The dispute over land grabbing lasted for more than half a month, and the village finally gradually returned to calm.

Because the rape is being harvested, and the spring silkworms are also forming cocoons. Regardless of men, women, and children, they have to be busy day and night, and they really can't spare the energy to make a fuss, and those who suffer can only acquiesce to the status quo.

Zhu Ming told the story for a while, then stood up and looked into the distance.

Some rape fields have been harvested and are being irrigated with water. There is a big waterwheel by the river, and there is a canal, which is the property of the Bai family, and the villagers need to pay water fees for irrigation.

In the rape fields next to each other, several families often help each other.

Because they need to harvest quickly, and then they need to divert water together to irrigate the fields. For land that is not adjacent to the canal, water must be diverted from the adjacent fields, and the gaps in the ridges must be opened, one by one, and the water fee will be paid by everyone.

Next, you have to plow the fields, not every family has ploughing cattle, and you have to slowly queue up to rent.

If you can't wait, you can only turn the ground manually.

Not only did all the strong laborers in the family go out, but the children also had to help, just because there was time to plant rice in rotation.

Before harvesting the rapeseed, the villagers are also raising seedlings. Sowing seeds using traditional methods has now emerged, and although they are sown later, they grow faster and stronger than Zhu Guoxiang's seedlings.

Zhu Xianggong seems to have overturned.

The seedlings he raised have become the laughing stock of the village.

"Hah!"

Zheng Hong leaned on the chair and yawned, he didn't urge, he heard the story wherever it went.

"Come here!"

The little fat man took out the preserved fruit and beckoned to the horse.

But the horses did not shake him, and walked around the yard in circles, trotting a few times from time to time.

Seeing this, Zhu Ming smiled, took the preserved fruit and spread it in the palm of his hand, and shouted, "Cornucopia!" ”

The horse immediately turned around, paced in front of Zhu Ming, bit the piece of preserved fruit, chewed it and shook his head.

Zhu Guoxiang shouted in the kitchen: "Come and help!" ”

The little fat man's entourage was very clever, and he actually grabbed ahead of Zhu Ming and ran to the kitchen to help lift the cocoon.

The cocoons have been soaked in boiling water, and it is best to reel the silk immediately, so that the raw silk will be bright and silky.

If there are too many cocoons and not enough manpower, you have to make cooked cocoons for storage, and slowly reel the cooked silk.

In the Song Dynasty, there were two kinds of cocoon production methods: sun drying and salt bubble - the sun drying method was easy to damage the silkworm cocoon, and the salt bubble method was too costly.

At present, the reeling is raw silk, soaked raw silkworms and carried them to the courtyard, and the hand-cranked reeling cart is also moved out, and Aunt Yan and Shen Yourong began to cooperate tacitly.

Zhu Guoxiang watched for a while and asked, "Only this kind of reeling car?" ”

Shen Yourong replied: "There is only this kind of thing in the countryside, you have to shake it by hand, and it is not fast." There are bigger ones in the city, which can be pedaled and much faster than that. ”

"The raw silk that was reeled was taken to the city and sold?" Zhu Guoxiang asked again.

"Spun silk and hand over summer grain." Shen Yourong said.

Shen Yourong's family was classified as a fifth-class household, and it was grouped together with the other six families.

Seven families, together with a piece of silk, even if they have completed the summer grain tax.

Taxes are not easy, because the price of a horse of silk is about two yuan, and occasionally even rises to three or four yuan. Spread it evenly, a fifth-class household has to pay at least three or four hundred yuan, and the fifth-class households are all bitter haha.

Shen Niangzi's family is not bad, she should be classified as a fourth-class household, and Bai Erlang will secretly operate and demote it.

The real fifth-class households are much poorer, and they can't afford to pay the summer grain if they don't pay attention.

Shen Yourong suddenly asked, "Zhu Xianggong, can your seedlings still work?" ”

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "Not at this time, just transplant, and in half a month, it will almost be time to plant seedlings." ”

After the rice planting, it is the time to witness the miracle!

Zhu Guoxiang walked up to his son and asked in a low voice, "Will you improve the reeling car?" ”

"Dean Zhu, are you Doraemon to me? Anything can come out," Zhu Ming was speechless about this, "Moreover, as Shen Niangzi said just now, there is also a more advanced pedal reel. Even if it wants to be improved, it will be changed to be more advanced, and I haven't even seen the real thing now. ”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "When I was young, there was a time when the central government called on the people of the whole country to raise silkworms and reel silk in order to earn foreign exchange through exports. Most of the cocoons are sold to the silk reeling factory, and some people leave some for their own reeling, and I remember using the steaming method to make cooked cocoons. I asked just now, and the Song Dynasty did not have a method of steaming cooked cocoons. ”

"Then you'll steam." Zhu Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I only know steaming, but I don't know the details, and I'm afraid that I will accidentally damage the cocoon." ”

Zhu Ming smiled: "In the future, if you have money, you can slowly explore." ”

There was a sudden snoring sound next to him, but it was the warm spring sun, and Zheng Hong, the fat man, fell asleep on the chair.

When he woke up, it was already mid-afternoon, and he stood up with his waist stretched and said, "Da Lang, I will go back to Yangzhou tomorrow." My family lives in Yingchun Lane, Anle Fang, if you go, you will know as soon as you ask. ”

"I'm going to play with you when I'm free." Zhu Ming said.

"Then I'll be gone." Zheng Hong said goodbye.

Zhu Ming sent him outside the courtyard, turned around and whistled, and the horse immediately galloped, and one person and one horse went out for a walk.

When I returned home again, Zhu Guoxiang was cooking, and my mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were still reeling silk there, and they might have to be busy all night tonight.

Orphans and widows are like this, there is not enough labor, and they have to work harder.

Zhu Guoxiang couldn't help, he was afraid that he would be clumsy and break the raw silk, so he could only go to the kitchen to cook.

The days passed.

Due to the cooling down in the past few days, the seedling time of the corn has become longer, and it will have to wait a few more days before transplanting.

The villagers are just busy, and they still don't know that they will have to pay the tax arrears this year.

When it was finally time to plant rice, the paddy fields were full of people.

Zhu Guoxiang has to go to see his seedlings every day, and from time to time he directs the tenants to take care of them, and now he finds Lu An and says: "Call the tenants, and the seedlings will be planted tomorrow." ”

Lu An was obedient and obedient, and the tenant was brought in the next day.

The two tenants were very impatient, their family had cultivated several acres of land, and it was a critical period for rice planting, but they had to accompany this Zhu Xianggong to fool around.

The seedlings cultivated by Zhu Guoxiang were sown earlier and grew badly, and in the eyes of the villagers, they were unqualified garbage.

The experimental field is not large, and the two tenants cooperate, and it will be inserted in half a day.

Then they all ran away, including Lu An.

They didn't even bother to read the jokes, because Zhu Xianggong's seedlings had already become the laughing stock of the village.

It wasn't until a few days later that Zhu Guoxiang found Lu An and said that he would make up some more farm fertilizer.

Lu An called the tenants impatiently, and came to the edge of the field with farm manure, and then the three of them were instantly dumbfounded.

Those malnourished seedlings, only a few days after planting, actually began to grow violently, and they are as strong as ordinary seedlings.

Ordering the two tenants to do things, Lu An rushed back to report: "Master, it's really rare!" ”

"What?" The old white man asked.

Lu An reported in detail: "The seedlings raised by Zhu Xianggong are weak with shallow roots before planting. It's only been a few days, and it's grown fast, fast and strong! ”

The old white man muttered, "Sure enough, there are some skills." ”

A few more days passed, and more and more villagers noticed the abnormality.

Because the contrast is so strong, the seedlings in the experimental field have not only caught up, but gradually caught up, and are stronger than the seedlings in the surrounding farmland.

At a glance, children can understand it.

After planting the seedlings, the farmers were a little more relaxed, and many people came to watch one after another.

"Is it more manure?"

"Definitely."

"Won't Chen Si just help serve? Ask him and he will know. ”

"I asked yesterday, and Fourth Brother Chen said that Zhu Xianggong's field uses less manure."

"Why do you grow stronger if you are fat?"

"I heard that Zhu Xianggong met the gods when he went to sea, this is the method passed down by the gods."

"I'm afraid it's really an immortal method, I don't know if we can use it."

"It would be good if he could use it, he sowed seeds early in this way, and staggered the busiest time, so he could save a lot of strong labor."

“……”

When the villagers saw Zhu Guoxiang again, their eyes were obviously different.

No matter how wonderful Zhu Ming's story is, it can only make people suspicious, what daughter is the lord of the country, it is more often a kind of talk.

But now, Zhu Guoxiang's seedling raising method can indeed make the seedlings grow better. Moreover, the changes before and after the rice planting are also very dramatic, and there is a kind of shock of an ugly duckling turning into a swan.

Everyone is farming, and from the growth of seedlings, they know that the experimental field will definitely increase the yield.

In view of the different weights and measures of the past dynasties, all of them were converted into units of New China, and only the yield of rice in the fields of the Taihu Lake area was compared: the yield per mu in the Tang Dynasty was 276 catties, the yield per mu in the Song Dynasty was 450 catties, the yield per mu in the Ming Dynasty was 667 catties, and the yield per mu in the Qing Dynasty was 550 catties.

Why the rice yield in the Qing Dynasty was greatly reduced, this historian has not figured it out, anyway, there is everything.

Looking at the Song and Ming dynasties alone, the grain production of Taihu Lake rice increased sharply, in addition to the more complete water conservancy facilities, there is also an important factor, that is, the promotion of water control and drought seedling raising method!

With Zhu Guoxiang's method, the rice yield in the village is estimated to increase by more than 20%.

The busy farm was over, and in the evening, another villager came to listen to the story.

And before Zhu Ming started speaking, everyone couldn't help but ask: "Zhu Xianggong, have you really obtained the immortal method of planting rice?" ”

Zhu Guoxiang went back to the house directly, the door was closed, and he didn't want to talk nonsense.

That cold appearance adds a bit of mystery.

When the rice is harvested in the experimental field, I am afraid that the villagers will be able to see the eyes of the villagers.

Shen Yourong deliberately went to boil water and brew loose tea to entertain the villagers, she was very happy at the moment, and felt that she didn't look at people.

"Auntie, Zhu Xianggong is really amazing!" Shen Yourong returned to the house and said.

Mrs. Yan was also overjoyed, and said in a low voice: "This afternoon, the old white man sent someone to come to him and asked if you would like to marry Zhu Xianggong." If he wants, he will be the matchmaker. I only have one statement, you will remarry, Brother Qi can't change your surname, you have to continue to pass on the incense in vain. ”

Shen Yourong blushed in shame and buried his head and said, "It's all up to my aunt." ”