The Sixty-Eight Agricultural Revolution Begins

  History is so mysterious, ancient things brought to today are national treasures, priceless; modern things brought to ancient times are divine signs, worthy of worship. In this back-and-forth across thousands of years of space-time, no matter what it is, everything has been given a thousand-year time value. So, the four arithmetic operations have also risen with the tide, and naturally become valuable...

  Su Ning finally reacted, almost forgetting that the math level of the Tang Dynasty was probably only at the primary to junior high school level! Especially basic arithmetic operations, there were no four arithmetic operation rules and formulas, still stuck in the way of adding one by one, and had not jumped out of the original basis of knot counting, for many years, except for a few amazing mathematicians, such as Qin Jiushao and Zu Chongzhi, most people did not dare to take that crucial step.

  Self-imposed isolation! Cherishing one's own ignorance!

  This shortcoming must be changed! Otherwise, so many excellent skills will be lost! What is the best way to preserve skills? Pass it on! Of course, not passing it on to people of other tribes, only passing it on to the people of the Great Tang Dynasty, like those small Japanese envoys and so on. Hmm, put them all in the Imperial Academy, let old Confucians like Kong Yingda teach them the Four Books and Five Classics, fill their bellies with Confucian knowledge and have them go back to spread the teachings! Want steel smelting technology? Want weapon-making technology? Dream on!

  "This is just a simple arithmetic operation, it's just addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Is math really that difficult?" Su Ning asked with feigned puzzlement. Li Chengqian rolled his eyes, what kind of person is this? Such an extraordinary skill, yet he doesn't think much of it? If they mastered this technique, how much easier would it be for the officials in the Ministry of Revenue who get headaches from calculating with their abacuses every day? Would they still need to prepare for emergency rescues at the hospital during tax season?"

  However, it seems that people in this era respect private property very much. For techniques like the sect's ultimate skill or family heirloom skills, they seem to hold them in high regard. Even emperors don't have the power to demand others hand over their ultimate skills; otherwise, that would be disrespecting one's ancestors and teachers, which is a great sin and deserves scolding. So Li Chengqian didn't dare say it out loud, but how could Su Ning not see through Li Chengqian's thoughts?

  "Do you want to learn?" Su Ning asked lightly, Li Chengqian was shocked and hastily shook his head: "No no no, Sanming, this is your school's ultimate skill, it can't be spread outside, if I were to learn it, wouldn't that be disrespecting my master? Absolutely not! Absolutely not!"

  Su Ning looked at Li Chengqian, who had a contradictory expression of wanting to learn but not daring to ask, and felt very annoyed: "Who told you that our school's ultimate skill is not passed on? Our school only has me and my master, there are no so many rotten rules! If you want to learn, just say it. My master is not an old antique, he said that the best way to keep a technique going is to pass it on. One person is not safe, one hundred people are not secure, but one thousand people should be enough, right?"

  "These four arithmetic operations aren't worth anything like gold or silver, they're just some knowledge. If I don't pass it on and keep it to myself, what's the point? Am I that kind of person? I've always been upright, kind, pure, and magnanimous! Never hiding secrets, especially from my own brothers! Er Huo, Xiao Zhen, Bo Yao, do you want to learn? If you want to learn, just tell me! You're all my own brothers! And in the future, if I gain a reputation, I'll take on disciples from all over the world and teach them knowledge. Now's a good chance to practice on you!"

  Li Chengqian's face was filled with surprise as he said, "Sanming, you, you, you still want to establish a sect and recruit disciples?" Ever since hearing what Su Ning had said that morning, Li Chengqian had been deeply yearning for the knowledge that Su Ning possessed, and had already made up his mind to learn it even if it meant becoming his apprentice. But now, Su Ning was not only willing to pass on their sect's ultimate technique to outsiders, but also planned to establish a new sect and recruit disciples from all over the world?

  Chang Sun Chong's face was also filled with incredulity: "Could it be that the Honorable Master is so open-minded? This, this isn't quite right, is it?"

  Li Zhen and Li Baiyao, two little Lis with sparkling eyes, had a crazy desire for knowledge that left Su Ning speechless...

  "I've said it before, there's no need for so many rules. If you want to learn, I'll teach you! It's very simple! These things, in the future every person in the Great Tang will have to know, including recognizing characters, writing, and reading books. Every person in the Great Tang will have to know these things! My greatest wish is for there to be no one in the Great Tang who can't read! Everyone will recognize characters!" Su Ning expressed his great goal, a magnificent goal of eradicating illiteracy!

  "Can everyone read?" the four little local tyrants shouted in unison...

  "What's wrong?" Su Ning looked at the four of them. Although this thing is very difficult to do, it's not that no country has done it before. Popularizing education is also difficult, but it's not impossible. Fifty years, a hundred years, as long as you have time and power, even if it's just creating an embryo, as long as you find the right successor, this undertaking can definitely be carried on!

  The four of them looked at each other, their eyes filled with shock and disbelief. However, they uniformly shook their heads, keeping their opinions to themselves. In their view, in an era where books were hard to come by, making universal literacy a reality was not just a difficult task, but a divine one. People's reverence for culture would inevitably turn someone who achieved this into a god...

  Su Ning didn't care about that, took out paper and pen to explain the basic arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and also mentioned Arabic numerals and their conversion to Chinese characters, which was simply a matter of one-to-zero correspondence. Chinese characters had been used for a long time, and the conversion wasn't difficult. Then came simple arithmetic operations, which couldn't be explained clearly in a short time. Su Ning had almost forgotten how he learned it in primary school, so he only gave a rough idea, and then predicted what would happen next, to be continued...

  After feeding the four little local tyrants and sending them away with a big package, Su Ning began to plan for future things. Ah yes, the 2,000 mu of land granted by Emperor Li had not been taken care of yet. These lands needed to be managed, and then several good plots of land would be found, along with some reliable and honest people. With the arrival of the spring plowing season, hybrid rice, potatoes, corn, and other high-yielding crops would begin to be tested to see if crossing through time and space had any impact on these crops.

  This package of hybrid rice seeds is so important to the Tang Dynasty, Su Ning understood that at this time, most of the grain crops in the Tang Dynasty were wheat and some other miscellaneous crops with very low yields. As for rice, due to its primitive variety, it can only be planted in Jiangnan water town and places near the tropics that are still considered barbaric. Double-season rice has been recorded as early as the Han Dynasty, but it has not been introduced or large-scale cultivated all along, almost because the rice seeds are still relatively primitive and cannot adapt to the cold and water-scarce environment in the north.

  Later, the planting process of more than a thousand years also proved that rice is a relatively fragile food crop, with greater restrictions on production environment, which prompted Mr. Yuan Longping's hybrid rice plan, after a long period of hard work, the super grain hybrid rice was produced, not only stronger than the conventional rice now, but also with much higher yield per mu.

  According to the information Su Ning has read, the research team led by Yuan Longping successfully broke through the two major world difficulties of super hybrid rice yields of 700 kg and 800 kg per hectare in 1999 and 2005 respectively, maintaining China's leading position in the world for ultra-high-yielding hybrid rice research. And this bag of seeds was purchased by Su Ning's parents three months ago, which was already in 2013!

  Taking into account the differences in land area, fertilizer and planting techniques of the Tang Dynasty, as well as temperature issues, it should be around 500-600 kilograms per mu. The Tang Dynasty's "shi" is equivalent to about 59 kilograms today, and the main grain crop, wheat, yielded only about one shi per mu, with even the best land in the capital region yielding only about one and a half shi. If hybrid rice were planted, it would be possible to increase the average yield of Tang Dynasty crops by five or six times.

  Chang'an is located in the north, although it has the reputation of being a land of abundance with its fertile soil, but the problem of climate still exists. Whether this hybrid rice can be successfully planted is also a question. However, the southern part of the Great Tang Dynasty is still desolate, and it's not easy to develop it into a land of fish and rice in a thousand years. With the current ability of the Great Tang Dynasty and the temperament of Li Er, if they were to immediately start developing Jiangnan, the Great Tang Dynasty would probably perish in about ten years...

  Roads, climate, diseases, manpower, resources, official appointments, pig-like teammates and so on, all need to be considered. As the saying goes, "to get rich, first build roads", we must develop Jiangnan first, and solve the problem of roads first. Cement? That thing is not easy to handle, even sand-made things are not expensive, can be obtained locally, but paving cement roads is another troublesome thing.

  A thousand threads and ten thousand strands, wanting to reform the Tang Dynasty requires considering things that are absolutely not just a little bit...

  But no matter what, even if only two or three stones can be grown, it will still be a two- to three-fold increase in grain production throughout the Tang Dynasty. How happy would Emperor Li II be? Not to mention potatoes and corn, potatoes are absolutely high-yielding, although they are more suitable for making dishes rather than grains. As for corn, it is not as suitable for making grains as rice and wheat, but it is also highly productive. With these three major killers, will the Tang Dynasty still worry about having no food to eat?

  Oh! Locust plagues are also a problem. I remember reading in history books that someone went deep into the origin of locusts and solved the locust plague, after which China never had a large-scale locust plague again. How did they do it? Moreover, what's even more serious is that locust plagues often occur with droughts, which is a double whammy! If a massive locust plague occurs, rice, potatoes, and corn can't withstand it!

  Su Ning still took out his divine machine and went on Baidu, starting to study in-depth how to exterminate the locusts. Historical records show that the most recent relatively large locust plague was one during the second year of the Zhenguan era. During the Tang Dynasty, a locust plague of considerable size occurred on average every 7 or 8 years. Although there were no records, this is normal - who doesn't understand the Spring and Autumn writing style? It's not possible to tarnish a prosperous era! Locust plagues within several states are not worth recording...

  After reading about locusts, Suning began to read about the planting methods and precautions for hybrid rice. However, he unexpectedly discovered that hybrid rice cannot be saved for seed, it can only be planted once and then all eaten, and then new seeds must be purchased! Suning felt a great collapse, although he had planted land before, he had never considered this problem. The second generation of hybrid rice used as seed would produce genetic separation, resulting in a tragic sharp decline in yield!

  Hybrid rice, if it's a trial crop, can only have high yields in the first year. In the second generation, it's a tragedy! If you don't know this and after harvesting the first generation, you report to Emperor Li Er with great fanfare, Emperor Li Er is overjoyed and orders widespread planting. As a result, the second generation suffers a tragic decline in yield, and Emperor Li Er, amidst his great joy and sorrow, won't immediately have you executed?

  Luckily, I was cautious and had a premonition. This is terrible! It seems that nothing can violate the laws of nature. If you gain something, you have to pay the ultimate price. This is a huge hidden danger...

  Suning took out his backpack and continued to search, apart from the large package of hybrid rice seeds, Suning also found a package of rice seeds. After taking a look, Suning was overjoyed, it seemed that when he searched his backpack earlier, he was too nervous and didn't see clearly. Apart from the package of hybrid rice seeds, there was also a package of japonica rice seeds, regular rice, not hybrid, suitable for planting in North China, all temperate regions, should also be able to plant in Chang'an here. Moreover, the yield of this japonica rice should also be relatively high, although it's unknown how much, but it's definitely higher than the current wheat.

  As for hybrid rice, Su Ning had other ideas... After all, it's a thousand-year-old seed that has been modified. If some discoveries can be made, or simply cultivated to the third or fourth generation, even if the yield is extremely low, won't there be some variations and surprises? Can seeds be left behind for continued cultivation? After a thousand years of development and adaptation, the vitality and yield of these seeds will surely be stronger than those of current seeds.

  That night, Suning ordered the servant to go to Kung's mansion to ask for leave, saying that he had contracted a cold and his hand was swollen, asking for three days off. Mr. Kung Yinda smiled slightly and agreed.

  So Suning had three precious days to go to his own fiefdom for on-the-spot investigation and conduct the first batch of trials. Therefore, early in the second day, Suning and Wangshi made a gesture, bringing Niu Ge and four big relatives with him as the identity of San Yuan County Bo, leaving Chang'an and galloping towards San Yuan County, thus opening the prelude to the agricultural revolution.

  It's quite interesting to talk about those four personal guards. One was called Zhang San, one was called Zhao Si, one was called Wang Er Meng, and one was called Ma Xiao Liu. It's really weak, following by your side should have some momentum, if there is no momentum at all, wouldn't it be ridiculous to call out such names? So Su Ning suddenly had a brilliant idea, giving each of the four men a name that would shake the ages - Zhang Long, Zhao Hu, Wang Chao, Ma Han!

  When the time comes to take matters into one's own hands, making a big show of oneself by shouting "Zhang Long Zhao Hu Wang Chao Ma Han" is quite impressive! However, compared to Bao Quan's lump of charcoal, Suning falls short by more than just a little...