Since the expansion of Dahe Village, Wangjiadun has been bordering Dahe Village and can be said to be the closest to Dahe Village.
Many people in Wangjiadun work in Dahe Village and have been following in the footsteps of Dahe Village. When Wang Li was talking about this in the village, the villagers basically unanimously approved it. The only ones who failed were the widows and orphans, and the village paid for this part of the money instead. So Wang Jiadun was the first to sign a contract with Cheng Wanwan to borrow money to build a water tanker.
With Wangjiadun taking the lead, some slightly wealthier villages, such as Lijiagou, Chengjiacun, Qingshuizhuang and other villages, followed suit. Soon after, the county magistrates of Hekou County, Fenghuang County, and Baiyun County heard about this and started working non-stop. Come and sign the contract... Under this trend, those poor villages can no longer sit still. They can't let others relax. The people in their own village are still struggling to carry water, so they went to Cheng Wanwan's house to borrow money and handed over the contract Sign it.
For the manufacture of the waterwheel, Mr. Zou and his team provided the design drawings. Mr. Shen convened people to start the work. He hired twelve carpenters and four blacksmiths. The details of the process were streamlined. Parts were mass-produced and then assembled. The construction period was about three days. month, just when cotton needs a lot of water to grow.
Among them, Cheng Wanwan is responsible for providing money to the villagers.
Regardless of the fact that this whole process involved many parties, none of them made a penny, and Mr. Shen even posted some overtly and covertly.
The task of Mr. Zou and his team was actually completed after the cotton experiment. Later, they stayed for more than half a month in order to study the waterwheel. After the waterwheel was researched, Mr. Li and Mr. Yu came up with other ideas. Together with Cheng Wan After the detour, he plunged into the research room again and started researching day and night.
"Sui'an people, I have to go back to resume my duties. I have to ask the prefect to order the promotion of cotton as soon as possible so as not to miss the season." Mr. Zou said, stroking his beard, "Mr. Li and the others will stay here and continue to study these farm tools. I hope they can There are new discoveries, this time the water wheel... is really shocking. If the people of Sui'an hadn't suggested it, we might not have been able to study it for 20 or 30 years. I will definitely discuss this matter. Report the truth to the court."
Cheng Wanwan pushed back and said, "This is your credit, I'm just talking."
"People from Sui'an, please stop being modest. I hope you will be more talkative in the future. This is a blessing to the people of our Daewoo Dynasty." Mr. Zou stood up and handed over his hands, "I think this time can be regarded as a meritorious service. Representative of the official Mr. Li and the others would like to thank the people of Sui'an here in advance."
After Master Zou packed up, he headed to Huzhou.
Three days later, the cotton decree was issued from Huzhou to all counties and towns below Huzhou. The county magistrate then notified the village leaders.
The major counties and towns near Ping'an County knew about this before the decree was issued, and had already made full preparations. When the first wave of cotton seedlings grew here in Cheng Wanwan, people from each village came to buy it. Cotton has sprouted.
For ten cotton seedlings for one penny, more than two thousand cotton seedlings can be planted in one acre of land. That is, one acre of land can be planted for almost two hundred penny. This price is acceptable to most people.
It was actually only March now, so it was still early to plant cotton, but it was not impossible. People from each village brought cotton seedlings. Some people had a lot of land in their homes and deliberately set aside one or two acres of land. Some people had little land in their homes. Then follow Cheng Wanwan's suggestion and interplant on the edge of the ridges of the unharvested wheat fields. The two crops can grow in the same field without affecting each other.
After the surrounding villages bought cotton seedlings, villages further away also came.
These villages all sent Li Zheng to buy collectively, and then transported it back to the village for distribution. Li Zheng from dozens of villages came in ox carts.
Shopkeeper Yan and Zhao Dashan were responsible for handling this matter. They took Li Zheng and others to the nutrient field where the seedlings were raised. They carefully explained the matters that need to be paid attention to when transplanting cotton seedlings, as well as the possible mortality rate. If there are no problems, they can just pay on the spot. Take the cotton seedlings away.
"One penny for ten plants, this is too expensive." An older man Li Zheng frowned, "I went to the city to buy rice seeds. Such a big bag only costs more than ten pence. You are selling it so expensively." , it’s a money grab.”
"That's right, the people of Sui'an are not short of money, so how can they deceive us ordinary people?"
"We people have come so far and traveled for most of the day. Let's make it cheaper. Twenty plants for one penny."
"A pack of rice seeds only costs ten cents. If you plant them, you can have hundreds of rice seedlings. One cent for twenty rice seedlings is still too expensive."
"..."
Everyone was talking a lot.
Zhao Dashan spoke softly: "The price of these cotton seedlings has been announced a long time ago. Everyone Li Zheng should have known the price before coming. If you can't accept it, you shouldn't come. Now that you're here, you shouldn't make a fuss about it. "
In order to promote it throughout Huzhou, the seedlings were raised twenty days in advance this year. The temperature was not stable, so there were more dead seedlings. He was almost heartbroken. For ten plants for one penny, their family could not make any money at all. It was a loss, a loss of manpower and material resources, and a lot of time wasted.
Because my mother was from Sui'an and had the responsibility and obligation to help the court promote cotton cultivation, she would never tell anyone about these losses.
But these people actually said that their mother cheated them!
Although Zhao Dashan is an honest man, he also has his own temper. He said coldly: "If you find it expensive, just leave. It happens that there are not enough cotton seedlings."
"You young man, why are you so unkind?" Lao Li was looking at him accusingly, "I know you are the biological son of the Sui'an people, but you can't be so disrespectful of us people."
Some people echoed: "They say that Sui'an cares about the people. I think they are all lies. Bah, they only want to plunder our people's fat and anointing."
"We should all stop buying cotton seedlings here. I heard that there is a businessman from the south in Wanquan County who specially brought cotton seeds from the south. You can buy a big bag for five cents, which is not much better than this." Come on, let’s go and buy seeds and grow seedlings ourselves.”
"It's only March, it's very early. Let's raise the seedlings and plant them ourselves. We don't have to rely on this."
A large group of people are coming together and walking away in a mighty manner.
Zhao Dashan walked home with a face full of anger. He was really unworthy of his mother and fed the dog with all his heart.
But on the way home, the villagers in Dahe Village greeted him with a smile. Some people gave him some seasonal wild fruits and asked him to take them back to his mother to taste. Some children picked wild strawberries on the mountain. , even though he was drooling, he couldn't bear to eat it, so he forced it into his hand, saying that Aunt Zhao loved it. Walking back all the way, his hands and pockets were full of food given by the villagers.
His anger dissipated unconsciously.
It's true that some people don't appreciate it, but there are also so many people who remember my mother's goodness, and that's enough.
After returning home, he washed the fruits and took them to the flower hall, sat down with Cheng Wanwan, and talked about today's events in a relaxed tone.
Cheng Wanwan put down the book in her hand and raised her eyebrows in surprise: "They really don't want to buy it? Are they really planning to buy the seeds from the southern businessman?"
Zhao Dashan nodded. After all the trouble, that group of people probably wouldn't look back, otherwise the people of Dahe Village would drown them all with their saliva.
Cheng Wanwan smiled: "They won't look back this year, but they will definitely come back next year."
Her seeds come from the mall and are suitable varieties cultivated by modern agriculture. They can easily survive anywhere and have high yields per mu.
The cotton seeds brought by merchants from the south are accustomed to the southern climate and need to undergo at least four or five generations of tempering before they can slowly adapt to the northern climate. In other words, in the first few years of planting, there are many dead seedlings and few blooms, resulting in poor results. Few, poor quality... Once you compare the two models, those people will know how wrong they are.
