"Starting from today, you must memorize the next page every day, otherwise I will tell the boss and not give you food." Zhao Cheng threatened Xiao Shitou.
Xiao Shitou seemed to have a fear of hunger engraved in his bones. When he heard that he would not be given food, he obviously started to panic: "I can't read, Brother Nineteen."
"You don't need to read the words, just memorize them, and you will gradually recognize them in the future."
Zhao Cheng turned to the first page and read: "The foundation of all farming lies in taking advantage of the time, harmonizing the soil, working in dung and marsh, and hoeing for harvest in the dry season."
Xiao Shitou read it again.
Zhao Cheng was afraid that he would not remember it, so he explained to him: "The basics of farming are to follow the seasons, make the soil harmonious, work hard to maintain manure and water to protect moisture, and only hoe weeds and harvest crops when there is drought."
Xiao Shitou asked: "Why do we need to weed only when there is a drought?" It seems that the severe drought left a deep impression on Xiao Shitou.
Zhao Chengdao: "Because weeding during drought can prevent weeds from regrowing, and harvesting during drought can prevent seeds from becoming moldy."
"Recite this sentence again and let me hear it."
Xiao Shitou stumbled and recited it. The explanation was of great help to the recitation.
I don’t know whether it was because he was afraid of the pressure of not being able to eat, or because he was young and had a good memory, but Xiao Shitou only repeated the contents a few times and memorized the contents of the first page by heart.
"Don't forget it tomorrow after sleeping all night. I will take a test on you tomorrow morning. If you can't memorize it, you won't be allowed to eat." Zhao Cheng said to Xiao Shitou very sternly.
After spending a day roughly dividing the land, Zhao Cheng began to draw on the ground with branches, drawing the shape of the top of the mountain that could be cultivated, and then wrote the words such as grain, millet, wheat, rice, etc. on the corresponding squares.
Because the place is large enough, there is more than enough arable land, not only for growing grain, but also for growing vegetables.
In fact, these hunters also try to grow vegetables, but they obviously do not have professional planting experience. The harvest depends half on the weather and half on luck.
Therefore, in Zhao Cheng's plan, the idle land around the hilltop residences should be utilized and divided into three blocks.
The largest area is the staple food area, used to grow millet and rice, so that harvests can be guaranteed regardless of drought or flood. The medium area is a miscellaneous grain area, planting soybeans, adzuki beans, melons, gourds and other crops.
Firstly, miscellaneous grains can be used as a supplement to the staple food, secondly soybeans can be squeezed for oil, melons can be used as fruits to supplement sugar, and gourds can be used for cooking.
The last area is the mulberry and hemp area. Hemp can be used to weave ropes, and mulberry can be used to raise silkworms and spin. This is almost a living together.
The methods of growing these crops are all available in this "Book of Pansheng", just follow the pictures to find out.
After dividing these three areas, the next task is very simple. We need to gather the men, women, and children on the mountain to work together to level the land in these three areas.
Because the boss has already told these people that the new scholar is called Zhao Shijiu, who sits on the 19th position on the mountain and is responsible for farming.
So Zhao Cheng said he wanted to call everyone out to work, and Xiao Shitou rushed over and knocked on the door: "Work, work! Brother Nineteen has something to say!"
So the old man on crutches and the women holding or leading their children all came to the plot with branches.
Together with the elderly and children, there are only more than a hundred people in total. Zhao Cheng feels that if these people do not have cattle and horses, they will not be able to do farm work at all. It seems that in order to successfully implement the escape plan, they need to give these people more help, otherwise they will not be able to cultivate the land. If he got up, there would be no way to escape.
"Folks..." Zhao Cheng felt that this title felt inexplicably familiar.
There was a burst of snickering and low-pitched discussion from the crowd. Several little girls snickered and discussed: "Ha, he calls us fellow villagers, it's really interesting..."
Zhao Cheng coughed and continued: "Now that the cultivated land has been measured, we need to level the land surrounded by branches. Xiao Shitou will tell you the specific method."
According to the requirements of "The Book of Pan Sheng", the land should be divided into borders and ditches. Ditches should be dug on the borders, with ditches every half a foot, and the ditches should be one foot deep and one foot wide. Crops are planted in furrows.
The old man and the woman followed Xiao Shitou's instructions and first leveled the land. This step seemed to take a day. After that, they had to divide the cultivated land into borders so that ditches could be dug on the borders.
Zhao Cheng went directly to the boss.
"Young master, you can't continue like this."
The head master was practicing his sword skills hard, and he was swinging an iron sword so loudly that the wind was blowing. Hearing Zhao Cheng's words, he inserted the sword into the ground, drank a large bowl of water, and then looked at Zhao Cheng with strange eyes. : "Old Nineteen, can you speak frankly in the future?"
Zhao Cheng was choked by him, so he had to speak as directly as possible: "May is about to enter. Whether you are planting millet or rice, you have to plant it as soon as possible. Now the land needs to be dug out, and old people and women can't do this. It’s hard work, do you have any cattle or horses?”
The head master shook his head decisively: "No! To buy cattle and horses, you must have a household registration. Every cow and horse must be registered with the government. If it dies, it must be reported. We are all runaways. Where can we get the household registration?"
Zhao Cheng didn't expect that the cows and horses were so tightly controlled these days, and the original plan had to be changed.
"So, if there are no cattle and horses, plowing the land will have to rely entirely on manpower?"
The boss snorted: "Otherwise, why don't you think there are more than 300 people farming? The young and strong don't want to farm, and the old can't farm."
"If you don't have enough time, then don't plant this year and just take your time. You can level the ground in one year and plant again next year!"
The big boss didn't take this matter seriously. He pulled out the knife from the ground and started swinging it.
"Although there isn't much food in the barn, I guarantee that no one will starve to death! You don't have to worry."
"There is no end to the work in the fields, so we just have to work slowly, and no one is urging us to hand over food."
The boss is not in a hurry, but Zhao Cheng is. He doesn't want to be a bandit on this mountain and sit in the nineteenth position.
If you want to escape from here, you must create an opportunity to leave openly, and farming can provide just such an opportunity.
Originally, Zhao Cheng had already considered that the old and weak, women and children might not be able to do farm work in time, so he also wanted to help improve farm tools such as rakes. As long as there were cattle and horses, and these improved farm tools, even women could easily farm dozens of fields. acres of land.
But I didn't expect that I would be stuck with large livestock such as cattle and horses. Buying cattle and horses also requires household registration and registration.
In fact, you can understand it if you think about it. In this era, cattle and horses are important means of transportation and production tools. They are no different from buying a tractor. Of course, you must register it. At least when purchasing, your ID card will be used. of.
So the truth is the same in ancient and modern times, except that oxen and horses play a very important role in this era.
