Meng Changqing stood up and thanked, "Thank you, Mr. Yang."
When the general magistrate came over with the account from the storehouse, he said: "A few days ago, we opened the storehouse and lent a lot to the people. At the moment, we only have more than 3,000 kilograms of potato seeds."
How much are more than three thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes worth? Yang Youde suddenly felt that the gold cake he had received was a bit hot to his hands, "Why is this the only one? Ask people to go to the following counties to help Magistrate Meng look for it."
Tong San said: "Master Futai, even if there are some in the following counties, the number will not exceed ours. It is the time to plant sweet potatoes, and most of them must have been loaned out before."
Upon seeing this, Meng Changqing said: "Master Futai, it is already May. If I go back with potato seeds to raise seedlings and then plant them, I will definitely not be able to catch up with this season.
If possible, I would like to trouble the two adults to help me harvest some sweet potato seedlings directly. "
"Collecting seedlings from the common people?" Yang Youde said, "This is feasible, and there are many ways. I wonder what Magistrate Meng wants to do?"
"My ideas may not be in line with the situation in Yizhou." Meng Changqing said, "I have the shame to say, I just want sweet potato seedlings and I don't care what method you use."
Yang Youde said: "Since you are here to borrow potato seeds, I will exchange the potato seeds with the people for sweet potato seedlings. I will wait until you return the potato seeds to me next year."
"Thank you, sir!"
Meng Changqing stayed in Yizhou Posthouse for a day. By the early morning of the next day, sweet potato seedlings from all over the place were gathered together and loaded into three carriages.
She took these seedlings and hurried back to Liangzhou. Along the way, she heard people complaining that the government was unreasonable.
The farther away from Yizhou, the more Meng Changqing felt that what he had done was too much. Why did he focus entirely on the goal and completely ignore the methods?
As far as she is concerned, the people in Beishan County are human beings, but the people in Yizhou are not human beings.
When Meng Changqing's eyes fell on the three carts of sweet potato seedlings again, his eyes were full of guilt.
Don't do such ridiculous things again in the future.
On the seventh night of the seventh lunar month, the group returned to the gate of Liangzhou City.
The officers and soldiers guarding the city happened to know Meng Changqing and his party. After checking the documents and carriage personnel, they opened the door and let them into the city.
Meng Changqing originally wanted to go directly to the post house to rest, and then go to the prefect's Yamen to reply in the early morning.
Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the post house, Wei Fangyun arrived right behind them.
"Master Wei." Meng Changqing said unexpectedly, "Why are you here so late at night?"
"I have ordered the officers and soldiers guarding the city to notify me immediately when they see you coming back." Wei Fangyun asked, "Where are the potato seeds you brought back?"
"In the courtyard." Meng Changqing took him to see the three carts of sweet potato seedlings.
"Is this a sweet potato?"
"They are sweet potato seedlings, cultivated from sweet potato stems. Now is the time to plant sweet potato seedlings. After planting, wait three or four months before sweet potatoes will grow under the soil." Meng Changqing introduced: "I am in the capital. If you have grown this crop, as long as the base fertilizer is sufficient, the yield of sweet potatoes will be very high.
The yield per mu exceeds two thousand kilograms, enough to feed a family of three or four for a year. "
Meng Changqing took out the pamphlet he had brought with him, "This describes how to grow sweet potatoes and what to pay attention to during planting."
Wei Fangyun took it and flipped through a few pages. It could be said that it was full of pictures and texts, and you could tell what was going on at a glance.
"Sweet potato seedlings cannot survive long outside the ground, so they must be planted in the ground as soon as possible." Meng Changqing said, "Uncle, there is a lot of open space in Beishan County, and I dare to ask you for a cart of sweet potato seedlings."
"You originally found this thing." Wei Fangyun said, "Even if you brought them all back to Beishan County, no one would dare to say anything."
Meng Changqing followed up and said: "In that case, I will take them all back. Uncle, forgive me, sweet potatoes have never been grown in Liangzhou, and I can't guarantee how productive they will be in Liangzhou, so I will give it a try in Beishan County. If the yield is okay, then I will save enough potato seeds tomorrow so that they can be planted all over Liangzhou."
Wei Fangyun laughed: "Okay. Since you are in a hurry, you can leave the city at dawn tomorrow and there is no need to answer the question at home."
"Thank you uncle."
"You must be tired from running around for days. Let's rest early."
Under the same night, people of the same age, some are sleeping peacefully, while others are being teased.
"We just made a few mud bricks today, and you just want to sleep?" Wang Lamei pinched her daughter-in-law's ears, "Don't even think about going to bed until you make all the dirt outside. Did you hear me? At such a young age, you just want to be lazy!"
Shu Erhua inhaled in pain, and finally waited for her mother-in-law to let go. She only felt the burning pain in her right ear that had been pinched.
She was afraid of the strong woman in front of her, and saw the child in the room who stuck his head out to look at her.
When her mother-in-law returned to the house, Shu Erhua stared at her muddy hands.
The moonlight is dark tonight, and you can't see anywhere else except the one in front of you.
In the middle of the night, the soil in the yard was finally used up. She didn't have time to wash her hands and just wanted to find a place to lie down.
At dawn the next day, I was woken up by my mother-in-law again.
She would be pinched from time to time while cooking. Although she had only been married for a few days, she had become strangely accustomed to this kind of life.
At noon that day, my mother-in-law ate all the dry food she had brought and still felt hungry, so she was asked to go home and cook something to send.
The rice, flour, and food at home were locked in a cupboard, and Shu Erhua didn't have the key. She had to find her husband who was playing outside, and walked half a circle around the village before finding the pillar among the children.
"Mom asked me to come back and make lunch." Shu Erhua said, "I don't have the key to the cabinet door."
As soon as she appeared, the children laughed and pushed the pillar out.
"I'll open it for you." Zhu Zhu didn't blame her for her sudden appearance. He even took out some more millet when he opened the cupboard, "Make more and eat some yourself."
It turned out to be Zhuzi's kindness. If you make more and eat it at home, nothing will happen.
But by coincidence, Shu Erhua came back just as she was eating Wang Lamei. When she saw the millet rice in her bowl, she picked up the spatula next to her and started beating her. "I'm going to die. I've only been here a few days and you dared to steal food from home. Are there any elders in your eyes?"
Wang Lamei pinched Shu Erhua's face and said, "Just focus on eating. You can't hear me when I come in, and you can't hear the loud gong outside, right?" After saying this, Wang Lamei was stunned, "What's going on at this time?" Will there be gong sounds?"
She let go of her hand and cursed at Shu Erhua: "Why don't you go out and take a look!"
Shu Erhua covered her face and ran into her next door neighbor as soon as she went out.
Wang Lamei cursed a lot, and Jiang Chan felt very sympathetic to this girl.
She wanted to comfort her, but after all, she was from someone else's family, so she couldn't actually help others solve any problems.
"People from the government are here to beat the gong." Jiang Chan said to Shu Erhua, "We are heading east, let's follow him and have a look."
When they arrived, many people had gathered in the open space. In the middle of the crowd, Yang Zheng was holding up a small bundle of sweet potato seedlings and said: "Anyone who still has open space, hurry up and come to me to get the sweet potato seedlings. This is what the county magistrate is willing to do." Great stuff coming from the state!”
