Although the area of this experimental field was not very large, fortunately, the terrain was quite flat and there was almost no topography. At first glance, it could be seen that it had evolved from a sandbar formed by the impact of sand and sand a long time ago.
The sea had turned into mulberry fields, and the river back then should have changed. Now, there was only a small river here. Ang Lee asked people to dig irrigation canals and use the water from the small river.
These ditches were horizontal and vertical, evenly dividing this small piece of land into sixteen small blocks. Each small block was six mu of land, so sixteen blocks were ninety-six mu of land. Just a little bit more and it would reach one hundred mu.
The six mu of land was divided by ridges. The width of the ridges was very small and could only allow one person to walk normally. If two people met, they would have to give way to each other.
In addition, the irrigation ditches and small roads were arranged parallel to each other. Beside each irrigation ditch was a small road that could allow two horses to pass side by side. Normal agricultural vehicles could pass through it smoothly. This was also to facilitate the transportation of agricultural products when harvesting in the future.
There were many soldiers in the Tang dynasty, but the purpose of Ang Lee's experimental field was to show the local people. Therefore, the trivial work of digging canals and paving roads were all done by the local people. Of course, they did not do it for free. All the people who came to work could get a certain amount of wages. At the same time, they could eat a full meal at the construction site. No matter how they looked at it, they would not lose money.
For the local people who were richer, this work might not be very attractive, but for the very poor people, it was a very worthwhile work.
With the first group of people receiving wages, the reputation of the Tang dynasty was recognized. Soon, many people from different places came to help with the work.
Of course, the people who were too far away would not come. They were all people who lived dozens of miles away. Since they had nothing to do, since there was delicious food and wages, why would they not come?
When digging the canals, they found that the digging tools of the Tang dynasty were much more advanced than theirs. It was very easy to dig the soil. The route set was also very reasonable. The officials of the Tang dynasty were also very particular. No one had a chance to be lazy.
After the ditch was dug, it was time to plow and plant. Because there were many acres of land, they could plant many different kinds of crops.
Ang Lee's plan was very simple. Since he had 96 mu of land, he would plant 96 kinds of crops and experiment with which kind of crops the climate here was suitable for.
Before planting, one needed to plow the land. As long as the land was plowed well, the yield would be higher. If the land was not plowed well, then the yield would be much lower than expected.
There were also some local people who were farmers, but they didn't know what farming was. They used very poor tools to dig a hole in the ground and sprinkle some seeds. It was no wonder that the output of the land couldn't keep up, so not many people were willing to be farmers.
As for the cows and horses in their hands, most of them were used to transport goods and not to plow the land. Moreover, the hooves of cows and horses could not plow the land. They did not invent the plow, so even if they had cows and horses, they could not use them.
As for the plow brought by the Tang dynasty, it was the curved plow that Ang Lee developed first. It was an advanced plow that only needed one cow to plow the land.
It was not very difficult to operate the curved plow. Even the local people who lacked farming genes could learn how to use the curved plow in a day and plow the 96 mu of land very well.
There were many kinds of local crops, and there were more seeds brought by the Tang dynasty. There were also many seeds from America and Australia. These could be planted locally to see if they could germinate and survive, and then to see how the yield and disease resistance were.
Sweet potatoes, corn, potatoes, sorghum, wheat, rice, yams, peanuts, tomatoes, peppers, and other crops all needed to be planted. None of them could be missed.
Among them, some crops could be planted directly with seeds, such as wheat, but there were also some crops that could not be planted in this way. They needed to be planted, such as corn.
It was easy to plant the seeds directly. They could be directly sowed with a barrow. As for the planted crops, they needed to be planted in the corner of an mu of land first. After they sprouted and grew up, they could be transplanted and planted.
The effect of planting crops was very slow. It was not as if the crops would grow tomorrow if they were planted today. The waiting time was very long. However, for a long-term plan, it was still necessary to develop planting. Otherwise, if they relied on fishing and hunting, the source of food would be too unreliable. Moreover, vitamins mainly came from vegetables. Animals and fish could not supplement these needs.
Among all the crops planted, cabbage should be the one with the fastest effect. The growth cycle of this plant was very short. It could be eaten very quickly. It could be on the table in 20 days at the fastest. Ang Lee would need to stay in the subcontinent for no less than a month. Therefore, Ang Lee might be able to eat the newly planted cabbage.
The sweet potato seedlings had been cultivated long ago. They were cultivated on Ang Lee's ship. Now that they had been contributed, it was believed that in a few months, they would be able to bear huge sweet potatoes.
The local people were relatively inexperienced. They had never seen so many seeds. They were only responsible for the work, but they did not know what crops these seeds represented.
Ang Lee did not let his subordinates explain these crops. As long as these crops grew up, the local people would naturally know. Through such experimental field activities, the local people had already understood the importance of agriculture and realized that the agricultural level of the Tang dynasty was far beyond their level.
"Assistant Minister Li, look, it's only been a few days and this large piece of land has already been planted. In a few months, this place will have a completely different appearance."
The subordinate looked at the 96 mu field excitedly and said.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "That's right. This experimental field has been done very well under the guidance of the local people and the officials of the Tang dynasty. In a few months, there will be results. However, we can't wait for that day. At most, two months! We have to continue to the west. The distant Africa is still waiting for us. "
"Yes! There are too many places we have to go along the way. However, if we come back at the right time, we may be able to catch up with the harvest here. "
The subordinate replied.
Ang Lee nodded approvingly. Looking at the forest in the distance, he said, "The Lion Kingdom has many oceans and forests, so there are many fish and game in the sea. This is also the reason why they like fishing and hunting. However, the output of fishing and hunting will never be as good as that of farming and animal husbandry. Moreover, if the population increases in the future, it may not be able to support them. Therefore, it is necessary to develop farming and animal husbandry. When these people learn how to farm and animal husbandry, they will give up many of their ancestors' lifestyles and thoroughly admire the Tang dynasty, turning themselves into a part of the Tang dynasty."
In the Tang dynasty, the Hua Xia people were the main ethnic group. However, the biggest reason why the Hua Xia people could become the main ethnic group was that the Hua Xia people were tolerant. They could constantly absorb the surrounding ethnic groups and form a stronger force. For example, the royal family of the Tang dynasty had a certain amount of Xianbei blood, so they could not be pure Hua Xia people. In addition, there were many aristocrats in the Tang dynasty who had a certain amount of ethnic minority blood. However, after the integration, they all became the Hua Xia people and had long forgotten their original lifestyles.
Since the ethnic groups near the Tang dynasty could be integrated, and the ethnic groups far away in the overseas could also be gradually integrated, as long as the Tang dynasty could bring them enough benefits, they would not refuse to integrate into the Tang dynasty.
Farming and animal husbandry was a kind of habit. Many habits needed to be cultivated. In order to make the local people yearn for the culture of the Tang dynasty, they must first learn what the people of the Tang dynasty did.
The experimental field of planting had already begun. Naturally, the next step was to do some farming and teach some of the local people about farming techniques so that they would not have to work so hard to go hunting in the forest.
The local people also farmed some animals, but the number was very small and the management was very unscientific. The output could not keep up, so the cost was too high and there was not much commercial value.
Because there was too little farming, the price of meat was high. Many of the poorest people could only rely on fish in the sea to fill their stomachs.
The taste of meat and fish were different. People would get tired of eating fish all the time, but eating meat occasionally would make people feel very happy.
Hunting for meat was much more difficult than fishing for fish, especially in the Lion Kingdom, which was close to the sea. Fishing and picking up small fish at low tide were always the most reliable ways to get food. This led to the high price of game, and the meat of wild animals was more expensive than that of domesticated animals.
In order to let the poor eat meat, Ang Lee believed that it was necessary to immediately carry out farming activities in the local area. With the help of the local rich plant resources, a large-scale farming program must be carried out.
Ang Lee casually surveyed the area and found that the local forest was very dense, with a lot of shrubs and grass. It was a good place with rich natural resources. In such a place, if there was not a farming industry, it would be a waste of God's gift.
What kind of animal was the fastest to reduce in size and let the poor ordinary people eat meat as soon as possible? Of course, it was rabbits. The breeding speed of these animals was very shocking and could be called abnormal.
A rabbit could give birth to more than a dozen little rabbits in a litter. Moreover, they could give birth to another litter after a month. The reproduction speed was super fast. Moreover, the little rabbits could reproduce when they were half a year old. This reproduction speed was incomparable to animals like pigs and sheep.
As long as there was enough food, the breeding speed of rabbits could increase exponentially. Especially in the later stages, when the population increased, the breeding speed could be said to be terrifying.
If rabbits were accidentally allowed to live in the grassland without natural predators, then it would be a complete disaster. In a few years, the grassland would be completely occupied by rabbits. A large number of rabbit holes would completely occupy the grassland. Looking from afar, the densely packed rabbits were like ants in an ant's nest. There were so many of them that it was impossible to count.
In Ang Lee's memory, in the Australian grassland, there were no natural predators that ate rabbits. However, rabbits were carelessly brought to Australia by humans and accidentally released.
Originally, it was just a rabbit that ran away, so no one was surprised. However, many years later, they were dumbfounded. These few rabbits that ran away completely changed the landscape of Australia. The rabbits that ran all over the mountains and plains made the very beautiful grassland full of holes.
Many gentlemen originally liked to ride horses on the grassland, but their noble horses would always fall into rabbit holes and break their legs. In this way, no matter how noble the horse was, it was useless. This made the gentlemen very angry, and they had to use the big killing machine invented by humans to deal with these annoying rabbits. The machine gun was not a machine gun.
A machine gun's barrage was no joke. Just a burst of bullets could kill a large number of rabbits. Many people carried their machine guns and killed too many rabbits. Indeed, they killed a lot of rabbits, but the reproduction ability of rabbits was too strong. The speed of killing could not keep up with the reproduction speed of the rabbits. As a result, the more they killed, the more rabbits there were. In the end, they had no choice but to use the very unkind ultimate weapon, poison. They sprinkled poison on the grass, causing a lot of rabbits to be poisoned to death. Only then did they slow down the rabbit disaster to a certain extent.
Of course, the super reproductive ability of rabbits was only one of the reasons why there was a rabbit disaster in Australia. Another reason was that the grassland in Australia was very fertile, and rabbits could find enough food. In addition, the rabbits in Australia had no natural predators. There was no corresponding natural predator animal to control their numbers, which eventually led to the tragedy.
Not to mention rabbits, even goats with a very average reproductive ability had to be shot by snipers to control their numbers because of the increase in their numbers in Australia, which destroyed the ecological balance.
The number of supply ships in the Tang Dynasty fleet led by Ang Lee was the largest. Among them, there were supply ships for food and water, as well as ships for fuel. Of course, there were also some supply ships for living animals, such as chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits.
After all, in this era, food could be preserved for a long time, but meat was more difficult to preserve. The best way to preserve meat was to keep the animals alive and cook them when they needed to be slaughtered. This way, the meat would be the most delicious.
In order to maintain the lives of these living animals, all the supply ships stocked a lot of corresponding food, such as feed for chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, hay for rabbits, and so on.
Even if a large number of living animals were stocked, it could only satisfy the enjoyment of high-ranking officials such as Ang Lee. Ordinary soldiers could only eat food. Ordinary soldiers could only go ashore to eat fresh meat when they entered the port. Therefore, ordinary soldiers hated drifting at sea for a long time. They liked to enter the port so that they could eat meat freely.
"How many rabbits do we have?"
Ang Lee asked with concern.
"Assistant Minister Li, we have the most rabbits. It's estimated that there are 2,000 of them, and at least 1,000 female rabbits."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
