Lord of Industrialization

After entering June, good news spread frequently, and Weissen State's final victory was the general trend.

Cities continued to surrender, and the enemies who resisted were quickly defeated. The voice of the announcer on the village radio flew over the undulating waves of wheat, and could be heard in the vine pavilion next to the drying field.

The situation is looking good ahead, but a dark cloud is rising behind.

Lizi Village has now become a promotion base for the Agricultural College of Weissenburg University. Many new crop varieties were first promoted here, and the villagers are therefore proud of themselves.

The vine pavilion planted by Matthias back then is still growing vigorously, with the top extending two to three meters. It is now a place for villagers to rest and discuss matters.

There were many people sitting under the pavilion. What was different from the past was that most of the people who came to discuss matters today were women. Except for the village chief, there were only a few men.

The Weisen state army was attacking the city at the front and mobilized a large number of strong laborers from the rear. Lizi Village was like other villages. Many men either went to the battlefield to serve as backdrops or were engaged in logistics and transportation.

This year, the village is planting relatively early-maturing winter wheat, which can be harvested in early July. However, the number of strong laborers in the village is much smaller, especially tractor drivers, who were drafted in the first batch.

In addition, in recent years, there is no need for so many people in the fields. Many tenant farmers have gone to the city to work as workers, and the population in the village has decreased a lot.

Now the village is dominated by old and weak women and children, and we don’t know when the men will come back. The farming season cannot be delayed, and we can’t hire people from the surrounding villages to work. They are also short, which is worrying.

The village chief said sadly: "It would be great if the tractor could be driven. If we turn on the lights at night and work a little longer, we can grab the wheat."

A villager shook his head: "But none of us know how to drive a tractor. In the spring, the tractor in Chickpea Village was stolen, and it fell into a ditch before leaving the village."

Many people around nodded in agreement. This incident was a big deal at that time. The villagers of Lizi Village also picked up folding shotguns to participate in the search. As a result, the criminals ate the sprouted potatoes that were ready for sowing while hiding. They were already cold when they were discovered. .

Some people suggested that everyone should light up lights in the fields to work more, but that didn't work. After the wheat harvest, sweet radishes were planted in the fields. The wheat straws needed to be broken up and returned to the fields. The smelly water from the biogas tank was poured over to speed up decay before other fertilizers were applied. Finally, deep plowing was done. Under 30 centimeters of soil, I was exhausted when harvesting wheat and could no longer work.

Especially deep plowing can only be done with a tractor. If the plowing is not deep enough, the sweet radish will not grow well.

"What should we do?" A villager thought thoughtfully and said, "How about we go to the city and hire some outsiders?"

The village chief immediately said: "No, the wheat in our village has been harvested and weighed and we have to report it to Baron Mathias. Foreigners are so clumsy and worried."

"What if we mess up and Baron Matthias doesn't plant good seeds in our village in the future?"

The surrounding villagers nodded together.

In the spring, when the tractors in Chickpea Village were out of service, they hired outsiders to do the work. However, unlike the old Wesson farmers like them, who had scholars coming to take classes every year, the outside farmers worked very rough, the village chief said. I was so angry that I lay there for several days.

"I'm going to learn to drive a tractor."

The villagers looked at the speaker together. It was a sixteen-year-old girl named Angela. She had been a smart child since she was a child. However, when she was preparing for the graduation exam in the sixth grade of elementary school, she got caught in the rain and had a fever on the way to school and failed to pass the exam. After graduating from high school, I went to an agricultural technical school to learn vegetable cultivation for three years. After graduating last year, I planted cabbage in the vegetable field of the village.

The vine pavilion suddenly burst into laughter. A village girl smiled and said, "Angela, it would be pragmatic for you to find a son-in-law for your family who can drive a tractor."

Amid louder laughter, another village woman counted her fingers and said disdainfully: "Do you think it's so easy to learn a tractor? Can you count how many poles there are on it? Can you remember which poles and when to use them? What? Do you know how to watch when it’s time to add water? Do you know what to do if the gear stops turning? Do you know how to tighten the belt if it is loose?”

She paused for a final moment, then pretended to remember something and said, "By the way, it's not cheap to learn how to tractor and get a driver's license. Do you have that much at home?"

She is the sister of a tractor driver in the village. In the past, she often made noises in front of the villagers after hearing her brother talk about tractors.

Angela just pursed her lips tightly and said nothing.

Driving a tractor in Wesson requires a driver's license. The agricultural technical school she used to attend had a training and examination center. She helped correct homework and test papers during her work-study program, so she knew all about this.

It's just that the status of Angela's family in the village is a bit awkward because of Angela's father, so she rarely brags about what she learned when she was studying outside.

What left Angela speechless was the tuition fees. Agricultural technical schools also required tuition fees. Although the family had savings in the past, they had almost spent it. The registration fee for tractor learning was enough, but it might not be enough for rent and living expenses.

At this time, a decadent man sitting next to her asked: "Angela, do you really want to learn?"

Angela bit her lip tightly and nodded after a moment and replied: "Yes, father."

"I understand." The man stood up, "If you want to learn, just go and learn. Don't worry about the tuition."

He stood up and turned around to leave. A woman with a long tongue sneered and said, "Hey, it seems he received gold while collecting compost."

Amid the laughter of the villagers, Angela also left the vine pavilion and followed her father home.

When she returned home, she saw her father digging the ground in front of the fireplace with a hoe, taking out a clay pot with a lid sealed with beeswax from a place about an elbow deep, opening the lid and taking out a wooden box wrapped in oilcloth.

The wooden box was about the size of a palm, and was coated with a layer of wax. When opened, there was a copper ring inside. The ring surface was the coat of arms of the Wesson family, and a roll of parchment was inserted in the middle of the ring.

Angela listened to her father say slowly: "Your grandfather used to be a soldier of Weisenberg, and he made some contributions when he exterminated the bandits. In addition to letting him and me take care of the mill, the old count also gave him this, letting him work in the mill. When you are in trouble, take it to the castle and you will get help.”

"Take it to Weisenburg to find the butler Afu. If he is not here, you can go to old Baron Franz. They all know about this."

Angela did not expect her father to have such a skill. She only knew that ten years ago, her father was the mill manager. Later, he was demoted to the material collector of the compost site by Duke Wesson for doing something wrong. His mother chased him for a long time with a pitchfork. Later, he became a It became the joke of the whole village.

"Then go." Angela's father put the wooden box into his daughter's hand, "I was the one who got you into trouble, otherwise you wouldn't have had to get wet in the rain if the carriage had waited for you for a few more minutes. Maybe you would be studying at Weisenberg University now. "

"It's better to learn tractors or find other jobs. You can make your own way in the future. It's best if you don't go back to this village. You don't have to be implicated by me anymore."