Chapter 189 New Year's Goods
"Oh, Aye is back! The New Year's goods have arrived!" Many villagers had already been waiting at the village entrance.
The children couldn't hold back and ran out of the village. When they saw the team from afar, some ran back to report the news, while others ran towards the team to see what New Year's goods were available.
All work in the village has been stopped today. The big iron pots in the vermicelli factory and oil mill are all empty, waiting for a big start.
New Year's goods were carried into the village in baskets, including a lot of flour, rice, fifteen chickens, fifteen ducks, several large grass carps weighing more than ten pounds, half a pig, ten sets of offal, thirty pounds of soybeans, thirty pounds of peas, thirty pounds of broad beans, etc.
There is also red paper for writing Spring Festival couplets, cutting window flowers, etc.
The most valuable things are pen, ink, paper and inkstone!
Each child had a pen, an inkstone, a few ink sticks, and a thick stack of white paper!
The white paper is produced by Hu Ji Paper Factory in the county. The paper is white, tough and does not fade with ink.
Because the county magistrate was present, the children restrained their excitement and gathered around the pens, ink, paper and inkstone.
"Village chief, please arrange for someone to distribute the children's school supplies. I will take Mr. Hu to my house for a short visit first! After that, you can come and talk to him!" Su Bucheng arranged.
"Okay!" Old man Yang asked the village elders to distribute according to the list.
Su Bucheng took the county magistrate and his family to the Su residence.
"Look, your family's winter wheat is the most pleasing to the eye!" Passing by the fields, County Magistrate Hu looked at the Su family's experimental field and smiled.
"Is this what's grown in the fertile soil?" Hu Dalang exclaimed, intuitively feeling the sharp contrast between the fertile soil and the lean soil.
Having been buried in his studies for many years, he had little understanding of farming. During a class discussion on how to govern a region, he finally came up with an idea to encourage the people to reclaim wasteland.
In the minds of scholars, reclaiming wasteland is very simple. Just pick up a hoe and dig to create a piece of arable land.
However, they ignored many practical problems, and land reclamation has not been very effective. In their eyes, it is either because officials are negligent in their duties or farmers are lazy.
In reality, farmers reclaim wasteland in their spare time.
First of all, wasteland is not simply vacant land. The good land has long been occupied by the powerful and wealthy, and what remains are rocky land, mudflats and saline land.
You need to first clean up the large and small stones, particles, etc., and some scattered thin areas of one or two centimeters or two or three centimeters.
Secondly, oxen were scarce, and human labor could not match the power of animals. After a day of hard work, only a small piece of land could be reclaimed.
Sometimes a family only has one or two hoes and cannot even find farm tools, making it difficult to reclaim wasteland.
It takes a few years of hard work to cultivate a piece of land, and the crops on the virgin land will not have much yield in the early stages.
Only after several years of continuous fertilization and deep plowing to turn the virgin land into mature land can there be a yield, provided that the weather is favorable.
The scholar sat in the bright and clean school building, taking it for granted, ignoring uncontrollable factors such as weather and pests, and just thought about it and wrote down the plan to increase production by at least 50%.
It's just a light stroke, but it represents the farmers' hard work over the year, facing the loess and back to the sky. The farmers are very happy when the yield increases by 10% or 20%.
What farmers want most is to increase production so that they can have food to eat!
"Yes! It is growing well at the moment! We can promote it vigorously after harvesting!" Su Bucheng replied.
"The paddy fields are doing well. There are so many of them. Judging from the progress your village is making, you must work hard and double the output next year!"
Magistrate Hu looked at the paddy fields filled with water on the slopes, and felt a surge of heroic spirit in his heart.
If the entire county is gearing up like this, June and July will be the first wave, and October and November will be the second wave.
Just thinking about the harvest scene is exciting.
"I've been preparing for so long just to wait for that day!" Su Bucheng also put his hands on his hips, as if the rice ears in the field in front of him were bowing their heads, waiting to be harvested.
"Mr. Su is worthy of being the magistrate of Chang'an County! He has achieved results so quickly in this wild place!" Magistrate Hu praised sincerely.
I have been governing for more than ten years, but I am not as good as others in half a year! I am so ashamed!
"We all rely on the full support of Lord Hu! Huanggou Village is very grateful!" Su Bu knew the difference between the big and small kings and did not get carried away.
"It would be great if I could get to know Mr. Su earlier! The people of Wu County can also benefit from it sooner!" They are all officials, so naturally they know how to help each other.
The group walked around and came to Su's house. They could see the newly built Su's house and school building from afar.
The New Su Residence is the best and most spacious house in the village and is the first choice for receiving distinguished guests.
After much hard work, the school building and Su's house were completed a month ago, with partition walls and thatched roofs.
The indoor and outdoor areas are painted with lime, making them bright and shining, which is the first of its kind in Heifeng Township.
After drying the house in a brazier for several nights, they moved into their new home in a lively and exciting manner.
There isn't much furniture, just bamboo beds, bamboo dining tables, and bamboo stools. If there aren't enough, I can add more later.
The old house was not wasted. Su Ying leveled and compacted every room, painted it with lime, and asked Wang Sanlang and others to make a lot of wooden frames and winnowing baskets to carry on their backs.
The silkworm room is used for raising silkworms in early spring.
The kitchens in the old houses are all useful and can be used as factories for producing snacks.
The children also moved into the bright school building and finally no longer had to sit on rocks to study in the cold wind!
Although the bamboo bench was cold, it was better than sitting on stones. The more particular children would sew a cushion out of rags from home so that it would feel soft and comfortable to sit on.
"Well, that's good! This feels like a home!" County Magistrate Hu nodded continuously as he entered the yard.
It is brand new, bright, clean and tidy, and there are still many iron fences around the courtyard wall.
Bamboo water pipes were brought into the yard, and a canal was dug to connect to the outside of the yard.
"My humble abode is simple!" Su Bucheng invited Magistrate Hu and his family to sit in the main hall.
Old Madam Su, Madam Du, and Madam Wei also came out to greet Madam Hu and sat with her in the guest room next door.
The coachman and Acai moved the things out of the carriage.
Eight pieces of coarse and fine ramie cloth, two bundles of cotton, a slaughtered fat sheep, fifty kilograms each of new rice, white flour, and glutinous rice, and two boxes of sesame and malt sugar.
It’s nothing to a wealthy family, but for the Su family, it is really the best and most practical New Year’s gift.
"What is this?" Su Bucheng asked in surprise. How could a county magistrate give gifts to fugitives?
"A little token of my appreciation during the New Year holidays! Thank you Mr. Su for your help!" said County Magistrate Hu.
"Sir, absolutely not! I am just a convicted official. I do not deserve your kindness!"
How could Su Bucheng dare to accept it? The gift is too great, what can he give in return?
"Mr. Su, this is not only my intention, but also for my Erlang.
I wrote this letter specially because I can’t make it back for the New Year, so I asked us to prepare gifts to thank Miss Su!
Thanks to Miss Su, my Hu family has this opportunity."
The letter urged people to send practical things that could keep them warm, and not to send empty gifts that looked good but were useless.
"In that case, thank you very much for your kindness!" Su Bucheng could no longer refuse.
"Our home is shabby, please don't be disgusted, madam!" Old Mrs. Su sat down with Mrs. Hu and said with a smile.
"No, the Su residence is simple and interesting, I love it! No wonder Erlang is full of praise for Huanggou Village!
"I'm clamoring to build a villa here so I can live in peace and quiet!" Mrs. Hu said politely.
The bamboo stool is cold, the house is cold, it’s really cold!
Su Ying went into the kitchen and cooked a few bowls of brown sugar and egg water to entertain the guests.
"Oh, Aying, you are not going to treat me to dinner?" Mrs. Hu smiled as she looked at the full bowl of brown sugar water.
The most valuable thing in this bowl is brown sugar. The Su family took it out to entertain guests, which shows their sincerity.
"We've walked more than ten miles and are already hungry. Madam, please have a bowl of sugar water to fill your stomach first. I'll treat you to dinner later!" Su Ying replied.
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