Chapter 99: It’s a great harvest again, horse push harvester

August 20, 1591.

The sky is clear and the entire Wuzhai Fort is immersed in the joy of harvest. It is heavy, and the golden ears of wheat reflect the smiling faces of everyone. Compared with last year, the grain growth of Wuzhai Fort this year is better. It can be foreseen that this year's harvest will be even more gratifying.

In the 20th Farm of Wuzhaibao, there were golden wheat fields, and the father and son of Ding Guzi, Yamato and Guzi, were busy in the fields. Guzi waved the scythe in his hand and moved quickly. His son Guzi was following him and tied up bundles of wheat poles. Looking around, the fields near the farm were full of busy people.

Although the land in the 20th farm was only reclaimed at the beginning of this year, the golden wheat ears in front of him showed that a great harvest was certain. This great harvest had shocked the villagers. However, I heard that the wheat ears in these 20th farms were still average, and in the old farms of Wuzhaibao, the wheat ears grew better. I heard that these original refugees were all shocked. Over the years, they have been used to the growth of two or three crops every year in their hometowns, and have never seen such a bumper wheat wave.

Guzida always sighed with his eldest son Guzixiao. If the fields in his hometown grow like this, why bother to escape from the famine? However, after escaping from Wuzhaibao, it was a blessing in disguise. The current life in Wuzhaibao farm has made Guzida very satisfied. His father and son are busy farming in the farm fields every day, while his husband Zhou family is washing and cooking on the farm and earning some money. The family can be said to be harmonious and beautiful, and life is becoming more and more promising.

After several months of raising, the wrinkles on the face of Guzida were stretched out and his face became more rosy. His son Guzida was small and his body grew and became stronger.

Although his hometown is hard to leave, Guzida decided not to go back to his hometown. He decided to take root in Wuzhai Fort and live a peaceful life. His family also had the same opinion. At present, Wuzhai Fort has become a place of peach blossoms in the eyes of more and more people. People from all over the world are rushing to come, and it would be really stupid if they want to leave.

The joy of harvest spreads from the No. 1 Farm of Wuzhaibao to the 30th Farm of Wuzhaibao, with laughter and joy everywhere.

On the 22nd, in the first farm of Wuzhaibao, there was a circle of people surrounding the fields. Among these people, He Deli, the head of the first farm of Wuzhaibao, and Huang Tingshou, the deputy head of the grain group of Wuzhaibao, Sun Tianzheng, the manager of the civil warehouse of Wuzhaibao, Huang Laifu, the commander of Wuzhaibao, the general commander of Wuzhaibao, Ma Jiuying, the chief supervisor of Wuzhaibao, and some followers, as well as a large group of the first farm of Wuzhaibao.

This is so lively because in the Wuzhaibao folk artifact shop, in addition to the farmed horse-drawn plows and double horse carts, a new labor machine has been developed, which is being prepared for use in the fields of the first farm of Wuzhaibao. This new machine, Huang Laifu named Wuzhaibao harvester, is a horse-drawn harvester, specially used to harvest wheat.

It’s new to harvest wheat without people, and it’s something that can be pulled by horses. No wonder everyone is crowded to watch the fun.

In the wheat waves in front of him, Ma Jiuying spoke to Huang Laifu with a blush on his face. No wonder he was happy. This year, Wuzhai Fort will definitely have a bumper harvest. Moreover, this bumper harvest is unprecedented in the entire Ming Dynasty. After collecting grain, report to the emperor, and don’t you give me a lot of rewards? In addition, the mines in Wuzhai Fort are very smooth, and by the end of the year, there will definitely be money again. No wonder Ma’s happy.

Soon, the crowd was in a stir, and many Tun Dingmen whispered excitedly: "What kind of harvester is here."

Soon, a few workshop workers rushed to the horse and came with something. Everyone surrounded and saw it, and even Ma Jiuying's father-in-law opened his eyes wide.

The harvester is like a carriage, with two wheels on both sides, connected by a shaft, which has a bevel gear, which is supported by a toothed frame, and the frame is close to the ground and has several horizontal rotating knives. These knives are connected with the gear on a coaxial axis with two pulleys. In front of it, it is a cutting disc rotating closely against the ground.

Everyone looked at it curiously and talked a lot, but except for Huang Laifu's a little aware, everyone didn't know how to use it.

After obtaining Huang Laifu's permission, several workshop workers pulled the horses behind the harvester and put them in front of the wheat field. When the horses pushed the carriage forward, the wheat poles were constantly cut off by the rotating blades in the cutting disc and then fell into the carriage.

It was fast and convenient, and soon a large area was cut. For a moment, everyone onlookers made waves of amazement.

Huang Laifu also looked excitedly from the side. According to his estimate, this horse-pushing harvester has increased speed and efficiency several times compared to manual wheat harvesting. This kind of harvester was also obtained by Huang Laifu referring to the horse-pushing harvester developed by the British Smith in 1811. Of course, the specific manufacturing was still made by Wuzhaibao Minqifang. Huang Laifu just said some ideas and details.

However, even so, it surprised the craftsmen of the Minqiufang. Fortunately, in the past two years, Huang Laifu's inventions have emerged one after another, and everyone has been accustomed to it. Since it started manufacturing a few months ago, to now, Wuzhaibao Minqiufang has also manufactured nearly five horse-push harvesters. Today, it is the first time to use it, and it is very good.

"A weapon, it's a weapon!"

Ma Jiuying's father-in-law sucked in the air conditioner and murmured from the side.

The final practical effect made Huang Laifu very satisfied. He called Sun Tianzheng, the manager of Wuzhaibao Minqifang, praised him a few words and asked him to continue his efforts to build more Wuzhaibao harvesters in the future, so as to strive to make more popular use in various farms next year. As for the manufacturing funds, it is not a problem. How much is missing, how much will Huang Laifu make up for it.

For autumn harvesting, every day of harvesting is relieved to save one day and avoid losses for one day. Wuzhaibao harvester has obvious advantages for all parties. Moreover, this kind of harvester does not have Wuzhaibao or Shenchibao workshop and mine. The contradiction between technological improvement and workers' jobs can be widely used in various large farms of Wuzhaibao.

Soon, Wuzhaibao harvester, this new mechanical thing, spread throughout the inner and inner castles of Wuzhaibao, and became a popular topic for everyone after dinner.

The wheat harvest yields of each farm are also constantly statistically calculated. The final estimate is that among the 10 old farms in Wuzhaibao, the average yield of wheat per mu reached two stones and five dou of 5 stones, and among the 20 new farms, the average yield of the per mu also reached about two stones. In this way, the total grain output of the 400,000 mu of land in Wuzhaibao reached an astonishing 900,000 stones.

The average yield per mu is 2 stones and 5 dou of stones per mu, which means the yield per mu is 470 kilograms. Although it is incomparable to later generations - in 2008, the average yield per mu of wheat in Tengzhou, Shandong Province reached 502 kilograms, and some high-yield demonstration fields reached 700 kilograms. However, compared with the average yield per mu in the states and counties in the northern Ming Dynasty at this time, the average yield per mu was only a few dou, that is, hundreds of kilograms of grain output, this yield is already very terrifying.

After the news came out, this achievement shocked all over the world. The grain produced by a mere Wuzhai Fort could feed tens of thousands of soldiers in the entire Shanxi town. Especially after the news was quickly spread to various prefectures and counties through the developed Ming Dynasty's mansion system. For a time, all the people who heard about it, whether it was officials, gentry, or merchants, felt incredible. The result was that Wuzhai Fort ushered in a new wave of investigation.

In Wuzhai Fort, Huang Laifuji was respected as the "Grain God" by the Tunding military households. Many of Wuzhai Fort's military households have begun to set up the longevity card for Huang Laifu. Moreover, the title of "Grain God" has tended to spread rapidly outward.

No matter what everyone thinks about Huang Laifu, whether it is praise or jealous, Huang Laifu's ability to farm farming is recognized by everyone.

According to the summary of Huang Laifu Zhaokai Wuzhaibao Grain and Agricultural Technology Group, the reason why Wuzhaibao has high grain yield is mainly because a large farm-like operation can invest a lot of material resources to build large-scale good irrigation water conservancy, use a large amount of fertilizer, use a large number of good varieties, scientific management, and use various horsepower machinery. With these measures, it is difficult for Wuzhaibao to not have a good harvest.

In particular, Huang Laifu also learned from his later experience and established the "Ten, Hundred, Thousand" high-yield creation demonstration fields. It is divided into ten acres of high-yield research and development fields, one acres of high-yield demonstration fields, and one acres of high-yield demonstration fields. Among these fields, there are a large number of grain groups and agricultural technical team members, who usually invest a lot of money to quote good varieties to increase the average yield per mu. Once the results are achieved, they are quoted to the various farms of Wuzhaibao.

In short, Huang Laifu's experience is high investment and high harvest. However, this experience is probably not replicable in the Ming Dynasty at present. Many officials from other places were speechless after listening to the introduction of Huang Laifu and others. With such a large investment, which prefecture and county have the financial resources? Even if they introduce their experience to small farmers, those who can't even afford to buy water trucks and many people don't have oxen when plowing the fields. How big can they do if they want to use their wives as plowing oxen?

However, there are also some gentry from other places, prefectures and counties who thought about it after listening to the introduction of Wuzhaibao. All of these people are big landlords from all over the country. It is not surprising that they have tens of millions of fertile land in their hands. Moreover, they have a lot of manpower and financial resources. It is not impossible to learn from the successful experience of Wuzhaibao. It depends on whether they can break through their concepts and whether they can give up this heavy money.

Of course, they also have to solve a problem. These landlords usually rent the land to some tenants. If they use a large farm, they don’t need so much manpower. Where are the remaining tenants? Will they add more refugees to the Ming Dynasty?
Chapter completed!