Normally, when the sun sets in the west mountain, Yu Xiaocao and her sisters would have already arrived home. Today, the sky is already completely dark, and they haven't been seen yet. Yu Hai couldn't sit still anymore, he took the horse out of the stable, put on the saddle, and rode out of the village.
Walking halfway, I met Ye San who came back from the pier. House Town rode a tall horse and held a torch to lead the way in front, followed by Sister Xiaocao sitting on a donkey cart.
Seeing that the two sisters were safe and sound, Yu Hai breathed a sigh of relief, and asked with concern, "Why did you come back so late today?"
Xiao Lian rushed to the front with a little excitement, and chirped: "Father! The king of Yang County who traveled to the west has returned, and he brought many things that we did not have in the Ming Dynasty. He also sent some seeds to the younger sister, and asked the younger sister to help He planted it!"
The Yu family is close to the Fang family, and they usually have dinner together. Mrs. Fang was close to Concubine Jing, so she naturally knew how much Concubine Jing was looking forward to the safe return of her youngest son. After hearing this, Yu Hai nodded and said, "It's good to come back safely! So that the concubine won't worry about it all the time! What does the little prince's return have to do with your late return? And... the little county king gave grass seeds for her to help plant, what kind of seeds?" ? Can we plant it well?"
Xiaolian glanced at King Yang from a distance, still immersed in the excitement of seeing the living princes and nobles, and said: "The king of Yang brought back too many goods from Western and South Seas, and the dock workers have been unloading them all the time. The unloading was not finished until very late. To save time, the workers took turns to eat dinner. If you don’t eat, how can you have the energy to work? We waited for the last batch of workers to finish eating before closing the stall.”
After taking a breath, Xiao Lian continued: "The king of Yangjun gave the little sister a seed that we have never seen in the Ming Dynasty. It is a kind of golden, like golden beans, called 'corn', a kind of round and not slippery. Qiu, it’s a bit like sweet potatoes, it’s called ‘potatoes’! My little girl can grow vegetables two months in advance, what else can’t be grown?”
Even the emperor attached great importance to the fresh species that did not exist in the Ming Dynasty. It would not be a small matter if his daughter's plant was damaged. Yu Hai was a little worried and said: "Cao'er, what do you think? Can it be planted?"
Yu Xiaocao said nonchalantly: "Don't worry, as soon as I saw these seeds, I had their planting method in my mind, just like I used to plant them! It must be no problem! But, Dad! The little county king gave me Seeds from ten acres of land, how can our family have so much land!"
"Not enough land? Then buy it! I heard that several families in the village want to sell their land... However, the land near our village is not very fertile sandy land, and I don't know if it is suitable for planting these precious plants. Seeds! If you buy them in the town, they are too far away to take care of them..." As he spoke, Yu Hai frowned in embarrassment.
Xiaocao thought for a while, and said, "Buy the land in the village first. It's best if it can be connected into a piece, otherwise it's not easy to manage. In the town, I'll also find someone to look at it. If there is a suitable land, I'll buy it too." Come down. If you don’t grow it yourself, you can rent it out to others! Both of these crops are high-yield, and they don’t pick too much land. When they are harvested after autumn, we can plant them on a large scale next year!”
Seeing that his youngest daughter's tone was positive, Yu Hai no longer hesitated. Doing business and farming, it seems that there is nothing that can be difficult for the youngest daughter. Their family has never grown watermelon before, isn't it good
The next day, Yu Hai found two of the land sellers, asked the village head to be a guarantor, and bought the twelve mu of land of the two for thirty-six taels of silver. Dongshan Village is mostly barren sandy land. Except for cheap crops such as sweet potatoes, the yield of other grains is very low, so the price is cheap. The three, two and one mu given by Yu Hai is already very authentic!
The lands of these two families are connected together, and only Wang Ergou's land is separated from the Yu family's land. When Wang Ergou heard about Yu Hai's purchase of land, he came to him and said with a playful smile, "Brother Da Da, are you going to expand the cultivation of watermelons? Is your land enough? If not, I will lend you the land for your family." , No money! But...hehe, this year's watermelons, you have to give me priority... I have to save more money for my son!"
Wang Ergou's wife gave him a big fat boy in the first month, but he was very happy. In the past, he used to drink and play with a few friends in the village for money or something. Since he had a son, he has become a 24-year-old father who looks like a 24-year-old filial father, and hangs around his wife and children every day. He also came to Yu's house many times to ask about confinement meals, personally served his wife's confinement, and raised his daughter-in-law to be fat and fat, with enough milk, and the little guy ate every day so that his stomach was round.
Yu Xiaocao teased him: "Why don't you sell your land to us too!"
"It can't be sold, it can't be sold!! This land is for my son!" Wang Ergou waved his hands again and again, resolutely refusing.
Yu Xiaocao continued: "As for your two acres of Susukida, how can your son be so rare? Why don't you earn money this year, and the surrounding villages buy some good land for your son. If you want to grow it yourself, you can grow it yourself, and if you don't want to grow it, you can rent it out for rent. son!"
Wang Ergou patted his thigh with an expression of enlightenment, and said, "That's right! Why didn't I think of it? My wife's village has a lot of fertile land, and I don't know if there is any for sale. I have to ask my brother-in-law to find out..."
Both of Wang Ergou's parents died, and he was left with only one seedling. His daughter-in-law is the eldest at home, and there are four younger siblings under her, who were all brought up by her. The younger sisters are all married, one of the two younger brothers is working on the dock, and the other is farming at home to serve the elderly. Looking at Ergou's daughter-in-law's strong temper, one can tell that although their family is poor, they have backbone. After Ergou got better, the attitude of the old man's family towards him changed a lot, and they treated him like half a son. Wang Ergou felt the warmth of home from his father-in-law, so whenever something good happened, he would think of his family.
"Brother Dahai, I'll go back and discuss with my daughter-in-law. If she agrees, I'll sell it to you too! Brother Dahai, if you're too busy, just come to me and don't talk outside!" Wang Ergou passed through his wife's mediation. .Teach, he is no longer the unstingy guy he used to be.
Yu Hai was not polite to him, and said, "Okay! The land has been thawed for the past two days, and I'm planning to plow it! Brother Ergou, if you have free time, come over and help the plow!" There is a livestock at home, so naturally there is no need for a plow. It was artificially turned over.
Wang Ergou happily agreed, and said, "Okay! I'll come over early tomorrow morning!"
In the next few days, Yu Hai took Wang Ergou and searched through a total of 17 acres of land that Ergou's family had sold to him. And Yu Xiaocao stopped helping on the pier because she wanted to breed watermelons, corn and potatoes. The pier was really too busy, so Han took her little daughter with her every day to help carry the dishes and wash the dishes.
Days passed, and soon it was time for spring planting. Standing on the hillside, you can see everyone busy everywhere. The villagers in Dongshan Village mostly grow sweet potatoes. The Yu family's ten acres of land, however, attracted curious eyes from time to time.
The reason is very simple. The county magistrate personally interviewed the head of Dongshan Village, and solemnly told him that the Yu family was experimenting with planting western crops for the King of Yang County.
When the village head returned home, he solemnly held a village meeting, and made the protection of the "experimental field" the top priority of the village, and it must be implemented. The village head was afraid that it would not be safe, and threatened: "If there is any mistake in the crops in the Yu family's field, which delays the affairs of the county prince, the lives of our whole village will not be enough to pay for it!"
have to! It is no wonder that the villagers are concerned about a major event that concerns the lives of the entire village. However, for fear of affecting the Yu family's planting, they only dared to watch from a distance. In order to prevent the crops from being destroyed, the night patrol team in the village and the city guarded the Yu family's ten acres of land at night so that not even a mosquito could fly in. In this way, the Yu family saved a lot of trouble.
The Yu family's melon field has doubled in size this year. Except for the 11 acres of "experimental field", all others are planted with watermelons. Growing watermelon is relatively simple, just bury the melon seeds in the soil. In order to increase the germination rate, the grasses are first soaked in Lingshi water before being taken out for sowing. On a six-acre field of watermelons, Yu's family and a free laborer, Wang Ergou, worked hard for two days and finally finished planting.
Planting corn also uses the method of soaking seeds. When planting corn, you should pay attention to the distance between the plants. If the plants are too dense, there will be no ventilation and no sunlight, and the corn will not grow well. If the seeds are too rare, the yield will be reduced. Fortunately, Xiaocao had experience in growing corn in her previous life.
The fields have been plowed and manure applied. Xiaocao dug a shallow hole in the soft soil with a small hoe, Liu Shi followed behind, put a seed into the hole, then pushed the soil into the hole with his feet and buried the seed, Yu Hai carried a Bucket of water, pouring water into the pit... The family of three cooperated very tacitly.
Ten mu of land, if all for a family of three, it will take several days to plant it. For the first time trying to grow corn, the whole family did it by themselves. The work of digging a hole looks simple, but it is not easy. You always have to bend your waist and hold the hoe tightly in your hand. At the end of the day, Xiaocao was so tired that she couldn't straighten her waist, and a few blood blisters appeared in the palm of her hand, and she cried out in pain when she pricked it.
Liu Shi used the roasted needle to carefully pierce the blood bubble in her little daughter's hand, while Yu Hai was beside her and gasped in pain. The house took the best wound medicine, applied a thick layer on the goddaughter, and wrapped Xiaocao's hands with gauze like pig's trotters. When eating at night, like a seriously wounded person, he was fed pearls into his mouth.
Looking at the delicate little girl, Mrs. Liu couldn't bear to say: "Mother has already remembered the distance of digging. Cao'er, don't go to the ground tomorrow, just rest at home!"
Yu Xiaocao shook her head again and again, and said, "No way! Point at Dad and you, when can we plant the corn! My hands are not used to heavy work, so I'll be able to grind them out in a few days!"
Fang Fangzhen disagreed, and said: "The blood bubble on your hand has just burst, if you grind it again tomorrow, you will have to peel off a layer of skin. Why don't I ask for two days off to help in the field!"