Chapter 22 Received Fang Xuanling's invitation to dig potatoes and give gifts
Zhang San sent Fang Xuanling away and returned home. At this time, Xiaoyu and Xiaomei had returned. They had just gone to the sugar factory to deliver the newly made maltose to the distributor in the county.
After lunch, Zhang San went for a walk in the fields to see how the wheat was growing.
"Sir, have you eaten?" The villagers greeted Zhang San enthusiastically when they saw them along the way, and Zhang San also asked them one by one.
Looking at the wheat ears in the field, I almost bowed my head, thinking that in a few days it would be the harvest season. Zhang San picked off an ear of wheat, twisted it, and put the grain into his mouth.
I thought in my mind: "The gap between this wheat and the wheat in the previous life is really huge. There are only a few plump wheat, so the yield is probably not optimistic."
Zhang San thought that in an agricultural society, villagers still mainly rely on crops in the fields to survive. If they want to allow villagers to eat three meals a day, they must first think about how to increase food production.
The potatoes in my yard are about to be harvested. Then I will choose a piece of land to plant potatoes. I want to plant another crop of potatoes. If there are enough potatoes left as seeds, I can promote it in the village.
Zhang San also knew that farmers would not dare to try unfamiliar crops. If they failed, the family would have no chance of survival.
But Zhang San is very confident about the yield of potatoes, and now for himself, even if he does not rely on the output of the fields, he can still feed and drink without any worries.
The other thing is to ask the village leader to mobilize the villagers to select wheat with full grains and save it as seeds. Zhang San doesn't know much about how to breed, so he can only use the stupidest method to select the best.
At that time, a piece of land will be set aside from your own field specifically for cultivating seedlings.
In the next few days, Zhang San went to the homes of each group leader every day to guide the work progress of each group.
"Uncle Zhang, you did a great job. I think in two days the water rotating car will be ready for assembly and experiment by the river."
Zhang San took a look at the progress of the waterwheel at the home of Zhang Jin, the carpentry team. Zhang Jin, his son Zhang Tiedan and two or three villagers were working on various parts of the waterwheel, which was basically completed.
Zhang San affirmed their work efficiency, said some words of encouragement and then went to the next home of Zhang Dazhuang.
"The young master is here." Zhang Dazhuang was working on blacksmithing with his upper body naked. When he saw Zhang San come in, he stopped what he was doing and greeted Zhang San enthusiastically.
"Uncle Zhang, you guys are busy first, I just want to take a look." Zhang San replied with a smile.
"Zhang Jin has already finished the wooden frame of the curved shaft plow, and the iron plowshare here is basically ready." Zhang Dazhuang reported the progress of his work to Zhang San.
At the same time, his son Zhang Lin was rushing to make a batch of thimbles.
This little gadget was something that Zhang San thought could easily hurt his hands when he was watching Xiaoyu sewing quilts, so he gave it to Zhang Lin from the ironwork team to practice with.
This little thing is as simple as making an iron wrench-like thing and punching some needle holes in it.
Xiaoyu and many other women in the village who were good at making nuns liked this little thing very much, so after meeting the needs of the village, Zhang San asked Zhang Lin to make more and sell them in the market. This would also be a fortune for the commune in the future.
Small business.
"Well done, keep up the hard work." Zhang San praised Zhang Lin.
"If there is anything else that needs to be done, young master, come back and tell me directly. My skills are very good now." Zhang Lin said, patting his chest.
"I don't know how much you weigh, so go do your job." Zhang Dazhuang laughed and cursed.
Zhang Lin didn't dare to go against me, so he went back to digging needle holes in the iron ring in a depressed mood.
Zhang San encouraged a few people again and continued his inspection. In ancient times, many crafts were passed down from father to son, so the few people in the village who were good at carpentry and blacksmithing were all members of the same family.
After looking around, Zhang San returned home with satisfaction. Now the carpentry group and the ironwork group have specific tasks. Zhang San has not yet explained what to do for the other two groups.
The two team leaders came to ask several times, and Zhang San told them that they would be busy after the wheat was harvested. Zhang Ergou and Zhang Xin felt relieved, as long as they had work to do.
In the past few days, I have seen Zhang Jin and Zhang Dazhuang's family getting meat every time Zhang San sent them. They are very greedy. This is Zhang San's intention. He wants to create an atmosphere where there is work to do and rewards for good work.
, so that everyone will work more attentively in the future.
I was thinking that I would take time to visit Fang Xuanling in the next two days and tell him that the Quyuan plow and waterwheel were about to be built. What a coincidence, Fang Xuanling sent the old servant who came last time to deliver them.
The invitation said that Zhang San was invited to the house as a guest tomorrow.
The old servant didn't know what the specific matter was. After Zhang San asked, he could only look at it when he arrived the next day.
So I thought that I couldn’t go empty-handed this time. What kind of gifts should I bring? With Fang Xuanling’s status, I had never seen any good things. It was the first time I received an invitation, so Zhang San thought that I must give him a gift.
Something substantial but not overtly tasteless.
"Toffee, let's go see this today. The newly made ones have just been sent away, otherwise it would be nice to give some toffee as a gift."
Just when he was thinking about what to give, Xiaoyu came in and said, "Sir, are the potatoes in the yard ready to be harvested? I see that the stems, leaves and flowers have all withered."
Xiaoyu knew the importance of these potatoes to Zhang San through her little sister, and she took good care of them when she came home. Now that she saw that the potatoes had reached the harvest standard mentioned by Zhang San, she happily ran into the house and asked Zhang San.
"If you have it, I'll give you potatoes." Zhang San laughed and ran into the courtyard under Xiaoyu's confused eyes.
"Sure enough, it's ripe and can be dug out." Potatoes are usually planted in February and March in Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and other areas, and spring potatoes are harvested in June and July. Then they are planted in August and harvested in late October and early November.
The potatoes that Zhang San planted in March were almost ready to be harvested by this time.
This small piece of potato, under the careful care of Xiaomei and Xiaoyu, is bound to yield a good harvest.
So they excitedly asked Xiaoyu and Xiaomei to dig up potatoes with small shovels. Since Xiaoyu and Xiaomei had never dug potatoes before, they imitated Zhang San's actions.
Both of them were surprised when they saw six or seven potatoes dug out from under one seedling. If they planted several acres of land, the yield would be really incredible.
In previous lives, potatoes were said to be able to produce more than three thousand kilograms per mu. In this era, due to the lack of suitable fertilizers, the yield is expected to be much lower, but I think there is still no problem in producing one to two thousand kilograms per mu.
"Third brother, this potato yield is really big. Can we plant more potatoes next year?"
The little girl took a potato, broke off the dirt on it, and asked Zhang San.
"Hahaha, you don't have to wait until next year, you can plant it again in July and August. This thing can be planted twice a year."
Zhang San dug out the last potato from the ground and said to his little sister.
"Really, Third Brother? Then we will have endless potatoes to eat." The younger sister said happily.
"Sir, the potato yield is huge. You can see how much has been harvested from this small piece of potato. If you plant a few acres of land, it's unimaginable. Xiaoyu has never seen such a large yield of food." Xiaoyu
Wiping the sweat from his face, he said with a look of disbelief.
"This thing doesn't matter the land. It is estimated that a good field can cost more than ten dan per acre, and an acre of poor land can cost 89 dan." Zhang San said with a smile.
When the two of them heard what Zhang San said, they both showed expressions of disbelief. At this time, one acre of wheat only weighed two to three hundred kilograms, and a good field only weighed four hundred kilograms. These potatoes were several times heavier than
Times.
"Okay, don't act like you've never seen the market before. Put all these potatoes in the basket, move them to the kitchen, and treat you to roast potatoes tonight." Zhang San said with a smile.
The three of them worked together and soon moved the approximately 100 kilograms of potatoes to the kitchen and put them away.
Zhang San selected five or six good-looking potatoes and planned to give them to Fang Xuanling as gifts tomorrow. Fang Xuanling must have never seen or eaten these things, Zhang San thought to himself.
Of course, Zhang San did not expect how much surprise this high-yielding new grain would bring to him later.
In the evening, Zhang San, Xiaoyu and her younger sister roasted some potatoes in the yard. Smelling the fragrant potatoes, everyone's mouths watered unconsciously.
Zhang San hadn't eaten potatoes for a long time. After eating a few potatoes, everyone was very satisfied.
"Okay, let's take a little walk to digest. I'm going to save the remaining potatoes for planting again in July or August. Then I can eat them freely." Zhang San stood up and said to the two of them.
Both of them agreed with Zhang San's statement. Of course, such a good thing should be kept to plant more potatoes.
Zhang San told the two of them a few words about how to preserve potatoes, and then went to rest in the tent.
"Oh, I have to hold on for a few more days before I can move into the new mansion. I really can't wait now." Zhang San said to himself while lying on the bed.
I took the time to check on the progress of the construction two days ago. It has basically been completed and the final repairs and cleaning are being done. I think it will only take these two days.