The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 24 Snow Water Soaking Method

Dong Erzhu's concerns are not unfounded.

Due to the influence of the Little Ice Age, the climate conditions in Shaanxi during the late Ming Dynasty were extremely harsh, with nine out of ten years experiencing drought and one year experiencing severe flooding.

Nevertheless, some local officials, lacking worldly experience, would still order "replanting" after the drought.

However, although replanting was carried out, the water problem could not be solved. For several months, not a drop of water fell from the sky, and no matter how frequently the replanting was carried out, no crops could grow in the fields.

The folk song goes something like this: "The county magistrate doesn't know the county, and the prefect doesn't know the prefecture."

But Jiang Han was not the kind of person who spoke without thinking; he already had a preliminary plan in mind.

He stared at the thick snow, and a method he had seen online before came to mind.

Snow water soaking method!
Snow water soaking method, as the name suggests, involves soaking seeds in snow water before sowing to promote germination and growth, thereby increasing the growth rate and yield of the grain.

Wheat seeds soaked in snowmelt will have a shorter production cycle and higher yield.

In addition, snowmelt can also serve as a water reserve and can be used for later irrigation.

Snow water contains several times more nitrogen than rainwater, and it also contains less heavy water, thus having a less inhibitory effect on plants.

Jiang Han saw this method on a forum.

In his previous life, Jiang Han was a big fan of historical novels, and he was very interested in many of the methods used in time-travel historical novels.

Whenever a certain technique or method is mentioned in a book, he will consult relevant materials and even try it himself to verify its effectiveness.

For example, the "yellow mud water sugar rinsing method" is often mentioned in time-travel novels—from the Ming Dynasty book "Tiangong Kaiwu".

Jiang Han was particularly curious about this method and tried it countless times, but failed every time; even when he searched for related videos online, he never saw a successful case.

Jiang Han could only sigh helplessly, "This is probably academic fraud by people in the Ming Dynasty."

Of course, it's also possible that old man Song Yingxing made a mistake in his records; in any case, he just couldn't make white sugar.

Putting all that aside, the snow water soaking method is perfectly fine; it has been scientifically proven. Given the current situation, it's probably worth a try.

Jiang Han then briefly explained the method, leaving Dong Erzhu stunned and somewhat confused.
"Second Brother Han, I've never heard of this method before. Will it work?"

Dong Erzhu had grown up farming, but he had never heard of such a method. Wouldn't the seeds freeze to death if they were soaked in snow water?

Jiang Han naturally wouldn't say that this was a scientific research result from hundreds of years later; he only said that he was trying his best.

Seeing that Dong Erzhu was still somewhat skeptical, Jiang Han didn't waste any more words and began to explain his plan in detail.

To utilize snowmelt for large-scale seed soaking and irrigation, the first problem to solve is storing snowmelt.

Storing snow water requires building ice cellars, which involves digging a circular or square pit 2-5 meters deep and 2-5 meters in diameter.

To prevent snowmelt from being lost, stone slabs need to be laid in the dug pit, making sure to cover it completely from top to bottom and side to side. The stored snow and ice should not come into direct contact with the soil, otherwise it will seep out from the soil.

Jiang Han refused to believe that there wouldn't be enough water after digging a dozen or so ice cellars.

In this way, the water resource problem is basically solved.

Next comes the irrigation process. Snow and ice cannot be poured directly onto wheat that has already sprouted and grown. Although wheat has a certain degree of frost resistance, a sudden drop in temperature will slow down the growth rate of wheat and reduce the yield.

Therefore, they need to thaw the snowmelt and warm it to normal room temperature before they can use it for irrigation.

Therefore, Jiang Han plans to build several thawing ponds to remove ice and snow from the ice cellars and place them in the ponds to gradually melt and warm up with the help of the outside temperature. With this in mind, Jiang Han began to consider whether the thawing ponds could be built at a high altitude and the melted snow water could be transported to the fields through pipes for drip irrigation.

This not only saves a lot of manpower, but also effectively conserves water resources and avoids waste.

Jiang Han thought the plan was feasible more and more, but after doing the calculations carefully, he couldn't help but gasp – this was a huge undertaking.

Leaving aside the issues of digging ice cellars and building thawing pools, the entire piping system for drip irrigation alone is enough to cause headaches.

But there was no other way; the food problem had to be solved. No matter how big the project was, we had to find a way to get it done, otherwise I and my more than a thousand men would starve.

After hearing Jiang Han's plan, Dong Erzhu frowned and asked a question:
"Second Brother Han, it's freezing cold. Where are we going to dig up some stone slabs to fill the ice cellar?"

"And that thawing pool, none of us brothers know how to fire bricks and lay soil; not to mention the pipes, even the simplest ceramic pipes require someone to fire ceramics."

"Look around this village, besides us, where else is there a living person?"

Jiang Han pondered for a moment, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration and exclaimed excitedly:
"Then we'll use cement to line the ice cellar. We can also make the pipes out of cement, in sections, and then lay them out."

cement?

Dong Erzhu was stunned by the new words Jiang Han blurted out and stood there dumbfounded.

Jiang Han didn't explain much, only saying that he had a way to solve the problem of the stone slabs and pipes, and asked Dong Erzhu to dig an ice cellar first, as he needed a lot of space to store ice and snow.

Jiang Han patted Dong Erzhu on the shoulder and instructed him:

"Zhu Zi, take some men to dig cellars. Dig several ice cellars, each ten feet square, just in case."

"Go to Shao Yong's place and select people to take turns digging. Make sure the ice cellar is dug before the snow melts."

"This task is a bit demanding, so I'll have to keep you busy for a while."

Faced with the task assigned by Jiang Han, Dong Erzhu suddenly had an idea:
"Second Brother Han, do you think it would be okay to convert an ice cellar into a cold kiln?"

"A cold kiln? Where is there a cold kiln?" Jiang Han was a little confused.

"Second Brother Han, have you forgotten? There are quite a few cold cave dwellings around here. There are several in the neighboring Ma Family Village."

Dong Erzhu pointed to Majia Village not far away.
"Back when the Ma family organized the villagers to work, we didn't go hungry much that winter."

After Dong Erzhu's reminder, Jiang Han finally remembered...

Back then, Master Ma of Majia Village organized the villagers to dig a cold cave.

It is said that in order to accumulate merit and do good deeds for his son's success in passing the imperial examination, he organized the elders and folks from the surrounding villages to work together to provide relief to their neighbors.

Dong Erzhu and Jiang Han both went there at the time. Although they weren't paid, at least they were provided with two full meals a day.

Anyway, there's not much farm work to do in winter, so we're just idling around.

For Dong Erzhu and Jiang Han at that time, labor was the least valuable commodity; being able to make a living was already a great blessing.

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(End of this chapter)