Chapter 223: The most important thing first
There were really a lot of people eating at home today, including the visiting officials and their entourage, as well as the village elders who were there with them.
Madam Zheng and several others who can cook came to the house to help spontaneously.
He was reluctant to eat the sheep that County Magistrate Hu sent him during the Chinese New Year, and kept it for Su Laoer to use when he got married and entertained guests.
Now that we have distinguished guests, we have to serve them to you.
Cooking is too complicated, so I made mutton dumplings with bread, green onions, and steamed brown sugar cakes with yeast dough, and then boiled a big pot of cabbage and vermicelli soup.
Some people knead the dough, some people make the dough leaven, some people chop the stuffing, and some people wash the vegetables.
When the children heard about eating dumplings, they drooled with greed and helped with the work very hard.
After so long, our family's life has improved, but we can't have meat every meal. As long as we have enough rice and occasionally eggs, we are already living a pretty good life.
The last time I ate meat was the mutton pie at Niu Er’s house, and I still miss it.
"The mutton tastes different when green onions are added!" Madam Zheng said with a smile as she mixed the chopped green onions into the mutton filling.
The pickled and dried mutton is not as delicious as the fresh mutton, but for the poor, it is good to have meat to eat, and there is no choice.
"Aying, how much sugar should you put in this steamed cake?" Wei brought out half a bowl of brown sugar, feeling reluctant to give it away.
"Oh my God!" Madam Zheng covered her mouth and pulled Su Ying, signaling her to take it back.
It's too extravagant! This damn girl takes good things and doesn't take them seriously.
Even back then, they were nobles and did not have such luxury.
"That's fine! Even if the adults don't come, we'll still have to get some to eat. Pulling and planting rice seedlings is labor-intensive, so we should eat something good. Otherwise, how will we have the energy to work?"
Su Ying smiled and said, "Aunt, chop the brown sugar into small pieces, dissolve it in hot water, and mix it with the dough. Remember to add koji to let the dough rise."
If there is no yeast, the koji used to make fermented glutinous rice can be used as a substitute.
"Hmm, I didn't expect Lingnan to have so many natural resources!"
Dou Jing and others put on veils and followed Su Bucheng, Old Man Yang and others into the woods to check the beekeeping situation.
I saw dozens of beehives placed in an orderly manner in a secluded place, with buzzing sounds inside and bees coming in and out from time to time.
It is drizzling today, so not many bees are out.
Not only Dou Jing, but other Beijing officials were also curious, looking like they had never seen the world before. Is beekeeping so simple?
"As long as there are flowers blooming, honey can be produced continuously. We are surrounded by mountains here, and flowers bloom all year round, so honey is produced continuously." Old man Yang said with a smile.
"This is just one of them. There are five or six others, about the same size as this one. We harvest honey once every two weeks, and each one can produce 100 to 200 kilograms."
"This is easier and more profitable than making vermicelli!" Dou Jing praised.
"Yes! But the vermicelli cannot be thrown away. We still need food to eat our fill. Although vermicelli is troublesome, it is also food!" Old man Yang said with a smile.
No matter how good something is, its value can only be discussed after you have enough to eat. In years of famine, when you have nothing to eat, gold is just a pile of yellow lumps and is not worth a piece of cake.
Wang Sanlang and a few other men collected honey from several beehives as a gift to the adults.
When it was brought over, there was half a bucket of liquid, clear light brown in color and very viscous.
Dou Jing dipped some of the honey left on the bamboo knife, which was fragrant and sweet. "Hmm, good stuff! Lingnan has many mountains and long flowering periods, so it can be promoted in other counties and prefectures."
Sugar was the second most important commodity in ancient times after salt, and the market demand was huge.
One source of sugar is honey, which is mainly wild and rarely cultivated artificially.
Wu County is the first to promote this initiative across the entire county, which is very pioneering.
Another source is sugar production from sugarcane, which is still at the sugar paste stage. Now there are brown sugar blocks, and its commercial value has promoted the large-scale planting of sugarcane.
All of these took place in Wu County.
Dou Jing felt that coming to Wuzhou, especially Wuxian, was the right decision.
The beekeeping, rice planting and sugarcane planting of Wu County and Huanggou Village were copied and reproduced, and vermicelli and oil pressing were added. Lingnan blossomed everywhere, and Wu County was everywhere.
These are natural advantages that Jiangnan does not have. I believe that Lingnan will soon surpass Jiangnan!
Come out on the soft humus.
"We take the rotten soil from here, sift out branches, rotten leaves, and clods, sprinkle it with quicklime, turn it over and dry it for a few days, spread it on the newly reclaimed wasteland, and add farmyard manure, which greatly shortens the time to cultivate the land," Su Bucheng introduced.
"Can all compost be used like this?" An anxious planting expert couldn't help but interrupt.
"It depends on the specific soil conditions. Different soil colors represent different soil types..." Su Bucheng explained Su Ying's original soil identification method to everyone.
"Yeah, that makes sense!" The planting expert nodded continuously after hearing this.
With this theoretical foundation, it can be applied flexibly in other places in the future.
"These are all useful information. Do you have any records?" Dou Jing asked.
"Uh, no, we only gave lectures and didn't write any books." Su Bucheng replied.
"If you can take the time to organize these fragmentary materials, they can be compiled into a work on agriculture. It can be used as a reference material in various places and it will be a contribution to agriculture."
Dou Jing was in a good mood and rarely gave any suggestions.
Passing by the Su family's old house, Dou Jing turned in for some unknown reason, wanting to see what life was like for Su Bucheng and his family in the past.
With a gentle push, the door creaked open.
It was a bit cold and damp inside. The walls were painted white and the floor was flat, looking newly tidied. There were many wooden racks and dustpans placed there.
"Preparing to raise silkworms?" Dou Jing asked.
"Yes, my daughter felt it was a waste to leave the house empty, so she cleaned it up and started raising silkworms in the spring." Su Bucheng replied.
"Can you handle it? Are there enough mulberry leaves?" Dou Jing looked at the four rooms.
There are two to three wooden racks in each room, and each wooden rack has at least four layers, which adds up to a considerable amount.
Mulberry trees are planted in the fields. When raising silkworms, a large amount of mulberry leaves are needed, and four or five doses need to be added every day.
"When we planted winter wheat last year, we planted a lot of mulberry branches on the edge of the field. They have started to sprout leaves, so they should be enough." Su Bucheng replied.
Dou Jing pointed at Su Bucheng and laughed, "With your Su family's abilities, even if you were exiled another 5,000 miles away, you would still live a comfortable life without worries about food and drink!"
"I dare not! Sir, we are where we are today thanks to the friendly reception of the villagers in Huanggou!
When we first arrived, it was the village chief who gave us this house, so our family had a place to stay!
If I were exiled again, how could I be so lucky as to meet such friendly villagers as those in Huanggou Village? "
Su Bucheng felt a little resentful towards Dou Jing. This joke was not funny at all.
"It's just a joke, just a joke. Why did Lord Su take it seriously?" Dou Jing came out with his hands behind his back and strolled towards the vegetable garden next to him.
"What is this?" Dou Jing saw the crops growing two or three inches tall, peeking out and looking very healthy.
Not only Dou Jing, but all the officials from Chang'an City had never seen him.
Su Bucheng had only seen mature sugarcane, not seedlings, so he turned to look at Su Laosan.
"My lord, this is sugarcane!" Su Lao San stepped forward and said.
"Oh, this is the sugarcane you grow? Tell me how to grow it."
Dou Jing looked at the neatly arranged seedlings in the field and felt that they were similar to rice in that both required horizontal and vertical alignment.
"Yes!" Su Laosan told the story of Su Ying's sugarcane planting.
"Minister Su, according to your method, the sugarcane yield will surely increase, and each root will be thicker and stronger?"
"Your Excellency, yes! This year's sugarcane planting in Wu County all adopts this method, and the sugarcane output will increase significantly by the end of the year." Su Lao San bowed.
"Master Lu, do you have any promotion?" Dou Jing was very excited when she heard this, but she secretly regretted that she came too late and missed the sugarcane planting season.
"Your Excellency, other counties have promoted it but have not pushed it hard. This year's focus is on two seasons of rice. Sugarcane planting will be vigorously promoted after the results of Wu County come out by the end of the year." Lu Zhaoshi replied.
There are so many things I want to do, so I can only do the most important ones first.
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