Chapter 264 250: No Title Because the Chapter Number Is Too Subtle

Little known.Productivity of land in ancient times was not high. Besides issues like war, natural disasters, and the limited output due to poor crop varieties, there was another extremely crucial reason.

That reason is the absence of chemical fertilizers in ancient times.

The fertilizers used in ancient Huaxia were basically very crude and low-nutrient density domestic fertilizers.

These were essentially human and animal excrement, at most adding some long-term fermentation processes, commonly known as soaked fertilizer.

Though it's worth mentioning.

Even using such primitive early methods, it was us who began utilizing them before any others among numerous ancient dynasties. Follow current novels on novel•fire.net

While our ancestors bore poles on their shoulders working diligently in the fields, ancient Western dynasties were still cluelessly staring at the excrement within their cities, unsure of how to handle it.

The free practice of throwing excrement among Medieval Europeans persisted for hundreds of years and hadn't changed until the twelfth century, which also provided a cozy breeding ground for the spread of the Black Death.

Otherwise, how do you think high heels and perfumes were invented? (There's a book called "The Smells of the Medieval Times," written by foreigners themselves, if interested, you can go and have a look.)

Across world history, the drainage and excretion systems comparable to ours could only be found within Ancient Greece's Minoan civilization—and it must be acknowledged that the hydraulic foundation of the Minoan civilization was indeed well-established.

In our ancient times, only the Song Dynasty could claim to have surpassed it steadily, and it's hard to find other dynasties that could compete.

Actually, if you were to seek civilizations that, at some nodes, were similar in development to us or even excelled us in certain aspects, you would indeed find a few examples, but without exception, all have become extinct.

The greatness of Huaxia civilization lies not in it being the world's number one but in maintaining its presence within the top echelon while extending its lineage, never severed.

Of course.

This also has something to do with the size of the civilization's territory.

Even in the Mycenaean Kingdom era, which succeeded the Minoan civilization—a so-called Minoan "peak."

Its territory merely covers present-day Crete Island plus the Aegean Sea, the land area is roughly more than nine thousand eight hundred square kilometers.

Yes, less than ten thousand square kilometers.

Whereas even the smallest territory area of our ancient times still starts at more than three hundred thousand square kilometers.

As for the size comparison of both sides' core cities, let's say they're completely on different levels.

Frankly speaking, in terms of city scale, except for Rome, all are inferior.

Therefore, the difference in difficulty regarding the coverage of both sides' hydraulic and excretion facilities is apparent as well.

Returning to the topic of chemical fertilizers.

Perhaps some might wonder.

Why in Chixian City, with a group of transmigrant ancestors, didn't they manage to develop chemical fertilizers?

The reason is simple.

Chemical fertilizers are a foundational yet relatively high-threshold chemical industry; it's tough for non-specialists to climb the technological ladder.

Theoretically, being able to produce chemical fertilizers implies the ability to produce biochemical weapons and medicines.

In that group of transmigrants, there were soldiers, blacksmiths, and teachers, but no chemists.

Under such circumstances, Wei Siming, Cheng Shiqing, and others spent over ten years building a city, yet achieving breakthroughs in chemical fertilizers is indeed difficult.

So Wei Siming and the others can't be blamed for not being proactive; it is indeed beyond their reach.

Locally, the earliest use of chemical fertilizers began in 1963, initially focusing on nitrogen fertilizers, primarily ammonium sulfate and urea.

At the time, we didn't possess the capacity for mass industrial production of ammonium sulfate and urea, thus importing from neighbors who lived poorly and had eyesight issues, and from Europe.

In 1963, we imported 300,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizers, and by 1968 the import peak reached 2.16 million tons, until some sudden day, some individuals made a surprising move, and we suddenly faced bottleneck constraints.

So those predecessors rolled up their sleeves and attempted to produce ammonium sulfate, ammonium carbonate, and urea.

Now, we are the world's largest producer of nitrogen fertilizers.

It's yet another story of being forced to counterstrike; why provoke the rabbit?

And within the agricultural field, once chemical fertilizers are used...the yield is truly upheaval.

The land with and without the use of chemical fertilizers yields one to two times as much per acre easily.

Currently, Shi Yin, who has transformed from a tour guide to an agricultural consultant, is introducing the benefits of chemical fertilizers to Tian Baoceng and others.

Of course.

Things like Jin Ke La are just a joke, at this point, what must be promoted is our own Sinochem Fertilizer, a state-owned enterprise with correct origins:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the parcel of plain-packaged fertilizer in my hand is currently one of the best fertilizers, far better than your home-made soaked fertilizers.

Using this fertilizer, we can ensure that the yield per acre will not be less than three hundred jin!"

Shi Yin's words were like a '1' dropped into a heap of '0's, instantly creating waves.

Before the delegation arrived here, the rabbits merely outlined the number of acres each person could receive, without mentioning the specific output per acre to the farmers.

After all, words alone are unreliable, and without reference to rotary tillers and seeders, it's prone to being perceived as exaggerating.

On the other hand, the farmers didn't inquire much about this.

For within their understanding, farmland was either tillable or untillable.

According to the thoughts of most representatives, including the small thin man, was if the fields seen were dry, cracked soil piles exhausted by double-headed oxen, there's no way they would agree to relocate.

But if the fields seen could barely produce grain, they would go back and tell the people, and everyone would sign and honestly farm.

To speak of expectations, there certainly were some, or else the small thin man wouldn't be eagerly wanting to check the fields.

But at best those expectations were merely the difference between superior fields and inferior fields, with a yield difference of ten to twenty jin per acre.

After all, that's the limit within their understanding.

Therefore, upon suddenly hearing Shi Yin mention a yield of three hundred jin per acre, the representatives had different opinions.

For example, in the region where Tian Baoceng is located, several representatives expressed their views.

"Impossible, how could there be such a high yield?"

The speaker was a seventy-year-old elder, honest and sincere with a hint of shrewdness.

He once served as a village chief in a small village, and is considered fair and reasonable, thus possessing substantial prestige in the delegation, and at this moment, confidently stated:

"I served as a village chief in Donglin City, and my father also served as a chief in Xuchuan City before it was destroyed; inferior fields, superior fields, and supreme fields, I've seen them all, and never has one family's field yielded so high!"

Elderly folks are like this; many things have become ingrained notions, extremely difficult to change.

Beside him, the small thin man who asked about field positions earlier hesitated for a moment, then said:

"Uncle Qian, I trust your words, I too have never seen seeds yield three hundred jin per acre.

But I also think...Huaxia People wouldn't have a reason to deceive us, right?

If they wanted to scam us, couldn't they just force us to press fingerprints or act directly in the city? Why make it so cumbersome?"

Another tall man pondered and said:

"Could it be those people were afraid that acting within the city would scare off other city dwellers, so they led us here...just like cutting chives, growing one batch and cutting one batch, city folks would be the chives' uninterrupted roots?"

Hearing this, Tian Baoceng, who had remained relatively quiet, couldn't help but speak up:

"Brother, do you know how many people applied for the 'Return To Homeland Plan' this time?"

Seeing the man shake his head, Tian Baoceng gestured a number:

"Over thirteen thousand!

Even if the Huaxia People wanted to do something, could they quietly swallow over a thousand people?

We are out of the city to farm, casually coming back to check on the city.

According to your cutting chives analogy...if our batch were cut down, wouldn't over thirteen thousand people not one return to the city, and others in the city not notice any irregularities?

"That makes sense..."

The village chief elder stroked his beard, and said:

"But yielding three hundred jin per acre, I've never heard such a thing in my lifetime."

Seeing the voices of discussion growing louder, vaguely showing signs of losing control, Shi Yin quickly gave a nod to the service personnel beside.

Soon, the service personnel came over carrying several baskets of rice ears.

......

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