Chapter 1038: The Lazy and Bad Sister-in-law of a Blessed Farm Girl (33)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

 While the young couple were talking, a powerful voice sounded behind them.

Xu Yin turned around and saw that the man in official uniform who was accompanying him could not be the newly arrived county magistrate, right?

She guessed right, the person coming was Chen Zhanpeng, who filled the vacancy of Qinghe County magistrate.

 He is from the Four Princes faction.

The memorial submitted by Zhou Zhihai pleased His Majesty the Sacred Heart, and he was immediately transferred to Pingzhou Prefecture, which is not far from the capital and occupies a favorable terrain for both offense and defense. He was appointed magistrate to develop farming and prepare enough supplies for the military expedition. forage.

When the other princes saw that Zhou Zhihai was favored by His Majesty, they all tried their best to win over him. Only the fourth prince sent someone to investigate Zhou Zhihai carefully and found that the so-called fertilization method that can increase the yield per mu by more than one stone was not Zhou Zhihai at all. It was summed up by inspecting the farming conditions of farmers within the jurisdiction, but was learned from a small mountain village called Dawa Village.

 The fourth prince immediately used his connections to transfer Chen Zhanpeng to Qinghe County.

As soon as Chen Zhanpeng took office, he came to Dawa Village for inspection.

 Sure enough, Dawa Village was the first to use the new retting method.

 Other villages in Qinghe County have gradually learned to use this method, and Dawa Village has already enjoyed the increased production of new grains.

After some further inquiry, I found that the origin of this method was actually created by a peasant woman who could not read a single word.

This gave Chen Zhanpeng a headache. The fourth prince asked him to win over the other party, but the other party was not a man, but a peasant woman. This...

Li Zheng, unaware of County Magistrate Chen's inner distress, warmly introduced the Magistrate to Meng Jin and his wife, and finally asked: "The doctor from the prefectural government said that Meng Jin's leg is fine? Now, Meng Jin's wife, are you relieved? I heard Dawang said, Meng Jin came back with a bag of lotus root joints and planned to plant them in lakes and ponds?"

Magistrate Chen was surprised and asked: "Lotus root joint? Is it the root of the lotus?"

 Xu Yin: “Sir, yes!”

 Ming county magistrate Chen was greatly shocked.

I didn’t expect that in a small place like the countryside, there would be people who came all the way from the state capital to buy lotus root festivals and plant them in order to appreciate the lotus flowers. They were even peasant women who couldn’t read a word.

It seems that this peasant woman is indeed extraordinary. No wonder she can think of ways to increase the yield of her fields.

Li Zheng was more concerned about whether he could grow lotus roots. After all, he had never heard of anyone growing lotus roots in the local area before.

"It should be possible." Xu Yin used the excuse that she had thought up for a long time. "There are people in the state capital who are growing pretty good. We thought that since the state capital can do farming, we might be able to do it here too. Is it okay to do so? Isn’t it just one more filling meal?”

 “Can lotus root still fill my stomach?”

  Magistrate Chen and Li Zheng said in unison.

　　　…”

Xu Yin had an innocent face: "Can't you? The village woman saw that the lotus root tastes a bit like taro when cooked. It's tender and crispy, but old and powdery. So if it's dried and ground into powder, can't it be used as a staple food?"

　　　…”



“I wonder if I will be lucky enough to taste the taste of this fresh lotus root?”

 Xu Yin: “…”

 It’s only fifty kilograms in total, and I’ll keep some for sowing in the spring.

"If it is true as you and your wife said, lotus roots can be used as vegetables when eaten fresh, and can be used as food when dried and ground into powder, I will send people to the state capital to purchase a large amount of lotus seeds and donate them to you two for planting."

Xu Yin instantly felt as if a rock had been thrown at her instep.

 No one in the state capital sells lotus root seeds.

Unavoidably, Mrs. Liu's seventh wife came to her door to settle the score with her, and quickly explained: "Sir, I didn't buy the lotus seeds from the commoner woman, but gave them to my family after doing a small favor for a family member from the state capital. If you want to buy them in bulk, The women think it is better to go to the south of the Yangtze River. Jiangnan is rich in water chestnuts and mushrooms. If you are interested, you can bring some seeds back and let the women plant them together."

　　　…”

 County Magistrate Chen inexplicably felt that he was a bit aggrieved as a county magistrate. Why was he led by the nose by a peasant woman?

However, he kept the fourth prince's instructions in mind. Now that he had a good opportunity to win over the other party, why should he hesitate? Gladly agreed.

Xu Yin asked Comrade Xiaojin to take them home first while she fished out some fish and shrimp.

You can’t just serve lotus root as a dish to the magistrate, right?

County Magistrate Chen had a meal at Xu Yin's house, which featured lotus roots and was decorated with river fresh food. He immediately said that he would send people to Jiangnan to purchase lotus seeds when he returned, and he would give them to Xu Yin and his wife for planting.

 But he has a condition: when the lotus roots are ripe and ground into powder, can you give him some as a gift? And teach him how to make lotus root starch?

 Xu Yin readily agreed to the small request made by Chen, the sponsor, and the county magistrate who came to her door: "Of course."

In this way, Xu Yin developed 20 acres of lake and pond into an ecological lotus pond—

 Fish and shrimp are raised in the relatively deep waters in the center of the lake;

 The surrounding shallow water area is planted with lotus root, lotus root, water chestnut, and mushroom;

 The wetland on the shore is divided into several large areas, where rice, corn, taro, and wild rice are grown respectively;

Beside the lake embankment, build a four-corner pavilion and fishing platform;

Reeds, calamus, mugwort, canna and other wild flowers and grasses are still preserved. The neat beauty of artificial cultivation complements the wild beauty of the natural scenery, forming this picturesque picture of pastoral scenery and lotus ponds.

Cui Mengjin wrote a few words in his free time in the winter. He sat in the south hall that served as a tool room, carved, polished, and finally painted a plaque for the Diaoyutai.

Xu Yin thought he had thought of some good name, but when she took a closer look - "Qu Yun Feng He", she couldn't help but twitch her lips. Fortunately, it wasn't called "Qu Yuan Feng He", otherwise she would have suspected that this place was the predecessor of West Lake. .

 In the spring of the following year, there were fields of lotus leaves in the lotus pond and the lake water was green and clear.

 The newly born ducklings, led by their mother, swim freely on the lake, lowering their heads to take a bite of small fish and shrimp from time to time.

Li Zheng was more concerned about her lotus root cultivation than Xu Yin, and would come to her lotus pond every once in a while.

 Seeing the big green lotus leaves stretching out on the lake, I breathed a sigh of relief: "It seems to be alive!"

 He was really sweating.

Meng Jin and his wife were heartless. The county magistrate sent someone to buy lotus root seeds from Jiangnan and gave them to them. They accepted them without paying any money and were not afraid that they would not be able to grow them.

How can it be so easy to receive the gift from the magistrate? What if the gift is not received?

Not only will Meng Jin and his wife be held accountable, but the entire Dawa Village will also suffer.

 Fortunately it was planted!

Li Zheng stroked his chest, which had been stuffy for several days, and let out a long breath.

 “Meng Jin’s wife...”

Just when he opened his mouth to advise her not to act so recklessly in the future, and to leave a way out for herself, Xu Yin said: "Li Zheng, take this basket of horseshoes back to eat."

Li Zheng subconsciously took the basket she handed him and looked down: "Hey, where did you dig this horse's hoof? It's so big!"

 “It was not dug out in the wild, it was planted by me.”

Last year when we were cleaning the lakes and ponds, we found several nests of wild horse hooves. When Comrade Xiaojin wasn't paying attention, we replaced them with Lipu horse hooves from the system warehouse. They are big, have less residue, and have thin skin and more juice.

 (End of this chapter)