Chapter 72: A female partner chooses farming (21)
Zhuangzi's harvest this year is much better than in previous years. In addition to the good weather, he also has to thank the princess for the fertilizing recipe.
After harvesting and weighing, Mr. Wang’s face wrinkled and he smiled.
“The yield of rice per acre is three stones. The fields are so fertile that the three stones are almost overflowing. This is nearly one stone more than in previous years. Great! Only days like this can be looked forward to!”
Hearing this, Xu Yin twitched the corner of her mouth slightly:
With a yield of about three hundred kilograms per mu, do you think there is hope? In future generations, the farmer uncle will cry.
Her experimental field is still the best, with three acres of rice fields and six types of rice planted, namely glutinous rice, long-grain fragrant rice, green stem rice, rouge rice, pearl rice and Panjin imperial rice.
Of course, the imperial rice she grew was a high-yield and superior variety produced by the system, and it had nothing to do with the imperial rice eaten by the emperor.
Hence she omitted the word "royal rice" and called it Panjin rice.
After harvesting, thresh separately, and weigh after threshing.
The one with the highest yield is undoubtedly pearl rice, which seems to be very suitable for farming in the south. Five and a half stones can be harvested from just half an acre.
The next thing that surprised her was the rouge rice. Half an acre of land yielded a full harvest of five stones.
She remembered that the yield of rouge rice in the world today was not very high. It seemed that the yield per acre was only five to six hundred kilograms.
She tried planting this time mainly because she wanted to eat it and was greedy.
Unexpectedly, the yield per mu broke the record, and the harvest from half an acre of land reached the yield of one acre in later generations.
She knew that the seeds produced by the system were high-yield, but she did not expect such a high yield.
Looking at glutinous rice, long-grain fragrant rice, and panjin rice, half an acre of land yields four stones, four and a half stones, and five stones respectively.
Converted into yield per mu, it is approximately between 800 and 1,000 jins.
It is said that Panjin rice can be co-cultured with lake crabs on the same principle as rice flower fish: the rice protects the crabs, the crabs eat insect bait, and the crab manure fertilizes the field.
Xu Yin thought that she could try it next time and maybe increase the output.
In comparison, Bidian rice has the lowest yield, with only three and a half stones harvested from half an acre.
But she felt that the output was low, and Uncle Wang and others on the side were collectively dumbfounded.
The harvest from half an acre of field actually exceeded their output from one acre of field!
Then pearl rice and rouge rice have been doubled!
What is this concept?
After being silent for a while, he became excited.
The yield per mu is more than ten shi!
Leave aside the Southern Barbarians, no one in the vast Central Plains has ever heard of rice with such a high yield.
Looking at the whole Yanhua, they must be unique!
“Princess…”
Uncle Wang was so excited that he burst into tears and stopped talking.
I want to ask if there is any mystery in this, but I am afraid that I will say the wrong thing and make the nobleman unhappy.
Xu Yin smiled and said: "Do you want to know how such a high yield is achieved? In fact, this is not the highest yielding grain. When the autumn harvest, sweet potatoes and potatoes are harvested, you will be even more surprised."
The yields of sweet potatoes and potatoes with a yield of up to 3,000 jins per acre and potatoes with a yield of 4,000 jins are astonishing in minutes. By then, they no longer realize how outstanding the rice is.
“In the final analysis, it is seeds.” Xu Yin explained to them, “High yield has a lot to do with seeds.”
But don’t be anxious. After screening these high-yield rice, the big and plump ones will be left for you to use as rice seeds for the next season. If there are more, you can also exchange some for the villages outside.
The rice harvested next season will also be selected according to this method and promoted one by one. One day, our southern barbarian land will be planted with high-yielding seeds. The people of Nanman will be full soon and will no longer have to worry about food. "
Uncle Wang and others were very excited after hearing this, as if they had seen the blueprint drawn by Xu Yin.
Soon after, everyone knelt down and kowtowed in thanksgiving. At this time, everyone felt that the princess must be a fairy sent by God to save them.
Xu Yin came here this time not only to see the rice yield per acre and boost morale, but she also wanted to try the water wheel.
There is a river in the middle of Zhuangzi, and the river channel is relatively wide, which provides her with convenience.
She asked the accompanying carpenter to instruct the people to install the waterwheel, assemble the scraper and the water bucket. The motor was still on the carriage, guarded by the guards, and she would let them move it down when it was ready.
Actually, a waterwheel can run without a motor, but it requires a rickshaw to transport water. With a motor, and a solar motor that can store energy when there is sunlight, it completely liberates manpower.
The motor is equipped with a strong and weak two-speed control switch, which can control the irrigation speed and time at any time.
The installation of the ten-meter-high waterwheel took half a day. Xu Yin did not return to the palace at noon and had a light meal in the village.
There is a courtyard for the owner's family to rest in the village. Flowers and fruit trees are planted in the front and back of the house, and there is an exquisite swing under the pomegranate tree.
It is said to be a simple meal, but it is actually quite rich.
Uncle Wang’s wife and her two daughters-in-law cooked a table of specialty dishes. The main dishes were stewed chicken with mixed mushrooms, fish in sour soup, pan-fried pork belly, and several stir-fried seasonal vegetables.
Ordinary but extraordinary farm dishes, but with a hometown flavor that cannot be made by imperial chefs.
I felt a little lazy after eating and wanted to take a nap. I thought it was stuffy in the room, so I asked Dongxue to move the lounge chair to the shade of the trees in the backyard, and took a nap with squinted eyes.
While half asleep and half awake, I heard a burst of cheers.
“Mommy, what’s going on outside?”
“Princess, the waterwheel you brought has been installed.”
Mother Feng took a look midway and was shocked by the tall waterwheel that was erected. She could not hide the excitement in her eyes as she spoke.
She had never understood before: How could the princess like farming?
If this is left in the capital, I'm afraid it will become the laughing stock of the palace. As a princess, the mistress of the dignified Jinnan Palace, she should...
Mr. Feng thought about the daily life of the respectable ladies in the capital. It seemed that they were guarding the back house and fighting openly and secretly with their jealous concubines.
There is no side room in the Jinnan Palace so far. Every time the prince returns to the palace from outside, he always rushes to the main courtyard to see the princess. The most discussed thing with the princess is farming.
Thinking about it this way, there is nothing wrong with her princess liking farming.
From now on, Nanny Feng no longer tried to persuade the princess with earnest words based on the behavior of the ladies in the capital.
Xu Yin heard her grandma say that the waterwheel had been installed and couldn’t wait to go over and take a look.
Uncle Wang and others were watching the waterwheel around the waterwheel. When they saw her coming, they quickly stepped forward and asked, "Princess, is it ready for use?"
"Um."
Xu Yin taught him how to control the motor and asked him to press the switch.
The waterwheel then started running slowly.
Subsequently, the water buckets were filled with river water and lifted step by step. After reaching the highest position, the water buckets naturally tilted, and the water was poured into the aqueduct, and then gurgled along the aqueduct into the fields that needed irrigation.
The entire process does not require manual operation.
The only thing you need to do is to turn it on and off, or adjust the speed.
People were liberated from carrying water for irrigation, and the curved shaft plow was also popularized, so they had more time to cultivate wasteland.
The tenant farmers were once again stunned.
(End of this chapter)