Zheng Fugui returned home, it was already the eighteenth day of the first month, he went out for two months, he had a huge harvest, but his heart was also uneasy, maize and sweet potatoes did exist, but in Fujian, there are not many people who plant, it is said that this thing is too delicate, a little careless, it is very likely that there will be no harvest.

Zheng Fugui gritted his teeth and bought forty stone seeds, including twenty-five stones of maize, which can sow a thousand acres of land, and fifteen stones of sweet potato seeds, which can sow thirty acres of land.

It cost a full two hundred taels of silver to buy these forty stone seeds, and you must know that with so much silver, you can buy nearly one hundred stone of rice, which is enough to maintain the Zheng family's food for more than half a year.

But it was precisely because of the high price that Zheng Fugui fully believed in the preciousness of this thing, and he rushed back in the fastest time after sleeping in the open along the way.

Before he had time to rest, Zheng Xunrui organized all the men of the Zheng family, as well as the young women, and all the tenants, to divide into two groups and began to go to the fields.

The Zheng family only has more than 500 acres of cultivated land, most of which were bought by Zheng Fugui after making money in business, which is insignificant compared to those big gentry and wealthy households, but such conditions are also very good, at least they can support their families.

Because of the lack of arable land, Zheng Fugui found four elder brothers, as well as some other gentry and wealthy households, leased 500 acres of arable land, and said that the annual lease fee for each mu of cultivated land was two taels and five yuan of silver, first pay one or two silver, and pay the remaining silver during the autumn harvest.

There are a total of 1,000 acres of cultivated land, of which 30 acres are planted with sweet potatoes, and the rest are all planted with maize.

After buying so many seeds, spending 500 taels of silver to lease the cultivated land, and paying the remaining 750 taels in the autumn harvest season, it can be said that it is a complete battle, and there is no room for retreat.

Zheng Fugui was very worried, mainly because he did not know how to cultivate maize and sweet potatoes, and the locals were willing to sell him seeds, but they were not willing to teach him the slightest technique.

But what Zheng Fugui didn't expect was that Zheng Xunrui knew the planting technology very well, and said that he was trying to get it out of the mouth of that big businessman, and the planting technology was top secret, so it was not easy to get it out.

On the nineteenth day of the first month, when all the farmers were still immersed in the atmosphere of the Spring Festival, all the people of the Zheng family, as well as all the tenants, Zheng Xunrui put forward clear requirements, first of all, cultivated land, deep ploughing of cultivated land to reach 20 centimeters, need to plow the field three times, followed by a large number of collection of farm fertilizer, each mu of cultivated land needs 400 stone farm fertilizer, can be more, never less.

Taking advantage of the good weather, Zheng Xunrui spread out all the seeds of maize and exposed them to the sun, which surprised Zheng Fugui, but the matter had come to this point, and he had no choice.

Seedling cultivation is not established, it is too labor-intensive, there is no film, it can't be done at present, Zheng Xunrui can only use direct cultivation.

Before the crossing, he used to work in the township, going deep into the fields, helping farmers to plant corn and sweet potatoes, because he had personally operated it, and he knew all the planting techniques by heart.

In this era, the planting of maize and sweet potato, the yield can not be compared with later generations, one is no film, the second is no chemical fertilizer, the third is that the seeds can not be selected, the yield of maize in later generations can reach more than 1,600 catties per mu, which is equivalent to the yield of eight stones, and the yield of sweet potatoes can reach 7,000 catties per mu, which is equivalent to the yield of 35 stones, Zheng Xunrui does not dare to have such great ambitions, it is good to guarantee half, that is, the yield of maize reaches 800 catties, which is equivalent to four stones, and the yield of sweet potatoes reaches 3,000 catties, which is equivalent to fifteen stones, According to this yield conversion, maize and sweet potatoes will produce amazing wealth, you must know that the most scarce thing in the Chongzhen period is food.

Of course, Zheng Xunrui didn't think of anything to change, the only thing he thought of at this time was that the family needed to make money, the famine was coming, the merchants needed a lot of food, and when the time came, the grain could be sold at a high price, and the Zheng family could get rich in an instant.

At the end of the first month, all the sweet potato seeds were planted, and at the same time, all the 400 stone of farm fertilizer was applied.

At the beginning of February, all the seeds of maize were planted, and the 400 stone of farm manure was also applied.

The core technology of planting, only Zheng Fugui and Zheng Xunrui mastered, that is, how to select seeds, and how to cut sweet potatoes, Zheng Xunrui is very confident, such technology, including farmers in Fujian and other places are not clear, Zheng Xunrui mastered the sowing technology, that is after hundreds of years of development and summary, the yield is naturally different.

Zheng Fugui is absolutely confidential about the core technology of planting, and he and Zheng Xunrui were busy all night, not wanting anyone to interfere, including Zheng Kaihua.

The reason why Zheng Xunrui did not tell Zheng Kaihua about the core technology is that Zheng Kaihua is too young, and if he is not careful, he may leak secrets, which may have an impact on his future arrangements.

After more than half a month's work, he had to go to the county school on the twentieth day of the first month, Zheng Xunrui was tired and miserable, and he was looking thin, but the huge hope supported him, the price of grain in the south had risen to three taels of silver per stone, and it would rise in the future.

After Zheng Fugui went home, he was busy with things in the field, and intermittently heard Ma talk about the changes in his family, in fact, he had already discovered that everyone in the family listened to Zheng Xunrui, which was completely different from before.

Zheng Kaihua's status in the family has changed significantly, Zheng Fugui sees it in his eyes, he is happy in his heart, and the two brothers can be united, which is a great thing, as for the marriage between Zheng Jinhong and Yuhuan, he was a little surprised, but after hearing the reason Zheng Xunrui said, he was relieved and sincerely happy.

Seeing Zheng Xunrui so busy, Zheng Fugui is very distressed, after all, he is only fifteen years old, if he is in the official palace, Zheng Xunrui's task is to study, but now Zheng Xunrui is tired and tired, and he is really a cow and a horse.

Although he can't study, Zheng Fugui still remembers the family motto left by the Zheng family, and in his spare time, he went to worship his ancestors, and implored his ancestors to bless the Zheng family and bless Zheng Xunrui.

Zheng Fugui is actually the hardest, he will do farming, he is a good hand, many times he personally instructs tenants how to plant, he does not understand Zheng Xunrui's decision to give tenants a stone of grain per acre of land, the family has invested so much silver, and to give tenants so much grain, will it be a loss-making business.

However, this decision has played a huge role, and the enthusiasm of the tenants is unprecedentedly high, and they are not lazy in implementing all the planting technical requirements to the letter.

After all the seeds were sown, Zheng Fugui and Zheng Xunrui calculated the accounts once.

The cost of this time was clear, the cost of buying seeds was 200 taels of silver, the living expenses along the way were 150 taels of silver, the lease of cultivated land was 500 taels of silver, and the other expenses were 500 taels of silver, and the amount of silver taken out reached 865 taels, in addition to 750 taels of silver, which needed to be paid at the time of the autumn harvest, and each acre of land was given to the tenants a stone of grain, which was converted into 3,000 taels of silver.

That is to say, all the expenses amounted to four thousand six hundred taels of silver.

It was spread evenly on each acre of land, close to four taels of silver, and there were 500 acres of cultivated land in his own house.

You must know that today's cultivated land, the yield per mu is all counted, that is, about six taels to seven taels of silver, which includes all the income, that is to say, the investment is too huge, if you can't get a good harvest, it will definitely lose money, and there is a lot of loss.

After settling the score, Zheng Xunrui just smiled, it didn't matter at all.

Zheng Xunrui didn't want to settle the account, he was afraid that after the calculation, he would frighten Zheng Fugui, according to the most conservative estimate, the harvest of 1,000 mu of cultivated land can reach more than 4,300 stones, remove 1,000 stones, there are still 3,300 stones, and each stone of grain is converted into three taels of silver, and the total income is close to 10,000 taels of silver.

Not to mention, this is just the beginning.

After all the seeds were planted in the cultivated land, Zheng Fugui could no longer sit still, and had to go around the fields every day, care about the situation in the fields, and talk directly to the tenants to see if there would be any accidents.

According to Zheng Xunrui's request, during the growth process of maize and sweet potato, there was another fertilization, which was in early March, followed by the management of the field, which did not require too much energy.

After the seedlings came out, Zheng Fugui's mood began to get nervous, these seedlings that had grown, he had never seen before, they were strange, completely different from wheat, rice and corn, so that the surrounding farmers laughed, thinking that the Zheng family was fooling around, whether they were planting grass or not, and the fields would not be planted.

After the seedlings grew, Zheng Xunrui went to the field to see it once, and he looked very seriously, and a relieved smile appeared on his face.

At the end of April, Zheng Xunrui went to the field again and looked at it carefully, at this time, the maize had already produced jade wood cobs, and the corn cobs were growing up.

From this time on, Zheng Fugui told all tenants that they must protect those sticks and must not damage them, otherwise they will be severely punished, and even deduct grain.