NOVPUBIn this era, in the south, intensive farming of rice fields that could be harvested twice a year presented a completely different scene. The best fields in the south yielded an astonishing amount, four to five times that of the good fields in the north, and were very similar to the floating gardens of Tenochtitlan. However, such outputs equally demanded large amounts of manure and river silt to maintain nutrient input.
In the region of Liang Lakes, where rice was planted in two seasons, "the fields near the city were so fertile, harvesting no less than five or six stones per acre". In the Pearl River Delta, "the best fields harvested eleven or ten baskets, the next best eight or nine baskets, and the least five or six baskets." Usually, two baskets are equivalent to one stone, so in the Guangzhou region, the best fields yielded about five to six stones of rice per acre in two seasons, nearly 1000 jin; the average fields produced about four stones, roughly over 600 jin; and the poorest fields two to three stones, around 400 jin.
Therefore, it calculates that the yield of rice fields in the Ming Dynasty’s southern regions was about 400 to 1000 jin per acre per season. Of course, the poorest fields were the most numerous, with an average yield of about 500 to 600-plus jin per acre, enough to sustain one able-bodied man per acre of wet rice field.
Seeing this, Xiulote paused for a moment and sighed softly.
At the end of the 15th century, when the Old and New World had not yet communicated, Europe’s yield per acre was actually far inferior to those of the Near East, India, the Celestial Empire, and even ancient American civilizations, due to temperature, precipitation, crop variety, and agricultural levels.
In the records of a manor in Norfolk, England, in the 15th century, the yield per acre of wheat was about eight to nine bushels, while that of barley was six to seven bushels. Each bushel of wheat was about 54 jin, and barley about 42 jin, making one acre about slightly more than six city acres. After conversion, it was only about 40-80 jin of grain per city acre. In the cold, mountainous regions of Northern Europe, these grain yields were even less.
Generally, in medieval Europe, ten acres of land could only sustain one adult male, and each man, using horses and iron tools, could farm 20-40 acres where he would cultivate thinly over large areas and also grow pasture grass.
In this era of emerging maritime exploration, the whole of Europe had low yields and suffered from plagues. The total population was only about 80-90 million people. Among them, France had the most, under 15 million, and all of Italy and Shenluo each had about 10 million. The colonial empires of Spain and Portugal combined had only about 7-8 million. Before the cold-resistant potato was introduced, the population in Northern Europe was extremely limited. The narrow British Isles had a total regional population of only about 3-4 million. During the same period, Denmark and Sweden each had about 6 million people, and Norway only 3 million.
It was only after the discovery of America that navigators obtained the high-yield crops of America and ecstatically brought them back to the Old World, bringing Europe into the demographic explosion of the 16th century and a new era of rapid civilizational development.
In places where corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and pumpkins spread, barren mountains could be cultivated, field yields multiplied, and the burgeoning population increased explosively. The rapidly increasing population also provided the foundation for the Age of Great Colonization.
It is no exaggeration to say that the discovery of America ignited the first flame of Europe’s emergence. The crops of America were the most important cornerstone in Europe’s hundreds of years of great development and truly changed the entire world!
Xiulote stared silently for a moment, as countless images of the future flickered through his mind. He took a deep breath and buried everything in his heart. The monkey named Kuluka carefully glanced at His Highness, feeling that there was a fire burning in His Highness’s eyes.
Then, the young King continued to flip through the pages until he came to the land grant document he had written himself. Bertade and Kuluka leaned in, carefully examining the diagrams and text on it.
"Military Merit Land Grant Document," the first line had five characters, depicting a figure holding a weapon, next to symbols of status like war clothes, and farmlands where crops grew.
"All the youths from community military schools, the militia who have passed real battle tests, and a portion of strong and capable slaves, can join the Fief legions, becoming the most basic young warriors," Bertade read the next line. His demeanor, no longer calm, rapidly changed as he seemed deep in thought. After a while, the Head Warrior asked in a low voice,
"Your Highness, do you really intend to open the distinguished warrior rank to ordinary militia and lowly slaves?"
Xiulote nodded calmly, affirming,
"Of course! I will open this grand avenue to all suitable warriors, and I will even allow certain devout foreign mercenaries to join. In my Fief, I make the rules! I want to strengthen the legion’s power as much as possible and integrate the ruled populations!"
Kuluka’s eyes flickered. He quietly and quickly read on, soon coming to different ranks of warriors.
"Young warriors, issued sleeveless cotton armor, war clubs, and shields. Capturing or decapitating one enemy, promoted to First Level Captor, becoming a First Level Warrior,"
"First Level Warrior, granted war clothes, leather hat, and Obsidian Dagger. Capturing or decapitating two people, promoted to Second Level Vastec Hunter, that is, Second Level Warrior,"
"Second Level Warrior, granted an honorary cloak. Given 20 acres of land, one agricultural slave/servant. Capturing or decapitating five militia/one warrior, then promoted to Third Level Elite Fire Warrior... Spear Legion of 5500 militia, all promoted to Second Level Warriors, tentatively granted 11,000 acres, given agricultural slaves/servants 5500 people?!"
Upon reading this, Kuluka exclaimed in surprise. His own Spear Legion being promoted to warriors meant that he himself would naturally become the leader of the warrior group.
"Your Highness, do you really want to promote all the Spear militia to warriors? While we indeed have enough land now, where will we find so many slaves to work it?"
