Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

Although he was very reluctant, Xiao Shuanzi was still taken away. But before he left, Meng Feihong took out two tightly wrapped candies from his pocket and gave them to his son. Then... well, those who understand will understand.

The autumn harvest had begun, and suddenly many more people appeared in the empty fields! Outside the base area, the three battalions and three main regiments strengthened their sentries, and there were teams patrolling in the area, fearing that the Japanese and puppet troops would infiltrate. In the area, the soldiers who were on leave to visit their families were busy with the autumn harvest.

In the farmland outside the village, Meng Feihong put on his old coarse and tattered clothes and a wide-brimmed hat, looking like a farmer. Dressed the same as him was his grandfather, Uncle Meng. The two stood at the edge of the field, each holding a small hoe in his hand. After looking at each other, they bent down and entered the field.

The father and son swung the small hoe in their hands, making a whistling sound, and then chopped the root of the corn stalk with a crackling sound, causing the whole corn to lose its support. Fortunately, the corn stalks had been held in the father and son's arms and under their armpits, so they did not fall down immediately.

After the small hoe had chopped off more than a dozen corn stalks and cut off all the corn that was blocking his arm, Meng Feihong raised his left arm and laid the corn stalks horizontally under his feet. This was the end of the first wave. Of course, this was just the beginning, and he would continue to chop until all the corn stalks in his field were knocked down.

This job looks simple, but anyone who has done it knows how uncomfortable it is! First of all, the waist must be supported, and secondly, the right arm must be strong and skillful. You must not hit the corn stalks with the hoe, but your calf will be hit. That would be like picking up the hoe and chopping your own leg!
In addition to these two things, the corn leaves will scratch your face, you will sweat while working, and there is no wind in the fields, and it is sometimes hot and stuffy, which is a test of your physical strength and willpower.

In front, the father and son laid the corn stalks sideways; in the back, Aunt Meng, the eldest son’s wife, and the second son’s family, who were married but childless, searched along the fallen corn stalks, found the corn cobs one by one, and threw them into the empty ridges. At the end, these corn cobs would be put into baskets, carried out of the plot, and pushed back home to dry in the sun.

At this time, little Shuanzi, still wearing open-crotch pants, no longer went to the fields to catch crickets, but helped put corn cobs into the basket like a little adult, and was considered a little laborer.

Do you think that's the end? No! When the corn cobs are peeled and dried in the sun, the leaves of the corn stalks in the field will also be dried in the sun! There is a trick here, that is, the drying time cannot be too long, otherwise the corn stalks will be completely dry, which is not good; the drying time cannot be too short, otherwise the leaves will not be dry, which is also not good!

Why do they do this? Because at this time, people will choose a time when the wind is not strong, light a fire at the edge of the field, and let the flames burn all the corn stalks and leaves in the entire field. Some city people may not know that dried corn leaves are easy to ignite and can burn up in an instant, but corn stalks need to wait.

So, this is exactly what farmers want! A fire burns off the leaves of the corn stalks, and the hot fire also roasts the remaining moisture in the corn stalks, leaving only the bare corn stalks.

Burning straw is good! At least the Chinese people have not polluted the air since the primitive slash-and-burn farming. It is only in the industrial age that some people say it pollutes the air and prohibits burning straw!
Burning straw can kill a large part of insect eggs and insects, which is a very important link for agriculture. It can effectively reduce pests and diseases and reduce the dependence on pesticides! The ashes produced after burning are a good source of potash fertilizer, which can replenish part of the soil fertility and save the use of chemical fertilizers. So, do you understand?
Do you think that's the end? Wrong! Burning the straw is not the last stage of harvesting corn! Because after burning the leaves of the straw, the straw must be packed into bundles, then moved out of the plot and sent back home or piled up in the field as a source of firewood for cooking! Firewood ranks first among firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea! That's not it! After the straw is sent back home, the small hoe or the big hoe must go through the field again, dig out the roots buried in the soil, and then take it out of the plot, and then it is considered complete.

The harvest phase is only completed! Next, the composted manure must be transported from home to the field and spread evenly. After spreading the manure, either large animals pull the plowshare to plow the field, or the whole family can only use hoes to turn the field little by little, turning the whole field deeply.

Then, the land had to be leveled, ridged, and finally the wheat had to be planted with a plow. Planting the wheat was not enough, as water had to be poured on the wheat to allow the seeds to germinate...

In short, in the era without large agricultural machines, farmers had no easy time working in the fields! In the era without wells for irrigation and water pumps, many plots of land could not grow wheat! Why did many villages have armed conflicts over water? That's because water is too important for agriculture. During the farming season, if irrigation is not timely, the harvest of the whole season may be delayed!
"If people make a mistake in working on the land for a moment, the land will make a mistake in working on the land for a season!" Zhao Danian sighed in the military farmland outside Liangjia Village.

"Captain, we can begin..." In the distance, at the edge of the field, a soldier stuck his head out of a modified bean tank and shouted loudly.

"Let's start!" Zhao Danian waved his hand, and someone next to him waved a red flag.

Rumble... The Douding tank, which had its weapon system and most of its armor removed, rumbled, and its tracks began to turn, bringing up a little bit of compacted soil from behind the vehicle. Behind the Douding tank was a plow. But as the tank started moving, the plow was also pressed into the ground, and then the dark brown soil was turned over, forming a gully in the ground.

"Haha, not bad, Peregrine, is this the little tank seized from Beizhang City? You said you were going to modify one, so I thought you were going to come up with something new, but you ended up making this! But I have to say, this tank is really powerful in pulling the plow. It can plow half an acre of land on the way there and an acre of land on the way back. It is much more useful than cows and horses, and it just needs some oil!" Zhao Danian said with a laugh.

"I remember there are three more, right? Can they be repaired?" Zhao Danian asked.

"The engine of one of them is still working, and the remaining two are still under repair. We can probably put one together!" Li Yuexuan said. (End of this chapter)