In the following month, the two cousins ​​who came from their hometown were warmly received by the brothers and the entire village.

Accountant Zhu was especially worried that the two bachelors would not be able to take good care of their elders, so he would come every few days to send them gifts and often chat with them, making the two cousins ​​truly realize what it means that a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor.

But the two cousins ​​were in shock and their mentality was completely ruined.

Looking at the refugees in Xinkang Village who had no tiles on their roofs and could not even afford bran to eat, it was discovered that every family lived in a beautiful two-story building with its own entrance.

There is nothing to envy about this. After all, both of my cousins ​​live in courtyard houses in Beijing, and they have also followed the trend and replaced their windows with glass.

But their lives are so convenient.

There is a tap in the yard. Just press the handle and clean water will flow out of the faucet.

These waters have been filtered layer by layer in the brigade’s water tower and can be drunk directly without causing stomach upset.

However, my picky second cousin still tasted a slightly strange flavor.

Accountant Zhu, who came to chat, explained that it was because bleaching powder for disinfection was added to the water tower. If you are not used to it, you can make tea or add sugar. Both of these are produced by the commune and are very cheap.

The two of them quickly said that it was fine to drink it directly, and it was much better than the yellow mud soup in northern Shaanxi...

What’s even more outrageous is that the water is actually led into the outhouse... uh, they call it the bathroom.

After squatting in the toilet, just press the water tank, and with a splash, the feces will be flushed away cleanly without any smell.

There is also a shower in the bathroom, so you can take a shower just by turning on the switch. This is not something a poor person deserves, and my uncles have never lived like this.

The Yang-Ma duo never thought that one day they would envy the life of a poor person. This is so fucking ridiculous!

Of course, as professionals, they are not so superficial and will see more.

For example, the water pipes that run like meridians throughout the village are all made of cast iron. This is out of the ordinary.

How much iron is needed? Is there an iron mine on the island?

Accountant Zhu, who came to chat with them, told them that although Taiwan is a treasure island, it has no real iron ore. These cast iron parts were all shipped from Guangdong.

The cousins ​​understood. There were a large number of private iron mines in the Fujian and Guangdong areas, especially in Chaozhou and Huizhou. During the Jiajing period, the output was ten times that of the official iron mines.

Foshan even became an arsenal in southern China and even in the Ming Dynasty. The quality of privately cast iron cannons and bird guns was far superior to the official ones. When Hu Zongxian fought against the Japanese invaders, he had no choice but to order 30,000 bird guns from the Nanjing Weapons Bureau with a large sum of money. He received the goods in a few months... and the quality was excellent, which greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the government troops.

After the Japanese invasion, these underground arsenals forged guns and cannons for the sea lords. However, during the Wanli period, it was rare to see firearms made in Foshan. It turned out that they had switched to making civilian cast iron parts...

In addition, white porcelain toilets, washbasins, glass on doors and windows, ceramic pipes in sewers, and many building materials for building and decoration... were also shipped from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong.

The cousins ​​were once again incredulous. How much would this cost? Where did you get so much money?

Accountant Zhu naturally didn't explain to them what centralized purchasing and mortgage loans meant. He smiled smugly, raised three fingers and said:

"We don't have silver, but we have three whites!"

"Three Whites? What the hell?"

"Rice, sugar, and salt." Accountant Zhu boasted without any ulterior motives, "Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong are all densely populated with small land areas, but Taiwan has vast land and sparse populations. Rice can be harvested three times a year, and sugarcane can also be grown. Now one-third of the sugar and grain on the market in Fujian and Guangdong are produced by us. Moreover, we have built a canal now. In a few years, Taiwan will be ripe, and Fujian and Guangdong will have enough!"

"What..." The cousin's jaw almost dropped to the ground. "Can you produce so much food?!"

The East Factory had always believed that the Jiangnan Group's large-scale overseas migration was a way to their own death. Those refugees were a burden that the local government could not avoid, and they would sooner or later drag these unscrupulous guys to death.

Who would have thought that they could actually export food to the mainland! No wonder the national food prices have remained basically stable despite the severe drought in recent years...

"Are you still producing illegal salt?" My second cousin found something interesting.

"This...haha, we are all family, there is nothing to hide." Accountant Zhu seemed to know that he had said something wrong, but since he had already said it, he could only wink and said to the two of them. "Let them take you to the north seaside someday, it will definitely open your eyes."

The two looked at each other in astonishment. In fact, they had seen it on the boat when they came here. The coastline for dozens of miles was full of salt fields. Neatly arranged white salt ponds were glittering with light and shadows, and the snow-white salt mountains looked like small snow-capped mountains rising from the ground.

Because the scene was so shocking, the two of them could not believe that it was the salt field, and thought it was a mirage...

It turns out that is really a salt field...

~~

In addition, they also found that every household here does not use firewood, but relies on solar energy, biogas stoves, and biogas lamps to fully meet the needs of boiling water, cooking, and lighting.

However, these fancy things could not arouse the interest of my cousin and uncle. Their attention was still on the three most sensitive things: grain, salt and iron.

Yang Dacai decided to try to find out whether they could really produce so much grain.

So a few days later, they followed their two "nephews" to work in the fields. As a result, they were stabbed in the buttocks again, and their eyes were almost broken into honeycomb coal.

In fact, most of them are the scenes that Li Shouzhong and his brother saw at the Zhoushan training base, so I won’t go into details. My uncle also roughly understood why this place became the granary of Fujian and Guangdong.

There were three things that shocked him.

First, the water conservancy facilities here are so complete that they are outrageous. The channels are as dense as a woven net, and the troughs are made of cement, covered with thick reed or rattan mats to prevent the water from evaporating or leaking.

There are also valves with scales everywhere. The old people in the water conservancy group rely on these valves to control the amount of water. They give more water to households that use more water, and give less water to households that use less water.

My cousin was so upset when he saw it. Isn't this too delicate? Is it something that an illiterate peasant could do? !

Moreover, he saw that there was no shortage of water here, as there was a torrent of water flowing downstream along the main canal every day. Why was it that each field was only watered for one hour every three days?

When he asked this question, the production team members looked at him as if he was an idiot. Didn't they see on the way here that there were many villages downstream?

“If everyone only cares about their own convenience and ignores others, the villages upstream may use up all the water, and we won’t have a turn.” The old man from the water conservancy team laughed and said, “Besides, releasing water every day is bad for rice. If we release it every three days, the yield will be higher.”

"Yes, learn slowly, there are many tricks here."

My uncle has heard this sentence countless times these days. He feels that if he stays here any longer, his sense of superiority will be completely gone.

Second, the single-season grain yield per mu here has reached an insane 60 to 70 dan! And there are three seasons a year, and each season is around 60 to 70 dan!

Although crop rotation is practiced here - rice is planted on the same piece of land this year and sugarcane is planted next year - this is to maintain the fertility of the land and reduce the burden on water use.

But that was enough to scare him to death...

One acre of land produces 20 shi per year. What kind of concept is this? ! My cousin felt that the last time he was so shocked was the last time.

Even more shocking was yet to come - he discovered that the production team's dazzling array of large and small farm tools were all made of high-quality iron, and their production technology was superior to that of the weapons made by the Ordnance Bureau.

Malu remembered the first Xiuchun sword he received. The handle and blade were not firmly fastened. It would fall apart at the slightest bump, let alone be used to chop people.

Later, he replaced the sword several times, but they all had problems. He was so angry that he went to the blacksmith shop and spent a lot of money to make a new one.

The famous weapons of the Jinyiwei are not as well-made as the hoes and sickles here. No one would believe it if I told them this!

But come and see with your own eyes, there is really a world of difference!

Look at the plow here. The huge plow blade and plowshare are made of pure steel that are polished to a shine!

"Damn, our Xiuchun swords are only made of steel on the blade..." Malu lay on the mat in the courtyard at night, looking at the bright Milky Way, and tears flowed down his eyes. "But theirs is so big, but it's made entirely of steel, and it's used to plow the land..."

"Food is the primary need of the people. Is there anything more important than farming in this world?" Li Shouzhong, who was serving watermelon at the side, couldn't help but mutter.

"Shut up!" Ma Lu glared at Li Shouzhong fiercely, spat watermelon seeds on him and said, "Have you been bewitched by the southern barbarians?"

"Our families are all in the hands of the officials." Gaoda quickly lit Malu's pipe and said, "Loyalty, loyalty!"

"Hmph." Malu snorted and started smoking.

In fact, what he said meant that he was considering whether to surrender to the enemy.

Yang Dacai understood Malu's thoughts, and he also felt that the gap was so big that it made people despair.

"Don't lose heart. Jiangnan Group is just a stronger version of Wang Zhi. Even if they can gain some advantages at sea, how can they defeat the imperial court's army on land?" As a barrier, Yang Dacai had to encourage everyone:

"What happened to Wang Zhi back then? Wasn't he still wiped out by the imperial court? They are destined to have the same fate!"

"That's right! No matter how much we say, it's useless without an army. By then, all these fertile fields and wealth will be ours, right?" Malu felt that he was doing well again, so he asked Gaoda, "What are we going to do tomorrow?"

"Militia training..." Gundam said expressionlessly.

Yang Dacai and Malu's hearts skipped a beat when they heard this. Was there going to be another shock?

"Not really, not really..." Ma Lu forced a smile and said, "Not everyone is Qi Jiguang..."

"That's right. Let's see what farming tricks we can show tomorrow." Yang Dacai nodded.