Chapter 209 Hazard: Rebellion
"These pools have different functions, including sedimentation pools, mixing pools, and irrigation pools,"
Harold continued to introduce patiently that his students would be frequent visitors to this land, and he needed to make them familiar with everything here.
"The sedimentation tanks contain seawater. I draw seawater from the ocean through pipes and store it in these tanks. I then let the water settle for three days.
Then pump the water into the mixing pool and adjust the salt concentration to 4‰ to suit the needs of planting or experiments—"
"Teacher, there is one thing I don't understand." Murtada raised his hand high.
Harold: "Hmm? You ask."
"There is no sea nearby. Where does the sea water in the sedimentation tank come from?" Murtada asked curiously.
"I tested the salinity of the waters in the Water Sky Jungle and the area near the port of Omos. The result is 28.53‰, which is not much different from the average salinity of seawater.
Fresh water mainly comes from groundwater. Although the land in Kawanyi has also become desertified, it is close to the rainforest - perhaps some areas were once grasslands, so the groundwater resources are relatively abundant..."
After hearing this, Murtada made another puzzled sound: "The Water and Sky Jungle seems to be very far away from here."
"So I started building the water diversion project long ago, even before I set up the experimental fields.
Because of the rainforest climate, soil fertility is seriously lost. Concerned about the abuse of fertilizers by farmers and plantation owners, the Fatwa has always been very strict in controlling farmland.
Even with the support of the sage, it has only been three months since I got the permission to open up the wasteland.
But when it comes to water diversion and house construction, the Faithful Court’s control is not strict. As long as it is not too extreme, they will not interfere.”
Harold said with a smile, then he sighed, "But six kilometers is the limit, and this is the result of constantly changing the pipeline according to the terrain along the way.
The service life is expected to be 30 years... In order to meet the deadline, I tend to be conservative in the choice of pipe materials, but it is enough.
I believe we can develop higher-yielding and salt-tolerant rice within this time.”
After hearing this, Murtada and Elias looked at each other.
What do you mean it's not excessive? Six kilometers of pipelines, so many large artificial pools, this is not excessive? Is this human language?!
Moreover, this project sounds very expensive. No wonder the teacher is so poor that he can’t even pay the students’ salaries.
The two sighed silently in their hearts, thinking that the teacher really gave too much for scientific research.
Seeing that the two were silent, Harold introduced himself:
“In addition, these are automatic irrigation pipes. They will input prepared seawater of different concentrations into the corresponding farmland to simulate the conditions of different saline-alkali lands in nature. However, you probably won’t be able to use them this year.
Then there are these farmlands. You may have noticed that this land is not barren. I have measured that the land below the sand has a salt content of 0.4%, which is considered to be moderately light saline-alkali land.
The sea rice we cultivate can only be grown in saline-alkali land with a salt content of less than 0.5%.
So one of our small goals is to make the salt tolerance of sea rice reach 0.8%. Sea rice with this salt tolerance is suitable for almost all saline-alkali lands. "
Murtada and Elias nodded as they listened, and now they finally understood roughly what they were going to do.
"Next, I will mark out experimental fields for you. These fields will be under your responsibility this year. They are all important experimental materials and must be taken seriously," said Haroldt.
They both said in unison: "Okay, teacher."
Harold nodded, assigned each of them their own experimental plots, then put up signs with their names on each plot and handed the seeds to them.
Harold once again emphasized the word "take it seriously" and led them to the hut at the edge of the field.
"All the farm tools you need are available here, and the seeds can also be soaked here. This is Mr. Zaki, the caretaker I hired. He will live here and watch over these items for you."
"Hello." Zaki, a middle-aged man with brown curly hair, bowed to several people.
Murtada and Elias immediately returned the greeting and followed Harold and the guard into the house.
After receiving Harold's instructions, they immediately found buckets of water to soak the seeds.
For the scholars of the School of Life Theory, the cultivation process of various common fruits and vegetables is a compulsory course, so Harold just watched quietly from the side without giving any instructions.
After confirming that their operations were correct, he said, "I have something else to do. You guys get familiar with the environment here. I'll pick you up later," and left with satisfaction.
...
The Office of the Great Sage, in the House of the Order
Azar read the documents handed to him from below quickly with an expressionless face. Setale stood beside him and sorted the documents processed by the Great Sage into file bags, writing the date and classification on the file bags, preparing to record them later.
Suddenly, Hazard frowned, and the "swish, swish, swish" sound of turning pages stopped abruptly.
Setale also immediately stopped what she was doing and waited for instructions. Familiar with Azar's every move, she knew that this meant that Azar had seen the unusual report, and she would most likely be sent to contact the disciplinary officer or other scholars in the academy.
What Azar saw was a report submitted by a businessman. The businessman hired several mercenaries to escort him to Kawan Post to pick up goods. On the way, he found that several mercenaries behaved strangely. They always gathered together and did something secretly without telling other members of the team.
The businessman immediately became alert. He guessed that these desert people might be planning how to kill people and rob in a secluded place, so he decided to take the initiative.
He secretly communicated with other merchants and planned to cooperate with the local rainforest people at the nearest post station to knock out these mercenaries and capture them all.
Their plan went very smoothly, but the mercenaries denied that they had any intention of committing murder for money. They searched the mercenaries' bodies and found that in addition to their usual weapons, each of them had books and notes hidden on them.
At this moment, they vaguely guessed that they had wronged these desert people, but according to the consensus of the rainforest people, desert people would not have books.
Whether it was selling paper books to desert people, printing paper books privately, or these mercenaries stealing and robbing books, it was a violation of the edict.
So they decided to hand over these mercenaries and the books found on them to the disciplinary officer.
Now the disciplinary officer's investigation report and a book confiscated from the mercenaries are on Azar's desk.
Setale caught a glimpse of the contents of the report out of the corner of her eye, and her heart suddenly tightened.
What should I do? I need to find a way to inform Lord Harold as soon as possible, Setare thought.