can eat potatoes in these things, and can the common people eat potatoes as food?" ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he couldn't help but shake his head and smiled bitterly: "Weimin, these things are not grown for food, but for sale, and after they are sold, they can buy food, they can be better than before!" ”

Selling?

Of course, Li Yan knows that these things can be sold for money, but the problem is that this northwest is not a little land, nor is it a little people, and the cotton and rapeseed produced are not a little bit, such a huge quantity, can they be sold?

At this time, people still do not have an overall economic mind, and can only see the part.

Zhang Bin saw his puzzled look, and did not explain to him in detail, because this thing is difficult to talk to people who don't understand, the reason why he let the northwest plant these cash crops is first, so that the victims can support themselves, and secondly, to let the people get used to selling and buying, forming a good business scope, and also, these things are not all prepared to be digested within the Ming Dynasty, he is laying out a big game of chess.

PS: I recommend the fifth-level boss tx Cheng Zhi's masterpiece "The Blood Blade of the Tang Dynasty", a book that becomes a god, it is undoubtedly wonderful, and interested readers and friends should not miss it.