Zhao Huan's goal was certainly not just to make the people happy with farming. Otherwise, he would not have sent Zhao Gou to open up the sea. Opening up the sea is risky, pirates are everywhere, and opening up the sea requires a navy, which is an expense.
There would be no establishment of the Great Song Royal Bank or the Great Song Merchant Bank, because these are not simply things that can be created by setting up a superstructure.
If the Song Dynasty did not want to become a feudal landlord empire like the Ottoman Empire, Emperor Huan of Song had to vigorously develop the economy. The most basic requirement for this was that the people should be able to eat their fill and have surplus grain.
If we want the economy to grow faster, we must accumulate a huge amount of initial capital. However, the domestic market size is limited, and it is unrealistic to accumulate such capital in a short period of time. Therefore, we must open up the sea.
Once the initial capital was accumulated, the imperial court could find various ways to get money circulating among the people. Once capital was circulating, commerce would flourish.
This was Zhao Huan's ideal plan. Commercialism has a strong expansionist mentality. When the commercialism of the Song Dynasty reached a certain level, the people would be eager to expand outwards to satisfy their commercial needs.
At this time, education in the Song Dynasty also caught up, and it can be said that the Song Dynasty was about to enter a completely new era.
Returning to the most basic issue, the first priority is for everyone to have enough to eat. If people don't have enough to eat, it's impossible for them to develop commerce.
Agriculture that relies on the weather is very unreliable. Now that the burden on farmers has been reduced, the next step is to improve productivity. Therefore, the emperor has a very important task: to put pressure on the Academy of Sciences. No matter what, they must produce something, otherwise it will seriously affect Zhao Huan's plans.
The emperor agreed to Xu Churen's idea and let him carry it out. Land could be bought and sold freely, and the first step should be to sell it to farmers at a low price. As for how the farmers would handle the land afterwards, that was up to them. The court was only responsible for setting up the tax system and providing more advanced production tools and farming knowledge.
In short, the imperial court should find ways to increase grain production while reducing its exploitation of farmers, and instead extract more money from commerce for the national treasury. This is the only healthy and sustainable national policy.
After the court session, Zhao Huan hurriedly took Xu Churen to the Academy of Sciences.
In order not to disturb the researchers at the Academy of Sciences, the emperor secretly summoned Chen Fu.
Upon seeing his direct superior and his immediate supervisor arrive, Chen Fu immediately knew that the emperor had come to request his handwritten theoretical foundation on agriculture.
Chen Fu prepared the items and presented them: "Your Majesty, these are my insights from compiling manuscripts over many years."
Zhao Huan took it and began to look through it. He wasn't a professional farmer and didn't know much about agriculture in the Song Dynasty. Anyway, he could roughly understand some of it. In addition to the construction of small agricultural ecosystems, there were also instructions on how to use fertilizers, farm tools, and so on.
"This is a great achievement, sir."
"Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty."
"Master Xu, print out Minister Chen's notes and distribute them to all prefectures and counties, down to the villages. From the transport commissioner to the village head, everyone should have a copy."
"Your Majesty, such a grand display is not good if it gets into the hands of the Jin and Tangut people."
"Why be afraid of this? You can't keep this a secret. Just make it public. I only need to improve the fertile land in various places and increase grain production. By the way, this should be more suitable for the south, but it can also be used in the north. Distribute it throughout the country."
"yes!"
"Where is Han Gonglian? Wang Kuian, go and invite Han Gonglian over, but do not disturb the Academy of Sciences."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Wang Kuian quickly jogged over, and soon Han Gonglian arrived.
"Your humble servant kowtows to Your Majesty."
"Han Qing, you may rise. I have an important matter to discuss with you and Chen Fu today."
"Please enlighten me, Your Majesty."
Zhao Huan pondered, "It's true that you only realize how little you know when you need it." In his previous life, he didn't study agriculture in college, and he rarely went to the fields when he was young. He only occasionally saw farmers in the fields.
"Look at the farm tools currently used on the oxen. Is there anything that can be improved, such as making them more labor-saving and increasing their speed?"
Han Gonglian and Chen Fu exchanged a glance. They hadn't expected the young emperor to be so interested in agriculture. They had indeed been studying many things related to agriculture recently.
For example, breaking down the "one bar" on an ox into two ropes can increase the traction force when the ox is plowing.
For example, by attaching hooks to the ropes of oxen, the power generation and operation devices can be separated. This allows the oxen to be harnessed by the ropes, and the plow can be shortened and turned more easily. Therefore, oxen plowing can be used not only in paddy fields and flat land, but also in hilly and mountainous areas.
For example, attaching an improved plow to the plowshare or plow shaft can clear reeds and weeds, making cultivation easier.
In paddy field production, there are scrapers for leveling the soil and tillage tools for hoeing.
In addition, in some rural areas, people have begun to use something called "gao," which is a soil compactor that, when combined with a seed drill, can compact the soil after sowing.
Examples include the manure-drying seed drill that combines sowing and fertilization, the harvesting implement consisting of a wheat basket, a wheat shovel, and a wheat hoe, the seed drill that can cultivate 20 mu per day, and the multi-functional waterwheel.
These things have actually started to be used in some places in the countryside, but the workmanship is a bit rough and no one has systematically organized them.
Some people even modified the hook into a curved arc, doubling its pulling force and improving the connection between agricultural tools such as plows, seed drills, harrows, rollers, and hoes, as well as power devices such as animal power, water power, and wind power, and the operating devices, thereby increasing the speed.
After Chen Fu told the emperor all this, Zhao Huan felt as if he were listening to a foreign language, and he felt that he, a modern person, was really stupid.
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