Good farming at the foot of Changbai Mountain

Chapter 236 The Weather
"Zixuan, come quickly, and see how beautiful the flowers are blooming here." In the endless apricot blossom forest, a woman in purple clothes shuttled through the forest, followed by a tall man.The man's gaze always followed the agile figure in front of him.

"Jinghan, slow down, be careful that this apricot tree also has thorns." Zixuan shouted helplessly behind Jinghan.

Not far behind the two of them, Qian was holding a little boy, about one year old, and Chun Xing next to him was holding a boy, about three or four years old, who was very cute.Qian said as she walked, "I'm the mother of two children, this Jinghan is still so active."

Chun Xing smiled, "Madam is always like this, she seems to be very happy every day. No matter what happens, as long as you see Madam's smile, you will feel very happy."

"Yes, I have been here for three or four years, and I rarely see Jing Han not smiling. No matter how difficult she is, she is always smiling." Qian couldn't help sighing. "In the past few years, thanks to her temperament, if it were someone else, how could she persist?"

Unknowingly, it has been four or five years since Jinghan and Zixuan came to Zhendong County. After these years of hard work, the changes here are enormous.The lives of the people have improved significantly. The fish in the moon, the cattle and sheep on the grassland, the ducks and geese in the fragrant sea, etc., have all brought rich benefits to the local people.

Along with the change of life, it is the change of people's concept.Nowadays, many things have become tools for people to create wealth in their spare time.Like those reeds, they were woven into exquisite mats and sold everywhere.There is also this natural apricot grove. The local villagers have built a processing workshop.Use autumn apricots to make preserves.And the root of this apricot tree is also a good material for root carving.

The cash crops that Jinghan got at the beginning have now been planted on a large scale.People no longer only grow corn sorghum, but began to diversify their cultivation.The mung beans, millet, rice, sesame, etc. produced in the east of the town are famous in the neighboring counties.

And Jinghan also built a sugar workshop here, so that the beets grown don't have to worry about being unmarketable.Although the sugar made from beets is not as white as sucrose, the price is much cheaper than sucrose, so the sales volume is also very good.

Today's Zhendong County has gradually increased its population.Originally, some of the refugees who were exiled by the imperial court could return to their places of origin.However, they no longer have land and other properties in their original places, and they are also homeless when they go back.So Zixuan persuaded these people to stay and gave them the reclaimed wasteland.The land is converted at half price, and grain can be used to replace silver in exchange for ownership of the land within a period of several years.In this way, as long as these people are willing to farm here for five or six years with peace of mind, they can get back their own land in exchange.

Many refugees have stayed here, anyway, they have gotten used to the climate here.Furthermore, the land here is still very fertile. As long as you are willing to cultivate it carefully, you are not afraid of running out of food. It is much better than going back and not knowing where to stay.Of course, there are also those who are determined to return to their hometown. Zixuan will not keep such people.

When the population increases, the available labor force will naturally increase, and the economy will be driven along with it.Under the virtuous circle, the life here is getting better day by day.In this way, many merchants from other places came here and built some processing workshops one after another.

Now in Zhendong County, there are several weaving workshops, all of which were built by merchants from the south.They saw that the woolen cloth was selling well outside, so they tried every means to figure out the way inside, and then they also went to collect wool, spin yarn and weave cloth.But there is a problem, that is, it is too far away from the origin of raw materials, and the cost is too expensive.So someone with a flexible mind built a weaving workshop here in the east of the town.

Jinghan doesn't care about that, anyone who likes to build can build, anyway, if you come to do business, you have to pay taxes, and you have to find local workers.In this way, the local people have more jobs to choose from, thus increasing the income of the people.Jinghan's own workshop did not expand the scale, but kept the original scale.This is already very good, anyway, as long as it can supply the ones sold in the capital.

Now Jinghan doesn't worry too much about earning money, and leaves it to some of her subordinates, who can do whatever they like.Anyway, Jinghan has come up with all the money-making ideas she can think of, and what happens in the future is not up to her.

It happened to be a good time for spring and flowers to bloom, Jinghan insisted that Zixuan accompany her to see the apricot blossoms here, so Zixuan found a free time, and brought Jinghan and her two sons together.

This is a natural wild apricot forest, and there are probably more than 1000 mu of land full of apricot trees.In winter, the entire mountain is covered with bare tree trunks. Because the trunks of the apricot trees are purple, this place is also called a purple hill.

Wandering in the endless apricot blossom forest, looking at the petals falling from the tree, Jinghan felt that she was in a particularly good mood.After running for a while, he finally stopped.

Zixuan followed from behind, holding Jinghan's shoulders. "Do you like the scenery here? If you like it, I will bring you here next year." Zixuan whispered in Jinghan's ear.

"I like it, it's really beautiful here." Jing Han smiled.

Xiao Qingyuan, who was behind him, quit and shouted to them, "Father, mother, I'm hungry, let's go home."

The husband and wife looked at each other and smiled, and walked back holding hands.When he got to Qingyuan's side, Zixuan immediately picked up his son, "My son is hungry, okay, then let's go down the mountain and go to the village."

"Okay, I'm going to the village to find Ergouzi, and he said he wants to play with me." Xiao Qingyuan clapped his hands happily.

Jinghan built a village near here, and often brought Qingyuan over to play, so Qingyuan was very familiar with the people in the village.Er Gouzi is a friend who plays well with Qingyuan.Jinghan never cared about how the child played outside, even if she came back covered in mud from playing, she never cared.Children, they just have to be naughty.

Back in Zhuangzi, Qingyuan washed his hands, took some snacks and ran away, of course to find Er Gouzi and the others.Qian was worried, so he sent a little girl to follow him from a distance, as long as Qingyuan didn't go to those places that were too dangerous.

After dinner, the husband and wife led Qingyuan for a walk outside.Some old people in the village were also outside. When they saw Zixuan and his wife, they all came to say hello.

"Did you hear that? There was thunder in spring this year, but it was a lone thunder." Several elderly people gathered together to chat.There was a man who looked to be in his eighties and spoke quite loudly, and was discussing with everyone about the spring thunder.

"Isn't it? This is not good. Don't they all say that the first thunder in the spring, if there is a single thunder, this year will be uneven drought and flood, or it will be severe drought plus severe flood. Drought and flood Forty days, that's a big deal." Another old man said so.

"Speaking of which, we have a bit of drought every year. This is not a big problem. There are rivers everywhere in our place, and there are bubbles everywhere. It is convenient to dig a canal to divert water. Isn't that what we do every year? Is it because I am afraid of waterlogging, if it gets flooded, it will be bad." The old man who spoke first sighed. "Our place hasn't been flooded for 40 to [-] years. The embankments of those rivers are no longer in good shape. If there is a real flood, it will be washed away soon? We should really talk to the county magistrate about this matter. Let's talk about it."

"Yes, I should talk about it. The magistrate has done a lot for our county in the past few years. We can live today, it is all thanks to others. By the way, the magistrate seems to be bringing Madame and young master are on the Zhuangzi, right? Otherwise, let's go and look for it, it's a big deal." After hearing this, several people nearby agreed.

Zixuan and Jinghan were at the back of the crowd. Upon hearing this, the husband and wife looked at each other, and then walked to the front. "Old man, is what you said true?" Zixuan asked.

When everyone looked back, it turned out that the county magistrate and his wife had come over, and they quickly got up to salute.

Zixuan waved his hand, "Elders, please sit down quickly, I am here to play, you don't need to be too polite. Old man, I heard what you just said, dare to ask these are true?"

The very old man nodded, "This is passed down by the old people. I remember that I was only in my twenties at that time. One year, there was a lone thunder at the beginning of spring. My grandfather said, This kind of thunder, maybe the year will have uneven drought and flood. Later that year, as expected, there was a spring drought, and everyone dug ditches to divert water, and finally saved all the crops in the field. What a dream, wait until the time comes. In summer, the rain can never end. These paozi in our county, as well as the Nuoni River and Taoer River in the north, etc., several rivers were all flooded, and some places were flooded later. Flooded. In that year, countless people and livestock were washed away by the water. We are better here, the terrain can be higher, and not many places are affected. After the flood, the plague was rampant, and many people died Yes." The old man shook his head and sighed while speaking. "Do the math, I'm 83 this year, and it's probably almost 60 years."

"Almost, I was young at that time, but I still have some impressions. It is said that the cycle of 60 years, is it possible that this weather is also like this? Oh, then we have to prepare well. If you are not afraid of drought, just I'm afraid of waterlogging." An old man next to him said the same thing.

(End of this chapter)