Daqin: Compared with his sons, Ying Zheng is jealous

【After testing the plow, Prince Fusu once again looked at the iron plow that the farmers had used to till the fields, and fell into deep thought.】

【Seeing this, everyone present did not dare to make a sound to disturb him, for fear of interrupting Prince Fusu's thoughts.】

【After all, Prince Fusu only used his brain a little bit and improved the"畎亩法" and came up with the"代田法""】

【After that, Prince Fusu thought about it for a while and invented such an efficient and practical sowing plow.】

【Now Prince Fusu started thinking again, would he also make improvements to the iron plow they are using now?】.

【If this happened to other people, they wouldn't believe it.】

【But if it were Prince Fusu, they would firmly believe in it.】

【After thinking for two quarters of an hour, Prince Fusu opened his eyes, squatted on the ground, picked up the branch again and drew the structure of the iron plow on the ground.】

【Then Prince Fusu waved his hand, motioning Xu Zi and Xiang Liji to squat down and discuss,"I have an idea about the plows we are using now. Let's discuss it together."】

【Xu Zi and Xiang Li Ji immediately squatted down, one on the left and one on the right, on both sides of Prince Fusu.】

【After both of them squatted down, Prince Fusu spoke up and said,"The most important thing for the people of Guizhou to cultivate is to plow the land, or to loosen the soil."】

【"Therefore, in order to loosen the soil, the people of Guizhou would use a hoe to loosen the soil when they were farming."】

【"However, when using the plow, you need to first insert the pointed end into the soil, then step on the crossbar with your foot to make the stick go deeper, and then turn it out."】

【"This process is time-consuming and laborious, so in order to further save time and labor, some wise man invented the plow!"】

【"Our current plow is mainly composed of three parts: the plow tip, the plow beam, and the plowshare."】

【"The plow tip is mostly made of wood, and a person controls the direction of the plow."】

【"The plow beam is also mostly made of wood and is mainly attached to the oxen."】

【The 10" plowshare is usually made of iron and is installed on the wooden plowshare when plowing the land. It is mainly used to break the soil."】

【"In this way, one person or an animal pulls the plow in front, and another person supports the plow from behind, so that the soil can be loosened and furrowed."】

【"Compared with the plow, the efficiency of ploughing is greatly improved."】

【"But I think this iron plow can be further improved."】

【"For example, an additional curved plate made of cast iron or steel is added to the plow."】

【"Of course, if there is no iron, you can make do with wooden boards or something like that."】

【"This curved plate is placed above the plowshare and tilted to one side with a smooth surface so that the plowed soil can be turned aside."】

【"In this way, the iron plow can loosen and turn the soil at the same time"】

【"Master Xu, Minister Ji, what do you think?"】

【"Is this improved design feasible?"】

【Xu Zi's eyes immediately lit up and he said,"It should be feasible. In this way, loosening the soil and turning the soil can be done at the same time."】

【"After loosening the soil, the people of Guizhou no longer need to turn the soil over again, which greatly saves some effort."】

【Xiang Liji, who was standing by, also took a look at the sketch of the parts drawn by Prince Fusu on the ground and answered directly:"No problem, it is very simple to add this part to the current iron plow. All you need is a hand."】

【After receiving the approval of two professionals, Xu Zi and Xiang Liji, Prince Fusu smiled and said,"It's good if it works."】

【Xu Zi pointed to the extra part drawn by Crown Prince Fusu and asked,"I wonder if Your Highness has a name for this additional part?"】

【Prince Fusu thought for a moment and said,"Let's call this part the Plow Wall."】

【Prince Fusu then said:"In addition to adding this plow mirror, I saw that when the farmers used the iron plow to cultivate the land, the plow shaft seemed to be too long."】

【"Especially when turning and reversing, the operation is more difficult"】

【"So I was thinking, if the straight plow beam is changed to a curved one, can the plow beam be shortened to make it easier and lighter to operate?"】

【Hearing this suggestion, Xu Zi and Xiang Liji fell silent.】

【Change a straight shaft into a curved shaft?】

【It seems no one has ever tried it before.】

【Xiang Liji was the first to respond:"If you want to change it, then we in the Mohist School can definitely change it."】

【"However, after the modification, whether it is suitable for use or not, we still need Xu Zi and others to help practice it before we can know the answer."】

【Xu Zi also nodded and said,"No problem, you first make the curved plow that His Highness mentioned, and see if it is suitable for use. Then our farmers will go and practice it."】

【Xiangli Ji then led a group of Mohist disciples to start making a"straight-beam plow" with a plowboard and the so-called"curved-beam plow"."】

【In just a quarter of an hour, the"straight-beam plow" equipped with a plow wall was completed first, and then handed over to Xu Zi and other farm children to experience farming.】

【Two quarters of an hour later, Xiangli Ji and other Mohist disciples also made the first rough version of the"Curved Plow", and then handed it over to Xu Zi and other farmers to conduct farming experiments.】

【At the same time, the farmers who were responsible for testing the"straight-beam plow" with plow walls would also come back to strongly affirm the role of the plow walls.】

【With the plowboard, the new plow can loosen and turn the soil at the same time, and the efficiency of farming is further improved.】

【Then another quarter of an hour passed, and the farmer who had been in charge of testing the"curved plow" came back to talk about his experience of using the"curved plow" for farming.】

【However, the modified"curved plow" was not as light and easy to use as Prince Fusu and others had imagined.】

【However, Xiang Liji felt that Prince Fusu's idea should be feasible, but their design and production were not perfect enough.】

【So Xiangli Ji took a group of Mohist disciples to dismantle the original curved plow and rebuild it.】

【During this process, Prince Fusu put forward his own ideas from time to time, and Xu Zi and other farm boys also put forward their own needs from time to time.】

【Under such circumstances, the curved plow was initially dismantled and rebuilt due to various ideas, opinions and needs.】

【As a result, the whole day passed without the curved plow being really finished.】

【However, Xiang Liji and other Mohist disciples were not discouraged. Instead, they were full of fighting spirit and said that they would definitely make the curved plow that everyone wanted tomorrow!】

【As for the curved plow, Qin King Ying Zheng also had high expectations】

【After all, during the whole day of listening, King Qin Ying Zheng also understood one thing, that is, if the so-called curved plow can really be successfully built】

【Then the improvement of farming efficiency by the curved plow is no less than that of the plow cart invented by Prince Fusu.】

【Therefore, King Ying Zheng of Qin also sent all government affairs to the Dongjun Palace in Shanglinyuan, and planned to stay in Shanglinyuan for a few more days until Xiangli Ji and other Mohist disciples could really build the curved plow.】

【And this wait lasted for five days.】

【King Ying Zheng of Qin, who was handling government affairs in the Dongjun Palace in Shanglinyuan, also received the news sent back by Prince Fusu:"The curved plow has been successfully made."】

【When King Ying Zheng of Qin arrived at the Agricultural Department, he saw a large group of farmers' children surrounding a curved plow as if it were a treasure. They kept stroking it and smiling so hard that their teeth were showing.】

【Seeing the arrival of King Qin Ying Zheng, everyone present bowed to him and said,"Greetings, Your Majesty!"】

【King Qin Ying Zheng raised his hand and said,"No need to be polite!"】

【"Who can tell me its use?"】

【Xiang Liji looked at Prince Fusu, and Prince Fusu nodded slightly, asking him to explain.】

【So Xiang Liji also bowed slightly, and then introduced:"Your Majesty, this is the curved plow that we carefully researched based on your suggestion!"】

【"It mainly adopts a shorter curved beam, a movable plow disc, an improved plow wall, and an adjustable plow arrow and plow scale."】

【"Although compared with the old plow which only had four parts, namely the plow tip, plow beam, plowshare and plow wall, the new curved plow has a total of eleven parts."】

【"They are the plowshare, plowboard, plow bottom, hoe, hoe, plow arrow, plow beam, plow tip, plow guard, plow blade and plow disc."】

【"But with more parts, its farming efficiency has also improved"】

【"Compared with the old plow, the operation of the curved plow is more flexible and labor-saving.���In terms of rotation and U-turn"】

【"At the same time, it also greatly improved farming efficiency and reduced the consumption of manpower and animal power."】

【"If the original iron plow required two people and one ox, or two oxen and three people to plow the land, and the daily plowing area was about one to two acres,"】

【"Then the new curved plow was used for farming, and one man and one ox were enough, and the daily cultivated land was conservatively estimated to be at least three mu."】

【When these words came out, even King Qin Ying Zheng was stunned.】

【One person and one cow, conservatively estimated, more than three acres of land can be cultivated every day?】

【Wouldn’t this double the farming efficiency?】

【No, if we take into account the saved manpower and animal power, the farming efficiency has at least been increased by three to four times!】

【This means that with the same amount of time, manpower and animal power, the common people can cultivate three to four times more land!】

【In other words, the amount of land reclaimed by the Qin State in the future could increase three to four times!】

【In this way, Qin State would have more land to reward its soldiers.】

【At the same time, the Qin State can also harvest more grain!】

【The power of this machine is no less than that of the previous plow cart, and even greater than that of the previous plow cart.】

【After all, no matter how fast the plow can sow seeds, it is useless if there is no arable land for it to sow seeds.】

【The curved plow can allow the people of Guizhou to reclaim more arable land, and then the plow can sow more seeds.】

���In a word, appreciate! You must appreciate!】

【But just like the plow, the curved plow was also proposed by Crown Prince Fusu, so there was no need to reward him.】

【As the Prince of Dongjun, he would basically agree to whatever Prince Fusu wanted.】

【As for the other disciples of the Mohist school and the children of farmers, although they also made great contributions, since the curved plow was not invented by them, it would be a bit unreasonable to confer them titles.】

【After all, strictly speaking, they only benefited from the help of Crown Prince Fusu.】

【Just as King Qin Ying Zheng was thinking about what credit he should give to the Mohist disciples and the peasant children, Prince Fusu suddenly said,"Father, the credit for the curved plow did not belong to me, but to Xiang Liji and Xu Shi."】

【"I just proposed the idea of a curved shaft at the beginning. The other parts added later were discussed and improved by Master Xu and Xiang Liji and others."】

【"Combined with their previous achievements in making and testing the plow cart, I think Xiangli Ji and Master Xu’s contributions should be enough to earn them a title!"】

【Hearing what Prince Fusu said, King Qin Ying Zheng also raised his eyebrows slightly, with a little surprise in his eyes.】

【However, after a brief pause, King Ying Zheng of Qin agreed and said,"Xu Xing, the Minister of Agriculture, and Xiang Liji, the Minister of Works, have made great contributions to the development of the curved plow, and they have also made great contributions to the development and experimentation of the plow."】

【"For their two merits combined, Xu Xing was granted the title of Gongshi, and Xiangli Ji Shangzao was granted the title of Shangzao!"】

【"The other Mohist disciples of the Ministry of Industry and the farmers' disciples of the Ministry of Agriculture also made contributions and were each rewarded with one liter of oil and one liter of salt!"】

【"I hope you will keep up the good work and continue to develop more convenient equipment and tools for the people!"】

【Xu Zi and Xiang Li Ji first bowed to King Qin Ying Zheng and said,"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward!"】

【Then Xu Zi and Xiang Li Ji bowed to Prince Fusu and said,"Thank you, Your Highness, for your reward."】

【After all, Xu Zi and Xiang Li Ji were not blind. It was obvious that the King of Qin had no intention of granting them titles at the beginning. He probably just wanted to reward them with some money and property.】

【Even if King Qin Ying Zheng only rewarded them with some money and property, they would not have any dissatisfaction.】

【Because they also knew that whether it was the plow or the curved plow, the real credit went to Prince Fusu.】

【If we talk about their merits, they are not yet qualified to be conferred a title.】

【However, due to the Crown Prince Fusu's words and his willingness to give up his merits, King Ying Zheng of Qin temporarily changed his reward for them and gave them titles.】

【Therefore, both Xu Zi and Xiang Liji were more grateful to the Crown Prince Fusu who granted them the title.】

【After all, if one does not fight on the battlefield and gain military merit, then it is really difficult to obtain the title of nobility in Qin through other means.】

【Even though they only have first- and second-level titles, from this moment on, they are considered the privileged class of Qin.】

【Even if I make a mistake accidentally in the future, I can use the title to atone for it.】

【And seeing Xu Zihe���Li Ji was grateful to Prince Fusu, and King Ying Zheng of Qin nodded slightly.】

【The reason why he agreed to the request of Prince Fusu just now was to let Prince Fusu show favor to Xu Zi and Xiang Li Ji so that the two would be more devoted to Prince Fusu.】

【After all, as a superior, you have to show favor to your subordinates from time to time, so that you can always keep the loyalty of your subordinates.】

【The Mohist disciples and peasant disciples around him also bowed in unison,"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward, and thank you, Your Highness, for the reward!"】

【Although they were not granted a title, they were rewarded with a liter of oil and a liter of salt just for the little bit of labor they put in.】

【This is definitely a great reward for them.】

【In this era, oil and salt are real valuables.】

【At least in terms of value, this liter of oil and salt is more valuable than the ten stone of refined rice and ten catties of meat given a few days ago.】.

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