Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 442 Fertile Land (Part 1)

In September, the Jinsha River (now the Fraser River) is shrouded in milky morning mist, flowing slowly across the vast alluvial plain.

The wheat fields in Ningjin Township, Zhenjiang County (now Delta City, Vancouver) have lost their green hue and surged into a golden wave.

The heavy ears of wheat drooped their heads, rustling in the cool autumn breeze, as if whispering about the abundance of this land.

At this time of year, harvest season has arrived in various parts of Xinhua, and farmers are busy working in the fields.

Lei Zhensheng, deputy county head of Zhenjiang County, rode his horse along a country dirt road. On both sides of the road were endless farmlands. In addition to the rolling wheat, there were also golden soybeans and neat and upright corn, which was particularly pleasant to look at.

A horse-drawn harvester manufactured by Xinhua Agricultural Machinery is moving forward at a steady and gentle pace, pulled by two horses, with the straw neatly laid down in the field after being cut by the blades.

The farmers following behind quickly gathered the straw together and bundled it into sheaves, waiting for the vehicles to transport it.

Groups of children on autumn harvest break were also running around in the fields, helping their parents with farm work as much as they could.

Even some teenagers would drive oxcarts or horse-drawn carts, carrying bundles of wheat onto them, and then carefully head towards the threshing ground.

On the threshing ground, the men installed the animal-powered threshing machine and, in perfect unison, fed bundles of wheat into the feeding port, which then rolled out plump grains of wheat.

Some women carrying babies on their backs carried baskets with food and water to replenish the energy of the men who had worked hard during the autumn harvest.

Occasionally, the baby in the basket would be awakened by the noise, and its wailing would shake the entire field.

September, a month of harvest, is a time of abundance and fulfillment, a time that is truly delightful.

Seeing this scene, Lei Zhensheng was overjoyed; the golden hues everywhere meant a bountiful harvest was just around the corner.

The Jinsha River Delta, where the Milky Way and the Yellow River meet, is where the river carries humus from upstream, depositing glossy black mud that, over the years, has become fertile land.

This is a gift from the Jinsha River; the silt, as deep as a finger joint, can be squeezed to extract a sap as thick as cream.

After draining the accumulated water and pumping out the silt and swamps, the land becomes fertile farmland without the need for composting.

With the addition of a group of hardworking immigrants from the East, it would be hard for this fertile land not to have a bountiful harvest!

"A bumper harvest is a certainty across all nine villages and more than 32,000 mu of land in Ningjin Township." Liang Shouye, the township head, squatted on the edge of a field, grabbed a few ears of wheat, and rubbed a handful of grains in his palm. "I estimate that the harvest will be 30 to 40 percent more than last year, which should exceed the production target set by the county."

“This is all good land!” Xu Erfu, the village chief of Dangyang Village, grabbed a handful of soil from the ridge. “In this land at the river mouth, you could stick a carrying pole in it and it would sprout!”

"Haha..." Lei Zhensheng laughed loudly, pointed at Xu Erfu, "Since it's good land, next year's grain output may increase by another 30% compared to this year?"

"Sir, if you allocate more immigrants to us, even just twenty or thirty people, our Dangyang Village will be able to open up three or four hundred acres of land. In this way, with the conversion of this year's uncultivated land into cultivated land, an overall increase in production of 30% should be achievable."

“Alright, then I’ll ask my superiors for twenty or thirty immigrants for you.” Lei Zhensheng immediately promised, “If you fail to achieve a 30% increase in production next year, then I’ll have to punish you!”

"Uh..." Xu Erfu paused for a moment, then nodded heavily in agreement, "Just as you said, if we fail to fulfill the promise we made today, we will be at your mercy. I refuse to believe that this fertile land, if properly tended, will not yield a good result for us."

"It's really a good place!" Lei Zhensheng squinted at the river fork and mudflats at the end of his line of sight and secretly praised it.

The delta formed by the Jinsha River over hundreds or thousands of years has now been transformed by the new Chinese into a chessboard-like polder field.

The humus and silt carried by the river nourished the land day after day, year after year, and even the wild hoes along the field ridges and irrigation ditches grew to be half a person tall. Several young children were using bamboo baskets to scoop clams and small fish from the ditch, and plump mussel shells were everywhere in the silt.

Here, where fresh and salt water meet, even the fish and shrimp are more abundant than elsewhere.

The stone mill on the threshing floor rolled incessantly, and the sound of the flail was as dense as raindrops.

Freshly threshed wheat spread across the threshing floor, releasing an intoxicatingly sweet aroma under the autumn sun.

Further along the riverbank, flocks of wild ducks were pecking at scattered fish and shrimp. Occasionally, three or five would fly over and land in the fields, nodding and pecking at the leftover wheat grains. When farmers came by, they would flap their wings and run back to the riverbank.

“Actually, if you want to increase your population and cultivate more land, don’t just rely on the higher-ups to assign you immigrants.” Lei Zhensheng turned his gaze back to his subordinates. “You should try to assimilate more tribal natives, bring them under your jurisdiction, and then educate and train them. This will increase your manpower to some extent.”

“My lord, that is true, but naturalizing and taming the natives is not something that can be done in a few days.” Liang Shouye said with a wry smile, “Besides the language barrier, there are also their customary traditions and customs, which make it impossible to transform them into subjects under our jurisdiction in a short period of time.”

Xu Erfu squatted on the edge of the field, rubbing wheat grains, his brows furrowed: "Old Liang is right, those locals are impossible to recruit. A few days ago, I tried to get them to help harvest wheat, paying them with grain as wages, but they ran away after only two days. They said squatting in the field made their backs ache and it was too hard, far less comfortable than casting nets to catch fish, and they also complained that the threshing machine was too noisy and gave them headaches."

“Even if it’s difficult, we must do it. We cannot let these natives drift away from the governance of Xinhua.” Lei Zhensheng said solemnly, “Although the scale of immigration to Xinhua is constantly increasing every year, there are still many key areas that need to be developed and colonized, and it is simply not enough.”

“A few months ago, the central government passed the ‘Southward Expansion Plan,’ which further intensified the competition for domestic immigration quotas. If it weren’t for our Jinchuan region’s strategy of relying on gold mining and large-scale agricultural development, we probably wouldn’t have been able to secure the current immigration quota.”

"However, for a region to develop and for production to expand, it cannot do without people. Although those tribal peoples are unruly and their cultural customs are incompatible, we cannot just let them be. In addition to using the power of civilization and education, we must also use both military deterrence and economic incentives."

"To put it bluntly, even if the recruited natives are stupid and incompetent, they are still much better than cattle and horses, right? They can be driven to cut down trees, burn wasteland, pave roads, and even build water conservancy projects. In any case, they can contribute to the development of the local area."

“What you say is true, sir. We will try our best to recruit as many tribal people as possible,” Liang Shouye replied helplessly.

To be honest, he looked down on those natives and thought they were of little use.

Before the arrival of the new Chinese, these indigenous people relied on salmon fishing, shellfish gathering, and forest hunting for survival. They sometimes made seasonal migrations in order to get food, and seemed to have no fixed lifestyle.

It will likely take a lot of effort to convert them to an agricultural settlement model.

It is said that the Qiming Island headquarters spent more than ten years trying to achieve only a limited degree of assimilation of the indigenous tribes within a ten-kilometer radius of the coast.

Even so, there were still many conflicts between the naturalized natives and the immigrants.

It would probably take at least two or three generations to completely assimilate and integrate the indigenous people within Xinhua's borders.

"How about this?" Lei Zhensheng squatted down, picked up a few clods of dirt, and placed them on the edge of the field. "We could try setting up a few 'naturalization points' in your Ningjin Township, building a few wooden or adobe houses, and letting the natives who are willing to come live there. During the day, we could work with them, teaching them how to cultivate the land, and at night we could open a night school to teach them Mandarin. Once they've learned, we could give them seeds and farming tools, and they could join you in farming."

Xu Erfu clicked his tongue in amazement: "How much food will this consume? What if they run away again after only a few days of teaching?"

"There will always be a few left," Lei Zhensheng said with a smile, shaking his head. "I think that as long as they're human, they all want to live a better life. Tell me, what kind of life can they sustain by hunting a few pelts and catching a few dozen fish?"

“We need to let them know that only by living and working with us can their lives improve.”

Just then, the sound of children's cries came from afar. Several teenagers chased the frightened wild ducks toward the river branch, startling a flock of water birds in the reeds.

Lei Zhensheng gazed at the swaying reeds and said softly, "Local reclamation and development cannot be rushed, but it also cannot be slowed down. This fertile land needs to support more people, so we must make the people on both sides of the Jinsha River accept the idea that their three meals a day come from the fields."

The autumn wind whips the wheat fields into waves, and the roar of the threshing machine seems to hint at the clamor of the future.
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(End of this chapter)