Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 414 Ginseng Harvest
The measurement method of ginseng land is different from that of large fields. Others are measured by mu or fen, but ginseng land is measured by meters.

A zhang ginseng land refers to a large area that is 10 zhang long and four to five feet wide, which is roughly four or five square meters in size.

When planting ginseng, one row is also called one centimeter. About twelve to sixteen ginseng seeds can be planted, and the row spacing is generally six to eight inches.

How many ginseng seeds to plant in a row and how far between rows should be depends on the size of the ginseng seeds.

For the first and second rows, which are for larger ginseng plants, fewer trees will be planted and the row spacing will be larger, so that enough space can be left for the ginseng to grow.

If the ginseng seeds are small, less than three rows, plant more of them and make the row spacing closer.

If the quality is not good, the quantity can be made up, so that the total output will not be too small.

So on average, one zhang of ginseng can be used to plant about 150 to 160 trees.

If the survival rate is above 80%, about 120 trees will be left when the ginseng is harvested in three years.

Since ginseng is grown these days without any fertilizer, it all depends on the nutrients in the soil.

Therefore, ginseng does not grow too big. The largest one is only about one and a half to two taels, and the small one is not even half a tael.

On average, one zhang can produce eight or nine kilograms of fresh ginseng, which is a very good yield. More than ten kilograms is considered a high yield.

At the beginning, Qu Shaoyang got the ginseng seeds from ginseng farmers from all over the place. Of course, people couldn't give him too big ones. Basically, they were about the same size, not very good.

But the ginseng field is growing well. It has grown a lot in three years.

"Boss, I just weighed it, and it weighed 10.9 jin of ginseng. Oh, this yield is incredible."

Huang Maosheng is the boss. He doesn't have to do the work himself with the three-tooth hook, but is in control of the overall situation.

Before going to work in the fields in the morning, Huang Maosheng brought a scale with him.

Just now, he was holding a measuring rod and watching the guy digging out the mallet. When it was exactly one zhang, he weighed the mallet and it weighed ten pounds and nine ounces.

Huang Maosheng has been working in ginseng gardens for many years, but he has not seen many ginseng gardens with such good yields.

Qu Shaoyang was not working either. He was strolling back and forth in the ginseng field. Hearing Huang Maosheng's words, Qu Shaoyang sighed slightly.

If this output were to happen in later times, ginseng farmers would probably jump off buildings.

At that time, an ordinary mallet of ten feet could lift about twenty pounds. When it was good, it could lift twenty-seven or twenty-eight pounds or even more than thirty pounds.

Of course, fertilizers were widely used at that time, not only ginseng-specific compound fertilizers, but also foliar fertilizers and so on, so the yield would of course be high.

Therefore, if you want to increase ginseng production, you probably have to start with fertilizer.

But Qu Shaoyang had only heard of this from others and was not very knowledgeable about it. He also didn't know what fertilizer would work well in the ginseng field.

If it’s not handled properly, I’m afraid that the ginseng will rot just like Huang Baotou said.

Therefore, this matter cannot be rushed and requires slow research and testing.

"Okay, everyone, please pay attention. If the ginseng yield is good this year, I will give you all a big red envelope at the end of the year."

For now, the yield of the Qu family's ginseng land is quite good, and Qu Shaoyang is content, so he shouted loudly.

"Thank you, Boss. You are such a nice person."

When the guys heard this, they were extremely happy and felt more energetic.

Digging ginseng is a job that requires careful work, so it cannot be done quickly. Two people work together, digging in the front and picking up in the back, and they can only dig about ten feet of ginseng a day.

In addition, people have to be assigned to dismantle the shed and cut ginseng leaves with sickles in the front.

So in this day, only about 170 to 180 feet can be raised.

The ginseng field selected by Qu Shaoyang is good and the growth is good.

By the time it was almost dark, there were nearly twenty sacks in the field, all filled with ginseng.

Qu Shaoyang picked up a full sack and tried it out. It was about 100 kilograms.

"Congratulations to the boss, our land is very sweet and the yield is great.

The boss is a blessed man, with good fortune, and this mallet is much better than others."

When it was time to finish work, Huang Maosheng directed his men to carry the sacks back while counting with his eyes.

Based on his experience in tending ginseng over the years, he knew that an average of ten feet of ginseng land could produce eleven or twelve pounds.

If this output were to be made known to others, I wonder how many big ginseng farmers would be envious.

Those who know about ginseng know that growing ginseng is called blood wealth. This thing is weird and it depends a lot on a person's fortune.

In some ginseng fields, the stalks of the ginseng are clearly growing quite tall, the leaves are lush green and evenly spaced, and the growth is particularly vigorous, so people think the yield will be high.

But when they dug up the ginseng, they found that the rhizomes underneath had not grown long and the yield was simply not good.

In some ginseng fields, the ginseng stalks are obviously short and the leaves are sparse and not very lush, so people think there is nothing underneath.

When we were gathering them together, we found that there were big sticks underneath, and they were growing very well.

When Huang Maosheng usually led people to tend to the ginseng, he didn't realize how extraordinary this ginseng field was.

I really didn't expect that the yield would be so high when I was digging ginseng.

"Congratulations, I didn't expect to have this much output.

Let's go back. I've just told the Second Madam to prepare some more food and drinks for us so that we can celebrate our success tonight."

Qu Shaoyang was also very happy to hear this, so he spoke loudly.

"Oh, thank you for your kindness, sir.

Come on guys, hurry up and carry the sacks back. The host will prepare a feast tonight to reward us."

Huang Maosheng got motivated when he heard this, and shouted to his men to hurry up and finish the work.

After three years of hard work, we finally saw the results and everyone was very happy.

So everyone laughed and carried the sacks and tools back to their residence.

The sacks of mallets were piled in the warehouse, and then the warehouse doors were locked with a big padlock. Everyone went back to wash up and prepare for dinner.

Meng Lanxin led her two maids, as well as a few wives and old women temporarily hired from nearby villages, and worked for half the afternoon to prepare several tables of sumptuous meals.

There are eight dishes in total, including pork ribs stewed with beans, chicken stewed with mushrooms, stewed river fish, blood sausage with garlic, pork head and pork elbow platter, braised pork stewed with potatoes, pork and cabbage stewed with vermicelli, and meat fried with large peppers.

The stews were served steaming hot in large bowls.

"We were supposed to make sauerkraut, pork and blood sausage, but we went to several restaurants in the nearby villages and the sauerkraut was freshly pickled and not yet ready to eat.

Everyone, just eat what you can, there's plenty of food, and there's plenty more outside." Meng Lanxin explained with a smile.

"Oh, ma'am, this is great. We can't even have such delicious food during the Chinese New Year."

When the guys saw it, they were all delighted.

These people don't usually have anything good to eat. They are considered good enough if they can fill their stomachs with a two-ounce pancake and seasonal vegetables.

In other words, Qu Shaoyang treated his employees well. During the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, he would send people to deliver some meat, rice dumplings, eggs, moon cakes and the like.

If it were any other family, how could they receive such treatment?
Over there, someone brought over a few jars of wine and poured a bowl for everyone. Qu Shaoyang asked everyone to start eating. After a busy day, everyone was hungry. With such a sumptuous meal in front of them, who would care about that? Just eat it.

Huang Maosheng and his staff ate and drank to their heart's content, while Qu Shaoyang and the guards tried to eat more vegetables and drink less alcohol.

There are twenty sacks of mallets in the warehouse, weighing nearly two thousand pounds.

These were taken back, steamed, dried, and transported to Yingkou to be sold to medicinal material merchants, and they would fetch at least 10,000 taels.

This is not a small amount of money. Who can guarantee that no one will come to steal it at night, or some blind gang will come to rob it in the middle of the night? You can't be careless.

After dinner, the guys went to rest. Meng Lanxin took a dozen guards to guard the first half of the night, while Qu Shaoyang led the rest of the people to guard the second half of the night.

Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened that night and we passed it safely.

After getting up in the morning and having breakfast, I continue with the ginseng.

The remaining 150 to 160 zhang were all dug out before the sun went down. Finally, they gathered them together and dug up another 17 sacks.

The total harvest from the two days was thirty-seven sacks, which was quite a lot and a great harvest.

While people were busy packing up and carrying sacks back, Zhou Chuanzhi and Xingye led a patrol team of about 30 people and rushed to the ginseng garden.

After asking, they found out that Liu Dongshan was worried and specially arranged for them to come and pick them up.

With these people around, Meng Lanxin won’t have to lead people to keep watch at night.

The night passed peacefully, and on the early morning of September 3rd, Qu Shaoyang directed the servants and guards to load the sticks and sacks onto the carriage and tie them tightly horizontally and vertically with large brown ropes.

Then, led by Meng Lanxin and Xingye, Huang Maosheng and several experienced guys accompanied them and they returned to Maoer Mountain together.

As for Qu Shaoyang, he had other things to do, so he took a dozen guards and headed to the other end of Dianzi Street.

Meng Lanxin and the others drove the carriage back. Along the way, except for the driver, everyone else held guns in their hands and remained alert at all times.

Fortunately, Xigang is not too far from Maoer Mountain. The bandit gangs in this area have been wiped out several times by the patrol team and the security team, and basically no one can make any progress.

So we didn't encounter any problems along the way and returned to Maoer Mountain smoothly.

On the Maoer Mountain side, Liu Dongshan was estimating the days and waiting.

In the evening, when they learned that Meng Lanxin had led the team to transport the mallet back, they immediately went out of the fence to greet them.

"Are these all our hammers?"

Liu Dongshan looked at the bulging sacks on the carriages and asked with wide eyes.

"Yes, Dad, this year our family has a good harvest of sticks. On average, we can get 11 or 12 pounds per 10 feet. We got these out of 300 feet."

Meng Lanxin jumped off the carriage and said to Liu Dongshan with a smile.

Meng Lanxin is the goddaughter of Liu Dongshan and his wife, so logically she should call Liu Dongshan dad.

But sometimes when I was with Qu Shaoyang, I would call him Master.

"Really? Oh, that's great.

Come on, hurry into the yard, the house is ready and waiting for you to come back."

When Liu Dongshan heard this, he was also happy and hurriedly asked everyone to drive the carriage into the enclosure.

Ginseng is fresh when it is dug out of the ground and cannot be transported directly to Yingkou for sale. It needs to be made into a dried product for easy transportation and storage.

Ginseng can be roughly divided into two types: red ginseng and white ginseng.

Red ginseng is made by steaming the cleaned ginseng in a steamer, then drying it.

When ginseng is completely dry, it turns brown or brown-red and is translucent. This is called red ginseng.

White ginseng is divided into two types: original skin and sun-dried. The original skin is cleaned and then dried directly.

For raw sun drying, the ginseng skin is scraped off with special tools, smoked with sulfur and then dried.

White ginseng is rarely used these days, and most people use red ginseng, so the Qu family also prepared to make red ginseng.

Qu Shaoyang had people set up several large pots on the open space in advance, and also made several sets of steamers according to the size of the pot mouths.

Other things like the fork for drying ginseng, the brush for brushing ginseng, the sink for soaking ginseng, etc. were all prepared in advance.

Meng Lanxin led her men into the enclosure and parked the carriage in front of a warehouse.

Then everyone started to unload the truck. They left four sacks full of ginseng and poured them into the gutter, and carried the rest into the warehouse for storage.

There are few ginseng plants grown on Maoer Mountain, and no one has ever seen one. At this time, Jiang Chunfu, Xing Jia and others came over to watch the fun.

Under Meng Lanxin's instruction, Huang Maosheng explained to everyone the process of people participating in the work, and everyone listened attentively.

Once the ginseng is dug up from the ground, it must be processed quickly, including cleaning, steaming and drying. Otherwise, the pulp will escape and it cannot be shipped or weighed.

Qu Shaoyang had other things to do and didn't come back. Before they parted, he told Meng Lanxin that all matters related to the work should be left to her and she should lead the work.

Fortunately, by the beginning of September, most of the crops in the fields had been harvested, and some people could be spared to process ginseng.

So on the second day after returning, Meng Lanxin led the maids and wives in the family to start working on it.

After soaking the ginseng in water, most of the dirt on it is washed away, and then use a brush made of pig bristles to brush it one by one.

If there are red spots caused by water rust on the ginseng body or whiskers, use a thin bamboo stick to scrape off the water rust.

If there are scars, you should use a bamboo stick to pick them off and scrub them clean.

Afterwards, place the washed ginseng in layers from head to tail on the steamer, and then lift it to a large pot and steam it.

The steamer can be stacked in two or three layers, covered with cowhide or oilcloth, and tied tightly with ropes around the edges to prevent air leakage.

Bring water to a boil over high heat, steam for one and a half hours then turn off the heat, let it simmer for a while, untie the rope and lift the oilcloth to dissipate the heat.

Then take the steamer down, and when the ginseng is not so hot anymore, place the ginsengs one by one on the forks and lift them to the rack to dry.

Of course, it should be turned over frequently during the drying process, otherwise the steamed ginseng will become sticky and easily stick to the bamboo curtain or straw stalk of the fork.

It takes a long time just to process the mallet which weighs more than 3,000 kilograms.

Meng Lanxin led the maids and wives in the family and worked from dawn to dusk for several days before they finally cleaned everything and steamed it.

In the end, wherever there was a little space in the enclosure, there were forks for drying ginseng.

The aroma of steamed ginseng could be smelled throughout the entire enclosure.

On the other side of Maoer Mountain, Meng Lanxin led people to process ginseng.

On Dianzi Street, Qu Shaoyang also met Li Daishi, Li Zhengwen and his son, as well as Zhao Zhengguo, Zheng Tiezhu, Wang Junshan and others.

"Right now, the Qing Dynasty is at war with Japan. In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Qing Dynasty suffered heavy losses.

I guess the next step will be a land battle. If things go wrong, the higher-ups may have to transfer us over to coordinate the defense.

So I came here this time just to say hello to you. The most important thing right now is to gather everyone together and practice diligently.

Once the land battle begins, we must be ready to rush to the front line to fight at any time, regardless of whether there is an order from above or not."

(End of this chapter)