Volume 6: Helping the World Chapter 183 Red Fruit Planting
This world has demonic beasts, monsters, and magical creatures. Although the gate to the demon world in Bloomfield is suppressed by the snow elves and monsters are not seen wandering around the streets, magical beasts and the like are not uncommon.
In addition, because the power of the Church in Bloomfield is not as omnipotent as Bradrick's, even doctors can appear in the city openly (uh...), and although black magicians are rare, they are not impossible to see. Legends of necromancers and dead soul wizards are spread all over the continent. Well... of course, they are definitely not positive deeds.
It is well known that necromancers play with corpses and undead wizards play with ghosts. The people of this world accept the existence of ghosts, and soul energy does exist in this world... The mental power and mental field of the caster are a type of soul energy.
But~! Even if the people of this world have an understanding of ghosts and soul energy that conforms to the rules of this world, ghost stories can still have a market~! Especially the ghost stories that Xiao Yun brought from the purely scientific material world - even the foolish and bold snow wolf people can be scared by ghost stories, let alone the sensitive and delicate snake tribe?
This ghost story adapted from a classic psychological question is the type that becomes more uncomfortable the more you think about it. The more you think about it and the more sensitive you are, the more terrifying it becomes. It successfully shocked the snake tribe - the warrior walkers who had beaten monsters and the elders with rich life experience were all frightened, not to mention the ordinary members of the tribe.
Next, Chengfeng vividly told another classic ghost story circulated among the Snow Wolf Tribe, which was "The Traveler and the Farmer" that Xiao Yun first used to scare the Snow Wolf Tribe.
The classic part of this story is that the audience first sees the farmer's perspective. The farmer, who lives in the mountains and kindly takes in travelers, is frightened by the travelers who look like ghosts. He is so pitiful that he can't escape from the predicament. Wherever he goes, he finds himself in a dead end. It is not until the end that the story is reversed and the audience is told that the farmer is the villain in the story, who specializes in murdering passers-by and robbing them, leaving the audience dumbfounded and confused...
"If you don't do bad things, you don't have to worry about ghosts knocking on your door at night." Chengfeng smiled and ended this ghost story that encouraged people to be good. Seeing everyone nodding in sympathy, he said, "Next, let's continue with the third story of today."
A group of snakes: "..."
Is it ever going to end!!
——But I still want to continue listening to what’s going on!!
Snake is so tangled!!
This third story is also a classic ghost story circulated within the Snow Wolf Tribe. Xiao Yun originally made up this story to scare the tribe members not to run around and to go back to the tribe to sleep at night. Now it is just right to scare the Snake Tribe (hmm...): The main plot of the story is that a playful child from the tribe went away from the village to play, and only remembered to go home when it got dark. On the way, he met an uncle from the neighboring village, so they went together. On the way, they were threatened and attacked by various unknown beings... Finally, they returned to the village, and the child and the audience were relieved. As a result, the next day, the neighboring village came to notify them to hold a funeral. The deceased was the uncle who accompanied the child home the night before.
The snake tribe friends who had just relaxed hadn't even caught their breath yet, and were shocked by the ending and almost couldn't breathe...
"Aren't these three stories interesting?" Chengfeng asked proudly.
A group of snakes: "..."
Harris stared with dead eyes: "Well... it's very interesting." No matter from which level.
Chengfeng laughed happily: "These stories are very popular in our tribe. I think you will like to hear them too. Well, it's late, let's go back to bed."
The snakes didn't want to worry about why these stories were popular, and they went back . The snakes' eyesight was not very good, but their sense of smell and perception were very strong. They could sense the surrounding environment even in the dark night without the need for lighting. In the past, everyone didn't think this kind of dark environment was a big deal, but tonight... The snakes that came out of the greenhouse that served as a temporary classroom were all in groups, and no one was willing to be alone.
The next day, Harris continued to work hard the whole day, cleaning up the debris in the reclaimed land, digging out the thorn bushes that were difficult for the plow to handle, etc. He returned to the tribe exhausted after dark. With the help of the cubs, he washed the mud, changed clothes and ate, and then was called to the temporary classroom to attend classes again.
The math we taught tonight was a little more difficult, and we were taught addition and subtraction of hundreds. At first, the snakes had a hard time, and the team leader and teacher Chengfeng taught them the vertical method before they could catch up.
After the arithmetic class, it was time for the popular literacy enlightenment storytelling session.
"We told three ghost stories yesterday. Let's not continue telling ghost stories today. Let's change to something else."
Chengfeng said this with a smile. All the snake people, including Harris, first breathed a sigh of relief, and then they actually felt a little inexplicably regretful... Then Chengfeng told everyone the story of Cinderella.
That’s right, it’s Xiao Yun’s modified version of Cinderella, in which the eldest daughter of a small noble family fights with her stepmother and stepsisters for the right to inherit the family property. After the earliest pure fairy tale version (ugh), Xiao Yun added more story content. The relationship between Cinderella and her stepmother and stepsisters is no longer a simple suppression and being suppressed, but a lot of new house fighting dramas have been added, with all kinds of tricks, all kinds of conspiracies and frame-ups, and all kinds of one after another…
This magically modified Cinderella 2.0 version of the story has removed the additional explanations in the original text (ahem), and increased the simple plot from the original thousand words to nearly 30,000 words. The ups and downs are so exciting - at the beginning, Evelyn, Sean and other spellcasters were able to listen to it with relish and shouted that it was exciting, which shows that human fighting dramas are popular in any world; the snake people listened in amazement, their eyes lit up, and the door to a new world was opened to them. Even Harris, a ranger who had dealt with many human nobles when he was in the Bards Guild, was extremely fascinated by it...
After listening to Cinderella 2.0, everyone went back to sleep that night with a look of unsatisfied satisfaction on their faces. The next day, Harris was puzzled to find that the guy in the group who liked to complain was particularly , and even during the lunch break, he did not hide away to take a nap, but gathered with others to discuss the plot of "Cinderella"...
...If Xiao Yun knew Harris's confusion, he would definitely pat him on the shoulder and tell him that spiritual food can comfort and inspire people's hearts just as much as meat and fish...
The farm reclamation work of the Snake Division is in full swing, and in the Fire Division, the working atmosphere is even more intense.
Early in the morning, Xiao Yun ran to the land northwest of the tribe where soybeans and alfalfa had been grown for two years. Together with Dashui, who contracted the farm, he personally checked the soil quality and water content in the soil to confirm whether this land was suitable for growing red fruits.
The red fruit is the flagship agricultural product of the Kingdom of Kronin and the most valuable cash crop. It is cold-resistant and drought-resistant, prefers cool weather, and is adapted to the cold temperate climate. It has green leaves, bright red roots and stems, and its root tuber is similar in shape to a radish, but has a higher water content and is sweeter - yes, this thing is beet.
Of course, compared to the mature beetroots cultivated on Earth, the red beetroots seem a little underdeveloped... The red beetroots produced in Bolton are slender overall, and the root is only slightly larger than garlic. If the skin is not cleaned, it looks no different from a carrot...
Well... no matter how poorly developed it is, this thing is still the crop with the highest sugar content. Although the squeezed sugar juice always has a lingering earthy smell and is not as good as the sugarcane grown on a large scale in the south, this thing can adapt to the cold temperate climate, which is worse than anything else.
After two months of discussion, the Fire Department allocated 60% of its personnel to engage in agriculture, and formed a total of 26 agricultural production teams, which contracted old land or reclaimed new land. Xiao Yun gave the task of planting red fruits to the production team led by Dashui (Grassroots Grandson) himself.
" We applied insecticide last month, and we sprayed herbicides last month. Now there is no smell in the soil at all. It should have evaporated." Dashui picked up a piece of soil and sniffed it. He said seriously, "Ayun, you said that the planting experience of Bolton Territory may not be applicable. Then how much fertilizer should we use?"
"Use more fertilizer and water. As for the amount, refer to sweet potatoes... Anyway, we have never grown this thing before, so we can just learn it step by step." Xiao Yun's memory of beetroot is limited to American TV series, and he has no idea how to take care of it. "The farmers in Bolton said that this thing can't be watered too much, otherwise the roots will rot. It sounds like the planting conditions required are somewhat similar to sweet potatoes. Let's apply our experience in growing sweet potatoes here."
"Okay, then we need to do a good job of drainage." Dashui has been growing sweet potatoes for several years and has experience in this area. "What about sowing seeds? Should we raise them like we grow sweet potatoes and then transplant them to the field?"
Xiao Yun scratched his chin and shook his head: "Boton County directly plants the seeds in the fields. Let's learn from them first. We don't even know how to plant this thing yet, so there's no need to rush to innovate."
"Okay, then let's apply the base fertilizer in the morning." Dashui nodded, and then he called the people in his production team to start working.
Base fertilizer, also called seed fertilizer, is used to determine whether the seeds will germinate well or not. However, applying too much base fertilizer will burn the seeds, as the Snow Wolf Tribe has experienced before... Therefore, everyone is very careful when applying base fertilizer .
The mixed agricultural fertilizer that was fermented in the pit last autumn is now completely mature. It is dug out and mixed with fertilizer water, which is applied to the fields bucket by bucket. The red fruit seeds obtained from Bolton Territory are then sown in strips and ridges. The row and plant spacing are based on the reference of radishes.
Use sufficient but not excessive base fertilizer, mix the planting ridges with earthworm soil, always pay attention to the moisture content of the soil in the field, drain water when it rains and water when it is dry. About ten days after sowing, rows of small seedlings will emerge in the red fruit field.
"The germination period of this thing is really as the farmer in Bolton County said, it's very long." Xiao Yun finally let go of the worry in his heart and wiped the sweat off his face in the same way as Dashui.
"It doesn't matter if we wait a little longer. It's worth the hard work if we can have a good harvest." Dashui had a good attitude. Seeing that the red fruits he was most worried about had sprouted, he happily took the newcomers in the team to weed the soybean fields... The main beans in the tribe now are the yellow beans introduced from Valentine, which are more difficult to take care of than black beans, so it's a good opportunity for the newcomers to practice.
After several years of hard work searching for the Snow Wolf tribe, this year, there are more than 8,000 Snow Wolves living in the Fire Tribe.
It is inevitable that friction will occur when so many people live together, but this is not a problem for Xiao Yun at all - the middle-level management has been educated, and at the beginning of spring, before the fellows have time to have fun everywhere with full energy, they have arranged the work positions clearly for all of them, including the old and the new; the heaviest workload is land reclamation and tillage, and the rotation of alfalfa, wheat, soybeans and vegetables, which are rolled back and forth one after another, and even the most independent fellows will have to be worn down and have no choice but to behave themselves.
After returning to the tribe from Dashui's farm, Xiao Yun was very satisfied with the empty and quiet Fire Tribe during working hours... After all members agreed at the work meeting to separate public and private property, that private property is sacred and inviolable, and that public property can only be used for the development of the tribe, and that it must be supported by more than half of the working meeting, even the dumbest tribesmen knew that they had to make plans for their future; in the past, tribesmen worked 100% of their effort, but now they have to work 120% of their effort~!
“Ayun——!”
Xiao Yun stood there expressionless, allowing the only two freeloaders among the 8,000 members of the Fire Tribe to bump into him.
Moss hugged Xiao Yun's thighs with its two paws and raised its head pitifully: "Ayun, everyone is so busy. Duoduo and her sister ran away with Yugu, Axi only played with Qiuqiu, and Ruhua was taken away by Qingcao. I am the only one who is so bored~~"
All Snow Wolf tribes have a pup scarcity problem... out of a total of eight thousand people, there are only four pups under ten years old in the entire tribe.
Duoduo and Axi have parents and brothers. The former sneaked into the fish bone breeding team with his sister, while the latter was thrown to Qiuqiu by his mother and learned to be a weaver at a young age. Ruhua was taken to the snake tribe by Qingcao, so Moss was left...
Xiao Yun is not a devil after all. Using child labor or something like that... ahem, even if he can do it, he certainly won't say it - in the Fire Department's reform, all children of all races under the age of fourteen can "consume with public funds", the canteen provides full meals, and daily necessities such as clothes, towels, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc. are distributed quarterly.
Of course, the cubs can enjoy the necessities of life, but if they want to earn pocket money, they have to work hard themselves - cough cough cough!
Squatting down and stroking the moss dog's head, Xiao Yun smiled and said, "Why don't you go play with Qiuqiu and the others? A cub your age can be as good as a regular worker. If you play with Qiuqiu, you won't be bored. You can also get some pocket money every month to buy snacks at the Welfare Department."
In view of the multi-racial coexistence of the Fire Tribe, salary and benefits cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach. After much discussion at the work meeting, the human race was used as a reference parameter to measure labor value and salary and benefits. On the premise of not neglecting one's duties or being lazy, the labor of an adult human is counted as one formal job, goblins are counted as two, gray dwarves and cats (including cubs, after all, they are skilled workers) are counted as three, adult snow wolves are counted as six, underage snow wolf cubs over the age of twenty are counted as three, those under the age of twenty are counted as two, and those under the age of fifteen are counted as one (the snow wolves are divided more finely, after all, they are the main race).
"I wanted to go too, but Qiuqiu kicked me out after I stayed for only half a day." Moss pointed at his finger aggrievedly.
"Oh? Why did Qiuqiu chase you away?"
"I accidentally bumped into a human female worker..." Moss lowered his head guiltily.
"Why did you bump into someone?" Xiao Yun pretended to be surprised.
"Because... because..." Moss grunted for a long time, his voice as thin as a mosquito's buzz, "They only played with Ah Xi and didn't play with me... I also wanted to play with them, so... I pounced on them... and then hurt them..."
Xiao Yun was not surprised at all, because - when the Snow Wolf cubs get fierce, they are really fierce.
The teenage Wool can play and fight with Balk's dragon form without any fear of getting hurt. Moss, who is just nine years old and can't even withstand bumps and bruises from other tribes, is strong enough to beat Thrall (Ruhua, who is almost one year old, can knock Thrall off his feet)... But such young children can't tell the severity of the problem and have no idea of their own destructive power, so Xiao Yun didn't force the ten-year-old Snow Wolf cubs to work. The destruction caused by these cubs definitely far exceeds the value of their labor.
Xiao Yun stared at Moss expressionlessly, staring until Moss dared not look him in the eye before he spoke: "When the cat cubs played with the human female workers, they put away their claws. When Asi fought with Sal for candy, he was also careful not to touch Sal's hand. The Grassroots Chief has told you many times not to hurt others when playing, but you are the only one who didn't listen."
Moss really wanted to say that I didn't mean it, but under Xiao Yun's gaze, she dared not say a word and pouted in grievance.
"Of course, it's not your fault. You're still young. Ah Xi didn't know how to control the severity until he was twelve." Before Moss' eyes could light up, Xiao Yun continued, "But others should be considerate of you, so you should also be considerate of others. Since you can't control yourself, then don't force yourself to play with humans, because you will hurt others and it will be painful, right?"
"...Oh." Moss tried hard not to cry, feeling aggrieved.
"But everyone has something to do, except you. You will feel lonely and uncomfortable, right?" Xiao Yun said gently.
"Yeah!" Moss nodded vigorously.
"In that case, why don't we do something that won't hurt others and can have someone accompany you?" Xiao Yun stood up with a smile and took Moss's paw, "Come, follow me."
"Good!" Moss said excitedly. After all, Ayun is the best.
"Uh... so you mean to let Moss join my team?" In the Balk Laboratory, Evelyn twitched her lips and was speechless for a long time before she squeezed out a word.
"Moss can't do delicate work, but I can run errands with you to collect experimental materials." Xiao Yun patted Moss's head and pushed him to the cat warrior who was Evelyn's assistant. "Don't worry, Moss can carry hundreds of kilograms of weight and can even help you walk."
"Are you talking human language?" Evelyn asked seriously.
"Of course. There is no better place for a kid to earn pocket money than here. She only has a formal job, which is just a drop in the bucket compared to the lab's funding." Xiao Yun said confidently, "As a little girl from the Snow Wolf Tribe, how can she not learn to earn pocket money by herself as soon as possible? Isn't that right, Moss?"
"Yeah!" Moss immediately hugged the cat warrior with his two paws.
Evelyn: “…”
The teacher's attitude was so confident that she had no energy to refute...
"You guys are going out, right? I won't bother you then." Xiao Yun looked at Evelin's packed backpack and walked out. "By the way, last time you said you made sulfuric acid?"
Evelyn walked to the cabinet with an expressionless face and carefully took down a glass bottle as thick as her thigh. "It was successfully produced. The gas produced by the burning of pyrite in the furnace was discharged into a lead tower for dust removal after cooling, and then dried in a steel container and reacted with water to synthesize sulfuric acid. However, the cooling and dust removal steps still need to be carried out with mimicry magic. Baru is still studying how to build a cooling tower shaped by mimicry magic."
"Not bad, awesome." Xiao Yun gave a thumbs up. "Then keep working on it. Push Baru a little harder. Sulfuric acid can be used to mass produce phosphate rock. It's a waste to use such good phosphate fertilizer raw materials only as dyes and matches."
Evelin put the bottle back silently, without even the slightest thought of speaking for Baru... Anyway, the teacher wouldn't listen even if she told him, and he disappeared without a trace.
The laboratory of Mr. Sean, who is obsessed with aerodynamic research, is located in the former industrial zone. When Xiao Yun ran there... there were a lot of scrapped mechanical parts piled up inside, and no one was there.
"Running away again?"
After walking into the room and looking through Mr. Sean's experimental records, Xiao Yun was pleased to find that the prototype of the steam engine, no, the pneumatic engine, that Mr. Sean was involved in had already come out, and the progress had reached the stage of cylinder material. Xiao Yun remembered that the engine cylinder material needed to have sufficient strength, good castability and machinability, and also remembered that most engines were made of aluminum alloy cylinders. However, this was the problem. The aluminum alloy on Earth was cheap and good quality, but the aluminum in this world was called magic mineral powder. In addition to being used as a thermal insulation coating, it was also a kind of spellcasting material, and it was very expensive...
The Fire Department had been doing business with the Snow Elves, who owned mines at home, for several years, but they only earned a few thousand kilograms of aluminum powder in return, most of which was used to coat the interior walls of greenhouses, leaving no surplus at all.
"To solve this problem, either Sean can find a suitable alternative material, or we can explore for aluminum silicate ore ourselves... But the number of gray dwarves is too small. It is difficult to maintain the operation of the new hilly area and ensure the supply of farm tools and machinery for various factories. We can't send them out to explore for minerals." Putting down Mr. Sean's experimental records, Xiao Yun stroked his chin and pondered. Xiao Yun was very confident about the mineral reserves on the grassland. Coal and iron were self-sufficient, and the quality of iron ore was quite high, which was enough to prove that this land was rich in minerals.
"Speaking of which, the tiger tribe entered the underground world and fought with the dwarf kingdom. Most of the gray dwarves are controlled by the dark elves. If the dark elves are not under pressure, they will not be able to exchange supplies for gray dwarves. Even if they can, the price will be too high..."
"The Tiger Tribe also has gray dwarves, but their weapons and armor have been worn out in the war, so they can't exchange them for supplies..."
Sighing, Xiao Yun could only shake his head regretfully: "We can only consider exchanging the centaurs and cats with the tiger tribe first. Gray dwarves, take your time."
Last year, the planting of sweet potatoes and potatoes was expanded, and more than 100 million kilograms of sweet potatoes were harvested from two plantings throughout the year. Balk's flour mill expanded to 500 people and they were too busy to handle it. Xiao Yun was extremely confident in the deal of exchanging materials for people. After completing two vermicelli transactions with the forest elves and Saint Bridger this year, Xiao Yun asked the tribesmen who were transporting materials to the underground world to bring a letter to the tiger tribe.
