Seeing his junior fellow apprentice at a loss for words, He Jinzhuo hurriedly changed the subject, "Village head, when will the old lady return? When will the rice be harvested?"
"It will be soon. The old lady will be back soon. Everyone is making preparations.
I guess it will only take the next three to five days. If I get busy and neglect you, please don’t take it personally.”
"We are half-people of Old Lake Town, so why would we be so reserved?"
"Haha, sir, that's right."
Manager Cao looked at the rice fields in front of him with mixed feelings.
"Don't be afraid of being laughed at, sir. Many people are eyeing the Qiao family's rice fields. There was a message from the south of the city that someone secretly cut half an acre of rice from the fields last night. If we hadn't organized a patrol team in advance, these millets might not be able to stand in the fields safely now.
So, young master, don't blame Fusheng for making a fuss. We are all scared!"
In the past half month, more and more strangers have come to the town. When they see the rice fields in front of them, their eyes light up, as if what is growing there is not millet but gold.
Some of the wicked ones even secretly stole some grains and hid them, which made Cao Guanjia and Li Zhong very angry.
If left unchecked, future thefts will probably become more daring.
The harvest is about to begin, so we can’t let anything go wrong at the last minute.
The two of them decided to hold a meeting, discuss with the villagers, follow the mass line, and organize everyone spontaneously.
They rode on horses and cattle, and took hunting dogs with them to patrol day and night. Everyone became an eyeliner, staring at strangers entering the village from time to time.
Fusheng and his little friends actually built a temporary lookout at the intersection of the official road into the village. There were people guarding it twelve hours a day, and even a secret sentry was placed on the big tree next to it.
Now strangers entering the village must be led by an acquaintance and must give a password before they can enter.
If the password is not matched, then sorry, the little kid will immediately strike the gong in his hand, and the village patrol will come over immediately to question him.
In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures were taken, and the villagers all expressed their support and even actively cooperated. As for whether the people from other villages were happy or not, that was not within their consideration.
Nowadays, strangers are not allowed to enter or run around in the village, and every household is preparing for the upcoming autumn harvest.
Liang Shengming and his disciples had experienced these situations before, but they didn't expect there would be such a thing behind it.
"The eldest lady has already taken people to the south of the city to start harvesting the rice fields there. This morning, the young and strong men in every household went out to help, leaving these little kids behind to watch over the crops."
After hearing these words, Zhang Zheng's anger had long since subsided.
At this moment, I can finally understand how busy the Qiao family is. Compared with the masters of the Qiao family, the head of their family can be said to be idle!
A group of people walked towards the village while chatting, and before they knew it, they arrived at the woodworking workshop of the Niu Dabao brothers.
This place has become the busiest place in the village, with laborers coming in and out carrying all kinds of wooden parts.
Niu Dali and Niu Dabao were wearing short brown clothes. They skillfully picked out the needed parts from a pile of spare parts. In a short while, they put together the desired farm tools.
Blowers, pitchforks, semi-automatic threshers, pedal threshers, cotton seed threshers, spinning wheels, looms, and everything in between. Dozens of these machines were already assembled on the threshing floor.
At the other end of the threshing floor, young wives and old women gathered together, seizing the opportunity to pull out ramie threads and then spin them into yarn using foot-operated spinning wheels.
When there are enough spindles, they are sent to the weaving workshop, woven into three-foot-wide linen on a loom, and then cut into sacks.
This thing is durable and can be stored for a long time. It is used to store rice and various things. It is economical, convenient and does not take up much space.
Poor families can use it as bed sheets and quilt covers to keep warm in winter. Naturally, like Han Xin leading his troops, the more the better.
In early spring, Qiao Xin asked everyone to plant large areas of ramie on the barren mountain land. In autumn, the harvested ramie was soaked in a pool of water and filled with lime water for two weeks, and then peeled and spun for use.
Manager Cao stepped forward and asked, "How are the preparations going?"
Niu Dali was quite confident in his craftsmanship, and assured with a pat on his chest: "It's no big problem, these are made according to the drawings left by the old lady before she left.
Whether it works or not, Manager Cao will send someone to the field to cut a bundle of grain and try it out, and we will know the effect."
"That's fine!"
Manager Cao called out, and the villagers nearby, who had been waiting impatiently, came to help. Soon, over a hundred kilograms of rice seedlings were placed under their feet.
Some of the farm tools had been used once before when harvesting wheat. Manager Cao was very familiar with them when he used them again.
He put the heavy bundles of millet into the feeding port of the semi-automatic thresher and stepped hard on the pedal. The threshing drum began to rotate. The grains rubbed against the teeth on the drum and were visibly separated from the straw.
The strong friction threshed the grains quickly, and the plump grains fell into the empty bucket in front like raindrops, gathering into a small mountain of grains, while the threshed straw flew out from the other side.
The villagers of Laohu Town stared at what was happening before them in amazement.
Is that all? No need to carry the bundled rice to the threshing floor and spread it out, no need to use people or cows or donkeys to pull the stone mill to grind the rice?
Now that I have this machine, it seems that all these complicated steps have been completed at once.
They can get the grains right in the rice fields. Then they can transport them to the wheat fields and dry them for a few days before they can be stored in the warehouse?
This was not the end of the story. The housekeeper scooped the newly threshed grains into the container on the wind-grain machine and then stirred it a few times. The impurities, shrunken grains, and straw scraps in the grains were discharged from the wind outlet, and the clean and full grains fell into the basket below.
Butler Cao poured the full rice grains back into the container of the blower. After several consecutive times, the impurities in the rice grains were basically removed.
Cao had his servant carry a load of rice to the mill and have it crushed with a water-powered pestle to see what the yield of the new rice was.
As for the rest of the millet, it will be sent to the threshing floor while the weather is clear and the air is fresh, where it will be quickly dried and then stored in the barn.
Liang Shengming was so excited that he almost broke several strands of his beard, and the gleam in his eyes could no longer be hidden.
"A divine weapon, a divine weapon!"
Butler Cao looked at him in confusion. Why was he so excited? It was not like he had never seen such a thing before.
I couldn't help but ask, "Don't the big families in the capital have them? No, my old lady has already presented the drawings of these farm tools to the court.
I have heard that the Artisan Supervisor has made quite a few for sale. Sir, you must have seen them all the time in the capital. Prince Xu bought more than a dozen during the summer harvest!"
Liang Shengming:......
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
No comments yet.