Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 259 Harvest

   This year's winter came a little late.

   Seeing that it is already November, the sunset on the fields can still give people a touch of warmth.

  A dreamlike, pure blue sky was cast in a twilight, over the farmhouses, fields, rivers, and distant forests and mountains hidden in a haze of lilac.

   The night is approaching, and the farmers of Hedong and Hexi villages have already gone home to drink wheat porridge.

   But there are still people working on the land of the former Mitchell Manor and now the No. 1 "Bumper Harvest" Farm in Langtun Township.

  An old man opened his coat, raised his wrinkled forehead stubbornly, held the plow cart firmly with both hands, and walked barefoot in front.

  Two draught horses dragged the plow cart hard and walked ahead of the old man. Their noses and mouths exhaled moist heat, and the sweat pooled on their ribs and dripped in strands.

  Behind the horses, the coulters digging deep into the soil cut a long ditch in the field.

  The deep soil was turned over, and the large turf was rotated in the air along the wings, and finally buckled upside down next to the furrow.

  There is a pair of wheels in front of the coulter, the wheels can reduce the burden on the horse, and make the coulter exactly nine inches into the ground, no more or less.

   This is the heavy-duty plow wagon, which has a bollard, wheels, and a walled plowshare for turning the soil.

  It was clunky, sluggish, and struggled with every turn. In order to minimize the number of turns of the plow carts during field preparation, the yeoman's fields are long and narrow, juxtaposed like zebra stripes.

   After the disadvantages are finished, let’s talk about the advantages. What's more, is the ability to reclaim thick clay that is difficult to cultivate.

  The land of Plato is sticky and heavy, and there are many stones. Before the birth and popularization of heavy plows, this kind of land was utterly rotten. I can only watch the trees and grass grow, and I cannot develop settled agriculture. At most, I use it for grazing.

   Therefore, the people of the ancient republic scornfully called the fishing and hunting tribes living here "pig herders", because one of the important sources of food for the latter was to drive pigs into the forest for free range, and then go to hunt semi-wild pigs in autumn.

   It can be said that the history of the ancient empires expanding their territory to the wilderness is a history of heavy ploughing.

  The horse-drawn heavy plow has another advantage over the ox-pulled heavy plow—faster.

  The old man was holding the plow, and in a blink of an eye, he was already a hundred meters away.

   It is not enough to turn the soil, but also to “rake” to loosen the soil.

   So the old man was followed by a dozen and a half boys. The first half of them, with sticks and picks, smashed the large lumps of compacted soil along the way; the other half walked behind with a rake shaped like a pegboard, which scraped the surface like a comb, and the compacted earth was further broken up, The farmland was also slightly leveled.

   Harrowing is also usually done by horse-drawn rakes. However, the manpower of the harvest farm is far more abundant than the animal power, and the precious horses are used to pull the plow, and the work of raking the ground is naturally reserved for the half-sized children who have not yet developed their strength.

   Behind the half-eldest children are their parents.

  A short middle-aged farmer hung a small basket with seeds diagonally, shaking his arms rhythmically. Seeds leaked from between his fingers, spreading evenly in the loose soil like tickling rainwater from under the eaves.

   This is literally "spreading", all by hand.

   Seeding is an easy job, as the short middle-aged farmer hardly sweats. He walked unhurriedly in the setting autumn sun, as if a knight were touring the estate. Others, young and old, were already sweating profusely.

   In fact, sowing is the most difficult job and requires great skill. Only when the seeds are sown evenly can the wheat grow evenly.

  Other farm work can be lazy, and if you don’t do well, you can start all over again. But if the seeds are not spread evenly, there is no second chance.

  Sowing has always been controlled by the old man Fuli himself. But he was too old now and his hands became unstable, so the old man entrusted the eldest son with the planting basket and went to help the plow himself.

   Four adult farmers pulled a log roller and walked behind the sower.

  The farmland rolled over by the rollers becomes flat, the seeds are rolled into the soil, and the soil is properly compacted for future harvesting.

   A few women with water jugs at the end, they bent down from time to time to water the place where the wheat had been sown. Wheat seeds will sprout and take root when they taste water.

  Watering is also a patient and meticulous work. Too much water will not work, and leakage will not work, so it is left to women to do.

  Two horses, a plough and a group of industrious people slowly pushed forward on the field, and the wheat seeds were sown like this.

   Compared with the desolate and lonely earth, the seeds are very small. But it is life, and life can grow. One day the tiny seed will stand on the ground with a golden body and give birth to new life.

   At that time, this dead wilderness will also be turned into a golden sea.

  Three men sat on the fence of the farm, fascinated by this ordinary and magnificent scene.

  The three from left to right are Bud, Winters and the little lion.

   "Do you know what is the easiest crop in the world to grow?" Bud asked suddenly.

   "Rye?" The little lion asked curiously.

   "No, it's a human being." Bud sighed softly: "[You have to be fruitful and prosperous on the ground]. If a crop like a human is sown in the ground, it will grow tenaciously."

   Winters and the little lion chewed on this sentence, lost in thought.

   "The new reclamation corps has delayed us for too long." Bud said with emotion: "It's too late to renovate the fields. Right now, we need to cultivate as quickly and as widely as possible, so we don't care about finesse."

   "Isn't that subtle? There are forwards, central troops, and defenders, as if fighting on a march." Winters gave a very high evaluation: "It's more interesting than killing pigs."

"Normal farming doesn't do this kind of work. It's just one job at a time. Turn the ground first, and then turn it three times to be more careful. Then harrow the ground, plant the seeds, and suppress it. Finally, pour the head water." Bud explained patiently: "Now hurry up. Time, manpower, and abundance can do this.”

   Winters returned to Wolf Town, and Bud took him to the farm to see the results.

   There are some farmers near Winters, digging a trench.

   As far as the eye can see, there are three other sets of plow trucks. All are far away, as small as ants crawling on the ground, but they are also advancing slowly and firmly.

  [First Harvest Farm], the serial number "First" was compiled by Bard, and the name "Harvest" was created by the refugees themselves, carrying their deepest expectations.

   "What is that doing?" Winters looked at the nearby digger

   "Drain drains to prevent flooding of farmland."

  The farmer who digs the drainage channel has mostly wooden tools in his hands, but only a pickaxe and a shovel for iron tools, and some people even hold a cow blade - which is used as a spade.

   Winters sighed, "If only there were more iron guys."

   "So you sent me thirty more heavy plow trucks?" Bud half-smiled.

"Didn't I also bring a hundred axes?" Winters' cheeks were slightly hot: "There is still iron in Forge Township, and now there are not enough blacksmiths. Instead of returning to the furnace and reforging it is time-consuming and laborious, it is better to make a new one. Besides, it's all built, it's a pity to melt it down. If you don't need it this year, you can save it for next year. Anyway, the plow will come in handy sooner or later..."

  Bud nodded lightly without saying a word.

   Winters became more and more guilty: "I'm trying to find a way to re-enable the Iron Peak Mine. Don't worry, there will be pickaxes and shovels. At that time, one person will send two, throw one and keep one."

  Bud continued to smile and nod.

   "Okay." Winters sighed, "I'm [silencer]."

   Hearing this, the little lion laughed wildly, leaned back and forth, and almost fell down the fence.

   "What are you laughing at? You know farming?" Winters was furious.

   "I really understand." The little lion's eyes were curved like crescent moons - a bit like his sister: "I have been planting sugar cane on the red sulfur island for seven years."

   Winters' anger was pushed back into his lungs, and he was on the verge of vomiting blood.

   Not to mention working in the fields, Kesha's precious nephew has never even planted flowers. He hadn't even touched the plow until he came to Wolftown last year. At that time, he was only a little better than the idiot who thought "flour grows out of the pocket".

   Bud dangled his legs and said leisurely: "Actually, I don't know anything about farming."

"Um?!"

  Budd said as a matter of course: "I joined Greenheart Abbey as a servant when I was very young, and I didn't do any farm work for a day. I know a little about herding sheep and horses, but I don't know anything about field work."

  Winters is really about to vomit blood: "Then you are so righteous?"

   "I don't understand." Bud replied sternly: "But I will ask."

   He pointed to the open-clothed old man with a plough in the distance: "I learned everything about farming from that old man. And that old man has known you longer than me."

   Winters remembered the old man who had explained to him "what is farming time" in Wolf Town Square.

   In a word, Winters understood what Bud wanted to say, and he also restrained his emotions and returned to his seriousness.

   "There's no need to be so serious." Bud smiled: "To be honest, someone else won't do better than you. I just want to chat casually, didn't we talk for a long time in the past?"

   "Okay." Winters smiled, but he was actually a little sad because he felt estranged from Bud.

  The little lion also pricked up his ears and listened.

"Look, you don't understand farming, it's actually normal." Bud's tone was sincere: "But can Geraldine not even have anyone who understands? The blacksmiths in Forge Township have been making farm tools to support their families for decades. , can they understand?"

Bud said more and more earnestly: "But what? Everyone is watching you take the raw materials, manpower and time to build a plow truck, and no one said 'No, you should build these small farm implements'. .not a single person."

   Listening to Bud's voice, Winters remembered what Anna had said to him.

   On that day, Anna motioned Winters to find her after sending the blacksmith Shaosha away. In the garden, Anna also told him seriously: "You frowned slightly just now, the blacksmith was shaking with fear, did you find it? They are already afraid of you enough, don't let them be more afraid of you. I don't He understands politics, but if the employees of a firm have only fear of their employers, the business will not last long."

   At that time, Winters wanted to explain to his lover that he was not angry and had not thought of intimidating others.

"I know, of course I know." Anna shook her head, and she stroked the wrinkles between her lover's brows with her fingertips: "You just frown unconsciously, of course I know you're not going to get angry. But others don't know, outsiders—such as that You're just getting angry, Mr. Blacksmith. You see, you're frowning involuntarily now."

   "Do I have one?" Winters wondered.

"Yes. And even if you're expressionless, you look angry. So the first lesson my mother taught me was to laugh, and a good businessman always has to laugh." Anna smiled, gently pulling up Winters's Cheek: "Don't be stern, don't frown, smile!"

   At that time Winters was indeed smiling, but at this moment Winters fell silent.

  The atmosphere became cold little by little, and the little lion involuntarily wrapped his clothes tightly.

  Bud waited patiently.

   "Bud, why are you talking to me like this?" Winters' eyes were painful: "Why are you talking to me in this way?"

"Shouldn't you have punched me hard and said bluntly, 'You're doing the wrong thing now and no one dares to correct you! Sooner or later'?" Winters felt sad from the bottom of his heart, and he even had a kind of betrayal anger. .

This emotion had been accumulated in his heart for a long time: "Am I a dictator or a tyrant? Are you my vassal, my subordinate? You are my classmate, my friend, my blood-soaked brother! You have to be around the corner to say these things? What the **** is going on? Do you just distrust me like this? A little power can make people like this?"

   This should have been just a friend's exhortation, only cut the skin, not the flesh. Bud never thought that Winters would cut through the flesh with an axe, revealing the marrow.

With tears in his eyes, he said equally painfully: "Winters Montagne, I tell you! You are now a dictator! And a dictator can easily become a tyrant! Go on, and you will be in The republic has become an emperor! I won't stop you from becoming an emperor! But I don't want to see you become an emperor! Not only for you and my career, but also for your sake! Do you understand? I'm so anxious!"

  Winters gasped and pushed the little lion vigorously: "You! Go farther!"

  The little lion obediently left.

   Winters and Bud looked at each other for a long time, and they both laughed suddenly, with tears in their laughter.

  Winters wiped his tears and asked helplessly, "What should we do then?"

   "If I **** knew, wouldn't I just do it directly?" Bud sniffed and swears rarely: "I need to tell you this."

   "Since there are military tribunes and tribunes?" Winters asked with a smile, "Should we have to set up a senate? It always bears the nameplate of the garrison, and it is indeed unworthy of its name and words."

"Come on." Bud sneered and said angrily: "In a place where sesame and mung beans are big, poor birds don't poop, so it's worthy to set up a senate? Are farmers from ten miles and eight villages hired as seniors? The owner of the manor hired him to be the elder? Isn't that asking for trouble? It's good now, it's easy to make decisions, and it's easy to do things.

  Emperor, Senate, what's the use of thinking about these now? One day, when the soldiers of the legion came, Tiefeng County would be turned into powder. When that day comes, I'll have to run away to Veneta with you to do a petty business! "

  Bud made a final decision: "Take a step, watch a step, and think about **** before you eat, can that work? The New Reclamation Corps may kill us at any time, let's live first, and then talk about other things!"

"It's a deal! If it's really a dead end, and we're lucky enough to survive, we'll run back to Hailan to do business!" Winters laughed. He suddenly thought of his little she-wolf, and said a little embarrassedly: " In fact, even if we want to buy and sell, it won't be our turn... Sigh, in fact, my grandfather is said to be quite a famous businessman..."

"I think I will continue to use the brand of the station for the time being." Bud interrupted Winters. He had too many things to say: "With this brand, everyone can live on the name. If you change the brand, it is Forcing others to re-swear allegiance. I am afraid many people - especially Beiba Town, they are not happy."

   "Then continue to use it." Winters chuckled: "But there are many manor owners in Beiba Town who have built fortifications and restrained refugees. I am preparing to clean them up."

Bud said slowly: "What the manor owner wants is for the refugees to return home and continue to work for them as hired labor and tenant farmers. This is fundamentally in conflict with our needs. In the past, the manor owner was willing to support you because you could bring order. When they When we realize that we are digging their foundations, it will be time to turn around. We have to kill a fight, but if you can be gentle, it is better to be as gentle as possible."

"I'm also reluctant to fight. When I fight, the bottles and cans will be smashed." Winters jumped off the fence with a smile: "The old man with the plow, how about I invite him to Gervodin? Give it to me. Be an agricultural consultant. No one dares to teach me, so I'll ask more."

   "No problem." Bud also laughed: "I originally wanted to talk to you about this today. Who told you to involve tyrants and dictators?"

   "This matter has actually been in my heart for a long time." Winters sighed and smiled again in a blink of an eye: "It's getting late, let's go! Go back to Mitchell Manor. Go to dinner!"

   "No... I won't go." A trace of guilt appeared in Bud's eyes: "Mrs. Mitchell... She even helped me persuade other manor owners to hand over the land. She is a really noble and good person, and I don't want to see her."

   Not far away, the little lion waited impatiently and shouted, "Are you finished? Let's go! Hungry!"

   "Then don't go." Winters took Badra off the fence: "Go to the labor camp and eat whatever you want."

   The latter nodded with a wry smile.

   The three mounted on their horses and quickly walked away.

On the land of    Harvest Farm, many more hungry people are still toiling, looking forward to the future harvest.

   [I don't know how to farm either... So the description of how farmers farmed in the 16th and 17th centuries came from the history of technology, film and television works and online materials (covering my face)]

   [The time is too late, so I don't make a ridge. Even if the time was too late, in that era, it was not possible to grow wheat in soil like Tiefeng County. The way of sowing is also sowing. On-demand seeding is used for large crops such as beans, while drill seeding, which is commonly used now, was only popularized after 1800]

   [Thanks to book lovers for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation ticket, monthly ticket, reward and comment]

   (end of this chapter)