Chapter 351: Digging a Well for Water
Ye Chutang spent most of the day arranging the shop's spring sales.
I also agreed with Xia Shu to take medical classes on her behalf.
Then he went to find Sun Chu.
Sun Chu was so happy to learn that he would not have to get up early to train the Qi army in the short term.
"Finally I don't have to get up so early. Don't worry, I will take care of the greenhouse and cement."
After saying that, he raised a question.
"Transporting limestone is not difficult, but how do you plan to mine it?"
In fact, mining is not difficult because limestone is not hard.
But there was no information about mining in the schedule Ye Chutang gave him.
"I can get gunpowder. It's not difficult to mine."
Ye Chutang's words reminded Sun Chu, and he chuckled.
"I know the formula for gunpowder, but I don't remember the proportions clearly. Do you think we should try to make some?"
With gunpowder, it is not difficult to unify the world.
Ye Chutang shook his head, "In the era of cold weapons, it's better not to be too advanced."
Gunpowder is too powerful. If used to injure people, a large number of people will die.
This is also the reason why she went to support Linzhou City but did not directly use gunpowder to explode.
In order to avoid being exploited by people with ulterior motives to do bad things.
As for using gunpowder to mine limestone, as long as it doesn't make too much noise, it won't be discovered.
Sun Chu felt that what Ye Chutang said made sense.
"Things that are too outrageous will indeed bring a lot of trouble. I won't see you off tomorrow. Have a safe trip."
"Well, just do what I tell you to do."
Ye Chutang left Tianxialou and returned to the Qi family.
After dinner, she played with An An and Le Le for a while, and then went to the study with Qi Yanzhou to discuss the "Five-Year Plan".
Dig rivers and canals, build city walls and roads, grow crops and raise livestock, develop the economy, and turn the desert into an oasis.
Building roads and oases is difficult to achieve within five years, but other things are possible.
"I hope that in five years, I can control the economic lifeline of Beichen Country."
Qi Yanzhou said affirmatively: "Atang, you can definitely do it."
In his opinion, as long as Ye Chutang wants to do something, he will succeed.
"I think so."
After Ye Chutang finished speaking, he went back to his room to pack his luggage.
Although there is everything in the space, it still needs to be made to look good.
The next day.
After finishing his breakfast, Ye Chutang set off with his luggage.
Before leaving, she went to the prefectural government and asked Xiao He for a document with his seal.
The content of the document was to require officials from various counties and towns to obey her arrangements and dispatches.
She took the documents and rode away from Tianshan County.
The temperature has risen a lot now. When the sun comes out, it’s not too cold even when riding a horse.
After leaving the county town, Ye Chutang headed east to the limestone mining site.
In the past, during the apocalypse, when dealing with zombies, she learned how to blow up mountains.
Ye Chutang used his earth-related abilities to drill holes in the mountain, put in detonators, and then carried out blasting.
There was a loud bang and the ground under my feet shook.
The quartz mountain collapsed, stirring up a cloud of dust.
“Done!”
After finishing her work, she focused on finding underground water sources.
In fact, as long as there is soil, there is groundwater, just the depth varies.
The terrain in the northwest is high and the soil is sandy, so its water storage capacity is poor.
Generally speaking, the water in an underground river is at least ten feet below the surface.
Some underground rivers are even more than a hundred feet deep.
What Ye Chutang was looking for was the widest and shallowest underground river that was easy to dig.
Whenever she arrived at a place, she would go to the government office first and take away a team of officials with the documents from the prefecture.
For the common people, the words of the officials are much more effective than hers.
After finding a suitable location for digging a well, she asked the officials to give orders to the farmers to dig a well.
"Spring planting is about to begin, but the drought continues. If you want to have a harvest, you must dig the wells as soon as possible."
Although the farmers felt that their work was in vain, they did not dare to refute the officers and soldiers.
As soon as Ye Chutang saw their expressions, he knew that they would start to slack off as soon as the officials left.
She said: "I believe many of you have received the seeds I gave out for free. If you don't get any harvest after working hard, I won't blame you. But if you don't get any harvest due to laziness, you can ask for compensation!"
The official also threatened: "I tell you, there is not much food left in the government's granary. If you want to survive on relief food, it is impossible. If you don't want to die, just work honestly!"
Seeing that the official was angry, the village head hurried to appease him.
"Sir, it's not that we don't want to work, but it's impossible to dig a well!"
Who doesn’t know the importance of wells?
They were not afraid of hard work and had dug before, but no one had ever been able to dig out water.
Ye Chutang understood the farmers' concerns and pointed to the spot she had circled and said, "Dig about 15 meters down. If there is no water, you can grow crops for free."
This was a very good deal for the farmers, and they all agreed.
"Okay, we agree."
After all, when they received the grain, they signed a document with the government, which required them to pay it back with the harvest.
If growing crops becomes free, it will be up to them to decide whether to grow them or eat them!
Ye Chutang was worried that some villagers would cheat and slow down the progress, so he left two officers to act as supervisors.
"If water is found in the well, let your lord send a message to Xiao Zhizhou."
"Yes, Madam Qi!"
***
The area of Tianshan County is really too large.
Ye Chutang worked non-stop and it took him twenty days to visit all the villages and arrange the digging of the well.
On the way, she also met Song Jingning who was patrolling the county town.
After finishing his work, Ye Chutang did not return to Tianshan County, but spent half a month touring Linzhou City.
Then he marked the places in each village suitable for digging wells on the map and went to Linzhou City.
Linzhou City was previously buried under thick snow, and now the snow has melted in the spring, making it damp and cold.
But this humidity is only limited to the county town, and other places are still very dry.
Ye Chutang went to the general's mansion.
Chen Kui was not at home, and Mrs. Chen was very surprised to see Ye Chutang's sudden visit.
"Mrs. Qi, why are you here? Please come in."
Ye Chutang did not enter the house, but handed the marked map to Mrs. Chen.
"This is a well digging map. Madam, please give it to General Chen and dig a well and get water as soon as possible to complete the spring planting."
Although Mrs. Chen didn't quite understand what was said, she took the map respectfully.
"Madam Qi, come in and have some tea. I'll have someone go find your husband."
"No, I've been away for over a month and I miss my child. Madam, just hand the map over to General Chen."
Mrs. Chen thought of her seriously ill illegitimate son and hurriedly called out to Ye Chutang who was about to mount his horse.
"Madam Qi, the Chen family's bastard is seriously ill. Could you please take a look?"
Ye Chutang thought about Chen Ruoyun who was following Song Jingning and nodded.
She dismounted from her horse and followed Madam Chen into the general's mansion.
The Chen family's illegitimate son was seriously ill. He had a high fever, was in a trance, and his breathing was sometimes rapid and sometimes slow.
Mrs. Chen explained, "Qing'er has had this disease since birth. He has always been in poor health and tends to get sick every time the seasons change. This year, his condition is particularly severe. I've taken a lot of medicine, but there's been no improvement."
Ye Chutang looked at the half-grown child lying on the bed and thought of her adopted brother Chen Zhijun.
I don’t know how Jun’er is doing?
Thinking of this, she felt more sympathy for the seriously ill child lying in bed.
"What medicine is this child taking recently?"
Ye Chutang had saved Linzhou City before and lived underground with everyone.
So, Qing'er's mother, Aunt Wang, knew her but had never met her.
She quickly took out several prescriptions written by the court doctor and handed them to Ye Chutang.
"Mrs. Qi, this is the prescription, please take a look."
After Ye Chutang finished reading all the prescriptions, he took Qing'er's pulse.
“There is nothing wrong with these prescriptions, but the child’s body is too weak to fully absorb the effects of the medicine.
All medicines are poisonous. The residues in the body will burden the patient and make his condition worse. ”
Madam Chen asked quickly, "Madam Qi, do you have any way to cure Qing'er?"
"Yes, but it will take a long time."
When Aunt Wang heard this, she knelt down immediately.
"Mrs. Qi, as long as Qing'er can survive, time is not a problem."
"Stand up. There's no need to be so polite. You pay the consultation fee and I'll treat you. We'll settle the bill."
"Okay, I'll go get the silver now."
Aunt Wang's family was fairly well-off and gave her a good dowry.
Before, when Chen Kui treated Chen Ruoyun, he not only emptied the general's mansion, but also borrowed a lot.
She used half of her dowry to pay off debts and used the rest for household expenses.
As long as Ye Chutang can save her son, she is willing to give her the remaining half of the dowry!
When Aunt Wang went to get the silver, Ye Chutang prescribed two prescriptions and some medicinal food recipes.
"This medicine is for curing diseases, and it is for strengthening the body. Take it three times at a time for seven consecutive days.
If there is improvement, change to once a day and combine it with medicated food for ten days.
If the child's illness is cured, continue to take the medicine to strengthen the body and replenish the vital energy, and stop after one month. ”
After that, she warned: "If you want this child to be like an ordinary person, he must eat medicinal food for a year, and then let him practice martial arts to strengthen his body."
Mrs. Chen sighed heavily.
"We also thought about letting Qing'er learn martial arts, but he would get anxious and short of breath if he moved a little, and in serious cases he would get sick, so we had to give up."
"He is born weak. If you want to live longer, you must make up for it later. You can't pamper him just because you feel sorry for him. Start with Tai Chi. If you persist, you will definitely gain something."
As soon as Ye Chutang finished speaking, Aunt Wang came back with the silver bills.
She quickly responded, "I will definitely keep Madam Qi's words in mind. May I know how much the consultation fee is?"
"One hundred taels."
Aunt Wang remembered that Ye Chutang had asked Chen Ruoyun for a lot of medical fees before, so she asked with caution in her tone.
"Madam Qi, is this hundred taels silver or gold?"
If it was gold, the silver notes she had wouldn't be enough, so she would have to get some jewelry.
Ye Chutang looked at Aunt Wang who looked nervous and said with a smile, "Silver."
Aunt Wang immediately handed Ye Chutang two silver notes with a face value of one hundred taels.
"Thank you, Madam Qi, for saving my son. Please accept it."
Ye Chutang took a banknote and said, "I only take what I deserve."
After saying this, she said goodbye to Madam Chen, left the general's mansion, and rode back to Tianshan County.
It is now mid-May.
The grass is growing, the birds are flying, and the spring flowers are blooming.
Although there are many Gobi and deserts in the northwest, the occasional green plants always make people's eyes bright.
When we passed through the village, farmers were busy with spring sowing.
Although farming is a little later than in previous years, it will not affect the harvest.
There were no water pumps in ancient times, but there were water windmills.
Although it is laborious and hard work, it is much more efficient than carrying water in buckets.
Ye Chutang felt extremely happy as he listened to the farmers' laughter and chatter.
Although there are not many merit points to be earned from the common people, the base is huge and the total amount is still considerable.
But groundwater is not inexhaustible. If too much water is used, the water level will drop or even dry up.
Therefore, digging rivers and canals is imperative.
After all, the snow in the Tianshan Mountains can provide a constant supply of water.
Four days later.
Ye Chutang returned to the Qi Mansion.
Qi Yanzhou knew her whereabouts, so he did not go out today. He accompanied An An and Le Le in the front yard to bask in the sun.
When the hurried sound of horse hooves stopped, he immediately carried the child to the gate of the mansion.
"Atang, you're back."
Ye Chutang had been out for over a month and there was no change except that he had lost some weight.
The ultraviolet rays on the plateau are very strong. The reason why she didn’t get tanned is because she does sun protection and skin care every day.
She dismounted, took the two children from Qi Yanzhou's hands, and kissed them on the cheek.
"Do you miss your mother?"
Perhaps because they hadn't seen Ye Chutang for a long time, An An and Le Le didn't quite recognize her. They stared at her with their big black grape eyes full of curiosity.
Qi Yanzhou scratched the two children's noses and said, "This is mother."
An An and Le Le didn’t know whether they understood or not, and responded with babbling sounds.
"Atang, you've traveled all the way here, give the child to me first."
Ye Chutang clearly felt that An An and Le Le were a little heavier, but he did not hand them to Qi Yanzhou. He held one in each hand and went to the front yard.
There is an almond tree in the southwest corner of the front yard.
The apricot blossoms are about to fade, and there are few pink flowers left on the trees.
Although the petals that fell under the tree have turned yellow, the air is still filled with the fragrance of apricot blossoms.
A gentle breeze always blows off a few petals.
There is a stone table under the tree, which is filled with toys that children often play with.
The little white tiger curled up beside the stone table, his belly heaving and snoring.
Ye Chutang sat down on the stone bench next to the stone table.
When the little white tiger smelled the strange scent, it immediately opened its amber eyes and grinned at Ye Chutang.
Qi Yanzhou kicked it lightly with his foot, "Shut up!"
The little white tiger was very smart and had been trained before, so it understood immediately.
It immediately retracted its bared little milk teeth and rubbed its head against Ye Chutang's calf to show its goodwill.
Ye Chutang chuckled, "Xiaobai is much more sensible than when I left."
Qi Yanzhou was worried about tiring Ye Chutang, so he took An An over.
"With the training of a beastmaster, they will naturally behave better."
The people from the Qi family knew that Ye Chutang had returned and started to show up one after another.
Old Madam Qi felt distressed when she saw the thinner Ye Chutang.
"Tang'er, you've lost weight. You've been through a lot these days."
"I'm sorry to make you worry."
"Mom, I'll ask the kitchen to make more of your favorite food to nourish your body."
Ye Chutang did not reject the old lady's kindness.
"Okay, thank you, mom."
Jinzhi brought a plate of apricot blossom cakes and said, "Madam, if you come back later, you won't be able to eat these apricot blossom cakes."
"I knew Aunt Jin missed me, so I came back without stopping."
Jinzhi was so happy that she asked, "Madam, you don't go out recently, right?"
Ye Chutang took a bite of the apricot blossom pastry and nodded with satisfaction.
"I'm not going out anymore. I should concentrate on making money."
As for digging rivers and canals, she only needed to draw the design and give it to Qi Yanzhou.
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