Chapter 888 884 [The Chinese countryside in the eyes of the French envoy]

  When French writers and artists linger on admiring Chinese paintings, architecture, music, and operas, France is making Colbert try to crack the secret of feces.

  From Guangzhou all the way to Nanjing, Kerber was surprised to find that these big cities are all very clean, and there is no scene of stinking feces.

  Colbert asked the Chinese envoy many times, but the Chinese always laughed and said nothing.

   On this day, Colbert got up very early and finally met the manure collector.

   "Boom boom boom~~~"

   At three o'clock in the morning, that is, at 4:12 in the morning, the Drum Tower began to beat the drums.

  The soldiers stationed on the city wall have been converted from police officers to inspectors. After hearing the drumbeat, the gatekeepers began to get up and wash. And many people who wanted to enter the city were already waiting outside the city gates.

   "Dangdangdang~~~"

   After an unknown amount of time, the morning bell rang and all the gates of the city were opened on time.

  The missing engraving devices of the Bell and Drum Towers were all changed to clocks in the new dynasty of Datong. Every city has a sundial, which can be used to adjust the error of the clock through the sundial on a sunny day.

  People of all colors line up to enter the city. Although they do not receive city tax, they still have to check routinely.

  For example, if the dung truck does not have a cover, it is resolutely not allowed to enter the city. There were still people making troubles about this incident at the beginning, but the residents in the city were very supportive, otherwise the dung trucks crossing the street would stink.

  Colbert stood guard before dawn, following a group of excrement collectors through the streets.

   Throughout Nanjing, there are at least four thousand practitioners related to feces. Not only some people go to the city to collect manure, but after the manure is transported out of the city, there must be someone to sort and process it.

  Colbert followed all the way, and soon saw a strange picture.

   Three groups of different people came to the alley one after another.

   One wave is to deliver water, and the water cart is dragged forward by mules. For those households without wells, if they need to buy water today, they will hang a water sign at the door the night before. When the water delivery worker saw the water sign, he stopped the mule cart and knocked on the door of the family.

   One wave is for collecting swill, food residue soup and the like will be put in the swill bucket, and someone will buy it to feed the pigs.

   There is another group of manure collectors.

   There is no feces disposal fee, just take it away, and both parties get what they need. However, it is also engaged in the toilet cleaning business. If residents need to wash toilets, they will take them out of the city and send them back to you the next morning. A cleaning fee will be charged for this.

  A dung cart was quickly filled, and there were still a few toilets hanging on the cart, and the toll collectors drove the mule cart out of the city.

  Colbert has been drifting at sea for more than a year, and he has been able to speak in Chinese. He followed up and asked, "Hello, how much do you need to pay for someone to take away the excrement? Monthly or daily?"

  The excrement collector smiled and said, "Collect money? In the past, we Xiangtou had to give people money!"

  The money is given to the stewards of the big families, not to buy dung money, but private bribery. Of course, there is no need to give it now, and even the **** bullies have been banned.

  Colbert became more and more puzzled: "You help people clean up the excrement, and you still have to pay those people?"

   "That's the reason." The manure collector said.

  Colbert couldn't figure it out: "Why?"

  The manure collector said: "Yexiang is a good thing."

   "What is Nocturnal Fragrance?" Colbert asked.

  The dung collector said: "Yexiang is dung."

  Colbert asked: "What is the use of feces?"

"Sell it to farmers to fertilize the fields," the dung collector explained, "there are several grades of night incense. The most expensive is the night incense from the palace. How many farmers are rushing to buy it. The night incense from the dignitaries is also expensive, and the cheapest is Xiaomen. Xiaohu. People in the city also suffer haha, they can’t eat well by themselves, so what kind of fertility can the Ye Xiang pull out?”

  Colbert followed all the way out of the city, and finally figured out what feces can do, but can this stuff really make crops grow better?

   Soon, Colbert was dumbfounded.

  He saw a large feces industrial park outside Nancheng.

   This was requested by the imperial court to be centralized, and they were scattered everywhere before. Residential areas inside and outside Nanjing City are divided into more than ten "dung roads" by the government, which are contracted to the excrement treatment company, and the processing and distribution are concentrated in three places in the south, east and west of the city.

  In the past, there was no company, and the imperial court didn't bother to take care of it.

  The excrement collection has crossed the boundary, so there will be a fight. In the second year of the Republic of China, a large-scale fighting broke out. Hundreds of dung workers fought together, killing four people and injuring dozens of others on the spot.

  The matter even alarmed the emperor, because there was a fight on the street at that time, and the feces were all over the street.

  So, the imperial court ordered the formalization of the excrement industry.

  Divide the area and invite public bidding.

  The dung heads must first register the company and go through a qualification review, such as how many qualified dung trucks they have. Bidding prices vary depending on the region, with the Forbidden City being the most expensive.

  In the future, if you encounter cross-border behavior, you are not allowed to fight privately again, and you can directly report to the government, and the government will fine those who cross the border. If you dare to fight privately, you will be fined, and the manure collection license will be canceled if casualties are caused!

  Colbert observed the river water near the feces industrial park and found that the river water was not dirty.

  Even cleaning the toilet, the sewage is not discharged, but stored in a pool. This kind of pool water that has been used to wash toilets can also be sold, and the price is the cheapest, which is very popular among nearby vegetable farmers.

  Dry manure and wet manure are poured into different pools, which are distinguished when collecting manure in the city. The manure truck is equipped with several large wooden barrels.

   There is even more refined management. A few large wooden barrels are placed separately, with labels on the barrels: Fei Ge's hometown, Liu Shangshu's house, Zhang Shilang's house...

   "Dang Dang Dang Dang!"

  Suddenly someone rang the bell and shouted, "We have a distinguished guest!"

   But a boat came, and the boat was full of farmers.

  A dozen households of farmers in a certain village partnered to hire a boat and recommended experts who picked manure to come here to carry goods back to the village. These belong to those far away from the city, and those nearby farmers come to pick them up or carry them on their backs.

   "Does the customer want dry goods or wet goods?"

   "We came all the way by boat, of course we want dry goods."

"Then please come here, the incense in our factory is all good. Although it can't compare with the heavenly incense of the Forbidden City, nor can it compare with the expensive incense of the officials and lords, but they are all rich incense from wealthy families. If you are in a hurry to use it, we There is still a fermented fat fragrance in the factory, but the price must be much higher."

   "Where's the dung stick?"

  "A guest is an expert at first glance, the stick is here, you can stir it up and look at it as you like."

   "..."

  Colbert was allowed to go in for a visit. Seeing this scene and dialogue, his whole person was shocked and shattered.

   The excrement that has plagued Paris for hundreds of years has actually become an industry in China!

   "What are you wearing?" Colbert asked a worker.

The worker replied: "The government says that masks must be worn, and those who don't wear them will be fined. Lime is sprinkled every ten days, saying that it can kill **** poison, and only after killing the **** poison will you not get sick. These rules are said to be set by the Long Live Lord. .Long Live Lord is the reincarnation of Ziwei Xing, and he even understands this kind of dung work. It is said that Long Live Lord also picked up dung before he started his army."

  Colbert was so smoked that he left this place early.

  He knew Louis XIV and the Parisian nobility, all of whom loathed the **** in the city. If he can solve this problem, he will definitely be appreciated by the king and supported by countless nobles.

   But this thing is not easy to do. You have to persuade farmers to use manure to fertilize the land, and you have to get the support of the lord or landlord. The difficulty is no less than winning an international war.

  After much deliberation, Colbert decided to give up. He will never do things that are thankless, and he should learn China's industrial and commercial policies. Louis XIV likes money, as long as he can earn money for the king, he will definitely be favored.

  Colbert did not return to the city immediately, but ran to the countryside in the outskirts.

  At this time, rice is in the jointing stage and needs a lot of water and fertility. This year is a little bit dry. Farmers along the Qinhuai River are treading water wheels, and the river water is carried into the diversion canal to flow to the rice fields around.

  Around the aqueduct, there are some small water wheels that can be moved by one person.

  The farmers stepped on the water to irrigate the fields, and in places far from the canal, they all opened a gap in the field ridges, so that the river water could pass through the nearby fields and flow into the farther rice fields. If these paddy fields belong to different families, then the peasant association will be useful, and everyone will discuss and work together.

  The men who are in charge of treading water wheels come in rotation from each family, and those who are lazy will definitely be poked in the back.

  If a certain paddy field is fully irrigated, then the gap in the field ridge should be plugged.

  Then, the family applied their own fertilizer, which was piled up dry manure and added plant ash. A bamboo basket is hung on the waist, just like the later generations sprinkled chemical fertilizers, sprinkled all the way. If the children in the family are on vacation, they can also go to the fields to help, mainly by pulling out weeds in the fields.

  In the middle of the morning, the woman went home to cook.

  It was almost noon when the peasant women came out with food, went to the field together talking and laughing, and called their husbands to come to eat.

  People gather under the shade of trees, or sit on the ridge of the field, holding clay bowls in one hand and chopsticks in the other, chatting about anecdotes while eating. From time to time, there was a burst of laughter, but someone was telling a joke.

  Even fertilization, there is a focus, and the "pro-field method" is generally used.

  For example, if your family has ten acres of land, this year you will select two acres and double the amount of fertilizers. Another two acres will be replaced next year, and key investments will be made, and ten acres of land can be rotated again in five years. In ten years, as long as you have enough fertilizer and take care of it properly, all the thin fields can become fertile fields.

  This fertilization theory in ancient China was summed up over thousands of years. It is called: the soil can be replenished, the soil can always be renewed, and although the land is barren, manure is often added.

  The focus of the pro-field method is to add fertilizer, mainly before transplanting rice seedlings, and the oil residue of pressed soybeans and rapeseeds will be made into fertilizer mixed with plant ash and sprinkled.

  The farmers in front of them are also killing insects while fertilizing and weeding.

  The tobacco stalks left behind in the manufacture of tobacco are useless in Europe, but they are sought-after pesticides in China. After breaking the tobacco stems and throwing them on the roots of the rice, many kinds of pests can be controlled.

  Colbert looked at the farmers, each of them was very energetic. Although covered in mud and water, they were far stronger than the French farmers.

  What do French farmers look like?

  Thin, sluggish, lifeless, like a humanoid tool that can't think.

  The one hundred years before that was the period of the outbreak of land annexation in France. It is different from the land enclosure movement in Britain. French farmers were forced to go bankrupt due to rising taxes, and nobles, businessmen, and lawyers took the opportunity to buy land at low prices.

  These landlords can bargain with tax collectors, or simply be taxpayers themselves. They pay less or even no tax themselves, and pass the tax on to ordinary farmers, forcing more farmers to go bankrupt, and then take the opportunity to continue to annex land.

  In addition, because grain cannot be sold at a price, they grow grain on public land to avoid taxation, and private land is used to raise high-value-added livestock.

  As for infrastructure such as roads and canals, no landowner is willing to spend money.

  Colbert looked at the canals extending in all directions in front of him, and he knew that France was hundreds of years behind China. And these Chinese peasants are all comparable to the small landowners in France in terms of their mental outlook and health.

   "China is a paradise for farmers... The rural system here cannot be replicated in France, otherwise a nationwide war will be provoked, and even the king may be sent to the guillotine." Colbert wrote in his diary.

  (end of this chapter)