At this time, Toriya Soyi had already put aside the Asayama Hisaka, and walked slowly into this ordinary village called Shirakawa Village, at this time there were almost no men in the village, and all of them were called to work on the river embankment, and the advantage of working for the Kira family was to take care of the rice, which was not considered a general service but good government in the simple thinking of the peasants, which was better than the German decree.

Eating is a problem in these years, the farmer can eat enough is the top priority, the man is the pillar of the family, how much he can earn back is related to how much the family can eat in this year, and at the same time the man is the most able to eat in the family, and the strong labor must be full in the disaster year to have the strength to work, so it is often necessary to give up the old and weak women and children in exchange for the opportunity to work hard.

At the beginning of this year, in response to the call of the lord of the country, he made a method of composting rakushzi, and later sowed grain that had never been planted before, but fortunately, there were a group of people from the Kira family, and the farmers of Omi taught them to turn the soil, weed, and fertilize, and raise ducks in the rice fields, saying that they were to catch insects in the fields.

"This female Tanyue is more polite!" Tiger Zai Zongyi saluted a woman, scared the young woman at a loss, at first glance at the young monk with clear eyebrows, the little woman was made a big red face, and many women on the side laughed.

Hu Zai Zongyi took a few steps back awkwardly and said: "Disturbing all female Tan Yue, the poor monk is very frightened!" Sorry, sorry! ”

The women had never seen such a good-looking monk, so they looked at it curiously, and one of the spicy women took these big girls and little daughters-in-law to sit aside, walked over and folded their hands and said, "Where does this little Zen master come from?" Your accent doesn't sound like my Echigo! ”

"Poor monks came from Kyoto to Echigo to preach the Dharma and preach the scriptures......"

The spicy woman was not afraid of him, and the monk was different from the samurai. On weekdays, I often pass by Yamanbushi monks on the mountain streets of Echigo. Come and beg for something to eat if you're fine. She could also tell a scripture, so the woman immediately covered her mouth and laughed, "Giggles...... The little Zen master really knows how to teach the Fa? So what kind of Dharma will you preach? ”

"Uh...... The female Tan Yue laughed. Huzai Zongyi took a few steps back, clasped his hands together and said, "I don't know what Nu Tanyue is doing?" ”

From afar, he saw a group of women cleaning up a large pile of things that had fallen into a hill, and when he removed the mud from them, he saw something round and golden, but he didn't know what it was called.

"That's what you say! This is a potato, which can produce more than eight stones of grain, which can be boiled and baked, and a potato can manage a meal without hunger. And the samurai lords said that this can be stewed and eaten when cut into pieces, and it is really delicious with some chili peppers. ”

"Potatoes? Eight stones? Tiger Zai Zongyi shook his head, he hadn't heard that there was such a crop, and his tone was full of disbelief.

"It's true! We can't lie! A little woman still didn't believe it when she saw Hu Zai Zongyi, and shouted dissatisfiedly: "If the little Zen master doesn't believe it, you can ask, only our village has such a high grain yield when you travel all over the ten miles and eight townships, and other villages can't grow our village!" ”

Hu Zai Zongyi took a step back and saluted: "This female Tanyue means that other villages are also growing new grain?" ”

"Yes! If the little Zen master doesn't believe it, go and take a walk and see more! A group of women said in unison: "If you go against the grain production and eight stones, you will never speak!" ”

What is the concept of the eight stones of grain production, Huzai Zongyi is still very clear. This grain production is equivalent to saying that Echigo will be free from hunger and poverty immediately, and tens of thousands of peasants will not have to go to the mountains to dig wild vegetables when they are short of food. Not having to abandon an elderly parent or drown a newborn baby in a famine is a great good for all living beings.

"Nan Mu Master Shakyamuni Buddha!" Hu Zai Zongyi silently joined together and prayed for the common people: "I hope that thousands of people will be freed from the sea of suffering." ”

Echigo is only 400,000 stone above and below the surface height, even if the inner height will not exceed 450,000 stone, because a large number of swamps, lakes, and dry lagoons in the territory can not be used, the current highest yield crops are about the same, the mainstream rice, non-mainstream wheat, soybean production is up and down one stone, no more than a few points, if there is really a mu of grain yield of eight stones, what an exaggerated thing, with the current land area of Echigo, the surface height is not more than 3.2 million stone!

Of course, this is absolutely impossible, neither the ministers of the imperial court nor the samurai of the shogunate can give up rice to eat potatoes, corn and other crops for a living, as long as the continued cultivation of rice is like reaching ten stone of reverse production, it is simply a fool's dream, and it is unlikely that there will be twice as much land.

When a woman saw that Hu Zai Zongyi clasped his hands together and was silent, she thought that he still didn't believe it, so she hurriedly said, "There are really eight stones!" If you don't believe it, go to the village to see the corn, and these potatoes, and the pumpkins at the other end of the village all produce eight stones, and the most one side produces more than ten stones!

Planting this new grain is only the only bad thing is that there is too much fertilizer needed, contrary to the land to apply more than a dozen stone fertilizer a year, for this fertilizer our family also ran to the ditch to dig silt, on the side of the mountain to raise cattle and sheep to take manure and fertilizer, I heard that there are people now selling livestock manure I don't know how much money a stone...... By the way, we also have to dig trenches, top dressing at night, when fertilizing our family all went out, from morning to night busy face busy for a few days, think about that day is really bitter! ”

"A little hard work pays off after all! The crops in our village of 200 towns grow more than 10 times the amount of grain, and there are still 6,400 stone of grain left in the annual tribute paid. ”

A group of women, you say a word to me, the spicy woman pinched her waist and scolded: "Oops! What to say, what to sell! That's called a change! We're going to trade corn, pumpkin, and potatoes for their brown rice, wheat, and soybeans! This is what the old man taught us! Don't talk about it then, watch out for the guy at home who smashes your ass. ”

"Giggles!"

When the group of women turned around, they found that the little monk with clear eyebrows had disappeared, and the group of women sighed in annoyance, and then complained: "If you hadn't kept chattering, that little Zen master would not have walked so fast!" ”

"It's not you yet, you talk faster than anyone else, and you muttered it out on the phone. I didn't even understand. The little Zen master is a native of Kyoto. Where can I understand your local accent in Echigo! ”

"As long as you're not Echigo, you don't grunt!" The two women tickled each other.

The two monks had a meal of lent here, and the sweet pumpkin rice with corn kernels was delicious, as well as roasted potatoes and miso soup, which was much more flavorful than the brown rice pickled radish that was eaten in the past.

With the guidance of the elder, the two monks visited several drying grounds, and looked at the mountains of grain at least 10,000 or 20,000 stones. With such an exaggerated grain production figure in a small village, what a shocking change it would be to plant all of Echigo's land with these crops.

"Shakyamuni Buddha!" Although the expressions of the two were plain, the shock in their eyes could not be concealed, and the two monks made the same action at the same time, and they didn't know if they were praying for sentient beings, or hiding the excitement in their hearts?

Then the two of them followed the Sekigawa all the way south to visit several villages, and the doubts in their hearts gradually dissipated, and the shock and excitement gradually crept up on the faces of the two, and they had come out of the exaggerated numbers. Now I am more concerned about why these grains have such a high yield, and what is the reason for the 8 times the yield.

With this question. The footprints of the two monks soon spread all over the east and west banks of the Guanchuan River, and soon they found that only the direct leaders of the Nagao family had new grain cultivation, and there were none in other areas.

Standing outside a village near Naoetsu, looking at the crowded scene of the black pressure in the village, it was the old underground people of the Zhongyue and Xiayue villages, who were attracted to be visited, and the crowd exclaimed and shouted excitedly from time to time.

It is conceivable that these skeptical landlords suddenly see the new crops, how much impact the new farming methods will have, completely breaking the inherent traditional cognition of these croppers for thousands of years, maybe some people still don't believe it, but this has nothing to do with the overall situation, and the stubborn people will be conquered by the facts sooner or later, and the collective will cannot be stopped.

"It turns out that the lord of the country that these peasants are talking about is actually Wu Weigong! What a surprise to the poor monk! Tiger Zai Zongyi let out a sigh of relief, and returned to his usual calm and calm expression.

Chaoshan Ri yawned lazily, and when he saw Hu Zai Zongyi looking at him, he changed his serious expression and said: "The poor monk thinks it's not a big deal!" Wu Wei Gong Kuang has made outstanding contributions, and today he has found so many kinds of food that save people's lives, which is really the reincarnation of a Bodhisattva...... Maybe it's the one who was destined for heaven! ”

"The Man of Heaven?" Hu Zai Zongyi's brows were tangled, and he immediately smiled and said, "The Japanese master is talking nonsense again!" The mage's vain temperament must be changed, Wu Weigong doesn't like a high-tempered monk like the mage! ”

"The poor monk is also a saying, and the aunt is vain and listens to it! Hehehe...... "Chaoshan Richeng played sloppy eyes, which made Tiger Zai Zongyi quite helpless.

The autumn harvest statistics of each Echigo prefecture before the beginning of winter were combined, and in addition to the experimental fields of the Nagao family in the Joetsu Sekigawa River basin and the new fields that were developed, the total stone height of the seven counties of Echigo was 415,000 koku, which means that out of the original 395,000 koku, the 360,000 koku left in addition to the 360,000 koku left in the Joetsu Sekigawa valley increased grain production by 55,000 koku.

This output made all the people of Echigo very satisfied, and under the leadership of intentionally or unintentionally, the people of the seven prefectures of Echigo paid the money for the first time in more than 20 years, and at the same time, Kira Yoshishi issued a decree that considering that the shortage of money in Echigo was more serious, all the taxes paid in the current year were converted into rice and grain.

In this way, although a lot of copper coins were collected, it was also very good to collect 11,000 stone rice grain, and at the same time, Okushino counties also took the initiative to submit Duan Qian and Dong Bei money, although there were only 3,000 stone of grain, but this piece of heart was touching.

On the other hand, Joetsu Nitta has developed 500 machibu land, which is about the same as three slightly larger villages, because there is not enough time at the beginning of the year, and only so much wasteland can be opened up before spring sowing, you must know that the Nagao family's land in the Joetsu Sekigawa and Naoetsu basins is only more than 3,000 machibu, large and small, and there are only a dozen villages.

One town step is about one hectare, and five hundred town steps are about four hundred and ninety-six or seven hectares, compared to the big countrymen with deep pockets in some jurisdictions, who often have 5,000 town steps of land to know how to act, the Nagao family's sincerity is weak.

Seeing the development of Nitta and the amount of land that can be developed at a small cost in the Joetsu wasteland, Kira Yoshitoki smacked his lips and said to himself: "It's a waste to have a large area of wasteland idle but not to reclaim it, even if he doesn't have the financial resources of my Kira family, he can expand a little bit, what a waste!" ”

After several years of exploration in Kinai, he gradually figured out the basic experience of pollination and fertilization, which was done under the guidance of the Ming farmers living in Kyushu, and it was a shame that the two brushes were not enough to go out at the time of Kira Yoshi.

The yield of major crops such as corn, potatoes, pumpkins, and sugar beets planted in the new field and the experimental field was counted, and the average yield of these four crops was about eight stones, of which sugar beet had the highest average harvest of 11 stone of fruit, but it was not counted as a grain crop, so it was planted the least.

Grapes, peppers, alfalfa and other crops because they do not need to be planted on the plains, just simply loaded into the mountains and do not occupy arable land, these three are not food crops, so only try to plant a few anti-land in the mountains, there is no problem with the yield of peppers per anti-reverse as high as ten stones, alfalfa mu produces about eleven stones of fresh grass, and after drying, it is up to four stones, grapes need two years to hang fruit, and the current output is not counted for the time being.

These crops look at the yield is very gratifying, but it is really troublesome to plant to death, each crop has different requirements for fertilizer, and such as corn, which can not be directly left to continue planting, must be cultivated special breeding special fields for pollination and cultivation, fortunately, these things do not have to bother him, that is Omi Ichigan left behind and Hosokawa Fujitaka and others to worry about.

He only needed to know that in these 3,500 towns of cultivated land, a total of 280,000 koku of grain was produced, and they needed to pay an annual tribute of 168,000 koku, and at the same time pay various taxes including other building money, which were converted into about 5,000 koku of grain. (To be continued......)