My Days of Farming and Practicing Martial Arts in Northeast China during the Republic of China Era

Chapter 14 Soybean Strategy and Land Moisture Preparation

Doesn't it sound surreal to think that soybeans are used to hold the world hostage?

As a major oilseed crop and an important raw material for hundreds of industrial products, soybeans have strategic value no less than that of semiconductors, and their potential to hold the world hostage is not a fantasy.

In South America and many other countries, the Great Beauty has not only done this for a long time, but has also succeeded in doing it.

Lu Xingzhou, who possessed the [Yi Yang Ding], felt he could do even better!

The best opportunity to achieve our goals should have come in 1930. Let's not rush into discussing strategic value now; let's take the first step well.

Solve the nutritional problems of those around you.

大豆含人体所需全部9种必需胺基酸，每100克含40克蛋白质、20克脂肪、25克糖。蛋白质、脂肪含量比猪肉都高，营养价值又非常接近。

In an era when meat was unaffordable, it was one of the best options for people to supplement their nutrition.

This has led to thousands of ways of eating tofu, dried tofu, bean curd sheets, soy milk, and soy juice, greatly enriching the variety of dishes on the dining table.

In an era when condiments were scarce, the soy sauce produced enriched the flavors of dishes and enhanced people's sense of well-being. The soybean meal left over from oil extraction was also the highest quality feed for livestock.

In addition, planting soybeans can fix nitrogen and improve soil fertility, making it a kind of cutting-edge technology among crops!

Otherwise, the great Morse wouldn't have come to Northeast China in 1928, spent three years learning from the unsuspecting and simple people, and returned home with 4451 soybean samples and detailed planting data, helping the great Morse monopolize the global soybean business.

However, Morse has nothing to do with this movie/TV show world anymore; Lu Xingzhou will take over this business from now on.

That day, all the walls except the northwest corner were repaired. It was a day of easy repairs and patching, and it passed quickly.

Farmers don't have a fixed two-day weekend. Compared to the month of continuous heavy physical labor that will last until the end of spring planting, today is a holiday.

The next day.

Before dawn, Lu Xingzhou was woken up by Lin Fengyi.

"Master, Ni Yang has brought the food. You should get up now."

"it is good."

Don't miss the first day of work.

With Lin Fengyi's help, he put on a short jacket that was easy to work in and walked out of the bedroom. He saw that Ni Yang and Sanjiangshui had already brought the food to the square table in the main hall of the house.

"Young Master~!" ×2

"Okay, let's sit down and eat together."

Ni Yang immediately replied, "Young Master, I've already eaten!"

Sanjiang Shui, who was about to sit down, froze, swallowed hard, and stood up to the side: "I've already eaten!"

Lu Xingzhou, who found it difficult to swallow pork, ate beef stew with potatoes and white rice today instead of going out to "enjoy the festivities with the people".

While others eat cornbread and sweet potatoes, he eats white rice and stewed beef. You shouldn't do things that deliberately create conflict and attract hatred.

Not only did they not go out, they also had to eat behind closed doors.

Sanjiang Shui turned his head away, savoring the taste of pork stew with vermicelli.

We started work today, and the remaining two pork patties were stewed. If anyone wants to eat them again, we'll have to wait for Fengzhu to deliver them.

After the meal, a group of about a hundred people, including many women and teenagers, drove dozens of livestock and pulled farm tools to the edge of the field.

"Boss, would you like to say a few words to everyone?"

At the beginning of his business, Zhu Kaishan wanted to create some momentum for him, but Lu Xingzhou didn't accept.

"What are you talking about? It's still pretty cold outside, everyone get moving!"

Two meals of pork stew with vermicelli have boosted morale, and last night the women and children were mobilized to work, with wages calculated as half-labor.

On average, each family contributes one strong laborer and two and a half laborers, which amounts to 48 yuan per year.

A family like Zhu Kaishan's, consisting of a husband and wife, two adult sons, and two adult daughters-in-law and daughters, could directly receive 108 silver dollars, which almost made many people so excited that they couldn't sleep all night!

On the surface, even an average family of five, not considered poor, could earn 300 yuan a year, so the wages Lu Xingzhou paid were negligible.

But that's not how you calculate it.

For most farming families, the money they earn to make a living simply cannot cover their costs.

Seventy percent of the money is spent on food, clothing, and housing; 20% is paid in taxes; and the remaining 10% is used to buy agricultural supplies and daily necessities. After working hard from the beginning to the end of the year, all that's left is enough to make ends meet.

When faced with a shortage of food or major or minor illnesses, they have to borrow money at high interest rates to make ends meet.

In his book "China Shocks the World," Jack Belden wrote about the Kuomintang-controlled areas before the War of Resistance against Japan, where farmers borrowed 100 yuan and had to repay 125 yuan by the end of the year as the minimum standard, and in some areas they had to repay 160 yuan.

Even wealthy farming families can go bankrupt if they are not careful, and Lin Fengyi's family is a prime example.

With her figure, her family definitely didn't skimp on her food. They were originally a well-off family with a house and land, but her father's illness completely ruined their life.

For the vast majority of poor and lower-middle peasants, the issue isn't whether they have strong or weak risk resistance; they simply have no risk resistance at all.

The Guandong region, with its high grain yield, large per capita arable land area, and minimal taxes and rents, still managed to survive.

You want to go see the hellish life that people in the Guanzhong region lead?

They don't spend money on food, clothing, or housing, and they have a net income of anywhere from 48 to over 100 yuan a year.

Lu Xingzhou didn't need to say anything nice; morale was already off the charts!

Let's flip it over!

On the scorching black soil, a hundred or so people wielded hoes and exerted all their strength, working for an hour or two until they were drenched in sweat.

Farmers who get to work don't bother with any polite formalities; they simply take off their jackets and bravely go shirtless in the sub-10-degree wind, revealing their dark, shiny backs as they sweat profusely.

Of course, not everyone is dark-skinned.

On a whim, Lu Xingzhou, following local customs, also took off his shirt, causing the young women and wives holding the plow to immediately lose their work efficiency.

Having been a layabout for several years, Sanjiangshui was completely unaccustomed to the heavy work of tilling the land. At this moment, he slowed down and chatted idly with Ni Yang:

"You know, our young master's skin is so good! Even the girls I sleep with at Xiufang Tower don't have skin this smooth!"

Fifteen-year-old Ni Yang blushed deeply and said, "Just say the young master has good skin, why bring up girls from Xiufanglou?"

Sanjiangshui discovered the key point: "Eh~?! Why are you blushing? Are you still a virgin?!"

Ni Yang glared at him fiercely: "Get lost, don't bother me while I'm working!"

"Hehe~ Don't be shy, I'll take you sometime."

Lu Xingzhou interrupted the carefree flow of the three rivers.

"The waters of the three rivers!"

"arrive!"

He scurried up to Lu Xingzhou, who was standing up straight, with a sly grin on his face.

"Young Master, why don't we go back and rest? Your presence is really affecting everyone's work!"

Many young women and wives glared at him after hearing this, blaming him for being nosy.

Lu Xingzhou laughed and scolded, "Don't drag me into your laziness! Hurry up and get my jacket!"

Look at yourself, sweat pouring down your face, glistening in the sunlight, your sculpted pectoral muscles with sharp angles and perfect eight-pack abs, like the sun god Apollo.

Not to mention women, many boys couldn't help but look at him with envy.

Sanjiang Shui scurried off to retrieve his coat, and Lu Xingzhou put it on before chasing after him.

"Judging by your appearance, you don't seem like someone who can do any work. Go back to the fortress and teach shooting."

Sanjiang's eyes lit up with joy, but he feigned reluctance:

"No! I want to stay with the young master!"

"roll!"

"Okay~~!"

Lu Xingzhou then buried himself in digging the ground with a hoe.

Since he was going to become a landlord, he had to understand the real land and the actual farm work. He had to do the entire process of tilling the land from start to finish the first time.

Their company has compiled statistics on grain purchases. The highest yield in the Heilongjiang grain-producing area is achieved with 1.1-meter-wide, three-row seedling ridges, 90-centimeter-high ridges, 15-centimeter-high ridges, and 35-centimeter-wide furrows.

The ridges that Zhu Kaishan built were all single-seed ridges, with a ridge height of more than 20 centimeters and a furrow width of less than 30 centimeters, and he did not raise any objections.

Knowledge is knowledge, and practice is practice. You only have the right to speak after you understand it.

Moreover, he was in excellent health and worked as fast as any skilled farmer.

He was rich, generous, and capable, which made the farmhands more willing to accept him.

As the sun was about to set, having already turned over more than 240 acres of land, Lu Xingzhou told everyone to call it a day.

"It's getting late, everyone should go home and eat!"

The fields at the source of the Liaohe River are flat and the soil is of good quality.

A strong laborer can plow 1 mu per day, an ox with a woman or a young boy can plow 4 mu, and a more powerful plow horse can plow 5-6 mu. Collective farming is even more efficient.

With 47 strong laborers, 20 oxen, and 20 horses, the workload of 2200 mu of land can be completed in ten days, and they can even gather the resources to repair the remaining 500 mu of paddy fields.

This doesn't even include Zhu Chuanwu and the five laborers selected as gunners, Lu Xingzhou, Sanjiangshui, and Ni Yang.

During the busy farming season, even the stingiest landlord would have to provide three meals a day. The women responsible for cooking lunch and dinner would not cook any meat dishes.

The farmhands weren't that ungrateful; they couldn't possibly eat meat every day, could they? That would be like celebrating the New Year every day.

Cornmeal and sweet potato porridge is enough to fill you up.

Continue the next day.

The more they worked together, the more skilled they became. They completed the preparation of 2200 mu of paddy fields ahead of schedule in seven days and began to repair the paddy fields.

The irrigation ditches right next to the river are not difficult to dig; all that's needed is to level the land and then release the water to nourish it.

It was the spring equinox, around dusk.

Lu Xingzhou rested with his hands on his hips at the edge of the field, wondering if he should make some spring pancakes for everyone to "bite into spring." But then he thought about the pitiful few dozen kilograms of flour in the warehouse and gave up the idea.

He looked up and saw Sanjiang Shui rushing over to find him in a hurry.

"Young Master! Chen Damangzi said that when he was fetching water just now, a water cat suddenly lunged at him and tried to bite him. He told me to remind everyone to keep an eye on their children and not let them run near the river, lest they get bitten!"

Sanjiang was a sly and cunning fellow, but not a bad person at heart. Upon hearing the news, he quickly told the women and children cooking and staying behind in the enclosure before coming to report to him. He was out of breath from running.

Lu Xingzhou was very interested in what he said.

"Oh? A water cat?! There's such a rare creature in the Liao River! Take me to see it!"