After reading it, Liu Cong ignored Ma Liang's ugly face and said to the craftsmen of the scientific research institute, "After the reform of the system, you will all be officials, and you will be rewarded for your merits."
"The emperor above, please make Ma Jun the Marquis of Fufeng Tingting! Guan Qiu Xing is the Marquis of Gaoyang Township! The rest of the people will be rewarded according to their merits!" (There is no hierarchical distinction between Tinghou, Xianghou, and County Marquis, they are all ranked in the order of marquises. , but the food you enjoy is different)
"Thank you, Lord!" Ma Jun and Guan Qiuxing looked at each other and knelt down and kowtowed to Liu Cong excitedly. How could they have thought that with Liu Cong, craftsmen could not only become officials, but also be granted the title of marquis!
Liu Cong then said to the people around him, "This is why Gu attaches great importance to craftsmen and craftsmanship. They just thought about it for some time and improved some things."
"We have achieved the benefit of the country and the people, and strengthened the country and the army! Therefore, Gu will not be stingy with rewards for them, let alone discriminate against craftsmen!"
"My lord is wise!"
"My lord, the production of waterwheels and plows is quite rapid. We can produce three thousand waterwheels and ten thousand plows every month!" Ma Jun reported to Liu Cong again.
Liu Cong nodded, "The technology for these two things is not difficult, and they can be promoted as soon as possible and sold to farmers at low prices!"
"Uncle Ji, please send me as an envoy to Xu Du again to inform the emperor of the memorial of Gu Shangbiao. And see if you can exchange the manufacturing technology of these two things with Cao Mengde for war horses!"
Yi Ji was a little surprised when he heard this, "My lord, these are good things that benefit the country and the people. If Cao Mengde controls them, doesn't it mean he is endangering the enemy?"
Liu Cong smiled bitterly and said, "These two things are to be promoted to farmers. If Cao Mengde wants to get them, he doesn't need to spend much effort. So he might as well take them out as soon as possible in exchange for benefits!"
Liu Cong explained this, and Yi Ji also understood, "This... well, I will try my best to fight for my lord."
The manufacturing process of waterwheels and plows was simple and they were used by the common people. Liu Cong had no intention of preserving their manufacturing process.
On the contrary, the manufacturing technology of catapults and repeating crossbows needs to be kept strictly confidential.
"It's already July, and the two crops of folk rice have already matured. While the autumn harvest has just ended, August and September are the time to plant wheat. I go to the fields alone to promote new plows!"
"My lord is wise!"
On July 16th, Yi Ji went to Xudu again as an envoy.
"Long live my emperor, long live, long live!" Yi Ji directly kowtowed three times and nine times to Emperor Xian.
"I love you for your life."
After Liu Xie's symbolic words, Cao Cao asked, "Why did Liu Cong send you here?"
Yiji handed over to Cao Cao and said, "My lord cares about the people of the world and has developed new plows and waterwheels. I am specially sent down to present them to the imperial court!"
"Haha, what's so wonderful about a mere plow and a waterwheel? Should I offer it to the imperial court? Does the imperial court lack these?"
"If Liu Cong comes to Xudu to surrender with courtesy and join the imperial court, then he really cares about the people!"
Facing Cao Cao's ridicule, Yi Ji's expression remained as usual, "These two items are different from the previous farm tools. They are great tools that benefit the country and the people. I have specially brought samples. Please see your Majesty and the Prime Minister."
"Then let's go to the palace garden and have a look. I want to see what good things Liu Cong got."
Cao Cao then said to Liu Xie, "Your Majesty, please move to the back garden."
"A hundred officials will accompany you!"
The back garden of the palace is elegant and unique, with hundreds of flowers blooming. Although Cao Cao set the emperor's capital in Xudu, all the specifications of the palace tried their best to meet the emperor's requirements.
"Your Majesty, please see, this is a new plow. My Lord named it the Quyuan Plow! It only needs a small donkey to pull it!" Yi Ji introduced the plow to Emperor Xian, who was supported by the palace servants.
Cao Cao directly ordered, "Here, come and lead the ox!"
After a while, a slave came with an ox, and then according to Yi Ji's instructions, he tied the plow behind the ox.
"Crack!"
"Mou!"
The palace servant whipped the cattle on the buttocks. The cattle barked and began to pull the curved shaft plow forward.
"Oh my, this is really a good thing!"
"Yeah, you don't need two oxen and two horses."
While the officials were amazed, they did not care that the back garden of the palace was trampled by cattle and several deep trenches were pulled out by the plow.
"Where's the waterwheel?" Cao Cao asked Yi Ji.
Yi Ji smiled and pointed to the pond not far away, "Prime Minister, please take a look."
In the pond, the water wheel that had been placed long ago started to start. With a whirring sound, the water in the pond flowed to the land with the operation of the water wheel!
"Prime Minister, with these two things, coupled with the Prime Minister's farming strategy, the grain output in the north will definitely increase again!" Xun Yu was worthy of being Cao Cao's general manager, and he immediately thought of increasing grain output.
Cao Cao nodded, looked at Yi Ji and asked, "What does Liu Cong want to exchange for Gu?"
"The Prime Minister is wise, but the lack of horses in the south is not conducive to farmers' farming. My Lord wants to exchange these two things with the Prime Minister for war horses!"
Cao Cao sneered, "In exchange for war horses, are they used for farming or fighting?"
"I can't give you war horses, but I won't take advantage of Liu Cong. I'll give you 10,000 cattle."
As the overlord of the north, Cao Cao was naturally not stingy in his behavior. He knew what Liu Cong was thinking. But more importantly, he, Cao Mengde, would never owe anyone anything in his life!
"Prime Minister, these two things were developed by Ma Jun and Guan Qiuxing, the president and deputy deans of our Jingchu Scientific Research Institute. My lord, in the name of the emperor, please make them marquises."
Cao Cao waved his hand and said, "That's right. If you can develop such a thing that benefits the country and the people, you deserve to be granted the title of Marquis."
"The Prime Minister is wise."
At the same time that Yiji was sent to Xudu as an envoy, Liu Cong was also going to the countryside in Xiangyang!
"What a good thing, a mule can pull it forward easily!" Liu Cong personally supported the curved shaft plow and continued to explain to the surrounding farmers.
Among the crowd of onlookers, an old farmer stared at all this in his field and asked, "Can I use this thing to cultivate the land in the future?"
The people around him pushed him and said, "Hahaha, Old Man Zheng and the Marquis of Chu have already said that they will give this thing to you. Why don't you believe it?"
When conducting pilot experiments here, Liu Cong told the old farmer that he would send a water tanker and a curved shaft plow to his family. The others would also be sold to farmers at low prices.
"The Marquis of Chu is thinking about our sufferings, haha, so he wants to give us such a good thing."
"They are building roads, schools and hospitals. Just so that our children can go to school and we people can get medical treatment!"
"Isn't that right? How many officials like the Marquis of Chu are there in the world who think about us ordinary people everywhere?"
The people watching were talking about Liu Cong's benevolent government, and the smiles on their faces came from the bottom of their hearts. Their eyes looking at Liu Cong were full of reverence.
"Old lady, pack up your house quickly, the Marquis of Chu is coming to our house!" When Old Man Zheng heard Liu Cong say that he was going to his house to drink water after plowing the land.
He didn't even care about the mules and plows in the field, and ran directly back to his house. When he entered the yard, he shouted into the house.
"Why are you crazy? How could a noble man like the Marquis of Chu come to our house?" From the room, an old woman came out carrying a dustpan and scolded Old Man Zheng.
The yard of Old Man Zheng's house, let's call it a yard, is actually just a fence surrounding a few thatched huts.
"You bitch knows nothing, pick it up quickly." Old man Zheng was a little proud and a little nervous. He pushed the old woman away and walked straight into the house.