"Hmm"
Zhao Jun put down the official documents from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and started looking at other documents.
Before and after the New Year, there are mountains of documents piling up. For many things, I can only take a quick glance to understand the situation before making a decision.
After about half an hour, it was already past eight o'clock in the morning, and many men began to go to work one after another.
According to the rules, court officials had to go to the Chuigong Hall to attend the morning court session. However, over the years, the morning court session gradually became a formality, and Zhao Zhen gradually reduced the number of morning court sessions.
It is usually opened once every three to five days, so now there is no need to run to the Chuigong Hall at seven o'clock in the morning to sit in jail.
"Hanlong, it's so early."
Yan Shu stepped into the Political System Institute and was not surprised to see Zhao Jun, so he greeted him.
"Well, I'm bored at home."
Zhao Jun had already read a lot of documents and was still looking at them, and responded casually.
"It's good to be young."
Yan Shu came to his desk and sat down.
Zhao Jun glanced around the office and asked, "Has Lord Xiwen not arrived yet?"
At this time, including Xia Song, Zheng Jian, Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo, Han Qi, Pang Ji, Zeng Gongliang, Song Xiang and others were basically all present.
Only the oldest ones, Du Yan and Fan Zhongyan, had not arrived yet. Du Yan was not surprised. The old man was 75 years old this year, and it was normal for him to be late.
It was a strange thing that Fan Zhongyan arrived unexpectedly late.
Fu Bi said, "Maybe something delayed him."
Speak of Cao Cao and he will appear.
Fan Zhongyan walked into the house with an official document in his hand and a very happy look on his face.
"What's wrong, Lord Xiwen, are you so happy about eating honey shit?"
Zhao Jun joked.
Fan Zhongyan rolled his eyes at him and said, "Speak properly."
"Just kidding."
Zhao Jun asked curiously, "What happened?"
Fan Zhongyan threw the document in his hand on the table and said, "Read it yourself."
Zhao Jun took the document, which had the seal of the Ministry of Agriculture on it, and he suddenly thought of something.
When I opened it, I saw that it was clearly written that the Agricultural College and Agricultural University Research Institute under the Ministry of Agriculture had searched extensively and finally found a male sterile rice seedling in an acre of experimental field.
"Hybrid rice?"
Zhao Jun opened his eyes wide.
Fan Zhongyan smiled and said, "Yes, it was just sent over by the Ministry of Agriculture, and I came across it."
"Very good."
A bright smile appeared on Zhao Jun's face.
Rice is a typical self-pollinating crop with male and female flowers, and can pollinate itself to produce rice.
However, the result of long-term self-pollination is the reduction of the excellent characteristics of the cultivated varieties, such as disease resistance and drought tolerance, resulting in a significant reduction in yield.
This is the same as consanguineous marriage, which greatly increases the probability of offspring deformities.
If you want to complete hybridization, you must find a male sterile rice that can be passed on to the next generation, and then pollinate it with other rice to complete the hybridization.
Hybrid rice inherits a lot of advantages and has a higher yield, so this is why hybrid rice has advantages.
The Ministry of Agriculture of the Song Dynasty has been established for more than ten years. Over the years, it has been forming expert teams and conducting extensive research in genetics.
Although there are no major research results, at least a lot of theoretical knowledge has been explored. In biology, the School of Life Sciences of the Academy of Sciences has been working hard to explore the issue of increasing food production.
It is very difficult to produce hybrid rice, and it is even more difficult to find a male sterile rice seedling. It took so many years to finally find it.
Zhao Jun immediately gave instructions, "This is indeed a valuable opportunity, but my high school biology class taught me that hybrid rice must be maintained using the three-line method, and the taste and quality must be continuously improved. I hope the Agricultural College will make good use of this hard-won opportunity and expedite their research."
"Well, I'll approve it when the time comes."
Fan Zhongyan nodded, then pulled out a document from his bosom and said, "By the way, the Wuxi River water diversion project that was planned at the end of last year will begin this year. The Ministry of Finance needs to allocate funds. Please sign it."
"Old Fan, it's bad enough that you're late, but you're always out getting documents back. Can't you just leave them in the Imperial Decree Office?"
Zhao Jun joked.
"We can wait, but the people can't."
Fan Zhongyan smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"Wuxi River Water Diversion Project?"
Zhao Jun took the document, glanced at it, and was suddenly stunned. "Is it the one from Quzhou?"
"Yes, the one in Quzhou."
Fan Zhongyan said.
Zhao Jun was silent for a moment, then picked up the pen and signed, saying, "Let them speed up the project. The people really can't wait."
That year, there was a drought in the south of the Yangtze River, and people in Quzhou resorted to cannibalism.
Although Quzhou is located in the western part of the Jinqu Basin and the upper reaches of the Qiantang River, the Qujiang River flows through it.
However, the area's unique topography makes floods more likely during the rainy season and droughts more likely during the summer and autumn. Historically, Quzhou was known for its "minor drought every year and major drought every three years."
This is a long-standing historical problem. Over the past thousand years, repeated droughts have caused great suffering to the people of Quzhou. The history of cannibalism dates back not only to the Tang Dynasty, but also to the Republic of China.
For example, in the third year of the Republic of China, there was a severe drought from May to July, and the rice seedlings spontaneously combusted. The people were starving and displaced, and they dug up the soil of Guanyin for food.
The problem was not solved until the Wuxi River water diversion project was dug in the new era.
Although productivity is abundant in various parts of the Song Dynasty today, disasters still occur frequently. However, as productivity has improved and the court has the ability to resist risks, the severity of disasters has been much smaller.
But this does not mean that the Song Dynasty has always had such ability.
As the population grows, food will become increasingly insufficient. The current productivity is more than enough to easily feed 300 to 400 million people, but what if the population reaches 700 to 800 million?
Therefore, whether it is various engineering projects or agricultural technology levels, they must always be continuously improved so that every citizen can hold on to their jobs.
After Zhao Jun signed the note approving the payment, he said softly, "From now on, the Han Chinese will never go hungry again."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com