228 Farming
Ming Zhiyan was not very knowledgeable about farming, but he knew that if the fertility could not keep up with the later harvest, the harvest might be very bad.
He frowned and asked, “Then, in Miss Jian’s opinion, do you have any good methods? Do you want to buy fertilizer or do something else? As long as Miss Jian says it, I will definitely do my best. The high yield of grain is related to the future of Great Wei and must not suffer any losses.”
Jian Qingqing muttered, “Buying fertilizer is not a good idea. First, we have planted too much land, so we don’t have that much fertilizer. Second, we don’t only need fertilizer this time. After the crops are bigger, we have to add more fertilizer from time to time. So, I am thinking of a better way to provide fertilizer continuously.”
Ming Zhiyan pondered for a while before saying, “Miss Jian, are you saying that you want to raise your own livestock?”
Jian Qingiqng nodded. “Yes, we can set up a farm in Jian Family Village. It doesn’t matter if we raise pigs, chickens, or ducks. As long as we can use an endless supply of fertilizer, and we can also earn some extra money, we can kill two birds with one stone. However, if the farm is too small, there won’t be enough fertilizer. If it’s too big, it’ll be a problem to sell it.”
Ming Zhiyan said in a deep voice, “The market isn’t a problem. If Shifeng County can’t buy it all, we can transport it to Cairo City. Even if Cairo City can’t take them all, we can transport it to the border. The soldiers at the border still can’t eat their fill. Raising more meat is also a good thing for them.”
Jian Qingqing’s eyes lit up. This was not a bad idea, but in turn, she felt that it was not very feasible. This era was not like the present. An 800-mile journey was only a matter of a few hours. At this time, 800 miles might take many days if one were to walk. Putting aside whether the chickens, ducks, and pigs could survive the long journey, there was not so much manpower and material resources to transport all of them. If they died, there was no freezing technology here, so it would smell bad before they had traveled even one-tenth of the way.
“If they were transported to the border, how would they be transported? The nearest border from here would also take more than ten days to walk. If they were to use a car to pull it over, it would be too much manpower and material resources.”
Ming Zhiyan was puzzled. “What’s the point of that? In war, we also need to bring meat with us. If we can’t bring some, we’ll bring it after we process and marinate it. Don’t worry, there are officials who specialize in transporting this type of meat.”
Jian Qingqing was shocked. She did not know that in this era, there was a need to bring meat to war. She thought that they would only bring rice and vegetables. At most, they would bring some processed meat. She did not expect that they would still be able to make it.
“Can the living survive a long journey? Won’t they die when they get there?”
“If they die halfway, then we’ll marinate the meat. There will always be places to bring them.”
She was afraid that less than ten percent of the livestock would still survive after they were brought to the place. However, it was too unhealthy to marinate them after they died. It was better to kill them all and marinate them before bringing them.
“Then why didn’t you kill and marinate them before bringing them? Wouldn’t it be more troublesome to marinate them after they died on the road?”
Ming Zhiyan did not know why Jian Qingqing was suddenly interested in this. However, he still explained carefully, “It’s too far to marinate them in advance. I’m afraid that they would already be rotten by the time we reach there.”
Jian Qingqing did not know what the technology of marinating meat was like in this era. It would still stink after being processed?
However, she suddenly had an idea. Perhaps she could do an integrated project. In short, she could raise the animals well and then set up a meat processing factory, mainly to process the animals she raised herself. Then, she could transport the finished products to the border. This way, she would not need to spend so much effort and the soldiers would be able to eat better.