Before winter began, the pond on the hillside had already been dug, and the rest was to continuously consolidate the bottom and walls of the pond.

Most of the workers were transferred to the foot of the mountain, some laying foundations for high-rotor trucks, while others digging water diversion channels at the foot of the mountain.

Especially the water diversion canal, it needs to pass through many villagers' fields along the way. If placed elsewhere, this is a difficult point in water conservancy projects, and many water canals have been abandoned halfway - land acquisition is required!

Zhu Ming did not forcibly expropriate the land, but adjusted the ownership of the land and set up wasteland elsewhere to make up for them.

As long as this canal is dug and combined with a high-rotating truck, half of the paddy fields in the village can be irrigated.

This winter is extremely cold, and the temperature drops sharply at the end of the September lunar calendar.

In order to complete the work before it snows, Zhu Ming hired more young and strong people. He could only owe his wages first and deduct them from taxes or land rent next year.

The villagers were half-doubted about this, but they still came with a hoe. As long as Zhu Ming fulfilled his promise in the future and really gave them wages, he would definitely gain the high trust of the villagers from now on.

In mid-October, the canal was still not dug, and it suddenly started to rain and snow in the sky.

The construction can no longer be continued, but fortunately, more than half of it has been dug and the high-rotor truck has been completed.

“Test drive!”

With Zhu Guoxiang's order, the two oxen began to work and used gears to drive the tall cylindrical car. At the same time, the river water, which was not turbulent, also exerted a little force on the cylindrical car.

There are two modes of high-rotation water trucks. One is driven entirely by hydraulic power, and it does not use gear devices, and is only suitable for places with rapid water flow. The other is to use animal power. The large-tube truck painted in the Yuan Dynasty "Agricultural Book" obviously has wooden gears.

Under the sight of many villagers, a large 10-meter-high truck took the river water into the sink.

The sinks are all in the air, all made of wood, and there are many brackets underneath.

The construction of the barrel truck and the sink is so high that it is purely due to the broken terrain. The high-rotating drum truck was invented to irrigate the fields. As for the fields at low levels, when water is needed, the gaps in the ridges can be opened, and the water will naturally flow down.

In the future, it will be maintained every year, brushing tung oil for the barrel truck and sink, and replacing the severely rotten wood directly.

At this moment, the river water passed through the paddy fields from a high altitude and fell into the canal at the foot of the mountain.

A giant, a craftsmanship!

Even the villagers who did not have paddy fields cheered.

They didn't even think about seeing it before, they had never dreamed that there were such magical machinery in the world.

The villagers who own paddy fields were full of excitement. They finally didn’t have to work hard to fetch water next year. With the help of a big truck, they could pay some water to irrigate.

The new village chief Zhu is indeed more effective than the bandit leader!

Zhu Ming smiled and said to his father: "If this is a strategy game, I would probably give you a message: Bee, your village has built a big tube truck, agriculture +3, free labor +3, and village chief's prestige +10."

"You are relaxed, this big truck makes me tired." Zhu Guoxiang said angrily.

President Zhu took a break from his busy schedule and used to play electronic games.

At first it was Red Alert and Warcraft, but later he was taken by his wife to steal vegetables. He could understand what his son said.

The weather is getting colder and the canal is completely shut down, and the rest will continue to be dug next year.

More than ten days later, several light snow fell, followed by heavy snowfall.

"This ghost weather is worthy of being the Little Ice Age!"

Zhu Ming sat in the main hall, throwing wooden blocks into the brazier from time to time, and sighed at the snowflakes floating outside.

Zhu Guoxiang rubbed his hands and looked at the fire: "It's hard to bear without air conditioning and heating. The villagers in the mountainous areas are fine, with trees everywhere, and there is enough wood to burn the fire for the winter. It's only in difficulty for the residents in the city. It's been snowing for so long, so there must be no woodcutter selling firewood. If the stored firewood is burned, they can only bear it."

Zhu Ming kept stomping his feet: "It must be ten degrees below zero, and it is still cold when roasted on fire."

"That's because you didn't close the door!" Zhu Guoxiang went over and closed the door, and it became much warmer in an instant.

Zhu Ming dragged a bench and lay down: "The doors and windows are closed, and the rewards will not be made. President Zhu, do you still have cigarettes?"

"Where is yours?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

"It's over." Zhu Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang took out a pack of Huazi from his arms, counted carefully, and there were the last five and a half. He handed the half cigarette to his son and lit a complete one by himself: "Is the tobacco delivered from America?"

"Yes." Zhu Ming didn't dislike it, picked up half of the flower and sucked it.

Zhu Guoxiang stuffed the only four cigarettes back and said whimsically: "If we succeed in rebelling, is it possible to send troops across the Pacific Ocean and go to America to get some tobacco to plant it?"

Zhu Ming was amused: "Then the future history books may be written like this: The founding emperor and the two were addicted to smoking, so they launched soldiers, made giant ships, crossed the ocean, and went on an expedition to barbarians to get tobacco and returned."

Zhu Guoxiang also laughed and bent down to fiddle with the firewood in the brazier.

In the next room, several women were talking and laughing, chatting about interesting things while placing soles for their families.

The children were at Meng Zhao's house, and Meng Xiucai personally taught the children to learn new characters and teach them Arabic numerals.

The name has also been changed accordingly: "One" is a positive number, "One" is a traditional number, and "1" is a simple number.

Deng Chun, who had married and had children, heard that Meng Xiucai was teaching children, and he actually came in to learn. He recognized more than 80 commonly used characters, and knew that "Kao" was a dead father and "Bi" was a dead mother, and he was familiar with the size and proportions of regular script and official script.

“Don’t miss it!”

Suddenly the door slammed, and Bai Sheng's voice came from outside: "Grandpa Zhu, Brother Zhu, there is something good!"

Zhu Ming got up and went to open the door, and suddenly a cold wind gushed into it.

Bai Sheng carried a goat and said with a smile: "I went down the mountain to buy a sheep. Today I invite you all to eat."

This guy is also a good person. He likes to make friends when he is a thug. He likes to be generous if he doesn't have a penny in his hand.

It has been snowing in recent days, which has made Bai Sheng so hard that he simply went to buy a goat and came back for a dinner.

Zhu Ming turned his head and looked at his father: "Eat mutton hot pot?"

"Good idea!"

Zhu Guoxiang was also suffocated by the heavy snow and arranged for him: "You come and kill the sheep and skin it, I'll get vegetables and dipping sauce."

When the women in the neighboring house heard that they were going to cook, they put down their needlework and came to help.

Zhu Guoxiang braved the snow and went to the field to cut white squids.

Baisong is an evolutionary variety of sangcai and belongs to the ancestor of Chinese cabbage.

The cabbage evolved into the form of cabbage, which was first recorded in the "Qing Yilu" in the early Northern Song Dynasty. Until the reign of Ningzong of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was finally a clearer record: the big ones were called cabbage, and the small ones were called cabbage.

At this moment, the white squid that Zhu Guoxiang cut back was only wrapped in two or three leaves in the middle, and all the leaves around were growing outwards. Moreover, the stems were narrow and the leaves were broad, with blue and white colors, and looked between small cabbage and Chinese cabbage.

In the middle of winter, this is the only thing left in vegetables.

President Zhu went to pick vegetables, and Village Chief Zhu was sharpening his knife and rushing to the goat.

With a butcher knife in hand, Zhu Ming stood there for a long time without taking action. He had learned to kill people, but he had no experience in killing sheep.

"Let me come!"

Zhang Guangdao pressed the goat in the snow, bent his knees and pressed the sheep's body, grabbed the sheep's horn with his left hand, and stabbed the knife with his right hand.

Bai Sheng handed over a wooden basin, and sheep's blood could not be wasted.

Everyone was busy and even the children came out to play snowball fights, which wiped out the depression that had been stuck in the house for the past half month.

Today is light snow, and I can finally move. The heavy snow a few days ago is called helpless.

The snow on the ground has already spread over my knees!

Move the mud stove into the main hall, set up an iron pot to start boiling the soup base. There are not many seasonings and there are no chili yet, so I can only eat it.

Meng Zhao looked beside him with her sleeves: "Sir, are you going to make shabu shabu?"

"right."

When Zhu Guoxiang heard this name, he knew it was the ancient name of hot pot.

The alias of rabbit meat hotpot in the Song Dynasty is called elegant: Baxia Gong.

It comes from two lines of poetry, the surging rivers are snowy, and the wind blows the evening lights the clouds - the rolling white soup is like the surging rivers on a sunny day. Chopsticks hold white rabbit meat and rinse it into the soup pot, and it immediately turns red, as if the sunset is reflected on the wind.

The sheepskin was peeled off, and several big men cut their bones and cut their meat, and they removed the goat from eight pieces in minutes.

The big bones were picked out and threw them into the pot to make soup.

Zhu Ming cut a large piece of fat and thin, put it in a wooden basin and freeze it in the snow. After a while, it was a little harder, and then he got back to the house to make a piece of mutton.

In the afternoon, everyone sat around three tables, all of whom were the heads of the village and their families.

"Dad, please say a few words." In front of outsiders, Zhu Ming gave his father a lot of face.

Zhu Guoxiang raised his wine cup and said, "Thank you all this year. There are two days left in the winter solstice. Let's celebrate in advance. After selling new tea in the next year, plant corn and sweet potatoes, and dig the canal completely, Daming Village will definitely be even more red. Drink this bowl full of drinks!"

"Done!"

Zhu Ming shouted with a smile.

"Dry!"

Not only were the men shouting, but the women also shouted, but they didn't just toast.

Three small stoves were placed on the table, and there was a ceramic pot on the stove.

No one needs to teach this thing, but everyone knows how to rinse it. There is only mutton, internal organs, blood and cabbage, ginger, garlic, vinegar, salt and pepper, but it is very delicious when eaten at this moment.

The large unshaved bones were taken out of the soup and threw them to the children to chew them slowly.
To be continued...