Zhu Dagui returned to Xingkaihu No. 2 Village on the tenth day of August. In addition to his wife and ten fellow villagers, there was also a class of soldiers from the Northern Navy and two officers. On the first carriage in the procession, there were two white soul-calling flags with the big word "Dian" written on them.
That night in Xiaobai Mountain, eight people died in Xingkaihu Village No. 2 and fifteen were seriously injured. The injured are now recuperating at the temporary medical station in Ningguta, and most of them will not be able to return until September.
"Alas!" Zhu Dagui couldn't help but sigh when he saw the words "Five kilometers away from Xingkaihu Village No. 2" written on the sign beside the road. He was getting closer and closer to home. When he thought of the scene of loud crying, Zhu Dagui couldn't help but curse the court in the south again.
He turned his head and looked at the carriage behind him. The two "Hezhe people" Qibukadai and the seriously injured Zhunise were also haggard and looked listless.
The wheat fields on both sides of the road were flashing golden, and you couldn't even see them. Zhu Dagui's mood improved slightly after he estimated the harvest of his fifty acres of land this year.
Yes, the harvest season in Beihai Town has arrived again.
From the Xila River and Furjiaha River in the south, to the vast plains on the north and south sides of Lake Xingkai, to the middle reaches of Heilongjiang thousands of miles away; from the south of Kuye Island to Pingyuan City in Ezo, all the way to From the west to the distant shores of Lake Baikal, as long as there are villages cultivated in Beihai Town, the eighth lunar month will become a festival for all villagers.
Chai Rugui, Gao Liugeng and Li Wenqing sat on the ground like fools, watching the huge red monster cruising back and forth in the field, harvesting rows of wheat quickly, leaving only one or two inches of wheat stalks in the field. At that time, the shock and horror in my heart were beyond words.
"This, this is the end?" Gao Liugeng has the status of a supervisor. He attended private schools for several years when he was a child. He is the most knowledgeable among the three brothers. He recalled the words of sages in the books he had read, but he could not find any words to explain such a scene.
It took a while for Chai Rugui and Li Wenqing, who had fallen into a state of languor and dementia, to wake up and murmured, "What the hell! I can actually harvest crops like this."
The villagers passing by smiled slightly when they saw the three of them looking like this. They have seen this kind of scene many times in the past two years. Every time there are new ones assigned to them during the wheat harvest season, they almost always have this expression, and there are many people who are scared and shouting.
Li Wenqing stared intently at the big red monster that kept harvesting and spitting out wheat grains, and said to Chai Rugui: "Brother, let's say this machine has done all the work of cutting wheat, what else are we doing? Just look at it like this Waiting? Isn’t this just waiting for God to drop pancakes!”
An old farmer who was drinking water not far away laughed and said, "Young man, I dare not say that. Although we have machines here to help farm the land, we have to save a lot of trouble, but weeding, fertilizing, and watering all require talented people." .Besides, drying wheat is also a laborious task, and people are indispensable to take care of it.”
Seeing that Li Wenqing and others were listening intently, the old farmer came over and squatted next to the three of them and said: "We are close to the big lake and there is a lot of rain. Just tell the child's face to change today. This side has just been exposed to the sun, and that side has just been exposed to the sun. When the weather comes, you have to collect it and store it quickly. When the weather gets better, you have to dry it out quickly. It’s going to be very frustrating.”
Chai Rugui said: "Uncle Liu, how was our harvest in previous years? Is it good?"
The old farmer said: "What's wrong? It's fine! If nothing else, our village alone produced more than 300 kilograms of grain per mu of land last year! The civil affairs clerk said that the land in our village has only been cultivated for two years. The land is not fertile, but in a few years, we can produce up to 500 kilograms per acre!"
After hearing this, Chai Rugui turned to look at Li Wenqing and Gao Liugeng, with expressions of disbelief on their faces.
The three of them were about to chat with the old farmer again, when the old farmer suddenly stood up, built a shed with his hands, and looked into the distance with squinted eyes and frowned. Chai Rugui and the other three also stood up and looked back, and saw on the distant road a convoy of horse-drawn carriages with white flags at the head heading towards the entrance of the village.
Li Wenqing asked hurriedly: "Uncle Liu, what's going on?"
The old farmer's face became more solemn, and even showed a hint of sadness. Before he had time to explain, he strode down the field bank, passed through the harvested wheat fields, and hurried in the direction of the carriage team.
Chai Rugui and the others felt something was wrong, so they got up and followed them. Although their current identity is undercover, ready to sneak into Beihai Town or Fuldan City to cause trouble; but since they have been assigned to this village, they still have to show off.
When the three of them were still a hundred or two hundred meters away from the convoy, many villagers had already ran over. Some even cried at the top of their lungs in the middle of the road, kneeling on the ground and screaming to death. A circle of people had already stood around to comfort and persuade them. people.
"What's going on?" Chai Rugui asked a villager in a low voice when he saw the two soul-calling flags stuck on the first carriage.
The villager wiped away his tears and said bitterly: "It's not the good deeds of those officers and soldiers!"
When Gao Liugeng heard this, his eyes showed a true expression. He thought that the other party was talking about the Beihai soldiers, and thought that rebelling against thieves means rebelling against thieves. It would be strange not to oppress the people. But what the villager said next made him feel as if he had knocked down the oil and salt store, with mixed emotions.
"You said they couldn't defeat Beihai Town, but they even killed the people in front of us! Bah! What a stupid court!"
"We were given no chance of survival in my hometown in Henan. They hid so far away and still didn't let us go!"
"If you ask me, Prince Zhao should lead his troops into Beijing and knock that dog emperor off his throne!"
The villagers surrounding the road were talking a lot, all of them scolding the imperial court in the south. At this time, a tall man in his thirties walked through the crowd and walked into the circle. He sighed first and said to the woman who was kneeling on the ground crying: "Zhuzi belongs to his family. The officers and soldiers attacked at night. Your family is not the only one in our village. Others A lot of people died in the village. To put it bluntly, it was Zhu Dagui who failed to take good care of him, and I will apologize to you!"
After saying that, Zhu Dagui knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the woman to apologize. Zhu Dagui's wife wanted to pick up her man, but when she thought of the miserable scene that night, she covered her mouth and started crying.
When the woman sitting on the ground saw Zhu Dagui like this, she quickly stopped wailing and sobbed: "Village Chief, I know it's not your fault. They are all stupid officers and soldiers... The men in my family are not lucky because of this. Damn it!"
A group of people were crying when Chai Rugui and the others saw a Beihai soldier wearing a dark green hat walking over. That hat was different from all the hats he had seen before. The top of the hat was wide and upturned, and there was a metal badge pinned to the wall of the hat. There was also a crescent-shaped black brim protruding from the forehead, which matched the other person's outfit. The dark green military uniform with upper and lower sections makes people feel indescribably majestic.
The Beihai soldier first stood at attention and saluted the woman on the ground, then bent down and whispered a few words of comfort. The woman stopped crying and was helped up by Zhu Dagui's wife.
Zhu Dagui then stood up and said to everyone: "Okay, let's all disperse. If you have anything to do, we'll talk about it back to the village."
Only then did he notice Chai Rugui and three people standing outside the crowd. He walked up and asked, "Are you three newly assigned? What are your names?"
Gao Liugeng knew that the village chief of Beihai Town was almost the same as Li Zheng in the countryside of the Qing Dynasty. He had great or small power, so he bowed and said: "My name is Gao Liu, this is my eldest brother Chai Dazhuang, and my younger brother Li arts."
Chai Rugui and Li Wenqing quickly bowed and said, "I have met Village Chief Zhu."
Gu Zhu Dagui waved his hand and said: "Why are you so polite? We are all neighbors from now on, so we can support each other. From your accent, do you think you are from Kaifeng, your hometown? How did you get together?"
Chai Ruguixin said that he started to talk in circles as soon as he came up. This person named Zhu is not easy to fool. He quickly apologized and said with a smile: "There was a disaster at home, and there was really no way to survive, so I dragged two brothers from the same village out to find some livelihood. When I arrived in Xuzhou, I heard that Sheyang Lake was recruiting people, so I came here."
Zhu Dagui asked a few more people where they lived now. He saw that although Chai Rugui was not tall, he looked very capable, so he reached out and patted the other person on the shoulder and said: "Okay, do your best first. After you have finished your work for a while, go to my house for a drink. From now on." As a mother-in-law, good days are coming!"
After he finished talking to Chai Rugui and the others, he turned to another old farmer and said, "Liu Laoshuan, how are the dozens of acres of sugar beets in the village doing while I'm away?"
Liu Laoshuan was the "Uncle Liu" mentioned by Chai Rugui and the others just now. At this moment, he grinned and said: "Okay! It's almost over. People from the sugar factory have come to see it a few days ago. They said that in a few villages, there are The sugar beets in our village are grown well.”
Zhu Dagui said: "Let's take a look together."
The sugar beet field in the second village is located to the east of the village. This year, dozens of acres were planted on a trial basis. If the civil administration had not assigned tasks from top to bottom and must be planted, the people would have ignored it.
When Zhu Dagui took the curious Chai Rugui and the three of them to the east end of the village, they saw that the beet leaves in the field had changed from dark green to light green a few dozen meters away, and more leaves had turned yellow, and even Some of them were withered and lying in the ground. He immediately said anxiously: "Liu Laoshuan, what's going on?! Why are all the good leaves wilting? Why don't you tell me clearly today? This matter is not over yet." !”
Liu Laoshuan said hurriedly: "Your Majesty..."
"Stop doing this! Call me the village chief!" Zhu Dagui jumped to his feet and yelled: "When I left, the leaf stalks were still in good condition, but why are they all withered?!"
Liu Laoshuan's expression changed, he raised his hand and hit Zhu Dagui on the head with his pipe pole, and said dissatisfied: "What are you yelling about? The civil affairs officer said, this is what the beets are like when they are ripe! They eat the roots from the ground, pigs Just took a shot!"
Zhu Dagui rubbed his head and heard what he meant. He quickly smiled and said, "Uncle Shuan, am I wrong? When are you going to put this thing away?"
Liu Laoshuan angrily lit a pack of cigarettes for himself. After taking enough, he said: "The people at the sugar factory said something about the accumulation period. I didn't understand it. If you harvest it too early, it won't be sweet enough. If you harvest it too late, it won't be sweet enough." I'm freezing, it's only been a few days."
Two days later, the four-wheeled carriage from the sugar factory arrived. Because there were only a few dozen acres, no large machinery was used. Instead, a small sugar beet harvester came and harvested it in half a day.
These farmers from the Central Plains have never seen what sugar beets look like, and they all come to see them during harvest. The people at the sugar factory didn't care. They picked a dozen good-quality rhizomes, peeled them and cut them into small pieces for everyone to taste.
Everyone looked at the cut tuber, which looked like a carrot, and tried to pinch a small piece and put it in their mouths. Then their eyes narrowed and a look of satisfaction appeared on their faces.
"It's so sweet! Dad, give me another piece."
"Hmm~~" Liu Laoshuan licked his lips and nodded: "This is much more delicious than radish, it is juicy and sweet."
Zhu Dagui also nodded and said: "Not bad! We will plant more crops next year and make a hundred acres."
The technician from the sugar factory laughed and told everyone about the town of Khabarovsk in the north of Xingkai Lake. When the villagers heard that Khabarovsk has planted thousands of acres of sugar beets this year, and will reach 5,000 acres next year, they were all speechless.
While the harvest was in progress, technicians from the sugar factory taught the villagers step by step how to silage sugar beet stems and leaves and how to preserve them. The so-called "silage" means placing beet stems and leaves in a silage cellar, and using the action of microorganisms to ferment the beet stems and leaves. Pigs and cows like to eat fermented feed. It is more nutritious than fresh stems and leaves. It can also increase appetite and prevent livestock diarrhea.
The most important thing for silage stems and leaves is to choose a cellar. Generally, you should choose a place with high and dry terrain, low groundwater level, deep soil layer, and good drainage. It should also be close to the livestock shed for easy access to feed.
Chai Rugui and the others had no family to hold them back, and they wanted to leave a good impression on the villagers, so they took the initiative and dug seven or eight cellars in one day. They were all two meters square. On average, each cellar could store three acres of food. Beet stems and leaves.
After the sugar beet harvest was completed, the sugar factory's carriage returned to the factory on the south bank of Xingkai Lake with a cart full of sugar beet roots. Sugar production is a light industry and there is no need to be involved with heavy industry. Moreover, because of the relationship between Xingkai Lake, the sugar beets produced in Khabarovsk can be transported directly through the Ussuri River.
The sugar factory in Beihai Town currently uses semi-manual and semi-mechanical methods in order to allow more housewives to get out of the house and participate in labor. The beets collected from each village must first be stored in a rectangular beet cellar made of cement, with a drainage outlet and a screen for removing soil and rocks at the bottom.
The female workers first rinse the beets with a large amount of water. However, mechanized harvested beets generally need to be washed twice because they contain too many impurities. The flowing washing wastewater is directly discharged into the external reservoir. After settling, it can be recycled again. times used.
The washed beets are sent directly to the storage hopper of the shredder through a belt conveyor. The shredded beets are heated using water as a solvent to extract sugar.
First, each batch of shredded vegetables must be weighed, and then sent into the inlet hopper of the exuder. Under the push of the double helix, the shredded vegetables generally advance slowly along the double helix. The infiltration water with a pH value of 5.5 to 6.5 enters from the tail end of the infiltration device and flows in the opposite direction with the shredded vegetables due to the position difference. The steam jackets on the bottom and sides are filled with water vapor from the evaporator to heat the vegetable water mixture to the required temperature. Water temperature is a very important factor in this step. The most suitable temperature for fresh beets is 70 to 75°C.
The next step is to purify the exudate juice to remove impurities and neutralize the pH. For the sake of convenience, Beihai Town currently uses the lime method directly, and will consider using the carbonic acid method in the future.
The clarified exudate juice is then boiled, and finally white sugar can be obtained. As for the remaining sugar beet waste meal, it will not be wasted, because it still contains a certain amount of sugar. After recycling, it can be sent to the livestock farm as feed and mixed with silage stems and leaves.
Turning back to Xingkai Lake No. 2 Village, Chai Rugui and the other two people returned home after a busy day, had a hasty dinner, and then went back to their houses to rest. The courtyard where they live is composed of three wooden houses, one room for each person.
Chai Rugui and Li Wenqing fell asleep quickly, but Gao Liugeng, who was lying on the bed, was still tossing and turning. His mind was in a whirlwind of confusion at the moment, recalling the scene of eating beets during the day and the orders of the court officials.
It has been more than half a month since I came to Xingkaihu Village No. 2. Everything in front of me is so peaceful, wealthy and peaceful, completely different from what the court officials described. If it was really a lie, it would have been exposed long ago.
How can a person who allows people to live such a life be a rebel? That should be something only a saint can do!
But when he thought of attacking the "saint", Gao Liugeng's heart became heavier and heavier, and he didn't know where to go.
