I've been transported to the orc continent.

Chapter 251 Farming

After the blast furnace was built, iron production increased dramatically, and the beastmen in the ironworks became even busier.

Zhan sent the Sky Orcs to summon the chieftains of several surrounding tribes, expressing his willingness to teach them the art of iron smelting.

Several tribal chiefs nearly fainted with excitement upon hearing this. This was iron! They knew all too well how useful ironware was. An iron knife was better than all the stone knives in the tribe combined. A plow cart saved the orcs countless efforts when farming. There were also daggers, scissors, kitchen knives... and other ironware. Although these iron tools seemed insignificant, they could bring about earth-shattering changes to life.

If they really mastered the art of iron smelting and found an iron ore mine in the tribe, then within a year, every orc in the tribe might have an iron tool.

After the initial excitement, the tribal chiefs all expressed their determination to bring out the best resources from their tribes and exchange them with the Gaoshu tribe for iron smelting techniques.

When he heard that they were going to exchange their best for it, Zhan didn't show much excitement, because it was all within his expectations.

The third elder of the central tribe was also there. He also said he would offer his best in exchange. Zhan's lips curled up slightly, but then he returned to his calm state.

The Central Tribe is the most powerful and prosperous tribe on the Orcish continent. Their best things must be very valuable, and might be of great use to the tribe.

Zhan didn't stand on ceremony and accepted all the tribes' promises without question. He said, "Then go back and select suitable orcs to come over. They can start by learning how to find minerals."

This was Bai Ling's opinion. Learning iron smelting alone wouldn't be enough; we had to start by finding ore, mining it, refining it, forging it, and casting it. The iron smelting process itself wasn't very complicated, but there was a lot to learn. We couldn't rush it; we had to take it one step at a time.

Once they learn the skills of iron smelting and casting, Bai Ling will teach them how to build blast furnaces. Moreover, not only iron, but other metals can also be smelted.

*

Now that spring has arrived, it's time for the tribe to start farming.

The temperature is still a bit low, so it's not suitable to plant seeds yet, but we can plow the land ahead of time.

Last year, every household in the tribe was given a plow for plowing. Families with large beastmen would transform into beastmen to pull the plow, while families without large beastmen would use the tribe's domesticated beasts to plow.

All of Bai Ling's hunting beasts have been lent out. After this year's hunting season, there are even more wild animals in the tribe, but only the hunting beasts that were tamed last year can be harnessed to plow the fields. The hunting beasts that were just captured this year are not suitable.

Not only must their own fields be cultivated, but the tribe's communal fields must also be cultivated. Each family must send one orc to work in the communal fields. Only after the work in the communal fields is finished can they begin their own work.

The newly cultivated land last winter was partly used as public land for the tribe and partly distributed to the orcs. Although farming had just begun last year, the orcs had already experienced the benefits of farming. Farming yielded more food and made the food source more stable.

Farming has replaced gathering and has become just as important as hunting.

Compared to other people in the tribe, Bai Ling's family was much busier. They had many livestock and a lot of accumulated fertilizer, which had to be transported to the fields by cart and spread on the land before plowing.

Bai Ling discussed it with her family, and decided to spread most of the fertilizer on the wheat fields, leaving a small portion for planting melons, fruits, and vegetables.

Wheat is the family's favorite food. By spreading fertilizer in the wheat fields, the wheat will grow better, and they will be able to harvest more wheat.

The third elder of the central tribe, along with several capable orcs, helped Bai Ling's family. They remembered every step Bai Ling took in farming.

Fertilizing, tilling the land, planting soybeans in newly reclaimed fields—different plants require different planting methods. These things seem simple, and it seems like they can be learned quickly, but in reality, they are not so simple.

Just like Bai Ling said, farming is a science, and there is so much to learn that you could spend a whole year studying it and still not learn it all.

*

Most of the mulberry and oak trees transplanted last year have survived and are now starting to sprout.

Bai Ling goes to check on the mulberry tree every day. He keeps a close eye on the leaves of the mulberry and oak trees, where the silkworms are still asleep and have not yet woken up.

Bai Ling did not collect the silkworm eggs. The silkworm eggs were too small and inconvenient to collect. Moreover, Bai Ling was afraid that he would damage the silkworm eggs during the collection process. His plan was to wait until the silkworm eggs hatched into wild silkworms, and then catch the wild silkworms and raise them at home.

Collecting silkworm eggs from farmed silkworms is much easier; next year, we won't need to go out of our way to catch wild silkworms.

Following Bai Ling's instructions, Zhan had his tribesmen transplant many mulberry and oak trees to the Greenwood Tribe. Now, there are several Sky Beastmen in the tribe. They put the dug-up mulberry and oak trees into baskets and had the Sky Beastmen transport them back to the tribe, where the tribesmen immediately planted them.

*

With last year's experience, the beastmen were much more experienced in planting this year. After a rain, they raced against time to plant the seeds.

Last year, the orcs planted their crops one seed at a time, but this year they have seed drills, which makes planting much faster. They work from dawn till dusk and have finally planted all the seeds before the land dries out.

The seeds were planted, and Bai Ling was not idle. The silkworms had already hatched, and Bai Ling had to check on them twice a day. The wild silkworms were still too small for Bai Ling to catch; he had to wait until they grew a little bigger before he could bring them home.

The crops have been planted, and the melons and vegetables must also be planted.

The vegetable garden had already been plowed, and Feng used a rake to level the ground. Bai Ling brought water in a wheelbarrow with wooden buckets. He first used a hoe to dig ridges in the ground to make field mounds, and then poured the water from the wooden buckets onto them.

It had rained recently, so the soil underneath was wet, which saved Bai Ling a lot of effort; all she had to do was pour a shallow layer of water.

After the water dries up, we'll plant some melons and vegetables. In addition to the melons and vegetables we planted last year, we've added green beans this year, as well as seeds for two other types of melons that we don't know what kind they are.

Next to Bai Ling's house is Yue's field. This year, Yue has planted more fields because his grandfather and great-uncle have decided to live in the Gaoshu tribe.

Yue has to go out hunting, so she can't take care of the fields at home. Last year, the whole tribe lived together, and Yue could ask the tribespeople to take care of her fields. This year, everyone has planted a lot of fields, and Yue wants to hire people to take care of her fields, but she can't find many people.

Moreover, the Gaoshu tribe has houses, which would make the two elderly people more comfortable living in. Yue told the tribe chief Zhan that his grandfather and great-grandfather would officially stay and live in the Gaoshu tribe.