Chapter 164: Instructing Zhong Jing
"Those roughnecks didn't let me down. Their energy wasn't wasted, and they've cleared over 3,000 mu of wasteland for me. I've personally seen it, and they've done a pretty thorough job, preparing the land beautifully. I also sent someone to buy the sugarcane seeds, and just as you said, they only brought in 150,000 to 160,000 kilograms. What can I do with that, eh?"
Zhao Liya silently calculated that based on 160,000 jin, it would only be enough to plant about 70 acres.
If we search harder, we can only get about one hundred or more acres at most.
Sugarcane cannot be grown on other land for the time being, so we have to think of other places.
Zhao Liya comforted him, saying, "Plant as much as you can first. This will give the soldiers some practice. If you save all the seventy, eighty, or even hundreds of acres for seeds, you can expand your business significantly in the second half of the year. I'll also leave some seeds for you, and you can buy some here when the time comes. Wouldn't that be enough?"
"Brother Zhong, don't underestimate this kind of sugarcane. There are tricks to it, too. How to prepare the soil, how to fertilize, how to water, how to build up the soil, how to strip the leaves, and if conditions are good, you need to fertilize again. If there's an insect infestation, you have to know how to deal with it quickly to minimize the impact, and so on. There are so many trivial things to do, and if you've never planted it before, it's really a mess!"
"Also, sugarcane needs fertilizer. Even if you have enough seeds, it's useless without fertilizer. Why don't you buy more farmyard manure from farmers from now on and compost it first? The more the better, so you can use it later."
Zhong Jing had been feeling somewhat discouraged, but after listening to Zhao Liya's well-reasoned and logical analysis, he suddenly became enlightened. He slapped his thigh and said with a smile, "As expected of Sister Xiaoya, you're so smart! If you hadn't told me, I would never have thought of it! Okay, okay, I'll do as Sister Xiaoya says!"
Zhao Liya smiled and said, "I'll personally teach your soldiers how to plant crops when the time comes. How about you send a dozen or so people to Zaihu Village to learn from them? That way, the results might be even better."
Zhong Jing thought about it and nodded: "No problem, just when they go, just say they are going somewhere else to learn experience, and don't say they are from our military camp. It's not that we are afraid, but it's better to keep a low profile. If anything happens, it can avoid a lot of trouble."
Zhao Liya was also the person who was most afraid of trouble, so she naturally agreed when she heard it.
She laughed again and said, "The scale of this sugarcane production will be expanded anyway. Now that we have some free time, we can build a sugar mill."
Zhong Jing nodded. "Well, it's better to be prepared. Okay, I'll just copy yours and build a bigger sugar-making workshop!"
Zhao Liya smiled and said, "No problem!"
Suddenly thinking of something, Zhao Liya said, "Oh right, why don't you build a pig farm and raise pigs? That way you'll have meat to eat in the barracks, and you can also accumulate a lot of fertilizer. It will also give the soldiers something to do. Isn't that great?"
The more Zhao Liya thought about it, the more she felt that this was a reliable idea. The military camp had sufficient manpower and space. It all depended on their mood to reclaim land. They could take any unowned land without having to spend money to buy it. It was very convenient to do anything.
To build a super large pig farm, you need to start with at least 500 fat pigs, and that’s no exaggeration!
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Zhong Jing sighed and smiled bitterly, saying, "To be honest, Sister Xiaoya, when it comes to raising pigs, I have something to say. We have raised pigs in the military camp before, but it was okay with a dozen or twenty or thirty. Once we had more, problems started to arise. They were too prone to disease, such as swine fever. Once they got sick, a large number of them died. Oh! We didn't give up and raised several batches. Anyway, three out of five times, the result was the same. It really broke everyone's heart."
Later on, I couldn't stand it anymore, it was too scary, so I just gave up raising it.
"Sister Xiaoya," Zhong Jing said, his spirits rising, his eyes gleaming. "Or do you have some good ideas? Then you must teach us!"
Swine fever, this is indeed a problem.
Moreover, Zhao Liya had no way to solve this problem. Not to mention now, even in modern times, once the African swine fever broke out, no one could solve it. She could only watch helplessly as the pigs on the entire pig farm died one after another.
Moreover, even in modern times, swine fever cannot be completely prevented.
Of course, the risk is much smaller than it is now.
Zhao Liya could only shake her head. "There's no way to solve this problem. However, a good way to effectively prevent swine fever is to maintain cleanliness. The pigpen should be cleaned and ventilated regularly. Don't let the pigs drink unclean water or eat unclean food, especially in the summer. When there are too many mosquitoes, fumigate with something like mugwort to drive them away. This can effectively reduce the incidence of swine fever."
"Also, you have plenty of space here. As the saying goes, don't put all your eggs in one basket, and don't raise all your pigs together. When you build your pig sheds, try to make them as spacious as possible, with areas for 150 to 200 pigs each. Each area can be separated by 2,000 to 3,000 meters or a mountain. If you build four or five such pig farms, wouldn't you be able to raise around a thousand pigs? Even if swine fever breaks out, you won't lose everything!"
Well, if nothing comes out, then it is really fate, just accept it.
Zhong Jing thought about it and slapped his thigh: "Okay, let's do it! We can give it another try. Even if we're really unlucky and get swine fever and die, at least the pig manure is still there!"
This is also useful stuff, worth it!
Zhao Liya: “.”
It sounds right, but I always feel like something is weird!
"Sister Xiaoya, please write me a copy of the precautions and so on. I will find someone to teach them to those old men."
Even if he just listened to it, he couldn't remember it. This was a completely unfamiliar field for him. He could understand it at first, but it was difficult to remember it.
Zhao Liya nodded happily and smiled: "That's no problem!"
She smiled enthusiastically and said, "I'll give you some ideas on how to build a pigpen. We built it that way, too."
Zhong Jing nodded happily, "Okay, thank you, Xiaoya! Xiaoya is such a beautiful and kind person!"
Zhao Liya laughed "Puchi!"
This good guy card makes people feel comfortable.
"You should also grow more sweet potatoes. One acre of sweet potato vines can support three to four pigs. You can do the math based on that ratio."
Zhao Liya enthusiastically promoted sweet potatoes: "This is a great thing. The more you cut the sweet potato vines, the more they grow. After cutting, apply a little fertilizer or water them, and they will grow again very quickly, even faster than chives. And they are easy to grow. Use sweet potatoes to grow seedlings. Cut the vines and bury them in the soil to keep them alive. Sweet potato vines can be fed to pigs, and the tender shoots can be stir-fried and eaten as vegetables. In autumn, the fruits are harvested, and the sweet potatoes can be eaten and fed to pigs. The best thing is that they are not picky about the soil!"
It is simply a must-have tool for pig farming.
Please give me a monthly ticket, so pitiful~~~~(>_<)~~~~
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
