In the Mo family's experimental field.
Four Mo Jiazi brothers stood in a circle, in the middle of which was an iron rod about ten feet long. At the bottom of the iron rod was a cylinder about one and a half feet long and half feet in diameter. The bottom of the cylinder seemed to have been cut diagonally by a sharp weapon, leaving behind a sharp tip.
This was a common tool for digging wells and lifting soil in the eighties. Meton drew the blueprint, and the skilled craftsmen in the Mo family's village easily made it.
Mo Da held two wooden rods as thick as an arm, and tied two ends of a thick hemp rope in the middle of the rods. The hemp rope wrapped around the iron rod again and again, until it stopped the wooden rod. The wooden rod was divided into four halves, and each half was facing one direction. A Mo Jiazi brother held one end of the rod, and a simple tool for digging wells had been completed.
"Hey!"
Under the command of Mo Da, the four Mo Jiazi brothers pushed the sharp tip of the cylinder into the wet ground with the help of the wooden rods. Time and time again, the cylinder was filled with wet soil. Every time the cylinder was lifted, a cylinder of soil would be brought out.
Soon, the ten feet long iron rod was pushed into the ground at a speed visible to the naked eye. When the iron rod was about chest height, Mo Da picked up another ten feet long iron rod and connected it. He pressed it down, and the process of lifting soil was repeated again.
"Water is coming out!"
In ancient times, the water level was very high. Even though it was extremely dry now, when the first iron rod was completely submerged into the ground, the soil that was lifted out again was in the state of mud, which was a sign of water coming out.
After the water came out, the soil would be affected to a certain extent, and the hardness of the soil would be correspondingly softer. Soon, the second iron rod was also submerged into the ground, and the third iron rod was connected again.
When the third iron rod was mostly submerged into the ground, the work of digging wells gradually came to an end. A ten feet deep well was completed in just half an hour.
Looking at the speed of digging wells in the Mo family's village, Fang Xuanling and Li Shimin were stunned. In ancient times, it was not easy to dig a well.
A good well needed to be dug first, and then a sloping passage from the side to the ground, and it could not be too deep. If it was too deep, it would be easy to lack of oxygen. Secondly, the water level in this era was very high, and it was impossible to dig through the water.
After the water came out, the well wall was reinforced, and the passage was carefully filled up. A well could not be dug without three to five days, but the well in front of them was dug in half an hour.
"It's done?" Li Shimin did not care about the soil on the ground, and looked at the mouth of the well, which was only half a foot wide, and could not help but frown. It was too small to put a bucket of water.....
..................................
"Washing the well?" Fang Jun and Fang Xuanling stared at Moton with their mouths agape. They had heard of washing hands, bathing, and washing clothes, but how were they supposed to do that in an underground well? As for Li Shimin, he had already gotten used to Meton's new words from time to time.
"Uncle Fang, you might not know this, but there's a lot of mud in the water. If we don't clear it out in time, it'll block the hole in the well, which will hinder the flow of water." Moton's explanation enlightened the three of them.
"Then how can we get the muddy water out? The mouth of the well is too small to put a bucket." Fang Jun asked Li Shimin the question that had been lingering in his heart for a long time.
Meton smiled mysteriously and said, "This is the most important thing of this experiment. The Mo Family Village will use a new tool to continuously draw water from the mouth of the well until the water in the well becomes clear."
Under the curious gaze of the three, Mo Jiazi quickly built up the mouth of the well with black bricks. Two of Mo Jiazi's brothers carried a two-and-a-half-foot long iron pipe, and the other two carried a long, strange-looking iron thing with a long handle.
If people in the future were here, they would definitely recognize that this was the most common water-drawing tool in the 1980s and 1990s that had long been eliminated in the future — the pressure well.
The two-foot-long iron pipe was put into the well, and the top end was connected to the bottom of the pressure well. It was simply sealed with soil, and firmly fixed to the ground with a wooden wedge. A pressure well had been set up.
"Can the water come out just like this?" Fang Xuanling couldn't understand what Meton was doing.
"There is one last step." Meton took a gourd ladle from Mo Da and poured the prepared water into the pressure well.
Fang Jun rolled up his sleeves, grabbed the handle of the pressure well, and pressed it down. This guy was strong and strong, so this work was suitable for him.
Soon, under Fang Jun's regular pressure, a large amount of muddy water was discharged from the outlet of the pressure well, and along the ditch that the Mo Family Village had prepared in advance, gushed out and flowed to the thirsty land.
"It's done!" Meton showed a satisfied smile.
Looking at the yellow muddy water, Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling didn't dislike it at all. They reached out and took a handful of yellow muddy water. Feeling the coldness of the water, the ecstasy in their hearts could no longer be suppressed.
Feasible, this method is absolutely feasible!
Meton showed all the steps without reservation in front of the two people. It was convenient to dig a well, and the material used for the pressure well was iron, so it was just a matter of using more iron.
Moreover, it used manpower. For farmers, the last thing they lacked was strength. As long as they could eat, it was worth it no matter how much effort it took.
"A pressure well can irrigate about one mu of land. If you add bamboo pipes and copper pipes and other water-drawing tools, as long as it can meet the water needs of two mu of land. If you dig a few more wells, as long as a family is not lazy, as long as they can ensure a harvest of five or six mu of land every year. "Meton said confidently.
"Six mu!" Li Shimin laughed and felt extremely happy. The first place to dig a well was definitely the fertile land. If a family could have six mu of land with a guaranteed harvest, they could live on even if they had to live frugally in a disaster year.
The most terrible thing in a disaster year was that there would be no harvest, so people could not live on no matter what.
"In a few years, when the experimental field of the Mo Family Village has developed a good seed that can yield six jin per mu, a family can live on six mu of land." Meton pointed at the experimental field of the Mo Family Village and said proudly.
"Good!"
Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling were so excited that they couldn't control themselves. If every family could be self-sufficient and get three to four thousand jin of grain every year, unless there was an unavoidable disaster, the prosperity of the Tang dynasty would come soon.
Fang Xuanling looked at Meton with appreciation, and then looked at her son who was working hard to pressure the water. She couldn't help but sigh. Comparisons were odious.
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