Chapter 1244: Improving the Soil

While the three lords of Territory Three lay on a hillside sunbathing, the other territories and the Ninth Center were still working at full tilt.

Tired? Hold out with spinach juice; if you really can't hold out, lie down and nap a while, then get up and keep going. If you don't go all-out now, when will you?

Tang Huai, hearing not a sound of activity inside Territory Three, pressed the walkie-talkie button and asked in a hoarse voice, "Sister Qing, have you finished improving the soil in your territory?"

Xia Qing, lying among her companions, raised a hand and pressed the dew-covered walkie-talkie button. "The cultivated fields are done. Still left are the terraced fields and the beekeeping greenhouse."

Wen Nengjie immediately came online to make his presence felt. "Only Sister Qing. No one in our alliance works more efficiently than you."

Tang Huai put forward a rental request. "Sister Qing, can I rent your micro-tiller to plow for a day at 6 points per hour? I'll fill the fuel myself."

Although Territory Two focused mainly on raising insects, Tang Huai had also reclaimed quite a bit of farmland over the past year. He had spent the whole night working with the refugees in his territory and the old guard from the former Sufeng Squad, yet the soil improvement progress was still less than a quarter. He urgently needed support.

At this moment, apart from Xia Qing's place, other territories couldn't even lend a shovel, let alone machinery. Everyone urgently needed farm machinery to boost efficiency, so it was perfectly reasonable for him to rent Xia Qing's micro-tiller at a price slightly above market rate.

Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie button. "Sure. Ten minutes, south gate."

"Thanks, Sister Qing!" Tang Huai replied happily.

"The Alliance Leader is generous!" Wen Nengjie came online to take the job. "Territory Seventeen can send people to help our allies improve soil. We bring our own food. Pay whatever points you think is fair, as long as the gesture is there."

Hearing this, no one spoke up.

Tang Huai, heading toward the north gate of his territory, pressed the walkie-talkie and started cursing. "Wen, just say how many points you want. Trading among territory alliance allies at market price is the rule. If you keep pulling this phony-baloney nonsense, I'll propose to the Alliance Leader to kick you out of the alliance!"

Wen Nengjie got scared. "Thanks for the reminder, Brother Huai. I was so tired my brain went foggy and forgot the alliance rules. Anyone who needs help, just give us a shout. A few of us brothers, 15 points per person per day, we bring our own food."

That price was reasonable. Kuang Qingwei pressed the walkie-talkie button. "Brother Jie, I need four people over here."

Wen Nengjie immediately took the job. "Got it, Brother Qing. We'll be right there."

Tang Heng asked, "Brother Jie, is all the farmland in your territory improved?"

"Last night we worked ourselves to the bone and finally finished the few plots where we're planting winter wheat. We figured we'd come out and earn some hard-earned points first, then slowly improve the other plots later." Wen Nengjie habitually complained. "We're all ordinary folks, didn't read many books, don't have any other skills. We can only earn points by selling our muscle."

Tang Heng reminded him, "Brother Jie, the activity of the harmful evolved anaerobes in the soil changes constantly. Our fertilizer dosage is allocated based on yesterday's test results. If you can't finish soil improvement within 48 hours, you'll need to retest the soil microbe content, and you may need to add crab-shell fertilizer."

Testing microbes and purchasing crab-shell fertilizer both cost points.

Wen Nengjie replied gratefully, "Don't worry, Brother Heng. I've calculated the time. The farmland in Territory Seventeen will definitely be improved within 48 hours."

Xia Qing said to Wolf Lao Er beside her, "Territory Seventeen has 55 mu of farmland, 25 people, drinking spinach juice and going all-out, they can turn it over once with shovels in 15 hours. After that, only irrigation is left. Wolf Lao Er, I figure Wen Nengjie bought a water pump, otherwise they wouldn't have the manpower to spare."

Wolf Lao Er couldn't understand what Xia Qing was saying, but whenever Xia Qing called it, it just grinned foolishly.

Xia Qing rubbed its neck. "Lao Da and Wolf Lao Er have worked hard. This morning we'll eat something good."

"Baa~~~"

Hearing there was something good to eat, the sheep Lao Da Xia Qing was carrying on her back immediately let out a coquettish bleat, and Wolf Lao Er also opened its mouth and gave a low howl.

After driving the micro-tiller out of the territory and handing it to Tang Huai, Xia Qing made a trip around the Ninth Center before returning to the territory. After breakfast she fed the chickens and mealworms, then began improving the soil in the beekeeping greenhouse.

From the sudden onset of the disaster until now, Xia Qing had been using Yi Stones to protect the beekeeping greenhouse, as well as the terraced fields in Greenhouses 1 and 2 where important crops were still growing.

After the harmful elements were isolated, the anaerobes in the soil couldn't undergo harmful evolution, so these farmlands and the beekeeping greenhouse were unaffected. The crops grew normally, and the honey quality hadn't declined.

The cost of continuously using Yi Stones to isolate harmful elements was very high. Now that there was a way to improve the soil, of course she had to remove the Yi Stones as soon as possible.

Territory Three's Use Yishi consumption was very large.

First, to improve the quality of the spinach seeds, the two terraced plots where about 200 spinach plants were grown every half month needed full protection with Yi Stones. Over a year, that alone used up 5 pigeon-egg-sized mid-grade Yi Stones, costing as much as 1.2 million points.

Second, the underground water tank of the fertigation machine installed just at the beginning of this month also used up 1 Use Yishi of the same quality and size each year.

Third, the two underground storage rooms in Xia Qing's home, the refrigerator, and the Use Yishi beads worn long-term by her and her companions required 7 Yi Stones of the same kind each year.

So, just these three routine uses totaled 13 stones per year, equivalent to 3.12 million points.

In addition, to protect other green-light crops and livestock in the territory during harmful rain and harmful snow periods, she had also broken open 33 pigeon-egg-sized Yi Stones and 2 walnut-sized Yi Stones. These Yi Stones were installed in the farmland during harmful rain periods and put back into Use Yishi protective casings after the disaster passed. These 35 stones could be used for 4 years.

Then there were the Yi Stones she "lent" to the Hidden Valley, 15 in total. One-third of these were used on her own farmland, and 10 were used to protect her allies' plots.

Besides Use Yishi consumption, she also needed to buy bullets, weapons, fuel, equipment, fertilizer, and potions. Every expenditure was a figure that made her heart ache.

So Xia Qing planned meticulously, making sure every Use Yishi and every point was spent where it counted most.

If only considering cost, building two standardized greenhouses on the north buffer forest hillside that could isolate harmful elements, and equipping the fertigation machine's water tank with a high-grade water filtration device, would cost considerably less than using Yi Stones.

A standardized greenhouse currently cost 350,000 to build, with monthly consumable costs of 3,000-5,000 points; taking the midpoint gives 4,000. Once built, such a greenhouse could last 15-30 years barring any major disasters. Calculating by the minimum service life of 15 years, Xia Qing's average annual cost for building standardized greenhouses would be only 150,000.

But Xia Qing couldn't only consider cost; she also had to factor in another, more important element—territory security.

Building two standardized greenhouses on her hillside would be tantamount to telling everyone that something fishy was going on with her hillside.

Otherwise, why wouldn't she transfer the high harmful-element soil on the hillside to flat cultivated land and build standardized greenhouses by the reservoir? The cost and difficulty of building greenhouses on flat cultivated land would be far lower than on a hillside.

By the same logic, she couldn't install a water filtration device in the fertigation machine's underground water tank. So, this portion of Yi Stones couldn't be skimped on.

So, even though she now had over 300 Yi Stones, and more than 160 of them were high-grade, she still didn't have the right to act like a big shot. She had to be careful!

Wearing protective gear, Xia Qing finished spreading crab-shell fertilizer amid the buzzing of the bees, used a shovel to turn the soil near the roots of the nectar plants so the crab-shell fertilizer could reach a certain depth. Then she coaxed the sheep Lao Da, which had been lying outside chewing its cud, onto the water-drawing bicycle, and irrigated the beekeeping greenhouse once.

After irrigation, part of the active ingredients in the crab-shell fertilizer was absorbed by the nectar plants' root systems, enhancing the plants' defensive ability; another part could promote the reproduction of beneficial microbes in the soil while inhibiting the harmful evolution of harmful microbes.

If all went well, in another two days she could take the Yi Stones inside the beekeeping greenhouse and put them back into the Use Yishi protective casings.