Chapter 206: Yield Per Acre
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling stayed in the military camp to learn about the various characteristics of corn from the villagers of Four Tray Village.
She had only seen others plant corn and knew the steps roughly, but she was not as familiar with the details as the villagers of Four Tray Village. Since Qi Xiuyuan had already decided that the entire military district would mainly farm corn in the future, she naturally had to learn more in depth.
After the corn was dried, everyone rubbed the corn kernels with their hands. As the sun was strong enough, in less than half a month, Zhuang Dawei announced, “This corn can be used as seeds now. We can store them away and there’s no need to dry them further.”
Qi Haoran brought someone over to weigh them.
The villagers of Four Tray Village gathered around and occupied the innermost floor. They looked at the weighing scale eagerly. As the numbers were reported one by one, many villagers wiped their tears.
Only the farmers who had been recruited to learn were still a little confused. They did not understand why the villagers of Four Tray Village were so emotional about it.
The accountant used a brush to record the individual weights before adding the numbers up using the abacus. When he was done weighing the last bag of corn, he worked the abacus and obtained the total. At the same time, Mu Yangling also had the total in her heart. There was a total of 16,016 catties, and the yield per acre was 572 catties.
To modern people, this was a very low yield. But to the people here, it was a record high.
A few older villagers of Four Tray Village sat on the ground and wailed, “Ancestor, look, we’ve successfully planted the corn! It’s high-yielding! The emperor didn’t lie to us, and the county magistrate didn’t lie to us either. We were merely incompetent and used the wrong method!”
Zhuang Dawei also wiped his tears as he said, “Corn is grains. We thought that rice, millet, and so on should be directly planted and the level of moisture maintained. But who knew that corn should be planted like this? I’ve never seen such a big corn cob in my life. The ones planted in the village were all small with only a dozen or so corn kernels on each one…”
Qi Haoran walked to Mu Yangling’s side and said, “You’re right. Only the villagers of Four Tray Village deserve this merit.”
Mu Yangling wondered if this world would have been different if Emperor Shizong had foreseen this back then and left behind the method of planting corn before he died. Perhaps then the villagers of Four Tray Village would not have been isolated from the world for nearly a hundred years for such a goal.
Qi Haoran was not as sad as Mu Yangling. He only felt sentimental for a moment before turning around to get someone to report to Qi Xiuyuan.
However, Qi Xiuyuan had gone to Xingyuan Prefecture, bringing along Rong Ze and Fan Zijin. Only then did Qi Haoran realize that Mrs. Qin’s birthday had arrived.
Qi Haoran was stunned for a moment before howling, “Big Brother, why didn’t you bring me along?”
Of course, it was because Qi Haoran had work to attend to in the 5th Division, so Qi Xiuyuan simply did not bring him along. Although Qi Haoran was angry that he had been abandoned, he still had to work hard to store all the corn in the warehouse and send troops to guard it day and night.
He then asked the people of Four Tray Village to come and take a look at their wheat field and asked, “The wheat is about to be harvested. After harvesting it, we’ll immediately plant corn. Can we really guarantee that we can harvest it before winter?” Then, he said, “Now that there’s drought everywhere, the river in our Mingshui County is almost dry. Can the corn withstand such conditions?”
Everyone in Four Tray Village looked at Zhuang Dawei. Zhuang Dawei’s family was the best at farming in their village, so they had to consult him about such matters.
Looking at the golden wheat field, Zhuang Dawei gritted his teeth. “Alright, we’ve also realized over the years that corn is different from rice and millet. It’s resistant to drought, so there shouldn’t be a problem since there’s no need for water in the field. However, we’ve got to ensure sufficient base fertilizer and fertilizer.”
Qi Haoran chuckled and said, “I may not have much here, but I do have an abundance of manpower. With so many people here, need you worry there won’t be enough fertilizer?”
Having interacted with Mu Yangling for almost a year, Qi Haoran had long understood that the so-called farm fertilizer was actually night soil.
“Don’t worry.” Qi Haoran promised. “Even if there isn’t enough in the 5th Division, there are still the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Divisions. Surely the feces of 30,000 people will be enough for you?”
Mu Yangling elbowed him and said, “Be more refined with your words.”
Rolling his eyes, Qi Haoran said, “If I speak in a refined manner, can they understand me?” Qi Haoran looked around and said, “Alright, since it’s already decided, let’s start harvesting wheat in two days. I’ll give the entire army a break to speed things up. Once the wheat is collected, we’ll immediately plant corn. All the harvest will be submitted to the military camp.”
After saying that, Qi Haoran waved his hand and asked the four battalion commanders to announce the conditions set by Rong Ze. He pulled Mu Yangling aside and said, “Big Brother is taking on too much risk. If the corn harvest this year is good, some families will be able to almost offset all the military rations next year. If there’s no drought next year, will the entire army have to subsist solely on corn porridge?”
Two days ago, Qi Haoran got curious and took out two catties of corn to grind into bits and had it made into porridge. Even though the corn porridge had been cooked for nearly two hours, he still had to chew it for a long time. Eating that once or twice might be fine, but if he had to eat it a few more times, he was afraid that his cheeks would break.
“What are you afraid of? If the harvest is good, you can sell the corn to buy flour or rice. Otherwise, you can exchange it for rice. Even if two catties of corn are exchanged for one catty of rice, you won’t lose out. Think about it. 600 catties of corn can only offset 100 catties of wheat. It’s equivalent to making them exchange six catties of their corn for one catty of your wheat.”
Qi Haoran explained, “But we were the ones who provided the seeds, fertilizer, and technology. We were also responsible for some manpower. For this season’s wheat, I even had to shelve half of my military training plans.”
Mu Yangling patted his shoulder and said, “There’s still plenty of time ahead. The most important thing now is to ensure the rations of the army. Otherwise, the 1st and 2nd Divisions won’t have the strength to go to the battlefield.”
The 1st and 2nd Divisions were the elites of the West Camp. Even if Qi Xiuyuan had to starve himself, he would not mistreat them. Qi Haoran also understood this principle. If they wanted to win a war, they had to feed the soldiers. Otherwise, if they did not even have the strength to hold a knife, how could they protect their country?
The 5th Division was filled with miscellaneous people. Under such circumstances, sacrificing the training time of the 5th Division to ensure the supply of rations was undoubtedly a consideration for the overall situation.
Mu Yangling and Qi Haoran went back together. When they reached the intersection, Mu Yangling couldn’t help but stop in her tracks. She pulled Qi Haoran and said in a low voice, “Qi Haoran, we can’t let news of the corn leak yet. Guard the storeroom carefully for the time being.”
Frowning, Qi Haoran asked, “What’s wrong?”
Mu Yangling continued to walk forward, but her gaze drifted to the intersection at the side. She said calmly, “There have been too many strangers passing by our Chenggu Garrison these past two days.”
Having not noticed it, Qi Haoran was a little surprised by Mu Yangling’s words. Ever since the corn harvest, he had sent people to stand guard in Chenggu Garrison and also sent a message to the military households not to spread a single word about the corn. Those who stayed behind for the past few days did not report anything unusual.
Looking around, Qi Haoran realized that there was nothing unusual about the people walking around with the hoes. After all, he was not familiar with the families of his enlisted soldiers, so he was not sure that these were all people from Chenggu Garrison.