Chapter Eighteen: A Detailed Plan

  Su Tiancheng's statement was made after careful consideration.

  The time for purchasing winter wheat is next April, when it's just the right time to plant corn and sweet potatoes. Corn seeds can be bought directly in Pingyang Prefecture, but the planting method must be changed. I can personally teach Su's tenant farmers how to do it, and I'm sure we'll have a good harvest. As for sweet potato seeds, they must be purchased from Fujian Province. The distance from Shanxi to Fujian is far, and with current transportation conditions, it will take at least two months round trip. We need to buy at least 100,000 catties of sweet potato seeds, and considering the time spent on transportation, it may take more than three months.

  Sweet potatoes are cut into blocks to sprout, one kilogram of seed potatoes can grow about 70 seedlings, and one mu (about 1/15 hectare) can be planted with 3,000 seedlings. Calculated this way, at least 40 kilograms of sweet potatoes are needed per mu, and 100,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes can supply about 3,000 mu of farmland.

  The yield of sweet potatoes is very high, at least over 2,000 catties per mu. For these 3,000 mu of sweet potatoes, conservatively estimated, the output can reach 6 million catties, which is more than 30,000 dan.

  The remaining 4,500 mu of land can be used to plant corn. Although the yield is not as good as that of rice, it's still very good if each mu can produce over 500 kg of corn based on current levels. This is a conservative estimate. The total output of corn from 4,500 mu of land can reach over 20 million kg, which is equivalent to over 10,000 dan of corn.

  If this plan can be implemented, within a year's time, the tenant farmers of the Su family will be able to turn their fortunes around completely. The stored grain in the Su estate will increase greatly and will have no problem coping with the great famine that will occur several years later.

  Of course, there is a premise here, and the previous work requires spending money.

  Let's do a simple calculation. For the 350 tenant households of the Su family to maintain themselves until May next year, they will need at least 1,200 dan (a unit of measurement) of wheat flour, which is equivalent to 360 taels of silver. The cost of winter wheat seeds can be temporarily excluded from the calculation. As for the 100,000 catties (another unit of measurement) of sweet potato seeds, Su Tiancheng doesn't know the exact price. Sweet potatoes have not been widely cultivated in Shanxi Province yet, and they haven't been planted for long in Fujian Province either, so he believes the price won't be too high. Converting this to a monetary value, it would be around 500 dan or more, which is equivalent to 200 taels of silver at the price of 4 qian (a unit of currency) per dan of rice. The transportation cost for these goods will be at least 50 taels of silver, making the total 250 taels of silver. As for corn, each mu (a unit of area) of land requires 5 catties of seeds, which means they need 22,500 catties of seeds in total, equivalent to around 110 dan. The estimated price is similar to that of wheat flour, so it would require around 33 taels of silver. Adding all these up, the total amount of silver needed is 650 taels.

  This does not include the silver spent on digging ditches and wells for irrigation.

  Su Tiancheng now has about 800 taels of silver, which seems to be enough on the surface. However, there is a major problem here: if he falls out with his wife and wants to make a living on his own, that means when the time comes and he no longer receives 30 taels of silver per month, he still has to survive.

  Always prepare for the worst, this is why Su Tiancheng was able to succeed in his past life, and now that he has crossed over into the Ming Dynasty, he still needs to maintain this advantage.

  But if these things are not done, it will definitely not work. In the next few years, food will be the biggest problem, especially in the ninth year of Chongzhen in Shanxi Province, which was recorded in history as a great famine, I don't know how many people starved to death, and farmers even ate human flesh. Now we must prepare for the rainy day.

  After visiting the tenant's home, Su Tiancheng had the most direct feeling that these tenants, if they continued to develop according to their current situation, were potential peasant uprising armies who were about to starve to death and could not rebel.

  Back at the mansion, Su Pingyang was extremely anxious. He knew exactly how much silver the young master had. On paper, there were only 245 taels of silver, and by May next year, seven months later, that would be around 210 taels of silver. In total, it was about 450 taels of silver, including living expenses.

  "Young master, you're talking about so many expenses, but our household doesn't have that much silver to spend."

  Su Tiancheng took out a pouch of gold, fifty taels that he had obtained from selling his warhorse last time. It was already at this point, and it was necessary to take it out now.

  "Uncle, there are fifty taels of gold inside, you take it first and plan the expenses together."

  Su Pingyang took over the brocade pouch, fifty taels of gold, which was a huge sum for him. The exchange price of gold in Pingyang Prefecture was also somewhat unusual. Gold was rarely seen on the market, and even silver was scarce. Most were copper coins. One tael of gold could be exchanged for eleven to twelve taels of silver.

  "Uncle, I have a few more things to take care of, but they require someone trustworthy to handle. First, purchase 110 dan of corn seeds and keep them well-preserved. Second, buy 500 dan of sweet potato seedlings, which need to be purchased from Fuzhou in Fujian Province. The local farmers there will know how to preserve them properly. These two tasks will require an expenditure of over three hundred taels of silver. They must be done. Additionally, when distributing wheat flour, inform all the tenant farmers to store large quantities of straw and hay, it is essential to store them."

  Su Pingyang took another deep breath, originally thinking that with these fifty taels of gold, there was nothing to worry about, but the young master actually had so many things he needed to do, all of which required silver, especially going to Fuzhou in Fujian to buy sweet potato seeds, not to mention buying a large quantity, just transporting them would be a big deal.

  "Young master, going to Fuzhou, Fujian is a long way, I'd better handle this matter personally."

  "No, Uncle has to take care of the affairs in the mansion and also many things related to the tenants. He absolutely cannot leave Pingyang City. My consideration is whether to let Su Jun handle this matter."

  "Let Su Jun go, Master, are you considering it or not? If not, I'll tell Er Tong to go to Fujian."

  "The two children are too young to go far away, let alone buy such a large quantity of sweet potatoes. My consideration is that we should set off now and bring back the sweet potatoes during the Spring Festival period when the roads are relatively safer. These sweet potatoes must be brought back, absolutely no accidents can happen."

  Su Jun was extremely excited.

  Unexpectedly, the young master had arranged such a big thing for him, going all the way to Fuzhou, Fujian to purchase sweet potato seeds, and he had to bring 25 taels of gold with him, which was a huge sum of money. The young master trusted himself so much that Su Jun suddenly felt a sense of sacredness, and the injuries on his body didn't matter, it would probably be fine by the time they arrived in Fujian.

  Looking at Su Jun, Su Tiancheng still had some worries. It wasn't that Su Jun couldn't do things well, but the outside world was not very peaceful. Su Jun was just a young master of the Su family and hadn't seen much of the world. If he encountered trouble on the road, it was unknown whether he could handle it.

  "Su Jun, this time going to Fuzhou, Fujian to buy sweet potato seeds is a matter of great importance, you must do your best to get it done. However, the outside situation is not very peaceful, if your life is threatened, don't worry about the seeds, just make sure you can come back safely."

  "Young master, I will protect the sweet potato seeds with my life."

  "I was worried that you would have such an idea, the world is difficult, losing both wife and soldiers is not worth it, don't do it. If your life can't be saved, how can the sweet potatoes be transported back? Be clever on the way, if the situation is not right, abandon the seeds decisively, preserving one's life is most important."

  Although Su Tiancheng said so, in Su Jun's heart, the sweet potato seeds were more important than his life. As for the difficulties he might encounter, he didn't think that much.

  "All right, you get ready and we'll set off in five days. Try to be back by the first month of next year. This Spring Festival, you can't stay in the mansion, go back and tell Yuhuan properly."

  After Su Jun left, Su Tiancheng fell into deep thought. He was faced with too many difficulties, and the silver was not the biggest problem. At worst, he could sell a few horses to make up for the silver. As for the big wife's place, there was no need to worry excessively. This belonged to the typical internal conflict, temporarily put aside.

  The encounters outside the Pingyang Prefecture city and at the horse market made him realize that in this turbulent era, if one wanted to accomplish anything, they must have their own armed forces; otherwise, everything would be subject to the whims of others, as political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

  Nowadays, wanting to have one's own armed forces is no different from a fantasy.