Chapter 155 Chicken Coop

Chapter 155: Chicken Coop

In early April of Red Mountain Village, the villagers had to temporarily set aside their work reclaiming wasteland and begin planting the sugarcane that Boss Meng wanted. A large batch of premium sugarcane was selected as seeds, and Meng Wan even invited an old farmer who had been planting sugarcane for over a decade to personally teach the villagers how to plant it.

"See? Choose the tip and middle sections of the cane stalk, cut here, and cut into segments with two or three buds each. It's that simple."

The old farmer pointed to the cuttings he had prepared and explained to the other villagers, "The prepared cuttings can't be planted directly. You also need to make some limewater, soak the cuttings in it for a full day and night, take them out, let the limewater on the surface air-dry, and then plant them in the fields."

The villagers in front could still understand, but when it came to the limewater, they were confused.

"Isn't lime used by the local lord for building walls? How can it be made into water and applied to crops?"

Meng Wan, listening with great interest, chimed in, "I understand, Old Gan. Does the limewater reduce seedling diseases?" He wasn't good at farming, but he knew that limewater has a sterilizing effect.

Old Gan pondered Meng Wan's words. "Diseases? Meng Fulang sure knows how to put things. In our village, we used to soak sugarcane cuttings in wood ash water. Later, a family earned money and wanted to build a house. They bought a lot of lime and suddenly thought of using it to soak sugarcane seeds. Unexpectedly, that batch of sugarcane really had little stem rot or flower rot. The news spread in the village, and everyone started using limewater to soak the seeds."

Everyone called him Old Gan, though his surname might not have been Gan. He was someone Meng Wan had asked his grandmaster Lin Yi to locate in Yangzhou back then.

Yangzhou was now the most prosperous and wealthy place in Yu State. This old farmer, despite his unassuming appearance, actually ran a sugar workshop at home. Only Lin Yi could have persuaded him to travel all the way to the remote Lingnan region.

He was old and had also helped arrange the purchase of seeds. The journey was slow, and he only recently arrived in Heshan County.

Old Gan stayed in Red Mountain Village for three days, personally guiding the villagers in selecting seeds, cutting them, making limewater, soaking the seedlings, and planting them in the ground. He explained every word and action in detail, breaking it down for the villagers.

That wasn't all. Since Meng Wan had contracted land in two villages, Red Mountain Village was mostly taken care of, but he still needed to go to Red Mud Village.

However, his body wasn't suited for hard travel. Coming to Red Mountain Village was already difficult, and he absolutely couldn't go to Red Mud Village. So he had to let Song Tingzhou and the Tao brothers take the old farmer and cartloads of seedlings to Red Mud Village.

Red Mountain Village was now very peaceful. The elderly, women, and xiaoge at home cut the seedlings, made limewater, and soaked them, while the strong young men pushed the soaked seedlings on handcarts to the fields for planting.

The wasteland had been mostly leveled. Children were sent by adults to pick up stones and pull out newly grown weeds in the fields. They could also play around in the fields and come back covered in dirt.

Tong Shun's family situation was unusual: they had no land, and he wasn't old enough. In previous years, they would take the opportunity to plant some grain in the empty space near their doorstep. With just him and his grandmother, they needed little food and barely got by.

Meng Wan hired this boy, paying him eighteen wen per day, and just had him follow the women and xiaoge and do whatever he could manage.

Cutting sugarcane was actually very physically demanding. The women and xiaoge took pity on Tong Shun and had him do lighter tasks, like making limewater and soaking the sugarcane.

Meng Wan sat in the courtyard basking in the sun. Tong Shun's grandmother was in poor health and hard of hearing. She took a short walk in the yard and then went back to lie down in her room.

Qing Xing got water to wash clothes. Qin Jiao pushed a cart of sugarcane into the yard and stood cutting the seeds with a knife.

He stood straight, but after a while, probably finding it tiring, he also pulled over a stool and sat down to cut.

"Are you also going to build a sugar workshop?" he suddenly asked Meng Wan.

"Of course. If not, would I transport all this sugarcane to a sugar workshop in Yangzhou?" That would be even more expensive. Meng Wan had always aimed to set up a sugar workshop.

All the sugar workshops in Yu State were in the Jiangnan region. There, all industries were bustling, and merchants gathered in droves. Besides sugar workshops, the most famous industries were salt and textiles, followed by ceramics, shipbuilding, silk, tea, and many others. Merchants who entered Jiangnan were sure to be enchanted and reluctant to leave.

However, local merchants were all formidable. Ordinary small traders could only get a little taste. Third Master Zhu would probably find it difficult to make a breakthrough in Jiangnan. But Lingnan was different. Meng Wan reckoned he had already paved the way here. It was better to benefit his own people than outsiders. It was time to write to Third Uncle Zhu.

Seeing him lost in thought, Qin Jiao suddenly remarked, "How is your brain wired?"

Meng Wan smiled helplessly. "I'm actually just an ordinary person. It's just that my ideas are a bit bolder than many people's ideas."

He had an advantage, borrowing the wisdom of predecessors. But these people of the past weren't all fools. Although most people's thinking was quite rigid, there were some extremely intelligent people. Otherwise, many things wouldn't have appeared out of nowhere—for example, potatoes were an example.

"Bolder?" Probably not just that. Anyway, Qin Jiao had never seen a xiaoge who dared to directly threaten a country gentry to rent land to him, and then decisively spend a huge sum to plant sugarcane and prepare to build a sugar workshop.

After arriving in Lingnan, he had prepared for the possibility that Song Tingzhou would be controlled by the local gentry and unable to act, forcing him to use his status as a marquis heir to suppress them with troops. But who knew that these two—one decisive and efficient, the other cunning and treacherous—would instead clean out the county office thoroughly and give the local gentry a show of force.

Qin Jiao now understood why the Crown Prince, his brother-in-law, had sent him here. One reason was to avoid the attention of Duke Dingxiang and Prince Lian. The second was to temper his character in a remote place. After all, this couple really didn't treat him with the respect due a marquis heir; they didn't hesitate to use him.

Qin Jiao forcefully chopped through a section of sugarcane. Third, he guessed that the Crown Prince also valued Song Tingzhou's relationship with the Lin family and his own potential; if he could achieve some merit when stationed outside, he could be recruited.

Fourth... that day, Meng Fulang's performance in the court of the Shuntian Prefect had caught the Crown Prince's eye. He probably wanted Qin Jiao to stay near him and learn to be sharper.

But his good brother-in-law absolutely couldn't have imagined that this fulang was bold and meticulous, his boldness astonished the world. It couldn't be summed up by the word 'smart' alone.

The sugarcane planting plan in Red Mountain Village was proceeding methodically. After the flat fields were planted with sugarcane, they had to immediately plant rice on the newly reclaimed wasteland.

The hills Meng Wan had rented were also very useful. The mountains in Heshan County were low and densely clustered, quite different from the peaks in the north. To Meng Wan, these hills were perfect for raising animals. The manure left by animals could be fermented and then used to fertilize the villagers' newly reclaimed fields.

And at the very least, he wanted to eat fried chicken and grilled chicken wings.

Meng Wan loved eating chicken. To promote snack culture in advance, he needed to popularize large-scale farming techniques. This would give everyone an inspiration: chicken could be raised like this? Could pigs and ducks also be raised similarly?

The idea was nice for now, but he was also a layman. Unlike the relatively mature sugar workshop, he had to think carefully about the farm. If a large-scale poultry epidemic occurred, he would also need to come up with countermeasures in advance.

At this time, there was no concept of professional breeding. There was no way to find experts to guide him. Many things could only be fumbled through by Meng Wan himself.

After drawing for a long time on paper, he drew a perspective drawing of a chicken coop. He gave it to Qin Jiao and asked him to inquire if Uncle Tao, who knew some carpentry in the village, could make it.

Qin Jiao already knew that he was a disciple of Ms. Xiang, but this was the first time he had seen his drawings. Seeing the lifelike structure on it, he exclaimed in surprise, "What is this?"

Meng Wan found that Qin Jiao had become like a curious baby, asking about everything.

Meng Wan replied helplessly, "A chicken coop."

"A chicken coop? For chickens? You've marked it as four zhang long!" Even though Qin Jiao had been raised in luxury since childhood, he knew that chickens wouldn't live in such a large place—even bigger than an ordinary person's courtyard.

"Because I want to raise a thousand chickens on the hill," Meng Wan said. He thought to himself that the length of thirteen or fourteen meters was still according to the standard of a small chicken coop. If it succeeded this year, he would make even bigger ones next year.

"A thousand chickens!" It wasn't surprising that this marquis heir, who thought he had seen all the world's splendor, reacted so strongly. He had never seen a xiaoge more troublesome than that Meng.

Meng Wan thought he was overreacting. "The other six hills will still be used to plant sugarcane first. Set aside one hill to raise a thousand chickens first. A chicken coop four zhang long can roughly hold one hundred fifty to one hundred sixty chickens. So let's build six chicken coops first."

After he rented the seven hills from the Tong family, he immediately began these preparations. Originally, he intended to use all seven hills for raising chickens. Just as the villagers finished with the sugarcane and planted their own new fields, the timing was perfect for them to raise chickens for him.

Many hands make light work. It seemed like a large number to raise, but he had hired many villagers as well. So seven thousand chickens sounded like a lot, but it was completely achievable.

But the problem was the chicks. That was more troublesome. A chick cost around fifteen wen. Seven thousand chicks would be one hundred and five taels. But where could he buy seven thousand chicks? This terrifying number was harder than conscripting soldiers. Even with money, they couldn't be bought.

So he had to buy fertile eggs and hatch them himself. The problem lay in that: seven thousand fertile eggs. In Yangzhou, they could be gathered, but in Heshan County, one thousand was the limit.

Even though Meng Wan had started making arrangements early, he had only barely gathered a little over two hundred chicks and over eight hundred fertile eggs, and some were lost on the way.

Meng Wan could only hatch these fertile eggs this year. Fortunately, the temperature was just right, neither cold nor too hot. He would hatch as many as possible. If it went smoothly, by next year he could use eggs produced by his own farm to hatch chicks.

Under Qin Jiao's confused gaze, Meng Wan sent him off to make chicken coops with Uncle Tao.

Six chicken coops were also a big project. Uncle Tao in the village couldn't handle it by himself. Fortunately, the structure of the chicken coop was simple. Anyone with a bit of carpentry skill should be able to make it. Now, during land reclamation, a pile of wood had been cut down. He was like the village's generous spender; using all this wood for his benefit was fine.

The benefits of hiring so many people with so much silver immediately showed. Six chicken coops were built in three days.

The relatively flat land at the foot of the hill was almost all used, so they could only level a flat space halfway up the hill. It had rained a couple of times in the past few days, making the mountain roads slippery. Meng Wan couldn't go up the hill himself, so he left the matter to Qin Jiao.

By the time Song Tingzhou finished inspecting all the villages under his name and returned to Red Mountain Village, the sugarcane in the fields by the roadside had already sprouted leaves.

Meng Wan was taking a stroll beside the sugarcane field. His figure was supple and slender, so even in loose clothing, the curve of his belly was particularly noticeable.

Bi Yun, who was beside him, was the first to spot Song Tingzhou and his party approaching. She said with some excitement, "My husband, it's the magistrate and the others returning!"

Meng Wan turned his head and indeed saw Song Tingzhou and the Tao brothers in yamen runner uniforms.

"You're back?" He took a few leisurely steps forward. The wind from the fields messed up a few strands of his hair, tickling his face. Meng Wan gently stroked them back, showing a hint of tenderness.

Song Tingzhou strode over to him. "I was delayed a few days at Hongguo Village. You weren't getting too worried, were you?"

Seeing this, Meng Wan felt a deeply contented sense of security. He fanned Song Tingzhou a couple of times, saying, "No rush. The village might be even cooler than the county seat. This morning, Qin Jiao caught some shrimp and grass carp. You should go back and freshen up—your face is covered in sweat."

Song Tingzhou fastidiously took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweaty hands, handed the horse to Tao Si, and took Meng Wan's hand to walk back.

Everyone tactfully gave the couple space, separated for over a month; even Bi Yun left with the Tao family.

Meng Wan was thinking about Chang Jinhua, who was alone at the county office. "Did you return to the county office midway? How is Mother? That day, we hadn't been to Hongshan Village before, so we didn't know how things would go. If I had known, I would have brought Mother along. Maybe she would prefer staying in the countryside over the county town."

"Next time. Now that the village matters are settled, we should go back." Song Tingzhou's skin had darkened two shades from this inspection trip, but he had grown much more resolute.

Meng Wan looked at the lush, boundless sugarcane fields. "True. Back in the county town, there are other matters to prepare." The chicken farming had been entrusted to Tao Er, and a dozen or so careful villagers had been selected to feed the chicks. After returning to the county town, he would have to prepare for the sugar workshop. At this rate, he wouldn't be back until December at the earliest.

At the beginning of this month, the village paid out the first month's wages. In the neighboring village, it was handled by Song Tingzhou and Old Gan. Meng Wan did not go, but the two villages were fairly close, and the sugarcane planting arrangements were mostly the same.

Qin Jiao brought the wages for Hongni Village and distributed them to the villagers together with the village head. The same was done in Hongshan Village. When they received the strings of copper coins in their hands, the villagers' worries were lifted, and they finally burst into genuine joy.

A family with two workers earned two taels of silver plus a few hundred coppers in a month; even a single worker brought in over one tael. Those days, the village was livelier than during the New Year. Some saved the money, reluctant to spend it; others, after so many years of hardship, bought rice and meat to improve their children's meals. Regardless, the villagers' eyes held sparkling glimmers—hope and longing for a better life in the future.