Chapter 13 Breeding is Very Important (Part 1)

  Dai Bai is a newcomer, and only by frequently updating and carefully planning the plot can he gain the support of everyone. Therefore, Dai Bai will be posting three updates today on Sunday. Friends who are passing by, please give Dai Bai's hard work some encouragement and collect and recommend it. Thank you!

  "It was actually my fault for accidentally hitting that thief, and it ended up hurting myself. If that person wanted to harm me, I would have been dead long ago. Besides, if this rice seed is fake, that person wouldn't have gone through the trouble of stealing it with a big bag of rice seeds. So I believe that person didn't cheat me, Mother. Anyway, since I'm injured now and can't study, why not let me go to the farm to try it out? Just consider it as letting your son understand farming and cultivate his character." Changsun Cheon continued to cover up one lie with countless other lies.

  Dong's wife thought for a moment and said: "I have to discuss this with your father!"

  "Mother, don't even think about it. Father is busy with a million things every day. If we bother him with these unsubstantiated matters, he will definitely not believe us. It's better to wait until the son has achieved something and then tell father. Even if it doesn't succeed, father won't know and won't think that his son is foolish."

  Dong's wife thought that if her husband knew in advance and their son couldn't grow anything, then his buttocks would suffer again.

  "Alright, I agree this time, but you have to wait until three days later when your head injury heals!"

  Mrs. Duan agreed because her son was so eager to do something good for the first time, not like before when he would spend his mind cheating money out to eat, drink and have fun, compared to his previous ignorance, she would rather want a son who wants to farm.

  "It's all right, Mother. I won't be doing the manual labor myself, just supervising the farm work on our estate. I'll get ready to head out early tomorrow." Chang Sun said in a conciliatory tone.

  "Alright, Dazhuang, Erzhuang, Xiaobaozi, Xiaomantou must follow you closely and not leave your side no matter what. If I find out that you're not listening, don't think about going out alone again." Dou Shi pinched her son Long Sunzhong's ear, hoping he would remember this time.

  Chang Sun Chong nodded repeatedly and said: "Mother, even if I go to the toilet, I will bring Da Zhu and Er Zhu with me!"

  Dongfang Shuo saw Zhangsun Chong speaking so crudely and scolded: "How can you talk like that!"

  At night, Changsun Wuji only asked about Changsun Chong's injury and knew that he was fine. He didn't continue to ask questions and fell asleep after a tiring day.

  The next day, Zhangsun Chong took the things Dou Shi had prepared for him and led the servants to a villa not far from the imperial city.

  The city of Chang'an is heavily guarded and there are soldiers everywhere to prevent refugees from rioting. It's boring staying at home, might as well return to the countryside!

  This manor isn't very big, located on the south side of Chang'an City. Someone had already come to inform them that Young Master was coming to the manor for recuperation. The head of the manor got up early before dawn and waited at the village entrance.

  From a distance, several horse-drawn carriages drove into the village's small road. Yang Damao ran over and knelt down, kowtowing to Zhangsun Chong's carriage.

  "Little one, Yang Damao greets the young master!" Yang Damao was a man who had moved to this place over a decade ago with nothing to his name and later became a tenant farmer for the Zhangsun family.

  Although I didn't sell myself to the Zhangsun family, as a tenant of the Zhangsun family, I'm half a servant.

  Chang Sun jumped down from the carriage and hurriedly went forward to help Yang Da Mo up, saying: "Uncle Yang, please get up quickly. You're already so old, how can I accept your grand courtesy?"

  Yang Damao had never been treated with such courtesy by a noble before, and he was so excited that he couldn't speak for a while. After a long time, he stuttered: "I don't deserve the young master's courtesy, this year we suffered from locust disaster, not a single grain was harvested, but the lady didn't collect our rent, which saved the lives of our entire village! Now every household has caught many locusts, and this year's food supply is secured, we won't starve to death!"

  Arrived in the suburbs, saw short grass houses, poor people everywhere, all dull and lifeless, no vitality of May and June, a bleak and desolate scene.

  "What about the refugees around here?" Changsun had seen large groups of them when he last left the city, but now, on this road, he hadn't seen even a few.

  Yang Da Mo smiled and said, "Back to the young master, since the imperial court issued an edict that allows eating locusts, no one has starved to death. Everyone has returned home to prepare for catching more locusts. After the locust disaster is over, some wild vegetables can still be produced from the land, and we can barely survive this year. Rather than wandering outside in the wind and rain, returning home at least provides a thatched roof to shelter under."

  Chang Sun Chong had never seen such a simple house. After spending a day in the village, he said: "Alright, Uncle Yang, can you find me two people who are good at farming? I've brought some seeds from outside and want to try planting them."

  Yang Damao's face fell, but he gritted his teeth and agreed, saying: "Let me take the eldest son to work for Master. Everyone is busy catching locusts to get through the winter, I can't force them."

  Chang Sun Chong heard this and said: "Alright, you can sacrifice yourself for others, your temperament is not bad. This way, you father and son work for me, it's not a waste of time, I'll give you wages."

  Yang Dama saw Zhangsun Chong praising him, and with a silly smile, he said: "Don't mention anything about wages, our whole family relies on the master's household for food, putting in some effort is nothing!"

  "Now I want to cultivate, must have fertile and flat land, Uncle Yang, where is better?" Chang Sun rushed to ask for advice, not understanding farming matters.

  Yang Dama was very reserved in front of Chang Sun Chong, but when it came to farming, which he was good at, he suddenly gained some confidence and said: "Young Master, for breeding, I suppose you need to take good care of them, so it's better to be closer. As long as there aren't too many, Young Master's courtyard has more than half an acre of empty land, which should be enough."

  Just then the two had entered the Long Sun family's villa in the village, although it was only a three-entry courtyard, but in the eyes of Yang Da Mo and other villagers, that was also an unattainable dwelling.

  "Ah, not bad, this yard will do! Get someone to help turn over the soil in the yard and break up the clods! Young master has a big use for it!" Zhangsun had already memorized the super rice breeding method given by the doomsday space.

  "Yes, young master!" Yang Da Mo went back to call his eldest son who was catching grasshoppers.

  In order to achieve the highest yield, everything is done according to high standards. First, the soil is turned over and made into strips of land one meter wide and twenty meters long, with a small ditch left in the middle for people to walk through.

  "Little steamed buns, little dumplings, find a big basin and soak the rice seeds for me for a day. Tomorrow they will be used." The task of plowing the land has been assigned, now proceeding to the second step, soaking the rice seeds.

  "Yes, young master!" Xiaomantou and Xiaobaozi had already put away the offerings and went to the kitchen to fetch a large wooden basin. They drew out clean water from the well and poured it into the basin. Carefully, they also poured in the rice grains and stirred them gently before placing the basin in a shaded area.

  Next is the third step, prepare various animal manure and mix it with soil to ensure soil fertility.

  "Master, we have cow dung at home. Just bring it over and use it." Yang Damao said with a smile when he heard Master mention fertilizer, seeing that Zhang Chong was in a good mood, Yang Damao's courage also grew.

  "Then thank you, I'll pay you back tonight. By the way, are there any fields near the river that can be prepared for me? I'm planning to plant these rice varieties!" Although Zhangsun knew that these paddy crops could be planted in dry land, the yield would be 30% less than in paddy fields. To achieve the greatest shock effect, fertilizer, water, labor and material resources must all be of the highest quality.

  Yang Damao thought for a moment and nodded, saying: "There's a river here that's a tributary of the Wei River. The terrain along the river is low-lying, where wheat is planted, but the yield is poor because it's too humid. Nobody wants to rent it out, so it's been abandoned. Young master, this is southern-style rice, it should be fine, and it's convenient for irrigation."

  During the Tang Dynasty, rice cultivation was mainly distributed in the south. In the north, crops like wheat and millet were planted instead, and people mainly ate flour-based food. Rice was very expensive because it had to be transported from the south to the north, which incurred high transportation costs.

  "Alright, Uncle Yang, after you help me flatten the half-acre land in my yard, find people from the village to help me turn over the soil and build a dam around it with mud to prevent water from running out!" Chang Sun ordered, "Thirty cents per person per day, no meals provided!"

  Yang Damao became impatient and said: "Working for the master's family, how can we take money?! How will we be able to show our faces in the future?!"

  Chang Sun shook his head and said, "If the harvest is good, I won't be polite to everyone either."

  "This year's locust disaster has made life difficult, but wages must be paid. If you don't want to pay, I'll go outside and hire someone else to do the work."

  Yang Damao was thrilled upon hearing Zhangsun Chong's words, the master family is so considerate of them, these tenant farmers are willing to be tenants of the Zhangsun family for life.

  Yang Damao and his son Yang Tienu hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed to Zhangsun Chong again.

  "Hurry up, from now on we're all one family!" Zhangsun Chi was particularly unable to bear the constant kowtowing, especially when he saw the common people below. These people were the most hardworking, upright and honest, they were the foundation of the country, their status shouldn't be so low.