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The shouts of the soldiers in training echoed over Qingzhou.
Xiao Ming said to Niu Ben, “General Niu is absolutely right. In this battle for Wei, the Southern Expeditionary Army and the Dengzhou Army conquered cities as easily as taking something from a pocket. Now that Prince Wei is captured, Youzhou, Qingzhou, and Jinling City are connected. We just need to continue strengthening our military readiness and diligently manage internal affairs to find an opportunity to break the deadlock and seize control of the northern territories.”
War, perhaps at first, is a contest of the training and bravery of both armies, but as the war progresses, it becomes a contest of money, provisions, and equipment.
Now Xiao Ming held the advantage in military strength, and he was not lacking in money and provisions. After all, by taking Wei, he essentially gained another granary.
“With generals responsible for fighting, officials responsible for assisting Your Highness in governing the state, and the advantage of the state’s firearms, it will be easy for Your Highness to gain control of the northern territories.”
Fei Ji was equally confident now. Prince Wei, who was powerful among many vassal princes, was now so easily defeated by Xiao Ming. He had to look at firearms with new eyes.
Xiao Ming smiled upon hearing this. Fei Ji had left out a sentence: he only needed to focus on advancing technology.
Now that Wei had been taken, he could also confidently dedicate himself to climbing the technology tree. In recent years, Qingzhou had accumulated a group of technical talents, laying the foundation for a technological explosion. Now was his time to participate, as the students who had already mastered scientific knowledge had a better understanding than before. He only needed to give a little guidance.
The three conversed in the tent for a while longer, then Xiao Ming and Fei Ji returned to Qingzhou City.
The farming season was fast approaching, and he had something to deliver to Qingzhou’s slave farms, and he also planned to have the government office promote it.
Upon arriving in the city, Xiao Ming and Fei Ji did not go to the government office but instead went to the farm where Kui Wu was located. There, he saw an excited Pang Yukun.
Originally, Pang Yukun was supposed to go with them to the Qingzhou Grand Camp, but after Lin Wentao sent something over, he couldn’t move. He insisted on taking this machine to the fields for a live trial.
“Your Highness, this animal-powered twelve-row seeder is amazing! In just one morning, three people sowed seeds on twenty mu of land.”
Seeing Xiao Ming and Fei Ji approach, Pang Yukun jogged over from the field.
Xiao Ming looked not far away. At this time, three slaves were sowing seeds in the field. One of them was leading three oxen, and the other two slaves were holding a long, rectangular object. This was the animal-powered twelve-row seeder that Lin Wentao had sent over.
In modern Europe, the first seeder was made in Greece in 1636. In 1830, Russians added a seeding device to an animal-powered multi-share plow to make a plow-seeder. Countries like Britain and America began mass producing animal-powered grain seed drills after 1860.
The structure of this seeder was not very complicated, but even so, it required a certain industrial foundation to be mass-produced. Now, Lin Wenyang was able to produce it because Qingzhou could produce its components, and also because of the blueprints provided by Xiao Ming.
Otherwise, it’s unlikely they would have thought of producing a seed drill on their own.
Actually, the principle of a seed drill is very simple: a moving wheel drives a seed-dispensing wheel to rotate. Seeds are dispensed from a seed box above into a seed tube and fall into a furrow opened by a furrow opener. Then, a soil-covering and pressing device covers and compacts the seeds.
Simply put, it’s a long, plow-shaped tool at the bottom, with a cylindrical seed box on top. At the same time, the moving wheels have a connecting rod-like structure. Each rotation opens the bottom of the seed box, allowing seeds to fall into the plowed furrow. At the very back of the seed drill is a curved iron plate that levels the soil after the seeds are sown.
“What! Three people sowed twenty mu of land in one morning!” Fei Ji’s jaw almost dropped.
“Absolutely true. If you don’t believe it, count it yourself,” Pang Yukun said, pointing to the field ridges. Now, to distinguish the size of each mu of land, a branch was inserted at the head of each mu.
Fei Ji counted them, and it really was twenty mu.
Fei Ji was truly shocked. He said, “Your Highness, if this seed drill is popularized, the common people will be able to cultivate even more land. Now, Youzhou has few people but much land, and Ryukyu is also waiting to be developed. This thing has come at just the right time!”
With that, Fei Ji, regardless of his image, ran towards the slaves who were sowing.
Xiao Ming and Pang Yukun exchanged glances, both smiling helplessly. People living in Qingzhou were now used to new things appearing every now and then.
But for people from other places, it was still quite shocking.
Seeing Fei Ji walking with his long gown, taking uneven steps through the fields, the two also followed.
When they arrived in front of the grain seeder, the three stopped. At this moment, a pungent smell suddenly hit them. Xiao Ming immediately realized something. “This Lin Wentao, he also added a manure tank to it!”
“Indeed. This subordinate was also surprised when I first arrived. This grain seeder can plow, sow, and fertilize all at once. And according to the person Lin Wentao sent, everything on this seeder can be disassembled,” Pang Yukun said.
Fei Ji, meanwhile, circled the grain seeder. After a thorough look, he seemed to have grasped the idea. He said, “Isn’t this a louche (an ancient Chinese seeder)?”
“That’s right, it’s a louche, but an improved one,” Xiao Ming laughed.
Fei Ji nodded. “In the past, the common people used wooden louches, which were very slow at sowing seeds. This one is made of steel, so it’s much faster. And this thing looks like twelve louches stuck together, so it’s no wonder it can sow twenty mu of land in one morning.”
“That is natural. How can a louche compare to this large seed drill? Your Highness, let Lin Wentao mass-produce it now. We can have every production team buy one,” Pang Yukun said, excited.
Xiao Ming shook his head, “Yes, not only should production teams be equipped, but also slave farms and large merchant farms. That way, the money from selling to merchants can be used to subsidize the production teams.”
Fei Ji and Pang Yukun exchanged smiles upon hearing this. This idea was excellent, allowing the common people to use seed drills at a low cost.
Xiao Ming was also in a great mood today. He said, “You’ll have more to be happy about in a few days. This grain seed drill is just the beginning. I and Lin Wentao will work together to produce an animal-powered harvester before the harvest.”
“Harvester!” The two were once again surprised.
Xiao Ming nodded. In modern times, the earliest horse-drawn disc reaper appeared in England in 1799. Like the seed drill, these machines currently presented no difficulty in manufacturing, requiring only the mechanical structure, as his lathes, steam engines, and steelmaking technology had all reached this level.