Volume 1: Farming Chapter 35 First Harvest
When the sowing work was completed, the Snow Wolves thought they had finally finished the work, but Ayun said that it was not the case and they still needed to repair the basic water conservancy projects in the farmland .
After more than a month of digging, they finally dug a canal around the wheat field. The Snow Wolves thought they had finally finished the work, but Ayun waved his hand and told them that they were overthinking. The more skillful tribesmen would work with him to build a waterwheel and repair the sluice gate, while the others would continue to dig the canal to the soybean field, the vegetable field, and until the entire field was connected...
The Snow Wolves, including the tribe leader, who understood Xiao Yun's meaning, showed dull faces.
Xiao Yun saw that this was not going to work, so he swallowed the next words about digging ponds to store water and repairing rivers. He had actually mentioned these projects a long time ago, but it was obvious that these stupid guys had no memory at all.
Qingcao and Ayue, a young couple, watched their tribesmen walking away like wandering souls carrying their hoes. They looked at each other for a moment, and then looked at Ayun with gratitude at the same time - although they didn't know what a waterwheel was, it was great that they didn't have to dig ditches like everyone else!
The sluice gates at the inlet and outlet of the canal are not difficult to build. Use the extra red bricks burned when building the house, add a small amount of relatively neat stones and earth cement mixed with a large amount of reed stalks to block the openings, and leave a few movable red bricks that can be moved away when necessary. That's it.
Building a waterwheel is a technical job. It is not enough to rely on the snow werewolves alone. Adult caracals with craftsman talents must be called upon.
A round log was broken into two halves, one half was hollowed out in the middle and stuck diagonally above the water inlet to make a water-diverting tool to divert the water brought up by the waterwheel into the canal. This job was given to Ashan.
Next is the main body of the waterwheel, which, to be frank, does not require high technical content but is very troublesome.
The waterwheel is a simple and primitive irrigation tool for farming peoples that primary school students can make in their handicraft classes. It is shaped like a wheel, with small triangular troughs on the side of the wheel made of shaved wood chips. When the flowing water in the river drives the waterwheel to rotate, the troughs on the side of the wheel can automatically bring the water in the low river channel to a higher place.
Whether it is the oldest Lanzhou waterwheel or the dragon-bone waterwheel in the south, the principles are the same. The only difference is that the waterwheels made by people in different regions differ in size, shape, and water troughs. For example, the troughs are not triangular on the side but barrel-shaped, or blade-shaped.
There is a height difference of about one meter between the river bank at the water inlet and the river water. Taking into account the different heights of the river surface in spring, summer and autumn, Xiao Yun decided to make a smaller waterwheel that can be raised or lowered when necessary, that is, a small waterwheel with a diameter of about three and a half meters. Of course, such a small waterwheel will be slightly insufficient in water intake efficiency, so special attention should be paid to the design of the water trough - the triangular trough on the side of the side wheel position can be made larger and deeper.
It’s said that the technical content is not high and even primary school students can understand the principle, but if you really want to make a qualified waterwheel that can be used, you still need standard sizes... Without a standard ruler, how can you make parts that can be assembled?
There are no nails for you to use here. To assemble the waterwheel, you must rely on the mortise and tenon structure. If the specifications of the water tank pieces are not equal, how can they be put together?
Before starting to build the waterwheel, Xiao Yun gathered the tribesmen who were willing to contribute (including Qingyan) and seven adult caracals. Regardless of whether they could understand it or not, he first explained the importance of the standard ruler. Well... as expected, he got a lot of confused faces.
"In short, whether we can build a waterwheel that automatically draws water from the river is related to our harvest this year." Xiao Yun said seriously, "Did you forget that it didn't rain for more than ten consecutive days and we had to use manual labor to draw water for irrigation?"
Everyone shuddered. It would be strange if they could forget it. It took them two days and nights to water the fields. They didn't want to deal with so much water again in their life.
Xiao Yun clenched his fist and waved it vigorously: "So we must build a waterwheel! And the first step to build a waterwheel is to establish our standard measurement. Everyone must resolutely implement it! Uncle Ashan, come forward."
"Ah?" A Shan scratched his head, stood up and walked to Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun also stood up, showing a very smoothly polished animal leg bone, and opened it horizontally to everyone: "First, we need to determine the standard length measurement, such as how long is one meter, one hundredth of a meter, and one centimeter." Then he patted Uncle Ashan on the shoulder and said, "Use my uncle Ashan as a standard. Suppose Ashan is 1.8 meters tall... Well, the decimal point is not easy to calculate, so let's change it to an integer, 1.82 meters. Suppose Ashan is 1.82 meters tall, then we all know that the length is one seventh of the height. In other words, Ashan is 1.82 meters tall, so the length of Ashan's foot is 26 centimeters."
The clever Dahe, the smart Qingyan and Qiu were completely unable to understand what Xiao Yun was saying, and they all looked at him blankly.
Xiao Yun squatted down, asked Ashan to take off his shoes and lift his feet, and pressed the bone to the sole of his foot. He used his claws to make marks on the bone according to the length of the sole, and then showed the marked bone to everyone: "This is the length of Ashan's sole, twenty-six centimeters!"
“……”Everyone was still staring at him blankly.
Xiao Yun took out a reed and stretched it straight to match the marks on the bone. "By comparing the marks on the bone, we know that the total length of this section of the reed is 26 centimeters." He pinched the ends of the reed with his claws, then folded the reed in half and cut it in the middle. "Half the length is 13 centimeters."
He carved a 13-centimeter mark on the bone, then folded the reed in half to get a 6.5-centimeter mark, and then used the existing values to calculate where the one-centimeter mark and the two-centimeter mark were... After a series of operations that left the natives trembling with helplessness, Xiao Yun held up the bone with many marks on it and said, "This is our standard length! Whether we are building a waterwheel now or want to build something else in the future, we must strictly follow this length standard!"
...Including Ashan, who was used as a standard length reference, everyone had their mouths half open and looked at the excited Ayun with a silly look on their faces.
Xiao Yun actually didn't really care whether people could understand him or not, as long as everyone followed his instructions, it didn't matter if they didn't understand. But now, looking at this situation where the audience was not appreciative of his highbrow music, Xiao Yun, who had developed a thick skin in the modern workplace, still felt a little awkward.
"It seems necessary to carry out some literacy work... Well, I can work on this during the slack season." Xiao Yun stroked his chin, thinking.
"...Ayun, your eyes look scary." Qiu felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He swallowed and said carefully.
"Really? You're seeing things. That's not happening. Come on, Qiuqiu. Now that we have a standard ruler, let's take a look at your height. I've been curious about it for a long time."
Grabbing Qiu and forcing him to take off his shoes and measure his feet, and then doing a multiplication operation at the level of an elementary school student, Xiao Yun couldn't help laughing: "Fuck, 1.54 meters... Qiuqiu, if you go to the world of giants, you can make friends with a guy nicknamed Captain. You two can form a delicate boy band and become famous for sure."
Autumn:"??"
After making a dozen bone rulers by copying the same method, Xiao Yun began to explain to everyone how to make the parts of the waterwheel and what standards to follow - the axle of the waterwheel was made directly from ready-made logs and was processed by Ashan, who was relatively strong; the large wheel blades were slowly sharpened by the Snow Wolf people with sickles; and the delicate water trough pieces were made by the caracals using their manual skills.
Processing wood according to the specified length was something no one had ever done before, so it was inevitable that a 10-centimeter part would be longer than 15 centimeters at the beginning. Fortunately, Qingcao Dahe had helped Xiao Yun make a hand-cranked spinning machine before, and Tuman had been dealing with this hand-cranked spinning machine since he came to the tribe. After talking to him a few times, he could understand the importance of the right parts in assembly.
Five days later, the waterwheel with a diameter of three and a half meters, built with the simplest mortise and tenon structure, was finally completed.
A platform for inserting the bearing logs is built with red bricks on the side of the water inlet of the canal. The other end of the bearing is supported by wooden piles driven into the riverbed. Bricks and stones can be added to the platform on the river bank to raise the bearing. Multiple positions for supporting the height of the bearing are also cut into the wooden piles in the river. Depending on the changes in the river water level, two snow wolves can adjust the height of the waterwheel.
After entering the water, the wheel of the waterwheel rotates due to the blades driven by the flowing river water. Amid the friction and squeaking sound of the waterwheel and the log bearing, the deeper triangular water tank on the side wheel is filled with water. As the waterwheel rotates, the river water is brought to a higher place and flows into the wooden water diversion trough that receives the flowing water...
The tribesmen who had worked so hard stood by the river bank, watching the river water being slowly brought into the canal by the waterwheel, each with a look of curiosity and excitement... After watching for a long time, Qingyan turned to look at Xiao Yun in confusion: "Ayun, the water doesn't seem to be sucked up quickly?"
"It's definitely not as good as a few people using clay pots to scoop water." Xiao Yun nodded. The waterwheel was so big and the trough was so deep, so the efficiency of absorbing water was naturally not that high. "But this thing doesn't get tired or rest. It absorbs water when we are doing other work and when we are sleeping. Except for the winter when the river is frozen and it can't work, it will be here every day and every year, bringing river water to the canal we dug without stopping, so that we can irrigate the fields nearby."
"Oh..." Everyone understood and showed shocked expressions.
Xiao Yun smiled and looked at everyone: "This is the convenience of tools. We cut down trees and wood, and make tools with our hands. These tools can always bring us convenience. With the waterwheel and the canal we dug, as long as there is water flowing in the river, we can irrigate the fields, take water for bathing and cooking, and we don't have to go to the river to scoop water ourselves. So, everyone, why don't we dig canals and build waterwheels?"
"Yeah!" Everyone nodded, and Ah Shan was especially happy, "Tools are really good things."
"Of course they are good things. What makes us intelligent races better than wild beasts, fierce beasts, and even magical beasts is that we can make tools to use. For example, uncle, when you and Hongye hunt, your bows and arrows are more lethal than the claws and teeth of the fiercest beasts. For example, the houses we built, the kangs and floor heating we built are more suitable for living than the largest caves occupied by the dragons... No matter how good the caves are, they will be freezing cold when it snows, right?"
Xiao Yun and the others all nodded, and continued to fool people, "So if we want to live a better and happier life, we can't do without all kinds of convenient tools. Well, since everyone agrees so much, then let's build another waterwheel. Everyone has experience, so this time it will definitely be easier than the first time."
"..." Everyone, who had not yet recovered from their excitement, looked at Ayun with stiff faces.
To irrigate 3,000 acres of land, including a large number of water-consuming vegetable fields, one canal is not enough, and how can one water truck be enough to solve the water absorption problem... It is still the beginning of summer and rain can be seen. When it is drier and there is insufficient water, the yield will be reduced - this is all for the tribe's farming cause, and Xiao Yun does not want to make things difficult for others!
Well, Xiao Yun did not participate in the whole process of building the waterwheel this time. It was not because he wanted to be lazy, but because he had more important things to do - sixty large fields, totaling 600 acres of wheat fields, had entered the important tillering period.
Winter is too long and the temperature can easily drop to -20 or 30 degrees Celsius on the prairie. It is impossible for winter wheat to grow. At least, don't even think about it until you have the ability to develop frost-resistant wheat seeds. Even Yuan Longping, the Minotaur on the prairie, doesn't bother with this.
Compared with winter wheat, which has a longer growth cycle and tastes better, spring wheat tastes a little worse but has the advantage of a short growth cycle... Only sixty days after sowing, the wheat seedlings in the wheat field entered the tillering stage.
The importance of wheat tillering is self-evident. The number of wheat seedling tillers directly determines the number of ears. The most amazing wheat seedling tillering is that according to legend, someone used one grain of wheat to cultivate hundreds of tillers and produce more than a hundred ears of wheat - well, this myth is just for listening, Xiao Yun would not dream of it.
Xiao Yun walked into the wheat field where green wheat seedlings grew in rows and checked the results of the weeding... Well, there was no herbicide, and it was virgin land that had been reclaimed the previous year. Although there was no embarrassing situation of overgrown grass and sparse wheat seedlings, there were still so many weeds that it was disgusting - and this was when Xiao Yun had sprinkled soapy water to weed before fertilizing and sowing. If he hadn't sprinkled the soapy water at that time, the problem might have been even more serious.
If you pull out the weeds in the wheat field, it is very likely to damage the roots of the wheat seedlings, so before the tillering period, Xiao Yun dragged the caracals to spray soapy water to weed again...
The weed situation was much better controlled after this weeding, but there were still some scattered ones. Xiao Yun had no other choice but to hope that he would have an iron plow after the harvest and plow the fields several more times to turn out all the weed seeds and freeze them to death with the heavy snow.
He squatted down to check the wheat seedlings. Sure enough, some of the wheat seedlings had already sprouted tiller buds slightly shorter than fingers in the axils of the leaves at the base. He lay on the ground with his eyes wide open and counted carefully. One wheat seedling had already sprouted about thirty tiller buds - the fertilization before sowing and the topdressing after emergence were still very effective. Xiao Yun ruthlessly brought his tribesmen and the caracals together, and the sweat (and tears) shed in the wheat fields made the wheat domesticated by the Minotaur grow quite well.
"I remember my uncle said that the number of tillers should be controlled during the tillering stage... This is probably not necessary. This wheat variety is not the wheat variety that has been trained by agronomists on Earth. It does not have the gene for crazy tillering. Thirty tillering buds may be the limit." Observing the wheat seedlings with a happy face, Xiao Yun tried hard to recall the knowledge about wheat planting, "What else should I pay attention to... The tillering stage is an important period for the growth of the root system. I am not afraid of light and temperature. Now that the weather is warmer and the sunshine is still long, the climate on the grassland is still suitable for wheat growth. As for water, there is no need to worry about the wheat fields with canals as the priority. Just pay more attention to irrigation... Well, the only thing left is topdressing."
When the seedlings sprouted, bone meal compound fertilizer was used to replace them. Later, Xiao Yun did not forget about fertilizer while urging the tribesmen to work... What do crops rely on to grow? One water, two fertilizers, and three pesticides. Without these three things, half of the world's population would starve to death, which would be considered a good thing.
At a time when the population of the main ethnic group is only 32 people, it is more like a dream to start a flower fertilizer industry. The only thing we can rely on is natural fertilizer. Fortunately, the weather is getting warmer now, and it doesn’t take several months of long fermentation like in winter. The humus shoveled from the jungle, bird droppings, bone meal from the bones dragged from the old nest of the manticore, human and animal feces, and black mud dug from the swamp have been piled up in the open space near the wheat field for more than 40 days and fermented. Now it can be shoveled and used.
It should be noted that topdressing during this period cannot be done in the early stage of tillering, but must wait until after the peak of tillering. The standard name is "topdressing during jointing", and the purpose is to promote the formation of large tillers into ears, increase the ear formation rate, strive for large ears and many grains, and ensure the yield at harvest.
During the topdressing process, you cannot just apply fertilizer evenly as before. You have to pay attention to details. For wheat seedlings with more tillers (more than thirty buds), you should slightly reduce the amount of fertilizer and control watering. For wheat seedlings with medium tillers (around thirty), apply an average amount. For those with fewer tillers (less than twenty), you need to apply more fertilizer and water more.
Mix the fermented soil and fertilizer with water and let it ferment. Depending on the tillering of the wheat seedlings, carefully apply the fertilizer water to the soil near the roots of the wheat seedlings... Asking the snow wolves to do this last year would have been harder than asking them to embroider, but now... well, it is absolutely true that human potential is forced out.
After five days of suspension of work, all the staff applied fertilizer. The work was done. Although they were not tired, they were mentally exhausted. All the Snow Wolves lay on the edge of the field and looked up at the sky silently, reminiscing about the carefree days of grazing and hunting. However, before they could even shed tears, the devil Ayun called them back and announced a very important event:
"It's time to harvest our cabbages!"
"Huh?" The clan leader, who was patting his old waist, simply didn't understand.
"I mean, it's time to harvest the cabbages we planted." Xiao Yun wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Well... I have to apologize to everyone first. Among the three vegetables given by the Minotaur, cabbage is the easiest to grow. Generally, it can be harvested in about fifty days... But I'm so busy that I have to deal with things one after another... But it doesn't matter if the harvest is ten days late, at most it will be a little older. Anyway, we have to harvest the cabbages in our fields quickly, so that we can continue to plant the next crop after harvesting it!"
The snow werewolves, the caracals and Qingyan all looked at each other, and then all cast their sights on Xiao Yun... It's not their fault that they reacted slowly. These days even the cat paws of the caracals have been ordered around busy, and their sleep time has been getting shorter and shorter. Every day when they open their eyes, they don't have time to think about anything because they are driven around by Ayun. Now Xiao Yun is talking to them about the harvest and so on - it doesn't feel real!
In confusion, all the staff followed Ayun to the cabbage fields... At a glance, they saw rows of mature cabbages with cabbage hearts, and the mature plants were about the size of a minotaur's head. Some of the outermost old leaves had turned yellow and rotted in the ground.
Xiao Yun turned around to see everyone's reactions.
No one reacted.
Xiao Yun was a little confused, so he stretched out his hand and waved it vigorously in front of them.
There is still no reaction. Everyone has the same expression as before.
"I'm telling you... even though we only applied fertilizer at the beginning and watered it twice later, and didn't take care of it at other times, this is still the vegetable field we planted ourselves. Don't you have any feelings at all?" Xiao Yun said with a twitch of his mouth.
Vegetable fields require a lot of water, so Xiao Yun chose a field that was closer to a swamp and had lower terrain to grow vegetables. The climate in spring and summer is still relatively good, with rain every few days. In the past two months, there has only been one situation where it didn't rain for ten days... Xiao Yun, who had to take care of everything and pay special attention to the wheat fields, naturally neglected the cabbages that also needed care.
As for the tribesmen... To be honest, they have too much work to do every day, so how can they have the mood to think about anything else? If they have the chance to sit down, who wouldn't take a nap? It's not the first time that unreasonable Ayun has dragged people up to work in the middle of the night. There is simply not enough time.
The clan leader slowly turned his head to meet Xiao Yun's gaze, then raised his hand and pointed at the cabbages on the ground, his voice sounding like sleepwalking: "Ayun? Did we grow them?"
"Yes, we planted it." Xiao Yun nodded.
“We planted it?”
"We grew it!" Xiao Yun shouted, raising his voice.
With a "boom", all the tribesmen burst into an uproar, making it impossible to hear clearly...
"Alright!" Xiao Yun held a hoe in one hand and a sickle in the other, and knocked hard. "Everyone, be quiet, stop talking nonsense, and hurry up to harvest the vegetables! Harvest the ones with old, yellow, and rotten leaves quickly, and leave the ones that are not rotten for now!"
...Well, as soon as the sound of the iron farm tools, the source of the snow wolf's pain, rang out, everyone immediately became quiet.
There is a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere in the tribe.
Xiao Yun was not cruel enough to use kindergarten students and primary school students to do the physically demanding work of fertilizing. The four caracal cubs stayed in the tribe obediently to look after the house.
Cats are always curious. They approached the mushroom house secretly and were scolded by Thrall several times, but they didn't learn their lesson. Seeing Thrall, who had been busy for most of the day, leave the mushroom house and go back to the main room to rest, the cats slipped out of the mobile house again and sneaked close to the most mysterious and closed enoki mushroom production area in the Snow Wolf Tribe...
“Aa ...
The sudden howling startled the caracal cubs who were halfway there. The four of them quickly ran back to the mobile home, holding hands. After a while, they secretly popped their heads out again and looked outside curiously.
Then they saw... Niu Jiao was dragging a trawl made of rattan, which was loaded with a hill of unknown green leaves, and was running towards the tribe with heavy breathing and grunting.
Niu Jiao entered the tribe, untied the trawl net, and with his hands as fast as lightning, he took the cabbages off the trawl net and piled them up. He put the drag rope loop of the rattan net on his shoulders, and ran out as if something was biting his butt.
Manul cubs: “???”
Before the caracal cubs could run out to see what Niu Jiao had dragged back, they heard a strange sound of "Oh oh oh oh oh——" coming from outside the tribe. This time, they saw that it was Qingyan who was dragging the same object back.
Manul cubs: “?!”
The weight of Qingyan's mop was much lighter than that of the ox horn. He quickly unloaded all the things on the ground and ran away again.
Then there is Hongye...Ashan...Ayue...
The caracal cubs looked at the increasing number of unknown green leafy objects piling up in the tribe with horror, their minds full of question marks.
