Although there was a large amount of land and tenant farmers, but due to factors such as climate and soil quality, these lands could not produce everything. Some crops were not suitable to be grown locally, so if there was a need, they could only choose to buy it.
And buying was divided into two methods: retail and wholesale. The retail unit price was naturally more expensive, but the wholesale price was relatively lower. Therefore, when the consumption was relatively large, wholesale was more cost-effective.
For the Yang family, in addition to their own small household needing to add cotton-padded clothes and quilts every year, they would also need to prepare some for the servants and guards who served them. There were also the poor relatives of the family who would probably freeload off some. As such, the annual expenditure would not be a small amount. Under such circumstances, it was naturally the most cost-effective choice to choose wholesale. Wholesale in the local area would still allow them to make a lot of money. Going to the Western Regions to purchase large quantities of high-quality cotton seemed very wise.
And because it was not easy to go to the Western Region, and in order to get a better price, they bought more than ten years' worth of cotton in one purchase. This way, at least for more than ten years, there would not be a shortage of cotton in the household.
In addition, for the Yang family who had a large number of livestock and carriages, hemp rope was indispensable. Usually, there would be a lot of wear and tear. Therefore, the house naturally had to prepare more hemp rope, and even some semi-finished linen so that the servants could weave the hemp rope in their spare time. This way, they could save a lot of money.
Almost all of the more expensive daily necessities were prepared in the warehouse at home in case of emergency. With such a large stock, the family felt more at ease.
"Assistant Minister Li, there are farm tools in here. All kinds of farm tools are stored in here."
The family head continued to introduce.
Ang Lee wanted to see what kind of farm tools were used in the local area, and whether they were advanced enough, so that he could speculate what level of agricultural development the local area had reached.
Upon entering, the first thing he saw were dozens of neatly arranged curved shaft plows. These curved shaft plows were arranged in three layers, with each layer having more than ten, totaling up to thirty to fifty of them. The fact that there were so many curved shaft plows stored here was enough to show the importance that the Yang Family placed on growing food. These curved shaft plows could be used by themselves or rented to tenants to earn a commission.
And the fact that the curved plows could be used in Central Sichuan also showed that the level of agricultural development here was very good. The curved plows were a more advanced agricultural tool than the previous plows.
Why was the curved plows better? Naturally, it had several major improvements. First, the straight shaft and long shaft were changed to curved shaft and short shaft, and a freely rotating plow plate was installed at the head of the shaft. This not only made the plow frame smaller and lighter, but also made it easier to turn and turn. It was more flexible to operate and save manpower and livestock.
The curved plows had eleven parts, which were the plough share, the plough wall, the plough bottom, the plough press, the plough head, the plough arrow, the plough shaft, the plough tip, the plough judge, the plough construction, and the plough plate. The structure was relatively complex, and it was very easy to use. It was a very useful plough.
The curved plows only existed in the Tang dynasty, and the origin of the ordinary plough was relatively early. In the Han dynasty, the ordinary plough had basically taken shape, but this kind of plough in the Han dynasty was long and straight. It was not flexible enough to turn back when plowing, and it was laborious and inefficient. In the early Tang dynasty, the short curved plows appeared. Its advantage was that the plough body could swing when operating, and it was flexible and convenient for deep plowing. It was suitable for the small paddy fields in the Jiangnan area, so it first appeared in the Jiangnan area.
Because the curved plows increased the plough judge and the plough construction, for example, the plough arrow could be made to go down, and the plough share would be deep in the soil. If the plough judge was mentioned, the plough arrow could be made to go up, and the plough share would be shallow in the soil. By combining the plough judge, the plough arrow, and the plough construction, it could adapt to the different requirements of deep plowing or shallow plowing, and it could regulate the depth of plowing, which was convenient for intensive plowing. The plough wall could not only break the soil, but also push the plowed soil to one side, reducing the resistance of the plough forward. The curved plough had a complete structure, was light and labor-saving, and was an advanced plough in the Tang dynasty. Before the emergence of machines, the curved plough was the main equipment for plowing.
The reason why the curved plough was easy to use was that the balance and stability of performance were fully considered during the design. Balance referred to the balance between the front, back, left, and right of the molded object, which was expressed according to the fulcrum. Stability referred to the weight relationship between the top and bottom of the molded object, which gave people a sense of stability and stability. On the contrary, it gave people a sense of instability or lightness.
In the Tang dynasty, the curved plough used the plough as the center line, and the left and right sides maintained an equal balance. In terms of color, the color of wood was cold, and the color of iron was also cold, so visual balance could be achieved.
Stability was mainly expressed in two aspects: practical stability and visual stability. In terms of shape, the bottom of the plough wall, the plough bottom, and the presser were large in volume and mass, and the center of gravity was inclined downward, so they had strong stability. This was practical stability. In terms of visual balance, the plough frame was made of wood, and the plough share below was made of iron. Because the mass fraction of iron was larger than the mass fraction of wood, it gave people the feeling that the center of gravity had shifted downward, which had a strong sense of visual stability.
The biggest advantage of the curved plough was that it saved a lot of effort when plowing. In the curved plough, the length of the plough shaft could not only meet the functional requirements of decomposing the traction force, but also take into account the proportion of the whole plough frame. The proportion of the length of the plough shaft and the plough frame met the aesthetic requirements. The plough share itself also had a certain length and width ratio, which was unified with the proportion of the plough frame. This not only satisfied the proportional relationship between the parts, but also took into account the proportional relationship between the parts and the whole.
The scale was a measurement standard based on the height and size of a person while meeting the basic functions. The choice should be in line with the people-oriented. The scale of the plough share was determined by the depth and width of the plough, which met the basic functional requirements. The length of the plough tip was in line with the size of a man and machine, which reduced the fatigue of farmers when plowing.
It could be said that the person who invented the curved plough was definitely a talent and a person who was very good at using his brain. This invention greatly promoted the development of agriculture in the Tang dynasty, which made it easier for farmers in the Tang dynasty to plow. They could plow many acres of land in one day, and the unit labor efficiency was greatly improved.
"Not bad. There are so many curved ploughs. Farmers rely on them to plow."
Ang Lee said with satisfaction.
On the other side of the shelf, there were various kinds of iron farming tools. These tools were finished products and could be used directly. Some of them were metal heads and could not be used directly. They needed to be equipped with wooden handles before they could be used. In addition, there were many wooden sticks of different lengths, which could be easily processed into wooden handles of farming tools.
These farming tools were very complete. There were sickles, shovels, and axes used in the fields. There were also pitchforks, rollers, and millstones used at home. There were also some spinning wheels used to process products. There were also ropes hung around the necks of oxen and donkeys for spinning.
In short, there were too many tools, and most of them were tools used in agriculture. The rest of the tools for household use were relatively few.
"What are these bamboo pieces?"
Ang Lee saw a tool that he did not know and asked curiously.
The family head smiled warmly and said, "Assistant Minister Li, these are bamboo pieces from overturned carts. They are used to water the fields. Because they are damaged every year, there are more prepared."
When he said this, Ang Lee remembered that in the terraced fields of Little Pagoda Hill, there were many overturned carts used to pump water. Among these overturned carts, there were small overturned carts with bamboo pieces. These bamboo pieces had been exposed to the sun and rain all year round and were indeed more prone to damage. After damage, they naturally needed to be repaired and replaced as soon as possible to avoid affecting the progress of watering.
There were thousands of these bamboo pieces stored. Each piece was two feet long and five inches wide. It was considered a relatively large piece of bamboo.
Because they were used to overturn water, these bamboo pieces were curved. In fact, after the entire bamboo tube was cut open, the bamboo pieces were softened by heating water bubbles and other methods. Then, the bamboo pieces were forcefully pulled apart from the cut and fixed at an appropriate width. After that, the bamboo pieces were fixed at the sides of the tube to prevent the water from flowing out from the sides.
Processing these overturned bamboo pieces was actually quite troublesome. Therefore, every time they were processed, they had to be produced in batches. This way, the cost of a single overturned bamboo piece could be reduced as much as possible.
Next to the overturned bamboo pieces, there were bamboo tubes placed neatly. These bamboo tubes had an opening and the other end was sealed. This meant that the bamboo was sawed off according to each knot. Processing these bamboo tubes did not require any technical skills. It was very convenient to process, and the cost was extremely low.
These bamboo tubes were not used as buckets. They were the main components of the overturned carts. In order to move the river water from a low place to a high place, the overturned carts were mainly used. The overturned carts were divided into the bamboo dragon-bone waterwheel and the bamboo tube waterwheel.
Comparing the two, the bamboo tube overturned carts were naturally more efficient. However, because the bamboo tube overturned carts were too big, in some terrains, the bamboo tube overturned carts could not be operated. They could only settle for the second best, which was the bamboo dragon-bone waterwheel.
In the terraced fields of Little Pagoda Hill, the Yang family used both types of waterwheels at the same time. In places where the waterwheel could be used, they naturally used the bucket waterwheel. In places where the waterwheel could not be installed, they used the dragon-bone waterwheel. When the two types of waterwheel were used together, they could better water the terraced fields and avoid some areas that could not be watered.
The Yang family stored so many farm tools in the warehouse. It could be seen that they attached great importance to agriculture. Although they did not need to do farm work, if the tenant farmers' crops were not good and there was no harvest, it would have a great impact on him as the owner. If the tenant farmers did not harvest their crops, they would not be able to pay the rent. Their warehouse would not have any food.
"This hoe is too heavy, but it is good. It is the real deal."
Ang Lee picked up a hoe and gently put it down.
Restricted by the level of technology of the era, the farm tools of the Tang dynasty were generally cumbersome. For example, the hoe in front of him looked quite cumbersome and was very heavy in the hand. Using such a tool to work would definitely make the hands and neck sore. However, there was also an advantage. It could be used to train the strength of the arms. Therefore, people who often did farm work would have more strength in their arms. Also, the hoe was heavy enough, so it was easier to use when weeding. There would not be a feeling of weightlessness. For people who knew how to use it, this could be called saving effort. For people with great strength, this kind of heavy hoe was more useful.
The invention of the hoe reflected the wisdom of the laborer. In the field of crops, weeds were the most annoying thing. If the weeds were not removed, the crops planted in the field would not grow well. For some reason, crops always could not compete with weeds. If weeds were allowed to coexist with crops, the weeds would soon completely squeeze out the crops, causing the output of the land to drop like a cliff. In this way, the land could be considered to have been planted in vain.
In order to deal with these annoying weeds, the farmers invented a relatively fast and labor-saving tool for weeding after a long period of exploration, which was the hoe. With the hoe, the efficiency of weeding greatly increased, much faster than pulling weeds by hand.
At first, the hoes were invented with wood. Then, they used stones. After entering the Stone Age, copper hoes were invented. Finally, iron hoes were invented. Later, there were even more advanced stainless steel hoes. It was really getting more and more advanced.
In the process of development, hoes were divided into three categories: board hoes, pick hoes, and strip hoes. Among them, the board hoes were slightly longer than the board hoes. They were mainly used for shallow excavation in large areas, such as plowing land.
Pick hoes had a wide and sharp blade. Some had a slight curve and were in the shape of a crescent moon. Some didn't have a curve and the blade was straight. Its height was smaller than its width. It was slightly lighter and thinner than board hoes. It had an iron handle and was used to connect with a long wooden handle. It was mainly used for excavation work on the surface, such as uprooting weeds on the ground and gathering scattered grains or sand on the ground.
On the other hand, the strip hoes had a narrow blade and were used for deep excavation in small areas. They were often used in places with solid soil. They were also commonly used to dig out tubers buried in the soil, such as cassava, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, taro, and so on.
Different hoes had different uses. Only the most suitable one would be the best. When doing different jobs, one had to choose different hoes.
There were definitely more than three types of hoes in the warehouse. There were more than ten types. Some hoes were made between the three types of hoes. It was hard to tell which type they belonged to. There were even some hoes that had two blades, one at each end. One side was a board hoe, and the other side was a strip hoe. There were also some that had a hoe on one side and three pitchforks on the other. There were even some that had a combination of a shovel and a hoe. However, they were arranged in a right angle. If one used a shovel, one could pick it up and use it as a hoe.
In the early autumn of the Warring States Period, a large iron halberd looked very much like a hoe. It was a deformed iron hoe. It was estimated that this weapon evolved from a hoe. At that time, most of the soldiers were farmers, and farmers were the best at using hoes. Therefore, using a hoe as a weapon was very easy for the conscripted farmer soldiers. It was very easy for them to train, and it was easier for them to become a fighting force.
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