While the writers and artists from France linger in admiring Chinese paintings, architecture, music, and opera, the French are trying to decipher the secret of feces.

From Guangzhou all the way to Nanjing, Colbert was surprised to find that all these big cities were clean and tidy, and there was no scene of feces stinking.

Colbert asked the Chinese envoy many times, but the Chinese always smiled and did not speak.

On this day, Colbert got up early and finally met the manure collector.

"Knock Knock~~~"

At 3 o'clock in the morning, that is, at 4:12 a.m., the drum tower began to beat the drum.

The soldiers stationed at the city wall have been transferred from police officers to patrol soldiers. After hearing the sound of drums, the gatekeeper began to get up and wash. And many of the people who wanted to enter the city were already waiting outside the gates.

"Dangdang~~~"

I don't know how long later, the morning bell rang again, and all the gates were opened on time, and the sky was still only bright.

The missing engraving device of the bell and drum tower was changed to a clock in the new dynasty of Datong. Each city has a sundial that can be passed through on a sunny day to adjust the error caused by the clock.

People of all kinds lined up to enter the city, and although they were not collected from the city tax, they still had to be routinely inspected.

For example, if the dung truck does not have a cover, it is resolutely not allowed to enter the city. At first, there was a lot of trouble, but the residents of the city were very supportive, otherwise the dung truck crossing the street would be stinky.

Colbell stood guard before dawn and followed a group of manure collectors through the streets.

In the whole of Nanjing, the number of feces-related practitioners is at least more than 4,000. Not only do they go into the city to collect manure, but after the manure is transported outside the city, there are also people who sort and process it.

Colbell followed him all the way, and soon saw a strange picture.

Three different groups of people came to the alley one after another.

One was here to deliver water, and the waterwheel was dragged forward by mules. Those who don't have a well, if they need to buy water today, will hang a water sign at the door the night before. When the water delivery man saw the water sign, he stopped the mule cart and knocked on the door of the house.

One is to collect swill, food scraps, soup and the like, will be packed in swill buckets, and someone will buy it to feed the pigs.

There is also a group of manure collectors.

There is no fecal disposal fee, just take it directly, and both parties take what they need. However, if a resident needs to wash the toilet, he will take it out of the city and send it back the next morning, which will charge a cleaning fee.

A manure truck was quickly filled, with a few toilets hanging on it, and the toll collector drove the mule cart out of town.

Colbel, who had been drifting at sea for more than a year and was already able to speak in Chinese, followed up and asked, "Hello, how much do you have to pay for someone to take away the feces?" Is it money on a monthly basis, or on a daily basis? ”

The manure collector smiled: "Collect money? In the past, we had to give people money! ”

The money is given to the housekeepers of large families, not to buy dung money, but private bribes. Of course, now there is no need to give, and even the dung tyrant has been banned.

Colbert became more and more puzzled: "You help people clean up the feces, and you still have to pay those people?" ”

"That's right." Said the manure collector.

Colbert couldn't figure it out: "Why? ”

The manure collector said, "Night incense is a good thing." ”

"What is Nightshade?" Colbert asked.

The dung collector said, "Nightshade is dung." ”

Colbert asked, "What does feces do?" ”

"Sell it to the peasants to fertilize the fields," explained the manure collector, "and there are several types of night incense, and the most expensive is the night incense in the palace, and how many farmers rush to buy it." The night incense of dignitaries and nobles is also expensive, and the cheapest is a small household. People in the city also have bitterness haha, they can't eat well, what kind of fertility can the night incense pulled out have? ”

Colbert followed her all the way out of the city, finally figuring out what the manure could do, but could it really make the crops grow better?

Soon, Colbert was dumbfounded.

Outside of Nancheng, he saw a large manure industrial park.

This was a request from the imperial court to be centralized, and it used to be scattered everywhere. The residential areas inside and outside Nanjing are divided into more than 10 "manure roads" by the government, which are contracted to manure treatment companies, and are concentrated in the south, east and west of the city for processing and distribution.

In the past, there was no company, and the imperial court was too lazy to take care of it, so it all relied on the dung tyrant to grab the land by himself.

The collection of dung has crossed the line, and it is going to be a fight. In the first two years of the Republic of China, a large-scale armed fight broke out, and hundreds of dung workers fought together, killing four people and injuring dozens on the spot.

The incident even alarmed the emperor, because there was a fight in the street at that time, and the dung water was all over the street.

As a result, the imperial court ordered the formalization of the manure industry.

Divide the area and open the bidding.

Dung heads must first register a company and go through a qualification review, such as how many qualified manure trucks they have. Depending on the region, the bidding price is also different, and the Forbidden City is the most expensive.

In the future, if you encounter an act of crossing the border, you will not be allowed to fight privately, but will directly report to the official for handling, and the government will fine those who cross the line. If you dare to fight privately, you will be fined and the fecal license will be cancelled if you cause casualties!

Colbell observed the water in the vicinity of the manure industrial park and found that the water was not dirty.

Even when cleaning toilets, the sewage is not discharged, but stored in a pool. This kind of toilet water can also be sold, and the price is the cheapest, which is very popular with nearby vegetable farmers.

Dry and wet manure are poured into different tanks, which is distinguished when collecting manure in the city, and the manure trucks are equipped with several large wooden buckets.

There is even a more refined management, a few large wooden barrels are placed separately, and the barrels are labeled: Fei Ge's hometown, Liu Shangshu's family, Zhang Shilang's family......

"Dangdang, dang!"

Suddenly, someone rang the bell and shouted at the top of his throat: "There is a distinguished guest!" ”

But a boat came, and it was full of peasants.

More than a dozen farmers in a certain village hired a boat to recommend experts in selecting manure and came here to import and transport back to the village. This belonged to those who were far away from the city, and those nearby peasants came to pick it up or carry it on their backs.

"Do you want dry or wet goods?"

"We came all the way by boat, of course, to do dry goods."

"Then please here, the ones in our factory are all fragrant. Although it is not as fragrant as the Forbidden City, nor as expensive as the officials and lords, it is all the rich fragrance of the Yin Shi family. If you are in a hurry to use it, we still have fermented fat in our factory, but the price will definitely be much higher. ”

"Where's the dung stick?"

"As soon as you look at the guests, you are a connoisseur, the stick is here, you can stir it up and look at it casually."

“……”

Colbert was allowed to go in and visit, and when he saw the scene and the conversation, his whole body was shattered.

The feces that have plagued Paris for hundreds of years have actually formed an industry in China!

"What are you wearing?" Colbell asked a worker.

The worker replied: "The government says that the mask must be worn, and whoever does not wear it will be fined." Lime should be sprinkled every ten years, saying that it can kill dung poison, and only after killing dung poison can you not get sick. I heard that these rules were set by Banzai Ye. Long Live Lord is the reincarnation of Zi Weixing, and he even understands this dung work, and it is rumored that Long Live Lord also picked up dung before he started the army. ”

Colbert was so smoked that he left the place early.

He knew that Louis XIV and the Parisian aristocracy were all disgusted with the city's dung. If you can solve this problem by yourself, you will definitely win the appreciation of the king and the support of countless nobles.

But this thing is not easy to do, you have to convince the peasants to use manure to fertilize the land, and you have to get the support of the lord or landlord, which is no less difficult than winning an international war.

After thinking about it, Colbert decided to give up. He will definitely not do thankless work, so he should study China's industrial and commercial policies. Louis XIV loved money, and as long as he could earn money for the king, he would surely gain favor.

Instead of immediately returning to the city, Colbert went to the countryside on the outskirts.

At this time, rice is in the jointing stage, which requires a lot of water and fertility. This year is a bit drought, and farmers are treading water wheels along the Qinhuai River, and the river water is pumped into the diversion canal and flows to the rice fields in all directions.

Throughout the aqueduct, there are small waterwheels that can be stepped on by one person.

Farmers tread water to irrigate their fields, and at a distance from the canals, they all cut a gap in the ridges, so that the river could flow through the nearby fields and into the rice fields farther away. If these paddy fields belong to different families, then the peasant associations have a role, and everyone discusses and works together.

The men in charge of treading the water wheel come in turns, and the lazy ones will definitely be poked in the back.

If a certain paddy field is all irrigated, then plug the gap in the ridge.

Then, they apply their own fertilizer, which is a pile of dry manure and plant ash. Hang a bamboo basket on your waist, just like the later generations to sprinkle chemical fertilizer, all the way through. If the children in the family are on vacation, they can also go to the fields to help, mainly to pull out the weeds in the fields.

In the middle of the morning, the woman went home to cook.

When it was almost noon, the peasant women came out with their food, laughed and went to the fields, and called out to their husbands to eat.

People gather in the shade of trees or sit on ridges, holding clay bowls in one hand and chopsticks in the other, chatting about interesting things while eating. Every now and then, there would be a burst of laughter, but it was someone telling a joke.

Even if fertilization is applied, there is also a focus, and the "pro-field method" is generally used.

For example, if you have ten acres of land at home, you will select two acres this year, and double the variety of fertilizers. Next year, another two acres will be replaced, and key investments will be made, and ten acres of land can be rotated again in five years. In ten years, as long as you have enough fertilizer and take proper care, all the thin fields can be turned into fertile fields.

This fertilization theory in ancient China was summarized for thousands of years, and it was called: the soil can be replenished, the soil is often new, and the land is barren and thin, and manure is often fertile.

The focus of the pro-field method is fertilization, mainly before transplanting, and the oil residue of soybean and rapeseed will be made into fertilizer and mixed with plant ash and sprinkled.

The farmers in front of them, when fertilizing and weeding, also took insecticide.

Making tobacco stems is not used in Europe, but it is a sought-after insecticide in China. Breaking the tobacco stems and throwing them at the roots of the rice can control many kinds of pests.

Colbert looked at the peasants, all of them were very energetic, and although they were covered in mud and water, they were far stronger than the French peasants.

What does a French peasant look like?

Emaciated, sluggish, lifeless, like a humanoid tool that can't think.

More than 100 years before that, it was the outbreak period of land annexation in France. It was different from the enclosure movement in England, where the French peasants were forced to bankrupt by rising taxes, and the aristocracy, merchants, and lawyers took advantage of the opportunity to buy land at low prices.

These landlords can bargain with the tax collectors, or simply become tax collectors themselves. They pay less or even no taxes themselves, pass on the taxes to the ordinary peasants, force more peasants to go bankrupt, and then take advantage of the opportunity to continue to annex the land.

In addition, because the price of grain cannot be sold, they grow grain on public land to avoid taxes, and use private land to raise high value-added livestock.

As for infrastructure such as roads and canals, no landlord is willing to spend money.

Colbert looked at the canals in all directions in front of him, and he knew that France was hundreds of years behind China. And these Chinese peasants, judging only by their mental outlook and health, can all be compared with the small landowners in France.

"China is a farmer's paradise...... The rural system here cannot be replicated in France, otherwise it will provoke a national war, and even the king may be guillotined. Colbert wrote in his diary.

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