Chapter 322 Technology Is the Primary Productive Force
【The Malthusian trap is essentially part of the great historical cycle.
Simply put, it is the contradiction between infinite exponential growth and limited resource growth, that is, the contradiction between the infinite and the finite.
From a macroscopic perspective, since the origin of life, the exponential growth of algae and plants has rapidly consumed carbon dioxide resources in the air, changed the oxygen content in the atmosphere, and thus caused biological extinction and the Great Ice Age, and none of them escaped the Malthusian trap.
From a historical perspective, the evolution and migration of ancient humans, the collapse and rise of feudal dynasties, and the subsequent industrial revolution, we also know that their internal driving force is ultimately the conflict between population growth and means of production.
Even from a microscopic perspective, the intensity of the war for survival of microorganisms is no worse than that of humans. Antibiotics can be regarded as the ultimate killer evolved from the war of microorganisms themselves.
The Malthusian trap is a shackle engraved on the genes of all organisms, but the evolution of organisms also arises from it, and so does the feudal dynasty.
The establishment of the Tang Dynasty was essentially a temporary escape from this trap, at the cost of the massive disappearance of the population caused by years of war and the great hand of Guangshen from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the early Tang Dynasty.
The large amount of unowned land vacated by the disappearance of a large number of people was naturally nationalized. The early Tang Dynasty also used this as capital to complete the promotion of the equal-field system and the rent-labor system, thus laying the foundation for the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.
However, this was not the case with Japan. Although the Taika Reform did strengthen the national strength, the central government of Japan exchanged part of the land of the nobles and powerful people for political favors, thereby promoting the land allocation system based on the equal-field system.
In addition, the Taika Reform also divided the land for the slaves of the nobles and powerful people. The nobles and powerful people already had a large number of slaves and servants, so they naturally would not oppose the reform. These slaves and servants nominally had land, but in essence they were all farmed on behalf of others.
Therefore, to this day, Japanese scholars still believe that Japan after the Taika Reform did not enter the feudal era, but was a deformed continuation of the slave society.
The two sides of the conflict between Tang and Japan were the feudal empire of Dacheng and the deformed continuation of the slave society.
In the end, the victory of the Tang Dynasty can be said to be justified, because there is really no reason for the Tang Dynasty to lose.
The only pity is that after that, every time the feudal dynasties of China crawled out of the trap, the political system evolved in the three directions of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, rectifying the administration of officials, and strengthening the monarchy, and there was infinite involution in the small peasant economy.
The result is that the weapon that can solve the Malthusian trap worldwide is missed.
For example, isn’t the Champa rice in the Indochina Peninsula "only more than 50 days from planting to harvest" fragrant?
For example, isn’t the corn in America magical?
When Zhangyu UP was doing this issue, he was curious and checked it.
The current record of wheat yield per mu is 1042 kilograms, and the record of rice yield per mu is 1149 kilograms.
Corn is really heavyweight, with a record of 2576 kilograms per mu, which is comparable to a myth for the ancients. 】
Kong Ming and others are not unfamiliar with the kilogram theory in later generations.
After all, the horseshoe gold sent before has already involved the conversion of weight units between this time and later generations.
Therefore, the calculation is not complicated. Liu Bei roughly estimated it in his mind and agreed with what the younger generation said:
"Can rice produce 38 shi per mu?"
Liu Bei's eyes almost fell to the ground, because he clearly remembered that the most fertile piece of land in Chengdu Plain last year, combined with the method of composting, produced only 3.5 shi per mu.
The gap is more than ten times, and the comparison is too tragic.
Compared with it, Liu Bei instantly threw away traps and Japan, and he couldn't care about it at all. After all...
"Is this corn really made of jade beans? It can actually produce... 85 shi per mu?"
Zhang Fei also screamed, but he couldn't believe the result he calculated by himself. After calculating again to confirm that it was correct, Zhang Fei's pen fell to the ground with a click, and the expression on his face could no longer be controlled.
Like his brother, he is quite familiar with farming, so he is most impressed by this terrifying field yield.
In comparison, Kong Ming was much calmer, and he even had time to sigh with Liu Ba and Pang Tong beside him:
"The rice and corn in Champa are both results, not causes."
"If we want to go to sea, we don't have the sextant after more than a thousand years, and going to sea depends on astronomy."
"To study astronomy, we need to study mathematics, and to study mathematics, science will flourish. This is what the younger generation said before, that science and technology are the primary productive forces."
Pang Tong nodded. After all, the younger generation can ascend to the sky to know the vastness of the world, and can travel around the sky to observe the wonders of the universe. Farming can have such results. It's not amazing, but it can only be said to be common.
After agreeing, he and Kong Ming sighed again about the broad vision of the later generations.
"Looking up at the sky and looking down at the netherworld, the former can know the origin of human beings, and the latter can understand the rise and fall of the dynasties. What the later generations see is really inhuman."
Therefore, Kong Ming's desire to study became more urgent.
After carefully copying down everything he saw and planning to think about it carefully in his spare time, Pang Tong noticed a catchy word:
"The Great Historical Cycle?"
After listening to what later generations said, Pang Tong felt that he had a vague understanding, but it was not clear, as if he was looking at flowers through a layer of fog.
Kong Ming was silent, and while writing, he slowly said:
"In the second year of Zhongyuan, there were 4 million households in our Han Dynasty. In the third year of Yongshou, there were 10 million households in our Han Dynasty. It was exactly a hundred years before and after, and the population of the world had more than doubled."
"However, the yield per mu of land has only increased by half a stone in the past hundred years."
On the white paper, Kong Ming only listed two sets of numbers, the number of households and the yield per mu. At this time, he also realized that this mathematics was really useful.
After being reminded by later generations, Kong Ming seemed to see a crumbling building with only two sets of numbers.
After hearing this, Liu Bei also understood and stared at the two sets of numbers in a daze:
"It is difficult to increase the yield per mu, but if all the arable land is opened... it is not feasible!"
Immediately, Liu Bei denied this idea and turned bitter:
"The powerful annexed, the corrupt officials made trouble, the more people there were, the less land the people had, and the people lost their land. How can there not be chaos?"
Before the Battle of Chibi, if you ask why the world was in chaos, Liu Bei could list a long list of names.
The emperor who gradually lost his prestige, the treacherous and corrupt ten eunuchs who misled the country, Zhang Jiao who raised the banner of rebellion, Dong Zhuo who was arbitrary and authoritarian, and Cao the thief who held the emperor hostage.
But now that he has seen it more, thinking about this question again, these names are slowly crossed out from Liu Bei's mind.
Especially Zhang Jue, what's wrong? Han doesn't let him live, should he die peacefully?
The chaos in the world has never been caused by a certain person.
Clapping his hands, Liu Bei was the first to wake everyone up from the dull atmosphere:
"A man should create peace in his life!"
"Now that we know the principles of the future, we can deal with the chaos of a hundred years. There is no reason to give the world to Cao thieves!"
"The most urgent task is to take Guanzhong in the north and urge Wu Yi in the south. After quickly settling Nanzhong, send personal guards to get Champa rice seeds!"
Everyone is familiar with the Indochina Peninsula. Isn't it just Jiaozhou further south?
There is a fork in the road to Shendu leading to this place. Getting this kind of rice seeds that mature once every fifty days is what we have to do now.
…
In Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin was also a pragmatist:
“Order the Annan Governor’s Office to present Champa rice seeds.”
“If you don’t offer them to the Tang Dynasty, I will take them myself!”
No one in Ganlu Hall advised against the reaction of the Tang emperor, including Wei Zheng.
Because the rice seeds that only take fifty days from planting to harvest are too amazing.
In contrast, how long does it take for the rice currently planted in the Tang Dynasty to be harvested from planting to harvest? More than 120 days.
Wei Zheng also understood that this was the thing that was truly qualified to be called auspicious, so not only did he not advise His Majesty to be too anxious, he even wanted to advise His Majesty:
It may take a long time to ask them to offer them themselves, so it is better to send a team of Tang elites to get them in person.
But thinking that the Lingnan Road was full of malaria and the road was difficult to travel, he thought about it and gave up.
I just hope that the natives of Annan will be more sensible, think about how the Eastern Turks were destroyed, and then honestly offer the rice seeds, and don’t cause trouble.
After dealing with Champa rice, Li Shimin immediately asked:
"Where is America?"
This was the first time Li Shimin had heard of the name America, but according to later generations, it was probably a huge land with an unknown empire.
The Tang Dynasty was called Asia, and the Roman Dynasty was called Europe. So where is America? Li Shimin was confused.
So everyone in Ganlu Hall turned their eyes to the right, where there were two huge maps hanging.
One was a detailed map, from Rome in the west to Japan in the east, from the Hanhai in the north to the Strait of Malacca in the south, depicting part of the earth, and nothing was known outside the map.
The other was the outline of the earth. At that time, the earth was slowly rotating on the light screen, but it disappeared before it had completed a circle, so only part of it was seen.
Now we only know that there is a huge land in the south of Europe, there is also a piece of land in the southeast of the Tang Dynasty across a large archipelago, and there seems to be a large area all the way east along the Liaodong direction.
Therefore, Li Shimin asked directly:
"Is America in the south of Europe or in the southeast of the Tang Dynasty?"
Du Ruhui thought about it for a while and said:
"Since the younger generation said that this trap cannot be escaped as long as you are alive, the West may have escaped with the help of corn."
"But you also said that this corn can only be obtained by going out to sea, so America may be in the southeast of my Tang Dynasty, or... on the back of this earth map?"
The guess was very reasonable, so Li Shimin's mind was forced to temporarily extinguish.
So he asked casually: "How many kilograms are one stone in the future?"
This is to compare the per mu yield in the future with that of the Tang Dynasty.
Everyone looked at each other, how to calculate this?
Then Fang Xuanling stood up and said that when the later generations talked about the magic Jinshu, they casually said that 1,500 catties in the Jin Dynasty were equivalent to more than 300 kilograms in the later generations, and the conversion could be used.
Du Ruhui smiled secretly. It seems that the younger generation's disparagement of the Jinshu made this old friend miss him very much.
Fang Xuanling didn't notice it, and quickly calculated:
"Wheat yield per mu is 20 dan, rice yield is 21.5 dan, corn yield per mu... 48.5 dan?"
Li Shimin changed his mind in an instant:
"We should prepare a fleet and sail out to Tang!"
The first three days gave me an illusion, and today's work can only be said to have returned to the familiar and torturous taste, LNG, you did a good job (derogatory)