Watching the rows of workers in the field slowly move forward like waves, Cai Qi said to Li Zhi: "It's amazing, these people move so slowly, how much can they pick in a day?" ”

Li asked Xu Ping beside him: "Xu waits for the system, picking cotton is a lot of labor." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoI don't know how many acres a person can pick a day? I don't think most of the thousands of acres of cotton in your village have not been picked, don't you want to receive it after autumn? ”

"Where you can pick a few acres, a person can pick one or two acres of land in a day. Fortunately, the cotton will not rot in the field, as long as the weather is good, it can be picked for a month or two, and there is no rush to pick it in a few days. ”

Cai Qi and Li Shi nodded, they can pick slowly over a long period of time, which is about the same. I have experienced the state and county, and I know that when the place is busy with farming, rushing to harvest and plant is like fighting a fire. If it is like rice and wheat, it must be harvested in a few days, the speed of this harvest is unbearable, and there is not so much manpower anywhere.

Watching the people in the field pick cotton, weighing basket by basket, I was a little interested at first, but after a long time, I felt bored. Under the pretext of going to the fields to watch, some young officials went around the cotton fields in twos and threes, just to relax by looking at the scenery.

Li Shi is old, and his legs are sore after standing on the ground for a long time. Although there is a chair next to Xu Ping that Zhuang Ke ordered, Cai Qi does not sit, and he is not easy to do. After all, the Privy Council is a head lower than the Zhongshu Sect, and the Privy Envoy is at the same level as the Governor of the Council, ranking ahead of all the Governors, and the Deputy Envoy is one level worse than the Governor of the Council.

The weather was hot again, and his legs were numb, Li Shi really couldn't stand still, and said to Xu Ping: "Xu Beizhi said early that it takes so much manpower to pick cotton, and I will transfer some troops from several nearby counties, and it will be finished in a day or two." ”

Xu Ping said: "The princess is kind, and the lower officials have no choice but to understand it." After all, this is the cotton field in my village, and the army will come to the box, and I will provoke my tongue in vain, and I don't know what someone wants to arrange when the time comes. ”

"Who dares to talk nonsense? The cotton in your village is sold to the three divisions, regardless of the price, but only after selling the cloth and sharing, it is dedicated to doing things for the imperial court! That's it, Li Xianggong, you will send a few hundred troops tomorrow and harvest all the cotton in this field in two or three days. Finish it early, we look carefully, this is also the meaning of the imperial court! ”

Cai Qi was also impatient, but it was just hard to say it. As soon as Li Shi mentioned it, he made it on the spot. In the important land of Beijing, Xu Ping's Zhuangzi is located between the Huimin River and the Jinshui River, not far from the Bianhe River, and the Xiang army of the Guang Patrol River does not know how many, plus various other names, the two rulers are the masters, and one or two thousand people can also be transferred casually.

Xu Ping also fell into a favor, but he was also thinking about it in his heart, this matter must be publicized It is Cai Qi and Li Shi who are in charge, and don't put on their heads after a while.

decided to let Xiang Jun help pick cotton, Cai Qi and Li Shi no longer stood stupidly in the field, and took people back early. Just wait for two days after tomorrow, after everyone has arrived, go back to the field to watch.

The two Zaizhi and Yan Shu and Li Shu turned around to rest, and the others saw that Xu Ping was not leaving, but they were not good enough to disperse, so they had to continue to wander blindly in the cotton field.

Xu Ping really couldn't leave, the box army came to pick cotton, and the group of people couldn't say anything, and they didn't know what they would do when the time came. Lu Song has finally found such people, of course, he can use it for a day.

Seeing that the officials scattered more and more, it completely became an outing. Xu Ping asked Sun Qilang to come in, asked him to take a few villagers, led the hounds, and simply accompanied these people to play.

Once those few people returned, this was Xu Ping's highest status. Even if Xu Ping opened his mouth, few of these people would really leave, so it was better to leave it like this, just let them come to the village to relax.

Until the sun was setting, Xu Ping saw that there was nothing abnormal, so he beckoned the officials to return.

Liu Xin and Zeng Gongliang walked together with a smile, and when they arrived at Xu Ping's side, they raised their hands hidden behind them, shook a pair of pheasants in their hands, and said, "Good luck, stew a chicken soup tonight!" ”

Xu Ping said with a smile: "You just have to tell the people in the village to open a small stove by yourself!" ”

At this season, the pheasants and hares in the fields have begun to increase, and when autumn comes, the fields are full of them.

Animals also have to prepare for winter in the fall, and they all know the temperament of man, knowing that in the autumn the farmer is busy day and night, and they can swagger in the field to find food. Even if they just run on people's heels, no one cares about them.

Drinking as usual in the evening, nothing to say all night.

The next day, Li Shi sent his entourage, with his own hand, to the surrounding counties of Zhongmu and Weishi to dispatch the Xiang army. The privy deputy wants to transfer people to use, which magistrate dares to disobey? Including the Hequ Duda Lifting Division, and the two county officials, the Lianxiang army and the messengers were sent over, and nearly 500 people arrived in one day.

Xu Ping's village slaughtered pigs and sheep, and the good wine and meat entertained these people, and the next day they went to the ground to pick cotton.

They are all raw hands, the efficiency is naturally not high, but it can't stand the number of people, a day's work, the cotton in the yard is piled up like a hill, looking spectacular.

On the third day, another batch came, plus the original hired manpower in Xu Pingzhuang, adding up to nearly a thousand people.

Xu Ping didn't wait any longer and decided to start processing cotton.

Cai Qi and Li Shi walked in front with Xu Ping, and once again walked into the yard where cotton was processed.

Looking at the pile of cotton in front of him, white as snow, Cai Qi couldn't help but exclaim: "It's only been two days, I don't want so much cotton here!" I heard Xu Zhizhi say that a husband only picks one acre a day, and I feel that it is a little too slow to put it away, and it seems that I think badly! This cotton is no better than silkworms, and one acre can weave a lot of cloth! ”

Xu Ping nodded: "Xianggong is right, if you take one acre of mulberry trees and grass cotton as a calculation, the output of cotton cloth is more than dozens of times more than silk." Even it is several times more than sackcloth. ”

"Good stuff, good stuff! This cotton is a great land-saving! ”

Cai Qi said as he joined Li Shi and followed Xu Ping into the room next to the machine.

Li Shi put on reading glasses, looked around the cotton gin with Cai Qi, and asked Xu Ping: "Xu to be made, how to use this machine?" Is it a hand or a foot pedal? Why don't you see the place where people exert force? ”

"Xianggong, these machines don't use manpower, they all use donkeys and mules. My village is half ploughing and half grazing, and there are all kinds of large livestock, and where animal power can be used, no manpower is needed. ”

Hearing this, Li Shu looked left and right, and asked Xu Ping strangely: "Where is the donkey and mule?" Haven't you been brought in yet? However, there was no winch of the donkey or mule. ”

Xu Ping pointed to several thick chains connected to the rolling mill and said: "Sheren, donkeys and mules are all outside the wall, and the winch they bring uses these chains to drive the machine." This is a place to work, and it needs to be clean, and the animals are inhumane, and they will inevitably make the place dirty and messy here, so they are separated by walls. ”

Everyone felt strange and gathered around to watch. Unexpectedly, Xu Ping still had this kind of thought, specially put the animals that were used as power outside, and also came up with the idea of using iron chains to transmit power in.

In Xu Ping's daily life in his previous life, most of the chains used required high speed and precision, generally roller chains, or toothed chains. But in the agricultural machinery he is most familiar with, some rough chains are often used, such as the ring chain used now. The ring chain is basically similar to the iron chain that is usually seen, with an iron ring covered by an iron ring, which is very different from the chain that people are familiar with every day. The ring chain is not precise, but the power transmitted is long, and the load is also large.

This set of textile machinery relies on the linkage of working tools, except for the final worsted and weaving, and does not require how stable the power is. The livestock power is not stable, just suitable for the ring chain to transmit power.

Seeing that everyone had already arrived at the place, Xu Ping asked Cai Qi: "Xianggong, ready, I don't know if you can start?" ”

"Okay, let's go!" Cai Qi turned to the other officials, "Look at it carefully, don't come in vain!" ”

Xu Ping ordered Sun Qilang, who was guarding the side, to beckon people and officially start.

Sun Qilang agreed, beckoned the personnel working here to be in place, walked to the wall, and stretched out his hand to pull a thin rope.

Just listen to the crisp sound of "Ding Zero". It turned out that the rope was connected with a bell, which was a signal to people outside the wall.

I heard the sound of scolding the cattle outside, and after a while, the big iron chain on the ground suddenly broke and tightened, and then slowly moved.

With the power of the iron chain, the cotton gin also began to rotate slowly.

Sun Qilang watched carefully on the side, saw that the machine was spinning steadily, and waved his hand suddenly: "Let's start!" ”

The farmer who was guarding the machine got the instruction to take the cotton next to it and feed it to the cotton gin continuously.

Ginning is to separate the cotton seeds from the seed cotton, and at the same time separate the scattered short-staple cotton to form lint for carding. According to his own understanding in his previous life, Xu Ping used a barbed roller to peel off, plus a brush to clean it. This is a commonly used structure in agricultural machinery, which is not unusual, and it happens to be roughly the same as the actual principle of cotton gin.

Looking at the cotton fed here and there, the relatively neat cotton fibers came out over there, as long as people kept adding materials to it, the two governors and the officials were amazed.

The separated lint is taken aside, and when a certain amount is reached, it is placed on a press with a large screw and pressed into large bundles of cotton.

Cai Qi looked strange, and couldn't help but ask Xu Ping: "Why do you press those seedless cotton, what's the use?" ”

"Back to Xianggong, after the cotton is rolled like this, it can be sent to the spinning place and spun into yarn. I can't spin much yarn or weave much cloth here, so I will still have to send it to the third division in the future. After pressing into bundles, it is good luck to move and save a lot of effort. ”

Cai Qi clicked a little, it turned out that it was the same thing as Xu Pingzhuang to press the grass in the village.

The screw is really very troublesome to make, Xu Ping first had a set of steel carefully polished, and then directly set it on the brass rod. With this set of steel nuts and screws, it is much easier to remake these things. (To be continued.) )