75 Cotton
"If they don't grow, they don't grow; we won't make you lose money."
Starting in April, soap orders began pouring in like snowflakes.
While Sun Jiwen was busy expanding his pig farming operation, he also sent people to various places to purchase adult pigs.
Qiaotou Village in Huixi County is about 100 li (approximately 50 kilometers) from Ningyuan, the capital of the prefecture. Only the wealthy Mr. Qiao in the entire village raised four or five pigs. Hearing that a soap workshop from the prefecture was coming to buy pigs, the whole village crowded at the village entrance to watch the spectacle.
"Wow, that's incredible! A pig selling for that much!" someone exclaimed, gesturing with their fingers.
"Thirteen hundred coins?! That's a lot!"
In previous years, even the most expensive pigs would not exceed 1,000 coins, but now, people are coming to pick them up and they can still sell them for so much.
"Absolutely! They made a fortune."
"Sir, will the price of pork here stay this way?" someone asked, raising their voice.
The young man sent down to buy pigs said politely, "Our master instructed that the price will remain unchanged for the next six months. It may drop a bit afterward, but it won't be lower than 1,000 coins. If any of you villagers want to raise pigs, feel free to do so; we'll buy as many as you have."
"Also, we can provide piglets. If you want to raise them here, just register them, and we'll deduct the cost when we sell the pigs after the New Year," the man continued.
"Such a good thing!?" Everyone was overjoyed.
"Of course, haven't you heard? Shen Ji was run by General Xiao's wife, she would never harm you."
"I want to raise it."
"I'm signing up."
“My family also signed up.”
Later, every household in Huixi County started raising pigs. By cooperating with soap workshops in Ningyuan, the county became a well-known wealthy county in just a few years. But that's another story.
Thanks to the adult pigs collected from various places, the soap workshop barely managed to fulfill its April orders.
The remaining pile of pork was taken by Shen Suqin to a newly built workshop to be made into dried meat, and then sent to the Shule River.
With the establishment of the new workshop, the western suburbs began to recruit people on a large scale again.
Since the beginning of spring, the greenhouses have been gradually shut down, and once the vegetables are sold out, they are no longer planted.
Zhou Baihu then took charge of recruitment and worker management. Of course, when recruiting, he first considered those who had retired from the Black Flag Army and placed them in important positions. Only when there was still a shortage of people would he consider recruiting ordinary people.
The houses originally allocated to retired soldiers to settle down were slowly started to be built after the spring thaw. The people who had wandered for half their lives knew that they were about to have a place to settle down. One by one, they all regarded the general's wife as a savior and praised her to the skies. Whenever Shen Suqin went to the western suburbs, they would look at her with burning eyes, wishing they could kneel down on the spot.
Shen Suqin was unaware of these things. At present, she was fully focused on the iron mine at Laomaoling, and her trips in and out of the western suburbs were mainly for the iron mine.
"It's definitely a good mine, buried deep, and we hadn't been able to dig it out before," said Zhou Baihu. "The one to the west is indeed a coal mine, with coal and iron ore coexisting, and the reserves are quite large. We've already sent someone with experience to help us, and they should be here in a few days."
"Should we keep this a secret?"
"Once construction begins, it will be impossible to keep it a secret. After all, judging by its scale, it is likely to be the largest iron mine in Daliang."
"I've never seen that kind of coal before, and I can't find anyone with experience in it."
"To use it for iron smelting?"
"Then I'll add a few more guards."
Zhou Baihu was talking to Shen Suqin in a low voice about the iron mine. Of course, the iron mine was to be mined and used to make iron, but how to collect taxes? And how to deal with the iron produced?
Private individuals are not permitted to mine and smelt iron ore in Daliang. If Shen Suqin tries to get involved, he will inevitably be caught red-handed.
Therefore, she planned to first smooth things over with the imperial court before deciding how to mine the iron ore.
“There’s been some movement from Luo Su’s side,” Zhou Baihu continued. “He wants to see you, but he’s been waiting for the opportunity.”
"Let him in."
At this moment, she and Zhou Baihu were in the newly built council hall in the western suburbs.
As soon as Luo Su entered, he said with a smile, "The cotton seeds have sprouted. Would you like to go and take a look, sir?"
Shen Suqin was overjoyed: "Let's go, let's go take a look together. Oh, and let's go call Master Su here."
The two hurriedly rushed to the farm, and when they arrived, they saw a large number of people gathered around the white greenhouse.
Everyone here knows that something extraordinary is grown in this greenhouse, and people are usually not allowed to get close.
Luo Su led her through the crowd and inside.
"Achoo!" It was stuffy and hot inside the shed, and Shen Suqin couldn't help but sneeze. "Where?"
Zhou Wu was also inside. Upon hearing this, he pointed to the ground beside his feet and whispered, "Here."
He was afraid that if he made a loud noise, he would break the tender buds.
Shen Suqin bent down and saw several round, plump little leaves floating on the black soil, trembling and tender, as if they would break if the wind were to be strong enough.
When Su Yubai arrived, he saw her smiling face and felt relieved. He laughed and said, "It's just sprouting, why are you so happy?"
"Of course."
"Alright, it wasn't for nothing that Luo Su planted several crops back and forth."
Luo Su was a little embarrassed: "It's freezing cold here, but thanks to this greenhouse and the warmer weather, we were able to manage to grow them."
“Thank you for your help, Brother Luo,” Shen Suqin stood up, “Please continue to take care of things in the future.”
"That's natural."
Shen Suqin gave him the money readily and generously, which pleased him.
“And wheat and sweet potatoes, those two are easy to grow, they’ve already grown quite a bit,” he added.
Shen Suqin almost forgot about this. "Perhaps I should find Lord Tian Cao and ask him to set aside a few plots of land nearby to try planting wheat and sweet potatoes. If they are successful, the grain yield of Jinzhou next year will probably increase several times over."
"You even have to worry about this," Su Yubai said. "Aren't you afraid of aging faster because you have so many worries?"
Shen Suqin pouted: "I call it 'the capable should do more.' I'll go back and take care of this matter first. You should pay more attention to the cotton and not focus all your attention on the soap workshop."
"I know, I know, go ahead."
Just as May was approaching, Jinzhou was suddenly hit by a cold snap.
Shen Suqin was woken up by the cold in the middle of the night. She jumped out of bed and hurriedly put on her clothes and ran outside.
"Ju Tao, Ju Tao! Come with me to the farm quickly."
The candles in the west wing were lit, and soon after, Ju Tao stumbled out of the door.
"Miss, what brings you to the farm in the middle of the night?"
"Cotton... cotton, quick!"
It's gotten so cold all of a sudden, I wonder if those cotton plants will survive.
The two woke up the servants, got the carriage ready, and hurried to the western suburbs.
The west wind howled all the way, and the cold air kept seeping into the carriage. Shen Suqin wrapped her outer garment tighter and urged the servants to hurry up. She was afraid that if she slowed down even a couple of steps, the cotton would freeze to death.
Fortunately, even before we got close, we could see the bright lights shining from afar over the greenhouse.
She breathed a sigh of relief, got out of the car, and hurried over there.
Dozens of people had gathered around the cotton greenhouses, but they all lowered their heads and made way for Shen Suqin when she arrived.
They all knew that what was grown here was more precious than gold, and it was tended to around the clock. As soon as the weather turned cold, a fire was lit in the greenhouse.
Shen Suqin lifted the curtain and went into the greenhouse. It was warm and cozy inside. Luo Su and Su Yubai were squatting on the edge of the cotton field, staring intently at it.
She walked over and squatted down beside the two of them, staring intently at the scene with them.
The cotton tree in front of me is already as tall as my calf, with lush green leaves, each about half the size of my palm, trembling and stretching out in the night, which is quite lovely.
"When did you two arrive?" she asked.
“It’s been a while,” Su Yubai replied, “Actually, you don’t need to come.”
Shen Suqin replied softly, "I'm worried. You know I value it very much."
Su Yubai had never worn cotton cloth or cotton clothing, so he couldn't understand it at all. But he respected Shen Suqin's ideas very much. No, not only them, but everyone in the West Suburbs Farm and even the entire Ningyuan respected her.
"Now you see, go back to sleep. I definitely can't let you raise it to death."
“Yes, Madam, I’ll take you back,” Luo Su said.
Shen Suqin nodded, took one last look, and said to him, "I'm leaving it to you. Make sure you take good care of it."
Luo Su readily agreed.
Su Yubai escorted Shen Suqin out, saying, "There are people watching over us around the clock. They even use human hands to catch insects and loosen the soil. They take very good care of us, so you don't need to worry."
“I know,” Shen Suqin said, “I just couldn’t help it.”
Cotton is a major issue related to the population growth of Jinzhou and even the entire Daliang. Daliang is geographically located in the north, with long and cold winters. Having cotton to keep warm will greatly improve the quality of life for the people.
For a country with a population of less than ten million, population growth is the cornerstone of national prosperity and the source of its wealth.
In short, all hope rested on those four or five thin, frail cotton trees.
But she didn't dare tell Luo Su and the others these things, fearing that the pressure would put too much on them and prevent them from doing a good job.
"No matter what, we must make sure it bears fruit successfully," Shen Suqin repeatedly instructed.
Don't worry.
That night, Shen Suqin couldn't fall asleep for a long time, and Su Yubai and Luo Su also stayed up all night, guarding the greenhouse.
The following afternoon, Shen Suqin was finalizing her "Twelve Articles for Industrial Development in the Northern Border" when she suddenly heard a loud knocking on the door. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly got up to greet the person. "What's wrong?"
The visitor was Su Yubai.
He arrived on horseback, galloping all the way. As soon as he entered the courtyard, still out of breath, he said urgently, "The leaves are curling and turning yellow. Go and take a look quickly."
Shen Suqin's breath hitched. "Take me there."
"I'm sorry."
Su Yubai lifted Shen Suqin onto the horse and rode off towards the farm.
Upon arriving at the greenhouse, they found Luo Su sitting dejectedly on the ground, his legs slouch out in front of him, his expression obscured.
Shen Suqin gripped her cuffs tightly and walked to the edge of the cotton field. She saw that all the cotton trees were drooping and withered, their leaves were scorched yellow, and some had even fallen down and curled up on the roots.
She paused for a moment, walked up to Luo Su, gently patted his shoulder and said, "If they don't grow, they don't grow. I don't need you to pay me back."
The two had previously agreed that if the plant didn't survive, Luo Su would have to compensate her.
“I’d rather pay you money, as long as it lives,” Luo Su said in a low voice.
Everyone has seen how much effort he has put in since the seeds were planted. He practically lives in the greenhouse every day, and his eyes are fixed on nothing but cotton trees.
“I still have seeds. If all else fails, I can start over. If I run out of seeds, I’ll send someone to the border region. If all else fails, I’ll even kidnap the locals and the seeds. I refuse to believe I can’t handle it,” Shen Suqin said.
"Don't be too sad. Even Shennong couldn't guarantee that the crops would survive on the first try. Do you think you're more powerful than a god?"
She gestured for Su Yubai to pull the person up from the ground, "It's alright, if it doesn't work in one year, try two years, if it doesn't work in two years, try three years, and you'll eventually succeed."
Yesterday she repeatedly told the two of them to make sure they could keep it alive, but today she turned around and comforted them, saying "it's alright."
"Next time, I'm sure I can grow it successfully," he said earnestly.
Shen Suqin smiled and said, “I believe you.” She picked up a leaf from the ground and said, “Take it outside. Who knows, it might survive if it’s planted outdoors.”
"good."
The failure to grow cotton was a huge blow to Shen Suqin. After returning from the western suburbs, she was depressed for two days before throwing herself back into work.
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