The coldest days of winter are behind us, and spring is just around the corner.

Soon, the Meng Spring Festival is approaching, the largest festival here, similar to the Spring Festival and Christmas on Earth.

This festival not only represents the beginning of the year, but also the meaning of life and praying for a good harvest. At this time, there is a grand celebration in the town, where the old priests of the town pray to the god of harvest for a good harvest in the coming year.

To be honest, I don't know too much what kind of god this harvest god is, this temple has not been magnificent, it is a little dilapidated, the surface of the stone temple is covered with traces of time, it seems that it has always existed here, except for the years, there is no other change.

Because there is nothing magical here, Kaichi used to think that there was no god. But since Imu had heard about the church, he had a sense of respect for the temple.

I don't know if the old priest inside knows the history of the church, and if he does, then he will have no complaints about being trapped in this remote place, and never even getting a response from the gods. If you don't know, then what makes him willing to live this simple life?

The temple had no income, because of the weakness of the church, the temple did not have much property, except for some land that hired poor people to cultivate, and lived on the occasional donations of believers.

Because there are mages above, the church does not dare to do anything out of the ordinary, don't talk about any development, it is good to be able to maintain, or because there are mages above, the nobles do not believe too much in the church and gods, and even the beliefs of the people at the bottom are not very firm.

There was a saying in China a long time ago - the king of Chu has a thin waist, and many people in the palace starve to death. It can be seen that the washing of high-ranking people will affect the practice of lower-level personnel. Especially in this day and age, the lower classes of people do not have much choice.

If it weren't for the fact that the mages and the top of the state realized that the people needed faith, and that faith could strengthen their rule, there would be no clergy in Beisenzhou.

But none of this is about Jiayi, he just thinks about it when he's bored.

Today's weather is very good, the temperature during the day has reached more than 0 degrees, and Imu is going to take his disciples to cut sugar. There are no sugarcane herbs that can be used to make sugar, and most of the sugar is "imported" from the western part of the continent. It's cold, so it's not suitable for sugar cane farming.

But there is also sugar locally, mainly tree sugar, and here there is a species of maple called the sugar tree, which contains a lot of sugar in the sap of their branches. After digging a gap in the trunk of the tree, collecting and boiling, it becomes tree sugar. Some good quality ones are not boiled dry, but just evaporate some of the water and are sold in the form of syrup, which has a lighter taste.

The yield of sugar trees is not high, and after planting, it takes at least 20 years to cut branches to make sugar, so not many people will grow this to make sugar, and the time is too long.

So the sugar here is very expensive, compared to salt, it is really a heaven and an earth, and it is slightly cheaper than honey, and the price of both is calculated in silver coins.

Most of the sugar trees are wild, but if anyone can have a sugar forest, this is really an iron rice bowl. It can basically ensure that generations of people have no worries about food and clothing.

Harvesting the sap of the sugar tree takes place in the winter, where the trunk stores a large amount of starch, which is converted into sugar in the winter, solid crystals in cold weather, and liquid in hot weather.

Therefore, it is best to collect at night in winter, but when the temperature is high during the day, it is generally sunny.

Im found a small sugar grove in the Linden Pine Valley—well, there were only six or seven of them in total, and only three trees could be harvested.

Im found a small sugar grove in the Lime Pine Valley - well, there were only six or seven of them, and only three trees could be harvested, and the rest were too young to be harvested.

Around these 6 or 7 grown sugar trees, there are also some newly grown small trees, which are about 2 or 3 years old, and if you want to eat the sugar of these trees, I am afraid that you will have to wait until the birth of Jiayi's child.

Each of the three trees was at least the thickness of a bucket, and one was the thickest, so that no one could hold it. Maybe the other sugar trees are all descendants of this one.

Imu drilled holes around the three trees, the holes were not large, about 5 or 6 centimeters deep, and they drilled diagonally upward, and they were irregularly distributed in the trees from half a person to one person high. The two smaller ones had four holes drilled into each tree, and the largest one had six eyes. After the drilling was completed, Im inserted a metal groove into the hole – that is, the metal pipe was cut in half and cut in half.

Underneath the metal trough, Imu placed a wooden barrel to catch the sap that flowed out. The sap didn't flow out quickly, it was dripping, as if the urine was not clean.

When the arrangement was complete, Imu took them back and waited until the next day to collect the sap.

"Teacher, sugar is so expensive, why doesn't anyone grow sugar trees?" asked Jiayi on the way back.

Imu shook his head and sneered: "Not everyone has enough foresight, it takes nearly 20 years for the newly planted sugar trees to be harvested. In addition, if you are not careful, collecting too much sap will affect the growth of the tree and reduce the yield of the next year. ”

He paused, turned his head and said, "Have you ever seen anyone who would start preparing now for the sake of profit in 20 years?"

With that, he continued to walk forward.

Jia Yi walked a few steps quickly to keep up: "There are always a few people who will think long-term, right?"

"I think I've heard of one. "It seems to be a lord in the east, a count in the province of Lemze, whose family has cultivated sugar trees for generations, and has been planted for generations, and has planted sugar trees on several hills. They turned out to be just a viscount, and with these sugar trees they slowly grew their family business and became earls. ”

"Isn't that right?" Kaichi wondered, "With such a successful example, no other lord has followed suit?"

"Later, when the empire went to war with its neighbors, the neighboring troops attacked their territory, and although they did not take the city, the sugar groves were burned down. The Count was so angry that he vomited blood, and then he was to death. Although Flower said it quite plainly, Jia felt heartache when he thought about it.

If the code that I had written for weeks was formatted by someone else, I was afraid that I would have to vomit blood, let alone the work of the earl and his family for generations.

It's no wonder that few other lords learn from that earl, and if they were burned by someone else's fire, heartache alone would be enough. It's just that there is always a feeling of choking and abandoning food.

Jia Yi said to Flower: "Flower, in fact, you can plant some sugar trees, and when your son grows up, he will have an industry, a hundred trees a year, and in 20 years, at least 3 or 500 trees can produce sugar." And now you are also a mage reserve, and it is impossible not to be able to keep even a sugar grove. ”

"A small sugar grove can't afford a mage. Im said with a smile, but then added, "But you can really try, and you won't lose." ”

Flower was thoughtful, but did not speak.

Early the next morning, Imu took Kaichi and the others to the sugar tree, where about half a barrel of sap had accumulated in the barrel under the tree. Collect all the sap, there are quite a few large vats, at least dozens of liters.

Back at the Moonlight Hut, Im introduced the sap into the pot and began to cook, and soon, a sweet smell spread, with a hint of maple wood.

The sap became more and more concentrated, gradually turning from translucent to golden yellow, and also became as thick as honey. Continue to boil, all the water evaporates, and the sugar tree sap turns into yellow-brown tree sugar.