Chapter 222 Sugarcane is the next target

A large group of people came to the Su family. Looking at the brand new Su residence, Dou Jing was stunned and looked at Su Bucheng.

Is this a five-thousand-mile exile? Why does it look like a vacation? He even wants to settle down here.

There are bamboo water pipes running in all directions throughout the village, and chrysanthemums are planted around the newly built houses. When the autumn weather comes, there will be a large field of golden color and pastoral wildness. It’s so beautiful just thinking about it!

"This is a house built with the help of the villagers. When I first came here, I lived in the dilapidated house next to it." Su Bucheng understood everything.

Everyone looked at the old house not far away. Although it had been renovated and the thatched roof was almost new, the cracked walls and crooked doors and windows all showed that it was dilapidated and shaky.

Su Bucheng, Su Laoer, Su Boyan and others asked the adults to sit down.

Mrs. Du and Mrs. Wei hurried to the kitchen to make brown sugar ginger water. It was still cold in early spring and it was easy to catch a cold if you caught a cold.

"Minister Su, please bring the records over to us quickly." Everyone was anxious.

Su Laosan hurried back to the house and took out a few homemade thread-bound books.

There are three bound volumes, and one volume is partially written and is still being recorded.

Dou Jing, his subordinates and experts slowly flipped through the book. The book was written in neat regular script, with great detail and was easy to understand at a glance.

With text descriptions and comparison tables, this novel recording method impressed the experts.

"The Secretary's recording method is so wonderful, we should also adopt it!" The experts praised it highly.

These data give them an idea of ​​the season, quantity, number of workers, working hours, daily changes in crops, and weather conditions.

The experts' hands were shaking. If the ancient books on crops that had been passed down were so detailed, why would they worry about growing crops poorly?

"Minister Su, how did you come up with this frame method?" Dou Jing was very excited.

If all departments of the Sinong Temple adopt this form, it will be clear and intuitive.

This method is not only used by experts, but also by all officials. It is much more concise than lengthy written descriptions and improves work efficiency and quality.

"My niece taught me this, and I think it works very well." Su Lao San replied.

"Oh! It's that Ah Ying again?" Dou Jing didn't expect that such a little girl would have so many wonderful ideas.

"Your Excellency, that's right!"

The aroma of brown sugar ginger water wafted through the air, and everyone, feeling a little cold, suddenly felt very hungry.

Mrs. Du and Mrs. Wei came in with plates, each with a bowl of brown sugar ginger water.

"This is..." Dou Jing smelled a spicy smell in the brown sugar water.

"This is brown sugar ginger water, drinking it can drive away the cold." Su Bucheng introduced.

Dou Jing blew on it and took a sip.

A unique sweetness mixed with the sweetness of sugarcane and the spiciness of ginger.

During the Chinese New Year, I secretly got a few pieces of brown sugar, but I couldn’t bear to eat them myself, so I gave them to my parents.

But she didn't expect to eat it in the home of a fugitive thousands of miles away. Dou Jing found it funny.

He also thought about purchasing some in Wuxian and sending it back to Chang'an, but he didn't expect that the sugar-making season had passed and the sugar factory had stopped working and would have to wait until the sugarcane was ripe before reopening.

"How do you have brown sugar?"

Not only Dou Jing, but everyone else who came from the capital stared at Su Bucheng with envy in their eyes.

Sugar is hard to come by in the capital, but Su Bucheng can easily entertain so many guests. It is simply too luxurious.

"It was sent by Jinfengzhai." Su Bucheng said calmly.

"The Jinfeng Village that can make sugar?" Dou Jing stood up excitedly.

"Your Excellency, that's right!"

County Magistrate Hu hesitated to speak, and lowered his head to drink the sugar water.

"Where is Lord Lu?" Dou Jing wanted to say something, but when she looked up, she found that Lu Zhaoshi was gone.

"Sir, what do you want to see me about?" Lu Zhaoshi came in from outside, followed by Su Ying.

"How is your sugarcane production in Wuzhou?" Dou Jing asked.

"Output? There has been no specific statistics on this. It is concentrated in the hands of the Li people. However, Lord Hu in Wu County has the data." Lu Zhaoshi pointed at County Magistrate Hu.

"Oh, County Magistrate Hu, please tell us." Dou Jing looked at County Magistrate Hu.

"Your Excellency, we in Wu County plan to plant 100,000 mu of sugarcane this year, and we will be able to produce sugar in large quantities by the end of the year. Brown sugar will become the top specialty of Wu County." County Magistrate Hu replied.

"You have so many good fields?" Dou Jing was both happy and worried.

How much grain can 100,000 mu of fertile land produce? If 100,000 mu of paddy fields were used to grow two crops of rice, the yield would have to be doubled.

But sugarcane can be used to make brown sugar, which is also a very important crop.

"Your Excellency, these 100,000 acres can be considered neither fertile land nor wasteland," said County Magistrate Hu, bowing.

"Most of the sugarcane grows wild in Li villages. After the sugarcane was harvested at the end of last year, all the sugarcane fields were plowed and new planting methods were used to improve yield and quality."

"So, these 100,000 acres of land will not affect grain planting? 100,000 acres of sugarcane land for free?" Dou Jing confirmed.

"Yes!" Magistrate Hu affirmed, "The Li people's villages are mainly sugarcane fields, paddy fields, and a small amount of wheat fields."

"That's great!" Dou Jing was very satisfied.

“Lord Lu, please also collect statistics and summarise the data from other counties. After the promotion of double-crop rice, sugarcane will be the next target.

We want to grow sugarcane on a large scale and make it the second largest product in the grain-producing area," Dou Jing said confidently.

"Your Excellency has a far-sighted vision!" Governor Lu complimented.

"Your Excellency has a far-sighted vision!" The other officials also praised in unison.

"You're welcome, you're welcome. Whether this can be achieved or not depends on the joint efforts of everyone here!" Dou Jing bowed to everyone.

"I dare not. I will do my best!" everyone said.

"Hiss..." A horse neighed outside the house.

"Hey, Lord Su, you have horses here?" Dou Jing was surprised. There were too many anomalies in the Su residence.

"Uh..." Su Bucheng just came back, how would he know?

When County Magistrate Hu wrote to Lu Zhaoshi, he only said that those people were eaten by wild beasts, but did not mention Huanggou Village in Heifeng Township. Su Bucheng was with Lu Zhaoshi, and he did not want the two of them to have any grudges.

Lu Zhaoshi didn't pay attention to these details at all, and didn't even know that those people had left the horses.

Su Bucheng was very confused when Dou Jing asked this question. He didn't even know that Huanggou Village was almost destroyed.

"My lord, this horse was given to me by the governor!" Su Ying took over the conversation and said seriously.

"I..." Lu Zhaoshi was confused and instinctively wanted to refute, but when he saw Su Ying's eyes, he quickly shut up.

His mind raced, and when he saw Magistrate Hu's unnatural expression, he suddenly understood.

But Su Ying continued, "A few days ago, a group of merchants from Lord Lu's family came, but unexpectedly something happened. They left their horses behind, and Lord Lu generously donated them to Huanggou Village."

"Oh, what kind of accident happened? Even the horses were abandoned?" Dou Jing felt strange.

Lu Zhaoshi and County Magistrate Hu looked at each other, and County Magistrate Hu replied with a stiff upper lip.

"My Lord, that merchant was unaware of the dangers of Lingnan. He encountered a ferocious beast while traveling at night and was devoured by them all. Only one person survived, and his death was horrific..."

"Hiss..." All the officials present in the capital gasped.

Dou Jing stroked his beautiful beard and said nothing.

The Khan summoned him alone the day before he left. He was very dissatisfied with the aristocratic families extending their influence into Lingnan. The original intention of the grain special district was to keep the aristocratic families out and prevent them from getting involved in Lingnan's grain.

What Magistrate Hu said about merchants and travelers traveling at night is quite interesting, but I'm afraid it's not that simple.

But this is also a good thing. God helped to take care of these troublemakers, invisibly cleared the obstacles, and saved me a lot of trouble.

No wonder Lu Zhaoshi has been able to harvest the land so smoothly recently. I guess the other aristocratic families have been scared away.