Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 182 The Joy of Harvest

The batch of strong crossbows that Yang Menglong brought back from Shaanxi allowed Qi Hu and Han Peng to snatch the barracks.After trying more than a dozen of them, the two were sincerely amazed: "This is the strong crossbow of the Han family that once shot the Hulu into fear! Compared with this, the crossbow we used for training is simply the crossbow used by women. It's a toy!" Unfortunately, Yang Menglong's standard is too high, and this kind of crossbow with a range of 280 steps still fails to catch his eye. He insists on equipping the troops with a crossbow with a range of [-] steps, otherwise it will be a disaster. This kind of crossbow can be manufactured in large quantities to form a frightening crossbow phalanx.

On the third day after Yang Menglong returned to Qianhu in Wuyang, the gate of Wuyangwei barracks was opened, and a large number of tall and strong soldiers came out from inside, forming a majestic formation beside the potato field.

All the military households also came out from the Qianhusuo, and they also lined up on the edge of the field, but what they carried on their shoulders was not farm tools, but hoes. Cutting cabbage, opening watermelon, beheading, and other functions—a dog-leg knife.

Thousands of refugees who came all the way from Shaanxi, Qing Zhuang, also climbed out of their shacks, led by the military households to the edge of the field, holding sickles, hoes, baskets and other agricultural tools, nervously waiting.

They didn't have to wait long.Soon, under the training of a group of officials, the protagonist makes his debut!Yang Menglong, Fang Yizhi, Cheng Ji, Zhang Tong, Biyang County Magistrate Chen Xi, Tongbai County Magistrate Gao Hua...the county magistrates of the thirteen counties in Nanyang Prefecture are basically all in place.Right now, the summer grain has been handed in, and the winter wheat has been planted early. The magistrates of the county have nothing to do. Hearing that potatoes are being harvested here, they rushed over to join in the fun.The spectacular scene of thousands of people gathering in darkness by the field shocked everyone, even Yang Menglong was no exception.He is not without feeling, unknowingly, he actually has so many people!
All eyes were on Yang Menglong.

Yang Menglong coughed and said, "Well... let's start harvesting potatoes, [-] mu of potatoes is enough for everyone to work for a few days! Wang Tiechui, take someone to harvest the potatoes from Field A, and put them in a separate place after harvesting , don’t confuse it with that of No. [-] Field.”

The so-called potatoes in No. [-] Field are those that have been fertilized with phosphorus fertilizers.Everyone found that both potatoes and radishes grew particularly vigorously in the field where phosphorus fertilizer was applied, which was very miraculous.Yang Menglong wanted to know the effect of the phosphate fertilizer he made by himself, so he ordered it specially.

Wang Tiechui responded, and took hundreds of people straight to the more than 1000 mu of field A that had been fertilized with phosphate fertilizer.Yang Menglong announced again: The refugees who come to help work will take care of three meals a day, and give an extra [-] catties of potatoes every day!As soon as this remark came out, there was thunderous cheers immediately, and everyone rushed into the field and began to cut potato seedlings.After cutting off the potato seedlings, someone came to the ox to put on a plow, and plowed carefully on the ridge farther away from the potato seedlings. Only one plow exposed the large and small potatoes. The advantage of this is to prevent the digging of potatoes The guy dug wildly with a hoe and smashed the potatoes.After plowing the soil, the person in charge of digging the potatoes picked up his hoe and dug down with extra care, digging out the potatoes with their roots, and someone later would naturally pick up the potatoes into the basket.At the beginning, almost every time a tree was dug out, there would be a burst of exclamation: "My God, it's so big, there are so many! After digging a few trees, there will be a basket!" Slowly, no one shouted anymore, and everyone Numb, the ones in the front were digging with hoes, and the ones in the back were picking up. The baskets were quickly filled, and then they were picked up on the road and loaded into cars. Someone shouted and waved their whips to transport the baskets of potatoes back. up.The more they dug, the more surprised they were, especially the military households. They didn't seem to care much after the potatoes were planted. How could the harvest be so good?
Some of the subordinates brought by Cheng Ji squatted at the head of the field, marking the fields being harvested, marking A, B, C, D, which field was full of a load, and they would draw a picture below it to count as a few acres. After the field was dug, they cried out in surprise:

"Kada, twenty loads!"

"Otata, 21 loads!"

"Bingtian, eighteen loads!"

"Ding Tian, ​​nineteen loads!"

"One field, twenty loads!"

"Yi Yitian, twenty loads!"

"Bing Yitian, 22 Dan!"

"Ding Yitian, twenty loads!"

……

In other words, the average yield of potatoes per mu is about 120 tons, and one load is 130 to 2000 catties, and the harvest of one mu of field is more than [-] catties!Everyone was surprised and delighted, and the official's jaw almost fell to the ground while watching the price of potatoes rising up: "This... why is the harvest of this thing so scary!"

Fang Hua, magistrate of Tongbai County, wiped off his sweat: "It's too scary, it's too scary! The yield of one mu of potatoes is equal to the yield of more than ten mu of wheat!"

Chen Xi, the county magistrate of Biyang County, stroked his sparse beard and rolled his eyes.In the past few months, Wuyangwei has reclaimed 16 mu of land in Biyang, and will continue to reclaim it. If these fields are planted with potatoes...the picture is so beautiful!

Cheng Ji's old housekeeper, Cheng Zhong, happily said to Cheng Ji: "Young master, this Yang Qianhu is really capable, and the harvest from farming is worth ten mu! You put so much money on him, now it's considered a I earned back my capital with interest!"

Cheng Ji smiled and said, "Uncle Zhong, I have never doubted my own vision! Come on, let's go and see the situation of No. [-] Field."

On the No. 500 field, Wang Tiehammer, Xue Siming and others were harvesting with more than 500 soldiers.These more than [-] people were still bandits a few months ago, and letting them participate in labor can be regarded as a kind of reform.Several months of training seems to be quite effective. The loose nature of these bandits has been worn down. They are the former best friends across a field ridge. No one of them uttered a word to make friends, even if the best friends kept following When they talk, they don't answer much, they just focus on doing their own work, and at most show a friendly smile to each other when they straighten up for a rest.Cheng Ji secretly marveled, what kind of magic does this Yang Menglong have? A group of bandits have been handed over to him, and they have to be disciplined after only a few months?But he is more interested in the potato harvest, which is directly related to his business.Potatoes were piled up in the field into hills. Yang Menglong was rummaging among the hills. He also squatted down to rummage and found potatoes one by one to compare with the potatoes produced in the field without phosphate fertilizer.The result is clear at a glance, the yield of potatoes with phosphorus fertilizer is much higher than that without phosphorus fertilizer, even though field B also applied a lot of farmyard manure.These potatoes are particularly large, full of weight in the hand, full in shape, rarely misshapen, and must taste good.Cheng Ji held up a potato as big as his fist and said, "The potatoes in No. A field are much larger than those in No. B field, and the yield is much higher!"

Yang Menglong said: "Of course. It may be three or four stones higher. I have worked so hard to get the phosphate fertilizer, and it was not in vain."

Cheng Zhong's jaw almost dislocated: "High...three or four stones higher!? How is that possible!"

Yang Menglong said: "Nothing is impossible. Phosphate fertilizer is a very effective fertilizer. Applying phosphate fertilizer is far from not applying it." The sulfuric acid plant should have a place, right? If you want to get higher yields, you must have more phosphate fertilizers, and if you want to get more phosphate fertilizers, you must have enough sulfuric acid. You can understand this truth without me telling you. "

Cheng Ji laughed heartily: "Isn't it the sulfuric acid plant? It's a trivial matter! Start construction immediately after harvesting the potatoes!"

Cheng Zhong whispered, "Master, we don't have enough money!"

Cheng Ji didn't take it seriously at all: "I think my elder brother will be happy to buy shares. Even if he is not willing to buy shares, there are still people in Huizhou holding up banknotes and hoping that I will accept them!"

Yang Menglong gave him a thumbs up: "Domineering! I like your domineering!"

Cheng Ji arched his hands to express humility, but his face was full of confidence.He really has the capital of self-confidence. The output of potatoes is astonishing, beyond his imagination. What is the concept of an output of more than 80 shi per mu?The 60 mu of potatoes is more than 10,000 shi. Of course, it is impossible to give him all of these potatoes. Wuyang Wei has to keep a part, but he can at least get two-thirds, nearly [-] shi. So many potatoes are processed into potato noodles and sold, what kind of frightening wealth is this?The most important thing is that this is just the beginning. Yang Menglong will be promoted, and with more military fields, he will inevitably plant more potatoes, and the output will naturally increase. It is hard for him not to make a fortune!Huizhou businessmen are the best at capturing business opportunities. When they find such a big business opportunity, they must follow up. Isn’t it easy for him to raise [-]+ taels of silver to build a sulfuric acid plant?Hmph, I think my father was eccentric at the time, and when we separated the family, he favored the elder brother and distributed several good grain sources to the elder brother, so that I could only run back and forth between several low-yield grain sources, competing for every grain. A grain of grain is losing money almost every year, and I can't hold my head up at home. This time, I have found such a good grain source. I think the expressions on his and his elder brother's faces must be very exciting, right?
Cheng Ji is worthy of being an expert in business, this kind of complacency just lingered in his heart for a moment and then was suppressed. Then he thought of the substantive problem and frowned.

Yang Menglong noticed it and asked, "What's wrong?"

Cheng Ji said: "Sir, these potatoes are good, but... I don't know how to process them into potato noodles!"

Yang Menglong chuckled: "I thought it was some kind of problem, so it's this one. You can't, I can, it's very simple, I can fix it for you with my eyes closed... However, it's hard to process so many potatoes. It's not an easy task, it needs a lot of manpower, if there are few people, you just wait for the potatoes to rot in the warehouse!" Pointing to the refugees who are working hard: "Fortunately, bring them back, otherwise You should have a headache for recruiting again."

Cheng Ji was stunned for a moment, clapped his hands and laughed loudly: "It's really a coincidence! According to what your lord said, we paid money and food all the way to bring them here, it's worth the money!"

Yang Menglong said seriously: "I have always firmly believed that good intentions will be rewarded, and I have never doubted it!"

(End of this chapter)