industrial lord

Chapter 199 How about buying some swampland

A pungent smell of fireworks penetrated his nostrils, and Frederick jumped up from the bed in shock, looking around to see where the fire was.

There was no fire in the bedroom, and there was no sound of calling for fire outside the door, and the windows were full of smoke blown by the wind.

He went to the window and opened it to find a fire burning in the swamp in the distance, thick smoke obscuring the sky.

It's just that the farmers in the manor didn't care about it at all, and went about their work slowly.

After Frederick washed, his servants brought him to the dining room for breakfast. Françoise had already arrived, and was cutting into slices the stick-shaped bread that foreigners called the "Invincible Spear of Gaul".

Françoise saw him and said, "Come and have breakfast, I don't know if you can get used to it."

The eating habits of the two places are different. In the past, Frederick used to have a variety of sausages for breakfast, and milk was indispensable. However, here in Françoise, there are only bread, jam and tea for breakfast. Milk is also available, but it is added to the tea. Made into milk tea.

Françoise spread amber-colored applesauce on the sliced ​​bread and put it on the plate in front of Frederick and said, "This is the applesauce I made myself, try it."

"Since you discovered microbes and invented the use of necromantic magic to preserve food, there are now more people learning this kind of magic."

Frederick took a bite of the bread. The freshly baked bread was still warm and soft, and the jam tasted very sweet.

"It's delicious." He kept nodding.

Françoise immediately said, "I'll send it to you after I finish it."

"Okay." Frederick replied.

Breakfast time is often the time to arrange the work of the manor. It didn't take long for the housekeeper to bring the village head of the manor over to explain what the fire outside was all about.

There are many mosquitoes and venomous snakes in the swamp outside the manor, and there are all kinds of dangerous animals in the mud. People and livestock dare not approach. Wild animals are almost dead if they enter, causing great trouble to pedestrian caravans.

Now that the reeds and other plants in the swamp are starting to wither in autumn, the locals will burn them to reduce the number of poisonous insects, otherwise the caravans will not dare to approach them next year.

The weeds are endlessly burned, and the spring breeze blows and regenerates.Next year, reeds and other plants will grow in the ground again, and bugs will appear again. However, without the protection of tall plants at this time, migratory birds returning can easily eat them.

Generally speaking, a swamp is burned every two or three years, and this year it happened to be the turn of the land around the manor.

Françoise said to Frederick very depressed: "I still want to play chess with you today, but I can't stay in the room anymore."

Seeing that the new owner was not happy, the village head immediately said: "If you want to play, you can go to the beach now, and you can pick up a lot of crabs, as well as beautiful shells and conchs."

"The wind is blown from the sea, so it won't be smoked."

"Really?" Françoise asked immediately, "Can you pick up the conch?"

The village chief immediately assured that it was true.

Françoise turned her head and asked Frederick: "How about we go to the beach to play later, maybe we can even pick up lobsters!"

Frederick had the same expression on his face as the village head, he wanted to laugh, but he held back.

"Why are you doing this?" Françoise found something wrong with Frederick's expression.

Frederick explained: "Lobsters live on the bottom of the sea, they don't come ashore."

"How could this happen!" Françoise pouted, "Don't lobsters have big pincers like crabs? Why don't crabs go ashore and lobsters don't go ashore?"

Frederick burst out laughing, and seeing Françoise's mouth pouted even more, he immediately said, "Because the lobster's legs are too thin compared to its body, it has no energy to walk on the shore. You can only crawl on the bottom of the sea."

Françoise thought about the lobster she ate last night and thought it made sense.

Then Frederick remembered something and asked the village chief, "Whose lands are those swamps outside?"

The village head replied: "Who would want that kind of rotten land? I heard that no one buys 1 hectares for 10 gold coin."

Frederick was depressed when he heard it. He thought that someone would buy the swamp water pumping development, and then he would be able to sell high-horsepower steam engines and water pumps, but no one wanted to do this kind of long-term business.

I can’t help myself if I want to buy land. Now the sale of land in the lowland area is the fruit of the victory of the war by the nobles of the Gaul kingdom. It is exclusive. People from other countries can only watch it, let alone people from the defeated side. .

Swamp reclamation is technically not a problem for Frederick, and some swamps in Wessen are being transformed.

The first and most important step is to save and open up the water sources in the swamp and reduce the water level, including digging water diversion channels, building dams, digging drainage channels, and installing drainage equipment.

Drainage is quantitative. Wheat yields the highest when the groundwater level is 1-1.5m deep, and barley yields maximum when the groundwater level is 0.6m deep. You only need to drain the not deep water in the swamp, and finally let the water level Descend to a sufficient depth below the ground.

The second step is to plow the land, increase the air in the soil, remove methane, hydrogen sulfide and other substances produced by anaerobic bacteria, and promote the reproduction and decomposition of organic matter by aerobic bacteria. When necessary, you can sprinkle some foreign soil to introduce aerobic bacteria. Apply phosphorus and potassium fertilizers at the same time.If the soil is too viscous, it can be improved by spreading sand.

The third step is to sow plants with rhizobia to further improve the land, and then it can be cultivated.

When Frederick came back to his senses, he found that Françoise had finished her breakfast and was looking at herself with a smile on her chin while propping her hand on the table.

"You are charming when you think." Françoise said with a smile, "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing." Frederick replied, "I was thinking that those swamps should be transformed into farmland."

"Let's eat enough, let's go to the beach to play."

At this time, the sea was not polluted, and the beach was clean and beautiful. In the past, the villagers would come to catch the sea, but today the leader came, and they were all driven away.

Frederick was sure that Françoise seldom went to the beach to play before. The old village chief sent his granddaughter, a girl named Lilu who was about the same age as Frederick, and was leading her to dig sand on the beach. Find prey.

Françoise had a great time playing, showing off to Frederick every time she dug something.

Frederick made a fortune in a muffled voice, recalling the video of catching the sea that he had watched before, and the barrel was filled in a short while.

Françoise's servants set up awnings on the beach and hung up windproof curtains. They also brought kitchen utensils and cooked them here.

After a seafood dinner, Françoise was a little tired and slept in the shed for a while.

Frederick came to the beach and picked up beautiful shells and conch all the way.

Lilu obeyed her grandfather's teachings, she followed the leader wherever she went, and followed Frederick to help fetch shells.

Frederick chatted with her one after another, and learned that she usually lives in Amstel with her parents, but recently there are many troops from the Duchy of the Rhine going to the Elbe through Amstel. , the law and order is not very good, so I came to stay with my grandfather for a few days.

"What do you want to do for a living in the future?" Frederick started his industrial investigation.

"Go to sea!" Lilu said excitedly, "I will form the largest fleet in the world in the future, and do business in every port!"

Frederick couldn't help but smile when he saw her eyes shining with excitement.

But Lilu immediately said dejectedly: "There is still a lot to learn before going out to sea for business. You need to find companions, apply for a license, and buy a boat. All of these require money. I don't have that much money."

Frederick smiled, and seeing half of the scallops with red edges and yellow background on the beach in front of him, he picked them up and drew a dagger to pierce a hole at the root.

There is a gold necklace on his neck, and the pendant is a round medal of a double-headed eagle, which is sold for money when necessary, so he wears scallops on it.

"this is for you."

Lilu carried the barrels of shells and conch in both hands, so Frederick helped her hang the shell necklace around her neck.

Frederick said: "In the future, when you feel that you have the ability to go to sea, you can bring the necklace to find me in Wessenburg City, and I will provide an investment as your start-up capital."

Lilu was stunned for a moment, her face turned red all of a sudden, even the base of her neck was red, she lowered her head and responded softly.

Frederick felt that his actions just now were frivolous, and he was a little embarrassed. He didn't feel comfortable saying anything, so as not to make the embarrassment worse, so he and Lilu continued to collect shells silently.

There are many brightly colored baby conchs by the sea. They are the size of a finger, with a smooth back that is raised high, and a narrow opening in the abdomen.

Frederick picked up a lot and prepared to string them into a bracelet and take them back as gifts.

(End of this chapter)