Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 215 Strange Skills and Ingenious Techniques!

Without the harvester, if Magistrate Yang had dared to order around Emperor Zhu Chongba even once, he would have been remembered by Zhu Chongba and might have been tormented by him at any time.

Just like last time when that dead eunuch Chen Zhong was sent to torment Magistrate Yang.

But with the harvester, Emperor Zhu Chongba suddenly felt that it wasn't so unacceptable.

So what if I'm being bossed around by Old Zhu's son-in-law?

We're all family, so let's just do whatever we want. Old Zhu agrees!

After laughing foolishly for most of the day, Emperor Zhu Chongba finally ordered Erhu, "Go and summon Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, and Shan Anren for us."

After Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, and Minister of Works Shan Anren arrived at the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Zhu Chongba pointed directly at the harvester placed in the main hall and said, "My three ministers, take a look at this thing."

Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, and Shan Anren stepped forward, circled the harvester a few times, and then all looked at Emperor Zhu with bewildered expressions.

Seeing the three of them, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but laugh out loud. He first waved the memorial in his hand, and then had Erhu hand the memorial to Li Shanchang.

"Brother Shanchang, you probably didn't expect this, did you? A few craftsmen in Ningyang County thought that harvesting wheat with sickles was too slow, so they actually came up with this wonderful thing."

While Li Shanchang was reading the memorial, Emperor Zhu said with a smile, "According to what the magistrate of Ningyang County said in his memorial, the speed at which this thing called a harvester is operated by manpower should be about the same as the speed at which people harvest wheat with sickles. But if it is replaced by livestock, the speed will be much faster than when people use sickles."

Liu Bowen's heart stirred. He walked to the harvester again and examined it carefully. Then he smiled and cupped his hands to Emperor Zhu, saying, "Congratulations on your ascension to the throne! The craftsmen of Ningyang County have created such an ingenious harvester. It will be much easier for the people of my Great Ming to harvest wheat in the future."

But as soon as he finished speaking, Liu Bowen frowned slightly and said, "No, it's not just wheat—other crops like millet and upland rice should also be harvested with this harvester?"

Emperor Zhu laughed heartily again and said, "Mr. Qingtian has a good eye! Indeed, this thing can be used not only to harvest wheat, but also to harvest millet, dry rice, and other crops. With a little modification, it can even be used to harvest beans."

After Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Li Shanchang had already read the memorial and handed it to Liu Bowen.

Li Shanchang stroked his beard and smiled, "Congratulations on taking office! With this harvester, the lives of the people will indeed be much better."

Zhu Chongba smiled and nodded, then turned his gaze to the Minister of Works, who still looked bewildered: "We'll give this good thing to your Ministry of Works. After you take it back, have someone carefully make a few copies, and then find a way to test it a few times using weeds or something similar. When it's time to harvest the spring wheat, have someone take it to the wheat field to test it again."

Although still somewhat bewildered, Minister of Works Shan Anren agreed without hesitation.

It's just a matter of building a few more harvesters. Since the carpenters in Ningyang County can do it, the master craftsmen in the Ministry of Works can certainly do it too. Not to mention there are samples right here. It's not difficult at all to copy something like this!

By the way, I'll hand this matter over to the clerk of the Ministry of Works' Department of Agricultural Reclamation and Land Management later—you, Emperor Zhu, can order me around, so of course I can order the clerk of the Ministry of Works' Department of Agricultural Reclamation and Land Management.

After leaving the Qianqing Palace, Li Shanchang stroked his beard and smiled, then said to Shan Anren, "Minister Shan, this is a great thing that will benefit all the people of the world. Even we will benefit from it, so we must not be careless."

Dan Anren was slightly taken aback, then cupped his hands to Li Shanchang and said, "Prime Minister Li, rest assured, this humble official will personally oversee this matter and there will be no mistakes."

After receiving Li Shanchang's reminder, Shan Anren had figured it out. This matter could not be left to the Tuntian Qingli Si (a local government office responsible for land reclamation). He himself had to keep a close eye on it. Not only did Li Xiang's family own a large amount of land, but he also had a lot of land of his own. Last year, when the whole family worked together to harvest the wheat, they still couldn't keep up. In the end, they had to hire some wheat harvesters to help with the harvest, which cost them a lot of money.

Those are all my personal assets!

It's my money that's being spent!

Thinking of this, Shan Anren couldn't help but sigh slightly and said, "If only Magistrate Yang could produce more of these good things!"

……

As a famous, decadent writer, Mr. A'er, once said, historical turning points often begin with some seemingly insignificant changes.

For example, Magistrate Yang originally only invented the combine harvester so that the people of Ningyang County could harvest wheat with their backs straight. Other than that, he just wanted to take the opportunity to set up a workshop so that the people of Ningyang County could earn more money.

But to everyone's surprise, after witnessing the efficiency of the combine harvester pulled by livestock in cutting grass, the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty court rushed over to it like they had discovered something amazing.

All the officials shared a remarkably consistent attitude: "I don't care what the Ministry of Works does, we have to find a way to improve this harvester, and we have to mass-produce it quickly."

Because the families of the lords all owned a large amount of land, whether it was bestowed by Emperor Zhu Chongba or purchased later, everyone had a need for harvesters.

Meanwhile, the gentry in the common people quickly split into two extremes.

The so-called "scholars" among the gentry were those who had not yet entered officialdom. These people did not necessarily own much land, so their need for harvesters was not very obvious. In addition, Emperor Zhu had canceled various preferential treatments, so these people naturally harbored great resentment towards Emperor Zhu and the Ming Dynasty, and they also held a hostile attitude towards the appearance of harvesters.

"Strange and ingenious tricks!"

"This thing is a malevolent monster that disturbs people's peace of mind and will make people no longer feel safe to farm!"

"When the people have more free time, they start to overthink, and overthinking easily leads to trouble. Sooner or later, the court will regret it!"

The so-called "gentry" among the gentry mostly owned a certain amount of land. After all, not all local officials were like Magistrate Yang who would distribute land to the people, and not all "gentry" abandoned their land and fled like Liu Hongchang and Master Geng.

These "gentry" think much like Minister of Works Shan Anren: If there were no combine harvesters, I would have to spend money to hire harvesters to help me harvest the wheat. But if there were combine harvesters, would I still need to spend money to hire people to harvest the wheat?

"This is a wonderful thing that benefits the country and its people!"

Besides these "gentry" whose core interests were landowners, there was another group of gentry in the Ming Dynasty whose core interests included both land and maritime trade. Therefore, their attitude towards harvesters was the most complex.