Chapter 109 It's a pity to stand while others are lying in the cemetery
"If winter occurs in Mengchun, there will be major floods, frost and snow, and the seeds previously planted will not be planted in the soil and there will be no harvest."
Farming was a big deal during this period, and Ye Feng's disregard for the day made some people panic. They were afraid that Ye Feng would do something outrageous and cause something bad to happen, which would affect their harvest this year.
Some people only knew that Ye Feng was from out of town and said, "Where does this silly boy come from? Does he know how to farm? What are he doing here?"
"I have nowhere to use my strength," said a man who looked listless.
"You think we are all like you. All our strength is used on the mother-in-law, and we have no energy when we work." A man next to him joked. Everyone burst into laughter.
Ye Feng was busy on his own. With his strong strength and the help of cattle, Ye Feng actually plowed twenty-five acres of land.
Twenty-five acres is equivalent to a little more than eight acres in later generations. Normally, a person and an ox can only plow about five acres a day. Ye Feng did not expect that someone who did not often plow the land could plow so much.
Ye Feng then thought: "It's easier this way. Anyway, my purpose is to teach others and then goof around."
In addition, as an extra bonus, two earth ingots and iron were dug out of the ground.
Ye Feng improved the plow again the next day. Because the plows of later generations were all made by oxen, Ye Feng felt that the oxen worked too hard, so he put in a little more effort.
Therefore, it was changed to facilitate the joint use of force by both parties. Of course, only one plow was changed, because the other plow was reserved for Jiang Chuan.
The modification method is very simple. Support frames are added on both sides, wheels are added below, and a plow is placed in the middle for stabilization.
Large-angle support rods are added at the front and back. The cow pulls the front and pushes the back. The purpose is to facilitate the transmission of force to the plow below.
The plow can have a wedge that can be removed and replaced with a seeder that can be driven up and down through wheel transmission.
The principle is very similar to the wooden donkey, an ancient torture instrument, except that the up and down direction is reversed, and it digs holes by poking into the ground.
The purpose of Ye Feng's plowing is to dry the soil, which can reduce pests and diseases, kill grass seeds and reduce weeds. At the same time, he will test whether his design is feasible. After confirming that it is feasible, he will start teaching Jiangchuan how to use it.
At first, Jiang Chuan did not agree to plowing because it was not yet the harvest day. After Ye Feng explained and assured that it was not sowing, Jiang Chuan agreed to plow the land.
Jiangchuan's family had 100 acres of land, which took the two of them five days to plow, mainly to teach Jiangchuan how to use a plow, which was a bit slow.
But when Ye Feng wanted to dig ditches, Jiangchuan did not agree, because this was their family's source of food for the next year. If there was something wrong with Ye Feng's method, the whole family would starve.
He didn't care, but he was afraid that his wife and children would starve, so Jiangchuan hesitated and refused to dig ditches.
Ye Feng didn't force it. Ye Feng knew that he would naturally be willing to wait until he saw his yield during the autumn harvest.
Ye Feng plowed the ground again, and found furrows in his own land.
Others couldn't help but shook their heads when they saw Ye Feng "troubling" like this, thinking to themselves: "This kid is probably a fool."
Ye Feng used the few copper coins he had left to buy bean seeds and a set of clothes and shoes.
Jiang Chuan helped buy the bean seeds, so the price was not outrageously high. The clothes were bought from linen and Jiang Chuan's daughter-in-law helped make them with her daughter.
Ye Feng also bought some bamboo slips, copied some notices and the like, and taught Edo and Yang Yiying how to practice calligraphy in the evening. During this period, the Qin State mainly used official script, and later Qin Shihuang promoted Xiaozhuan.
In fact, Ye Feng also learned these words now. Many of them can be roughly guessed, and some of them can be derived from the meaning of the context.
In addition, I feel that I am much "smarter" and it becomes easier to learn things.
Jiangchuan and his wife were naturally very happy to be able to let Yang Yiying and Edo learn to write. Especially when Yang Yiying and Edo wrote about themselves, Jiangchuan looked left and right and laughed non-stop while reading.
Suddenly Jiang Chuan slapped his head and said, "I almost forgot something. Zhang DaDa, our guy from Yizhuang here, suddenly quit. It seems that the water ghost appeared before and he was frightened out of his wits."
"Right now, Yizhuang is looking for a night watchman, but no one has dared to hire one for a long time. Now the price is as high as two bushels of grain per day."
"I thought if you are willing to go, you can earn some food. If you are afraid, I can stay with you for a few days."
During this period, one hundred acres of land cultivated for half a year would only cost about five bushels of rice a day on average. Two rounds of patrols a night and two bushels of grain for one night's sleep would be considered a very high reward.
Ye Feng is an atheist, so it doesn't matter if he goes to Yizhuang to be a watchman.
However, Ye Feng still asked half-jokingly: "I'm not afraid, but if I can't sleep and can only stand or patrol, I won't do it. Those corpses are lying around and I'm the only one standing there. I don't think it's fair no matter how I think about it."
Jiang Chuan laughed when he heard the pop, patted Ye Feng and said, "Brother, do you care about this? But don't worry, just read it once before going to bed every day, and then look once again when you wake up."
"I will ask Edo to deliver the morning meal to you every morning. After eating the evening meal at my place every day, you can go to Yizhuang. There will be no delay in plowing the fields or doing anything else during the day."
When Ye Feng heard this, he felt that this job was quite relaxing. Moreover, there was so much food to be earned, so he agreed if it was feasible.
Ye Feng suddenly remembered something and said, "Before, you said that cousin Zhao has no children. When we were building the city wall together, I often saw him suffering from back pain. Is it caused by this?"
When Jiang Chuan heard this, he shook his head and said, "My eldest cousin used to be as strong as an ox. He was injured in military service before, and he was like this when he came back."
Ye Feng thought he might have injured his kidneys. He remembered a prescription for treating low back pain due to kidney deficiency.
Ye Feng said: "I know a prescription, but I wonder if it can cure his problem."
Jiang Chuan heard this and asked anxiously: "But it doesn't matter, it can't be any worse anyway. What if it works?"
Ye Feng said: "Soak Eucommia ulmoides in wine, dry it and pound it into powder. Mix it with ashless wine to treat kidney deficiency and low back pain."
The ancients added lime to wine to prevent acidity, but it can gather phlegm, so ash-free wine is required for medicinal purposes. According to ancient legend, the pH of fermented wine was controlled by using plant ash or lime.
There are two methods of operation: setting off the ash and cleaning the ash. When making wine, if the pH is moderate, there is no need to add more, which is called ashless wine.
After hearing this, Jiangchuan thought for a moment and said, "Euccommia ulmoides is easy to find, but this wine is a bit difficult. Wine can only be bought in the homes of nobles or dignitaries."
Ye Feng said: "I know how to make wine. I see there are a lot of Polygonum japonica on the mountain over there. We can use it to make distiller's yeast."
Jiang Chuan looked at Ye Feng and asked in confusion: "Brother Ye, what exactly does your family do?"
Ye Feng said casually: "My family is a working class family."
Jiang Chuan asked in confusion: "What is a workers' family?"
Ye Feng patted his head and explained: "Well, it's Baigong, Baigong."
Jiang Chuan suddenly realized: "Oh, no wonder you can do everything and you are also literate."
During this period, people with hundreds of skills were more respected, which is why Luban and Mohism were sought after.
Of course, this may also be the reason why the Duzun family came to power later and despised people who worked hard. It may have been caused by the discord between the Mohist family and the Duzun family.
Therefore, when the people of the Duzun family saw Baigong, they thought of the insults the Mohist family had given them, and the word "come angry" filled their minds.
Ye Feng told Jiangchuan how to make distiller's yeast: "One part of Polygonum spp., 13 parts of millet, millet or millet, and one-twentieth of laurel leaves, orange leaves, lentil leaves, bamboo leaves, and field grass."
"Crush and mix, add the above mixed powder to warm water at 37 degrees Celsius, stir, and shape into duck egg-sized pellets with your hands."
"Put the pellets in the basket and rotate them, sprinkling the medicinal tips while turning. Use newly crushed distiller's yeast powder for the first time, and leave some old distiller's yeast powder for future use."
"The amount of medicinal head should be controlled so that the surface of the pellets is evenly coated with a layer. Put the pellets coated with distiller's yeast powder into the basket, and put a layer of straw on each layer. Note that the distance between the pellets should not be too large.
dense."
"Put the baskets containing the pellets into the barn one by one, or choose a corner, spread straw underneath, put the baskets on top, and cover them with a layer of straw. If the temperature is low, cover them with linen and straw."
"It has been fermenting for one to one and a half days. When you see water droplets on the film or straw, lift off the covering and cool down to ventilate it to prevent the temperature from being too high and burning the koji. After it cools down naturally, take it out and spread it out in the sun. After drying, the finished product is ready."
After Ye Feng finished speaking, Jiang Chuan thought for a while and said, "What are lentils?"
Ye Feng explained: "Moebei Bean."
Jiangchuan added: "We don't have orange leaves here, and bamboo leaves are hard to find."
Ye Feng slapped his forehead and said to himself: "Yes, I have forgotten the allusion that Yan Zi said when he was envoy to Chu, "Oranges grow in Huainan, and they become oranges." There were no oranges in the north during this period."
After thinking for a while, he said, "Forget it if you don't have any. Just use whatever you can find."
Jiang Chuan then said: "We don't have straw here either."
Ye Feng slapped his forehead and said secretly: "Yes, there is no rice in the north at this time. Only the Chu country has it."
At this time, Jiang Chuan said jokingly: "Brother, stop taking pictures. If you take any more pictures, they will break. It's not easy to use in the first place."
Ye Feng rolled his eyes at Jiang Chuan and said, "I haven't taken pictures of yours before, but a brand new one will work fine. If you don't have straw, just use hay."
Jiangchuan went to the side and memorized the things that needed to be prepared, and the methods that Ye Feng had just taught him. Some of them forgot that Edo was there to supplement him. Ye Feng did not expect that he only said it once, and Edo actually memorized it.
Ye Feng thought for a while and taught Jiangchuan's wife and daughter how to make soap. They mixed animal oil with plant ash solution to make soap.
The concentration of the plant ash solution should be enough to suspend the eggs. Mix the animal oil and stir, then mix in the alcohol, and then continue stirring.
The salt will condense when you sprinkle it in, and there will be no oil splash when the mixture is dropped into the water. You can pour it into the mold and cut it into pieces after shaping.
As for alcohol purification, brewed wine is used for purification. During purification, quicklime is added to the wine and then distilled using a water bath.
The water bath method is water heating. Quicklime is added because quicklime reacts chemically with water to generate calcium hydroxide, while ethanol does not react with quicklime, so most of the water can be removed.
After further distillation, the purity of ethanol will be much higher. Without quicklime, it will be much more difficult to achieve the same purity, and it will have to be extracted through multiple distillations.
As for the condenser tube needed for purification, Ye Feng had melted some "two liang" in advance, used a mold to make a copper tube, and then bent the copper tube. Of course, there were no dense circles like modern ones, just a few rough bends.
After that, the Jiangchuan family was busy, farming during the day and brewing wine, distilling and making soap at night.
Ye Feng worked in the fields during the day, helped Jiangchuan's family in the evening, and went to Yizhuang to sleep with the corpse at night.