Chapter 21 A bumper summer grain harvest
Three days later, the yellow wooden boards were covered with flying aphids, and the aphids on the ears of wheat began to die in large numbers. This meant that the last hurdle threatening the wheat yield was about to pass. With the aphids out of the way, the winter wheat harvest was almost over. foregone conclusion!
In late April, golden wheat waves covered the surrounding area of Kaifeng City. When the breeze blew, the wheat waves rolled like a rough ears of wheat sparkle in the sun, which is in the city of Kaifeng, you can smell the faint fragrance of ripe wheat.
Months of hard work have resulted in a bumper harvest of summer grain. This is what Zhao Yingluo is most happy to see, but what she is even more happy to see is the smiles on the faces of the farmers, which means.
In order to prove the yield per mu, Zhao Yingluo specially selected two wheat fields with obvious contrasts. This time she still invited two old men and the gentry from Kaifeng City to witness.
The wheat field she chose happened to be adjacent to Liang Da, a major grain grower in Kaifeng City.
Liang Da is a major grain grower around Kaifeng, with about 100 million acres of farmland in Kaifeng City.
When the Jin people captured Kaifeng, most of their food had been sold, and the property was transferred in a timely manner, so the losses were not large.
Liang Da also coveted those abandoned lands, but after all, he was not as well-informed as Zhao Yingluo. By the time he raised money, it was too late to prepare for a large-scale acquisition.
Therefore, he is very jealous of Zhao Yingluo and wants to do something against everyone in Kaifeng City knew her identity, so how could she dare to touch her in the slightest?
However, he did not think that Zhao Yingluo could achieve six kilos of wheat per acre as people said.
Therefore, when Zhao Yingluo was collecting plant ashes and cutting boards in the field, he sarcastically said that she was a bastard, deceiving the public with her monstrous words, beguiling people's hearts, etc...
The strange thing is that many people in Kaifeng City still believe him, and some people are even more jealous, saying that she obtained the 40 acres of land by clinging to Zongze.
Zhao Yingluo was not used to his temper, so she waited until the harvest day and directly chose a plot of land adjacent to his field.
Before midnight, a dark group of people had gathered in the field. Those with high status naturally stood in the best position.
As for ordinary farmers, they are scattered around the periphery.
However, the atmosphere among the farmers was quite contrasting. The farmers who rented Zhao Yingluo's land were so happy that their faces almost turned into flowers, while the farmers who rented Liang Da's land were dejected.
"Let's all make a comparison. This large area is Liang's field. This is my field."
I saw that the wheat in Liang Da's field was sparse, and the wheat ears were so thin that they were almost as thick as wheat stalks. If you rub them with your hands, the peeled wheat kernels are only about the size of two sesame seeds.
On Zhao Yingluo's side, on the other hand, each thick ear of wheat has its head lowered, and the outer skin has been removed. The grains of the whole ear are plump and round, exuding a refreshing wheat fragrance.
The difference in yield between the two fields is clear.
Liang Da, who was among the gentry, wanted to sneak away, but the sharp-eyed Zhao Yingluo saw him, "Why should Liang leave in such a hurry? Who is trying to confuse people with lies? You might as well explain it clearly in front of everyone before leaving."
It's not a big deal for those watching the excitement. After Zhao Yingluo's reminder, the gentry immediately pushed Liang Da to the front.
Liang Da's eyes rolled wildly, he glanced at Zongze and then at the others, his old face flushed, and he said reluctantly, "It's me who confuses people with my evil words and confuses people's hearts."
This embarrassing look made everyone laugh...
Liang Da's matter is just an appetizer, the main course is yet to come.
In order not to make the whole harvesting and weighing process too boring, Zhao Yingluo got interested and played a little game.
"While this acre of land is being harvested, let's play a little game. As for the yield of this acre of land and the yield of the acre of land outside Mr. Liang, you can guess. The person closest to the actual yield will be rewarded with a free hotpot at Zui Furong. Month!" One month!Eat drunken hibiscus for a month? Zui Furong is now the most famous restaurant in Kaifeng City. Although the price is high, it cannot beat the unique food experience.
If you don’t make a reservation half a month in advance, you won’t be able to get an appointment! The most terrifying thing is that if you go to another place for a high-end meal and drink, you will only spend one tael of silver per person at most. But in Zui Furong, don't go in without ten taels of silver.
This attractive grand prize immediately aroused everyone's interest, and they all began to guess how much the output per mu would be.
The first thing to guess was the yield of Liang Dana’s land.
Zongze glanced at the sparse wheat ears and said casually, "140 five pounds!"
Then Lu Hao asked, "160 pounds."
Liang Da saw that their guess was so low, so he hurriedly lifted it up, "250 pounds!"
Everyone burst into laughter. It is not impossible to achieve two stones and five stones, provided that the weather is good, but the severe drought in March will undoubtedly reduce the output, which can be seen from the sparse wheat.
Afterwards, the gentry and farmers began to guess one by one. The lowest was 75 catties, and the highest was Liang Da's 250 catties.
Everyone gathered firewood with great enthusiasm. With the joint efforts of 100 people, it took only half an hour to complete the entire process from harvesting to threshing of this acre of land, and then came to the weighing stage.
When farmers with long-term planting experience saw the small pile, they already had an idea in their minds that this acre of land would be as big as the sky if it cost more than one stone and five dollars.
Sure enough, this pile of wheat only contained two sacks, weighing 140 eight pounds, which is about one stone.
The result was the closest to the actual data guessed by Zong Ze, and he successfully won the reward of free hot pot for a month.
After receiving this reward, Zong Ze was so happy that his beard was trembling and he almost couldn't control his old legs from jumping.
Liang Da's face was dark. While he was disappointed, he turned around and scolded us, the farmers behind him, "Idiots! One acre of land is planted with one stone. Don't forget that the rent is one stone per acre!"
After hearing this, the farmers howled, "That's it!"After working hard for more than half a year, the landowners took away everything. If we still harvest a stone this autumn, I am afraid that we will not survive until the end of the year and the whole family will starve.
Then, the competition for Zhao Yingluo’s acre of land started.
After receiving the first round of rewards, Zongze, who was full of confidence, was the first to speak, "930 pounds."
Then Lu Hao asked, "One thousand and fifty kilograms!"
Then came other gentry, some guessing high, some guessing low.
The lowest was as low as 450 pounds. The person who reported this number was Liang Da, who was laughed at just now. As soon as his report came out, the audience laughed again.
The highest weight came to [-] kilograms, and it was a farmer named Li Sanxing.
Hearing his report, everyone shook their heads, but it was a full [-] kilograms, who are you kidding? Even Zhao Yingluo was a little skeptical of his report, because her expected output was around 350 kilograms, and if she wanted to reach [-] kilograms, she would not have the planting and management techniques of later generations.
That’s all, let’s look at the final result.
(End of this chapter)