Chapter 1737: Greenhouse Grain-Substitute Vegetables and 350 Greenhouses of Rice

"... I suggest everyone transplant the surviving wheat seedlings into the same plot of farmland, and use the vacated disaster-stricken fields—after disinfection, fertilization, and tilling—to plant spring-season crops..."

On the day the ice and snow melted, the locust plague that swept across twenty-one bases in the Hongcheng and Radiance City districts of Hua Nation, though it caused no major casualties, destroyed hundreds of thousands of mu of overwintering wheat. A reduced summer wheat harvest was now a foregone conclusion, putting the already food-short human survivors on edge.

Yesterday morning, the territory was still blanketed in ice and snow, with temperatures a dozen-plus degrees below zero. This morning, the accumulated snow within the territory had melted away entirely, the temperature had climbed to a dozen-plus degrees above zero, and the sprouting grass shoots were growing at a speed almost visible to the naked eye.

The lords had flipped up and stowed the greenhouse insulation film at first light, and the overwintering crops that had survived the locust plague inside the greenhouses were unfurling their leaves and growing vigorously under the brilliant sunshine.

The broadcast channel of Radiance Three Base had been playing expert-interview programs on post-plague field management since morning. The lords of Northern Zone One listened to the broadcast as they worked.

"... When transplanting overwintering wheat, you must keep the root ball and original soil intact. If the soil clump falls apart and the roots break, even if the wheat survives, its Calamity Rain-period mutation rate will increase by 30–60%..."

The more they listened to this broadcast, the more uneasy they grew. Wen Nengjie came online. "Brother Qi, should we follow the method that expert on the broadcast mentioned for transplanting seedlings?"

Everyone pricked up their ears, waiting to hear what Territory Five—the best at farming—would do.

Qi Fu gave a clear answer. "Xia Qing and I have come up with a few methods, but we don't know if they'll work. Xia Qing has gone to Territory Seven to consult an expert. Everyone hold on a moment."

Hearing that the alliance leader had gone to Territory Seven, the allies immediately felt reassured. The crab-shell fertilizer from the organic fertilizer plant and the药剂 that Third Brother had developed had not only preserved the wheat seedlings in their fields, but also strengthened everyone's confidence in the territory alliance.

Shi Mu came online. "Listening to the disaster report, I feel our Northern Zone One was actually among the less severely hit."

Tang Huai came online. "Auntie's being modest. Among the twenty-one bases in Hongcheng and Radiance City, the wheat seedling survival rate in our Northern Zone One's disaster-stricken fields is the second highest of any planting zone!"

Huh?!

Yu Shou of Territory Fifteen immediately came online. "Brother Huai, who's first?"

Tang Huai answered, "It's the planting center inside Red Three's safe zone. Within the next couple of days, people will definitely come to Red Three's planting center and our side for interviews—we're going to be famous again!"

Kuang Qingwei came online cheerfully. "We're already famous. The phone at our organic fertilizer plant's sales department is almost ringing off the hook."

"Raise the price! Our premium formula crab-shell fertilizer has to go up in price!" Wen Nengjie immediately came online. Although he held no shares in the organic fertilizer plant, as a member of the territory alliance he had the right to purchase his own factory's products at a discount, so he wasn't afraid of a price hike.

While everyone was in lively discussion about organic fertilizer boosting yields and how much of a price hike was appropriate, the loudspeaker of Northern Zone One's territories crackled with static as the power came on.

Everyone immediately pricked up their ears. Tan Junjie's voice soon rang out: "Attention all lords, we will now broadcast the 'Northern Zone One Territory Disaster-Stricken Field Planting Recommendations' issued by the Territory Management Department: For fields with a wheat seedling survival rate below 20%, transplanting is recommended; for fields with a survival rate between 20% and 80%, intercropping is recommended; for fields with a survival rate above 80%, intercropping and transplanting are not recommended—normal management should be applied. For intercropped crops, premium purple alfalfa and sweet potatoes are recommended. Attention all lords, we will now broadcast the Territory Management Department..."

As required, official documents from higher-ups had to be read out three times. As Tan Junjie read the second round, Tang Huai, who had already grasped the broadcast's contents, called out to Xia Qing on the lord channel. "Alliance leader, you there?"

"Sister Qing, you there?"

"Third Brother's beloved disciple Zhang Xia, are you there?"

Everyone... Brother Huai, with you making such a ruckus, aren't you afraid of taking root and sprouting on Third Brother's blacklist?

Xia Qing hadn't come online, and neither had her master. Tang Huai's beloved disciple Wen Nengjie came online to respond. "Brother Huai, Sister Qing should have gone to Center Nine. Sixteen greenhouses there were hit by the disaster, and she needs to go take charge."

Wen Nengjie guessed right. At that moment, Xia Qing was already seated in Center Nine's conference room, directing the post-disaster reconstruction work.

All of Center Nine's senior and grassroots managers were in attendance. On the large screen on the wall, a handwritten table was clearly displayed, making the handling methods plain at a glance.

Xia Qing explained, "This is the plan I worked out after consulting with Minister Mao and Instructor Tao. Nematodes feed on grasses; sweet potatoes are morning glories, not on the nematode's menu. What's more, sweet potato seedlings don't demand much light, so they can keep growing after the wheat seedlings start to joint. After the second Calamity Rain, we can prune the sweet potatoes and use the cuttings for further planting."

Last year Center Nine had planted a crop of sweet potatoes, which yielded well and were relatively simple to manage. Everyone agreed on planting sweet potatoes.

Xia Qing continued, "Last night, the online meeting held by Radiance City's Agriculture Department required every base to expand the planting area of grain-substitute vegetables to increase staple food output. The planting center inside our safe zone was severely hit by the disaster—68% of the fields need soil remediation and can't take on this task. So the Agriculture Department assigned the task downward: every planting center and territory outside the safe zones must plant a certain amount of grain-substitute vegetables. Our center must plant 200 greenhouses' worth within five days after the first Calamity Rain."

The moment they heard the planting quota, the managers of Center Nine—especially Planting Minister Mao Chuntai—went wide-eyed.

From its founding last May to now, Center Nine had reclaimed farmland and built 480 steel-frame greenhouses, 367 of which were planted with overwintering wheat. According to Center Nine's production plan, after the second Calamity Rain they would plant 200 greenhouses of rice. To get those rice seedlings into the fields on schedule, Center Nine had hired 188 new workers, and the Construction Department was rushing to build 87 more greenhouses within the next 20 days.

Now, the Agriculture Department had issued a planting task requiring them to switch to growing 200 greenhouses of grain-substitute vegetables—so where were the nearly mature rice seedlings in their standardized greenhouses supposed to go?

Once the room gradually quieted down, Xia Qing continued, "Grain-substitute vegetables are the main raw material for life-saving rations—they must be planted. The rice seedlings must also be inserted into the fields in full as originally planned. And the rice we're planting isn't 200 greenhouses—it's 350."

Hearing that number, Mao Chuntai's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Director, did you get your hands on the safe zone's rice seedlings?!"

The safe zone planting center's fields were ruined, but the rice seedlings in their standardized greenhouses were still there!

"I agreed to the task of planting 200 greenhouses of grain-substitute vegetables in order to grab the Green Light H-12 rice seedlings that the safe zone planting center can't finish planting." Xia Qing's smiling gaze swept over the attendees.

When the rarely-smiling director showed that expression, it had to mean earth-shatteringly good news. The managers of Center Nine held their breath, staring at her flamboyantly decorated face.

Xia Qing spoke, "As long as we can plant these 550 greenhouses of crops on schedule, 15% of the harvest will belong to our center. Everyone, give it your all for the next half month, and we can have rice porridge every single day for the rest of the year."