Brother Hao whispered beside him: "Uncle Zhou's elders used to be the big workers under the marching Sima, and it was a trivial matter to make waterwheels and nullahs, and he would even build a bridge over the river." ”

Guo Dalu's pupils shrank--marching Sima? Although he didn't know the specific functions of this official position, the word marching alone was incredible!

That's an ancient army!

How can the villagers of Houlong Village have anything to do with the army?

Guo Dalu looked at the villagers who were chopping bamboo and wood again, and then realized that something was wrong, the whole village of Houlong Village, regardless of age, was busy on the hillside and in the kudzu grass field, although there were many people, but they were in good order.

Young adults cut bamboo rafts on the mountain, stupid big children like this half-old will cut off the bamboo branches, branches, and then the bamboo and wood along the mountain to the foot of the mountain, the women who have been waiting at the bottom of the mountain for a long time rushed up, cut the bamboo and wood one by one into a suitable size, next to I don't know when to set up a stove, a few old ladies with a small red iron chisel are piercing holes in the bamboo pipe, and women like the big girl, then boil water to cook brown sugar tea for everyone--

This village is not simple! Without a certain amount of training, it is impossible to do such a tacit work!

Guo Dalu suddenly thought of a detail, he knew that in the countryside of China, it is often a village with a surname, and there are big families with the same surname in a village, everyone has lived in this land for generations, and the village is all relatives, and it is difficult for people with foreign surnames to integrate into such a village, and if they barely enter the household, they will be ostracized.

This is due to the isolation and lack of mobility that characterizes rural China.

However, the villagers of Houlong Village have all surnames, such as the Guo family, the Li family, the Zhu family, the Sha family, and the Zhou family.

In general, there is only one reason for such mixed caste cohabitation, and that is that these villagers have migrated from other places!

Guo Dalu likes to read online novels, especially historical ones, and knows that various dynasties in ancient times often engaged in some large-scale migration, sometimes to fill the population of war-torn areas, sometimes to resettle refugees, and some to exile criminals.

The government also hates the people of the big family living together, because the people of such a village are united and dare to rebel against the government, and the so-called big surname Hao family refers to such a village, so when immigrating, they will deliberately disrupt the surname and place people with different surnames from different families in the same village, so as to reduce the cohesion of the villagers.

The villagers of Houlong Village, the origin is worth investigating, but although Guo Dalu was suspicious, he didn't make a sound, he himself is a guy of unknown origin, how dare he ask questions, he can only slowly find opportunities to find the truth in the future.

I have to admit that the villagers of Houlong Village did not say anything about their work, and it took half a day to work hard, and there were already hundreds of acres of fields lined up with a drip irrigation system, with a thick bamboo pipe cut in half, erected between the ridges, this is the nullah, every certain distance with a thick wooden board to make a large sink - Zhou carpenter said, if you are afraid that the wood is easy to rot, you can use a water tank made of pottery to replace it in the future, the water outlet below the sink is connected to the bamboo pipe below with a wooden tee, and the fish glue is dipped in, which is both firm and not leaking.

Guo Dalu also saw what Zhou Carpenter called the "automatic sluice gate", in fact, this thing is very simple, that is, a small sand bag is hung on the sluice gate, when there is enough water in the big tank, the water pressure in the slot exceeds the weight of the sand bag, the sluice gate is opened as soon as it is turned over, and the water inside is first-class, and the sluice gate is closed again under the weight of the sand bag.

Carpenter Zhou didn't know what the pressure of water was, but with a glance with his eyes, he knew how many sand and gravel needed to be contained in the sand bag, so that when the amount of water in the sink was just enough to drip irrigate one acre of land, the sluice gate could be opened and the water released.

This is the empiricism of ancient craftsmen, which has been passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation, and has been passed on to men but not women, but not to men, it really works, and it is not okay to accept it.

When a waterwheel by the stream was erected, Brother Hao, the stupid big man climbed up and pedaled wildly with his feet, the clear stream water was rushed to the nullah by the waterwheel, and then entered the big tank first-class, with the movement of the gate, poured into the thin bamboo pipe with a bang, and then dripped under the root of the kudzu grass through the small hole, the villagers were jubilant.

Old Village Chief Zhu touched a few thin scorched yellow beards on his chin: "If you want it, you want it, you won't sleep tonight, fight at night, and spread all the kudzu grass fields with this drip irrigation!"

Oh, this old man, he actually knows the word night battle, Guo Dalu couldn't help but glance at the old village chief Zhu again.

Carpenter Zhou pulled Guo Dalu, back and forth to check the part of the drip irrigation system that had been done, he had to point out what was wrong and missing, Guo Dalu really couldn't find any fault, just vaguely praised a few times, suddenly saw the waterwheel by the stream, and his eyes froze: "Uncle Zhou, why don't you wrap the shaft of this waterwheel with iron sheet? This wooden shaft is easy to wear." In our village, there are nearly 1,000 acres of kudzu grassland, and the amount of water drawn by the waterwheel every day is very large. ”

Carpenter Zhou slapped his thigh: "The eldest nephew of the Guo family, I didn't expect you to understand this, that's right, this shaft is best wrapped with iron tiles, in fact, not only the shaft, but also the nail pins everywhere should be made of iron, otherwise, this waterwheel will fall apart in a short time." But the problem is that I don't have so much iron in my hands, who doesn't lack iron at home, there are many families in our village who share a kitchen knife, and my family doesn't even have an iron pot, but uses a clay pot. ”

Guo Dalu patted his head and took it for granted that the ancient Chinese countryside had always lacked iron, first, iron was a heavy weapon of the state, which was strictly controlled, and the best iron was used to make weapons and armor, and the output was not high, and even the imperial court itself was not enough; second, the imperial court consciously restricted the people from owning too many iron tools -- for fear that the small people would rebel. Looking at historical data, ancient Chinese peasants were not even allowed to work with wooden hoes, which is also one of the important reasons for low grain production.

Guo Dalu said: "Brother Zhou, a few pieces of iron in my house, you can see if they can be used to make waterwheel axles." ”

Carpenter Zhou was thoughtful, and as soon as he heard that Guo Dalu had iron, he hurriedly called another villager: "Li Dayan, can you still use that stove?" The eldest nephew of the Guo family has iron in his hand, you can beat a few objects." ”

Li Dayan's full name is Li Jimin, he has thick eyebrows and big eyes, he is quite strong, has many thick scars on his hands, and has some pockmarks on his face, which were splashed by sparks in the furnace.

Li Dayan said in a rough voice: "My stove has been extinguished for I don't know how many months, there is no good charcoal, where is it said that if you hit objects, you will hit objects, so let's do it, nephew of the Guo family, you first let me see the iron material in your hand." ”