Zhao Xian's words enlightened Qiao Lizheng, and he suddenly understood everything.
"Thank you, Marquis Zhengyang. I know what to do now. I need to go back and tell the villagers about these things."
After finishing his sentence, Qiao Lizheng didn't linger and hurriedly went down the mountain back to Fudu Village.
Seeing this, Li Guang spoke up:
"Brother Zhao, we've found the saltpeter mine and uncovered the truth behind the deaths of the children in Fudu Village. What's our next step?"
Zhao Xian considered for a moment and then spoke:
"The discovery of such a huge saltpeter mine is of great significance. This matter should be reported to the imperial court immediately. At the same time, people should be arranged to guard the site to prevent anyone from stealing saltpeter until the imperial court sends someone to take over."
Of course, when we return, we will bring some ore with us to study, process it into fertilizer, and conduct trials. Once successful, we can promote its use so that farmers everywhere can benefit.
"Okay, Brother Zhao, that's settled then. We'll start cooking now, and this afternoon we'll have the soldiers collect more saltpeter to take back tomorrow."
"I will write a memorial now and have it sent to the capital by express courier. The government will handle the mining of saltpeter and the relocation of Fudu Village; we don't need to worry about that."
After everything was arranged, the soldiers prepared lunch.
In the afternoon, the soldiers went into the cave to mine saltpeter. Each of the thousand soldiers took some with them, which added up to a considerable amount that could be made into a lot of fertilizer.
The soldiers transported the mined saltpeter to the camp at the foot of the mountain, while Li Guang went to the farmland to check on the growth of the crops.
The crops in the fields are growing well; both grains and vegetables are very robust. Needless to say, this is thanks to the nitrate mines in the mountains.
For many years, the locals were unaware that there were mines in the mountains, let alone that the streams flowing from the mines were poisonous.
It's not too late to remedy the situation; sometimes bad things can turn into good things.
Take Fudu Village as an example. As long as the village is relocated, the disaster can be avoided. At the same time, the discovery of nitrate mines in the mountains will also benefit them.
In Fudu Village, Qiao Li, along with Zhao Xian and Li Xue, visited the villagers, who now know the truth of the matter.
The unexplained deaths of infants in the village were not due to the mountain god's revenge, but rather to poisoning from drinking water, all caused by the saltpeter mines in the mountains.
Zhao Xian told the villagers that the government would relocate Fudu Village next, and the newly built village would be very safe and no longer pose any danger.
Early the next morning, the large group prepared to return to Shuixian Village, and Qiao Li was leading all the villagers to see them off.
After returning to Narcissus Village, Zhao Xian began to study fertilizer production. Modern fertilizer production processes are complex, and since he lacked the relevant equipment and tools, Zhao Xian decided to use traditional methods to produce fertilizer.
Traditional fertilizer production methods are relatively simple, and the resulting fertilizers are quite effective.
The traditional method of producing fertilizer involves three steps: calcination, purification, and fermentation. The entire production process takes about five days.
A few days later, the first batch of fertilizer was finally produced. Zhao Xian handed these gray granular fertilizers to Li Guang and asked him to test them to see the effect.
Li Guang was overjoyed and immediately went to the fields to test these fertilizers.
As the weather warmed up, winter wheat entered its vigorous growth period. Li Guang selected a small wheat field for an experiment and fertilized the wheat in this area.
Since he did not know the appropriate amount of fertilizer, Li Guang applied different amounts of fertilizer to the selected wheat varieties to observe their growth.
Furthermore, Li Guang also selected several vegetables for testing to see the effect of this fertilizer on different crops.
Half a month later, the effects became apparent, especially for winter wheat. The wheat stalks grew noticeably taller after fertilization, and with the increase in the amount of fertilizer, the stalks also became thicker.
This fertilizer was also very effective for vegetables. Through comparison, Li Guang figured out the secret: if too much fertilizer was applied, it would inhibit the growth of vegetables.
It seems that excessive fertilization of vegetables is not advisable, as it can actually hinder their growth. This suggests that only light fertilization should be applied when growing vegetables.
Li Guang told Zhao Xian the results of the experiment, and Zhao Xian was very happy. It seemed that the fertilizer he produced using his own methods was effective.
Having brought back a considerable amount of saltpeter from Fudu Mountain last time, Zhao Xian plans to seize the time to process it all into fertilizer for the winter wheat, and see how much the yield can reach when the winter wheat is harvested.
Next, Zhao Xian began to organize personnel to produce fertilizer. It is conceivable that fertilizer production will be a very large industry.
A few days later, the fertilizer was produced one after another, and Li Guang ordered people to apply fertilizer to the wheat. This was the golden season for wheat growth, and a month later, the wheat began to head.
Zhao Xian seized the time to produce, and more than ten days later, all the saltpeter he brought back was made into fertilizer. This fertilizer was quickly applied to the wheat fields, and the top dressing of thousands of acres of winter wheat was completed.
At this time, Zhao Xian and Li Guang had received news that the imperial court had arranged for officials from the Ministry of Works to go to Fudu Mountain to make contact, and the guards that Li Guang had arranged there had returned to Shuixian Village.
The plan for the overall relocation of Fudu Village has been finalized. The relocation costs will be paid by the Ministry of Works. After the relocation of Fudu Village is completed, the Ministry of Works will start mining the saltpeter mine.
Zhao Xian plans to wait until the wheat harvest season to see the yield before deciding whether to produce fertilizer on a large scale.
Once saltpeter is purchased as a raw material to produce fertilizer, the production cost will increase significantly, including labor and transportation expenses.
When running a business, cost accounting is essential; you can't do business at a loss.
During this period, most of Zhao Xian's newly built workshops have started operations, and the products produced are continuously transported to the docks via established transportation lines and then shipped to various places by merchant ships.
Especially matches; since the product was launched on the market, demand has exceeded supply. Initially, Zhao Xian only arranged for two workshops to produce matches.
The demand was too great, and the output of the two workshops could not meet the problem at all, so production was expanded and the number of workshops producing quickly increased to five.
Because the demand for matches was so great, Zhao Xianyi went all out and added five more workshops, bringing the total number of match-producing workshops to ten.
In this way, production and sales were basically balanced, but the supply of matchsticks for making matches could not be met, so Zhao Xian had to seek more partners to provide him with matchsticks.
Then it started to rain, and Li Guang was very happy. He had just fertilized the wheat, and this rain would help the wheat absorb nutrients and grow quickly.
It's time to plant cotton now. This year's cotton planting will be the same as in previous years, using both direct planting and nutrient pot planting methods.
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