"Whether the distribution of rewards and punishments is carried out properly depends on the supervision of the Peacewest Farming Office. I'll have to trouble Lord Lu to take care of it!"
"It's this humble official's duty. This humble official will try his best!" Lu Yanyu slightly bowed towards Zhang Tie as he said, "All the official fields in Taixia Country are Class A and Class A fertile farmlands with equal productivity. The quantity of official fields has been recorded. The output of official fields has to be reported to the warehouse and supplied to the military in wartime. It's hard for those provinces and prefectures to falsify the quantity of yield per mu. Because it's easy for them to cheat the quantity of yield per mu; however, the officials of the provinces and prefectures could not produce grains out of thin air to make up for the shortage. There are strict and unified regulations on the varieties, quantity and proportion of crops planted in the official fields according to seasons, mainly potatoes, corn, paddy and wheat. Nobody could plant as much as he wants. The only concern is that some officials might arbitrarily change the varieties and areas of crops planted in the official fields in order to expand the quantity of yield per mu. For instance, if potatoes yield a lot of crops, they would plant a lot of potatoes in order to disguise the quantity of yield per mu as the quantity of paddy and wheat. As long as the Peacewest Farming Administration dispatches inspection teams to patrol across the provinces and report the proportion and quantity of crops planted in the official fields in each quarter, supervise the provinces and prefectures to plant according to the wartime plan and offer a reward to those who report to the public, the problem could be solved easily!"
After hearing his words, Zhang Tie nodded inside, 'Lu Yanyu is really an official who has been in the agriculture department for so many years. The moment I issue a decree, Lu Yanyu has already known that his subordinates might do something. Lu Yanyu has already made preparations for a rainy day and could never be fooled. This Lu Yanyu is indeed very useful. However, if such a person causes trouble for me, I would also have a hard time.'
"Lord Lu, do you know why the commander-in-chief appointed me as the Weiji General of this theater of operations?"
"The commander-in-chief is the military god of Taixia Country and the pillar of the country. Lord, you're also ambitious and well-known across the country. Additionally, this humble official was told that you could turn stones into gold in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Northeast Military Region. Of course, the commander-in-chief appointed you as the Weiji General because he knows how to use people wisely …"
Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "That's not true. The commander-in-chief appointed me as the Weiji General because of grains and fiery oil!" After saying that, Zhang Tie paused for a second as he pointed at the vast farmlands which were waiting for spring plowing as he sighed with emotions, "Speaking of grains, as long as there's no problem, it's very easy for me to have a high yield. Even though these farmlands have been destroyed by demonized grains, I could easily recover their vitality!"
Lu Yanyu's eyes flickered as he said, "This humble official was told that the commander-in-chief had a bumper harvest in Ninghe Prefecture of Northeast Military Region last year!"
"The bumper harvest of official farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture is due to the efforts of three parties at the same time!" Zhang Tie raised one finger as he continued, "Firstly, grains seeds. As long as they're not demonized grains seeds, they would have a bumper harvest. Secondly, earthworms in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, which I brought back from Waii Subcontinent. They have a marvelous effect on fertilizing the soil. Thirdly, we solve the problem of demonized crops' damage to the soil. Demons and Heavens Reaching Church are very insidious. Besides causing Taixia Country to suffer from a food shortage, they also destroy the fertility of the farmlands with demonized grains. However, demons' means are not the solution!"
Lu Yanyu's face turned solemn. After Zhang Tie finished his words, Lu Yanyu went to the roadside field and took a piece of soil. After that, he put his hands together and crushed the soil for Zhang Tie to check it carefully, "Lord, please take a look. This official field also suffered from a crop failure last year. After that, although the crops in the field had been burned and irrigated, the soil in the field had a tendency to harden. After being dried, the soil would be like mud being dug out from the ground. The destruction of the soil by demonized crops would disintegrate the quantity and structure of microorganisms and flora in the field. As long as the quantity and structure of microorganisms and flora in the field disintegrated, this field could barely recover no matter how many fertilizers were applied. It was like irrigating sand with fertilizers. Meanwhile, the soil would gradually become less and less nutritious for crops. Similarly, the soil in the field would gradually not adapt to the growth of crops. This situation was very similar to those farmlands which used too many chemical fertilizers before the Catastrophe. Lord, do you have a solution?"
In the end, Lu Yanyu's eyes turned a bit fervent because this problem was almost the biggest problem facing over 1 trillion people across Taixia Country.
"The land under our feet is a real treasure bowl!" Zhang Tie sighed with emotion, "All the grains, silk, linen and utensils we use are produced by the land; especially grains. People can't be short of food even for one day. The land gives birth to people; however, people have nothing to return to the land. It's really shameful. Actually, as long as we know how to make up for the land, we could easily solve the problem of soil hardening caused by demonized crops."
"Make up for the land?" Lu Yanyu's heart raced as he felt that what Zhang Tie said was not simple agricultural skills and knowledge, but Zhang Tie's perception and understanding about the great laws of nature.
Zhang Tie looked into the distance as he said with a nostalgic tone, "I remember that I lived in Blackhot City, Waii Subcontinent when I was young. At that time, my family lived a hard life. My mother sold rice brew to support the family. The rice brew was made in earthenware and fermented in an airtight way. After a pot of rice brew was sold out, some dregs of rice brew would remain in the earthenware. Therefore, I would always clean the earthenware in the courtyard with well water. After washing the earthenware, I would pour the water into the flowerpots and flower beds in the courtyard. Gradually, the plants in the flowerpots and flower beds in the courtyard grew particularly brilliant. At that time, I didn't find anything magical about the water in the earthenware!"
At that time, I didn't find anything magical about the water in the earthenware! "" At that time, there was a neighbor grandpa. He was an engineer in Blackhot City. After his retirement, he liked to raise flowers and plants to kill time. When he started to raise flowers and plants, he learned a lot of skills and liked to make some natural fertilizers by himself. He grinded bones and phosphate stones and used them as phosphate fertilizers; he used carnallite and potassium nitrate as potash fertilizers; he boiled moldy beans and expired edible oil and sealed them for a few days before being used as nitrogen fertilizers! "
"At that time, I was still young. One day after school, I happened to see the neighbor's grandpa take out a pot of flower that looked like it was about to completely wither and put it on the garbage bin outside. I had seen that pot of flower when it was blooming before. It was on the grandpa's windowsill. It was very beautiful. I didn't know why it suddenly died. After the grandpa left, I ran over and found that there was still a bud at the root of the seemingly withered flower. It wasn't completely dead, so I brought that pot of flower home and planted it in our flower bed."
"As the old grandpa had been fertilizing the potted flower for a long time, the proportion of fertilizers was out of balance. When I took it back home, the soil in the potted flower's root had already been hardened. It was as hard as a mud brick. It looked like it didn't have any nutrients at all. The hardening of the soil was even more severe than that of the land in front of us. The microorganisms and flora in the soil were almost destroyed by those natural fertilizers made by the grandpa …"
Lu Yanyu was listening to Zhang Tie's story carefully. When Zhang Tie mentioned the hardening of the soil in the potted flower, Lu Yanyu's calm heart suddenly pounded heavily. 'Is it …'
After throwing a glance at Lu Yanyu, Zhang Tie continued, "I planted that potted flower together with the hard soil at its root in our flower beds. From then on, after washing the clay pots for making rice brew, I would pour the water on the potted flower. Guess what?"
"The flower came alive …" Lu Yanyu said as he held back his excitement.
"Right, the flower came alive. Not only that, the hardened soil at its root also recovered to its normal state!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "It's just an experience when I was young. After saving that flower, I didn't care about it; neither did I imagine that I could make a fortune in this way. Not until the grain shortage broke out in Taixia Country and it was said that the soil across the country had been damaged by demonized crops did I try to plant some grains on some hardened soil. I've not imagined that it's really effective. Closely after that, I popularized this method in Ninghe Prefecture …"
Zhang Tie said it very calmly as if he was talking about something trivial. However, in Lu Yanyu's ears, his words were like the rumbling thunders from the Ninth Heaven. As a result, Lu Yanyu couldn't recover his composure for quite a while. Because Zhang Tie had mentioned the method to solve the problem of soil being damaged by demonized crops in Taixia Country.
This was a huge secret that could influence numerous people and solve the current land crisis facing Taixia Country. Previously, Taixia Country had tried many methods; however, none of them could have such an effect. Lu Yanyu had not imagined that Zhang Tie could share this secret with him so frankly.
At this moment, Lu Yanyu's voice was a bit quivering as he asked, "Does the water in the clay pot have the same composition as the all-purpose medicament?"
(To be continued.)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
