Chapter 528 Borrowing Money to Build a Waterwheel

Ever since Cheng Wanwan was granted her title, stories about her have been circulating in the surrounding villages and towns.

She was already a well-known figure, and now, with countless people witnessing the birth of the water-powered tipping wheel, she has become famous once again.

People everywhere—in the streets and alleys, in teahouses and taverns—were talking about it.

"Hey, have you heard? Something big has happened again in Dahe Village."

"Is Dahe Village the village where the people from Sui'an live? What happened? Tell us quickly, don't keep us in suspense."

"The people of Sui'an and several officials from the imperial court have developed a device called a waterwheel, which is said to be able to irrigate tens of thousands of acres of farmland without requiring any human or animal power."

"How can you water the plants without human and animal power? You must be lying."

"If you don't believe me, you can go to Dahe Village and take a look. I've never seen it either."

"..."

"Anything researched by people from Sui'an must be a good thing."

"Yes, the people of Sui'an were initially granted titles for their efforts in eradicating locusts. Later, they discovered ratooning rice and controlled the plague among displaced people. The imperial court said that the people of Sui'an are wholeheartedly devoted to the people. I didn't think so before, but now I can truly feel the people of Sui'an's heart for the common people."

“During the winter, I bought cheap quilts from people in Sui’an, which helped my family get through the harsh winter. People in Sui’an always care about us poor people; they are like living bodhisattvas!”

"Speaking of quilts, I heard that Huzhou is going to promote cotton this year. People with the right conditions can grow it. Last year, the people in Dahe Village made a lot of money growing cotton."

"Where can I buy cotton seeds? I've never even seen them before."

"Of course we're going to Sui'an. They've definitely made preparations long ago."

"Let's go together when it's time to plant..."

For many days in a row, villagers from surrounding villages gathered to watch the water-powered tipper. Everyone had seen tipper trucks before, but the water-powered tipper truck completely changed its appearance and looked even bigger and more spectacular, giving people a strong visual impact.

The waterwheel turns, bringing water up from the lower reaches and pouring it into ditches, which then flow to the fields of thousands of households.

The village head stood on the edge of the field and said loudly, "This waterwheel was developed by the imperial court and the people of Sui'an. It is mainly for the purpose of irrigating dry land. With the waterwheel, every household will no longer need to send someone to carry water for irrigation every day. The extra people can do other work, and the family can earn an extra penny, right?"

"However, as everyone has seen, the structure of this waterwheel is very complex. It cannot be made by one or two carpenters alone. It requires the cooperation of many people to achieve the best results. The people of Sui'an have done the math. To make a waterwheel this big, the cost is about 120 taels of silver. In a normal year, a waterwheel of this size can irrigate about 2,000 mu of land. Two waterwheels are enough for a village. In other words, as long as your village can come up with 240 taels of silver, you can own two waterwheels."

The onlookers from the neighboring village gasped in shock.

"More than two hundred taels of silver, my God, that's too much."

"All the households in Wangjiadun combined don't have this much money, do they?"

"Let me do the math. There are 140 households in Lijia Gou. It costs more than 200 taels of silver, which means each household has to pay close to 2 taels of silver. My goodness!"

“Oh dear, there are fewer people in Guihua Village, so wouldn’t that mean we have to pay more money?”

For a moment, everyone looked troubled.

It seems they won't need such expensive things. Oh well, their ancestors have been carrying wooden buckets to water plants for generations, so continuing like this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Only the people of Dahe Village felt that the money was acceptable. Some of their families had three members working, earning a total of two or three taels of silver a month. To them, exchanging a month's income for never having to water the plants again was a very worthwhile deal.

Cheng Wanwan took in everyone's expressions.

Because the waterwheel was made of wood with a small amount of iron, she initially thought it would cost around forty or fifty taels of silver. However, after several adults worked together with carpenters and blacksmiths to make it, she realized the trickery involved.

Firstly, the craftsmanship is precise and requires extremely high technical skills, so it can only be made by some experienced carpenters, whose labor costs are high, and it also involves blacksmiths.

Secondly, because waterwheels are constantly submerged in water, the requirements for the wood are very high. They can't be scrapped after only a few years of use. With a little money here and a little money there, the total cost reached more than one hundred taels of silver.

Even for an entire village, this amount of money is a huge sum, and it would be very difficult to raise it.

Cheng Wanwan immediately had an idea.

She lifted her skirt, walked up the high ridge of the field, and said loudly, "Everyone, please be quiet and listen to me."

The chattering crowd below fell into an eerie silence, and countless eyes turned to Cheng Wanwan.

People in Dahe Village often see Cheng Wanwan, but villagers in neighboring villages rarely see her. She is a legendary figure, and people imagine her to be high and mighty, but now she stands on a dirty field ridge, dressed in simple plain clothes, just like them. She doesn't look like a sixth-rank official's wife at all.

“After this waterwheel is built, it can be used for at least thirty years. Two taels of silver per family can buy thirty years of watering without having to carry water. In my opinion, this is a very good deal.” Cheng Wanwan looked at everyone with gentle eyes. “Everyone, think back to the summer. Under the scorching sun, you had to cross most of the village to fetch water from the river, carry it on your shoulders to the fields, and then slowly irrigate the land. That was not a pleasant experience.”

“One mu of land is not much, but it still takes at least one strong man to make four or five trips to irrigate it. A family has at least three or four mu of dry land, and sometimes more than ten mu. After all the land has been irrigated, the land that was irrigated on the first day dries up again, so they have to start all over again... Many people spend most of the summer watering the land. If they can spare some time, they can do other work, such as weaving straw sandals or bamboo mats, which can be sold at the market in Dahe Village…”

Her words reminded everyone of the time spent doing farm work in the sweltering summer.

After sowing in spring, the fields are filled with routine weeding, fertilizing, and watering. Fertilizing is dirty, and watering is tiring. After a summer, your shoulders will be peeling.

They didn't want to work so hard, but each family needed to scrape together more than one tael of silver, which was a lot of money they couldn't afford.

“I know everyone is in a bind and can’t raise that much money right away. I have a solution for you all to hear,” Cheng Wanwan said with a smile. “Each village head can borrow money from me in the name of their village. The money can be paid off within three years. Once an IOU is signed, we can start building the waterwheel right away.”

Those present looked at each other in disbelief. Two hundred taels of silver for one village, and there were more than thirty villages in Ping'an County alone. They couldn't even imagine the amount of money that could be added together. The people of Sui'an were far too rich.

Sun Lizheng from Guihua Village spoke up: "How do you calculate the interest? If it's too high, we won't dare to lend it."

“Talking about interest would be too formal,” Cheng Wanwan said gently. “We’re all from the same village, and making money isn’t easy, so let’s not mention interest. I only have one request: if any of the villages plant cotton this year, please sell to me first, provided that everyone else offers the same price as me. How about that?”

This request sounded like a trivial request at all, and everyone agreed without hesitation.

However, although these village heads agreed, they still had to go back and consult the villagers, since the entire village was contributing money, and the village committee couldn't bear the entire cost...