clang farming notes

The next day, Li Zheng really asked the two of them to visit the fields together with a few people from the village.

After entrusting Jin'er to Fang Sheng's care, Du Zhongping and Du An followed.

The land allocated to those who came later was on the other side of the river. It descended slowly from a soil slope to the river's edge, and at a place a few feet away from the river's edge, it went down steeply, and the river looked very clear.On the gentle slope by the river, wild flowers are still blooming in the green grass, and you can smell the faint fragrance.

Lizheng was facing the direction of Jinyang City and clasped his fists: "General Yuan's military order, the strong men who came to Yanbei to farm, each of them will be allocated [-] acres of land, and they will be exempted from tax for three years. The seeds and grain distributed are for emergency. When everyone has income, be it food or money, they will be paid off within three years. After three years, only [-]% of the tax will be collected from [-]% of the land.”

This kind of tax is much less than that in the south, and everyone can't help saying some words of thanks.Li was waiting for everyone's discussion to calm down, and said: "Although this land has only been roughly opened, it is a fertile field. As long as you work hard, you will not be afraid of losing your harvest. Du Xiucai has a reputation, and he can divide it into [-] acres of land. As long as the land under the name does not exceed [-] mu, there is no need to pay taxes. This is what General Yuan means. There is also a large piece of wasteland, which is tax-free for three years, and the land price is also very cheap."

They asked everyone to draw lots, divide the land, and draw landmarks, and Lizheng left first.The rest of the people are looking at their land here, thinking about the spring plowing in the coming year.

Lizheng's field division is quite a bit like Yanbei's frankness in the legend. He only divides the land of twenty mu into pieces, and each piece of land is near the water, and some are on higher ground. fair.

Because Du Zhong's two people shared more equally, they let others catch first, and the remaining land happened to be next to each other.The land looks like it has been cultivated, but now the land is full of weeds, and the growth is quite lush.

Both of them had never planted land, and looked like others, but they didn't know how to do it. Du Zhongping did recognize some edible wild vegetables. Although they were a bit old, they were better than nothing. Some go back to cooking.

When walking all the way back, everyone chatted, and Du Zhongping found out that the people who came to this village, except himself who was a student, were more or less skilled, and it could be seen from the conversation that they were all honest and honest. Yes, I couldn't help admiring Li Zheng in my heart.

Back home, Fang Sheng was standing under a tree in the backyard with Jin'er in his arms, watching from a distance Fang Sheng grabbed something from the tree, wiped it on the front of his clothes, and fed it to Jin'er.

Du An put the wild vegetables on the windowsill and went there with Du Zhongping.When I got closer, I saw that the leaves of this tree were small but shiny, with many small thorns on the branches, and many small red, green, half-green and half-green fruits hidden among the branches and leaves—it was a tree. jujube.It's just that the dates are not big, Du Zhongping picked one at random and put it in his mouth, it was crispy and sweet.

Fang Sheng said: "It's been a few days before I found out that there is still a jujube tree in your backyard. It just happens to be a snack for Jin'er. Isn't it the time for the jujube to come down now. It's just that I can't keep it."

Duan also tasted one: "It tastes good, but it's a bit small. If it is sun-dried, I'm afraid there will be pits left."

Du Zhongping remembered that he had seen wine dates made before - wash and dry the dates, the skin can't be broken at all, soak them in strong wine, then put them in a jar and seal them, they can be stored for a long time, it is said that the taste is good .

After talking to the two of them, they became very excited, and called Zhao Ba over—here he was, he was tidying up the vegetable garden, and he was very busy.

He circled the tree twice and said, "Why don't you help me tidy up the vegetable garden first, there are still a lot of jujubes that are not red, and they will be picked in two days, then take a ladder and put them on the tree. If it does, it will be broken."

Zhao Ba also had to help a lot these days, so the group moved to the next door.Vegetables were planted in front of and behind Zhao Ba’s house, and now it’s autumn, and they’re not fruiting much. Zhao Bazheng picked the vegetables, kept those that should be seeded, dried those that should be dried, made pickles that should be made into pickles, and left over The vegetable seedlings that have fallen are pulled out and piled aside to make room for them. The grain in the field will be harvested in a few days to dry.

Du An helped Zhao Ba chop cabbage and kick radishes. Du Zhongping and Fang Sheng put Jin'er aside to play.When Du Zhongping went to throw the seedlings, he found that there were still some small eggplant eggs hanging on the eggplant seedlings on one side, so he went to pick them up.

Fang Sheng looked at it and said: "Those are unnecessary, they haven't grown long, they are still astringent, and they are prickly, so don't bother."

Du Zhongping said: "This can be used as a pickle, it's a pity to throw it away." Fang Sheng said: "I forgot that you have no food. If you want it, you can use it to make pickles. It's just too much effort. Wouldn't it be better to use the bigger one?"

"It's just the small eggplants, the big ones are not good." He picked off all the small eggplants.

Du Zhongping and Du An helped their neighbors for a few days, and they really learned some skills: how to slice and dry eggplant, how to slice and dry beans, pick gourds off the vine, saw the old ones in half and remove the flesh It becomes a water ladle, and the tender ones are peeled and stripped to dry in the sun-this is a technical job, only Zhao Ba can do it-it is said that it is very delicious when stewed, and the tassels on the radish are twisted off to pick out the tender ones. Pickled into pickles and so on.

When the two returned home, they cooked the dishes they had bought from others one by one, and thanks to Zhao Bada's mouth, others sent many small eggplants and Du Zhongping that hadn't bloomed. It took half a day to deal with it, and Zhao Ba and Fang Sheng also came to help watch.

I saw Du Zhongping instruct Du An to wash the small eggplants and put them out to dry. When they were almost dry, put them in a pot and steam them over water. Ann gently squeezed out the water from the eggplant.Here Eucommia chopped a lot of garlic.When the eggplants are relatively dry, break them open from the middle, put garlic and a little salt, put them in jars one by one, put them in a cool place, and they are ready.When eating, take it out and mix with two drops of sesame oil, it is very refreshing to serve with rice.

Fang Sheng was half-believing when he heard this, and he had no choice. After contacting Du Zhongping these days, he had never seen Du Zhongping cook. Du An was in charge of the Du family, and according to Du An, his young master had never cooked before.Du Zhongping was very annoyed that Fang Sheng didn't believe his skills, and said that he would let them taste it after the pickling was done, and they had to admit that his skills were good.

In the midst of being busy, the sky and the earth are dyed yellow, and it is time for the autumn harvest.

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It seemed that the whole village became busy overnight. Almost as soon as it turned white in the east, the sound of driving cars and talking could be heard. These were people rushing to the fields to collect grain.

There are quite a few families with livestock in the village, and most of them have set up carts, and the whole family goes to battle to grab the autumn harvest.

The reason why the word "grab" is used is that most of the crops grown here are drought-tolerant crops such as corn and sorghum. The finished grain will germinate.

Besides, not only must the crops be taken back, but they must be dried before they can be put into the warehouse when the weather is good. Otherwise, the grain will become moldy and uneatable if it is covered all winter.

For corn, people first need to wring the corn covered with leaves from the stalks, while for sorghum, the stalks must be cut down first, and the ears must be cut off.First transport it back to your own yard, and wait for it to be further processed after it is collected.Sorghum is more urgent than corn, because the tassels of sorghum always attract many birds to peck at them.

The fields should also be tidied up. Corn stalks and sorghum stalks should be cut and bundled into thick bundles. This is the main firewood, and usually one bundle is enough to burn at night.There are also underground roots, which are called corn stubble and sorghum stubble here, and they have to be dug out of the soil one by one, and the soil on them must be knocked off, and then piled up together, which can also be burned.All these must be done in autumn, or else we will not be able to catch up with the farming season when we clean up in the spring of next year.

Some people also grow wheat, which is the fine grain here, and it is even more careful to collect it.If the family has spare capacity, every family has to plant a few acres. Although it is not as easy to serve as corn and sorghum, and the output is slightly less, it is fine grain after all.

The Du family was not idle either.Zhao Ba reminded them that the newly allocated land is covered with grass, and if they don't deal with it in autumn, they are afraid that the grass seeds will fall to the ground, and they will be exhausted to remove the grass next year.Therefore, the two men pondered the matter for the first two days.Pulling and cutting will definitely not work. The grass seeds are so ripe that they will fall to the ground with just a light touch.

In the end, the two simply spent some time cutting out a isolation zone and setting it on fire.Of course, Du Zhongping took care, and most of the work was done by Du An.

Picking up a windless day, the two of them set fire to the wilderness, staring at the ground carefully, for fear that it would burn other places.

Taking advantage of this time, Du Zhongping discussed with Du An. It turned out that Du Zhongping's land went a little further to the side, and the river turned an elbow bend, and there was a low-lying and flat land with a size of six or seven acres. , he took a fancy to Xiangkai to grow rice.

After all, Duan grew up in the south and was used to eating rice, so he readily agreed.The two planned to talk to Li Zheng after the busy autumn.

After tidying up their own house, the two of them will have nothing to do.

Thinking of my neighbors who left early and returned late these days, I haven't seen anyone for a few days, thinking about it is very hard.Du An specially cooked extra rice at night, but Du Zhongping said that they were doing heavy work, so they might not be hungry enough to eat.

Duan followed the local practice. He cooked porridge in the middle of the big iron pot, washed the salted eggs he bought, put them in and cooked four of them, and put a circle of cornmeal pancakes on it, because the pot was so big that it was full. A large pot of noodles was pasted in.

In this pot, there are even vegetables and rice.I also took out some eggplants that had been marinated at home, tore them up and dropped two drops of sesame oil into them, and mixed them.

It wasn't until it was dark that I heard the sound of a car coming back from the yard next door.Du An asked Du Zhongping to set up the dinner table, took Jin'er at home, went to the next door to help unload the car and invited them to come over for dinner.

Du Zhong was equal for two quarters of an hour before waiting for someone.When people came in, Du Zhongping had already set up all the meals and even the water for washing hands.

When people sat down at the table, Du Zhongping saw clearly through the light, and couldn't help being surprised.That's all for Zhao Ba, except for being a little darker and thinner, there is nothing serious about it. Fang Sheng was originally a circle smaller than Zhao Ba, but now he is a little too thin, and his exposed skin is still a little cracked , looking a little out of shape.

It's not easy to say much at the moment, so I greet everyone to eat quickly.Zhao Ba was still very straightforward, he just said thank you and started eating.I thought the porridge was too hot, so I just ate pancakes with pickles.It looked like he was very hungry.

Fang Sheng looked like he had a bad appetite, so he stirred the porridge with chopsticks and blew on it. When he felt that it was not so hot, he gave the porridge to Zhao Ba, and then he started to eat porridge and cakes.

Du Zhongping scooped up some thick porridge in advance and prepared to feed it to Jin'er, but now he is feeding it bit by bit, and doesn't care about other things first.

Du An looked at Zhao Ba and the two of them, then peeled the salted egg, put it in the bowl of the two, and peeled another one for Du Zhongping, and then he peeled and started to eat.For a while, there was only the sound of eating at the dinner table.

For a while, Du Zhongping fed Jin'er and put him aside to play before he started eating.And Zhao Ba may have had a bottom in his stomach, and now he has returned to his usual appearance, drinking porridge with pickles, and at the same time praising Du Zhongping for the delicious pickles.

Fang Sheng also regained his strength at this time, and couldn't help laughing at him: "I've already eaten half of the plate, now I want to be polite again."

Zhao Ba also smiled: "I was very hungry just now, I just stuffed it into my mouth, how can I taste it?" He said again: "Thank you very much, I have been busy collecting land these days, and I am so tired that I just want to sleep when I come back. The rice is not good enough to make you laugh."

Duan said: "Because we just finished our work, we realized that we haven't seen you for a few days. Big brother Zhao is also very polite, we didn't expect to not mention us, even if we can't help you, cooking It’s okay, why is that so?”

Zhao Badao: "Because it was like this in previous years, I didn't think of it for a while. I will have to trouble you in the next few days."

Du Zhongping asked him how the harvest was going, and Zhao Ba replied: "The sorghum has been taken back, and the corn has not yet been transported back after it has been broken. When it is transported back to the field, it will be cleaned up slowly. There will be no more days like this." So tired."

Duan said: "Since that's the case, my family also has a mule cart, why don't I go with you tomorrow. Bring it back and let them clean it up slowly."

Du Zhongping also said: "Since there is no rush, let Brother Sheng and I clean up at home. It happens that we can still cook at home. After a long day, we should eat hot soup and hot water."

Zhao Baben saw that Fang Sheng was very tired and had no energy for the past few days, so he felt a little distressed. It's just that time waits for no one, and Fang Sheng has always been strong, so he didn't dare to persuade him. Now with the help of the Du family, it's just time for him to rest .He was straightforward at first, when he saw what the Du family said, he immediately agreed, and when they agreed on the time, they went home to rest.