Chapter 440: Constructing the Inner Loop

After the spring ploughing, the people of the four counties of Pingzhou began to perform corvée labor.

The government organized the people to dig canals, build roads and widen official roads, and build city walls...

The current large-scale infrastructure projects in the entire Pingzhou are tentatively scheduled for these three items.

In fact, these three items are quite labor-intensive, but they can only be done one by one. The first corvée labor arranged is to clean the canals.

Cleaning the ditches, this time includes cleaning the silt at the bottom of the river ditch, and removing the weeds on both sides of the ditch, etc. The purpose is to widen and deepen the original ditch to facilitate water diversion and drainage.

In this way, it is convenient to irrigate farmland, and it is also an effective means to prevent floods and waterlogging disasters.

Before cleaning each ditch, the water inlet will be blocked in advance at the upstream, and people will be organized to clean it when the water in the ditch is almost gone.

Once the water in the ditch is dry, they can also pick up a lot of fish of all sizes.

These fish will be sent to the temporary kitchen for unified processing. These fish were either boiled into fish soup with tofu or fried until crispy with a little salt. At dinner, each of them was given a bowl of fish soup or a spoonful of dried fish.

This was the time that all the men who came to serve were looking forward to the most, which made them feel very happy.

Wu Qi was from Xiangping and was also an outstanding student of Liaodong Academy.

Last year, a large number of craftsmen were called in to build a kang in the three counties of Pingzhou. The promotion and completion of this matter required the guidance and assistance of many officials. At that time, Liaodong County was short of staff at the grassroots level, and some outstanding students of Liaodong Academy were recruited to help.

He also went and was rewarded for his outstanding performance.

This year, the government is still short of staff to repair ditches and canals. Most of the students in their batch last year were also recruited to help this time.

For example, he is one of the supervisors this time.

Seeing the men started to work, Wu Qi hurriedly said, "Dig out the silt from these ditches, canals, and ponds, and put them all together."

Each section of the river and canal has a place marked out for them to pile up the silt. Later, people will be arranged to turn and dry the silt.

After throwing the shovel and dustpan down, one-third of the men on the shore went down, another one-third was clearing weeds, and the last one-third was responsible for transporting the silt.

The men hummed and hawed as they worked, saying, "This year's work is quite strenuous."

"Didn't the officials say that? Once these ditches are built, the water will be deeper, and it will be more convenient to irrigate farmland in the future. In case of a flood, the water can be drained faster. So it's okay to work hard."

"Supervisor Wu, are these silts useful?" The man below asked with a smile.

Wu Qi was helping to carry a dustpan of silt to the shore. When he heard the question, he said unhappily, "Why do you care? Just do the work when I ask you to do it. Why are you asking so many questions?!" In fact, he didn't understand much. Anyway, the silt was specified by the warehouse officer Guo.

This silt was indeed specified by Guo Chunsheng.

Lu Songli knew very well that the low harvest at this time and the poor growth of crops had a lot to do with insufficient fertility.

At this time, there was already a prototype of farmyard manure fermentation, but it had not yet been fully promoted. Moreover, farmyard manure was not enough.

Silt is rich in organic matter. After proper treatment, it can be converted into high-efficiency fertilizer, lending the nutrients needed by plants, and can also improve soil quality, promote microbial reproduction and improve soil fertility. There is also humus on the mountain, which contains humus and is rich in organic fertilizer, and is also a soil conditioner.

Lu Songli told Guo Chunsheng and others about these, and they were experimenting last year, and it really increased the harvest of crops.

Since the river channels had to be cleared this year anyway, Guo Chunsheng simply asked people to collect a lot of silt.

While the people were busy with spring ploughing and then working hard to perform corvée, various workshops originally opened in Liaodong County also sent people to the other three counties of Pingzhou to select suitable addresses to open branches.

In general, Pingzhou has entered a period of balanced development.

Lu Songli is committed to building an internal circulation of Pingzhou's self-system and arming herself.

She is preparing for a rainy day. If Pingzhou is blocked in the future, she can also achieve self-sufficiency as much as possible.

At this time, branches of the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce have also been laid out in some places.

And because the goods sold are either good quality and cheap, or unique. The huge blue ocean market is occupied by only their family. So the business is booming, and a lot of silver is brought back and transported back to Pingzhou to give Pingzhou a blood transfusion.

The people of Pingzhou are in the midst of rapid changes, and they are also the ones who can feel the changes in Pingzhou the most, among which the people of Liaoxi County feel the most obvious.

Liaoxi County, Yi County, Yushu Village

Auntie Liu and her elder sister separated at the first intersection in the village and went back to their own homes.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw her eldest daughter-in-law hanging clothes.

When Auntie Liu saw her mother-in-law, she immediately greeted her, "Mom, are you back from the market?"

Auntie Liu smiled and said, "I came back after buying things. Did you pick up so many mushrooms today?"

Auntie Liu replied, "Yes, they are all hanging here. I will pick some more in the afternoon."

Mushrooms, black fungus and other mountain products can be exchanged for money after drying. They can sell them to the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce Grain and Oil Store, or wait for people from the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce to come to the village to buy them together.

These mushrooms are all from the government. They were taken to the mountains to identify them and confirmed that they were non-toxic and edible.

"Where is your father?"

"Dad went to the entrance of the village. Did you see him when you came back?" During this period, her husband went to perform corvée labor, and her younger uncle went to work in the county. Everyone has their own things.

"Your father has to run to the entrance of the village several times every day. He is more concerned about building a private school in the village than building his own house." Aunt Liu muttered.

Aunt Liu smiled, "That's impossible."

A private school is being built at the entrance of the village. This private school is jointly built by their Yushu Village and several villages. The government promised to pay half of the money.

Because of their good geographical location, the location of the private school in Yushu Village was chosen at the entrance of their village.

After this matter was decided, the village heads and prestigious elders of their several villages held a meeting together and agreed that every household in their several villages would contribute money and effort to work together to build the private school.

Elderly people like her father-in-law in the village would stroll at the entrance of the village every day, lend a hand, and help with some small things.

"Where's your little sister?"

"She's in the house. She might be feeling a little uncomfortable."

"I'll go in and take a look." Aunt Liu didn't go into the house where she and the old man were, but went to the small house next to it. She had been thinking about it for a long time. This time she went to the market to buy things for her daughter.

"Mom..." Liu Dani was lying in the house. She felt uncomfortable in her stomach. When she saw her mother coming in, she called her.

"Are you still feeling uncomfortable?"

"A little."

"I'll make you a bowl of ginger soup later." Aunt Liu said, and went to look through the basket. "I just went to the grain and oil grocery store of the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce in the town and bought a square of paper. Here, you can use it as a cushion."

Liu Dani blushed and took it.

Recently, the paper mill in Liaodong County has produced two kinds of paper, one of which is yellow-brown toilet paper.

Toilet paper is not expensive. It costs one penny per bundle. It is thick and cut into squares. If a family of three uses it sparingly, it can last for a month. She felt it was much better than side chips.

Another kind of paper towel that was better quality than toilet paper was green in color. She heard that this green paper towel was specially developed for female menstrual blood.

Liu Dani leaned sideways, took out a thick piece of paper towel, and stuffed it into the menstrual belt.

Aunt Liu couldn't help but mutter, "You are lucky. We used to stuff it with plant ash. But your aunt said that plant ash was not clean and hygienic, so she asked me to buy you green paper towel."

It was after Lord Lu took office that the opportunities for ordinary people like them to make money increased, and they were willing to spend money like this because they could make money from time to time.

Liu Dani thought to herself that she liked the life now.