While Ji Chang pondered matters, the court officials who had gone out to the countryside were also sparing no effort in inventing new things.
Although Gao Lanying was a woman, as the Fu Hao of her age, she naturally went to the countryside in her capacity as a court official too.
She even rallied the Female Physicians of the Medical Academy to join her. Planting was hard, tilling was hard, but did that mean women could not endure hardship?
The Counterweighted Well Sweep Xin Jia had created had already spread through the countryside. After all, it was genuinely simple to make and immensely useful.
"Are you going to make a Counterweighted Well Sweep too, General Gao?"
A peasant woman asked the question. In the eyes of Chaoge's idle onlookers, Gao Lanying ranked among the finest military officers, more capable than most officials at court. Even if a military officer knew nothing about farming, she could hardly do too badly. With strength to spare, she would be useful even at the Qi River construction site, let alone on a farm.
"No."
Gao Lanying shook her head. Holding a wooden pole, she said, "But it does have something to do with the Counterweighted Well Sweep."
She fitted the pole in her hand onto a wooden frame on the ground. This pole was rather unusual: a stone hammer was attached to its front end.
Once it was ready, Gao Lanying repeatedly stepped on the rear end of the pole, making the stone hammer pound the ground with a series of thuds.
The peasant woman stared in astonishment. "Th-this can draw water too?"
"No."
"But it can pound rice."
"Pound rice?"
"Do you have a stone mortar?"
"Of course."
A stone mortar was a vessel used to hold rice while it was being pounded.