The village head quickly explained, "How could I dare, sir? I checked the documents at home several times before I dared to write them down. Our family has ten mu of land, and we harvested thirty shi of grain. We paid four shi and five dou of grain. There is absolutely no mistake."
He paused and added, "The reason this year's harvest is so good is because my family applied water and fertilizer to the fields. This method was learned from a book by a woman named Meng Zhao in our village. Other people don't use it much, so it's not very noticeable. My family used it on all ten mu, which is why the harvest is so good."
The tax official was somewhat skeptical after hearing this. What kind of fertilizer could increase grain production by half? If it were really that effective, wouldn't he have made a great contribution by reporting this?
But he was worried that Li Zheng was talking nonsense and that he would end up disappointed. So he quickly took the tax payment book and his men and headed straight for Shenjia Village to check it out for himself.
After witnessing firsthand the ten acres of land owned by the village headman and the thirty bushels of grain in the granary, along with the oral accounts from the villagers of Shenjia Village, he finally believed it.
"Sir, this is a true story! My family has four mu of land in total. I was worried that the fertilizer wouldn't work, so I only irrigated one mu to test it out. And guess what? The mu that was irrigated grew completely differently from the surrounding land! When it was harvest time, I deliberately harvested them separately, and that one mu yielded a full three shi of grain, equivalent to the harvest from my two mu! I'm so regretful! If I had known this would happen, I would have irrigated all four mu with the fertilizer!"
After saying that, he led the tax official to the place where Meng Zhao was composting fertilizer to take a look. "This is the thing. We used to pass by here and complained about how smelly it was. Who knew this thing would be so useful?"
Although Meng Zhao built the pig farm and composting site far away from the village, the villagers could still smell the odor when they passed by on their way up the mountain.
In the past, everyone complained about it in private, but because of Meng Zhao's status in the village, no one dared to say anything. Now that they know the benefits of this fertilizer, the whole village seems to have suddenly lost their sense of smell and can no longer detect the stench.
Seeing that the villagers' account was so detailed and convincing, the tax official's last remaining doubts vanished. Upon returning to the county, he immediately went to report the situation to the county magistrate.
When Wang Xian learned of this, he was surprisingly calm. After all, in just over a year, Meng Zhao had transformed from an ordinary peasant woman into a major taxpayer in the county.
The daily revenue of Zhenbaoge is almost comparable to that of many time-honored brands in the county. However, when it comes to issues concerning people's livelihoods, he has to pay more attention.
After instructing his men to leave, he tidied up the books on his desk and went home early.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw Song Wanyin sitting on the swing, holding a book in her hands. He tiptoed behind her and gently pushed the swing a few times.
Song Wanyin suddenly came to her senses, "Husband, why are you back so early today?"
After a moment's hesitation, Wang Xian said in a low voice, "There is something I would like to ask for your help with, Madam."
"What kind of help?" Song Wanyin closed the book and looked at him curiously.
"I would like to ask Madam to invite Madam Meng to our home for a meal. I have something to discuss with her."
Song Wanyin raised an eyebrow and asked suspiciously, "What is it? Didn't you look down on her for being just a merchant?"
Wang Xian quickly retorted, "She is Madam's friend. When have I ever looked down on her for being a merchant? It's just that our social statuses are different, making it inconvenient for us to have too much contact. If I really looked down on her for being a merchant, why would I have allowed Madam to partner with her in business?"
Song Wanyin chuckled and nodded. "Alright, I'll help you with that. But you have to tell me what it is about first."
Wang Xian leaned down and whispered the story to Song Wanyin.
Upon learning of the magistrate's invitation, Meng Zhao wasn't too surprised. After all, anything related to grain production was a major event. Although Shenjia Village had only set up a few experimental plots, anyone paying close attention would surely discover the clues. It was perfectly normal for Wang Xian to know about this.
Although she had visited Song Wanyin's home several times before, this was the first time she had been invited by the county magistrate. Therefore, she specially changed into a proper and formal outfit to show her respect.
At the dinner table, Song Wanyin deliberately sat between the two of them and enthusiastically served food to Meng Zhao: "Zhao Zhao, don't be shy with me, help yourself to whatever you want to eat."
Meng Zhao smiled and nodded, "Don't worry, Sister Wanyin, I definitely won't stand on ceremony with you."
As the county magistrate's cook, his skills were superb, and Meng Zhao unknowingly ate quite a lot.
When they had almost finished eating, Wang Xian spoke up at the opportune moment: "I heard that Madam Meng has found a good remedy that can increase the grain yield in the fields by more than half?" His tone was serious, completely different from his usual gentle words to Song Wanyin.
Song Wanyin frowned and quickly smoothed things over: "Yes, Zhaozhao, I've heard about it too. You're amazing! Not only are you skilled, but you can make so many things, and you even know about things in the fields."
Meng Zhao smiled slightly and said modestly, "It was just a coincidence. I usually like to read some miscellaneous books and chat with the customers in the shop. I pieced together this recipe from their conversations and thought I'd give it a try. I didn't expect it to actually work. However, this year's increased grain production is not entirely due to my recipe. The heavy snow before the New Year also helped a lot."
"I heard that your recipe is made from pig excrement?" Wang Xian asked bluntly.
"Yes, actually, not only pig excrement can be used, but chicken, duck and cow excrement can also be used. If we talk about the best effect, it has to be human excrement. If you collect the excrement of a family of three every year and compost it according to my method, it is enough to fertilize two acres of land. If there are more people in the family, plus chickens, ducks, pigs and cows, you can completely rely on your own excrement to fertilize the land."
Humans eat a wider variety of foods with richer nutrients, and their bodies cannot fully absorb all of these nutrients. As a result, their urine and feces contain proteins, urea, amino acids, and cellulose, all of which are beneficial to plant growth. However, if the amount is too large, it can easily 'drown' the plants.
Wang Xian was very interested in what Meng Zhao was saying and hurriedly asked, "But this person's excrement seems to be difficult to collect?"
Meng Zhao was prepared and calmly replied, "I have another method. We can bury a water tank underground and build a funnel-shaped chair on top of it. If a person needs to defecate, they can sit on the chair and let the excrement flow into the water tank. When it is almost full, we can take it out and collect it."
"There's actually such a method? Once this thing is built, won't farmers be able to produce, compost, and apply fertilizer themselves?"
Wang Xian became more and more excited as he spoke, and Meng Zhao also had many ideas to share. The two hit it off as they talked, and the topic went from the composting method to how to promote it throughout the county and even a wider area.
Song Wanyin, who had originally intended to lighten the mood by sitting between the two, was now completely speechless.
She's happy that her husband and friends have a good relationship, but could you please not talk about this kind of thing at the dinner table?! She can't eat anymore!!!
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