A few days later, Montenegro watched the rice in the paddy fields slowly turn yellow, and thought of a new idea. In this era, productivity was very low, and although the shape of the sickle for cutting rice was the same as that of later generations, there were no serrations on the blade, and the saw for sawing wood must have only appeared for a long time. Every time the rice is cut, a handful of ears of rice have to be cut back and forth several times before they can be cut. After cutting, it must be carried to a fixed place by hand and placed together with a wooden stick to thresh, which is really slow and tiring. Montenegro remembered that the sickles and threshing barrels of later generations were not only simple to make, but at least several times more efficient than they are now. So he asked the second brother to discuss, described the threshing barrel and threshing board in the later generations to the second brother, and said to the second brother: "If this thing is made, the efficiency of harvesting will be increased several times, and maybe we can also give the two of us a first-class title!" ”

The second brother is a professional carpentry master, and when he heard it, he understood what to do, so he immediately found tools and wood and began to make it.

Montenegro once again came to the blacksmith Zhuang's house, the blacksmith's house was very different this time, several apprentices were working day and night, and the orders for the iron pot were endless. When the blacksmith Zhuang saw Montenegro coming, he greeted him very enthusiastically, "What kind of wind is blowing you over from Montenegro's nephew!" Let's go, go sit inside! Then he shouted to several of his apprentices: "You guys also go outside to rest, don't make a noise about me talking to my nephew of Montenegro." Then he turned to the house and shouted, "Mother-in-law, the nephew of Montenegro is here!" Tea is coming! ”

After a while, Aunt Zhuang, who was full of red face, brought two bowls of tea, and Montenegro quickly stood up and took a bowl of tea, and said: "Thank you, Aunt Zhuang, Auntie has been red and much younger recently!" ”

"Brother Montenegro, when did your mouth become so sweet? Come and try the red date tea made by my aunt, it's sweet! Aunt Zhuang said, handing the tea to the blacksmith.

"Uncle Zhuang, I came to you today because I have something important, I want you to help me do it yourself, you can't show it to others without my consent, and you can't tell others! Can? Montenegro talked to the blacksmith Zhuang seriously.

"Montenegrin nephew, what are you going to do, just tell Uncle Zhuang, I promise you that I will never reveal it to the second person without your permission." Blacksmith Zhuang patted his chest and assured Montenegro.

Montenegro will tell the appearance of the common sickle in later generations, and tell the iron strong in detail!

"Is it just a few thin, dense tooth shapes on the edge of the sickle? I'll do it myself, and I'll send it to you tomorrow morning! The blacksmith patted his chest again and promised, "But what is this for?" ”

"I don't know if it's good or not, you just have to help me make it first. When the time comes, you'll find out, and remember to keep it a secret! Montenegro took his leave after explaining.

The blacksmith sent Montenegro out enthusiastically, and secretly underestimated in his heart: Why did Montenegro's nephew suddenly change since he came back from the Immortal Cave? It becomes deep and mature. How can this be a fifteen-year-old?

The next morning, the blacksmith Zhuang sent the sickle over, and Montenegro looked at it, and it was almost exactly the same as the sickle of later generations, and it could be used as long as it was equipped with a wooden handle.

In the afternoon, a square threshing bucket was made, four feet in length, four feet in width and four feet in height, which could hold two loads of rice; A wooden pole is inserted in each of the four corners, and a reed mat more than one zhang high is surrounded on three sides of the wooden pole, so that the rice will not fall outside when the grain is threshed! All into the barrel of grain; In the barrel were threshing boards, like small ladders made of wooden planks, but the horizontal planks were much denser than the ladders; The bottom of the barrel is equipped with two curved wooden planks as a base, so that even if the barrel is full of paddy, it can be easily pulled and slid through the rice field.

The three brothers did not rest, and went directly to one of their own relatively precocious rice fields with sickles and threshing buckets to try them out. Sure enough, the speed is several times faster, especially the sickle is very sharp, as long as you gently pull a large handful of rice, you can cut it together, and the speed is at least several times faster than the previous sickle; Threshing buckets are also very convenient, a large handful of rice ears will be cleaned up five or six times, which is several times faster than before, saving time and effort. The people of the village had never seen these things before, and many people came to see the excitement, and they all felt that this harvest speed was several times faster than before. asked the second brother to help them make a set. Montenegro hurriedly found Li Zhengdi, and when Li Zhengdi saw such a useful thing, he hurriedly ran to Dahe Township to report to Tian Dian and the township without saying a word.

Tian Dian and Xiang Sifu were very surprised to see this speed of harvesting, and asked, "Montenegro, how did you come up with the idea of making so many fine and dense serrations on the sickle?" ”

"I saw the second brother's Luban saw, which was easy and fast when it was used to saw wood, so I thought that if I also made a small serration on the sickle, the harvesting speed should become easier and faster, so I tried to make one, and I tried it today, and it was beyond my expectations that the speed was so much faster!" Hei San replied easily, and pretended to touch his head honestly.

"Zhang Ming, how did you come up with the idea of making this kind of threshing bucket?" Tian Dian asked the second brother Ming again.

"I have long had the idea of making this threshing bucket, originally I just thought that it would be convenient to walk while breaking the grain in the field, but when I did it in the past two days, I improved it a little more and it became like this." The second brother discussed with his younger brother tomorrow morning and answered easily.

Tian Dian said to the villagers: "This thing is too practical, the rice is about to be harvested, I suggest that we immediately bring people and sickles, threshing barrels to the county seat, while reporting to the county order, Cheng, on the other hand, immediately arrange for hundreds of engineers in the county workshop to visit immediately, so that this year's autumn harvest task will be much easier!" ”

"Go to the county seat and set off overnight!" Both Xiang Sifu and Li Zheng agreed.

As soon as the discussion was settled, a few young men offered to help carry the grain buckets into the city. Li Zhengdi immediately gave everyone an inspection (equivalent to an ID card) and a pass (equivalent to a letter of introduction from the unit). Montenegro saw that the blacksmith Zhuang was also watching the excitement, so he told him that he could make the sickle in large quantities, and first ensure that it was used by the villagers before it could be sold! After explaining, he and everyone set off to the county seat.

Zhangjia Village is more than 100 miles away from Tongbai County, go to the Dahe Township Pavilion in the middle of the night to rest in the pavilion with the test and pass on the rumor, continue to rush the next morning, and arrive at the county seat at noon.

As soon as he arrived at the county seat, Tian Dian immediately reported to the county order and the county cheng, and the county order and the county cheng also found a ripe rice field, found two official servants, and tried them separately, and sure enough, the speed was several times faster.

The county magistrate immediately ordered: "Load these things into the truck immediately, and Tian Dian and the county grain Cao will lead ten county soldiers to the county government to report to the county Shouteng." The Zhang brothers temporarily stayed in the county workshop to guide the county engineers to make new sickles and threshing buckets! Li Zheng and the others returned to Zhangjia Village to prepare for the autumn harvest, and sent two officials and servants back with them to harvest crops on behalf of the two brothers Ming and Zhang Shan. Inform all the craftsmen and officials and slaves of the county workshop to temporarily suspend the tasks of other things, and make every effort to produce 2,000 sickles and 1,000 sets of threshing barrels. Notify the county and the pavilions to send mail, ready at any time, as soon as the workshop is produced, it will be immediately sent to the townships, first far and then near, and strive for the autumn harvest, half of the villagers in the county can use it. ”

Every county in the Qin State has a workshop, and there is a big engineer and workshop commander in a workshop, in charge of several carpenters, ironworkers, etc., and each engineer has blacksmiths, carpenters, stonemasons, and leathermen, with hundreds of people and dozens of people. Each artisan was also accompanied by several or dozens of servants. Tongbai County is close to Chu and Han, and the scale of the county workshop is relatively large. There were more than 200 craftsmen in charge of weapons and agricultural tools.

Montenegro sighed, the efficiency of the officials of the Qin State is so fast, it has only been a few hours, and the county order is already ready to promote things to all townships and villages in the county!

At night, the Montenegrin brothers were arranged by the county officials to live in the county pavilion post, and the county government officials specially explained to the pavilion that these two people were arranged by the county order to stay here for a few days! It is necessary to recruit generations. When Guan Cheng heard that it was arranged by the county order, he immediately enthusiastically and seriously helped the two people register the inspection and pass, and arranged for them to live in a room, the room was simple, but it was a room that only county-level officials could live in. As soon as the brothers finished taking a bath, the official servant brought a large bucket of rice, a pot of stew, a pot of vegetables, and a pot of soup, which were full of portions. It's been a long time since they've eaten anything so good, and the brothers let go of their bellies, but they even ate all the meals and soups.

The next day, the first batch of sickles and threshing barrels were prepared, and ten of them were given priority to Zhangjia Village.

During the day, the second brother Ming was more honest and stayed in the county workshop to make threshing buckets with the engineers. Over the past ten days, his craftsmanship and diligence have been recognized by all the craftsmen. Montenegro only symbolically walked around the workshop every day, looked at the sickles made by the blacksmiths in the workshop, ran around the city, and went back to the pavilion to eat when he was hungry! Due to the lack of oil and water in the meal, I gained a lot of weight in a few days.

Half a month later, the workshop had completed the tasks assigned by the county order, and the second brother Ming took Montenegro to resign to the engineers.

"We have already recommended you to the county magistrate Peng Bao to be a carpenter in the county workshop, and it is estimated that there will be news in a few days." The workshop order said to Ming, "I hope you don't shirk when the time comes." ”

"The workshop order is so loved, I am willing to serve!" The second brother listened and happily agreed. In the past few days, he has learned that a worker not only has a monthly salary of 600 yuan, but also has an official servant to help with farm work when the farm is busy. The key is that the household registration can be changed to a craftsman, and there is no longer a need to serve as a laborer.

The brothers left the workshop and went home happy. Along the way, the second brother Ming was very excited, seeing that the brothers' "gongshi" was about to arrive again, and there would be two more acres of paddy fields in the family, and he might become an engineer again, a master was in charge of several craftsmen and dozens of officials and servants, and he could already be regarded as a small official!

"Third brother, what are your plans for the future?" Second Brother Ming suddenly asked Montenegro.

"Second brother, I've thought about it! Learn literature first and then join the army, before the age of thirty, I want to be a marquis and pay homage to the general! Montenegro replied without hesitation.

"Fenghou, don't dream! That's a privilege reserved for aristocrats! Reading is serious, and we should have a reader in our family! The second brother said to himself.

The autumn harvest has just been completed, the first year of the Qin State (New Year, the first day of October every year) is coming, although the people of Zhangjia Village have not yet celebrated this festival, but because this year they have paid nearly half of the rent, every household left enough rations, and sold some surplus grain, the family has money and food, and there is hope for life. The Qin State usually forbade the people to drink alcohol, and only on holidays. Therefore, the people in the village also began to gather together, the men went up to the mountains to hunt wild boars, the women were busy tearing cloth to make new clothes, and the old people were also discussing, preparing to make a social fire at the beginning of the year. People are sighing: the rent was too heavy in the past, the life was too tight, and there was no social fire for 30 years. It's still Daqin, and in just a few months, countless villages like Zhangjiacun have been rejuvenated and full of vitality!

In this rare farming day, my mother and sister-in-law bought two pieces of fabric and were busy making two sets of new clothes for the whole family. Black Mountain, eldest brother Guang and second brother Ming are renovating an abandoned brick kiln in the back mountain, preparing to use it to fire pottery chimneys for later generations. This brick kiln was dug by the Korean nobleman Jang when he built the villa in the east of the village, and was used to burn bricks to build the villa, and has been abandoned for many years. Montenegro said to the eldest brother: "There is no technology in the kiln, many people will see it, we will change the abandoned brick kiln into a pottery kiln that burns chimneys, and the chimneys are burned, no matter which stove is built in the future, they will come to us to buy chimneys, and also give the people in the village a way to make money during the slack time." ”

Pottery was not a technical task in those days, and Montenegro's proposal was supported by the whole family. The hometown of Montenegro is one of the three major porcelain capitals, and he has been playing hide and seek in the kiln pit since he was a child, and he knows very well about the structure of the earthen kiln for firing ceramics!

In fact, firing pottery is almost the same as firing bricks, but the firing temperature is different. Wen Hefeng and several other young people in the village took the initiative to help when they heard the news. Some remove the weeds and weeds, some help dig the soil and mud, the second brother Ming is responsible for making the wooden fan, there is no gypsum to make a mold in this era, can only be reconciled with the mud, control the humidity, make adobe on the wooden fan by hand, and then take off the wooden fan and put it into the kiln to fire after drying. Montenegro also let people dig up fine sand and make several clay blanks in different proportions. After another ten days, the first batch of chimneys tried to fire out of the kiln, the chimneys without ginseng sand were deformed, all the chimneys with too much ginseng were cracked, and a few finished products were picked out from all corners, and the ratio of sand and soil was two to eight, of course, this ratio Montenegro only told the eldest brother, and explained that he could not let others know, and then the pottery billets were all according to this ratio.

The second batch of trial chimneys finally came out of the kiln the day before the first day of the year, and only a few of the more than 100 chimneys were burned, and it can be said that they have been very successful after cracking.

Everyone is celebrating the successful trial production of the chimney, and the happy event is here again! The townsman Tian Dian came to Montenegro's house again, and Montenegro and the second brother Ming were both awarded the title of duke, and the second brother was also recommended as a carpenter in the county workshop. One door and three public scholars, this may be normal in Guanzhong, but Tongbai County in Nanyang, the duel is explosive news!

In fact, the common people of this era are very easy to be satisfied, as long as the rent is less, so that they can be fed and clothed, they will celebrate in their own way to praise the court.

At the reunion dinner at the beginning of the year, Montenegro was wearing an oversized new dress, and he felt very awkward, like a big dress on the skeleton, loose and loose, it was better to wear torn clothes. The mother said carefully: "The child's new clothes should be older, or they won't be able to wear them in the next year!" A family of seven sat around a brand-new table of eight immortals, a large pot of new rice, a pot of wild vegetables stewed fish soup, a bowl of wild boar, and a pot of green vegetables. This is already the best meal for the family in more than a decade! The tables and chairs of the Eight Immortals are made by the second brother of the Black Mountain Sect, and the family is gathered together, full of family flavor!

After the meal, the eldest brother Guang said a little worriedly: "Many people in the village are looking for me, wanting to earn some money by working part-time in the kiln during the slack time. We really can't afford to hire such people! ”

"Big brother, you don't have to worry, I have a way, you will leave all the more than ten people who came to help before the test burning. The others are handed over to me. Montenegro said confidently.

At the beginning of the year, many people in the village came to inquire when the construction would start here, and Montenegro simply informed them to come to the kiln in the afternoon and have their own arrangements.

In the afternoon, seventy or eighty people gathered around the kiln. Montenegro also specially called the blacksmith Zhuang. "Uncles and brothers, under the promotion of the government, Xinzao has become popular in Nanyang County. The iron pot and chimney, which are most needed for the new stove, will be the specialties of our village. If you don't have to do things in the kiln, you can rent an ox cart to pull up the chimney and iron pot of the village to the neighboring village to sell, I discussed it with Zhuang, and the people of the village will take the chimney and iron pot to sell it according to eighty percent of the settlement, and you can also take the goods first, and then pay after selling. If you don't want to go out, you can chop firewood and sell it to us, and the pottery kiln needs 100 quintals of firewood every month, and 7 yuan per load.

Everyone cheered! This is the benefit of doing business! A family business can also bring a rich village of people.