Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 58 Artifacts
Outside Qu'a City, in a test field surrounded by a military camp, Bai Tu held the plow with one hand while driving the traction oxen in front, plowing a crooked furrow in the field...

"It's an artifact! You're stupid and you add a stupid cow, and you can barely plow the ground!" Lu Lingqi, still dressed as a guard, walked beside Bai Tu and whispered to him at this time.

Bai Tu glanced at her and ignored her to maintain his image - after all, Lu Lingqi's voice was so low that others couldn't hear her.

The old farmers, cattle doctors and craftsmen who were specially invited to witness this scene were all moved to tears.

Originally, Bai Tu felt a little great, but when he thought of what Lu Lingqi said, and then looked at their expressions...it felt really awkward!

It is true that Bai Tu is not good at plowing. The reason why these people are excited... is really because Bai Tu and a "stupid ox" can actually plow the land "effortlessly".

The so-called stupid cow refers to buffalo. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, buffalo were rarely used for farming, and most of them were so-called "vegetable cattle".

The main reason is that buffaloes are not as docile as cattle and are nearly half the size. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, when cow nose rings were not popular, it was difficult to use their animal power...

Therefore, in the Han Dynasty, it was only prohibited to kill farm cattle without permission - buffaloes were not included.

The South was mostly populated by buffalo and farming was inconvenient, which was one of the reasons why the population in the South was relatively small at this time.

Oxen plowing appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period. In the Han Dynasty, oxen plowing appeared everywhere, and even the government specially promoted it. But... even in the north, using oxen to plow the land requires two oxen to pull a plow, and among the common people such " There are too few of them.

What Bai Tu has made now is only two things - a curved shaft plow and an ox nose ring.

The curved shaft plow appeared in the Tang Dynasty. Compared with the current long straight shaft plow, it was more mechanically consistent, more labor-saving and easy to rotate. It was an "artifact" that was still used until the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

In Bai Tu's information, there are specific records of the complete eleven components of Quyuanli. Although it is only on paper, with such a big guide, it is easy to get the finished product after repeated trials, and determine the specific details. Manufacturing process of components.

In comparison, the craftsmanship of the cow nose ring is more complicated, because it is not just a matter of a ring, but also how to wear it, so as to achieve the greatest effect and minimize the harm to the cow. Otherwise, ordinary people will not take risks with cows. , not even buffalo!

Therefore, Bai Tu also found specialized old cows and cattle doctors - at this time, those who treated horses were called "veterinarians" and those who treated cattle were called "cow doctors". The classifications were clear.

Now Bai Tu's vision has finally been fulfilled. One ox, one plow and one person can cultivate the land.

This is also the advantage of the curved shaft plow. It only needs one ox to pull it. The cultivator can hold the plow with one hand and the bamboo pole tied to the nose ring with the other hand to drive the buffalo!

Of course, in some fields that meet special conditions, there are more convenient methods of ox farming, such as two people and one ox pulling a large plow. However, "single ox + curved shaft plow" can be regarded as the "complete method of animal power farming". "body" form.

There are still many ways to improve farming efficiency, such as optimizing breeding, intensive farming, and building water conservancy...

But these can only be done slowly, and now Bai Tu is just cramming!

At the same time, Bai Tu also pointed out the government decree of the "garrison system", which is a system in which the army, or slave laborers, and landless refugees are used to cultivate official land in order to obtain army supplies and tax grains.

Different from technology and crafts, in order to light up the decree, you don't need to make actual items, but you have to submit a report to Cheng Ji.

Usually this kind of decree requires small-scale experiments and constant adjustments before a report that can actually be passed can be formed.

But for Baitu, the "Guntian System" was not so difficult.

During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, the initial farming system had already appeared, but it was limited to the border areas - it was a supplement to the policy of "immigrating people to consolidate the borders".

During the Three Kingdoms period, starting from Cao Cao's acceptance of Zao Zhi's suggestion, the farming system became popular. The largest farming system was the development of Huainan in the later period of Cao Wei. He designated large areas of uninhabited land in the declining Huainan as official land, and then carried out military and civilian settlements. Combined collective farming.

Bai Tu is naturally very clear about the disadvantages of the farming system. Firstly, military camps occupy troops. No matter how they are allocated, they will take up training time and reduce the elite level of the army. Real elite soldiers will not participate in farming; secondly, it is more serious. However, as the farming system develops in depth, it will almost inevitably get out of control and seize the people's land, especially when Bai Tu cannot restrain the aristocratic families.

By the time of the Western Jin Dynasty, the farmland system developed directly into the "land occupation system" that allowed wealthy families to legally compete for land.

However, for the advantages of the farming system and the imminent drought, Bai Tu felt that it was necessary to build one farm first.

The purpose of the farming system has never been to harvest much food, but to enable the army to be self-sufficient, which means to reduce transportation consumption. Therefore, the farming during the Three Kingdoms period was always on the border.

For example, when Cao Wei planned to conquer Wu, he settled in Huainan, and when Bashu wanted to invade the Central Plains, he settled in Wuzhangyuan...

The area where Bai Tu practiced farming was also concentrated along the Yangtze River. At first glance, it really looked like he was preparing to capture Huainan. Only Bai Tu himself knew that this was to make it easier to go to Huainan to rescue people.

As for Kuaiji County and Yuzhang County, which are far away from the Yangtze River, there is no need to farm. Otherwise, the efficiency of farming will be lower than that of self-planting. Including transportation consumption... it is a waste of time!

In addition to food, the farming system has two additional benefits. First, it is conducive to the harmony between the army and the people. From a human perspective, after soldiers get used to working, they will have more empathy for the people, which prevents soldiers from killing the people. Harmful to the people, it is easy to cultivate benevolent teachers; secondly, it allows soldiers to start families and establish careers in the field, giving soldiers a greater sense of belonging. Even if they are defeated in the future, they will try to come back.

Ji Zao soldiers didn't seem to have to think about this, but... After Bai Tu wrote the report and pointed out the decree on the military camp system, he found that the "juntun" itself had additional effects - after the military camp was implemented, military discipline improved and the troops were defeated. Actively return later.

Of course, there is also a note: it will reduce training efficiency!
"My husband, in the past few months, I have bothered to stay in the army for a while." Bai Tu said to the old farmers who were invited.

This is also what I said before.

"Sir, you are so polite..." Several old farmers dared not say it.

"There is one more thing. I want to discuss it with you guys. In the past, if there were droughts, floods, and locust disasters, what would your households eat to satisfy their hunger?" Baitu asked.

"Usually I go to the mountains..."

"Ahem, of course the local governments provided timely relief, and the county magistrates were very kind..." the oldest man said first.

"To be honest... it won't affect your body too much!" Bai Tu's brows jumped.

"Ahem, that's usually bran, bran bark... and some kinds of wild vegetables, grass roots, and sometimes bark." The old man said it when he saw Bai Tu, he didn't mean to talk in vain, but really asked for advice.

"Well, I'd like to trouble you all during this period. I'll invite a few more doctors to come and come up with a recipe for disaster relief food. In short, we must try to save food as much as possible without having too much impact on the body!"

Mr. Lie looked at each other, but they all agreed.

(End of this chapter)