In the middle of August, the autumn is crisp and crisp, and on the clear blue sky, Yunmengze ushered in the first batch of wild geese returning to the south.

But in the area of crowded gatherings, there is no desolate scene at all. Outside the five-acre house, the children drooled and watched the apricots on the trees turn yellow; In the fields, golden ears of rice sway in the breeze.

In the sunset of Yunmengxiang, on the open land next to the farmland, you can see the villagers who are busy with their waists everywhere, this is the harvest season, and it is also the busiest time for farmers throughout the year, and there is no idler in the whole country.

Heifu, who had already healed most of his leg injury, couldn't sit still, and wanted to come out to help, standing on the edge of the soft cool water field, his nose was full of the fragrance of ripe rice, and the days of chasing and fighting and licking blood on the knife edge a few days ago seemed to be farther away from him.

At this moment, the uncle and sister-in-law Qiu were leading a few mediocre cultivators hired by their family, facing the rice with their backs to the sky, and cutting the grain in the paddy field with a sickle in their hands.

Since Heifu became a official, their family's life has improved a lot, even the farm tools have been replaced with copper and iron, look at the other families next to them, there are still stone sickles......

Even with an iron sickle, it is still not fast to cut the rice stubble, this work is very tiring, and at the end of the day, the waist is about to break.

But if you don't harvest it quickly, you can't do it, and after the rice is ripe, you can't stay in the ground for too long.

Alas, this is the disadvantage of too much land, and now there are three people in the Heifu family who have knighthoods, and although they are nominally divided, the land is planted together. At the beginning of August, the uncle only helped Heifu harvest half of the 100 acres of millet that had been composted, and there were still 100 acres of corny fields that had been fertilized in the old way, and 100 acres of rice.

Having said that, the farm work was not urgent, and the black husband's family was not a black peel that forced the long-term workers to survive, and when they saw that the mediocre cultivators were tired, they called them to sit on the ridges. He put down the sickle in his hand, took off the hat on his head, dusted off his sleeves with both hands, drank a few sips of the white water brought by the woman, ate two sips of the rice steamed by Heifu and his mother, and chatted a few words.

The face of the owner of the field was full of joy, and the cultivator was also very happy, after all, according to what was said in advance, the more the harvest, the more grain they would receive.

After watching it for a while, Heifu couldn't help but want to go down to help, but he was hurt and didn't allow him to go into the paddy field, so Heifu volunteered and took over the threshing work with his younger brother.

The cut millet bunches are stacked on the ridges, and the amount of each bunch is just right.

Although Heifu's nephew "Yang" is only seven years old, he has already begun to help, the child squatted on the edge of the field obediently, helping to carry the bundles of grain from the ridge to the threshing place, several trips down, running so that he was sweating profusely, but under the praise of the adults, the child was very happy, but his face was scratched by the straw, which made people look a little distressed.

Their threshing tool is actually just a large wooden barrel, which is called a "bucket" or "half bucket". The principle of its operation is very simple, that is, grasp the lower end of the ripe rice with both hands and smash it vigorously on the inner wall of the grain barrel, so that the threshing effect can be achieved.

There is also a circle of densely woven bamboo strips around the side of the barrel, so that even if the threshed rice is beaten out, it will be blocked by the bamboo strips and fall into the bucket.

Heifu grabbed a handful of millet with both hands, raised it high above his head, shook the millet in the air, and the sound of the millet hitting the four walls of the bucket was pleasant, and then he saw the golden grains of rice leave the straw and leap into the bucket.

"Half a bucket rings 10,000 taels of gold, and there is food in your hand and you don't panic."

For some reason, Heifu remembered the old saying from his hometown in his previous life, that in the past two thousand years, the farm work of Chinese farmers has not changed much.

In addition to the simplest of wooden barrels, Hefu found that there were also people who used flails nearby, which consisted of a long handle and a set of flat rows of bamboo, like a large nunchuck, which could be used to beat millet, rice, hemp, etc., and make the grains fall.

Heifu had a heart, and secretly calculated the time, in fact, whether it was a half-bucket or a flail, it was both time-consuming and tiring, and the grain that was beaten down was not clean, and it had to be blown clean before it could be used to pay rent, or to pick it home and store it in the warehouse.

"It's too late this year, and next year, I might try to make that kind of wooden threshing machine with foot pedals, which is much more efficient than a half-bucket and a flail."

"Brother Zhong, you still have a dull pain in your leg, rest for a while, there is not much grain left, I'll just come."

Threshing with Heifu was his younger brother Jing, who was 16 years old, and it was the time to grow his body, and in half a year, he was a few inches taller. In the past few months, he was arranged by Heifu to go to the township to learn to read and write, and prepare for entering the school room as a disciple in the spring of next year.

Part of the reason why Heifu wanted to be a Qin official was to be shocked into the discipleship, exempt from military service, and escape the Qin and Chu wars. But now that there is that kind of thing, he is really a little unsure, whether he can keep this official, even if he does, I heard that the county right lieutenant will be transferred away soon, and without a backer, Heifu is not very easy to mix in the lieutenant system.

"You can't put all my eggs in this basket, Qin Law is too strict, in order to prevent me from committing a crime one day and being dismissed, I have to have another way out......"

Heifu thought about it, while sitting beside him, listening to the uncle and the neighbor farmers chatting, this year, as their family has become more and more prosperous, the eldest brother is no longer the same as in the past, but because of his loyalty, he has won the support of the neighbors, of course, there may also be a fear of Heifu, deliberately flattering in it.

Seeing this situation, Heifu couldn't help but have a plan!

……

After a few days of hard work, the once full ears of rice in the field disappeared, leaving only the shortly cut stubble, left alone in the paddy field.

At this point, the rice fields and millet fields of the Heifu family have all been harvested. By the way, there are more than ten acres of sugarcane planted in the spring, which are very vigorous, but they are not harvested until winter, when the sugarcane is the sweetest.

After harvesting the grain, the farm work did not end there, and the millet had to be spread out on a wide bamboo strip overnight to ensure that the millet was ventilated and damp to avoid mold. In the middle of the process, it is necessary to constantly rake and turn over the flour to promote air drying.

On the second day, it can be exposed to the sun - the government does not collect wet grain, and the amount of rent is volume, not weight, so as not to cause injustice due to the uneven dryness and wetness of the grain.

At this time, the millet is still mixed with a large number of impurities, husks, and broken shells, which must be removed one by one.

The sieve was inexhaustible, and Heifu found that he used the sun-dried plantain leaves as a fan, and the force should not be too heavy or too light, and the light impurities should be just blown away, leaving only the full grains.

Boredom fanning the fan, Heifu thought to himself: "Until next year, I can also ask my sister-in-law to make a hand-cranked windmill, which is not only a sharp weapon in the wind valley, but also comes in handy when cooking the grain." ”

After looking all the way, Heifu found that the productivity of this era was too backward, not to mention the time of farming, in the process of harvesting, in the eyes of a layman like him, almost every step of the way, there are many things that can be improved.

At the same time, Heifu also borrowed a "stone" from the house of the prison gate, which was actually a large hollow wooden barrel, and poured the dried millet harvested from each mu into it, and after some calculations, the 100 acres of millet fertilized by the old method still produced less than 2 stones per mu.

The 100 acres of "experimental field" that used compost fertilizer to apply manure, because Heifu was not at ease, selected more than 10 acres of millet harvested and weighed them one by one, and found that as he said a few days ago, the yield per mu was close to 3 stones......

"The millet species are the same, the original land is also adjacent, watering and hoeing, there is no difference, the only difference is the fertilizer used. In this way, compost is indeed more effective than fresh manure and urine! Patting a full stone of millet, Hafu said.

Not only did this turn out, but he also recalled the process of tending to the fields, and the crops that were composted and manure did indeed grow fatter and bear significantly more ears. The old farmers who laughed at their family piling up and urine to play in the spring have been amazed for the past few days, and they are trying to find out the secrets of his farming.

"The smarter old farmer has already guessed the reason, and he will definitely follow suit in the spring next year, and this secret is not a secret."

But Heifu was not worried at all, and said with a smile: "My leg has healed, and I must go to the pavilion to resume my duties." In this way, tomorrow is the day to go to the township to pay the rent, and I will go out with my uncle, and I happen to meet Tabe Zuo in Yunmengxiang with you. ”

At this time, Heifu and his sister-in-law passed by and asked strangely: "In previous years, the rent payment was handled by the township officials, why do you have to go to see Tabe Zuo this time?" ”

Zhen Ze understood: "Brother Zhong, don't you want to inform Tabe Zuo of the composting method and ask him to help present it to the government?" The method that can increase the yield per mu so much is indeed a sharp tool for farming, and my family can't hide ......."

The eldest brother is still too honest, Heifu laughed: "Uncle, it's not me who sacrifices, it's you who sacrifice!" If this matter is successful, the uncle will definitely be rewarded, maybe the government will give you an official and a half-position! ”