North and South groceries

After leaving Ma's Firm, he went to buy a few more farm tools. Luo Yong drove the donkey cart out of the city. It was still half a day's journey from here to Xipo Village. Go to midnight.

When passing Tian Chonghu's stinky tofu stall, he saw that there were several customers in front of the stall, and the kid was busy, so he didn't go over to talk to him.

At the entrance of the nearby alley, there were a few little dolls playing with rough clay bowls, looking out from time to time. Luo Yong guessed that they were waiting for the sauce on the stinky tofu stand. It was just after lunch time. , began to wait.

Thinking about it, many people can't even eat oil at this time, but he collects so much fat suet every day to make soap, which is quite sinful.

But Luo thought to himself, as long as their place can gradually get richer, everyone's living standards will also improve accordingly, regardless of pork and mutton, they will definitely eat it by then.

In Lishi County in March, it is no longer as cold as it is in winter. During the day, the sun shines brightly in the sky. By this time in the afternoon, the air is warm, but It still freezes at night.

The altitude of their Lishi County is relatively high, so the temperature is lower than some surrounding plains at the same latitude.

The soil in the field froze and thawed, thawed and froze, and gradually became more and more fluffy.

Before winter last year, an experienced farmer would lay a wooden stake in the ground. The wooden stake was about one foot and two inches long, and one foot was driven into the ground, and two inches were left on the ground.

After the beginning of spring, the soil becomes fluffy and swells up like fermented dough. The two-inch wooden stakes that were originally exposed on the ground will also sink into the soil. If you dig it out a little and pull it out gently, you can The whole wooden stake was easily pulled out from the soil, and the villagers rushed to tell each other that the earth's air was cleared, and spring plowing could start this year.

The Luo family also had a lot of fields to plow, and all the farm tools had been purchased, but there were no cattle for farming, so he went to discuss with the merchants who lived in Xu's guest house about renting cattle.

Luo Sanlang has a good reputation. Although many merchants feel sorry for their cattle for pulling goods and don't want them to be overworked, they all agree to rent the cattle, but they have to give a few words of advice and not make them too hard. This cattle pulls all the way. When Huo came to Lishi County, he was already tired, and now he should cultivate himself.

Luo Yong also loves animals. When these buffaloes were rented back, he also told his disciples to take it easy. He would rather spend less time plowing the fields than exhaust other people's buffaloes.

Every day, he would mix some feed for those cows, using his own bean dregs and wheat bran, and sometimes he would crack a few eggs. It was not easy for those cows, and work was inevitable anyway, so at least some nutrition should be added.

Except for mixing feed for the cattle, Luo Yong didn't take part in the farming work very much. The main thing was that the Luo family also had a lot of work. They harvested meat and boiled oil to make soap every day, and they didn't have much time to spare all day long.

These disciples refused to receive wages for doing farm work for him, so Luo Yong had to work harder on food. Last spring, when these people helped him with farm work, they ate at Luo's house. This year Luo Yong himself I don't have time to arrange food. Fortunately, there is Xu's guest house now, not to mention the convenience, the price is also affordable.

When his disciples just came back earlier, Wang Dang and others said they wanted to vacate a place. Luo Yong told them not to worry, but to live in it first. Worry about the house.

It was good for his disciples to live in Xu's courtyard. They would have ready-made bath water when they returned from work every day, the house would be cleaned, and meals would be ready-made.These people worked hard to help him, and Luo Yong naturally couldn't be too stingy when it comes to food and lodging.

There are meat and vegetables every day, enough miscellaneous noodle pancakes, corn porridge every day, and fine pasta from time to time. The basin is here.

In just a few days, some people look round, and the absorption function of the stomach is quite good at this time.

It was near noon that day, and Luo Yong's disciples were plowing wasteland on the ridge, and they saw a group of ox carts heading towards the entrance of Xipo Village from a distance.

"There are saplings here again. Let a few people stay here to plow the land in the afternoon, and everyone else can plant trees." Xu Erlang's eyes were sharp, and he saw the saplings on the bullock cart at a glance.

"There are so many people coming here at once, the store should be overwhelmed, you brothers should hurry back and help." The other disciples persuaded.

Xu's guest house is close to here, and the three Xu brothers have recently been helping their master with farm work while taking care of the business in the store.

Generally, as long as there are not many people coming all at once, the old man Xu and his daughters-in-law will do their best to receive them, and there are also many grandchildren running errands to help.However, in a scene like today's, and it was about Du planting saplings, Xu Erlang and the others couldn't be absent.

Luo Yong also got the news at this time, and came to Xu's guest house to receive the merchants who brought the saplings. While counting the saplings, he asked the Xu family to prepare meals.

Speaking of which, Luo Yong is now considered a big customer of this Xu's guest house, not to mention the large group of disciples who have been living here recently, every time someone sends saplings over, he will treat them to a meal, and treat them a thousand miles away. Send the saplings all the way to express our gratitude.

These people came all the way here from Lishi County, and naturally they have heard about the stinky soap and scented soap. At this time, it is natural to mention this matter with Luo Sanlang, and they will not be relieved until the order is confirmed. Come and dine.

As for the effectiveness of the stinky soap, there are small pieces of mahjong for sale at Xu's guest house. The mahjong pieces are bigger, and they cost a dollar and a penny.

In the afternoon, Luo Yong left the soap-making work to Erniang and the others, and went to the slope to plant saplings by himself.

Because the tree pit has already been dug, at this time, it is only necessary to fill some fertilizer into the tree pit first, then plant the saplings, fill in the soil and step on them, and then water some fixed root water.

Carrying water is not an easy task. In some flat terrain, ox carts can be used to transport water, but most of the slopes can only be carried by hand.

Luo Sanlang's small body is now a lot stronger, and the person who carries water and waters the trees can also withstand hard work.

"This is another sapling. How many saplings have arrived today?" A few villagers over there were carrying hoes and were about to go to work in the field. When they saw Luo Yong carrying water, an elderly villager walked over and took him The burden on the shoulders was taken over.

"No, no, I'll do it myself." Now it's not like usual, it's the critical time of spring plowing, Luo Yong has the nerve to delay their work.

"It's not too late, you go first, I'll go home and get the bucket." Another villager next to him said, and walked back with a hoe on his shoulder.

"Hey, what are you doing in such a hurry, wait for us." The two behind hurriedly followed, also going back to get the bucket.

"How embarrassing." Luo Yong said to the villager who was helping him carry water.

"Don't get in the way, don't get in the way." The villager said again and again.He was also used to doing farm work, so he walked briskly up the side slope with two buckets of water.

On the way, the villagers told Luo Yong about their latest discovery.

It turns out that everyone has been busy plowing the fields recently, and then they found that the land this year seems to be softer and more fertile than in previous years. When everyone talked about this together, they all thought that it must be the same as the soil they applied to the fields last year. A lot of soil shit has to do with it.

In the current era, people's impression of the land is that the more it is planted, the poorer it becomes. The so-called poor soil means that the vegetation does not grow, and the decline of the air means that the organisms fail.

This prompts them to continue to open up new land to grow food. In the long run, the damage to the environment is naturally very serious, and the process of opening up wasteland is not easy, and it takes a lot of time and energy.

It was also later that with the continuous development of agricultural technology, more and more experience was gradually accumulated, and many methods of fertilizing the field were developed.

After entering the Song Dynasty, "Chen Fu Nong Shu" put forward the idea of ​​constant prosperity of the land, believing that as long as the land is managed properly, the land will not become poorer and poorer.In the Qing Dynasty, the "Outline of Zhiben" pointed out: "Although the land is barren, it can be turned into fertile land with frequent addition of manure."

From the original poorer farming, to the constant prosperity of the soil in the middle, and then to the poor land and good land later, this is the process of continuous improvement of farming technology.

Originally, this process would take more than 1000 years, but because of the appearance of Luo Yong, a seemingly inconspicuous method of burning soil and manure will have a great impact on the entire farming society.

The people in Xipo Village have now tasted the benefits of advanced agricultural technology. Not only did the grain harvest last year be good, but when they plowed the land this year, they felt that their fields were a little more fertile than before.

It doesn't take much manure to go down, and the field can grow more and more fat. For people at this time, this is really a great thing, so I respect Luo Sanlang again in my heart.