When the wheat was about to be harvested, Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia and then drove the tractor back to the compound.
Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang have stopped fishing these days. Harvesting wheat is a big event and requires preparation in advance.
The preparation work is relatively tedious. Before cutting wheat by hand, you need to sharpen the sickle, beat reeds to make reeds (the reeds are tied together to become the rope for binding wheat), pack the horse and donkey carts, and level the stems at both ends of the wheat field and in the middle——
When watering the wheat before, it was necessary to set up stems in some places with relatively steep slopes to ensure that water could be poured into every part of the field.
Of course, before this, the wheat field should be cleaned and flattened, and each family should clear out the place where the wheat is piled.
Farmers are very religious about harvesting food, and these preparations will not be careless in the slightest.
Although Li Long has bought a harvester and all the Li family's wheat must be harvested with the harvester, Li Jianguo still took advantage of his free time to sharpen all three sickles at home. If the harvest by the harvester is not ideal, you still have to cut it manually.
What Li Long has to do is to work with Tao Daqiang to fix the harvester frame to the front of the tractor and connect the belt. After this is done, the wooden frame of the bucket needs to be tied up.
After the wheat is harvested every year, the work of pulling and transporting the wheat sheaves is also a very tiring job. At this time, on the road leading to the fields from the village, you can often see donkey carts and carts with wheat sheaves piled high on them, pulling them towards the wheat field.
Occasionally, a car that has not piled wheat sheaves will be dumped on the side of the road. If this happens, no matter who sees it, it will be very uncomfortable. Because you need to unload the wheat sheaves one by one and put them back on again - it can make people sad to death.
The level of discomfort is similar to that of an online article author who is required by the editor to revise every chapter of a one-million-word online article.
Even if you drag the car to the field to reload it, it will be better than this.
The tractor bucket is not very big, and it can pull not many wheat bundles. But with a two-layer wooden frame, it can transport more wheat bundles. One tractor can carry as much as three or four horse-drawn carriages. .
And because the wooden shelf is square, it is easier to put the wheat sheaves up than the long carriage, so it is very popular with everyone - of course, for the first time this year, Many people don't understand it yet, but when the luck is over, everyone will realize it.
I think when the time comes, other people’s desire to buy a tractor will be much stronger.
The shelves were tied with thick iron wires, and Li Long checked them one by one to ensure that the ends of the wires were not exposed, otherwise they could easily get hung up and injure people.
"Brother Long, when are you going to start cutting?" Tao Daqiang asked as he cut off the head of a wire with pliers and then smashed it into the wood.
"Tomorrow." Li Long said, "Tomorrow, I will first cut the wheat in the east ditch of my house. Let's see how long it takes to cut the twenty acres of land - Daqiang, how much can you cut in a day? "Can we mow four or five acres in one day?" Tao Daqiang thought for a while and said, "Not necessarily. If it's too hot, we can't mow more in the morning and evening." >
Li Long nodded.
"How many acres can the harvester harvest in a day?" Tao Daqiang was also curious about this question.
"I can harvest more than a hundred acres." Li Long gave a random number. Normally, more than a hundred acres can be harvested.
"So many?" Tao Daqiang was stunned for a moment, "Then..."
What he wanted to say, after all, he didn't say it.
Li Long can guess what he wants to say, but now is not the time. Even if Tao Daqiang buys a tractor now, it's too late because the harvester is out of stock.
Going to the fields tomorrow, the whole Li family, except for my wife Du Chunfang, who is preparing to cook at home, everyone else will go. Liang Yuemei prepared a large bundle of reed essentials.
She heard Li Long say that the twenty acres could definitely be mowed in the morning, and she was a little skeptical. However, Wei Yaozi was fully prepared. If it could be mowed by then, it would be tied up that day.
According to the previous wheat harvesting schedule, it would take a family three to five days to harvest 20 acres of land, including cutting, baling, and transportation. After all, picking wheat sheaves is also a technical and manual job.
In the years before tractors, it was normal for the wheat sheaves to be left in the field for a few days after being tied. After all, each carriage can pull only a limited number of vehicles every day, and the speed is also slow.
Li Long said that not everyone can understand that he will finish the twenty acres tomorrow. Some things have to be seen with his own eyes.
We went to bed early that night, and everyone got up early the next day. Liang Yuemei and Chen Lirong first boiled a large pot of water, put brick tea broken into small pieces into the teapot, rinsed it with boiling water, and placed it on the side wall of the yard to cool.
After the meal, when the water reaches about 50 or 60 degrees, I pour it into the plastic cage and carry it to the field.
Today’s breakfast is steamed buns, boiled eggs, spicy scrambled eggs, pickles, and rice porridge. It looks very rich.
After all, you have to do physical work and you can’t afford to eat poorly.
Li Juan and Li Qiang went to school early after eating, and Xueqin and Xueping also went to preschool. Li Long watched the four children leave and sighed again in his mind.
In the last life, I was really not a human being. Li Juan is only ten years old now. At this time in her previous life, Li Juan went to the wheat field to pick wheat bundles with Li Jianguo on weekends, but she went to help other people's families... Calling herself an animal is not too much.
Well, I don’t know how I had such a temper in my last life.
What the hell.
Eating the steamed buns, Li Long shook his head slightly, forget it, don’t think about it anymore, live a new life, just like this life, after all, it can be regarded as a prodigal son turning back.
After dinner, the men prepared their tools, and the women quickly packed up the kitchen, put on their headscarves, put on their coats, and then got on the tractor together.
Wooden forks and iron forks, sickles, reed kidneys, tea cages, and a pack of steamed buns - whoever is hungry can take a bite in the middle.
It was very hot, but everyone was wearing tight clothes. There is no way, Maimang is too powerful. Regardless of whether it is cut by a harvester or by humans, in the end the wheat still needs to be tied manually.
The awns of wheat streak across the backs of hands, arms, insteps and all exposed skin, and there will definitely be a red mark.
It’s hot in summer, and the red mark from sweat will cause burning pain. After all, there are thin saw teeth on the awn, just like small saws. The red marks produced by sawing are actually wounds of different depths. There is salt in the sweat. Think about the feeling of washing the wounds with salt water...
"Are you all seated?" Li Long shook the tractor and asked inside the truck.
"Okay." Li Jianguo didn't hitch the carriage today and sat in front of the carriage and said, "Let's go."
Du Chunfang bent down at the door of the room and looked at it with a smile. Although the harvest season is a bit tiring, it shows that at the end of the year, it is finally time to pay off.
Li Long got on the tractor, stepped on the accelerator, put it into gear, and drove out of the yard with a burst of black smoke.
Actually, he is not willing to use such a high accelerator, but his family likes it, saying that this is what it is called an iron cow, and it has to be loud to be powerful.
Okay, it’s just a little more strength under your feet, no big deal.
The tractor went out and headed north, then turned east on the road, heading towards the wheat field.
Some people were following behind on bicycles, some were walking quickly, and some were already one step ahead. Most men wear straw hats, and women basically wear headscarves to protect themselves from the strong sunlight.
It takes half an hour to walk, twenty minutes to go by carriage, and only ten minutes to reach the field with the tractor.
What surprised Li Long was that there were already seven or eight people waiting on the ground.
In the first two days, Li Jianguo and Li Qingxia had come to shovel the grass on the edge of the field and clear a clearing. The tractor was parked here.
Among those people were Xie Yundong, Jia Weidong, and Tao Daqiang who was riding over behind them. To Li Long's surprise, there was also captain Xu Chengjun. "Why are you all waiting here to watch the excitement?" Li Long didn't turn off the engine, got off the tractor and joked.
“I’m just watching the fun, I just want to see how your harvester is harvesting. Once the harvest is done, my wheat field will be handed over to you.” Xu Chengjun said frankly, “How about the harvest? OK, you have to send the tractor to the factory for adjustment immediately.”
"That's for sure." Li Long smiled and said, "Daqiang, come here and help, help me unload the bucket."
Of course you can't run away with the bucket during harvesting. , Tao Daqiang came over and helped Li Long take down the carriage with the frame.
“This has a shelf. Can one car pull a lot?” Xu Chengjun came over, patted the wooden shelf and asked.
"There are three or four cartloads of wheat in these twenty acres of land, right?" Li Long said casually.
“Oh, that’s a lot!” Xu Chengjun boasted casually.
Tractors, iron oxen, should pull more. Of course, this stand is good. I will buy one when I buy a tractor.
Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei took off the reeds from the cart bucket. There was water in the ditch next to them. Soak the reeds with water. When they are tied, they will be stronger and not easy to break.
With three sickles, one each for Li Jianguo, Liang Yuemei and Chen Lirong, Li Qingxia took the wooden fork and prepared to pick the bundles of wheat together so that they could be easily loaded into the truck.
Without so much words, Li Long came to the front of the tractor, pulled out the pole on the left side of the harvester and put it aside, then got on the tractor and drove to the far left side of the field.
There are stems in the middle of the plot to mark each family. Wheat is also planted next to it, with similar seeds and management methods, and the growth is similar.
After calibrating the tractor, Li Long slowed down and drove towards the leftmost ridge of wheat.
He was calculating silently in his mind. This field was about 450 meters long, and the width of the harvester was 1.5 meters. It was almost an acre of land in one trip. When harvesting wheat, you have to go around in a circle. You have to cut it here. When you get to the south end, you have to drive to the far west of the field and then cut the west ridge. You can't cut it directly on the edge, otherwise the wheat will not be able to fall down.
The harvester had been idling for a long time. The moment it came into contact with the wheat, Li Long also felt nervous.
The voice suddenly became more serious. Li Long tried his best to straighten his waist and looked ahead. After watching the harvester cut down the wheat, he moved it from right to left to the far left and then cut it continuously. Go down.
On the left side of the tractor, a row of wheat fell neatly on the stalks. Li Long felt relieved, speeded up a little, and moved forward.
Very good.
Very good!
Very smooth!
There was no pinching of wheat, it was cut neatly, and it was also dumped neatly to the left. There was no failure to put the wheat in place, and the tractor did not press the wheat. This harvester was very successful!
The people watching from behind also opened their mouths.
If such a ridge of wheat is cut manually, it will take two or three hours to cut it, right?
How is it like now? As the tractor moves forward, the wheat falls directly to the side. It feels really amazing!
And it was poured neatly, just there, waiting for someone to bundle it up.
"Hey, that's really good!" Xu Chengjun didn't praise until the tractor had driven thirty or forty meters, "How fun it is to cut wheat? What else will people do in the future? It can take half a day to cut wheat without driving the tractor for five minutes..."
Everyone nodded. At this rate, Li Long would finish mowing the entire acre in five minutes. All that's left is to bundle it - isn't that much simpler than cutting it?
Li Jianguo had already picked up the reed and the sickle and strode towards the cut wheat, with an uncontrollable smile on his lips.
Li Long described it very well when he got the harvester back.
But no one has seen it except him. It’s not that everyone doesn’t believe Li Long, it’s just that they haven’t seen it with their own eyes. After all, there still needs to be a process of acceptance.
Okay, now I believe it.
This thing is so exciting for cutting wheat!
Li Jianguo laid the reeds on the ground and smoothed them. He stretched out the sickle forward, hooked it back, and hugged it with his left hand. A bundle of wheat was picked up, and then he put it down on the reeds. , put the sickle aside, hold the two ends of the reed tightly and then cross it, step up with your feet to compact the bundle, pull hard and twist it again and again, and the bundle of wheat is ready.
Second bundle, third bundle.
The old farmer had eyes in his hands, and each bundle was about the same weight, and he quickly bundled them to the front.
"Okay, okay, no need to look." Seeing that Li Long's tractor had already reached the end of the field and turned to the west to continue mowing the ridge, Xu Chengjun shouted:
"I'll tell you. Okay, let’s line up our wheat harvest tomorrow. You can decide who will be the third and fourth next. Did Xiaolong say how much does it cost to harvest an acre of land?”
"Two pieces." Tao Daqiang said.
"Two yuan... is fine. It will save you a few days. Not bad." Xu Chengjun thought the price was pretty good. "You guys can discuss it. I'll go back and prepare. Brother Li, my second home, you Tell Xiaolong!”
“Okay!” Li Jianguo straightened up and responded.
"My third family." At this time, Tao Daqiang also knew that he would be able to achieve success for his family. Next came Lu Yingming, Xie Yundong, Jia Weidong and others.
Actually, they don’t really care about success. There are only so many companies at the moment, and if Li Long were to follow his speed, he could get them all done in one day. After all, it only needs to be cut, and there is no need to pull. It doesn’t make much difference who is in front and who is behind.
Besides, they were the first to stand up and support Li Long, so they could act too utilitarian at this time.
When Li Long drove the tractor to mow the west ridge, the people waiting here had dispersed, and only Tao Daqiang remained, and then told Li Long the order of cutting the wheat.
"You just need to discuss it. We have to bundle the wheat after cutting this morning. If this goes smoothly, we can go there and cut it later. Anyway, we can only pull the wheat bundles in the afternoon."
Tao Daqiang thought for a while and said:
"Then why don't you finish cutting your wheat here and then cut it for my family. Anyway, my family's land is not far from here, so it's okay to cut it directly. No need to run.”
Li Long thought about it and continued to cut with the tractor. At this time, Liang Yuemei had already taken a sickle and started tying the wheat at the cut place on the west side, while Chen Lirong was waiting on the east side, waiting for Li Long to cut it and start tying it.
Tao Daqiang rode his bicycle and ran quickly to the team. He wanted to tell his father to hitch the carriage and come over to prepare for bundling wheat. Once the wheat is cut, it is best to tie it up as soon as possible. There is no need to be so anxious about pulling it away after tying it up. These days, there are basically no sheaves of wheat lost, and people don’t steal other people’s just for one or two sheaves of wheat.
Li Long's tractor was moving very fast. It took less than two hours for the twenty acres of land here to be cut. Tao Daqiang was already riding a bicycle at the edge of the field, and Tao Jianshe also arrived with a horse-drawn carriage. Cleaning up the fields and stems.
Tao Daqiang's land is in the east, less than 100 meters away from Li's land. Li Long drove the tractor over and watched Tao Daqiang build the stalks in the flat land from east to west, then drove the tractor and started harvesting.
Li Long still drove the tractor from the easternmost side to mow the past. His speed was very fast. When he passed Tao Jianshe's side, Tao Jianshe came out from the field and stood on the stalk. Look north.
Looking at the neatly harvested wheat, Tao Jianshe sighed and said:
“This cutting is fast and good. Who will use a sickle to cut in the future?”
< br>“That’s hard to say. "Tao Daqiang said while flattening the stems: "One acre of land costs two yuan, and this family's twenty acres of land costs 40 yuan. Although Brother Long said that he can only pay after selling the wheat, some people are definitely reluctant to part with it."
"Yeah, forty yuan can't be come out all at once." Tao Jianshe knew the pain of not having money.
“But think about it, if you pay more than ten kilograms of wheat per acre, it saves you the hard work of cutting wheat. Those who think it is worth it will let the machine cut it, and those who think it is not worth it will naturally not let it. Cut it. In fact, if you put it into perspective, it is more than one cent for one kilogram of wheat..." (At this time, the yield of wheat per mu was more than 100 kilograms, and the yield of good land was more than 200 kilograms).
The benevolent see benevolence and the wise see wisdom. The Tao family has land for three people and two laborers. Yang Pingping is pregnant and cannot work. Now that Tao Daqiang earns more than a day by catching and selling fish, he can pay for the wheat-cutting machine, and he will definitely be willing to pay for it.
Li Long finished cutting the Tao family's wheat, and it was already lunch time. Over there, Li Jianguo and the others hadn't finished tying the wheat, but they were almost done tying it in the afternoon.
Put the bucket on, everyone gets in the car, and Li Long drives back. On the first day of the day, people in the village are now aware of the situation of the harvester in a small area. I think in the afternoon or evening, someone will come and line up to harvest wheat.
Li Long is very confident in this. Not to mention other villages, in his own village, he felt that at least half of the wheat field owners would let the harvesters do the harvesting. Others who were undecided might also change their minds after seeing the real effect.
The day to make money is here. (End of this chapter)