Heli Anzheng four years (1857), spring.

　　According to the rules, the princes of the world gathered again to congratulate the General Tokugawa Isaiah on the New Year, and presented the sword as a congratulatory gift. However, due to special circumstances last year, the congratulatory ceremony was changed to a worship service instead of going forward by roll call. After finally stealing the lazy Tokugawa Iamatsu, he was unwilling to sit for another three or four hours, and announced that it would be easy to visit the shrine this year.

　　 And this year, there is still a reason. Last year, the princes accepted the shogunate, or in fact, after the Tokugawa Kogyo Co., Ltd.'s 1.25 million tael disaster relief loan. Shigeru Nara dispatched a large number of men to start a nationwide investigation of the sericulture industry.

　　 Silkworm breeding is a simple thing. One flapping moth can lay hundreds of eggs and can easily expand the population. The main problem is still concentrated on the mulberry tree. Because since the eighth-generation general Ji Zonggong, a large number of mulberry trees in the country have been cut down, and it has not been fully recovered until now.

　　 So now it is not only in the heavens, but the vassal kingdoms are also persuading the people to plant mulberry trees in order to expand the silk industry in the future. Part of the mountain forests that were originally used for refining charcoal or used as beams have gradually been replaced with mulberry trees.

　　Many of the previous dry fields had poor water conservancy conditions, so they were all replaced with mulberry mu. The most typical is the Shinshu Matsushiro clan, which has many mountainous areas. The only paddy fields are concentrated along the banks of rivers such as Chikuma River and Sagawa River and on small alluvial plains. There are a lot of slopes and dry land with poor water conditions in the territory.

　　 This time, with the great promotion of the ruling old Sakuma Xiangshan, all the land that could only be grown for miscellaneous grains was replaced with mulberry fields, and it was planned to rely on sericulture to produce silk to revitalize the industry in the region.

　　Different opinions certainly exist. Some conservative people think that this will lead to a reduction in food production, while others think that this will make the people lazy. There are all kinds of opinions anyway.

　　 If the shogunate directly came forward and forced the promotion, this matter would really be quite difficult, and 100% of people would not want it. But the vassals borrowed a huge sum of 1.25 million taels of gold from the shogunate. No matter how big objections they have, they can only hold back.

　　 After all, the shogunate has a tradition of "lending loans"!

　　 The most typical example is that when the eighth-generation Shogun Yoshizong was the lord of Kishu, the Kishu family borrowed one hundred thousand taels from the shogunate to cover the expenses of the previous wedding, reception, and disaster relief. When Xuan Gong, the sixth-generation general, came to power, he immediately gave him a "loan" and demanded to repay one third of the loan, which is 33,333 taels.

　　 It is said that this incident almost killed Tokugawa Yoshizong. He emptied the clan treasury and was unable to repay the shogunate's loan. As long as you don't pay it back, the shogunate has a reason to cut you off.

　　 Incomplete protection. Now Ii Naobe wants to find two people who are not afraid of death, to verify whether your brain is hard or the shogunate’s gun is fast.

　　 Therefore, no matter how big the opposition is in the domain, the daimyo and the family elders of the domains must first be evil and take care of the matter. Even if you want to object, at least wait until the loan is paid off before jumping out to object.

　　 Today, taking advantage of everyone's presence, after a brief visit, Chuemon will call the princes as usual to discuss silkworm promotion. With the relatively powerful promotion of the Shogunate's central government, and the cooperation of local feudal vassals, whether out of intent or forced, the sericulture industry across the country has achieved initial victory in the first stage.

　　Successfully changed across the country!

　　 In the past, farmers kept their own seeds, or the method of breeding silkworms that kept their own seeds in the domains, was completely eliminated. All sericulture farmers are now using the excellent silkworm eggs provided by Tokugawa Kogyo Co., Ltd. This is a good breed that has been selected after several years of selection and breeding based on the technology of France, the Netherlands and other countries.

　　 There is a saying that it is far better than the silkworm eggs originally used everywhere. Of course, while replacing those inferior silkworm eggs, it may also annihilate a very small number of good endemic silkworm eggs.

　　 But so what? The most important thing is that the silkworm eggs in the whole country are unified, and the quality of raw silk produced is unified, so that it can be exported to foreign countries on a large scale. As for other things, when you have money and free time, think about it.

　　 And everyone, don't think that this unification of varieties was done by the historical Meiji government. Let me give you an example. Now, in the 19th century and 1960s, there are more than 420 varieties of tomatoes in India, and there are more than 600 varieties of tomatoes similar to peas.

　　Excuse me, in the 21st century, how many other varieties of tomato are there in India?

　　Answer, six to seven kinds!

　　 Most of the tomato varieties have been eliminated. And the eliminated ones are basically the best tasting, softest, and easiest varieties to mature. All that remains now are "stones".

　　What is "stone"? It is the kind that is picked when it is only six to seven times ripe, and then in order to facilitate transportation and sales, it can slowly mature naturally in a few days or more than ten days~lightnovelpub.net~ or artificially matured. .

　　Because it is not naturally ripened, this kind of tomato often looks soft on the outside, but in fact it does not have the saturation and sweetness of natural ripening at all. It is just a soft stone.

　　 The more modern the production, the more organized, the more unavoidable the impact on nature. And sometimes this kind of artificial choice is done slowly and silently, and you can't find it in a short time. By the time it was discovered, there was no salvation.

　　 Going back to the sericulture industry, because all silkworm seeds have been replaced by selective breeding, Shigeru Nara began to establish silk reeling plants in Osaka and Nagasaki respectively, and purchase silkworm cocoons to expand production scale.

All the cocoons in 　　Ki are transported to Osaka, while the cocoons in Westland and Kyushu are transported to Nagasaki by water. In addition to spreading the raw silk stalls across the country, it also indirectly promoted the development of another industry.

　　 Shigeru Nara finally extended the steamship shipping under his command to the whole country. The silkworm cocoon is a "sweet product". If you don't hurry to reel it, this silkworm cocoon will incubate big flapping moths. Therefore, the old-style sailboats that run entirely on natural wind cannot adapt to the development of the times and are beginning to be replaced by steamships.

Chickens peck at rice. They are manufactured by Yokohama Shipyard and purchased from foreign countries. Now there are more than 60 steamships under the name of Shigeru Nara, and they have begun to monopolize the shipping industry between Osaka and Edo. Other routes have also begun to occupy. Share.

　　 In the mind of Tademon, the second modern enterprise that needs to be established, namely Tokugawa Yusen Communication Co., Ltd., has been established under conditions.