Chapter 24: Applying Ammonia Water

He wanted to hear more, but Kong Xiaode, afraid of trouble, interrupted Old Yang. “You go prepare the ammonia water first. I’ll come as soon as I’ve attended to the Chief.”

“Alright,” Old Yang said. “I’ll go now. We’ll do your place first, then mine.” He called for Hei Ni, and they left together. Kong Xiaode finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After the meal, Yun Suji had planned to find the head of the village’s agricultural association, but after hearing what he’d heard, he suspected the work wasn’t being done properly. He decided to investigate among the common people first. He said to Old Kong, “After we eat, I’ll help you with the fertilizing.”

Although Kong Xiaode protested, saying, “I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare,” Yun Suji picked up a tool and followed them to the fields.

The so-called ammonia water, Yun Suji knew, was a crude fertilizer that the Heaven and Earth Society had implemented in a few areas. Synthetic ammonia production was very low, making widespread promotion difficult. It was only used in a few regions with better conditions.

However, applying ammonia water was very inconvenient. The Heaven and Earth Society used a primitive method in Lingao. A small cart, pulled by a cow, a donkey, or several people, carried a container—a pot or a bucket—filled with the pungent, eye-stinging ammonia water. A thin bamboo tube connected the container to a hollow, sickle-shaped iron tool with a long wooden handle. To apply it, the operator would insert the sickle-shaped tool into the soil, and a trickle of ammonia water would flow into the ground. It took countless trips back and forth to fertilize one mu of land this way, leaving the operator with streaming eyes and a look of deep suffering. Consequently, the task was very unpopular at first, until people saw the actual effects of the ammonia water and began to accept it.

Yun Suji had been an agricultural technician for the Heaven and Earth Society in Lingao for several years and knew his way around a farm. He could use any tool he picked up, especially the ammonia water equipment, which he had personally taught the people of Lingao to use.

But he was also a bit puzzled. On his way, he had seen that the fields were planted with red clover, which was meant to fix nitrogen in the soil. Why would they apply nitrogen fertilizer to a green manure crop? When he got to the field, he saw it was actually planted with winter wheat.

Kong Xiaode’s and Old Yang’s families had no cattle, and farmers in Hainan didn’t raise horses or donkeys. They had to use a small cart to haul the ammonia bucket. Normally, one person would pull while another applied the fertilizer. With Yun Suji’s help, the two old men pulled the cart in front, making the work much easier.

As he fertilized, Yun Suji asked, “Don’t you keep any livestock for farming?”

“Don’t want to,” Kong Xiaode said, still puffing on his pipe as he pulled the cart. “It’s just me and my wife. We grow enough to eat, and that’s it. Farming is easy here, and the taxes are light. What’s the point of keeping an animal? Raising a calf is more work than raising a child! Besides, what’s the use of farming the land well? We can’t leave a legacy. We’re a family without heirs.”

Before Yun Suji could speak, Old Yang was already teasing him. “Old Kong, you’re still strong, and your wife hasn’t passed menopause, has she? Just have another one.”

“I’m an old man, with one foot in the grave. If something happens to me, who will raise the child?” Kong Xiaode sighed. “I don’t want to think about it. Life is good now. I’ll just live it day by day.”

Yun Suji thought this pessimistic attitude was not good and offered a few words of encouragement.

“I’d like to get a large animal, but I don’t have the money. I can’t afford a big one, and I don’t dare buy a small one,” Old Yang said, bending forward and pulling the cart with all his might.

“Doesn’t the Heaven and Earth Society offer loans for draft animals?”

“I wouldn’t dare take out a high-interest loan to buy a cow,” Old Yang said. “If the cow dies, what will happen to my land? My family depends on it to live. We lost a cow back in our old home. Losing a cow is like half the sky falling! I’ll just save up slowly and buy one.”

“The interest on the draft animal loan is only one and a half percent per year, and you have three years to pay it back,” Yun Suji said. “Your family has two laborers. Your wife can help, and in a couple of years, Hei Ni can help with cutting grass and herding the cow. There’s grass here all year round, so you won’t spend much on fodder. Are you afraid you won’t be able to pay it back? As for cow diseases, there’s a veterinary station in the county.”

“It takes at least half a day to get to the county from here. And the doctor might not even be there. I’ve been to that veterinary station on official business. There are only three people in total, and they’re always busy. By the time it’s my turn, the cow would be long gone,” Old Yang said. “My family has two laborers, but we’re constantly being conscripted for work. The county, the township, the village—anytime, a notice comes, and you have to go for labor, for at least half a day. We don’t even have enough time for farming. As for female labor, Hei Ni has an older sister, fifteen this year, who could count as half a laborer, but we can’t use her now.”

“Why can’t you use her?” From the conversation, Yun Suji had already gathered that there was too much compulsory labor at the grassroots level. But what was this about conscripting a fifteen-year-old girl?

“As soon as summer was over, she was sent to Lingao to attend some study class. I heard they want her to ‘join the league,’” Old Yang said. “We’re farmers; we don’t know what ‘joining the league’ is. We just do what we’re told from above. She’s been gone for over three months now. Last time, the village chief said she wouldn’t be back until before the New Year.”

Yun Suji then asked, “I thought you were all growing red clover here. Why is there wheat?”

“Everyone wants to grow wheat. We’re not used to eating rice…” Kong Xiaode stopped the cart, straightened up, and pounded his lower back. He knocked the ash from his pipe and refilled it. “Rice is a luxury grain, but it doesn’t fill you up. It always feels like you haven’t eaten.”

“That’s right,” Old Yang said. “But the village won’t let us grow it. They say the wheat yield is low. After the rice harvest, we’re supposed to plant red clover to enrich the soil.” He explained that now, families just plant a little wheat on the edges of their fields, like they do with other miscellaneous grains, just to satisfy their craving, regardless of the yield.

“Then why are you allowed to plant it here?”

“It’s an order from above. Our village can plant some winter wheat, not to exceed five hundred mu,” Old Yang said. “But it’s hard to say if we’ll even get to eat this wheat.”

“Why?”

“From what the village chief says, this wheat is a tribute for the Senate.”

The news left a bad taste in Yun Suji’s mouth, but it was probably true. Many senators had complained about the flour supply problem. This was likely arranged by the General Office. No wonder there was an ammonia water quota here; it was to prepare for growing the Senate’s special supply of wheat!

Yun Suji worked while chatting with the two old men. He not only helped the Kong family but also gave guidance to Old Yang and several other families. Everyone said he was a “real master farmer.”

After working for a while, the Chief had his guards take turns, while he sat down to chat with the crowd. When the ammonia application was done, the workers all sat under an old tree at the edge of the field to rest, drink water, and eat their dry rations. They squatted in a circle around Yun Suji, asking him all sorts of questions. Only Kong Xiaode remained standing respectfully, not daring to speak casually. Old Yang said, “Chief Yun! You’re a real expert! You must have a lot of land at home, right?”

“My family didn’t have any land originally,” Yun Suji said. “But I’ve done a lot of work. I’m in charge of all the technical guidance for the Heaven and Earth Society in all of Lingao.”

“No wonder you’re so good at farming,” Old Yang said sincerely. “It wasn’t until we came to Hainan that we knew farming could be done like this! The Chiefs are like gods!”

“It’s not that magical,” Yun Suji said. “Farming is a science. In Australia, there are special schools to study it.”

“You need to study to farm?”

“Of course you do. Do you think the agricultural technicians of the Heaven and Earth Society are born knowing how to farm? Farming is very complex.” Yun Suji thought a little popular science education would be good. “Take this red clover, for example. Does anyone know what it’s used for?”

“I know that one. It’s green manure. When you plow in the spring, you just turn it into the soil as fertilizer. I’ve seen the Nanman people here do that when they plant rice.”

“It is green manure, but why go to the trouble of planting it like a crop instead of just letting the field grow wild with weeds? Weeds can be turned into compost too.”

“This grass must be more fertile.”

“You’re right,” Yun Suji said with a smile. “This red clover is a treasure. And where’s the treasure? As you all know, whatever you plant in the ground grows, but if you don’t fertilize, the soil will be depleted after a few crops. But this red clover is different. Not only does it not deplete the soil, it actually adds fertilizer to it. That’s why we plant it.”

“Chief, are you saying this red clover can fertilize the land?”

“Yes,” Yun Suji said. “The ammonia water we were just applying has the same purpose as the red clover. Both are to enrich the soil.”

The surrounding peasants were both amazed and convinced. A woman spoke up, “The Chief explains it so well, just a few words and it’s clear. Not like our village chief, who only knows how to shout and tie people up…”

Yun Suji saw that the speaker was the young woman who had been questioned at the village entrance that morning. He was about to say something when her husband scolded her, “What’s a woman like you babbling about? Is it your place to interrupt when men are talking? Has it been a few days since you’ve been spanked?”

The young woman fell silent. Kong Xiaode quickly stepped in to smooth things over. “Liang Zhu! Don’t scold her. She just spoke without thinking. The Chief won’t mind.” He bowed to Yun Suji. “Right, Chief?”

“Yes, yes,” Yun Suji said with a smile. “We’re all just chatting casually.”

But Liang Zhu felt that this had not only caused trouble but had also implicated his neighbors. He believed that “officials always protect officials,” and an official’s smile was not a good thing—who didn’t know they could turn on you faster than flipping a page! If Yun Suji went back to the village office and mentioned this, there would be serious trouble. In a fit of anger, he slapped his wife and cursed, “Can’t you just shut up! Just you wait till we get home, I’ll tan your hide!”

Old Yang quickly pulled him away. “You brute! What are you afraid of, a woman babbling a few words? Chief Yun himself said it’s nothing, what are you so scared of!”

After being scolded, Liang Zhu fell silent. Seeing the atmosphere was a bit awkward, Yun Suji smiled and said, “It’s always been true that people with a little bit of power are the ones you can’t afford to offend. When I was in Australia, I also went to the countryside. I heard the farm workers there had a little rhyme about people who get a little power and start acting high and mighty.”