Sister Han is good at farming

Chapter 165 Wheat Cutting Artifact

This topic is too heavy.

Apart from saying "I'll try my best", Ruan Qingqing didn't know how to respond.

With technical barriers, insufficient fertilizers, and now a shortage of manpower, how can we ensure that the people and soldiers at the border have enough food? This is a very challenging problem.

She is working on resolving the technical barriers, which cannot be solved quickly. She has been trying to find a solution to the fertilizer problem. Due to the shortage of manpower, she can only work on the tools to see if she can improve the efficiency of work.

Ruan Qingqing returned to Zaoziling with a mind full of questions and a heavy heart.

"Daya, how's it going?"

Ruan Wantie couldn't help but feel worried when he saw his daughter, Daya, go out in a panic and come back in a silent state.

"Dad, I've tried my best. Whether it succeeds or not depends on God." Ruan Qingqing let out a long sigh.

"Just do your best. Don't take everything to heart. We are ordinary people. We have ordinary joys, sorrows, anger, and happiness. We also have ordinary helplessness and powerlessness. Listen to Dad. We are human beings. Don't think of yourself as a god! Do what you can and leave the rest to God."

Ruan Wantie patted Ruan Qingqing's shoulder gently.

His few words shattered the armor that Ruan Qingqing had put on with great difficulty.

"Dad, when our family was extremely poor, I wanted to lead my family to have enough food and live a normal life. Now that there is war, I want to lead my family, clansmen and even villagers to live well. I know that my ability is limited, but when I think about the people I know well falling one by one in this war, I feel particularly uncomfortable.

Just as my father said, we are secular people, with secular joys, anger, sorrows and happiness. We always hope that the people and things we are familiar with and close to will always be with us, rather than talking and laughing with them one moment and then being separated from them the next moment without any buffer. Such days are very depressing and desperate. "

"But we tried our best!" Ruan Wantie patted her shoulder again, "Daya, the power of one person is limited!"

"Dad, I just can't accept it. I always think there might be other ways, but we just haven't thought of them yet."

"Daya, you are crazy! In this world, no one can save you, not the heaven or the savior, but yourself. You can't underestimate everyone's power to save themselves, nor can you overestimate your ability to turn the tide. This battlefield belongs to the entire Yunqing Kingdom, not just you, Ruan Qingqing, you have to understand this!

If everyone doesn't want to go all out to drive away the invaders, what's the point of being so powerful? They have plenty of ways to kill you in conspiracy and intrigue! Listen to Dad, let's not put too much burden on ourselves. Let's just live our lives well!"

Ruan Wantie tried to comfort him earnestly.

Ruan Qingqing couldn't help but think of Chi the hunter, so she nodded.

"Oh, Dad, I heard from Master Fu this morning that Qingshui County will be forced to recruit soldiers. This time, Qingshui County will forcibly recruit 20,000 people. We all need to be mentally prepared."

"Twenty thousand people?" Ruan Wantie frowned. "Our Qingshui County has attracted many people to move here because of the high grain yields in recent years and the prosperous economy. But even so, there are only about 200,000 people at most. Excluding the elderly, women, and children under the age of 18, there are only about 80,000 people at most.

We are the place with the highest crop yield in the country, and 25% of our young and middle-aged people have been drafted in right away. You can imagine how difficult the situation is at the border."

When Zhou Zheng ordered Shen Zhizui to take at least 20,000 people to Xiyu Pass, Ruan Qingqing had no idea. Now, after hearing Ruan Wantie's analysis, she couldn't help but shudder.

They are going to mobilize 25% of the young and strong men. Does that mean that Jiangxia and Jianghuai prefectures have no young and strong men left?

How long has it been?

The famine may have already occurred, but it is not obvious in their Lulin Mansion for the time being.

How to grow the most land with the least number of people is an urgent problem that needs to be solved.

The conscription is imminent, and it is soon time to harvest wheat. After harvesting the wheat, we have to rush to plant late rice. If conditions permit, we can also plant some soybeans and corn.

The time is really tight and the task is heavy.

The most urgent thing now is to ensure that everyone can harvest the wheat as soon as possible.

How can we ensure the efficiency of wheat harvesting without delaying when the manpower is reduced?

Ruan Qingqing thought of the magical tool for harvesting wheat - the wheat scythe.

The sledgehammer is made of bamboo, rope, blade and handle.

The upper part of the bamboo weaving is circular, with thin bamboo strips or white rattan weaving into a mesh in the middle, shaped like a winnowing basket but slightly larger, about three feet high, and used to collect wheat straw. The lower part is about two feet wide, flush with the ends, and a thin wooden board is used to inlay the head at the mouth of the winnowing basket to install the sickle.

The sickle is a sharp and thin blade more than two feet long that can be disassembled and assembled freely.

The handle consists of a wooden handle about one meter long and a short horizontal piece of wood at the end of the handle.

There is a wooden handle at one end of the winnowing basket and a rope at the other end. There is a ring at the end of the rope for easy pulling.

The more accurate description of the action of cutting wheat with a sledgehammer should be "swinging" - place the sledgehammer on the right side, hold the sledgehammer with both hands (right hand grips the handle, left hand pulls the rope) and swing it to the left with force, the sledgehammer cuts the wheat one by one in an arc, and the cut wheat is poured into the bamboo basket. When the sledgehammer is swung to the left side of the body, it "brakes", the cut wheat is lifted into the air, and then it starts to swing for the second time, and so on.

According to conservative estimates, it can improve the work efficiency by more than 5 times compared with using a sickle to cut wheat. However, it also has obvious disadvantages. It is not as light as a sickle, and requires young and strong people to operate it, and it also requires certain skills. For example, if the "brake" is not timely when the scythe is swung to the left side of the body, it is easy to injure the thigh, and in severe cases, the leg may be broken or fractured.

"Dad, I thought of a tool for harvesting wheat quickly. I will go find Uncle Yan first and ask him to help make it, and then let everyone try it." Thinking of this, Ruan Qingqing couldn't wait to make this wheat threshing machine.

"If we can really increase the speed of harvesting wheat, it will be a great thing for us now! How about this! Since I don't have anything urgent to do for the time being, I'll go with you!"

Yan Qufeng saw the pattern that Ruan Qingqing had drawn on the spot and said, "It's not difficult to make this thing. The difficult part is that it's hard to get the two-foot-long blade that needs to be installed here. Now is a time of war, and iron is even more scarce."

"Regarding the blades, I will go to Master Fu and the others to think of a solution. Master Fu told me before that we should ensure the yield per mu, and we can go to him if we have any difficulties. Uncle Yan, can you help me make about 20 portions of this wheat scissors?"

Yan Qufeng pointed at the blueprint and said, "It's no problem to make twenty copies! But since we are in a hurry, you should let your grandfather do the bamboo weaving part. It will be faster. I am good at carpentry, but I am still lacking in bamboo weaving. I am far inferior to your grandfather and his friends."

"Okay, I'll go talk to my grandfather later."