Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

After planting the seedlings, it’s time to transplant the corn.

Zeng Da took several tenants down the mountain. They had heard about the immortal method and were quite respectful to Zhu Guoxiang at this moment.

"Are you ready for everything I told you?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Zeng Da said: "When you are ready, the ground has been turned over."

Zhu Guoxiang pointed to the corn seedlings in the vegetable patch and said: "Carry them all to the mountains."

Several tenants brought baskets and carefully picked up seedlings and put them in. Zhu Ming also followed with the cornucopia.

There are fields everywhere in the countryside, and there is no place for the horses to run wild. Let them climb the mountain roads for exercise.

"Xianggong Zhu!"

I met several villagers along the way, and they all took the initiative to stop, get out of the way and stand aside to greet them.

Although the story told by Zhu Ming is wonderful, it is not as good as Zhu Guoxiang's knowledge of farming. The villagers are looking forward to learning agricultural techniques, and when they start plowing next spring, it is expected that someone will come to give them gifts.

"good!"

Zhu Guoxiang nodded and smiled as a courtesy.

When he came to a relatively wide mountainous area, Zhu Guoxiang picked up a few bundles of hemp rope. After visually measuring the distance, he led them from the head of the field to the end of the field.

This is similar to the function of an ink fountain. Digging holes along the hemp rope for planting can make the crops line up straight.

Zhu Guoxiang commanded: "Dig along the rope, the distance between the holes is one and a half feet."

Zeng Da did not take action immediately, but asked: "Ms. Zhu, how come the spacing of the rows drawn by this hemp rope is wider and narrower?"

Zhu Guoxiang explained: "The gaps left by the wide rows will be used to interplant beans in the future. Bean roots can fertilize the fields. Otherwise, after several years of planting, there will be no fertility in the soil."

"What were these wide rows used to grow before that kind of beans?" Zeng Da asked again.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Plant sweet potatoes first and then beans. The two can grow together."

A piece of barren mountain land can grow three crops: corn, sweet potatoes, and soybeans.

Their plants are of different heights, so they do not compete for sunlight and can promote each other. And different growth and harvest cycles can stagger the need for soil fertility.

The key is to plant soybeans, because soybean root exudates and energy sources continuously produce nitrogen fertilizer, sustainably maintaining soil fertility.

This method is called "corn intercropping, soybean intercropping and sweet potato intercropping" technology.

Especially in the southwest hilly areas, including the Hanzhong Basin, the land can be utilized to the maximum extent. And because the mountainous areas are relatively barren, when corn seedlings grow to a certain height, they must be ridged to preserve fertilizer and drain water.

The cultivation of soybeans is also particular. In the Yunnan-Guizhou region of Guangxi, the temperature is higher and the sunshine is sufficient, so beans can be planted more densely. In the Hanzhong region of Sichuan and Chongqing, the temperature is lower and the sunshine is insufficient, so beans need to be planted more sparsely. Even on the same mountain, the planting density is very different between sunny and back-sun lands.

Intensive cultivation requires effort.

In the next two or three years, Zhu Guoxiang will not be able to relax.

He must come to the fields every three to five days to carefully observe the condition of the crops, and then instruct the tenants to manage them accordingly.

In addition, there were no chemical fertilizers in ancient times, so this method consumes a lot of fertilizer. Zhu Guoxiang also directed the tenants to prepare original organic fertilizer and continue top dressing during several key growth periods.

After digging a few rows of ground, Zhu Guoxiang ordered: "In the first hole, plant one corn seedling. In the second hole, plant two corn seedlings. Alternate the odd and even pairs."

If there are chemical fertilizers, two plants must be planted, and the yield per mu will be greatly increased.

Without chemical fertilizers, we can only alternate between odd and even numbers. In particularly barren land, there is no way to replace it, and all single plants must be planted.

At the same time, this is also coordinating light and heat resources. When corn grows to more than 10 leaves, chemical agents cannot be used to control the growth in ancient times. Planting too densely may steal the sunlight of soybeans.

After planting this piece of land, the tenants had basically learned how to do it, and then dispersed to other mountains to cultivate.

"Are you ready to watch?" Zhu Guoxiang asked his son.

Ju Ming nodded and said, "Yes."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Then you go dig the soil and exercise your willpower."

Ju Ming immediately picked up the hoe, which not only exercised his willpower, but also exercised his physical strength.

Unfortunately, I didn't master the skills at first and was so tired that I was panting. After asking the tenants for advice, I gradually understood how to dig the soil with less effort.

Zhu Guoxiang walked around the experimental fields, observing. When he saw something wrong with the tenants, he immediately corrected it and taught him how to plant new crops.

While walking around, Zhu Guoxiang warned loudly: "In the future, when harvesting corn, don't take the corn stalks home as firewood, and don't use them to feed livestock. Cut them down and bury them deeply in narrow rows of furrows. The same goes for bean stalks and leaves, which must be deep Buried in wide rows. This method of farming, planting three crops on one piece of land, consumes a lot of fertility, and the stalks and leaves must be returned to the field to fertilize the land. Remember, you are not allowed to take advantage of small things, and you are not allowed to take them home to make firewood! "

"I remember!" the tenants responded one after another.

Zhu Guoxiang shouted again: "Corn top dressing is divided into two sections. One section is base fertilizer, and the other section is bract fertilizer. If the growth is poor, a section of flower fertilizer will be added. When it is time to fertilize, I will teach you how to prepare fertilizer!"

After hearing this, the tenants worked more actively.

Even if the rice cultivation was not successful before, Zhu Guoxiang's dispatch and command today, as well as the words he said, can still convince the tenants.

As long as it does not exceed their common sense, they can tell whether Zhu Guoxiang knows how to farm.

Moreover, Mr. Zhu seems to be able to prepare fertilizer, which is probably an exclusive secret recipe passed down by the immortals. Just by learning this, you can pass it on to your children and grandchildren, making farming more convenient in the future.

By about two o'clock in the afternoon, all the corn fields were planted.

Zhu Guoxiang took his son back, and unexpectedly had to rub dung balls to raise seedlings again - there were still some corn seeds left.

Ju Ming asked: "Why didn't you finish the broadcast last time?"

Zhu Guoxiang explained: "The corn seedlings planted today may encounter accidents, or be eaten by birds and insects, or may not grow well. These remaining seeds will be cultivated and used for replanting to replace those that do not grow well." "

"Oh, farming is so hard." Zhu Ming was very tired from digging soil today.

Zhu Guoxiang pointed to the vacant vegetable patch and said: "We will plant sweet potatoes in a few days. When new vines grow, we will take cuttings to the mountains."

While the father and son were rubbing dung balls, Mrs. Yan came with a woman.

"This is Aunt Zhang," Aunt Yan introduced. "She is the matchmaker for many marriages in nearby villages."

Aunt Zhang was smiling all over her face and flattered her when they met her: "Ms. Zhu is such a talented person. If I have a daughter, I'd love to marry him."

"Aunt Zhang, please sit down." Zhu Guoxiang continued to rub the dung balls.

Aunt Zhang continued: "I heard that Mr. Zhu was good at farming, and Mr. Zhu was a talented scholar. Both father and son were first-class talents. But there were no women at home, so they couldn't take care of the food. Mr. Bai was very warm-hearted, so he asked me to Come over and help with the matchmaking.”

Zhu Ming suddenly laughed and said quickly in Mandarin: "The bragging that day scared Mr. Bai, he was afraid that we would get into trouble easily if we were singles. Don't be afraid when you have a family and a career. You have to take care of your wife, children and children. You have to agree to this marriage, otherwise It just refutes Mr. Bai’s face and is not conducive to friendly relations in the future.”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "You usually seem to have no brains and are totally ignorant of the world. How can you guess this?"

"I'm too lazy to care about the world, do you really think I'm stupid?" Zhu Ming reminded, "Don't marry too young, I'm afraid I can't help but treat my stepmother as my sister."

What is this word?

Zhu Guoxiang had just finished rubbing a ball of feces and wanted to smash it directly into his son's face.

The father and son spoke too fast, and Aunt Zhang couldn't understand. After waiting for a while, she said: "There is a village upstream. The eldest sister of Member Deng's wife was originally engaged to be married, but the marriage has not been consummated until now. It has been three years since the wedding. , according to the rules, we can kiss instead."

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "How old is Sister Deng?"

"I just turned seventeen." Aunt Zhang said.

"I'm too young. I'm thirty-five this year," Zhu Guoxiang said.

Aunt Zhang smiled: "Then Mr. Zhu is willing to marry a widow?"

Zhu Guoxiang turned to look at Mrs. Yan. He already guessed what it meant and said, "Just be well behaved."

Grandma Yan suddenly got up and walked away, going back to the house to do housework.

Aunt Zhang continued: "Ms. Shen is pretty good. Does Zhu Xianggong still like her?"

"It depends on Mrs. Shen's intention." Zhu Guoxiang replied.

Aunt Zhang clapped her hands and laughed: "That's it! I'm an outsider, so Mr. Zhu will tell Aunt Yan the rest."

Zhu Ming went back to the house to get a handful of iron money, but Aunt Zhang declined and said, "Old Bai Yuanwai has already given it to me."

"Take it," Zhu Guoxiang said.

"Then I'll accept it." Aunt Zhang suddenly became even more happy.

After the matchmaker left, Mrs. Yan came out again: "Ms. Zhu, I can see that you are a kind-hearted and real person. In these years, Er Niang has been with our family and has suffered a lot. She should have been allowed to remarry a long time ago. . But Brother Qi’s surname is still Bai..."

Except for special occasions, Zhu Guoxiang didn't like nonsense and said straightforwardly: "Brother Qi doesn't need to change his surname, I will also provide him with education. The old lady is old and it is inconvenient to live alone. After marriage, we can live together, and there is a relationship between us." Take care of me. It’s okay to live here, or I can build a new house in the mountains. It doesn’t really matter. I will definitely build another house in a few years.”

Grandma Yan smiled happily after hearing this. She didn't care, the main thing was that her grandson was found.

She was afraid that one day she would die, leaving only an orphan and a widowed mother who didn't know how to live. My daughter-in-law cannot help but remarry one day. What if her grandson is abused? No matter how willing Bai Sanlang was to help, it was inconvenient for him to interfere in housework.

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhu. As long as brother Qi lives well, he can treat me as a slave." Grandma Yan was afraid that Zhu Guoxiang would regret it.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The old lady said something serious."

It was almost dark before Shen Yourong took the child home.

Grandma Yan quietly nodded to her daughter-in-law, indicating that the matter had been settled.

Shen Yourong blushed instantly and kept his head buried even while eating. Occasionally, I couldn't help but peek at Zhu Guoxiang. The more I looked at him, the more I liked him.

Even the mole the size of a grain of rice on Dean Zhu's brow seemed to have a radiant charm.

After finishing a bowl of cornmeal, before Zhu Guoxiang put it down, Shen Yourong snatched the bowl away: "I will serve rice to my husband!"

Ju Ming sat next to him and curled his lips. He smelled the sour smell of love.

Come on, who are you showing the dog food to?