In Shaling Village, Ma Fan and his family have been back for more than three days.
Including the Ma Fan family, they also temporarily lived here. In three days, the most they could do was clean up the house, then go to the fields to take a look, and then go to the flat land to prepare for sowing.
This is the biggest difference between the north and the south. In the south, due to multi-season planting, some fields need watering after harvesting, so the fields are often plowed before sowing in spring.
But this is not the case in the north. The north can only grow wheat and other grains for one season, so the fields in the north are harvested in the summer, and then some faster-growing vegetables such as cabbage are planted, and then the fields are plowed in the fall before winter. Afterwards, those with irrigation conditions will be irrigated, and the irrigation will be deeper.
After a winter, after the spring thaw, the autumn irrigation water has dried up. At this time, you only need to rake the ground and level the land plowed by the plowshare, and then you can sow.
Of course, there are many reasons for plowing the ground in autumn. For example, it can dig out some grass seeds and harmful insect eggs deep in the soil. After a winter, some weeds and insect eggs that are not so tenacious will be frozen to death. Partially, it can effectively reduce pests and diseases.
The second is that there is often less precipitation in winter and spring in the north, and especially early spring is very dry, and evaporation is large. If the land is plowed in spring, the land will be soft and it will be difficult to maintain moisture.
After plowing in the fall, the land becomes soft, and then deep irrigation is carried out, which allows the land to absorb a large amount of water and effectively conserve moisture in the spring.
If the moisture is good, farming will grow better.
Moreover, after raking the land in spring, the rake can directly rake out some grass roots in the soil, and then throw them outside to be exposed to wind and sun, and the weeds will die.
This is the experience summed up by the people who have been farming on this land for more than two thousand years.
It's like although the best planting season has passed, it's still not too late. It's just that after the wheat is harvested, it may be impossible to plant cabbage or the like.
To be honest, the people in Shaling Village were a little impatient to wait, and so was the Ma Fan family. The best sowing season had passed, and Datang said it would provide grain, but they didn't know when it would arrive.
Many people have considered whether to sow their own crops first.
Although when it comes to the autumn harvest, the grain can only be obtained according to the general tenant rent, and the rest must be given to Datang.
But... this can also allow them to survive. If sowing is not done, the wheat seedlings will usher in the rainy season at an inappropriate time, or the rainy season will occur during the harvest period. That would be terrible! There may be no harvest by then!
Rather than having no harvest, even if they grow their own food, they would rather be able to survive first.
This is what ordinary people think. As long as they have a chance to survive, it will not be so miserable, and thoughts such as rebellion will hardly appear in their minds.
"It's coming, it's coming!" On the morning of the fourth day, Ma Fan's family got up and were about to discuss with the village chief. If it didn't work, they could just sow their own grain. This sowing couldn't be delayed.
But before they could go to the village chief's house, they heard noise coming from the entrance of the village.
Ma Fan and others immediately ran towards the entrance of the village, and soon saw a convoy of more than a dozen carriages approaching in this direction. Surrounding the carriage were half Tang soldiers and half Goguryeo captive soldiers.
When the convoy arrived in the village, the villagers of Shaling Village also gathered together.
"Everyone in Shaling Village, on behalf of Datang, I will now distribute grain to you based on your actual cultivated land. Each mu of land requires 30 kilograms of wheat seeds. Now each household will receive the grain according to what you have registered before."
The leading soldier went straight to the point without any nonsense.
All the villagers lined up immediately. When the wheat seeds were poured out of the bag, all the villagers couldn't help but widen their eyes.
They are all farmers, and you can tell at a glance whether the seeds are good or not. These wheat seeds have plump grains, and are at least one-third larger in size than their wheat seeds, and the color is very beautiful! This looks like a high-quality, thoroughbred!
Suddenly all the people understood why the Tang Dynasty wanted to provide them with wheat seeds. I'm afraid they looked down on their original seeds.
"These wheat seeds must be sown in place. In addition, in order to give you more motivation to work, His Highness King Qin announced that each household will be given two sickles and a pair of plowshares for free. In addition, a complete Quyuan will be distributed to your village. Plow two sections, and the rest is the plowshare. If you want to use it in the autumn, just find someone to make it according to the other parts of the curved shaft plow."
The leading soldier announced something that all the villagers in Shaling Village did not expect.
When the sickle blade was taken out, all the people were stunned. They also had sickles, but they had never used this kind of sickle made of pure iron.
Many people's sickles are made with a little iron bar nailed to the front of the wood to serve as the blade, and the rest is supported by wood because they can't afford so much iron.
The sickle blade provided by Datang now is about three fingers wide at its widest point, and is curved, with a place reserved for installing a wooden handle.
There is no edge, so they need to polish it themselves, but that doesn't matter, this is iron!
And there was actually a pair of plowshares, which were heavier than the sickle! This...of course they know how expensive iron is.
Did Datang give it to them directly?
"In addition, because some of your village's livestock power has been lost, we have temporarily arranged ten pack horses for your village as livestock power for your farming. They will be returned next year or the year after. There are five mares and five stallions in total. You You can breed by yourself, and if you give birth to a foal, His Highness the King of Qin allows you to keep the foal." The Tang soldier announced another thing.
This time, all the villagers couldn't bear it anymore. There were now thirty households in their village, and they were given ten pack horses. Wouldn't it mean that three households could get one?
"Of course, considering the actual number of households in your village, after you three households are allocated a pack horse, the land of your three households will also be settled together, which means that your land must be planted, and when the harvest comes in the autumn , if the farmland is not enough, the three families will share it equally. Now the horses are allocated by drawing lots, and these horses are numbered from one to ten." The soldier explained again.
Ma Fan and others all looked happy. It happened that he, his parents and his brother were from three households, so they could get one horse. I just don’t know if I can catch a male or a female.
Of course, a female horse is better. After the work is done, she can be bred to her, and she might be able to give birth to a foal next year.
There are a total of thirty households in Shaling Village, and the east and west are divided very quickly. After dividing the things, these Tang soldiers left directly.
"Dad... These people from the Tang Dynasty are pretty good. It would be great if we were all from the Tang Dynasty in the future." On his way back, Ma Fan heard a twelve or thirteen year old boy in front of him say to his father.
"Shut up, don't dare to say such nonsense in the future." The boy's father slapped him directly.
Datang... is pretty good. Ma Fan also had such thoughts in his heart, but he was an adult and could only say this in his own home.
