met free Chapter 211 Why not plant crops just because you hear crickets chirping?
Chapter 211 Why not plant crops just because you hear crickets chirping?
The 29th day of the fourth month of the second year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty was the Grain in Ear season.
As dawn broke and the temperature was not yet too high, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng stood in the wheat field. He first turned his head to look at the villagers of Liumiao Village at the edge of the field, and then gripped the sickle in his hand tightly.
It is said that Liu Thirty-Two spent most of the day repeatedly sharpening this sickle, to the point that it could be used to cut down wheat, making it a divine weapon for harvesting wheat.
Unfortunately, Magistrate Yang had never harvested wheat before, and his experience with a harvesting knife was zero. However, the so-called wheat harvesting ceremony required Magistrate Yang to personally cut a stalk of wheat from the field to announce the start of the harvest.
Magistrate Yang took a deep breath, bent down, and with his left hand facing down, grabbed a stalk of wheat. With his right hand, he extended the sickle to the bottom of the wheat stalk and gently pulled it back. With a slight ripping sound, the stalk of wheat was cut off.
Tsk tsk, it has to be me, I succeeded on my first wheat harvest!
Magistrate Yang boasted to himself for a moment, then held the sheaf of wheat he had just cut high above his head, turned around and shouted to the villagers of Liu Miao Village at the edge of the field: "Wheat harvest time!"
As Magistrate Yang finished speaking, the villagers of Liumiao Village at the edge of the field also shouted, "Harvest the wheat!" Then, the able-bodied men and women, holding sickles, rushed into the field to start cutting the wheat.
From start to finish, it probably takes less than a minute in total, and that's when the so-called wheat harvesting ceremony is considered over.
With a beaming smile, Liu Sanshier approached Magistrate Yang, took the sickle from his hand, gestured with his hand, and bowed and scraped as he said, "My lord, I've already had the water boiled, and we'll be able to make tea in a little while."
Yang Shaofeng glanced at the sickle that Liu Sanshier had taken, then looked at the wheat in the field, and suddenly felt an urge to harvest another acre of land.
Seeing Magistrate Yang's eager look, Liu Thirty-Two was terrified and hurriedly advised, "Sir, harvesting wheat is hard work. If I ask you to harvest wheat, not to mention how the people of other villages and communities will scold me, even the people of Liu Temple Village will not let me off easily."
The excuse given was almost identical to that used before when Magistrate Yang was not allowed to work in the fields. No matter how much Magistrate Yang wanted to experience the hardship of harvesting wheat, Liu Thirty-Two refused to agree.
Let the lord harvest the wheat?
Good heavens! It's already a miracle that the magistrate can preside over the wheat harvest ceremony. Who would dare let the magistrate continue cutting wheat?
Judging from the way the old man was holding the sickle just now, it probably won't be long before he's too tired to straighten up, and he might even cut himself.
So, the old man can just sit back and drink his tea in the fields and watch the people of Liumiao Village harvest wheat. We absolutely must not let him come to the fields to harvest wheat himself.
Then, Yang Shaofeng, who still had some sense of self-awareness, could only return to the shade of a tree not far from the edge of the field, lie on a recliner like a salted fish, enjoy the treatment of being served tea and fanned by a maid, and watch the villagers of Liumiao Village harvest wheat.
Harvesting wheat is no easy task, because you have to bend over, grab the wheat stalks with one hand and swing the sickle with the other to cut the wheat one stalk at a time. Because of bending over for a long time, your back will become sore and painful after cutting just a few meters.
However, the farmers who were harvesting wheat dared not stop, because no one could predict when it would rain. They had to finish harvesting, drying, threshing, and storing all the wheat before it rained, so as not to ruin the wheat that they had worked so hard to cultivate for half a year because of a rainstorm.
Then the problem is coming.
Harvesting wheat causes back pain and soreness, but the people dare not stop to rest. What should they do?
The answer is to take a break after cutting a certain distance of wheat, and then straighten up to rest while wiping away sweat with the handkerchief draped around your neck. This counts as a rest, and then you can bend down to continue cutting wheat.
Or if they are really too tired, they can go back to the edge of the field to drink some water and walk around a few steps to rest.
As for the fact that the sun is too strong at midday, making people dizzy and the sweat-soaked short-sleeved shirt sticking to their body is too uncomfortable.
Between feeling unwell and being hungry, no one would choose to go hungry, right?
Besides, harvesting wheat is hard work. You need to eat a meal at midday to ensure you have the energy for harvesting wheat in the afternoon. So after your family brings you lunch, find a slightly shady place to eat. This can be considered a rest time.
Imagine hiding in the shade like Magistrate Yang, lying on a deck chair watching others work?
What a joke! What decent family would dare to do that? Even the village's notorious lazybones wouldn't dare to just sit around like that!
As the old saying goes, if a person fools the earth for a day, the earth will fool the person for a year.
If you slack off for a day, the wheat harvest might be reduced by a hundred or more kilograms. Which farmer would dare to cheat?
If one's body simply cannot withstand the heat, then one can only choose to get up a little earlier and harvest more wheat before dawn breaks and the temperature rises.
As he watched, Magistrate Yang's thinking inevitably began to veer off course.
Could a simple harvester be developed in the Ming Dynasty?
Using wood as the main material, supplemented by a blade structure, and relying on human power to drive the blades, or fixing the blades to a rotating shaft, so that the blades rotate when the shaft rotates, could automatic harvesting be achieved?
It doesn't need to have the complex functions of a combine harvester like those of later generations. It doesn't need to thresh or crush the wheat straw. It just needs to be able to cut the wheat with your back straight, even if it takes more effort.
No, I'll go back to the county office later and figure out how to handle this.
But upon further reflection, Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but feel somewhat discouraged.
The principle behind this is very simple. As long as you come up with an idea and receive enough support, I believe the carpenters in the county should be able to figure it out.
However, Emperor Zhu Chongba seems to have gone mad. If this old man really breaks ties with all the "local gentry and worthies," the Ming Dynasty may be thrown into turmoil once again, and may even become the second feudal dynasty after Wang Mang to perish in one generation.
Who knows what will happen to Ningyang County then? Even if those carpenters can make a simple harvester, so what?
It doesn't seem right either.
Even if the Ming Dynasty experiences turmoil, so what? Does that mean we shouldn't plant crops just because crickets are chirping?
The more Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate, thought about it, the more agitated he became. Finally, he couldn't help but get up from his recliner and directly ordered the yamen runner who had come to Liu Miao Village with him, "Let's go back to the yamen."