The first batch of wheat planted in the border town finally ushered in harvest day. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

In the scorching sun, the serfs cut the wheat stalks with sickles and bundled them up to the other side of the river.

Roland knew that the process of moving from ear to ear was a tedious process, and that before mechanical tools and combine harvesters were commonplace, the grains needed to be separated, cleaned, screened and dried by hand. Now, once again, he is witnessing the process.

After the straws were brought back to the camp, the serfs spread them flat on the ground and dried them, and then used all kinds of tools, all of which were of any use: sticks, stones, and rakes, and repeatedly beat the straws and ears to get the fruit out of its shell, a process that often lasted three or four days. In Roland's memory, in the countryside, oxen or donkeys were used to pull stones to press back and forth in the grain field, which not only saved a lot of effort, but also had a much more uniform husking effect than beating.

I have to say that the agricultural level of the town is too backward.

After the fight, it is a turnover, the same is what is the use, if there is no fork, use a wooden stick instead, or directly grab the wheat stalk with both hands and throw it into the sky, just like turning over a pot and stir-frying. After the early beating, most of the shells of the fruit have been broken, and this process separates the fruit from the ears of wheat.

The threshed wheat straw actually has many functions, it can be returned to the field after crushing, it can be used as a domestic animal bedding, and it can also be used to make feed and paper, but Roland has no time to develop a green industry at the moment, so he has to watch the serfs pile these wheat straw by the river and burn them all. For the next few days, gray smoke drifted over the town, comparable to the cement powder pollution that had been before.

At the same time, the two spindle-shaped islands of the Chishui Bridge have also been cleared, and the construction of the retaining wall is proceeding as planned. The foundation piers are prefabricated in the same way as the main bridge - concrete columns containing steel and steel bars are poured out of the open space, then "weight-reduced hoisting", and finally Lian is responsible for sinking them into the earth, exposing only half of the steel plates, waiting to be connected to the bridge body.

Therefore, during this week, Roland basically dangled between Chishui Bridge and the grain field, and his skin was tanned a lot.

When the straw is forked out, there is only a layer of wheat grains and chaff left in the grain field.

The serfs swept them together, piled them up into small bales, and then stood on them, scooped up the mixture with shovels, and threw it into the open space in front of them. Because the chaff is much lighter than the fruit, it falls farther away in the wind, so the wheat grains are sprinkled under the feet, and the husks and detritus are scattered in the distance, which is how the grain is gathered step by step.

Of course, it was impossible to completely clean the chaff, and the process would also mix mud and gravel into the wheat grains, so Roland made up his mind that by the time of next year's harvest, he must prepare a batch of mechanical farm tools in advance - the combine harvester is not expected to be built, but the huller is still quite easy to achieve, but the stone mill is replaced with a grinding disc, and a screen is added underneath, and the broken chaff is separated by a blower.

When the plump wheat grains are evenly spread on the grain field, it seems to dye the entire north bank of the Chishui River with a layer of gold. Looking at these golden fruits, Roland's heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment. Regardless of whether the harvest is enough to feed the stomachs of more than 10,000 people, at least for the border town, it is a day worth remembering.

From today onwards, the food in his territory will gradually shift from being completely dependent on imports to being self-sufficient.

After three days of drying, the wheat enters the bagging and weighing stage.

"Your Highness, this time it is a bumper harvest!" Barov ran into the office in the afternoon of the same day, "According to the preliminary statistics of the city hall, the yield per mu of each responsible field is at least four times more than that of the past, and the highest is currently six times, so this year's harvest is enough to fill the stomachs of the people." ”

"Yes," Roland couldn't help but laugh, "it seems that the newly built granary in the castle district doesn't have to be empty all the time." ”

"Do you know what that means?" the look on the head of the town hall looked even more excited than him, "The town only needs to add two thousand more farmers to meet the food consumption of fifty or sixty thousand people! This is simply incredible, the town can be expanded into the largest city in the Grey Castle, no......" he paused, "The most magnificent city on the continent!"

In this era, the urban population could not be increased, and the main reason was the low grain production capacity, and a large city of more than 20,000 people like Wangdu already needed dozens of surrounding villages to provide food for it. Each village has a population of about one or two thousand, and if half of them are engaged in agriculture, the total is almost 20,000 people and 20,000 people. In other words, a farmer can produce food to feed himself and his family, and to feed at most one city dweller.

This is the invisible constraint of the so-called productive forces, and it is difficult for Barov to imagine that when mechanized farming becomes widespread, the output of one person alone will be enough to feed tens of thousands of people. The main credit for such a bumper harvest in the border towns without the promotion and development of agricultural technology lies in the golden No. 1 of leaf transformation.

Feeding as many people as possible with as few peasants as possible, and freeing human resources from the fields and redirecting them to industrial production, was Roland's strategy from the beginning. Now that the Ministry of Agriculture has obtained the best planting process, and there will be iron farming tools and machinery involved in cultivation in the coming year, the per capita yield will inevitably be higher and higher.

......

In the evening, Roland gave a bonfire speech by the Chishui River—as if it had gone back to the twilight of four months ago, with the same blazing bonfires, the blackened crowds, and the last rays of light reflected on the faces of the people. The only difference is that everyone's expressions are more frightened and uneasy than when they first arrived, and now their faces are filled with the joy of a good harvest and the expectation that cannot be concealed.

Roland stretched out his hand and waved down, and the scene suddenly fell silent. Everyone held their breath and waited for the prince to fulfill his promise.

"I know what you want to hear," he said, not putting his name and title first, as is customary, but bluntly speaking, "- I can also tell you without a doubt that the rules of promotion that were announced before are still in force and will continue to do so!"

This sentence alone detonated the atmosphere of the scene, and the crowd could not help but shout, and many knelt down to praise the prince's kindness. "Long live the lord!" "Long live His Royal Highness the Prince!"

"When the weighing of the grain is over, the list of promotions will be announced," Roland continued, after the call had subsided a bit, "and the town hall will take care of the arrangements after becoming a freeman, and you can choose to continue farming or find another job in the town." ”

"In addition, from next year, as long as the harvest meets the criteria for this promotion, even if the yield is not at the top, you can become a free citizen. In other words, as long as you work hard, you will be able to get rid of the status of serfs - as I said, labor creates wealth, and labor changes destiny. He paused for a moment and looked around, "I hope that one day in the future, there will be no more serfs in the border towns, and everyone will be my true lords." ”

As soon as Roland's words fell, the cheers of the people instantly resounded over the Chishui River, and they continued for a long time. (To be continued.) )