Chapter 1065: Chapter 1008: Rice-Wheat Rotation

After getting off the ship and looking at the brick houses lining the street, the refugees were all amazed.

Even in Leia, you wouldn’t see such a concentration of neatly arranged brick structures.

Hunchbacked Walin looked around and stomped twice on the stone pavement: "Damn, are the citizens at the empire’s border this wealthy?"

Tall Sani, usually taciturn, followed Walin and remarked, "This place is nice."

"This is just a town; Xiaochi City must be better," Hunchbacked Walin glanced at the others, "So, how about we stick together? Where to?"

Anselm wasn’t focused on the town: "I want to go to that place we just saw, check out the paddy field."

"No way, it’s too far. Why not go to a tavern and look for Liu Ying?"

"No, let’s go to the paddy field."

"Tavern!"

"Paddy field!"

Seeing the disagreement, Xie Li didn’t want to waste time, so he stood up and said, "How about this, you could make a wager on whether what you saw was grass or not?"

"What do you mean?" Anselm hadn’t caught on yet.

Hunchbacked Walin clapped first: "Great, how about this? If it’s not grass, you have to return all the money you won on the ship to us."

Anselm finally understood and sneered: "If you lose, you give me a share of the winnings from the ship."

"Alright, let’s bet."

Xie Li turned to look at Bartow: "Bartow, how about you?"

Despite being wary of the brothers’ fists, Bartow gritted his teeth and said, "I also want to check out that paddy field."

Though Bartow had fertile farmland in his hometown, it was taken by the nobles to plant tulips when he was five.

His uncle was in good terms with the manor steward and stayed to manage the land, while he and his parents were left to wander, becoming tenant farmers and hired laborers.

At first, as Public Register Farmers, the lords didn’t exploit them too severely, but as tenant farmers, the whip swung incessantly.

Bartow, now just twenty-five, looked forty, covered in whip scars.

Truthfully, although Falan people are purportedly wealthier and more advanced,

The Falan refugees on the boat were clearly thinner and shorter compared to Leia refugees.

Bartow especially, with his protruding cheekbones and sunken eyes, looked like a skeleton.

This wasn’t because Leia people were more kind-hearted than Falan people; it was just that the Leia Kingdom’s administrative power wasn’t at the level of severe exploitation.

Xie Li had heard them talking, Bartow was skilled at tending olives and wheat.

The land he managed often produced an additional half yield per mu, and he even innovatively invented the olive branch grafting method.

The farm owner rewarded him with a piece of salted pork, which Bartow ate for a year. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

This demonstrated the harshness farm owners placed on hired laborers and tenant farmers.

The Falan Kingdom transported shiploads of refugees to the frontier and Norn, yet couldn’t stop the road from being overrun by vagrants.

There were even situations where two cities were surrounded by wandering refugees along several kilometers of roads.

In terms of the refugee issue, Falan’s situation was far worse than Leia’s.

Xie Li shook his head, trying to cast away his random thoughts.

The group walked not long before reaching the fields.

Xie Li walked ahead, approaching an elderly farmer resting under the shade of a large tree: "Elder, I have something to ask you."

Hearing Xie Li’s polite tone, the old man, propping himself on the ridge in grass shoes, asked, "What do you want to ask?"

"Is this field planted with grass?" Anselm asked first.

"No, it’s Rice Berry."

"Woohoo—" The Eagle’s Claw Bay brothers high-fived.

As for Anselm, he scowled and returned the money he had won from the Eagle’s Claw Bay brothers today.

Rice Berry, being a moisture-loving crop, actually had significant water requirements.

"Is this the grassland irrigation method?"

"Grassland irrigation method, what’s that? This is double-cropping rice and wheat."

The Eagle’s Claw Bay brothers erupted in cheers once again, while Anselm completely scowled, handing over several dinars to the two.

"What’s double-cropping rice and wheat?" Anselm asked angrily while passing money.

The farmer suddenly became wary, surveying them: "Which village are you from?"

Knowing the elderly farmer was suspicious, Xie Li quickly stepped forward: "We are refugees from Leia, here’s our identification document."

Though the farmer couldn’t read, he recognized the pattern.

He wasn’t sure of their identities, but recalling that rice-wheat double-cropping wasn’t a secret—the Truth Newspaper had even published it—he straightforwardly explained to Xie Li.

The rice-wheat double-cropping was an agricultural experiment proposed by a Priest-in-Charge in Hotam County.

It involved learning the common grassland irrigation method from the Golden Plains area, then replacing grass with Rice Berries.

The key is to pre-grow seedlings of Rice Berries, quickly harvest wheat in late May, then transplant Rice Berries directly into the paddy fields.

By late August, Rice Berry harvesting occurs when temperatures drop, and river water levels decrease.

Then you close the gate, drain the paddy, excavate river silt for fertilization, and plow the soil with heavy plows.

Within one to two weeks, waiting for the wheat field to dry slightly, then quickly sow winter wheat.

"Isn’t that too rushed?" Anselm found it absurd, "Do you sow broadcast?"

"No, we use row sowing, but we’ve got horse-drawn seeders, which are very efficient."

Anselm found it more outrageous: "If you don’t plant grass, what do horses eat?"

"The plains horses feed on fermented sweet bean fodder exported from Black Snake Bay along with hill wild turnips, grass, and silage from the warehouse.

As for Mountain County, they either eat the golden grass from Shattered Stone Plain or are simply left to graze on mountain meadows."

Sweet bean, a crop humans can’t digest, is quite suitable for feeding farm horses.

"Do you purchase horse fodder directly? Isn’t that expensive? Can you cover the cost?"

"Yes, a pound of wheat can exchange for seven to eight pounds of sweet bean and golden dry grass," the farmer counted on his fingers, "Generally, the village pools resources and finds Bulk Blessings Wholesale for group purchasing, which is cheaper."

Anselm was momentarily bewildered, buying fodder for horses without losing money? How was it done?

He sometimes sneaked his horse to the lord’s pasture for feeding but often ended up losing money.

What fodder and dry grass could one pound of wheat exchange for seven or eight pounds?

He hadn’t noticed Xie Li was stunned, not even hearing the subsequent conversation.

According to this method, rice-wheat double-cropping, harvesting twice a year, might require rest every seven to eight years to restore fertility.

Pingyuan County’s wheat average yield is 120 pounds per mu, Rice Berry average yield is 180 pounds per mu, and Thousand River Valley yields 300 pounds per mu annually!

That’s even higher than the most fertile lands of the Golden Plains!

This isn’t just improving crop yield per mu, but entirely overturning the production model.

If the Golden Plains are an average swordsman, then Thousand River Valley is a swordsman with four arms wielding a chainsaw sword.

According to Xie Li’s previous memory of the Thousand River Valley tax records, Hotam County has over a million hectares of farmland.

If the entire region applied this rice-wheat double-cropping, one county could produce millions of tons of grain.

Just Hotam County alone could supply the entire Holy Alliance with food.

If the remaining land were used for economic crops, the rest of the populace could mine and produce weapons...

Xie Li shivered: "Has this method been widely promoted throughout Hotam County?"

"Not yet, but..."

Xie Li’s relaxed mood rose again: "But what?"

"But," a middle-aged farmer popped out unexpectedly, "in two years, this double-crop method might be extensively promoted."

"Why?!"

"I heard the Priest-in-Charge who experimented with rice-wheat double-cropping was quickly promoted, rose three levels, and went to South Mangde County as Deputy County Governor for water and agriculture."

"So I reckon that this year, Priests-in-Charge across regions will probably fully promote rice-wheat double-cropping. Who doesn’t want to advance, right?

The County Governor of Hotam County has said, whoever can successfully promote rice-wheat double-cropping or achieve similar feats, he’d be the first to file a promotion report for him!"