Chapter 440: Building an Inner Loop
After the spring plowing, the people of the four counties of Pingzhou began to perform labor service.
The government organized the people to dig canals, build roads and widen official roads, and construct city walls...
The current major infrastructure projects in Pingzhou are tentatively these three.
In fact, all three tasks are very labor-intensive, but they have to be done one by one. The first labor service arranged is to clean the canals and ditches.
Cleaning the ditches, this time including cleaning the silt at the bottom of the ditch, and removing the weeds on both sides of the ditch, etc., the purpose is to widen and deepen the original ditch to facilitate water diversion and drainage.
In this way, it can not only facilitate the irrigation of farmland, but also be an effective means of preventing flood disasters.
Before cleaning each ditch, the water inlet will be blocked upstream in advance. Only when the water in the ditch has almost flowed out will people be organized to clean it.
Once the water in the ditch dried up, they could still pick up many fish of all sizes.
These fish would be brought to the temporary kitchen and processed together. They would be boiled with tofu into fish soup or fried with a little salt until crispy. At dinner, each person would receive a bowl of fish soup or a spoonful of dried fish.
This is the time that all the men who come to serve look forward to the most, and it makes them feel very happy.
Wu Qi was from Xiangping and was also an outstanding student at Liaodong Academy.
Last year, the construction of kangs in the three counties of Pingzhou required a large number of artisans. The advancement and completion of this project required the guidance and assistance of many officials. At the time, Liaodong County was short of staff at the grassroots level, so some outstanding students from the Liaodong Academy were recruited to help.
He also went and was rewarded for his outstanding performance.
This year, the government was still short of manpower for the canal repairs, and most of the students from last year were also drafted in to help.
For example, he is one of the supervisors this time.
Seeing the men begin to work, Wu Qi hurriedly said, "Dig out the silt from these ditches, canals, and ponds, and put it all together."
Every section of the river or canal has a designated area for them to store silt, and people will be assigned to turn the silt over and dry it later.
After the shovels and dustpans were thrown down, one-third of the strong men on the shore went down, another one-third were clearing weeds, and the last one-third were responsible for transporting silt.
The young men hummed and hawed as they worked, saying, "The work this year is quite strenuous."
"Didn't the officials say it? Once these ditches are built, the water depth will be increased, making it easier to irrigate farmland. In the event of a flood, the water will be drained more quickly. So, let's just put in the effort."
"Supervisor Wu, is this silt useful?" the man below asked with a smile.
Wu Qi was helping to carry a dustpan of silt ashore. When he heard the question, he said unhappily, "What's it to you? Just do the work when I tell you to. Why are you asking so many questions?!" In fact, he didn't quite understand. Anyway, the silt was specifically requested by Lord Guo, the military officer in charge of the warehouse.
This silt was indeed what Guo Chunsheng had specifically requested.
Lu Songli knew very well that the low harvest and poor growth of crops at this time were largely due to insufficient fertility.
At this time, the rudiments of composting farmyard manure had already been established, but it had not yet been fully implemented. Moreover, there was not enough farmyard manure.
Silt is rich in organic matter and, when properly processed, can be transformed into a highly effective fertilizer, providing nutrients to plants, improving soil quality, promoting microbial growth, and increasing soil fertility. Mountain compost, containing humus and rich in organic fertilizer, is also a soil conditioner.
Guo Chunsheng and others were informed about these Lu Song pears, and they had experimented with them last year, and they found that they could indeed increase crop yields.
Since the river channels had to be cleared this year anyway, Guo Chunsheng simply asked people to collect a large amount of silt.
While the common people were busy with spring plowing and working hard to perform labor service, the various workshops originally opened in Liaodong County also sent people to the other three counties of Pingzhou to select suitable locations to open branches.
In general, Pingzhou has entered a period of balanced development.
Lu Songli is committed to building an internal circulation of Pingzhou's self-system and arming itself.
She was preparing for a rainy day so that if Pingzhou was blocked in the future, she could achieve self-sufficiency as much as possible.
At this time, branches of the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce were also gradually opened in some places.
Moreover, because the goods they sold were either high-quality and inexpensive, or unique, they occupied a vast blue ocean market. Therefore, their business was booming, bringing in large sums of money, which they shipped back to Pingzhou and provided a vital boost to the city.
The people of Pingzhou are in the midst of rapid changes and are the ones who can feel the changes in Pingzhou the most. Among them, the people of Liaoxi County feel it most obviously.
Yushu Village, Yi County, Liaoxi County
Aunt Liu and her old sister separated at the first intersection in the village and went back to their respective homes.
As soon as she opened the door, she saw her eldest daughter-in-law hanging clothes.
When Mrs. Liu saw her mother-in-law, she immediately greeted her, "Mom, are you back from the market?"
Aunt Liu smiled and said, "You came back right after shopping. Did you pick up so many mushrooms today?"
Mrs. Liu replied, "Yes, they are all hanging here. I will pick up some more this afternoon."
Mushrooms, black fungus and other mountain products can be exchanged for money after being dried. They can be sold to the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce Grain and Oil Store, or wait for people from the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce to come to the village to purchase them in bulk.
These mushrooms were bought by government officials. They were taken to the mountains to be identified and confirmed to be non-toxic and edible.
"Where's your father?"
"Dad went to the village entrance. Did you see him when you came back?" Her husband had gone to perform corvee labor, and her uncle had gone to work in the county. Everyone had their own things to do.
"Your father has to run to the village entrance several times every day. He cares more about building a private school in the village than building his own house." Aunt Liu muttered.
Mrs. Liu laughed, "That's not possible."
A private school is being built at the entrance of the village. This private school is jointly built by their Yushu Village and several other villages, and the government has agreed to pay half of the money.
Because their Yushu Village has a good geographical location, the private school was chosen at the entrance of their village.
After this matter was decided, the village heads and prestigious elders of several villages held a meeting and agreed that every household in their villages would contribute money and manpower and work together to establish the private school.
The elderly people in the village, like her father-in-law, would stroll around the village entrance every day, lend a hand, and do some small favors.
"Where's your little sister?"
"Inside the house. She might be feeling a little unwell."
"I'll go in and take a look." Aunt Liu, carrying her basket, did not go into the room she and the old man were in, but went to the small room next to it. She had been thinking about it for a long time, and this time she went to the market mainly to buy things for her daughter.
"Mom..." Liu Dani was lying in the room, feeling a little uncomfortable in her stomach. When she saw her mother come in, she called out quickly.
"Still feeling uncomfortable?"
“A little.”
"I'll make you a bowl of ginger soup later," Aunt Liu said, and she went to look through the basket. "I just went to the grain and oil grocery store at the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce in town and bought a square of paper. Here, you can use it as a cushion."
Liu Dani blushed and took it.
Recently, the paper mill in Liaodong County has produced two kinds of paper, one of which is yellowish-brown toilet paper.
Toilet paper is not expensive, only a penny a bundle, thick and cut into squares. If a family of three uses it sparingly, it can last a month. She thinks it is much more useful than side chips.
Another type of paper towel, which was of better quality than toilet paper, was green in color. She had heard that this green paper towel was specially developed for women's menstrual period.
Liu Dani turned sideways, took out a thick piece of tissue paper and stuffed it into her menstrual belt.
Aunt Liu couldn't help but mutter, "You're lucky. We used to stuff it with wood ash. But your aunt said that wood ash is unclean and unhygienic, so she asked me to buy you green paper."
That is to say, after Lord Lu took office, these ordinary people had more opportunities to make money, and they were willing to spend money like this because they had money coming in from time to time.
Liu Dani thought that she liked her current life.
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