The spring ploughing finally began vigorously. At this time, one could see the strength of each family in Zhuangzi. Whichever family had more livestock, that family was definitely not ordinary.
The Zhang Family and Wang Family mobilized more than five hundred cattle to work in the fields. Some of the fields were directly filled with rice straws, so there was no need to plough at all. They only needed to add fertilizer, and some of the fields had to be plowed several times.
Beside the fields were the people sent by the main family to help with the cooking. Before the farmers went to work, they all drank a mouthful of wine. Those who drank more than fifty degrees only drank a mouthful and did not dare to drink too much.
The Ge Family also got nearly thirty cattle in Zhuangzi. This year, the farmers of the Ge Family wanted to compete with the Zhang Family and Wang Family. In the past, they could say that the tools were not good, there were not enough cattle, and their bodies could not compare. This year, there was no other reason. Ge Yingxi gave them all that he could.
If it was like last year, they fell behind by a large margin. Without the main family being angry, the farmers themselves would be sullen to death.
Li Xun also thought of ways to get some livestock. He could not find too many cattle. The Zhang Family and Wang Family had never stopped buying and breeding cattle. The older calves were almost two years old and could do some work. However, Li Xun had other ideas. He got a group of horses.
There were more than three hundred horses. These horses were not good enough to be used as military horses, but they were better horses to pull carriages. If they were used to plow the fields, everyone who saw them would feel distressed. The horses were faster than the cattle, but they did not have as much stamina. Taking turns, they were not slower than the Zhang Family and Wang Family.
In the end, the Chen Family accepted Li Xun's idea. They spent fifty copper coins to buy water for one mu of land. In the future, they would also provide all kinds of silk cloth for evaluation to Li Xun and Zhangjia Zhuangzi.
Housekeeper Chen was no longer a housekeeper. When he returned home that day, he was severely beaten. Chen Gengxin pushed all the blame onto Housekeeper Chen. Even if his concubine pleaded for him, it was useless. This time, he miscalculated. He thought that the Little Prince would not help the Zhang family with such great fanfare.
He thought that he could contend with the Zhang family by relying on the cloth trade behind him. In the end, he realized that the Zhang family was still the same Zhang family that no one could take advantage of. He could only suppress this anger in his heart and wait for an opportunity to take revenge. Now, it was impossible. The people in the cloth trade were also promoting some people to take the imperial examinations. As long as these people became officials, it would be very beneficial to the cloth trade.
They really did not have the leisure to care about other things. If there was no imperial examinations, it was not a big deal to provoke a Marquis. In the future, they would not do anything in other people's fief. But now, they did not dare. Who knew what kind of effect a Marquis would have in the imperial examinations?
In the capital, County Magistrate Cheng had a good time these days. It was spring plowing, and everyone used a curved plow. Every time this happened, they would think of County Magistrate Cheng, who made this plow. It was said that the Emperor had mentioned him in person. The other officials immediately began to curry favor with County Magistrate Cheng. County Magistrate Cheng took this opportunity to start a big banquet.
Usually, he went to two big markets, the East Market and the West Market. The places he chose were naturally the Zhuangzi's Embrace and the Success House. Every time, he would bring Father Zhang and introduce the people who would attend the banquet to him.
The status of these people was not too high, but there were too many people. The officials below the fourth rank kept coming, but the higher ranking officials did not come. Some of them received a letter from Minister Bi, who had not decided whether to resign or not, and some of them received a letter from the Little Prince.
They were all waiting there. There was still a month to go before the imperial examination in spring. They were not in a hurry now. They were waiting for others to work, and then they could work according to the situation.
On this day, Li Xun found Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were thinking about a new plow. For example, they wanted to shorten the shaft a little, increase the curvature a little, and change some parts to iron. This way, it would be slightly more convenient, flexible, and durable.
The head of the curved plow used by the rich was iron, while the poor could only use wood. Naturally, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan used iron.
"Make some texture at the place where the hand is holding. It will be more comfortable to hold it, just like the handlebars of a bicycle." Wang Juan drew on a drawing and said.
She and Zhang Xiaobao didn't know what the best plough would be like in the future, and they couldn't remember it either. Usually, they didn't care much about it, but they would ask the villagers if there was anything that made them uncomfortable when they used it. The villagers would tell the two of them what they were dissatisfied with.
The handlebars looked simple, but the hands of those who worked would inevitably be stained with mud. When they held the handlebars, there would be some sand between their hands and the handlebars, which was uncomfortable. To solve this problem, they could wear gloves, but they would not feel good, so there were no thin gloves.
They also could not put a basin of water at the side and wash it from time to time. The two of them thought about it and decided to carve texture on the handlebars. If there was sand on their hands, it would fall off after a few rubs. It could also increase the friction.
As for the length and degree of curvature of the shaft arm, it was also changed according to the suggestions of the villagers. When plowing, it was impossible to maintain a good straight distance with the hand holding the plow. When walking in front, because the place where the force was applied was different, it would deviate and need to be adjusted. This was also a laborious work.
During the adjustment process, they would press down on the handlebars and let the Weiwei in front of them lift up. The longer the position in front of the fulcrum, the longer the resistance arm would be. If the resistance arm was shortened alone, the direct force of the force at the back of the fulcrum would be greater, and the bending could be reduced.
As for the replacement of parts in some places with iron, it was because the plow was not always spoilt. When plowing on the ground, the wear and tear was relatively large. Often, after plowing, they had to stop and change a part. When the soil was slightly bigger or hardened, they had to change more often.
Every time they changed, they would waste some time.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan did not care about the consumption of time. What they cared about was the speed of plowing. They had to be faster than the Ge family and the Li family next to them. The villagers always had to be first to be more confident.
While the two of them were discussing how to take advantage of the time to change, Li Xun came in. No one stopped him from entering and leaving the place where the two of them were.
As soon as he came in, he saw Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan with their heads together, muttering and drawing. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan also heard the sound. When they looked back, they saw that it was Li Xun. Zhang Xiaobao hurriedly greeted, "Young Master Li, how come you have the leisure to come here?"
Li Xun did not speak directly. Instead, he walked a few steps to the table and looked at the drawing on it. Then, he looked at Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan and said, "Good for you guys. I helped you guys in vain. Now that you have something good, you don't want to give it to me to use. Others say that the curved plough was made by Cheng Anran. I don't believe it. Sure enough."
At this point, Li Xun paused and put on an apologetic look. She then looked at another picture and asked with a frown, "What is this? Shoes? Can these shoes be worn? "
The other drawing did indeed show a pair of shoes, but they were made of wood. This was not a big deal, as most people who could not afford to wear leather boots did so. However, the front of the shoes was carved out of a whole piece of wood, a space big enough for five toes to fit in.
Li Xun could not figure out what the two of them were going to do with such a useless piece of wood.
Zhang Xiaobao pulled the drawing over and explained it to Li Xun, "My family and the Wang family have some broken stones in the fields. If you go in barefoot like other people, your feet will be finished. Wearing these shoes is much better. You don't have to worry about being scratched. Because in the mud, if there is wood in front, you won't get stuck in the mud."
Li Xun finally understood, "Yes, you Zhuangzi people care about the farmers. You don't care about wasting wood. Then what's the matter with this plow? It doesn't seem to be any different from the current one."
Li Xun pointed at the drawing of the plow and asked. This drawing only changed the proportions of some places. There was also a grid drawn on the handrail. If one did not look carefully and was not familiar with this aspect, one would not be able to tell the difference at all.
"This? This is just a drawing for fun. I want to see if it can be more useful. First, I will make a batch for my own use. Then, I will tell others. Just tell this to Registrar Zhao. Sanshui County cannot always be without a County Magistrate. Registrar Zhao has always been in charge of it. Since he can manage it, why not let him be the County Magistrate? "
Zhang Xiaobao also had plans for this. Although it was only a small improvement, if it could increase the efficiency by 10%, then they might be able to plough more during the entire spring. The first plough was to turn over the soil. Later on, it was to let the fertilizer mix better with the soil.
Li Xun looked at the drawing carefully again and did not see any difference. His interest was also reduced, "Oh, then you guys can try it first. If it is useful, I will make some changes to the one in Zhuangzi."
After saying this, Li Xun said again, "The school has started to be built. They asked me to find more people to join us. I am just thinking about who to find."
"So anxious? Fine, Young Master Li, you can find people to join us, but you can't take out the money now and let them continue to invest. Then, according to our agreement, are the documents of the three workshops and the three schools under our management and not under their management? "
Based on Li Xun's words, Zhang Xiaobao knew that those people had no money. The workshop had been doing odd jobs, but they had not sold anything. Because the workers' skills were not good enough, they could only break even. However, the craftsmen had to be paid, their meals had to be paid, and the apprentices had to be paid as well.
It seemed that each person did not have much money, but there were many people. They said that they did not have 90,000 strings of coins, but they did not have that much money. A few days ago, they took out another 10,000 strings of coins. Those people did not have much money. If they did not find more people to join them, they would collapse. The dock had not been built yet, and only a site had been marked out.
"Yes, that's how it was signed. When they signed, they were not willing. Later, I used my status as a Marquis to pressure them. I also said that after the dock was built, it would be theirs. So, who do you think I should find? How many people should I find? "
Li Xun mentioned the matter of the document. He seemed to feel that it was not good to use his status to pressure them.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
