Cultivation Starts From Planting Sweet Potatoes

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The tenants in this world are very hardworking, and their requirements are not high, as long as they can fill their stomachs, they are satisfied.

It's just that the crops in the field are not ripe yet, no matter how hard they try to make a flower, it's useless, and the crops in the field will not mature a day early.

There is no additional source of income, but at this time of year, the price of food will rise sharply. Corn has risen to eight cents a catty, and the cheapest acorns have also risen to two cents a catty.

Naturally, Wanjia Rice Store took the opportunity to drive up prices, and squeezed the tenants hard.

Now I heard that you can exchange two meals for doing coolies, and you will also get wages. Where can I find such a good thing?

For a while, almost everyone gathered around Zhang He to sign up to be a coolie.

These applicants, Zhang Hedu came to the same place, all accepted.

When Zhang He led more than a hundred people out of the market, the eyes of the Wanjia children behind him were full of hatred, as if the flesh that was close to his mouth had been robbed.

At the foot of Qifeng Mountain, old man Zhang was really shocked when he saw Zhang He led a large group of people back.

"He'er, why are you doing this? How much food does such a large group of people have to eat every day?"

Old man Zhang pulled Zhang He to the side and asked quietly, he was so anxious that he almost stomped his feet.

"He'er, the population is cheap now, even if you pick some little girls back to be your daughter-in-law, it's more cost-effective than bringing back such a group of old men."

"Father, you see that Qifeng Mountain is so big, and it has only been reclaimed so far. The sooner it is reclaimed, the crops can be planted earlier, and we are not at a loss."

Anyway, everyone was brought back by Zhang He, what old man Zhang could do, but he secretly made up his mind that Zhang He must not be allowed to go to the market next time, he must go in person.

The five sheep bought by Zhang He this time happened to be one male and four females, and three of the ewes were still pregnant.

The reproductive ability of sheep is very strong. Newborn lambs can be sexually mature in half a year. The pregnancy time is about 140 days. Each lamb has one to three lambs, and there are two lambs per year.

If they are properly fed, a large flock of sheep can be bred next year with just these five breeding sheep.

When Fat Tiger saw the five sheep he bought, he hugged a sheep with a flower on its head and seemed to like it very much. Zhang He simply gave him the task of herding the sheep.

Except for the wave of bandits, there is no human habitation around Qifeng Mountain. Because of the remote location, it is difficult for the Wan family to come here. Such an environment is suitable for raising sheep.

And at present, the weeds on Qifeng Mountain alone are enough to raise dozens of sheep.

These newly recruited coolies were also arranged to reclaim wasteland, but their treatment was much worse than that of the guards.

Two meals of corn and sweet potato vines are boiled together every day, and I can also receive a copper coin.

With the participation of more than a hundred people, the speed of land reclamation has been much faster. In more than half a month, 40 acres of land have been reclaimed.

Now nearly one hundred mu of wasteland has been reclaimed on Qifeng Mountain.

However, only forty acres of soybeans are currently planted, and it is already too late to plant soybeans in the newly reclaimed wasteland.

A batch of sweet potatoes had just been harvested in the space in the past few days. Zhang He cut these sweet potato vines into small sections with two nodes and a leaf.

Then every day when he went out for a walk, he would bring back a large basket of sweet potato and vine sections. As for the excuse, don't ask, it must have been given by the immortal master behind him.

Zhang Heneng was favored by the immortal master, and made his guards and coolies all admire and worship him.

These sweet potato vines are arranged to be cut into the newly reclaimed fields.

Zhang He's control over the sweet potato vines is extremely strict. The number sent out and the number finally inserted in the ground must be comparable, and there must be no less.

The main crop is sweet potatoes, which are too easy to grow. As long as a section of sweet potato vines grows out, it may no longer be unique to him.

If the tenant farmers in the surrounding areas grow this kind of high-yield sweet potato, they may be able to increase their income in a short time, but the tenants have no land in their hands, and the land rent must rise afterwards, and the tenant farmers will eventually return to a barely subsistence state.

Zhang He didn't want to take out his own unique things, and in the end it would only benefit the greedy landlords of the Wan family.

More than a hundred people were divided into two halves, one part was in charge of cuttings, and the other half needed to fetch water from the stream at the foot of the mountain to irrigate the freshly cut sweet potato vines.

The water flow was too small, and everyone drained the water inside several times. In this way, the progress of sweet potato vine cuttings could only be temporarily slowed down.

Because the weather is already very hot and there has been no rain for many days, the survival rate of cut sweet potatoes without watering will be very low.

In fact, although sweet potatoes are relatively drought-tolerant, if the drought is too severe, it will still affect the yield.

"Young Master, sweet potato vines have been planted in the newly reclaimed land, and all the sweet potato vines have been planted. I don't know what plans you have next?"

At this moment, Wei Peng was holding a torn piece of paper on which some accounts he had recorded were written, acting like a big housekeeper.

Now the coolies and guards call him old man Zhang, and Zhang He as son.

In this regard, old man Zhang is still very satisfied. He never thought that he would be able to have what he is today in his lifetime. In his impression, only the big shots of the Wan family would be called masters.

Therefore, the first coolie to call him master, old man Zhang gave a sweet potato generously.

Zhang He didn't pay too much attention to this kind of title, feeling that their father and son should be the most shabby master and son.

The father and son still live in the broken thatched hut, and the clothes they wear are also very ordinary linen clothes, with layers of patches on them.

"In the future, there may be more and more people here, and the entire Qifeng Mountain will be reclaimed, and the water source of this stream alone is obviously not enough.

Starting tomorrow, let everyone surround the foot of the mountain, deepen the middle, and build a pond that can hold water. "

Zhang He pointed to a location at the foot of the mountain. The terrain was not high, the soil was soft, and the total area was about one or two acres.

"Ah? Do you need to dig so big?"

Wei Peng was very surprised when he heard the words. With the existing manpower on the mountain, it might not be possible to dig such a large project even after working hard for a year.

It is equivalent to employing more than a hundred people to work for a year, during which the expenditure consumes countless money and food, but there is no income.

This is not something that ordinary people can afford. Even Wanjia rarely takes the initiative to build ponds with water, and they can only rely on natural water sources for farming.

In terms of consumption, Zhang He has already calculated that with the income from producing sweet potatoes in the current space, it should be enough to feed more than a hundred people.

After all, labor is cheap, and as long as they can give them a bite to eat, there are a lot of people willing to work here.

He recruited a group of people from the market last time, and now the news is spreading that several people have come to Qifeng Mountain one after another in the past few days, and all of them have been accepted by Zhang He as coolies.

There is still a period of time before the harvest of summer grain, and there should be tenants who cannot survive in the future.