Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 229 Farewell

The Fang family moved without notifying anyone. Fang Chen and Fang Yi moved all the heavy furniture over early. On the chosen day, the whole family went there with only a small bag on their backs. Song Chunlin wanted to warm up the house for them to liven it up, but Fang Siyi refused.

"This house is originally the private property of the young master. We are only able to live here thanks to the young master. If there is a greenhouse, it should be the young master's greenhouse."

What Fang Siyi said made sense, so Song Chunlin didn't force her, but he still took Gu Fengyue to have a simple meal together.

As for the people next door, it was even simpler. They didn't even choose a date and just moved in. The leader, an older woman, even came over and asked Song Chunlin if there was any work to do.

Of course there is work to do at this time of year. Thanks to Song Chunlin's several irrigations with spiritual spring water, the crops in the fields matured half a month earlier than expected. Song Chunlin arranged for them to pick cotton in the fields. This work is rather tedious, and the bolls on a cotton plant may not bloom at the same time, so the same piece of land may have to be picked several times.

As for the corn, he left it to the people from the Ministry of Agriculture to arrange. Song Chunlin asked Fang Chen to follow up and he would not interfere with anything else.

Gu Fengyue's compound bow has been almost developed. Except for its stability which is not as good as the original version, it is much better than existing bows in other aspects.

However, Gu Fengyue still had a worry on his mind, which was the Tatar he had let run away. There was no follow-up after that. He didn't know if it was because the Tatar king had died and those people were busy dealing with the funeral and forgot about it.

Gu Fengyue complained about this to Song Chunlin. Song Chunlin didn't take it seriously at first, but after he realized what was happening, the expression on his face became extremely complicated.

Song Chunlin looked at Gu Fengyue who was frowning in thought, and hesitated whether to speak.

Seeing that he hadn't spoken for a long time, Gu Fengyue turned around and saw that the little guy's brows were so furrowed that they could pinch a fly to death. He rubbed his forehead with amusement.

"Why are you frowning all the time? Be careful not to turn into an old man."

Song Chunlin opened his mouth, looked at Gu Fengyue again, and finally spoke carefully: "That, what, that Tatar king, actually, he may have sent someone here before he died, but it seems, maybe, I killed him."

Gu Fengyue: “…”

He slowly sat up and confirmed with Song Chunlin again: "What do you mean by killing them?"

"It means literally."

Song Chunlin whispered to Gu Fengyue everything that happened on the way to the Tatar Royal City. Gu Fengyue felt mixed emotions after listening.

"I see. I said I had someone provoke them. Even if the Tatar King is a coward, he wouldn't tolerate this. I thought they were too busy with internal strife to care about us..."

Who could have thought that the last person sent out by the Tatar king before his death would actually die before him. No wonder Bai Ta City has been so peaceful recently. Maybe they themselves don’t know what these people are doing?

The two looked at each other and felt that this was really possible.

"No way? Are they so slow-witted?" Song Chunlin's words were not very confident. After all, what he saw in the Tatar Royal City was luxury. From top to bottom, there were almost no people who were not living a life of drunkenness, and most of what they squandered were treasures looted from Dajing.

"The old Tartar king is stupid and useless, but the warriors under his command are not vegetarians. The border has been harassed and robbed by them over the years. Otherwise, why do you think they can live so comfortably? They eat the flesh and blood of our people and nourish their extravagance."

Song Chunlin: "Well, if I kill so many nobles, can I let them go on a rampage for three to five years?"

Gu Fengyue pondered and finally shook his head, indicating that he didn't know.

"It's not easy for the new king to gain a foothold as the old replaces the new. What we can do now is to continue to strengthen ourselves."

This made sense. Song Chunlin's body softened again and he leaned his head on Gu Fengyue's shoulder, thinking about how to improve the combat effectiveness of the Dajing soldiers.

It is definitely unrealistic for everyone to drink the spiritual spring water. Gu Fengyue has been asking everyone in the military camp to practice grappling techniques, and now it has begun to show results. However, compared with the brave and warlike nomadic peoples of the grassland, their army is obviously not yet able to defeat ten enemies with one.

It turns out that more practice is needed. Thinking of this, Song Chunlin immediately closed his eyes and entered the space, and first shook Dabao over.

"Dabao, did my ancestors leave behind any martial arts secrets, mental skills, or something like that?"

"..." Dabao looked at his master with an indescribable look, wondering if this man had not yet woken up.

"Master, do you think this space looks like it has these things?"

Song Chunlin was choked by the question. He recalled blankly, it seemed, it seemed, indeed, not.

At the beginning of the space, there was an empty space, a stream and some black soil. Even after the upgraded space, Song Chunlin only found a mountain range with all kinds of natural treasures, and nothing else.

Of course, this does not mean that in addition to these natural treasures, the old owner of the space obviously did not think of leaving some books and papers to his descendants, otherwise Dabao would have taken them out for his master to practice. After all, the stronger he became, the better he could collect merits.

Things in the fields have been almost arranged. Song Chunlin still goes to the fields every day. The cotton picking has not yet been completed, and other things are also gradually ripening, especially the watermelons. Song Chunlin looks at the big round watermelons and smiles like Maitreya Buddha.

"So big and so many, they are all mine hehehe."

The sun rises early in the summer, and people working in the fields get up before daybreak. Looking at the big watermelons all over the ground, they also smile sincerely.

After the watermelons were picked, a batch would be selected first and sent back to the capital as fast as possible. Good things must be given to the emperor to taste first. Song Chunlin didn't care about it, as the Ministry of Agriculture had given him money anyway.

Of the remaining watermelons, a portion will be wholesaled to passing merchants under the leadership of the government.

The merchants had never seen this kind of melon and were skeptical about the hard rind. The new General Dou was also generous. He opened ten melons every day and gave them away for free to the people passing by, one piece per person. No one would be accepted after the deadline.

That watermelon weighed more than ten pounds. When it was cut open, it had red flesh, white edges and green skin. It looked refreshing, and the taste was even better. Song Chunlin kindly mentioned some ice cubes. The chilled watermelon was even more refreshing and invigorating. One bite of it was full of juice, and all the heat was gone.

The merchants were also among them. Each of them received a piece of watermelon. After eating it, they all praised it highly, thinking that if this thing could really be transported to other places, it would definitely be very popular among wealthy families.

"Good stuff, but at this price..."

"It's a bit low. Such a rare melon would cost a gold coin each if shipped to the south, but here it's only ten coins per pound."

Some people think the price is too low and that watermelons can be sold at a higher price, while others think that the yield seems to be quite high. Since ancient times, things have been valuable because they are rare, and once the yield is high, the price naturally cannot be raised. Therefore, they think the price is acceptable.

Song Chunlin didn't care about the price. He picked a lot of melons from the field, put them in the warehouse, and then stored them in the space when no one was around.

Dabao seemed to be very disgusted with these things grown outside, and his little face was gloomy.

"That's it? It's not as good as what I planted."

Song Chunlin suddenly felt a chill on his neck. He shrank his shoulders and picked up a pile of picked cotton next to him.

After leaving the warehouse, he turned to the next door. The yard, which was slightly smaller than his own, was filled with baskets full of cotton. The girls, led by Huang Cuizhu, were working hard to pick cotton seeds, while the boys were still harvesting cotton in the fields.

Seeing Song Chunlin coming in, everyone stopped what they were doing and greeted him.

"Young Master Song is here? Do you want some watermelon?"

Song Chunlin waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, I came here just to see how the cotton is being picked."

Huang Cuizhu smiled and held up a handful of cotton: "Almost done, there are many of us, so we can work fast. Look, is it okay to pick like this?"

Song Chunlin nodded hurriedly: "Okay, okay."

Huang Cuizhu asked him again: "I heard that this cotton can not only be used to make quilts, but also to weave cloth. Is this true?"

"Of course it's true." Song Chunlin pointed to the next room: "Isn't there a large empty room next to it? The machine inside is a loom. I only asked the carpenter to make two in total. There is also a cotton-fluffing bed next to it. Fang Chen and the others will teach you how to use it when the time comes."

"Fluffing cotton? Why does cotton need to be fluffed?" Huang Cuizhu asked sincerely.

Song Chunlin: "The cotton needs to be fluffy enough to keep you warm. If you want to be more particular, you need to wash it, dry it, and then fluff it. After fluffing it a few times, the cotton will become fluffy and it will be warmer to cover yourself with."

"I see. No wonder our palms sweat when we hold cotton. This stuff is warmer than silk."

"Yes, yes, the yield is high. We can harvest at least several hundred kilograms of cotton from that field, right? One kilogram of cotton can make a cotton coat. How many cotton coats can we make with this much cotton?"

Song Chunlin calculated with his fingers and found that the yield per mu of his cotton field seemed to be quite high. Perhaps it was due to the spiritual spring water. In addition, the seeds were also produced in the space, so the yield was surprisingly good.

"It's bitterly cold in the north, so you should each make two sets of cotton-padded clothes. Make them longer and thicker. Don't be reluctant to give up the cotton."

Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard this, and they all confirmed it with Song Chunlin.

"Seriously?"

"Really, seriously, I'll make the decision. I'll give each of you five pounds of cotton so you can make your own cotton-padded clothes. Remember, you can only make them for yourselves, and you can't sell them or give them away."

Song Chunlin was afraid that they would take the cotton and not use it for themselves, but instead sell it, so he added this condition. This sentence completely dispelled the idea of some people wanting to make money.

Although a lot of cotton was planted this year, there is not much left after dividing it up. Song Chunlin plans to use half of the cotton to weave cloth and the other half to make bedding and distribute them to poor families. As for the seeds, they will be divided into two parts, half for the Ministry of Agriculture and the other half for them to grow themselves.

Along with the seeds, there are also methods of growing cotton. The same goes for other crops. The seeds plus their respective planting methods are the conditions that Song Chunlin had agreed upon with the Ministry of Agriculture.

Song Chunlin took the lead in demonstrating, and after he actually grew something, he taught the seeds and planting methods to the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture.

However, Song Chunlin had his own selfish motives, so he also passed on these planting methods to the Fang family. Moreover, the Fang family also possessed unique grape planting techniques, even grafting techniques.

Song Chunlin copied down all the planting methods word by word while staying up late. He almost went crazy after copying them several times and wanted to just give them the originals, but after thinking about it, he held back.

God knows how excited those officials were when they got these precious planting methods. Many of them kept their hands calm, but beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads. They passed these precious materials to each other and nodded repeatedly in the end.

These people had no doubt about the authenticity of the information, because Song Chunlin had no reason to deceive them, and he really grew those things.

An official was holding a stick of old corn. He had studied it repeatedly for several days and looked at the data from the field again and again to confirm that the yield of this thing was really as Song Chunlin said.

Not only does corn have a high yield, but its leaves and stalks can also be fed to livestock. Officials tried feeding them to the horses in the military camp, and the horses ate them with great delight.

Song Chunlin also said that corn can be ground into flour, and depending on the coarseness, it can be made into different foods. The varieties of corn that humans eat and livestock eat are also different. The one that humans eat tastes better, while the one that livestock eats not only tastes bland but also has a rougher texture, but livestock like this kind the most.

The people in the Ministry of Agriculture applauded. Due to the lack of water, there is too little arable land here, and the grain yields are not as good as those in the rice-producing areas of the south of the Yangtze River. Now Song Chunlin has given them several kinds of drought-resistant grain seeds. Except for cotton, which cannot be eaten, the other crops, corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, all have high yields and are easy to care for, and are free of diseases and pests.

The people from the Ministry of Agriculture were almost going to make Song Chunlin a worshipper, burning three sticks of incense a day, but when Song Chunlin found out, he frantically refused.

Thanks, he is still alive and doesn't need incense for the time being.

Things here have been almost dealt with, and Song Chunlin took some time to go to Wanshan. He had to go and check on the saplings on his hill.

Wanshan is now managed by a new person, who was sent by a noble family from the capital. It seems that the emperor is still not strong enough to control his power and has been taken advantage of by the people from the noble family.

Song Chunlin didn't know that person, but since he came, Cheng Qiao had been marginalized. From being in power at the beginning, he could only do some insignificant work now. It was quite sad.

However, Cheng Qiao herself did not think there was anything wrong. Instead, the garrison troops who had followed her father were filled with indignation. They all felt that the man sent by the capital was not a good person, and they complained a lot in private.

Song Chunlin was not interested in their open and secret struggles. He did not go into the city, but went straight to his own hill. Looking at the saplings waving in the wind on the hill, his mood became beautiful.