Chapter 251: Fertilizer Emergency

Five to seven days after the rice heads emerge, it should be in flowering. The Farming Knowledge Broadcast said that management during this period is extremely important for stable and high rice yields.

The key points of management are protecting the roots, protecting the leaves, and resisting high temperatures. In other words, over the next few days she needs to fertilize the rice, check the insect nets and spray insecticide to prevent insects from being attracted during flowering, and also prevent the leaves and panicles from being scorched by the midday heat.

The Green Light rice seedlings Zhang San gave her are very precious. How large an area of Green Light rice she can plant next year depends entirely on how many rice seeds these ninety-seven Green Light rice plants can produce, so management must keep up.

"We should fertilize and water the fields." Xia Qing walked out of the rice shed and rubbed the head of Wolf Lao Er, the wolfdog crouching beside her waiting for her. A few steps further on, Xia Qing was pleasantly surprised to discover that the corn had also begun to head.

According to the Farming Knowledge Broadcast, after corn evolves, from heading to harvest there is only one month. This is the result of natural evolution, and it also requires additional fertilizer.

Rice and corn at the heading stage should both receive additional nitrogen fertilizer; the mung beans are also at the critical stage of flowering and pod-setting, and should also receive additional fertilizer; the vegetables on the hillside and in the cultivated-land greenhouse have also reached the time for watering and additional fertilizer.

Fermented animal manure is a good nitrogen fertilizer. Xia Qing now has four kinds of fermented animal manure: Green Light chicken manure, Green Light sheep manure, Red Light worm castings, and Red Light wolf manure.

Apart from the worm castings, the other three were all collected and fermented by Xia Qing herself. Used together with the soil insecticide she exchanged with Zhang San and the high-efficiency composting bacterial powder she exchanged with Li Si, they can ferment thoroughly while killing insects and eggs, so they can be used with confidence.

The Green Light chicken manure still has to be reserved first for the Green Light spinach.

Because wolves and sheep relieve themselves in the same spot, Xia Qing can only pile the two kinds of manure together and use them in the Green Light rice paddies and other Green Light vegetable fields.

Her territory has only one sheep, an unsteady two, three, or four wolves, and eleven chickens. These few animals simply cannot produce much manure. So to apply large amounts of nitrogen fertilizer to the rice, corn, mung beans, and other crops in the fields, she still has to use the worm castings she exchanged with Sun Zhe.

The worm castings in the warehouse are still enough for this use, but she needs to place another order as soon as possible. In November, Xia Qing will plant overwintering wheat, and also needs to prepare vegetables for planting in the greenhouse, which will require a lot of fertilizer.

Xia Qing, who never procrastinates, immediately took out her phone and called Sun Zhe. "Sun Zhe, I want to exchange for fifteen hundred jin of worm castings. What day can you deliver them? Do you want points or supplies?"

Sun Zhe's voice carried obvious weariness. "Sister Qing, I still have three hundred jin here. If you're not in a hurry, I can have fifteen hundred jin in twenty days. If you're in a hurry, you can buy from Territory Forty-Nine first, but they charge twice what I do—one point per jin."

Sun Zhe has been actively expanding production over the past half year. Last time they were in contact, he had cheerfully said production had reached a thousand jin per day, enough to supply fertilizer to several dozen territories.

But Xia Qing only ordered fifteen hundred jin today, and it would take twenty days before delivery. Hearing Sun Zhe's voice, she knew it wasn't too many orders—it was that something had gone wrong.

Xia Qing asked, "Twenty days from now is fine. The last batch I bought isn't used up yet; this purchase is for the autumn-sown wheat. Is everything alright on your end?"

When Sun Zhe was in the Safe Zone, he worked on the construction team under Deputy Captain Xia Qing for several years. Although they are no longer in a superior-subordinate relationship, when Xia Qing asked, Sun Zhe still honestly told her about the problems he was facing.

"The new lord of Territory Forty-Nine, Jiang Yansheng, is the nephew of our base's Lord Management Department head. Not only did he poach most of my workers at high prices, he also had the ones who stayed sabotage things. Of the greenhouses on my territory that produce worm castings, only one is still usable."

"Production this year definitely can't go up. We're trying to find a way out. When Sister Qing waters the greening water next spring, there will absolutely be no shortage of fertilizer." Though Sun Zhe had been hit hard, he hadn't been crushed. "I have an idea and want to hear your opinion, Sister."

Xia Qing sat under the tree, her voice as calm and steady as when she was on the construction team. "Go ahead."

Sun Zhe asked, "Territory Forty-Nine has backing; right now I can only keep a low profile for a while. So I'm planning to sell off most of the worms and the supporting equipment, to recoup some points first and get through this stretch. What does Sister Qing think?"

Doing this is very cowardly and frustrating.

But facing the current situation, for Sun Zhe—who is at the very bottom of society, with no power, no influence, and no money—he can only accept being cowardly and frustrated.

If Xia Qing were the lord of Territory Forty-Eight, she would also bow her head first. Then, when Jiang Yansheng let down his guard, she would find a chance to slip something into the people or supplies of Territory Forty-Nine, and wipe out all the worms there.

But Xia Qing couldn't say this over the phone to Sun Zhe. She only told Sun Zhe the information she had gathered: "Jiang Quan of the Lord Management Department is a trusted man of the Deputy Base Commander. After the last agricultural trade fair, I noticed Jiang Quan and Secretary Wang of Huiyi Base's Lord Management Department getting together, acting very friendly. I heard him speak very smoothly; by rights he shouldn't be so openly letting his nephew come out to make trouble for me. There must be something going on here. It's not a bad idea for you to keep a low profile for a while. Who are you planning to sell to?"

Sun Zhe replied, "I heard the Luo family head of the Green Dragon Squad has opened over a thousand mu of land in Territory One; he's sure to need fertilizer. The Green Dragon Squad won't bully an ordinary person like me. Even if the deal doesn't work out, they won't throw obstacles in my way. If they agree, I want to send my parents to Territory One to teach them how to make worm castings. If I can make sure they're safe, I'm not afraid of anything."

Sun Zhe is a lord, protected by the Lord Law. No matter how underhanded Jiang Yansheng gets, as long as Sun Zhe doesn't leave his territory, the Jiang family won't dare touch him.

Only lords need worm castings. Of the lords Xia Qing knew of, only Territory One and Territory Twelve, which were carrying out large-scale land reclamation, had massive demand. Compared with Tang Zhengpo, Luo Pei was more reliable.

Xia Qing agreed, "Territory One is indeed a very good partner."

Regardless of whether Sun Zhe and Luo Pei can reach a deal, Xia Qing felt she still needed several more fertilizer purchase channels to make sure she didn't run out next year.

She turned on the walkie-talkie and contacted Kuang Qingwei, the "middleman" of this area of territories. "Brother Qing, are you there?"

Kuang Qingwei replied quickly, "I'm here. Xia Qing, you're up early today. What's up?"

Xia Qing rarely turned on the walkie-talkie in the morning; today was indeed early. She didn't explain, and asked directly, "Does Brother Qing have a channel for buying fertilizer? I want to buy a thousand jin of manure."

Kuang Qingwei replied, "There are two kinds: worm castings and mixed manure. The price of worm castings has doubled, because Territory Forty-Eight suffered heavy losses and reduced production in the Acid Rain. We can only buy worm castings from Territory Forty-Nine, at one point per jin. Mixed manure is a bit of every kind of animal manure, also fermented, at four points per jin."

Xia Qing asked, "Is the mixed manure shipped in from elsewhere?"

Kuang Qingwei replied, "No. It's the business of our base's Squad Alliance. The manure is hauled out of the Evolution Forest by the squads. They say the quality is good, but I haven't received the goods yet. Right now they're taking pre-orders, then delivering together. Winter wheat planting is just over a month away, and the fertilizer gap is huge. Their mixed manure isn't hard to sell, which is why they've set the price so high."