New Farming Tools

Brewing is a complex process that requires low-temperature saccharification and fermentation. When the sugar content reaches its peak, small-batch rice wine is added, the mixture is sealed in jars to nourish the mash, the clear liquid is then pressed, and the two are blended, sealed in jars, and stored for two to three years. Even without this long storage process, brewing wine still takes a certain amount of time.

Therefore, before the wine was even made, half a year had passed in the blink of an eye. Summer and autumn quietly passed, and the winter off-season for farmers began to arrive.

Initially, some village heads, gentry, and merchants were dissatisfied with Zhao Ruxi and wanted to obstruct the grain requisition process and make things difficult for her. However, once Chen Kang revealed Zhao Ruxi's background, these people became as obedient as quails and handed over their grain immediately. This made Cai Yaozong, who in previous years had to beg and treat people to meals, feel deeply moved.

"Lord Zhao, what is this thing?"

That day, the people in the yamen saw Zhao Ruxi's guards carrying some strangely shaped things into the courtyard. They put the things on the open ground, and the people who came to the yamen gathered around and asked curiously.

"Grassland clearing tools," Zhao Ruxi said.

"For land reclamation?" Upon hearing that it was a land reclamation tool, Shi Jingcheng from the workshop became extremely interested and leaned closer to examine it carefully. "I've never seen this tool before. Where did you get it, sir?"

After getting to know her, everyone discovered that Zhao Ruxi was actually cheerful and generous. As long as you didn't provoke her, she was very easy to talk to and treated her subordinates very well. She would help anyone in need and would occasionally have her steward invite everyone to a banquet. Even the clerks in the yamen dared to talk to her.

Those in charge of the household registration office and the workshops, which were closely related to her responsibilities, were especially close to her. They also spoke to her less reservedly than before.

"I developed it, drew up the blueprints, and then had it manufactured," Zhao Ruxi said. "We'll start water conservancy construction and land reclamation tomorrow, and everyone needs a handy tool."

"You developed this?" Shi Jingcheng was taken aback, his eyes widening like saucers. He looked at the farm tools on the ground and then at Zhao Ruxi, unable to reconcile the land reclamation tools with the beautiful noble lady.

Has this noble lady ever dug a hole? It seems absurd that someone who has never even dug a hole would create farming tools.

They were talking in the courtyard of the yamen (government office), and Shi Jingcheng spoke loudly enough that everyone inside the house could hear him.

Liu Hongyu, Cai Yaozong, and others, upon hearing that Zhao Ruxi had developed a new farming tool, also came out of the house to watch out of curiosity.

"After you made it, did you have someone test it? If it turns out to be useless, all those iron tools you forged will have been wasted," Shi Jingcheng said.

There were at least a hundred farm tools piled up in the yard. Although these iron tools could be taken back to the blacksmith's shop to be melted down and used to make other things, it took a lot of effort to make them. If they were useless, the labor cost would be completely wasted.

When Zhao Ruxi saw Liu Hongyu come out, she smiled and said, "Lord Liu is out. Perfect timing, I was just about to report this matter to you."

She pointed to the farm tools on the ground. "I have already reported these farm tools I developed to the Emperor. Tomorrow, the Emperor will send officials from the Ministry of Works to see how they are used for land reclamation."

Liu Hongyu: "..."

Although Zhao Ruxi was in charge of the farmland and had invented the farming tools herself, giving her the right to report directly to the Emperor, Liu Hongyu couldn't bear the thought of her constantly reporting to the Emperor and keeping his attention focused on the small Nanyang.

Countless words swirled on his lips before he chose some tactful words, saying, "Lord Zhao's ability to develop agricultural tools is a great thing for the country and its people. However, I think it would be more prudent to test them in Nanyang first, let the farmers feel they are satisfactory, and then report them to the Emperor."

"Lord Liu is right. I will be more careful in the future," Zhao Ruxi said with a smile.

These farm tools were obtained by spending a lot of points, so she couldn't just give them away for nothing. If she just handed them out like that, someone might claim credit for them and say they invented them, which would make her furious.

So she had the farm tools made, and after having them tested in the Zhao Residence's vegetable garden and finding no problems, she drew a diagram, took the actual tools, wrote a letter describing them, and had them sent to the master craftsman in the capital so that he could take them to the palace to show to Xiao Ge.

As for whether Xiao Ge intends to directly announce the designs of agricultural tools so that merchants from all over the country can make money, or whether he wants to open an agricultural tool production workshop with her to make a little money, it all depends on the Emperor's own choice.

However, based on a rigorous scientific approach, and in order to have actual data to demonstrate the high efficiency of this tool, before mass-producing it and promoting it to farmers throughout the Great Jin, Xiao Ge decided to send people from the Ministry of Works to Nanyang to take a look and collect statistics on the land reclamation situation after using the new tool.

That's why the Ministry of Works officials came to inspect the farm tools the next day.

She made three kinds of farm tools in total.

One type is the nail hoe, which requires less effort than the hoe.

Another type is a combination of a hoe and a shovel. This hoe has two rows of nails and a flat foothold at the top, which allows you to better use your foot to press into the soil and then use leverage to pry the soil up.

Both types of farm tools are used by one person, depending on which one is more convenient for the individual. Because these tools are widely used and relatively mature in modern times, there are no major problems, so she makes a large quantity of each type, fifty in total, enough to supply one hundred people.

In addition, she also crafted a more complex soil-turning tool, which included a soil-turning fork and a soil-crushing fork. The soil-turning fork contained a fork head, a fork head fixing frame, and a fork handle, while the soil-crushing fork contained a fixing frame and longitudinal strips for crushing soil.

This tool is quite complex to make; the system found it online. However, perhaps due to the mechanization of modern agriculture, this tool hasn't been widely adopted, and no one seems to use it. Intrigued, she drew up the design and made it herself.

Whether the design itself was flawed or the data stolen by the system was incomplete, after the tool was made, Zhao Ruxi had it tested in the vegetable garden in the backyard of the Zhao Residence. Although it could be used, it always felt somewhat awkward.

Therefore, she hasn't brought out this tool yet, intending to study it further and improve it so that it can truly plow the land efficiently before promoting it on a large scale.

The next day, Zhao Ruxi went directly to the land she had chosen for reclamation.

When she arrived, Shi Jingcheng from the workshop, along with his yamen runners and new farm tools, were already waiting there. Besides them, Liu Hongyu, Cai Yaozong, and Li Li were also there.

"Lord Liu, Lord Cai, Lord Li, what brings you here?" Zhao Ruxi asked in surprise.

"Haha, we were just curious about your new farm tools, so we all came to take a look," Liu Hongyu said.