Chapter 120 New crops in the mountain village
The first snowfall in 1025 was heavier than before. The pine trees around the mountain village were covered with a layer of white. The pheasants who had changed into winter clothes were looking for pine nuts under the forest, but only Find the slime hibernating in various crevices after its body shrunk due to dehydration.
Thomas woke up early in the morning, put on a thick cotton coat, a wolfskin hat, and rubber boots lined with wool, put a small cloth bag in his arms, and started Check around the village to see if any roofs have collapsed due to heavy snowfall.
The carpenter's shop where the steam engine is kept is fine, the houses where people live are all intact, and the livestock sheds are fine, but the snow in the chicken pens is a bit thick, so the chicken owners need to be reminded to clear the snow.
Next is the Winter Spirit Festival. You can't keep chickens thin these days, otherwise the smoked chicken will be hard to sell.
Smoke began to emerge from the ventilation holes on the roofs of each house, and soon the whole village was filled with the smell of burning pine branches.
As the saying goes, connections are money connections. Thomas found out early on through the relationship between his classmates that the paper mill in Koehler needed a large amount of pine wood, so he went directly to negotiate a contract for the supply of raw materials.
Then he obtained a loan with the help of Miss Katie, went to Schmidt to buy a steam engine and a set of wood processing equipment, and began to purchase pine wood from surrounding villages, processing it into products with small diameter at breast height. The veneers are sold to paper mills and roughly processed into lumber for carpenters.
The tree belongs to the principal. Every time a tree is sold, he has to pay him for the raw materials. But the tree is definitely not sold at this price. The extra money is the benefit brought by processing the wood. The wood is sold for If there are more, everyone will make money from it.
The same goes for rosin and turpentine. The money you pay for the raw materials and what you sell after processing is yours.
Now that everyone is well off, they no longer eat twice a day in the morning and evening in the winter. At noon, boil water on the stove, put a fist-sized piece of dry noodle dough, add a spoonful of salted lard, and find a concentrate with a suitable taste. Put half of the soup packet in. After eating, your body will be warm until the sun goes down.
Thomas' footsteps suddenly stopped and he saw two black figures appearing in the pine forest in the distance.
That is a bear that lives in the mountains and forests in the south. It has somehow become familiar with the lumberjacks. It is estimated that it came out to look for food in the middle of hibernation.
He suddenly thought of something. When he went to Weissenburg two days ago, he saw a kind of story album in the bookstore. It was as big as a palm, with prints in the upper part and words in the lower part. It was quite interesting. Children are welcome.
Thomas suddenly had an inspiration. He had nothing to do in the winter, so he might as well draw some story albums to sell. The protagonists are the two bears, and...it’s you, Huo Zhenploz, and There's that Ami donkey of yours!
Huo Zhenplozi was feeding the donkey with fodder when he suddenly shuddered. Looking back, he saw the village chief looking at him with strange eyes.
"Good morning, Hozenplots." Thomas walked over, "Are you free? I have something to talk to you about."
Hotzenplots answered immediately Said: "Yes, I'm free, what do you want?"
Thomas pointed to his house and said: "It's too cold outside, let's go inside to talk."
Huo Zhenploz His expression changed slightly, and he immediately said: "Well... I have to feed the donkey. How about I go to your house later?"
Thomas said with a smirk on his face: "It doesn't matter, I want to talk to you and Liher about this, just in time."
After a while, he came to the house and saw two beds. The lids were placed on both sides of the fire pit, and they couldn't help but curl their lips. It seemed that the two of them were really saving firewood at the moment.
In the past year or so, many single men and women in the village have gotten married. Some of those who got married early have children and are now waiting for the milkman at the entrance of the village.
A new way of proposing has emerged this winter, inviting the other person to spend the winter at your home, on the grounds that it can save firewood.
Thomas took off his hat and put it aside, took out the small cloth bag from his arms, handed it to Huo Zhenploz and said: "These are the seeds of the pumpkin. The principal gave them to our village specially. I will hand them over." Planted for you.”
"There is a booklet with planting methods in it. You can study it more when you have time."
Hozhenpouloz opened the bag with some excitement and took out the seeds to take a look. He arrived in a donkey cart a while ago. When Langnar City was purchasing goods, I heard that there was a large piece of gold grown in Weissenburg City, each one as big as a pot.
New news came soon. What grew in the ground was not gold like melons, but golden melons.
At that time, Frederick thought for a long time and couldn't figure out why the pumpkins in this world were golden and hard, but the meat inside was quite delicious and tasted like pumpkin.
Psyche is also very curious. Although the color of the pumpkin on the other side of the peach blossom stone is orange and yellowish, it is not this golden color. It can only be said that "oranges grow in Huainan, they are oranges, and those in Huaibei are oranges." Come explain.
"Village chief?" Huo Zhenplozi frowned as he held the melon seeds. "Did you take the wrong melon seeds? Why are the seeds of the melon white?"
Liher on the side was stretching his head to see. Fresh, also said: "Village Chief, could it be that someone has transferred you? Is there a beautiful woman who is taking advantage of you in the front, and someone is stealing your things in the back?" "Or is there some woman who invited you to a remote house? Inside, as soon as you took off your pants, a few people rushed in and held you down?"
Huo Zhenplozi continued seriously: "It's also possible that you were robbed. In a place where no one is around, a rope is suddenly used to strangle the neck from behind, and it can knock people unconscious in the blink of an eye. Many people don't even realize what happened. "
"There is also a kind of rainbow mushroom grinder. If someone blows the powder on your face, you will do whatever you are told. After the effect of the medicine is over, you will not remember what happened.”
Thomas thought to himself that you two are really talented people. At the same time, he felt a little better after seeing someone who was such a country bumpkin. He said this yesterday and was laughed at by the principal.
“Are chicken feathers the same color as eggs?” He imitated Frederick’s words.
The two were speechless.
Thomas continued: "If you are committed to being farmers, then I will leave it to you to grow pumpkins in the village."
"This pumpkin is a good thing. The vines grow very fast and can be used. To feed livestock. One hectare of land can produce three to four thousand kilograms of melons, which are quite sweet and can last for a long time. Feeding pigs and chickens can also make them grow more meat. They can not only be used as vegetables, but also can replace the staple food. .”
"The most important thing is that it doesn't have to pick the land. It can be planted on slopes, or you can just find an open space to plant one or two trees. It won't compete with other crops for the field."
"The principal said, the next step is to If we promote planting pumpkins on slopes, it will be difficult to starve to death in the future.”
“We have many mountains here, so I finally got the seeds from the principal and agreed to do a pilot project.”
"Next year, I will set aside a piece of south-facing hillside for you. You can plant it well. If it can be planted here, then everyone will plant it on the mountain, together with the grass at the bottom of the mountain. Then I will bring back some pigs and plant them. Use it to raise chickens and pigs."
Huo Zhenplozi thought for a moment and said, "That's no problem, but there's no weeding on the hillside."
"It doesn't matter." Thomas said, "I will let people put the sheep up as soon as it warms up next year. When spring comes, I won't leave any grass roots for you."
Hozenplots looked at Liher, Liher also said: "I didn't ask any questions."
Thomas said: "That's it, you put the seeds first and don't let the mice eat them."
Huo Zhenplozi found a clay pot, put the pumpkin seeds in it, covered it with a wooden board, and then went outside to get a big stone to press it on.
After he came back and sat down next to the fire pit, Thomas said again: "I have something to discuss with you. Now the militiamen in the village have gone out for training. If there is a war next year, they will also go out."< br>
"This way the village will be empty, so now the villages in the territory need to organize some people. They usually work at home and keep the weapons they bought at home. If there are wild beasts or robbers coming, they will go home immediately to get the weapons. "
"On weekdays, I just practice using weapons for half a day every Sunday."
"The requirements are not high, just guard the village."
Huo Zhenplozi frowned and said: "You want me to participate?"
"You." Thomas said sincerely, "Neither the principal nor I will pursue your past matters, but If someone comes to your home, you can’t just watch.”
"I hope you can join us and protect our homeland together."
"Of course, this is just my suggestion, it's up to you how to do it."
Huo Zhenploz and Liher looked at each other and finally said they would think about it.
Thomas didn't say much. Putting down their weapons meant breaking away from the past, so they were somewhat resistant to picking up their weapons again. Being too forceful would only be counterproductive.
(End of this chapter)