Ever since Cheng Wanwan was granted the title, stories about her have been circulating in the surrounding villages.
She was originally a big shot that everyone talked about, but now countless people watched the birth of the hydraulic overturned car, and she became famous again.
In the streets, alleys, teahouses and restaurants, people everywhere are talking about this.
"Hey, have you heard that something big happened again in Dahe Village?"
"Is Dahe Village the village where the people of Sui'an live? What happened? Tell me quickly and don't lie."
"Sui'an and several officials from the imperial court developed a thing called a waterwheel. It is said that it can irrigate thousands of acres of farmland without using any manpower or animal power."
"How can we water the water without human or animal power? You are lying."
"If you don't believe it, you can go to Dahe Village and have a look. I just haven't seen it either."
"..."
"Things developed by Sui'an people must be good things."
"Yes, the people of Sui'an were granted the title after exterminating locusts in the first place. Later, they discovered regenerated rice and controlled the plague among refugees... The court said that the people of Sui'an are dedicated to the people. I didn't feel that before, but now I really feel that the people of Sui'an That heart for the common people.”
"In winter, I bought a cheap quilt from the people of Sui'an, which helped our family survive the severe winter. The people of Sui'an wholeheartedly care about us poor people. They are living Bodhisattvas!"
"Speaking of quilts, I heard that our Huzhou will promote cotton this year. Anyone with conditions can plant it. People in Dahe Village made a lot of money growing cotton last year."
"Where can I buy cotton seeds? I've never seen them before."
"Of course we are going to the Sui'an people. They must have been prepared long ago."
"Let's go together when it's time to sow..."
For many days, many villagers from surrounding villages gathered to watch the hydraulic rollover. Almost everyone has seen the hydraulic rollover, but the hydraulic rollover completely changed its appearance, and it looked even larger and more spectacular, giving people a strong visual impact.
The waterwheel rotates, bringing water up from low places, pouring it into ditches, and flowing to the fields of thousands of households.
Li Zheng stood on the ridge of the field and said loudly: "This waterwheel was developed by the imperial court and the people of Sui'an. It is mainly to facilitate irrigation in dry land. With the waterwheel, every household no longer has to send someone to carry water every day." Watering, the extra people will do other tasks, and the family will earn an extra penny, right?"
"However, everyone has also seen that the structure of this waterwheel is very complicated. It cannot be made by one or two carpenters. It requires the division of labor and cooperation of many people to achieve the most perfect effect. The people of Sui'an calculated an account and decided that The cost of making such a large waterwheel is about one hundred and twenty taels of silver. In an ordinary year, a waterwheel of this size can irrigate about two thousand acres of land. Two in a village are enough, that is He said, as long as your village can spend two hundred and forty taels of silver, you can have two waterwheels."
The people in neighboring villages who were watching took a breath of cold air.
"More than two hundred taels of silver, God, this is too much."
"All the households in Wangjiadun don't have that much money combined."
"Let me do the math. We, one hundred and forty households in Lijiagou, have more than 200 taels of silver. That means each family has to pay close to 20 taels of silver. I'll be good to you."
"Oh, if there are fewer people in Osmanthus Village, wouldn't that mean more money will be spent?"
For a moment, everyone's faces were in embarrassment.
It seems that they can't use such expensive things. Oh, forget it. Their ancestors have been carrying wooden buckets to water the water for generations. It's not impossible to continue like this.
Only the people in Dahe Village feel that the money is acceptable. Some of their families have three people working, and their total monthly income is two to three taels of silver. With one month's income, they will never have to water water again. To them, the deal was a steal.
Cheng Wanwan took in everyone's expressions.
Because the waterwheel was made of wood with a small amount of iron, at first, she thought the cost was about forty or fifty taels of silver. However, after several adults worked together with carpenters and blacksmiths to make it, she realized the strangeness.
First, the craftsmanship is precise and requires extremely high technical requirements. It can only be made by hiring some experienced carpenters, and the labor costs of experienced carpenters are relatively high, and a blacksmith is also involved.
Secondly, because the waterwheel is soaked in water all year round and the requirements for wood are also very high, it cannot be scrapped after just a few years. A little money here and a little money there will add up to more than a hundred taels of silver. .
Even for an entire village, this amount of money is huge and difficult to collect.
Cheng Wanwan immediately had an idea in his mind.
She lifted up her skirt, walked onto the high field ridge, and spoke loudly: "Everyone, please be quiet and listen to me."
The people who were talking about each other fell silent for a moment, and countless pairs of eyes looked at Cheng Wanwan.
People in Dahe Village can often see Cheng Wanwan, but villagers in the next village farther away rarely see her. A figure living in legend, she should be aloof in imagination, but now she is standing in the dirt just like them. Wearing simple plain clothes on the dirty field ridge, she didn't look like a sixth-ranking wife of the imperial court at all.
"After this waterwheel is completed, it can be used for at least thirty years. For 20 taels of silver per family, you don't have to carry water for watering for thirty years. In my opinion, this deal is a good deal." Cheng Wanwan looked at him with gentle eyes. Everyone, "Recall that in the summer, when the sun was so bright, it was not pleasant to walk through most of the village to fetch water from the river, carry it on your shoulders to the fields, and then slowly pour it into the fields."
"One acre of land is small enough, but it requires at least a strong man to go back and forth four or five times to water it all. At home, there are at least three or four acres of dry land, and as many as more than ten acres. After all the land is turned over, the field that is watered on the first day The ground is dry again, so we start all over again... How many people spend most of the summer watering the ground. If they can spare time, they can do other work, such as weaving straw shoes and bamboo mats. There are also people buying at the Dahe Village Market..."
When she said this, everyone thought of farm work in the hot summer.
After sowing in spring, the fields are weeded, fertilized and watered daily. Fertilizing is dirty and watering is tiring. Over the course of the summer, the skin on the shoulders will peel off.
They don't want to be so tired, but the family needs to raise more than one tael of silver, and they can't come up with so much money.
"I know that everyone is in a difficult situation and can't raise so much money at once. I have a plan here. Please listen to it." Cheng Wanwan said with a smile, "The integrity of each village can be determined in the name of the village. Come to me to borrow money and pay it back within three years. After you set up the IOU, we can start building a water tanker here immediately."
Everyone present looked at each other. One village cost more than 200 taels of silver. There were more than 30 villages in Ping'an County alone. They couldn't even imagine the total amount of money. This Sui'an person was too rich.
Sun Li from Osmanthus Village said, "What about the interest rate? It's too high and we don't dare to borrow it."
"If you talk about interest, you will miss the mark." Cheng Wanwan said warmly, "We are all fellow villagers, and it is not easy to make some money. Let's not mention interest. I have only one request. If the villages grow cotton this year, before others and others On the basis that the price I offer is the same, please give priority to selling to me, how about that?"
This request didn't sound like a request at all. Everyone had nothing to hesitate and agreed without hesitation.
However, although Li Zheng agreed to these, he still had to go back and seek the opinions of the villagers. After all, the entire village paid for it, and the village headquarters could not all bear it...
