Chapter 481 Wearing Winter Clothes for the First Time
The group returned to Nanling Village again. The village chief was shocked to see Su Shaoyin and the prince's guards returning.
Su Shaoyin was once the magistrate of Chang'an County. He was easy to talk to, so he sold the barren mountain that no one wanted to him. This would save the village trouble and he could also make some money.
The barren mountain is far away from the village and is quite deep, where wild beasts often appear.
The land was in their village, a barren mountain that had been designated as theirs, and the land was ignored when dividing up the permanent farmland. Who would be willing to walk ten miles to tend it? Moreover, the mountains were deep within the Qinling Mountains.
After Su Shaoyin left, the village elders felt very regretful.
Just as they were complaining, they heard that Su Shaoyin and others had come again. The village elders were very happy and thought of lowering the price if it didn't work out.
The village road and mountain path were difficult to walk on, so the group resorted to riding horses, and it took them more than half an hour to reach the foot of the mountain.
Several hills are connected, and there are many oak and pine trees on the slopes.
We have climbed over many hills on the way here, and this place is considered to be inside the mountains.
Looking at the vast forest further in, I think this is the border area between the deep mountains and the human living area.
"How?" Li Chengqian asked Su Ying for her opinion.
"Where is the water source?" Su Ying asked the village chief.
"Replying to Lord Xiao Su, after crossing this hill and going forward one or two miles, there is a stream." The village chief replied.
Water sources are also places where wild animals often appear because they also need to drink water.
"What about these mountains? Do they have owners?" Su Ying asked, pointing to several hills on the roadside.
"have!"
"Can they be sold together?" Su Ying asked.
"Uh, what Master Su means..." The village chief didn't know what Su Ying meant.
"In addition to the barren mountain, we will also buy these hills." Su Ying replied.
"Ah?" The village chief was surprised.
Su Shaoyin only wanted one hilltop, but Master Su asked for this area, which has seven or eight hilltops.
"Is it okay or not? If not, we'll find another place." Su Ying was not familiar with the village chief of Nanling Village and this was her first time here.
"We have to go back to the village and ask the owner." The village chief didn't dare to say anything definite.
"Let's go back to the village. If it works, we'll decide today." Su Ying turned her horse's head.
When they returned to the village, the owners were worried that if they sold their permanent farmland, they would no longer have it, and they would have no money to build houses or get firewood in the winter.
Su Ying promised them that they could deal with the firewood on the mountain themselves, and offered a high price, promising that the sugarcane field would hire them as long-term workers.
The institute built a brick and tile building, so not much wood was needed, and there was enough wood in the barren mountains.
After hesitating for a while, several owners agreed, left a deposit, and agreed to go to the Chang'an County Office to complete the transaction the next day.
"Master Su, why don't you go and take a look at the land I have chosen? They are all fertile and cultivated land!" Li Tai invited.
"No need, Your Highness the Fourth Prince! Keep the cultivated land for growing crops! Use this wasteland to grow sugarcane."
Knowing that the land Li Taixun had found must be fertile, Su Ying was reluctant to use the good land in Chang'an to grow sugarcane.
Sugar is a good thing and is precious, but in ancient times when productivity was low, people had to fill their stomachs first before they could improve their quality of life.
She didn't want to use fertile cultivated land because she didn't want to set a bad example, because sugarcane made huge profits and occupied a lot of arable land.
It would be easy to attract impeachment from the inspector, so there is no need to cheat people. The fat boy just means well.
She would rather open up wasteland and slowly cultivate the land, growing sugarcane while making the land mature.
"Growing sugarcane all together?" Li Tai estimated that the large mountain must have at least three or four hundred acres of land.
"The villagers bought sugarcane from the mountains, planted half of it, and planted beans in the other half to maintain the land. After two or three years, they rotated the crops.
"Build a research institute on those barren hills in the Qinling Mountains." Su Ying replied.
Later, the Ministry of Works will send people to conduct on-site inspections, and the planning and drawing will be submitted to Li Chengqian for review.
Su Yinghui reminded that the pyrotechnic area should be built in a separate place and fire prevention, isolation and other preventive measures should be taken around it.
Each project has a research and development yard and an experimental site.
In addition, the road needs to be built into a cement official road, soldiers need to be stationed there, and outsiders are not allowed to enter.
"In the future, sugarcane can only be planted in marginal lands? How can the yield be increased?" Li Tai worried.
Is it really necessary to buy wasteland one by one? The cost is too high.
"The 800-li Qinchuan Plain is the granary of the Tang Dynasty. Located in the north, it experiences long cold spells. We planted sugarcane, but this year there was no harvest.
People can plant some in front of or behind their houses and earn some pocket money.
If you want large-scale planting, I agree with the Fourth Prince's suggestion of Yizhou, which is warm and has fertile land.
A small amount of arable land can be used to grow sugarcane, and after the sugarcane is harvested, vegetables or other crops can be grown, which will not lead to a significant reduction in arable land for food."
Su Ying explained the reason to Li Tai without any perfunctory response.
"Then we will use this piece of sugarcane field to conduct a batch sugar production experiment. If it is feasible, we will plant it in large quantities in Yizhou and build a sugar factory." Li Tai said happily after receiving the affirmation.
Su Ying reminded, "The equipment can also be used in Lingnan! It's a natural sugarcane-growing area."
"Why did you tell him everything?" After getting on the carriage, Li Chengqian felt a little jealous. He subconsciously treated Su Ying as his own.
"Well, Your Highness, if we don't clarify the context, the Fourth Prince's development of sugarcane cultivation in the Guanzhong area has caused a decline in grain harvests, which has affected the imperial court.
This matter is detrimental to the country and the people. I can't just watch him go astray. If he doesn't suffer, I'll suffer the consequences as well." Su Ying said bluntly.
"Master Xiao Su is very insightful!" Li Chengqian immediately understood and felt relieved.
"Whoa!" The coachman suddenly pulled the reins of the horse, and Su Ying and Li Chengqian fell down in the carriage and rolled into a ball.
"Ouch!" someone exclaimed outside.
"What happened?" Li Chengqian, who had fallen, pulled Su Ying up and asked in a deep voice.
Su Ying put the tiara back on and saw that Li Chengqian's crown was crooked, so she helped him straighten it.
"Your Highness, someone suddenly fell down." The coachman replied tremblingly.
When I lifted the carriage curtain, I saw an old man on the ground, his basket overturned and hawthorns scattered all over the ground.
"I deserve to die! I deserve to die! I bumped into the prince's carriage!" The old man was terrified.
Wearing thin clothes, shivering in the cold wind, I felt cold and scared.
Li Chengqian wanted to get off the car, but was stopped by Su Ying. He got off first, and Su Bucheng and others also got off the car to check.
"Please stand up, old man!" Su Ying helped the old man up and asked someone to pick up the hawthorns on the ground.
Li Chengqian walked to the front of the carriage under the escort of the guards, "Father, what are these fruits for?"
"Your Highness, it's almost New Year, so I'm selling these in the city to make some money for the New Year."
The old man was wearing a pair of old straw sandals, and his hands and feet were red from the cold, and he kept changing his feet to step on the ground.
Su Ying looked at the sky. The city was closed at this time, so she thought that they had not been sold out yet, as there was still half a basket left.
"Old man, we have bought all these!" Su Ying asked someone to move the hawthorns to the Su Mansion's carriage.
After paying the money, I saw that the old man was freezing, skinny, frail, trembling, and wearing only tattered clothes. I was afraid that he would not survive the night.
Su Ying couldn't bear it any longer, "Father, did you bring any extra cotton clothes?"
Su Bucheng nodded and took out a pair of cloth shoes and a half-worn winter coat from the carriage.
"Sir, I dare not, I dare not!" The old man did not dare to answer.
"Father-in-law, put it on!" Su Bucheng put it on the old man.
"Thank you, Your Highness, and thank you, sir!" The old man burst into tears. It was the first time in his old age that he put on winter clothes.
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