Manor Romance

Chapter 22 Water Diversion Project
After being beaten by Brother Chen last time, Xu Lin returned to Xiaolu Mountain in less than two weeks and resumed his normal work. He is still taking care of the potato field.Xu Lin is still the same, except for working in the fields, he usually sleeps in a daze in the small building. The only happy change is that he drinks less often now, and he doesn't look so sluggish.

After turning into autumn and winter, there was a lot less work in the popsicle wholesale shop, Lu Ci could spend most of his time on Xiaolu Mountain, and Yunli handed over the management of the cherry tomatoes on the eight acres of land to Lu Ci.In this way, Lu Ci became the second permanent employee of Xiaolushan, and Yunli paid her 800 yuan a month, [-] more than Xu Lin.

Even in the peak season, Lu Ci can only earn 600 yuan a month at the wholesale store. Now Yunli gives her 800 yuan a month, and there is no limit to her working hours, as long as she does her job well.Her gratitude cannot be expressed in words, and she can only repay Yunli's kindness by working hard.

Yunli took a chance and gave her the antifreeze ointment she got from Aunt Fang.In cold weather, applying this ointment on the skin can have a good antifreeze effect and also have a miraculous effect on eliminating chilblains.In the past, Lily was very afraid of the cold, so Aunt Fang asked an acquaintance to buy this ointment, and applied it on her every winter, and the effect was still very obvious.

After using the ointment, the frostbite on Lu Ci's face has subsided a lot, and it's hard to find it if you don't look carefully now.Recently, the two met almost every day, and had a lot of exchanges about the cultivation of cherry tomatoes. If they were just ordinary friends who could talk to each other before, they have now taken a step further and become friends who can talk to each other.

In December, the temperature dropped rapidly, the rain decreased, and some wells also dried up.In order to solve the problem of water sources, Yunli has recently entered the mountain several times, inspected the situation in all aspects, and finally finalized a solution.

The last time he went to the mountain to cut bamboo, Huang Damin once said that at the junction of Banlu Mountain, Xiaolu Mountain and Dalu Mountain, there is a flat low valley. During the rainy season, a large amount of rainwater will accumulate here, forming a wetland. , the previous contractor also diverted water for irrigation through here.

After on-the-spot investigation, Yunli found that this was indeed a solution, but there were still problems to be solved urgently.First, the valley area is large and the terrain is flat, and the accumulated rainwater is not deep enough, so it will easily evaporate.Second, although the valley is in the west, its altitude is almost the same as that of Xiaolu Mountain. The area to the north of Xiaolu Mountain is much higher than the valley. Even if water can be brought in, it can only take care of the southern part of the mountain. , the problem of water shortage throughout the north persists.

For the first problem, Yunli already has a specific solution, but for the second problem, he doesn't have much idea, or in other words, he has to solve the first problem first, let's see how it goes , and then plan the direction of the second step.

As old brother Chen said, the road needs to be taken step by step, and the meal needs to be eaten bite by bite, so Yunli decided to complete the first step first.

Yunli's plan is to dig two connected large pits on the other side of the valley, near the low-lying place of Xiaolu Mountain, to be used as reservoirs, and then dig a human hole along the junction of Xiaolu Mountain and Dalu Mountain. The zigzag deep canal runs through the entire area in the south of Xiaolu Mountain.

The matter of digging the canal is easy, after all, it is within the Xiaolu Mountain range, but two large pits need to be dug in the valley, and this can only be started with the approval of the county forestry bureau, but the procedures are extremely cumbersome and not guaranteed. can succeed.In desperation, Yunli later found Xu Ping and asked him to help as a staff officer. After all, he was also an official, and he knew more about these operations.

To Yunli's surprise, under Xu Ping's help, he had two meals with the leaders of the forestry office in the town, gave him a small gift, and settled the matter without any formalities. Work started.

As the saying goes, snakes have their way, and rats have their way. To dig a project on public land, the procedures must be very troublesome.However, if there are sufficient reasons to explain that the public land hinders the rights and interests of the private owners, it is understandable for the private owners to make some repairs on the public land in order to protect their rights and interests without affecting the third party.

According to the testimony of the relevant departments of Lu Town, the stagnant water in the valley has hindered the business development of the contractors in Xiaolushan, so the problem of allowing the contractors to divert the stagnant water by themselves, without mentioning the excavation project, will solve the problem .

Yunli knew very well that without Xu Ping, this matter would never have gone so smoothly. It seems that it was a very correct decision to try to win over Xu Ping and win his support.

Digging ditches is easy, you can hire someone to use an excavator to complete it, but the excavator can't drive into the valley, and the inside is full of silt swamps, there is no room for the excavator to go in, the two big The pit can only be dug by hand.

Yunli wants to finish this project before the end of the year, because before the end of the year, the farmers will have another important harvest, if it is not done well before the busy season, it will be delayed until next year.So Yunli hurriedly summoned manpower, and the project of digging canals and pits was carried out at the same time, in order to complete the work as soon as possible.

With the income from the last batch of potatoes, Yunli had sufficient funds, so he hired three excavators at once to start work.At the same time, the entrance of Xiaolu Mountain was also remodeled. On the left side of the stone steps, a long oblique passage was excavated and paved with gravel and fine sand to allow large vehicles to enter and exit Xiaolu Mountain.In the future, when Lao Luo and the others come to purchase, they can drive the truck directly to the edge of the field, saving the effort of carrying it back and forth.

The valley at the intersection of Banlu Mountain, Xiaolu Mountain and Dalu Mountain is crescent-shaped, with its opening facing the east, covering an area of ​​about [-] mu.

During the rainy season, this place can still be called a wetland, but after entering autumn and winter, there has not been a few rains here, so now there is very little water in the valley, and the mud is full of reeds, cattails, and water pine. Most of the plants are about two meters high, and people can't find their shadows when they walk in.

Xu Ping told Yunli that in the past, every autumn, many migratory birds would settle here and fly to Southeast Asian countries for the winter as a transit point.In the past, the migration of migratory birds was quite a headache for farmers. A large number of migratory birds settled on the Banlu Mountain. It was the autumn harvest season, and a large number of crops in the terraced fields were ripe, which happened to be their granary.

After working so hard for a season of crops, the harvest is coming soon, how could the farmers be willing to be ruined by migratory birds like this.So in those years, when the season of migratory birds came, every household went out, took shotguns, long bamboo poles, and torches, went into the mountains to catch migratory birds, demolished their nests, and even some malicious people came to catch those rare migratory birds. The sale made the migratory birds afraid to settle around here anymore.

Later, this matter was known to some conservationists, who came to the mountains to have disputes with the farmers, and finally went to the city.Both sides had their own reasons, and finally the relevant departments gave farmers a certain percentage of subsidies, and the matter gradually subsided.

Up to now, the number of migratory birds passing through here has decreased a lot compared to the past, and there has been no large-scale robbing of crops. It is a victory for the villagers, but it is a tragedy for the ecology of the entire region.

Now here in the valley, we can occasionally see some migratory birds that have not yet migrated south. They are patrolling the forest with their families looking for food, and they are very wary of anyone who comes. As soon as Yunli and the others arrive in the valley, they all fly away in fright and make a loud noise. Hissing through the valley.

The farmers who came to the mountain were all old faces. It was not surprising that Yunli wanted to excavate the project. Now every time Yunli recruited workers, everyone was very enthusiastic. Even if they didn't go through Xu Ping, they could find enough suitable people. People are chosen to work.

In addition to bags of necessary tools, each farmer who went into the mountain also carried a long thin bamboo pole. At first Yunli thought they were going to chase birds and dig out bird nests, but when he arrived in the valley, he suddenly realized that here There is another creature that gives them headaches, snakes.

Snake, people here are also called Xiaolong. They think that snakes are servants of mountain gods, so there is no habit of eating snakes here. In some temples, you can still see snake statues, which shows its status here.

Snake, hearing this word will make people feel an involuntary resistance, and most of the snakes in this mountain forest are poisonous, if one is accidentally bitten, the trouble will be big.The bamboo poles brought by the farmers are used to pick up snakes and chase them away. To sum it up in an idiom, it is to scare the snakes by beating grass.

The selected excavation site is a low-lying land near the border of Xiaolu Mountain and Dalu Mountain. There happens to be a natural ditch here, which can guide the water source out and connect it with the herringbone canal dug outside, saving a lot of effort.In addition, this place is just in a sun-shading position, and the range of direct sunlight is very small, which is a very ideal place.

According to Yunli's design, two water storage pits, one large and one small, were dug in a circular shape. The diameter of the large one was more than 30 meters, and the diameter of the small one was less than 20 meters. They were both two meters deep. on the west, and the small one on the east.The bottom of the two water storage pits will be connected by excavated culverts to maintain the balance of the water level. At the place where the ditches are connected, a small dam will be built with mud and rocks to adjust the drainage.

Although it has entered the dry season, there are still accumulated water in many places in the valley, and the ground is full of mud and silt, so it is very difficult to excavate.

But the people in the mountains have their own way. First, we clean up the surrounding plants, use branches to insert the shape marks of the two water storage pits, and then tie a few long hemp ropes, and tie a big sack and a big glue at one end. Containers such as buckets, the other end of which is set on wheels, are hung on tall trees to form a block of pulleys.

The farmers are divided into three groups and two groups. One group holds a shovel to fill the silt into the container, another group pulls the hemp rope to send the silt out, and the last group is responsible for pouring out the silt and Move the container back into the dirt.Such a reciprocating cycle, the division of labor and cooperation of each group is like a dredger at full power, digging out the prototype of the water storage pit bit by bit.

(End of this chapter)