Qin Dong walked several miles around, inspected the aqueducts and irrigation canals built nearby, as well as some irrigation facilities, and looked at some surrounding fields, which were basically dry fields, and the crops were basically relatively drought tolerant, except for the winter wheat that had just been harvested, many farmlands were planted with soybeans.

Compared with later generations, the wheat growth cycle in this period is shorter, Qin Dong knew that in the later generations, winter wheat was generally sown in late September or early October, and it could be harvested at the end of May or early June of the following year, but during this period, Qin Dong found that winter wheat was mature and ready to be harvested at the end of April or early May, and it was more than 20 days earlier in the maturity period.

After harvesting winter wheat, just in time for the sowing period of soybeans, and when the soybeans are ripe, after harvesting soybeans, it is just in time for the sowing period of winter wheat, that is, in this year, if winter wheat and soybeans are sown alternately, the land will not be idle, which is also Qin Dong found a few years ago that the farmers in this period did not plant like this, and the land was idle after harvesting winter wheat, and soybeans were planted very little. After planting winter wheat, immediately grab the winter wheat, then rush to plant soybeans, wait until September to harvest soybeans, and then plant winter wheat, so that the utilization rate of land is basically equal to double, plus after intensive cultivation, the annual grain yield per mu has increased by more than two times, which allowed Qin Dong to solve the food problem in his territory at that time, and later he extended this cultivation method to the Xiongnu Empire within the scope of his control, and then to the whole country. Later, it spread to the newly acquired Thracian provinces and Germania, and many farmers began to know that with soybeans, a food crop, they were really good when cooked. Many people like to put a handful in their pocket and chew one when they have nothing to do, but it is easy to bloate and fart after eating too much.

As Qin Dong walked, he found that there was a plant planted in the field in front of him that he didn't recognize, and the area of this plant was very large, at least he couldn't see the edge.

"What is this?" Qin Dong walked to the edge of a field and asked, pointing to the crops in the field.

A farmer next to him said, "My lord, this is flax!" ”

"This is flax? Are all the clothes you wear made of linen? Qin Dong was very curious, it was the first time he had seen this crop. In the area around Saidika and in the north, the fields are mostly filled with grain crops, and flax is basically not grown. Because the northern barbarians all wore animal skins, the demand for linen cloth was relatively small, and only the subordinates of the nobles wore clothes made of linen.

In the Roman Empire, the lower and middle classes of society wore clothes made of linen. Only the upper classes wore clothes made of satin zuò trafficked from the East.

One farmer replied, "Yes." My lord, this is flax, it will be harvested in more than 20 days, and after the harvest, you can also plant soybeans, and you can catch up with winter wheat in September! ”

Flax is the earliest natural plant fiber used by humans, with a history of more than 10,000 years. Linen is a pure natural fiber, due to its sweat absorption, good air permeability and harmless to the human body. Flax is also an oil crop, and flax oil contains a lot of unsaturated fatty acids. Linen prefers cool, humid climates. Flax fiber has the characteristics of strong tensile strength, softness, good fineness, weak conductivity, fast water absorption and water dispersion, and large expansion rate.

As far back as the Stone Age, in Switzerland and tropical Egypt, people cultivated flax and wovens its fibers into clothing, and during the heyday of the ancient Roman Empire, it became more common throughout Europe, and there were traces of flax in ancient Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, etc. It was used as a symbol of the ancient use of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations.

Flax is an annual herbaceous plant, which means that it can be planted at any time of the year, it does not pick the season, and the Europeans of this period also planted flax after harvesting winter wheat to spin and weave cloth to make clothes to wear.

Qin Dong found that the flax in the field was tall and short, so he asked, "How can some of the flax in this field grow tall and some grow short?" ”

The official next to him explained: "Linen is like this, my lord!" The tall flax is harvested and the flax skin is spun to get more cloth, while the short flax is harvested and the flax skin is spun and the cloth is less, but the seeds harvested are just the opposite! ”

After the official finished speaking, Qin Dong understood what was going on, although he had never seen flax, but he had also heard before crossing that flax is actually divided into fibrous type and oil type, generally the plant height of 60-120 cm flax is fibrous type, the stem is thin and erect, the base is rarely branched, the upper part has a few branches, the inflorescence is small, the number of capsules per plant is small, the seeds are small, and the growth period is 70-80 days. Long daylight, generally 70-80 days to mature.

The oil type of flax plant height is 30-60 cm, the stem is thick, the stem base has more branches, the tip part has more branches, the inflorescence is larger, the number of capsules per plant is more, the seeds are divided into two kinds of large grains and small grains, and the growth period is 90-120 days. Short daylight, growth period 80-100 days. This type of flax seed contains 32-48% oil, twice as high as soybeans, and can be used to produce paints, inks, coatings, edible oil, etc., and the seed cake contains 23-33% protein, which can be used as a good feed.

Qin Dong then asked, "Then what do you use linen to weave cloth and seeds?" ”

"My lord, flax seeds are generally useless, farmers only collect some for the next year's sowing, if there are livestock at home, use this flax seed to feed the livestock, and if there are no livestock, discard!"

"It's a shame to feed the livestock!" Qin Dong shook his head as he spoke, pointed to the shorter flax stalks in the field and said: "Look at those shorter flax, in fact, its seeds have a high oil content, the seeds of this flax can be squeezed for oil, flax oil can be used for lacquer, ink and coatings, the squeezed flax oil is edible after filtration and processing, and the relatively tall flax is generally used to make cloth, after the flax seeds are squeezed for oil, the resulting oil cake can be fed to livestock!" ”

After listening to Qin Dong's words, the surrounding officials and farmers knew that flax could not only be used to make cloth, but also flax seeds could also be used to extract oil, and there were many uses for flax oil.

In this period, the cloth woven with flax fiber is divided into two kinds of burlap and fine linen, the common people wear burlap, burlap is woven with relatively poor quality flax fiber, and the process of weaving is relatively simple, the making of burlap is relatively rough, this burlap is cheap, but there are many people who use it, and the common people and slaves can not afford to wear clothes made of fine linen, so they can only wear burlap clothes.

The raw material of fine linen cloth is very good, with strong tensile force, softness, good fineness, weak conductivity, fast water absorption and water dispersion, and large expansion rate. In fact, flax is similar to human skin, and has natural functions such as protecting the body and regulating temperature. Linen clothing can reduce the sweating of the human body than other clothing, and linen textiles absorb water faster than satin, rayon fabrics, and even cotton cloth.

In the upper classes of European society during this period, the nobility, officials, and ecclesiastical people generally preferred to wear the clothes of fine linen, which was an important sacred garment for the priests. When they enter the gate of the inner court, they shall be clothed in linen. Thou shalt not wear woollen garments while serving at the gate of the inner court or in the temple. They are to wear a bandana of linen on their heads and linen trousers at their waists. Do not wear clothes that make your body sweaty.

Linen clothes are warm in winter and cool in summer. In summer, the surface temperature of linen clothes is 5°C lower, while the internal temperature is even 10°C lower than that of other fabrics, so it is warm and comfortable to wear a linen shirt on cold days.

Linen clothes have no static electricity, do not fit closely, and do not stick with other clothes, have good ventilation, are not easy to be contaminated with dust and other microorganisms, and feel comfortable and easy to scrub. During the war in the Soviet Union, soldiers reported that in the harsh war environment, people who wore other clothing had lice, but those who wore linen clothes did not have lice. Linen has an antibacterial function. The mummies of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs were wrapped in an astonishingly strong linen muslin that has been preserved intact to this day. From a textile point of view, fine linen is different from ordinary linen, it is a very fine hemp woven clothing, in modern terms, belongs to high-count yarn. What is a high count yarn? The higher the number of counts of the yarn, the finer the yarn, the better the quality of the raw materials required, and the more expensive the price. Generally speaking, animal and plant fiber yarn yarn count of more than 60s belongs to high-count yarn, and chemical fiber yarn yarn count of more than 90s belongs to high-count yarn. In modern times, the price of some brands of clothes made of linen is as high as tens of thousands of yuan or even hundreds of thousands of yuan, but in this Roman Empire, although the clothes made of fine linen are also very expensive, they are not outrageously high, this is just a popular cloth, and the silk brocade trafficked from China is the most high-end cloth.

Qin Dong inspected Thrace Province for more than half a month before returning to Saidika, from the inspection to see the situation analysis, in terms of farmland and water conservancy, Thrace Province at all levels of the official offices are doing well, water conservancy facilities and irrigation facilities are also in place, the public security in various places are relatively good, after more than a year of rule, the original inhabitants of Thrace Province did not rebel against the official office, this is the most reassuring thing for Qin Dong.

A few days after returning to Saidika, Sandra, the secretary of Honglu Temple, entered the palace to meet Qin Dong, and Qin Dong, who was playing with his son and daughter, had no choice but to hand over his son and daughter to Martha, and came to the imperial study. (To be continued......)