Chapter 362 Scenery
Rolling heat waves swept from the fields.
The people, facing the loess and backs to the sky, had their clothes soaked with sweat, but it still couldn't stop their enthusiasm for the harvest.
Zhao Xu nodded in agreement with Liu Fu's words.
Although the people had to pay 10% of taxes, it was really a drop in the bucket compared to the harvest.
Even if food and drink were excluded, there would be a surplus at the end of the year.
Moreover, many people participated in the construction of the fortress before.
These people made a lot of money, and now they returned from Wu'an County to the countryside to harvest wheat during the summer harvest.
They made money and harvested grain without delay.
It can be said that among the people in the four counties at present, they are richer.
However, the construction of the fortress only requires a small number of people, which cannot achieve his goal of making the people in the four counties generally rich and building infrastructure at the same time.
Thinking of his large infrastructure plan, he said to Liu Fu: "After the summer harvest, infrastructure will be put on the agenda."
Liu Fu nodded, the word infrastructure is not unfamiliar to him.
The Prince of Yan had mentioned it many times in the government affairs school and explained it to them in detail.
He also knew clearly what its role was.
Even in the school, the Prince of Yan asked the officials to list the infrastructure needed by the four counties.
"Yes, Your Highness." Liu Fu was excited. This time he did not cry poor.
He knew that the Prince of Yan made a lot of money from selling cannons.
Moreover, the monthly income of the Chamber of Commerce is very stable, and the income of the palace is growing.
These silvers are piled up in the warehouse, so it is better to use them for infrastructure.
It can lay the foundation for the development of industry and commerce in the four counties, make the people rich, and stimulate the development of commerce in the four counties.
Of course, this change of mind did not come out of thin air, but was related to his frequent attendance at the school.
Now he understands a lot of things, such as the Prince of Yan explained to the officials why he should attach importance to commerce? What is industry? What is the economic principle of infrastructure?
Most importantly, the Prince of Yan told them that the earth is round, not square.
This point was criticized by many officials in the school at that time.
For this reason, the King of Yan took officials to Jinghai County a few days ago.
He also ordered a fishing boat to sail out to sea.
When the fishing boat returned, they were asked to observe the sails of the boat with a telescope.
At this time, they found that they saw the sails first and then the hull.
Since then, no official has questioned the King of Yan.
And this was just a small topic that the King of Yan casually inserted when he was talking about government affairs in the government affairs school.
The King of Yan would come up with such a small topic from time to time, and the shocked officials doubted their lives as the King of Yan said.
"The people in the four northern counties are the most miserable. Waiting for Your Highness is really a gift from God. From now on, the people will not only be able to eat enough and wear warm clothes, but also have extra money to drink a little wine." Liu Fu sighed.
"What's this? This king will also let everyone be able to afford silk and satin, and the children of the people's families will have money to study, and they can eat meat every now and then." Zhao Xu looked at the people sweating in the fields.
In a contemporary book called "Memories of Wool", it is recorded that in the English countryside in the 18th century, people lived in brick cottages with red tile roofs, wore woolen clothes, leather shoes, and ate white bread.
In addition, the food category of a farmer's family expenses also included flour, oatmeal, root vegetables, vegetables, broad beans, peas, fruits, milk, butter, cheese, meat, salt, beer, imported goods, vinegar, spices, etc.
The 18th century was from 1700 to 1800.
It can be seen what kind of living standard the Western society at that time achieved through industry and global colonization.
Thinking of this, he just felt that the hardworking people in his own land should not be exhausted and eventually couldn't even wear pants.
He had to let them reach a similar standard of living, or even higher.
"If this is the case, I will die without regrets." Liu Fu heard this and showed a look of longing.
But he was just looking forward to it, and didn't think that the four counties would really be like this in the future.
After all, since ancient times, the people have never lived like this.
Zhao Xu could see that Liu Fu didn't believe him, so he didn't explain.
After all, Liu Fu had never seen the material prosperity brought by the industry after the promotion of steam engines.
He didn't explain either, and everything was more shocking with facts.
Walking around Fushi Village, basically the people were busy.
Either cutting wheat or carrying wheat to the village threshing ground to thresh wheat.
When the village head Fan Zheng learned that Zhao Xu was coming, he came over with a broken straw hat.
Just as he was about to salute, Zhao Xu waved his hand and told him not to salute.
"How is the septic tank in the village?" Zhao Xu asked.
This was an order Zhao Xu gave to Liu Fu in the school after the local fertilizer incident, asking every village and every household to dig a septic tank.
Local fertilizer can only be used nearby at present, otherwise the cost is too high and it is not cost-effective.
Unless a steam engine is built in the future and steamships are used to transport it on the river.
This local fertilizer can be circulated in the four counties.
But local fertilizer is only one way, and another way to ferment fertilizer is the septic tank.
He asked government officials to go to Fushi Village and the workshop area to provide cement, blue bricks, dig soil, and use blue bricks to build a square pond in it, and then apply cement on the surrounding surface.
Due to the characteristics of cement, such a pond is very solid and will not leak.
Usually, the people are asked to throw human and animal feces, burnt grass ash, rotten vegetable leaves, and fallen tree leaves into it for composting.
In this way, before sowing each season, the people can fertilize their land to ensure the harvest.
As for the methane generated by the septic tank, he has no idea as it cannot be used for the time being.
Now, Fushi Village is a pilot project. Next, the government will ask county officials to visit and promote it to other counties.
"Go back to your highness, it's half finished." Fan Zheng said.
This Dongxifu Yamen provided people and money, saying that it could provide fertilization, so naturally no one objected.
Every family is very cooperative.
Zhao Xu nodded and took Liu Fu and other officials to a commoner's home.
At this time, several masons were busy in the fenced courtyard of the common people's house.
The septic tank was built between the hut and the pig pen, with cement pipes connecting the two places.
Plant ash, leaves and other things can be thrown in through the upper lid.
In this way, a perfect retting system is formed.
Of course, if people don’t raise pigs at home, the same goes for other animals.
After a brief look, and then visiting some other houses, Zhao Xu left with satisfaction.
Septic tanks are not backward even in modern times.
In the 1980s and 1990s, it was still popularized in rural areas, and it had little technical content.
It is very suitable to promote it in the four counties.
This will not only make the countryside more hygienic but also reduce diseases caused by mess.
It can also provide fertilizers for farmland to each household, basically killing two birds with one stone.
Back at the government office, it was getting dark.
Zhao Xu discussed the irrigation problem with Liu Fu again.
Retting is to increase the yield per mu, and irrigation is to allow more land to be irrigated.
This will expand the amount of fertile farmland in the four counties.
After all, fields that cannot be irrigated also cannot have a good harvest.
This problem must be solved in infrastructure construction.
He wanted to divert water from the rivers in the four counties and build a network of canals.
In a few years, irrigation and fertilization will be shared, and he believes that the agriculture of the four counties will be as good as that of Jiangnan.