Chapter 390: They Harvest So Much Grain
Knowing how to use something and being truly proficient at it—those were two worlds apart.
Li Daoxuan knew they wouldn't be able to master the ship quickly. Moreover, the cannons on this vessel were all fakes; real stainless steel cannons needed to be brought from Gao Family Village's Craftsman Well and installed one by one onto the vessel. For people of this era, that was no small feat! It would take at least several more days of painstaking work before it could be truly put into service.
Bai Yuan clearly understood this as well. He turned to Squire Zhang and said, "Brother Zhang, we need to select a crew specifically to pilot this divine vessel. My Bai Family Fortress is situated by Horseshoe Lake, and there are many fishermen in the villages surrounding the fortress. I plan to select some Bai Family Fortress fishermen to be part of the crew. And here in Heyang County, many fishermen make their living year-round on the Yellow River; you should also select some of them to join the crew."
Squire Zhang whispered, "The fishermen haven't joined the militia yet, and they haven't learned the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention. It might not be appropriate to let them directly board the ship. Something significant could go wrong on board. So, we'll have to let them on first and teach them the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention simultaneously."
Bai Yuan nodded. "That's certainly not ideal. But the Yellow River's currents are complex. Without experienced old fishermen familiar with the hydrological conditions..." At this point, Bai Yuan's expression turned serious: "We must select people very carefully. If spies manage to infiltrate the divine vessel and cause trouble, perhaps even capsizing it, the Heavenly Lord will surely be angered."
The words "Heavenly Lord's anger" startled Squire Zhang immensely. For, as the saying went, when immortals rage, heaven and earth crumble. If the Heavenly Lord became angry, blaming him for not choosing the right people and directing that wrath upon his head, what a catastrophe that would be! Squire Zhang had read "Journey to the West," which described a plot where a couple in Fengxian Town argued and overturned an altar of offerings to Heaven, offending the Jade Emperor. As a result, the Jade Emperor stopped the rain in Fengxian Town, demanding that the chickens first peck clean a mountain of rice, the dogs lick clean a mountain of flour, and the oil lamps burn through golden chains before rain would fall. Fengxian Town suffered a three-year drought, with starvation and countless corpses, until Xuanzang and his disciples arrived and finally resolved the grievance. If modern people heard this story, they would undoubtedly curse the Jade Emperor as a narrow-minded and cruel tyrant, unfit to rule the heavens, a worthless, pathetic deity who deserved to be chopped into pieces by "god-slayers" and fed to dogs, even if he was an immortal. But the ancients dared not blame the Jade Emperor; they only blamed themselves for not showing proper respect to the divine.
Squire Zhang swallowed hard, thinking, "Whatever happens, I mustn't provoke the Heavenly Lord's wrath, or the consequences would be unimaginable!" He bowed deeply towards the low-hanging clouds in the sky, declaring, "Heavenly Lord, rest assured, this humble servant will dedicatedly choose the crew and absolutely will not cause any trouble for your venerable self!"
Bai Yuan and Squire Zhang dispatched heavy guards, thoroughly protecting the "divine vessel" docked by the pier. Squire Zhang began to seek out fishermen of excellent character. Meanwhile, Bai Yuan rode swiftly back to Gao Family Village's Craftsman Well to inform San Shier to arrange for the ship's cannons to be replaced with real ones. Then he would return to Bai Family Fortress by Horseshoe Lake to find the fishermen from his old home who had followed the Heavenly Lord for many years.
Yangzhuang Village, Heyang County. A group of farmers were burning crop stubble in the fields. Burning crop stubble was a practice forbidden in modern times, but in this era, it remained the primary method for farmers to enrich the soil and eliminate pests and diseases.
Old Yang shook his head. "Two *mu* of land, four *shi* of grain."
"Wow, that's quite a lot! Why are you still shaking your head?"
Old Yang sighed. "In Gao Family Village, they can harvest four *shi* from one *mu*. What's there to be proud of if I only get four *shi* from two *mu*?"
"Surely that's an exaggeration?"
"Exaggeration, my foot!" Old Yang retorted. "You all know Young Blacksmith Yang from our village, right? He's a skilled blacksmith and went to Gao Family Village to earn good money. A few days ago, Young Yang returned to visit his relatives and personally told us that Gao Family Village harvests four *shi* per *mu*."
"Wow!"
Now, the farmers of Yangzhuang couldn't remain calm. "What method did they use?"
Old Yang replied, "I heard they used Celestial Fertilizer bestowed by the Heavenly Lord. That Celestial Fertilizer is far more potent than our manure. It's called something like..."
"'Scientific proportioning,' I think. 'Anyway, I don't really understand it, I just remember that one phrase.'"
One farmer said, "Then let's go to Gao Family Village and buy some Celestial Fertilizer!"
Old Yang countered, "Just having Celestial Fertilizer isn't enough; you also need to know how to use it. We've all been farming our whole lives, don't we understand that fertilizer can't be used indiscriminately? If you don't understand how to use Celestial Fertilizer and apply it haphazardly to the soil, you'll burn the roots and end up with no harvest at all."
There was sense in that!
Experienced farmers all knew this: if you didn't apply fertilizer, it wasn't a big deal; you'd just get a smaller harvest. But if you applied it incorrectly, the entire field of crops would die, resulting in no harvest whatsoever.
Another farmer then said, "Then let's go to Gao Family Village and learn!"
Old Yang frowned. "I'm just afraid they won't be willing to teach us."
Everyone sighed. They were right; who would be willing to teach such a valuable, closely guarded skill to outsiders?
"Hurry up and finish burning the stubble. While winter hasn't arrived, we can still plant some miscellaneous vegetables."
The farmers murmured their assent and were about to get back to work diligently.
Just then, a solar-powered bus drove along the cement road outside Yangzhuang Village. About a dozen people disembarked from the vehicle, most of them farmers. Although they wore clean cotton clothes, their complexions and the way they gazed at the fields unmistakably marked them as genuine farmers.
Among this group of farmers was a scholar in his thirties. He appeared refined and rather delicate. Surrounded by the farmers, he seemed to be their leader.
The farmers of Yangzhuang were curious: "What kind of strange group is this? Why would a scholar be leading a group of farmers here?"
The unexpected visitors hauled several large sacks from the solar-powered bus. Words were written on the sacks, but the farmers of Yangzhuang were illiterate and couldn't tell what was inside.
The group of farmers surveyed their surroundings. They soon spotted the Yangzhuang farmers gathered together, and, hoisting their sacks, jogged over.
The scholar also ran along. After only a few steps, he suddenly braced his hands on his knees, panting heavily: "Slow... slower... I... I can't keep up..."
The farmers paused, waited for him to catch his breath, then started running again. Though it was only a short distance across a few field ridges, the group took a while to cover it, finally reaching the Yangzhuang farmers.
The scholar wheezed, "Hoo-hee... hoo-hee... A-are you... the farmers of Yangzhuang? I... *huff*... We're from Gao... Gao Family Village... My name is... Zhao Sheng... Everyone calls me Mr. Zhao..."
Old Yang was startled. "Mr. Zhao, please don't speak yet, sit down, sit down... You're from Gao Family Village? May I ask what brings you to Yangzhuang Village?"
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