Chapter 205: Gains
Editor: Atlas Studios
Please continue reading on ΒOXΝVEL.ϹΟM .On the day of the corn harvest, not only did Qi Haoran bring a group of soldiers, but Qi Xiuyuan and Rong Ze also came personally.
Fan Zijin was lucky enough to come over to watch the fun.
Qi Xiuyuan personally broke off a corn cob and weighed it in his palm. With a smile, he said, “It’s quite heavy. After breaking off these corn, send them all to the 5th Division. Zijin, don’t you have a workshop there? Just dry them there. Haoran, make sure the doors stay shut during this period of time so that the news doesn’t leak.”
Agreeing, Qi Haoran kicked the straw under his feet. “Is this thing still useful?”
“It can be used to feed the cows. I wonder if the horses will eat it. If not, it can still be used to start a fire.” Mu Yangling said, “But starting a fire doesn’t require so much. If you don’t want it, I’ll use it to nourish the land.”
Qi Haoran asked with interest, “How?”
“After cutting it, we’ll leave it in the ground. When it snows heavily in winter, it’ll rot by quite a bit in the ground after an entire winter. When spring comes, we’ll cover it up with soil. By the time we’re ready to plant the corn, it’ll be about time.”
Qi Xiuyuan smiled and said, “You can make the decision on your own. But didn’t you say that corn can be planted for a second season? I’ve asked the villagers of Four Tray Village. They also said that as long as we seize the time, we should be able to harvest another season before the cold wave. Is your straw still useful?”
“General, this is low-grade land and isn’t fertile enough. After planting for half a year, we have to let it rest for half a year. The second season I’m talking about refers to planting on high-grade land. You have to know that corn seeds are precious now and can’t be wasted. Not counting the other camps, just the high-grade land of our 5th Division alone spans 500 to 600 acres. We merely have enough corn seeds to plant on the high-grade land.”
Qi Xiuyuan hadn’t considered this problem. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I don’t know much about this matter, so I still have to leave it to you.” Qi Xiuyuan turned to Qi Haoran and said, “Haoran, discuss this with Ah Ling. Since there aren’t enough seeds, plant them in your 5th Division first. Tell the military households that this corn is planted for the military camp. Later, I’ll get your Brother Rong Ze to see how much of next year’s military rations required can be reduced after accounting for the amount of corn handed over.”
Surprised that Qi Xiuyuan would think of such an incentive policy, Mu Yangling couldn’t help but smile.
This way, Qi Xiuyuan would not be at a disadvantage. The commoners did not know how to prepare corn, so they might not be able to accept such crops for the time being. However, if by planting corn they could reduce the military rations that they needed to hand over, they would definitely plant them well.
Meanwhile, the Imperial Astronomer had already predicted that the drought situation in Xingzhou Prefecture would intensify next year and the production of grains would continue to decrease. Under such circumstances, it was still uncertain if they could successfully collect military grains. Now that they were given such an incentive, it would indeed make everyone pay more attention.
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