My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 43 Zhuge Liang's "Enhanced Suit"

Zhuge Liang also has a temper. After being scolded by his sister as a hands-off boss who "ignores household chores", he certainly wants to prove himself.

The task of unpacking the pile of strange things that his elder brother brought fell on him.

Zhuge Liang called his third brother over and they went through the list together. When they encountered something they didn't recognize, they had to look at the "instruction manual" or "schematic diagram".

"I bought the mung beans in Xiangyang, the coix seeds from a Changsha merchant on Lingnan Road, the wolfberries from a Lingling County merchant on Qianzhong Road, and walnuts were introduced from the Western Regions during this dynasty, but they can now be grown in many places in the Central Plains. As long as you have money, you can buy them from ordinary merchants..."

Zhuge Liang first counted all the food that his eldest brother had asked someone to buy, and wrote down the purchase locations one by one, so that he could purchase more after he had eaten them.

My brother also mentioned some health-promoting foods in his list, but they are not in stock, mainly because fresh foods are inconvenient to transport over long distances.

This requires using the tools taught by the elder brother to catch the fish yourself, which can be regarded as "it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish."

According to the list, Zhuge Liang first found a "longline fishing gear" from a pile of boxes, which also came with drawings and instructions for its use. With Zhuge Liang's intelligence, he quickly realized that this thing could be used to effectively catch large bottom fish, mainly sea bass and mandarin fish.

However, my brother also said in the letter that this "longline fishing" was something he had just figured out, and it is only a rough prototype and can be continuously improved in the future.

After taking a look, Zhuge Liang also felt that the depth of the counterweight of this thing was not very accurate. He could definitely consult with the young lady from the Huang family and come up with a more efficient one.

"That's right. This way, we can have fresh fish every day as Big Brother said. In the afternoon, we can go to the Hanshui tributary behind the village to try it out. Only by using it can we know how to improve it."

And Zhuge Jin obviously had more than one tool to “teach a man to fish”.

Zhuge Liang continued to search in the box and soon found several other tools.

He first picked up two of the farm tools, which seemed to be a set.

The first item is an L-shaped long-handled sickle, which, according to the instructions, is designed to allow harvesting crops and grasses without bending over. After the handle is lengthened and bent, you can sweep a large area while standing like swinging a ball.

The "Jiju" of the Han Dynasty is the polo of later generations, and the club is similar to golf. Zhuge Liang certainly had never seen golf, so he could only imagine it as a polo club.

There is also a net bag behind the sickle blade, which can catch the cut crops and sweep them aside at once. Because the pole is longer, the attack range of each swing of the sickle is several times larger, greatly increasing production efficiency.

Zhuge Liang was also quite skilled in craftsmanship. When he saw this sickle, he always felt that it seemed too simple: If this thing could really improve efficiency so much, why didn't the ancients think of making a long curved sickle? This direction of improvement should be easy to think of.

It was now October and the rice had been harvested long ago, but there were still some leeks outside the yard, so Zhuge Liang decided to try it himself.

"Cha-cha-cha-cha-" Zhuge Liang harvested two rows of crops and immediately discovered the problem.

"No, the environment in which this thing is used is too harsh. When harvesting rice and wheat, you need to hold the stalks with one hand and harvest with the other hand to prevent them from falling over. Although this knife is long and sharp, it can only replace the hand holding the knife, not the hand holding the stalks."

Obviously, this kind of sickle was completely copied by Zhuge Jin when he saw some Douyin videos about agriculture, rural areas and farmers before he traveled through time. He saw that the long curved sickle could protect the waist, so he copied it directly. Zhuge Jin had never farmed before, so he made a fool of himself.

He didn't know that crops in later generations were repeatedly bred to enhance their resistance to lodging, and wheat straw was particularly straight. In addition, the metallurgical industry was strong, so the blade of the sickle could be made very sharp, and the stalk could be cut as soon as it touched it, without the need for hand support.

The crops of the Han Dynasty were not resistant to lodging, and the blades of sickles were not sharp enough. So when Zhuge Liang tried his hand with leeks, the leeks were swept flat.

Finally, you have to bend down and use your other hand to hold up the leeks to cut them. The so-called "reducing bending time and protecting the waist" has become empty talk.

"Brother, you still don't do farming, you just rely on daydreaming, but this idea is not bad. At least there is a net behind the crank to catch the cut crops. If you improve other aspects, it may be useful."

Then he moved on to the next piece of farm equipment - a tool shaped like large wooden scissors, used to dig holes in the ground for planting seeds.

There is also a notch at the end of the scissors handle for tying a rope, which can control the maximum opening and closing distance, so that the spacing of the holes dug in the ground can be consistent each time.

There is also a small bucket for seeds on the handle, which can let a few seeds out with each opening and closing, so that the amount of seeds used is more evenly and economically.

There is no doubt that this thing was also a mediocre piece of stuff that Zhuge Jin made by just scrolling through Douyin as an outsider before he traveled through time.

However, Zhuge Liang verified it again with a pragmatic attitude and found that this thing was indeed more useful than the previous sickle.

At least it can protect the waist and sow seeds more precisely. However, its application scenarios are still too few, and it cannot be used for many crops that are sown extensively.

It is said that these new tools can be used in conjunction with the "Principles of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Life" in Volumes 12 to 14 of the family letter to conduct some breeding research experiments.

……

Zhuge Liang looked at several tools in succession and tested the depth of his elder brother's practical and ingenious knowledge.

It seems that Big Brother also has weaknesses!
There were a few small tools in the box at the end. They had nothing to do with production and were purely for personal use. Zhuge Liang took a quick look at them:
Among them is a new type of small iron stove, which is much easier to make than a large earthen stove, saves fuel, is suitable for long-term stewing, and is easy to carry.

With this stove, they can follow their eldest brother's instructions, eat small meals frequently every day, and drink water only after it is cooked and then cooled.

There was also a special oil lamp. The instructions said that the wick was particularly durable and should be used with the "cow butter" that was delivered with it. This oil was said to be expensive and hard to find, but it could protect the eyes when reading at night. Zhuge Jin also specially reminded in the letter that if you can read and study during the day, you should do it as much as possible and rest early at night.

Do not read in direct sunlight during the day, but it is best to read in a bright place near a window. If it is dark, you must light the cow butter lamp in time, and never wait until it is too dark to see.

He also said that this was a good prescription for young people to protect their eyesight that he had obtained from a famous doctor, and asked his two younger sisters to keep an eye on their younger brother and make sure he followed the prescription.

Cow ghee is a mixture of butter and cow's milk oil, and is about as bright as whale oil among biological oils.

But it was difficult to hunt whales in the Han Dynasty, and there were no kerosene lamps.

Zhuge Jin was able to remember this recipe because in his previous life, he was dragged to Lingyin Temple for a trip by several superstitious colleagues. He saw that among the eternal lamps they donated, there was one that was particularly bright when lit. Only then did he know that this kind of fragrant oil is called cow ghee.

There is no other way now, so I'll just use this for now.

At the very end of the list, there are a few protective gear for physical exercise to protect the joints. They are made of some leather with good elasticity or even animal stomach sacs. They can be used in conjunction with the fitness gymnastics methods in the last volume of the family letter.

……

Zhuge Liang unpacked all the things his elder brother gave him and learned how to use them.

We also picked out those that still had obvious problems and needed further improvement.

I plan to think about it myself when I have time, and when Miss Huang comes to visit me one day, we can discuss it together.

In any case, at least 70% to 80% of the things given by the eldest brother can be used directly, which makes Zhuge Liang feel extremely warm, but also very pressured.

If the elders in the family attach too much importance to his studies, the one being served will definitely feel psychological pressure.

It’s like many academic kings in later generations were told by their families, “Don’t worry about anything else, just study. If you still don’t do well, who can you be worthy of?”

Fortunately, Zhuge Jin did not set any learning goals for his second brother.

When it comes to the question of "what to learn", Zhuge Liang is still completely independent based on his personal interests.

If you study what you like and are interested in, the pressure will be less.

After adjusting his mindset, Zhuge Liang finally embarked on the path of self-study.

It is necessary to go to Sima Hui and other Xiangyang celebrities. Zhuge Liang had not yet learned all the traditional knowledge of various schools of thought. It is always beneficial to communicate with people more and verify what you have learned.

So he did some calculations and decided to set aside two hours every day to study the theoretical knowledge in the scrolls provided by his elder brother.

Another hour is taken out to do fishing and animal husbandry, various agricultural breeding experiments, or carry out craft practices.

The rest of the time is spent on seeking out people to exchange ideas, continuing old studies, and improving the body and mind.

This way the entire day's schedule will be quite full.

Zhuge Liang estimated that if he only studied two hour scrolls a day, it would take him eight or ten days to understand one of the difficult scrolls, and five or six days to understand the simple ones. If he studied these things quickly, it would take him two months, and if he studied slowly, it would take him until the end of the year.

……

Zhuge Liang arranged his rhythm according to his own interests and plans, and there is no need to elaborate on the subsequent two months of hard training.

Time has quietly come to mid-October.

About a week after Zhuge Liang began his arduous training, his elder brother Zhuge Jin, under the protection of Chen Dao and accompanied by Chen Deng, finally arrived in Xu County, the temporary capital of the Han Dynasty.

This was the first time in Zhuge Jin's life that he came to the capital of the Han Dynasty, so he was naturally curious.

But he also knew what was important and what was not, so after entering the city, he went to the gate of the imperial palace first, and he and Chen Deng each submitted a memorial from the state or county they represented, and then they moved around freely, staying at the post station waiting to be summoned.

The imperial court was very busy, and petitions submitted by local prefectures and counties were not processed immediately.

You have to submit your application at the bus gate first and then queue up, waiting for the Shangshutai to process it in order and decide whether to meet you or approve it directly. I heard that it will take at least three to five working days.

Theoretically speaking, if Cao Cao or Xun Yu did not intend to meet with them and directly gave a written reply, then Zhuge Jin and Chen Deng would have to return to Xuzhou in shame with the reply letter.

Zhuge Jin was bored of waiting for notification, so he decided to wander around Xu County for a few days.

(End of this chapter)