People who travel far away with stones on their backs can't imagine how well they are doing, and naturally they can't imagine how much sweat they have shed.

On the day of the peach moon, the sun is like a fire burning pottery, and sweat is constantly steaming out of the body. The branches of the grass and trees lay listlessly on the ground, and even the cries of the cicadas seemed to be through a wall, muffled and dreary.

Jian Chen really wanted to wipe the sweat on his face with a towel, but unfortunately he didn't, so he could only wipe it with the back of his hand, rubbing it into his eyes and killing it.

Songzhi next to him got up, pointed to a small tree not far away, and said, "Jian, let's rest there." ”

Chen Jian held a long-handled stone sickle, built a pergola with his hands, looked at the somewhat distorted space that was steaming by the steam, nodded and shouted at the dozens of people who were working: "Go there and rest and drink some water." ”

Behind them was already a field of cut grass, extending from the black and white flag at the entrance of the village, and the faint fragrance of grass juice wafted in the air.

Since we are going to be a farming nation, the land must be planted. Even slash-and-burn farming is not easy, and it is impossible to set fires in the summer.

You can only lead the people to cut down these chest-high grasses with long-handled stone sickles, and then set them on fire after the sun is exposed.

One is to kill insects, and the other is that plant ash is now the only source of potash fertilizer, which is easily soluble in water, unless it is a desert area to have mineralized potash fertilizer, and now don't even think about it.

The land he chose was close to the outskirts of the village, too far away. The stems and leaves of crops are a great temptation for those herbivores. They don't want to be dripping with sweat from such people, but they think it tastes good, it's delicious and it's sweet.

The outskirts of the village are now mostly barren grass, which is considered a meadow, and the land is very fertile and there are few trees, which is just right.

If the forest is not good, it can only be burned by slash and burn, and after planting for a few years, the land has no fertility and has to be thrown away. Because the tree has roots, it is impossible for fire to burn the roots, so there is no way to ridge them, so they can only sow seeds all over the sky.

The result of sowing seeds is to plant one and reap three, and if you want everyone in the village to eat the staple food, you need to say six or seven thousand acres of land, which translates into an even more terrifying result of 400,000 square meters, two kilometers long and two kilometers wide.

Looking at the surrounding land, it is enough, and it is all good soil, but Chen Jian hopes to take two steps in place. It is necessary not only to burn the land on a large scale to prepare for the shortage, but also to intensively cultivate the land and make some fertile land as soon as possible.

Nowadays, there are no cattle, so you can only wait for a fire and then use a stone hoe to turn the ground, which is definitely inefficient.

But the eyes are stupid, the hands are heroes, and there is nothing that cannot be done.

The power of people is far more powerful than they imagined, and the record of hoe reclamation is in Nanniwan, where someone uses a hoe to dig out five acres of land in a day. And the cow is used to die on a hot day, it is only twice the number, the day is too hot, the cow will lie on its stomach, you hit it and it will not move, and it will be in a hurry.

Jian Chen felt that he and his clan could not compare with those strong people who defy the sky, and he did not have the tools in his hand, but it was always possible for a light and strong man to open seven or eight points a day.

100 people open 60 or 70 acres of land every day, and there are still two or three months to be sown in autumn, after deducting the rain, burning bricks, digging pottery kilns, and resting, how can 3,000 acres be opened at that time.

The most important thing is that after opening it out once and for all, there are struvite stones and plant ash, and the yield per mu should be able to reach sixty or seventy catties.

And the grass on this is not the kind of thorns that are intertwined, and the soil can be turned out directly with a hoe, and it is not so difficult to cooperate with the upper bones.

As he pondered, he swung the scythe vigorously, and it was clear that the tree was not far away, but it seemed that he could not walk anywhere.

I tried to mobilize everyone's enthusiasm and distract everyone by talking about topics, and when we finally got to the bottom of the tree, everyone was half-lying on the ground, ignoring the buzzing gadfly and horseflies.

There were no labor protection gloves, and there were blood blisters on his hands, and Jian Chen picked them up with thorns, panting heavily.

A few people lay down on the side of the stream not far away, stuck their heads into the water like animals, drank again when they were still thirsty, and drank until they shook in their stomachs, and the water could ripple out with a burp.

Wolf Skin shook his hand and asked, "Jian, how much grass are we going to mow?" ”

"yes."

As soon as they heard this, the people gathered around. They heard from Jian Chen that they wanted to plant a kind of grass, which was said to have enough to eat.

Although they are tired of eating fish, they would rather eat fish than work.

"Jian, now that we have enough to eat, we can hunt, we can fish, and we can catch more cubs to raise, why do we have to mow the grass?"

Chen Jian lay down in the shade of the tree and said with a smile: "You are all tired, right?" ”

Wolfskin smiled embarrassedly and said, "Yes." ”

"Then why didn't you ask this and that when you built the house?"

"Building a house is not the same as this. You see, on the first day it was muddy, and on the second day we could see that the house was as tall as mine. But what about mowing the grass? When will we see the results? ”

After finishing speaking, he scratched his head and said, "It's not that I'm afraid of being tired, this is almost tiring compared to hunting." It's just that...... It's just that when I hunt, I can see deer and sheep in front of me, but I can see grass in front of me. And you see so much grass, do we have to cut it down? ”

Indeed, it has been two days since the mowing, and the tribesmen do not know when it will end, and the most important thing is that they have not yet seen the benefits of planting.

The clansmen were looking forward to Chen Jian's answer, and Chen Jian visually inspected it, and he had cut a lot of grass in the past two days. In fact, it will be about the same for two more days of mowing. These lands that are ready for intensive cultivation need to be prepared in advance, and those that are ready for rough fires can wait until autumn to burn them.

People are not machines, it doesn't mean that orders will be meticulously executed, there are too many things to consider, and now it takes three days to wear out the sharpness, which is also rare.

Thinking about it, Chen Jian felt that if he didn't know the benefits of planting, he was afraid that he would not be able to stand it in two days.

He stood up, looked into the distance, pointed to a small tree not too far away, and said, "Well, we'll get there in the afternoon." Whoever finishes it will go back to rest first, and we'll have to line up when the sun goes down. ”

The clansmen followed his fingers and saw that the tree was not far away, much shorter than the previous cut, and the only thing they didn't understand was what meant that whoever finished it would rest? Isn't this supposed to be for everyone?

But when I think about it, I think it's right. Since it is everyone's work, then everyone must do the same work, and everyone starts from here, and the grass is cut when they get to the tree.

It must be very comfortable to go to the river and soak in the water comfortably after drying, and it would be better if there was a little more apricot wine, but unfortunately Ken said that he would not drink anything.

This is not far away, a few people with better physical strength have already stood up and started to cut with stone sickles, and the rest of the people decided to rest for a while, anyway, with hope, they feel much more relaxed, it is better than not being able to see the edge at a glance.

Some people do it fast, some people do it slowly, but in the primitive social form, the only way to do it is absolute egalitarianism, because there is nothing to reward. The only good thing that can be sold is not the means of production, but the goods of daily life, and has been sent out as an Olympic gold medal.

As long as everyone does almost the same amount of work, the efficiency is low, and the time is enough anyway.

When the harvest is over next year, there is no doubt that the enthusiasm of the people will be high, and there is no hope in sight, unless there is no prophet, everyone will be powerless.

Jian Chen rested for a while, the first few clansmen had already cut down a large area, and the people behind them also followed.

"Hurry up, Ken, I'll finish early and wait to hear you play the flute."

Song shouted in front, and Jian Chen followed behind with a stone sickle, waving his hands vigorously, and the stone had been dyed green by blades of grass.

After a few cuts, Jian Chen heard a slight chirp, and looked down to see that a small bird that was making a nest in the grass was scratched by a stone knife.

He crouched down and picked up the little thing that had not yet grown up and was hit by a flying disaster, apparently no longer alive.

Pink blood flowed from his pale yellow mouth, his body twitched slightly, and he stared at Jian Chen with his eyes.

He sighed, he had killed many deer and slaughtered a few pigs, but when this little fluffy thing was held in his hand, it still touched the soft place in his heart.

Just as he was about to dig a pit to bury it, the cry of Yu Qian'er came from behind him, and Jian Chen hurriedly threw the bird into the grass in the distance, afraid that his sister would see it. The heart that Yu Qian'er can touch is far softer than this little bird.

"Brother, brother, Mom asked me to call you back. They dug up a lot of leeks, shallots, gourds, and mustard greens, and I saw it, and they were all dug up by the roots, as you said. I'll tell you to go back and see how you grow it. ”

"Hmm."

Chen Jian shouted at the people in front of him again: "I'll go back and rest after cutting." ”

The clansmen turned their backs to him and waved their hands, he put down the stone sickle and followed Yu Qian'er back to the village.

The vegetables that had been dug up from afar were listlessly bowing their heads, and some of the land on the edge of the village had been turned over just to grow vegetables.

Dig up a few furrows of ground with bones, bury the slender and dense roots of leeks in them, followed by people stepping on them with their feet, and then watering them with clay pots.

Leeks are tenacious, and as long as they live, they grow year after year, stubble after stubble, just like the barricades of Paris in the nineteenth century.

A ditch was dug with a hoe, and the green onion was placed diagonally in it, buried on top of the green onion, and left it alone when filling it with soil.

The gourds were transplanted near the straw hut where they ate, so that they could climb on the wood to grow, and a lot of them were planted in front of the house, and the wood will be supported in the future to form a natural shade shed.

The cultivation is simple, but it has a different effect. Yu Qian'er looked at the straight vegetable bed, which was exactly the neatness she liked, so her eyes were bent into the moon, and she carefully poured water with the clay pot to straighten those crooked to the side.

When they were busy with all this, the group of people under the mountain came back with stone sickles. Not one by one, but all together.

Song shouted at Jian Chen from afar: "It's all finished, and there is a little more cutting." Don't look at the civet cat running fast, mowing the grass is really slow, we people have cut yours in a few clicks, and he hasn't finished cutting yet, and he has cut him again. ”

The civet cat raised his hand aggrievedly and said, "My sickle handle has a wooden bump, and my hands are worn out......"

He raised his hand, and there was a large blood blister on his hand. It just seems to be wronged, but in fact there is a bit of pride and pride.

Deliberately blistered the blood that had been ground out of the labor on his hands, and rushed at the bluegrass that was watering there.

The blood blisters are not terrible, they are beautiful.