harvest
Chapter 34: Harvest
In May, the noble families of Fengjing were busy enjoying the flowers and going for an outing, while the people in the northern border were busy harvesting wheat. It was the annual wheat harvest season again.
Chu Huaibei still arranged patrols to prevent Mongol raids. She would occasionally go to the military settlement to watch the wheat harvest, and compared to last year, the harvest was much faster this year.
Using a plow cart for sowing is not only convenient for spreading fertilizer in the field without worrying about trampling the wheat seedlings, but it is also very convenient for harvesting. The main force in the family cuts the wheat stalks and places them in small bundles, and the women and children follow behind and tie them with straw ropes, row by row, in an orderly manner.
Chu Huaibei discovered that the wheat ears left in the fields this year were much fewer than in previous years. The wheat stalks were stronger, the broken branches were reduced, and the ears of wheat were fuller.
Chu Huaibei predicts that the yield per mu this year will definitely be higher than last year. As to how much, we will have to wait and see the statistics from Chen Sinong later.
Everyone in the military village had a smile on their face. Even though the wheat had not been weighed yet, several more carts of wheat straw had been transported per acre than last year, which meant that the output this year would definitely be higher than last year.
After more than a month of busy work, the wheat harvest is over.
The families in Zhangjia Village who used plows to sow their wheat found, after drying and weighing it, that they had nearly twenty kilograms more per mu than the previous year. Those with more land saw hundreds of kilograms more wheat. Xi's face was always smiling, and he praised the prince's prowess to everyone he met, saying that they were lucky to have listened to him and harvested so much more wheat.
The other people in the village were jealous and asked the village chief for help in building a plow cart. This was actually a demonstration of his ability.
The noble families who followed the Zhenbei Palace in sowing with plow carts brought good news one after another. Their wheat fields had a bumper harvest. In particular, the deputy general's family used the same fermented fertilizer as the military farm, and their harvest was 10% more than that of the other families.
While Chu Huaibei waited patiently for Chen Sinong's data, he repelled the Mongolian troops who were peeking around.
As expected, the brochure submitted by Chen Sinong showed that the per-acre yield of the military settlements had reached 121 catties, 28 catties more than last year's 93 catties, a direct 30% increase in grain production. This meant that the military barracks' granaries could be 30% larger this year than in previous years. Chu Huaibei: "With food in the warehouse, there's no need to worry."
The noble families also received the news at the first time. This year, the military farm wheat production increased by 30%!
This astonished the noble families. Just two extra steps in sowing: soaking the seeds and planting them with a plow, and yet Chu Huaibei could increase the wheat yield so much. Did he hit upon something unexpected, or was there a reason behind this? They had so many books in their collection, but they had never seen such a method mentioned in any agricultural text. Furthermore, the plow seemed to appear out of thin air. Did he have a group of retainers who were good at farming?
For a time, the exchange of letters between the noble families was intense. Fan Liang immediately delivered the letter to the emperor, along with the seed treatment methods and plow diagrams he had learned about. The emperor, upon reading it, wondered where the Prince of Zhenbei had acquired so many beneficial farming methods. Did he truly have powerful retainers within his palace? If so, this retainer would be more than qualified to be appointed Minister of Works.
The emperor put down the letter in his hand and said: "Go and call the Minister of Works into the palace."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Eunuch Quan responded and went out to find someone to summon the Minister of Works.
After receiving a secret letter from the Northern Territory Governor, Minister of Works Zhou Zhili knew the Emperor would definitely call on him in the next two days, and he had been waiting at the Ministry of Works. When he heard someone summon him today, he stood up, smoothed his official robes, and left with the eunuch.
After Zhou Zhili knelt and kowtowed, the emperor asked Eunuch Quan to hand him the drawings of the plow cart. Zhou Zhili received the drawings and looked at them silently. In fact, he had received the drawings of the plow cart as early as last year, but he had no way to use them. The noble families of Fengjing were dismissive of them.
He actually wanted to use it. He inexplicably trusted King Zhenbei in this matter. Since he dared to let all the military settlements be cultivated according to his way, it meant that he was very confident that this new farming method could increase production, and reality had indeed confirmed this.
Zhou Zhili waited for the emperor to speak.
"Minister Zhou, do you see what's going on?"
"Your Majesty, I think this tool called a plow cart should be used for sowing." Zhou Zhili carefully considered his words and replied.
"This was done by the Prince of Zhenbei's Mansion. The Prince of Zhenbei cares more about farming than you, the Minister of Works." The emperor's tone was indifferent and no emotion could be heard, but Zhou Zhili knew that the emperor had some opinions about him.
"It is my incompetence that has prevented Your Majesty from resolving your worries and difficulties. Please punish me, Your Majesty."
The emperor looked at the Minister of Works who was kneeling on the ground with his head bowed, and did not speak for a long time, until Zhou Zhili felt his knees were numb.
"Get up, refine the plow cart drawings, make some prototypes, and send them to other prefectures and states."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace. I will arrange it right away. I will take my leave." With the emperor's approval, Zhou Zhili stood up, tried to maintain his demeanor, and slowly walked out of the hall.
On the way to the Ministry of Works, Zhou Zhili had a blank expression on his face and a dignified demeanor. However, no one knew what he was thinking.
Chu Huaibei had no control over what the aristocratic families were thinking. Now that the summer harvest was over, she was going to start preparing for the iron smelting workshop. One hundred palace soldiers had already been deployed, so there were enough people to do the work.
Chu Huaibei drew a blueprint of the workshop and communicated his ideas with several palace soldiers who were good at construction. These people would be sent to supervise the construction, and they needed to ensure that the workshop was built foolproof.
Chu Huaibei transformed the small ironworks from her previous life into a new workshop, combining it with her current blacksmith shop. She would continue with the assembly line work system of her previous life. After all, she only had sixteen blacksmiths, whose abilities varied widely. The traditional system of one person independently completing one piece of work was too inefficient.
A day was chosen for the personal guards' patrol, and the organized infrastructure personnel were sent into the mountains disguised as merchants. One hundred palace soldiers also went with them, fifty of whom were stationed at the iron mines and fifty at the coal mines.
Chu Huaibei sent 500 personal soldiers to patrol every three days, and 2,000 personal soldiers to rotate in. He also arranged for a supply convoy disguised as a merchant caravan to deliver goods every three days, so that the two sides could match the time.
The workshop was built very quickly. The construction craftsmen hired by my mother were very skilled. According to reports from the palace soldiers, these craftsmen could understand the prince's ideas just by looking at the blueprints. They only needed to give some suggestions from the side, and they could quickly master some new things.
Chu Huaibei admired it in his heart. It turned out that since ancient times, the wisdom of the working people should not be underestimated.
After breakfast that day, Chu Huaibei didn't immediately head to the barracks. Instead, he discussed with his mother the possibility of sending his son, the eldest of the Zhuangzi clan, to become a blacksmith's apprentice. Since the workshop was dedicated to making weapons, she figured it would be more reassuring to have the apprentices in her own hands, aside from the craftsmen. If things went wrong, she would be branded a rebel. Honestly, she had no such intentions. She simply wanted to forge some defensive weapons she knew of, so she could hold off the Mongol army on the battlefield.
Apprentices were also required to stay in the mountains year-round and were not allowed to leave without permission. This condition was difficult for most people to accept. To put it bluntly, it was like taking away the future pillar of the family and not knowing whether he would live or die. Chu Huaibei had only discussed it with his mother, not forced her to do it. She was not Zhou Paopi.
The concubine listened to Chu Huaibei's words. This matter was not simple, but she ignored the grace of the palace to protect them. The people who could stay in the palace's farm had received great favor from the palace. Not to mention that they were going to learn a skill and get a monthly salary, they would actively respond even if they were recruited into the army.
The concubine assured her that it wouldn't be difficult to find any young men she wanted. Chu Huaibei looked at his mother in surprise and said, "Mother, we don't forcibly take men from the people."
When the concubine heard this, she reached out and slapped Chu Huaibei on the back: "What are you talking about? When has the palace ever done such a thing?"
The concubine told Chu Huaibei the whole story. Some things happened when her father was still alive, so it was understandable that she didn't know about it.
After hearing this, Chu Huaibei gave his mother a thumbs-up. The matter was easily resolved. Chu Huaibei asked his mother for thirty teenagers, which was just enough for one blacksmith to have two or three apprentices. The dormitory in the workshop was large enough to accommodate all of them.
When all the fields in the military settlements were plowed in August, news came from the mountains that two workshops had been built and were waiting for craftsmen to be sent in.
Chu Huaibei sent a message to Chen Sinong, asking him to gather eleven clerks at his house tomorrow night. She would send someone to pick them up at midnight. They didn't need to bring daily necessities, just two sets of clothes.
The apprentice is ready and able to go at any time.
Chu Huaibei handed the blueprint she had been working on for a long time to Ershiyi, asking them to study it together. She had done her best, and some details could only be adjusted by them.
Twenty-One opened the blueprints. There were three of them, all weapons they had never seen before. Judging by their names, they were the heavy crossbow, the Zhuge Magic Crossbow, and the kerosene hurler. The kerosene hurler was the simplest, a modified version of the catapult. The heavy crossbow was a larger version of the usual bow and arrow. Finally, the Zhuge Magic Crossbow, as explained in the drawing, could fire hundreds of arrows in a short burst when loaded with short crossbow arrows!
All twenty-one and five people saw surprise in each other's eyes. This Zhenbei King must be a genius. Why did he know so much about various machines? They already knew that the curved plow, plow, and dragon-bone waterwheel used in the fields were all made by the prince.
Twenty-one carefully folded the blueprints and kept them close to their bodies, preparing to study them together once they reached the mountain. They heard there were eleven other craftsmen and thirty apprentices.
It took three days for everyone to go into the mountains together and split into two groups: craftsmen and apprentices went to the iron smelting workshop, and carbon diggers went to the coal workshop.
After a night's rest, the people in the iron smelting workshop gathered in the refining room. The eleven people from the Sinong Institute and the twenty-five people first introduced their names to each other and got to know each other briefly. They would be workmates in the future. Then they selected the apprentices they needed. The apprentices had obviously been trained for a period of time in advance. They were quiet and obedient, and would only answer when the master asked.
Twenty-one unfolded the blueprint and hung it in front of a specially prepared blackboard. Seeing that everyone was familiar with it, it seemed that it was no longer a rarity in the North. It was the first time for the five of them to see a blackboard and chalk in the house, and they were very interested in scribbling for a long time...
The other eleven people gathered to examine it carefully. Deputy Envoy Ding saw the familiar style of the painting and knew it must have been drawn by the prince himself. He examined each image one by one. After looking at the first two, the kerosene trolley and the heavy crossbow, he had a clear idea of how to make them; they weren't difficult to make. The last one, the Zhuge Divine Crossbow, didn't have many parts, but it required a high level of craftsmanship. If even one part was wrong, the crossbow would be useless.
After the eleven had finished looking at it, Twenty-one asked, "This is the weapon the prince needs us to make to defend the city. What are your ideas? Feel free to share them. Let's strive to make one each before winter comes."
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