In July of 1617, the weather in Liaodong became hot.

The carpenter sat on the edge of the field, and an irrigation ditch flowed past him, and on one side of the ditch was a field of wheat. He rested for the past two days, and sat on the edge of the wheat field in a daze. You can watch it all day without moving. His wife brought him food at noon, and she often followed it blankly, and it was a long time to look at it.

The people of the Sang family are all from the farm, they are very familiar with farm work, and they are also very affectionate about the land. It's just that now the things in the field have gradually become incomprehensible to them.

Last year, the four guards of southern Liaoning fell into the hands of the 'revolutionary army'. Due to the invasion of Jiannu, a large number of peasants fled to the southern Liaoning Peninsula in eastern and western Liaoning. Zhou Qingfeng and other traversers did not have the ability to manage and control hundreds of thousands of people, so they simply engaged in villager autonomy and let them manage themselves. As for the fields, they were really planted casually, and abandoned land was everywhere.

Han Chinese farmers are the most industrious. After receiving the most basic relief from the 'revolutionary army', they began to spontaneously engage in production to save themselves. The houses were built, the ditches were opened, the land was prepared, the seeds were sown, and the winter wheat was planted at the end of September and the beginning of October last year.

Due to the poor labor capacity of individual peasants, it is only possible to form a farm collective labor of several hundred people. The 'revolutionary army' provided cattle, seeds, fertilizer, farming tools, and grain. Basically all the people who fled were in debt. But as long as you can survive, it's okay to be in debt. In addition, the debts in kind of the 'revolutionary army' do not count interest, and it is good to return them with grain every other year.

Such a good thing has never happened before.

In the past year of hard work, the Ministry of Agriculture of the 'Revolutionary Army' sent people from time to time to guide agricultural production, and talked about fertilization, watering, pests, and epidemics. The old farmer who has been farming all his life may know some truth in his heart, but he can't say it in his mouth.

Those young agricultural technicians who had been temporarily trained ran around, and even Minister Li Shuwei and Li came in person. With this combination of theoretical guidance and practice, this year's crops are really gratifying, and now it is finally harvest season.

The golden wheat field was full of heavy ears of wheat, and the mulberry carpenter was excited and amazed when he saw such a good harvest. He is now a carpenter, but he has been farming all his life, and he has never seen such a good field.

"How much grain do you have to get for this acre of land?"

This is not only the question of the mulberry carpenter, but also the question of all the villagers in the entire Siwei in southern Liaoning. Last year, the conditions were not good, and the area covered by the water conservancy facilities was not large. Due to the small number of ploughing cattle, the farmland cannot be deeply cultivated. Last year's winter wheat was generally labor-intensive. However, this year's yield per mu is still generally increasing, with some fields being more than two or three percent, and some even being five or six percent.

Due to the barrenness of many farmlands, most of them are inferior fields. The average yield per mu of land in a single season is less than one stone. If the farmers don't know how to wait, the yield per mu is not even half a stone. Even under these circumstances, the farmland renovation project, which has been going on since last year, has brought great benefits into play.

The yield per mu of these fields in front of the mulberry carpenter is also a stone, that is, about 100 kilograms. Although this output is far less than the four or five hundred kilograms that later generations used to do at every turn, it is already a bumper yield at present.

The mulberry carpenter looked joyful, and even stunned. He sat on the edge of the field, and several four-wheeled carriages passed by. A man driving a car greeted him and shouted, "Old man, come to see our field again." ”

The road on the edge of the field is not good, and the carriage is not fast.

When the mulberry carpenter heard someone call him 'old man', he immediately laughed and scolded: "I'm not even fifty yet, and I haven't lived enough of my good days, why am I old?" After laughing, he said, "You have planted this field well, and you can have a full meal this year." ”

The man driving deliberately stopped and said happily: "Those people under the big handsome say that they want to 'scientific farming', but they are actually a group of teenage cubs." They think they are sorry when they learn some trivial things, and they want us to do this and that every day, and they are very annoyed. I think that this year's fertilizer is used well, and there will be more grain. ”

The agricultural technicians of the 'revolutionary army' were all young people, and after learning some farming methods, they were arranged to guide the planting in the fields. In the past year, these rusty agricultural technicians have made a lot of troubles, making farmers who have been farming all their lives laugh at a lot. However, the Ministry of Agriculture's promotion of 'scientific farming' will not stop, but will continue to deepen and strengthen.

The rookie agricultural technicians who were still unfamiliar last year are much more mature this year. It's just that the farmers in the fields still habitually laugh at them, feeling that those little cubs who have no hair on their mouths can't do big things - the power of agricultural technicians has not yet been exerted, but the power of fertilizer is immediate.

Grass ash can be used as potassium fertilizer, and the treated manure humus in the nitrate field can be nitrogen fertilizer. Phosphate fertilizer mainly comes from bone meal, which is somewhat lacking. Thanks to the application of these basic fertilizers, the crops in this field have been growing very well. The people on the farm don't recognize anything else, but the benefits of a large amount of fertilizer still need to be recognized.

As a result, the construction of nitrate fields has been going on, and the production of potassium nitrate has become a side business, and the main business has become composting. Potassium nitrate, which was the most lacking in the manufacture of gunpowder, is now not lacking, but sulfur is beginning to be scarce.

"Da Shuai is good, Da Shuai is really good." The mulberry carpenter nodded again and again, "Not only does it produce more grain, but it also saves effort in farming." In the territory of our 'revolutionary army', the life of the common people is better. ”

There is something to be said in this statement. When planting last year, the Ministry of Machinery tried to produce a small batch of manpower seeders for dryland wheat fields. When the production capacity of several hydro-powered wood processing plants came up this year, a large number of two-horse animal-powered harvesters were promoted.

The emergence of these agricultural machinery and equipment has the help of mulberry carpenters. After all, the whole process from drawings to physical objects to mass production with improved reliability is not easy. Although these wooden and iron manpower and animal power farming tools were far inferior to the mechanized agricultural machinery of later generations, they were too easy to bend down to the field and wield a sickle.

Labor efficiency has been increased by more than three times.

Agricultural harvesting is a race against God. When the weather is good, it must be completed as soon as possible, otherwise it will be a bumper harvest but the yield will be reduced. The simplest agricultural machinery can also greatly reduce labor intensity, so as to make farming much easier.

In the wheat field in front of the mulberry carpenter, there are people operating animal power harvesters, and the speed of harvesting is refreshing. Ploughing the land, sowing the seeds, and harvesting are the hardest things in farming. If the intensity of these tasks is reduced, the peasants' enthusiasm for farming will be greatly enhanced.

The collective farms took advantage of their organizational strengths and forced the peasant households to work with discipline – the peasants were particularly diligent when they were hungry. But once they find that there is abundant food, they will be very lazy. When the wife and children are hot on the kang, there is no motivation and pressure to continue working.

Behind the mulberry carpenter, a large field of wheat has been harvested. The man who drove the car pulled the freshly harvested wheat and carried it to a nearby farm. The 'revolutionary army' was determined to use all kinds of machinery to reduce the intensity of agricultural labor, so it built a large number of hydraulic machinery before the harvest was busy.

The hydraulically driven thresher, peeler, and flour grinder are all complete sets. There is also a drying kiln that uses straw as fuel to solve the problem of grain drying. In the past, these tasks were exhausting, but now they are all powered by building dams and storing water, and they are done semi-mechanically. Save time and effort, especially fast.

Last year, when the farming was slack, the 'revolutionary army' paid for peasant households to come out and repair water conservancy. Some people are reluctant to come, feeling too tired. There is no need to mobilize this year, everyone knows how to build the reservoir. Even a small reservoir can solve a big problem.

"Alas, it is indeed good to work with water. But there are still too few reservoirs. The man driving was also a little worried, "There is only one hydraulic processing point near us, and several farms are waiting in line." Yesterday, people from the two villages fought to grab a position. We are short of water, and this year people in several villages are discussing to increase the current reservoir together. ”

"The construction of the reservoir still needs the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture, so don't repair it indiscriminately. Otherwise, you will be criticized. Carpenter Sang kindly reminded, "Don't be too anxious about some things, life is much better now than in the past." Don't mess around, otherwise it's not worth it to be criticized. If you break the rules of the handsome, you will be driven away. ”

In southern Liaoning, the land belonged to the 'revolutionary army', and the peasants only had the right to cultivate. Therefore, the 'revolutionary army' has a great deal of control over the peasant households at the bottom. The man driving the car nodded repeatedly, "That's right." I've also heard people say that if the reservoir is not repaired well, it will be bad. If something breaks down, everyone will be doomed. But I've heard that there are still 'steam engines', and when will we be able to use them? ”

The development of hydraulic machinery needs to be built along the river, which is inconvenient for places far away from the river. So when the steam engine appeared on a large scale, hydraulic machinery was quickly phased out. However, the production capacity of the machinery and equipment of the 'revolutionary army' is extremely low, and the use and maintenance are more like a disaster. It is unrealistic to rely on the steam engine on a large scale.

Carpenter Sang shook his head, "Let's talk about it in a few years, I can't count on it now." ”

The man driving nodded again, and after chatting, he whipped the car and drove away. The mulberry carpenter was also happy to look at the four-wheeled carriage in the distance, and the popularization of the carriage was also a major event to improve production efficiency. Otherwise, transporting large quantities of materials can exhaust people to death - agriculture in the past relied entirely on manpower and a small amount of animal power, and the labor intensity was too great.

"This road needs to be repaired, too." The carpenter looked down at the potholed field road, "No one cared about this in the past, but now it can't." Alas...... there's so much work to do. But when all this work is done, it will be unthinkable! ”

After sitting on the edge of the field for a day, the mulberry carpenter walked around the farm again. His current location is east of Fuzhou, near the city of Zhuanghe, which was later built. The 'Revolutionary Army' plans to build a new factory here, and it seems that they want to develop some mines in Dandong. He was transferred to support the construction, and he wanted to build several hydraulic processing plants to solve the problem of production and processing of building materials on the spot.

After a day's stay, the carpenter was about to return to the site dormitory, but he saw the driver who had sent the wheat to the processing point returning. The man was happy when he went, but when he came back, he was a little preoccupied. He took the initiative to ask, "What's going on?" Don't have time at the processing point? ”

"It's fine at the processing point, and the threshing and hulling are going well. You have to wait for drying and grinding noodles, and the wheat grains have to be soaked in water for half a day. I simply sold the grain to the man sent by the commander to collect it. The man driving the car said.

"Then why are you upset?"

"The grain we have collected in the past few days has been used to repay last year's loan, and the grain collectors are guarding the processing point. They thought about it and said that we had already paid off half of last year's arrears, and the rest could be repaid next year, without interest.

Now the rest of the wheat in the field is all our own. Now there are more cows, more horses, and ditches have been dug. Next year, there will only be more grain, and maybe there will be two stones of wheat in one acre of land. ”

"That's not good?" The mulberry carpenter turned his head to look at the wheat field that was still being harvested. It would be five or six o'clock in the afternoon, and the wheat fields would look particularly golden in the sunset. That's all food!

"You Zhuangzi hundreds of people can eat hard this year."

But the man who drove the car said, "Don't we really have to pay taxes this year?" In the past, the land rent handed over to the government was seventy or eighty percent, but this year we only paid back the cattle, seeds, and farm tools that we owed to the marshal last year with wheat. Dashuai doesn't want us to pay half a cent of interest. We have paid at most 40% of the grain now, and the rest is all ours? I'm a little unsure. ”

The taxes paid were less, and the family was afraid.

But the carpenter can really understand the other party's feelings. It was all too common in the past for the hardest working farmers to not eat what they grow. Some people can't eat wheat even if they grow it, so they have to change it for some grains such as millet. Eating bread made of flour all meals, the landlord's family could not live such a comfortable life.

It's good now, the 'revolutionary army' said that it would not collect land rent for two years, but it really won't collect it. Fearing that someone in the local area would play with his authority and collect taxes indiscriminately and ruin his reputation, the commander had already sent a large number of working groups to inspect the villages—the 'revolutionary army' imposed a rule that no one should collect taxes from peasant households. Whoever dares to take it will have his head, this is an iron law!

This year, grain production has increased, farming has become easier, taxes have been reduced, and every family can eat with their bellies open. The man who drove the car thought deeply in his heart, so he asked the carpenter: "You said that the handsome man doesn't collect taxes, how can he hold on?"

This is for cattle, seeds, agricultural machinery, water power, etc., how much does it cost? If the handsome man can't hold on, won't we be finished?

The people at the processing point are talking about it. Everyone was worried that the Tartars from the north would come again, and they were also worried that those corrupt officials in the Ming Court would come to harm again. No, you can't forget your roots, you have to pay taxes to the marshal. This time, we are willing to make it. ”