Rome must fall.

Chapter 314: Village Chief Pu Luo (Continued)

In the newly occupied territory of Segestica, the houses allocated to old Nix soldiers like Casalidoa were all mansions. Most of these mansions were made of wooden pillars and clay walls. The yard was not small, with at least three houses. In addition to sheep pens and pig pens, some mansions also had stables for raising horses and cattle. These were much better than the new houses where old soldiers like Casalidoa lived on the other side of the Kupa River. They felt very satisfied, and the new recruits were not jealous because they all knew that these old soldiers were now first-class tribesmen and their rank in the tribe was higher than theirs.

The houses assigned to the Knicks veterans were actually the residences of the nobles of the tribe. Coincidentally, the place where Casalidoa was going to live was the residence of the patriarch to which Celisis belonged. Casalidoa even joked with Celisis: telling him not to forget to come to the house to pay his respects regularly.

After Pro had assigned residences to all the newcomers, it was his turn and he chose a house close to the main house of the village.

Celithis was surprised by this. Although Pro had specifically stated at the square meeting that "the village chief is not the leader of a tribe," he was the manager of the entire village after all, so it was natural for him to live in the main house.

Pro gave an explanation: In the future, the main house will be used as the office space for the entire village, and the village chief and his subordinates will handle various village affairs in the main house.

After obtaining new housing, the Nyx soldiers who followed Pro did not stay there, but left and returned to their own centuries that were stationed in other villages to carry out missions.

Some of the Skodischi slaves also left and went to the main camp on the Sava River to build camps for foreign auxiliary people, or to help build bridges under the guidance of the Ministry of Works.

In the afternoon, Selysis gathered the villagers to the field at the east end of the village. Pro stood on a small mound and the first thing he said to them was: "Who can tell me how much difference there is between the grain you plant now and the grain you harvest during the harvest?"

The people did not expect Pu Luo to ask this question, and soon someone answered: "Now we plant 10 kilograms of grain, and we can harvest 30 kilograms at most."

Another person said: "It was better before. We could plant 10 kilograms and harvest about 40 kilograms. The reason why it is much worse now is that the fertility of the land is not good enough."

"You all know that we, the Nix people, settled along the Kupa River only last year, and we only started planting wheat at the beginning of this year. When we harvested in September, do you know how many kilograms of wheat we harvested for every 9 kilograms of seed grain we planted?" Pro raised his hands, shook them in front of everyone, and answered himself: "About 10 kilograms of wheat."

Everyone was in an uproar.

Soon someone objected: "That's impossible. I had a relative who joined the newly established tribe along the Kupa River two years ago. He told me that the fields along the Kupa River are not much different from ours, and the grain produced cannot be as much as you say!"

"That's because we, the Knicks, have better farming techniques!" Pro said loudly and confidently, "Next I will tell you how we, the Knicks, fertilize the fields and grow crops. You can judge for yourself whether what I just said is a lie!"

Pro's words successfully attracted the attention of the villagers. He then bent down, grabbed a handful of soil, and pointed at the person who had spoken before: "You are right, the fertility of these fields is indeed not very good. You see, the soil is clumping and a bit hard..."

Pro crushed the soil with his hands and sniffed it: "And the fishy smell is a bit light--"

The man who had spoken before interrupted and said, "The soil was not like this originally. It's just that the tribe has been fighting frequently in the past two years, and we have been asked to hand over grain continuously. We have to grow two crops of wheat a year, and the fertility of the land has been almost exhausted!"

His words immediately aroused the indignation of others, and everyone started complaining.

Pro said loudly: "You all know that the fertility of this land is not good, so what should we do next to restore the fertility of this land?"

It was that man who answered first: "Of course, it is to reduce consumption, plant wheat only once a year, and then fertilize the land."

"Well, fertilization, how do you plan to fertilize?" Pro asked.

"Of course, we can increase the fertility of the land by pouring human or livestock feces into the fields."

"that's it?"

"Isn't this enough? Do you have a better way?!" the man asked back unconvinced.

“You know that using manure to increase soil fertility is great, but manure must never be poured directly into the fields!”

"why?"

"Because the heat of feces is too high, especially horse manure, it will burn the wheat seeds when mixed with the soil, preventing them from germinating. In addition, some feces contain insect eggs, which will also destroy our wheat seedlings after hatching in the soil..." "Is what you said... true?"

"I think you should be a person with a lot of experience in farming. If you think about it carefully, you will know whether what I said makes sense." Pro responded.

Selisis came up to him and whispered, "That man's name is Leldus. He is indeed one of the best farmers in our tribe, and he also likes to teach other tribesmen how to farm..."

Pro's mind moved, and he saw Lerdus thinking for a while, looking a little hesitant, and asked: "If the manure really can't be directly poured into the field, then what method will you use to fertilize it?"

"Two methods." Pro looked around at everyone and said loudly and confidently, "One is the composting method, and the other is the manure fermentation method. The composting method is to pile up the feces, mix it with soil, and place it in the open air or under a wooden shed for one or two months. When the heat in the feces is exhausted, the fertilizer can be mixed with the soil in the field for use;

The composting method requires digging a pond, pouring in a certain amount of water, and then putting in not only feces but also straw, branches, rotten fruits, vegetables, etc. After about a month, the substances that can increase soil fertility contained in these branches, fruits, and vegetables will dissolve in the pond water, and then you can use this fertilizer water to irrigate the land... We in the Knicks tribe usually use a combination of these two methods.

In addition, there are some ways to increase soil fertility... I see a lot of haystacks piled up in your fields. In addition to using it to lay roofs, beds, and courtyard walls, what else do you use it for?"

"Besides doing these things, what else can we do with the wheat straw?" Lerdus responded seriously: "There will be some left before the autumn harvest next year, so of course we will burn it all."

"What happens after it's burned?"

"If it burns, it burns. The wind will blow it away."

"What a waste, what a waste!" Pro stamped his feet and said sadly: "You should know that the wheat grown in the field is only a small part of the wheat. Most of the fertilizer consumed by the field is in the wheat straw, so you should return the fertilizer in the wheat straw to the field!"

"What can we do to return the fertility of wheat straw to the fields? We can't just bury all the wheat straw in the fields." Leldus finally asked for advice, but his tone still sounded awkward.

"Two methods." Pro responded calmly: "One is the composting method I mentioned just now, but the composting pool can't hold so much wheat straw. You can burn most of the wheat straw, but you have to mix the ashes after burning into the soil in the field, so that you can replenish some of the fertility of the field.

In addition, you can grind up the bones left over from eating meat and spread them on the soil to increase its fertility... These are some ways to fertilize the soil and increase its fertility."

Pro noticed that everyone began to listen carefully, and unconsciously raised his voice: "Next, I will talk about how to avoid over-consuming the fertility of the land and ensure that we have enough harvests. Our leader Maximus, inspired by the goddess Danu, has formulated a three-field rotation system for the tribesmen.

The three-field crop rotation system is to divide our land into three parts, 1/3 of the fields are used to plant spring wheat, 1/3 of the fields are used to plant winter wheat, and the remaining 1/3 of the fields are temporarily fallow and used to plant wheat next year, while the other fields are left fallow... By using this cycle of rotation, the fertility of the land can be maintained.

In addition, fallow land does not mean that nothing can be grown. Some soybeans and forage grass can be planted, which can not only increase the fertility of the land, but also increase the harvest and facilitate livestock breeding. "

"But we don't have much land to begin with. If we farm the way you describe, one-third of the land will be idle every year, so we will get even less food," someone questioned.

"That's right, and we have to hand over the food from the 4th floor. How can we still have enough to eat?!" Someone took the opportunity to vent his dissatisfaction.

"Quiet! Everyone please be quiet! Listen carefully to what the village chief says!" Celithis hurried out to maintain order.

"The Ministry of Agriculture has conducted experiments specifically on the issue you mentioned and has come to the conclusion that the implementation of the three-field rotation system will not affect the lives of you, the reserve tribesmen!"

Pro explained confidently: "After the land is divided tomorrow, each of your families will own 50 mu of land. You can cultivate more than 10 mu at a time, and cultivate more than 30 mu a year. In this way, you can have more energy to take good care of the fields. If you follow the fertilization method I mentioned before and the farming method I will talk about later, the harvest of more than 30 mu of land will more than double, there will be no problem!

Moreover, the 4% of the grain that the tribe wants you to hand over is the output of the 30 acres of land you planted with wheat. The 10 acres of land you left fallow will not be harvested, so you should calculate whether it can feed your family in a year? As long as you grow crops well, not only can you feed your family, but you will also have some surplus grain to exchange for what you need at the market."

Everyone stopped talking, and many people were actually counting on their fingers.

(End of this chapter)