Winter wheat harvesting has begun in Hanzhong Prefecture and some areas in Shaanxi and Gansu.
Zhou Qiniu, captain of the Baoji Prefecture Taxation Bureau, drove a bullock cart pulling the latest multi-functional agricultural machinery.
He rushed back to his father-in-law's home in Yimen County to help him harvest wheat.
This is a machine that his father-in-law asked him to buy in Fucheng.
He is from Hanzhong Prefecture, was promoted to captain of Baoji Prefecture Taxation Bureau, and got married here.
His father-in-law's family was originally a small gentry family, when King Qin Suhe divided the land.
The father-in-law did not dare to resist, but in order to protect his family's land, everyone divided their families.
Even teenage girls are counted as a separate household and allocated land.
Policy has always allowed this, and even encouraged the gentry to do so.
My father-in-law’s family is a big family. They used to work together in farming and harvest together.
There are now a large number of factories competing for labor during the busy farming season.
The land of the father-in-law's family has also been divided for several years. As the dominance of the local government has strengthened, the authority of the patriarch has become weaker year by year.
The land owned by my father-in-law's family is currently owned by each family.
My father-in-law’s family doesn’t have much labor and they farm a lot of land, so they can only do it through machinery.
Summer is a rainy season. If the harvest is not done quickly, the wheat will be watered by the rain and germinate, and most of the harvest of the year will be lost.
Zhou Qiniu rushed to his father-in-law's house and saw that the wheat in the field had turned golden yellow.
These wheats with large ears are special wheat specially developed by the Agriculture Institute of the Academy of Sciences.
The ears of this type of wheat are much larger than those of ordinary wheat.
"The bullocks are coming, the harvester has finally arrived, and we have officially started harvesting wheat."
Huang Li watched his third son-in-law arrive with the harvester.
He was very surprised that he could harvest wheat quickly with a harvester.
Nowadays, if you want to hire people, it is difficult to find them. All the strong laborers are harvesting their own land.
When their own family is finished, they will become Mai Ke and help other families to gain apprentices.
The weather is changeable now, so we can't delay the farming season.
When Zhou Qiniu heard his father-in-law's inquiry, he smiled and said: "This is a new multi-function machine, and I still need to install and debug it.
When I bought the machine, I learned how to install it."
Zhou Qiniu immediately started installing the machine.
Install the harvester components and this is a harvester.
Install the mechanical plow assembly and it becomes an excellent plow.
Install the seeder assembly and it becomes a seeder.
This multi-functional agricultural machinery can harvest many crops and only needs to be replaced with different blades.
Zhou Qiniu heard that there was a machine being tested in Hanzhong. It did not require cattle or horses, but only a steam engine to drive this machine.
Its size is five or six times that of the ox-drawn machine. This kind of machine is too large and difficult to operate, so it has not been popularized.
Zhou Qiniu moved very quickly. He replaced the harvester with a wheat-cutting blade.
He installed the corresponding components and put the machine around the cow's neck.
I tried it in the field and could harvest wheat quickly.
"Father-in-law, the machine has been installed and can be used to harvest winter wheat."
Huang Li immediately called his son Huang Pingzhi and asked him and his brother-in-law to learn how to use the harvesting machine.
After learning, drive the cattle to the fields to harvest winter wheat.
The oxen dragged the harvester through the wheat field.
The harvester cut the wheat quickly, causing the wheat to fall to both sides.
Someone immediately followed behind and started bundling the wheat.
Huang Li sighed while tying the wheat: "The family's land has been divided, and there is no way to unite it.
My second brother’s little boy takes the lead and only works on his own family’s fields. If he wants them to harvest other fields, he has to spend money to hire them.
These people are still plausibly saying that they can earn several taels of silver coins a month by working in factories in the government.
You can't help the family by working in vain.
Listen, these people are all monkeys and monkeys now.
There is no family righteousness at all, and he only cares about his own small family.
I plan to buy a machine, and it will only take five years for me to get my money back.
After my own land is harvested, I can help others harvest wheat, and the money I charge is lower than that of Mai Ke.
The harvester is very fast and can harvest the wheat as quickly as possible. Many people hire machines to harvest wheat early."
Zhou Qiniu listened to his father-in-law's business experience.
He knew that this situation was bound to happen, and with financial independence came legal constraints.
No one wants to be bound by the family and have to work hard to help the family.
It took them several days to harvest five hundred acres of wheat.
Even the main contributors to the effort are oxen.
They also had to bind the wheat and drag it to the drying field to dry, and everyone was very tired.
Zhou Qiniu said with emotion: "This is a machine, otherwise we people would never be able to finish the job."
He collapsed on the ground and ate the meat buns handed to him by his wife.
The chicken stuffed buns are not as delicious as the pork stuffed buns, but they are still very good.
Huang Pingzhi came over and said: "Brother-in-law, please help me persuade my father.
After planting autumn crops this year, I will get married.
Nowadays, when you get married, you have to wait and see. If you can't afford the bride price, the girl you like will become a prostitute.
The girl I was engaged to before was not recognized by the marriage, so she climbed up a high branch and married someone else.
No matter how pornographic this girl becomes, I will become an older young man and it will be difficult for me to get a wife in the future.
I don’t want to find a second wife to take care of my children, so I have no choice but to go to Shibian. I heard that I can get a wife if I go to Shibian.”
Zhou Qiniu patted his wife's brother on the shoulder and said, "Who is that person across the street? They turn around three times and make a sound.
That was a big family in the city, so they had to ring three times.
When marrying a wife, you must be well-matched and don't be too ambitious.
We can't afford to marry a girl from a wealthy family."
Zhou Qiniu has heard of three revolutions and one beep. This is the most advanced machinery now. It is very expensive and most people cannot afford it.
Three revolutions refer to bicycles, sewing machines, clocks, and one-ring music boxes.
How can we solve these four things without hundreds of taels of silver coins?
Huang Pingzhi continued: "I don't have much money. I calculated carefully and saved some money. Now I only need fifteen taels of silver coins.
Marrying a wife costs fifteen taels of silver, which is not much at all."
"It's only fifteen taels of silver coins away. How can it be so cheap after three turns and one ring?
I don’t know how much money your kid has saved in the past few years, how can you afford three turns and one ring?”
Zhou Qiniu and his wife's brother were chatting.
Someone shouted, attracting everyone's attention.
"Old man Huang, I, Datou Wei, am here."
The donkey cart was clanging, and a machine was being dragged on top of it.
There was a row of people following behind.
This is a steam engine connected to a threshing machine.
Wei Datou put down the cart, took the donkey out of the cart, and tied it aside.
The boiler next to it was moved down and the threshing machine was fixed.
Wei Datou ignited the boiler, and the steam engine quickly started running, driving the threshing machine to rotate at high speed.
"Old man Huang, your family has a lot of wheat this year.
Leave this wheat to me, it only takes one day, and we can get it all done before dark."
Wei Datou led the farmers, took the bundled wheat, and put the end with the ears into the threshing machine.
The rapidly rotating iron bars of the threshing machine knock off all the grains from the ears of wheat.
The wind generated by the rotation of the threshing machine directly blows away the empty wheat hulls that have not been filled.
The plump wheat grains are all poured into the sacks in front as the threshing machine sifts.
Huang Li looked at the bags of wheat stacked in the warehouse with a smile on his face.
It costs some money to hire a threshing machine, but it threshes the grain very quickly.
Wheat can be stored in warehouses only if it is threshed quickly, so there is no need to worry about rain.
The threshing machine was lit with torches all night, and it was already dark before they finished all the wheat from Huang Li's house.
"I made a miscalculation. You guys have more wheat this year. I didn't expect to finish it after dark."
Wei Datou said this, but he also showed a happy smile.
The price is five copper coins per sack of wheat.
The more wheat he packs, the more money he makes.
Huang Li smiled and said: "This is a wheat seed issued by the Qin Prince's Palace, and the yield is really high.
I have been farming for more than 20 years, and I have never seen wheat seeds with such a high yield."
"If you leave a few kilograms of these wheat seeds to plant next year, you will be prosperous." Wei Datou suggested.
Huang Li said angrily: "You son of a bitch, you actually want to trick me.
Dabanya at the east end of the village bought this kind of wheat from Hanzhong this year to use as wheat seeds.
The wheat he planted this year was very short and had small ears.
He only had enough to pay taxes and land loans, and not much money was left. This is the price paid for opportunism."
Through Huang Li's observations over the past few years, he trusted the Qin Palace very much.
When purchasing the seeds, the township office had made it clear that these seeds could not be saved.
The yield of wheat grown after saving seeds is very low, and there are always people who don’t believe in this evil.
Huang Li was very unhappy. He and Wei Datou settled the money without even leaving them to eat.
Early the next morning, Huang Li took his family to the wheat field.
He saw that the fields around him had all been harvested.
He lit a fire directly in the wheat field.
The weather is very dry now, and the wheat stubble left by the harvester is burning.
Zhou Qiniu saw this scene and said happily: "Burn the straw cleanly, and at the same time, you can burn away all the insect eggs in the ground."
The ash left behind is still very good fertilizer.”
After burning the straw, Zhou Qiniu adjusted the cultivator.
Huang Pingzhi drove the cattle into the fields to plow the fields, and they spread farmyard manure behind them.
The wheat fields that have just been harvested are being plowed again in preparation for planting autumn grain.
Zhou Qiniu asked Huang Li: "Father-in-law, are you still going to plant sweet potatoes for autumn crops?"
I heard that the Qin Palace has introduced a new crop, suitable for autumn grain planting.
It's called corn, and I heard that its yield is higher than that of wheat, but lower than that of sweet potatoes.
Its purchase price is much higher than that of sweet potatoes.
For one hundred catties of corn, the Grain Reserve Bureau purchases it for seven hundred and fifty copper coins."
“I’ve heard about corn, and the township head even came to the village to promote it.
The villagers are very hesitant and are ready to see how much corn the farm will produce this year."
When Huang Li heard that the purchase price of corn was higher, he was very excited and had already calculated that as long as the corn could reach the advertised yield, it would be more cost-effective to grow corn.
Huang Pingzhi came back from plowing several acres of land and let the cows rest.
"Dad, we have to believe in the Prince of Qin's Mansion. The Prince of Qin has never tried growing corn, and he doesn't dare to promote corn to our people.
The production of real corn medicine is insufficient. We farmers are doing fine, but those workers in the city are going to run out of food again.
Your Highness, King Qin, will not let this happen."
"Okay, let's plant corn this year."
When Huang Li heard what his son said, he agreed very much and made up his mind to plant corn this year.
He asked his son and third son-in-law to drive the ox cart to the county to buy corn seeds.
Huang Pingzhi took the opportunity and said: "Dad, I happen to be in the county. I can make a lot of money growing corn this year, so please give me the gift money."
If I buy it three times and one ring, I can get a wife."
How could Huang Li delay his son's marriage? He had already prepared the money for the bride price.
I didn't give it to him before because I was afraid that he would be deceived when he went to the city to buy things. Now with the help of his brother-in-law, Huang Li could give him money with confidence.
Huang Pingzhi was happy to get the money, and he and Zhou Qiniu went to the county to buy betrothal gifts and corn seeds.
Zhou Qiniu asked doubtfully: "What is three turns and one beep? It only requires fifteen taels of silver coins."
Huang Pingzhi said excitedly: "Brother-in-law, the three turns and one sound in our rural areas are different from those in your city.
Three turns refers to oxcarts, sewing machines, and hand spinning machines, and one turn refers to big scalpers.
The most expensive among them is the sewing machine, which costs as much as fifteen taels of silver coins.
I have been working part-time for these years, and I have prepared all other betrothal gifts.
It's just that the other party suddenly asked for a sewing machine, and the difference was fifteen taels of silver coins.
Fortunately, these betrothal gifts will be used by our small family after the wedding, otherwise we would really be reluctant to part with them."
Huang Pingzhi and Zhou Qiniu finished buying the betrothal gifts and collecting the seeds.
They returned to the field and the land had been plowed.
The agricultural machinery purchased contains accessories for sowing corn.
Zhou Qiniu read the instructions and assembled the machine.
He adjusted the seeder and started planting corn on the land.
…………………………
Su He looked at the reports from various places, and he was most concerned about the locust plague.
Sprayer with pyrethrin pesticide.
Today's locusts have no resistance at all to pesticides. Pyrethrins that are slightly purified and not too high in concentration can kill a large number of locusts.
The locust plague has been completely contained, and they have solved another major disaster.
Wang Zhongce came over with a stack of official documents in his hand and a happy look on his face.
"Your Majesty, King Qin, what a happy event!
This time there was a bumper summer grain harvest, and the new winter wheat seeds were a great success.
According to reports from various places, summer grain production increased by 15% on average.
Land that is cultivated intensively will produce more.
Especially farms managed by the government verify the effectiveness of chemical fertilizers.
After using chemical fertilizers, the yield increased by at least 35%.
Chemical fertilizers are too effective.”
When Su He heard the news, he was not surprised at all.
Chemical fertilizers play a huge role in agriculture.
It is an important guarantee for grain production.
After years of cultivation, the land of China has been completely depleted of humus and has basically lost its fertility.
Without chemical fertilizers to supplement fertility, and relying only on farmyard manure, crop yields will not be very high.
Su He looked through the information and said happily: "With the construction of reservoirs and canals beginning to take effect, selected seeds and farmyard manure have been used.
Grain production has increased significantly compared with the previous two years.
When chemical fertilizers become popular, food production will increase even more.
The cabinet should cooperate with relevant departments to do a good job in summer grain storage and summer grain taxation.
In disaster-stricken areas, local taxes will be reduced or reduced appropriately depending on the disaster situation."
Su He arranged the summer grain storage and taxation work.
There is a plate in front of his table. There are many yellow steamed buns on the plate. They are small at the top and large at the bottom. They are cone-shaped.
"This is a steamed bun made of cornmeal.
In order to save the seeds, I never dared to eat corn before.
This is after a round of corn expansion, and the stored corn seeds are enough.
I just asked for some from Li Dajiang."
Wang Zhongce knew something about corn, which was a crop his brother purchased from the Spaniards on Luzon Island.
One tael of silver coins per pound of corn seeds, a very high price, convinced those Westerners to transport the corn to Macau.
Su He said happily: "The yield of corn is very high, and it is also resistant to drought and storage.
Corn is food, and it far surpasses sweet potatoes in every aspect."
China's three major staple foods are rice, wheat, and corn.
Potatoes are trying every possible means to become a staple food, but their acceptance has not been high due to various reasons such as storage and starch content.
Corn's land adaptability, the energy it provides, and its storage stability are all top-notch among food crops.
Promoting corn can truly solve the current food shortage situation in China.
Wang Zhongce was eating the steamed buns and said happily: "Your Highness, King Qin, the taste of corn is a bit rough, but it has a strong sense of satiety.
Like sweet potatoes, corn does not pick the land and does not compete for the cultivated land of wheat and rice.
Corn is drought resistant and can be grown on hillside areas.
Corn has a relatively short growing time, so it’s a really good crop.”
Su He added: “After testing, corn can perfectly replace sweet potatoes. After planting winter wheat, corn can be replanted immediately.
Then you can harvest a lot of food after autumn comes."
If people eat too much sweet potato, it will cause malnutrition. It can only be used as an emergency in disaster years and cannot become a staple food.
There is no such worry about corn at all. Eating corn all year round will not cause harm to the body.
Under the strong promotion of Su He, government-run farms began to plant a large amount of corn in the northern region.
