Chapter 278: Harvesting Food (1)

It was not the first time that they had set up a workshop. The establishment of the brewing workshop was very easy and Shen Xiangwan hardly had to worry about it. Mu Yunran and Wei Linger, together with their servants, finished the job in just two days. They recruited another fifty people in the village, still with no restrictions on gender. However, this time their requirements for hygiene were higher than any previous time. After all, they were going to drink the brewed sorghum wine themselves.

Time passed quickly, and it was late September in a blink of an eye. The weather gradually became cooler, and it was time to harvest crops such as sorghum and sweet potatoes in the fields. On this day, just after the hour of Chen, several horse-drawn carriages and dozens of ox-drawn carts drove towards Yong'an Village. However, they did not go directly into the village, but went to the fields.

"Shut up!"

At the edge of the field, Village Chief Yang and Zhao Dashan led more than a hundred laborers and were eagerly waiting. With them were Shen Xiangwan and Yuan Xiu. The leading carriage stopped steadily in front of them. A man in his thirties, dressed in the official uniform of a seventh-rank county magistrate, jumped off the carriage, and several county officials got off the carriages behind one after another.

"See my lord."

Seeing them, Village Chief Yang and Zhao Dashan spontaneously led the villagers to bow and clasp their fists. As for Shen Xiangwan and Yuan Xiu, they just stood aside and neither of them moved. The person who came was none other than the new county magistrate of Datong County, Fu Qiuhua. They were the ones who asked him to come. In addition to the officials from the yamen, there were also all the village heads and village heads in the county. The purpose was to let them see with their own eyes the yield of potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn that were to be harvested today, so that the government could smoothly promote high-yield grain varieties next year.

"No need to be polite."

Fu Qiuhua glanced at Shen Xiangwan and the other person calmly, then waved his hand to ask everyone to excuse themselves. At the same time, the heads of the counties and villages got off the ox carts and gathered towards them.

"Thank you, sir."

After thanking them in unison, Village Chief Yang and Zhao Dashan stepped aside cautiously. Fu Qiuhua took the initiative to walk towards Shen Xiangwan: "This is Madam Wei, right? Is the high-yield grain variety you mentioned true? Can you take us to see it?"

Although he tried his best to act unfamiliar, his tone and attitude were still very polite. There was nothing he could do about it, because the person standing in front of him was the wife whom their second master loved the most.

"Master Fu, please follow us."

Rao Fu looked at him with interest and Shen Xiangwan made a gesture of invitation.

"Mrs. Wei, please go first!"

Fu Qiuhua didn't dare to walk in front of her, and hurriedly politely gave way. Shen Xiangwan was too lazy to argue with him, so she simply said, "Let's go together."

Having said that, she really took a step forward. Fu Qiuhua and Yuan Xiu looked at each other and had to walk side by side with her. The others looked at each other and followed her without any prior arrangement.

“There’s actually water in the ditch here.”

On the way, many people were surprised to see clear water flowing in the ditches dug from the ground. You know, it hasn't rained for several months, and the weather has been very hot in the past few months. Many places have experienced water shortages. Even the rivers have dropped their water levels a lot and are almost dry. It is shocking that there is still water in such a ditch.

"The water here is groundwater dug from the other side of the mountain. The water supply was very abundant in the first two months, but now it is much less."

As the village chief, Zhao Dashan had to stand up and explain. He did not expect that there would be so much water in the pit that Wanwan asked them to dig. Fortunately, he listened to her advice and asked the idle people in the village to dig this small ditch along the edge of the land. The water here has been used for irrigation in the past few months.

"groundwater?"

Everyone couldn't help but feel puzzled. Zhao Dashan repeated what Shen Xiangwan had told him about groundwater. Not only the heads of the villages, but even the officials from the yamen who came with Fu Qiuhua showed great interest in the groundwater.

"Mrs. Wei, how do you find underground water sources? Can you teach me a thing or two?"

Seeing this, Fu Qiuhua asked everyone's questions on their behalf. Although due to geographical reasons, most people in Chenzhou only grow one crop, and the drought has not affected them as seriously as in the south, but seeing that people in some places are about to run out of water, as a parent official, he is still very anxious. "I can't teach you this, but I can send people to the government office to assist you in helping the people find groundwater and dig deep wells."

Shen Xiangwan had also heard about the drought outside, but she did not reject Fu Qiuhua's implicit request for help. She might not be able to control other places, but at least in Chenzhou, she would not let the people fall into despair due to lack of water.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Madam Wei. I would like to thank you for your kindness on behalf of the people."

Hearing this, Fu Qiuhua breathed a sigh of relief. Since the madam had promised, there must be a special way to find water, and the people would no longer have to face the crisis of water shortage.

[Yuan Xiu, give orders to gather all water-related supernatural powers and have them disperse to various counties to assist the government in finding water sources for the people.]

Shen Xiangwan smiled faintly and said nothing, but secretly used the secret voice transmission to give Yuan Xiu an order.

[Yes, ma’am.]

Looking at her, Yuan Xiu respectfully accepted the order.

"This is it."

Soon, they reached the end of the field. Shen Xiangwan stopped in front of her own field. The three acres of land here were planted with potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn. Like sorghum, the growing period of sweet potatoes and corn was about three months, while potatoes only needed more than two months. Logically, they should have been harvested long ago. Shouldn't she let everyone see the yield with their own eyes? But she kept forcing them not to harvest.

"What is this? I don't think I've ever seen it before."

Looking at the rows of corn stalks, Fu Qiuhua went down to the field, touched the corn cobs and asked in confusion.

"This is corn, which can be used as a staple food. The yield per mu is about 400 to 500 kilograms. If the land is fertile and well cared for, it is not difficult to produce 600 to 700 kilograms per mu."

"what?!"

As soon as Shen Xiangwan finished speaking, everyone couldn't help but widen their eyes. If Fu Qiuhua hadn't been present, many people would have rushed to the fields. That was a yield of hundreds of kilograms of grain per mu. Even with their most fertile land, careful care, and good weather, the yield per mu was only two or three hundred kilograms at most. But this grain called corn was several times more than that. How could they not be shocked?

"Seriously?"

Not to mention them, even Fu Qiuhua couldn't help swallowing his saliva. Did the lady say it wrong, or did he hear it wrong? How could there be such an exaggerated grain yield per mu?

"I'm not the type to joke about such things."

Is this a shock?
If they knew the production of potatoes and sweet potatoes, wouldn't they be scared to death?

In order to avoid really scaring them, Shen Xiangwan decided not to say anything for the time being and let them see for themselves after the harvest.

【End of this chapter】

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