Chapter Thirty-One: Spring Plowing and Planting

  Spring warmth, not only the earth turned green, but also nearly half of the mulberry branches that Yang Heng had planted in front of his house last year had sprouted green buds. Obviously, those that hadn't sprouted were a failure. And his uncles had bought up the remaining 200 mu of barren land.

  At this time, the uncles' family was not in a hurry to open up wasteland, but instead helped Yang Heng plant the mulberry seedlings that had been raised well. The mulberry seedlings were planted on the ten-acre field by the riverbank. Next came the planting of rice. After Uncle left, Yang Heng and his uncles set up the waterwheel frame early on and irrigated about ten acres of land. This ten-acre field became a paddy field. Rice was not directly planted in the fields, but first raised as seedlings and then transplanted.

  "Eldest sister, nephew, what kind of plow are you using? Let's try it out." When they were planting mulberry trees in front, they didn't till the land, just the deep tilling from last year's opening up was enough. But now that they're about to plant rice and also need to cultivate the dry fields, they need to till the land again. So Yang Heng's new plow showed off its power, with his mother supporting the plow in the back and Yang Heng pulling it in the front.

  But the old lady's movements were too uncoordinated, she didn't know how to hold the plow, while Yang Heng only needed to walk in a straight line. The uncles saw that the old lady was holding the plow crookedly, but the field was being tilled very deeply and quickly. After a while, the old lady became familiar with how to hold the plow, and the speed increased even more. The uncles were puzzled, this plow usually requires two oxen in front to pull it, and the person holding the plow behind also needs to carry the plow, looking very tired. What kind of plow is Big Sister and Nephew using?

  The uncles all said that they were not very good at farming, but they could also tell the quality of the plow, so they were all puzzled and wanted to try plowing the field themselves.

  "Uncle, I thought you would need a while to see the benefits of this plow. Otherwise, why don't you try plowing one circle first, and then I'll explain it to you."

  "Old Three, you come to pull, I'll support from behind." Among these uncles, Second Uncle is the one who knows more about the land. Who let him be the oldest and have the most contact with the land? So he wants to hold the plow.

  "Alright, Second Brother, don't pull too hard, I might not be able to keep up, I'm not as strong as your big nephew." As he spoke, Third Uncle put the rope on his shoulder. "Ah!" Third Uncle exclaimed and fell to the ground with a thud. This was because he had used too much strength, and in one careless moment, his footwork hadn't kept up, so naturally he fell to the ground with a thud.

  "Second brother, didn't you put the plow into the ground? Look at how much strength I'm using. If you make my waist sprain, what am I going to do?" Third Uncle complained.

  "What's wrong, you're using too much force, this is a new plow, can't you try it out slowly? I'm telling you, Old Three, you're always so rough and careless, can't you be more steady? Alright, alright, you hold the plow, I'll pull." Second Uncle was also unhappy.

  As he spoke, Second Uncle took over the rope from Third Uncle's hands.

  "Alright, Second Brother, I've got it steady now, you can go ahead." Second Uncle was naturally not as rough as Third Uncle, he slowly applied force, "Second Brother, are you tired? Should I make it shallower?" "No need, just keep it steady and we're good." As they spoke, Second Uncle grasped the right amount of force and started moving forward, slowly at first. But soon, Second Uncle's footsteps quickened, this field had been plowed once before New Year's, so now it was relatively easy to till. That old plow, no matter how many times you plowed, would never be that easy, but looking ahead, Second Uncle seemed to have taken a liking to the work and started running with the plow, while Third Uncle, who was holding up the plow from behind, was getting tired. Holding up the plow was also a skillful job, if not done by an expert, it would be tiring too.

  "Second brother, slow down, I can't keep up." "Second brother, third brother, stop for a moment and let us try too." Fifth uncle and little uncle were also anxious on the side, especially little uncle, he seemed to have seen new toys again, he was a carpenter, with new tools, how could he not try them out?

  "This plow is really good, young master. What do you think?" The uncle asked after trying the new plow. "This should be a curved-share plow (Yang Heng wasn't entirely sure either, because he didn't understand what a curved-share plow was, and he didn't know what to call each part of the plow). Look, uncle, this place is for setting the direction, and this place is for setting the depth. As long as you pull it up or push it down, the depth will change. And the most important thing on top is this plowshare, and this soil-turning part, both are made of good iron. The plowshare is used to break open the soil below, and then the soil-turning part turns the soil over to one side, naturally making it faster and easier. I don't know what your old plows were like." Although Yang Heng didn't know what the old plows looked like, he had studied history before, and at that time, the plows really weren't powerful. The curved-share plow should have appeared after Li Er became emperor or even later, or in some place, the prototype of this curved-share plow may have already appeared. However, even if a new plow appeared afterwards, it wasn't as easy to use as Yang Heng's, which was a well-made plow that had been improved over thousands of years.

  "Hmm, hmm, hmm, how come I didn't think of that? It's just a simple combination of things, and the speed of plowing the field is so much faster. Even families without oxen can easily cultivate their land now." Little Uncle lamented on the side.

  Although this is simple, it's not something that anyone can come up with. Even if Yang Heng hadn't seen this kind of plow before, he wouldn't have been able to invent it out of thin air. He really admires the person from later generations who invented the curved-beam plow.

  With the new plow, Yang Heng's farm work naturally went very smoothly. When Old Man came back, Yang Heng's fields had all been planted, and even the fields of his four uncles' homes were also planted. It wasn't that Yang Heng was stingy, but he had his own considerations and didn't let anyone in the village know about the curved plow. By the time Old Man came back, the forest had already been cut down by Old Lady and Yang Heng to a width of over 100 meters. The uncles were helping to carry tree trunks, pile up branches and weeds, and even prepare wood for building their own houses. However, they weren't in a hurry to build houses since they still had homes to live in. When purchasing the wasteland earlier, Uncle also registered the five families as one "bao", which was a way of mutual supervision, similar to how the imperial court controlled the peasants during ancient times, and also how the Japanese devils used this system during Yang Heng's ancestors' war of resistance.