Chapter 1183 Harvesting Rice
After having a banquet with a group of new scholars, a few days later, the scholars picked a good day to hold a banquet and sent invitations to Sun Shan one by one.
Steward Wang came in, holding his waist, and asked, "Master, do you want to go to the wedding of these eight families?"
Sun Shan shook his head without even thinking: "No."
With a calm expression on his face, he continued, "Pick some gifts and have Brother Dingnan deliver them. I won't go there in person."
It would be unacceptable for a scholar to send an invitation without giving a gift.
As the saying goes, gifts can be given without the person being present.
Scarcity makes things valuable. I remember when Sun Shan was admitted to high school, Lord Wei came personally.
But there were so many scholars in Yuanlu County that Sun Shan refused to go to any of them.
Butler Wang had long guessed that Sun Shan would do this.
If you don’t want to go, then don’t go. The master is the head of Yuanlu County. He can offend anyone, but of course he can also say that he doesn’t want to offend anyone.
What is worrying is not the scarcity of wealth but the inequality of wealth. The adults reject everyone fairly and no one dares to say anything.
Manager Wang continued, "Sir, how about giving the gift to the scholar out of the gifts they gave? That way, we won't have to spend money to buy it from outside."
A's gift is given to B's gift, B's gift is given to C's gift, and so on, and so on. This ensures that no one receives a gift from their own family.
Sun Shan nodded in agreement: "Just do as you say. Just be careful not to get them mixed up."
Butler Wang said confidently: "Master, don't worry, I will never make a mistake."
The first requirement to become a qualified housekeeper is to have a good memory.
Butler Wang thought that he had been trained by a wealthy family and was very confident that he could do the things his master asked him to do.
Sun Shan smiled and said, "I'm at ease with you doing the work."
Among so many people, Steward Wang is the one who understands the ways of the wealthy families the best.
It’s a pity that he has been recovering from injuries for several months and has been holding back.
Now that his condition has improved a lot, Butler Wang immediately took on the work and tried to show his performance.
Sun Dingnan went to present gifts on behalf of Sun Shan. After the banquet, the imperial examination, which was held twice every three years, came to a perfect end.
Xiucaigong continues to do what he should do, and Sun Shan also continues to do what he should do.
The autumn harvest has arrived in a blink of an eye. The rice in the "Rice Experimental Field Base" has drooped its head heavily and is ready to be harvested.
Sun Shan stood on the edge of the field, looking at the golden rice, his heart filled with joy.
As the saying goes, "If it's 80% ripe, you'll get 100% of the harvest; if it's 100% ripe, you'll get 50% of the harvest."
This means that when harvesting rice, you cannot wait until all the grains turn yellow before harvesting them.
If you harvest after the rice turns yellow, there will be greater losses during the threshing process.
So the rice should be harvested when it is not fully mature.
How to determine whether the rice is 80% mature can be done through visual inspection, hand inspection, and oral inspection.
When more than 95% of the grains are the golden or light yellow color inherent to the variety, the rice field is ripe.
Then feel the hardness of the grains by touch. The grains of mature rice are hard and not easy to break. If you pinch the grains, no pulp will flow out of the mature rice and the rice grains will be waxy, which also means that the rice is mature.
The last step is to put the millet in your mouth and bite it. If it tastes crisp, has a certain hardness, full grains, and is not easy to crush, it means the rice is ripe.
Through the three steps of observation, pinching and biting the ears, we can roughly determine whether the rice can be harvested.
If an experienced farmer can just take a few glances and walk around a few times, he will know whether it is ripe or not.
Sun Shan bit off a few grains of rice and said, "Our rice can be harvested. I'll go back and post a notice that the rice will be harvested the day after tomorrow."
Sun Shan looked at the sky. It was cloudless and the sun was shining brightly. It didn't look like it was going to rain.
I asked a few experienced farmers and they all said that the weather would be good recently and it would be the best time to harvest.
Sun Shan said to the two local helpers, "When we harvest the rice the day after tomorrow, go back and tell the neighbors to come and see how much the rice yield can be increased by using guano."
The two local helpers nodded and said, "Yes, sir. We will go back and tell the villagers to come and see how good the rice is."
Even if Sun Shan didn't say so, the two local helpers would have spread the news of "rice harvesting the day after tomorrow".
Everyone wants to witness this rare gossip with their own eyes.
Local helper A bravely asked, "Sir, is it true that you use bird droppings in your fields, so that the crops grow so well?"
There is no need to harvest and weigh the rice the day after tomorrow. It can be seen with the naked eye that the rice fields of Lord Sun’s family are growing much better than those outside.
Look at the rice ears, falling down and heavy, it is obvious that there will be a good harvest.
Sun Shan nodded: "Yes, it is because of the bird droppings from the warehouse that it grows so well."
Local helper B asked anxiously, "Sir, does the government really have bird droppings for sale? Is it expensive? I want to buy some, too."
Then he asked, "Sir, how do you use guano? Do you use it as fertilizer like normal? If I buy guano, will you teach me how to use it?"
It’s useless if you buy something but don’t know how to use it. This issue must be made clear.
Looking at the two pairs of expectant eyes, Sun Shan's heart was suddenly touched.
This is the farmers' desire for food, and more importantly, their desire to be well fed and well clothed.
Sun Shan spoke softly and gently, "Don't worry. There will be bird droppings for sale at the government office during the spring ploughing season next year, and someone will come to teach you how to use them. Don't worry, bird droppings are not expensive, and you can afford them."
The local helpers A and B looked at the thin and short Sun Shan and for some reason seemed to him to be very tall.
The speaking voice is also very penetrating.
He said blankly: "Sir, I am waiting for your guano."
September 25th, slightly cold with dew.
Sun Shan got up early in the morning, had breakfast, and then led a group of officials to the "Rice Experimental Field Base" in Yuanlu County.
Before entering the experimental field, waves of whispers could be heard.
Suddenly someone shouted, "The magistrate is here."
Someone else shouted, "The county magistrate is here too."
Then someone else shouted, "Why is Teacher Deng here too? Doesn't he need to teach?"
Then I saw a group of students following Teacher Deng.
The onlookers suddenly realized: "Oh my god, not only did Teacher Deng come, but he also brought students with him. I didn't expect that students nowadays care so much about farmland."
Another bystander said with a smile: "The students don't have land at home? Don't they need to eat? Maybe after watching the rice harvest, they will go back and buy bird droppings."
When these words were spoken, the onlookers burst into laughter.
When Sun Shan walked into the experimental field, Sun Dali had already divided the onlookers into several groups.
A warning hemp rope was pulled up in front, and the Sun family guards were asked to patrol back and forth.
Warn the people not to get too close to the experimental fields and the master of the Sun family.
This practice caused great dissatisfaction among the onlookers.
The melon-eating lady asked unconvincedly: "The strong guards didn't let us get closer, so how could we see clearly?"
Sun Dali thought to himself: It's none of his business whether you can see clearly or not. His main responsibility is to protect the master.
Humph, if one of them goes crazy and hurts the master, all his wealth and glory will be over.
Sun Dali was determined to keep the spectators away from the master of the Sun family.