Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 780 Agreement

Moreover, Mr. Yu and Hualei have been working together for many years and have a high level of mutual trust. Therefore, Mr. Yu did not fill in the price of cotton in the agreement, and just let Hualei decide.

Of course, Mr. Yu had already written a letter to Zhou Ziren in the northwest about these things.

Hua Lei certainly would not disappoint Mr. Yu's trust. After filling in the appropriate price according to the market conditions, she asked Tian Xiaocheng to take the agreement signed and sealed by Lin Zhizhou and herself back to Mr. Yu.

This agreement was equivalent to sending money to the people of Changhuai Prefecture. So, after Lin Zhizhou distributed the cotton seeds needed by the people, he began to lead the people and the teachers of the agronomy class to plant cotton.

Generally speaking, in many areas, cotton is planted once a year. However, in Xichang, due to the hot weather, cotton can be planted twice a year.

Therefore, Lin Zhizhou and the people of Changhuaizhou started to open up wasteland and plant crops with all their might, hoping to plant cotton as soon as possible so that they could harvest it earlier.

Moreover, when Lord Hua sent the cotton seeds over, he also instructed Lin Zhizhou that when the cotton matured this season, some of the cotton seeds should be allocated to the neighboring Changwu Prefecture for planting.

The neighboring Changwu Prefecture planted jujube trees, which would take three years to bloom and bear fruit. So, in the first two years, in order to ensure that the people of Changwu Prefecture would not be left out, they first planted cotton for two years to supplement their crops.

Of course, Lin Zhizhou would not object to Mr. Hua's proposal. Mr. Hua also helped to advance the money for the cotton seeds.

As for the repayment period, the prefect also said that when the people have income, they can repay it in installments without interest. Such a good thing happened only to me and the neighboring Sun Zhizhou.

From then on, cotton became the pillar industry of Changhuai Prefecture. Therefore, Lin Zhizhou was also grateful to Hualei and obeyed his orders. He also personally supervised the planting of cotton.

The reason why cotton is planted in Changhuai Prefecture is that there are many saline-alkali lands in Changhuai Prefecture. The severity of saline-alkali lands can be distinguished by the salt content in the soil.

If you look at it from the outside and see that there is a layer of frost-like substance on the ground in spring, it means that the salt and alkali content is quite serious.

Severe saline-alkali land cannot grow crops. Even if crops are grown, they are likely to die on a large scale, so it is not suitable for growing general crops.

However, relatively speaking, cotton is a crop that is more adaptable to saline-alkali land. Therefore, Hualei asked Lin Zhizhou to lead the people to plant cotton on saline-alkali land that was not too serious.

While the locals were planting cotton, Hualei walked around Changhuai Prefecture carefully and found that there were nearly 1,000 mu of saline-alkali land with serious salinity near the border.

In the saline-alkali land, the soil was hardened, the plants were sparse, and it was a desolate place. At this time, Hualei stood on the edge of the saline-alkali land and pondered for a long time.

If saline-alkali land is to be improved and crops planted, it will be a long and huge process in Xichang, which is short of water and fertilizer.

Moreover, there are a lot of wastelands in the neighboring state that are not saline-alkali land, so the saline-alkali land improvement project is not suitable for the time being.

However, it seemed a bit of a waste to leave it like this. How to make use of the saline-alkali land to benefit Xichang? Hualei pondered.

"Sir Pei, when you were doing your internship at the Ministry of Industry, did you encounter the process of refining saltpeter? As far as I know, the saltpeter used by the court is refined by the Ministry of Industry. Do you know how to refine it?" Hua Lei asked Rong Jin who was standing beside her.

Looking at the flower buds, Rong Jin nodded and said, “I know this, I have seen the method of refining saltpeter in the Ministry of Industry.

However, the Ministry of Works usually refined saltpeter by scraping saltpeter soil from pigs, cattle pens, and the walls of toilets. After refining and purifying, it was handed over to the Ministry of Rites for sale.

Moreover, the method of refining saltpeter is also preserved in the Taoli Room of the Hanlin Academy, and I have also seen it. Sister Hua, do you want to use saline-alkali land to refine saltpeter to make ice?"

Rong Jin now knows Hua Lei very well. So as soon as Hua Lei asked a question, Rong Jin knew what Hua Lei was thinking.

"Really? Then can we refine it ourselves?" Hua Lei asked in surprise.

"As the local leader, the prefect has the power to refine saltpeter according to the actual local conditions. However, the amount refined and its destination need to be reported."

"That's great, Lord Wan. Let's use this saline-alkali land to extract saltpeter and make ice, right? It's so hot in Xichang Prefecture, and ice is really needed.

Besides, this place is not far from the border market. We can also make ice and sell it. What do you think?" Hua Lei asked Wan Tongpan behind him.

Pan Wan's eyes lit up. If saltpeter could really be extracted from the flower buds and made into ice cubes for sale, then in Xichang, where the temperature is high all year round, it would be like a cash cow!

"Sir, it would be great if we could really use saline-alkali land to extract saltpeter and make ice. The border market has a strong demand." Judge Wan Tong nodded hurriedly.

He has been working in several prefectures in the west for fifteen or sixteen years, starting as a county clerk at the lowest level and rising to his current position as a magistrate.

He had seen a lot of saline-alkali land here, but he had never thought of using it to extract saltpeter, nor had he ever thought of using saltpeter to make ice.

If the question Hualei raised now can really be realized, it would be great. Rong Jin also nodded beside him.

Seeing that several people agreed, Hua Lei immediately returned to the government office of Changhuai Prefecture, wrote a book on the extraction of saltpeter, stamped it, and sent it out immediately.

On the other hand, he immediately contacted Bao Qianhu and asked him to lead some people to Changhuaizhou to prepare to use the saline-alkali land to start digging saltpeter pools and prepare to refine saltpeter.

In addition, Wan Tongpan also asked the people from the government workshop to come over. A few days later, almost all the people had arrived. Because Rong Jin knew how to refine saltpeter, Hua Lei followed and watched.

Rong Jin had a pond dug that was half an acre in size and about a foot and a half deep. The pond walls and bottom were paved with two layers of blue bricks and compacted. Then wooden frames and reed mats were placed on top.

In addition, a hole was drilled at the bottom of the pool wall and a water pipe was installed to connect it to another pool outside the pool. Then, a layer of saline-alkali soil with white frost was scraped off with a hoe on the surface of the saline-alkali land. This soil is rich in saltpeter.

Then, after pouring the saline-alkali soil into the saltpeter making pool, the workers will slowly pour water on the saltpeter soil. The water will flow through the saltpeter soil on the reed mat, dissolving the saltpeter in the saltpeter soil, and gradually flow through the small holes at the bottom of the pool to the connected pool outside the pool.