jdhmnovel Chapter 196 Chang Yuchun Arrives
Chapter 196 Chang Yuchun Arrives
After silently mourning for the scholars of the Hongwu era for three seconds, Magistrate Yang suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, "Lame Fifth Brother! Lame Fifth Brother!"
When Limpy Wu hurriedly arrived at the back office, Magistrate Yang immediately instructed him: "During this period, some scholars will be sent to Ningyang County to do hard labor. You should make arrangements for them. These scholars are all unable to lift heavy objects. Don't send them to quarry stones right away. It would be a waste if a few of them died from exhaustion."
After pondering for a moment, Magistrate Yang added, "Tell the overseers to pay close attention. If any of them behave well and are genuinely repentant, write down their names so they can be sent to teach at the school later."
Damn it, I've been writing work reports and year-end summaries, and I've even exposed the hidden dangers of Deng Xiaoping's excessive favoritism towards scholars. It took all my efforts to get Deng Xiaoping to send over several thousand scholars. Do you think it was easy for me?
Honestly, in order to ensure that the children of Ningyang County can go to school—no, I should say, to solve the problem of insufficient officials in the imperial court for Lao Deng—this official is having a really tough time!
……
After arranging for the scholars to do manual labor, Magistrate Yang, along with Lame Five, once again arrived at Liu Miao Village in the west of the city. While the villagers were working in the fields and Liu Thirty-Two and the others had not yet come to greet them, Magistrate Yang dismounted and walked into a wheat field.
Yang Shaofeng didn't know how to farm. The only time he worked in the fields in his previous life was when he was in the fifth grade of elementary school. He didn't want to study, so his family dragged him to the fields to pull weeds. He never went to the fields again after that.
But for some reason, Magistrate Yang wanted to walk around the land whenever he saw it, and he wanted to swing a hoe whenever he saw one. Now that he was in the wheat field, he couldn't help but squat down to weed the wheat seedlings, completely forgetting the pain of weeding when he was a child.
"Grow well, and produce many grains of wheat."
While pulling weeds, Magistrate Yang also ran his hand over the wheat seedlings, carefully experiencing the sensation of the top of the seedlings gently brushing against his fingertips.
It feels gentle and ticklish.
Magistrate Yang was immediately in a good mood.
Seeing that Magistrate Yang was weeding again, Liu Thirty-Two, who had been in a hurry, could only bow to Magistrate Yang with a helpless expression and say, "Sir, the ground is dirty, please come out quickly."
Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement, then stood up and asked, "Shouldn't the sowing be finished in a few more days? How are the mulberry trees growing? And have you finished digging the ponds in the village?"
Liu Thirty-Two bowed and replied, "Don't worry, sir. It will take at most three more days to finish sowing the seeds. The mulberry trees are growing very well, and I estimate that each family can raise five or six baskets of silkworms. Also, the pond that you asked us to dig has been dug, and we can start drawing water in a few days once the ditch is finished."
Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement again, walked from the field to the edge, rubbed his foot on the roadside grass, and smiled, "That's good."
Each household could raise five or six baskets of silkworms, which was not much compared to other counties in Jiangnan. However, for Ningyang County, having five or six baskets of silkworms per household was a historic breakthrough – in the first year of the Hongwu reign, Ningyang County did not have even a single basket of silkworms!
After walking along the land of Liumiao Village for a while, a gust of northeast wind suddenly blew by. Magistrate Yang couldn't help but frown and ask, "Is that the smell of that manure yard?"
Liu Thirty-Two took a deep breath and replied with a look of intoxication on his face, "It smells like the manure yard. Chicken manure, pig manure, cow manure, horse manure, and the night soil collected from the city every day are all fermenting there. They can be spread on the fields as fertilizer in the fall."
For Magistrate Yang, the smell of the manure yard was truly nauseating.
However, for Liu Sanshier, the smell of the manure yard was an important fertilizer that affected the year's harvest.
It smells bad?
This fertilizer can increase the yield of grain by 10 to 20 kilograms per acre, and the smell is simply not an issue!
Yang Shaofeng shook his head, too lazy to pay attention to Liu Sanshier who had a perverted look on his face, and continued walking along the edge of Liumiao Village.
It wasn't until they were almost out of Liu Miao Village that Magistrate Yang spoke up, saying, "Your village is closer to Daming Lake, so you must pay close attention to the water level. If it's too high, you must release water in time; if it's too low, you must replenish it promptly. You can't be careless."
"Also, those who have children must keep a close eye on their kids. You know how deep the center of Daming Lake is, so you can't let your children go swimming in Daming Lake."
Liu Thirty-Two bowed and agreed to each one, saying, "Don't worry, sir, I will be extra careful."
Magistrate Yang nodded in satisfaction and instructed Liu Thirty-Two, "Alright, go back to work. I'll go check on Xihe Village again."
The situation in Xihe Village is similar to that in Liumiao Village, except that the land in Xihe Village is not as good as that in Liumiao Village, and the wheat harvest is also worse. Therefore, Xihe Village mainly grows sorghum, and there are more mulberry trees used for silkworm rearing than in Liumiao Village.
To put it simply, in Ningyang County, the land in each of the eight communities and sixteen villages has some subtle differences. For example, the land in Xihe Village is better suited for growing sorghum than wheat, while the land in Fushan Village, which is further north, is better suited for growing millet.
Magistrate Yang didn't understand these messy matters and didn't dare to interfere, so he left it to the people of each village to decide what to plant.
What Yang Shaofeng never expected was that because the wheat harvest in Xihe Village was less than ideal, they started intercropping, planting early sorghum on the ridges and early soybeans in the fields. Even the fields planted with winter wheat had been reserved early for cotton planting, just waiting to start planting cotton after the winter wheat harvest.
This was such an amazing way of playing that Magistrate Yang had only ever seen it in books and on television before; this was the first time he had ever seen it in real life.
After emphasizing the pond and silkworm issues to Wang Wuqi, the head of Xihe Village who had rushed over, Magistrate Yang said with a smile, "You have to tell me properly what exactly this intercropping of winter wheat and cotton is all about. If it were planted as a single crop, how much would the harvest differ from that of intercropping?"
Wang Wuqi was slightly taken aback, then patiently began to explain.
It turns out that wheat can not only be intercropped with cotton, but also with soybeans or mung beans. However, soybeans are planted more densely than mung beans, and crops like cotton and beans are planted later, usually about half a month before the winter wheat harvest.
Of course, the average yield per acre of this intercropping method is much higher than that of a single crop. However, because you have to pay attention to these newly planted crops when harvesting wheat, it will inevitably increase the difficulty of harvesting wheat. It can only be said that there are advantages and disadvantages.
Just as Magistrate Yang was pondering how to compile the data on these intercroppings and how to solve problems such as harvesting during intercropping, a series of hoofbeats came from the east. A yamen runner rode quickly towards Xihe Village.
Upon seeing Magistrate Yang, the yamen runner immediately dismounted, cupped his hands, and bowed, saying, "Your Excellency, Chang Pingzhang has arrived and is waiting for you to return to the yamen."
Yang Shaofeng was startled.
Who?
Ordinary black charcoal?
Holy crap! I've almost finished off the Little Dragon Balls that the Chang brothers stole, and now Chang the Blackie has come knocking on my door. Is this old guy here to cause me trouble?