When the two rice experts arrived at Yushudun, it was already dark.
However, you could still see flames rising from the village and many people busy at work.
To divert water from Yushudun, we have to start digging from the fields outside the village.
This is a public channel that can be used by people from all over the area. It has to be dug all the way to a embankment outside the village, and then the water will go in different directions to divert water to their respective villages.
The project is so massive that it can only be done in the early morning and at night. Otherwise, no one can stand the scorching heat during the day.
Zhao Wei carefully looked over the seeds he brought back on his hands, and without taking a break, he asked the two of them to help him grow the seedlings.
Hearing his bold and crazy decision, the two rice experts were so shocked that their jaws dropped.
"Are you crazy? You're planting rice at this time of year? What did you do earlier?"
"The rice in our village has suffered a disaster this year. It has grown yellow and has no grains. It has dried up enough to be used as firewood."
"Although we give this seed to you for free, we are not giving it to you for fun."
…
The two experts looked a little angry, even though Zhao Wei's family had given them a sumptuous welcoming banquet, with two large basins of meat alone.
Wouldn't this be considered arrogant no matter where it is placed?
In the end, the two experts still insisted on their opinions.
They already regarded Zhao Wei as a person who pretended to know everything and gave orders blindly.
"President Zhao, we originally thought that we came here just to give guidance on the work, but we didn't expect that we would start production activities so soon. You are simply making a fuss."
"You are playing the piano nonsense. You are wasting crops. You will be struck by lightning. We don't support this. Please find someone else!"
…
As the two of them were talking, they put down their dishes and seemed to be getting up and leaving.
Zhao Wei quickly stopped the man, then picked up a piece of fat and lean bacon, which was glistening under the oil lamp.
"Two experts, don't get angry yet. Try this meat. It's smoked with pine branches that were dried last year. It tastes pretty good."
Seeing that the two were unmoved, he was not angry, because he knew that people like them were more principled in doing things.
He put down his chopsticks and opened the window. In the distance, on the ridges of the fields, there were shadowy figures of villagers digging canals.
"When the well ran out of water last month, the children from the neighboring village licked their cracked lips and asked me, 'Uncle, what does rice taste like? I haven't eaten it for a long time.'
"I knew then that if I kept waiting for the rainy season, half the people in these villages would starve to death this year."
One of the experts pushed the mirror frame, and the bamboo chopsticks made a crisp sound when they hit the edge of the bowl.
"Agricultural production depends on the solar terms. Going against the seasons is reckless! Do you know the temperature requirements for the seedlings of 'Nanjing 9108'? Do you know the spacing between plants and rows when transplanting? The surface temperature is now over 40 degrees. The seeds sown will be scalded into charcoal within three days!"
"That's why I asked you to help build the shade shed and the infiltration channel."
Zhao Wei took out a crumpled notebook from his pocket, which was filled with densely drawn diagrams.
"There's a shady valley at the foot of the mountain. I calculated that there's about 50 acres of land that can be used to grow rice."
"It takes 376 meters of underground canal to divert the canal to the nursery area, and hollow bamboo tubes are used as condensation pipes..."
The young expert suddenly slammed the table and said, "That's a wild idea! Even if we can lower the ground temperature, if it rains during the heading period, there won't be enough accumulated temperature, and the rice won't be able to fill with grain at all!"
Before he finished speaking, there was a sudden commotion outside the house. Er Laizi burst open the door, sweating all over: "Boss! When we dug the canal to field No. 19, black water came out from underground!"
Zhao Wei's face suddenly changed, he grabbed the oil lamp and rushed out.
The ridges of the fields were crowded with villagers, and the water seeping from the newly dug ditches was rusty and smelled of sulphur. One of the experts squatted down and dipped his fingertips in the black water, and his fingertips instantly turned blue-black.
"This is underground sulfide infiltration, which means that the rock structure has changed..."
"Isn't this retribution? We've been digging randomly..."
Some villagers started crying.
A sense of panic filled everyone's heart.
It's already this time, why are you still being superstitious?
"This is the result of geological movement causing the underground rock to break, allowing some iron-containing minerals to mix with groundwater, which then formed sulfides."
"This substance will bring some high temperatures, destroy the fields, isolate the land in this area, and then prevent the black water from flowing to other places."
"Also, find someone to clean up all the black soil and replace it with clean soil."
Fortunately, only a little bit of it gushed out and it was quickly stopped, so there wasn't much damage.
Just the fact that they dug out the pitch-black liquid at such a night was enough to scare the villagers out of their wits.
Zhao Wei stared at the direction where the black water was spreading, turned around and grabbed the hand of an expert: "Comrade Yan, there is only one way now: soak the seeds in mountain springs to germinate, transplant them to the shady valley overnight, and use ice springs to irrigate and control the temperature!"
The expert wanted to refute, but was grabbed by the sleeve by another companion.
The man looked at the fire burning in Zhao Wei's eyes, then looked at the desperate faces of the villagers, and took out a thermometer from his canvas bag: "Go get the largest wooden basin, I'll teach you how to prepare the rooting agent."
It takes more than a day to soak the rice seeds in the wooden basin in the icy spring.
The expert surnamed Yan set up a homemade thermometer and said to Zhao Wei: "This temperature is still too high. The water temperature in the field is too high. Sigh..."
Yes, if this problem is not solved and the seedlings are grown, I am afraid that after planting them for a day, I will only see dead seedlings on the ground.
The best way is to provide shade.
Although he had the foresight to choose the land on the shady side, it was still not enough.
Direct sunlight for up to 10 hours is a real test for these delicate crop seedlings.
So he thought of building a pergola over the rice fields.
This will be a huge project.
It just so happens that now is the era of the collective, and everyone does everything together. With the labor force of thousands of people in a village, it will be more than enough for ten people to be responsible for one acre of land.
Therefore, the dried trees on the mountain were cut down to build this shed.
He also used dying rotten leaves, vines, etc. to cover it.
Finally, apply a layer of mud on it.
As a result, very stable sheds were built like mushrooms after the rain.
Finally, it is time to get the "horse racing water".
That is what is called flowing water, living water.
The reason why the water temperature in the rice fields is so high is that it is just stagnant there.
This idea was somewhat crazy, but fortunately, their village was at the end of this water source, where water resources were at their peak. Even the well that could never be filled to the bottom was flushed with water more than ten times.
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