allonlinenovel Chapter 187 If you have a need, find Zhu Biao.
Chapter 187 If you have a need, find Zhu Biao.
So-called silkworm paper is a relatively sturdy paper, about 16-page size, commonly known as kraft paper or hemp paper. The production process is simple, mainly made of tree bark, hemp and other materials. After the silkworm moths mature, they lay their eggs on the kraft paper prepared by the silkworm farmers. Each sheet of silkworm paper contains about 20,000 to 30,000 silkworm eggs.
When the mulberry leaves begin to grow, silkworm farmers can cover the silkworm paper with a warm cloth to supplement the warmth and help the silkworm eggs hatch.
When the silkworms first hatch, they are not even the size of a grain of rice. The silkworm farmers need to use finely shaved but not too sharp chopsticks to pick up the hatched silkworms and put them into the silkworm rearing basket. At the same time, they also need to prepare mulberry leaves for the silkworms. The mulberry leaves must be kept clean. Mulberry leaves that are close to the road or have a lot of dust need to be washed and then wiped dry with a cloth before being placed in a cool place to cool.
When it's time to feed the silkworms, the silkworm farmers must chop the mulberry leaves. They won't eat if they're not chopped, or if the leaves are too dry. They also won't eat if the chopped leaves are left out for a little too long. These delicate creatures are prone to diarrhea and may even die suddenly.
What's worse is that silkworms in their early stages need to be fed four to six times a day. It's not until they reach the later stages that the feeding frequency can be reduced to about three or four times a day. The difference between reducing and reducing the frequency isn't very noticeable. At this stage, a small silkworm needs to eat about two mulberry leaves a day.
Then, as the silkworms grow bigger day by day, they will soon enter the "growing period" of "eating old food". This stage is similar to the growth stage of humans, where "a half-grown boy eats his father out of house and home". It is the period of rapid growth for silkworms and the stage when they are about to spin cocoons and become pupae. Their demand for mulberry leaves will increase dramatically. If a dozen baskets of silkworms are raised in a room, during the "eating old food" stage, the sound of the silkworms eating mulberry leaves will be as loud as rain.
At this stage, silkworms eat about ten mulberry leaves every day.
Then, these delicate ancestors will begin to spin cocoons, become pupae, and then break out of the cocoons to become silkworm moths.
So here's the question: Since raising silkworms is so troublesome, is it okay not to raise them?
No!
For local officials like Yang Shaofeng, the most important job responsibility was to "encourage agriculture and sericulture." Agriculture refers to spring plowing, summer planting, and autumn harvest, while sericulture refers to planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms. This was because the imperial court would collect silkworm silk when collecting taxes, which was known as "summer tax on raw silk." Even if the common people were unwilling to raise silkworms, local officials had to find ways to "encourage" them to do so.
Currently, Ningyang County has mulberry trees and saplings, but due to Xu Da and Chang Yuchun's northern expedition and the drought in the first year of Hongwu's reign, Ningyang County lacks silkworm paper. Magistrate Yang has to send people all the way to Jiangnan to purchase it. After the official start of silkworm rearing, Magistrate Yang will have to keep going to various communities and neighborhoods to inspect the silkworm farmers and ensure that there are no problems with the silkworm rearing project.
The more he thought about it, the more his head ached. Magistrate Yang simply shook his head slightly to banish all these chaotic thoughts from his mind, and then turned his gaze to the people who were driving oxen to plow the fields.
Plowing the land is just the beginning of spring planting.
The so-called plowing is the process of using oxen to pull a plow to plough the land. The purpose of this process is to turn crop residues, weeds, and fertilizers into the soil and clean the surface of the tilled layer.
After plowing, the next step is to use a harrow, or harrow plow, to level the land and remove large clods of soil. This process can also involve oxen and horses, and children around ten years old in ordinary families also participate. Their role is to sit on the harrow and press the harrow teeth into the soil to break up the larger clods of soil.
After these two steps are completed, the farmers will use hoes, rakes and other farm tools to level the land again. During this process, they will break up any slightly larger clods of soil left over from the rakeing process, and pick out and throw away small stones and grass roots left on the surface of the land.
Then comes turning over the ridges, building up the walls, digging holes and sowing seeds, and then watering.
In addition, farmers also need to use small hoes or flat hoes to turn over the soil and remove weeds in the fields where winter wheat is planted. This is generally called weeding.
Whether it's starting spring plowing on land that's been idle all winter or planting weeds in the soil around winter wheat, the ultimate goal is the same: first, to loosen the soil, making it easier to receive and store rainwater, promoting the conversion of potential nutrients in the soil into available nutrients, and encouraging the extension of crop roots; second, to remove as many weeds as possible, allowing the winter wheat to absorb as much of the soil's fertility as possible; and third, to bury weed seeds, underground rhizomes, fungal spores, and insect egg masses deep in the soil, inhibiting their growth and reproduction.
Throughout the spring plowing process, except when driving oxen to plow the land, using sleds to harrow the land, and sowing seeds, one can straighten up slightly. For the rest of the farm work, one has to work with a bent back. There is no chance to straighten up all day long. Even the sweat on one's forehead will not flow down to the neck, but will fall directly to the ground. Hence the saying, "Sweat drops fall like eight pieces."
Even so, it was thanks to the cattle and horses bestowed upon Ningyang County by Emperor Zhu Chongba that the county could have been managed. Otherwise, people would have had to pull the plows, which would have truly meant using women like men and men like livestock.
More importantly, in Ningyang County, almost every household now raises chickens and ducks, and occasionally they can eat an egg or duck egg to nourish their bodies. This alone accounts for more than 90% to 99% of the population.
Magistrate Yang stared blankly at the people working, already pondering whether it was time to develop the five small industries.
Therefore, the five small industries refer to five types of industrial enterprises: small steel, small coal mines, small machinery, small cement, and small fertilizer. The five small industries have their own special historical context, but in the context of the Ming Dynasty, these five small industries are the first step that can propel the Ming Dynasty into industrialization.
Then, Magistrate Yang set his sights on Zhu Biao.
Although I am a disgrace to the time traveler, knowing nothing about steelmaking, iron smelting, mining, or coal mining, and completely clueless about small machinery and fertilizers, there are tens of millions of people in the entire Ming Dynasty. Surely there must be one or two who know about these things?
If you need anything, ask Zhu Biao. If Zhu Biao can't handle it, you can ask his father for help.
In a project, I would be the project manager responsible for proposing ideas, while Zhu Biao and his father would be the human resources team responsible for building the team. Once they had gathered all the necessary personnel, I would transform into the product manager responsible for leading the team to achieve the desired results, and Zhu Biao and his father would become the client responsible for the final acceptance.
Look at what a perfect combination!