Daming: I asked you to hang yourself, but I didn’t ask you to rebuild the Ming Dynasty

Nearby, old trees sprout new shoots.

In the distance, the snow-capped peaks of the Dabie Mountains sparkle in the sun.

If you want to use a skewered version of poetry to describe it, it would be:

The window contains Qianqiu snow in Xiling, and thousands of green silk ribbons hang down.

By the river, green grass tips have emerged from the soil.

I don’t know when the shepherd boys left sheep excrement eggs when grazing sheep, but they already looked like rotten lichen.

It's like it's half melted.

Only in the creeks in the shade, you can still see some thin ice in the morning.

However, when the sun covered the earth, these signs of winter disappeared in an instant.

All that's left is the moist mud that sticks to shoes everywhere.

spring is coming!

Wei Guozheng looked around.

The paddy fields have been leveled, and even the rice fields have been prepared.

The rice fields are flooded with water. After the spring water softens the soil, there will be old farmers trampling the mud to a pulp with their bare feet.

Then, sprinkle a handful of rice seeds.

After half a month, it will grow into green rice seedlings.

It's still a little early, and the miraculous scene of spring planting and autumn harvest has not yet appeared on the land of Jiangbei.

In the paddy fields beside the river, there are bare fields everywhere.

Because of the news that the "Fifth Camp of Ge Zuo" was resurrected, it was difficult to see the people in the fields.

Wei Guozheng sighed:

"Sorry how difficult the people's lives are!"

Wang Ding shook his head:

"Throughout the ages, my people have suffered the most..."

Wei Guozheng looked away.

Although Huanggang has been stable for more than half a year.

Most of the people hiding in the mountains returned to their villages and repaired their homes that had been destroyed by the war.

However, the smoky smell of war is still visible in every village.

There are even some villages that are already covered with weeds and no one lives in them.

The great refugee uprising that has been rampant across the country for nearly 20 years has had an impact on people's livelihood.

"Brother Ding'an, Your Majesty needs a minister like you who is dedicated to the public good!"

Wei Guozheng looked at Wang Ding with eyes as clear as a mountain stream.

Looking at the sincere face of the eunuch in front of him, Wang Ding was no longer self-effacing.

He nodded silently.

After a long time, he slowly said:

"The official is the protector of Youyouzhikou.

What Wang Ding did was just his duty..."

……

The farther east the army went, the bigger the mountains became.

Gradually, the river turned into a creek.

The paddy fields on both sides of the river have disappeared.

Instead, there were patches of dry land.

Although Huguang is famous as a land of plenty.

Especially Hubei, north of Dongting Lake, is known as the "Province of Thousand Lakes".

If there is plenty of water, it is suitable for growing rice.

Although the planting conditions of this water-demanding plant are relatively high, its yield far exceeds that of dryland crops.

Rice has a high yield, so farmers are naturally more willing to grow it.

Therefore, taking Xiangyang as the boundary:

To the north of Xiangyang, wheat is the main crop, while to the south of Xiangyang, rice is commonly grown.

However, here in Huanggang, some winter wheat is still sown sporadically.

Sticking to the rules is an operation of "brick house" and "calling beast" without touching Yang Chunshui.

Ordinary people have always adapted to local conditions.

Old farmers sneer at this cost-effective operation of letting rice go up the mountain.

Although they don’t understand the big principles, they also understand——

Human beings originally had no words.

Naturally, there are no such big principles.

Ancient people made a living by hunting. When they entered the farming era, the simplest motivation was - because of farming, the output of a single person exceeded that of hunting!

Paying less and reaping more was what motivated the ancients to domesticate crops.

If you don’t pay attention to the ratio of effort and gain...

It would be better to dig a hole on Mars, poop in it, build a house, sow seeds, and lose some energy...

You can still gain something!

Farming and cultivating the land are all about one person cultivating the land and feeding two people.

If you work with two people, neither one of you can make a living...

Are we still entering the farming era?

Ruying hair and drinking blood, doesn't he smell good?

……

The army passed by a low hillside.

The hard-working people have already cultivated all the wasteland that can be cultivated.

Rice cannot be grown in such fields without water.

Wheat, whose yield is second only to rice, has become the choice of the common people.

Huguang is not a mountainous area short of water.

In Shanxi and Shaanxi, because rainfall is scarce, sorghum and corn, which require even less rain, have become large summer crops.

Because these things are drought tolerant.

With or without water, it can harvest some amount.

Once we pass the Qinling Mountains, sorghum and millet are no longer the mainstream crops.

(Speaking of this, during the Qin, Tang and Han Dynasties when Xi'an was the capital, the mainstream food was corn. This may also be related to the climate in Guanzhong.)

Wei Guozheng is from the north. When he saw Maizi in this foreign land, he immediately felt warm and friendly.

He got off his horse, stepped on the ridges, and walked to the edge of the wheat field.

The green wheat seedlings have already covered the ankles.

Wei Guozheng pulled up a wheat seedling and found that it had begun to joint.

After surviving the severe winter and entering mid-spring, the wheat seedlings begin to joint. If the rain is right, they can even lift one joint a day!

"When I was a child, my grandfather once said to me:

During the wheat jointing season, if you lie down in the wheat field at night and calm down, you can still hear the crackling sound of wheat stalks jointing! "

Wei Guozheng had a look of nostalgia on his face.

Because his family was poor when he was young, he had no choice but to become a eunuch in the palace in order to survive.

In his memory, the grandfather who always touched his face with his big, calloused, rough, warm hands has gradually become blurry.

Only the old face like crisscrossing ravines appears in the dream from time to time.

Wang Ding sighed softly:

"There are three blessings in the world. After the rain, the bamboo can grow ten feet high in one day.

After spring, wheat can grow a bunch high in one day.

Mushrooms after a thunderstorm can cover the ground in one day. "

"If you ask me, the fastest growing ones are humans...

Before I knew it, half of my body was already buried in the ground..."

Wang Ding reached out and stroked his beard under his chin.

Unexpectedly, he already had a daughter-in-law.

In a few years, I will be surrounded by grandchildren.

In a few years, I'm afraid it will become a wooden sign and be placed on the family's altar...

Time is not forgiving!

These sad words did not resonate with Wei Guozheng.

In his thirties, he was at the peak of his fame and fortune.

"Brother Ding'an was joking, he is just less than one round older than me, which is the best age to make achievements.

Why is it so late? "

Wei Guozheng laughed and focused on the wheat seedlings in his hand.

Wei Guozheng counted carefully and found that more than 30 seedlings had been separated from the wheat roots.

(In the past, old seeds were produced in "pockets", that is, divided into branches. Modern wheat seeds are mostly non-divided varieties. One wheat seed usually has only one ear.)

Seeing Wei Guozheng counting wheat plants, Wang Ding sighed with emotion:

“Plant in winter, grow in spring, harvest in summer!”

"Farmers are about to face their busiest days!"