Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 99 Father-in-Law

Chapter 99 Father-in-Law
Wuzhangyuan is very large. Even if tens of thousands of Han people are stationed there, there is still a lot of open space on the plateau.

Before Guanzhong was ravaged by the Western Liang invasion led by Li Jue and Guo Si, there were even thousands of acres of arable land on the plateau.

Even at this time, although it has been abandoned for forty years, the shape of the fields can still be vaguely seen.

It happened that Dong Yun, Guo Youzhi, Chen Zhi and other ministers were also in the camp, so Liu Chan led them and followed Ma Bing, the head of the Ministry of Works, to a piece of wasteland that used to be farmland.

There are three cows and two plows in the field.

Without any fancy moves, Ma Bing simply ordered the farmers in the fields who were already prepared to plow the land to start driving the oxen to plow the land.

Everyone is familiar with the straight-beam plow, which is currently being used to plow the field with two oxen pulling a plow.

Three-person operation.

One man is driving the ox in front.

One person stands between the two oxen, holding the horizontal beam connecting the straight-beam plow and the two oxen, also called "heng", which serves to stabilize the plow.

Another person holds the plow from behind, responsible for controlling the depth of the plow and the direction of the plow.

The plowing was not slow, at least much faster than the method of several people working together to pull the plow.

However, on the other hand, the strange short plow that was modified was just as Ma Bing said, and only one person and one ox were needed to operate it.

Without the "balance", the plow and the ox were connected with a hemp rope, which directly saved the need for a person responsible for stability.

And because the person holding the plow is closer to the ox, he can now drive the ox while holding the plow, which saves another person.

There are fewer cows and fewer people, but the speed of turning the soil is not slower, but faster.

Everyone looked surprised for a moment.

Before the oxen had finished plowing three times, Dong Yun, who was quite familiar with farming, was the first to sigh as the Prime Minister went to the fields:
"Although this short curved plow only requires one ox and one person, it plows the land 60 to 70 percent faster than the original long straight plow.

"The plow wall will automatically divide the soil, forming such neat ridges that we can directly use the method of replacing fields, saving a lot of manpower."

According to experience and common sense, two oxen and three men can turn over 500 acres of land in one farming season.

Now this short plow can plow faster and free up two people to work with an ox. The improvement in plowing efficiency is probably more than just two or three times.

In an agricultural society, agricultural production is the basis of all activities.

Everyone can understand that this is just a simple improved short plow, and it will bring about huge changes to future agricultural production.

Although it is difficult to popularize it nationwide in a short period of time, small farmers who do not have cows and rely on hoes for farming will not be able to benefit from it.

But at least next year when the Guanzhong military farms are established, the improved plow and the doubled grain production will easily feed the Han army's tens of thousands of northern expedition troops without having to rely on transportation from the rear.

In fact, this famous curved plow was developed by Ma Bing since Liu Chan arrived at Wuzhangyuan.

However, Liu Chan, an unqualified time traveler, had no idea about the structure of the curved plow.

He could only draw a rough blueprint based on a vague impression and put forward a general idea, which Ma Bing then handed over to the craftsmen on the plateau.

Six editions were produced during this period.

But there are always problems of one kind or another.

Simply bending the shaft to the right angle to save effort and allow it to be pulled by an ox is a considerable challenge, requiring the craftsman to constantly try and error, and then rely on experience to gradually improve.

There are also problems such as the plowshare getting stuck, the plowing depth being inconsistent, the soil being unevenly distributed by the plow wall, and the inability to directly form the soil ridges required by the Daitian method.

Fortunately, the technical difficulty of this plow is not high and its structure is not complicated. As long as you know that it really exists, you can just keep trying and making mistakes, and you will always succeed.

It is even said that the speed of plowing the land with the curved plow is only 50% to 60% faster than the original straight plow. It is estimated that it has not reached its limit yet, and it is unknown whether it can be further improved.

Dong Yun stopped the farmer who was plowing the land with a curved plow and asked the farmer to help drive the oxen. He then held the plow to experience the depth of the field, and then held the straight plow to plow two times back and forth.

Wiping the sweat from his head, he said happily:

"This short curved plow not only breaks the soil faster, but also requires 40% to 50% less effort to push. This is especially true when turning. A straight plow requires three people to carry it in a circle, which is slow and heavy. This short curved plow is much easier and faster."

Guo Youzhi also went forward to experience it.

"What is this wedge used for?" After plowing back and forth, Guo Youzhi pointed to a wooden wedge on the plow shaft that could obviously be pulled out and asked.

"This is Li Ping." Dong Yun said.

"By removing this wooden wedge, you can control the depth of plowing by adjusting the plow arrow up and down.

“The method of making beans and millet is different in terms of depth and shallowness.

"Plant beans deep and millet shallow."

After saying this, Dong Yun wiped his sweat again.

Pushing the straight-beam plow just now had taken a lot of his strength. If plowing with an ox was already so tiring, then those who relied on hoeing or people pulling the plow would be even more tired.

Liu Chan looked at Dong Yun in surprise. He didn't expect that Dong Yun, a scholar, had such a deep understanding of farming. He wondered if he had also worked in the fields himself.

After everyone had seen the wonders of the curved plow, Ma Bingcai led everyone to a newly dug well on the plateau.

There is no surface water source in Wuzhangyuan, but it is backed by the Qin Mausoleum and has many water veins, so many wells were dug.

The mouth of the well is not big, and the height difference between the water surface and the ground is almost two meters. The water lifting height has exceeded the limit of traditional water wheels.

But this is obviously not the limit of the keel waterwheel.

Before anyone could figure out what this thing lying on the ground connected to the well was, two craftsmen began to step on the pedal, and the well water was continuously pumped onto the flat ground and flowed along the ditch.

Everyone then began to be surprised.

Everyone has seen water wheels. Who doesn’t have a few water wheels in their manor?
However, the waterwheel relies entirely on the natural flow of water to impact the blades, and is only suitable for use along rivers. Once installed, it cannot be moved flexibly. In the event of drought, the water flow slows down and the wheel becomes ineffective.

Moreover, if the water-lifting height is to be raised by another ten feet, the waterwheel must be built taller, and the cost will increase exponentially.

However, once the waterwheel is made taller and heavier, the requirement for water flow speed becomes higher.

Therefore, the water flow rate is highly correlated with the water lifting height. Generally speaking, the limit is to be able to lift it to a height of ten feet.

What about the waterwheel lying on the ground in front of you?
Although it relies on manpower, even the water from a two-meter-deep well on the plateau can be pumped up.

And it looks easy to use. After watering one piece of land, you can move it to another place to continue watering at any time.

Not to mention the height of two zhang, even if it is twenty or thirty zhang, by digging a few more ditches and pools and relying on a few such water wheels, the water can be connected.

In this way, water can be easily transported from low-lying areas to high areas.

This is much more efficient than using jars to carry things or carrying them one load at a time on a shoulder pole.

Take the farmland on both sides of the Wei River for example. Because the Wei River is low-lying, it is impossible to rely on ditches to bring the Wei River into the farmland on both sides.

It’s easier if you’re closer to the Wei River. Those who are capable can use water wheels, while those who are not can use jars and buckets to collect water one bucket at a time.

In places far from the Wei River, people can only rely on manpower to carry the goods using a shoulder pole.

One person cannot irrigate an acre of land in a day.

With this waterwheel, it would not be a problem for one person to irrigate four or five acres of land a day.

What’s more important is that the structure of this waterwheel is not complicated and can be replicated by ordinary small farmers. In the north where the water network is not dense, it is simply an agricultural artifact.

In one day, two agricultural tools that could increase farming efficiency exponentially were presented to everyone, causing them to sigh in admiration.

Although it cannot directly increase per mu yield, it can greatly increase the per capita arable land area, or even double it.

A family of five could only barely feed themselves after paying taxes after a year of farming, and it was difficult to have any surplus food.

If they encountered drought or flood, they would either starve to death or borrow grain from the rich. If they could cultivate more land, they would naturally be able to store more surplus grain.

Nowadays, the world has vast land and sparse population. What is lacking is not arable land, but people who can cultivate the land.

If these two things can be popularized, not only can more people be saved, but more taxes can also be collected. This is the greatest benefit to the country and the people.

In the next few days, under the organization of Ma Bing, the blacksmiths and carpenters on the plateau began to summarize and learn how to make curved plows and keel water wheels.

For the thirty skilled craftsmen who had participated in the research and development of improved curved plows and dragon-bone water wheels for months, Liu Chan immediately gave each of them three pieces of Shu brocade and promised to give them fifty acres of land and houses after they returned to Hanzhong in Shu.

In addition to these thirty people, there were ten others captured from Cao Zhen and Zhang He. Liu Chan ordered people to register them as civilians and rewarded them with three pieces of Shu brocade. He planned to give them land and houses in Guanzhong when Guanzhong was stabilized in the future.

On April 23, Liu Chan sent his guards to escort 20 craftsmen back to Chengdu, asking them to teach the iron officials and craftsmen the techniques of making curved plows and dragon-bone water wheels.

Then he issued an imperial edict and sent it back to Chengdu, ordering anyone in the country who could improve various agricultural tools and increase efficiency to report to the counties.

Once it is proven to be efficient, all county officials, including the chief officials, will be rewarded.

Of course, this decree may not really play any role in an era when craftsmen are concentrated in the hands of the state and major families.

Especially the craftsmen in the major wealthy families, if they really have any tools to improve efficiency, they will keep them within their grasp and will not give them out just for a little reward.

We can only rely on Liu Chan in the future to make the development of the country through tools a national policy and gradually improve the status and treatment of craftsmen.

Then, by establishing a new system of honorary officials, those powerful families who wanted to become officials but were unable to do so were absorbed into the system of honorary officials.

This is the prototype of the military service system. Liu Chan already had some ideas, but now is not the best time to implement this system, nor can it be accomplished overnight.

Once Chang'an is stabilized and a group of veterans retire and receive rewards, we can start the pilot program. The captured civilians can be given to the government soldiers to serve as their family farmers.

April twenty-fifth.

Liu Chan got up before dawn.

He put on the silver armor of the previous emperor and a crimson robe, then led two hundred civil and military officials of Wuzhangyuan and three thousand armored soldiers, went thirty miles out of Wuzhangyuan, and waited for a team from Longyou on the south bank of Weishui River.

The Jinwu banner, which demonstrates the emperor's majesty, is above his head, fluttering in the wind.

Hundreds of red flags with the Chinese character "Han" standing in the field were blown towards the direction of the team by the east wind, making a rustling sound.

The accompanying drummers were neatly arranged on both sides of the Jinwu banner.

Some of them were beating drums with drumsticks, and the drum sounds were steady, powerful and inspiring.

Some played horns, which were simple and melodious, echoing with the drums, solemn and dignified.

The Han emperor standing in the center is wearing a helmet and armor, a crimson robe, and stands quietly under the Jinwu banner, looking majestic and solemn.

Behind him were the civil and military officials of Wuzhangyuan, arranged in order of rank, with civil officials on the left and military officers on the right. Their expressions were solemn, yet filled with indescribable complex emotions: respect, anticipation, excitement, and heroism...

As the imperial carriage got closer, the general's banner with the word "Zhuge" written on it became clearer and clearer, followed by dozens or even hundreds of red flags with the word "Han" written on them.

For some reason, Liu Chan began to tremble slightly, becoming more nervous, excited, excited and uneasy.

He had received news the day before that the Prime Minister had led a large army to Chencang.

His mood suddenly became very excited, and he even wanted to leave Wuzhangyuan immediately and rush to Chencang to meet for the first time in his life this great Han Prime Minister who devoted his life to his country and died for it, this great Han Prime Minister who always made heroes cry.

Should it be considered the first side?
Yet, I was still full of hesitation, thinking that it shouldn't be so simple, and shouldn't be so hasty.

He even couldn't decide for a long time what to wear to meet the prime minister, and was even more nervous than his first date.

The general's banner with the word "Zhuge" on it was getting closer and closer.

Under the dragon banner, Liu Chan became increasingly nervous and excited.

Suddenly, a figure stepped down from the carriage belonging to the prime minister.

The silhouette composed of the Jinxian crown and the Zhiju robe finally appeared clearly in Liu Chan's eyes, and slowly overlapped with the silhouette that existed in Adou's memory.

The silhouette still seemed a little hunched, walking slowly forward.

The wind blew his hair and beard backwards, but his body leaned forward.

Liu Chan finally couldn't suppress the complicated emotions in his heart. He took off his helmet and threw it to the ground, then strode forward quickly.

The red robe fluttered in the wind.

The sound of drums and music suddenly became more passionate.

The prime minister was walking slowly, and when he saw the big emperor in silver armor and red robe rushing towards him, he also tried to speed up his pace.

The two of them walked in to greet each other.

Fifty steps.

Thirty steps.

Ten steps.

Five steps.

Three steps.

Liu Chan no longer knew what expression he had on his face. He just excitedly reached out his hand, wanting to hold the prime minister's hand.

However, before he could hold onto her, the Prime Minister had already gathered his sleeves and bowed to the burly Han emperor, wearing the late emperor's silver armor. His body trembled, and his voice trembled as well: "Your Majesty, your Majesty!"

Liu Chan hurried forward, grasped a pair of slightly withered hands and helped them upwards, and finally stared at the old man with a hunched body and mottled hair and beard in front of him for a long time without saying a word.

The two of them held hands excitedly and silently, looking at each other up and down.

"Your Majesty... you look so much like the late emperor." After a long time, the Prime Minister seemed to be laughing and crying, his voice and beard trembling.

The burly emperor in front of him, wearing the late emperor's silver armor, seemed to be both laughing and crying. In the end, his thousands of words were condensed into two words: "Prime Minister!"

The officials surrounding the emperor came forward one after another, saluted the prime minister, and shouted:
"Welcome the victorious Prime Minister!"

Many loyal ministers, led by Dong Yun, were already in tears.

Behind them, three thousand soldiers shouted in unison.

"Welcome the victorious Prime Minister!"

The sounds rose and fell, cracking rocks and piercing the clouds.

It’s still Wuzhangyuan.

The soldiers also shouted.

But it is no longer a sad autumn wind.

It's no longer "Take care, Prime Minister."

The Han officials surrounded the emperor and his minister, who were walking hand in hand, and slowly headed towards Wuzhangyuan.

"Father, let me tell you..."

"Father..."

(End of this chapter)