Zhou Qiongniang asked in surprise, "Third sister-in-law, can medicinal herbs be grown?"
Jiang Tangtang laughed and said, "If we can grow crops, why can't we grow medicinal herbs?"
"But crops are different!" She had seen people grow crops, but she had never seen people grow medicinal herbs.
But considering that Jiang Tangtang had received divine guidance and was different from ordinary people, Zhou Qiongniang knew that if she said it was okay, it must be okay. Zhou Qiongniang quickly suppressed her surprise and said, "Then I'll make you some easy-to-carry food later, so you won't go hungry if you can't make it back in time for lunch."
"No need, Second Sister-in-law, I'll eat whatever everyone else eats. If we get hungry outside, we can find something to eat." Jiang Tangtang felt that with the scanning system, she wouldn't go hungry.
At first, she treated the Lu family members as complete strangers, so she indulged them without restraint and did whatever she pleased.
But after spending so much time together, they've developed a deeper bond.
And she now knows that it's impossible to go back. Since she can't go back, she can only stay here.
Whether she becomes one of the wealthiest people in this era or something else, she needs help.
The Lu family and the Jiang family were, of course, her first choices.
She stopped doing things like giving special treatment to others, which would obviously create distance between them and cause resentment.
"That's fine too." Zhou Qiongniang felt that Jiang Tangtang had changed and was becoming better and better.
The Lu family ate porridge for breakfast.
However, unlike the porridge of ordinary families, the Lu family's porridge contained cassava, making it very thick.
Besides porridge, there was also wild vegetables stir-fried with wild boar meat.
There wasn't much wild boar meat; each person only got a small piece, but there was plenty of wild vegetables. The wild vegetables stir-fried with the wild boar meat were also very fragrant, and everyone ate to their heart's content.
After breakfast, Jiang Tangtang took her tools and led Zhou Qiongniang to see suitable wasteland for planting medicinal herbs. The rest of the Lu family also took their tools and went to work.
However, today everyone is digging water conservancy projects instead of working at the brick kiln.
After so many days of hard work, the open space outside the brick kiln was filled with brick blanks, and now there is no space left to put brick blanks.
The finished brick blanks needed to be air-dried for a period of time before they could be fired in the kiln. Therefore, people temporarily focused their efforts on water conservancy.
Digging water conservancy projects only requires strong labor. Women and children are not idle either; the older children go with the women to clear wasteland, while the younger ones go to gather wild vegetables.
Everyone knew that Lu Shiyan only brought back so much grain. They couldn't rely on that little bit of food.
These days, those who went to work at the brick kiln and water conservancy projects and received rice from the Lu family haven't been able to cook and eat it all.
Each household would grab a small handful and cook it together with the wild vegetables they had dug up.
Of all the wild vegetables, the villagers' favorite is cassava. After being soaked in water, it is not only non-toxic, but also delicious and filling.
When some women saw Jiang Tangtang and Zhou Qiongniang carrying tools, they asked Jiang Tangtang if they were going to dig for wild vegetables and when she would take them to the mountains to collect cassava again.
When Jiang Tangtang went into the mountains earlier, she did indeed use the system to scan a large area of cassava.
However, the cassava was located deep in the mountains. At the time, they took Fang Mingming to find her parents, and it was inconvenient for her to dig it up, so she didn't pay any attention to it when she saw it.
Once things have settled down in the valley, she can lead the villagers to the mountains to collect resources.
When the villagers asked, she replied, "Let's go after the irrigation canal is repaired! I'm afraid we might encounter wolves in the mountains if it's just us."
The villagers all agreed, saying, "That's right, it takes a man to follow along."
After exchanging a few words with the villagers, Jiang Tangtang left with Zhou Qiongniang.
Throughout the journey, Jiang Tangtang kept the scanning system running. While analyzing which soil types were suitable for planting medicinal herbs, she also didn't forget to dig for wild vegetables.
Although I was tired at the end of the day, I felt very fulfilled.
Not only did Jiang Tangtang and Zhou Qiongniang harvest two full baskets of wild vegetables, but more importantly, after a day of visits, Jiang Tangtang also figured out which places were suitable for planting which medicinal herbs.
However, even though they figured it out, clearing the land became a major problem.
The land in the valley used for growing grain has not yet been developed, so there is no spare capacity to cultivate medicinal herbs.
After much thought, Jiang Tangtang concluded that the problem lay in the outdated tools.
If we had modern advanced machinery like lawnmowers and tillers, these wastelands in the valley could be cultivated in just a few days.
But now the valley relies entirely on manpower. First, we cut down the weeds on the wasteland, then we cut down the miscellaneous trees, and then we dig it by hand.
Even if the entire village worked day and night, they might not be able to reclaim all the wasteland by next spring.
Jiang Tangtang started thinking about improving agricultural tools again.
The book contained design diagrams for agricultural tools; she only needed to understand the principles and draw them accordingly. The more troublesome part was figuring out how to actually make these tools.
Making farm tools requires iron, so a blacksmith...
Although copper and iron ore have been discovered in the mountains, she doesn't yet have the capability to mine and refine them. She'll have to find a way to make tools from outside.
That day, Lu Shiyan went out of the valley again.
He left the valley for two reasons: firstly, he had previously discovered he was being followed and wanted to confirm the valley's safety; secondly, he wanted to gather information about the outside world.
Jiang Tangtang was afraid of holding him back, so she didn't go with him this time. She just waited for news in the valley.
Like Jiang Tangtang, the villagers were also eagerly awaiting the news that Lu Shiyan would bring back from outside.
Lu Shiyan didn't return from outside until dark.
As soon as he returned, everyone put down what they were doing and went over to ask him how things were.
Lu Shiyan said, "Puzhou may not be able to hold on much longer."
"If Puzhou were occupied by the Western Rong, would the valley be discovered?" The villagers were not surprised that the Great Zhou could not defeat the Western Rong.
After all, the Great Zhou Dynasty hadn't done anything worthwhile in recent years, and the dynasty was already riddled with problems.
They don't have much patriotism; their biggest worry is whether they can make a living in their newly settled life.
Lu Shiyan shook his head, "It's hard to say."
The villagers could do nothing but sigh and lament. After a moment of lamentation, they dispersed.
The villagers left, but Jiang Tangtang remained standing. She looked at Lu Shiyan and asked, "Did you encounter anything else while you were out today?"
Lu Shiyan did not hide anything, "Today I went out and met with the prefect of Puzhou. After he learned that I led people to kill the Western Rong grain troops and seize grain, he wanted to join his ranks and help him resist the Western Rong soldiers' attack on the city."
Jiang Tangtang wasn't surprised at all. "You agreed?"
Lu Shiyan gave a soft "hmm".
Originally, he didn't want to interfere too much in mortal affairs, but seeing the children and women who had died tragically by the roadside, he inexplicably thought of Jiang Tangtang and Lu Chenyan. A surge of anger ignited in his heart, and he ultimately took the initiative to expose himself to Zhang Kui.
That led to the conversation that followed.
If he hadn't deliberately exposed himself, given his skill level, Zhang Kui's men would never have been able to find him.
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