Three days later, Shu Yingran, who looked haggard and had obviously stayed up late, came to see Shen Zhiyao on time.
He handed the finished drawing to Shen Zhiyao, his eyes filled with excitement: "Miss Shen, can you see if it's feasible?"
Shen Zhiyao took the drawing and looked at it carefully.
Shu Yingran explained to her the function of each part, how to install and connect it, how the finished product operates and draws water, etc.
Shu Yingran's explanation was easy to understand. As he spoke word by word, Shen Zhiyao seemed to see the waterwheel and the scene at work.
"Mr. Shu, you have done a good job in completing the work. I think the finished product can achieve the functions I mentioned." Shen Zhiyao put down the drawing and gave him a positive reply.
"That's good." Shu Yingran breathed a sigh of relief, then thought of something again, and blurted out: "Miss Shen, although I have drawn it, this object is too big. I have never made such a big one, and I don't have so many tools. .”
Although he had some fantastic ideas in wooden equipment, he only made some gadgets.
"It doesn't matter. I know someone who can make this waterwheel."
Shen Zhiyao still wanted to find Carpenter Chen.
But the waterwheel was too big and not as easy to transport as the Gufeng wheel. She was going to discuss it with Carpenter Chen and ask him to come to her village and build the waterwheel in her village.
It is also convenient to test whether there are any problems at any time.
"Waterwheel? Miss Shen, the name you chose really fits the bill."
Shu Yingran smiled and cheered, then looked expectantly: "Miss Shen, when the person you are looking for builds the waterwheel, can I stand by and watch?"
Shen Zhiyao nodded: "Okay, I'll tell you when I'm sure."
Now there are no more crayfish in the fields in various villages, and the snails are not at their best tasting time. Shen's shop has run out of crayfish and snails, so Chen Hu only sells them when he gives her yuba and dried tofu. Come.
Shen Zhiyao calculated that it would be the day after tomorrow before Chen Hu's next visit, but she couldn't wait any longer, so she immediately headed to Lihua Village.
She went alone. Sister-in-law Zheng Er, Shen Er, and Jiang Tao were going to work with Mao Dazhuang and his family to clear out the soil originally leased by Mao Dazhuang and his family to grow vegetables.
Once those fields are planted, there will be more vegetables for sale in her shop.
"Uncle Chen, is it convenient for you?" After Shen Zhiyao arrived in Lihua Village, she went straight to Aunt Chen's house and told Carpenter Chen her request.
Carpenter Chen readily agreed: "Convenient."
The orders in his hand are not urgent and can be delayed for a while.
Nowadays, there are valley windmills in various places in Daqi. After the government pasted the structural diagram of the valley windmills, he could receive fewer orders for the valley windmills.
"I'm going alone this time." Carpenter Chen added.
His eldest daughter-in-law is pregnant, so it would be better for the eldest son to stay at home with her.
You can also help your mother-in-law with some farm work at home. Now they have to raise tomato seedlings.
These tomato seeds were given to them by Zhiyao. In Lihua Village, apart from the Shen clan, they were the only ones who had them.
Shen Zhiyao took Chen Carpenter to Zhuangzi and arranged a place for him to live.
When Chen Cuihua came back from the dock and saw Carpenter Chen, she happily cooked some of Carpenter Chen's favorite dishes.
The next day, Shen Zhiyao and Chen Carpenter went to buy wood. When the wood arrived at Zhuangzi, Chen Carpenter began to build a waterwheel.
Shen Zhiyao also brought this news to Shu Yingran.
Unexpectedly, Shu Yingran said he was just watching, but came directly to help Chen Carpenter and stayed by Chen Carpenter's side.
"Master Shu, aren't you going to study in the county?" Shen Zhiyao asked curiously when she saw that he was here all day.
Shu Yingran raised his head from the pile of wood and said casually: "No, I have asked Master for leave. If I don't watch the waterwheel being built, I won't be able to sleep well."
It took three days and the waterwheel was finally completed.
Shen Zhiyao chose a location by the stream, and Carpenter Chen and Shu Yingran began to build piers on the bank and install the water wheel.
Mao Dazhuang, He Wang, Luo Quan, and their families all came over and watched curiously.
After Carpenter Chen and Shu Yingran had been busy for a long time, the waterwheel was installed. When the stream water was effortlessly drawn up and flowed into the fields along the ditch dug in advance, everyone was amazed or cheered.
Mao Dazhuang's daughter Mao Chunyu also took several children and ran happily along the ditch, chasing the water flowing forward like a spiritual snake.
"That's awesome!" At the moment when the waterwheel was operating, Shu Yingran felt filled with a sense of accomplishment.
He looked at it and couldn't help but continue to sigh: "Miss Shen, you are really amazing, you have such a convenient thing like a water cart."
"I just came up with a prototype. You and Uncle Chen built the waterwheel, which is also very powerful."
"Miss Shen, how did you come up with the idea of making a waterwheel?" Listening to the sound of the waterwheel gurgling, Shu Yingran turned to look at her.
Shen Zhiyao: "If you don't want to tire yourself, you can only tire yourself with the tools. As soon as you think about how tired it is to irrigate the paddy fields with manpower, inspiration comes."
"Oh, I understand. As long as I think about it without labor, I might be able to make something new." Shu Yingran suddenly realized.
After he finished saying this, an idea flashed in his mind and he continued: "For example, if the ink does not need to be ground freshly, you can carry the ground ink with you;
The goods on the dock do not need to be moved up and down in bags and boxes by manpower. Make something and let the goods be placed on it, like leaves floating in the current, moving with the water;
For another example, knowledge takes the initiative to run into my mind. "
Shen Zhiyao: "..."
Your focus is on the last sentence, right?
"Mr. Shu, you have great ideas. I hope you can make what you want to do one day."
The second point he mentioned is that it is a conveyor machine like a belt conveyor.
"Okay, I'll start thinking about it when I get back." Shu Yingran was very motivated.
Immediately, he thought of something and showed a hint of embarrassment: "Miss Shen, I have something to discuss with you and Uncle Chen."
"Your family also wants to make a waterwheel?" Shen Zhiyao guessed what he was going to say.
Shu Yingran nodded: "I have more than 200 acres of farmland at home. With a water truck, it will be faster to irrigate the paddy fields."
More than two hundred acres?
Good guy, it turns out the landlord is beside her.
"If you agree, we can discuss how much money we will pay for a waterwheel."
"Okay." Shen Zhiyao had nothing to say no to.
Her waterwheel is right by the stream. If such a big object is placed there, it will be seen by other people sooner or later, and maybe it will reach the ears of County Magistrate Gan.
Sure enough, Gan Lixin found her on the third day after the waterwheel was built.
Gan Lixin will not let go of any information that is beneficial to the people.
"Magistrate Gan, as you can see, this is how the waterwheel operates to irrigate farmland." Shen Zhiyao walked beside Gan Lixin and showed him the waterwheel and the path of the waterwheel irrigation.
Gan Lixin walked along the water to the end, then walked back, staring at the waterwheel.
"Wonderful!"
"Miss Shen, how did you come up with the idea of making a waterwheel?" Gan Lixin asked the same question as Shu Yingran.
Shen Zhiyao modified the reason for her answer to Shu Yingran and gave it to Gan Lixin.
Then he said: "Master Gan, apart from me, there are two people who have the greatest contribution to making the waterwheel this time."
She talked about Shu Yingran's completion of the waterwheel diagram and Chen Carpenter's actual production of it.
Gan Lixin nodded and wrote down the information about Shu Yingran and Chen Carpenter.
Just like the windmill in the valley, Gan Lixin also wanted to report the waterwheel.
But the water tanker was too big to transport. Gan Lixin thought for a moment and wrote several pages of excerpts eloquently.
When Gan Lixin's notes were sent to the capital, some landowners in Tongfang County also learned about the waterwheel. Of course, some people approached Shen Zhiyao and wanted to install the waterwheel.
Of course, some people think it doesn't matter. The fields have been tenanted anyway, and it's the tenant farmers who are tired. It doesn't matter to them.
Shen Zhiyao agreed to a few people who came to her to make waterwheels based on Carpenter Chen's time, and told them the reasons for the rest.
It takes a long time to make a waterwheel, and the spring plowing is now very close. When their waterwheel is finished, they may not be able to catch up with the spring plowing.
In response, a few people who were not in line to make the waterwheel asked insinuatingly if they could buy some vegetables grown on her farm here.
Nowadays, long queues form before dawn for the vegetables sold in Dong Shen’s store, and they are sold out as soon as the store opens.
Sometimes the people they arranged arrived late and couldn't buy anything.
"There aren't many vegetables that I can pick right now. If you want to buy them, you can only buy five kilograms each." Shen Zhiyao spoke first.
Everyone nodded in agreement, as long as they can buy it, they don't choose how much.
On the other side of Tongfang County, some landowners were busy installing waterwheels. On the other side, in the capital, Gan Lixin's book aroused some discussion after it arrived in the capital.
We didn't see the actual object this time, so it's difficult to know the full picture of the waterwheel just based on the description in Gan Li's letter.
So Emperor Zhaoxing was going to send an official to have a look.
As for who to send?
Emperor Zhaoxing glanced at Shen Cheng, who had only been transferred to the capital this year and served as the minister of the Ministry of Industry.
With a wave of his hand, Emperor Zhaoxing directly assigned Shen Cheng and asked the young general Duan Chengnian to escort him.
Before leaving, Emperor Zhaoxing called Duan Chengnian to the imperial study and had a long secret talk with him.
Someone is coming to the capital soon, and they are acquaintances. Shen Zhiyao has no idea about this.
She followed Mao Dazhuang's Mao Chunyu to see her pigs.
Why go see the pigs?
The reason is that one of Mao's pigs hasn't eaten much pig food in the past two days. It often screams or runs around in the pig pen, and bites a piglet they just bought.
Mao Chunyu asked her parents and grandmother what happened to their pigs. The adults only said that she was still a child and didn’t understand, and told her that the pigs were fine.
Mao Chunyu was unconvinced. The child didn't understand what was wrong, but why didn't the adults tell her the reason?
So, she and her friends were mumbling about this while playing in the field.
Once, her mumbling was overheard by her boss, and she simply asked him about it.
In her eyes, the boss knows everything.
Looking at Mao Chunyu's curious eyes, Shen Zhiyao coughed lightly, "Maybe it's spring, and some minor problems in the pig's body have revived."
Mao Chunyu was still worried: "Master, how should we treat the pigs?"
"Just cut it off."
"ah?"
"Let's go see your pigs."
Shen Zhiyao walked towards Mao Chunyu's house.
The pigs of this era have never been cooked, and the pork has a mild or strong fishy smell.
The pork she cooked before was processed after buying it to remove the fishy smell before eating it.
At Mao Chunyu's house, only her grandmother Aunt Wu was present.
After Shen Zhiyao explained his purpose, Aunt Wu glanced at Mao Chunyu who was following Shen Zhiyao with a dumbfounded look, and then took Shen Zhiyao to the pig pen.
"This pig looks a little thin." Shen Zhiyao looked at the pig and said.
Aunt Wu nodded: "I have lost several pounds in the past two days. This happens to pigs raised every year."
"Aunt Wu, what's the heaviest weight of the pigs you raised in the past?"
"More than one hundred and forty."
More than 140 kilograms... It is indeed very thin. When a modern pig reaches adulthood, one weighs about 300 kilograms, and even Landrace pigs can grow to one thousand kilograms.
If the pigs of this era are fed more carefully after being castrated, there is no telling how many pounds they can grow.
With this in mind, Shen Zhiyao asked Zheng Er and Wan Fang to build a pig pen for her on Zhuangzi, while she went to Yahang to find Wu Miao and asked Wu Miao to help her find a channel to buy some piglets.
After the pig pen was repaired and the piglets arrived, Shen Zhiyao hired a pig butcher.
It was introduced by the owner of a pork shop where she often bought pork at the market.
When the pig butcher arrived at the pigsty on her farm, he looked at the five piglets in the pigsty and looked confused:
"Dr. Shen, do you need to kill these pigs when they are so young?"
"It's not about killing pigs. I invited you here today. I actually want you to castrate these five piglets."
"Huh?" The pig butcher has never encountered such a request.
"Dr. Shen, I can't either."
Shen Zhiyao said: "You know the pigs best. Just try it boldly. Don't worry, I won't blame you if the pigs have any problems."
"Okay, let me give it a try." Although the pig butcher didn't know why Dong Shen did this, he was given a generous amount of money and he didn't lose anything by doing anything.
Next, the butcher chose the first lucky piglet.
Shen Zhiyao asked Wan Fang, who was standing next to her, to help hold Piggy down.
The butcher carefully looked at a certain part of the piglet and took out the knife he carried...
Amid the squealing of the piglets, the butcher killed one.
Behind him, the butcher was raising and lowering his knife faster and faster.
After all five piglets were castrated, Shen Zhiyao paid the money to the pig butcher.
Half an hour later, she asked Wan Fang to feed the piglets some water and observe their condition.
That day I only had a little bit of pig food for the piglets.
Shen Zhiyao did not plan to feed these five piglets Lingquan water. She wanted to follow the normal feeding method to see how heavy the pigs would be.
She remembered that river mussels could be fed to pigs, and bean dregs could also be fed to pigs.
Just a few days after Shen Zhiyao started to get some river mussels, and asked Zheng Er, Zheng Ersao and Jiang Tao to cut pig grass in their spare time, and started raising pigs with great interest, Shen Cheng and Duan Chengnian, the ministers of the Ministry of Industry, arrived in Tongfang County.
"Master Shen, General Duan." Gan Lixin received the two of them.
"Sir Gan, I believe you already know the purpose of Xiao General Duan and I coming to Tongfang County. I wonder if Mr. Gan can take us to see the waterwheel now?"
Shen Cheng wore a smile that made people feel refreshed. Although Gan Lixin's official rank was lower than his, Gan Lixin was Wen Shoufu's student after all.
And looking at Gan Lixin's political achievements after arriving in Tongfang County, he might be transferred to Beijing one day.
Therefore, it would be better for him not to show his official authority in front of Gan Lixin.
