Wang's field is located in the southeast of Xinzhuang, and the land here is relatively barren due to inconvenient irrigation. In later generations, Wang Dou had worked in the farmland, and since he had inherited the skills of the body, farming was not a problem.

He drove the oxen and pushed the plough to plough the wheat field of his house, while his mother Zhong then used a rake to prepare the land, raked the ploughed soil and raked it finely, and his wife Xie Xiuniang went to carry water to water the ground. Due to the drought in the fields in recent years, the moisture is insufficient, so it is necessary to water to create moisture, otherwise the emergence rate of wheat will not be high.

The nearest stream was two miles away, and it had to be watered to fetch water. More than 20 acres of land have to create moisture, all relying on Xie Xiuniang to carry water, this hard work can be imagined, her little man pressed two heavy buckets, walked back and forth without saying a word, and worked hard, but her little face became more and more weak and pale.

In fact, there were originally some pools and canals in the southeast of this Xinzhuang, which were originally built in the Wanli period, but over the years, most of these pools and canals were silted up, and the water was difficult to survive. If you want to clear the dredging and fill the leakage, it is very labor-intensive and costly, unless the government or the entire Xinzhuang force is mobilized. At the moment, of course, Xinzhuang does not have this ability, and now the long armor system in the village is abolished, and he does not have this organizational strength.

Rivers, pools, and canals could not be counted on, so many Xinzhuang families dug wells for irrigation and used for drinking in the fields. However, due to the drought, the water output of the simple small wells that cost two or three taels, or the small brick wells that cost seven or eight taels of silver, is getting less and less, and digging it is equivalent to digging in vain.

And that kind of masonry deep well, the cost of material labor alone will cost ** two silver, the deeper well will even cost more than ten taels of silver, and a waterwheel will also need to cost more than ten taels of silver, and it also needs to be pulled by animal power. All kinds of costs are calculated to cost more than 20 taels of silver, but this kind of masonry deep well can reach more than 20 acres per well irrigation field, if the family is strong and the family is rich, it is still cost-effective to dig this kind of deep well.

It is useless to dig a small well, and the Wang family can't afford to dig a deep well, so they have to rely on the most primitive manpower, in fact, there is another option, hire manpower to carry water. Baoan Prefecture now has a kind of water picker, specializing in helping people carry water, at the beginning of each load of copper coins of three dollars, now has risen to 12 dollars a load, and it is not easy to find.

Needless to say, the Zhong family was reluctant to give this money.

The three of them worked until noon, all sweating like rain, the older the Zhong family looked, Xie Xiuniang's face became whiter, and her body looked thinner and thinner.

After all the 20 acres of land were cultivated, plus the land preparation and moisture production, fertilizer and sowing, it was already the end of August, but all the things on the ground were busy, and the whole family was relieved.

The farm work is very tiring, and it is also very exercised, Wang Dou is a lot darker, but his body is stronger, his eyes are more calm, and the sentence is right: "The sky will descend on the Si people, and they must first suffer their minds, strain their muscles and bones, and starve their bodies and skin!" ”

Wang Dou believes that the hard days will eventually pass.

……

On August 24 of the seventh year of Chongzhen, Wang Dou returned to Jingbiandun. A few people in the pier are still the same, but now it is the autumn sowing season, except for the two women, the rest of them are out to sow the agricultural time, and they will not come back until the evening.

Seeing Wang Dou, everyone's eyes were very strange, Zhong Dayong snorted heavily, but he didn't dare to shout at Wang Dou like before, just ignored Wang Dou with a straight face, and occasionally his thin eyes flashed. Yang Tong's body is better, but his front teeth are never gone, and when he sees Wang Dou, his eyes can't help but be resentful, but he only dares to mutter behind his back, and he doesn't even hear Wang Dou clearly.

Qi Tianliang, Ma Ming, and several women in the pier were full of awe of Wang Dou, and when they met Brother Wang, they were quite affectionate. Han Zhong always circled around Wang Dou, as if he had a long tail behind him, only Han Chao still looked lazy, but Wang Dou noticed that he secretly observed himself from time to time.

In the evening, everyone in the pier makes a fire to make food, a smell of smoke envelops the space in the wall, and from the meal that everyone eats, you can see the living status of everyone in the pier.

A Chang Zhong Dayong and his wife ate white noodles, Yu Dunjun and his wife stuttered a small amount of sorghum corn mixed with a lot of wild vegetables, and the same was true of the Han and Korean brothers. The black flour scones that Wang Dou ate had already made several people look at them with envy. However, Wang Dou actually eats the food brought by his family, and according to the military salary, he can only eat bran vegetables now.

Suddenly heard a "bang" sound, but it was Han Zhong who dropped the bowl in his hand, he stood up and muttered: "Damn, eat these rotten things all day long, this kind of life can't be lived, we haven't been paid rice for a few months, do you want us to starve to death?" ”

He looked at Wang Dou: "Brother Wang, why don't we go and make trouble, Hengzhi is a death, even if he is killed, it is better than starvation."

Wang Dou shook his head, calmed his mind, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

……

The next day, Wang Dou and the Han Dynasty brothers were on duty on the pier.

From the pier platform of more than ten meters high, you can see the figure of the rejection pier and the teahouse pier in the distance, standing here and looking at it, it feels really good, the autumn wind blows, there is a feeling of fluttering immortals. It's no wonder that a long bell likes the location of the pier.

Wang Dou looked at it for a while, his eyes narrowed habitually, and he calculated in his heart that in a few days, it would be leap August, and this time really passed quickly.

The voice behind him came, but it was the Han and Chao brothers who were talking softly, and the two were discussing how to find an opportunity to go out to do some business and sell some goods in a few days. In fact, the Ming Dynasty strictly forbade the Dun army in various places to leave the land without permission and sell goods, etc., but these strict criminal laws have long become a dead letter, and a large number of Dun troops who cannot survive openly violate the ban.

It was a trivial matter to leave the land without permission, and even many of the Dun troops in the border areas secretly communicated with the Mongol Jurchens outside the fortress, not only selling cloth, needlework, iron pots and other contraband to them, but even selling weapons, and some people even revealed all kinds of news about the border fortress to the enemies outside the fortress in exchange for some rewards.

The Korean and Korean brothers only plan to go out to do some business, and they are already very law-abiding.

After listening to their discussion, he mentioned a few more words: "Brother Wang." Then the footsteps came to Wang Dou's side, and it seemed that the two were planning to pull Wang Dou into the water.

Suddenly, I heard a cannon sound, followed by the sound of banging bang, the three of them trembled, and looked in the direction of the rejection pier together, but saw a beam of wolf smoke rising straight up, which was so eye-catching in the sky.

The three of them looked at each other, and they all saw a message in each other's eyes, Tartar is coming!