On the eighteenth day of the first month, early in the morning, just after dawn, the villagers gathered at the old ganbang's house, Wang Chong, Niu Daring, Ma Renli, the three monkeys, and the blind old Yin, who had a good relationship with the old, rushed over, the old rode a borrowed donkey, wore new clothes, hung a red silk, Wang Chong didn't know where to find a suona, Niu boldly took the gong, and knocked all the way to Jixian Town.

Jixian Town used to be called Jixian Village, last year Jixian Village was set up as the center, a market was set up next to it, every Monday and every five days to open the market, Maixiang Village to Jixian Town, a total of 20 miles of land, walk for more than an hour.

The county seat is a little farther away, starting from Maixiang Village, and it takes more than two hours to reach it just by walking.

Han Laosi's family is in the middle area of Jixian Village, and the Han family is a big surname in Jixian Village.

Wang Chong also officially met Han Chunmei, the daughter-in-law of the old, and her appearance is indeed the same as what the matchmaker said, not to mention how handsome she is, but it is true that Zhou Zheng, who is about the same height as the old, is dressed in a half-new floral cotton jacket, combs two braids, has broken bangs in front of her forehead, and wears thick cotton clothes, which can't stop the bulge on her chest.

The old ganbang can't afford a banquet, but it's okay to ask a few people who help to pick up relatives together and a bowl of wine per person, and a few big white steamed buns to scrambled eggs.

After all, this is a day of great joy.

Early the next morning, Wang Chong had just baked a bunch of scallion pancakes and put them in the grate, and the polenta in the pot was almost cooked.

"Wang Chong! Wang Zhong! ”

As soon as Wang Chong was about to eat, there was a sound of Niu Youdao outside, Wang Chong opened the door and saw that the old and his new daughter-in-law Han Chunmei were standing side by side in the courtyard.

"What are you doing there in the pestle on a cold day, hurry up and enter the house, enter the house!"

"You two came just in time, the scallion pancakes that have just come out of the pot are hot! There is porridge in the pot! You two sheng by yourself. While speaking, Wang Zhong had already taken out two pairs of bowls from the cupboard against the wall on the west side and placed them in front of the two of them.

"No, no, we came after breakfast!" The old ganbang waved his hand again and again to refuse: "I came here with Chunmei, I want to thank you, we don't have any good things at home, Chunmei wants to make you a pair of shoes to show our gratitude to you." ”

"If you really want to thank me, come over and help me!" Wang Zhong smiled and sandwiched a scallion pancake for each of them: "Taking advantage of the current slack farming, let's make a few more windmills, we can earn more money, and when spring starts in a few days, some of them will be busy." ”

The old ganstick said: "I came here to help you!" ”

"Then don't be polite to me, eat some more! You can't work without energy! ”

······

The famous old in the village actually married a daughter-in-law, which made the remaining group of old bachelors in the village envious.

Even Wang Chong couldn't help but sigh, his own days, even in these ten miles and eight towns, are the most nourishing, this monk has been a monk for more than a year, it's time to find a woman to cook and laundry for him, make the bed and fold the quilt to warm the bed.

The most important thing is that the true qi in the body has become more and more pure and vigorous recently, coupled with the energy beyond ordinary people, even if you meditate for two hours a day and practice qi, so that you can be clear and clear and have no distracting thoughts, but after a night of rest, the body will always respond involuntarily.

Who to look for? There are only a few girls in the village who look passable, Qiao Yue is definitely not good, this girl is too lazy to do it, seeing that after she boldly married Niu in her original book, she only knows how to sleep lazily with eyebrows and eyes, where is a person who can live.

Yang Deng'er is not bad, not to mention her handsome appearance, her personality is good, the key is to be diligent, enough to go back first, but this girl is now tied to Niu Daring's heart.

In terms of women, Wang Zhong will never settle at will, and would rather be single if he doesn't.

In his free time, Wang Chong went to the county to buy more than a dozen jars, cleaned the radishes harvested in the field, and made them into kimchi.

Radish is full of treasures, not only the fruit can be used to make kimchi, but even the stems and leaves can also be used, and it has a unique flavor.

Although Wang Chong doesn't pick it, the taste of Tiannan and Haibei can be accepted, but in the end, he was born in a spicy place like Sichuan and Xiang, and the pickles he made are naturally indispensable to chili peppers.

Last year, Wang Chong didn't plant many chili peppers, only enough for himself to eat, but fortunately, there were dried chili peppers sold in the county, Wang Chong bought them back, fried them until later, and then turned them into minced pieces in spring, sprinkled with a little salt and soy sauce, poured hot oil, and the aroma of chili peppers was immediately stimulated.

Drinking a little wine, on the slightly sour pickled radish, dipped in a little oil chili, the taste is amazing.

In the real world, Wang Chong's uncle loves this one the most.

As the days passed, the weather gradually warmed up, and the wheat in the fields gradually turned green.

At the suggestion of Wang Chong, several people in the mutual aid group changed the thatched house at home last year, and took it out in the winter when the farm was slack, and soaked it together with the straw and other things that had already been prepared.

About seven or eight days after top dressing, spring irrigation begins, this year's rain is sufficient, just the beginning of spring with seven or eight days of light rain, although the water level of the Maixiang River has not risen much, but the wheat growth in the field is quite gratifying.

Rain alone is certainly not enough, and spring irrigation is essential for wheat to grow well in the absence of fertilizer.

Before the spring irrigation, Wang Chong has led people to carefully inspect the waterwheel, the overturner, the weir pond and the irrigation canal from beginning to end several times, the waterwheel and the overturned car are all good materials, no problem, that is, there are some places in the irrigation canal that need to be repaired, and the villagers work together to dredge the irrigation canal in less than half a day.

Several weir ponds were also filled with water early, and seeing that the time was almost up, spring irrigation began.

Watching the continuous flow of water in the irrigation canal into the ground from top to bottom, the faces of the villagers also showed a bright and simple smile.

A few months later, during the summer harvest, a completely different picture appeared in the field of Wang Chong, the leader of the second mutual aid group.

I saw a boxy wooden box, half covered with a tarpaulin propped up with rattan, behind the tarpaulin there is a device similar to a bicycle seat and pedal, driven by gears and chains, Ma Renli sat on the pedal, grabbed the handrail with both hands, and kept pedaling with both feet, Jin Huasao and Han Chunmei took turns holding a handful of cut wheat and putting it in the half-covered tarpaulin cloak, and after a while, the threshed straw was piled aside.

Wang Zhong and Lao Ganbang, the three monkeys were buried in the front of the wheat cutting, and a passage had been opened in the golden wheat field, Ma Renli and the other three of them cut a line, and began to pull the threshing machine to threshing work.

"Sister-in-law Jinhua, this threshing machine is really easy to use!" Han Chunmei only got married at the beginning of the year, and she often heard her man talk about threshers, but this is the first time she has used it.

Sister-in-law Jin Hua smiled and said, "It's really easy to use, it's much easier than using a flail." ”

"That's it! Don't look at who designed it! Ma Renli, who was stepping on the pedal, also said with a smile.

Compared with cutting wheat under the sun under the sun, this work of stepping on the thresher is much easier, Ma Renli only needs to step on the pedal at a constant speed, wait for the nearby wheat to be threshed, and then help Jin Huasao and Han Chunmei push the threshing machine forward.

"Our Captain Wang is really powerful!" Han Chunmei said with emotion.

"Not really!" Sister-in-law Jin Hua said with a smile: "It's a windmill and a threshing machine, as well as a waterwheel and an irrigation canal, I have never seen such a powerful person as our team leader in my life!" ”

Han Chunmei also smiled and said, "I haven't seen it either!" ”

"None of us have seen each other!" Not far away, the three monkeys and the old gan stick, who were burying their heads in cutting wheat, also stood up and said.

Han Chunmei has just been married to Lao Ganbang for only a few months, and she is not a person who likes to visit the door, and the people in the village have not recognized it yet, and now she has a good relationship with Jinhua's sister-in-law and Xiao Zhuan, who often come to the door, and Yang Deng'er is slightly worse, not to mention the rest.

The main reason is that there are not many women of similar age left in the village, and there are a lot of men in the village who are like three monkeys and can't eat enough.

"Sister-in-law, our captain looks very kind, why does everyone call him a big worm?" Han Chunmei asked curiously.

"Didn't the girl ask you about the head of the house?" Sister-in-law Jinhua said.

"I know this!" Ma Renli couldn't wait to answer.

"I also listened to what my father said, that year I just went to Beiping, the family was in the autumn ploughing, somehow, my old cow suddenly went crazy, rampage in the field, injured several people, no one dared to go up, at this time Wang Zhong stood up, a person rushed to the crazy old ox!"

"Huh?" Han Chunmei was so frightened that she was scared, and the old scalper who went crazy could be killed.

"The old scalper also buried his head and ran into it, who would have thought that Wang Chong did not dodge or dodge, and directly bumped into it, grabbed the horns of the cow with both hands, pressed the head of the cow, and withstood the crazy old scalper, and was pushed out four or five feet away, and when he stood firm, he fell hard, and the old ox of eight or nine hundred catties was knocked to the ground by him."

Sister-in-law Jin Hua's eyes were already wide, and her face was full of shock.

An adult old cow, only eight or nine hundred catties, at most about a thousand catties, can knock the cow down is rare, but not nothing, but can restrain the old cattle who went crazy and rampage, Han Chunmei has never even heard of it.

"That's amazing!"

"Isn't it!" Sister-in-law Jin Hua said: "So after that, the people in the village gave him a nickname, called Big Worm." "The so-called big insect is the tiger, and in the eyes of these people, the most powerful animal is the tiger.

"Don't just chat! See if the bucket is full of wheat, and when it is full, quickly put it up first. Ma Renli said anxiously.

"Where is it so fast." Sister-in-law Jin Hua looked at Ma Renli and said with a smile: "You can't be too weak to kick, right?" ”

"How is that possible!" Ma Renli stiffened his neck and immediately retorted, how could a man admit that he was weak, especially in front of a woman: "I'm physically strong." ”

This very different picture is like a big ink dot on a snow-white rice paper, and the villagers in the left and near the field, when they take a little rest and take a breath, can't help but look over to this side.

In just over an hour's effort, more than an acre of wheat was cut by Wang Chong and the three of them, Ma Renli and the two women took turns pedaling to thresh the wheat.

In the end, it is a threshing machine driven by manual trampling, and the speed is naturally not comparable with that of the motor in later generations.

The three wheat harvesters sat in the field with straw hats and drank water to rest, and after resting for about five or six minutes, they went to the nearest field with their sickles and continued their harvest.

The detached wheat will be packed in sacks or rattan frames, and then put on the ground first, and then carried back together at the end of the evening, and now the work of everyone is to take advantage of the good weather to quickly take back all the wheat in the field.

At noon, when the sun was at its highest, the third piece of land of more than two acres was cut, and the six people stopped to eat and drink, and then rested for half an hour.

The three plots of land harvested in the morning, one more than one acre and two more than two acres, add up to nearly six acres, which can make several people tired enough.

"Damn, I'm tired of dying of people!" The three monkeys were panting heavily while fanning their straw hats, and their faces were already tanned.

"Who doesn't get tired!" The old stick next to him held his waist and kept rubbing it.

Wang Zhong smiled and said: "Brother Dao, you have to be more leisurely these days, don't patronize and make love to your sister-in-law." ”

When the three monkeys heard this, a smile appeared on their faces: "That's it!" ”

"Go, go!" It's a pity that Lao Ganbang's face was already red, sweating like rain, and he couldn't see the change.

"Brother! You're in great shape, too! The three monkeys looked at Wang Zhong and said with envy.

Wang Chongdao: "This doesn't mean that I was born to eat this bowl of rice." ”

"Just our Maixiangling, my three monkeys will serve you." The three monkeys gave a thumbs up: "No wonder Ma Datou, who was so shrewd, was willing to let you hire you as a long-term worker, and even let you eat well." ”

The old ganbang said: "Eat more, do more!" Ma Datou is so shrewd, how can he suffer, let's add together, and the captain will not receive much. ”

"The wheat in our field is growing better and better every year!" Looking at the golden sea of mountains, the faces of the three monkeys were filled with happy smiles, tired and happy.

"I see that the wheat that grows the best this year is our group." The old guy also had a smile on his face.

"Brother, you said that Ma Datou is such a shrewd person, why didn't he think about digging a ditch to divert water in the first place?" The three monkeys asked curiously.

Wang Zhong smiled and said: "If you dig a ditch to divert water, the wheat yield in everyone's field will be high, where will he annex the land!" ”

Wang Chong's words stunned the three monkeys and the old.

The three monkeys threw the wheat stalks in their hands to the ground and said angrily: "Hmph! I said so! ”

"At the beginning, Ma Datou's family had more and more land, and our land became less and less."

"Okay, okay, this was all a long time ago, isn't it all ours now!"

"That's right!" The three monkeys smiled again.

Ma Renli, who was kicking the wheels on the ground, stuck out his tongue, and also gasped for breath, his speed became slower and slower, and finally stopped directly, out of breath; "I can't do it! I really don't have the strength! ”

"I said Ma Renli, that's all there is to it for, you have to work harder." Sister-in-law Jin Hua still held a bundle of wheat in her hand and stood in front of the threshing machine.

"No more! No more! Ma Renli waved his hand again and again, panting heavily, and kept swallowing saliva: "I really can't step on it, I don't have any strength at all!" ”

When the king over there saw this, he shook his head and walked over, "Okay, you go and rest, I'll come!" ”

Ma Renli turned over and got out of the car, staggered to the side, and sat on the ground regardless of the image without taking a few steps, propping his hands on the ground, panting with exhaustion.

Wang Chong's movements are much faster than Ma Renli's, and his feet are fast, if he is not afraid that the machine will not be able to stand it, the speed can be even faster.

Han Chunmei and Sister-in-law Jin Hua glanced at Ma Renli with disdain, and put down a sentence: "It's really useless!" ”

After only about ten minutes, with Wang Chong's rapid pedaling, the rest of the harvested wheat was successfully threshed.

The three monkeys and the old, who had rested about the same, also came over to help collect the wheat from the bucket into the sack.

The crowd washed their hands and wiped their faces before they began to eat lunch.

While eating, Sister-in-law Jin Hua suddenly suggested: "Captain, why don't we change it in the afternoon, let the three of us also rest for a while, and you can rest first." ”

"That's a good idea!" Han Chunmei nodded again and again.

Wang Chong was not arbitrary and dictatorial, but looked at Lao Ganbang and the three monkeys, "What do you two think?" ”

"Captain, it's okay to slow down, it's not that you don't have the strength, it's just that you can't stand it!" Three monkey road.

The old ganstick said: "Why don't you let Sister-in-law Jinhua and my daughter-in-law cut a piece of land, just take it a little longer, and then let's continue the rest?" ”

"Okay, since everyone agrees, let's do it."

Ma Renli: "······"

In the evening, seeing that the sun was about to set and the fields were almost busy, several men covered the thresher with tarpaulins and carried the wheat that had been tied in sacks to their homes.

At the end of the day, several people collected a total of six pieces of land, four more than one acre, two more than two acres, adding up to a total of almost ten acres of land, and only about four acres in the afternoon, on the one hand, because the sun was too big, and they were busy all morning, everyone was too tired, and the efficiency naturally could not catch up with the morning, on the other hand, because the sister-in-law Jin Hua and Han Chunmei also went back to cook, and there were two less who worked well, and Ma Renli was still a little stretched in the end.

Overall, though, it's not slow.

The yield of wheat is not high, not to mention the real society, even the copy of "Mountains and Seas" at that time is not comparable, the average yield per mu is about 150 catties to 200 catties, the land is fertile, the water and fertilizer are sufficient, it may exceed 200 catties, but it will never reach 300 catties, whether it is the density of the plant or the yield of more than 1,000 catties per mu in later generations, it is naturally incomparable, and the speed of wheat cutting is naturally not comparable.

Although last autumn sowing Wang Chong, their planting density has been much denser than in previous years, the way of spreading fertilizer has also changed, from the original large-scale fertilizer to concentrated manure, and winter irrigation and spring irrigation have never been short of water, Wang Chong also used herbs to make insecticides, weeding and insect control has not stopped for a moment.

However, limited by the quality of fertilizers and seeds, although the wheat harvested in each field is much more than last year, it has not been able to produce much, and the wheat harvested in each field can produce about eighty or ninety catties on average, and the two acres are more, and the yield per mu has exceeded two hundred and forty catties, but there is still some distance from three hundred catties.

The next day, everyone's speed was obviously much slower, not because they didn't want to do it, but because they were too tired on the first day, but they still finished harvesting the rest of the wheat fields.

The second mutual aid group has also become the fastest mutual aid group in the whole Maixiang Village to harvest the wheat in the field.

The villagers saw that Wang Chong and they had threshed the wheat so easily, and they all immediately moved their minds.

On the third day, someone came to Wang Chong to borrow a threshing machine, and the person who came was none other than Niu Daring, who was carrying a bottle of white dry in his hand, and Wang Chong naturally would not refuse.

While the villagers were busy threshing the wheat, the members of the second mutual aid group had already started drying the wheat.

A family only has a few hundred catties of wheat, so it is naturally not troublesome to dry.

On the evening of the fourth day, everyone gathered at Wang Chong's house for a meeting.

On the kang in the main room, Wang Chong sat inside, the three monkeys and the old ganbang sat on Wang Chong's left and right hands, and the two were Jin Hua's sister-in-law and Han Chunmei, and Ma Renli sat on the round bench.

Wang Chongdao: "How is everyone's wheat dry?" ”

The three monkeys said: "My house is almost there, and I can put it away tomorrow for another day." ”

Sister-in-law Jinhua said: "I'm about the same as the three monkeys!" ”

The progress of Lao Ganbang and Han Chunmei is the same.

"I probably have two more days." Ma Renli is the slowest in progress.

"The weather is good during this time, everyone hurry up, and the villagers are also waiting to dry the wheat, let's finish it early, and they can finish it early."

"Let's discuss the next summer planting today."

"Brother Big Worm, what's there to discuss, just do what you did last year." Three monkey road.

"Captain, do you have any ideas?" The old ganbang looked at Wang Zhong and asked.

Wang Zhong asked: "What did the big guys plant in the summer in previous years?" ”

"It's basically rice and soybeans!" Sister-in-law Jin Hua said: "There are also peanuts, but there are relatively few." ”

"What about the yield?" Wang Zhong asked again.

"The yield is not high." Old Dry Sticks.

"Since the yield of summer planting in previous years is not high, why don't we try new methods, do experiments through comparison, and see which one can increase the yield, what do you think?"

"It's a good method, but we don't know any new methods!" Three monkey road.

"I know a few methods, when I was a child, I saw the elders in the family plant like this, the yield is indeed higher than we last year, of course, there are many factors that affect the yield, not necessarily all planting methods, but also fertilization, watering, climate, and the region related, but I think, we now have both land, and people, you might as well try it, if we really find a way to increase production, it will be good for everyone."

"I agree!" The three monkeys immediately stated: "I believe in Brother Big Worm." ”

"I agree!"

"I'm okay with that!"

Everyone expressed their opinions.

"Brother Big Worm, what kind of good way is it?" The three monkeys couldn't wait to ask, and everyone looked at Wang Chong, their eyes were also full of expectation.

"One is crop rotation and one is intercropping."

"Crop rotation?" Ma Renli said: "You mean that we will change the corn and soybeans?" ”

"Yes!" Wang Chongdao: "In fact, we now have winter wheat and summer rice, summer soybean planting method is crop rotation, but it is still too single, now we have five families in our group, and the land adds up to more than 24 acres." ”

"We still have to plant winter wheat every year, but in the summer, we can plant peanuts, rice and soybeans in turn, for example, this year's three monkeys and Jin Huasao's fields are full of peanuts, the old's fields are planted with soybeans, and Ma Renli's fields and I are planted with rice. Wait until next year, let's change another crop, the three monkeys and Jinhua sweep will plant soybeans, the old ganbang will pack rice, and Ma Renli and I will plant peanuts. ”

"That's a good idea!" The old ganstick nodded.

"Brother Big Worm, what's going on with that intercrop?" The three monkeys asked hurriedly.

Wang Zhong explained: "As the name suggests, intercropping is to plant several crops at intervals, such as a piece of land, we divide it into several ridges, a ridge of rice, a ridge of soybeans, and then a row of rice, in a row of soybeans, so that they are planted at intervals. ”

"What's the use of that?" The three monkeys asked suspiciously.

Ma Renli's eyes lit up: "This method is good!" Corn plants are tall and can block the wind for soybeans and prevent soybean plants from being blown down by the wind, and soybean plants are shorter, which can promote air circulation between corn plants and make more sunlight more abundant, maybe it can really increase yield. ”

The three monkey old all looked at Ma Renli, and when they heard the word increase in production, their eyes lit up.

"Brother Big Worm, is what Ma Renli said true or false?"

Wang Zhong smiled and said: "There is no evidence whether it is true or false, but we can take one or two pieces of land and try it, compare it with only one plant, and see the yield on both sides!" ”

"I agree!" This time, Ma Renli was the first to raise his hand in agreement.

"I agree!"

Several people expressed their positions one after another.

"The corn and soybean seedlings in our field are now almost grown, and when the wheat is dried and put into storage, let's speed up, I and Lao Ganbang, the three monkeys are also responsible for cultivating the land, Jin Huasao and Ma Renli, Han Chunmei is responsible for topdressing and transplanting, and after the three of us finish plowing the land, we will go back to help you, do you have any comments on this arrangement?"

"No comment!"

"Brother Big Worm, we all listen to you!"

Naturally, the crowd will not have an opinion.

"Then let's discuss which plots of land to plant."

"Brother Big Worm, what else to discuss, you can decide directly, we big guys will listen to you!"

"The three monkeys are right, captain, let's all listen to you!"

"That's fine!" Wang Zhong smiled and said, "Since this is the case, then I will share one point!" ”

Since everyone is willing to listen to Wang Chong, Wang Chong is also happy to save trouble and distribute it directly.

"But there is one thing we have to make clear first, whoever has the output in the field will belong to whom, and then we will exchange it with each other, what do you think?"

"Surely."

Everyone expressed their opinions.

Wang Chong was not surprised by the convincing of several people, after all, Wang Chong's prestige in Maixiang Village is so high that no one can compare with him except Zhou Yihu, and even Wang Wanchun, the village party secretary and village head, is not as admired by the villagers as Wang Chong.

In particular, this year, the wheat in the fields of the second mutual aid group has just been harvested, and according to the methods of Wang Zhong and Ma Renli, the output can be much higher than last year.