Without investigation, there is no right to speak, and Chen Ke himself knows this. Although there is a lot of information on the Internet, it is relatively detailed. Before going down to the countryside in person, Chen Ke did not conduct an actual investigation. Especially in the area of rural tools, Chen Ke found that he was a blank at all.

In the 21st century, Chen Ke has also been to the countryside and entered the farmland. His feeling at the time was that walking in the field was a void. Soft soil makes it easy to step on a big pit as soon as you step down. Only solid ridges are more comfortable to walk on. As far as Chen Ke knows, the depth of deep ploughing of the soil is generally 50 centimeters, or even deeper. Deep ploughing comes every two years, or even once a year. But in 1907 in the Fengyang area of Anhui Province, the depth of the plough never exceeded 30 centimeters per year. Most of the ploughs are even more than 20 centimeters deep. It's the same across the country.

Crops need nutrients to grow, and nutrients are obtained from the soil through the root system, and the growth of the root system depends on the soil temperature, humidity, air and microbial number, activity and other conditions; The deeper the soil, the worse the aeration, the less air, the lower the number and activity of microorganisms, the lower the soil fertility, and the poor root growth and number in such a soil layer. Land that has not been deeply cultivated will not be too productive in any case.

Modern agriculture relied on mechanization, large tractors, and sharp, steel-cast heavy ploughs, which were cultivated with such efficiency as the countryside of 1907 could have imagined. Taking care of the dealer may be carried out in the way of intensive cultivation in each household, but to carry out this kind of basic deep cultivation, it is necessary to rely on large-scale equipment.

When he and his comrades began to rush to plant and harvest, Chen Ke really conducted a social survey in the countryside in 1907. The current situation in the countryside alone left Chen Ke dumbfounded. Most of the farmer's tools were made of wood. Hoes, shovels, these tools made of sharp sandwich steel in the new China were actually wooden in the countryside in 1907.

The so-called sandwich steel is sandwiched between the wrought iron or other different types of steel sheets in the folding, and after heating, the steel sheet and the wrought iron are hammered continuously with a hammer machine to form a "sandwich" steel product that is tightly combined. The thickness of this steel product does not exceed five millimeters, the steel in the middle is extremely sharp after grinding, the steel is more wear-resistant than the outer wrought iron, and the service life of the blade part is very long. The outer layer of wrought iron provides the load-bearing part, and the thickness of the farm tools can be made to a relatively thin extent. In the countryside, sandwich steel is a very good agricultural tool, and on the battlefield, the sapper shovel made of sandwich steel is a hand-to-hand weapon in trench warfare.

Wooden farm tools, on the other hand, are generally more than two centimeters thick. It is bulky and not sharp, and has a short lifespan. It is not that there are no iron farming tools in the rural areas, but the iron farming tools in the hands of the peasants are not only high in price and small in quantity, but also of poor quality. Although the blacksmiths in the countryside can also make some agricultural tools, because they do not have a good scientific education, and lack of many tools such as high-temperature stoves and crucibles, which require great investment, the level of agricultural tool production is very poor. Although the blacksmith knows that wrought iron is tougher, it is not wear-resistant, and pig iron is hard and wear-resistant, but it is more brittle. How to combine the two, because of the lack of tools, the level of blacksmiths is very poor.

The base areas need a large number of agricultural tools when rushing to plant and harvest, and it is impossible to accomplish this arduous task without at least 10,000 pieces of metal agricultural tools. Chen Ke originally thought that the landlord's farm tools were relatively large, but after investigation, the landlord's farm tools were only to meet his own arable land needs. Hoarding farm implements made no sense to the landlords, who were also small-scale peasant economies. After Zhang Youliang was defeated, it was found that Zhang Youliang was the same as landlords with enclosures. There is a lot of money and grain, but not many farm tools.

The solution to this problem was to collect iron bells from the fence and other places, and then melt them and recast them into agricultural tools. This is the solution to the problem of catching ducks on the shelves. The quality of these newly cast agricultural tools cannot be guaranteed. Breaking, jumping in the process of use, it happens many times a day. Reluctantly provided metal farm tools, and the people in order to survive, they completed the huge work of grabbing seeds and harvesting with all their might.

Chen Ke firmly believed that in 1907, when the disaster had subsided, it was impossible to arouse such enthusiasm among the people. If you want to be full, you have to increase food production. During the actual investigation, Chen Ke found something that made him speechless, Anhui now only grows one season of grain every year. New China solved the grain problem by planting two crops of grain every year. In 1907, there was no deep ploughing, and there was no chemical fertilizer. It is true that growing two crops of food is a great drain on the fertility of the land. But if two crops of food cannot be grown, famine will always be a big problem. A single natural disaster can wipe out a large grain harvest and cause famine.

This is no longer a problem that can be solved by changing the relations of production through revolution, but can only be solved by the establishment of the socialist system and the development of industrialization, which can only be solved by this kind of comprehensive and integral progress. It is necessary to provide agricultural tools of stable quality on a large scale, otherwise there will be no development in the vast base areas.

There was no longer a systematic "enemy of the old times" in the land, the landlords surrendered the land, the government was eliminated, and the people began to gather under the new system established by the BJP. At this time, shouting "revolution to the end" is no longer an expression of high revolutionary enthusiasm, but an excuse to shirk responsibility. Chen Ke didn't want to shirk his responsibility, so he personally ran to solve the problem of large-scale production of farm tools.

Qin Tongren has worked with Chen Ke, and he knows that Chen Ke is not a guy who talks on paper. After handing Chen Ke a few sandwich steel farm tools that had been trial-made, Qin Tongren looked at Chen Ke's satisfied expression, and immediately poured a bucket of cold water, "Although this kind of steel farm tool is good, it does not use large-scale production. The price is also too high. I am against the production of such agricultural tools. ”

The technicians who were originally trying to produce this kind of agricultural tool were also quite happy when they saw Chen Ke's very happy expression, and it meant that they could make the top leader of the base area happy, which meant promotion and reward. Unexpectedly, Qin Tongren actually opposed it so directly, and in their chagrin, the technicians felt that Qin Tongren was asking for trouble. At least in their experience, officials of Chen Ke's level have never liked to hear such a straightforward objection. Only when the mountains and rivers are exhausted and they have to change will these senior officials really consider the opinions of the people below. was denied by others, but none of the high-ranking officials was able to accept opinions with sincerity and sincerity.

To the surprise and disappointment of these people, Chen Ke was not only not angry, but also not frustrated, he said with great interest: "Qin Gong, then let's hear it." ”

"This kind of sandwich steel gave me a lot of inspiration, I thought about it for a while, and felt that what we need to use is the wear resistance of steel, as well as the toughness and wear resistance of wrought iron. As it stands, we ourselves lack steel, but we do not lack pig iron and wrought iron. Instead of using a sandwich method, we pour pig iron over the wrought iron, which is hard and wear-resistant. This is also much faster. ”

As soon as he heard this suggestion, Chen Ke immediately high-fived and applauded, "This method is good!" Do we have a furnace that melts pig iron? ”

"Yes!" Qin Tongren replied.

Chen Ke asked, "Are there any trial products?" ”

"Nope."

"When can I see the prototype product?"

"Tomorrow night."

Chen Ke replied excitedly, "Then I'll come over tomorrow night." ”

Looking at the back of Chen Ke's departure, those technicians with their own ideas were very disappointed. Although they didn't say it, they couldn't help but scold in their hearts: "Lao Tzu's hard work is so in vain? It's also a loss that you are the head of the base area, and you were so refuted by Qin Tongren, can you admit it like this? ”

According to these people's thoughts, Qin Tongren unceremoniously gave Chen Ke an "embarrassment", Chen Ke had to pick a thorn no matter what, otherwise how could he control Qin Tongren in the future? Moreover, when Qin Tongren did this, he was obviously slapping the faces of these technicians who worked hard to make sandwich steel farm tools according to Chen Ke's opinion, and such hard work was wasted? Qin Tongren's words are the same as what these technicians have done wrong. These dissatisfaction made the faces of the technicians change.

Qin Tongren turned a blind eye to the dissatisfaction of his subordinates, this was not what he pretended, but he really didn't think about it so much. Chen Ke talked to him about the large-scale popularization of cheap and durable metal farm tools, and Qin Tongren fully supported Chen Ke's opinion. Therefore, Qin Tongren's thinking is on how to choose a new method of making farm tools, and the meaningless question of whether to save face for whom does not exist in Qin Tongren's thinking at all. In Qin Tongren's view, Chen Ke provided an idea, and everyone tried this idea, and then felt that this idea was not very good and needed to be modified. So he fed back this opinion to Chen Ke, and got Chen Ke's consent, which is quite knowledgeable. There is no question of who is good or bad in this process. There is no question of whether anyone has face or face, it is just a normal technical exchange. If Qin Tongren had the ability to read minds and heard the voices of his subordinates, he would only feel bored and disgusted.

As soon as the direction was determined, the technical department began to work on it. The crucibles that melt the pig iron began to heat, and the wrought iron bearing parts of several agricultural tools began to be beaten. When Chen Ke arrived the next day, more than a dozen new farm tools had been built. Compared to sandwich steel, this agricultural tool is much bulkier, and the surface is not so smooth. The technicians who were dissatisfied with Qin Tongren were happy to see it, and Chen Ke frowned. But Chen Ke didn't say anything, and he began to try it out outside by the light of the moonlight and torches. Compared to wooden farming tools, these farming tools can be said to be quite good.

The torch still didn't shine brightly enough, and Chen Ke almost lay on the ground to carefully check the effect. Only then did he say, "Old Qin, I'm sorry. I didn't think it through, I should have come during the day. ”

As soon as these words came out, the technicians immediately became disappointed and even desperate. They felt that Chen Ke was an incredible being. A person in a high position does not care at all about his identity, he does not care about his image at all. Act like ordinary people. Who the hell is this?

"I'll start preparing now, and the day after tomorrow I'll send a batch of farm tools to the army for trial."