23 Chapter 23
◎The fields in Zhaojia Village yield less than half a stone per mu◎
When Zhao Datian's apprentice Zhao Shitou came to help him, Zhao Datian told him his plans.
"I will work for my boss from now on. I will be paid two taels of silver a year and I won't have to worry about anything else. You know the basic carpentry work. If you practice more, you will become proficient and become a master. Then you can find work on your own. After working for three to five years, you can also take on apprentices."
Zhao Datian now feeds his entire family with enough to eat. He is old and has no other thoughts. He just wants to have a way to make a living.
Zhao Shitou is a nephew of the same clan as the Zhao family. He has many brothers and the land he owns cannot support so many people, so he has no choice but to let others become his apprentices and learn skills. He cannot get any land and can only rely on his own skills. However, he has only learned for two years and without the guidance of his master, how can he improve?
He begged Zhao Datian to take him with him.
Zhao Datian said helplessly, "I've already pawned myself. Do you have to pawn yourself to follow me? Although I'm your master, I'm not your biological parent. I can't make this decision."
Zhao Shitou felt that pawning himself was not a bad idea as he did not have to redeem himself. It was equivalent to finding a job for three years in one go. He went back and told his parents, who agreed with him, so he came back to find Zhao Datian.
"Uncle, take me to talk to Madam Cheng."
Zhao Datian waved his hand. "I've already asked Madam Cheng two favors today. We'll talk about it in a few days. Please help me harvest the alfalfa first."
***
The twenty acres of land that Cheng Mu had reclaimed were used to grow alfalfa. Since they had decided to build a barn to raise some livestock, they would not sell the alfalfa in the land but would reclaim it all and store it.
Qi Songmu, Yun Guier and others wanted to renovate the backyard and had no manpower to harvest alfalfa. Cheng Mu thought about it and decided to hire helpers. A helper was paid 30 coins a day and it cost 600 coins to harvest one acre of land. If they wanted to finish the work in one day, they would have to hire 20 people. The village could not find so many people, so they decided to see if they could find five people and finish the work in four days.
She handed the matter over to Gui'er and asked her to go door to door to ask if anyone was willing to do it, offering 30 cents for harvesting one acre of land.
I actually found five people.
When the alfalfa in the field was being harvested, the grain that the escort agency was transporting arrived.
Twenty acres of land requires about three stone of wheat seeds. Originally, it was planned to be planted entirely in Yu's field, but now there is an additional twenty acres of Zhao Datian. Considering the soil conditions, Cheng Mi changed her strategy and decided to intercrop winter wheat and alfalfa.
Previously, only the key points of drought resistance, cold resistance, and barrenness resistance were taken into consideration. The wheat seeds planted in Puyang County lacked the salt-alkali resistance. Also because of the on-site inspection of the soil, she re-tested the salt-alkali-tolerant wheat in the space laboratory.
The growth cycle of the space laboratory is short, and two rounds of experiments can be done in one day. She adopted the parallel alternating selection breeding method, setting up two different environments, one with sufficient water and fertilizer, a completely good environment, and the other an arid saline-alkali environment, with no watering at all during the growth period. This was done once or twice to select the good genes. After hybridization, the experiment was continued one or twice, and the selected good genes were exchanged for planting and then selected. In this way, the seeds grown can take into account both stress resistance and high yield.
After the escort agency's wheat seeds were delivered, she replaced them with the newly developed drought-resistant wheat seeds.
The arrival of the wheat seeds attracted many onlookers. They had never harvested so much wheat before, and Mrs. Cheng wanted to use it all for seeds.
"Sowing all of this in the ground? What a waste!"
"Are you going to sell these? Even if you sell them to us at a low price, it's better than just scattering them on the ground."
"It will be God's blessing if we can harvest half of it next year."
"Young people don't know the importance of things..."
The villagers were talking about it in a flurry, expressing pessimism, misunderstanding, and even indignation.
Yu's heart, which had been sinking, was stirred up again by the villagers, "Madam Cheng, do you really want to plant them all?" It seemed as if it was not too late to regret now.
Cheng Xi said calmly, "Let's give it a try. We'll see the results in May or June next year."
***
"Madam Cheng, Mr. Zhao is here."
In Zhaojia Village, the Zhao family was the largest. Among the Zhao clan was a patriarch, a local elder who, along with the village head, presided over all village affairs, mediating disputes, supervising production, and communicating information from above. Yu called him Master Zhao Ba, a man in his sixties, of high rank and respected in the village.
Logically speaking, Cheng Mu should have paid her a visit after arriving in Zhaojia Village, but she had to go into confinement right after returning, so there was nothing she could do.
Mr. Zhao came directly to see her, and Cheng Mu apologized and expressed her fear.
Yu wiped the bench again and again and invited Mr. Zhao to take a seat.
Uncle Zhao looked at Cheng Mu with a serious face. Cheng Mu was his great-grandson, and in his eyes, she was just a kid who knew nothing.
Mr. Zhao is usually very dignified in the village. He has a certain aura, and the way he looks at people makes people feel scared.
"You are from the Dazhu family. You worked with Dazhu to farm. The owner is young and inexperienced. He doesn't understand the difficulties here. Didn't you tell him?"
Yu placed the hot tea on the table, smoothed the hair behind her ear, and said with lowered eyes, "I told you before the sale, the owner has his own ideas."
Mr. Zhao frowned and said to Cheng Mu, "Boss Cheng, I'm already an old man and have been farming here all my life. I'm not saying this to you because I'm senior, but I really can't bear to see you waste so much food."
Cheng Mu said with a smile, "You are so virtuous and respected that you are willing to teach me. I am so happy. I had planned to ask you for advice on farming as soon as I was out of confinement."
"The land here doesn't produce crops. Even if you sow the seeds, there won't be many sprouts. If you want to make a profit, you'd better plant alfalfa."
Cheng Mu nodded. "Alfalfa is good. The land here doesn't produce grain, so we still need alfalfa to grow crops."
Seeing that she agreed so quickly, Mr. Zhao felt a little useless. He coughed, stood up and was about to leave.
"Please stay," Cheng Mu asked him to sit down again. "You are very experienced. I believe you also know that you can't always grow the same crop on a piece of land. Changing the crops is the key to maintaining the land."
Mr. Zhao's face showed a helpless expression of "Why don't you understand?" "I've tried sorghum, soybeans, rice, oats, quinoa, millet... I've only just realized the land here doesn't produce any crops after trying them all. Have you ever heard the saying, 'The people outside Yanmen Pass don't raise silkworms or grow hemp.' Only alfalfa grows well here. That's my experience over the years."
Cheng Wei used data to explain, "In our dynasty, top-quality farmland yields 2 dan per mu, medium-quality farmland yields over 1 dan per mu, and low-quality farmland yields 1 dan per mu. The farmland in Zhaojia Village yields less than half a dan per mu. You say the alfalfa grows well, but the yield is less than 1 dan per mu in fresh form, and only 20% after drying."
Mr. Zhao glared at her with his beard puffing. "What else do you want? The land is just like this!"
"Growing alfalfa won't feed people. Many families migrate to seek a living, as they can't leave their homeland! If the soil is poor, then change the soil. If the seeds don't germinate, then change the seeds. Isn't that right?"
Cheng Mu looked towards the inner courtyard warehouse and said, "To be honest, although I'm young, I've had a lucky encounter. These seeds were given to me by a great agricultural expert. They're drought-resistant and alkaline-resistant. If we plant them here, we can still yield one dan per mu."
One stone per mu!
The villagers who were watching silently outside the house were all shocked and started talking in low voices, which became increasingly noisy.
Gui'er and his mother avenged Zhao Dazhu and his son and returned unharmed. They killed a tiger on the way and avenged Zhao Datian's wife and son. The boss they brought back actually claimed that he could improve the soil and crops and increase the yield per mu to one stone.
How is that not shocking.
Mr. Zhao snorted, "Boss Cheng is too naive. He's so arrogant."
"Don't even mention trying. Don't you even dare to think about it?" Cheng Mu's eyes swept across the faces of the villagers standing outside and asked loudly, "Do you want to do it? Do you want to produce one dan of wheat per mu?"
The crowd suddenly became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
The expressions on their faces were sad, numb and confused.
Cheng Mu's eyes were filled with warmth. She thought of her mentor's mentor, whose lifelong dream was to keep her suffering compatriots away from hunger and ensure that they had enough food to eat.
After seven years of agricultural studies, standing on the shoulders of giants and learning a lot of skills, can't she lead the way for them?
Only after everyone has eaten their fill can they stand up straight and feel energetic.
She said to Mr. Zhao Ba, "No one dares to think about it, so I'll try it for everyone. If it works, everyone will have new hope. If it doesn't, I'm willing to try again and again. If it still doesn't work after three years, I'll go home in disgrace."
Mr. Zhao Ba was touched. "Just don't blame me for meddling in your business."
"How could that be? I'm grateful for your timely reminder. I'll still plant half alfalfa and only use half to plant winter wheat. This way, I'll save half the loss."
Mr. Zhao couldn't help but laugh and waved his hand, "It's good that you know it." He stood up and said no more.
"One more thing."
Mr. Zhao didn't even return to his seat and motioned for her to speak.
"I need to hire someone to do the work on the 40 mu of land. The day's wages are three fen of silver. Could you please tell everyone about it? It will also help everyone to make some money."
"Boss Cheng, what are you trying to achieve?"
Mr. Zhao sighed and walked out with his hands behind his back.
***
Within two days, the alfalfa on the forty acres of land was harvested. After Mu Yun paid the workers, the water fetcher arrived.
There were three people fetching water, all of them were strong-armed men, carrying tools such as butterfly awls, windlasses, wooden pestles and shovels. Qi Song led them in through the backyard door.
Mu Yun pointed out the place where they wanted to dig a well.
The leading man asked, "Can you find it according to the method?"
When Mu Yun and Gui'er went to their house to look for it, their family told them that the most important thing in digging a well is to find a water source, and a well cannot be dug anywhere.
Mu Yun and his friends wanted to dig a well in the yard, and the family told them a solution.
Place a handful of soybeans in the chosen place and cover it with a large bowl. After one night, see if the soybeans change. If there is no change, it means that the location is not suitable for digging a well.
Guier was curious and tried it several times. Each time she found that the soybeans had changed and became a little swollen.
The men put their things down and drew a circle on the ground, which was the size of the outer wall. After consulting the owner, they found that the owner had no objection, so they started digging layer by layer.
First, use a shovel to dig a hole to form the shape of the well, then use a butterfly cone to break the soil. The cone head will bring mud and sand into the mud bucket while drilling.
When the men were working, they had to spend a lot of energy to carry the soil up, and they were afraid of getting their clothes dirty, so they took off their clothes and worked with their bare chests. Gui'er was squatting on the side watching carefully, but Yu saw something wrong in the main room and rushed over to drag her away.
In order to avoid disturbing the people in the side rooms, Yu did not want to meet those men. After instructing Qi Song, she closed the back door of the main hall.
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