Compared to the arquebuses he had seen before, Li Nai was more convinced that the Haihan people had the ability to make this kind of Hongyi artillery, because this would explain why they built so many forts on the slopes of the shore entering the port. As far as the scale of the project seen so far, although it is not as good as the fort in Humen, at least there is absolutely no such fortification outside the general port.

"I don't know where these Haihan people found the cannon casters. The thought flashed through Li Nai's mind. Most of the artillery used by the Canton garrison was cast in Foshan, and the local gunsmiths were all offered as bodhisattvas, and outsiders did not even have the opportunity to come into contact with these mysterious figures. But with the skills of those cannon casters in Foshan, it is obvious that they cannot make the Hongyi artillery sold by the Haihan people.

When the group returned to the dock, the group of boy scouts was still waiting in the shade of the trees on the shore, and this kind of loyal behavior was naturally praised and encouraged by Tao Donglai. Li Nai and He Qiang were both amazed, and those militiamen were just that, they could make these children so disciplined, and the methods of the Haihan people were indeed unique.

The boat slowly sailed upstream along the mouth of the Tiandu River under the paddle of the laborers, and Tao Donglai prepared to take the guests to see the farm not far from here. In the view of the Executive Committee, it is far from enough to show military equipment, and for a country like Daming, which is still in an agricultural society, the production capacity of grain is also a manifestation of strength.

The farm set up by the Ministry of Agriculture on the east bank of the Tiandu River is not far from the new barracks at the mouth of the Tiandu River, and there is only a mountain in between. Soon the boat arrived at the dock outside the farm, and Gao Huan, who had been notified, was waiting for them on the trestle.

Gao Huan introduced the current production situation of the farm commune to the visiting guests: "We just finished harvesting the last season's rice five days ago, and we are now preparing for the next season of rice planting. Although we only planted 200 acres of rice in the first half of the year, fortunately, the follow-up care was not bad, all kinds of manure were also used sufficiently, and there were no natural disasters, and the yield was much better than the expected 50 tons, and the final output was more than 80 tons. ”

Gao Huan looked at the two Ming Dynasty merchants with blank faces, and patiently explained: "One ton of our Haihan is about two thousand catties of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Li Nai is worthy of being born in a merchant family, and his mental arithmetic ability is not bad, so he immediately exclaimed: "One mu of rice is harvested more than 400 catties in one season?"

"It's a little less, mainly because the planting time in the first half of the year is too hasty, and the yield per mu in the next season should be much higher than this. (Baidu search update is the fastest and most stable)" Gao Huan said a little embarrassed.

"Is the yield of more than 400 catties per mu less?" Li Nai asked very puzzled: "In that year, two seasons, wouldn't one mu of rice be able to grow 1,000 catties?"

Gao Huan was stunned for a moment, and then understood what he was wrong. From the perspective of future generations, it is really a bit impossible to plant 500 kilograms in two seasons of one acre of land, and the harvest of better hybrid rice varieties in a single season is even more than this. But at the beginning of the seventeenth century, this production was already against the sky.

Gu Yanwu has a record of the yield of rice per mu in the south of the Ming Dynasty in the "Daily Knowledge", even if it is a ripe field with two seasons a year, the harvest is only four or five hundred catties when it is excellent. In most cases, two to four hundred catties is a relatively normal harvest situation, and Gao Huan's harvest in one season is more than that of others in a year, how can Li Nai not be shocked. If it weren't for the fact that the two sides had been dealing with each other for so long, I'm afraid Li Nai would have thought that their group of people would be able to use some kind of demon law.

Gao Huan immediately explained: "This is an excellent rice seed that we brought from overseas, which is different from the rice seed used in Daming. In addition, we have scientific farming methods, so we will have such a high harvest. ”

"What kind of doctrine is this science?" Li Nai, who was a scholar, immediately became interested. He has seen the knowledge of the Haihan people, but he didn't expect that he even had relevant knowledge about farming.

"Science is a way for us to learn knowledge and understand the world, and it is the ideological concept and spiritual belief that each of us has formed since childhood. Tao Donglai explained to him. Tao Donglai used this doctrine on Luo Shengdong once, and the semi-literate Luo Shengdong was stunned.

"Mr. Tao, can you elaborate on that?" Li Nai immediately became interested, he really wanted to find out what these Haihan people had in their heads, and they could make so many strange things.

To put it simply, it is to find out the laws of the operation of everything, and then understand, summarize and use it. Tao Donglai said while pointing to the bare paddy fields that had been harvested and said, "Why is there a difference in rice yield?"

"Because there is a distinction between raw and ripe fields, and there is a distinction between good and bad rice seeds, and there is a distinction between diligence and laziness in the care of farmers. Li Nai is not the kind of nerd who can only read dead books, and he is also very good at answering Tao Donglai's questions.

"That's right, you say it very well, and the purpose of science is to find out the laws of these things, how to turn the raw fields into mature fields, how to select and breed excellent rice seeds, how to make farmers manage the fields more effectively, these are all science. Tao Donglai explained succinctly.

Li Nai didn't seem to understand it, and it was difficult to digest the meaning of these words for a while. However, he soon found a new point of interest, and pointed to the pergola erected in the paddy field: "Why is this pergola built in the middle of the paddy field?

Gao Huan smiled: "That's not a place for farmers to rest, it's for the fish to shade." ”

"Are there fish in this rice field?" Li Nai leaned over and looked, and sure enough, there were many fish more than half a foot long scurrying around in the ditch in the field, so lively.

"Rice and fish farming can increase rice production, and fish is also a good income. Gao Huan pointed to the fish in the water and said: "More than three months ago, we stocked the fish fry in the field, and we can harvest it when we plant it in spring next year, and there can be at least sixty or seventy catties of fish in one acre of land, and about 10,000 catties should be harvested in these two hundred acres of paddy fields." ”

Li Nai said thoughtfully: "This is one of the sciences of farming!"

Tao Donglai replied with a smile: "That's right. ”

Next, Gao Huan took them to visit the nearby oil palm, sugarcane, spice and other planting areas, and explained them one by one. Among them, Li Nai was most interested in the spice-growing area, where he had seen some spices in the goods he sold, and some of which he had never heard of. But to Li Nai's regret, most of the plants of these spices are seedlings, and it will take at least a year or two until they are produced.

However, another piece of information announced by Gao Huan quickly revived his feelings, and at present, the Executive Committee has mobilized mountain people in the inland area of Litong and Miao Village, reclaiming more than 2,000 acres of land to grow various spices, and this number is still expanding. When the spices are ripe, the Executive Committee will purchase them and sell them elsewhere.

There was no doubt that the spices of the Haihan people would be much cheaper than those brought by the Westerners by sea, and Li Nai immediately wanted to start negotiations for exclusive agency rights. But this time, Tao Donglai rejected him with a smile, only saying that the maturity of these spices still takes time, and there is no need to rush the order.

The Executive Committee did not intend to simply dispose of spices, a money-making weapon, but the Ministry of Commerce had already put forward a plan to set up a large-scale spice alliance in the Far East in the future, so as to influence the price of spices in Asia and Europe with the production of spices controlled by the Haihan people. This handicap is too big, even if a commercial house of this size like "Fu Ruifeng" fills in it, it is not enough to see, Tao Donglai does not want to give "Fu Ruifeng" some promises about spice trading so early, there will be a large number of spices in hand at that time, and I am afraid that there will be no merchants to come to Shengli Port to squeeze their heads?

In addition to the neatly organized farmland and the variety of crops that thrive, the setting of the farm commune also aroused great interest among visitors. Li Nai had never seen or heard of a rural area where the Haihan people had used the way to organize production, and groups of peasants gathered to work in various fields, and the scene reminded Li Nai of the militia he had just visited.

"Mr. Gao, why do these farmers obey your arrangements so much? Don't they always remember their farmland when they work?" Li Nai thought that the dark-skinned Gao Huan was a farmer, but after explaining this way, he had already put away his contempt and respectfully asked him for advice.

"You can understand them as tenant farmers, who farm for the executive committee and trade their labor for their rights to food, clothing, housing and transportation here. We will not force them to do their labor, but if they do not obey our arrangement, they will have to leave this place and find another way. Gao Huan explained to him: "When these people come here, they have almost nothing but the clothes on their bodies, and if they leave here, then they will immediately return to a state of nothing." ”

"I see. Li Nai nodded and continued to ask, "Then do they have the opportunity to buy land here?"

"I'm afraid it's hard. Tao Donglai concluded the conversation and said: "Under the rule of our executive committee, no one has the right to buy and sell land, and all land is public property. These farmers can rent the land for a long time after accumulating a certain level of labor, but they will not own the ownership of the land. There will be only tenant farmers, no landlords. ”

"But the land here belongs to my Ming Dynasty, and your arrangement is like this, isn't it a mess of the law?" asked Li Nai puzzled.

"Yes, it is owned by Daming, and we also have the title deed personally issued by the magistrate of Daming Yazhou, which indicates that these reclaimed lands are owned by our Haihan people. Tao Donglai said with a smile on the corner of his mouth: "I want to correct what I said just now, it is not that there is no landlord here, but there is only one landlord, and that is the Haihan Executive Committee." ”