The fourth Li Sizhuang said: "Third brother, you're not talking nonsense." Who doesn't know that you have to plough the land first, and then sow the seeds, this is not Young Master Zuo just came back, and the general just said to give rice. ”

Li Dazhuang said: "Don't talk about these useless things, this is the situation now, come up with a method that can be used now!" ”

Li Sanzhuang said: "Then prepare the land first, it has been raining some time ago, and many fields are waterlogged, so the water must be drained first, and then the clods of soil are crushed with stone rollers to level the ground......"

Li Erzhuang was very dissatisfied when he saw his younger brother challenging his authority, and gave him a blank look: "Who doesn't know that you want to break the ground and level the ground?" You say it's simple. What to show? ”

Li Sanzhuang was not convinced, and said with a stiff neck: "I'm not worried about Young Master Zuo, they don't know?" ”

Zuo Shaoyang smiled: "Yes, we are not familiar with farming, so let's talk a little more detailed." ”

"How about it, Zuo Shaoyang said that he wanted to be detailed." Li Sanzhuang said triumphantly, "It stands to reason that the land preparation should start in mid to late February, but we have delayed it, and now it is the sowing season, and it is a little too late." ”

"Why is it too late?" Zuo Shaoyang asked.

"First of all, you have to drain the water, and after draining the water, you have to dry the field for about ten days, and then you have to dry the soil, and then you turn the ground, crush the clods with stone rollers, and then sow the seeds. This drying the fields, plowing the ground, and breaking the soil, to say the least, will take half a month. We now have only five people and 130 acres of land, most of which are fields that have been abandoned for many years, and only 20 or 30 acres are ripe fields. If we want to cultivate it all, it is impossible to do it in half a month, and we can only complete twenty or thirty acres of ripe land and sow seeds at most. ”

Li Erzhuang said angrily: "What idea did you give Young Master Zuo?" One hundred and thirty acres, you only plant twenty or thirty acres, and the rest is abandoned? ”

"I don't want to. However, just the five of us, the rest of the fields are almost all land that has been abandoned for many years, and it is more troublesome to plough, and there is also fertilization, how many hands do you have? Li Sanzhuang said.

Li Sizhuang also echoed: "I think the third brother's suggestion is reasonable, we all want to plant 130 acres of land, the more the better, but the five of us, if we turn over the land, the whole thing, and it is still land that has been abandoned for many years, it is estimated that we will not be able to get down in two months." It's the end of March now, and the seeds must be planted by mid-April, otherwise the season will be missed. We only have half a month, and we can only choose the cultivated land that has been cultivated before to cultivate, so as to ensure that the sowing is harvested! ”

Li Erzhuang stopped talking, he was in charge of farming at home, how could he not know that the words of the third and fourth brothers were reasonable, but what he thought about was how to plant more in order to repay the Zuo family's life-saving grace. However, farming is about the season, and if you miss the season, no matter what purpose you delay the land, if you don't give food, you won't give it, and if you plant it, you will plant it in vain.

Zuo Shaoyang saw that Miao Peilan had not spoken, so he asked, "Lan'er, what is your opinion?" ”

Miao Peilan smiled shyly: "It's too busy, it will take half a month to turn over the ground and dry the fields and break the soil, and it depends on God's face, if it rains for half a month, it will be troublesome, and the soil will not be broken." If it is a ripe field that has been cultivated in previous years, it is not a big problem, but if the land has been abandoned for many years, the seeds cannot be sown without turning over the land and preparing the soil. They were sprinkled on the ground and fed to the birds. This half month is not counting the time for fertilization and seed selection. If you add it, you will only be afraid of half a month, and the season will be already past at that time, and you will not be able to sow seeds. ”

Zuo Shaoyang said: "You mean, with the ability of the five of you, you can get all the land in order before the final deadline for sowing in mid-April, and you can only complete twenty or thirty acres of land at most?" ”

Miao Peilan nodded.

Li Sanzhuang said: "This must also be the cooked land cultivated in previous years, and it will be replaced by abandoned land, just ten acres is good." ”

Li Erzhuang sighed and said, "If you have enough time, you should be able to plough a few more acres of land, but now it's a pity that it's too late." ”

Aunt Li has been listening silently, and when she heard this, she interjected: "Now is the best sowing season, miss the end of March, delay it by one day, and the harvest will be less in the future." But now all the land has not been ploughed, and by the time the land is ploughed, the best time for planting has been missed, and this year there is no hope for a good harvest. ”

The sowing method that the Li brothers and Miao Peilan said was very different from the method that Zuo Shaoyang knew in modern society, thought about it, and asked: "After the ground is turned over, do you sow the seeds directly in the field?" ”

"Yes, after sowing, let people stay by to drive away the birds and prevent pecking."

"Then when will the water be released for irrigation?"

"Wait for the seedlings to grow."

"If that's the case, then the seeds can only be sown after half a month of ploughing. The sowing time was postponed by half a month, and the best season was missed, and the harvest was not good. Is that the case? ”

"yes!" The Li brothers were very happy and felt very cordial when they saw that Zuo Shaoyang was very interested in farming, you know, in ancient times, scholars disdained to deal with farmers. Peasants often have a natural inferiority complex when they are with scholars, and if they can make friends with scholars, it is already a thing worth boasting about.

Zuo Shaoyang said: "Is there a way to sow seeds now and plough the land at the same time?" ”

The four brothers of the Li family, Miao Peilan and Aunt Li all looked at each other and shook their heads together. Li Erzhuang said with a smile: "Young Master Zuo, there is no way about this, because we have to turn over the cultivated land, dry it, and then use a stone roller to crush the soil, this time generally takes more than ten days, that is, after turning the ground for ten days, we can sprinkle the seeds on it." There is no way to do it at the same time. ”

"There's a way!" Zuo Shaoyang smiled, "We only need to spread the rice crop in a special seedling field, and at the same time, we can plough the land and prepare the land, and wait until the seedlings in the seedling field grow long enough, and then insert the seedlings back into the rice field. ”

The seedling transplanting technology of rice appeared as early as the Han Dynasty, but the seedling transplanting at that time was to pull up the seedlings, eradicate the weeds in the field, and then plant the seedlings back, the purpose is to remove weeds, and the current seedling transplanting is not the same thing. Moreover, this method of weeding is only used locally, because the effect is not ideal, and it is not popular.

The real seedling transplanting technique was after the Song Dynasty. Therefore, the Li brothers and others in the early Tang Dynasty naturally did not know about this agricultural technology.

Miao Peilan and they didn't understand what seedling transplanting was, so Zuo Shaoyang explained it to them carefully, and they understood, but these farmers who have been in the field since they were young and turned their backs to the loess were told by a scholar how to raise seedlings and how to plant, and they felt a little awkward.

Li Erzhuang asked cautiously: "Plant the seedlings separately, of course this is a good way, you can plow the land at the same time, but if you plant the seedlings back into the ground, will it ......, this, hurt the seedling roots, and you have to dig pits to plant them, right?" Could it be, this, hehe, too much effort? ”

"No, because the field needs to be irrigated to soak the field, and the soil lumps will be broken into mud, so that if the seedlings are planted in, the seedlings will basically not be injured."

Li Sanzhuang said curiously: "After plowing the field, you will directly irrigate it? Do not crush the seeds? ”

The method introduced by Zuo Shaoyang is unheard of by them, and it is naturally very strange.

Zuo Shaoyang said: "Yes, after plowing the land first, you don't need to dry the field, you can directly put water to soak the field, don't put too much water, you can't hide the back of the clods, do a five-inch field shortage, let the water flow in, and flow out from the low field, and then use a rake to mix the mud, level the field, and wait for the seedlings to grow, you can transplant." ”

This is a very different technology from rice cultivation in the early Tang Dynasty, and everyone was stunned. A few of them didn't believe that Zuo Shaoyang's strange idea could come true, so they just listened, but they didn't believe it very much.

Zuo Shaoyang said: "According to my method, you can save ten days of drying the field, and use it for ploughing, and you should be able to plough more fields." In addition, you can sow seedlings at the most suitable time to ensure maximum returns, what do you think? ”

Everyone was silent, they were very skeptical that Zuo Shaoyang's new farming method was feasible, and they always felt that this was the whimsy of the scholars, if they really did it according to Zuo Shaoyang's method, in case there was no harvest, and then it would not help the Zuo family but harm the Zuo family, and then it would be impossible to say. However, if he clearly expressed his opposition and did not give Zuo Shaoyang face, it would not be good, and the surname Suo did not speak.

The room was quiet, Zuo Gui and Liang didn't know anything about farm work, and they didn't know what to do. Liang whispered to Zuo Shaoyang: "Zhong'er, you haven't planted crops, don't make up your mind, or ......, let's do it according to what Brother Li said!" ”

Zuo Gui's father also stroked his beard and nodded frequently, of course he also believed in Li Erzhuang, an agricultural authority who has been plowing and raking the land since he was a child, and naturally he didn't believe that the method said by his son who had never farmed the land was useful.

Zuo Shaoyang was anxious: "Don't worry, do what I say, it will definitely work!" ”

Everyone still looked at each other, not daring to express their attitude.

Fennel also said: "Brother, now food is our life, if the field is not planted well and wasted, and we don't produce food, we won't have anything to eat next year!" ”

Zuo Shaoyang asked Miao Peilan: "Lan'er, what do you think?" ”

Miao Peilan blushed and shook her head: "I don't know ......, I listen to Brother Zuo." ”

These words made Zuo Shaoyang immediately increase his confidence: "That's good, anyway, our family's land has one hundred and thirty acres, and the eldest brothers of the Li family also said it just now, plus Lan'er and the five of them can only plough twenty or thirty acres, and the remaining one hundred acres are still abandoned, so it's better to divide it into two groups, the four eldest brothers of the Li family, and plant twenty acres of cooked land." In this way, food production can be guaranteed, and fertile land will not be wasted. For the rest, Lan'er and I will farm according to my own methods. Anyway, the general agreed, and gave us a hundred acres of rice to plant. ”

Zuo Gui's father glared and said, "Zhong'er, are you talking nonsense?" The four brothers can only plant twenty or thirty acres, and you and Miss Miao can plant a hundred acres? ”

(To be continued)