Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 378 Solving the problem

Mid-to-late July is the peak period for corn to ear and flower. This is the peak period of corn's fastest reproductive growth. During this period, the quality of management will directly affect the number of corn ears, and is also directly related to the yield and quality of corn.

The weather directly affects the growth of corn. In the Great Sheng Dynasty, there were no advanced irrigation and flood control projects, so relying on the weather for food was not an empty talk.

Since July 13, a drizzle began to fall in Shangjing City. At first, the rain was not heavy, but it never stopped.

After four or five days of continuous rain, the rain did not stop but became heavier day by day. Water began to accumulate in the official fields, and the corn plants were soaked in water.

The superiors of the Ministry of Agriculture were a little anxious, but in this era where people depended on the weather for their livelihood, apart from listening to the reports of the actual situation from the roving officials who came to inspect the site again and again, and then reporting the actual situation up the chain of command, the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture could not come up with any specific measures to prevent flooding before specific instructions were issued from above.

Hualei was even more anxious than her boss at the Agriculture Bureau, because her own Yuanying Manor was also under threat. Thinking of the tens of thousands of chickens, ducks, geese and pigs on the manor, Hualei was really worried, so she hurried to Yuanying Manor wearing a straw raincoat.

After touring the village for a long time, he breathed a sigh of relief. Since the last flood, the imperial court has done a very good job in post-disaster reconstruction.

The riverbank is very solid and there should be no possibility of it breaking. All the outlets downstream are unobstructed. Therefore, there are no major problems with the puddles in the southern city area for the time being, and there are no problems with Yuanying Village for the time being.

However, in order to prevent the rain from getting heavier and possibly affecting Yuanying Manor, Hualei sent people to move the nursery originally located in Yuanying Manor to Huaying Manor, and all the elderly and children in it were sent to Huaying Manor. Huaying Manor and Baihua Manor are both located at a relatively high altitude, so there is no concern about flooding.

Several workshops, such as the tofu and fermented bean curd workshops, were also temporarily moved to Huaying Manor. All the bean products from Yuanying Manor, as well as various chicken and duck eggs, and some things in the warehouse were also moved to Huaying Manor in batches.

In addition to these, a large number of chickens, ducks, geese and pigs were transferred and dispersed to Baihuazhuang and Huayingzhuang. A large number of crucian carps and black carps that could be slaughtered were caught and various fish balls were made and stored in large quantities.

Only a group of strong men were left on the farm to take care of the chickens, ducks, geese, pigs and vegetable fields that could not be moved. However, Hualei also told them that if an emergency occurred, they should immediately abandon the chickens, ducks, geese and pigs and evacuate all personnel to ensure their safety first.

After settling the matters at Yuanying Manor, Hualei hurried to the cornfield in the official field. The 400 acres of cornfield assigned to her, like other cornfields, had begun to accumulate water.

Seeing some officials from the Ministry of Agriculture standing helplessly in the office, Hualei was speechless. You know, corn is very sensitive to water from heading to flowering, and can generally only tolerate two to four days of flooding. If it exceeds this time range, the corn may be drowned, which will have a serious impact on the yield.

Moreover, the deeper the flooding and the longer it lasts, the greater the damage to corn. If the drainage is not timely, it may cause the death of the plants and lead to serious reduction in yield.

But I am a lowly person, and I don't have much say or executive power in the office. Hualei was a little anxious, but she still put forward some suggestions and opinions.

I hope the Ministry of Agriculture can ask the Ministry of Revenue to allocate manpower to help build embankments upstream of the corn fields and dig deep ditches downstream to drain water.

However, Hualei's opinions and suggestions were left on the desk of Mr. Huang, the chief minister of the Ministry of Agriculture. It was said that Mr. Huang had gone to the Ministry of Revenue to attend a meeting to discuss flood control and drainage.

After all, the Ministry of Agriculture is in charge of all crops grown, not just corn fields. Without the Grand Minister of Agriculture, others would certainly not exceed their authority and take the initiative to take charge.

If you do this kind of thing well, it may not necessarily bring you any benefit, but if you do it badly, you may lose your official position, so many people are cautious and protect themselves, wandering around in the government office every day without seeking merit or mistakes. Some lazy people will not care about anything.

Hua Lei had no choice. After another long day of waiting from morning to night, there was still no progress on the issue of the cornfield. Hua Lei found Rong Jin and told him about her plan.

He planned to let him take the more than 400 pioneers who were reclaiming land for him on the barren mountain to help drain the 400 acres of corn fields he was responsible for.

Looking at Hua Lei's anxious face, Rong Jin thought about it and nodded. On the one hand, he took more than 400 people who were reclaiming land to the cornfield and began to drain the cornfield according to Hua Lei's request.

On the other hand, he found his grandfather and asked Lord Pei to go to the Ministry of Revenue to ask for the document, while waiting for the emperor to come back from the court and go to the Imperial Study to explain the whole matter.

Hualei led the pioneers to the cornfield and immediately started the windmill to drain the cornfield in the opposite direction. The main function of the watermill is to drain water, which can be used to irrigate the dry cornfield and drain the water from the flooded cornfield in the opposite direction.

On the one hand, the existing dam was built higher upstream of the cornfield to ensure that the river water would not flood into the cornfield. Then a deep horizontal ditch was dug on the cornfield side under the dam to let the accumulated water flow into this ditch and use a water truck to drain the water.

On the other hand, we sent people to build a horizontal dam and dig a horizontal ditch in the downstream area, so that the accumulated water in the corn field can be quickly discharged into the ditch, temporarily solving the problem of accumulated water in the entire corn field.

In addition, a group of pioneers were sent to clear the blocked ditches among the corn plants, allowing the accumulated water to flow more quickly to the deep ditches on both upstream and downstream sides to drain water and prevent flooding.

The rain was getting heavier and the wind was getting stronger. The windmill was draining the cornfield at full power. The water in the cornfield was slowly decreasing.

In addition, there were many people digging the ditches and the work was quick, so soon the accumulated water in the 400 acres of corn field assigned to Hualei began to recede quickly.

Lord Pei had also received the emperor's oral instructions from the Imperial Study, asking the Agriculture Bureau to build a higher embankment upstream of the corn field in the same way as the flower buds, and use windmills to help drain water in the opposite direction.

Then build a dam downstream and dig a deep ditch to drain the corn field. If the ditch is not deep enough, some corn plants can be sacrificed in exchange for a large area of ​​corn to survive.