Great Tang’s Talented Little Landlord

Manual farming. Two strong laborers can only cultivate half a mu of land a day, and people are almost exhausted.

With oxen, one person, one ox, cultivating two or three acres of land a day, there is no problem at all. Calculating, one oxen can be worth eight-nine labor.

If Li Wangyou can really provide ten farm cows for the village to use, then Old Village Head will find dozens of men to work for him.

Dingzhou Village has one hundred and twenty-seven households with a population of 563, of which more than 200 are strong laborers. However, due to the lack of cattle, the whole village has to work together every year in busy farming.

Not only is the speed slow, the plowing is dragged by manpower, and the quality of the cultivated land cannot be compared with the cattle mention on equal terms.

If Li Wangyou can really provide ten cattle to help the village spring plowing and planting, it will really help the village a lot. Not only can we mobilize people to help Li Wangyou work, but the most important spring plowing of the year will also give everyone a breather.

Great Tang is an agricultural society, spring plowing is the most important day of the year.

Including Tianjia, the Imperial Family Pro-Farming Ceremony will be held on an auspicious day in February or March.

On that day, Li Erhui went to the altar to pay homage to the heavens and worshipped the first farmers, and then went to farm in the Imperial Family farm.

Li Er personally went down and helped the plow to plow the land. Everybody from the three provinces and six departments took the bull and helped the plow. Even Empress Zhangsun brought a group of imperial concubines to plant young seedlings behind him.

Under the guidance of ministers of Ministry of Rites, Taichang Temple, and Jinwu Guards, amidst the sound of drum music, three round trips were completed, and the three pushes and three returns were completed. ceremony.

Although Li Er’s pro-cultivation is only a etiquette, it also illustrates the importance of spring farming in agricultural society.

Now that spring ploughing is coming soon, Li Wangyou can get ten cattle, and it is no surprise that Old Village Head can be scared like this.

“Small master, you can’t be kidding about this. When will the cows and cows be delivered?” Old Village Head Yigulu got up and grabbed Li Wangyou’s arm and asked urgently.

“Tomorrow County Official will send the cattle. But Old Village Head, if I want to stay with this cattle, I must first manage this piece of saline soil. So trouble Old Village Head to bother Be sure to help youngster find someone to help with things. Otherwise, the saline soil will not be improved, and it will be taken back in Gengniu County, so I dont have any cattle to lend to the village.”

Old Village Head When he said, his eyes opened up immediately: “Small master, just speak up, how many people are needed, my old fogey will greet you, who dares not come and make a living, old man, I will kill him!”

The old mans account was very clear, although the ten cattle belonged to Li Wangyou from the County Official. But since Li Wangyou is willing to lend the farm cattle, it is the cattle belonging to the village. Dingzhou Village More than one hundred farmhouses must be able to own 20 farming cattle and envy the surrounding villages.

For example, this treasure is an expensive farm cow. Since it has entered Dingzhou Village, there is absolutely no reason to be taken away.

“Small master, is your method really feasible? This saline soil grows food, and the old man has lived a lifetime and has never heard of it.” Old Village Head is only worried about Li Wangyou’s treatment of saline soil. Is the solution feasible?

“Old Village Head, rest assured, there is absolutely no problem with my method.”

“Can you tell the old man first?” Old Village Head still plans to listen first.

First is deep ploughing, then washing the land and soaking the field, adding guest soil, and finally adding fertilizer to increase the fertility of the land. Li Wangyou did not hide it, and simply informed Old Village Head of the method.

Old Village Head is a little puzzled: “I understand everything else, what does it mean to wash the floor?”

“It means to fence the ground, wash it with plenty of water, soak it, and repeat Several times to remove the salt-alkali component in the soil.”

Old Village Head shook his head when he heard this, pointed to the hundreds of acres of saline soil in front of him and said: “How is that possible, small master, look at it. How much water does it take to wash and soak such a large area?”

His words gave Li Wangyou a glimpse, and pointed to the Gan River beside him: “Isn’t this the Gan River? How much water is needed? “

“The Gan River embankment is several meters high, and it is not easy to use a dump truck to fill the water. There are more than two thousand acres of land in the village that need to be watered and soaked. You have to wash the ground several times. Too much manpower.” Old Village Head shook his head vigorously.

“Trolley cart?” Li Wangyou looked at the overturned carts in the village on the riverbank, and suddenly realized that he couldn’t help but smile: “Old Village Head, I have a way to lift water without manpower.”

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“What? No manpower? Don’t you want to use cows? That’s not good, let alone cows.” Old Village Head didn’t understand what Li Wangyou meant.

Li Wangyou smiled but did not answer.

There are three stages in the development of Huaxia Waterwheel. The 1st Stage is the rollover of the Eastern Han Dynasty invention, also called the keel waterwheel. Mainly rely on manpower to lift water for irrigation.

2nd Stage is a drum car of the invention in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The high drum car described in “Nongshu” belongs to the water-lifting machine. Powered by human or animal power, it looks like a keel cart.

The 3rd Stage is the waterwheel of the Yuan and Ming Dynasty invention, which is what the later generations will see.

The earliest record of tube carts was found in the Tang Dynasty and gradually spread after the Song Dynasty. But now it’s only the early Tang Dynasty, and the tube cart has not appeared, let alone the water cart. Lifting water for irrigation is done by manpower, and the efficiency can be imagined.

The type of waterwheel in later generations, Li Wangyou, really knows how to manufacture. When he was a child, there were many waterwheels before the village was popularized. He knew the structure of waterwheels very well.

“Old Village Head, is there anyone who is good at carpentry work in the village?”

“Yes, didn’t your family just ask Old Man Liu to help build a lot a few days ago What’s new? Why do you want to make furniture again?” When Old Village Head said, Li Wangyou only remembered that Su Changqing hired a carpenter in the village to make furniture. Although simple, Li Wangyou can see that the carpenter’s craftsmanship is quite good.

“hehe, I have to ask Carpenter Liu to build a few waterwheels for me to automatically lift water. Old Village Head, wait and see, make sure it’s easy to use. Haha, I will lift water for irrigation in the future Leave it to me.”

Li Wangyou ran to the village without waiting for the Old Village Head reaction to come over, leaving dumbstruck’s Old Village Head messy in the wind.

“Is this baby mad? Doesn’t he need to manually lift water? Isn’t that Daoist Immortal?” Old Village Head sighed then said, feeling more and more that Li Wangyou was speaking outrageously.

He didnt finish his sigh, and saw Li Wangyou come back with a gust of wind: “Hehe, forgot to ask you where Carpenter Liu lives?”

Old Village Head shook his head:” Lets go, Ill take you there. But small master, dont make trouble, how can this river be automatically brought up without manpower?”

“Haha, you’ll know in a while.”

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The two returned to the village and went straight to Carpenter Liu’s house.

This Carpenter Liu has more than fifty years of work this year. He has been a carpenter all his life. His three sons also work as carpenters with him. This is a family handed craft.

Liu Carpenter is not an official craftsman registered by the government, but a private craftsman.

Great Tang’s official craftsmen have a low status, and are even called “official slaves” in historical records, and their occupation is lifelong, similar to the status of merchants, and they belong to the lowly status.

However, private craftsmen like Carpenter Liu also need to cultivate, and his status is the same as that of a farmer, and he is not naturalized. Because of the craftsmanship to earn a living, he is respected in the village, and his life is better than that of ordinary farmers.

“Old Man Liu, come out quickly and I have something to look for you.” When he walked to the door of Carpenter Liu’s house, Old Village Head yelled.