The big man is on the run

Chapter 12 The Agricultural Inventor

In April summer, the sun is warm.

After that hot and humid rain, the border of Qinchuan, eight hundred miles away in Guanzhong, officially entered the state of midsummer.

"Your Majesty is truly a genius!"

Amidst the sound of running water, on the north side of Chang'an City, in the farmland where the tributaries of the Weishui River flowed through, the farmers, officials, and soldiers who were watching were buzzing and discussing one after another.

"What a god!"

"Yeah, I've never seen water flow up high."

"Who says it's not? Hey, don't say it. A while ago, people said that His Majesty has a destiny. I still don't believe it."

"now what?"

"I'm sure I believe it, how much more farmland can be irrigated with these few knots of wood!"

Not far away, beside the tributary flowing underground in Xiaoyuan, Liu Yi personally stepped on a pedal-powered keel waterwheel. Without much effort, the clear Weishui flowed along the semicircular water pipe to the farmland in the original place. .

The plateau is a common landform in Northwest China. It is platform-shaped, with steep sides and a flat top.

The plateau is also called "Yuan". The more famous plateaus include Wuzhangyuan, Bailuyuan and so on.

This kind of terrain has a flat top and can be cultivated, but the disadvantage is that irrigation is inconvenient. Even if there is a river next to it, farmers need to carry water bucket by bucket to the original farmland for irrigation.

But after Liu Yi experienced some very disgusting things, he resolutely stopped arguing with the ministers and military leaders, and personally participated in the agricultural production that was in decline.

Liu Yi had done farm work in his previous life, and he would help his family with it before he went to university in other places. Of course, the degree of agricultural mechanization was already very high at that time.

He also has a little bit of experience in machinery, and is even a blogger in the manual area, but it's just the kind of video that no one watches.
Therefore, according to the keel waterwheel model made of wood and glue, it took almost no effort. After a little improvement based on the characteristics of the times, the craftsmen were instructed to make a normal-sized version.

The keel waterwheel is also called a rollover.

The prototype of this tool appeared in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, but it was not used in agricultural production at first.

During the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, the eunuch Ye Ting ordered Bi Lan to overturn the cart, put it on the west of the bridge, and use it to sprinkle the roads in the northern and southern suburbs, so as to save the people the cost of road sprinkler.

I don't know if it's Lingdi, an old man, who has done too many things that lack great virtue, and his conscience finds that he has occasionally done a good deed.

In short, since this thing has a prototype and a design idea, and fortunately found the royal craftsman who participated in the production back then, it came out smoothly with little effort.

The specific mode of operation is also very simple, even children and women can operate by pedaling, and if there is a large drop in the plateau, an animal-powered version can also be used.

The overall keel leaf plate is used as a chain, lying in a rectangular long groove, and the body is inclined to the river or pond.

The lower sprocket and a part of the body are submerged in the water, and the sprocket is driven by pedals or animal power, and the blades are wiped up along the groove, and the water is sent out to the upper end of the long groove, and the cycle repeats like this.

It can continuously fetch water, which is much more efficient than manual water fetching. Because it is made of wood, it is very convenient to operate and carry, and it is convenient to transfer the water fetching point in time.

It can be irrigated or drained.

After Liu Yi demonstrated how to operate the keel waterwheel, other people went up to experience it. He came to enjoy the shade under a big tree, and a bed (maza) had already been placed under it.

The ministers and generals of the Xiliang Army who were skeptical at first, were dragged out of the city by the emperor to see the effect of the keel waterwheel for themselves, and after experiencing it for themselves, they all became convinced and even worshiped.

Because the Son of Heaven has solved the most pressing problems of the moment.

Guanzhong has a population of over one million, and nearly [-] Xiliang soldiers in Chang'an have food problems.

The four words "not answering green and yellow" are really not a joke. Who knows how they survived last month.

Even the Son of Heaven and the officials could barely guarantee that they would not die of starvation by cutting the last crop of turnips, mallows, and mustard greens.

Every day, Liu Yi eats corn and rice in vegetable soup without salt or oil, and now he feels like vomiting when he sees vegetable soup.

After two consecutive years of severe drought, the grain reserves in Guanzhong have completely bottomed out.

In order to make ends meet, Xiliang soldiers even put down their knives and picked up farm tools to plant corn, soybeans, and red beans in season in the barren fields.
Liu Yi was quite surprised when he heard the news. The Xiliang Army will still farm?
But after thinking about it carefully, I also figured it out.

Guanzhong has experienced severe drought for two consecutive years, and the stored grain has long been eaten up. Longxi and Liangzhou in the west are even poorer. In the north is the plateau in northern Shaanxi with nothing. In the south is Hanzhong, which cannot be attacked. It became a piece of white ground.

This is not an online game, killing people will not produce food.

There is no robbing, no killing, and if you don’t farm, do you have to wait until winter to starve to death?
Don't you see, after Cao Cao was stolen by Lu Bu last year, the two armies fought to the end. Cheng Yu used poisonous tricks to steal all the seed grain and rations of the people in his hometown, Dong'e County, and he had to mix human preserved food as army rations to survive.

Even if the situation in Guanzhong is better, Sanfu really can't afford to support the [-] to [-] Xiliang troops staying near the withered city of Chang'an.

Therefore, not only Li Jue and Guo Si, but even small army leaders such as Yang Feng, Yang Ding, and Dong Cheng felt that they should divide their troops and go east to eat in the Kanto.

Anyway, this is not the first time this kind of thing has been done. Yingchuan and Chenliu, the big counties in the world, had already been ruined by the Xiliang army before Grand Master Dong successfully transferred to Chang'an.

But who will lead the troops to go out to face the Kwantung princes head-on, and who will stay and enjoy in the comfort of Chang'an is a difficult multiple-choice question for the military leaders.

Everyone wants others to go, but the end result is that no one wants to go.

Baiguan didn't want to go back to Luoyang either. Back then they burned Luoyang and moved to Chang'an. They bought a house and land just a few years after their Anniversary. How about going back now?Wasn't the fire burned in vain?

Only Liu Yi really wanted to go to Luoyang.

The reason is not that he "misses the old capital" as he said, but that he urgently needs to change.

The Weiyang Palace in Chang'an City is like a large Nanwu to him, and his life is very aggrieved.

Without military power, there are only a few hundred soldiers of Habayashi Guard and Huben Guard under his command.

Without financial rights, they have to rely on the two fathers-in-law Dong Cheng and Fu Wan to provide food and property, and eat pure soft food hard.

Without human rights, he would be surrounded by Xiliang soldiers when he left the palace, and even the court officials didn't listen to him, the young emperor.

The huge central bureaucratic group of the Han Dynasty moved forward slowly in accordance with old political conventions and historical inertia.

For the officials, the Son of Heaven is just a puppet/symbol/puppet that legally grants them administrative power. In fact, it seems to be the case. Under the auspices of Taiwei Lushang Shushi Yang Biao, the court can play well with or without Liu Yi.

"His Majesty?"

"what?"

Liu Yi was squinting under the shade of a tree, his thoughts were interrupted.

Zhongchang Attendant Miao Si is a slightly plump middle-aged eunuch with fair skin. He is also the highest-ranking eunuch leader in the palace, and he is loyal to the emperor.

Thanks to He Jin, the eunuchs in the palace were almost wiped out, which saved Liu Yi a lot of trouble. From a personal point of view, he doesn't like eunuchs to serve him very much.

He prefers beautiful girls who are fragrant and soft.

"Your Majesty, this is the Kwantung military newspaper. Lieutenant Yang asked his servants to bring it to you."

(End of this chapter)