Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

The three men rode out of the city and soon arrived at the paper mill next to Juyi Village.

Wang Ding was afraid that the waterwheel manufacturing technology would be learned by others, so he built a large water room next to the waterwheel and arranged a gatekeeper to guard it. Except for the workers who transported pulp every day, no one else was allowed to enter the water room. Zhang Mo had not returned before, and Wang Ding did not get her permission, so he did not contribute this farmland irrigation tool to Lu Bu.

The three of them walked along the field path of the manor towards the water room. Du Ji saw that the fields were covered with canals forming a network, and he could roughly guess what the waterwheel Amo was talking about was. Sure enough, before he got close to the water room, he heard the sound of rushing water coming from it, and a large canal at his feet led to the water room.

When I stepped into the water room, I saw four large water wheels turning continuously. One of them was equipped with a circle of water buckets. Through the impact of the water flow, the water in the river would be automatically drawn up and poured into the canal and flow into the farmland. The other three did not have water buckets, but only used water power to pound the paper pulp.

Du Ji circled the large waterwheel twice and sighed, "This thing is truly a masterpiece of nature. With this waterwheel, we can save nearly half the labor for cultivating the same piece of land."

Agricultural farming in this era was still relatively extensive, involving plowing, sowing seeds, irrigation and finally harvesting, with occasional weeding in between. There was no pesticide use or insect control, and almost no fertilizer application.

Apart from spring sowing and autumn harvest, irrigation is the most labor-intensive. Even if there are canals, manpower is needed to lift water from the river and then flow it into the farmland through the canals. If there is enough rain, it is fine, but in drought years, people need to carry buckets of water to the farmland for irrigation.

Du Ji looked at Zhang Mo with admiration. "In my early years in Luoyang, I saw the carts that eunuchs used to sprinkle water on the roads. They were similar in function to this waterwheel. However, everyone hated eunuchs, and no one took those carts seriously. I never thought you would think of transforming them into a waterwheel. That's incredible!"

Zhang Mo smiled modestly, "Do you think that if I use this technology to exchange some labor with those families, would they agree?"

The waterwheel technology must be popularized. Instead of giving it away for free, it is better to exchange it for some benefits. Zhang Mo does not want too much. She just wants each county and each family to send some people to be responsible for digging all the canals and reservoirs in the county. Of course, the tools for digging the canals and the food and drink for these laborers are also borne by each family.

Du Ji smiled and said, "Why not? Building the canal will benefit his own fields, and installing a waterwheel won't just benefit him for a year or two, but for a long time. Bingzhou doesn't lack wasteland these days, it only lacks manpower. If we build water conservancy projects, we can reclaim more than half the land with the current labor force. Why not do it?"

"It's just right. After the autumn harvest, there's less farm work to do. If we all work together, we won't have to carry water for irrigation when we plant next spring."

Zhang Mo nodded. "Then, in the next few days, we'll go to each county and invite representatives from some of the big families to come and see the waterwheels. Then, we'll discuss sending people to repair the canals. You don't have to do it yourself. Once we've agreed, we'll hand it over to the county magistrates. Have them go to each family to organize people. The specific assignment of tasks will be handled by the county magistrates. Before next spring planting, you can bring people to inspect the project. If any county fails to complete the work, the county magistrates will be held accountable."

"Yes!" Du Ji bowed in response.

After the three of them left the water room, Zhang Mo took Du Ji to visit other places in the manor. In addition to the waterwheel, she also had two other agricultural tools, a curved plow and a pedal thresher. With these two tools, a lot of labor could be saved during spring sowing and autumn harvest.

The curved plow was relatively easy to imitate, so Zhang Mo simply offered this technology as a benefit for canal digging, and popularized it for free in the name of the government, in order to earn a good reputation for Lu Bu.

As for the ear-thresher, Zhang Mo wanted to build a special factory to produce it and sell it as a commodity to those big families through Wang Ding.

The structure of the ear thresher is not complicated. The most critical and difficult parts to manufacture are the two gears on the side.

According to archaeological discoveries, the use of gears in China can be traced back to the early Eastern Han Dynasty. Zhang Mo had seen gear transmission systems on the south-pointing chariot and the drum-shaped chariot of this era. When she was making the ear thresher, she tried to install the gears here on the ear thresher. However, this iron-bronze gear was not hard enough and could not be used in the ear thresher at all.

Later, Master Guo used steel to make two suitable gears. In the absence of modern machinery, Master Guo adjusted the accuracy of the model after countless experiments. Then there were the heat treatment, control of cold cutting speed, grinding, carburizing and quenching and other process flows. Making a gear is more difficult than making a set of plate armor.

It is impossible to forge steel efficiently and in large quantities. Even if it can be made, others will not be able to produce gears in large quantities. Therefore, this ear-thresher can be said to be exclusively owned by Zhang Mo. Not only in Bingzhou, she also plans to sell it to Jizhou and even the southern region.

After visiting the manor, Du Ji went back to the city by himself, while Lu Bu and Zhang Mo stayed in the earth building.

The earthen building is warm in winter and cool in summer. It is now July, the hottest time of the year. Zhang Mo left the little bun in the earthen building yesterday and was taken care of by Meixiang, the wet nurse and others. Zhang Mo and Lu Bu go to the city when they have something to do, and stay with the little bun in the earthen building when they have nothing to do.

The little boy is almost five months old and can already recognize people. When he saw Zhang Mo coming, he raised his little arms and asked her to hug him.

Zhang Mo took the little bun from Meixiang and gently touched his little face. The little bun immediately giggled, buried his little head in her arms, and pouted as if asking for milk.

Zhang Mo caught him and said with some guilt, "Mother has no more milk for Baobao."

Boy, do you still want to drink your mother’s... milk?

Lu Bu didn't know what he was thinking about. He raised his eyebrows slightly, reached out and took the little fat boy out of Amo's hand.

The little boy was stunned for a moment after suddenly leaving his mother's arms, then he looked at Lu Bu and burst into tears.

Are you crying now?

Lu Bu held the little boy under his arms and brought him in front of him, staring at him. "A real man should shed blood but not tears. If you are such a crybaby, how can you follow me into the battlefield in the future?"

The little boy's short legs kicked helplessly underneath, and his cries became louder and louder.

"Not only does this kid look like his father, he cries just like him too. I remember crying like that when I was a kid..."

Seeing Amo looking at him with dissatisfaction, Lu Bu's momentum in scolding his son weakened. He said embarrassedly and handed the crying little kid back to her.

Zhang Mo took the little boy, held him in her arms and coaxed him for a few times. The little boy immediately stopped crying and laughed. She put her son in the cradle and rocked him gently. Lu Bu took the rattle beside him and squatted beside him to play with him.

"Bo Hou and I will take care of the land and taxation matters. You should go to Yuan Shao and ask for Henei County before the autumn harvest." Zhang Mo said as she sat next to the cradle.

"Yes!" Lu Bu nodded and asked, "Who will be sent to manage it after it arrives?"

"Henei Governor Wang Kuang is Yuan Shao's man. Besides taking his troops with him, he'll also resign his position as Governor. Mr. Lu and I are in Taiyuan now, so we'll send Bo Hou there after the autumn harvest! Bo Hou is a man of noble character. He's done an excellent job as Chief Secretary in Taiyuan over the past two years, and he's fully qualified to be Governor of a prefecture. We'll send an army to assist him."

Lü Bu said with some concern, "Mr. Lu is not in good health. It's already difficult for him to serve as a professor. If you are pregnant, how will he have the energy to handle tax collection? You still need to build a medical school and other schools. Otherwise, send your second brother over and let Bo Hou help you here."

Zhang Mo shook her head. "My second brother is only fit to be a county magistrate. If he goes to Hanoi, he'll probably be sold and have to help others count the money! Besides, I don't guarantee I'll have a child so soon. Even if I get pregnant, I can still do mental work. It's not as exaggerated as you think."

"No, that won't work. You almost had a miscarriage last time. If you get pregnant again this time, I will never let you work yourself to death."

"Last time was my first time. I had no experience and we were on the road. I won't do that this time. Besides, isn't it still there now? Hanoi County is very troublesome. I originally wanted to let Jia Wenhe go, but the old guy probably wouldn't agree."

Seeing that the little boy had fallen asleep, Zhang Mo pulled a thin blanket over him. Not wanting to disturb her son, she lowered her voice and said, "The largest family in Henei County is the Sima family, the Sima family that I told you about before, the one that usurped the throne of Cao Mengde's family."