At present, no one in Sanliu Village is selling their land, so Li Qiao can only buy the wasteland from the imperial court.
When the Sheng Dynasty was first established, because the population was small, each person was assigned more fields, and there were also many wastelands belonging to the court.
This part of the wasteland is different from the few acres of land in the woods that Tao Zhu reclaimed. The few acres of Tao's land were not cultivated land before and were not suitable for growing crops.
However, this part of the wasteland of the imperial court was originally cultivated land during the previous dynasty, but because too many people died in the wars at the end of the previous dynasty, after the establishment of the Sheng Dynasty, because the population was too small, no one was cultivating this part of the land.
The imperial court allowed private purchase of this part of wasteland. Of course, the purchase was restricted. If ordinary people wanted to purchase these wastelands, one person could only buy up to fifty acres.
Of course, this is a unified provision of the law.
The terrain of each place is different. For example, in places with many mountains, there are not so many wastelands that can be cultivated.
Sanliu Village already relies on mountains. Moreover, in recent years, the society in the prosperous dynasty has been stable and the population has increased. The court will allocate fields to newly born people when they reach a certain age, so this part of the wasteland is getting less and less. Li Qiao cannot Do you know if there are such wastelands in Sanliu Village or nearby villages?
If not, then you can only buy private land.
When he arrived at the banker's house, Zhuang Feng listened to Li Qiao's intention and shook his head: "There are still a few acres of wasteland in our village, but these acres are scattered all over the place. The location is not good, there is no water source, and irrigation is too laborious."
"Forget it."
Upon hearing this, Li Qiao immediately shook his head.
At this time, irrigation relies entirely on manpower. If there is no water source, it will be too laborious.
He wanted to buy a field near a creek.
"I remember there seems to be some wasteland in Zhujiacun. Let's go and ask." Zhuang Fengshou said again.
Zhujia Village is to the south of Sanliu Village. The two villages are next to each other. It takes about two quarters of an hour to walk.
Zhujiacun is a small village with few people and there should be some wasteland left.
So Li Qiao and Zhuang Fengshou drove the ox cart to Zhujia Village.
There are only about twenty households in Zhujia Village. Most of them are named Zhu. The village chief is also named Zhu. He is a middle-aged man. After hearing Zhuang Fengshou's words, his eyes lit up when he looked at Li Qiao.
He knows Li Qiao!
Is this the young man who brought his fellow villagers to make money?
He looks weird and outstanding, and he is indeed different from a guy with muddy legs like him.
He nodded with a smile: "Uncle Zhuang, there is indeed some wasteland left, about 120 acres. I wonder how much Brother Li wants to buy?"
"Excuse me, what are the different fields and the price of each field?" Li Qiao asked with a smile.
The fields of Sheng Dynasty were divided into four grades, and the prices of each grade were different.
"Ten acres of it are special fields, next to the small river. It is easy to irrigate, the soil is fertile, and it can produce a lot of grain. If you grow wheat, the yield per mu will be at least 350 kilograms. The price of an acre of land is forty taels. "
"There are also fifty acres of top-grade farmland, located behind the special-grade farmland. It is easy to irrigate. The price of one acre of land is thirty taels."
"The rest are middle-grade fields and low-grade fields. An acre of medium-grade fields is twenty-three taels, and an acre of low-grade fields is eighteen taels."
Village Chief Zhu gave a very detailed introduction.
The small river he mentioned refers to the small river passing through Sanliu Village.
If it is next to a small river, irrigation is indeed very convenient.
But the price is really heartbreaking, one acre of land costs forty taels.
Li Qiao only had thirty taels of silver in hand!
But this is a unified price set by the court. It was not decided by Village Chief Zhu, and the price cannot be bargained.
"I have to go back and discuss it with my husband." Li Qiao could only say this.
"Yes, buying land is a big deal and needs to be discussed." Village Chief Zhu understood very well.
So Li Qiao and Zhuang Fengshou drove the ox cart back to the village.
"If you don't have enough money, I can lend you some. If you buy it now, you can plant crops for another season. If it's too late, you'll have to wait until autumn to plant winter wheat."
Sitting on the shaft of the carriage, Zhuang Fengshou said to Li Qiao.
"Thank you, village chief, but I have to go back and discuss it with Brother Zhu." Li Qiao thanked Zhuang Fengshou for his kindness.
When he got home, Li Qiao went straight into the kitchen.
"Look at the sweat, go and wash your face."
Tao Zhu looked at him, put down the long chopsticks in his hand that were specially used for frying things, then walked to the table and picked up the clay pot placed in the basin.
In the basin was Li Qiao's ice cubes made from saltpeter, and in the clay pot was sour plum soup. He poured Li Qiao a bowl of iced sour plum soup.
Li Qiao waved his hand: "I won't wash my face anymore."
He picked up the sour plum soup and drank it in one gulp.
Seeing this, Tao Zhu wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, and then said: "Don't drink so fast, it's not good for your health."
"It's okay, I don't have children, so drinking ice is no problem." Li Qiao said with a smile.
Tao Zhu shook his head helplessly: "Let's go out, the kitchen is too hot."
Sitting under a shelf covered by green leaves next to the shed, Li Qiao held a bowl of ice-cold sour plum soup and drank it slowly while talking about the conditions of the fields in Zhujiacun.
"I think we should buy a special field, right next to the river, so we don't have to worry about watering it in the future."
"But we don't have enough money, and the special land is only ten acres. In my opinion, it's better to buy the top land."
Tao Zhu thought for a while and decided that it would be more appropriate to buy a superior field.
It is also close to a small river, so watering it is a little harder, but he and Li Qiao will definitely not be doing the farming themselves.
Anyway, we hired day laborers to farm, so it didn't matter whether we were near a river or not.
"I have read about an irrigation tool called a keel cart from a book. If you have this, you can irrigate the fields very easily."
Li Qiao is still thinking about this incident.
In the end of the world, he, a water superpower, was often asked to irrigate crops when there was a shortage of irrigation manpower.
He irrigates crops with the power of water.
Ordinary people have no special powers and rely on machines, but machines require electricity and diesel oil. Therefore, ancient irrigation tools such as keel waterwheels and barrel trucks were manufactured again, just like the wheat sickle.
He was interested in these tools.
Not only because he is a water superpower, even if he is an ordinary person, he is also very interested in this irrigation tool. It feels like a big toy. He can stand next to it for an hour and never get tired of it.
Interest is the best teacher, so he knows how to make these ancient irrigation tools.
Today, when he heard that the ten acres of special farmland were close to the river, his hands were immediately ready to move.
He wanted to build a keel waterwheel.
"Keel car?" Tao Zhu was surprised.
Li Dashan, who was pushing a stone mill to grind glutinous rice flour, also looked over. What is a keel cart?
So Li Qiao went into the house and took a pen and paper, drew the appearance of the keel waterwheel, and also explained its working principle.
Tao Zhu and Li Dashan were stunned for a moment. There is such a magical tool.
This is the first time they have heard of it.
"Can this really be done?" Tao Zhu asked, pointing to the paper on the table.
"Let's try it out, 80% of the time we can do it." Li Qiao nodded.
In his previous life, he not only made large ones himself, but he also made models and put them on the table for play.
"Then just buy a special field."
Tao Zhu looked at his sparkling eyes and changed his mind: "If we don't have enough money, let's save a few days and buy an acre first. Sweet potatoes have a high yield. Planting just one acre will be enough for us until next year."
"Brother Zhu, you are so kind!"
Li Qiao was moved when he heard this and couldn't help but hold Tao Zhu's hand. In order to satisfy his little hobby, Brother Zhu agreed to his unreasonable proposal.
Tao Zhu chuckled: "As long as you are happy."
Li Dashan: "..."
He scratched his head.
No, buying a field, a big thing among big things, was decided just based on happiness?
Isn't that a bit hasty?
Moreover, his brother-in-law and Uncle Zhu really didn’t treat him as an outsider.
Looking at the two hands, one big and one small, held together on the table, envy flashed in his eyes. Shouldn't he find a husband who would make him happy?
With this in mind, he went back to grinding glutinous rice flour.
Li Qiao had no time to care about his nephew's thoughts at this time. All he could think about was Brother Zhu's smiling face.
Of course, there is also Brother Zhu who regards him as the most important thing.
He only had so little money at home, so it was completely nonsense for him to want to buy a special field, but Brother Zhu agreed just because he liked it.
He said: "The village chief said that if you don't have enough money, you can borrow it from him."
"How much do you want to borrow?" Tao Zhu asked.
"I want to buy all ten acres!"
Tao Zhu: "!"
His eyes widened instantly.
Li Qiao immediately laughed: "Of course this is impossible."
"I changed my mind. Let's buy prime farmland."
"……Why?"
Tao Zhu was surprised.
"The top-grade fields are practical. As for the special-grade fields, they won't run away anyway. We can buy them later when we have more money."
"But you want to make that keel waterwheel." Tao Zhu nodded his chin towards the drawings on the table.
