Jiang Zhi was not being modest when she said that the amount of green grain this year was low.
This year's early corn crop covers less than 20 mu (approximately 3.3 hectares), and the yield is half that of last year.
Many factors restrict agricultural grain output, among which the most critical are varieties and fertilizers and pesticides.
Jiang Zhi has already started artificially pollinating the corn to try to prevent any missing kernels.
On the one hand, we need to improve the quality, and on the other hand, we also need to ensure the fertility.
There are no chemical fertilizers here, and the land is not particularly fertile to begin with; the previous year's two crops consumed most of the nutrients.
If we were to plant two crops a year again, with continuous planting throughout the four seasons, the land would gradually become barren, and even the use of well-rotted farmyard manure wouldn't be enough.
Jiang Zhi also knew that in specialized planting industries, those seemingly ordinary piles of humus needed to be filled with large amounts of ammonium bicarbonate and phosphate fertilizers.
Even the compost from ordinary farmhouses cannot meet the crazy fertilizer requirements of dozens of acres of land.
Therefore, the original acreage was reduced, and only a small portion of the land was planted, requiring crop rotation.
The empty space is also used for simple planting.
Xu Genyou and Tian Gui have already planted peanuts and cotton seedlings in one part of the plant, and the rest is for a second crop of corn and sweet potatoes.
Despite the reduced production, this year's sales have made Jiang Zhi a fortune compared to last year.
This year, Zhang Juntou received a share of the mosquito coil workshop, so when he sold the green grains, he didn't keep any tender corn for himself, but instead let Jiang Zhi sell all of it for money.
In addition, last year, in order to help the villagers get through the famine, Jiang Zhi only sold premium corn and distributed all the slightly inferior corn to everyone.
Even the money from the sale of grain was used to subsidize the villagers, which allowed Xujia Village to get through the first year in peace.
This year, the corn will no longer be distributed to the villagers; all the corn will be sold, and the money will go into their own pockets.
There was no one idle on the assembly line; even the seven members of the Shi family were pulled out by Shi Houzi, except for Sister Shi, who stayed at the pharmacy.
Old Shi and Old Shi Er worked hard to carry the baskets, and several women helped carry them with their backs. Although they worked slowly, it was better than not working at all. In the end, no one in the village would want to see them.
Now, the family works under the guidance of the stone monkey, though they may encounter some bumps along the way.
The village's more than 100 people were scattered across various plots of land, and the competition was all about speed.
Just as Errui said, an hour later, the tender corn from more than 20 acres of land was placed in front of several merchants.
Fortunately, there are now post stations where merchants park their mule carts. Each family brought seven or eight carts, all fully loaded with tender corn and mosquito coils.
In the final settlement, Jiang Zhi only made a few taels of silver after deducting costs last year, but this year it was pure profit, with the green grains alone selling for eighty-nine taels of silver.
Aside from the truly unacceptable bare sticks, all the "toothless" and "sparsely haired" sticks were sold.
Fresh, whole husks of green sorghum are weighed, and each bunch costs more than ten coins.
After seeing the merchants off, Xujia Village immediately began distributing the money, without even waiting for accounting, because the accounts had already been settled.
Yours weighs a few dozen kilograms, his weighs a few hundred kilograms; each has its own price.
A group of children were responsible for calculating and distributing the money, a routine the villagers had grown accustomed to.
This surprised several merchants who came to buy things.
Strange things kept happening in Xujia Village when they were selling green grains.
At the post station, a female village chief first brought out a plaque with a calligraphy by a county magistrate, which allowed several merchants to buy tender corn without any hesitation.
Then the whole village, young and old, came out to husk corn. No one scolded or chased them; everyone ran around doing the work, working even harder than their own.
What surprised the merchants the most was that all those who were taking notes with stone slabs were children, mostly boys and girls around ten years old.
In Xujia Village, everything done by the collective is recorded, and everyone has to clock in.
That means that every time you do a job, you have to put your fingerprint next to your name in the logbook.
A fingerprint is worth anywhere from ten to fifty coins.
When fingerprints were being taken, everyone's eyes widened.
After looking at their own, they want to look at others' too, afraid that others have pressed too many buttons while they have pressed too few.
After a year, even the most slow learner would recognize most of the villagers' names.
The villagers have also gotten used to keeping accounts.
Tian Xiaoquan, Tian Xiaoxi, Shi Houzi, Xu Heizi, and Lin Xiaohu learned accounting from Xia Xiucai.
This was also Jiang Zhi's requirement: that the village children learn to read and write every day, and also learn to count.
The imperial examination and becoming an official were too far away; the mundane details of daily life, like firewood, rice, oil, and salt, were right before our eyes.
As long as you can keep track of the numbers, you won't suffer a loss, and you'll think things through more carefully before doing anything in the future.
Suddenly, five or six tents appeared in the village.
While harvesting corn, the children would use stone slabs to keep track of their earnings at various corners of the fields.
These accounts are simple and easy to remember, only recording the names of each household and the grade and weight of the corn.
Finally, we summarize the overall ledger. This way, even if there are errors, the amount will not be large, and we can also find out who made the mistake.
At this point, the children distributed the money that they hadn't even had a chance to warm up yet.
Upon seeing the money, the villagers who had been planting grains with Village Chief Jiang beamed with joy.
Qin happily tied the money bag to her waistband.
Genqing handed over the money he earned at the pharmacy to Lianhua, while he kept the money from selling grain and earning work points at home.
She already had several dozen coins in her small jar, and now she needed to add some more loose change.
Once they have a grandson, they can use the money to make a "walking horse ring" and a longevity lock for the child.
Just as she was feeling happy, someone bumped into her hard. Before she even looked at who it was, she yelled, "Who's being so reckless? Don't knock my money over!"
Qin gripped her purse, looked up to see who was acting so recklessly, and seeing it was this person, she couldn't help but angrily ask, "What are you trying to do now?"
Li Laoshi rubbed his nose and whispered, "I didn't mean to lie to you!"
Qin raised an eyebrow and glared, saying, "Hmph, if it weren't for Sister Jiang reminding you, I would still think you were still injured! You liar!"
Li Laoshi forced a smile: "Oh, oh, I only lied to you about helping me tidy up the house! I didn't lie about anything else..."
Qin spat at him: "You still dare to say you're lying about other things? I'll skin you alive! Get out of the way, a good dog doesn't block the way!"
As he spoke, he shoved Li Laoshi aside with a shoulder bump and walked away with a thud.
Li Laoshi followed behind, sighing twice, then wiped his face in frustration: "Oh dear, what a mess this is!"
He lied to Qin that his injury hadn't healed. Qin wasn't stupid after all; after being reminded by Jiang Zhi's words, she also began to observe Li Laoshi carefully.
Seeing that he was perfectly fine doing other things, but started groaning in pain as soon as he was in front of her, she immediately realized that she had been deceived.
He hadn't spoken to Li Laoshi for several days, and now he was even more unfriendly.
Li Laoshi touched the thing in his arms, then looked at Qin Shi who had already walked away, and reluctantly returned to the crowd.
On the other side, Xu Changming held the two taels of silver he had been allocated, but instead of being happy, he looked melancholy.
He led a group of people excitedly into the city, hoping to beg for money, but after feeding mosquitoes for days, he returned utterly humiliated and too ashamed to leave the house. Now…
Sigh, I'm useless now. I shouldn't try to stand out anymore!
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