The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 88 Do you have to pay for tasting?

As he walked into the village, Wu Jialiang immediately felt an unusual atmosphere here.

The villagers here all have smiles on their faces.

This is the kind of smile that can only be seen on the faces of ordinary people in "years of harvest" and "years of peace". It is really outrageous to see it in a village controlled by bandit troops.

It’s already April!

April in Shandong is the season for planting spring corn.

As soon as Wu Jialiang walked to the edge of a field, he saw Mr. Liao, who was dressed in Taoist robes and had an immortal look, personally directing farmers to sow corn in the field.

The corn seeds were of course transformed from the plastic ornaments provided by Yue Wenxuan. The farmers had never seen this kind of crop before and were all at a loss.

"When I was an educated youth, I also taught everyone to plant corn this way, hahaha." Mr. Liao started with a standard opening remark. The farmers who had been learning from him for a long time were tired of hearing it and habitually ignored it. Mr. Liao continued: "The optimal sowing depth of corn is about one finger deep. Too deep or too shallow will affect the emergence rate. The spring climate is dry and the soil moisture is low. Sowing too shallow will dehydrate the seeds, affecting germination and emergence..."

As he spoke, he demonstrated with his own hands, and the owner of the field followed suit.

The farmers who witnessed this operation remembered it in their minds.

Wu Jialiang was curious and couldn't help asking, "Master, what is the corn you are talking about?"

Mr. Liao raised his head, smiled at Wu Jialiang, and waved to the side: "Give it here."

A student immediately came running over with a bamboo basket filled with steamed corn.

Corn can be boiled or steamed. Boiled corn is plumper, with rounder, more juicy kernels, but with a less sweet and fragrant flavor. Steamed corn is a bit drier, but has a richer sweetness and flavor, making it a better choice for those who haven't tried it before.

Mr. Liao had experience in promoting new crops in remote rural areas in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. He knew that in order to make people who had never grown such crops accept them, he had to shock them, so he prepared steamed corn in advance.

All of them are made of high-quality corn with full grains. After being steamed, the whole corn cob is golden yellow, just like a beautiful jade.

He took out a corn and handed it to Wu Jialiang: "This is corn. It's delicious. Two cents a head. Do you want to try it?"

Wu Jialiang laughed and said, "You want to charge money for trying it?"

Mr. Liao said as if it was a matter of course: "If the tastings were free, the line would stretch from here to Tiananmen Square."

Wu Jialiang had never heard of Tiananmen Square, but that did not affect his understanding of the sentence.

Wu Jialiang also knew how much people loved to get a bargain. Not to mention the poor, even some small landlords liked to take advantage of small profits. If he didn't charge two copper coins, the place would have been packed with people. He took out two copper coins and bought a head of corn. He held it in his hand and looked left and right: "Just bite it?"

Mr. Liao: "There's a core inside, don't bite too deep."

Wu Jialiang tentatively bit off a piece of corn. As soon as it entered his mouth, his mouth was immediately filled with fragrance.

"ah!"

Wu Jialiang couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

All of Liao's students had tried the corn, as had the first group of people who were willing to learn how to grow it. Everyone around him smiled at Wu Jialiang and said, "Isn't it delicious? The outer layer is for people to eat, and the inner core can be fed to pigs." Wu Jialiang said, "It's really delicious! What I'm holding in my hand is an ear of corn."

Mr. Liao didn't even need to speak, his students rushed to say: "Yes, this is a spike!"

Wu Jialiang: "If an ear of rice were this big, even if it were grown in a whole field, it would be much more impressive than rice, wheat, and corn."

Liao Lao's students all laughed: "The old immortal said that this thing can produce thousands of kilograms per mu of land."

Wu Jialiang was shocked and his first reaction was "You lied to me", but his second reaction was "It seems that this group of people are not lying, they really believe that this thing can produce thousands of kilograms."

Based on his agricultural common sense, he deduced that if a plant produced one ear of corn, and each ear was as big as the corn in his hand, it would be possible to produce a thousand kilograms of corn per acre.

I couldn't help but think to myself: When Song Huizong was still alive, this thing could be presented as a good omen. According to Song Huizong's temperament, he would have appointed him a high official on the spot.

Of course, Song Huizong has now been captured by the Jin people and taken for fun!

The new emperor, Zhao Gou, is now fleeing south, and he probably has no mood to play with auspicious or inauspicious things.

But this thing can still be turned into a civil servant's political achievement. Unfortunately, I am a county lieutenant and only take care of public security, not agriculture and commerce. If I were a county magistrate or a chief clerk, I would promote it throughout the county. Wouldn't my political achievements soar next year?
Thinking of this, he took out a handkerchief, carefully wrapped up the bitten corn cob, and put it in his pocket, intending to take it back to County Magistrate Cui Weihua to taste it and suggest that he promote corn cultivation, as a favor to the County Magistrate. In the future, when he acts on his own, he will be less constrained by the County Magistrate.

Wu Jialiang put away the corn and clasped his fists in greeting towards Mr. Liao. "Thank you, sir. I've learned a lot. I'll definitely take a good look at this good stuff. I'll get some to plant next year."

Mr. Liao smiled cheerfully, "Okay, okay, come and learn how to plant. Don't just take the seeds and run away, or you won't be able to plant well. When I was an educated youth, I met an old farmer who didn't learn how to plant. He took a packet of seeds home and messed around with them, but ended up with nothing. Then he came to complain that the seeds I gave him were bad."

When his students heard this, they began to curse: "Such an ungrateful old man should be dragged out and beaten to death."

Mr. Liao: "No, no, no, don't beat people to death at every turn. That's not good."

Wu Jialiang continued to move forward...

After passing the cornfield which is in the "teaching stage", there is a field where corn is grown in front.

Corn is a common crop in Shandong Province, and every local people know how to grow it. Mr. Liao just slightly adjusted their planting plan and added some more scientific concepts. He didn't need to teach them personally, and let the farmers do it themselves.

As soon as Wu Jialiang reached the edge of the corn field, he saw several farmers gathered in a circle, pouring some strange little balls into a wooden basin, then adding water and stirring with wooden spoons...

A young farmer was in charge of stirring, while an old farmer stood beside him with a scale in his hand, weighing the strange little balls. After weighing them, he poured them into the wooden basin.

The young farmer complained, "Dad, why do you only weigh such a small amount each time? Why don't you pour more in at once?"

The old farmer cursed, "What are you so anxious about! Better less than more, better less than more. The old immortal has said it a hundred times, better less than more... If you put too much of this stuff, it will burn the seedlings."

The young farmer said, "Isn't this magic water? If you add more, you should be able to harvest more crops. How could it burn the seedlings?"

The old farmer cursed, "I gave birth to a stupid son like you in vain. Even if it's manure, if you use too much, it will burn the seedlings. You bastard, you don't even know this. You will definitely not be able to farm when you grow up. Go learn to be a blacksmith."

(End of this chapter)