Chapter 168: Preparations for Opening up Wasteland
Luo Yaoguang and the others stayed at Tian's house for two days. Seeing that Tian Huairen had come back, they gradually started to take charge. Seeing that Tian Minyan said that the people opening up wasteland really had no need for them, they left.
When they came, Gao and the others caught two chickens and brought a bucket of fish and two baskets of mountain products. When they went back, Tian Minyan specially made several trays of cakes for them to take home. After breakfast, they put the big cakes on them.
Uncle and the others sent him away.
After seeing off their uncle, Tian Minyan, Luo Shi and the others tidied up the old house inside and outside. They locked the main house, the east wing of the main house and the north room, and also cleaned up the two rooms where sundries were stored.
They were sorted out and one was used as a guest room and the other as a living room for entertaining guests and discussing matters.
The housework was all left to Luo Shi. Tian Minrui and Xiao Wu still helped with some farm work or housework when they were not in school. Tian Minyan and Tian Huairen were busy preparing the regulations for land reclamation. Everything was in order.
In progress.
On this day, Tian Minyan rang the gong under the banyan tree at the head of the village, attracting all the folks from Yangmei Village. Even Li Zheng was invited by her.
"Girl from the Tian family, what's the point of banging the gong?" As the number of people gradually increased, a fellow villager asked.
Tian Minyan was young, so she stood on the stone bench under the banyan tree, looked at the black heads, and said with a smile: "It's not a big deal. All the folks know that my family bought the wasteland in the back mountain. During the slack period, I
I want to plant it so that I can plant a crop in autumn."
"Girl Yan, the land you purchased is bad and you won't be able to grow crops." An older man said loudly.
"No, this money is wasted."
"What a shame."
"It would be great to buy a few acres of paddy fields."
Tian Minyan just smiled and stood calmly on the stone bench. The voices of people discussing gradually dropped until they were completely silent.
"You don't care whether I can grow it or not. I invite you here because I want to ask you to help me reclaim the wasteland. Sir, the price is twelve yuan a day. If you bring livestock and farm tools, it is fifteen yuan a day.
Wages are paid every five days. Women and children who cannot do heavy work can also be given six bucks for helping to pick up some branches and roots. If you guys are idle, you don’t think our wages are low. I hope you can help me.
.”
"Twelve dollars, is it real or fake?"
"It only costs about ten dollars to move it to the dock. It's tiring and hard work."
"A child has six dollars, shouldn't he just be kidding, right?"
As soon as Tian Minyan finished speaking, the discussion in the crowd started again, and the questioning was even louder than before.
"Girl from the Tian family, you are just joking, are you really giving me so much money?" someone asked suspiciously.
"Li Zheng is still standing here, how can I say it's a lie?" Tian Minyan said with a smile: "If you think it's a good job, come to my place and sign up. Those who sign up will tell me whether they have any livestock or farm tools.
"
Today's agricultural tools are only iron hoes, dwarfs, plowshares, and harvesting sickles. Farm tools are very poor. The rake of Zhu Bajie in Tian Minyan's Journey to the West is also common in modern times. It is best used for clearing wasteland and turning soil.
You must draw a picture and let Uncle Zhu type it out.
Anyway, idle time is idle, and Tian Minyan's salary is also high. People soon signed up, one after another, and soon a long queue formed.
There were many people who signed up, but Tian Minyan didn't want everyone. They only wanted young and strong laborers. They didn't want the elderly people, and they didn't want anyone who watched people cheating or cheating. After such a selection, a huge Yangmei Village would not be eligible.
However, about twenty people were selected, including ten families with livestock, and Tian Minyan registered them one by one.
A hundred acres of wasteland would be enough for twenty or thirty people. Tian Minyan also proposed to have a meeting here the afternoon after signing up to talk about the preparations for opening up wasteland.
The crowd dispersed one after another. Tian Minyan put away the list of applicants and prepared to go home to complete the regulations for opening up wasteland.
"Yan girl."
Someone called her, and when she turned around, she saw that it was the sister-in-law of their Tian family, the one who made her discover the mulberry fruit.
"Sister-in-law, what's wrong with you?" Tian Minyan asked with a smile.
"Yan Yatou, are there enough people to sign up now? Do you still need more people?" He asked with a smile, looking at her face cautiously.
Tian Minyan raised her eyebrows and asked: "Didn't my sister-in-law sign up?" She also remembered that He also signed up. Anyway, he had nothing to do, so he only had to pay six yuan to pick up tree roots, so there was nothing wrong with it.
.
"No, it's not me." Mrs. He waved her hand and said a little embarrassedly: "It's my brother from my mother's side. He has many children at home. My sister-in-law recently gave birth to a baby. There are many mouths waiting for dinner at home. My brother is naturally dull.
Na, there are not many people who want him when he goes out to the town to look for work. Yan Yatou, can I let him come to your house to open up wasteland? His children are old and can also pick tree roots. The eldest son is seventeen
Even though they are 2 years old, they are also good at farm work. Don’t worry, they have been doing farm work for many years, they are strong, and they are not naughty.”
It turned out that this was the case. Tian Minyan looked through the list and found that there were now twenty-eight strong laborers in total. She originally planned to recruit thirty. If there were more people, the land would be fertilized as soon as possible.
So he said: "Sister-in-law, it's not that you can't add relatives to your family, it's just that there are too many. You can ask your maternal uncle and his eldest son to come. As for picking up tree roots, there are many people in our village who have signed up, so naturally we will do it first.
Keep close to the people in the village, and enough is enough."
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. I will send someone to his house to report the news and ask him to come over in the afternoon. My parents' home is in Bazi Village next door. He can come over quickly." Hearing that he could accept it, he was immediately happy.
He narrowed his eyes with a smile, said goodbye and left in a hurry.
After Tian Minyan arrived home, she immediately started to draw several pictures, all of which were in the style of a rake, some were long, some were about half a meter wide and long, with a hole in the middle for inserting wooden sticks and bamboo sticks as handles.
When I arrived at Uncle Zhu's house, he hadn't gone to town to open a shop yet, so he was doing some things at home. Aunt Zhu and Zhu Yanyin were also helping.
"Sister Yan, are you here?" Zhu Yanyin saw her entering the yard with keen eyes, and said happily: "They are all recruiting people? But there are two names left for my mother and me." They can also do the work of picking up tree roots.
I had heard that Tian Minyan was recruiting people, so I asked her to leave her name.
"Yeah, I've got it." Tian Minyan said with a smile, "I'll keep them all."
"If there wasn't a lot of work in the shops in town, I would have earned your twelve dollars." Uncle Zhu chuckled.
"Uncle Zhu is doing big things, how can he do such rough things as clearing up wasteland." Tian Minyan teased with a smile: "Besides, I can't afford to hire someone as capable as Uncle Zhu."
"Look, you girl is really good at killing people." Uncle Zhu smiled heartily.
Tian Minyan laughed and walked forward a few steps: "I'm serious. Uncle Zhu, I have an object that I want you to dig out today. I'm in a hurry to open up wasteland for it. Do you think you can help me dig it out first?"
"As she said that, she handed over the drawing.
Uncle Zhu took it and took a look and asked strangely: "What is this? I haven't seen it before."
The long pointed teeth are like a sharp claw, with long and wide shapes.
"This is called a rake. It's perfect for clearing land, digging grass roots, tree roots, and turning soil. Uncle Zhu, I need to make these teeth sharper, otherwise I won't be able to dig them out." Tian Minyan pointed to the drawing and said.
As Uncle Zhu listened, his mind became active. He hesitated and said, "Girl Yan, how many of these rakes do you want to hit?"
Tian Minyan pursed her lips, thinking that her family would definitely have more and more fields in the future. Even if they were rented out, they would still have to farm at home. These farm tools are not disposable. They can be used for many years if used well.
He was not afraid of playing a few strokes, so he said: "Uncle, give me ten strokes for this short and short one, and five for this long and wide one. If this is not enough in the future, it will be the same with you again."
"Okay, I'll go back and tie it for you right away. But, girl, I have an idea that I want to ask you for, but I don't know if I can do it or not."
"You say."
"I see how new this thing is, and just by the labor-saving support pole of the stone grinder that your girl brought me, I know that you are a quick-thinking girl. Since these are farm tools, I want to buy more and put them in the store.
Li Mai, look..." Uncle Zhu looked at her.
Tian Minyan was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Uncle still has such a mind, no wonder life is getting better now. Uncle can make these farm tools anytime he wants, but he has to give me what I want first."
When Uncle Zhu heard this, he immediately smiled happily: "That's natural. I only count your iron money and labor. I don't want it anymore."
Tian Minyan resolutely refused, and the two pushed around for a while, and finally settled on one hundred and fifty grand for each short rake, and two hundred and fifty grand for the row harrow.
At the appointed time in the afternoon, Tian Minyan took the list to the banyan tree. There were already some older people sitting there, some who had signed up and some who came to listen to the fun. Among them, Xie Gouzi was also there.
Tian Minyan didn't talk politely, she just spread out the charter she had listed and talked about her plans to a group of people who were older than herself.
The piece of wasteland she bought was full of shrubs, thatch, and wild vegetables. There was also a large patch of dandelion. Dandelion seeds are the worst and can take root wherever they fall.
Roansheng is a local dialect in Yangmei Village, which means that things grow too easily and have great fecundity.
Dandelions are easy to deal with, and it's okay to turn them over with a fire. The most difficult thing is those thatch roots, which go deep into the ground and grow equally rotten. They have extremely strong vitality. They can't be burned by wildfire, and they will grow again when the spring breeze blows.
Thatch root is a kind of grass root with small white stems. It can be eaten raw. It is sweet and cold in nature. It is used to cook the bamboo cane water of thatch root. It clears away heat and reduces internal heat and can be used as medicine.
In the plot of the book she read in her previous life, the man surnamed Qi only bought land and never appeared before. He only ordered people to open up wasteland. Maybe he came from a wealthy family, and there were also long-term workers in the family. A large group of people cheered, carrying farm tools.
There was a lot of work, there were fires and plows, and within a few days the land was cleared.
What Tian Minyan meant was that it was her business to also use fire for plowing, then deep plowing, plowing, and finally retting the fertile soil. Of course, irrigation was also required.
Those tall, strong men were just listening lazily, and they were very disapproving of the schedule and plans for such a girl's film, but when they listened to her words word for word, they were actually very neat and tidy.
, some things even happened that they didn't expect. Instead, her father stood there like a decoration.
"I am also a half-way monk when it comes to farming. If any uncles or buddies have anything to add, you can also mention it." After finishing speaking, Tian Minyan looked at the black people in the crowd and asked with a smile.
"What kind of harrow is that? What kind of object is it? We don't understand this." Someone asked nonchalantly.
Tian Minyan pursed her lips and smiled and said: "It's just a farm tool that can plow the mud evenly. Everyone will see it tomorrow. Is there anyone who can replenish the fire farming?"
"Second girl, fire farming is a bit mysterious. Behind that sloping land is a mountain. There are many trees and bushes. If you are not careful, you could start a mountain fire."
Just when everyone was looking at each other, Xie Gouzi suddenly spoke up.
Everyone in the village knew why Xie Gouzi came to open up wasteland for Tian Minyan. Some people in the crowd couldn't help but sneered and said: "Xie Baozi, you don't know how to plow the land. What do you know?"
Xie Gouzi's family was orphaned and widowed, and they came from a foreign country. They had no land and only their mother made money by weaving. Li Zheng saw that they were pitiful and gave them nine percent of the land to grow vegetables, half selling and half giving away.
That’s all.
"I can't, but my dad can." Xie Gouzi's face turned red.
"Your father has died a long time ago, how can you still ask him to come out of the underworld to plow the fields?"
"He left a note, I've read it." Xie Gouzi snorted: "Some people used this fire to farm, and the result was a mountain fire, which required digging some kind of fire ditch.
This Xie Gouzi also went to school and could only recognize a few words. He failed to pass the examination and became a scoundrel who only enjoyed himself and had fun.
"Uncle Laiwang, don't blame him. He is right. When doing fire plowing, you are most afraid of causing wildfires, so you have to dig deep to separate the land from the fire. The most important thing is that when fire plowing, you must check in advance.
There are no people or animals inside, especially children." Tian Minyan glanced at Xie Gouzi and said, "Xie Gouzi, you have to keep this fire farm inspection and personnel inspection closed for me, and don't let anyone go in and burn it until it brews.
It will be a big disaster.”
"become."
Seeing someone talking about it, the people present who knew about farming began to talk about it. Tian Minyan was busy sorting out useful information, and unknowingly the sun had turned.
What makes Tian Minyan satisfied is that among the people invited, several are good at farming. Among them, the eldest brother of her Tian family's sister-in-law, He, is very stubborn, but he is also very proficient in farm work. When it comes to the regulations of land reclamation, it is also
It's clear and logical, but it doesn't look so clumsy.
There is also his eldest son, who is also somewhat shrewd. Although he is not very young, perhaps because his family is poor, he is somewhat calm.
Thanks to Gouzi, Tian Minyan suddenly felt grateful that the scoundrel came to steal the house that night. He was a scoundrel by nature and was not afraid of anyone. He could also sarcastically reply to anyone who spoke unpleasantly. He spoke quickly and slippery, and had a bit of a venomous mouth.
, which saves Tian Minyan a lot of trouble.
It wasn't until the sun completely set that Tian Minyan finalized the initial schedule. As Uncle Zhu could produce harrow farming tools tomorrow, he decided to officially open up wasteland the day after.
