Testing new agricultural tools
Chapter 12: Experimenting with New Agricultural Tools
Today, the deputy general arrived early to wait at the palace. Ten days ago, the prince and Chen Sinong had agreed to see new farm tools. After Chu Huaibei finished breakfast, she found the deputy general standing in the yard. Tsk, I almost forgot, we had an appointment to see new farm tools today. The matter of looking for the master kept filling her mind, making her almost forget the important matter.
The two men rode to the gate of the Sinong Office. A clerk was already waiting there. Seeing them coming, he quickly greeted them, "Your Highness, Chen Sinong asked me to wait here. Now that you've arrived, please follow me to the inner courtyard. Everyone in the Sinong Office is here."
Chu Huaibei dismounted and followed him in. Tsk, the first time was so grand, but the second time was a bit, um... cold? It's not that Chu Huaibei is narcissistic, under normal circumstances, the head of a department will still take the initiative to come up and pay his respects...
Chu Huaibei was thinking as he followed the clerk in quick steps. He glanced at his adjutant, whose steps were even faster than the clerk's and had already reached the front. Tsk, this kid must be hiding something from me.
Before reaching the inner courtyard, he could already hear frequent exclamations, prompting Chu Huaibei to quicken his pace. Upon entering the inner courtyard, he saw a crowd gathered together, testing the curved plow, which had completely transformed a small garden. However, no one cared about the flowers and plants anymore; their attention was focused on the ox and the man.
A large yellow ox was wearing a yoke that fit the curvature of its neck, and a relatively thin man followed behind it. The man held the plow tip with only one hand and moved forward easily, and the soil was quickly turned over. This was the scene that everyone saw.
Such a convenient plow was actually drawn by the prince. The prince is truly a god. Everyone admired him sincerely in their hearts. Fortunately, most of the petty officials in the Ministry of Agriculture were introverted technicians and were not good at flattering him in person, otherwise Chu Huaibei would have been in a state of shock.
A moment later, another man took over. He adjusted the plow shaft and plowshare, plowing the soil noticeably deeper than the previous one, causing another round of exclamations. The man listening was beaming with joy, unable to contain his smile. This Deputy Director Ding was a key member of the team that built this curved plow and was a renowned expert in the institute.
Seeing how they had crafted the curved plow so exquisitely in such a short time, exactly like the one she had seen in her previous life, Chu Huaibei, honestly speaking, had said that her soul painter's sketch, when she said she would come back in ten days, would then demonstrate the finished plow to them, and they should be able to replicate it. This was beyond her expectations, and no wonder the deputy general didn't say anything; he was trying to give her a surprise. After all, she had seen the deputy general's expression of dismay when he looked at her sketch.
"Your humble servant greets His Majesty, your subordinate greets His Majesty!" Everyone finally noticed Chu Huaibei and saluted him one after another, with excitement in their tone.
"Don't be so reserved, just keep trying." Chu Huaibei walked towards Chen Sinong, with several other items beside him.
"Your Highness, please take a look. I feel that this thing may not be made accurately." Chen Sinong was fiddling with the plow cart. When he looked up and saw someone coming, he asked.
Chu Huaibei also squatted down to examine it. She had drawn a triangular plow with a plow shaft. It could be pulled by people or animals, and it would speed up sowing. This plow looked fine, but you'd know once you tried it.
Chu Huaibei asked the clerk to bring a bushel of wheat and placed the plow cart in the heavily plowed flowerbed. He then poured the wheat into the seed bucket and had the clerk hold the plow shaft and slowly pull it forward. At first, some wheat evenly spilled out of the seed holes, but soon it was gone. Chu Huaibei asked the clerk to stop and squatted down to observe the situation.
The hole wasn't blocked, so why weren't the seeds coming out? He shook the cart vigorously, and the seeds came out again. He then asked Chen Sinong what the inner diameter of the seed barrel was, and he was told it was about the thickness of a chopstick. Chu Huaibei reflected on himself, forgetting to tell them the exact inner diameter. He had only said that it was enough for the wheat to leak out, and this thickness of a chopstick was indeed enough to let the wheat out...
Chu Huaibei stood up and said to Chen Sinong, "I didn't explain it clearly. This seed filter needs to be as wide as a man's thumb, otherwise it will get stuck easily. It can be used after some processing. From now on, use a plow to sow seeds. Don't scatter seeds randomly on the ground, which will affect the harvest."
"Your Highness, this may not be appropriate to enforce. Slow sowing will also affect the harvest." Chen Sinong already understood the principle of the plow cart. This way of farming would save more seeds, but every family in the military settlement had more than 50 mu of land, and he was afraid of delaying the sowing time.
"Then let's split it half and half. Let them compare their harvests themselves. They will naturally use plow carts in the future. You can make more of these plow carts, start with 1,000, and 2,500 curved plows. I will pay for them. I will keep them here temporarily. I will ask the deputy general to send the money over later." Chu Huaibei said.
"Also, I don't want others to know about the new items in the institute. If anyone leaks it out, don't blame me for being rude." Chu Huaibei made arrangements in advance. She didn't want the new items to be discovered by the aristocratic families at all, at least not before she used them. The Sinong Institute was not conspicuous to begin with, and putting it here would be less noticeable than letting these people do it somewhere else.
"Yes, Your Highness, I will follow your instructions and will strictly discipline my subordinates." Chen Sinong promised.
Chu Huaibei nodded and tried both the spiked rake and the flat rake. The spiked rake was fine, but the flat rake was a bit awkward. After a closer look, he realized the problem was the handle. The connection between the rake head and the handle was a triangle with no curvature. This meant that when weeding and leveling clods, one had to bend down even lower, unlike the curved angles of his previous life.
"Chen Sinong, can the lower end of this handle be made into an arc shape?" Chu Huaibei asked as he looked at it carefully.
"Yes, Your Highness. What kind of arc shape do you want?" Chen Sinong asked, waving over a clerk. "Your Highness, Wang Feng is an excellent carpenter. Please let him know your requirements and he will make the object you desire."
"Look here, I want this handle to have this curvature." Chu Huaibei squatted on the ground and drew a diagram on the mud with his fingers.
"Okay, Your Highness. I understand. I'll do it right away." Wang Feng half-knelt on the ground, understood Chu Huaibei's intentions, and bowed to take his leave.
Chu Huaibei was very satisfied with today's results and said to Chen Sinong, "I'll have my deputy send over two hundred taels of silver later as a reward for your outstanding work. There are more than twenty people in Sinong's office, so you can make your own arrangements."
"Your humble servant would like to thank the prince for the reward on behalf of everyone in Sinong!" Chen Sinong bowed to express his gratitude.
"Oh, by the way, Chen Sinong, do you have a son?" Chu Huaibei still wanted to find out about Chen Sinong's situation. He was so old and he was afraid that he would suddenly get sick. Chu Huaibei was not cursing anyone. In ancient times, those who could live to seventy years old were considered to have a very long life.
"Your Highness, I have only one daughter, who has been married for a long time. The Wang Feng you just met is my grandson." Chen Sinong was slightly stunned when he heard Chu Huaibei asking about his family affairs.
"Okay~, train him well. I think he is quite smart." Chu Huaibei said.
"Your Highness, you are too kind. This child is sincere and kind." Chen Sinong understood Chu Huaibei's implication and felt delighted. Although positions similar to his were now inherited by sons, his position was given directly by the old prince. Seeing that he was both literate and capable of farming, he promoted him and returned the original Sinong position to the court. Now the prince also recognized his grandson, which was a great blessing.
Chu Huaibei didn't think too much about it. She had discovered, when she looked up the list of officials from the Northern Territory, that Chen Sinong had served as the Minister of Agriculture for over twenty years, even when her father was still alive. This showed that her father trusted him. This Minister of Agriculture, though seemingly insignificant among the aristocratic families, was actually very important to the military settlement.
This put Chu Huaibei's worries to rest. While he was talking, Wang Feng had already brought over the new handle. After replacing it, Chu Huaibei tried it out and found it was much smoother. "Not bad, the craftsmanship is really good," Chu Huaibei praised.
"It's just a trivial matter, not worthy of praise from Your Highness." Wang Feng saluted.
Well, he is indeed cunning, Chu Huaibei commented in his heart.
Chu Huaibei was speechless when he saw his adjutant plowing the fields. "A young master who only knows how to fight, what does plowing mean? He's just messing around." It was almost noon when he was about to return home. Tsk, today it was her turn to call the adjutant back home. It was really against the will of Heaven.
The two men rode slowly towards the city. The deputy general asked excitedly, "Your Majesty, can this curved plow be used by my family?"
"Not yet. I asked the Sino-Agricultural Office to lock up all the news about new agricultural tools. I won't reveal any information before this year's autumn sowing. If your family wants to use them, you can borrow them for this autumn sowing, or you can buy them directly. We asked them to make more anyway." Chu Huaibei raised his eyebrows and said.
The deputy general looked incredulous: "Your Majesty, with the friendship between our two families, you didn't even give me one and asked me to buy one!"
"That's right. If I send it to your family but not to my colleagues' families, that would not be good. I also want the noble families to spend some money. How can I let them get it cheaply?" Chu Huaibei said with a sneer.
"Yes, it was my fault for not thinking it through." The deputy general scratched the back of his head.
"By the way, Your Highness, I came to your house for dinner two days ago, and I wanted to ask you at that time, when did you find that woman? Also, is Hengheng her son? They look very similar." The deputy general drove his horse closer to Chu Huaibei and asked in a low voice.
"Yes, he gave birth to the child, but something else happened afterwards, so it's not convenient to tell you now." Chu Huaibei looked at the deputy general's gossipy expression and said helplessly, "This matter cannot be spread to anyone for the time being."
"Don't worry, I haven't even told my dad." The deputy general had an expression on his face as if he was about to praise me, which hurt Chu Huaibei's eyes.
After returning to the city, the deputy general first sent his injured prince to the door of his house, declined Chu Huaibei's invitation to lunch, and strolled home. Eating at the prince's house was prone to indigestion...
The deputy general returned home and first visited his mother, asking her to raise calves in advance and prepare more oxen for the autumn planting. Qin Feng's mother, Zhuang, saw her youngest son rushing in and explained the matter. He never intervened in such matters. When asked why, he remained silent, saying only that the preparations were in place.
Before she went to bed that night, Zhuang couldn't help but ask General Qin if there were any big moves for this autumn's sowing. General Qin had no idea, but since his son followed the prince all day, he must have a reason for saying so. So, he decided to buy more cattle and raise them.
Because her youngest son was vague about the details, and Zhuang had a generous dowry, she simply took over the farm and used it to raise cattle, totaling over 300 head, essentially buying up all the cattle on sale at the market. This blunder later made Zhuang a huge profit.
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