Chapter 6 Drawings provided
Families in the Han Dynasty, whether farmhouses or cities, have always had the habit of raising chickens, but most of them only had one or two, and usually roosters were raised specifically for crows.
Those with fields in the countryside and plenty of food at home may raise three or four more, but they will never exceed a dozen or so. After all, food is too valuable, so they usually fool them with bran and then rush outside. Let them find their own food.
Besides, even bran is something that can save lives in the eyes of ordinary people. When there is no food, having this piece of bran can save your life.
That's why the housekeeper got excited when he heard that he wanted to raise so many chickens. Not to mention that most people in the family use bran as food. The Feng family has some land and surplus food, so they don't need to eat bran, and they don't have enough to raise so many chickens. In the end, food is not allowed to be used? How much food will this cost? Isn't this nonsense?
“Uncle Zhao, don’t worry, don’t worry, my chicken doesn’t need to be fed with food.” Feng Yong saw that Butler Zhao seemed to have signs of a heart attack, and quickly gave Butler Zhao heart-soothing remedies.
"This doesn't require food, it can still be used..." the housekeeper screamed in a high-pitched voice. He didn't know what he thought of, and suddenly his eyes widened. He looked at Feng Yong in confusion, then looked around, and sneakily came over. He lowered his voice and asked, "Does the Lord have the art of wishing a rooster?"
In the Han Dynasty, the art of witchcraft was very popular, and there were countless legends about magicians and immortals. Butler Zhao has only been in the Feng family for a few months. At most, he only knows that the Feng Yong family is from outside. As for what the Feng family did before coming to Shu, he knows nothing about it.
What are you wishing for? Feng Yong glanced at the housekeeper inexplicably, "I know Zhu Yingtai, but who is Zhu Jiweng?"
"It turns out that the master really has such magic. It seems that the old servant misunderstood and the master misunderstood." The butler didn't know what he was thinking about, and said excitedly, "The old servant will make arrangements now!" He strode forward. After taking two steps, he suddenly remembered that he had left Feng Yong behind. He turned around and apologized to Feng Yong, "Old servant was excited for a moment, so I lost my composure. My master made a mistake."
Although I don’t know why the butler is so excited, half the problem is solved if he can get support from the butler. Feng Yong waved his hand and said, "Uncle Zhao is thinking about the Feng family, how can I blame him?"
"It's just my lord, if you raise so many chickens, you have to have hands to look after them, right? Are you going to add another person to the family?" After the excitement passed, the housekeeper asked the first question.
"Let's not add more for now. Watching chickens is not a heavy job. Aren't there a few minors among the tenants who rent our fields? Just ask them to come over to help. It doesn't matter whether they are boys or girls. I will give it to them when the time comes. Just some food."
"But it's time for summer planting. After harvesting the wheat, we have to plant rice. Those half-grown children in the farmer's house can be regarded as half of the labor force. What if this delays the farming?" said the housekeeper. He looked embarrassed, "Why don't we wait until Xia Zhong passes?"
“I didn’t say that I would raise it now. I would naturally wait for the summer planting. Speaking of farming, by the way, Uncle Zhao, do you know if there is a blacksmith nearby?”
"Blacksmith? Master, you are referring to those who can do blacksmith work, right? These craftsmen all work for the government, and most of them have craftsman status in the government. Even those who do not have blacksmith status can only work in the city. I see. Normally, farmers in this family will do some crafts in their free time. Whether it is blacksmith's work or carpenter's work, most of them can do it. The ancestors of Ding Er's family on the village once worked as craftsmen, and there are several craftsmen around here. His craftsmanship is the best.”
Look, this is called a competent housekeeper. He has only been in the Feng family for a long time, and he has even found out the details of the surrounding farmers.
"Okay, after dinner, Uncle Zhao will ask him to come and see me. I have something I want him to help make."
"Oh, Master, please don't say things like that. It will be a joke if outsiders hear it. He is lucky to be able to come into the house whether he wants to help or not. When the things are done, Master really wants to If you are kind-hearted, just give him one or two coins, or if the old servant grabs a few handfuls of millet and gives it to him, he will thank you profusely."
So what about your conscience? Listening to the steward's natural words, Feng Yong murmured in his heart.
While the two were talking, they entered Feng's house unknowingly.
Feng Yong cleaned his hands first, and then sat down in the pavilion in the backyard. The maid had already laid out the food, which was still steaming. A bowl of steamed rice, a can of chicken soup, a pickle, and finally a small plate of fried cabbage.
Note, this frying means to put the pottery pot on the fire and then spread the cabbage on it to fry it to dry out the water, and then serve it directly to the dinner table.
As for the anti-human thing like fried cabbage... Feng Yong said that it's not that he's being pretentious, but that it's really difficult to eat.
As for why not to make an iron pot, as a person who is regarded as crazy by others, if you want to find a blacksmith to make something that has never been seen before, and it costs so much iron, who would do it for yourself?
And in this era, iron is still relatively precious. It was now that he had gradually returned to normal in the eyes of outsiders, and with the reward from the emperor, he thought of asking the butler to find a blacksmith.
The house the housekeeper mentioned was certainly very large compared to the building area of later generations. It had front and back halls, and was divided into large and small halls, a main room, a side room, a secret room, and even a pond in the backyard. There is even a special place for servants to live.
But Feng Yong said what's the use of this? There are only four masters and servants in the Feng family, which is too deserted. After he first moved in and walked around, he was no longer interested in seeing it.
It looks big, but in fact it is just big. There is nothing else worthy of praise. It is not much different from the tiled house in the countryside where I lived when I was a child.
Of course, this is a huge difference for the tenants living in thatched houses, so the housekeeper said that it was his blessing to let Ding Er enter the house. The key is that Ding Er also felt that he was blessed. This makes Feng Yong feel helpless.
Looking at the helpless farmers below, Feng Yong handed over a piece of paper and asked warmly: "Look at the picture above, can you understand it?"
His body was shaking with excitement. Ding Er wiped his hands on his clothes again and again, then stretched out his trembling hands and carefully held the paper, as if the paper was a thousand-year-old treasure. He looked at it carefully for a long time before he plucked up the courage. He asked: "Master, this... this looks a bit like a plow? How come it's curved?"
The housekeeper next to him was curious. Is there any bend in the pear? I stretched my neck and looked over, oh, it turned out to be a plow for plowing the land. But this plow is so strangely drawn. Why is it different from the commonly used plows?
“Well, it’s curved. It’s clearly drawn on the paper, so you just follow it. It’s just that the plowshare needs to be made of iron. Do you understand?”
Fortunately, I was born in a rural area, and when I was a child, I often helped my family work in the fields. Rural children mature precociously, and some can drive cattle into the fields to plow the fields by the time they are in their teens.
When Feng Yong was twelve years old, his father not only taught him how to plow, but also told him about the various parts and uses of the plow. He once turned over several pieces of land by himself. This curved shaft plow has a simple structure and he is quite familiar with it.
Of course, he also knew about the Eight-Niu Plow in Europe. The reason was that part of his university graduation thesis was about the environment, and some of it involved the development of world agriculture. However, his family only had a few hundred acres of land, and it was difficult to use the Eight-Niu Plow. For eggs?
Besides, he only understands it, but he has not used it with his own hands like the Quyuan plow. To get it out, he would probably lose a lot of brain cells, not to mention there are not so many cows at home.
The current plow is a straight-shaft plow, which cannot plow deeply, and must be pulled by two oxen at the same time. This is a waste of manpower and animal power, and it is not easy to use.
The curved shaft plow only uses one ox, and the depth of the plow can be adjusted according to the field. The most important thing is that this thing can be made of wood, as long as a piece of iron is inserted into the plowshare! It is an artifact that can properly liberate manpower and animal power and improve production efficiency! Well, it was an artifact for the Three Kingdoms era when farming was still using straight shaft plows.
Ding Er looked at the drawing again and again, asked a few small questions, and then reluctantly handed over the paper.
Feng Yong frowned, "If you don't hold this paper, how can you make it look like what I want?"
Upon hearing this, Ding Er confirmed again in disbelief, "What does the master mean? Can a villain take this?"
"You're not talking nonsense? It's not a precious thing. I'm holding it for you so that you can make gestures." Feng Yong took a breath and felt a little toothache, so he couldn't figure out what the ancients were thinking. What, there is a gap in thinking, just communicate more, why do you like to say that he is a psychopath?
“After that, can the villain keep it at home as a memorial to his descendants?”
This is a bit too much!
(End of this chapter)