Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 247 The Autumn Harvest and Horses 83

Entering July, as the roads in Beihai Town and Fuldan City are about to be completed, a large number of people are released from the road construction site.Before many people had time to catch their breath, they were about to start preparing for the wheat harvest again.

For this year's wheat harvest, Chen Qingsong led the agricultural department to start preparations one month in advance.The families in Beihai Town and Fuldan City have already entered the state, and everyone knows that all the hard work and preparations before are only for this harvest.Wheat Harvesting is not only a tough battle in Beihai Town, but also a gluttonous festival.

The agricultural unit is checking and maintaining equipment every day; due to insufficient equipment, a large number of sickles were made in the workshop in advance and distributed to various households; on the animal husbandry team, more than a dozen heavy-duty draft horses and hundreds of Mongolian horses were fed The agricultural department mobilized a large amount of white sugar from the warehouse, and asked the women in the big cafeteria to make sugar cubes, and prepared to distribute them to replenish energy during the wheat harvest.

Zhu Dagui has been sharpening his sickle repeatedly all morning.After grinding each time, he felt uneasy after a while, so he took it out and continued to grind it on the whetstone for a few more times, and went out to hug some grass to try the sharpness of the sickle, and he would not stop until he felt it was smooth.

His wife silently watched him toss back and forth all morning, and she no longer scolded him as usual, and she always ate Zhu Dagui first when she cooked every day.This tense atmosphere has been spreading for two or three days. Except for the workers in the workshop, everyone else seems to be in a state of magic, indifferent to other things.

Some people from Henan and Shandong still followed the old method, and estimated that when the wheat was ripe in ten days and a half months, they were ready to start threshing.They shared their ideas with the clerk of the agricultural group, and Chen Qingsong, who got the news, quickly agreed.Harvesting wheat should be done as soon as possible, as long as it can be done as soon as possible, there is no good way.

So these people first cut off a piece of wheat on the ground, planed off the stubble, and then leveled the ground. This land is the wheat field.Because it was too late to make a roller shaft, they used big stones tied with ropes to smash and tamp until the ground in the wheat field was completely compacted, as strong and hard as the old road that had been walked for many years.

For these farmers, the upcoming wheat harvest is more important than the sky falling!And waiting is always the most tormenting. At this time, the most feared thing is a strong wind and heavy rain. If the food is not collected in the warehouse, one day will be uneasy.

At this time, all the preparatory work has been done, and it is simply waiting for the wheat to be harvested.The large canteens in Beihai Town and Fuldan City sent people to set up awnings on the edge of the fields, stacked large tanks of drinking water, built fire stoves, and prepared to process food on the spot.

The impetuous heart temporarily calmed down, and everyone seized any time to rest. At this time, the whole Beihai Town was a little calmer.

As the old saying goes, "When the silkworms grow old, the wheat harvests after a while." This is the case with wheat. When it is ripe, it may not be ripe in the morning, but it may be ripe in the afternoon.

As the leader of their resident group, Zhu Dagui travels to the field almost eight times a day these days.On the sixth day of July, he went to the field again after lunch.Looking at the endless golden wheat waves, Zhu Dagui habitually rubbed a wheat ear, blew on it with his mouth, picked up a grain and threw it into his mouth.

"Is it ripe?" Zhu Dagui was taken aback for a moment, and then he quickly realized that his face turned dark red with excitement, and he ran back with big strides, shouting incessantly, "Wheat is ripe! Wheat is ripe!" Ripe!"

As the news of wheat ripening spread more and more widely, the whole Beihai town suddenly boiled!The originally quiet residential area is like a wild animal that has come back to life. No matter if they are from the island, Henan, or Shandong, men, women, and even the elderly in every family come out with red eyes, holding sickles.They walked to the fields they were in charge of in groups, waiting for the order from the agricultural clerk to cut the wheat.

Food!After collecting these, I'm afraid I won't have to go hungry this year!

The clerks of the agricultural group finally arrived. They each held an electric horn, found the block they were in charge of, and faced the crazy people with their sleeves rolled up in front of them, they raised their horns and shouted: "Keep cutting! "

boom!Everyone rushed into the field with their sickles in hand.

In the distance, the agricultural unit that was notified drove the 9620RX with the harvesting unit attached!The roar of the motor attracted many people's attention.

"Father, that big green guy came out again. One, two, three, four, four!" Zhu Dagui's wife looked up and down, and let out an exclamation.

"Hurry up and do your job, what do you do!" Zhu Dagui swung his sickle to cut the wheat without raising his head.Thanks to the food for road construction during this period, his physical strength has obviously improved. "The old men said, big ones are faster, and small ones are better. At this time, the sky is getting faster, and there may be rain at night."

"I heard that a few days ago, oh, the clerk said that the machine can harvest, thresh, and lift the hulls. When it finally comes out, it will be bags of clean wheat."

"It's hypocritical to say that you don't understand, that's called combined harvesting!"

The old people say that women are afraid of confinement, and men are afraid of cutting wheat.Harvesting wheat is definitely not a good job, but in order to save time, everyone can't care about anything.

In July, the sun was scorching hot, with a high temperature of more than 30 degrees, and people sweated standing in the shade of trees.Zhu Dagui, like many others, simply took off his obstructive coat and kept busy in the hot afternoon sun; his own woman followed behind, binding the cut wheat.This kind of scene can be seen almost everywhere. In every house, the man is in front and the woman is behind.

Harvesting, bundling, harvesting, bundling, this kind of action is repeated, no one cares about looking up.

At around two o'clock in the afternoon, Wang Yuanfang and Wu Siyu, who had received the news, ordered all the battalions to dispatch, regardless of whether they were recruits or veterans, they crossed the river by boat in company units and joined the raiding army.

The school also gave the children a holiday.Many children who didn't understand the hard work of harvesting ran to the ground happily.Holding a bag and following behind the adults, he kept picking up some fallen ears of wheat.The sensible ones ran to the awning by the field, fetched two bowls of cold boiled rice with salt, and sent them to their parents.When working in such hot weather, the most important thing is to lack water, or you will definitely suffer from heat stroke.

"Huh~! Why are you here?" Zhu Dagui took the water handed by his son and asked with some reproach.

"Sir asked us to come. Mr. said that by helping the farm, we will know the hard work of farming and cherish the food." The eight-year-old son Xiaoshun explained with a smile.

"I don't need your help, ye study hard for me, and I will be a scholar in the future!"

"What's so good about being a scholar! Master said, if you learn mathematics, physics and chemistry well, you won't be afraid to travel all over the world. I will travel all over the world with the big ship in the future."

"What?! What is in the book? If there is any gossip in the book, it is all reasonable! The three generations of our old Zhu family have only passed on, and I count on you to succeed. If you dare not study hard, I can't beat you to death!"

"I won't tell you anymore, and I can't explain it clearly." Zhu Xiaoshun took the water bowl dissatisfied, and asked his mother behind him: "Mom, what do you have for dinner?"

"Fart! Are you busy without watching, who cares about cooking!"

While the mother and son were talking, Zhu Xiaoshun saw a clerk of the agricultural group holding a loudspeaker and shouting as he walked: "Listen! You don't have to go home to cook at night. Pancakes, meat rolls and oily pancakes are prepared in the dining hall. Spread the eggs, open them and eat!"

"Oh!" Zhu Xiaoshun jumped up happily holding the bowl.

It is said that the biggest difficulty in harvesting wheat by hand is bending over and cutting off the wheat stalks with a sickle by hand, so the waist is sore, the back hurts, and the legs cramp.At dusk, many people were too tired to stand up straight.What's more, it took only half a day to peel off a layer of skin, and the body was scratched by wheat awn leaves, and some wheat awns even stuck into the flesh. At this moment, when I stopped, I felt the pain of being scratched. All scratched.

With a mouthful of hot noodle soup and a big mouthful of pancake rolled meat, Zhu Dagui's family squatted on the ridge of the field, eating very sweet food.Beside them, many people squatted densely, all eating.

While eating, some people raised their heads and said to the woman who served dinner in the big cafeteria: "Sister-in-law of the Wan family, what are you going to eat tomorrow?"

The woman in charge of serving meals was Wan Zao's wife. She said with a smile: "Stewed venison, steamed buns with white flour. The master gave orders before leaving, and they must be eaten well for everyone."

As soon as the voice fell, the people around burst into laughter.

At night, Zhu Dagui and his wife took their children and dragged their tired bodies back to the tent.In more than half a day, he had collected less than one mu of land in total.After the family hurriedly washed up, snoring soon sounded in the tent.

At this time, in the field outside Beihai Town, the four 9620RXs were still under the light, busy back and forth in the wheat field.The four machines harvested a total of [-] hectares this afternoon and night, a total of [-] acres of land.

In Beihai Town alone, 1000 hectares of land have been reclaimed in the past two years; as for Fuldan City, it is more than [-] hectares, or nearly [-] mu.This battle has only just begun.
On July 51th of the [-]st year of Qianlong, when Zhao Xin and the others arrived at Flower and Bird Island on the Thunder God according to the agreed time, they found that the person waiting for them was not Liu Quan.

"Why didn't Liu Quan come?" Zhao Xin looked at the man in his 50s with a medium build and asked strangely.

"Your Excellency must be Mr. Zhao. Director Liu told me about you, and you really have the air of a general!" The old man stroked his beard and smiled, then bowed his hands in salute. "My surname is Ma and my name is Ruilin. I am the steward of the Hefu. As for the two behind me, they are also from the Hefu."

Ma Duanlin, nicknamed Ma 83, is the third person in Hefu after Liu Quan and Hushitu.This person is 18 years older than Heshen, and he is scheming. Although he is not as arrogant and reckless as Liu Quan and Hushitu in his daily actions, he is scheming.

After Ma Ruilin finished speaking, he raised his hand to introduce one of them and said, "This is Wang Ping, who is in charge of Guangdong affairs in Hefuzhong. This time Mr. Zhao landed in Guangzhou, he will go with the boat."

This Wang Ping is a middle-aged man in his 40s, not tall, with a chubby figure and a kind face.He gave Zhao Xinshen a salute, cupped his hands and said, "I'm Wang Ping, from Baoding. Lord Zhongtang asked me to accompany you to Guangzhou, sorry for the trouble."

As for another skinny man in his 30s, his name is Hu Da, who is also from Baoding.

The three of Ma Ruilin looked at the Thunder God on the distant ocean, and were extremely shocked.They heard from Liu Quan that there was a big boat in Beihai Town, but they didn't expect it to be so big, like a small mountain.Moreover, the appearance of this ship is too weird, it doesn't look like anything in the world.

At this time, Ma Ruilin invited Zhao Xin and others to talk in the mat shed. After Zhao Xin, Liu Sheng, and Liu Zheng were all seated, Ma Ruilin ordered his subordinates to serve tea while apologizing with a smile: "Time is short, and I hope everyone is happy. No week, no greeting."

When the tea was served, Zhao Xin continued to ask blankly: "Mr. Ma, you haven't answered my question yet, why didn't Liu Quan come?"

"Uh, it's a long story. Before I left Beijing, a major event happened, and Steward Liu had to stay in Beijing to handle it, so Lord Zhongtang sent a villain here."

Zhao Xin looked up at Ma Ruilin, and said calmly, "It's Cao Xibao."

Ma Ruilin and the three of them felt a "thump" in their hearts, their faces changed drastically, and they thought to themselves, how could this person even know about this?It seems that these rebels must have spies in the capital!

Liu Zheng took a sip of tea, praised "Yes", and then asked strangely, "What Cao Xibao? What does this have to do with Liu Quan?"

"Mr. Ma, He Zhongtang can let you come here instead of Liu Quan. Presumably you are also He Zhongtang's confidant. Could you please tell us something?" Zhao Xin squinted at Ma Ruilin and the other three, with a smirk on his face.

Ma Ruilin said in his heart that this person is really good at tricks, and he controlled the content of the conversation in the field without making a fuss. His tone of speech seemed to be teasing, but inadvertently pointed to the point.

He considered it for a while and said: "Mr. Zhao is really powerful! This matter is that Cao Xibao made it out of nothing, intending to frame Steward Liu."

Zhao Xin chuckled and said, "Mr. Ma, when did you leave Beijing?"

Ma Ruilin said: "I took Master Zhongtang's order, and I waited for the three of us to go south by boat from Tongzhou, without any delay. It took a month to arrive here."

Zhao Xindao: "Oh, that's right. Then, before you leave, did the Liu family's mansion on Xinghua Temple Street undergo a major change?"

The three of Ma Ruilin were shocked, thinking how could he even know about this?It's only been over a month!Just when the three were doubtful and their expressions changed, Zhao Xin laughed, cupped his hands and said, "It's just a joke, you don't need to be nervous." After speaking, he signaled the guards behind him to bring the things over.

"The three of you came today as promised, so can I assume that Huaniao Island will belong to Beihai Town from today?"

Ma Ruilin hurriedly said: "Mr. Zhao, as far as I know, your service life is only five years."

"Naturally. Since that's the case, these things will be given to the three of you as meeting gifts. As for the goods, may I ask, have you brought any money?"

Ma Ruilin was taken aback by Zhao Xin and felt very uncomfortable.He didn't care about looking at the gift, took out an envelope from his pocket, and said to Zhao Xin: "The banknotes are in the same amount, how about the goods?"

"Okay! You let the sand ship drive to the side of our ship, and naturally someone will take care of the cargo."

"This..." Ma Ruilin showed hesitation, and said in his heart that if you also snatch the sandboat, I have no place to cry.

Zhao Xin patted Liu Zheng on the shoulder beside him, and said to Ma Ruilin: "Since Mr. Wang is going to go with the boat, then I will let this Mr. Liu take two guards on your sandboat and accompany you to hand over the goods. "

Ma Ruilin thought this was the only way to go, so he said yes.

Liu Zheng hasn't come out for a long time since he went to Yangzhou last time.At this time, he was also a little excited, so he waved and called two guards, followed Wang Ping on the firewood boat, and moved towards the sand boat.

　Many statements about Cao Xibao and Liu Quan on the Internet are wrong.Including the teacher who told the story in the Baijia forum was even more wrong, mostly deductive.In May of the 51st year of Qianlong, Qianlong Autumn Mulan Paddock.His [-]th birthday was over long ago, and he had nothing to do with the Dalai Lama, so he didn't return to Beijing until August.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)