Why? Because: During the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, China's grain supply bases were mainly concentrated in plains and swamps such as Taihu Lake, Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. These areas are not only densely populated, but also transport a lot of food to other areas. Therefore, since the Song Dynasty, there have been popular folk sayings such as "Su Hu is ripe, the world is full", "Su Changshu is full" and "Hu Guang is ripe, the world is full".
"The lake is wide and ripe, and the world is full" was first seen in the volume of "Full Map" written by Li Fuyuan in Ming Dynasty: "The reason why Chu is prosperous is that farming is very extensive. At the age of one, he won Chai Sang again, and wuyue gave him more praise. As the saying goes,' the lake is wide and ripe, and the world is full'. During the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty, there was a saying that "Hunan is ripe and the world is full". At that time, the whole northern Hunan area, including Changsha, was already an important grain producing area in China.
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, although Hunan's grain production developed greatly, the national grain production and marketing center was still in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and there was a folk saying that "Jiangsu and Shanghai are ripe, and the world is full". During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jiangsu and Zhejiang rural areas switched to planting cotton and became the center of the national cotton textile industry. Jiangsu and Zhejiang cannot be self-sufficient in grain and need to import from Huguang. The proverb "Suzhou and Shanghai are ripe, and the world is full" has evolved into the proverb "Hunan is ripe, and Hunan's grain output has increased greatly". The amount of grain shipped out of Hunan in the Ming Dynasty was quite large, such as 1429 (Xuande four years). The method of multiple transportation has enabled people from Jiangxi, Huguang and Zhejiang to transport 2.2 million stone grain to Huai 'an warehouse. 1472 (the eighth year of Chenghua), it was decided that the grain in Beijing was * * * 4 million stones, of which Huguang and Jiangxi "Southern Grain" were more than 3.24 million stones, accounting for the vast majority. By the late Ming dynasty, the grain in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River was mostly supplied by Huguang and other places. For example, Anhui Huizhou grain "takes more rice from Jiangxi and Huguang as food".
The increase of grain output provides a prerequisite for the commercialization of grain production. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the population of the whole country rose rapidly because the government adopted policies conducive to economic recovery, such as calling for exile, releasing slaves and persuading farmers and mulberry workers. 137 1 year (the fourth year of Hongwu), the population of Nanjing, the capital of China, reached 200,000. According to Ming Jiajing's Records of Changsha Prefecture, the population of Changsha Prefecture reached 50.9 1 10,000 in1year (twenty-four years of Hongwu), which was a considerable figure at that time. In the early Qing Dynasty, the national population increased even more, from 174 1- 1790 (six to fifty-five years after Qianlong), and the population increased from 1 100 million to more than 300 million. Due to the growth of population and the expansion of urban employment (industry and commerce), rural areas are required to provide more commodity grain in line with the growth rate of urban population. In many areas, especially the densely populated areas in Suzhou, there is a situation that "the locally produced rice is not enough to eat", and merchants have to traffic food from other places to help. According to the draft of Qing history, 1775 (forty years of Qianlong), Chongming County alone brought more than 300,000 mangokus of grain from other places. As a result, the amount of long-distance grain trafficking has increased sharply, and a fixed grain supply relationship has been formed between all parts of the country, and many famous grain markets have emerged. Changsha is a famous rice market in China. At that time, the grain from Zhejiang and Jiangsu was given to Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangdong. According to Changsha County Records, as early as the last year of Kangxi (1662- 1722), "Zhejiang and Susong in the south of the Yangtze River are narrow and densely populated, that is, they eat in Huguang in good years". At that time, the annual output of rice fragrance was about 5 million stones, so "the lake is wide and ripe, and the world is full" is a happy event for the people of the whole country.
At the same time, the transportation of grain between the two lakes in Ming and Qing Dynasties was an important task of the central government and local governments, and it was attached great importance to by the emperor and the minister of border defense. From the records of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, we found 86 outbound transportation records of the two lakes, involving 14 provinces and regions, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Jiangxi and Beijing, which means that most areas in the mainland have formed grain supply and marketing relations with the two lakes. Among them, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and other areas in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River have the strongest dependence on the grain of the two lakes, accounting for 33 times in 1986, followed by Guizhou 15, and Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian 1 1 year. Changsha occupies an important position in the grain supply of the two lakes. In order to relieve disasters and provide relief, standing warehouses and quotas are generally set up in two counties in Hunan Province. According to Jiaqing's Records of Changsha Prefecture, in 1.765 (the 29th year of Qianlong), the grain storage of Changsha Prefecture reached 62,359 stones, with a quota of 1.200 stones, and the grain overflow rate was 4 1.9%. The grain storage in the counties under the jurisdiction of Changsha Prefecture has also reached 41-78,000 stones, which is also the largest in the regular positions at the county level.
The export of Hunan rice and the prosperity of Changsha rice market are based on the development of agricultural production. Both the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty and the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty experienced the process from abandoning wasteland to returning to farming. 1368 (the first year of Hongwu), the Ming government issued an order that "Xu Min fills the sea as a career and is exempt from corvee for three years"; 1395 (twenty-eight years of Hongwu), and also issued an order that "no matter how many fields are newly cultivated after twenty-seven years of Hongwu, no class can be taken"; Xuanzong (1426- 1435) even stipulated "never open up wasteland". The local officials of Changsha government faithfully carried out this policy. For example, Hong Wuzhong and Wang Shu, the magistrate of Xiangtan County, "take a political break and persuade the people and farmers. In a few years, the number of accounts has doubled "; Liling county magistrate Huang Xiu pendant, comprehensive management, moved to the city "; Therefore, the agricultural production in Changsha quickly recovered and developed on a large scale. According to Ming Jiajing's Records of Changsha, 139 1 year, there were 32,090 hectares and 64 mu of official and civilian fields and mountain ponds in Changsha.
In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the situation in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties was repeated. From the war in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty to the "San Francisco" rebellion in the early Qing Emperor Kangxi, a lot of land in Hunan was abandoned. Since Kangxi, the Qing government has adopted the method of sealing officials to reward reclamation. For example, it is stipulated: "Those who cultivate more than 12 hectares of land and try to be fluent, use Yuanjun; If you can't understand it, you can use it at any time. ..... more than one hundred hectares, smooth meaning, to magistrate of a county, can't understand, to the clan ". For local officials, the policy of "those who have made meritorious deeds are promoted and those who have failed to do so are dismissed" is implemented. 1665 (the fourth year of Kangxi), Changsha, Hengzhou and other provinces in Hunan reclaimed 16676 mu 3 133 hectares, and 1667 increased to 50 mu 3 190 hectares. The upward trend continued until Qianlong (1736- 1795), such as 1685 (in the 24th year of Kangxi), and the farmland of Hunan * * *1389.23 million hectares was 8 1 mu, reaching/kloc. According to the statistics of General Examination of Qing Literature, during the 39 years from 1685 (the 24th year of Kangxi) to 1724 (the 2nd year of Yongzheng), the whole country increased by nearly 760,000 hectares, an increase of 12.5%, while Hunan increased by nearly170,000. The growth of farmland in Changsha area is more significant. For example, in the early Qing Dynasty, the area of government farmland ponds in Liuyang County was 62 mu and 3974 hectares, and it increased from 16965438 (thirty years of Kangxi) to 694 1 hectare, and from 1738 (three years of Qianlong) to 48 mu and 8942 hectares. It can be seen that the policies and measures of the Qing government to reward reclamation have played a positive role in expanding cultivated land area and restoring and developing agricultural production. At the same time, local governments have also taken some tax reduction and exemption measures in time, which has also played a certain role in promoting agricultural development. For example, in 1653 (the tenth year of Qing Shunzhi), the governor of Hunan requested to reduce Liuyang local tax, and the quasi-tax amount of the Qing court was reduced to 53,000 tons.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the rural irrigation and water conservancy construction and agricultural production technology in Changsha were developed. Ming Hongwu built a large stone dam and irrigated thousands of acres; During the Wanli period, a turtle pond was built in Tangyuan, Hua Shan County, which extended for more than 20 miles and covered thousands of acres of shady land. Later, Hu Feng, a magistrate of a county, opened Saitang, Rongtang, Cherongtang and Gutang. During Chenghua period (1465- 1487), Xie Zongxi, a citizen of Ningxiang County, also donated money to build the Dayang Dam, which can irrigate land 1 10,000 hectares. In the Qing Dynasty, irrigation and water conservancy construction in Changsha developed again. For example, 1644 (the first year of Shunzhi) built dikes in Shuangjiangkou and Quantang in Ningxiang County, and 16 dikes such as Tongxin Wai and Xujiazhou were built one after another. 1720 (59th year of Kangxi), the elephant trunk dam was built in Hua Shan county, which can shade more than 3 mu of farmland. Another example is Ningxiang county, which makes great efforts to "dig wells and pick ponds, build dams and store water, without leaving a drop;" On both sides of the river, the dam is tired, and trucks are pumping. "Agricultural technologies such as farming and fertilization have also made great progress, and paddy fields are different from dry fields. For example, the fertilization method in paddy field is "burning grass blanks, picking up cow, pig and dog dung on the grass and retching the pond." "After planting, sprinkle lime in the ground to kill insects and fertilize the soil. Or use cotton withered, tung withered, vegetable withered and cow ash. As soon as the autumn harvest is finished, it is said that ploughing in July and August is the most beautiful, followed by September, and there is a proverb of "seven gold, eight silver, nine copper and ten iron", so that "rice and japonica rice have no ear lag, and reeds (weeds) are half withered". Fertilization in mountainous dry land is to "hoe the soil and cover the underground grass, and wait until the rain is too hot to steam, so as to improve the territory of the United States." "One-year-old plants tobacco, two-year-old plants potatoes, buckwheat, sorghum and millet, and three-year-old plants sesame." As can be seen from the above records, in the early and middle period of Qing Dynasty, Changsha rural areas attached great importance to water conservancy construction, and the techniques of fertilization, soil conservation and mountain rotation were quite advanced, so the grain output per unit area was bound to increase greatly, reaching as high as "three stones per mu". The reputation of "the lake is vast and ripe, and the world is full" is well deserved.