Chapter 14 Farming
Author: March
"Are you Zhao Si?" Wang Li, who had escaped from his father Wang Ben's high-intensity pressure aura, became lively again and looked at the group of people in front of him with curiosity.
"What's the need for field planting? Of course, there are already people preparing for it," Wang Li said.
"There are no requirements, just some farm tools." Zhao Si answered, and then began to think about the planting of sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn and various crops.
How to grow potatoes? Cut them into pieces and germinate them.
Sweet potatoes cannot be cut into pieces because they are afraid of damage. Plant them whole and wait for the sweet potato vines to grow before plucking the vines and planting them.
Corn is quite simple, just sprinkle corn kernels into it.
The rest of the peppers and tomatoes can also be planted and sprinkled into the ground.
Zhao Si is not an agriculturist, he can just germinate seeds, but he really can't do the job of carefully managing crops.
"How much land is needed?" Wang Li asked.
"One hundred acres." Zhao Si pondered for a moment.
He brought back quite a lot of sweet potato, corn, and potato seeds from this trip.
These three crops were particularly important, so they brought a lot of them, and stored some of them separately on each ship. The fear was that mold would occur on any ship, or the ship would capsize and the three kinds of seeds would be lost.
"Okay!" Wang Li immediately sent someone to inquire about the remaining land of the military station here.
Lantian Camp also has cultivated land, which is regarded as a military production area. Although the cultivated land is not too much compared to Lantian Camp in Nuoda, there are still more than ten acres.
Wang Li didn't wait long before he said, "Come with me."
"Second and third sons, follow me to plant seeds!" Zhao Si went to greet the crew members who followed him to Xianyang.
A group of crew members each carried crop seeds brought from the ship, and a group of seventy or eighty people followed Wang Li with cheers.
Wang Li was curious and wanted to take a look at the magical properties of overseas grain seeds that were said to yield 500 kilograms per acre, but considering his own image, he ultimately did not turn around and take a peek.
The group of people walked for about half an hour and came to a valley. The valley was large in area and surrounded by mountains on both sides. The terrain was slightly low, but it did not affect the light. There were also drainage ditches and reservoirs built by manpower, and the land was reclaimed effectively. There are already several acres of cultivated land.
Zhao Si noticed that wheat had been planted here for a long time, and now it was sprouting green.
It's April now, and the weather is suitable. However, there has been farming here for a long time. Wheat has a long growth cycle and is planted early. Generally speaking, it is planted early before spring, so that the harvest can be ushered in in May or June of the lunar calendar.
At present, the wheat in this area has already headed, and there is not much left to mature.
"Except!" Wang Li waved his hand, signaling the soldiers to take action.
One of the soldiers did not question it, but felt a little regretful. After waiting for more than a month, this batch of wheat will be harvested.
They were just ordinary soldiers serving in the army, and their families also farmed for a living. They had always carefully maintained their own fields. How could they dare to think that they had to forcefully remove the wheat that was already heading and growing so well?
But it's just a pity. The military laws of the Qin Dynasty were very strict, and the Qin army's professionalism was also very high. They picked up their farm tools, hitched their cattle, and prepared for action.
"General, wait!" Zhao Si suddenly said.
"Let's open up wasteland..." Zhao Si is not a holy mother, but he can't bear to see hundreds of acres of fertile farmland that are about to be harvested being destroyed like this. To put it bluntly, his mentality has not changed.
"Why?" Wang Li turned around and asked.
"Sweet potatoes and potatoes can be grown in wasteland without any impact." Zhao Si replied.
Sweet potatoes, in addition to their yield, are famous for their hardiness.
As for corn, it can also be grown in wasteland. All you have to do is compare it with the wheat yield in standard wasteland during harvest.
Wang Li did not insist on his own opinion, and Zhao Si said whatever he said was true.
These three crops all come from the sea and are unheard of and unseen.
Wang Ben has already told Wang Li to comply with all requests.
Wang Li has an out-of-touch personality but is not a fool. The father and son play a supervisory role.
To put it bluntly, it's hard to say whether these three kinds of seeds from the sea are real or fake, or even whether they can be planted. Wang Li even subconsciously connected Zhao Si with alchemists like Xu Fu.
Wang Li is not sure whether it is true or false, but Wang Li knows that he has not even contributed half a dime to the cultivation of these three crops. If he cannot grow them, and there is any obstruction or failure to cooperate in the process, it will be too easy for the other party to smear shit on him.
Already.
"Can!"
Wang Li took Zhao Si and his party to reclaim wasteland.
After finding the boundary of the land, Wang Li brought in oxen and plows.
Zhao Si and his party were all in a hurry.
They are sailors, and their life on land has been pitiful for several years.
He also followed Xu Fu to go to sea since he was a child. Later, although he also followed Xu Fu to reclaim land, there was still a long way to go before he could become a qualified farmer.
It can be said that the skills of a group of sailors are of varying levels, but they are all about average. They even have differences on how to use large farming implements. There is no way, they have never seen such a large plow before.
After witnessing the chaos, Wang Li sent someone to take over the work of Zhao Si and his party to help them reclaim wasteland.
The crew was left standing there looking slightly embarrassed.
Zhao Si and Jing looked at each other for a long time and laughed.
"I clearly remember that..."
Everyone was talking.
In fact, it’s not that they don’t know how to farm at all, but everyone’s impression of farming is very shallow and one-sided.
Time has made them forget a lot and they can only remember a few words.
The fragmented memories of seventy or eighty people cannot be compared, so there are differences.
It's just that no one wants to admit that the children who come out of the soil can't even cultivate the land.
However, farming is something that can be said to be difficult or simple.
You can learn to farm by reading it once, but if you want to farm well, it may take ten or twenty years of knowledge.
With the help of the soldiers sent by Wang Li, Zhao Si and his party did not sit idle, but went to cut potatoes in advance to facilitate planting later.
As for the remaining crop seeds, they are also selected and dried.
Zhao Si himself sat in a panic under the tree and looked at the farming methods of this era.
What you can see is a rather classic two-ox lift pose.
That is, the plow is huge, with a horizontal bar on it, and two oxen carry it on their shoulders, which means that the two oxen carry the bar.
Zhao Si also noticed keenly that the shafts of plows at this time were still straight shafts.
"When was the Quyuan plow invented? It certainly didn't exist in this era." Zhao Si thought deeply.
Zhao Si's hands-on ability is average and he has no experience in rolling a curved shaft plow. However, he has actually seen a curved shaft plow. There are still two curved shaft plows in his hometown. In his grandfather's generation, they were used as farm tools, but now they are simply used as agricultural tools.
The old antique was lost in the cowshed.
In the rural areas of the new century, it is normal for there to be no cows or pigs in the cowshed or pigsty.
There will probably be a bunch of clutter inside that seems to be useful but is actually useless.
When he was very young, the cowshed with a pile of messy things was the place where Zhao Si's childhood treasures were hidden.
Chapter completed!