In the autumn of the third year of Wanli, in the forest-covered Daning, the men of Huojiapu and Lijiapu who had completed their first year of reclamation were stunned by the yields of corn and soybeans produced on the black soil.
Because the fertility of the land was beyond their imagination, the men, who had eaten wild vegetables, rabbits, snakes, frogs and other strange meats for several months, became emaciated and emaciated by mosquitoes and leeches, making it difficult to survive. At that time, I was finally able to vent my heart out by crying and laughing on the corn cobs and bean pods.
Three of the young men in Huojia Village had died at this time, leaving only fifty-three. Fortunately, Old Mrs. Huo, who contracted enteritis in the summer, survived after three days of diarrhea.
When they first arrived in Daning, they were unable to do anything against the grassy land. Only four skinny horses could plow the grass.
The men in Huojia Village did a simple calculation. Based on their previous experience in opening up new land in Shandong, the food produced by Ma Xinkai's real estate may not be enough to feed the villagers who will move there next year.
In desperation, we can only use human power to replace animal power. The Huo man first used his head and shovel to cut off the grass roots. He put tattered clothes on his shoulders, pulled a long rope made of wild hemp fiber, and pulled the plow to plow the ground with his bare arms. ——Thankfully I brought a carpenter, otherwise it would have been troublesome just to bring a plowshare.
What made Old Madam Huo's eyes tear up was that the Daning Mansion actually gave two cattle to the newly arrived Li family on the third day.
Wang Peng went to the house to reason. Wangfutai, who was tired and sallow-faced, personally received him and said embarrassedly: "Don't you have four horses? The Li family came all the way begging for food, carrying farm tools on their backs. If there were no cattle, they could only Starve to death - there are only these cows in the house, there is nothing we can do.”
Wang Peng was annoyed by the government's logic and asked, "Then the government still cares about the Li family's food rations?"
Wang Futai led him to the granary, pointed to the moldy millet and the old grain containing a lot of gravel and said: "This is the grain stored by the General Military Mansion to support the government. If you want it, I can give it to you. This is enough."
Wang Peng had no choice but to load a cart with grain and bring it back. Unless there was a famine, people would not eat this food at all, so it was barely enough to feed livestock. Those animals were not picky eaters. But you have to cook the moldy food before feeding it. After all, these horses are now much more valuable than people.
Less than five days after the field was opened, several villagers in the Huo family began to fall ill. Because time was very tight, they spent all their time cultivating the land. They simply built two shacks and did not sleep on the ground.
There was no doctor's medicine when they were sick, so Tong Chun introduced two kinds of herbal medicine, and the patients chewed them in their mouths. It was all about their physical strength. Fortunately, all the patients in the first wave came through.
Seeing the slow progress of the land opening, Mrs. Huo was jumping around with anxious sparks. At this time, Tong Chun appeared again like a giant Buddha emitting golden light. He gestured and told Mrs. Huo, I heard from Yu'er that you don't have enough livestock, but I do - but I haven't domesticated it before and can't cultivate the land. Can you domesticate it?
This time the situation was urgent. Wang Peng said that it would be more cost-effective to sharpen the knife before chopping wood. It would be more cost-effective to tame the livestock first. So five men who often handle livestock in Huojia Village were selected, including Huo Laoshuan, who was responsible for domesticating Tong Chun's horses.
Horses can be used for riding and plowing, but they all need to be domesticated. No animal without domestication can pull a cart or a plow.
The Han people domesticated livestock in a way that was passed down from generation to generation. Foals and calves would always follow the horse's father and the cow's mother. They had been exposed to it since childhood. They first learned to be a gang, and when they became a pony, the farmer would let them drive. Yuan, acting as the main force.
Nowadays, land reclamation cannot wait for the foals to grow up, so they can only train the Tong Chun family's adult horses. For several old livestock handlers, this can be regarded as the old revolution encountering new problems.
Adult horses have not been trained to pull plows in childhood and will not cooperate at all. At the beginning, Huo Laoshuan and others put the harness on the back of the horse's neck. These beasts felt that it was different from the saddle, so they started to kick violently.
Huo Laoshuan and others had no choice but to select the tallest and strongest horse from the four horses brought by Huojia Village, and let the Tong family's horse help it by teaching it by hand. .
However, a horse that has not been trained cannot push forward hard, and to put it bluntly, cannot walk in a straight line at all. It has not turned over much ground in the whole day, and it has tripped the driving horse several times.
The turning point came five days later. One day, Yu'er saw that her horse was beaten with blood by the Huo family. She felt reluctant to give up, so she did not take the horse back at night. Instead, she slept in the pen with the Huo family's horse. Stable care.
As a result, after a night of communication between the horses of the two families, it may be that animals have animal language, or it may be enlightened by some passing god. When the horse was hitched again the next day, the Tong family's horse actually walked out of a straight line, which can be solved at once. Big problem.
There are six horses in Tong Chun's family, and ten horses plow the land together, which greatly speeds up the process of clearing the land. Tong Chun sends the laborers from the family to observe and learn, and masters many skills.
Later, Mrs. Huo was dissatisfied. After discussing with Tong Chun, the villagers of the Huo family and the Tong family became a supporting pair, and the land given to the Tong family by the Huo family was cleared for planting.
Things are going well on their side, but the Li family on the west side of the river is in dire straits. The old grains they eat are not nutritious, and they dare not eat seeds. Half of them need to go hunting every day, otherwise they will starve. The remaining half will only survive if they don't starve to death. How can they have the strength? Reclamation?
Wangfutai sent Xiong Xiaoqi over once to have a look, and later sent two bags of food, which was a drop in the bucket.
Even this small amount of rations made Mrs. Huo so angry that she even yelled that Wangfutai's eyes were on the west side, "Isn't it illegal for us to bring our own rations?!"
Taigong Huo complained, but he finally listened to Wang Peng and joined forces with the Li family. As a result, the land of the three families was opened and planted with the help of the Huo family. The old Huo family built a house and built a granary by themselves. All delayed.
The head of the Li family has a grand name, Boss Li. Boss Li didn't expect that the Northeast Enclosure was so poor that they didn't give them the rations promised by the court, and almost led the entire clan to annihilation.
Fortunately, when I arrived in the Northeast, I met the good people of the Huo family and helped me, otherwise everything would have been ruined. Boss Li was very embarrassed and said he would give one of the cattle to the Huo family.
The Grandfather of the Huo family was also generous and promised to give the Li family a horse, but he could not give it to the Li family at this time - the animals of the three families were all kept together for use.
The cooperative organizations organized spontaneously by simple farmers brought new changes to the reclamation of wasteland in Northeast China. In late June, the imperial court gradually began to provide support. Occasionally, it was able to provide some food. Although it was only enough to survive, with the wild vegetables collected and hunting gains, the Li family finally woke up.
By late July, when corn, green cobs and beans were ready to eat, Mr. Huo and Mr. Li were sure at the same time that this large-scale immigration would be successful.
At the suggestion of Boss Li, the three families formed the first village cooperation group in Shengjie Land, and Huo Taigong became the leader. After forming a blood alliance, they jointly hunted a bear to sacrifice to heaven, and then began to build a house.
There is great power in numbers. With nearly a hundred people working together, the efficiency is more than double that of each individual building slowly. Old Mrs. Huo divided the building of houses and warehouses into four working groups, and the assembly line was running.
One group is the foundation group, which is responsible for laying the foundation. According to the address selected by each family, fifty men, led by the bricklayers, are responsible for digging trenches and collecting stones to lay the foundation.
The second group of ten people is the clay removal group, which collects yellow mud and mixes it with sun-dried wormwood and wild hemp fiber to make clay clay. A site was set up beside the river beach, and these people were responsible for stepping on the mud to make the clay and drying it in the sun.
The third group of ten is the lumber group, following the carpenters in felling wood to make beams and purlins.
The fourth group of fifteen people is the thatched roof group, responsible for going to the reed swamps by the lake to cut reeds, dry them, bundle them, and build thatched houses.
As for windows, doors, etc., the carpenters from the two villages are too busy together. They plan to replace them all with wooden boards. They will slowly do it after the whole village moves in next year.
In this way, the process is greatly accelerated. The foundation here is laid, the mud has been dried, and the wall can be started directly. After the wall is completed, once the finished beams are put up and the cross beams are tied to the purlins, the thatch construction can begin.
Xiong Xiaoqi came several times when they were building a house. Seeing that their speed was unusual, he reported it to the prefect when he returned. The prefect Wang seemed to be overjoyed. He promoted the experience of the Immigration Organization Cooperation Group throughout Daning, reported it to the court, and named it "Daning Experience."
Tong Chun, a Jurchen, also came to help every day. He also learned the Huo family's house-building skills and put forward suggestions for improvements - a layer of mud and yellow mud cracks could not resist the cold wind here. The walls are built with three staggered seams, otherwise in the winter, the house will not be able to withstand the firewood burning.
What a fucking hindsight! Old Mrs. Huo scolded Tong Chun and complained that he didn't tell him earlier. I had no choice but to tear down the first house that was almost built and lay the foundation again. Otherwise, if the mud is placed directly on the ground, it will be poured out as soon as the rainwater soaks it.
In this way, the laborers of the Huo family, Li family, and Tong family worked hard for more than half a year. With sweat and tears, they withstood the successive attacks of the three legions of black mosquitoes, flower-footed mosquitoes, and leeches, and experienced their companions becoming sick, weak, and finally The despair and pain caused by death - finally struggling to the harvest season.
The sickle chopped down the rows of corn, and the heavy corn cobs were pulled out and stored in the granary. They shone with golden light and reflected each other together with the pointed soybeans piled in the granary. This was a scene when the empire moved from the north to Who can see the farmers in the south?
Such a scene made the men who had only known hard work all their lives unable to hold back their tears. They spread their joy and startled the birds and animals in the mountains of the Northeast. They rushed to tell each other that there was a new owner on this land.
After that, the creatures on this black soil and all the gods who protect the Chinese nation will know that on this new fertile soil, a great nation has taken root starting from this autumn.
