Chen Hongmi and Hua Xue exchanged a few words of homely greetings, and then turned to the topic: "Thanks to Fengnian for helping me, I have already paid the difference in taxes this year, and the official position of this prefect has been retained." Feng Nian told me so much about the disaster last time, and our recital has been sent to the capital in an expedited manner for 800 miles, but the capital is far away, and there is no reply. I'm busy increasing production this year to prepare for next year's disaster. ”

Hua Xue actually has no practical way to fight the disaster, but he paid special attention to it when he was searching for information, and he also expected that Chen Hongmi would ask him for advice, so he was prepared: "I don't know how much the adults know about the late Wenyuan Pavilion scholar Xu Guangqi Xu Gong?" ”

"Xu Gong's ancestral home is Suzhou, in addition, my father and Xu Gong are officials in the same dynasty, and there have been contacts, when I was studying, I also had Xu Gong's guidance, and when the official was a jinshi, Xu Gong was the secretary of the Ministry of Rites. Ah, when you mention Xu Gong, it must be because Xu Gong has made extraordinary achievements in farming. When the disaster was serious last year, my father also said: If Xu Gong is here, he may be able to alleviate the disaster. ”

"My lord, the students have heard that Xu Gong had written agricultural books before his death, which made great achievements in agriculture, water conservancy, etc., although I heard that it has not been stereotyped and printed, but Xu Gong should have had the first draft before his death, or partially completed. Adults may wish to suggest to the imperial court that the completed part of Xu Gong's book, especially the parts closely related to disaster resistance such as agriculture and water conservancy, be stylized and printed as soon as possible and sent to all prefectures and counties across the country, which must have important guiding significance in fighting disasters. At the very least, it should be more comprehensive and perfect than the student's one-person method. ”

"This official has also heard that this book should be at Chen Zilong, a native of Xu Gongmen. I heard that in the spring of this year, Chen Zilong has won the top three, and I don't know if he has been elected to take up the post now. Anyway, I have already planned to write another letter today, and I will include all the suggestions you may give me today, and I will listen to the heavens, although I may not adopt all of them, but I should be of some help to the people of the states. ”

When Hua Xue heard about the fold, she remembered the previous fold, and I don't know if there was a reply: "My lord, I don't know what the court said about the last letter to the adult?" ”

Chen Hongmi's face was worried: "Although I am rushing to play with eight hundred miles, it is still important to say whether the princes of the imperial court really attach importance to it." You should have also heard that the imperial army was defeated by Zhang Xianzhong's bandit army last month, and the princes of the court may be planning the next crackdown on bandits, so they may not have the heart to pay attention to this matter. ”

"Probably not, although the bandit army has won, it has not yet become a climate. Just look at its victory, but it does not dare to go east, but only go west, you know that its color is strong and inward, and there will be weakness. The princes of the imperial court, before the bandit soldiers come to the city, I am afraid they will not pay too much attention. However, the disaster situation is not the same, since His Majesty ascended the throne, only the second year of Chongzhen, the ninth year of Chongzhen, the disaster was not serious, forcing His Majesty to repeatedly sin himself. In the hearts of His Majesty and the princes of the imperial court, there is no doubt that the disaster is the most concerned, even more so than the righteous army and the prisoners. In particular, in the letter written by the Lord, it is clearly stated that the natural disaster is not the fault of His Majesty, and that no matter who the ministers of the cabinet are, they will definitely present it to His Majesty as soon as they see the Lord's performance, so as to relieve the haze caused by the defeat of the army. ”

Hua Xue lived with human nature, and there was no problem, but Hua Xue didn't know much about the party struggle in the imperial court after all, and Chen Hongmi was worried that if someone in the cabinet just wanted to use the defeat to eliminate dissidents, they might temporarily suppress themselves. I am far away in Suzhou, and it is still very inconvenient in terms of message transmission. Of course, if the concert was seen by the auxiliary ministers who were eager to shift the responsibility for the defeat, it would indeed be presented as soon as possible.

"Okay, now that the concert has been sent, whether or not to accept the letter is already a matter for His Majesty and the cabinet, and it is useless for you and me to be anxious. Tell me what you can do. ”

"Well, I mentioned Xu Gong before, I don't know if adults can know Xu Gong's "Sweet Potato Shu"?"

"You mean a variety of sweet potatoes this year?"

"Yes, sweet potato is a crop with strong resistance to stress, and has a good resistance to drought, waterlogging and wind disasters. Students talk on paper, but they don't actually understand specific agricultural matters, so how to make sweet potatoes high, maybe adults can seek answers from "Sweet Potato Shu", and then talk about the people. The students only know that with the astronomical and geographical conditions of Suzhou, it is indeed suitable for planting sweet potatoes in summer. If adults want to spread it to the whole country, there is no problem in growing sweet potatoes widely along the coast and in the south. There is also a sweet potato, which is especially suitable for planting in the northwest region, and Shaanxi and other places should have been planted, but I am afraid it has not yet been promoted. Both crops are extremely resistant to disasters because their edible parts are underground. ”

"Sweet potatoes can only be grown in summer, right?"

"It's true in Gangnam. The climate is different, the cultivation time is different, and now the weather is getting colder and colder, I am afraid that the planting time should be adjusted, the specific situation, the students are indeed not good at farming, just read more relevant books, what they say may be useful, but the students know, after all, it is limited. Adults may wish to send someone to visit the old farmer, and inform him of the fact that the weather will turn cold, and he should get something under the wide talk. After a pause, Hua Xue continued, "As far as the students know, the white potatoes mentioned earlier are suitable for winter planting. In addition, in addition to food, cotton and linen are also the top priority, after all, the disaster is not only drought, but also cold. ”

Chen Hongmi nodded, he was really anxious, and asked a little blindly, even though Hua Xue had read thousands of books, she had indeed never ploughed, and the specific farming was as Hua Xue herself said, or consulting the old farmers, and the harvest was greater.

"It's the official who is in a hurry. However, since you said that you have read a lot of agricultural books, you must have other suggestions? ”

"Yes, indeed. Although the drought is severe, it is not unsolvable only for my Suzhou. Suzhou is adjacent to Taihu Lake, and since ancient times, the drought may be heavy, and the Taihu Lake has never been dry. Xu Gong once wrote "Taixi Water Law", specializing in water conservancy, which has a lot of equipment, and I heard that there is a method of diverting water to irrigate more than ten miles away, which is of great benefit to drought fighting. ”

"Building water conservancy, this is the right solution, now thanks to the good year, Suzhou is not short of money, and there are many displaced people outside the city, in addition to accumulating food, there is no shortage of manpower and material resources to build water conservancy."

"Exactly as your lord said. In addition, after the great drought there will be a plague of locusts. And the magic method of curing locusts is nothing more than raising chickens. Simply this year, the disaster is not serious, you can try to raise as many chickens as possible. However, I am afraid that it needs to be forced by the government, otherwise there will be hungry people who can't help but eat. In addition, in the coming years, the killing of locust predators such as spiders in the field should be minimized in order to reduce locust reproduction. However, these are all clichés, and I believe that the imperial court itself should have its own inherent methods for disaster resistance, and I hope that what the students say can be of some small help. ”

"You are too humble in the harvest year, most of us have read books for many years, all of which are subsets of classics and history, and even say that many people only read the Six Classics, specializing in the imperial examination, and do not know much about world affairs, and your suggestions are very beneficial. In particular, I believe that the book written by Xu Gong that you mentioned will be of great merit to the people if it is promoted to the whole country as soon as possible. ”