Chapter 2417: Mulberry Dike Fish Ponds

"What's there to 'this' or 'that' about?" Shen Su smiled. "Wanting it desperately in your heart but insisting you can't with your mouth."

Chen Lin was thoroughly embarrassed and could only say: "Since that's the case, then I'll trouble you."

"That's more like it. I can't stand you people putting on false airs like that," Li Yao'er said. "It's just home cooking here, nothing special. After eating, there are matters to discuss with you."

She instructed the factory's tea room to bring up lunch. The factory food was simple—big pot rice and big pot vegetables, all local produce. The Chen family, though a wealthy household, usually practiced thrift in managing the home and wasn't particular about food.

The meal was one serving per person, neither more nor less. Over lunch, Li Yao'er asked more about local customs, conditions, and products. Chen Lin naturally had no reason to hide anything and answered openly. What Li Yao'er cared most about was expanding the mulberry cultivation area.

"Do you know about mulberry dike fish ponds?"

Chen Lin looked blank. As it turned out, this characteristic agriculture of the Pearl River Delta—the mulberry dike fish pond system, one of the pioneering ancestors of circular economy that would become famous in later centuries—hadn't yet appeared locally.

The mulberry dike fish pond system meant planting mulberry trees on the dikes surrounding fish ponds, using mulberry leaves to feed silkworms, using silkworm excrement (cansha) and silkworm pupae as fish feed, and using pond mud as fertilizer for mulberry trees. This formed a production chain: planting mulberry on pond dikes, raising silkworms with mulberry leaves, feeding fish with silkworm pupae, fertilizing mulberry with pond mud. The two industries mutually reinforced each other, achieving the benefit of obtaining both fish and silk.

This model had first arisen in the sericulture regions of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The Huzhou mulberry dike fish pond system that could be verified in later generations originated in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The Shen's Book of Agriculture, written at the end of the Chongzhen reign, recorded: "Fish are kept in ponds; the fertile soil can go on bamboo land, the remainder for mulberry. Fish can be exchanged for rice at year's end; keeping five or six sheep provides the capital for planting mulberry trees"—obtaining economic benefits of "both advantages complete, ten times that of grain crops."

Besides harvesting mulberry leaves for silkworms, after spring silkworm season ended, the Jiangnan region also used mulberry leaves to raise sheep, earning even more income.

However, this model was much rarer in Guangdong. The news brought by "informants" sent by the Agricultural Committee to various parts of the Pearl River Delta had disappointed them—the Pearl River Delta was not the highly developed sericulture region they had conceptualized.

The sericulture industry of the Pearl River Delta had experienced its first great development alongside the opening of Macau's port and the large-scale export of raw silk. At that time, because raw silk sold well, places like Jiujiang in Nanhai County, Longshan and Longjiang in Shunde County, and Gulao in Xinhui County all saw large-scale sericulture. Planting mulberry on pond dikes also began appearing in these areas—among which the most famous were the Sangyuan (Mulberry Garden) Dike and the Gulao Dike.

However, looking at the entire Pearl River Delta, the overall sericulture industry was not large. Only after consulting the Grand Library did they learn that the Pearl River Delta sericulture industry had its second large-scale development starting from the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty, driven by the dramatic increase in foreign trade volume.

The scale of raw silk and satin trade at the end of the Ming was still very small compared to the Qing era. Britain, the future biggest trading partner, had not yet come to China. The countries trading with China were actually only Spain, Holland, and Japan. And the late Ming happened to coincide with the peak prosperity of Fujian's foreign trade ports. Foreign merchants in Fujian obviously preferred importing goods directly from Jiangnan.

Currently, though the Senate's raw silk trade was considerably larger than in history, Zhao Yingong's operations in Hangzhou had caused Jiangnan's silk production and exports to increase dramatically compared to the original timeline. Jiangnan's raw silk was not only sufficient to meet Japan trade demand but could also roughly satisfy Portuguese and Dutch needs.

The result was that raw silk production in the Pearl River Delta was further suppressed. The sericulture farmers in Xiangshan County, who hadn't amounted to much to begin with, naturally had no interest in introducing new production models.

In other words, Li Yao'er's tinkering with sericulture improvement in Guangdong might not yield much actual benefit. Especially since further increases in raw silk production would probably only cause export prices to fall further.

Whether it was necessary to develop sericulture improvement and establish a new silk weaving industry in Guangdong had been debated at the joint conference convened by the Planning Agency. The final conclusion was that relevant improvements should continue—after all, upgrading the sericulture industry had to be done, and doing it in Jiangnan presented too many inconveniences.

So Chen Lin's response wasn't beyond her expectations.

"Are there many families raising fish locally?"

"Quite a few." Xiangshan had low-lying terrain with crisscrossing waterways, providing convenient conditions for fish farming. The county had quite a few fish ponds.

"Haven't people thought about planting mulberry trees on the pond dikes?"

This question baffled Chen Lin. The village already had mulberry groves—why plant on the pond dikes? Besides, what use would planting so many mulberry trees be?

"The mulberry leaves from local groves are already sufficient. If occasionally insufficient, we just buy some from other villages," Chen Lin said. "Otherwise, we just plant a few more..."

In late Ming Guangdong, the land-population contradiction was far less acute than it would become during the Qing Dynasty, and land utilization hadn't yet intensified to later levels.

Speaking in fashionable theoretical terms, the mulberry dike fish pond system was itself a manifestation of agricultural involution.

Li Yao'er said to Shen Su: "You explain the benefits of mulberry dike fish ponds to Mr. Lin. This will also test whether your knowledge is solid."

"I understand." Shen Su answered with a smile.

She looked at Chen Lin, then lowered her gaze. Though today was their first meeting, in this brief contact, her impression of Chen Lin was quite favorable.

This young man, though from a wealthy family, was modest and polite in attitude, composed and refined in manner and speech, neither servile nor overbearing. Compared to that Chen Xuan who wore nothing but an ingratiating smile whenever he saw them yet was fierce as demons toward villagers—Chen Lin was far more pleasing.

"Mr. Chen, the mulberry dike fish pond works like this..."

In the entire system, after mulberry leaves are harvested, they feed silkworms. The silkworm excrement cansha and the silkworm pupae left after reeling become fish feed. After fish are harvested from the pond, the thick nutrient-rich silt at the pond bottom is dug out and transported to the surrounding dikes as fertilizer for mulberry trees. Because the pond dikes have a slope, excess nutrients in the mulberry field soil flow continuously into the fish pond with rainwater runoff. The excess nutrients and waste produced in the cycle are recycled repeatedly within the system, causing no pollution to the external environment while also saving costs in planting and breeding.

A farming household can coordinate and arrange activities according to seasonal changes. Generally, in the first and second months, they manage mulberry trees and stock fish fry; in the third and fourth months, they fertilize mulberry trees; in the fifth month, they raise silkworms; in the sixth month, they sell; silkworm pupae feed the fish; in the seventh and eighth months, pond silt is dredged, and pond mud is used to strengthen and consolidate dikes; in the last months of the year, weeds are cut to feed fish.

"...If there's spare capacity, you can also pick mulberry leaves to raise sheep, earning even more income. Don't you think this is a viable livelihood?"

Chen Lin pondered her words carefully, thinking who devised this method! It's truly brilliant. He mused: "The method is excellent. But this way, families raising silkworms can only raise fish and would have no spare capacity to farm the land."

"After selling fish and cocoons, would you still worry about having no money to buy grain?" Shen Su said. "In our hometown, just raising silkworms alone is enough for a whole family to have clothing and food without worry..."

"Next, we're going to promote mulberry dike fish ponds in Nansha," Li Yao'er continued. "This matter will still need you to put in more effort."

"This is a good thing benefiting country and people alike. This humble one will naturally put in effort." Chen Lin thought for a moment. Though it was a good thing, at the start of promotion definitely no one would be willing to try—it had been the same when his father promoted silkworm seeds. They would need to find a household to set an example. When everyone saw there were indeed benefits, they would follow.

He expressed his thoughts. Li and Shen exchanged a glance and smiled. Li Yao'er said:

"You're absolutely right! Since ancient times, promoting new crops and technologies has always required a process. Common people must actually see the benefits. Besides, whether new crops and technologies are suitable for an area also needs testing first. Otherwise, if they're promoted only to fail, wouldn't that harm a large area?"

"The Chief is far-sighted."

"Learning to flatter so quickly," Shen Su laughed.

"No, no, this humble one speaks from the heart." Chen Lin's face reddened again. He had had no contact with "Australian-style women" like Li Yao'er and Shen Su before and was very unaccustomed to their direct way of speaking.

"My, what thin skin..."

Li Yao'er had no patience for her student's teasing and interrupted: "Think about it—who in the village would be most suitable as a demonstration household?"

Chen Lin pondered. The household first couldn't be wealthy—the wealthy had no motivation to change; second, they needed fish ponds; third, the family should also raise silkworms...

Thinking it over, he settled on a suitable candidate.

"Chen Ji's family is most suitable."

Li Yao'er made a gesture, and Shen Su immediately took out a leather-covered notebook from her shoulder bag, flipped it open, searched for a moment, then handed it to her teacher.

Li Yao'er looked at it and seemed to nod in satisfaction. Chen Lin was puzzled, not knowing what they were examining.

"Why do you think his family is suitable?" Li Yao'er asked, closing the notebook.

Chen Lin replied: "His family has many children and little land, so life is very tight. His family has fish ponds and also raises silkworms. They're skilled hands at both. As long as he's given some benefits, he'll naturally agree."

"Then what benefits would be needed for him to agree?"

"As long as he's promised that no matter what the experiment results are, he'll be given enough grain for his whole family to eat their fill."

"That makes sense. But one family is too few—we need to find at least three or four more."

Chen Lin racked his brains and thought of a few more families. Li Yao'er instructed Shen Su to record them all.

"We'll go visit these families this afternoon. See the situation—you come along too."

"Yes, this humble one will definitely accompany."

Li Yao'er's gaze lingered on him for a moment, then suddenly she asked: "I heard you have a younger sister?"

"Yes, my humble sister Chen Yue." Chen Lin thought this Chief's questions really jumped around unpredictably!

"Is she your blood sister?"

"She was originally Second Uncle's daughter. Later the clan decided to have her adopted by my late father as his daughter."

"Your Second Uncle has no heirs—why would he give his only daughter to your father?" Li Yao'er had always been curious about this. Chen Xuan had mentioned the matter in the past, always gnashing his teeth, saying it was Chen Lin's father and others persecuting him, wanting to leave him completely alone.

(End of Chapter)