Chapter 40: Sowing Wheat (2)
"Feng Bo, you said that during harvest and plowing time, we don't have any ceremonies?" Suddenly, Yang Heng realized something - every time before plowing and harvesting, it was always quiet and still. He seemed to remember that in ancient times, no matter what they were doing, there would always be some kind of ritual or sacrifice beforehand, but why wasn't there one here?
"This, I thought it was the tradition here, so I didn't say anything. This activity is natural and there are many of them. Whether it's plowing or harvesting, they all need corresponding sacrificial activities." Feng Bo said with a sudden realization, originally it wasn't the tradition here, but rather it seems that people here don't understand these things. Maybe during the migrations, some elderly people who understood these customs passed away, and now there are only a few who understand. Now this small household is fine, but if the household were bigger, without corresponding activities, they would be laughed at."
"Uh, I've taken note of these, you understand, Feng Bo. If there's anything incomplete, we'll go out and investigate again next year. We're also going to organize these activities next year; otherwise, outsiders will look down on us." Yang Hengru said this is an ancient cultural tradition passed down, it's also a collective activity unique to humans. If you delete all these, how can it be done? Even animals have their own customs.
Habits are not studied for the time being, what is needed now is to plant seeds. However, Yang Heng felt somewhat dissatisfied with these seeds. What's wrong with them? There were all sorts of things in these seeds, including bad ones, immature ones, and even sand. Can this sand be used as a seed? It's really strange. It seems that they have encountered unscrupulous businessmen this time, and they are looking at the old father and the uncles who bought the seeds, none of whom understand seeds. Fortunately, Yang Heng found some good seeds, put them in his mouth and tasted them. At least these seeds had not been boiled in water, otherwise they could only be used as snacks.
It seems that everyone's wishes cannot be fulfilled this year. At least 30% of the fields will not be planted, and it is too late to buy new seeds now.
"Feng Bo, go home and fill several wooden basins with water, then put the salt in them and let it dissolve completely, understand?" "Young master, what are you doing? Why waste so much salt?" "Nothing, just listen to me and it'll be fine. If not, this year's crops won't grow well, or we'll waste a lot of land." Indeed, if the seeds were planted directly, they would still grow, but next year the field would produce spotted flowers, which is not what people want. The bad seeds inside are too many, and planting them densely would be useless. This way, the crops that grow out will not only affect production, but also reduce land utilization. So, Yang Heng plans to use salt water selection to select good seeds and then plant them.
The salt water selection method utilizes the phenomenon that saltwater has a greater buoyancy than ordinary clear water, causing some poor-quality seeds and bad seeds to float up, and even some unripe seeds can be floated up. Then, the floating poor-quality seeds and debris are removed, leaving the selected seeds and sand at the bottom of the water. Next, the selected seeds are dried, and after another step, the sand is removed, and this year's wheat seeds are finally selected.
In Guanzhong, wheat planting is not very common yet, so Yang Heng thinks that eating some staple foods is not possible. It's said that there is barley flour to eat, but the taste of barley flour and wheat flour is different. Moreover, Yang Heng feels that the yield of barley is low, so it's better not to plant barley.
The seeds have been selected, and now it's time to sow them. This sowing is much simpler, thanks to the three-legged cultivator made by Xiao Shu and the iron components prepared by Yang Heng and his father. With these installed on the cultivator legs, the work becomes much easier, and the wear and tear on the cultivator legs are greatly reduced, so they won't need to be repaired multiple times in a single season.
Looking at the galloping horses in front of him, and the happy smiling faces of the people, Yang Heng fell into deep thought. What mistakes had occurred throughout Chinese history? Some good tools and things that ancestors had researched and developed, why did they disappear in a certain era? Who was to blame? Was it the barbarian tribes, or the corrupt emperors, or the selfish clans, or perhaps the honest but dull common people themselves? No one could say clearly, or perhaps all these factors were at play.
In Yang Heng's previous life, people often said that history is created by the common people, but the common people have no status in history. So this sentence is empty or just a slogan, it's a slogan to fool the people.
"Little Lord, what are you thinking about? I've called you several times and you haven't heard me." "Ah, Uncle Feng, is there something going on?" Yang Heng suddenly woke up from his reverie. "Now that the wheat has all been planted, do we have any other arrangements?"
"Next, this year's harvest is all in the courtyard. I think we don't need to store these grains separately in each household. Let's build a granary near the courtyard instead. My idea is to first build a large yard and then construct five granaries inside it, one for each household. If needed, more granaries can be added later. And let's make them round-shaped, so that my younger brother can design the interior ventilation well, so that the grains won't get moldy.
Yang Heng's idea is simple: unified storage and management of grains. This way, we can take care of pest control and fire prevention together. Moreover, in the future, if there are more grains, storing them at home will affect the layout of our homes. And it's not safe to store them underground either. So why not build a granary now? Later, we can assign someone to take care of it and handle some miscellaneous tasks.
The granary is close to the courtyard, so it's convenient to enter and exit. Yang Heng even plans to install a water-powered machine near the granary to process grains in the future."
"Ah, nephew, your idea isn't bad. I've also been thinking that if we have a surplus of grain in the future, what should we do with it? Shouldn't we dig an underground cellar at home? But then again, an underground cellar can't store grain well. It's not that underground cellars are no good, but rather that it's hard for us to dig out a good one here. The water source in our area is too rich. You said there wasn't even a waterwheel before, and when we were opening up the land, we worried about how to transport the water over. But now we're worrying about having too much water.
Uncle Yang, you're not being foolish at all." Just then, Fourth Uncle jumped in with a joke, actually agreeing with Yang Heng's suggestion that each household build its own grain warehouse. However, no one had any ideas on what to do if another war broke out and the grain warehouse became a prime target. Wouldn't this peaceful mountain village be disrupted? But now, this peaceful mountain village was already starting to be disrupted."
