Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 111 Wheat Harvest
Beijiwu rarely listened to women nagging at home. Most of the time, he kept the women in the yard to work or to manage the few acres of land in the backyard to prevent them from causing trouble when they had nothing to do.

They have no interest in the number of women, nor do they care about women who are pregnant one after another; they would rather go out and see the world than spend their free time on other things.

Wheat is sown during Qingming Festival, millet is sown during the Beginning of Summer, wheat is harvested in August, and millet is harvested in September.

Every month in between is the irrigation period.

Some areas don't need watering; a simple sprinkle of water is enough.

Some fields are too far from the river, so it is necessary to dig canals to bring water for irrigation, or to carry water by hand.

The hard work was naturally not something Beijiwu had to do; he worked alongside a group of carpenters.

There are over a thousand people here, all of whom are family members and apprentices of carpenters, and all belong to the public household registration system.

All those registered in the public household are slaves of the Arctic Army. All their output belongs to the Arctic Army. They are provided with food, drink, wages, and housing, and they do not need to pay taxes.

Beijiwu sat on a stool, working on processing wood, surrounded by pre-made wooden parts of the same design.

Next door was a woman who processed another type of wooden parts.

There were men and women, young and old, in the factory yard.

The sign at the entrance reads "First Agricultural Tool Factory Compound".

This is a factory where large wooden farm implements are made collectively. Each person processes a type of part, and all the wooden parts are assembled by professional craftsmen to become a grain thresher.

After the tests are completed and no problems are found, the grains will be transported by truck to various production teams to assist in the grain threshing and processing.

While Bei Jiwu was working, a woman wearing a homespun jacket, hat, and trousers came over, bent down, and said:

"Chief, nine hundred threshing machines were produced in June, and nine hundred taels of silver can be distributed among the clan leaders."

One tael equals one thousand coins, meaning that for every machine produced, each employee receives one coin.

Beijiwu put down the file in his hand and reached out to the woman with shoulder-length short hair.

Yun Tu Mei, whose skin was somewhat dark, happily handed over the account book.

The ledger shows the production report for June; it's already July.

Arctic Martial glanced at the production quantity and then signed the document.

There were two copies of the same report. One was given to Yun Tu Mei to collect the money, and the other was taken back by Bei Ji Wu and given to Ma Tu Chai that night to do the final accounting.

"Alright." Beijiwu tore off the first sheet, folded it neatly, put it in his pocket, and returned the ledger to Yuntumei.

"Thank you, patriarch!"

Yun Tu Mei happily took the ledger and then squatted down to chat with Bei Ji Wu, who was working with his head down.

"Chieftain, not a single drop of water has fallen this year. Many places are just barren soil, and many hills have become desolate."

Beijiwu said, "It's alright, as long as the major rivers are still flowing, it's fine. Our area is deserted, but the upstream areas are not."

Even within the same mountainous region of Kyushu, the extent of the disaster varies.

Some places had snow in winter, and some places had rain. Within a 500-mile radius, not all places suffered the same disaster.

Although most areas are still disaster zones, the fields on both sides of the river have not been significantly affected.

The area most affected is near Nongjiakou, but there are few people there, so nothing much is happening now.

The fighting over the past year has buried many corpses and cremated many bones, which have been scattered throughout the land, enriching the land with the blood of people and horses.

The Arctic warriors continued with their work, and apart from carrying water for irrigation, the main activity in each region was production.

For most people, it's all about working.

Arctic Army brought in soldiers, merchants, artisans, and farmers to carry out construction. Relying on its immense deterrent power, everyone obediently followed orders and worked diligently.

Mining and smelting iron, building water conservancy facilities, constructing warehouses, building threshing grounds, building waterwheels and mills, manufacturing wooden machinery, and producing agricultural tools and ironware.

The combination of waterwheel mills and wooden machinery can save 70%-90% of manpower and increase efficiency by 5-30 times, but it is limited by natural conditions and initial investment.

These days, they give you everything, and then you just keep working.

A well-functioning waterwheel threshing machine can process 2000 jin of wheat in 10 hours, which is 25 times more efficient than manual labor and 4 times more efficient than animal power.

If equipped with multiple sets of stone rollers and a high-efficiency water channel system, the daily processing capacity can even reach more than 10,000 kilograms.

Arctic Wu plans to build the most advanced grain processing plant in the era of traditional agriculture.

The manpower saved can be used to cultivate more land, grow vegetables and fruits, or go on leave for training.

All that was on Bei Jiwu's mind was work and development, but the female cadre in front of him looked at him intently as he worked, her eyes filled with tears.

The women working nearby couldn't bear to watch any longer and urged, "Chief Yun, hurry up and collect your money."

The men nearby laughed and said, "Yeah, hurry up and collect your money, you'll have money to drink tonight."

An income of nine hundred coins a month was more than enough for people who didn't have to pay taxes or worry about food.

Moreover, this is just one person's income. The whole family works as slaves, and their lives are more than ten times happier than those of farmers outside.

Yun Tu Mei looked at the others unhappily, "What's the rush? It's working hours! The master is working here, and all you people are talking about is money, money, money! I'll fine you for your wages!"

The others immediately fell silent; this woman's official authority surpassed that of the centurions and commanders. At least those centurions and commanders wouldn't dare to flaunt their power in front of Beiji Wu.

Yun Tu Mei, a woman with some knowledge, dares to do things that even men wouldn't dare to do.

Beijiwu casually said, "Do your work during working hours. We can deal with the paycheck on the 15th. Just keep working."

As soon as Beiji Wu finished speaking, Yun Tu Mei scolded the woman who had spoken earlier: "Get to work! You dare to slack off in front of the clan leader? You people are not loyal at all. From now on, you will not be servants. Your whole family will be divided up and sent away!"

The others immediately stopped looking up and quickly lowered their heads to continue working.

Once their household registration was separated from the public household registration, they would have to go to the countryside to farm and be managed by thousands of households.

The factory workers often delivered tools to various villages and communities, so they were very familiar with local life and had vivid memories of the hardships they had endured before coming here.

Once separated from the ranks of domestic servants, they will no longer be able to enjoy the benefits of Arctic attack helicopters.

Wherever Beijiwu goes, that place becomes the heart of the capital!

Seeing that everyone else had obediently submitted, the young woman Yun Tu Mei, who was oblivious to her own mortality and very bold, happily knelt down in front of Bei Ji Wu again.

"Chieftain, we guarantee this month's production target will be met! Even if it's 1800 units, let alone 900, we can still achieve it!"

Yun Tu Mei tried her best to please Bei Ji Wu, fantasizing about gaining his attention and becoming his direct female slave.

Beijiwu calmly said, "A thousand units will suffice. I've looked around here; too many are unrealistic and unsustainable in the long run. Just keep up the good work."

“Those who are lazy and skip work, or who are not good at their jobs, can have their household registration transferred to the township. We just happened to lose about a hundred households recently, and we need to make up for them.”

Yun Tu Mei quickly replied, "Yes, Master!"

Beijiwu corrected him, saying, "Call me Chieftain. Do not use titles without permission. From now on, no one who is not a chiliarch or someone who works or serves me is allowed to call themselves a slave. If you do it again, you will be immediately dismissed from your current position!"

Yun Tu Mei immediately became obedient, "Yes! Clan Chief!"

Yun Tu Mei is not yet qualified to be a slave of Beiji Wu; she is still considered a slave, though she is also seen as a city dweller by the villagers.

Thanks to the efforts of multiple agricultural implement factories and construction teams, 500 waterwheel threshers and a large number of manual wooden threshers that can be used in the threshing grounds were built throughout the county within half a year.

More than 500 waterwheels are scattered throughout various regions of Kyushu, all built along rivers.

Fortunately, the Sanggan River is not the only river in the area; there are more than ten other major rivers that can be utilized, which, taking advantage of the elevation difference of the mountains, are distributed throughout the villages and communities.

Within a territory spanning 500 li from east to west, every riverside village and community established one.

In late July, five thousand farmers from the north of the mountain, carrying sickles and straw hats, rode horses for four or five days to reach the wheat fields in the south of the mountain to begin harvesting wheat.

More than 300,000 people need to harvest 1.5 million mu of wheat, all of which are public fields of Beijiwu. Beijiwu also has 1.5 million mu of millet fields.

Of the four million mu of land designated this year, the Arctic Army will manage three million mu, while the other lords will manage their own land. However, if they send people to help, they can be paid wages.

With 300,000 people harvesting less than 250,000 mu of wheat per day, it took a week to harvest 1.5 million mu of wheat from south to north.

Beijiwu went to the fields to check on things himself, and also harvested five acres of land with the women in his family, so he could roughly figure out the current yield.

***
Sang Yang'an, member number four of production team 13110, is working in the threshing ground.

My wife is ten months pregnant, and she's due to give birth in the next few days.

In order to support his wife and unborn child, and to have money to hire a midwife, Sang Yang'an volunteered to become the village's tutor.

Few people in the village were literate, so Sang Yang'an became one of the few idle people in the village who had a respectable job because he could read announcements and newspapers.

Under the watchful eyes of a group of people, Sang Yang'an picked up yesterday's newspaper and began to read.

"This year's wheat harvest has been successfully completed, with a total of 1.558 million mu of wheat fields harvested and stored..." Sang Yang paused, counted the numbers, "249.3 million jin of grain were harvested and stored, and the wheat yield was 150 jin per mu."

"This wheat is enough to feed 500,000 people in the entire Shan Nong County for a year!"

"Our neighbor Jinzhou suffered from severe drought, with many areas affected. One county behind Yanmen Pass had 28 mu of dry land, with an average annual yield of about 1800 million jin, or only 65 jin per mu. Further south in southern Shanxi, there was no harvest at all, and the crops died. The imperial court's disaster relief funds were delayed."

"According to the supreme instructions of the chief of the Shan Nong tribe, anyone who commits crimes, engages in extramarital affairs, or always longs to go home shall be sent to Yanmen Pass and handed over to the garrison commander of Yanmen Pass in the south for disposal."

"There are less than ten days until the millet harvest. Each village with a thousand households is required to complete the millet harvest and storage work. Starting next year, the clan chief will no longer interfere with the villages with a thousand households. Each village should breed, cultivate, and harvest on its own according to this year's experience."

“Starting next year, grain, tools, and oxen will no longer be distributed to non-public households. Each household should take on leadership responsibilities. If they feel they are not capable, they can resign.”

The thousands of villagers watched with bated breath, their eyes perhaps not seeing Sang Yang'an, but their minds filled with his words.

Not only the 13110 production team, but also the other thousand households and villagers felt that the situation was getting worse.

The entire Shannong County had only been divided up for less than a year, and suddenly the expectation of unification arose.

Just as employees of private enterprises in rural areas aspire to become employees of state-owned enterprises, small business owners in rural areas also hope to be parasitic on the national system.

The scholar-official class desired unification even more than the emperor, because only with unification could officials in the court gain influence to intervene in various regions.

Although some people wanted to continue to be granted fiefdoms and become mountain kings like the chieftains of grassland tribes, such people were a minority.

In a unified dynasty, the resources that the upper-class military nobles could obtain far exceeded the income from their own fiefdoms.

A thousand households was equivalent to a town mayor. In the agricultural era, a town mayor who managed a thousand households and was also responsible for providing weapons and warhorses for fighting and paying taxes would certainly not earn as much as a local official in a unified dynasty.

The enfeoffment system of the Northern Army was very unpopular. This kind of reward system, which excluded meritorious officials from the state's treatment and made them raise their own people, horses, weapons, and food to fight the enemy, would inevitably lead to rebellion in the long run.

(End of this chapter)