The big man has a living father

Chapter 46 Agricultural Experiment
Tian Jue got to the bottom of it.

Huo Haicai revealed a little.

At present, most of Shanglinyuan is a hunting ground and pavilions. Only the northern part near the Wei River is where cattle and sheep are raised, while the western part near the Chidao has fields where various plants are planted.

On the one hand, these crops were directly supplied to Liu Che.

On the other hand, the fields here are also used for experiments.

Huo Hai was shocked when he learned that Liu Che had actually sent people to conduct experiments here.

Was there anyone doing this in the Han Dynasty?
Soon, Huo Hai learned that he knew the person doing the experiment here, Zhao Guo, who came to inform him and Cao Xiang to attend the banquet that day.

Moreover, Huo Hai also learned that Zhao Guo was researching an automatic seeding machine!

This makes Huo Hailei crispy on the outside and tender on the inside!
What is this? An automatic seed drill?

Huo Hai thought he had met a fellow villager, so he ran over to watch.

Then I realized I had misunderstood.

The so-called automatic seeder is not quite correct. It should be called automatic seeding vehicle.

The principle is the same as the one seen in Huo Hai's short video. Four triangular boards are nailed into a square. When suspended in the air, the four boards are vertically facing the ground.

Inserting into the soil means inserting it from a square of soil.

There are tracks underneath the four boards. Once force is applied downwards, the four boards will start to move inward.

Finally, the four boards came together and formed a bucket-shaped hole in the ground.

After a hole was dug, the soil was taken away. The car continued to move forward, and a piece of soil with a seedling fell from a rear part, right into the dug hole.

The power comes from the bronze gear belt, and the original power comes from the horse pulling the cart.

This is the same as the legendary "Xuanyuan Chariot" which relies on the rotation of its wheels to indicate direction.

As long as the gears are made precisely enough, it can be achieved.

Moreover, Huo Hai also saw another version of the automatic seedling transplanter.

That is, the four boards themselves are in a pointed cone shape, and there are seedlings in the bucket.

As the car moves forward, the four boards are pulled to the side, directly digging up the soil.

When the four boards are opened, the seedlings in the bucket will automatically slide into the soil that has just been opened. When the four boards are put away, the soil will be pressed back again, just pressing the seedlings inside.

Huo Hai was astounded by these two sets of machines.

But... although this thing is exquisite, it cannot be promoted.

This thing is a fixed transmission device. As it moves forward, it digs a hole in the ground.

That is to say, if you don't walk in the field, but walk on the ground, he will also dig holes in the ground.

If you encounter stones, just expect the parts to collapse.

But if the transmission device is designed to be detachable, there will be another problem.

For mechanical things, the simpler the structure, the more durable they are; the more complex they are, the easier they are to break.

In addition, the raw material is bronze instead of steel, and after adding a detachable transmission device, this thing will undoubtedly break down after one trip.

However, Zhao Guo is still tirelessly trying to research the automatic seedling transplanter.

Although Huo Hai is not optimistic about this project, in fact, Zhao Guo has several research projects in hand, all of which are very impressive.

The soil Huo Hai saw in the fields before was different from what he had seen in his previous life. He did not react at first, but when he saw Zhao Guo's "Daitian Method" experimental field, he understood why.

In the past 6,000 years of human farming history, no one has invented furrows! No one has discovered that furrows can increase yields.

Zhao Guo discovered this and has been experimenting with it for many periods.

First, ridges can increase production, second, ridges can preserve fertility, and third, ridges can facilitate weed removal.

This point has been studied clearly and Emperor Wu has approved it. It will be promoted nationwide before the beginning of spring.

At present, Zhao Guo is allowed to continue the experiment to see whether the "Daitian Method" can be further improved.

The second experiment was a coupled plow. Zhao Guo was improving the plow, hoping that only two oxen and three people would be able to complete ox-plowing.

The third experiment was human plowing. Due to the shortage of oxen, Zhao Guo was also studying a project to have humans pull the plow.

The fourth experiment was the tripod plow, which is a single-ox three-plowshare used on dry land.

Huo Hai believes that these are projects that have great potential to succeed.

What surprised Huo Hai the most was that Zhao Guo was studying how to use manure fertilizer in large quantities.

After talking with Zhao Guo, Huo Hai learned that irrigation with manure water was already very common in the Warring States Period, but after learning more about it, Huo Hai discovered that this was equivalent to super-diluted manure fertilizer.

There are two main problems with using this stuff as fertilizer at too high a concentration: one is the spread of disease, and the other is that too high a concentration will burn the roots of plants.

At that time, Huo Hai told Zhao two solutions.

One is a manure pond, and the other is the manure steaming method of the Yuan Dynasty. Huo Hai learned about these two things from short videos. He only knew that they existed, but he didn't know how they were actually operated.

But Zhao Guo started experimenting directly and quickly made a breakthrough in the manure steaming method.

Zhao Guo even excitedly told Huo Hai that this method could increase the yield per acre from 200 kilograms several times!
After a few interactions, Huo Hai and Zhao Guo became familiar with each other.

This time, the two hundred soldiers had nothing to eat, and Huo Hai thought of Zhao Guo.

It would be hard not to attract attention with such a large group of people coming to the experimental field.

"Mr. Zhao, Mr. Huo is here."

Hearing what his soldier, the agricultural officer, said, Zhao Guo was overjoyed and ran out of the shed.

"Second Master Huo!"

Huo Hai's car did not leave the field, but just stopped on the small road and waved: "Brother Zhao, Brother Zhao."

Zhao Guo ran over and pulled Huo Hai's sleeve, "Second Master Huo, let's go and see the poop I steamed."

Every cell in Huo Hai's body, including his facial features, was rejecting: "No, no."

Zhao Guo: "Let's go, Second Master Huo, this is a big deal that will benefit the people of the world!"

Huo Hai waved his hand: "No, no, I came here because I have a new discovery to tell you, an extremely important discovery."

Zhao Guo was excited: "What discovery?"

Huo Hai: "My brother's soldiers reported to me that every time they ate a lot of rice, they might not feel full for a long time, but if they ate meat, they would feel full for a long time. So I did some research and asked them about their experience of eating meat each time."

"Guess what, meat is more filling than rice!"

Zhao Guo was speechless. Who doesn’t know this?
Huo Hai: "I continued my research and found that fresh meat is more filling than dried meat!"

Zhao Guo and his gang: "All meat... why?"

Huo Hai: "Yes, I just couldn't accept it. They are all meat, why? Then I found out that only lean meat can be made into jerky. Fatty meat can't be made into jerky. Jerky can only have a little bit of fat."

"So, is it possible that fatty meat is more filling than lean meat?"

Zhao Guo also started thinking about it.

Huo Hai continued: "I think about it carefully. What is it in fat meat that makes it more filling than lean meat? What is in fat meat that lean meat doesn't have?"

Zhao Guo: “Oil!”

Huo Hai slapped his thigh and said, "Yes, it's oil. I checked carefully. On the days of fighting or training, they have to eat six to eight kilograms of rice to be fully full. They even eat four kilograms of millet in one meal during a battle!"

"But if you eat meat, you can reduce it to four kilograms of rice a day."

"If you eat a lot of oil, you have to cut down to one or two kilograms of rice!"

Zhao Guo frowned: "But as far as I know, if you eat too much oil, you will get diarrhea."

Huo Hai smiled and said, "Brother Zhao, you only know one side of the story. We rich kids all know that if a person doesn't touch oil for a long time, he will get a stomachache after eating oil. But if he gets used to it, he won't get a stomachache anymore."

Zhao Guo thought for a moment: "You want me to study this? But raising livestock takes a lot of time and food, isn't it worth it?"

Huo Hai: "Ordinary people may not eat it, but it is definitely worthwhile for soldiers to eat it. Just imagine, how much food is needed to transport one stone of grain to the border 800 miles away?"

Zhao Guo: "If it is transported by land, for every 20 dan of grain departing from Chang'an, one dan can reach the border 800 miles away. If it is transported by water, for every 2 dan and 5 dou to 3 dan, one dan can reach the border 800 miles away. The difference is whether there are more sections along the water."

This consumption is too terrifying. How many people are needed to transport food for any soldier fighting outside?

The people who transport food and the horses also need food!

The horses eat food, the soldiers eat food, but these people don’t farm. How many people are needed to farm to feed them?

For every soldier sent out, ten families of five are needed to provide for him without food or drink!

So, wars are fought over money.

A general like Huo Qubing who is good at stealing the enemy's food is a T0-level general in history.

Not only do you not consume your own food, but you also eat the other party's food. You should know that the other party's food is consumed in the same amount when it is transported over!

Huo Hai: "If oil can really easily meet the daily training and even war consumption of a soldier, then transporting oil to the border will consume much less than transporting food!"

"If oil is five times more effective at filling the stomach than grain, then wouldn't the transportation efficiency increase fivefold? Wouldn't that mean that grain production has increased fivefold?"

Zhao Guo scratched his head and said, "That's true, but it takes more effort to raise livestock to produce one pound of oil than to grow five pounds of grains."

"Are you asking me to research how to make livestock grow fat more efficiently?"

Huo Hai: "Don't you know that plants can also produce oil? The Chinese cabbage brought over from Longxi can be used to extract oil."

Cabbage, rapeseed.

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(End of this chapter)