Jiang Ling led the village chief and Magistrate Duan to her field, pointed to the cotton plants that were growing well, and said, "Magistrate Duan, look, this is the result of applying chemical fertilizer!"
Magistrate Duan squinted, carefully examining the things in Jiang Ling's field, and then asked, "If I'm not mistaken, this should be cotton, right?"
Jiang Ling nodded and said, "Yes, this is cotton!"
"Oh? Isn't it too late to plant cotton now? Besides, it's neither edible nor drinkable. What's the point of you planting it, Jiang?" Magistrate Duan was very curious. In all his years in power, the farmers under his jurisdiction almost all grew grain. Only some merchants would hire people to grow cotton or raise silkworms to prepare for the day or winter.
Jiang Ling glanced at the thriving cotton plants and said, "Your Excellency, you may not know this, but it is a variety called winter cotton. The advantage of this variety is that it can be sown after the autumn harvest and harvested around the beginning of winter!"
"Cotton is lighter and warmer than reeds, and the down from our own ducks can be made into down. The combination of cotton and down makes the clothes even lighter and warmer!"
After hearing Jiang Ling's explanation, Magistrate Duan stood there stunned for a long time before stroking his chin and muttering, "This...this is the first time I've ever heard of this!"
“Sir, you may not know this, but the villagers used to use reeds to keep warm. However, reeds are not very effective at keeping warm. Moreover, there is a saying that after a severe drought comes a severe cold. I was afraid that this year would be a harsh winter, so I advocated that our villagers plant cotton,” Jiang Ling explained again.
After hearing Jiang Ling's words, Magistrate Duan admired her even more. He nodded and whispered to her, "Don't worry about the fertilizer. How long will it take to produce the first batch?"
Jiang Ling thought for a moment and said to Magistrate Duan, "It will probably take about three months, which will coincide with the spring planting season, making it easier to promote the use of fertilizers!"
“Alright, you… go ahead and do it. I’ll take care of the rest!” Magistrate Duan said.
After exchanging a few more words with the village chief, Magistrate Duan left in his carriage.
"Madam Jiang, what brings Magistrate Duan here?"
"Village chief, is our village going to receive another paycheck?"
"village head……"
As soon as Magistrate Duan left, the villagers of Lujia Village all gathered around, bombarding him with questions. The village chief glanced at the crowd and said, "What silver are you giving out? Are you all crazy for money? Quiet down, Jiang has something to say!"
The villagers were still very afraid of the village chief. When they saw that the village chief seemed to be about to get angry, they fell silent for a moment and all their eyes fell on Jiang Ling.
"Everyone, I've been discussing this with the village chief these past few days, and we're planning to open a fertilizer factory. Fertilizer is a kind of nutrient; when applied to the soil, it increases the soil's nutritional value, and when spread on crops, it increases their production speed and yield!" Jiang Ling explained to everyone.
Jiang Ling's explanation didn't seem convincing, and everyone looked hesitant. Jiang Ling didn't care; she seemed to have expected this reaction from everyone.
She pointed to her own cotton field and said, "I discovered this by accident. My family happened to be planting cotton at that time, so I decided to try it on our cotton. As you can see, this is what happened!"
Jiang Ling's words were very persuasive, and the crowd started discussing again. Seeing this, she quickly said, "The fertilizer plant is only in its initial stage. For now, we are only hiring five people, who will mainly be responsible for collecting household waste every day!"
"Yaojie's mother, what... what is household waste?" Lightning Mother asked, somewhat bewildered.
“Our main crop in the fields is rice. Rice needs nitrogen fertilizer, and the main components of this fertilizer are waste vegetable leaves, chicken bones, fish bones, animal offal, eggshells, moldy fruit, etc. This is household waste!” Jiang Ling explained.
"What? These things can nourish the soil and make crops grow faster? Jiang, don't try to fool us! How could these things possibly work!"
Soon, some villagers raised objections, and many others nodded in agreement after hearing this.
Seeing this, the village chief was about to get angry and reprimand the leader, but Jiang Ling shook her head, signaling the village chief not to speak.
She glanced at the middle-aged man who had raised the objection. He had dark skin and a slightly robust build. She vaguely remembered him; his name was Lu Yong, a very honest farmer in the village. Jiang Ling was quite surprised that he was the first to stand up and refute her opinion.
Jiang Ling smiled at Lu Yong and said, "It's good to raise questions, and I also welcome everyone to disagree with my ideas. But my family's cotton field is a good example. You can see that the cotton fields of the other families around here are growing cotton just as well as mine. Their cotton is growing slightly slower than mine!"
"The reason I didn't make it public before is because during the experimental stage, the land is our life. How could I dare to use your land for experiments before this experiment is successful?"
Jiang Ling's words resonated with many, and even the man who had previously raised objections scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly. Jiang Ling glanced at Lu Yong and asked, "Would you like to work at the fertilizer plant?"
Lu Yong was clearly stunned when he heard this. He stood there, somewhat at a loss, not knowing how to answer Jiang Ling.
Jiang Ling ignored Lu Yong and continued, "This fertilizer isn't easy to collect, so I need a few people who aren't afraid of hardship or fatigue to collect the collected household waste every day and pile it up in the designated location!"
"Five hundred copper coins a month! If anyone is willing, go to the village chief to sign up. We need five people this time. If the fertilizer business gets popular and the factory expands, we'll hire more people then!"
After Jiang Ling finished speaking, some quick-thinking people rushed to the village chief to register.
Jiang Ling took this opportunity to continue planning for the future; clearly, a fertilizer plant was not enough to satisfy her.
Just then, Jiang Ling suddenly noticed that Jiang Yaojie was constantly pulling at his hair. Jiang Ling quickly went to Jiang Yaojie and asked, "Yaojie, what's wrong?"
"Mom, I don't know either, my hair is so itchy!" Jiang Yaojie said, scratching his head with a pained expression.
Jiang Ling cautiously brought her head close to Jiang Yaojie's head, but the strong smell of his scalp oil almost made her vomit.
Jiang Ling frowned and looked at Jiang Yaojie, asking, "Yaojie, how long has it been since you washed your hair?"
"Ah...this...I..." Jiang Yaojie blushed deeply and didn't say anything after Jiang Ling asked him that question.
Jiang Ling didn't press the matter further. She simply greeted the village chief and then took Jiang Yaojie home.
"Suihe, go fetch a basin of hot water for Mother!" Jiang Ling said to Jiang Suihe as she entered the room.
She then reached out and untied Jiang Yaojie's hairband, and a foul smell of greasy hair instantly filled Jiang Ling's nostrils.
"mother……"
"Don't speak..."
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