The Daily Life of a Rich Peasant's Boy in the Imperial Examination

The rice harvesting show in the experimental field has officially ended. The remaining rice fields will be harvested tomorrow, but the public is not allowed to participate.

The data should also be recorded one by one. These are important test parameters for future reference and comparison.

Sun Shan led his colleagues back to the city in a mighty procession, and then everyone went back to their own places and continued with what they were doing.

The men who had volunteered to harvest rice after a day's work also returned to the yamen.

We agreed to provide meals, so we can’t go back on our word.

When Big Head Dog saw people coming back, he immediately led his temporary subordinates to greet the migrant workers.

As for Sun Shan, Gui Ge'er had already helped him inside and quickly fetched water to wash.

Haha, his brother Shan has always loved cleanliness. Even if he is very hungry, he will clean up before eating.

The big-headed dog looked at the rice-harvesting workers cheerfully and said, "Are you tired today? Come quickly and have dinner."

The migrant worker looked at his dinner and couldn't help feeling disappointed.

It is not what you imagine, big fish with white rice or big meat with white rice.

All we eat is brown rice, vegetables, a few pieces of bacon, and of course bone soup.

Big Head Dog has no idea what men are thinking, how to cook conveniently, save money, or how to do it.

The vegetables are in the government’s backyard, free!

The bacon is sent by wealthy merchants and gentry during festivals and holidays, for free!

That means you need to buy a large basket of bones and spend some money.

Big Head Dog couldn't help but give a thumbs up to his money-saving meal.

In any case, the rice-harvesting workers hurried to eat.

Although it is different from what I imagined, Mr. Sun’s meal has one big advantage - it is all-you-can-eat.

Hehe, I have to eat tomorrow’s meal as well. Every meal I can save is a good one.

Sun Shan ate with Master Zhang in the inner courtyard.

Master Zhang smiled and said, "Master, today's rice harvest proves that guano is really useful. Even if not many people come to buy it next year, as long as guano can really increase production, every household will definitely come to buy it.

"Master, the most important thing now is to quickly produce the guano so that the people can use it during the spring plowing next year."

The autumn harvest has arrived, and winter is about to come. In the blink of an eye, another year has passed, and spring plowing will soon be here.

The government office has no finished bird droppings now, so we must hurry up and produce them.

Sun Shan took a sip of the pork rib soup and nodded. "After the autumn harvest, it's time to start the conscription. First, we need to pave the road to Big Bird Village to make it easier to transport the bird droppings."

Fortunately, the labor service is free, so we can save some money.

Seeing that only his own people were around, Master Zhang whispered, "Master, should we report this to the Chenzhou government? The fact that the guano has increased rice production is a great cause for celebration. Perhaps..."

Even if the four words "promotion and wealth" are not spoken out, everyone understands them.

Sun Shan thought about this question countless times every night when it was quiet.

Thinking about increasing rice production and reporting all the political achievements to the higher-ups, even if the contribution is not the greatest, you can still get some credit.

It’s okay for Magistrate Liu to eat the meat and he to drink the soup.

Not to mention being promoted to the third or fourth rank all at once, one can also climb up to the seventh rank, and maybe with some effort he can even return to the capital.

Being a local official is great, you can even become the king of the mountain. The only bad thing is that you can never see the emperor.

There is no way to show your face, let alone Jane in the emperor's heart.

"Returning to the capital" is the ultimate goal of countless local officials, and Sun Shan is no exception.

Sun Shan often fantasized about getting promoted and getting rich, winning imperial decrees for Huang, Su, and Yun Jie'er, and giving little Fatty a better life.

But considering that guano is not a sustainable resource and will be gone once it is used up, there is no way to roll it out everywhere.

Moreover, if the bird droppings are reported, they may be classified as "state-owned", and ultimately the rich can use them while the poor cannot afford them.

Just like in resource-rich areas such as coal mines, only a few local people get rich, and local people rarely benefit.

Sun Shan's mind was not able to think that far ahead. He only hoped that the people under his jurisdiction would become rich first, and then benefit the people around him.

If the guano belongs only to the local people, they can first accumulate wealth and then "transform the industry" to make the local people richer.

If the bird droppings were reported to Chenzhou Prefecture, Sun Shan would probably no longer have the final say over the matter, and the local people might not benefit from it.

Between "promotion" and "fame", Sun Shan finally chose "fame".

Choose to become famous locally and become an capable official.

Sun Shan shook his head and said, "Whether guano can increase rice production can only be determined after the people use it. A simple experiment isn't enough to prove its effectiveness."

For safety reasons, we need to conduct more trials and let the people use it. Once we are sure that all rice grown using guano can increase yields, we can then write a document to Chenzhou Prefecture."

This means not reporting it, keeping the bird droppings secret in advance, and making a decision after the people have used them.

Mr. Zhang thought that Sun Shan was just being cautious and was afraid that the increase in rice production from bird droppings was just a coincidence.

If the report is false, it would be a crime of deceiving the emperor.

Wait until the people of Yuanlu use it bit by bit and accumulate enough data, and then take credit when you are really sure that it can increase production.

Master Zhang nodded repeatedly: "Master, you are indeed very thoughtful. When it comes to food, it is best to be cautious."

Time passed slowly and soon the autumn harvest was over.

Sun Dingnan and Sun Dali finished harvesting the remaining rice in the experimental field and presented the report to Sun Shan.

Sun Shan looked at the registered quantity acre by acre. The data did not fluctuate much, hovering around 600 kilograms.

Perhaps because the selection of seeds, soil, climate, water conservancy and other factors are the same, the data are similar and there is no significant difference.

Sun Dingnan asked, "Master, do you want to do another experiment during the spring plowing next year?"

Sun Shan nodded. "We'll do it. We'll definitely do it. This time, we'll select farmland of different grades: upper, middle, and lower."

How can the experiment be stopped?

Even if the data is mature, we should continue to do it, let alone it is not mature yet.

Based on past experience, Sun Shan knew that bird droppings were indeed very good organic fertilizer.

But time and space are different, who can be sure that there will be no changes?

Therefore, the experiment must be carried out rigorously and the data must be recorded one by one.

Moreover, we need to incorporate innovative farming methods while conducting experiments. Perhaps we can actually make a breakthrough in seeds.

Sun Shan thought that since he made money from selling guano, he would organize a "rice research team".

As long as he is in office in Yuanlu, he will support this team.

The conscription is coming soon.

Sun Shan, County Magistrate Wang, and Chief Secretary Wu, along with other officials, gathered together to discuss how to conduct the conscription.

Generally, there are two conscriptions a year, each lasting about 10 to 15 days.

It is divided into spring expedition and autumn expedition.

I don’t know whether the “new policy” of the previous emperor has reached Yuanlu County like the spring breeze or the east wind, so it still follows the “old policy”.

Sun Shan always follows the crowd and does things according to the rules.

County Magistrate Wang asked, "Sir, are you sure all the laborers will be sent to Da Niao Village to build the road this time?"

Generally, conscripted laborers were assigned jobs based on the principle of proximity.

This time, all the laborers in the county were sent to Da Niao Village. With so many people, it became difficult to manage.

Sun Shan said firmly, "We must repair the road to Big Bird Village to facilitate our future operations."

The officials in the yamen all knew that there was bird droppings in the mountain behind Da Niao Village. If they wanted to sell the bird droppings for the spring plowing next year, they had to transport them out of Da Niao Village.

Road construction is indeed urgent.