Release that Witch Chapter 264: Harvest
The first crop of wheat planted by Border Town has finally ushered in the harvest day.
The serfs stood in the hot sun, cut the straw with a sickle, and bundled them up to the other side of the river.
Roland knows that going from wheat ears to wheat kernels is a very tedious process. Before machinery and agricultural tools and combine harvesters have been popularized, wheat kernels need to be manually separated, cleaned, screened, and dried. Now he has witnessed the process again.
After the stalks are transported back to camp, the serfs lay them on the ground to dry, and then use all kinds of tools exactly what they are used for: wooden sticks, stones, and rakes all enter the battle, repeatedly striking the stalks and wheat ears, Caryopsis leaves the shell, and this process often takes three or four days. In the memory of Roland, cows or donkeys are used in the countryside to pull the stone to crush it in the valley, which not only saves a lot of effort, but also the shelling effect is much more uniform than the beat.
I have to say that the agricultural level of small town is really too backward.
After playing, it ’s a turnover. It ’s the same thing. Use a wooden stick instead of a fork, or directly use both hands to throw wheat straw into the sky, just like turning a wok into a wok. After the early knock, the carpels of the caryopsis have mostly ruptured, this process is to separate the fruit from the wheat ears.
Threshed wheat straw actually has many functions. It can be returned to the field after crushing. It can be used as bedding for livestock. It can also be used for making feed and paper. However, Roland has no time to develop green industries. Heaped to the river and all burned the fire. In the next few days, gray smoke was flying all day over small town, which was comparable to the cement powder pollution before.
At the same time, the two spindle islands of Scarlet Water Bridge have also been cleaned up, and the retaining wall construction is underway as planned. The foundation piers use the same prefabrication method as the main bridge. First, concrete columns containing steel and reinforced steel are poured in the open space, and then "weight-removed". Finally, Lotus is responsible for sinking it into the soil, exposing only half of the steel plate. Waiting for connection to the bridge.
So during this week, Roland basically dangled between Scarlet Water Bridge and Taniba, and their skin was tanned a lot.
After the wheat straw is forked out, there is only one layer of wheat kernels and chaff in the valley.
The serfs swept them together and piled them up into small bales, then stood on the bales, scooped up the mixture with a shovel, and threw it toward the open space ahead. Because the chaff is much lighter than the fruit, it is farther away from the ground when it is blown by the wind. Therefore, it is wheat grains that fall under the feet, and the empty shells and fragments in the distance. This is how everyone collects food step by step. stand up.
Of course, it is impossible to completely clean the chaff, and this process will also make the grain mixed with mud and sand. Therefore, Roland made a decision. When the harvest day next year, he must make sure in advance. It is estimated that a batch of mechanical and agricultural tool combine harvesters cannot be made, but the sheller is still very easy to implement, but the stone mill is replaced with a grinding disc, and a screen is installed below, and the broken valley is separated by a blower. shell.
When the full grains of wheat are evenly spread on the field, it seems that the entire north shore of Scarlet Water River is dyed with a layer of gold. Looking at these golden fruits, Roland is full of sense of accomplishment. Regardless of whether the harvested food is enough to fill the belly of more than 10,000 people, at least for Border Town, this is a memorable day.
From today, the food in his territory will gradually change from being totally dependent on imports to becoming self-sufficient.
After three days of drying, the wheat has entered the bagging and weighing stage.
"His Highness, this is a bumper harvest!" the same day In the afternoon, Barov rushed into the office, "According to the preliminary statistics of City Hall, the yield per mu of the responsible field is at least four times that of the past, the highest. It has now reached six times. In this way, the harvest this year is enough to fill the stomach of citizen. "
"Really," Roland couldn't help laughing, "It looks like the newly built granary in the castle area doesn't have to be left empty all the time."
"Do you know what this means?" City Hall Prime Minister looked even more excited than him, "small town only needs to add another 2,000 farmers to meet the food consumption of 50,000 to 60,000 people! This is incredible, small town can completely expand into the largest city of Greycastle, no ... "he paused," the most magnificent city on the mainland! "
This year's urban population could not increase, the main reason is the low production capacity of food. Large cities like Kingdom Capital need more than dozens of villages around to provide food for them. There are almost one to two thousand people in each village. If half of them are engaged in agricultural cultivation, it is almost 20,000 to support 20,000. In other words, the food produced by a farmer, in addition to supporting himself and his family, can provide at most one more urban resident.
The so-called intangible restriction of productivity lies in this. I am afraid that Barov is difficult to imagine. After the popularization of mechanized planting, the output of one person alone is enough to feed tens of thousands of people. Border Town achieved such a bumper harvest without situation, which has not promoted and developed agricultural technology. The main credit lies in the Golden No. 1 transformed by Leaf.
Feeding more people with as few farmers as possible, liberating manpower natural resource from farmland and transferring it to industrial production. This is the strategy set by Roland from the beginning. Now Ministry of Agriculture has obtained the best planting process. In addition, with iron farm tools and machinery to participate in the cultivation in the coming year, the per capita output will inevitably become higher and higher.
...
In the evening, Roland held a bonfire speech next to Scarlet Water River. It seemed that it was back to the dusk of four months ago. It was also the burning bonfire, the crowds, and the last afterglow reflected on everyone's faces. The only difference is the expression of each person. Compared with the fear and anxiety when they first arrived, now they are full of joy and unbelievable expectations.
Roland reached down and waved, and the scene calmed down. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the prince to fulfill his promise.
"I know what you want to hear," instead of putting his name and title first, as usual, he said straightforwardly, "I can tell without any doubt You, the promotion rules announced earlier, are still valid today and will continue! "
This sentence alone detonated the atmosphere of the scene. The crowd shouted uncontrollably, and many people kneeled down to praise the prince's kindness. "Long live feudal lord! long live His Highness the Prince!"
"The list of promotion will be announced when the payment of food is over," Roland said after the call calmed down, "The arrangement after becoming freemen will be in charge of City Hall. You can choose to continue farming, or you can choose small town Here is another job. "
"From next year, as long as the harvest meets the promotion standard, even if the output is not in the forefront, it can become freemen. In other words, as long as you work hard, you will be able to get rid of serfdom as I said , Labor creates wealth, labor changes destiny. "He paused and looked around," I hope that in the future, Border Town will no longer have a serf, and everyone can become my true citizen. "
Roland's voice has just fallen, and people's cheers instantly ring over Scarlet Water River for a long time. (To be continued., Your support is my greatest motivation.)