Chapter 492: The Belated Spring Rain

The people of Huaxia waited arduously for three days like this, still without seeing a single drop of rain. Baifeng would delay no longer and directly issued an order for the whole country to mobilize and clear the way for spring sowing.

Sowing does not require a large amount of water; it only requires the ground to be slightly moist. It is on an entirely different level from the water requirements during the crop growth and grain-filling stages.

Their irrigation canals also played a huge role at this time. Buckets of water were drawn from the places closest to the fields and then splashed onto the land, sparing them the hardship of going to the river to fetch water.

All the children who were studying could not avoid the labor either. If they didn't have the strength to carry a bucket, two people would carry it together. In any case, after a day like this, everyone felt as if their shoulders were no longer their own. Although they had long been accustomed to hard labor, it was indeed difficult to work when one part of the body was being targeted and worn out like this.

The land watered on the first day was directly sown on the second day. Because the water was not splashed very evenly and the amount was not very large, the ground was dry in some places and wet in others, but everyone had no choice; this was already enough.

This work continued for four days before the fields needing the first round of sowing were all watered and the seeds were successfully sown. The remaining land required other crops, especially paddy fields, which there was no need to worry about at all right now.

Paddy fields could be considered the most worry-free land in Huaxia because Huaxia's relatively convenient irrigation system allowed water to be added or drained from the paddy fields at any time, and there was no high difficulty in maintenance.

As for those newly reclaimed fields, the plow also said they were most suitable for planting soybeans because the soil fertility was too low for anything else to grow. Baifeng also understood that legume crops could fix nitrogen and fertilize the fields.

However, if they planted them like this this year, the soil would still be too barren. Therefore, Baifeng ordered the soybean stalks that were harvested last year, which had not yet been processed or resolved and were piled together, to be hauled to the wasteland to burn the land and fertilize the soil directly.

Huaxia was not short of straw, especially soybean stalks. Livestock did not like to eat this stuff very much, so it was always used by the tribespeople as fuel—for example, crushed and used as firewood for filling the *kang*—but unfortunately, the consumption was still too low.

At Baifeng's command, everyone executed it quickly. Cart after cart of straw was rapidly spread onto the newly reclaimed wasteland. However, for the sake of safety, Baifeng still decided to burn it during the day and not at night.

The next day, the straw spread out on the vast wasteland began to be ignited. On the land stretching out for an unknown distance, there was fire everywhere, and then smoke drifted continuously into the sky. From a distance, one would think a great mountain fire was happening here.

Just as Baifeng was watching the fire, feeling the temperature and that intense excitement for fire that is engraved in a man's genes, a breeze blew in from the sky, but no one paid any attention to it.

It was not until the sky became darker and darker, and the scope was obviously too large, that everyone realized this was absolutely not something that smoke could cause. However, no one felt panicked; instead, they were all very excited. This meant that rain was coming soon; regardless of whether it was heavy or light, it was bound to rain a little.

Sure enough, as they expected, the rain fell slowly. Spring rain is always very gentle and never like summer rain, which, once it starts, feels like it wants to take a person's life. Baifeng led the crowd, strolling back in the rain that carried a slight smoky smell. No one cared whether those stalks were still burning or had already been extinguished by the rain.

This rain did not last too long, only half a day, but for the Ministry of Agriculture, this was great news. Although there was no need to plant other food crops yet, the ones planted in the previous few days would be able to sprout later, and the germination rate would also be higher.

However, the situation over at Lema City was not so good. Although the two places were not far apart, according to the news from there, the rain just swept past like mist and did not linger, only wetting the surface of the ground.

Baifeng thought that perhaps the reason the rain was slightly heavier here had to do with the smoke, which provided enough condensation nuclei for the formation of rain. Unfortunately, Baifeng did not know much about atmospheric science, and everything was just a guess. Otherwise, he would definitely have made a name for himself as a Rain God in this era.

The matter of spring plowing could be considered to have come to a temporary end, but it was only for a few short days. The people of the Ministry of Agriculture were still busy, racing against time, and other departments could also have time to do their own work.

The river had thawed and there would be no ice jam. Seeing that the timing was ripe, Baifeng, on a clear and fine day, prepared supplies for the people of the Ministry of War and several officials of the Ministry of Revenue, stamped the documents, and prepared to let them head to Liuhuangdi to negotiate with the Zisheng Tribe.

Two new large ships had been successfully launched the day before. After the people from the Ministry of Works observed the ships for a day and a night, they confirmed that the ships had no problems and could be put into use.

This time, Baifeng mobilized three large ships and several small boats. The Navy left behind only a very small number of people, and most of them were new recruits selected and trained by the people of the Zisheng Tribe from those in Huaxia who were willing to serve in the Navy. These people were responsible for staying behind to use the last large ship left in Huaxia to deal with emergencies.

Baifeng was quite at ease about this. In winter, the river surface was a smooth path, but now it was a moat. Unfortunately, Baifeng did not have the ability to build a bridge across the river. Otherwise, if a bridge were built, their people would not always have to use boats to ferry across the two banks. Although building a bridge would greatly increase the threat of enemies to Huaxia, Baifeng did not have this ability anyway. If someone had this ability in the future, let them consider the pros and cons themselves and see whether to build it or not.

Originally, Baifeng had thought about bringing enough food at once to win over the Zisheng Tribe primarily through enticement. But he did not expect that those things would happen last winter, causing Huaxia's granaries to be somewhat empty. Although a lot of food had been recovered from the common people to fill the National Treasury, it also reduced the resistance of ordinary people to disasters; after all, the total amount of food had decreased.

Especially since the beginning of this year had not been smooth, Baifeng did not dare to be extravagant again. This time, he could only use coercion as the primary method and enticement as a supplement. Upon arrival, he would first state the intention of Huaxia to form an alliance, show the food he brought, conduct the sulfur trade, and then directly bombard their mountain pass with cannonballs to give them a bit of mental shock.

Baifeng had already taught the entire process to Yishang, who was leading the team this time, and Liangji of the Ministry of Revenue. Liangji was also one of the first few people to follow the Shaman to learn. Because his performance was relatively excellent and he was no less capable than those newly graduated students, Baifeng kept adding burdens to him to increase his experience.

Baifeng's idea was that Liangji could serve as the Minister of Revenue or City Mayor in Lema City in the future. After all, the level of the people in Lema City now was not very high; they were timid and cautious about small matters, and they had to ask the leaders of Huaxia City for instructions on big matters. Baifeng naturally thought this would not work and would only limit the progress of Lema City. Re-arranging a leadership squad for Lema City was imperative.