Continuous rainfall
As dawn broke, Cheng Yexuan drove his carriage out of the city gate.
When leaving the capital, Fu Zhiqiao brought two carriages. Fu Zhiqiao was in one carriage, and the other carriage was filled with dry rations and food.
Fu Zhi Qiao already had a lot of experience traveling long distances by carriage, and she didn't want to experience the discomfort of a bumpy carriage ride again. She asked Yin Xing to prepare thick mattresses to put in the carriage beforehand, so that the journey would be more comfortable with the mattresses as a cushion.
Even after a year away, Lingshui Lane remains unchanged.
When the neighbors saw the carriage parked in front of the Fu family's house, they all came over to greet Fu Zhi Qiao. Perhaps it was because of the "reputation" she had left when she dealt with Yao Cheng Fang last year, but now all the neighbors in Lingshui Lane were very kind to her.
The day after they arrived home, Wenshan and Wenjiang came to her house to report on the recent situation at the farm. As she had instructed, Wenshan had already led the villagers to reclaim the 100 acres of wasteland.
Spring brought abundant rainfall, with several light to moderate rains falling in succession. At this time, the ground was neither too dry nor too wet, making it the perfect time for planting.
Because most of the villagers in Liujia Village work at the winery, the winery slows down production during the spring planting season so that the villagers can go home to cultivate the land and grow grain.
The villagers were naturally grateful to Fu Zhiqiao because they could both earn money and grow grain. As soon as she appeared in the fields, everyone put down their work and ran over to greet her: "The boss is back!" "Hello, boss!"
Fu Zhi Qiao smiled and agreed, "I just came to check in, everyone go and get busy!"
The villagers dispersed in small groups.
Spring plowing is the most important time for farmers. In Liujia Village, all the able-bodied people, regardless of age or gender, went to the fields to work. They used oxen to harrow the fields and threw cow dung into them to increase fertility.
The rice seedlings are already being cultivated and will be transplanted into the fields when the time comes.
After staying at home for three days, Fu Zhiqiao and Yinxing moved to the manor.
However, it started raining the day after they moved in, and it rained for seven or eight days. The rainfall was not heavy and it stopped and started intermittently. Spring is usually rainy, so no one paid much attention to these few rain showers.
Shop owners in the city who sell rain gear such as oil-paper umbrellas, raincoats, and straw hats are all smiles; they've even sold off last year's stock.
Although the rain wasn't heavy, seven or eight days of continuous rain was still quite annoying. The air was damp, clothes were hard to dry, mold multiplied rapidly on wet clothes and emitted a foul odor, making everything unbearable.
Ginkgo couldn't help but complain, "It rains every day, every single day! How many more days is this rain going to last? The sun finally comes out for a minute or two, but then it's gone! God! If you don't clear up soon, I'll have nothing to wear!"
It's not that we don't have any clothes to wear, it's just that our clothes are all damp and need to be dried before we can wear them.
Fu Zhiqiao looked at Yinxing's puffed-up little face and comforted her with a few words.
The rain fell intermittently for about ten days before gradually stopping. By then, the stream at the entrance of Liujia Village had turned into a small river.
The low-lying areas of the village have been flooded, and the newly dug irrigation ponds in the farm have long been filled with water, even overflowing.
The large raindrops stung his face. After checking on the situation in the village and returning home, Liu Pinggu took off his raincoat and realized that he was soaked.
His wife brought him a bowl of ginger soup: "Drink some ginger soup to warm yourself up."
Looking at the torrential rain outside, Liu Pinggu sipped his ginger soup and muttered to himself, telling his wife to check the cellar to make sure no rainwater leaked in.
Liu Pinggu's wife: "Don't worry! Our house has been renovated, so there's nothing to worry about."
Since starting work at the winery, Liu Pinggu's family income has increased significantly. Their house has already been renovated once, and they no longer have to worry about leaks when it rains.
"Dark clouds are gathering in the sky. It seems this rain won't stop anytime soon. If this continues, the newly planted peach and millet seedlings will probably rot in the ground. No, I have to go and talk to the landlord."
As a seasoned farmer with decades of experience, Liu Pinggu had accumulated a wealth of climate knowledge and immediately reported his concerns.
When Fu Zhiqiao heard that some fields in Liujia Village had been flooded, her heart jumped. Her farm was near Liujia Village, and if Liujia Village was flooded, the crops on her farm would likely be lost as well.
She started her business by selling alcohol, so the importance of grain to her is self-evident.
"Ginkgo, has the rain outside lessened a bit?"
Ginkgo glanced outside and said, "No, miss, you must have misheard."
Fu Zhiqiao was deeply worried. Ever since Liu Pinggu told her that the low-lying areas of Liujia Village had been flooded, she had been unable to calm down.
The rain was still pouring down the next morning.
Fu Zhiqiao dared not delay for even a moment, and called Cheng Yexuan to escort her all the way to Liujia Village.
By this time, many elderly people with gray hair had gathered at Liu Pinggu's house. They had farmed all their lives and were very sensitive to continuous rainy weather.
Fu Zhiqiao inspected the area on his way here and found that the situation in Liujia Village was not too bad. The water was not particularly deep, with the deepest part reaching knee level and the shallowest part only covering the instep.
The only place that is certain will not be flooded is the barren hill south of the farm. Because of its high elevation, planting and irrigation are very difficult, so the hill has been abandoned for a long time. Later, Fu Zhiqiao wanted to expand the planting area and led the villagers to reclaim the land, which is how the barren hill was developed. Since the hill is high up, there is no need to worry about it being flooded.
However, if the rain continues like this, no one can guarantee what might happen...
Fu Zhiqiao arrived at Liu Pinggu's house: "Village Chief, how is the situation?"
Liu Pinggu gathered everyone's opinions and replied, "Girl, we all think this rain won't stop anytime soon, and the peach and millet seedlings in the field may not survive."
Fu Zhiqiao's brows were furrowed tightly.
This is indeed not good news. If the sorghum seedlings fail to survive, then the yield of Zui Shi Xian sorghum will be reduced this year.
To put it more seriously, if sorghum is affected by heavy rain, then other crops such as rice and glutinous rice will also be affected and their yields will be reduced...
Has the government issued a notice?
"The dawn herald has come; he said it will rain for the next few days."
A weather forecaster is someone who is responsible for reporting weather conditions.
Such heavy rain is very rare in Qingzhou. It would be fine if it only rained for a while, but the worst thing is if it kept raining.
Fu Zhiqiao pressed on, "Are there any dams built on the Chishui River?"
Liu Pinggu understood: "Yes, but the boss doesn't need to worry. The Chishui Dam is very high and sturdy."
The dikes on the Chishui River were very sturdy, but this almost self-hypnotic statement did not put Fu Zhiqiao at ease.
She had to secure her brewing materials. To ensure that there would be enough grain for brewing for the next six months, Fu Zhiqiao had to make plans early.
That very night, she rushed back to Qingzhou City and carefully examined the Qingzhou City Gazetteer, which usually records events that have occurred in the area.
When Fu Zhiqiao turned to the second city chronicle, she found the information she was looking for: a flood had occurred in Qingzhou eighty years ago.
This information made Fu Zhi Qiao take it seriously. She then found a map of Qingzhou to check. Qingzhou has a relatively flat terrain with several rivers of varying sizes flowing through it, the largest of which is the Chishui River.
Continuous rainfall will inevitably raise the water level in the Chishui River. When the water level rises to a certain height, the river cannot be dredged in time, and the dam is likely to be destroyed.
The technology for building dikes in that era was limited, and no matter how sturdy they were, they were not foolproof.
Fu Zhiqiao immediately ordered Wenshan to send people to keep watch near the Chishui Dam and report any developments promptly.
On the other hand, she assigned Wenjiang the task of buying grain from the surrounding counties and urgently collecting grain from all available sources.
Wen Jiang, Wen Shan, Cheng Yexuan, Wang Qi and others were all sent out by her to buy grain. In order not to attract attention, Fu Zhi Qiao had them disguise themselves before going to buy grain. Large grain merchants purchased in units of 10,000 jin, while small and medium-sized grain shops purchased in units of 1,000 jin.
The largest grain shop in Qingzhou City is called Wugu Grain Shop, and Fu Zhiqiao is a regular customer there.
The grain shop owner was already quite familiar with Fu Zhi Qiao, as he had always bought the rice used to brew Tai Bai wine from this shop. He immediately greeted her with a smile.
Fu Zhiqiao explained his purpose.
"One hundred thousand catties?" The grain shop owner was very surprised. "Why do you want to buy so much grain all at once?"
100,000 jin of rice isn't actually a lot, but her previous purchases were regular, usually one or two times a month, with each purchase around 40,000 to 50,000 jin. Now, suddenly increasing from 40,000 to 50,000 jin to over 100,000 jin is an unusual behavior that inevitably arouses suspicion, so she can only gradually increase the amount she usually buys.
Fu Zhiqiao: "The winery is preparing to brew new wine and needs a lot of grain. That's why I immediately thought of you, Manager Huang. Manager Huang, I'm a big customer of your grain shop!"
Manager Huang understood her meaning perfectly well. "Since Boss Fu has come in person, I'll naturally give you a discount. Don't forget to send me a jar of the new wine when it's brewed!"
"No problem, no problem."
As a businessman, how could he refuse such a large deal? Manager Huang readily agreed.
In the end, she bought 100,000 catties of fine grain at a price of twelve coins per catty.
She personally led a team to purchase grain. She wanted large quantities and offered fair prices. In just four or five days, she had already purchased 700,000 to 800,000 catties of rice and 300,000 catties of sorghum. Of course, she also spent more than half of the money in the account book.
She left only 50,000 taels of silver as reserve funds for the winery and 10,000 taels of silver as wages for the workers. Apart from these 50,000 to 60,000 taels of silver, she invested the remaining hundreds of thousands of taels of silver into buying grain.
Fu Zhi Qiao was somewhat glad that she hadn't brought Yu Rou Lan back with her, otherwise she would have had to find a way to persuade Yu Rou Lan to agree to such a large expense.
The rice and sorghum harvested a total of over one million catties, filling all four or five large warehouses in the farm.
Meanwhile, the construction of the new granary was also proceeding at full speed; she began preparations for the construction of the granary the day after purchasing the grain.
Having previously worked on repairing a granary at the winery, everyone had experience with the project. Even though the project was under tight deadlines this time, the villagers and workers cooperated fully, working day and night to move stones without slacking off.
After the granary was nearly completed, thatch and firewood were burned inside to dry it with high temperatures. The ashes from the burning were then buried underground to absorb moisture and prevent dampness to the greatest extent possible.
At the same time, she also asked Wenshan to check the situation at the winery. Sandbags were piled up at the entrance of the granary and wine cellar, and drainage ditches were dug nearby. Everything at the winery is currently fine.
For more than ten days in a row, the rain has continued intermittently with no sign of stopping.
Savvy merchants have already sensed the business opportunity and have begun to raise grain prices.
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