Bianshanhan [farming]

Except for Ma Yongjiang, no one else was there, so I had to put away the letter and read it when I came back.

Ma Yongjiang also planted seeds with Li Qingwen.

After reading the letter that day, Ma Yongjiang told Li Qingwen and the others that his father thought he had been cheated, but was dragged by his mother to go to Jiang's house. When he learned that Jiang Liping also wrote a letter home and got back the money, he believed it...

Later, he lay on the kang and thought about it carefully. His father's suspicion was not unreasonable. Who would have thought that a prisoner who had been exiled for thousands of miles could still earn money in this extreme north?

He is considered lucky. Jiang Liping and Jiang Cong are good at hunting and can eat meat. Like other exiles in border towns, they don’t have enough to eat, and it is difficult to live in a shelter from the wind. God blesses them if they can live, and it is even more difficult to have Li Qingwen and his family are relatives or friends who send letters and goods between border towns and Bingzhou.

Thinking of it this way, he felt much better and worked harder.

Soon, there was no room for the stables. Li Maoxian and the others carried the newly filled baskets and wooden shelves to the three houses. Anyway, Jiang Liping and the others couldn't come back for a short time, so the empty ones were still empty.

Because their bedding was also taken away, and in the end, the floor of the house and the kang were all filled with seedlings, and they had to nod their feet when walking.

The people in the kitchen saw it and imitated them to grow vegetables in the house.

Seeing Li Qingwen raising seedlings, some people looked at it with some surprise, "This kind of rice, this seedling has to be removed again? Our hometown is to plant the seeds directly in the ground."

The speaker's hometown is in the south of the Yangtze River, and Ma Yongjiang said while watering, "We plant rice in Hongzhou to transplant rice seedlings."

Li Qingwen's waist was about to break, he straightened up slowly, and said: "It's warm over there, I'm afraid it's not too cold in winter, and rice can grow no matter what. It's different here in the border town, and the warmer days are as short as three or four. month, six to seven months long, if the seeds are planted directly, the rice should be frozen when it is half grown!"

"It's hard to raise seedlings here." An older cook said, "To grow rice, heat and water are indispensable. It's colder than other places in any season. Even if you transplant it, can the ears grow? Chengdu is hard to say."

"You can try it." Li Maoxian said: "We in Bingzhou couldn't grow rice in the past. I heard that at the beginning, we could harvest tens of catties per mu of land, and then we kept planting it for decades. Now we can produce more than 100 catties per mu of land. , the production is not as good as yours in the south, and the price is not cheap."

"I reckon that this rice is like human beings. Most of them froze to death in cold places at the beginning, and only the resistant ones survived. Using their seeds to replant them is better than the previous frost resistance." Li Maoxian continued.

Li Qingwen was a little surprised. What his father said was not about the adaptability and heredity of seeds. Although it was a bit straightforward, the truth was the same.

That's why he dared to bet with Jiang Liping.

Breeding and raising seedlings in the house can barely overcome the fatal flaw of late thawing of the land in border towns. After transplanting, it depends on God. If there is a late frost, it is very likely to survive to maturity.

Li Qingwen didn't have much confidence that he would be able to grow rice. Even with the level of technology in his previous life, he had put in a lot of effort to grow rice in the cold zone, let alone his backward method.

The five-year gamble is nothing but his determination to grow rice. Even if he can't grow rice in five years, he will not give up and continue to try.

He has such determination, not only because he likes to eat it, but also because Jiang Cong and the others are used to eating rice, and more because of her mother's careful appearance when cooking the rice sent by her second uncle, and when eating, Most of the sorghum rice covered under a spoonful of rice in her bowl.

He wanted his family to have enough food and a good meal.

There is no water in Yangshu Village. The land here is vast and the water system is developed. It is a pity that only soybeans, sorghum and a little wheat are grown here.

The breeding work kept the masters busy for more than half a month, and it was not over yet. Li Qingwen and Li Qinghong had to watch the baskets and racks in several rooms, and water what needed to be watered.

Li Maoxian wanted to take out the farm tools and tidy them up, but he couldn't find them after searching for a long time. After asking, he found out that the farm tools and cattle had to wait for the officers and soldiers to distribute them.

This made Li Maoxian a little uncomfortable, just like a general does not fight unprepared battles, farming can't sharpen your guns before the battle, you have to prepare in advance to be at ease.

Li Qingwen and Jiang Cong have hundreds of acres of land to plant, and many people in the village rush to this, and the spring plowing in the border town is so urgent...

Li Maoxian said no, and went with Li Qingwen to tell Lao Xingtou to see if he could get Jiang Liping and others' farm tools out first.

Farm tools are piled up in the barn and distributed together when the fields are planted. Now that they are taken out, the officers and soldiers have to open the door in advance and register them in the register, which will be more troublesome.

Li Qingwen and Lao Xingtou brought sauced meat together and said good things, the officers and soldiers agreed, and they were allowed to pick the best ones, of course the quantity should not be large.

There are special written regulations in this regard. The six exiles shared a pair of plow sticks, a cow, and planted 120 mu of land.

Guo Dayong and the others, like Li Qingwen, were not allowed to receive these. Similarly, they would not hand over the grain they collected, nor would they work for the camp.

After moving the farm tools back, Li Maoxian frowned even more, and then picked up the hammer.

Some of these plow sticks have loose wood, some have bent plow points, and few are good, so they need to be repaired.

Guo Dayong and others could not open up wasteland empty-handed. They took apart a few sledges they brought back last time, and each made a handy tool.

The snow outside was still thick, so they started to get busy with spring plowing.

Li Maoqun is learning how to make wine recently, and has been in the kitchen all the time, only coming back at night.

Li Qinghong and Ma Yongjiang went to fetch water, saw a petite figure by the river, tentatively thought about it for a while, then shrank back, and kept wiping their faces, as if crying...

The two immediately thought of Lin Xiuyun, and ran up quickly.

The girl by the river heard the movement, looked back, and headed for the river resolutely.

Ma Yongjiang's suffering these days was not in vain, he used all his breastfeeding strength, ran very fast, and kicked the girl who was about to jump into the river aside.

In order to save people, he confiscated all his strength in desperation, and the girl was kicked out a long way and fell headfirst into the snow.

Panting, Ma Yongjiang walked up to the front, and scolded: "You can go to the border town, what else can't you bear, why do you want to commit suicide at such a young age, you are worthy of your parents when you die like this?"

Li Qinghong, who was behind him, also arrived at this time, and wanted to help him up, but the girl slapped his hand off, gritted her teeth and said angrily: "You two men hit a woman for no reason, you are really worse than dogs! "

Li Qinghong was stunned for a moment, "He is here to save you, you are not afraid of death, but are you afraid of being kicked?"

"Who wants to die?" The girl's face was dirty and she couldn't see clearly, but she didn't have the tears they imagined, but the anger in her eyes was about to burn. barrel!"

Li Qinghong turned his head, and sure enough, he saw a wooden barrel floating in the ice hole where he fetched water...

This person probably wanted to fetch water, and accidentally dropped the wooden barrel into the water. He probably didn't dare to step on the ice to get it, so he hesitated here, but they mistakenly thought he was going to jump into the river.

Ma Yongjiang was dumbfounded, he hesitated to apologize, the girl clutched her injured left arm, stood up angrily, turned her head and left without wanting to talk to the two of them.

"Oh, your barrel, you don't want your barrel anymore?"

Ma Yongjiang yelled twice, but the girl didn't turn her head back. He now knew that he had misunderstood, and that kick was also very heavy.

"Catch up and have a look." Li Qinghong said, "I'll go find you after taking out the bucket."

Ma Yongjiang responded in a muffled voice, followed behind the girl, and asked, "How is your arm? If it hurts badly, I'll go to the doctor to show you."

"I appreciate your kindness. I'm afraid that if you go to the doctor to see my arm, my arm will be disabled." The girl's anger still persisted, "Stop following me, I'm unlucky today."

Ma Yongjiang kicked the man, so naturally he couldn't just leave like this, but followed him from a distance.

Li Qinghong fished up the bucket from the water, filled most of the water, and quickly caught up with Ma Yongjiang, and the two of them followed the girl to a wooden shed.

The people living in this area are all new exiles. They don’t have a house, and naturally they can’t build a house in winter. They don’t know where to pick up broken wood, and use the wood and dry grass to build small thatched huts that are pointed at the top and wide at the bottom.

But the girl didn't move forward, she looked at the two men warily, and said: "Give me back the barrel, and it's considered clear, you can go."

Li Qinghong put the wooden bucket filled with water in front of her, and said: "We are both reckless in this matter, if your hand is injured badly, come and find us..."

As he spoke, he pointed to where he was staying.

Hearing what Li Qinghong said, surprise flashed in the girl's eyes, and her tone softened immediately, "You guys live there, my grandpa accidentally fell that day, and your people helped him carry it back, and he said he would go when he was better." thank."

There were so many people living there, and they didn't know what the girl was talking about, so they politely said: "We are all in trouble here, we should help each other."

Originally the girl was avoiding them, seeing that Li Qinghong and Ma Yongjiang didn't look like bad guys, instead she was not in a hurry to leave, she seemed to be hesitating, she bit her lower lip with her white teeth, and thanked them both for a while. Say goodbye, and leave with a wooden barrel.

The two of them stood in place and saw her enter one of the small huts, then turned around and walked back.

During the meal, Ma Yongjiang asked who carried an old man who fell down. The eldest brother of the Liu family chewed several mouthfuls and swallowed what was in his mouth before he said: "A while ago, I saw an old man in the snow. Weeding in the grass, accidentally fell down, and couldn’t get up for a long time, so I carried him back, I don’t know if it’s the one you mentioned..."

Everyone else shook their heads, so Boss Liu should be the one who helped the girl's grandfather. Ma Yongjiang asked, "How many people in his family?"

"I just looked at the two, one old and one young." Old Liu said, "Besides grandpa, there is also a granddaughter."

Ma Yongjiang was taken aback for a moment, the first thing he thought about was how much the grandfather and grandson had suffered in coming to the border town, and then he thought about how they would live here.

He didn't make another sound, he just finished eating the rice in the bowl, told Li Qingwen, and ran out to find Zhou Yao.

This day, Li Qingwen practiced calligraphy as usual, and suddenly felt that the room was getting darker and darker. Why is it dark this morning?

He put down his pen and went out of the room to see that the sky was overcast and snowflakes were falling.

The Awakening of Insects has passed, and Bingzhou should be obviously warmer by this time. The snow in the border town has not melted, but it is still snowing. The weather here is really unpredictable.

Thinking about this year's spring seeds, Li Qingwen couldn't help but look worried.

Li Qingwen stood at the door, looking at a few people standing in the distance, his father seemed to be talking to someone he didn't know.

Just when he was about to go there, Li Maoxian finished talking with those people and walked over here together.

Li Maoxian brought out two bags of grain, and those people took the grain as a thank you, carried it on their backs and left.

"Father, what do these people do?" Li Qingwen asked.

Li Maoxian handed him the copper coin in his hand, "Their rations were deducted, and they were so hungry that they couldn't bear it. I don't know where to find out that we have surplus food here, and use the money to buy it from me."

Li Qingwen also knows that there are good and bad officers and soldiers. When Jiang Cong and the others first came, they were also deliberately suppressed by Lu Gang, and what happened to Lin Xiuyun...

They don't need money here, so there is no need to sell food. Moreover, even if they are short of money, they should sell medicinal materials and furs, and they will not easily move food.The reason why Li Maoxian agreed to buy it was because he couldn't bear to see those people go hungry. He knew that it was uncomfortable.

The moderate snow had not stopped for several days. Looking at the green seedlings in the house, Li Qingwen became anxious. He was absent-minded when he was reciting the book, and he was absent-minded when practicing calligraphy. He often looked at the snow outside in a daze.

If it goes on like this, the snow will not melt in April, so how can we plant this year's crops.

Li Maoxian laughed when he saw him like this, "Planting the land is to depend on the sky to eat, and it's useless to be anxious. This kind of seed has not been planted yet, and you are so restless. I am afraid that it will be difficult to have a peaceful day this year."

Of course Li Qingwen was worried. He had never planted land before, so he didn't have much confidence. In addition, the weather in the border town was unpredictable, and his heart was always flustered.

He has been clamoring for farming all the time, but when the situation comes to an end, he realizes that farming is not that simple.

Li Maoxian raised his hand and stroked his hairy head, "Zai'er, there is no rush for anything in this world, like memorizing a book word by word, and practicing handwriting stroke by stroke, do you hurry?" use."

Li Qingwen nodded sullenly, no longer bit the bullet to read, and went to cook in the kitchen.

After Li Qingwen calmed himself down, the snow stopped the next day.

After the snow stopped, the sun became brighter day by day, and the warmth on the face became more and more abundant.

The dry and loose snow slowly softened, and when it was wiped off by occasional feet, it would still be slippery, and the shoes were stained with half-wet mud that did not dry.

In a few days, when I go to the river to fetch water, I can hear the crisp sound of the ice breaking.

All this indicates that the spring in the border town is coming soon.

It's really cold here when it's cold, but it's getting hot slowly. The ground below is soaked in melted snow, and the snow on top is still stubbornly standing up.

Li Qingwen hadn't taken off his fur robe yet, and it was still very cold in the morning and evening, only at noon when it was the hottest, so it was easy to catch cold when changing clothes at this time.

Liu Laoer took off early, accidentally got frozen, and was given medicine soup for two days.

These days, there is no need to raise seedlings anymore, Ma Yongjiang doesn't know where to go, except for eating and sleeping, he can't see anyone.

The snow within dozens of steps around their house had already been shoveled away, so after the snow melted, the door was still dry and loose. Li Maoxian sprinkled the lime he brought on the outside of the house and in the dark corners of the house.

Killing one insect in spring is better than killing a thousand in summer.

The bugs in the border town, they have experienced it before, and they will die if they are not careful.

Zhou Yao also suffered from many insects in Anyang Pass, so she deliberately took some herbs and asked them to grind them and sprinkle them on the base of the wall outside.

From the New Year to the present, Li Maoqun finally learned how to make wine. Everyone before and after called him Master Dong Ming respectfully. Dong Ming, who was younger than him, was uncomfortable at first, and he got used to it after calling him more often.

Li Maoqun didn't have time to be happy about this, so he had to clean up and start digging the ground.

People like Li Maoxian and Guo Dayong went to the fields with pickaxes every day, digging here and there, and when they noticed that the ground was slowly thawing, they started to drive the animals to plow the field.

Li Qingwen stopped reading and practicing calligraphy. He went to the field every day to pull out the stubble from the sorghum field, knock off the soil on it, and throw the remaining roots into a pile. This is an excellent fire starter. Firewood.

When encountering stubble that has not been turned over and is still growing firmly in the ground, use a two-toothed pick to dig it down. This is a bit strenuous. Easy to knock off.

Jiang Liping and the others were assigned seven oxen and seven pairs of plow sticks. Li Maoxian, Li Maoqun and five others were holding the plow sticks, and the rest were all smashing stubble in the field.

The other exiles were still thinking that spring is here, and they can dig wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger. Li Qingwen and the others have been digging the land for several days.

Smashing stubble is not easy, nor is it particularly tiring, because the soil on the roots must be knocked off, so the ground is full of dust, and a thick layer hangs on the eyebrows, which will be blinded if you are not careful.

When the stubble smashers caught up with the diggers, everyone drove into the field, carried piles of stubble onto the car, and then pulled it back.

The most tiring animal is turning over the ground. Although it is in a hurry, Li Maoxian will not use the cattle all the time. He must rest when it is time to rest, otherwise the animal will be exhausted.

When the cow was resting, he didn't stop, took the two-toothed pick to the field, and smashed up the large pieces of soil, otherwise it would get in the way when planting.

Li Qingwen would only appear in three places these days—sleeping on the kang, working in the fields, and cooking in front of the stove.

They turned nearly a thousand acres of land before the officers and soldiers began to distribute agricultural tools to the exiles, and Li Maoxian and others had already gone to open up wasteland for Guo Dayong and the others.

Last year's autumn harvest was in a rush, so I was only able to burn the weeds next to Li Maoqun's field, which delayed harvesting the field all winter.

Because they have to farm, they eat more casually. They eat porridge, sliced ​​meat and mushroom soup every day. No one complains. If they are at home as usual, they will not be able to eat enough, let alone meat.

Seeing their hard work, the kitchen staff brought over two pots of pickled vegetables. Their pickled vegetables were especially salty, and they were the favorite food for hard work.

Old Xingtou also came to help when he had time, but he sprained his foot. Zhou Yao rubbed him for two days before he dared to go to the ground.