Volume 1: My Territory, I Am in Charge Chapter 65: Reaper

  Three days later is the day of the funeral, two teams of mourners slowly move forward, paper money like white moths flying in the wind, the sound of suona makes people's hearts break, the family members follow behind the coffin, wailing and crying out loud, Zhao Ke holds a staff to support the coffin and walks in the middle.

  "Whose land is this in the wild? Gathering souls, no distinction between good and evil. The ghostly elder urges hastily, human life cannot be delayed...". Li Yannian's elegy was sorrowful and desolate, Zhao Ke followed and sang it again.

  "Brother, go well..." Every time they passed a construction site, the strong men would lay down offerings and worship along the way. The funeral procession had to stop again and again, and Zhao Ye would also bow with the bereaved family.

  "Brother, the king himself is seeing you off, you should close your eyes!" a middle-aged man shouted loudly.

  "Older brother, Wang Ye has already arranged for your family's aftermath, you can rest assured and go!"

  Zhao Chu heard the villagers' simple words, making him feel both ashamed and moved. His fellow villagers had left, but he had only done what he should have done. These villagers not only didn't blame him, but instead were grateful to him; his small kindness had satisfied them...

  Zhao Che had been sending the dead strong men to the graveyard until sunset before returning to the government office. "Zheng Lu, we took over the tenants' fields to build canals and roads, what did they say?" Zhao Che changed his clothes, washed up simply, and then asked him.

  "Second Master, most people think that we are repairing the canals and roads for their own good, they didn't say anything, only a few individuals were dissatisfied with this!" Now Zhao Yi was in the mansion, using both kindness and authority, had established his power, no one dared to treat him like a child anymore, Zheng Lu carefully replied while watching his expression.

  "How did you do it?" Zhao asked again with an expressionless face.

  "Second Master, the land was originally ours to begin with. I think we should just take it and be done with it. Besides, the road is right next to his field, so in the future everything will be convenient for us. Do you think they'll still dare to bully us?" Zheng Lu replied.

  "Hum, you're muddled in your thinking. Although the land is ours, it's already been rented out to others, so it's not entirely ours anymore. Now that we've occupied their fields and affected their harvest, you still dare to threaten them? Is this reasonable?" Zhao Ze said with a slap on the table.

  "Second Master, we've already invested over 100,000 guan in opening up the road and repairing the canal. If we have to compensate again, it'll cost a large sum of money. I don't know how many years' worth of rent we'll need to collect to recoup our investment. Please think carefully about this, Second Master!" Zheng Lu hastily explained.

  "I know you're working hard for the estate and thinking of me, but a few taels of silver may be just a drop in the bucket for us, yet it's a year's income for these tenant farmers. They still have to pay various rents and taxes, leaving them with very little. You could say that this land is their lifeblood!" Zhao said, "You all make sure to take stock tomorrow, see whose land was occupied, how much was taken, and reduce the rent accordingly based on this year's harvest. We'll also compensate for the destroyed crops at market price. Let's not give people reason to curse us as being wealthy but heartless!"

  "Understood, I'll go and carry out Second Master's orders right away!" Zheng Lu said with a bow.

  "Zheng Lu, you are temporarily in charge of the overall situation. When considering things, don't just look at the immediate small gains. Right now, it seems like we've suffered some losses. If our fields aren't being cultivated, then no matter how much land we have, it's all just barren wasteland that can't even bring in a single coin. The only way for us to flourish is if we keep the people and let them truly work for us." Zhao Ke saw that Zheng Lu was somewhat dissatisfied and hadn't fully understood, so he would either just go through the motions or be negative about doing things from now on, and couldn't help but say a few more words to him.

  The things on the construction site have finally been resolved, and the two major killers were handed over to Huang Jingchen for supervision. The winery has Xianxi and Shu Shu watching, and Zhao Chuang finally had time again, busy with his other thing. In another two months, it will be the season of wheat harvest, he wants to complete his other 'Ming' - semi-automatic harvester before that.

  Zhao is currently studying a harvesting machine that utilizes animal power. This harvester not only has a simple structure and is lightweight, but also uses mostly wooden materials, with livestock as the power source, resulting in fast work efficiency, high quality, and relatively simple maintenance, making it particularly suitable for use in this era.

  "This wheel should be like this, right? Why didn't I study it carefully back then?" Zhao Chu thought bitterly about the thing he had seen in his previous life. It was a pile of junk he saw in the warehouse when he was the farm director, which was the most advanced agricultural equipment introduced during the initial period of the farm's establishment. However, by the time it got to him, it had already been eliminated by more advanced mechanized equipment. He still had to thank the previous directors for persisting in the tradition of being frugal and austere, so that these things were not disposed of as junk early on, allowing Zhao Chu to have a chance encounter with them.

  Regret medicine is not available, Zhao Zhe can only rely on his own mechanical foundation to try to restore that old-fashioned livestock harvester. Without physical reference, without data to borrow, and even more frustratingly, there are two completely different measurement standards. Zhao Zhe relied on his memory to draw the rough outline of the harvester on paper, then broke it down into several major parts. Fortunately, he was familiar with modern mechanical principles, so he knew which major components were needed, and finally dissected the major components into more small parts.

  "My god, this is not a copy, it's a complete redesign!" Zhao Yan looked at the pile of drawings on his desk, with even more discarded papers scattered on the floor, and muttered to himself in despair. Mechanical design emphasizes precision and seamless integration, where every component works together accurately, and if one part doesn't fit, you have to start all over again. After three sleepless nights, he had finally completed the initial design, but whether it would work or not could only be determined after building a prototype.

  "Ah..." Zhao Ye let out a long yawn, his eyelids uncontrollably sticking together. "I'm still a kid, I need plenty of sleep to grow tall and strong, never mind, I'll just go to bed first and try again tomorrow. After all, practice makes perfect, right?" Zhao Ye couldn't bear Zhou Ge's summons anymore, so he got into bed with his clothes on and comforted himself by playing chess against himself.

  Another seven days have passed, and on a sunny morning, Zhao Zhe came to the workshop in the mansion again, instructing everyone to put all the finished parts together and assemble them according to his requirements. The structure of this thing is not complicated, and soon a strange-looking thing over 7 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 4 feet high appeared before everyone's eyes.

  "Is Second Master making a sedan chair?" Zhang Liu Jin whispered to Zhang Er Bao, the foreman beside him.

  "No, I think it's a cart, you didn't see the wheels underneath!" Zhang Erbao said with a shake of his head.

  "Hmm, the boss is right, I've been thinking that this carriage was designed by Second Master. Look, I even carved some flowers around it!" said Carpenter Qian Zhuang with a smile.

  "You guys are really inexperienced, this is clearly a war chariot. Didn't you see the several circular disks at the front? Those are all sharp-edged, once they hit the battlefield and start rolling, they can cut off horse hooves!" Blacksmith Cao Shuangcheng said with a smirk.

  "Lao Cao, you'll die if you don't brag! Using this to fight, the enemy will be hiding somewhere, and won't even let our arrows turn into hedgehogs!" Zhang Liujin said with a 'you're really an idiot' expression.

  Zhao Chu didn't have the heart to listen to those guys' wild guesses, so he checked all the parts of the harvester again. The reaping wheel, separating device, cutting tool, and conveyor belt were all connected properly. However, these craftsmen had added their own creative ideas on top of their original design, making the harvester look even more incongruous. Not only was the wooden frame painted, but also adorned with a few large peonies carved into it, and its edges were outlined with gold powder. Zhang Liu Jin probably thought he had contributed the least, so not only did he attach several delicate small copper bells to the front of the vehicle, but he also decorated the wheels with copper sheets. Cao Shuang Cheng was even more extreme - every iron piece was polished by him until it shone brightly like a mirror... Zhao Chu wiped away his sweat, feeling fortunate that no silversmiths or jade craftsmen had been involved, otherwise who knows what else would have been added.

  "Stop arguing, you'll know what this thing is later. Come over and push it a few steps!" After the inspection, all major parts were in their proper places, Zhao Xiang let out a sigh of relief and shouted to several people.

  "Alright, I said it's a car, if you can't push it!" Zhang Erbao said, calling on his partners to take their positions and pushing the harvester to make circles in the yard. After a burst of creaking and screeching sounds, the noise gradually subsided after some adjustments. Zhao Ke lay on the frame, checking the coordination of each component, and the operation was normal, with all moving parts working properly.

  "Let's take this guy to the garden too!" Zhao had gained confidence and immediately ordered the operation to proceed.

  "Right!" Jian Xi had been watching from the side, without going forward. He didn't know what King Wang was making, but he knew it must be something that could make a lot of money. Otherwise, King Wang wouldn't have put in so much effort!

  A group of people carried the stretcher to the garden, Zhao Zhe took a glance and found that it had been more than half a month since he last came, and now it was full of flowers and green willows, with a strong sense of spring. However, he had no heart to appreciate it, walked around for half a circle, and set his eyes on a patch of 'Hongxian', which is now about the same height as wheat, and is planted in large patches, just right for him to start with.

  "Second Master, what are you doing?" Seeing Wang Ye having someone lead a horse dragging a strange creature into the flower cluster, Old Wang, the florist, refused to cooperate and blocked the way, saying.

  "Old Wang, these flowers don't look good. I'll cut them down and you replant!" Zhao Ye said with a smile as he pulled open Old Wang's door and patted the horse's rump.

  Old Wang's eyes grew wider as he stomped his foot and sighed, only to see the monster enter the flower cluster. As it passed by, a three-foot-wide strip of flowers was cut off, turned half a circle on the conveyor belt, and fell to the ground, forming a neat floral band.

  "Yes! Success!" The reaper made two rounds in the flower cluster and then laid down a large bunch of flowers. Zhao Shu checked it out and found that as long as the height of the cutter was readjusted, it could be applied to wheat harvesting.

  "Second Master, what is this...?" The craftsmen all understood, but they just didn't know what to call it. Zhang Erbao asked stutteringly.

  "This is called a rice and wheat harvester!" Zhao Yi proudly grinned and laughed, saying that the mechanization era of agriculture in the Song Dynasty was opened by himself.