Chapter 1002 The True Face of Rice Transplanter and Taro
At the end of October in the first year of Da Ming, it was the coldest time of the year
in the north. Luo Chong came to Liuyang County on the pretext of inspection. He originally wanted to avoid the quarrels of his two young sons, but he did not expect to have an unexpected harvest here. Liuyang County can be called the hometown of carpenters in the Han tribe. It has the largest, earliest and most numerous shipyard in the Han tribe. It has made great contributions to the water transportation and the wars of the Han tribe. At the same time, many outstanding carpenters have appeared here.
There are craftsmen who are good at making ship models, and there are also craftsmen who have invented disc bearings and threads. The craftsman who invented the threads was rewarded by Luo Chong for his invention, and was promoted to a noble and became a superior existence.
It is precisely because of this that Liuyang County, a concentrated area of carpenters, has quietly derived a wave of inventions. The craftsmen here use their brains to develop various instruments and structures, hoping that one day they can be appreciated by the leader with their inventions.
On this day, the workers in the shipyard had a day off, so Luo Chong went shopping in the city in casual clothes. In order not to be recognized by others, he did not let the officials of Liuyang County accompany him, but only brought two guards who were also in casual clothes.
The three of them wandered aimlessly in the city, looking at the street stalls selling goods.
As the largest water and land transportation hub in the north of the Han tribe, Liuyang County is full of goods from all over the north and south, with a wide variety of goods that can be called countless.
There are ceramic utensils, brown sugar and white wine from Weishan County, soap and candles from Muye County, and various wooden products produced in Liuyang County, most of which are furniture and cooking utensils, such as tables, chairs, benches, various cabinets, and flower stands from Luo Chong's home. The most common cooking utensils are bamboo woven cages, colanders, and rattan woven winnowing baskets and baskets, which are all very popular goods.
The sound of blacksmithing in the blacksmith shop is endless. Various tools and cooking utensils are produced for the local people. Cotton and linen cloth from Hanyang County is also very popular. The three major specialties of Ruyang County, silk, tung oil paint, and sugar-fried chestnuts, are also in abundance here.
Flat glass, glassware and calcium carbide lamps produced on the lake island are the most high-end goods here. However, due to their high prices and the fact that they are not consumables, they can only be sold in shops, which are responsible for customizing glass windows, etc.
The cheese produced in the three counties of Honghu has opened up sales here. People have begun to try to eat this sour and milky dairy product. Leather and sheepskin shipped from the grassland are also popular goods here. This place is like a large-scale goods distribution center. People can be seen buying sheepskin and cowhide everywhere on the street. They buy them home to make sheepskin or leather boots.
However, the most common bulk goods are still the paper produced locally in Liuyang County. The Han tribe currently has only three papermaking bases. The earliest and largest one is the paper mill in Liuyang County, followed by Takuhai County and Qiongzhou Island in the south. However, those have not been built for a long time. The papermaking industry in Qiongzhou Island was built the latest and has not yet been officially produced. All the paper in the eight northern counties depends on the paper mill in Liuyang County. The paper production here can be imagined.
In addition, the rest are some local people selling agricultural products, mostly live poultry and pork and mutton. Eggs are also one of the agricultural products that people often sell.
Luo Chong led two guards to stroll here and happened to walk to a roadside stall selling wooden furniture. Standing on the street watching the stall was a seven or eight-year-old child, who was shouting and fiddling with some exquisite wooden furniture.
"Take a look, take a look, a foldable small stool, only 5 cents!"
Luo Chong turned his head and looked. The small stool was designed to be quite interesting. When folded, it was a piece of wood that was one finger thick, with a hole on it that could be used to carry it. If you hold the hole in the middle of the board and pull it up, it will immediately become a stool.
This kind of stool does not take up space when folded, and it is also very convenient to carry when going out. It is also stronger than ordinary stools, and the price is not expensive, so it sells well.
Luo Chong became interested and walked to the stall to stop and look. The stall was full of wooden products, including round tables and stools with exquisite workmanship and high-quality materials, as well as small and inexpensive items like stools.
The child watching the stall saw Luo Chong standing there and not leaving, and he was dressed very respectably, so he asked, "Sir, do you have anything you like? If you like the workmanship, but don't like the style, you can also order it at our store."
"Oh? Your stall can also be customized? What if I pay the deposit and you run away?" Luo Chong laughed when he heard it, and began to tease the child. The child was only seven or eight years old, but he could already solicit business.
"That's not possible." The child got anxious when he heard it, and quickly retorted.
"See the door behind? This is my home. My stall is set up in front of my house. These items are all made by my father. Just tell my father what you want, he can make anything."
The child pointed to the courtyard door behind him while talking.
Luo Chong took a quick look and saw a man in his twenties doing carpentry work in the yard, so he said, "Okay, okay, I'll go in and take a look." As
he spoke, he led two guards into the yard. The men in the yard also stopped their work and looked at Luo Chong and the other two.
"This young man, I don't know what you want..."
"Oh, I'll just take a look." Luo Chong waved his hand and looked around.
Liuyang County was the second batch of cities built. It learned from the problem that the courtyards of residents in Hanyang County were too small, so the courtyards of each household here are five meters long and wide, and sixteen meters long and long, which looks much bigger.
There are four main rooms in the square courtyard, and there is a pigpen near the gate. The wing room on one side is used as a kitchen. There is also a toilet in the innermost corner. The chimney on the roof of the main house is emitting green smoke. The clattering sound of looms and the noise of children can be heard from the house.
There was also a shed in the yard, with a lot of wood and semi-finished products. Luo Chong looked at the things next to the man and found that it was an unfinished loom, so he asked.
"You can also make a loom? You have been a carpenter for many years, it should be quite a long time, right?"
"Hey, it's been two years. This is the first time I make a loom, but my family bought one. I can still make it by imitating others." The man said with a simple smile, and seemed quite proud when talking about his profession.
"Do you usually make a living by selling these homemade wooden products?" Luo Chong asked again.
"Not really, I am a carpenter at the shipyard. I usually work at the shipyard. Today is my turn to take a day off, so I set up a stall at home. These are all things I do when I am free after work." Seeing that Luo Chong had no intention of buying anything, the man pulled the bow saw again and talked to Luo Chong while working.
"You are willing to work. The work at the shipyard is not easy. You are not idle after work and go home."
Luo Chong said something and suddenly saw a strange-shaped object in the yard. There was a wooden tray underneath the thing, which looked like a sled with a handle on it and a crank next to the handle. There were gears on the crank, which were connected to the lower component through a wooden chain. There was an inclined tray on each side of the gear below, with two clips made of bamboo strips on it, which looked like some kind of tool.
"What is this? What is it used for?" Luo Chong suddenly pointed at it and asked.
The man looked up and saw what Luo Chong was pointing at, and immediately changed his attitude. When he looked at Luo Chong again, he also had a sense of recognition in his eyes. That expression seemed to say, you have a good eye, you spotted my treasure at first sight.
"Hey, this is a treasure, I can't tell you what it is used for now, keep it secret, I'm waiting to use this thing to exchange for a title in the spring of next year." The man said mysteriously.
"Just this, can it be exchanged for a title?" Luo Chong asked in disbelief.
He looked at it for a long time, but couldn't see what the thing was used for.
"Of course, do you know what year this year is? In the first year of the great destiny, storage is the top priority of the tribe. If anyone has made contributions to the tribe, the leader will definitely not be stingy with the title reward." The man said again, but still did not reveal the purpose of this thing.
"Storage? Is this a farm tool?" Luo Chong was interested. If it was a newly developed farm tool, and it was proven to be valuable, it could be exchanged for a title, and any reward would not be excessive.
"Hehe, I can't tell you, but you can guess. If you can guess the use of this thing, I will tell you." The man said proudly.
Luo Chong glanced at him and saw his proud look, which made him more certain that this was a farm tool. However, he couldn't tell what it was used for, so he analyzed it carefully.
"This is definitely a farm tool."
The man looked at Luo Chong and didn't say anything, as if waiting for him to continue guessing.
"Well, there is no plowshare, not for tilling the land, no funnel, not for sowing, the harrow is used for flat land, and there is none on it. Look at this handle, it should be operated by hand, and the other side is a crank, which is cranked while walking. There is no wheel below, but a sled, but the sled is facing backwards, which means it is not pushed forward, but pulled backwards, and the crank is turned while moving backwards. Am I right?" Luo Chong analyzed again.
"Well, yes, you have some eyesight, but you still haven't guessed its function. Just knowing how to operate it is not enough."
The man was also surprised to see that Luo Chong figured out the operation method of this thing in a minute. At the beginning, many people had seen it, but none of them could tell the first, second, third, but Luo Chong didn't tell him the function, and he still refused to reveal it easily.
"Well, since it is a farm tool, it is easy to guess." Luo Chong looked at him and said again.
"This thing has neither a plow nor a funnel, so it can neither till the land nor sow seeds, but it is an agricultural tool that the Han tribe does not have now. The fact that you keep saying that this thing can be exchanged for a title further proves this point.
"Among all the crops of the Han tribe now, if it is not tilling the land, not sowing, and there are other steps, then I'm afraid it is only rice.
"Well, the sled below you also confirms this. It is most convenient to use wheels to move on dry soil, but you use a sled, which means it is moving on the muddy surface, which coincides with the growing environment of rice.
"And rice only needs to be plowed and transplanted, and this is obviously not used for tilling land, so this should be a tribe that does not have a rice transplanter for the time being.
"There's an inclined wooden board on each side of the gear below. They're used to place the seedlings, and there are bamboo clips on top to fix them, just enough to hold two rows. Well, I'll take a look at the back, and sure enough, there are two claws linked to the gears. They should be used for transplanting rice."
Luo Chong pointed at the farm tool and analyzed it from top to bottom. Then he looked at the man, whose mouth was wide open in surprise. He had made this thing for two months, and many people had seen it at home, but no one had guessed its purpose. Even when his own wife asked, he never revealed it. He promised that he had never told anyone in the world, but the young man in front of him guessed it accurately based on analysis alone. It was simply amazing.
The man's face turned red with embarrassment, and he reluctantly said after a long time, "You guessed right, this is used for transplanting rice, but I haven't reported it yet, so don't tell anyone, I'm counting on using this thing to exchange for a title."
"No, no, don't worry, I won't steal the credit from you." Luo Chong waved his hand carelessly, squatted down next to the rice transplanter, and asked while turning the crank on it.
"Can this thing really transplant rice? How effective is it? How many times faster can it be than manual labor? Can the rice seedlings be planted? Are they planted deep enough?"
Upon hearing this, the man also squatted down next to the rice transplanter, and said with great care.
"It's not clear yet, I haven't experimented with it. This was made two months ago, and it was already winter at that time. It was cold and the ground was frozen, and I had no place to experiment."
After he said that, he glanced at Luo Chong, fearing that Luo Chong would look down on him, so he immediately said another sentence.
"It is definitely possible to transplant rice seedlings. Even if there are problems, they are not serious. At most, we can adjust the details and it will be usable. I am sure of this. As for efficiency, compared with the experienced farmers, this rice transplanter can at least replace two experienced farmers. If it is an ordinary person, this rice transplanter can replace at least three people.
"Look at the tray above. I can transplant two rows at the same time this time. Even the fastest experienced farmer cannot be as fast as me."
Luo Chong nodded when he heard it, and asked curiously, "How did you come up with the idea of making this thing?"
"Well, of course it was for the sake of exchanging titles and rewards. Who wouldn't want to make something useful if it could be exchanged for titles? But this is only one reason. I usually work in the shipyard, and I have little time to do farm work at home. Most of the work has to be done by my wife, and she has to take care of the children alone, which is not easy. So I was thinking about whether I could make a rice transplanter.
"There are many people like me in our shipyard, and there are also those who have many children or titles. They are given a lot of land, but most of them can't grow enough crops. So if this thing is really useful, there must be a lot of people who need it, and there will be no worries about sales. The staple food of our Han tribe is rice, and the rice planting area is also the largest. You say, if this thing can be successful, isn't it a great achievement?"
The man sighed and immediately explained to Luo Chong.
(End of this chapter)
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