Chapter 7: Farming Improvement

  The various generals sat in the city master's mansion and Lei Mengzi asked proudly: "What does everyone think of this iron furnace?"

  Yang Tian muttered to himself in a low voice, "The conditions here are terrible, it's hard for Lei Meng to build something of that level. I just don't know how the quality of the iron will turn out."

  Mr. Wen smiled and said: "Lei Meng, with these iron materials, we can forge more weapons and even make armor."

  Many generals also happily echoed him.

  After the joy, Luoyang Tian asked: "Master... General Lei, I wonder if it is possible to forge another divine weapon like yours again?"

  "Heh, this will do." Lei Meng was also very satisfied with the Tang knife in his hand. They hadn't even seen the bound dagger yet. "I'm also planning to cultivate a batch of ironworkers who specialize in making divine weapons, but these people must be trustworthy and under our control!" Lei Meng said seriously.

  Luoyang Tian and others felt that the matter was serious, all of them lowered their heads in contemplation, cautiously refraining from expressing opinions.

  Yang Tianyue sat more and more shapeless, leaning against the back of the chair with his right foot on the armrest, sneering: "Hehe, this is simple, just pull some people from the elite camp and it's done!"

  Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard that, and it was clear that the elite team was highly valued and wouldn't let personnel get out of control easily. Moreover, they were all physically strong and healthy.

  "Alright! It's settled then!" Lei Meng said resolutely, "First, select 200 soldiers who are interested in forging and give them some hints. Once they're proficient, arrange for them to forge divine weapons!"

  "Hmm, hearing that they can forge a divine sword like this Tang blade of mine, I think they'll come swarming." Yang Tian said with a smirk.

  "Hmm, this matter is settled then." After a pause, Lei Meng continued, "Our food supply can barely meet our needs for now, but once there are more people, I'm afraid it won't be enough." He glanced around at the crowd and saw that they were all puzzled - wasn't their supply already sufficient?

  "Are you worried that if this place develops well, there will be many people coming and not enough food?"

  "This is one of them." Lei Meng's right hand tapped the armrest with a "ding ding" sound, "The second is that this iron refining requires many people, and many people will not be able to participate in farming. The third is that the downstream of this small river is also difficult to cultivate."

  As soon as he finished speaking, except for Yang Tian, everyone else's eyebrows were deeply furrowed.

  Yang Tian smiled and said: "Then let's use some hybrid rice, apply some compound fertilizer..."

  "Stop, stop, stop!" Lei Meng hastily raised his hand to interrupt Yang Tian's words and said, "It's too complicated, I can't handle it, I'm not omnipotent."

  "Then let's make some organic fertilizer, deep plowing is still possible, for example, we have cows..." Yang Tian also thought of it.

  "Hmm, good idea!" Lei Meng slapped the armrest and his mind cleared up.

  In the following days, Lei Meng personally took action and forged several relatively smooth plows and rakes. Whether it's good or not, try it out to know, so everyone agreed to test it the next day.

  It was a sunny morning, amidst the cheerful chirping of birds. Lei Meng found a piece of relatively clean and moist mud ground, tied a curved wooden frame with hemp rope to an old ox's neck, and held the plow in one hand while swinging a whip in the other. With a "crack" sound, he lightly lashed the ox's back, and the reluctant animal began to move forward.

  The thunder rumbled and pressed down on the plow, and the plow slowly sank into the ground, turning up rolls of black mud. Everyone looked at it with a burst of joy, this plowing was not bad after all.

  That old cow felt the weight on its back getting heavier and heavier, turned around to glance at that strange guy, just a few wooden bars, how could it be so heavy? Unable to understand, it stopped moving.

  Lei Meng was watching the mud being turned over, feeling secretly pleased, when suddenly the plow stopped moving. He looked up to see that the old water buffalo was staring at him with its eyes wide open, unmoving. Meanwhile, Yang Tian was standing aside, laughing and watching Lei Meng make a fool of himself, while the other generals waited quietly for his next move.

  What a fine old cow, it's actually making me lose face! I'll show you who's boss! With a loud crack, the whip struck the cow's back. The old cow let out a pained moo and suddenly sprinted forward with all its might, as if trying to run back home.

  The thunderous laughter, and the plow was pressed down again, the mud rolled up in a burst, and it was plowed straight through. "How's that? The effect of this plowing is not bad, right?" He proudly shouted to the surrounding generals.

  "Look at that, the cow is running straight into the city to find its owner! Haha!" Yang Tian watched as Leiyin boasted, but the cow ran straight into the city without turning a corner. He was delighted, this was the result of not knowing how to control the cow.

  "Hold it tight, or there will be trouble." Leiming also became anxious and pressed the plow deeper with force, tightening his grip on it. He didn't dare to loosen his hand carelessly, lest he accidentally fling it somewhere and hurt someone.

  "Hehe, no need to, just press it down a bit and it won't be able to move. I'll just run up and scare it into a frantic sprint." Yang Tian wasn't worried at all, standing on the side watching the commotion.

  The old ox dragged its heavy plow for over ten meters, the pain in its body disappeared, and it was out of breath again, so it stopped once more.

  Lei Meng also let out a mouthful of stagnant air in his chest, wiped the sweat lightly and said: "It seems that this plowing land is not simple either. Liao Yun, go invite the cow owner over!"

  Liao Yunling took orders and left, while others gathered around, discussing pros and cons.

  Before long, Liao Yun led an old man with a hemp robe and grayish white hair to come over. Lei Meng stepped forward and bowed his hands saying: "Old sir, would you trouble yourself to lead the oxen? That way it won't run wildly while plowing the land."

  The old man was initially nervous seeing several strong and capable soldiers, but after hearing Lei Meng's words and seeing the people around him smiling at him, he felt relieved and said: "Alright, this is no problem. The old man will follow your command, young brother."

  Under the collaboration of the old man leading the cow, a piece of land was soon plowed. Looking at the rolled-up land, everyone's eyes were filled with excitement, and they enthusiastically expressed their opinions.

  The old man listened to their discussion, looked at the mud turned up on the ground, and finally understood that they were improving the farming tools. He was delighted in his heart and asked, "This farm tool is very useful, can you give an old man like me a set?"

  "Hehe, no problem, just a bit later, it's still being improved now." Lei Meng saw a joy. The old man heard and felt disappointed in his heart.

  "Let's try this plow and see how it goes?" Lei Meng tentatively asked the old man about his understanding of tilling the land.

  "No, no!" The old man looked at the rake and knew what it was for. He shook his head repeatedly, "To rake this land, I'm afraid you'll have to soak the mud that's been turned over."

  Lei Meng nodded repeatedly after listening, then ordered Lin Chong and Liao Yun to pack up. Afterwards, he thanked the old man again.

  After returning, Lei Meng handed over the improved hoe, small shovel, plow and rake to Mr. Wen, who was responsible for promoting farm tools and deep plowing concepts. In the following days, Lei Meng would point out new craftsmen's forging in the morning and explore fertilizer manufacturing plans in the afternoon.

  Time flies, and it's been another month. The new apprentices have made progress in learning to forge, and most of the blacksmiths can now forge Cloud Pattern Swords. However, the number of swords they produce is still relatively small, only over a hundred.

  In the blacksmith's house, Lei Meng took out a new sword and compared it with his old copper sword. With a "clang", the copper sword broke off and fell to the ground. Behind him, Luoyang Tian, Liao Yun, and Lin Chong were stunned, their jaws dropping in amazement.

  Lei Meng looked ahead and saw that the cloud shadows were gathered, with a small gap at the sword's edge. This was already considered to be of good quality. Lei Meng nodded his head and said to the craftsman who had forged the sword: "Not bad, you've also seen the effect. With another hundred or so folds, it will be on par with this sword in my hand."

  "General Xie Lei's praise, I will definitely work harder!" In fact, the craftsman who heard that he had to forge a hundred times more was secretly worried, his strength was not enough, and his control was lacking. If he continued to forge, it would be layered.

  Lei Meng seemed to have also noticed his inner confusion, and said: "Actually, you can apply internal strength to your body to temper it. That way, you can practice your skills while also improving the effect of your forging..."

  "General Lei's teachings are a gift!" The craftsmen respectfully shouted, that was the precious experience of practicing and making equipment, General Lei had casually passed it on to them, how could they not be grateful?

  Luoyang Tian and the three of them hastily snatched a sword, holding it in their hands and admiring it lovingly. Lei Ming was speechless for a moment before saying, "These are for ordinary generals, you should wait a bit longer."

  "This is good enough, I'll use it first." Luoyang Tian actually had the nerve to ask for it.

  "Suit yourself." Lei Meng rolled his eyes and walked out, he still had to think about how to fix that big septic tank. At the same time, he also saw that there were no welding materials, it was such a hassle to connect metal.

  Just a few days ago, Lei Meng finally made up his mind to thoroughly clean up the city. He connected all the toilets that could be linked together with ditches and gathered them into a large septic tank. After fermentation, this manure is very good biological fertilizer - of course, this method can also be used to put leaves and straw in for fermentation.

  The iron slag and the remaining coal ash were all collected, and Lei Meng ordered people to dig up yellow mud and mix it into a thin paste for repairing ditches, which would not be wasted.

  Leiming looked at the neat and smooth ditch, a sense of pride rising in his heart: if there were no scientists like him here, who knows when these things would be done.

  "General Lei, won't this big manure pit smell very bad?" An old woman came over with a cane and asked tremulously.

  "Hmm... old lady, don't worry, we'll cover it with a wooden board." Lei Meng felt embarrassed by this stinky question, but he quickly thought of a solution.

  "Oh, I see. So the old lady can rest assured." She then turned her head and shouted loudly to the three little kids peeking out from behind the wall, "Don't worry, the big toilet pit will be covered with wooden boards!"

  The three heads on the other side saw Leiming and looked over, but didn't dare to respond. With a swift motion, they shrank back.

  After inspecting the toilet, he ordered people to dig a shallower ditch leading to a large pool outside the city, making it convenient for residents to remove feces from outside the city and preventing too much accumulation with nowhere to drain.

  Thus, the problem of plowing was initially solved.

  Another month passed, and after the moats in the city were all built, there was still a lot of slag left over from the refining process. Lei Meng ordered his men to pave the roads in the city with rough concrete made from the mineral residue, so that they wouldn't turn into muddy messes when it rained. The residents all praised him for this. As a result, the happiness index of the three towns under Lei Meng's jurisdiction gradually rose, and their enthusiasm for participating in construction also increased.