The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 437 Another Spring Planting Season
Zuo Wenkang knew nothing about the Zuo family's treasure map.

He naturally had no idea that his cousin from another branch of the family was already under the supervision of the imperial court.

He's busy right now.

Not only him, but the entire Kansai region, including its military and civilians, has been very busy these days.

After the snow melts, winter wheat is growing rapidly, and it's time to fertilize the wheat that has drunk its fill of snowmelt.

Spring wheat is also ready for planting.

Currently, all the garrisons in Kansai mainly grow wheat, and rice can only be grown in places like the Kanro River where there is no shortage of water all year round.

The wheat varieties cultivated in Ganluchuan were used not only in Guanzhong, the Hexi Corridor, but also in Huaiqing Prefecture and border military settlements.

If it weren't for the insufficient yield of wheat seeds, Emperor Qianwu would have loved to promote their cultivation throughout the country.

The afforestation project lasted for more than two years.

Under Gan Minglan's special ability, the fruit trees and medicinal herbs grew very lushly.

The most obvious effect is that sandstorms will no longer bury wheat fields alive.

With the arrival of immigrants, a large labor force was available, allowing for intensive cultivation of the land and the use of manure as fertilizer, enabling the people and soldiers of Kansai to achieve complete food and clothing security.

this day.

Wangxiang Village is located about 20 miles from Ganluchuan New Town.

The 52-year-old village chief, surnamed Liu, is arranging this year's planting plan for the villagers.

"Each household will still be allocated twenty mu of military farmland according to the garrison's arrangement, ten mu for winter wheat and ten mu for spring wheat. The wheat in our garrison is all cultivated as seed, so you must take good care of it. The quartermaster said that the purchase price of wheat seeds this year is 30% higher than last year! After deducting the cost, you can earn at least two taels of silver per mu."

One mu yields two liang, so twenty mu would yield forty liang!

Farmers in Jiangnan do not enjoy such profits.

They could rival the entire dynasty!

The immigrants were unwilling to compare their past hardships with those of the military households in Ganluchuan New City, and were determined to emulate them.

Someone asked:
"Village chief, this year is the last year of the three-year tax exemption. Starting next year, we will have to pay two dou of tax grain per mu (one dou is eighteen jin in the Bei State). Can we reclaim more wasteland?"

Village Chief Liu nodded, encouraging everyone:
"As long as you can manage the planting, you can naturally reclaim wasteland. Our garrison has cotton cloth workshops, oil presses, wineries, sugar mills, etc. The agricultural products you grow can be sold to these workshops."

This year, trade routes between the inside and outside of the pass will surely reopen, and the number of merchants coming to our Ganluchuan New City will only increase. With more buyers, we'll never have to worry about selling our produce!

The villagers listened attentively, each pondering what to plant on the newly reclaimed wasteland.

Village Chief Liu was elected because he had studied at a clan school for a few years.

Seeing that the villagers hadn't decided what to plant for a long time, he quickly helped them calculate the costs:

“The yield of sesame in cultivated land is between 40 and 60 catties per mu. If the first year of barren land yields 30 catties, it is considered good. The market price of sesame is 40 wen per catty, and the income per mu is 1 liang and 2 qian of silver.”

The villagers responded enthusiastically:

"That's good! I've grown sesame before! I have two sons, so we can cultivate five acres of land to grow sesame!"

"My family grows them too."

Dozens of elderly homeowners immediately started arguing, causing Village Chief Liu to frown deeply. He stood up and shouted:
"Let me finish what I have to say! Flax can be planted, but we need to protect it from pests! This stuff is mainly used for oil extraction, and it's very easy for it to get damp if not stored properly. Our village can only plant a maximum of 200 mu of flax this year!"
Actually, I would recommend that you grow cotton. There's no limit to how much you can cultivate; you can plant as many acres of wasteland as you can.

My eldest granddaughter works in a cotton fabric workshop. She said that this year's orders were fully booked in less than a month, with huge demand from within the city limits.

She said the workshop manager had let slip that this year's cotton would be at least 30-40% more expensive than last year. Based on last year's purchase price at the garrison workshops, they hoped to earn two taels of silver per mu this year.

The villagers exclaimed in surprise:
"Two ounces? Isn't that just as profitable as growing wheat? And wasteland isn't taxed!"

"Let's do it! Anyway, I have two cows, clearing ten acres of wasteland is a piece of cake."

"My family owns mules, and we also grow ten acres of cotton!"

"I"

For a time, many people wanted to plant cotton.

Some villagers were not convinced:
"The winery and sugar mill are doing much better than the cotton cloth workshop, so why won't the village chief let us grow melons, grapes, walnuts, and white apricots?" Village Chief Liu asked calmly.

"Don't you even look at how many people are planting fruit trees in each sanitation station? Melons are a bit better, but grapes, walnuts, and white apricots take several years to bear fruit, and you don't see any money in the first year. Besides, do you even know how to grow fruit trees?"

That won't work.

What you sow in spring, you will reap in autumn.

Farmers have only so much patience.

It seems that cultivating grapes also requires some cultivation techniques.

They don't know how to grow it!
Some villagers also said:
"Village chief, you've forgotten something! We can also grow mulberry trees and raise silkworms!"

The villagers were very proud, and Village Chief Liu said angrily:
"You're dreaming! The Seven-Colored Fairy Silkworm is kept under such tight surveillance by the garrison, and the silkworm-raising female workers in the silkworm room all have to sign a life-or-death contract."

The villager who made the suggestion had a rather unusual way of thinking:

“If we can’t raise those seven-colored fairy silkworms, we’ll just raise ordinary silkworms! My daughter-in-law is a refugee from Jiangnan. She has been helping the family raise silkworms and reel silk since she was five years old. According to her, each acre of mulberry field in Jiangnan can produce about 100 catties of silkworm cocoons, with an income of no less than ten taels of silver.”

"hiss"

Today's trump card is here.

Village Chief Liu's hand trembled, and he plucked out one of his few remaining goatee hairs.

There are ten immigrant villages in Ganluchuan.

They viewed the village as a middle-ranking younger brother.

Every year, the garrison would conduct a competition among the ten immigrant villages they were assigned to.

The evaluation criteria were very simple.

The first item is the net population growth rate.

The goal is to encourage people to have more children, and also to take good care of the elderly, because if too many elderly people die, the birth rate will plummet.

Secondly, there is the average household income.

This is relatively easy to understand; it's about seeing which village's people are good at making money.

Whether they work in workshops, farm, or herd livestock, the villagers' income is publicized and compared at the end of each year.

Finally, we look at the villagers' living environment.

All ten immigrant villages started out as dugouts, but starting last year, villagers in each village began to build brick and tile houses.

How can we tell if someone is living a happy life?

Naturally, these are: clothing, food, shelter, and transportation!

A good house is an important indicator of a good life.

The top three villages, based on their combined scores across the three categories, will receive a bonus of one hundred taels of silver for their village leaders.

Becoming the village head of Ganluchuan Immigrant Village can lead to wealth.

Despite being a few years older than the other village chiefs, Village Chief Liu's ambition is no less than that of the younger ones.

Upon hearing that his fellow villagers were skilled at mulberry cultivation and silkworm rearing, he immediately decided to support them.

As immigrants to Ganluchuan Garrison, they enjoyed many conveniences.

Just like.

You can buy mulberry seedlings at a very cheap price.

Don't ask why I need to buy seedlings.
Many health clinics have raised this issue.

Of the same apricot trees, only those purchased from the sanctuary's seedling base had the highest survival rate and grew the fastest.

(End of this chapter)