Chapter 156 Self-sufficiency

The next morning, the sugarcane field was full of people working hard.

"Aying!" When the villagers saw Su Ying, they greeted her warmly from afar.

"So early?" Su Ying said with a smile.

"Of course! I couldn't sleep all night!" The villagers giggled and kept moving their hands, as if the sugarcane would be snatched away if they were slow.

This time all the sugarcanes were cut one after another, and the tips were collected by a special person to be used as seeds, so there was no waste.

Washing sugarcane, grinding sugarcane, filtering out residues, and boiling sugar, the assembly line is busy.

I didn’t even have time to take care of the vermicelli. The big iron pot was used to boil brown sugar, and the vermicelli was temporarily cooked in a clay pot.

The leader ordered the strong men to carry bundles of sugarcane to the official road, and Su Ying and others walked slowly behind them.

When we arrived at the official road, the sugarcane had already been loaded and tied up, and the shopkeeper Zhu was settling the bill with the Li people.

This batch of sugarcane is very valuable, plus that jar of brown sugar. Fortunately, Manager Zhu brought some extra to be prepared, otherwise he would have to make a second trip.

Su Bucheng and Wang Yannian, accompanied by Lu Zhaoshi, Wei Shutong and others, also came to the official road, and the two sides met each other.

"Wow, so many sugarcanes! The girl is so capable, she got all the treasures of the Li people!" Lu Zhaoshi didn't expect that Su Ying could kill her way into the Li people's village and make them willingly give out so many.

Su Ying smiled but said nothing, "My lords, this is Grandpa Ade, the leader of the Golden Wind Village!"

Only then did Lu Zhaoshi notice that the old man was dressed more formally than the other people.

The chief did not expect to meet the person he wanted to see here, and was particularly respectful when he met County Magistrate Hu.

This made Hu County Magistrate confused. This leader had always been cold and indifferent, so why was he suddenly so enthusiastic?

He couldn't help but look at his son suspiciously.

Hu Erlang blinked, implying that some things were not convenient to say at the moment, and County Magistrate Hu had to suppress his curiosity.

"Shopkeeper Zhu, next time you deliver the goods, could you bring some cotton and coarse cloth?" Su Ying asked.

"Okay! How much do you want?" Shopkeeper Zhu was eager to do more business so that he wouldn't have to carry so much money and it would be much easier to exchange goods.

"Well, you need 200 kilograms of cotton and more than ten to twenty pieces of coarse cloth. You can decide. The villagers can buy them, and I'll take care of the rest." Su Ying made a rough estimate.

The village's own needs are the greatest, and the others are just supplementary. The quantity will not be large. All in all, these are neither too much nor too little.

"Okay!" Shopkeeper Zhu smiled so much that his eyes narrowed into slits. The business was getting better and better.

Not only Huanggou Village, but other villages can also do some business while receiving goods. The monthly turnover of the grocery store is the usual annual amount.

The group took a ox cart back to the county town. Fu Zhong specially placed the jar beside him and protected it carefully.

Wei Shutong looked at Fu Zhong's behavior and guessed that it was a good thing, and he felt curious.

"Go! I wish you success!" Su Ying waved to everyone.

"Go back now! They will carry the things back to you!" said the leader.

Lu Zhaoshi and the others were confused. What was he talking about?

The leader left behind a few Li men, several bundles of sugarcane tips, and two bundles of sugarcane for Su Ying to take back.

"Thank you, Grandpa!" Su Ying said with a smile.

The Li man carried the things and returned to Huanggou Village with Su Ying and others. They had never been there before, but only heard Ah Hei and others talking about it, so they went to take a look this time.

On the way, we met a group of people coming out of Qingshi Mountain, carrying snow-white lime.

"The lime is out of the kiln?" Su Ying didn't expect it to be so fast.

"Yes, this kiln has strong firepower, saves fuel, saves time, and has high output! A few more kilns will be enough for our village." The villagers carried lime and chatted as they walked.

Seeing the Li people carrying sugarcane, they asked, "Who is this for?"

"From our village!" Su Ying smiled.

"From our village?" the villagers asked in surprise.

This is the treasure of the Li people's village, why are you so generous? It's just that there are so many sugarcane tips, what's the meaning?

"Of course! These are the seeds sent by Jinfeng Village. We can also plant sugarcane. These two bundles are for everyone to taste." Su Ying introduced.

"Can our village grow sugarcane?" The villagers were incredulous. "Aying, are you sure we can grow sugarcane here?"

"Of course! Our village will be able to harvest sugarcane by this time next year!" Su Ying affirmed.

"Great!" The villagers were very happy.

"Aying, we're so busy every day now. At this time of year in previous years, we would have to go hunting in the mountains! Now we don't have to hunt anymore, and we're busy with this and that every day. Life is getting better and better!"

"Mr. Su, your daughter has brought back another good thing!" Wang Yannian had some understanding of Su Ying and knew that she would not do nothing but get some useless sugarcane tips.

Su Bucheng smiled and said, "My little girl can't sit still. She does whatever she wants. She's just a kid. She has no set goals and is always fooling around!"

Since arriving in Lingnan, the eldest daughter's intelligence has become more and more apparent, and Su Bucheng gradually feels that he can no longer keep up.

I don’t know what this child is thinking about all day, but he has more and more weird ideas.

The entire Huanggou Village and the people who came to study outside combined were not enough for her to bother.

The lime had just been burned and the road construction had not started yet. He had just been out for a day and was back to plant sugarcane.

I guess he has figured out how to grow sugarcane, otherwise he wouldn't be carrying so much.

Alas, it’s a pity that I’m not a county magistrate, otherwise if these people-friendly things were promoted, the people would definitely have enough food and clothing in a year or two!

Thinking of this, Su Bucheng regretted that Su Ying was a girl. If she were a boy, with such courage and ability to act, how could Huanggou Village and Wu County be trapped? She would definitely be a figure of the times in Lingnan.

When we got back to the village, the children all came around when they saw the sugarcane and asked, "Oh, is this sugarcane?"

"Yes!" Su Ying looked at the children's eager eyes and said, "Go and ask their parents to come to the village chief's house to get one. Each family will get one."

"Oh!" The children scattered and went to the fields to call for their parents.

Soon, the courtyard of Old Man Yang's house was crowded with villagers. "Aying, what's going on?"

Each family was given a piece of sugarcane to stick with. The scene looked like a group of Beggar Gang disciples sticking dog-beating sticks, with the children excitedly circling around their own sugarcane.

"Do you want to eat sugarcane every year?" Su Ying asked.

"Yes!" the children said crisply.

The crowd burst into laughter, "Little greedy cat!" the adults scolded with laughter.

"If you want to eat, work harder and reclaim more wasteland. In the spring, we should not only sow rice, but also plant sugarcane." Su Ying said proudly.

"Ah? Planting sugarcane?" The children shouted in unison, thinking that each family would grow one piece for eating!

"Of course, these are the seeds! Plant them in spring, and every household will have sugarcane to eat by this time next year! They can also be sold for money, okay?" Su Ying asked.

"Great!" The children's voices were even louder than the adults'. It turned out there were seeds, and this sugarcane was edible! They were so happy.

"Aying, can these sugarcane tips be grown?" someone was worried.

"Sure! Go back and eat without worry!" Su Ying smiled and let everyone go.

The children happily returned home with their parents.

There was still some sugarcane left, which was distributed to the officials and common people who came to study.

Everyone sat in the yard chewing sugarcane and asked Su Ying how to grow sugarcane.

Su Ying explained in detail the planting time, how to plant and how to care for sugarcane.

"Oh, growing sugarcane is so troublesome. I think the Li people just grow it in the fields and then just harvest it when the time comes." Someone was puzzled.

"That won't work! First of all, the sugarcanes need enough space to grow, and they need to be spaced a certain distance apart.

Secondly, when the sugarcane grows to a certain age, in addition to fertilizing, the leaves must be removed so that the sugarcane grows tall and strong.

"The last piece of land needs to be rotated with rice and wheat for two or three years to ensure that the soil's fertility is not depleted and the harvest is not affected," Su Ying emphasized.

"Aying, from what you said, it feels like it's just like growing rice and wheat." Someone tasted it.

"Yes! Although sugarcane is not a grain, it can be used to make sugar. If grown well, the yield is higher than that of rice and wheat!"

"Higher than rice and wheat?" Many people stood up excitedly, "Then we should all grow sugarcane!"

"No!" Su Ying firmly denied.

"Why? Didn't you say that the profit is higher than rice and wheat?" The people present were puzzled as to why Su Ying's words were inconsistent.

"The premise for high returns is that we can be self-sufficient in food, pay enough rice for rent, and have enough food to eat throughout the year.

If you are not self-sufficient in food, no matter how much sugarcane you plant or how much sugar you produce, if you don't have rice to fill your stomach, do you think people will still buy your sugar at a high price?

They will only buy at a super low price and then sell the rice to you at a high price!" Su Ying said.