There was a change in the mountain fire. Xiaoman and Errui stopped digging rabbit holes. They started digging kudzu again.
Jiang Zhi and Xiao Manye transformed the top piece of land into a long canal in the terraces to facilitate irrigation of the terraces in the future.
When it comes to farming, Jiang Zhi is definitely not as good as someone who has been doing farm work all his life.
Even if he is a good worker, he is still not as experienced as Mr. Man.
For example, the terraces she built can only be used as dry land and cannot store water.
Although the terraces are good, the shallow soil and lack of water is a fatal flaw.
Without water, future food crops would have to be irrigated with water, which would be a lot of work.
Mr. Xiaoman is a veteran at work, so he has a way.
He first built a ridge around the highest terrace with large stones, and then stuffed wet yellow mud into the gaps between the stones.
Each layer of yellow mud was pounded tightly with a hoe, and every layer of mud was knocked through. Finally, the entire field ridge was smashed into a thick wall more than a foot wide, and a canal was built on the slope.
Then dig several drainage ditches around the mountain from the hillside above. When it rains, the rainwater on the slope can be diverted from the ditches to the canals and stored.
There will soon be fertile farmland here that guarantees harvests despite droughts and floods. Jiang Zhi asked Xiao Manye if he also wanted to open up wasteland for farming and quickly build terraces before the spring rain fell.
In fact, there is very little flat land on the mountain that can be cultivated, and the terraced fields opened in Jiangzhi are less than one acre. It is obviously not enough to grow food on this small amount of land.
Little Man didn’t want to build terraces.
There is not enough labor in the family and the cost of building farmland is too high. The only person who can do farm work is fifteen-year-old Xiaoman.
The harvest from the field was not enough, so he planned to sow seeds directly on the burned barren slope nearby.
Fire is the murderer of life and the source of life.
Although the original output of slash-and-burn cultivation is too low, the area is large, and it is also a method to plant extensively and harvest little.
In addition to food, Xiao Manye also wants to grow beans, melons and vegetables in the cracks in the rocks.
Fruits and vegetables are also half the year's food, plus he can find some food to fill his stomach in the mountains, so he feels that he can survive.
Xiao Manye's idea is very practical and reasonable.
Depending on the local conditions, the soil on the slopes burned by wildfires is indeed fertile, and at least this year there will be a good harvest.
The concept of "slash-and-burn cultivation" first came from "Old Tang Book, Yan Zhen Biography" "In March, Dezong arrived in Liangzhou. Shannan was poor and food was difficult to provide, so the prime minister proposed that Chengdu Prefecture should be favored. ... The group discussed slash-and-burn cultivation in Liang and Han Dynasties. , the people made a living by gathering rice grains, and although they inspected fifteen counties, their quotas were not as good as those of three counties in the Central Plains."
Cuo means wild rice. In the past, southern Sichuan relied on wild plants for food, so it is not surprising that hungry people in Shu frequently rioted.
Although there are crops such as corn and sweet potatoes in the original book, there are no fertilizers and improved varieties, and it seems that the harvest is not good, and there will be disasters when there is a natural disaster.
Speaking of the rebellion, two days have passed since the incident at Zhao Li's family at the foot of the mountain, and both families deliberately avoided the topic in the village.
But when he thought about his former neighbor and acquaintance, who died not too far away from him and no one collected his body, Xiao Manye was obviously in a bad mood. Even when he was working, he would look down the mountain from time to time.
Jiang Zhi dug a water storage canal and looked at the sky. She didn't care about the corpses. Now she only thought about how to improve her life.
Whether it is kudzu root, green rice powder, or the dried meat of hares and pheasants, she does not want to eat it, let alone eat it for a year or two.
She wants to eat fragrant white rice, white noodles, soft and fatty poultry and livestock, fried peanuts, and red oil spicy seeds, but these things need to be cultivated artificially.
Since the wildfires started a few days ago, the thick smoke and dust have made the already gloomy sky darker and darker, as if it is pressing down on people's heads.
It's raining! When will it rain?
Just as he was thinking about it, the tip of his nose suddenly felt cold. Jiang Zhi wiped it away. In front of him, Mr. Man was still smashing the wet mud on the field ridge with his hoe. I'm afraid it was splashed mud.
But then another drop of water fell on the back of his hand. This time Jiang Zhi saw clearly that it was water, just covered in dust, like a little light ink.
Jiang Zhi was stunned for a moment and then shouted: "It's raining, it's raining!"
Little Man also felt the raindrops, raised his hand to catch the rain, and said happily: "Oh, it finally rained. It has been burning on the dragon's back for the past few days, and it should rain no matter how dry it is!"
Burn the dragon's back, Jiang Zhi heard the familiar words again.
This wildfire has an impact on the weather.
In the real world, I heard my grandfather say that in the past, when science was underdeveloped and there was no artificial rainfall technology, whenever there was a drought, farmers would spontaneously organize tens of thousands of people to pray for rain, carry firewood and light "burning dragons" on the ridges. back".
Feng Shui masters believe that the mountains will form "dragon veins" and the ridges are the "dragon's backs". Just light a fire on the ridges to wake up the sleeping earth dragon and cause it to rain.
Not to mention that such activities are 100% successful, but there is always a 50% to 60% success rate.
At that time, the little Jiang Zhi heard it with conviction. Every time he went up the mountain to collect herbs, he was in awe of the dragon's back under his feet.
Only when she grew up and understood the scientific principles behind the superstition of "burning the dragon's back" did she understand the wisdom of the ancients.
The reason why fire causes rain is that hot air is produced by combustion, accompanied by a large amount of floating smoke and dust rising.
When hot air encounters cold at high altitudes, water vapor condenses and adheres to the "condensation nuclei" formed by dust, turning into raindrops and falling down.
Most modern artificial rains use dry ice and silver iodide to increase condensation nuclei and thus increase rainfall.
The ancients did not have a refrigerant, so all they could use was a large amount of hot air.
As for movies and TV shows where people can pray for rain by building a pyre and burning a living person, that's a joke.
Modern artificial rainfall is not 100% successful.
Similarly to burning wildfires, several rainfall conditions need to be met for rainfall. First, there needs to be cold air containing moisture around.
There was no rain after the wildfires burned for two days, probably because the rainfall was not moist enough.
If God wants to destroy people, there is really no way to do it. Fortunately, it finally rains now.
The raindrops were sparse at first, but gradually became denser, so Jiang Zhi and Xiao Manye hurriedly called it a day.
These raindrops are covered with black ash, and when they fall on the body and face, they become black stains.
And the rain is freezing cold, so it would be troublesome if you get caught in the rain or get cold.
No useful herbs have grown yet!
While the rain was still not heavy, Jiang Zhi stopped working and went to collect some burned firewood.
Qiaoyun was also busy taking the ground Qinggang powder back to the house, and had to drive the chickens back to the circle. The two of them were busy running around.
In the mountains, Xiaoman and Xu Errui were still climbing the cliff to pull kudzu vines.
They have already dug out a rhizome worth tens of kilograms and are now preparing to dig out a second one.
Xiaoman grabbed the vine and stepped on the cliff, waving the hatchet to chop the vine roots. Suddenly he felt water dripping on his face, followed by a few more drops.
He looked up at Xu Errui above his head and shouted, "Brother Errui, have you peed?"
He knew that Xu Errui liked to get up late at night and always peed several times a night. He also had a lot of feces and urine during the day. Could it be that he had to pee while hanging in the air!
Xu Errui, who was hanging on the vine net, was confused: "What nonsense are you talking about? I just want to pee, and I can't pee on your head."
"It's not you who peed. Where did the water come from?" Xiaoman raised his hand. There were water stains on it and he quickly shook it off.
Xu Errui only focused on chopping vines and had no time to talk nonsense with Xiao Man.
Yesterday, my mother dug two hundred kilograms of kudzu root. If she had any less, she would definitely be scolded when she went back.
