Perhaps to make up for last year's drought, this spring, especially like the rain. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The drizzle, one after another, fell from the sky, from last night to today, and it has not stopped.

The continuous spring rains, coupled with the fact that people often step on waterwheels to carry water from the river to the canal, the fields in Taoyuan Village have been soaked in water since half a month ago, and the original hard soil has turned into black mud.

Lao Zhang ran back from the field, his thighs and trouser legs covered in mud.

At the entrance of the village, a simple grass pavilion was built a few days ago, and a few long wooden chairs were moved into it to leave the villagers for resting on weekdays.

On weekdays, it has become a paradise for children in the village, and the adults are busy with affairs instead of staying here.

At this time, in the grass pavilion, five or six silver-haired heads were gathering together, constantly talking to the old village chief.

These are all village leaders from nearby villages, and they all have dealings with Taoyuan Village on weekdays. The soil quality in Guanzhong has always been not very good, farmers have been cultivating for generations, the fertility of the soil is getting worse and worse, and the output in the field can be imagined.

In addition, the agricultural tools passed down from the ancestors are used for a few things. If the river is too far away from the field, the field is generally irrigated by manpower; A plough requires more human effort than an ox and is extremely time-consuming.

"Old man Liu, we have been friends for decades, although now that the taxes are reduced, the main family does not dare to draw too much from the ground, but last year's locust plague and drought, seeing that every household is basically out of food, the widow of the village king is about to run out of food, a few little rabbit cubs who eat milk are hungry every day, if it is not for the help of the whole village, the family will starve to death! You're just watching and not helping? ”

"You don't need your village to help us get a waterwheel like yours, and the plow to help us get a few!"

"Then tell us how to fertilize your village fields, and you can just fertilize them!"

……

A few old men chattered beside the old village chief, and they did not leave the barren fields and the hardships of the farmers in the village.

The old village chief lay on a rocking chair - this was made for him by Bai Qi specially looking for bamboo, his eyes half-squinted, and his body slowly swayed with the chair.

"Old man, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's that my old man didn't make these things. People said that after they were done and perfected, they would report to the government of Chang'an and let them promote these things. Now is not the time for large-scale promotion, for fear that there will be problems and delay spring ploughing. The old village chief opened his eyes, sat up, glanced at the old man on weekdays, and explained while sighing.

"Can't you be accommodating at all?"

"This one has to ask Fengqu, it's the one who made those two things."

"And now what about others?"

"I went to the river early this morning, supposedly to set up a new waterwheel."

When several old men heard this, their bodies immediately straightened up, their eyes lit up, and they glanced at each other, and one of the old men rubbed their old hands: "Hehe, Lao Liu, we just happened to be here, go and see!" ”

The old village chief squinted his eyes again, lay comfortably on the rocking chair, and hummed a pleasant tune: "A jar of apricot blossom brew in Xinghua Village wants to be under the apricot tree in the old man's house!" ”

Old man Xu jumped up, looked at the old village chief with a comfortable expression, was glanced at by several other people, suddenly deflated again, sat down again, and said in a dull voice: "I can only take one altar!" ”

"Hey, the apricot blossom stuff you buried when you married your daughter-in-law is a treasure!"

The old village chief stretched comfortably, picked up the crutches beside him, and took the lead into the spring.

It is said that spring rain is as expensive as oil, but if it doesn't stop, it is actually very annoying, especially in this very humid rainy day, and the clothes have a musty smell.

Another thing brought about by the continuous spring rains is that the water level of the rivers has begun to rise significantly. For Datang, which has just experienced a drought, it may be equivalent to a timely rain from God.

Several old men took the rain in Lao Zhang's hand and hurriedly rushed into the vast white world.

In the spring rain, the riverside, which used to be calm, is full of people today. The children of the village ran out and were led by the adults of the family to prevent them from getting too close to the river.

In the turbulent and turbid water, from time to time thick branches flow down from the upstream.

On the side of the river, a huge man-made pool was fenced off, and the river was constantly pouring in through the artificially dug channel, and in the other direction, another artificial channel exited to the other side of the river, which was now blocked by a thick plank.

In the man-made pool, which is more than a foot deep, three huge rectangular wooden frames stand opposite each other, and a quarter of the wooden frames are buried in the water. Two coaxial waterwheels more than three feet high are installed in the middle of three rectangular wooden frames. On the riverbank, three huge wooden stakes are firmly driven into the ground, and a wooden square trough is held up to the top of the highland canal on the other side.

When the old village chief and the others came to the river beach, Bai Qi was leading Carpenter Zhang to climb the particularly high rectangular wooden frame between the two waterwheels, and while beating, each holding a tool to adjust the angle of the empty bamboo tube tied to the waterwheel.

Wet with rain, his hair is covered with raindrops, and his young face has a special charm that does not match his age.

On the river beach, there was silence, and the knocking sound of "tie tie tie" was heard from time to time on the wooden frame, and everyone raised their heads to look at the two people who were busy on the waterwheel.

"That's what you're talking about? What about the watermill we saw before? ”

Stunned by the huge waterwheel in front of him for a long time, Old Man Xu gently touched the old village chief with his elbow, and his eyes pointed at the young white chess. Several other elderly people also looked over.

The old village chief nodded: "The old one?" Tear it down and burn it! ”

"Demolished? Such good things, you are doing evil! ”

"In the words of that kid, it's a waste to tear down such a bulky thing and need manpower to push it, tear it down and build a better one! So, what you see is the latest waterwheel, which is said to be hydraulic, and it is good to maintain it from time to time. ”

Several old men looked at the smug expression on Liu Laohan's face, and they all wanted to slap him in the face.

"Ah, sir is down!" In the crowd, the dog suddenly pointed to the waterwheel and barked.

Bai Qi and Zhang Carpenter came up and instructed the others to take out the wooden stakes that were stuck in the two waterwheels, and then took out the thick wooden planks that held back the water.

"Whoa!" As soon as the planks were pulled out, the water in the artificial pool suddenly found an outlet for catharsis, and immediately rushed out excitedly along the dug waterway towards the exit.

White then commanded five or six strong villagers, pulling the protruding waterwheel shaft and pushing it hard in the direction of the water.

"Hey, hey~," the beating, trumpet, hummed rhythmically.

The "crunch" huge and bulky waterwheel made a loud sound and slowly turned, and then everyone released the shaft and looked nervously at the spinning waterwheel.

"Auntie, look, the waterwheel moved on its own!"

The two huge waterwheels crunched slowly in the turbulent water rush, and the bamboo tube stretched into the water scooped up the water, and when it rose to the top of the waterwheel, it was poured diagonally into the wooden trough across the neck of the waterwheel, and then the water was poured into the square trough along another trough at right angles to it, and then flowed into the water channel on the ground and ground.

There was a loud cheer from the crowd, which meant that as long as water was poured into the pond from the river, the waterwheels would automatically irrigate the village's fields day and night.

"Boy, do you feel a sense of accomplishment when you look at such a big waterwheel?" The old village chief stepped forward.

White pouted and wiped the rain from his head.

"Whether it can be done or not, this is a matter of ability, and now it proves that the kid still has some ability. As for the excitement, it is because it is because it has nothing to do with the achievements of being able to do something practical for the village. ”

The old village chief looked at Baiqi's expression and knew that he was still a little embarrassed about being cheated by himself. He smiled and patted White on the shoulder, introducing his old friend behind him.

"A few uncles, the boy can teach you how to make a waterwheel." Figuring out the intention, Bai Qi said respectfully: "Before, I was afraid that there would be villains who would make me bad, so I insisted on reporting to the government first and letting the government help promote it, that is, a few of your respected uncles proposed that I would teach the waterwheel technology in advance!" ”

Old man Xu glanced at the ridge in the distance, and smiled: "Today, there is such a disturbance in your Taoyuan Village, and others have already paid attention to it!" ”

Bai Qi followed the gaze of the old people, and in the distance, two tall men wearing straw hats and robes were standing on the ridge of the field, looking at it from a distance.

"Guipan, what do you think of the new waterwheels erected by the tenant farmers?" The two men stood on the ridge one after the other, and although the one in front of him was burly, he had the smell of a scholar, and his eyes were bright.

"Fang Gong, Gui Pan has not watched closely, so it may be difficult to make a conclusion. However, although I have not yet been able to see the whole picture, I still feel that this thing is a great benefit to farming. The man in the back looked a little skinny, with tiny eyes sparkling in them.

"Did the young man who called the style song find anything?"

"I didn't find anything, I only know that a month ago, he was rescued from the river by Old Man Liu."

Fang Gong didn't speak, and the fingers of his right hand began to slowly pinch his chin. Every time he saw this situation, Gui Pan knew that his superiors were thinking about a problem, and he was also silent, quietly looking at the lively crowd on the riverbank.

Suddenly, two clear and bright rays of light pierced through the white rain and mist and fell on the two of them.

Fang Gong seemed to be awakened, and he looked in the bright light, and a young face fell into his eyes.

"It seems that people have known that we are coming!" Fang Gong waved his sleeves to sweep the rain off his sleeves, and then rolled them up one by one, and strode towards the river beach.

"Intentional or unintentional! What an interesting young man! ”