Chapter 109: Burning the Wasteland for Planting [VIP]
Yang Jizong was walking in front, leading the official ox. He didn't hear Chen Yao's answer, so he stopped and looked back.
I saw Chen Yao standing there holding the official ox, her brows furrowed, and it was obvious that she was thinking about the problem just now.
Yang Jizong sighed, a hint of depression flashed in his eyes, and finally he compromised with her and led the official ox back to look for her.
"Ayao, why don't you say a few nice words to coax me, maybe I won't feel so bad." Yang Jizong looked down at her, his tone neither light nor heavy.
Chen Yao didn't want to just coax him with nice words, but took the initiative to take a step forward, put her left hand on his arm, stood on tiptoe, and touched his cold lips.
Although the long street was deserted, this behavior was still somewhat ostentatious. Chen Yao said lightly, "It's true that I can't bear to see Wenying leave, and it's also true that I can't bear to see you leave."
A smile had already appeared in Yang Jizong's eyes. He raised his hand to circle Chen Yao's wrist, and gradually moved it down to hold her hand.
When the two men led the official ox back to the village, they saw that on the ridge of the field, two mules and one ox from their three families had been tied with ox spindles and were being pulled to the field by the villagers to plow the field.
This year, the autumn plowing was carried out according to which family had less labor. So when Chen Yao and Yang Jizong led the official ox back to the village, there were not many people gathering in front of the Shen family's door to fight for the official ox.
Luo Dunzi and Shitou heard the old cow mooing, brushed the dust off their butts, stood up from the steps and ran towards the teacher and his wife.
"Dunzi, Shitou, after you lead the cows to the field, you will go to the school to continue your morning reading, okay?" Yang Jizong was in a good mood, and his voice was three times softer than usual when he spoke.
Luo Dunzi and Shitou looked at each other, responded obediently, and hurriedly led the cows to their respective fields.
When Yang Wenying heard voices outside her home, she knew that her brother and Shen Yao had returned.
So he poured two bowls of still hot noodle soup from the pot, brought out a bowl of Kongming vegetable, and called the two of them to come in quickly to wash their hands and eat.
"Wenying, have all the family members gone to the fields?" Chen Yao was eating noodle soup and saw that Wenying was the only one coming in and out of the house, so she asked.
Yang Wenying cleaned the stove neatly, pulled off her apron, and walked out of the kitchen carrying a pot of water.
She was sitting on a bench under the porch, putting on her straw sandals and taking the farm tools that were leaning against the side. She stood up, carrying a teapot filled with water, and walked out. "As soon as you left this morning, everyone went to the fields. After you finish eating, clean up after yourselves. I have to go too."
Chen Yao was slightly surprised. Why were everyone so active?
Chen Yao couldn't help but speed up her eating.
"Ayao, eat slowly. After eating, let's rest at home for a while before going to the fields. You will get stomachache if you go to work right after eating." Yang Jizong saw her speeding up the food, so he picked up a piece of Kongmingcai for her with chopsticks and signaled her to eat slower.
After the two finished their breakfast at home, Yang Jizong washed the dishes, while Chen Yao washed half a bowl of clean mulberries and fed him while eating it herself. Then the two of them took the farm tools to the wheat field to plow the soil with their family.
Although the two villages lacked some strong laborers for the autumn plowing this year, they had the livestock of the three families of Chentian and Huang and the cattle of the government, so everyone did not have to worry about not being able to finish plowing their own fields.
Shen Qingshan originally estimated that it would take ten days for everyone to turn the land, but he never expected that the villagers would help each other and finish the work two days earlier than he expected.
The mules and oxen of the three families of Chentian and Huang were tired these days, but they were well fed by the people who had hired them. When the villagers had used up their mules and oxen, they sent a cart of wheat straw to provide them with winter food.
After Shen Qingshan cleaned up the manure in the livestock shed, he piled it in the manure pit behind the house so that his daughter could use it to fertilize the vegetable garden in the future.
"Ayao, Baolai, after you return the official oxen tomorrow, are you going to organize the villagers to dig canals and burn the wasteland, and then distribute seeds?" Shen Qingshan closed the back door and went to the front yard to wash his hands.
Like his family, everyone's wasteland was bought behind their houses, which was convenient for maintenance.
This wasteland cannot be burned casually. It must be reported to the government first, and then a ditch must be dug around the wasteland to isolate the surrounding areas that will not be burned. Then observe the wind direction to prevent the fire from getting out of control and accidentally burning the newly built houses. That would be the end of it.
"Yes, Dad." Chen Yao looked at the weight carefully, noted the weight of the cassava in the basket, and then signaled to his cousin to put down the cassava basket and weigh the next basket.
The cassava seeds brought by the grandmothers weighed nearly 600 kilograms. The 25 tenant farmers in Xiahe Village and the 28 tenant farmers in Shanghe Village could each receive about 10 kilograms of cassava seeds on average.
Ten kilograms of cassava seeds contain about eight to ten qualified seed stems, which can be used to sow about 66 square meters (one-tenth of an acre of land). When harvested in March of the following year, these cassavas are enough to feed a family.
"Daughter, if burning this wasteland can really increase the fertility of the land, then why didn't we burn it when we reclaimed the land?" Shen Qingshan asked his daughter.
In order to avoid polluting the environment, she started farming early, so she did not choose to burn the wasteland at the beginning. Now she has to burn the wasteland in order to plant peanuts quickly.
, how to make money.
"Dad, we have a son. The ashes from the burning grass and trees are flying everywhere, so I didn't burn it." Chen Yao recorded the weight of the cassava and said,
"Cousin, go dig the ditch that connects the land. Wait for us to come back and burn the wasteland. After we're done burning the wasteland, come to my house to register and get the seeds. By the way, we'll only burn the wasteland once this year."
"Ayao, I'll go right away." Tian Baolai carried a gong and went to gather the villagers to the drying yard for a meeting.
The villagers in both villages had never burned wasteland before, so Tian Baolai repeatedly explained to them why they had to dig the ditch, how to dig it, to what extent, why they had to burn the wasteland, and why they only burned it this year.
Everyone listened carefully, and if anyone didn't understand, they raised their hands to ask.
Tian Baolai also explained to everyone the benefits and harms of burning the wasteland, and the first village rule was also formed today.
Burning land is not allowed unless absolutely necessary.
In the future, if everyone wants to open up wasteland again, they can only hoe the land themselves or use animals to plow it.
The two village heads explained to them the advantages and disadvantages of burning the wasteland. The villagers were not fools and could naturally tell what was good and what was bad.
In the Shen family yard.
Huang Songbai helped Chen Yao move the cassava baskets to the wall and stack them neatly. Then he whispered to Chen Yao, "Cousin, my father asked me to ask you, if the rabbit house starts working tomorrow, how long will it take you to make these velvet flowers?"
Chen Yao knew that her uncle was anxious to deliver the goods to Jiangnan for Sister Baozhu, so she asked Manager Xu to greet the embroiderers early on, give them processing fees, and ask them to stay up late to make velvet flowers.
Of course, if someone is unwilling, we will not force them and their wages will still be settled normally.
"Did your uncle tell you when to leave?"
"We'll leave as soon as the new batch of furs arrives, and give the mules a break." Huang Dongsheng leaned closer to Chen Yao, lowering his voice to avoid being heard by his mother. "After August 15th."
Chen Yao was speechless. It’s only a few days away.
Huang Dongsheng nodded. They had to leave. He didn't know how busy Sister Baozhu and his uncle would be in Jiangnan.
The next morning, every household dug a deep canal as the village head had instructed. Not only that, some elderly people also prepared water in advance just in case, so that if the fire was unknown, it could be extinguished in time.
After Chen Yao and Tian Baolai returned the official oxen from the government office and said goodbye to the officers, they returned to the village and saw that everyone was very well prepared. They couldn't help but give a thumbs up and praise everyone for doing a great job.
Huang Dongsheng and Yang Wenying walked around the village carrying gongs and drums, reminding everyone to close the doors and windows at home and then come back.
At Shen's School, after Yang Jizong and Zhao Xiaofu checked that the doors and windows of each classroom were closed, they led the students to the drying yard to recite their lessons. They checked each one of them and did not allow the children to go to the wasteland to watch the fun.
Here, with the order from Chen Yao and Tian Baolai, representatives from each family raised their torches and set fire to their wasteland across the deep canal.
The flames instantly swept across the entire wasteland with the force of a prairie fire, burning into the deep canal. Without combustible materials, the fire gradually died down.
There wasn't much wasteland left by each family, but the fire didn't go out until noon.
In order to ensure that the fire was completely extinguished, Chen Yao asked each family to leave one person on the spot to observe and fill the ditch, and then come to her house to collect seeds.
Because the amount of fertile land rented by each tenant was different, the amount of wheat seeds they received was also different, but the amount of peanuts and cassava planted in the wasteland was similar.
Chen Yao and Tian Baolai cooperated, Huang Dongsheng and Yang Wenying cooperated, the girls were responsible for registration, and the boys distributed seeds to the villagers, and told them that winter wheat should be sown after 75 days, and peanuts and cassava could only be planted in the wasteland after 5 days.
The villagers carried heavy loads of seeds, pressed their fingerprints on the booklet and expressed their gratitude to the three families of Chen, Tian and Huang. They would return as much as they had received after the harvest next year.
The distribution of seeds to the villagers continued until the evening when the seeds were distributed to the last household in the village.
After everyone had left, Huang Mei, Huang Xing and Miao brought the prepared food into the main house. While eating, they talked about the start of construction of the rabbit house and the silkworm room.
At the same time, Tian Baozhu was also very busy in Jiangnan.
Ronghua became famous overnight and many people wanted to make reservations with her, but her ability was limited and she had not yet completed the orders from previous customers, so she did not dare to accept more.
Seeing that she couldn't make money, Tian Baozhu was very anxious. When she was anxious, she got angry. That night, when she was having dinner with Grandma Xie and her father, her nose started bleeding.
"Daughter, you can't handle it all by yourself. Why don't we hire someone to help you?" Tanaka Masaru suggested.
Tian Baozhu took out a handkerchief, covered her nose with it, and went outside to wash it with well water. She returned to the dinner table only after she was sure that the nose had stopped bleeding.
Mrs. Xie had lived and eaten with the father and daughter for so long, and gradually understood their temperaments and personalities, so she gave Tian Baozhu an idea.
She was willing to act as a guarantor for Furong next door and ask Furong to come and help Tian Baozhu make velvet flowers.
Tian Baozhu thought this was feasible, so after dinner that night, she took Xie Pozi to find Furong next door, and the two signed a guarantee and employment contract.
With Furong's help, the urgent problem was solved.
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