In the slanting wind and fine rain, the land received much-needed irrigation.
In early September, everyone began planting crops all over the mountains and plains.
They took advantage of the abundant rainfall.
The Central Plains were filled with busy figures.
This season should have been a time of harvest, but due to the drought, the fruits on the trees were very small.
However, they were very sweet.
The area where Li Yu was located had a subtropical monsoon climate, primarily cultivating navel oranges and similar fruits.
But, at this latitude, many other fruit trees could also be planted, so Li Yu had also planted some other types of fruit trees initially.
It was still raining; the rain had not been heavy, but it had not stopped.
By the mountain pond, Li Yu followed his grandfather to cut grass in the mountains to feed the fish; the two walked one after another, with little communication.
His grandfather had always been a man of few words, often silently doing things.
Occasionally, he enjoyed a couple of sips of old wine, listening to opera, with his eyes half-closed.
In Li Yu's childhood memories, his grandfather always seemed taciturn.
But he remembered that when he went to study in another place, his grandfather prepared many local agricultural products and a red envelope.
An elder's love is often like this: though their words are few, their actions are full of love.
"Grandfather, do you think our base needs more people? Do we need to expand?" Li Yu suddenly asked, wanting to hear how his grandfather would answer.
His grandfather's sickle paused, and he straightened his back, then massaged it.
He shook off his raincoat and finally said, "I'm not sure if we need to add more people. Your second uncle is better at thinking; you can discuss it with him. But people, it's good to have ambition, but it's important to have self-awareness.
Whatever choices you make, there are pros and cons, but sometimes, especially in this turbulent period, you should be cautious and not lose control. That's all."
His grandfather's words did not directly give him an answer, but from another perspective, if they added more people, whether they could control them and afford to support them was the most fundamental question.
Li Yu nodded, then swung the sickle in his hand, vigorously cutting the grass.
Cutting grass in the rain was a difficult task; after a week of rain, the grass had grown tall, with sharp tips that sometimes cut one's hands.
Red marks appeared, and then raindrops fell, causing some itching.
In fact, this rain not only brought vitality to Li Yu and his people.
For many more people, this rain was life-saving.
In some drier areas, this rain allowed them to survive.
This rain lasted for nearly 10 days, falling steadily and unhurriedly.
Sometimes, there was a light drizzle, and sometimes it was slightly heavier, but it was never a particularly heavy rain.
Although the rain was not heavy, it had not stopped.
Perhaps it was because the previous drought had also severely weakened the zombies, and now the rain was just a respite; there had been no zombie tides these days.
However, it was clearly visible that there were many more zombies than during the dry weather before the rain.
These days, Li Yu also led the people in the base, using the crafted arrows to shoot zombies outside the base, and found that the arrows were quite effective.
This was also a pleasant surprise.
There were many trees, so if bullets ran out in the future, these arrows could continue to be used.
It was just that not many compound bows were purchased initially; at the very beginning, 20 ultra-high-end compound bows worth 50,000 yuan each were bought.
Another 20 compound bows, each costing 20,000 yuan, were also purchased, and their quality was also good.
Although more were restocked later, plus the spoils of war from battles with enemies over the past year, the number of bows and crossbows in the base was still less than 100.
However, for now, it was enough for everyone to have a bow and crossbow.
Time just flowed away quietly.
Half a month passed, and the time came to late September, early October.
It was the busy farming season.
When the rain first started in early September, Li Yu began to gather people to plant crops; corn and rice were not a problem, as one had always been irrigated, and the other, corn, was relatively drought-resistant.
Green leafy vegetables like lettuce, which have a short growth cycle, were planted in large quantities.
Root vegetables like radishes, with growth cycles of one to two months, were also planted, as they are convenient to store.
Late September, early October, was the busy farming season.
They began to harvest rice.
The original threshing machine had long been eliminated; Li Yu operated the harvester, cutting rice in the paddy fields.
Some people had once called him extravagant, saying that buying a harvester in a place like the South was not cost-effective.
But for Li Yu, anything that saved effort was a good thing.
He drove the harvester with a rumble, finishing the harvest of these few acres of land in the Central Plains.
However, the terraced fields in the mountains required them to cut by hand.
Many hands make light work; it took less than an hour to harvest these 6 acres of land in the mountains.
Over ten acres of paddy fields, five acres of corn, and two acres of sweet potatoes.
The total area for planting staple foods was over twenty acres.
Actually, one person needs to consume 500 catties of grain per year to be considered safe and healthy.
The range is 400-800 catties.
If no fertilizers or plant protection measures are used, the yield per mu is low, and only barren-tolerant crops like sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn can be planted. In the South, calculated as two harvests a year, the annual yield can generally be 1,500 catties/mu. So 0.3 - 0.5 mu of land is enough.
In the Central Plains of the North, with three harvests in two years, the average yield per mu is 1,200 catties/mu. 0.4 - 0.5 mu is enough.
If fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural measures are used, with a yield of 3,000 catties per mu (of course, all high-yield crops), 0.15 mu is enough.
And in Li Yu's area, two, or even three, harvests can be achieved in a year.
With the current yield, it can easily meet the needs of their base, with a considerable surplus.
Li Yu calculated and thought to himself, "Fortunately, I reclaimed some more land in the mountains back then; if it were just the original four acres of paddy fields, it definitely wouldn't be enough."
During the busy farming season, it wasn't as hectic as expected, thanks to the ample manpower and their coordinated efforts, they quickly processed all the food.
However, if rice is to be preserved for a longer time, it needs to be dehydrated. Li Yu and his team adopted the simplest method: sun-drying.
After almost a full week of drying, the rice was finally dry.
It was packaged and stored in the warehouse.
They still had to eat the old rice they had stockpiled first, but some of the new rice was also taken out for everyone to taste.
Li Yu looked at the warehouse full of rice, feeling a sense of security; in this apocalypse, only enough food could give people a sense of safety.
