Jumping from the steam engine to the grain, Han Gang's topic jumped hard, but the content made Li Jie frightened.

The mess in the mouth of the county commander is at most just a county turmoil, but the mess in the mouth of the prime minister is a matter of the world.

He glanced at Zong Ze, and the official inspection of the Zhongshu Soldier Rite Room did not move, obviously knowing the inside story of the Dao.

Li Jie sorted out his thoughts for a while, and asked tentatively, "Xianggong, but this year's harvest ......?"

Li Jie's reaction was extremely fast, and Han Gang nodded appreciatively: "In the land of Jianghuai, the number of farmers who have abandoned grain and converted to cotton has increased more and more in recent years, and it is expected that this year it will be at least five percent." ”

Five percent does not sound like a proportion worthy of the prime minister's emotion at first glance, and when ordinary officials hear it, they will only think that Han Gang is making a big fuss, but Li Jie is good at calculations and understands the national economy better, and he knows how big a number this ratio means.

"Could it be a miscalculation? As far as Li Jie knows, the price of grain in Jiangzuo has not changed much in recent years. Li Jie asked suspiciously.

"This is calculated by the prime minister from the output of cotton cloth." Zong Ze said.

Li Jie was speechless for a moment.

Han Gang's family planted tens of thousands of acres of cotton fields, and the world's cotton cloth was also the first of Han Gang's development, and his calculation from this perspective was definitely more accurate than looking at the account books of the imperial court.

"Jiang Zuogang's grain is a matter of the world, and it should be forbidden to ......" Li Jie stopped without finishing his sentence.

can't be banned at all, just think about it, how can the imperial court ban such a profitable business? If the imperial court really issued an edict, it would make Han Gang, the backstage of the Northwest cotton merchants, the target of public criticism.

In fact, this matter is also very simple, as long as the price of grain in Jiangnan rises, and growing grain is more profitable than growing cotton, naturally some people will abandon grain and change to cotton.

But he didn't dare to open this mouth, and Li Jie knew better what the rising grain prices in Jiangnan meant.

Zong Ze said: "Cotton and grain compete for land, and silk does not occupy fertile land, there are more cotton fields in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are actually many discussions in the DPRK and China." However, cotton cloth and cotton wool are warm and durable, not comparable to silk cotton. ”

Li Jie frowned and said, "If the output of Liangguang can be a little more, the deficit of Jianghuai's cotton fields will also be able to make up for it." In recent years, grain prices in Jianghuai have been stable.

"Ming Zhong said this well!" Zong Ze said: "The deficit in Jiangnan can only rely on Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jinghu. There are few people in the two lakes and the two vast lands, although there are many diseases, but the water and soil are fertile, if they are reclaimed. Now it is Suhu ripe, and the world is full. When it becomes a ripe lake and the world is full, there is no need to worry about the farmers in the south of the Yangtze River planting cotton. In the old days, the epidemics in the two lakes and the two Guangzhous were mostly smallpox, typhoid fever and abdominal Gu, but now that there is cowpox in Xianggong, there is no need to be afraid of smallpox; If the system of welfare and welfare is followed, it is difficult for typhoid fever to spread; Plus how to kill schistosomiasis, don't worry about abdominal Gu. In time, the production of the two lakes and the two Guangzhous will never be below the south of the Yangtze River. ”

"Yangzhou in Yugong, the soil is only muddy, and the field is down. After a thousand years, it has become a superior place, how can it be like this if it is not for the hands of the ancestors? Han Gang sighed, "It's just a thousand years, so people can't wait." Since Zhangzi Houping Jingnan, Jinghu immigration has also been implemented for more than ten years, and it is not so easy for the production of the two roads to make up for the gap in Jiangnan. ”

Only about 5 percent of the fields in Jiangnan have been converted to cotton, but with the spread of cotton cloth, more and more farmers will switch to cotton. Human nature is profit-oriented, even if Han Ganggui is the prime minister, if he wants to reverse this trend, he is just using his mantis arm as a car.

"I remember what Xianggong once said," Zong Ze recalled, "Xinjiang's increase in production is nothing more than immigration, improved seeds, and improved farming methods." ”

"I remember." Han Gang laughed, he almost forgot about the few things he had: "When I went to Guangxi back then, the fields in Yongzhou, even if they were on the riverside, were almost all dry fields, and the local farmers did not build canals, not even fertilization, and the yield per mu was less than one-third of that of Jiangnan." ”

"Xianggong Guangxi has been in office, and the elimination of Jiaozhi is only a small achievement, and making Lingnan a happy land is a great achievement that no one can reach."

Han Gang shook his head with a smile, it was rare to see Zong Ze slapping his ass.

"But these are easier said than done." Han Gang said: "Back then, Emperor Xizong asked Jiayue, what is the difficulty in changing the law? Jiayue's answer was that there was no one. The six arts of a gentleman, archery and royalty are all martial arts. Three generations of scholars will enter the phase, both civil and military, but today's scholars, but regard martial arts as a vulgar and lowly move, and in the past two years, the country's momentum has been greatly revitalized, and it has changed a little. If this is the case with martial arts, let's not talk about peasants and workers. ”

With Han Gang's inauguration as prime minister, there are more and more eunuchs and scholars who have taken refuge in Han Gang, but there are still very few suitable talents. There are too many people who can be officials, and there are just as many people who can make articles, but there are too few people who can do things.

Han Gang had long planned to set up an agronomy school, but unfortunately the corresponding talents were rare. The number of taxis who can memorize the whole text of "Qi Min Yao Shu" is worth the bucket, but it is difficult to find a scholar who can write "Qi Min Yao Shu" at this level, and he can't always find an old farmer to teach.

On the other hand, there is no need to teach and educate people, as long as you work agriculture, it will be much simpler. Han Gang's family has special people to conduct agricultural research, improve the seeds of cotton, wheat and other crops, improve agricultural tools, and improve farming techniques. At the same time, the fields are transformed, and the Han family's Zhuangzi has more than a dozen and more than 30,000 acres of land, which can be taken care of, one by rotation planting, fallow every three years, and one by continuous improvement of farming techniques.

Han Gang sighed: "The same is the captain of Sosu, and there are many people who know Sang Hongyang, but how many people know the name of Zhao Guo?" ”

Li Jie had to think about it a little more before he remembered the origin of Zhao Guo, nodded and said: "It is sad to miss the history with special honors." ”

In "Qi Min's Technique", it is said that "Shennong, Cangjie, and saints are also in their work, and they can't do anything." Therefore, Zhao Guo began to plough for cattle, and Jia Gongyan also said in the "Commentary on Zhou Li": "There was no ox coupling ploughing in the Zhou Dynasty, and Zhao Guo, the commander of Su in the Han Dynasty, began to teach the people to plough cattle." ’

The means of ploughing the field, from the hoe waved with both hands, into the plough pulled by the ox, the plow, the hero recorded in the history books is Zhao Guo, the commander of the Su Du when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, whether this record is true or not, Zhao Guo's reputation is not obvious is undoubted.

Li Jie is a child of a family, he has received the best education since he was a child, he has a wide range of knowledge, and the books at hand are also full of sweat. The books he could see, and the knowledge he could learn, were not comparable to ordinary scholars. He has to think about it a little more before he can think of the characters, how many ordinary scholars can remember in his heart?

Even if the name Zhao Guo is mentioned in the "Commentary on Zhou Li", the "New Meaning of the Three Classics" has long become the guideline of Jingyi, and it is also a commentary on Zhou Li, and the world is of course more willing to recite the "Zhou Liyi" that must be tested in the Jinshi Department rather than the replaced "Zhou Li Commentary".

But Li Jie's emotion and Han Gang's sigh are not on the same line.

Li Jie's emotion is just Zhao Guo's person.

However, in Han Gang's view, such achievements as Zhao Guo are immeasurable, and in the history books, even a biography is stingy, and those people who make the productive forces continue to progress are even more humble and cannot be seen in the history books. This is where Han Gang sighed.

The vast majority of officials in the DPRK and China, even if some of them are talented, some are quite famous, and some are even more famous, but in Han Gang's eyes, they are still far inferior to their father's contribution to the country, and the stability of Western Xinjiang is based on the self-sufficiency of the garrison's military rations.

The development of productive forces is the most important issue.

The pastoral life of men and women weaving cannot compete with industrial mass production.

If you use a hand-looning machine, you can only process one spindle at a time, but now the best hydro-spinning machine can already do nearly 100 spindles.

But the limitations of hydraulics are too great, and the role of the steam engine is irreplaceable. Lacking sufficient craftsmanship and not having much memory of his own, Han Gang did not expect to build internal combustion engines and electric motors. The power source of industrialization at this stage, apart from the steam engine, Han Gang can't think of any other machine that can replace it.

Although Han Gang announced the principle of the steam engine in "Nature" very early, and the principle and function were explained thoroughly in "Travels to the Nine Domains", the steam engine that could actually be put into use was still far away.

I don't know how Watt invented it back then—it seems to be a transformation—and Han Gang can't remember the specific details clearly, but he believes that the principle and structure of the steam engine he gave should be on the right path. There are flywheels, connecting rods, boilers, and of course, two-way cylinders with pistons moving back and forth.

As long as the craftsmanship and technology meet the standards, and thousands of craftsmen and scholars make efforts, the steam engine can appear in front of the world. Of course, even if the steam engine is invented now, there is still a long way to go before the appearance of steam ships and steam locomotives.

Even if there are another twenty or thirty years of development, the steam engine may not be able to meet the requirements if it wants to be used to drive ships and vehicles, but the textile machinery trapped in the lack of water power can definitely get rid of the constraints of the river.

But to achieve all this, the first is the problem of technology, the second is the problem of materials, and the third is the most important, which is the problem of people.

Even within Qi Science, there is still a prejudice against design and manufacturing, so Han Gang sighed before.

Zong Ze saw it more clearly than Li Jie, "Xianggong is working hard, and there are a few people in the world who can see it." ”

Han Gang used small words to preach, and lured him with profits, everything he did was not what an ordinary prime minister would do.

"It's far away, the reward given by the imperial court for the steam engine is only a small envoy, and the reward on the Liao side's side is a high-ranking official, all of them."

Han Ganggui is the prime minister, but there are still many constraints, and it is impossible to reward him with his own will. On the Liao side, it is said that Yelu Yixin has performed several times.

"But how can Chinese skills be compared to those of the Beiyu? The craftsmen of Nanjing Province are far inferior to the ordnance supervisor and the general supervisor. ”

"Oh, that's true." Han Gang smiled indifferently. Complaining is complaining, in fact, he doesn't care much about Yelu Yixin's actions.

The more Liao struggles, the better the situation will be.

The most important step in Wang Anshi's reform is to unify thinking and ideology with morality.

But Wang Anshi didn't do it, including Han Gang, a group of people were singing against him, and Han Gang didn't think he could do it alone.

However, no one can stop the development of the productive forces, and when the cart of industrialization starts to kick in, those stumbling blocks will only be crushed into the mud under the wheels.

What Han Gang has to do is just to ensure the safety of the initial stage, and after that, it will be a natural historical process.

"Ming Zhong." Han Gang asked Li Jie, "What do I want to borrow from you?" ”

He was satisfied to see Li Jie nodding yes, and he was sure in his heart that this would be the latest step in the course of natural history.