The next day, a yamen runner came to Zhang Hulan and said that Magistrate Wu had returned and asked Zhang Hulan to go to the county yamen immediately.
Zhang Hulan knew why County Magistrate Wu wanted to see her, so he said something to Wang and rushed to the county town.
County government office.
After Zhang Hulan saluted, Wu Deyong asked Zhang Hulan to sit down and said, "Ms. Zhang, I have read your letter. Do you have any other knowledge about regenerated rice?"
Zhang Hulan shook her head, "Your Excellency, this is all I know."
Zhang Hulan then asked: "Sir, does the court also have research on regenerated rice?"
Wu Deyong nodded, "Yes, the court has been researching it for two or three years. The most important thing about regenerated rice is the climate. It can only be grown in the south where the weather gets cold later. But the yield is not very good, and it also has a certain impact on the planting of winter wheat, so the court has not promoted it."
Zhang Hulan said: "Special situations require special actions. We must first overcome the current difficulties before we can think about the rest."
Wu Deyong smiled and nodded, "You are right. This is a special period, and we really need to overcome the difficulties. So the court sent officials from the Sino-Agricultural Temple to direct the planting of regenerated rice in the affected prefectures."
"I showed your letter to the prefect and the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture. They agreed with the two options you mentioned. Either apply more fertilizer after the regenerated rice is harvested, or don't plant winter wheat this season and plant spring wheat next year to let the fields rest for a few months."
"It's just a switch to spring wheat, but the yield of spring wheat is not as good as winter wheat. The rice planting time next year will also be delayed, which will also have a certain impact on the rice harvest next year."
"So the officials of Sinong Temple prefer to continue planting winter wheat this year, but they have to find a way to apply more fertilizer, which is also a problem."
"But everything still needs to wait until we send people to each village to check whether the roots of the dried-up rice are still alive and whether there is a need to plant regenerated rice. If the roots are already dead, there is no point wasting time."
Zhang Hulan nodded. "We need to check first. I don't know about other places, but the rice in our Daping Village is fine. I have already checked. Not only the rice that has been harvested, but most of the roots of the rice stalks that seemed dead are still alive."
"The rice fields in your village were drained of water in time, and a lot of them were saved. In some villages, almost all the rice was dead."
Wu Deyong then said, "I asked you to come here because I saw that you know a lot about agriculture, so I wanted to ask if you have any good methods for composting."
"If you have any good ideas, you can tell me. If the ideas are really useful, you will have made a contribution. However, this time it will not be me who will reward you, but the court will reward you."
Zhang Hulan's eyes lit up. Another reward?
Zhang Hulan searched for ways to make compost here and found two: one is to use the pit toilet at home, and the other is to burn the straw in the field.
However, the straw burning here was a little different from the way it was done at her home. Here, the straw was spread out on the fields and burned; but what she saw was the straw and soil being piled up and burned together.
Put a layer of straw underneath, put a layer of soil on top, then put more straw and another layer of soil on top, and burn them. After burning, water them, stir them, and pat them down to ferment.
Another way is to go to the mountain to pick up wet leaves or rotten leaves that have fallen on the ground, chop them up, and throw them into the pit toilet for fermentation, and then cover it with a lid.
Another more laborious method is to go to the mountains to dig soil and spread it on the fields. Every year, leaves fall from the mountains and pile up on the ground, and the soil on top is very fertile.
Zhang Hulan told Wu Deyong everything she knew, and Wu Deyong asked someone to write it down one by one.
Wu Deyong was confused and asked, "I understand using rotten leaves to make fertilizer, but why do we need to cover it with a lid?"
Zhang Hulan explained, "If you cover the pit, the temperature will be higher, which will help fermentation and composting will be faster."
"In fact, you can dig a big hole, put a layer of leaves underneath, then pour a layer of manure on it, and then put more leaves on it. Just fill the hole layer by layer and cover it up. You can ferment a lot of fertilizer at one time."
Wu Deyong nodded approvingly. He didn't expect that Zhang Hulan, a woman, knew more about farming than some old farmers who had been growing crops all their lives.
Zhang Hulan chatted with Wu Deyong for a few words, then said goodbye and left.
After Zhang Hulan left, Wu Deyong began to arrange for yamen runners to go to each village to check the specific conditions of the rice. He told the village head not to rush to burn the rice straw after harvesting the rice this season. He also told him how long the rice stalks should be left.
Wu Deyong was going to the prefectural capital again. He had to tell the officials of the Sino-Agricultural Temple about the composting methods Zhang Hulan had told him. Was these methods feasible?
After leaving the county government office, Zhang Hulan did not rush back. Instead, she wandered around the county town.
There are actually quite a lot of people on the streets of the county town, but many of them come to the city to beg.
Zhang Hulan walked around the city until noon, checking how many restaurants there were in the city and how many people went to eat in the restaurants.
There is a saying that has been passed down since ancient times: The rich have wine and meat, while the poor freeze to death on the streets.
Although the poor people could not even afford to eat, it did not stop the wealthy families from enjoying the best food every day.
Zhang Hulan passed by several restaurants and found that the business was not good, but still okay.
She was thinking, if things don’t work out, she won’t set up a stall and can just make the braised meat and sell it to restaurants, which would make things easier for her.
Zhang Hulan walked into a restaurant. She had to check the situation first to see if the restaurant had braised meat. If so, how did it taste?
When I walked into the restaurant, the waiter came up to me and asked, "How many guests are there?"
"Just one." Zhang Hulan said and walked straight to a table and sat down.
The waiter asked again, "What would you like to eat, sir?"
Zhang Hulan asked, "What dishes do you have here?"
The waiter replied, "We have a lot of dishes in our restaurant. It depends on what you want to eat. Even if we don't have a dish, you just need to tell us the name and our chef will make it for you."
"Is that so..." Zhang Hulan said, "Then give me a portion of braised pig's head, a portion of braised pig's trotters, and either a braised duck or a braised goose."
The waiter scratched his head and said, "Sir, of the dishes you mentioned, we have braised pig's trotters, but we don't have braised pig's head, braised duck or braised goose. I'll go to the kitchen and ask if the chef can make them."
Zhang Hulan nodded, "Then go quickly."
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