Ying Xiaozheng's little short legs are more difficult to ride a horse, and after Zhu Xiang watched the jokes a few times, he was blown away by Ying Xiaozheng.

When Li Mu was about to return to the barracks, Ying Xiaozheng complained, his legs were not in the air, and he was not able to clamp the horse's belly. Zhu Xiang patted his head and suddenly remembered something.

"Then why don't you make stirrups?" Zhu Xiang said, "As long as you hang two rope sleeves on both sides of the saddle, won't you be able to step on it?" ”

Ying Xiaozheng: "? ”

Li Mu: "?? ”

Li Mu dragged Zhu Xiang away: "Try it." ”

Ying Xiaozheng followed behind with his little short legs: "I want to try it too!" ”

Then, Li Muxian made two rope sleeves and hung them on both sides of the pony's saddle, and let Ying Xiaozheng step on it and try it.

Ying Xiaozheng cheered: "It's really much easier!" It would be nice if the place where you stepped on it was stronger! ”

Li Mu personally cut two wooden planks and tied them under the rope sleeve.

Ying Xiaozheng said: "It's really easier!" You can exert force by kicking a foot, so is it called a horse 'kick'? ”

Zhu Xiang knocked on his head.

Ah, I've ridden so many horses, how did I forget the stirrup horseshoe. Oh, because I subconsciously want to ignore the war.

"I'll try it too." Li Mu made himself a set of stirrups, and stepped on the stirrups to turn over on the horse without a teacher.

He rode his horse twice first, and then asked Zhu Xiang to hand him a stick and make a puncture motion on the horse.

Then he took the bow and arrow, took his hands off the reins, and the arrows struck the trunk of the tree he had chosen as a target with unerring accuracy.

"Zhu Xiang! I want to write to you and give you a great credit! Li Mu said excitedly, "With horses 'kicking', I can quickly train elite cavalry!" ”

"Don't give me credit, I've already taken too much credit." Zhu Xiang said, "You take it yourself, just to ask the king for more power." Don't you want to go to the country of Chu? ”

Li Mu said unhappily: "I can't rob you of your credit." ”

Zhu Xiang said: "Then the two of us think about it together." I propose, you make stirrups, all of which have merit. Oh, give Zheng'er a credit too. If it weren't for Zheng'er saying that he wanted to step on something on the horse, I wouldn't have remembered. ”

Li Mu said: "That's right...... Speaking of which, Zheng'er has the greatest credit. ”

He didn't know that Zhu Xiang knew about stirrups in the first place, but he kept forgetting them. Therefore, I thought that Zheng'er, who proposed "something to step on", was the first person to put forward the idea.

Li Mu picked up Ying Xiaozheng and rubbed: "Zheng'er is really smart!" ”

Ying Xiaozheng was confused. Is this really my credit? I'm just saying it casually.

But when his uncle and teacher said so, Ying Xiaozheng hesitated to admit it. It seems that it is indeed his own credit?

"If you make stirrups into hoops, they can last longer and can be mass-produced." Zhu Xiang said, "Speaking of stepping on it, I heard that in some places, in order to prevent the soles of the cow's feet from being too worn, they will nail iron plates to the soles of the cow's feet. When the soles of the horse's feet are worn out, the horse can't go into battle, right? Can horses also nail iron soles? ”

Li Mu did not doubt Zhu Xiang's words. Zhu Xiang is the best person at dealing with the fields, and he often visits the fields in the Zhao and Qin kingdoms, so it is normal to see this kind of strange thing.

He lifted the horse's forefoot and touched the horse's forefoot: "Maybe it's really possible, it's scrap metal." ”

Zhu Xiang said: "Scrap iron is stronger than scrap horses. ”

Li Mu smiled: "Of course." Nothing is more precious than a horse. ”

As a Zhao man, what he is best at is cavalry. Although Qin also had cavalry, it was still far inferior to the others in terms of tactics and training.

He had always wanted to assemble an elite cavalry, but because he had just arrived in Qin, it was difficult to get enough horses. At this moment, he misses his time in Yanmen County very much.

If Zhu Xiang's proposal could come true, he would be able to use fewer war horses to achieve results, and it would be much simpler to ask the King of Qin for horses at that time.

"I'll go back to the barracks." Li Mu said, "I asked the blacksmiths in the barracks to build a batch of equipment first, and go to the Chu people to try it." If it works, I'll give you credit. ”

Li Mu clenched his fists. Since he has already come to the Qin State, he doesn't want to do nothing.

He was still young, and he was in the age of fighting. Zhu Xiang said that he is the future Wu Anjun, so he must live up to the expectations of his friends!

"Go, go, go. Remember to give Zheng'er a set as well. Zhu Xiang said, "Don't put all the credit on me." ”

Li Mu said helplessly: "Okay, I know." But Zhu Xiang, the more merits you have, the better you can protect Zheng'er. ”

Ying Xiaozheng looked up at Li Mu and said unhappily: "I have grown up, and I don't need my uncle's protection." ”

Li Mu patted Ying Xiaozheng's head: "The more you grow up, the more you need Zhu Xiang's protection." ”

Zhu Xiang said: "It's not good if the credit is too small or too big." And I'm not just because I don't want to take credit because I'm indifferent to fame and fortune, I'm just worried that the king will think that I am also a good material in military affairs and throw me to the army. Although Juntun is also farming, there will always be wars. ”

Zhu Xiang touched his nose embarrassedly: "Although I have seen a lot of death, I am still very afraid of war." ”

Ying Xiaozheng sighed deeply: "Uncle, what you said was heard by Lian Weng, and you were chased and scolded by Lian Weng, saying that you were cowardly and weak. ”

Zhu Xiang said confidently: "As long as I accept my weakness, I am invincible!" ”

Ying Xiaozheng and Li Mu: "......"

They really didn't know what Zhu Xiang was proud of.

However, Zhu Xiang's worries were also reasonable, and Li Mu agreed to Zhu Xiang's request.

Li Mu returned to the barracks to experiment with stirrups and horseshoes, and Zhu Xiang's life returned to peace.

At this time, the climate was very warm, and even the heavy snow in the winter when Zhu Xiang left was called a "vision". The Sichuan Basin, which has a very mild winter climate, is even hotter.

This winter's temperatures are very "normal" compared to the previous two years, that is, the temperature is very high. Zhu Xiang was able to breed rice in winter.

Otherwise, late rice should be planted in July and August and harvested from October to November.

After Zhu Xiang popularized double cropping rice, even when the weather was warm, he would instruct farmers to cultivate according to normal farming hours.

That is, early rice is planted in March and April, and harvested in June and July; The early rice is harvested at the same time as the late rice, which is planted in August at the latest, and can be harvested again in early winter.

In fact, early rice and late rice are not planted strictly according to the time, and they can be planted at the right temperature throughout the year, but the harvest time is different.

The growth cycle of late rice is more suitable for hot to cold, but it can also be planted at other times.

Zhu Xiang originally planned to cultivate late rice seeds first, and then early rice seeds, so that he could directly promote double cropping rice planting next autumn. But after planting the seeds of late rice given by the system, he found that this "late rice" may be regenerative rice, which can be directly harvested in two crops, so it is easy to promote.

Chapter 89: Mines in the Mountains

Regenerative rice, also known as perennial rice, uses the underground stem biological system to achieve the characteristics of multi-year growth and multiple harvesting.

Modern high-yielding crops invariably require the purchase of seeds to prevent seed deterioration and failure of the harvest. In areas where double cropping rice cultivation is possible, regenerative rice can continue to grow after harvesting with reduced seed and manpower inputs.

Compared with late rice and early rice, which require a lot of manpower, regenerative rice is easier to promote double cropping rice.

However, seed deterioration is still a big problem, and Zhu Xiang can only leave behind the experimental methods of seed cultivation and hybridization, hoping that after his death, future generations can still continue to provide farmers with continuous high-yield seeds.

He is not pessimistic about this.

Any food crop seed will deteriorate if it is planted continuously. In the era when there was no systematic agricultural science, farmers could also carry out preliminary seed selection with their experience, and continue the millennium planting civilization.

Don't underestimate the wisdom of the working people.

The trouble of growing regenerative rice is the same as that of double cropping rice, which requires delicate labor and sufficient water and fertilizer.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, double-cropping rice rotation was already more common, indicating that it could meet the fertilizer demand of double-cropping rice rotation without relying on chemical fertilizers.

Fermented farmer nitrogen fertilizer, green fertilizer, humus fertilizer, etc., Zhu Xiang knows a lot of "natural fertilizer". The method of preliminary processing of these "natural fertilizers" can be done with current manpower. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, there were records of making fertilizers into "group fertilizer" and "fertilizer pills" for sale.

In modern society, you have to eat well after you are full, and you have to eat "hypocrisy" after you eat well, so all kinds of "pure natural and organic" gimmicks are very popular, which is the same as all kinds of "ancient diet".

However, eating "pure natural and organic" is just expensive, regardless of whether it is really more nutritious and healthier, as long as you follow the compliant production process, there will be no problems with eating. It can increase agricultural income, and if there is a need for this, agricultural technicians will naturally study it.

Zhu Xiang and other people from the agricultural college shook their heads and sighed that there was no need, while happily selling "organic food" in their college. When they are researching, many times it has to be "organic". Who wouldn't be happy now that there is additional research funding income?

It's not a conflict, it's not a conflict at all.

At that time, Zhu Xiang, who was silly and happy, never imagined that he would go back to 2,000 years ago to engage in real "pure natural organic food".

Natural and organic fertilizers, natural and organic pesticides, natural and organic manual weeding...... Zhu Xiang thought that if he could return to modern times, he would be allergic to "organic" for the rest of his life.

Rice cultivation is much more troublesome than the traditional millet, millet and millet, and it is a delicate crop with higher yields the more it is served.

Rice is also a rare grain that can be grown continuously with the same crop. After years of continuous cultivation of other grains, the soil deteriorates. One of the most suitable soils for rice cultivation is called "paddy soil".

As the name suggests, paddy soil is the soil formed by long-term cultivation of rice, and it is the most important cultivated soil in China.

With such characteristics, after the Southern Song Dynasty, rice cultivation in the south gradually surpassed wheat and became the most important food crop in the south. The pattern of rice in the south and wheat in the north was formally formed.

Now, although there are rice plants in Chuyue and other places, it is still dominated by millet and soybean. The same is true for Shu County.

The students who followed Zhu Xiang said that there was a university question in rice planting, and it was indeed not exaggerated.

They never knew that there was so much attention to in farming. I don't know how much knowledge is needed to increase food production.

Just manually pollinating rice flowers and learning about the reproduction and development of plants shocked them for a long time.

For example, when the flowers turned out to be plants, when they sent the flowers again, the mood was a little twisted.

"It's complicated to say it's complicated, but it's simple and simple. As long as you do it a few times, it forms a habit and it becomes an experience. Zhu Xiang squatted on the ridge of the field and stroked the rice flower road, "But the people who do agricultural research are different from the farmers who rely on experience to eat." We need to know what it is, and why it is so. Only by studying the truth in depth can we draw inferences from one case and safeguard food security. ”

"It is very important to breed good breeds and protect the original varieties. No one knows when pests and diseases that can affect the entire variety will appear, and the famine can be quickly solved by replacing them with new seeds in time. ”

"For the people of the world, there is nothing like a full meal...... More important than not starving to death. ”

Zhu Xiang paused and changed the phrase "full meal" to "not starve to death".

It's too early for people to eat well.

"But although this matter is important, there are very few people who are willing to do it, because it is too hard and not prestigious." After Zhu Xiang finished teaching, he said with a smile, "It doesn't matter, in the future, you will do what you like, as long as you know this in your heart, pay a little attention to it when you are an official, and encourage those who can't be officials to do it, it's enough." ”

Zhu Xiang patted the soil on his hands and led the students to continue to observe the fields.

There are many pests and diseases in rice, and even after flowering, you can't relax. For example, rice blast can occur throughout the growth period of rice.

When the rice blooms, there may be node blast on the rice node, causing the rice to break; Spike neck blast may appear on the spike neck, resulting in withered white spikes; Even if the grains are finally formed, grain blast may occur.

In modern times, pesticides can solve most problems; Now, it can only rely on prevention, and it is basically difficult to treat.

Seeds need to be sterilized when they are sown; When planting, the field should be cleaned of rotten weeds and rice stubble; When using manure, it is necessary to supplement natural potassium fertilizers such as plant ash; Pay attention to the planting density to ensure that the rice gets enough light......

That's all a farmer can do. After that, it's a matter of resignation.

If there is continuous rainy and foggy weather, the probability of rice disease will be greatly increased, but the farmers have no choice but to pray.

To solve this problem, we can only conduct scientific research and make modern pesticides.

Nowadays, everyone talks about pesticides changing color, but farmers can't do without pesticides for planting. No one can guarantee that the grain will not be diseased during the entire grain planting period.