Chapter 174 Primordial Yang Terraced Field in the Ancient Times
On seeing him losing his bearings after dancing in circles, Yan Wu grabbed the village head over and started dancing the ghost dance with him. As the clumsy village head struggled to dance to the beat, the other men were competing with their dancing skills, and the women were rooting for the men they had a crush on. The dinner, though appeared to be quite simple, was filled with communitive solidarity. The bonfire blazed more and more vigorously, while the bamboo dance grew more and more fascinating. Women soon brought tea to the guests. When the boiling water was poured into the cups, those tender flurry leaves that had curled up all stretched themselves and slowly blossomed in the steam, which looked quite like a wash painting. Xu Linghe loved drinking tea. He took a sip and relished the fragrant aftertaste lingering on his tongue.

“If you like this tea, I’ll bring you more tomorrow.” The village head wedged his way to Xu Linghe and promptly extended his attentiveness to him. Xu Linghe knitted his brows. “He is really a killjoy!”

“Let’s call it a day and go home now. Don’t forget we have businesses to attend tomorrow.” The village head urged the villagers to disband. The crowd quickly quieted down. But hardly had Xu Linghe stepped out of the tent was he stopped by the village head.

“Your Excellency, I’m simply a nodding acquaintance with Yan Bo. I’m not very close to him.” The village head tried to distance himself from Yan Bo in the hope that Xu Linghe would not get to the bottom of the matter.

“I may give you a pardon, but that comes with a catch.” Hearing that, the village head’s heart leaped to his throat. “Does he mean I may be spared from the death penalty but not the cruel torture?” The longer his mind dwelled on the thought, the faster his brows were beaded with cold sweat.

“I will spare you only if you guarantee that every villager will have enough food to eat.”

“Rest assured, Your Excellency. If you spot a single beggar in my village, you can take my head off.”

The village head knew clearly that the villagers were hardworking people. As long as they had a leader instructing them what to do, it was rather easy for them to have sufficient food supply.

“Goodbye, Your Excellency! Take care!” The village head rejoiced. The distress he had for a couple of days suddenly cleared off. Yan Wu, however, was reluctant to leave. He had not exercised his muscles and bones like this for a long time. Zhan Ming was coated in cold sweat as he watched Yan Wu swinging his slender waist. “Did he get possessed by a dancer? How creepy!”

“Are you into men?” Yan Wu blurted out. Zhan Ming was so annoyed that he started to crack his knuckles. “He doubts that I’m gay? Humph, no way will I be bent!”

“Well, I’m into… kicking your ass!” At that, Yan Wu broke into a run. He knew better than to go take on Zhan Ming head-on. The villagers were all unwilling to go home, for it was rare for them to meet a government official in the remote and deserted countryside. Not until they saw Xu Linghe was stopped by Zhan Ming did they follow the old man away. The dog in the yard heard the footsteps of its owner and barked frenetically. The instant the old man pushed the door open the yellow dog threw itself at him. The old man patted on its head, and the dog licked his hand affectionately. At that time, Yan Wu swung a leg to kick the dog. But the dog immediately charged at him and snapped at the hem of his trousers. Yan Wu flailed about, trying to shake the dog off, but a large piece of his trousers was torn off. Yan Wu was forced to cover his bare leg with both hands and sneak into the house in a hilarious fashion. At that scene, Zhan Ming could not help burst out laughing as he thought to himself, “The brat does deserve that! Why pick on the dog for reason?” Knowing that it had done something terrible, the dog also beat a retreat and went back to its doghouse. After that, the old man also went into the house. Since Yan Wu just got his trousers torn apart by the dog, he already turned in and pulled the quilt over his head out of shame, with Xu Linghe leaning against the rim of the bed, his mind still on the innovative chip.

“There are only mountains in those provinces but no paddy field. So, how can they grow rice in the spring farming season?” muttered Xu Linghe, whose brows were furrowed. The straw was only an industrial crop. What could keep people away from starvation was rice. After inspecting several provinces and counties in the past few days, he noticed that the paddy field was very scarce. So, it was easy said than done to let everyone have enough to eat.

“Paddy fields can be created!” yelled Yan Wu, who suddenly thought of the Primordial Yang Terraced Field. That was a remarkable work. Indeed, in order to have a good meal, the imagination of mankind was limitless.

“How to create one?” asked Zhan Ming with curiosity. No one had ever tried to create a farming field on a mountain. Xu Linghe remained silent, but he could not stop exclaiming inwardly that how creative that idea was. He knew humans’ potentials were boundless, and a breakthrough could only be made by breaking the ordinary rules. Ever since he saw the thing called chip, Xu Linghe’s mindset had been altered. He quickly changed his mindset, wanted to learn about new objects, and longed to put his knowledge of the chip into practice. He was well aware that only by constant learning could he change the status quo.

“Go on, how can we create one?” Xu Linghe inquired not out of pure curiosity but his determination to bring a peaceful life to the folks and prosperity to his country. And to achieve that, the first problem he needed to handle was the problem of feeding the people. Unfortunately, the territory of Jin stretched mainly cross hills and mountains. Natural paddy fields were very rare. Thus, if he wanted to change the natural geographic condition, artificial projects were necessary. “Yan Wu is right. We can create it from scratch!” Gradually, he already made up his mind.

“We must pick places where the rain is plenty and air moist to convert them into farming fields, because that way we will have sufficient water supply,” began Yan Wu.

“The soil of those provinces seldom falls short of water.” The old man was actually best qualified to answer that question. He had traveled to many places in the past few days. Every time he came to a place, he took a sample of the soil. Hence, no one could know it better than him that the earth had adequate water content.

“That’s great. With the water supply, we’re not far from success. Generally, a terraced field is 300 meters to 400 meters in length. The narrower the field is and the steeper the slope is, the larger the reversed slope will be, and vice versa. The width of the field is about 1.5 to 3 meters. The length is depended on the integrity of the terrain. The external and internal slope are both 600 meters. The reversed slope terrace is able to improve the geographic condition, retain water, and keep the soil. It is best built upon a slope which is relatively even due to drought or water flow.” Hearing that, Zhan Ming was at a loss. “What is the reverse slope? Why be so troublesome just to build a field?” But Xu Linghe understood the rough idea. Since the narrow slope was steep, the area of the field to be created was naturally small.

“Got it?” Yan Wu felt parched after all the talking. Zhan Ming hurriedly offered tea to him. The corners of Yan Wu’s lips irresistibly curled up. “Surely knowledge changes fate!” Although he was just showing off with the experience left by the ancestors, Yan Wu was unabashed.

“It sounds time-consuming. We have no way to get that down by the next spring,” said the old man. He was not deliberately throwing a wet blanket on the idea. But the deadline was a must in the plan. Yan Wu might only lip service to it but not care whether a Primordial Yang Terrace field could really be realized. Theoretically, it was true. Xu Linghe could think of nothing to contradict the old man. This place was the pilot of all the other provinces. If the project worked, it would be promoted to other places. Therefore, everything shall go by the plan and be done as soon as possible, so they would have a paddy field to grow rice by the next spring. As the ruler, Xu Linghe had just too many things to consider. He propped himself up against the rim of the bed. After a while, sleepiness stole over him. Yan Wu yawned, and he knew it was time to bid the others goodnight. Chills rose from the floor, giving Yan Wu shudders. He hastily tucked the quilt in, hoping the thin quilt could fend off the biting cold. Then, he also put on his cotton-padded jacket and wished for a cozy slumber.

“The damn weather!” swore Yan Wu in bed. That was his way to vent his disgruntlement out. Zhan Ming shook his head dismissively. “You won’t have time to sleep if you’re on the battlefield, let alone a quilt. The brat must have suffered nothing at all.”

The old man had suffered a lot, so he was quite satisfied with what they had and did not understand why they had anything to complain about. Zhan Ming took off his cotton-padded jacket and wrapped it around his master. He knew he was better at withstanding the cold. Wind pounded the door, and the dog began to bark at the door like mad. The old man got up and went out to see the yard was covered in a thin layer of snow. Someone was knocking on the gate urgently. His voice sounded like the village head. The old man hastened to open the gate.

“Wind has come. In case His Excellency gets cold, we brought here some quilts.”

Some villages were holding several quilts behind the village head. Inside the house, upon hearing that there were more quilts, Yan Wu asked the old man to quickly carry them in. After that, afraid of disturbing His Excellency, the village head took off at once.

“This is nice. Tomorrow, I’ll work harder.” Yan Wu thought to himself as he lay down in the snug bed. Xu Linghe had not woke up once. “Master is worn out.” Zhan Ming helped him to tuck in.

When Xu Linghe woke up the next day, it was already noon. Yan Wu was gone long before he awoke. “The boy who always sleeps late turned an early bird today.” He then did the morning routine and got out of the house. The yard was perfectly quiet. The dog came to him, its tail wagging happily. He saw a note left on the stove, which said “Food is in the pot and they are at the back mountain.” The handwriting bore an air of majesty. Xu Linghe was impressed by the literary attainment of the Martial General. He opened the pot and found golden johnnycakes were lying at the bottom along with porridge and pickled turnips. Taking a bite of the crispy johnnycake and then nibbling at a chunk of pickled turnip, Xu Linghe wolfed down two bowls of porridge. He started to feel at home after living in this place for several days. The breakfast took him a whole hour. Then, he did the dishes and set off.

The winder was shrouded in a veil. Snowflakes shone on his toes. When the toes were damped by the melting snow, Xu Linghe stamped to shake the water off. He looked in the distance and inhaled some fresh air as he climbed the mountain along the path. Yan Wu, who had a sharp vision, was already waving at him from the mountaintop. Soon, the village head came down to pick him up halfway through the path.

“Your Excellency, thank you for taking so much trouble to get here.” The village head was now on the heels of Xu Linghe.

“Zhan Ming, did you mention the field-developing project to the villagers?” questioned Xu Linghe. Zhan Ming went speechless for a few moments. “Creating farming fields requires lots of good labors, but who is willing to do it for free?”

“Mountains slops can be converted into farming fields?” The village head was stunned. He never heard of anyone building a paddy field on the top of a slope.

“Paddy fields are too rare. To not be famished, we have to develop the paddy fields ourselves.”

To cozy up to Xu Linghe, the village head summoned the villagers over and explained the reason for the gathering. Upon learning that they planned to build up farming fields, the villages showed great support, which was totally beyond the expectations of the village head.

“Your Excellency, are these burly labors sufficient?”

“Yes. Let’s get started.”

The villages then raced to the mountaintop. Zhan Ming assembled them, and Yan Wu became the technical adviser. Men started collecting rocks. The length of the terraces was adjusted to the width of the slope, which was normally from 300 meters to 500 meters. The narrower the field was and the steeper the slope was, the larger the reversed slope would be, and vice versa. The width of the field was about 1.5 to 3 meters. The length was depended on the integrity of the terrain. The external and internal slope were both 600 meters. The reversed slope terrace could improve the geographic condition, retain water, and keep the soil. It was best built upon a slope or a plateau which was relatively even due to drought or water flow. The project was huge and tricky. Yan Wu had seen the Primordial Yang Terraced Field, so he was quite confident about the project. Xu Linghe joined the laboring team and followed other villages to build the ridges between fields. The old man was very adept at doing physical work. The ridges he built were amazingly neat and firm. The village head also busied himself in preparing food for the team, providing them hot soups and sweet johnnycakes. Although work conditions were poor, the workers all ate their share of food in a cheerful mood. Yan Wu kept weaving through the fields, giving people endless requirements to modify the ridges so as to let the soil retain more rain.

Looking from a distance, the slope terraces looked like a flight of stairs, and the surfaces were slops which could be converted into slope fields. This way, water and soil erosion would be reduced. And to further prevent that loss, stone ridges were built at suited places, which protruded from the ground. Gradually, the ridges increased the ground level and decreased the sloping angle, so as to top up the infiltration of the surface currents and avoid the surface scour. Fruit trees and yellow flowers were planted in many spots, which would fortify the ridges, add the farming income, and increase water and soil retainment. When the conditions permitted, the slope terraces should be altered into level terraces.

The compound terraces referred to various types of terraced fields, such as horizontal terraces, slope terraces, and interval terraces, which were developed on the slopes of the hills depending on the situation of the mountains. Its construction should be planned as a whole, and if the conditions allowed, it could also work along with supplementary soil and water conservation projects such as horizontal ditch to improve the water retention and corrosion resistance of the cultivated land on the slope. The construction of compound terraces can make more rational use of land, saving engineering investment and improving soil and water conservation benefits.

Many parts of the world had terraces, which stretched along the precipitous slopes like steps built for the giants to ascend to the sky. Terraced fields were flat patches of land embedded in the slopes for growing crops. Xu Linghe transformed the land of Jin into rice fields. How amazing his work was!

The appearance of those terraces would also convert the Jin folks’ mentality. The rational use of hillsides or hills to grow crops was a feat for the benefit of future generations. By developing those terraces, Xu Linghe was enabling more people to have their own fields and creating a better living environment for the refugees.

Yan Wu remained the villagers to pay attention to the do’s and don’ts, to prevent the erosion of the terraces, so that even if the rain washed away the soil along the slopes, most of the terraced fields would still be kept there thanks to the surrounding stone walls.