The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 371 Planting Mulberry Trees
Gan Minglan took a two-month vacation.

Time passed quickly, and it was already the beginning of the third month of the lunar calendar.

That machine, carved by Zuo Wenkang, is said to be the most complex and unique large jacquard wooden loom among jacquard looms.

With the help of hundreds of half-baked carpenters, the final assembly was finally completed.

Its fuselage is nearly six meters long, four meters high, and one and a half meters wide, with a total diameter of eleven thousand threads.

Despite its enormous size, it only requires one pattern puller and one weaver to operate.

Gan Minglan circled the loom several times, not having time to praise Zuo Wenkang's competence as manager, she only asked one question:
"Where can we find skilled brocade weavers and pattern makers?"

The steward suggested, "The mulberry seedlings haven't been planted yet, and it will be at least four months before we can harvest the silkworm cocoons. We can send someone to Wu and Yue to look for them."

When it is said to be Wu and Yue, it actually refers to the Jiangnan region.

That is the birthplace of Bei State Cloud Brocade.

Gan Minglan had some concerns:
"There are many wealthy merchants and aristocratic families in Jiangnan, but I haven't heard of any displaced people. Agriculture and sericulture are very developed there. Logically, farmers and artisans should be living well. Would weavers really give up their good lives to immigrate to Guanzhong?"

The Western Regions and Jiangnan are incomparable in any way.

Manager Zuo is relatively optimistic:

"For matters related to Jiangnan, we can inquire with the King of the Northwest. Perhaps, out of respect for him, we can hire someone with a hefty sum."

"Then let's give it a try."

At this time, spring has arrived in Jiangnan, and flowers are in full bloom.

It should be the season for fertilizing mulberry fields, but there are very few mulberry farmers busy in the fields.

The aristocratic families have dispersed.

The silk merchants also all fled.

Who among the silkworm farmers still has the mind to raise silkworms?
Even after last autumn's harvest, a piece of fine silk couldn't be exchanged for a single bushel of rice!

Those who raise silkworms also have to pay a silkworm cocoon tax.

Ganluchuan did not feel any obvious signs of spring in early March.

The temperature hovered around zero degrees Celsius at night.

The mulberry trees planted in the two greenhouses have not only grown countless roots, but the mulberry leaves on the tender branches have also grown to the size of a palm.

A pale yellow color.

It looks incredibly pleasing to the eye.

Steward Zhu finally couldn't help but ask, "Master, when can the mulberry saplings in the greenhouse be transplanted?"

"Right now!"

"But the kang (a heated brick bed) is still on at night. The mulberry saplings are so tender, won't they freeze to death if we transplant them?"

That can't!
With her amazing planting skills, even flowers can bloom in frozen soil. And so...

Despite the chill of early spring, Ganluchuan began its tree-planting activities as a warm-up.

A total of five million mulberry seedlings were planted in the two greenhouses.

Gan Minglan plans to plant all these mulberry seedlings in the low hills and mountains in the northwest of the Barkol Basin.

The Barkol Basin is a long, narrow rift basin.

It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with a closed environment and a flat bottom.

It is surrounded by Barkol Mountain (South Mountain), North Snow Mountain (North Mountain), and Xiaojia Mountain (West Mountain).

Among them, Nanshan is the highest, Beixueshan is the second highest, and Xishan is the lowest.

The small mountain to the west became a natural gap for the intrusion of water vapor and cold air.

Gan Minglan chose this low hill because she hoped that once the mulberry trees grew into a forest, they could block the gap.

Ganluchuan is so cold in winter.

However, planting trees on hills requires a much larger amount of engineering work than planting trees in the desert.

Despite receiving instructions, Steward Zhu remained completely calm.

They then turned around and spread the word among their personal guards and their families:
"Planting a mulberry sapling earns one coin. With the whole family working, earning one or two taels of silver a day is definitely not a problem. The wages are settled on the same day the sapling is planted."

The women and children responded enthusiastically: "We'd be happy to do anything for our master, even without pay."

Of course, if there's a wage to be earned, they'll work even harder.

Although the women made a lot of money from the snow boot business, their wealth was still far behind that of the military households in the vanguard battalion who had become rich first.

The families of the vanguard battalion soldiers who got rich first waved their hands frantically:

"Nonsense, we also want to earn this wage. How many years of hardship have we endured? We dare not sit around and live off the spoils of our husbands' labor."

The soldiers and their families were puzzled:
"We're not just sitting around doing nothing. We'll all be receiving our military pay after the New Year, won't we? I heard your vanguard battalion is even getting the highest pay!"

When it comes to military pay, the families of the vanguard battalion members have a lot to say:
"Yes, that's the highest among the Nine Guards of Guanzhong! General Gan, a fourth-rank general commanding the Vanguard Battalion, receives a monthly salary of five taels of silver. But the eldest son of the Ang family only receives a mere eight hundred coins a month!"

“Eight hundred coins is not too little for us! If it weren’t for the coal being mined in Hami New City, we wouldn’t even have been able to pay these eight hundred coins. We haven’t forgotten the days when the court didn’t pay us a single coin in military pay for the past ten years.”

"So we are all happy to plant trees. We are very quick and efficient. We can earn a month's salary as a man in the army in four or five days!"

"."

Steward Zhu: "Alright, alright! If you're willing to do it, then go ahead and do it."

They really managed to mobilize all the women and children in the entire camp.

What are the men doing?
Before spring plowing, they mix mud and make brick blanks.

No matter how good a dugout is, can it be better than a brick house?
(End of this chapter)