October in Su Prefecture was already very cold.
After taking care of various government affairs and making proper arrangements in the government office, Jiang Wenyuan took only a coachman, a servant boy named A Ping, two followers, and his precious daughter whom he was reluctant to leave behind. He left Su Prefecture in plain clothes and light vehicles to go on an inspection tour.
As an official, one could not just sit in the public hall all the time but needed to frequently visit the common people to take a look at the local customs and practices, see what the common people were eating and lacking.
Su Prefecture administered 17 counties with the prefecture city located in the central area. The southeast plains mainly grew wheat. Apart from a small amount of wheat and cotton, the central part mainly grew buckwheat.
The northern part was all grassland with a small number of herders making a living by grazing. The lands near the northwestern border were even more so, all vast expanses of Gobi Desert, barren lands.
Although the whole Su Prefecture was arid with little rain, there was a big river called the Lian River that ran from west to east through the entire territory. Thus there was no lack of water resources.
The Lian River originated from Lianyuan Mountain. It was the snowmelt water from the Lianyuan Mountains and had abundant water volume. Its countless tributaries nourished and irrigated the numerous living beings on this land.
Jiang Wenyuan decided to head west first for an inspection. The first stop was Deng Yong County.
Along the way were large areas of wild grasslands. Only near the villages were some cultivated fields. Jiang Wenyuan stopped the carriage to carefully examine the farmland. Indeed the soil was extremely barren.
A few miles away, there was a river that appeared to be a tributary of the Lian River. But it was too far away from the farmland, and there were no reliable irrigation measures to channel the water. Relying solely on manpower to carry water, one could see how low the productivity was.
The terrain here was too flat, clearly not suitable for building dams to block the river. If only there was some way to keep pumping the water from the river endlessly up high.
That's it, a waterwheel!
This gadget was the best tool for pumping water to irrigate the land. In the garden at the hospital inpatient department, there was a waterwheel used for landscaping. It was also patients’ favorite place to visit, and many even took pictures there.
He would get to work on it after going back tonight.
At noon, Jiang Wenyuan led his daughter to knock on the door of a farming family. An old granny opened the door. Speaking in a heavy accent, she asked, "Who are you?"
She heard they were just passing by and came in to ask for a bowl of hot water to drink. The old granny welcomed them very warmly into the house while calling for her family to bring hot water for the guests.
The room was filled with women and children, and everyone was holding chopsticks, apparently eating lunch. Seeing this group of strangers coming in, they hurriedly stood up and gave up their seats.
In the middle of the table was a small bowl with very dark pickles. Each person's bowl contained only a fist-sized steamed bun.
Seeing Jiang Yuqing staring at the dining table all along, the old granny thought she wanted to eat. However, each person in their family only had one steamed bun and there were no more extra ones.
The granny wiped her hands awkwardly on her shabby clothes, then broke off the untouched half of her own steamed bun and handed it to Jiang Yuqing.
Jiang Yuqing paused slightly, then took it with both hands and sincerely said thank you.
Just then, Jiang Wenyuan handed over a package and said, "Granny, we have brought dry rations. May we ask your family to help heat them up for us? We will give you money."
The granny said it was nothing difficult to just heat up some dry rations, so where was the need for money. Opening the package, she saw it fully packed with white flour steamed buns and could not help but be stunned.
Her daughter-in-law took the initiative to take the package into the kitchen.
The reheated steamed buns were soft and had the unique fragrance of refined flour. The children were drooling as they stared at them with eyes wide open.
Jiang Wenyuan took out his own portion while the rest was distributed to the children. The granny felt very embarrassed, insisting they had taken huge advantage of them. She then turned around and went into the kitchen to cut another plate of pickles to bring out.
While nibbling on the steamed bun and eating the pickles, Jiang Wenyuan chatted with the granny, asking what livelihood the children in the family were engaged in and what crops were planted on their land and how the harvest was.
The granny said, "My three sons have all gone to the prefecture city of Su Prefecture to find odd jobs. The weather here is not good. We only plant some buckwheat and cotton every year.
This year, Heaven has given us some face by sending down a few rains. The buckwheat harvest is still quite good. But the cotton did not turn out well, there were pests and the bolls grown were few and small, not fetching much money when sold.”
The granny then asked, “Young man, I hear from your accent you are not from our Su Prefecture. Which place are you from?”
Jiang Wenyuan chuckled, “I'm from Lingzhou. I came to Su Prefecture to work.” My family back home plants crops too."
The granny then laughed. “Lingzhou is in the south, right? The south is so nice! The climate there is also good, and you can even grow rice.
What made you decide to come and work in a place like ours? Su Prefecture is so poor, and the Xiongnu keep coming to raid from time to time. There are no good jobs here! Even officials are reluctant to come!"
Jiang Wenwen said meaningfully. "Su Prefecture is poor now, but not necessarily so in the future. I like Su Prefecture, it is pretty nice."
The granny laughed heartily. "Young man, you're the first outsider who said our Su Prefecture is nice!"
Jiang Yuqing also choked down that half steamed bun.
It was made from soaked dried vegetables mixed with a small amount of buckwheat flour. She nearly choked on it. After drinking a full bowl of water, she finally swallowed it down.
This was the food they could only eat twice a day. At noon they ate dried goods, which was these dried vegetable buckwheat buns. At night it was just half a bowl of buckwheat vegetable mush.
White flour steamed buns were things that each person could only get one of during New Year. On ordinary days, one didn't even dare dream about it.
While the other children were wolfing down the steamed buns, the little girl sitting next to Jiang Yuqing put her steamed bun aside and continued nibbling her bun. Jiang Yuqing asked her, "Sister, why aren't you eating it?"
The girl whispered, "I want to save it for Daddy."
Jiang Yuqing was stunned for a moment, then smiled and broke off the untouched half of her own steamed bun and gave it to the girl, “Sister, I can’t finish this. Help me eat some of it!"
The bashful girl accepted it gratefully and thanked her.
After the meal, Jiang Wenyuan bid farewell and left. The granny brought along several grandchildren to send them off at the door. When she turned back, she heard her daughter-in-law say, "Mom, it looks like that gentleman dropped some money just now."
The granny saw the small silver ingot in her daughter-in-law’s palm and asked, "Where did you pick it up?"
The daughter-in-law said, "It was on the stool where that honorable guest sat."
The granny took the silver with tears in her eyes, "Girl, that wasn’t dropped by him. He clearly left it behind deliberately after seeing our family’s difficulties. We have met a kind person!"
That night, they stayed at the town’s only inn.
When Jiang Wenyuan went to the backyard to wash up, Jiang Yuqing entered the spiritual realm and carefully measured the dimensions of each part of the waterwheel. When she came out, she lay on the table drawing blueprints.
When Jiang Wenyuan came back, she had almost finished the drawing. Her father did not disturb her but just stood behind her quietly watching her draw.
After finishing, Dumpling handed the blueprint to her father. Seeing how bright his eyes were, she knew her father had understood it.
"Is this thing used for irrigation?"
Jiang Yuqing nodded vigorously. "You know me well, Daddy. This thing is called a waterwheel. Mount it in a suitable place in the river, and the impact force of the water flow can be used to endlessly pump water from the river to high ground, saving a lot of manpower. It’s quite suitable to be used in southern regions.
However, the climate here in Su Prefecture is cold. The river surface will freeze in winter. The wooden windmill boards can easily be damaged during the river freezing and thawing the following year.
I was thinking if we could modify it to make it more suitable for the climate here in Su Prefecture."
Jiang Wenyuan said, "Don't worry. When we go back, Daddy will find water conservancy and carpentry professionals to think of ways together.
If that doesn’t work, Daddy will send a carrier pigeon back to the Capital City for the officials of the Ministry of Public Works to review and provide valuable opinions. They must have good ideas.”
Dumpling also touched two more items. Pointing to the oval-shaped fruit, she said, "Daddy, this is called a potato. The yield per mu is 2000-3000 catties. It can be a staple food or vegetable.
If used as a vegetable, pan-fried, deep-fried, braised or boiled are all delicious. Moreover, it is easy to cultivate, manage and live on, and drought resistant. Fresh potatoes placed in cellars can be stored for several months. If sliced and sun-dried, the storage time is even longer, a whole year round of planting.
However, the most suitable planting time in Su Prefecture’s climate is from mid-April to early May. But it also has drawbacks. It becomes toxic after sprouting and cannot be eaten anymore."
Dumpling then picked up the corn and said, "This is called corn, also known as bract grains. If planted in coastal areas or inland areas, the yield per mu would be even higher. Planted properly in Su Prefecture, the yield can still reach around a thousand catties per mu.
When young, they can be boiled directly to eat, the taste is fresh and sweet. When they get old, dry them, remove the grains, grind into powder, they can be cooked into congee or used to make pancakes, still tasty. It is also a staple food. "
When Jiang Wenyuan listened to this, he was stunned for a moment. After a long time, he hugged his daughter into his arms, rubbed his forehead against her little forehead, and said, "Dear, you must be a fairy sent by heaven to save the people."
Tuanzi then chuckled like silver bells.
Jiang Wenyuan asked her, "Is this also from your Spirit Realm?"
Tuan shook her head: "No. These two were accidentally discovered by me when I was in Capital City. Just before you went to Capital City.
A man's donkey ate the wrong thing and died of poisoning, so he took the donkey to our An Hospital and asked us to treat it.
So I asked what the donkey had eaten wrongly. He told me it was some kind of strange root bulbs in front of a seed shop. And he described what those root bulbs looked like.
At that time, I became suspicious, followed where he pointed, and indeed found the last few potatoes there. I also found a bag of corn seeds in that seed shop.
The shopkeeper didn't know the goods, gave them to me at half price. After I brought them back, I planted them in the Spirit Realm and improved them a bit. Now they have grown into a large area.
Next year we will plant them in Su Prefecture. In the future, the people of Su Prefecture will never have to worry about starving again."
"Dear, Daddy thanks all the people of Su Prefecture for you!"
Tuanzi smiled and said "You're welcome!"
The father and daughter walked westward, looking around and taking notes along the way. When they encountered injustices, they would intervene if necessary.
If the county parents did not act or violated the law, Jiang Wenyuan did not give them any face at all, saying that he would beat them if he said so, and arrest them if he said so, acting decisively.
For a time, the various county magistrates, upon hearing the news, were all nervous, and they all examined whether they had done anything excessive.
If so, they would hurriedly find ways to make amends, otherwise their little lives would be at stake here, and their families would be implicated as well.
This elder was not someone to be trifled with, he held the Emperor's Sword, with the power to punish first and report later. Sun He who lost his head was a warning from history.
After walking for another six or seven days, the group arrived at Yumen County, the westernmost county in Su Prefecture. Yumen County is the most remote, poorest and least populous place in the entire Su Prefecture.
To the west is Yumen Pass.
In the late years of the previous dynasty, the court was incompetent and unprincipled. The Xiongnu often invaded, killing, looting and doing all kinds of evils, even taking the people of the Central Plains as military rations, calling them "sheep on two legs".
Yumen County was at the forefront, with nine out of ten houses empty, battered beyond recognition.
It was not until the founding of the Great Xia Dynasty that the court stationed heavy troops here, and the situation improved somewhat. Even so, the Xiongnu would lead troops to invade the border every few years, and occasional small-scale battles would occur.
Therefore, there were not many common people in Yumen County. Most of those living in the county town or nearby areas were families of high-ranking military officers, and the folk customs were fierce.
