I started on a deserted island and encountered Ying Zheng, who insisted I was an immortal.

"Even if it's a mountain of knives or a sea of ​​fire ahead, I will brave it all!"

The boatman gritted his teeth, bowed heavily, and rushed out of the cabin.

"By the Prime Minister's order! Hoist the sails! Brave the waves and forge ahead!"

In the fierce winds that could overturn everything, huge sails were raised once again.

In the past few days, they have searched several islands in the nearby waters, but to no avail.

But Li Si firmly believed in one principle: whether alive or dead, he wanted to see the person.

"How can you say we have no clothes? We share the same robes. The king is raising an army; let us prepare our spears and shields. We will fight alongside you against this enemy!"

On the deck, battered by wind and rain, someone started a powerful and desolate song that broke through the waves and resounded across the sea and sky.

"How can you say we have no clothes? We will share our garments with you. The king is raising an army; let us prepare our spears and halberds. We will fight together!"

That was the fierce courage ingrained in the bones of the Qin people.

……

The wind stopped and the rain ceased the following morning.

The sky was washed clean and clear, and the sunlight shone on the damp trees, causing a thin layer of mist to rise. The air was so fresh that one wanted to take a deep breath.

"Look! Rainbow Bridge!"

Meng Yi suddenly pointed to the distant sky and shouted excitedly.

A magnificent, seven-colored arched bridge spans the sky, stretching from one side of the sea to the other side of the mountains.

"Sir! This is an auspicious sign of heaven and earth!" He turned to look at Zhang Ying, who had just walked out of the cave.

Zhang Ying yawned and glanced at him sleepily.

"It's just a rainbow, what's the big deal?"

"It rained so heavily last night, and the sun is shining today. The air is so humid, isn't it normal for a rainbow to appear?"

He casually gave these three country bumpkins a free science lesson.

"The essence of a rainbow is that sunlight shines on tiny water droplets in the air, causing the light to be refracted and reflected. It's an optical phenomenon, understand?"

"From the outside in, there are seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple."

Ying Zheng, Wang Ben, and Meng Yi were all stunned.

Refraction? Reflection? Optics?

Although I didn't understand a single word, it just sounded really impressive.

Seeing their bewildered expressions, Zhang Ying didn't bother to explain any further.

"Alright, stop looking and hurry up and eat."

He pointed to the breakfast laid out on the stone table: roasted potatoes and fish soup.

"After you finish eating, the three of you will come with me to work in the fields."

"Go to the ground?"

Wang Ben's voice suddenly rose eight octaves, and his panda eye, which was still swollen, widened in surprise.

He pointed to himself, then to Ying Zheng and Meng Yi.

He was the Marquis of Tongwu of the Great Qin Dynasty, and the Marquis of Che, who had made outstanding military achievements.

This man was the Grand Minister of the Qin Dynasty, the Imperial Censor who oversaw all officials.

And then there was His Majesty the First Emperor, who unified the six kingdoms and whose power extended to all corners of the world!

Go down to the fields?

Zhang Ying looked at Wang Ben with an expression as if he were an idiot.

"It's harvest season now, so of course we have to go dig potatoes."

He took out a small wicker basket from the thatched hut and handed it to Ying Zheng.

"Here, try this, it's a new snack."

The basket contained slices of potato as thin as cicada wings, covered with fine salt grains, glistening enticingly in the sunlight.

This isn't actually an oily sheen.

Zhang Ying simply sliced ​​the potatoes into thin slices, soaked them briefly in seawater, and then placed them on rocks at a temperature of over 40 degrees Celsius at noon to be exposed to the sun for three hours.

The dehydrated potato chips become crispy and have a natural salty taste, which is his latest invention to relieve boredom.

Ying Zheng picked up a piece and put it in his mouth.

"Click."

A crisp sound rang out.

A pure potato aroma and just the right amount of saltiness exploded in my mouth instantly.

Ying Zheng stopped moving.

He savored it carefully; it was a completely different taste from boiled and roasted potatoes—fragrant, crispy, and with an unforgettable aftertaste.

"This thing is so delicious."

He praised it sincerely.

"Make more; this is very good."

After saying that, he didn't stand on ceremony and grabbed a handful, stuffing it into his wide left sleeve.

After thinking for a moment, he grabbed another handful and stuffed it into his right sleeve.

It looks just like a squirrel stealing nuts.

Wang Ben watched from the side, swallowing hard.

Ying Zheng glanced at him, then took out a few pieces from his sleeve and handed them over.

"You were rewarded for saving the emperor yesterday."

He grabbed a handful of dried sweet potatoes and stuffed them into Wang Ben's hands.

Wang Ben was flattered and accepted the gift, popped a piece into his mouth, and squinted his eyes in happiness.

"It tastes good, but it's a bit dry," he muttered.

"How about I get you a whole bottle of chilled Sprite?" Zhang Ying rolled her eyes. "Enough nonsense, get to work in the fields."

The group walked deeper into the potato field.

Several oddly shaped farm tools were leaning against the edge of the field.

Ying Zheng stopped in his tracks.

He picked up one of them; it was a wooden sickle, but the blade was inlaid with rows of incredibly sharp white serrations.

These serrations are not a straight line, but rather crisscross from side to side, gleaming with a cold light.

"Sir, what is the purpose of this?"

"A sickle, it's for harvesting," Zhang Ying explained.

"Since there was no iron on the island, I made the blade out of the sturdiest ironwood. The serrations were made from seashells."

"The principle is similar to a saw; make it serrated to cut things more efficiently."

Upon hearing this, Ying Zheng swung the branch, which was as thick as an arm, at the side.

"Snap—"

The wooden sickle easily sawed through the branch, leaving a relatively clean cut.

"It works well," Ying Zheng commented.

"The straighter the saw teeth, the better," Zhang Ying added. "Two rows of teeth that are staggered make it less likely to get stuck, making it smoother whether you're harvesting rice or sawing wood."

Of course, he didn't mention that sawing wood with this thing was too much work; he mainly used it to harvest rice.

This small modification is the culmination of the wisdom of countless craftsmen in later generations, and he is now using it.

Meng Yi listened attentively and nodded repeatedly. He then took out his notebook and quickly drew a diagram, noting down the words "interlaced serrations".

Upon arriving at the field, Zhang Ying gave Wang Ben and Meng Yi each a uniquely shaped wooden shovel.

"Dig! Dig out all the potatoes!"

At a single command, the Marquis of Tongwu and the Grand Censor of Qin resigned themselves to their fate, bent down, and began digging.

At first, the two of them were a little reserved.

But when Wang Ben shoveled down and brought out a bunch of seven or eight round potatoes, his eyes turned red.

"Here! There's a huge area here!"

He shouted excitedly, his hands moving so fast they left afterimages, like a groundhog digging in the ground.

Meng Yi quickly dug up a large patch of potatoes. This high-ranking official, who usually paid the most attention to his appearance, didn't care about his image at this moment. He rolled up his sleeves and worked with great enthusiasm.

A miraculous product that yields 5,000 catties per mu!

Being able to dig them out of the ground with your own hands is an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

Because Ying Zheng had a leg injury, Zhang Ying granted him special permission to sit on the edge of the field to rest.

As he watched his two ministers working enthusiastically, and then looked at the boundless fields, a question arose in his mind.

He turned to Zhang Ying, who was supervising the work, and asked, "Sir, are all nearly a hundred acres of fertile land on this island cultivated by you alone?"

"yes."

"But... tilling the land and sowing seeds is not something one person can do alone, and besides, you have no oxen to help you."

In Ying Zheng's mind, without oxen, cultivating a hundred acres of land was an impossible feat.

Zhang Ying found the question somewhat amusing.

"Who says you can't plow a field without an ox?"

He gestured towards a corner of the field.

"Do you see that thing?"

Ying Zheng looked in the direction he was pointing.

There, there was a strangely shaped wooden farm tool.

Unlike the heavy straight-shaft plow of the Qin Dynasty, its plowshare is curved, and the combination of the plowshare and the plowshare itself exudes an indescribable ingenuity.

"What is this?"