Following the Old Man to Observe the Wilds, Opportunity Blocked, Seeing the Device, Efficiency High, Hearing Tian's Confusion

The people in the furrows heard the shout and straightened up.

He was another old man, dressed in the same coarse linen clothes as the old man who had spoken earlier. His trouser legs were rolled up to his knees, exposing mud-smeared calves, and he still held an iron shovel in his hand.

He was the "Old Ox" the old man had mentioned.

Jing Shao and Guan Han followed Old Ox's gesture and looked over, only to see a cold, hard contraption of steel standing before him.

The machine had a stout body, its casing gleaming with a cold metallic sheen. Several sharp iron legs extended beneath it, firmly planted in the earth, making it look like a giant steel beast crouching atop the field ridges.

At that moment, the "giant beast" rumbled loudly. Old Ox was shoveling up scoop after scoop of coal and carefully feeding it into the firebox on the side of the machine.

As the coal was fed into the firebox, the chimney atop the machine immediately belched out a plume of white steam. Amid sharp hissing sounds, the chain on the side of the machine began to turn.

The huge water buckets hanging from the chain continually scooped water from the nearby pond along the chain's path, then steadily poured it into the furrows.

In less than half an incense stick's time, the flowing water had carved a shallow stream through the furrows. The stream followed channels dug beforehand, slowly winding toward the depths of the fields and nourishing the grain seedlings within.

Such efficiency far exceeded Jing Shao and Guan Han's expectations.

Their Mohist School had developed water-powered field irrigation machines in the early years as well, but those things relied heavily on the terrain.

They had to depend on swift rivers and borrow