Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

On the tenth day of May, the group set out from the county. After walking for a day, we arrived at a village near Xianghaipao in the evening. We can only stay in this village for the night. Fortunately, Jinghan and the others have been here before, so they are quite familiar with this place.

Chang'an took people to the village to find the village chief, and then arranged accommodation for everyone. The people in the village are very hospitable. As soon as they heard that a distinguished guest was coming, many wives came to the place where the guests lived and brought food from home. In addition, I also help with cooking and so on.

Since Jinghan's body is quite heavy now, naturally she can't go without a girl like before. This time, Ruyu and three others followed, and together with Xue and Qian, there were quite a few people. Fortunately, the village chief's house where they lived was quite large, so they could live comfortably.

The village chief's wife is a very neat woman. She arranged the food quickly and everyone ate together. After dinner, Jinghan walked around the village with Xue and Qian, and of course Ruyu and the others followed.

The terrain here is very flat, basically a plain, so the view is very broad. The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the western sky crimson, and the junction between heaven and earth was so far away. Jinghan stood there, watching the sky gradually darken. "Mom, you can't see this kind of scenery where we are."

"Yes, our place is full of mountains, and it doesn't feel so empty." It was also the first time for Xue to see it, and she thought it was pretty good.

A few women were walking around and playing outside, and the children in the village looked at them strangely. Ruyu brought some candies and distributed them to the children. As soon as the children saw the candy, they couldn't help but come over to ask for it.

An older boy was given two pieces of candy, but he didn't eat any of them. He held them all in his hands. Rumei saw it and asked him why he didn't eat it.

"My younger brothers and sisters are all at home. If they don't come out, I have to leave it to them." The boy was a little shy.

Jinghan suddenly remembered what happened in the past, "Mom, do you still remember? My eldest brother was like this before. He would not bear to eat good things when he had them, and then left us a few younger ones. The eldest sister was also the same, she would let me do anything. And Wenxuan." Thinking of the past, Jinghan felt that time flew by, and those young and carefree days seemed like they were in a dream.

Mrs. I gave you sweets, but you didn't want to eat them, so I left them all for Wen Xuan. He was very sensible and didn't eat them all at once before putting them away. Who would have thought that when I saw them the next day, they were all covered with candy. Wen Xuan was so distressed that he cried. Later, you guys remembered and didn’t keep any candies overnight. Moreover, Wen Han even asked your third uncle for ant repellent. From then on, our family was very happy. No more ants." In front of Xue's eyes, the children seemed to be very young, but when she turned around, she realized that her daughter was about to become a mother.

"These things seem to be happening before our eyes, but each of you has grown up and has your own place to go. Life flies by so fast." Mrs. Xue couldn't help but sigh.

Jinghan asked Rumei to take out a few more pieces of candy for the boy, and then Jinghan said, "Little baby, take the candy home quickly and share it with your younger brothers and sisters. Remember, if If you don’t want to part with it, put it in a tight jar so that no ants can crawl in.”

The boy nodded, said thank you to them, and then ran home quickly.

It was late, and the women were a little tired after riding in the car all day, so they went back to rest.

Zixuan is still talking to the people in the village. He has developed this habit of asking the locals carefully wherever he goes. In this way, you can have a good understanding of the local customs. At this time they were talking about opening up wasteland.

"The magistrate has issued an order to encourage us to open up wasteland. This is a good thing. In the spring of this year, many people in our village went to open up wasteland. We didn't plant so much land before, and it would be useless if we did, and the food couldn't be sold. When you go out, you can only exchange some things. But things are different now. The county magistrate has said that as long as the grain is grown, the county government will collect it at the normal price. So what are we farmers afraid of? "An old man. said.

"I also heard that the county magistrate asked the people over at Yueyue Pao to raise ducks and geese. In fact, can't we also raise ducks and geese here? The problem is, what if we can't sell them? So we I don’t dare to raise it,” said Li You personally.

Zixuan smiled, "You don't have to worry about this. Maybe the county magistrate will try it at Yueyuebao now. If it works, it can be raised by other places. It's not possible to do it all in the whole county at once." These, right? You have to take your time. Life doesn't happen in a day, we do the same thing, right?" These people don't know Zixuan's identity, and Zixuan doesn't intend to say it. The village chief knew about it, but with Zixuan's instructions, he didn't reveal it to anyone.

"This is possible. No matter how powerful the county magistrate is, he can't take care of everything at once. After all, our place is too big. If we weren't so poor and didn't have such a large population, we would probably be able to divide it into five or six The county seat." The old man who spoke first nodded. "We don't need to be in a hurry, just like what this guest said. Take your time, eat every bite, work little by little, and you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. If the magistrate will spread the stall as soon as he comes, then we I still can’t believe him.”

Zixuan listened nearby and secretly admired the wisdom of these old people. He didn't want to fight an uncertain battle. It was still a question of how to export those ducks and geese. How could he dare to ask the entire county to make them? At least there are still winter fish hooking up at Moon Beach, so we can still have some confidence. In other places, let’s plant the land first.

Even if you are farming, you should do it steadily. The seeds Jinghan got from the south had to be tested on small plots of land for several years. If it really works, we can distribute the improved seeds to everyone for planting. This kind of improvement cannot be accomplished in one or two years. Otherwise, if everyone is rashly asked to plant new seeds, if there is a mistake, wouldn't it be harmful to everyone?

Anyway, Jinghan's winery is at the bottom. The worst thing is that it uses grain to make wine. All the grain harvested last year was gone by the beginning of spring, and the last batch of wine had already been taken away and sold by the Sun brothers. Last year, the winery produced a total of 80,000 kilograms of wine. Of course, this is because the wine produced by the winery has a high alcohol content. If the wine was the same as before, it would probably be able to produce more. In this way, there is still no buying and selling, and now there are many places to rush for goods. Anfu and the others had no choice but to go to other prefectures and counties to collect some grain at a high price. It would probably take a while before they could produce wine again. This autumn, we need to reserve more food so that we can run the winery better.

"Let's just grow food honestly first. Didn't the county government say that everything will be charged at the normal price? This is pretty sure." Zixuan still advised everyone to plant more land.

"Yes, the guest is right. Let's farm honestly first. When these things are really sold, we don't have to worry. The county magistrate will help us find a way." The old man also agreed with Zixuan's statement. "Speaking of which, our county magistrate is really good. For our sake, he exempted us from taxes for two years, which is amazing. Just by doing this, can't we save a lot of money? ? I just don’t know how many years this gentleman can be an official here. If he only stays for three or two years, what will happen when the new county magistrate comes? So, hurry up while the magistrate is still here. Now, if you can earn more, just earn more.”

Zixuan's heart trembled, wasn't it? I work hard here to help the people. If the emperor transfers him before seeing results, wouldn't his efforts be in vain? I really need to think of a way to do this. I don't want anything else, I just want to do something practical for the people, and I can't give up halfway.

Everyone talked for a while, and it was getting very late, so they went home to sleep. Zixuan also returned to the village chief's house.

Zixuan and Jinghan lived in the north room of the east wing. There was a small dim oil lamp in the room. Jinghan was lying on the kang, already asleep. Zixuan quietly got on the kang, and just as he was about to lie down, Jinghan woke up.

"Zixuan, you are back."

"Well, I'm sorry to wake you up." Zixuan felt that he had been very careful, so why did he wake up Jinghan?

"No, it was a child who kicked me. Haha, this little guy must be a night owl from now on, staying up at night and bullying me." Jinghan opened the quilt and let Zixuan in.

"When he comes out, I'll spank him and help you teach him a lesson." Zixuan hugged Jinghan and reached out to touch her round belly. Just as the fetus moved again, it kicked Zixuan's hand. "Look, when this little guy heard that he was going to beat him, he stopped doing it. He even kicked me."

The little thing in Jinghan's belly is very naughty and often makes trouble at night. Sometimes, when the two of them are next to each other, Zixuan can feel the little guy moving around in Jinghan's belly. "He's so restless, he might be a son." Zixuan muttered.

"What do you mean it can't be done? My son is better. I like my son." Jinghan was not happy when she heard that. What? Dislike your son?

"No, it's not that I don't like it, I just want a daughter like you. If my daughter is so good, looks like you, and is quirky, then I will definitely spoil her to the sky." Zixuan In my mind, I remembered what Jinghan looked like when she was a child.

"Then we have to give birth to two sons first. The eldest daughter is very tired. It would be great if she had a brother to protect her, just like the eldest brother." Jinghan also wants a daughter, but she doesn't want to give birth to a daughter. It's better to have a boy first.

"Okay, it's up to you, then let's have a son first and wait until he grows up to protect his beautiful sister." Zixuan quickly agreed.