Chapter 127

During the first lunar month, it’s the most idle time of the year for farmers.

Shanshui Village, situated in the south, doesn’t face the severe cold and frozen ground of northern winters, but its soil fertility is limited. Planting multiple crops in a year leaves people exhausted, and without sufficient nutrients, the harvests suffer.

The toil of two seasons barely yields more grains than one, yet the workload of farming doubles.

Of course, there are diligent households that manage to fertilize and cultivate twice a year.

Regardless of whether it’s one season or two, the lunar month period is considered the farming off-season.

Shanshui Village plants early rice, sowing in March-April and harvesting in July-August. Diligent families also add a season of wheat.

After branching out on her own, Shuiqing didn’t plant wheat, and now she’s glad she didn’t!

“Can potatoes really be planted as early as January or February?” Shuiqing asked softly from her circle chair by the window, studying a book.

It was an agricultural book she bought from the marketplace. She could barely recognize some characters, though not many overall.

Being selected as someone who owns a marketplace, Shuiqing nodded thoughtfully and said with great relief, “It’s a good thing I bought this book. Otherwise, how would I have known about planting potatoes?”

During this leisurely period, they didn’t need to visit relatives or have any friends come over, so their days were peaceful and relaxed.

With nothing else to do, she decided to read a book.

Originally intending to buy a novel, she suddenly remembered that spring was approaching, and she needed to prepare for spring plowing. After all, for farmers, food was paramount!

Crops were their livelihood, and land shouldn’t be wasted.

So, she opted for a book on agricultural planting. From this, she learned that planting times for potatoes varied greatly between the north and south!

She summarized the book’s information for Fan Jin: “The book says potatoes are planted in the south in January and February, and can be harvested early in summer!

Whether planted in fields or gardens, potatoes need loose and well-aerated soil. If planting in fields, it’s necessary to plow several times to loosen the soil.”

Fan Jin listened attentively and relaxed slightly. “The rainy season mostly occurs in summer, so early summer harvest would be ideal. Also, unlike rice or wheat, harvesting potatoes early only results in slightly smaller tubers.”

Early harvesting of rice and wheat often results in grain kernels that are not fully developed and mostly husk.

Moreover, in the village, rice is planted in March-April, a critical period for grain filling in summer. Severe flooding during this time could significantly affect the harvest.

Shuiqing then pointed to another book on growing sugarcane and continued, “Sugarcane is planted around ** month in our area, and harvested around mid-December;

I think ** month the floods also pass, so it’s just right to plant sugarcane then.”

Fan Jin obediently agreed with a nod.

They had decided to grow sugarcane after checking the price of brown sugar during their last visit to the capital.

Their fields weren’t extensive, but they had enough land. Growing sorghum, soybeans, mung beans, red beans, millet, etc., not only failed to eat, but the surplus also failed to sell at a high price.

Five or six cents a jin wasn’t worth it.

Sugarcane was different; it could be grown everywhere in the fields and didn’t take up other farming time, and brown sugar was expensive!

One mu (a unit of area, approximately 0.165 acres) of sugarcane can earn several times the amount of silver compared to planting several mu, even more than ten mu, of rice or wheat. This means that planting ten mu of sugarcane is equivalent to planting dozens or even hundreds of mu of rice paddies or wheat fields.

“If the rebellious feudal lords really cause trouble, food prices will definitely rise. Whether it’s potatoes or brown sugar, their prices will follow suit,” Shuiqing pondered.

Potatoes are a staple food; she hasn’t experienced the hardships of war, but she understands.

At that time, having food to eat and being able to buy food was a very fortunate thing.

As for sugar, it has always been one of the strategic reserve materials, valuable and important.

Fan Jin didn’t know if the feudal lords would rebel. He planned for the worst, mentally reviewing the situation of his family members and livestock. He spoke up, “The nine mu of land connecting to the hills, after being cleared, can cultivate approximately twenty to thirty mu of arable land.

Start with these, and continue clearing more during the farming downtime.

There’s a cow and a donkey at home. The cow can plow five mu of land a day, and the donkey, three mu. Together, they can plow eight mu a day. It would take at most five days to plow all the land.”

At this point, Fan Jin suddenly paused, realizing that he would need to transport rice wine to the prefectural city every morning. The cattle wouldn’t be able to plow the land in the mornings.

Shuiqing also realized this.

Rice wine could earn two to three taels of silver a day, pure profit. How many potatoes and brown sugars would it take to earn two to three taels of silver?

Moreover, they didn’t know how long the rice wine business would last; until it couldn’t be sold, they couldn’t afford to stop.

Fan Jin quickly adjusted his plan and continued, “No problem. Let’s count on the cow plowing two mu of land in the afternoon. That’s five mu a day, and in about eight days or so, the plowing should be finished.”

There was still plenty of time.

“In the future, I’ll go to the prefectural city alone to deliver rice wine. Lingran will take care of feeding the livestock. He’ll handle the mornings, and when I return, we’ll plow the land together in the afternoons.

Let Jiang follow behind to start planting. Once Lingran and I finish plowing, we can plant potatoes together in time.”

Shuiqing thought for a moment and said, “I can help too.”

Most of the breakfast was usually prepared by Yanqiu and Xinghui; she only needed to cook lunch and dinner.

In the village, during the busy farming season, which woman wasn’t busy with farming and cooking? After all, time waits for no one, and planting crops early is crucial.

Fan Jin shook his head without hesitation, “No need. Having a cow and a donkey saves a lot of effort, and there’s enough time. Don’t overwork yourself.”

Cooking for a large family was quite exhausting; he couldn’t help Shuiqing with cooking, but she didn’t need to come to the fields either.

Just as Shuiqing was about to say something more, Fan Jin changed the subject and asked, “We need plows for the fields. If we order from the city’s blacksmith, it might take some time. Shuiqing, could you check the marketplace? Maybe there’s something good.”

If they were going to plow the fields tomorrow, this was an important matter.

Shuiqing immediately opened the marketplace to check.

Surprisingly, there were indeed plows available!

The price was not high—though even if it were, they had over 1.3 million in their balance; they were quite wealthy!

And these plows were efficient and easy to use.

Fan Jin sighed once again, “Let’s just buy two directly?”

“Okay.”

“And how about seed planters? Should we buy a couple to try them out too?”

“Okay.”

In front of the window, beside the table, decisions were made while sitting or standing. The slender man standing obediently listened, occasionally adding a few words.

The scene was unexpectedly harmonious and coordinated.

·

On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, when Fan Jin led Lingran to plow the fields with the cows and donkeys, many people from Shanshui Village came to watch the excitement.

Rice is planted around March or April, with land preparation in February or March, and everyone had plenty of free time in January.

Suddenly seeing that Fan Jin’s family had already started plowing, everyone came forward to ask a few questions.