Chapter 106

Chapter 106: The Book of Agriculture

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 4: The End of Zhongping, The Turmoil in Luoyang, Chapter 106: The Book of Agriculture

The reasons Qiao Yan and the system mentioned were, of course, not the whole story.

With an agricultural book in hand, it’s not just about how many lives can be saved during its implementation, but more importantly, how many additional people she can support.

Once the Han dynasty collapses, it’s a feasible task to seize the imperial seal ahead of Sun Jian, or even snatch it from his hands.

However, if Qiao Yan were to select the more skilled farmers from within Bingzhou and then assign them to various counties to teach and instruct, and then rack her brains to come up with methods beneficial for increasing farmland yields, the mental effort required would indeed be too much.

Previously, when she was still confined within Leping, with some time before Liu Hong’s death, she had the leisure to study the “Book on Agricultural Practices” to experiment with pig farming methods and draw tips for field planting. But now that her control has expanded from Leping to the entire Bingzhou region, doing these things would seem rather inappropriate.

Weighing the pros and cons, the result is self-evident.

It would be better to directly exchange the imperial seal, which doesn’t truly represent the mandate of heaven, for agricultural books.

Once the grain yield is sufficient, she could even employ the Xiongnu and Xianbei people as laborers for the two open-pit mines, without having to rely solely on the interests of the Bingzhou noble families to hand over their hidden households responsible for mining.

So, exchange!

Her strategist system is indeed a bit naive. The other side mentioned that stockpiling grain is for rebellion, but it still remembers what Qiao Yan previously said—that her actions were imitating the Governor of Bingzhou, Liang Xi of Cao Wei. It didn’t suspect her of harboring the same thoughts and, upon hearing her decision, went to contact the other party.

This time, there was no need for a three-day search. Soon, it handed the transaction guarantee to Qiao Yan. After she signed the contract, what appeared in her hands was a northern agricultural planting book.

After flipping through a couple of pages, Qiao Yan realized that the transaction she thought was a good deal might have been undervalued.

The book claims to be suitable for northern planting, but it’s only more aligned with the northern environment and climate in terms of seed selection, breeding, farming seasons, and methods. It doesn’t mean the book’s content is limited to that.

Whether due to the host’s experience or the knowledge stored in the farming system, the book contains many records of soil fertilizers.

For example, soil ammonia water and soil sulfuric acid.

The latter doesn’t represent actual sulfuric acid but is equivalent to the fertilizer effect of ammonium sulfate.

Both fertilizers could potentially be produced under Han dynasty conditions.

The somewhat special raw material is just plaster of Paris.

Did the Han dynasty have gypsum? Naturally, it did.

During the Western Han, Liu An, the Prince of Huainan, made tofu using gypsum. The book even thoughtfully notes that there are gypsum mines near Linfen in Shanxi, and if you go a bit further north, you should be able to find some.

This couldn’t be more convenient.

As for the process of turning raw gypsum into plaster of Paris, Qiao Yan still has some impression.

She continued reading the book and found records about compound fertilizers and base fertilizers. The materials for these fertilizers are indeed more troublesome, including animal bones, but this is a nitrogen-ammonium-phosphate compound fertilizer with a high fertilizer effect, sufficient to significantly increase grain yield through slow-release.

Animal bones…

At this point, Qiao Yan’s thoughts involuntarily drifted north.

Where can animal bones be obtained? Apart from the pigs she had raised in Leping, the cattle, sheep, and horses slaughtered by the nomadic tribes during winter—the meat naturally went into the mouths of the Hu people, but what about the bones?

Apart from being made into bone tools, the remaining parts were probably buried in the grasslands.

This is indeed a substantial source!

Compared to the current Bingzhou, where meat is rarely affordable and collecting animal bones is difficult, the Hu people’s meat consumption is entirely due to insufficient crop yields to meet food needs, and they indeed have the environment for herding and breeding, giving them a numerical advantage.

These animal bones, as mentioned in the book, can be made into raw bone meal or defatted bone meal, becoming an important component of fertilizer.

Indeed, it’s necessary to attack those outside the borders!

She calmed her emotions, suppressing the urge to send troops immediately due to the various benefits of attacking the Hu people, and continued reading the book.

Apart from these fertilizers that can be produced under current productivity conditions, various farming tools also have universal significance for both north and south.

Qiao Yan herself is not an expert in farming, so at best, she can only remember the historically significant curved-shaft plow, which she had already tasked the academy’s agricultural specialists to research and produce.

The principle of specialization is indeed correct.

According to the book, seed selection and breeding require at least five to six years, a long and drawn-out process. For short-term results, the most crucial operation is deep plowing.

How to deep plow? It still relies on various farming tools.

It was only through the records in this book that she realized the curved-shaft plow she had ordered to be made was undoubtedly incomplete.

The innovation of the curved-shaft plow isn’t just about changing the straight shaft to a curved one, making it shorter and easier to turn, saving human and animal effort. Another reform is the addition of a plow gauge and plow arrow to adjust the depth of plowing, adapting to different crops and fields.

The book also records another system of intensive farming used with the curved-shaft plow, formed in the northern environment during the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties—the plow-harrow-smoothing technique.

What is plow-harrow-smoothing? After the land is plowed, in the arid northern environment, many clods remain, so first, the plow is used to break the soil, and then the smoother is used to crush it.

The newly added plow gauge and plow arrow on the curved-shaft plow, like the plow itself, are made of wood, and the smoother is just a wooden stick dragged by the shaft. However, the harrow is mostly equipped with iron teeth, like a hoe, making it an iron farming tool.

This brings us back to a problem.

The largest iron mine in Bingzhou is not elsewhere but in Yanmen!

To expand the production of iron farming tools, we still need to attack the Hu people!

The Xianbei people currently entrenched outside Yanmen and Yunzhong have already been somewhat overwhelmed by the joint defense of Zhang Liao, Zhang Yang, and Guo Yun. Not only do they have to guard against internal strife, but they also face the obstruction of fierce generals, making it difficult to carry out their plans of raiding the borders for winter supplies as in previous years. Little would they expect the newly appointed Governor of Bingzhou to have even more terrifying ideas.

She not only wants to attack them to ensure the mining in Yanmen and Dingxiang isn’t disturbed, to increase labor for the open-pit coal mines, to find an excuse for not being able to send troops to Luoyang, to obtain more animal bones for compound fertilizer production, to change the status of her bandits and future prisoners to good citizens—

She still wants to attack them!

Who wouldn’t light a candle for these Hu people upon hearing this?

When Guo Jia was called by Qiao Yan and handed the list of reasons for the three-year policy of attacking the Hu people, he couldn’t help but pause for a moment before slowly shifting his gaze from the paper to Qiao Yan’s face.

He thought he and his friends were quite inhumane in their usual banter, but now it seems this Marquis Qiao is the cream of the crop.

But then again, this is undoubtedly good news for his upcoming plans.

In times of frequent famine, what people would do for a bite to eat might exceed imagination.

To survive, many would resort to eating tree bark, let alone now when they can still have meals.

If this news were spread, informing the martial-minded people of Bingzhou that as long as they can repel the Hu people and plunder…








Come back as captives, haul back the bones of cattle, sheep, and horses from their lands and camps, and you can boost your own farmland’s yield, thereby feeding more people. By tomorrow, a sizable crowd might gather at the prefecture’s gates.

Even without expanding the sources of information, just using these words to motivate the border guards is enough to boost morale.

It also saves Guo Jia a lot of talking.

He wasn’t without doubts about the feasibility of the fertilizers Qiao Yan mentioned, but recalling the widespread use of the field division method in Leping and the resulting fertile fields, he felt Qiao Yan probably wasn’t joking about this. The methods she proposed must be effective.

Since grain is the lifeblood of the people, it might be difficult to get them to immediately choose the base fertilizer made from raw and cooked bone meal. However, other fertilizers, being top dressings, are indeed feasible for promotion within the next year.

Of course, the specifics of how to operate, especially the mining of gypsum, clearly have nothing to do with him.

His target is only the Xiongnu and Xianbei.

He raised the paper in his hand and replied, “With this move, and with Wen Yuan, Zhi Shu, and that Lü Fengxian, I’m not worried. Please, Lord Qiao, await good news.”

Guo Jia, filled with ambition, promised not to act recklessly and set off with Qiao Yan’s plans and appointment letters packed in his luggage.

Qiao Yan, seeing his youthful and driven demeanor, compared it to his earlier state of eating and drinking with Xi Zhicai when he first arrived in Leping, and felt a rare pang of guilt.

But thinking that next year might very well be the last year of peace she would face, she quickly suppressed that guilt.

What’s there to feel guilty about!

Everyone coming to Bingzhou should work hard. If everyone were like Jia Xu, who, despite being clever from a young age and praised by Yan Zhong as having the talent of Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, only thought about self-preservation and muddling through life, that would be a disaster!

With this in mind, Qiao Yan took advantage of Jia Xu accompanying Qin Yu to inspect the prefecture’s storehouses and appointed Jia Xu’s eldest son, Jia Mu, to a temporary position under the prefecture’s recruitment.

Now, among her subordinates, she had mother-son, father-daughter, and father-son pairs.

Additionally, this could be seen as a spur to Jia Xu.

If he didn’t work harder, his son’s position might soon be above his. And if his son made any mistakes, he, as the father, would have to cover for him and offer some advice.

With this thought, she straightforwardly assigned Jia Mu the task of finding and mining gypsum, as well as managing the inventory.

Jia Xu, being low-key and self-preserving, naturally meant Jia Mu had no reputation to speak of. When faced with such a heavy responsibility, Jia Mu was somewhat bewildered as to why he had caught the eye of the new prefect.

But in these times, few were like Jia Xu, thinking only of self-preservation.

Most with some ability and ambition believed in fulfilling whatever tasks the prefecture assigned, and Jia Mu was no exception.

Although mining gypsum was only for fertilizer production, under the agricultural category, it was still a task that required organizing exploration, mining, and inventory management. With Jia Xu currently on official business in Shangdang, Jia Mu, having no one to consult, thought it over and decided to take the position, immediately assuming his duties.

This way, even if Jia Xu felt something was amiss, he clearly had no chance to withdraw his son’s acceptance.

Watching Jia Mu leave, Qiao Yan smiled with relief.

Following Lu Yuan’s earlier suggestion, she first summoned Jia Zihou from the Jiexiu Jia family to inquire about the local situation and hear the advice of this representative of Bingzhou’s reformed figures on current prefectural affairs.

Seeing that Jia Shu, due to his twenty years of sharing burdens with the locals, spoke with substance, Qiao Yan顺势 asked if he would be willing to take on the role of a financial officer in the prefecture.

Also surnamed Jia, this man had been passionate and fearless in his youth, even willing to risk his life for revenge. Now in middle age, his character had greatly changed, but his straightforward temper remained.

Despite his crimes being pardoned thanks to Guo Linzong’s plea, holding an official position was still difficult. Yet, when Qiao Yan extended this invitation, he readily accepted.

Even though Qiao Yan assigned him tasks related to fertilizer classification, such as building fermentation tanks, he showed no signs of slacking.

“Lord Qiao’s foresight in focusing on people’s livelihoods and agriculture is a blessing for Bingzhou’s people,” Jia Shu said.

In fact, the work Qiao Yan assigned also involved some confidential matters.

Building fermentation tanks also required the use of cement.

This locally made cement had lower production standards and, naturally, less strength, requiring maintenance to achieve solid defense. However, it had its advantages, particularly in corrosion resistance, outperforming ordinary cement in water and acid-alkali resistance, often used in underground engineering.

Considering the materials and fermentation process needed for local ammonia and sulfuric acid, locally made cement was undoubtedly the best choice.

Jia Zihou, who had taken on an inspection role but was actually doing practical work, was quite satisfied with the prefecture’s approach and somewhat regretted that Guo Linzong hadn’t lived to see this prefect. He wondered what evaluation Guo would have given.

Qiao Yan was also very pleased with the meeting’s outcome.

As Lu Yuan had said, meeting with familiar noble families first and then Jia Shu sent an effective signal.

This was a sign of respect for Bingzhou’s scholar evaluations and a promotion of reform and good deeds.

The Linghu Shao she met next was, as Lu Yuan had said, a talent in military affairs.

Given Bingzhou’s current staffing needs, talents to fill various gaps were required. After a practical test pitting Linghu’s private soldiers against the White Wave Bandits and hearing his answers on governance, Qiao Yan could confirm that he was indeed more suitable to work under her than Lü Bu at this stage.

Even if his personal combat skills might not rank among the second-tier generals, it didn’t stop Qiao Yan from thinking he was the most suitable candidate for the Shuo Fang County personnel officer position.

With Linghu Shao’s father just taking up the post of Protector of the Wuhuan, and he himself gaining a position in Bingzhou under the prefecture’s favor, it was somewhat surprising.

But considering this prefect had gained her position after defeating the Xiongnu in the north, it seemed reasonable.

After these three rounds, Qiao Yan’s short-term goals had executors in all aspects.

After some thought, she issued another order to transfer Liang Zhongning from Guanglu Pass.

Since the Black Mountain Bandits and White Wave Bandits both flew the Yellow Turban Army’s banner, why shy away from adding the Yellow Turban Army itself?

In essence, the Yellow Turban Rebellion was a desperate move in the face of unlivable conditions. If Bingzhou could increase grain production and ensure people were fed, she really didn’t need to worry about them rebelling against her.

No matter how much Liang Zhongning became a stepping stone in her pacification of the two prefectures’ Yellow Turbans, it didn’t change the fact that he had once been a Yellow Turban leader.

The remaining Yellow Turban followers exiled to the Du Liao General’s camp and those still lurking in various prefectures, likely to rise again after Liu Hong’s death, would need a leader if they fell into her hands during recruitment or rebellion suppression.

Compared to other unfamiliar Yellow Turban leaders, Liang Zhongning, who had once saluted her departure at Guanglu Pass, seemed more suitable in Qiao Yan’s eyes.

Although when he was summoned back by the prefect’s decree and brought to the prefecture, the two couldn’t help but fall into a moment of silence.

Qiao Yan broke the silence first: “Reunited after years, are we enemies or friends, Commander Liang? Have you decided?”