Lu Lin summoned several constables to visit several villages in Shaxian County. Many farmhouses in Shaxian County had already built kang (heated brick beds), but some families were too poor to afford to build them and could only wait it out.
Seeing this situation, Lu Lin funded the repair of kang beds for some poor families who couldn't afford to.
Although some people felt that Lu Lin did this to win over the hearts of the people, in any case, many villagers were very grateful to him.
Seeing how righteous Lu Lin was, the patrol team sent a group of men to help him, which saved Lu Lin a lot of effort.
Seeing how much Lu Lin cared for the villagers, Ji Yun'an couldn't help but look at Lu Lin with new respect, "Sir, I didn't expect you to be so righteous!"
Lu Lin looked at Ji Yun'an, smiled, and said earnestly, "Of course. As the local official, I have to think about the people. Young Master Ji, you come from an extraordinary background and have a bright future. You should use your talents for the right things."
Ji Yun'an blushed and thought to himself: He only climbed the wall once, and it seems he can never wash away the stigma of climbing the wall. One wrong thought and it's too late to regret!
Ji Yun'an took a deep breath and said, "The uncles in the army asked me to thank you for the knee pads you gave me earlier."
Lu Lin waved his hand and said, "It's nothing."
One hundred knee pads are too few, but they've solved the immediate problem. Lu Lin plans to send another two hundred soon. Knee pads are just made of cotton and coarse cloth and aren't worth much. If they can earn the patrol battalion's favor, that would be even better.
Ji Yun'an said earnestly, "It's nothing to you, but it's a great help to the uncles and elders in the military camp."
Shaxian County is sparsely populated, and there is still a lot of wasteland. Lu Lin fenced off a piece of wasteland near the county government office. He noted that Chen Xiaomi's name was Lu Lin and that the wasteland he fenced off was wasteland. Occasionally, a few villagers' land was fenced off, but Lu Lin paid them off with some money, and there was no trouble. In fact, those villagers whose land was taken away felt lucky, as they could exchange wasteland for money.
Ji Yun'an looked at Chen Xiaomai and said, "Why is the magistrate enclosing so much land?"
Ji Yun'an felt that he was getting worse and worse, and the only way to find out what was going on was to get information out of Shuang'er.
Chen Xiaomai looked up and gave Ji Yun'an a "you're so stupid" look. "The reason for acquiring land is, of course, to grow delicious food."
Ji Yun'an frowned and said, "Grow delicious food? Who's going to grow it!"
Chen Xiaomai puffed out her cheeks and said, "Let's hire someone to plant it."
Ji Yun'an: "..." There isn't a large population in Shaxian County, so who would be willing to come and help with farming!
Chen Xiaomai gave Ji Yun'an a silly look and said, "Of course we'll hire someone to plant it. It just costs money."
Ji Yun'an: "..."
Lu Lin walked into the backyard, where the Qin family father and his two sons were assembling the various parts of the curved plow according to Lu Lin's instructions.
"Sir, it's all installed. Please take a look and see if it's correct," Qin Yi said, somewhat eager to try it out.
Looking at the assembled curved plow, Lu Lin said, "That's about it, how many pieces have you made?"
“Four pieces, but the rest haven’t been assembled yet. Once they’re all assembled, there should be ten pieces.” Qin Yi said. Lu Lin nodded and said, “Alright, tomorrow take a few mules out and turn the soil.”
Lu Lin thought to himself: It's time to take the livestock out for a walk. Feeding these animals takes a lot of fodder.
Although no crops are planted in winter, it is still necessary to till the soil. If the foundation is not laid in winter, the crops planted in spring will not grow well.
The next day, Chen Xiaomai followed Qin Lang and four other farmers who had been hired, leading mules to the fields. Ji Yun'an went with Chen Xiaomai to watch the excitement.
Ji Yun'an watched in astonishment as several people plowed the land under Qin Lang's guidance, his eyes widening in surprise.
"What is this?" Ji Yun'an asked Chen Xiaomai with some excitement.
Ji Yun'an looked at the ground that had been easily plowed open and thought: This thing is amazing. With this, this kind of land will be much easier to plow. However, this thing looks quite complicated, so it probably won't be cheap.
Chen Xiaomai rolled her eyes at Ji Yun'an and said with some disdain, "You don't even know what this is? It's a handcart! Look, you can push it by hand."
Ji Yun'an nodded in understanding and said, "So it's a handcart!"
Before that, Ji Yun'an had been watching Lu Lin busy in the county government office. Ji Yun'an originally thought that Lu Lin was messing around with some kind of tempting and decadent thing like a rocking chair. Unexpectedly, Lu Lin actually came up with a handcart that benefits the country and the people. Ji Yun'an couldn't help but look at Lu Lin with new respect.
With this, farming will be much easier.
Ji Yun'an thought to himself: There are still quite a few vacant wastelands in Shaxian County. With these tools, wouldn't it be possible to reclaim even more wastelands?
Several farmers marveled at the functions of the curved plow, which attracted a crowd of onlookers.
With Qin Lang's permission, several farmers who had come to watch the spectacle even went up and tried it out. The effectiveness of the "handcart" amazed the farmers.
In time, the reputation of the "handcart" spread rapidly throughout Shaxian County.
Farmers are quick-witted, and many of them soon thought of the carpenters and blacksmiths who had been invited to the county government office. They wondered if they could have someone make such a farm tool. With such a tool, they could probably cultivate more wasteland. Unfortunately, the parts of this "wheelbarrow" were made by several carpenters and blacksmiths, but the assembly was not done by just a few people. The few people who assembled the "wheelbarrow" were quite bewildered and couldn't understand how the parts they made could have become such a farm tool.
Lu Lin cleared some land and then called the "handcart" back.
When Lu Lin woke up from his afternoon nap, he found that the name "handcart" had already spread. Lu Lin didn't quite understand how the curved plow had suddenly become a "handcart," and everyone seemed to believe in the name. Since things had come to this, Lu Lin didn't bother to change the name and simply went with the flow.
That evening, Lu Lin was greeted by the patrol battalion.
Seeing the people coming, Lu Lin thought to himself: News travels pretty fast here sometimes.
"Are you going to report this to me?" Lu Lin asked.
Liu Yun nodded and said, "Yes! Magistrate Lu, you have developed such a farming tool as soon as you arrived. This is a great contribution to the country and should naturally be reported to the emperor. This farming tool is so useful that you should be rewarded or even promoted if nothing unexpected happens."
Lu Lin raised an eyebrow and said, "I'm just a minor county magistrate."
Lu Lin thought to himself: He was just a lowly seventh-rank official, easily overwhelmed by a single wave. If this matter were reported, the credit probably wouldn't go to him, and he might even get himself into trouble.
Ji Chengkang roughly guessed what Lu Lin was thinking, smiled, and said, "If Magistrate Lu is willing, I can report it on his behalf."
Lu Lin's report needs to be reviewed at each level. Ji Chengkang is a higher-ranking official, and the Ji family has other, even higher-ranking officials in the court, so the application process is simpler for them.
Lu Lin nodded and said, "If that's the case, then that would be perfect. Let's just say that this thing was developed by the patrol battalion."
Ji Chengkang frowned and quickly said, "I can't accept a reward without merit. What should we do?"
As long as this matter is reported by someone from the Ji family, even if it was researched by Lu Lin, they can still gain some benefits from it. Lu Lin bringing the patrol battalion into this world is also a great favor.
Lu Lin smiled and said, "This humble official is new to officialdom, and this achievement is too great. I'm afraid it will arouse jealousy. I'm afraid. If you're worried about taking risks, just say that you came up with this, and my patrol battalion will send people to assist you."
Ji Chengkang smiled helplessly, thinking to himself: Lu Lin is so timid, yet he's in officialdom. But thinking about it, Lu Lin's concerns make sense, so he accepted Lu Lin's favor. Lu Lin nodded and said, "If that's the case, then that would be perfect."
Ji Chengkang asked Lu Lin for a handcart and asked him to deliver it to Kyoto as soon as possible.
Lu Lin didn't give him the cart directly, but instead gave him two sets of handcart parts and taught Ji Chengkang how to assemble them.
Ji Chengkang praised Lu Lin's thoughtfulness. Transporting parts was much more convenient than transporting a vehicle. Moreover, even if it was stolen on the way, the thief wouldn't know what it was for.
Lu Lin discussed the details with Ji Chengkang and Liu Yun, and talked for more than an hour. When Liu Yun came out of the county government office, he couldn't help but look at Lu Lin with new respect.
"General, this Magistrate Lu is no ordinary man!"
Ji Chengkang nodded and said, "Before, I heard that he made some dolls and toys in Linzhen, but they were all just for show. I didn't expect that he could make such a good thing. If this handcart can be promoted, then farmers will be blessed."
Liu Yun nodded and said, "That's right, General. We shouldn't delay. It's best to send this to the capital as soon as possible."
Ji Chengkang nodded and said, "That's right."
Liu Yun rested her chin on her hand, a strange light flashing in her eyes. If this handcart matter was handled well, it would be a major political achievement and would likely be of considerable benefit to Ji Chengkang's future promotion.
After Ji Chengkang left, Lu Lin pondered that once this product was delivered to Kyoto, it would become widely available. Before that, he could make more handcarts to keep on hand. Lu Lin signed contracts with several carpenters and blacksmiths, stipulating that they would give him priority in working for him for several years, and that the products they made could not be distributed to outsiders.
After handing the handcart matter over to Ji Chengkang, Lu Lin put the whole thing out of his mind.
Lu Lin had a blacksmith in the village make a hot pot with two separate broths. On a winter day, several people gathered around to eat hot pot.
Chen Xiaomai reached out with her chopsticks, picked up a quail egg from the pot, raised it in mid-air, and it fell back into the pot.
Chen Xiaomai persisted in picking up the quail egg, but it fell back into the pot, and this happened several times.
After several unsuccessful attempts, Chen Xiaomai seemed determined to get back at the quail eggs, her eyes red and her demeanor fierce.
Ji Yun'an scooped out the quail eggs and gave them to Chen Xiaomai, who smiled contentedly.
Yuanbao was holding a bowl and slurping noodles.
Yuanbao doesn't like plain noodles, but noodles dipped in chili oil are his favorite, and he can eat a small bowl by himself.
Lu Lin ate a few potato slices, and Chen Xiaomi ate a few pieces of tofu.
No matter how many times Ji Yun'an ate hot pot, he was always amazed by this novel food. On the one hand, Ji Yun'an felt that Lu Lin really knew how to enjoy himself and was too decadent. On the other hand, he was also addicted to the deliciousness of hot pot.
Lu Lin shivered and said, "The winters here are much colder than in Lin Town!"
Looking at Lu Lin's appearance, Ji Yun'an felt a little disdain. Ji Yun'an thought to himself: What is a real man afraid of this bit of cold? Besides, this room is not cold at all. Ji Yun'an, who had originally looked at Lu Lin with new respect because of the "handcart", had his impression of Lu Lin drop a little.
Lu Lin regarded Ji Yun'an as a child with chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) and didn't care much about Ji Yun'an's impression of him.
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