It's good to have girls to admire. But work still has to be done. After a whole day of work, a large amount of various compost materials have been piled up on Fu Buer's land.
Wan Lihui already had sufficient experience in compost fermentation. He directed everyone to mash the messy garbage collected, mix it with the river mud, water plants, and cut grass, and then mix it with the food from Fu Fuji's hut. The more than ten buckets of excrement and urine that were taken were all mixed together and piled into a pile, and the outside of the pile was sealed with soil. As long as it is turned over to maintain enough moisture, the compost will be ready for use in six or seven months - just in time for the base fertilizer to be applied during the spring plowing of the second year.
"There must be sufficient moisture in the compost, otherwise it will not be easy to mature." Wan Lihui explained the technical essentials to Fu Xi one by one: the compost should be piled loosely at the beginning, and then piled tightly when the temperature of the compost rises. She also needs to always check the moisture content in the compost. He taught her a simple method to poke a dry wooden stick deep into the compost. After a while, when the stick is taken out, it is moist, which means the moisture is just right. Otherwise, sprinkle water to moisturize.
"...but the water should not be too much. If you see dark smelly water flowing out from under the compost, it means there is too much water."
It is the rainy season in Lingao now, and it rains almost every two or three days. Wan Lihui asked them to get bamboo poles and straw to build a rain shelter for the compost.
A series of actions of the Fu Fuji family became a long-term topic of conversation among the villagers. Fu Buer was also dubious about his approach, but he did not dare to question it openly. He just took the long-term worker and his son to soak the paddy fields where he was preparing rice seedlings every day, turn the soil, apply base fertilizer, and repair ditches. At the same time, we are waiting for heaven and earth to bring the seedlings.
The quantity order for rice seedlings has been allocated based on the sowing area reported by Wan Lihui. On this day, a wheelbarrow transport team came from Lingao, using the new wheelbarrow general-purpose agricultural cart "Zidian" from the vehicle factory. The Zidian style wheelbarrow was manufactured by Li Chiqi and Jiang Muzhi based on the road conditions of Lingao, various modern wheelbarrow styles, and combined with their own industrial capabilities. It has strong passability and large carrying capacity on ridge dirt roads.
On the car were boxes of rice seedlings. When Fu Buyer heard that the rice seedlings were coming, he quickly put down what he was doing to take a look. He was immediately attracted by the rice seedlings in the shallow wooden box - does this mean that one acre can harvest five or six hundred kilograms of rice?
However, the quantity is too small! He estimated that these rice seedlings could not even be planted on 100 acres of land, and could only be planted on 60 to 70 acres at most. This is too deceptive! He Fu Buer thought that the whole paddy field would be planted in the sky and the earth would not agree; he promised to plant only half of it, but the rice seedlings were obviously not enough!
Wan Lihui was startled by Fu Fuji who ran up to him and yelled excitedly. Because he didn't know what he was talking about, he had to wait for Fu Xilai to translate with a smile before knowing his opinion.
"Not enough seedlings?" Wan Lihui thought this was impossible, so he quickly ran over and looked at the box containing the seedling trays. These seedlings were all large-spike non-compact varieties, and the seedlings were strong and had deep root systems - he understood.
"That's right," Wan Lihui said with a smile, "You tell your master that more rice seedlings does not mean high yield - just watch."
Jiang Muzhi, the leader of the transportation team, sent a letter from Ye Yuming, which indeed asked him to promote the sparse rice planting technology here in Fu Buer.
"What? You can reap more by sowing less? How can this be true in the world?"
Looking at Fu Fuji's doubtful expression, Wan Lihui knew that he would not believe in rice planting techniques such as "thin planting" before seeing the final results.
As the name suggests, sparse rice planting means appropriately reducing the number of rice seedlings per acre when rice seedlings are being planted. The purpose is to improve the field ecological environment, give full play to the advantages of rice's strong tillering ability, coordinate the growth contradiction between individuals and groups, enhance the plant's stress resistance, increase yield, and reduce rice production costs at the same time.
After using sparse planting, the demand for seedlings per acre can be greatly reduced. Save seedling work hours, seeds, fertilizers and seedling facilities, and reduce production costs. When planting, since there are fewer seedlings per acre of land, the need for labor is also greatly reduced - especially suitable in places such as Hainan in the Ming Dynasty that lacked labor. Reducing labor per mu of farmland will allow more farming hours to be gained and full use of Lingao’s water and heat resources.
In addition, sparse sowing can make rice grow into a more ideal plant shape and form large ears. After heading, the green leaves have a large area, good light reception, and increased grain weight. It promotes a high-yielding structure that takes into account ear, grain and weight. Under normal circumstances, the yield increase can reach 5-1o.
Rice sparse planting is a highly technical agricultural technology that requires very high levels of field management. Therefore, not all customers adopted the sparse planting method this time. Ye Yuming and others discussed it and finally only selected Fu Fujia as the pilot. After all, Wan Lihui, the most experienced agricultural technician in rice cultivation, is here to provide guidance.
In order to ensure the success of sparse planting, Ye Yuming asked him in the letter to stay with Fu Buer's family for a while to ensure that they mastered the technology of sparse planting of rice trees.
"Sparse planting is good, but -" Wan Lihui looked at Jiang Muzhi doubtfully, wondering if he could accurately convey his meaning back to the Tiandihui, "This requires a lot of fertilizer - farmers Not fat enough.”
Thin planting is not a panacea, nor is it simply a matter of reducing the number of seedlings and increasing their spacing. Generally speaking, it is 'fat field, thin field'. That is to say, for plots with relatively poor soil quality and poor fertility. The seedling density should be appropriately increased to increase the effective number of ears per acre. Fields with very fertile soil or heavily fertilized fields should be planted sparsely. The fertility of Fu Fujia's rice fields is generally poor. Only half of the fields are paddy fields with barely passable soil, so sparse planting without enough fertilizer is worse than dense planting.
"You don't have to worry about this," Jiang Muzhi said. "Commissioner Wu has already collected more than ten tons of lignite from Nanbao and brought it to Bairen City. He has also transported two ships of struvite from Dongsha Island. That should be enough, right?" "
Jiang Muzhi also told him good news. On a plot outside the county town, the exploration team discovered a peat field. Peat is useful both as fuel and as fertilizer. And the advantage is that it is very close to Bairen City. The Ministry of Foreign Commerce is now negotiating with the landowners to buy the land for mining.
"...the road from Bairen to Nanbao will be completely opened in a week. Our vehicle factory is working day and night to drive oxcarts to transport coal. Once the road is opened, lignite will not come rolling in, let alone the one or two hundred acres of land you have here. , the whole county is estimated to have enough." Jiang Muzhi said enthusiastically.
"So the fertilizer plant is just around the corner——"
"That's right, construction has actually started. I heard from Ye Yuming that they are currently doing civil construction. It will probably be soon."
"This is great." Wan Lihui thought, if I had known this, why would I have put so much effort into composting?
"By the way, Ye Yuming asked me to give you a message: There have been signs of sporadic bandits escaping in the local area recently. The patrol team is strengthening the investigation, and I want you to pay attention to your personal safety-"
"!" Wan Lihui cursed, "I'm all alone here. There's not even anyone on duty to keep watch. How can I pay attention to safety?"
"Do you have a gun?"
"Yes, it's standard equipment for people traveling on business." Wan Lihui showed off a Smith & Wesson 9mm revolver, "but it only has six bullets."
"Here is a box." Jiang Muzhi took out a paper box from his bag, which was 24 packages. "And this--" He took out a long stick-shaped object rolled up by a bundle of paper. There is a pointed bamboo stick underneath.
"Signal rocket."
This kind of rocket is a by-product of the Second Weapon Design Team headed by Lin Shenhe when they were working on uncontrolled rockets. The signal rocket rolled into a paper tube is fired by ignition and can reach a height of 200 meters. There is no parachute design, which means it pulls out black smoke during the day and lights up the fire to alert the police at night, so the signal does not last long. However, a few kilometers away from Meiyang Village is the fixed patrol route of the patrol team. Once the distress signal is detected, they will arrive in time. It's of little use, better than nothing.
"When I put it on the ground and light it on fire, the heads will probably be chopped off. It's better to hit my gun." This place is already outside the edge of the gun coverage area, benefiting from the clean radio in this time and space. The environment and the absence of high-rise buildings mean that the maximum phone call distance is farther than in modern time and space. Wan Lihui's mobile phone can sometimes be connected and sometimes not.
He murmured and took it over, and saw that there were six in total.
"It's the rainy season recently and it's easy to get damp. I'll give you a few more." These words made Wan Lihui feel even worse.
Watching the transport team drifting away on the field ridge, it started to rain again. The fields outside the village were empty, with few people in sight. In the distance were the gray sky and mountains... Wan Lihui had never felt so lonely. It seemed that he was the only one left in the world - Can those people who travel alone to another time and space in novels really be able to endure such loneliness? At least he still has 500 friends who can understand what he means.
After a dispute, Fu Buer desperately followed Wan Lihui's instructions and planted the seedlings sparsely.
The sparse seedlings in the paddy fields immediately became the laughing stock of the whole village. Several well-meaning tribesmen and relatives came to persuade them: Farming has been passed down for thousands of years, why should Australians change it casually? Just because he grows well in Bairen, it doesn't mean he can grow well here. Don't just listen to other people's deceptions and lose a year's harvest in vain! Some people also suggest that Australians have "witchcraft" to achieve high yields through farming.
After a few days, Fu Fuji's eyes were sunken. In order to avoid being beaten by his wife again, he simply beat her as soon as he got home, saving the energy of quarreling. Fu Xi smiles every time she comes to deliver food to Wan Lihui. It seems that this is what she wishes.
"Why do you master always beat your wife?" Wan Lihui was confused by the housework that had been happening every day recently.
"It's not because of you." Fu Xi whispered.
"Me? I always pay for my meals."
"Haha, it's not about eating." Fu Xi laughed, "It's about farming..."
As he spoke, he told him all the recent gossip in the village. Only then did Wan Lihui realize the seriousness of the matter. Although he doesn't read many miscellaneous books, he also knows that civilization may not defeat ignorance, and there will always be opposition from conservative forces to reform. If he does not take measures to win the support of Fu's family, he may be in a situation where "people follow politics and become independent". Tiandihui's agricultural promotion was in vain.
In order to cheer up the Fu family, after Wan Lihui finished dinner, the Fu family sat in the yard, fanned themselves, drank some hay tea and talked. By the way, I want to practice my Lingao dialect - you can't expect that there will be natives who understand Mandarin to help you wherever you go.
At first, everyone was very reserved and didn't dare to speak. After a few days, I felt that these ten thousand people were quite friendly and there were many anecdotes to listen to. Ask him what. He tried his best to explain everything to them. Gradually, everyone was willing to talk more - except Fu Fuji's wife. She still refused to communicate with Wan Lihui face to face.
Within two or three days, Wan Lihui found out all the details of the Fu Buer family:
After all, small landowners like Fu Buer are quite diligent in their management. Most of these small landowners who came from farmers are capable of being thrifty, and have certain brains and agricultural planting techniques.
For example, he pays more attention to collecting fertilizer than the average local farmer. More than once, Wan Lihui saw local farmers throwing their feces into the river and abandoning it in the wild because they disliked the smell. This kind of thing was simply unimaginable for Wan Lihui, who came from a farmer's family. Therefore, Fu Buer's harvest is better than that of ordinary farmers. The yield of the rice he grows is about three hundred kilograms per mu.
If only rice were used, the family would not be able to support themselves, let alone the second richest man in the village - the richest man, Fu Yousan, had nearly 800 acres of farmland in his family. There are also a few more cows than him. Fu Fuji's success today is due to the painstaking efforts of generations.
Although the Fu family had little money, they raised four domestic children, three boys and one girl. He doesn't have to work part-time or part-time, he only works for kids like this. Homeboy is a one-time investment. After buying it, all you have to do is feed it. Although he has not been able to do heavy work for several years, he is able to do side jobs. The older ones help in the fields, the younger ones raise ducks and pigs, and the girls help his wife cook for the whole family. Relatively speaking, it also saves food - more importantly, the long-term workers are more obedient.
His main sideline is raising ducks - there are so many ducks that cannot be consumed locally. He made a special trip to Fucheng to find a chicken and duck shop, and agreed to buy ducks from him every three months. Raising ducks does not require feed or much labor, and you can also get duck eggs. The profit from selling ducks is not huge - a businessman in Qiongshan County is ruthless when bullying such "country people", but compared to local farmers, he has relatively flexible "cash" in his hands , and occasionally lend money to people in the village. The interest is not high, but land, farm tools, and cattle must be used as collateral, so you can almost make a profit without losing money. If the other party fails, it would be better if they can annex his land. Fu Buer never rents land to others for planting. In his opinion, if he can harvest more than 300 catties from his own crops, and 200 catties from others, it doesn't make sense for him to rent six to four from Dong.
Other than that, it’s saving money. Wan Lihui had only seen stories of rural stingy rich men in novels before, but he never expected that he would meet such a rich man. The Fu family only provides three meals when the farmers are busy, and only two meals at ordinary times, which are still empty and one is sparse. Eat dry rice in the morning so that you have the strength to work in the fields. Eat porridge at night - it's time to go to bed anyway, and you won't be hungry when you fall asleep.
Everyone is treated equally when eating. Whether they are the master himself, a domestic boy, or a long-term worker, they all eat at the same table. Big pot rice, big pot dishes. Rice or porridge is usually mixed with pumpkin or sweet potato. There is no such thing as meat, eggs, fish - they all have to be sold for money. Occasionally, if there are duck eggs that cannot be sold, they will be marinated in salt mud and eaten - of course, they must be so salty that they are almost unpalatable, so that they can be eaten better with rice. Only when farming is busy, will there be meat or fish to eat, plus a meal of dried sweet potato rice.
Wan Lihui had to eat alone, Fu Xi cooked it for him, and he paid according to the price in the agreement. Tiandi will give him 5 yuan for food every day. In the eyes of the Fu family and everyone in Meiyang Village, Wan Lihui eats better than the emperor: every meal is dry rice without any grains, including fish, chicken, duck, and some vegetables. Fu Xi often used duck eggs to cook dishes for him. This kind of treatment made several elders in the village say that Australians are so extravagant and extravagant, and they will fall into decline sooner or later. Some of their children are envious of them, and they are also taught a profound lesson: If they hadn't ruined their families, why would they have come all the way to this remote country?
But Wan Lihui didn't feel that his treatment was very good. He was not used to eating at first. What I ate at the farm was germ rice—brown rice with the bran removed and the germ retained. It is an intermediate processed product that is thicker than commercial white rice. I didn’t feel comfortable with it at first, but it was even more uncomfortable to eat brown rice here. There is always a lot left over from every bowl of dry rice. Every time after putting away the dishes, Wan Lihui would see Fu Buer's wife watching Fu Xi without blinking as he delivered the leftovers to the kitchen.
"This mean old woman!" Wan Lihui cursed. Fu Fu'er's wife has not shown a good face to him so far - compared to men who are more sensitive to the development of the current situation, women are probably always slower in this regard.
"Humph, she wishes everyone could eat the chaffy vegetables and keep all the rice." Fu Xi whispered, "She said you were a liar. You deceived the master so much that he lost his idea. You ruined the fields and crops and wanted to kill her." This family has ruined the Haoshoufu family's land. They also said that you are a male vixen, and you have confused the whole family." He said with a smile.
"Male vixen?" Wan Lihui thought depressingly that I am not the kind of pretty young lady with pink makeup and jade who can contribute to her chrysanthemums. Why was she given such a title?
"Yes, she had a fight with Sister Yijin last night, and she beat Sister Yijin to tears." Fu Xi pretended to be mysterious, "You know why!~!
