Shi Jizhi was a juren from Yingtian Prefecture in the first year of the Longqing reign, in the same class as Zhao Shouzheng and Wang Wuyang. Naturally, he was very familiar with several of the prominent figures in the same class.

After hearing Zhao Hao introduce himself, Shi Jizhi waved his hands vigorously and said, "You are not worthy of being called uncle. You are the master of our fellow champion. Let's both take a step back and call each other brothers."

Zhao Hao and Zhao Shouzheng and their peers have always discussed their own issues, so naturally they followed suit.

With this relationship, the two of them became much closer.

"Why did Brother Sishan miss the imperial examination last year?" Zhao Hao asked curiously.

"My master thinks I'm not ready yet." Shi Jizhi still had the nature of a farmer, and spoke in a simple manner. He grinned and said, "I need to farm for a few more years before I can go to Beijing to take the exam."

"Uh..." Zhao Hao was stunned. This was the first time he heard that the imperial examination was related to farming. This Wuben Academy was really weird.

However, the imperial examination seemed to have nothing to do with science, and I didn't have the face to laugh at others.

"Haha, it's normal for you to be surprised, my dear brother. One of the four great wonders in Liyang is 'Shujishi teach farming'. Look at the farmers working in the fields near and far. They are actually students of our Wuben Academy."

Shi Jizhi smiled and said to Zhao Hao, "There is no other way. The rules set by the headmaster are that anyone who wants to study at Wuben Academy must work part-time as a farmer and part-time as a student, and be self-reliant. No matter how talented or knowledgeable someone is, the headmaster will not accept anyone who is unwilling to farm."

Zhao Hao thought to himself, Wow, this guy is much stricter than me. I have been lenient in many cases in order to improve the enrollment rate. There are many students in Yufeng Academy who are not interested in science, but none of them are as pure as Wuben Academy...

As they were talking, the two of them came to the hillside and heard the tall old man with his back to them say in a loud voice:

"It doesn't have to be that deep. One foot and five inches is enough. If you dig that deep, will the seedlings be able to see the light?"

"Yes..." Those who were working were probably new students. They had fair skin and were not very skilled in swinging the hoes. They wasted their efforts but could not dig deep enough. Their hands were covered with blisters, but no one dared to complain.

Shi Jizhi stepped forward and said respectfully, "Shanzhang."

"What's the matter?" The old man did not even turn his head and continued to teach the new disciple: "It can't be too shallow, otherwise it won't keep warm! But one foot and a half is not absolute. It depends on the actual situation and ensure that there is sunlight for three hours a day..."

"Mr. Zhao from Science is here to pay his respects to you," Shi Jizhi said hurriedly.

"Oh? You came to my house." The old man was not surprised to hear that. He looked Zhao Hao up and down, and then asked in surprise: "So young?"

"I am already sixteen years old." Zhao Hao said depressedly.

"Haha, Jiangnan Group has made such a big fuss that it's well-known in this small place like Liyang. I thought you were at least 20 or 30 years old." The old man laughed and said, "I heard that the science you founded specializes in studying the principles of everything. Do you know why I asked people to dig these pits?"

"Mr. Menghe underestimates me." Zhao Hao said with a smile: "This is a cellar for growing rice seedlings."

"Why should I do this?" The old man said noncommittally, "Wouldn't it be better to just plant the crops in the fields?"

"The temperature is too low at this time of year. The rice seedlings will freeze to death if they are planted in the field..." Zhao Hao said helplessly, "Isn't this something all farmers know?"

"Then just plant it later." The old man said calmly.

"Because you want to plant two crops of rice, but the temperature in our Jiangnan area is still not high enough. Planting two crops of rice in a short time will delay the late rice." Zhao Hao said with a smile:

"So Mr. Menghe adopted the cellar method, planting rice seeds in this shallow cellar in advance, covering it with straw mats at night, and uncovering it during the day to expose it to the sun, so that the seedlings can grow in advance. When the temperature is right, the seedlings are directly planted in the field, which is equivalent to saving nearly a month."

Zhao Hao said as if he was saying something commonplace: "The same can be done for late rice. This way, we have plenty of time to grow two crops of rice. We no longer have to worry about the spring coming too late or the autumn coming too early."

"Uh..." The old man looked a little shocked. He squatted on the edge of the field and muttered, "It turns out that this method is not invented by me. You people in Kunshan also know it."

Zhao Hao hurriedly consoled him, "Kunshan doesn't raise seedlings in advance. The entire Jiangnan region plants rice in April, and we are no exception."

"Then you..." The old man looked up at Zhao Hao.

"I just heard what Mr. Menghe said and then I came up with this idea." Zhao Hao hurriedly explained with a smile. Of course, he couldn't say that this was common sense in later generations.

But this common sense is what the old man in front of us brings to the Chinese people.

He is the Yuan Longping of the Ming Dynasty - Ma Yilong, the light of Liyang.

This Mr. Ma Yilong has nothing to do with Macron, Ma Yinglong, or Macron.

He was from a family of scholars and officials. His father and uncle were both Jinshi. Ma Yilong himself was the first place winner of Shuntian Prefecture and a Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing. He was selected as a Shujishi together with Zhang Juzheng, so he had a bright future.

But they all encountered a difficult situation - as soon as they entered the official career, they encountered Yan Song framing Xia Yan and witnessed the tragic scene of the Prime Minister being thrown into the market. In the next ten years, the court was dark and treacherous, which was extremely tormenting for any official with a conscience.

Some of them chose to fight to the death with the Yan Party, such as Yang Jisheng. Some chose to endure and wait, such as Zhang Juzheng. There were also many people who chose to resign and return home, not to bow down for a few grains of rice, such as Ma Yilong.

Ma Yilong submitted five petitions to the emperor, begging for support for his mother, and finally retired from his post as the director of the Nanjing Imperial College in the 38th year of Jiajing.

After returning to his hometown of Liyang, he opened this Wuben Academy, determined to cultivate scholars who can farm and understand farmers.

Because he believed that "farmers are the foundation of the world", and those nerds who were lazy and didn't know the five grains would not care about farmers and agriculture at all. Letting these people become officials would only bring disaster to farmers and shake the foundation of the country.

Only scholars who really know how to farm can become officials and know what farmers think, and not be deceived by corrupt officials. Although this does not necessarily guarantee that they will be good officials, it can at least prevent them from doing bad things with good intentions.

In addition, he donated money to set up charity fields, recruited farmers to cultivate the land, and adopted a profit-sharing system, giving half of the harvest to hired workers and using the other half to build bridges and roads in the county and donate to support education... The employee farm that Zhao Hao set up in Kunshan drew a lot from him.

Because Ma Yilong compiled a number of agricultural works based on his own farming experience, such as "Nong Shuo" and "Nong Jing", which explained everything from the planting of rice, mulberry and cotton to the arrangement of agricultural production, as well as farm tools, fertilizers, breeding, disease prevention and control.

Let's put it this way. The land in Liyang can yield one more stone per mu than other places, all thanks to him.

Zhao Hao came here specifically to invite him to come out of retirement and serve as the chief agricultural technician of Jiangnan Group.

Just think about it, as long as he is there, planting two crops of rice is not only risk-free, but also can yield an extra shi per mu. 600,000 mu of land means 600,000 shi!

Kunshan alone can earn more than one million taels of silver every year! !

Ma Yilong is the real God of Wealth!

ps. Second update, please give me your monthly vote!