Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

"Zixuan, come quickly, look at how beautiful the flowers are blooming here." In the endless apricot blossom forest, a woman in purple clothes shuttled through the forest, followed by a tall man. The man's eyes always followed the agile figure in front of him.

"Jinghan, slow down, be careful that there are thorns on the apricot tree." Zixuan shouted helplessly from behind Jinghan.

Not far behind the two of them, Qian was holding a little boy, who was probably about one year old. Next to him, Chun Xing was holding a boy, about three or four years old, who was very cute. Qian said as she walked, "Already the mother of two children, this Jinghan is still so active."

Chun Xing smiled, "Madam is always like this, as if she is happy every day. No matter what happens, as long as I see Madam's smile, I feel very comfortable."

"Yes, I have been here for three or four years, and I rarely see Jinghan not smiling. No matter how difficult it is, she is always smiling." Qian couldn't help but sigh. "Thanks to her temperament in the past few years, if it had been anyone else, how could she have persisted?"

Unknowingly, it has been four or five years since Jinghan and Zixuan came to Zhendong County. After these few years of hard work, the changes here have been huge. People's lives have improved significantly. Fish soaked in the moon, cattle and sheep on the grassland, ducks and geese soaked in the fragrant sea, etc., have all brought huge benefits to the local people.

Along with the changes in life, there is also a change in people's concepts. Nowadays, many things have become tools for people to create wealth after their busy work. Those reeds, for example, were woven into exquisite mats and sold everywhere. There is also this natural apricot forest, where local villagers have built a processing workshop. Use autumn apricots to make preserves. And the roots of this apricot tree are also excellent root carving materials.

The cash crops that Jinghan obtained at the beginning have now been planted in large areas. People no longer only cultivated corn and sorghum, but began to diversify their cultivation. The mung beans, millet, rice, sesame, etc. produced in Zhendong are famous in neighboring prefectures and counties.

Moreover, Jinghan also built a sugar workshop here, so that the beets grown would not have to worry about lack of marketability. Although the sugar made from beets is not as white as sucrose, it is much cheaper than sucrose, so sales are also very good.

Today, the population of Zhendong County is gradually increasing. Some of the refugees who were originally exiled by the imperial court could return to their places of origin. However, they no longer have land and other property in their place of origin, and they will be homeless when they return. So Zixuan persuaded these people to stay and gave them the reclaimed wasteland. These lands are converted at half price, and grain can be used instead of silver over a period of several years in exchange for ownership of the land. In this way, as long as these people are willing to farm here with peace of mind for five or six years, they can get their own land back.

Many refugees have stayed here. Anyway, they are used to the climate here. Furthermore, the land here is still very fertile. As long as you are willing to cultivate it carefully and don't worry about running out of food, it will be much better than going back and not knowing where to stay. Of course, there are also those who are stubborn and insist on returning to their hometown. Zixuan will not keep such people.

As the population increases, the available labor force will naturally increase, which will drive the economy. Under a virtuous circle, life here is getting better day by day. In this way, many merchants from other places came here and built some processing workshops one after another.

Nowadays, there are several weaving workshops in Zhendong County, all built by merchants from the south. They saw that woolen goods were selling well outside, so they tried their best to figure out the inner doorway, and then went to collect wool, spin yarn and weave cloth. But there is a problem, that is, it is too far away from the origin of the raw materials and the cost is too expensive. So someone with a smart mind also built a weaving workshop here in the east of the town.

Jinghan doesn't care about that. Anyone who wants to build can build it. Anyway, if you want to do business, you have to pay taxes and find workers from the local area. In this way, local people have more jobs to choose from, thus increasing people's income. Jinghan's own workshop has not expanded in scale, but has always maintained its original scale. This is already good, as long as it can afford what is sold in the capital.

Now Jinghan doesn't worry too much about these money-making matters anymore, and leaves them to some of the managers under her, who can do whatever they like. Anyway, Jinghan has come up with all the money-making ideas she can think of. What happens next is not up to her.

It happened to be a good time for spring flowers to bloom, so Jinghan had to ask Zixuan to accompany her here to see the apricot blossoms, so Zixuan found some free time and came with Jinghan and her two sons.

This is a natural wild apricot forest. There are probably more than a thousand acres of apricot trees. In winter, the entire mountain is covered with bare tree trunks. Because the trunks of the almond trees are purple, this area is also called a purple hill.

Wandering in the endless apricot blossom forest, looking at the petals falling from the trees, Jinghan felt that she was in a particularly good mood. After running for a while, he finally stopped.

Zixuan followed from behind and put his arm around Jinghan's shoulders. "Do you like the scenery here? If you do, I will bring you here next year." Zixuan whispered in Jinghan's ear.

"I like it, it's really beautiful here." Jinghan smiled.

Xiao Qingyuan behind him stopped and shouted to them, "Dad, Mom, I'm hungry, let's go home."

The couple looked at each other and smiled, holding hands and walking back. When he arrived at Qingyuan's side, Zixuan picked up his son and said, "My son is hungry. Okay, then let's go down the mountain to the village."

"Okay, I'm going to the village to find Ergouzi. He said he wants to play with me." Xiao Qingyuan clapped his hands happily.

Jinghan built a village nearby and often brought Qingyuan here to play, so Qingyuan was very familiar with the people in the village. Er Gouzi is a little friend who plays well with Qingyuan. Jinghan never cared about how her children played outside, even if they came back covered in mud from playing. Children just have to be naughty.

Back in Zhuangzi, Qingyuan washed his hands, then took some snacks and ran away, of course looking for Ergouzi and the others. Qian was worried, so he sent a little girl to follow him from a distance, as long as Qingyuan didn't go to places that were too dangerous.

After dinner, the couple took Qingyuan for a walk outside. Some old people in the village were also outside. When they saw Zixuan and his wife, they all came over to say hello.

"Did you hear that? There was thunder in the spring this year, but it was a lone thunder." Several elderly people gathered together to chat. There was a man who looked to be in his eighties, spoke in a loud voice, and was discussing with everyone the thunder in the spring.

"Isn't it? This is not good. Isn't it said that the first thunder in spring, if there is a solitary thunder, will be an uneven drought and flood this year, or it will be a severe drought plus a severe flood. Drought and flood Forty days, that’s amazing,” another old man said.

"Speaking of it, we have a bit of drought every year. This is not a big problem. There are rivers everywhere in our place, and there are ponds everywhere. It is convenient to dig a canal to divert water. Isn't this what we do every year? Are you afraid of waterlogging? If it gets flooded, something bad will happen." The old man who spoke at the beginning sighed. "We haven't had a flood here for 30 to 40 years, and the river dams have long been out of shape. If there's a real flood, won't they collapse all at once? This matter should really be dealt with The magistrate, let’s talk about it.”

"Yes, it's time to talk about it. The magistrate has done a lot for our county in the past few years. We can live the life we ​​have today, and that is all due to others. By the way, the magistrate seems to have brought The madam and the young master are at Zhuangzi, right? Otherwise, we should go look for it. This is a big deal." After hearing this, several people nearby also agreed.

Zixuan and Jinghan were at the back of the crowd. When they heard this, the couple looked at each other and then walked to the front. "Old man, are what you said true?" Zixuan asked.

Everyone looked back and saw that the magistrate and his wife were coming, and they quickly stood up to greet them.

Zixuan waved his hand, "Elders, please take a seat. I'm here to have fun, so you don't need to be polite. My husband, I heard what you just said. Do you dare to ask if these are true?"

The very old man nodded, "This is passed down from the old people. I remember that I was only in my twenties at that time. One year, there was a solitary thunder at the beginning of spring. My grandfather said, Such thunder may lead to uneven droughts and floods. Then, as expected, there was a spring drought. Everyone dug ditches to divert water, but it was hard to imagine that all the crops in the fields were saved. In summer, it rains all the time. Several rivers in our county, including the Noni River, Taoer River, etc., all swelled, and some places were flooded later. Flooded. Countless people and livestock were washed away by the water that year. It was better here because the terrain was higher and not many places were affected. After the flood, the plague was rampant and many people died. "Yes." The old man said, shaking his head and sighing. "If you do the math, I'm eighty-three this year, so it's probably almost sixty years."

"Absolutely. I was young at that time, but I still have some impressions. They say it comes around every sixty years. Could it be that the weather is also like this? Oh, then we have to be well prepared. We are not afraid of drought. I'm just afraid of waterlogging." An old man next to me also said the same thing.