By the Beiru River, Zhu Qizhe watched the people struggling to carry buckets and walk forward on the beach with difficulty, and couldn't help but sigh.

Alas, it’s really not easy for these ordinary people.

Although there is still water in the Beiru River at this moment, the flowing river surface is only more than twenty steps wide, and the overall width of this section of riverbed is at least more than one hundred steps.

In other words, if the people want to carry some water, they have to travel about thirty steps on the beach, and they have to climb up and down the river bank about meter high. The difficulty can be imagined. Carrying a load of water can make people half exhausted, not to mention that some people have to carry a few miles away.

Alas, it's not easy.

He looked for a while, thought for a while, and then said solemnly: "Mengsu, we have to find a way to lure the water in the river ashore, and then use the canal to lure the water into the arable land on both sides of the straits. It is too tiring for the people to carry water like this and will not play a big role."

Li Jingbai couldn't help but feel a little ashamed when he heard this: "Prince, the official also thought about bringing the water in the river to the shore, but the river water is too far from the river bank at this moment, and the water flow is not enough, and ordinary water trucks are useless at all."

These days, water trucks are roughly divided into two types.

A kind of Ferris wheel in later generations is a large disc with many special buckets hanging on it. Under the push of the water flow, the disk will slowly rotate, and the bucket containing water will slowly turn to the shore. When it reaches the highest point, use something similar to a guide groove to guide the bucket downward, and the water inside the bucket will pour into the canal on the shore.

This kind of water truck requires relatively large thrust. Obviously, the water flow in the Beiru River cannot push such a water truck at all.

Another type is the wheel that you step on. A special sink similar to a chain is connected to the wheel, which leads to the river. If people keep stepping on the wheel on the shore, the river will be attracted by the special sink.

However, the flowing water in the Beiru River is more than thirty steps away from the river bank at this moment, so it is obviously unrealistic to make such a long special sink.

Zhu Qizi heard this and thought about it carefully, then pointed to the beach under the river bank and said, "We can organize people to dig a big hole under the river bank, and then dig a canal to lure the river in the middle to the river bank."

This seems very simple to say, but it is not that simple to do.

Li Jingbai shook his head helplessly and said, "Prince, the water in the puddle must not be brought up with a disc-style water wheel, because the water in the puddle will not flow at all, and the water wheel that humans can step on is actually limited. After all, people have only so much strength. Generally, if the sink exceeds two steps, people can't step on it. The height of the river bank is about two steps. In addition, the length of the section that reaches into the puddle, at least a three-step sink must be made. Such a long sink cannot be stepped on at all!"

Nowadays, officials generally have a certain understanding of water conservancy facilities. After all, it is based on agriculture. If local officials want to achieve certain achievements and get promoted, they are nothing more than building water conservancy, reclaiming fertile land, controlling pests and diseases, etc. Therefore, ordinary officials have a considerable understanding of this set.

Zhu Qizhu didn't know much about this, because he was not an official, and he was not even a person of this era. He had just seen the water wheel on TV. In reality, he had never seen the real thing.

He couldn't help but feel embarrassed and said, "Well, is this water truck that someone is working hard to step on here?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jingbai hurriedly called the squire who was accompanying him and asked in a low voice.

This gentry should be the kind of kind and generous kind person. He seems to have been appointed as the county magistrate of Ruzhou County by him, but now they are just "rebels" and have not established a country and established a dynasty, so no one is wearing any official uniforms.

The squire is indeed quite popular in this place. After discussing with Li Jingbai for a few words, he ran to the side and pulled an ordinary person to walk away along the river bank. Not long after, he led a few people to carry a simple pedal-style waterwheel.

This thing is indeed not long. It is about two meters long, and the sink is not big, just one foot square.

Zhu Qizhe squatted down and looked carefully, and then he roughly understood its structure and working principle.

This thing is similar to a string of water scoops, but there is a wooden trough outside the water scoop to prevent the water scoop from swaying and spilling out the water inside.

People use their feet to step on the wheel and constantly pull the water scoop up. When they reach the highest point and turn down, the water will pour out, and then turn down, step on, and keep going back and forth.

I have to say that the wisdom of the ancients is sometimes amazing, but the water scoop is too small. At the speed of stepping on it, even if you keep stepping on it for twelve hours a day, the water you step on it probably won’t water a few acres of land.

The working principle of this thing is actually similar to the wheel boat, except that the wheel boat uses its feet to step on the water wheel, and this uses its feet to step on the wheel.

It would be more practical if you use a steam engine to replace manpower to step on the wheel.

Zhu Qizhe pointed to the water lane on the ground: "Chang Geng, it's not difficult to use the steam engine of the wheel boat to drive this wheel, right?"

Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "It's not difficult, no difficulty, just change it a little."

In fact, when he saw this, he already thought of the steam engine. But the little prince was still thinking, so he didn't speak up.

It is really not difficult to change this thing, because the wheels of this water truck are much simpler than those of the wheels. He can even transform the wheels of the wheels, so there is naturally no problem in changing the water truck with a steam engine.

Zhu Qizhe pointed to the small water-like thing and said, "This is a bit too small and can't attract much water at all. At least double it. Also, because this is made of wooden and has low strength, you have to pay attention to controlling the speed. You can't fly like the wheel boat when it is driving at full speed. In that way, I guess I will have to disperse after I can't turn a few times."

If you use a steam engine to drive a water truck, you don’t have to consider whether you have enough strength. The steam engine used by the wheel boat is not very large. There is no problem with the water truck being larger. At this time, you need to consider the strength or firmness of the water truck.

The strength of this wooden waterwheel must be very poor, but now it is impossible to change it to other materials.

Because iron will rust when exposed to water, it is definitely not possible to use iron. If copper is made of it, the cost is too high and it is troublesome to make it, and it is completely unnecessary.

In short, there is no problem with using wooden ones, it just needs to be bigger, and the steam engine cannot rotate too fast.

Upon hearing this, Song Yingxing nodded quickly and said, "The officials understand. The officials will order people to go back and pull the steam engine over later."

Zhu Qizhe immediately said to Li Jingbai: "Mengsu, please call some carpenters to help Changgeng build water trucks. In addition, call the common people to dig water storage pits and canals quickly. There is no hurry to seedlings for sweet potatoes and potatoes. It is time to cultivate them after half a month. The irrigation problem must be solved first, otherwise, even if the sweet potatoes and potatoes are planted, there will be no harvest."

Li Jingbai bowed repeatedly and said, "The official understands."
Chapter completed!