Even among the villagers in the Tui Guogong Mansion, not everyone can use iron farm tools. When digging fish ditches, Shi Zhongkui saw that 7 to 80 people out of hundreds were using wooden hoes, shovels and other farm tools.

Low productivity was the main reason for low grain output in ancient times, and this is not a problem that one person can solve in a short time.

At the beginning of May, a week after the rice had been planted, Shi Zhongkui, who was studying at the farm and practicing for more than 10 days, suddenly heard from Shun'er that Yu Honggao was at the experimental field.

When they arrived at the field, they did not expect that in addition to Yu Honggao, his son and Shi Guangzhu, there were at least 30 squires in landscape robes and more than a hundred followers standing around.

There was even a green-robed official from the sixth rank beside Yu Honggao, and there was another official in the same green robe and two red-robed officials of the fifth rank and above.

Looking through the crowd, he saw Jia Lian and Jia Baoyu standing next to a red-robed official. Shi Zhongkui knew at a glance that this man must be Jia Zheng.

Another high probability is also an official from the Ministry of Industry.

Sure enough, after Shi Zhongkui approached, Yu Honggao introduced him. In addition to the fifth-rank official, Lang Jiazheng, from the Ministry of Works, the other one was Gao Yongmin, the fifth-rank doctor from the Tuntian Division of the Ministry of Works.

As for the seventh-rank green-robed official, it was no surprise that he was a neighbor of Duke Tui's Mansion, and Yang Wenqin was appointed seventh-rank official in the Ministry of Rites.

I was originally worried that the man named Yang was looking for trouble, but when I saw that he and Yu Honggao were having a good chat, I couldn't help but sigh that they were both actors.

Jia Zheng seemed like a good old man. After Shi Zhongkui saluted everyone, he took the initiative to call him "Uncle Shi" because of his friendship with Jia Lian and Jia Baoyu.

He was the first to speak, "My good nephew, this move will benefit the country and the people, but as long as the fish can be raised in the first experiment, it is a meritorious service. Don't overdo it."

After Shi Zhongkui bowed and thanked him, he smiled and said, "Uncle Shi, please rest assured. My nephew knows that this kind of land depends first on the sky, secondly on the fertility of the land, and thirdly on the careful management of the farmers, so he is not boasting, and even more so

I never thought of using this as a way to claim credit.”

"Yes, this saying of relying on heaven for food has been around since ancient times. My nephew thinks so, and it couldn't be better."

Although Jia Zheng was from an aristocratic family and was obsessed with the Four Books and Five Classics, since he served in the Ministry of Industry, he still understood this simple truth after more than ten years.

After everyone else nodded, Shi Zhongkui continued, "Farmer manure is beneficial to the growth of crops. I believe that not only farmers for generations understand this, but it has also been clearly stated in ancient books.

However, this compost is very finicky. If you accidentally use too much fertilizer, or if the fertilizer is not handled properly during fermentation, the crops can easily be burned to death.

Raising fish in the field can not only use the fish to eat weeds and pests, but the fish in the rice field can also provide stable and long-term fish fertilizer for the farmland.

Carp and grass carp can also often turn over the silt in the farmland, making it easier for the rice seeds to absorb the fertilizer in the field, which can be said to have all the benefits without any harm."

When the few officials from the Ministry of Industry who followed him heard this, they nodded immediately.

When Jia Zheng and others saw the old officials in the Ministry of Industry nodding, they gradually began to believe in Shi Zhongkui.

"But once there is not enough water in the fields, how can we raise fish?"

Shi Zhongkui pointed to the well-shaped fish ditch, "One acre of land loses 5 points of land. Digging this fish ditch will not only store water for rice, but also provide a living place for fish fry."

If even the fish ditches were dried up, I believe that other people’s fields in the outside world would have dried up long ago. This is a natural disaster that cannot be resisted by manpower."

Gao Yongmin nodded slightly, "It's just that it's really difficult to fully promote this method."

Shi Zhongkui frowned after hearing this. Could it be that Gao Yongmin and others hadn't heard that there were people in the south who had been raising fish in rice fields for a long time, or that this model didn't exist in the world?

No, Jia Baoyu has read it in ancient books.

Maybe it can only be used. The ancients have never seen it with their own eyes and no one dares to try it.

Coupled with the poor flow of information, except for traveling traders, the knowledge of the ancients was actually very small.

Many things that modern people think are common and taken for granted were novel and incomprehensible to the ancients.

"Sir, the students never thought of spreading it to the whole world from the beginning."

When Gao Yongmin and others heard this, they immediately frowned.

Shi Zhongkui sighed and said, "Fish farming is a delicate job after all. Most farmers don't know how to raise fish, and they can't bear the risk of failure.

Moreover, this method is derived from what students saw in ancient books and made some improvements. It not only takes time to check whether it is reasonable, but also to avoid doing bad things with good intentions.

It’s not that the students don’t want to do their best. The students have also been poor and know that for ordinary farmers whose families only have three to five acres of land, following the old rules and taking things step by step is the safest approach.

Therefore, the students did not make any public announcements. They just thought that if they succeed here, they will be like the gentry whose ancestors in the family managed the business well and left hundreds or thousands of acres of property. If they use a few acres of land to experiment, even if the production is reduced, the impact will not be big.

Moreover, if you want to raise fish in rice fields, you need sufficient water sources. This method excludes more than 80% of the fields in the north from the beginning.

But once this method is feasible, students believe that many squires in the world will be more willing to spend money to repair ditches and benefit the countryside.

Once it becomes popular in the south, which is most suitable for promotion, it will not be difficult to increase the supply of hundreds of thousands of shi of food for the imperial court every year."

Gao Yongmin, Jia Zheng, Yu Honggao, Yang Wenqin, and several other officials from the Ministry of Industry looked at each other, and they all saw the ecstasy in each other's eyes.

If we can really increase food by 20%, it won't be a matter of hundreds of thousands of dan, but millions of dan.

Although the land tax collected by the imperial court differed from north to south and from province to province, on average it was almost one out of ten.

According to the calculation of one tael of silver per stone and meter at this time, it is equivalent to creating millions of taels of silver for the world.

Not to mention that his merits are immeasurable, but at least he has contributed to the imperial court.

And according to Shi Zhongkui, the people who benefit the most from this move must be the official and gentry groups like them.

As a doctor specializing in farming, Gao Yongmin was of course the happiest.

Once you make great achievements in the farming work in the north, you will definitely be promoted.

He passed directly over Yu Honggao and said to Shi Zhongkui, "I would like to request the imperial court to perform meritorious service for you."

"I dare not," Shi Zhongkui said in a hurry, "This method has been around since ancient times, and students are just improvers. And firstly, it has not been successful. Secondly, thanks to the great blessings of two saints, the world is peaceful and the people are safe, so students have the opportunity to practice it.

Third, this matter still needs the help and care of adults.

In the end, without the trust and guidance of the teacher and the funding from the government, no matter how many ideas the students have, they are just castles in the air."

"Hahaha", Gao Yongmin and others couldn't help laughing and being satisfied when they saw that Shi Zhongkui had made it clear that he would give credit to everyone.

As for him flattering the emperor and the supreme emperor, most people not only thought it was okay, but secretly lamented that he already knew the principles of being an official at the age of 20.
Chapter completed!