Chapter 34 What she said must work
Gu Feixue could only say softly:
"We also ask everyone to mobilize more people now to build such water-collecting devices so that the wasteland can be filled with water as soon as possible."
Upon hearing this, everyone started to work intensively on the water extraction device that Gu Feixue mentioned.
Some strong refugees were led by Zhuifeng to cut bamboos of suitable length and thickness. Nearly a hundred refugees were recruited, each carrying a bamboo and spreading it out towards the river.
The wasteland is two miles away from the river, and each bamboo should be nearly twenty meters long, so nearly a hundred pieces are needed.
These nearly one hundred roots naturally need to be connected manually, and there must not be any mistakes.
Otherwise, if water leakage occurs in the middle, the entire bamboo tube will have to be filled with water again.
In addition to these people, Duke Zheng also left dozens of people to dig pits near the center of the wasteland.
Since he didn't know the exact height difference between the wasteland and the river water surface, Duke Zheng ordered his men to dig as deep as possible.
The river is a tributary of the Jiangzhou Grand Canal, so there is no need to worry about it drying up.
Everyone was working enthusiastically. Gu Feixue also followed Duke Zheng and the others to clear some obstacles along the shortest route and place sandbags and stones in appropriate places so that they could place the bamboo tubes.
By the time the main force reached the river, the sky was already filled with the white bellies of fish.
Fortunately, thanks to the unremitting efforts of Gu Feixue and his team, every bamboo connection within these two miles has been tested for airtightness and is under the supervision of a dedicated person.
When everyone arrived at the river, they poured water into the bamboo tube for a full half hour before it was filled with water.
At the same time, people far away in the wasteland had already sealed the other end of the bamboo tube. It was not until they heard from word of mouth that the bamboo tube was full and could be put into water that they slowly lowered the mouth of the bamboo tube into a bucket of water in a deep pit in the wasteland.
Everyone saw that in an instant, a lot of water gushed out from the bucket at the bottom of the pit, which was already full of water.
The water flowed into the soil of the deep pit and quickly disappeared underground.
But everyone knows that this pit will be filled with water sooner or later.
By then they will have a large reservoir and will no longer have to worry about having no water to irrigate the land!
After it got dark, Gu Feixue and his group returned to the wasteland along the same route.
Seeing that a layer of water had begun to accumulate at the bottom of the deep pit in the wasteland, everyone felt relieved.
"It's getting late, and everyone is tired after a long day. My Lord, you should go back and rest."
The prefect wiped the sweat from his forehead. The hard work of the day was not in vain. The most difficult problem was solved.
Yuchi Shuo raised his hand and said, "No hurry. I'll stay near the wasteland tonight so I can check the reservoir tomorrow morning."
The prefect felt ashamed upon hearing this and was immediately ordered to arrange accommodation.
Since Yuchi Shuo was not going back, Gu Feixue and the others naturally had to accompany him. In the end, they could only send someone to deliver a message to the Gu family who were far away in the prefect's villa, so as not to worry them.
Finally, the prefect chose a relatively clean and spacious refugee home to stay in.
That night, Gu Tingchuan looked at Gu Feixue, who was lying bleary-eyed on the bunk bed beside him. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Xue'er, where did you see all the things you said today?"
Gu Feixue was half asleep, so she could only lie and say, "I read all of this in books. Those miscellaneous books that Daddy didn't allow me to read before actually have a lot of good stuff in them."
After the Gu family suffered disaster and their property was ransacked, the books were naturally confiscated by the government, so they were not afraid of being exposed by Gu Tingchuan.
"I see. It seems that knowledge is truly not divided into high and low. Even in miscellaneous books, there is real knowledge."
Gu Tingchuan's silent contemplation, which sounded like he was being taught a lesson, made Gu Feixue feel a little guilty, but she didn't say anything.
This Gu Tingchuan is not only extremely intelligent at a young age, but also has a high pursuit of knowledge, which is rare.
There was no conversation that night, and at dawn the next day, they were awakened by the noise in the yard.
Due to limited conditions, he simply washed his face and then followed Duke Zheng and his men to the wasteland again.
Everyone saw that after a night, the bottom of the deep pit in the wasteland was filled with water. Just by looking, it was enough to irrigate three or four acres of land.
This is just the result of one night. If you want to irrigate more, you just need to store water for a few more days, and then all the wasteland can be irrigated in turn.
The prefect also ordered people to build simple guard sheds along the way last night. A simple shed was set up between every ten bamboo tubes, and the refugees took turns to guard it.
Once loose connections or water leakage is discovered between bamboo tubes, it can be reported and dealt with quickly without delaying water storage.
So the distance problem is solved.
Just as Duke Zheng and the prefect were about to escort His Royal Highness the Crown Prince back home, Yuchi Shuo looked at the reservoir thoughtfully.
"Do you have any idea to make water flow from the ground to higher places?" The person who asked this question was naturally Gu Feixue.
The difficult problem posed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I thought, only the girl from the Gu family could solve it.
Gu Feixue thought about it and found a way, but it would take a lot of time.
"Yes, there is, but it will take at least half a month."
Then Gu Feixue asked someone to bring paper and pen and draw out the simple structure of the waterwheel.
For long distance from high to low, siphon is used to move away, while for short distance from low to high, gravitational potential energy must be used.
Only water wheels can transport water from the ground to higher places.
Of course, making a waterwheel is not something that can be done overnight.
After seeing the structural diagram of the waterwheel, Yuchi Shuo could no longer remain calm and looked at the structural diagram of the waterwheel carefully.
After a long time, he handed the structural drawing to Zhuifeng and asked him to find a carpenter to make the thing in the shortest time possible.
Of course, after solving the problem of getting water from high to low, Gu Feixue sent the Buddha to the west road:
"If you want to save more effort, I have another way."
Yuchi Shuo looked at Gu Feixue with a burning gaze: "You say."
Gu Feixue then told Yuchi Shuo and others about the method of developing terraced fields. The prefect Zheng Guogong and others present were stunned and forgot to close their mouths in surprise.
Gu Feixue was not afraid of being suspected. When the time came, she would say that she had seen it in some miscellaneous books. There were many strange things in the world, and she could completely blame it on others.
Terracing is a completely auxiliary technique that solves both the distance and height problems.
Finally, let the water flow slowly and autonomously down the terraces from the highest point, thus saving all the heavy labor.
As long as these people develop the farmland well and maintain the fertility of the fields, they will surely be able to bear fruit and get a harvest next year.
This season happens to be the season for planting sweet potatoes. With water sources, sweet potatoes are also drought-resistant crops, so they don’t have to worry about food next year.
At this time, no one doubted Gu Feixue's ideas anymore. Everyone believed that as long as Gu Feixue said it, it would definitely work.
Everyone vaguely regarded Gu Feixue as another backbone besides Yuchi Shuo.
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