Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 217 Planting Trees

"Are these all for us?" Cheng Qiao's voice changed with surprise. She looked at the ten carts full of saplings. Each one was as fresh and alive as if it had just been pulled out of the ground.

Song Chunlin handed her a catalog and said, "Look, it's all recorded. All kinds of varieties are written down. Just follow the marks to find them. Remember to dig holes and plant them quickly."

Cheng Qiao's expression was complicated. Can this thing survive just by planting it? Why did this young master say it so easily? And you have to choose the right place when digging a hole?

Yes, she also has to arrange a piece of land to plant fruit trees.

Song Chunlin also realized at this time that these saplings brought more surprise than joy to Cheng Qiao. He looked at Cheng Qiao's embarrassed expression and realized belatedly that he seemed to have caused her trouble.

"Well, Sister Cheng, how about you give me a piece of land and I can grow crops on my own."

Cheng Qiao looked at Song Chunlin's cautious look and laughed at himself: "No need, I can still find someone to dig a hole, but this is the land..."

Cheng Qiao looked a little embarrassed. She pointed to the feng shui map in the house and said to Song Chunlin, "We still have a few small hills around Wanshan, but they are relatively small. Moreover, Wanshan is not like Baita City and Yuexi. We are the city with the most water shortage. Now it has entered the dry season. Your saplings are still small. If there is no water, I don't know if they can survive."

It turned out that she was worried about this. Song Chunlin patted his chest and assured her: "Don't worry, Sister Cheng, these saplings of mine are guaranteed to survive."

Cheng Qiao was amused by his words, so she immediately marked a small hill for him. This place was closer to the water source and more convenient for Song Chunlin to get water. However, in her heart, she actually did not agree with Song Chunlin planting fruit trees. There were few fruit farmers here, and she had never heard of anyone wanting to plant Pinellia ternata here.

In addition, she had never heard of the species recorded in the catalog written by Song Chunlin, let alone seen them. She only knew about the Pinellia ternata, but how could she know that there were so many species of Pinellia ternata?

After Song Chunlin asked about the direction of the hill, he immediately led his men and pulled the ten carts of fruit saplings over there. This time, Gu Fengyue also assigned a few Gu family soldiers to Song Chunlin. Originally, he thought that Cheng Qiao could send the garrison troops to dig the hole, but Song Chunlin no longer counted on it and just asked the Gu family soldiers who followed to help dig.

"Come, line up and get a shovel, one for each person!" Song Chunlin took out a few engineer shovels from somewhere on the car. These tools were sharp and sturdy, and were very good at digging holes. Several soldiers from the Gu family dug the holes very quickly, and dug two neat rows of shallow pits on the bare hill according to the spacing specified by Song Chunlin.

They had just finished digging two rows of pits when a group of men dressed as farmers came over carrying hoes.

One of the leaders found Song Chunlin, bowed to him, and then said, "Young Master, we were sent by Madam Cheng to help you plant trees."

The man looked honest, so Song Chunlin nodded at him, then pointed to the side and determined the spacing, and told them to dig the holes at about the same distance.

This job was relatively easy. These men were used to doing farm work. They used their hoes to dig holes. The holes for saplings were not deep and could be dug in just a few strokes. However, there were more of them. Song Chunlin asked them to fill the entire hill with holes. This was a big project.

Seeing that they were working smoothly, Song Chunlin helped to move the saplings from the car. According to his plan, one-third of the hilltop would be planted with jujube trees, and the rest would be planted with apple trees. There were many types of apple trees, so Song Chunlin also divided the areas specifically, with yellow apples and red Fuji apples each occupying one area, which would make it easier to classify them when harvesting.

Song Chunlin was carrying the saplings with great effort. The group of men were worried that the child could not lift them. But he not only lifted them, but also did it with ease. The men were so impressed by the child that they turned their anger into strength and dug the hole even more vigorously.

Although ten carts of saplings seemed like a lot, Song Chunlin could move them all by himself quite quickly. The main reason was that he could use his golden finger to be lazy. He would take the opportunity to collect a little bit of saplings into the space every time, and then put them down at the same time. In this way, he moved all the saplings down without anyone noticing.

Song Chunlin carried a bunch of saplings to the front row of pits. He put the saplings into the pits one by one, and all they had to do later was add soil.

The hill was not small actually, and they had been busy all day but had not finished digging the hole. Seeing that it was getting late, Song Chunlin quickly asked someone to come and plant the saplings.

Compared to digging holes, planting saplings is a slower process. One person is needed to hold the sapling while the other two fill the hole with soil. Therefore, by dark, they had only barely finished planting one variety of apples.

On the way back, the group of men did not enter the city. Only then did Song Chunlin realize that they were not from Wanshan City, but from a small village next to Wanshan.

"When the barbarians came, General Cheng immediately raised the signal smoke. When we saw the signal smoke, we knew it was time to run, so we were not persecuted by the barbarians."

The whole village was looted, but their village was relatively poor, and the barbarians didn't find much. They were so angry that they left cursing.

Song Chunlin was a little curious about their village. The man was quite embarrassed: "Hey, what's so good about our small village? The land is too poor and there is little water for farming. The harvest is little no matter what we plant, but we can barely survive. General Cheng is a good man. When he was around, he would bring the army to help us transport water..." As the man spoke, his voice became hoarse, and it was obvious that he could not get over the death of General Cheng.

Song Chunlin didn't know how to comfort them, so he could only follow them silently, walking down the mountain. The village was not too far from the hill. Cheng Qiao probably wanted Song Chunlin to take care of these villagers, so he arranged the place to plant fruit trees here.

Entering the village, Song Chunlin looked at the adobe houses, which were short and simple. The villagers looked simple and kind. When they heard that Song Chunlin came here to plant fruit trees, they surrounded him and tried to persuade him.

"Young Master, our area is very dry. Many people died of thirst during the drought in the past few years. It's a waste if you plant your fruit trees here."

"Yes, yes, our place is not as good as Yuexi. Yuexi has a river, but we have nothing here. We have to go somewhere else to get water. Fruit trees are precious, so I'm afraid they won't survive."

One of the gray-haired old men was even more earnest: "Young Master, listen to our advice. Take this sapling to another place while it's still fresh. Even the White Tower is better than here."

Everyone surrounded Song Chunlin, and they all tried to persuade him. Song Chunlin did not feel impatient, but smiled and asked them:

"Who told you that you can't plant trees if there's not enough water? What if the trees I want to plant are more drought-resistant?"

Ah this, the group of people fell into deep thought, but they felt something was wrong.

“Is there really such a drought-resistant tree in the world?”

Song Chunlin affirmed: "Of course there are. There are not only trees, but also drought-resistant crops. For example, do you know the corn grown over at the White Pagoda?"

"Corn?" The old men were puzzled. "Isn't that something the nobles in the capital play with? It can't be eaten or drunk. Even if it is drought-resistant, what can it be used for?"

Song Chunlin knew that he could not convince them today. Facts speak louder than words. When the things are grown, they will know that what he said is true.

After four days of hard work, the original small hill is now planted with fruit saplings. In order to ensure the survival of these saplings, Song Chunlin even brought several trucks of water overnight to water the saplings one by one. Of course, the water contains spiritual spring water, which can ensure the survival of these saplings.

Planting the saplings does not mean that they can be left alone. Song Chunlin cannot keep an eye on them every day, so this matter can only be entrusted to those men. This was also Cheng Qiao's original intention. The government allocated money to these people and let them form a small team. Their daily job was to patrol the mountains to see if the saplings were sick or not growing well.

The job was simple and the pay was not much, but for the villagers, it solved an urgent problem. At least the family had some money to buy food.

Speaking of food, Song Chunlin saw that Wanshan's granary was smaller than Yuexi's, and there was even less food inside. Looking at the pitiful food, Song Chunlin was a good person and helped them fill up the granary. Anyway, he couldn't finish eating the food in his space, so it was a good opportunity to clean up his inventory and store other good things.

As for how Cheng Qiao felt when he saw the granary full of grain, it was not within Song Chunlin's consideration, so much so that Cheng Qiao still couldn't figure out how those barbarians could have so much grain left in the granary after eating and drinking every day.

When Gu Fengyue came to pick up Song Chunlin, she was surprised to find that he had become darker. His originally fair skin was now tanned. She touched his cheek with some heartache.

"It's a little darker."

Song Chunlin slapped his claws away: "No way, I'm white!" Then he took out a small mirror slyly and looked at himself carefully. Finally, he discovered tragically that he was really dark.

"Damn, I look so ugly when I'm dark!"

Gu Fengyue covered her lips to hold back her laughter, but she did not forget to comfort him: "It's okay, Chunlin looks good in any color."

Song Chunlin was puzzled: "Really?"

"Really?" Gu Fengyue rubbed his head and said, "Let's go. Brother is going back. You should go back with him."

When it comes to going back, Song Chunlin seems a little embarrassed.

"Well, I seem to have some unfinished business..." Song Chunlin's voice gradually weakened.

Gu Fengyue sighed: "Tell me, after planting fruit trees, what else do you want to plant?"

"Grape."

"Grapes? Grapes from the Western Regions? Planted here?" Gu Fengyue was a little uncertain.

Song Chunlin hummed, and then it was his turn to wonder: "No one has ever grown grapes here?"

"Of course. Have you ever seen grapes here?"

"No." Song Chunlin shook his head honestly. So now, apart from the Western Region, no one here grows grapes? Does that mean he will be the first person to grow grapes!

The more Song Chunlin thought about it, the more excited he became: "Gu Fengyue, I want to grow grapes!"

Gu Fengyue's face darkened. Well, this ancestor won't be able to go back anytime soon.

But looking at the sparkle in his eyes, Gu Fengyue smiled again. Well, let him be happy. Anyway, it’s good that he is not the one who will face Uncle Song’s anger.

Song Chunlin chattered to Gu Fengyue about his ideas for the vineyard, such as how big the vineyard should be, what kinds of grapes to plant, and the output and transportation of grapes. Considering the inconvenient transportation in ancient times, transportation was also a big problem. If this was the case, making raisins or wine would be the best way to sell them.

Song Chunlin became more and more excited as he spoke. He even thought of several names for the wine, but was not very satisfied with any of them.

Gu Fengyue looked at his happy expression and pulled him to sit down beside her: "Okay, now I want to taste the wine you mentioned. By the way, the wine you sent to the Marquis' Mansion in previous years was also made from the grapes here. If you want to make wine, a grape estate is not enough. You also need to build a winemaking workshop. I guess you can't decide this. The court has strict control over alcohol. If you want to build a winemaking workshop, you have to apply to the Ministry of Revenue in the capital."

Song Chunlin's excitement was dampened. He wanted to build a wine-making workshop in the frontier, but he had to go to the Ministry of Revenue in Beijing to apply for it. And why should it be the Ministry of Revenue?

Gu Fengyue explained to him, "The Ministry of Revenue manages the money. The profit of wine is huge. Before the government took over, many people brewed wine privately and sold it. Those people's brewing skills were not good, and the materials were not good, but they dared to sell it at a sky-high price. In addition, there were many cases of fake wine killing people. Emperor Taizu was furious, and he joined forces with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Revenue, and even the Ministry of Works to rectify those small private workshops and unify the management of other large workshops. Even the price was fixed, so that the people could buy safe and cheap wine."

After listening to this, Song Chunlin was filled with admiration for Emperor Taizu.

"Then do I have to go back to the capital?" Song Chunlin frowned. He now had a psychological trauma about riding a horse or a carriage. This was the disadvantage of ancient times: the inconvenient transportation. In modern society, he could reach the capital in less than three hours by plane. Now he could only walk by himself.

"Oh, if only I could fly, I could reach the capital in no time, instead of having to rely on my two legs to go everywhere like now. It would take me forever to walk."

Gu Fengyue pursed her lips: "So, Chunlin, have you flown before?"

Song Chunlin shook his head. "I have never flown before. At that time, I was lucky to have enough food to eat. I didn't have money to take a plane. I took the green train to college. When I had money later, I didn't want to take a plane anymore, and I didn't need to take a plane. If I had known that the end of the world would come, I would have flown to a safer place and hidden myself. Anyway, I have space and I won't starve to death."