Chapter 39: The Waterwheel

In the early years of the Great Ming, the lijia system was implemented: one hundred and ten households formed one li, one li comprised ten jia, and each jia had ten households.

From each li, ten men with the most adult males and grain were elected as li heads, each serving a one-year term in rotation, completing one full cycle every ten years. Within each jia, households were ordered by the number of adult males and grain, and each household served a one-year term as jia head in rotation over the ten-year period.

This lijia system was akin to the later township system and played a vital role in the early Great Ming. After the mid-Ming period, local gentry power rose, and the status of positions like li head and jia head steadily declined. Especially after the Single Whip Law was implemented, the roles of li head and jia head in various regions became as burdensome as bitter corvée and menial servitude, and the Great Ming’s local ruling order slowly collapsed.

However, as the saying goes, a centipede dies but never falls down. In local administration, li heads and jia heads still bore important responsibilities. For instance, the buying and selling of local farmland had to be supervised by the li head of that area, who would obtain official grid-lined deed paper from the department or county government office to serve as transaction proof. After the transfer and registration of the sale, the li head was also held responsible if problems arose.

After Wang Dou sought out Jiang An and told him he wanted to buy some wasteland and government fields, the li head found it strange and said, “Worthy nephew, let your old uncle say a word here. You are not a man of letters, not a Provincial Graduate, not even a Licentiate. By rights, you have no tax exemptions or remissions. The land tax is very heavy right now. After you buy the wasteland, you will still need to invest a great deal of money and grain. In the end, the loss will outweigh the gain.”

Jiang An had already made up his mind to build a deep friendship with the Wang family, so his words were spoken with considerable sincerity.

Wang Dou was somewhat moved upon hearing this, but his mind was already made up. How could he back down just because of a few words from Jiang An? He said, “Uncle, I have my own plans. Please do me this convenience.”

As he spoke, a silver ingot of about one tael was already gently placed into Jiang An’s hand. Jiang An’s eyes lit up. He sighed and said, “Very well, we are all neighbors. If I can help, I will do this favor.”

He then made a trip to the department city and brought back the official grid-lined deed paper. Accompanying him was a Department Clerk from Baoan Department named Qi Guan.

The group walked along the Dongfang River, and finally, at a spot about two li from the river, after also inspecting the Wang family’s household registration certificate, Wang Dou purchased twenty mu of wasteland at a price of just over five taels per mu, under his father Wang Wei’s name. He obtained a “Red Deed for Wang Wei of Sangganli, Baoan Department, Purchasing Land in the Eighth Year of Chongzhen.”

In addition, there was also a tax transfer certificate:

“Jiang An, Yellow Register Li Head of the Second Li, Baoan Department, now reports that the Baoan Department government government office has sold twenty mu of government land, plot number eight hundred eighty-one under the character wang, at a location named Xiahong. Per mu, a tax of five fen and three li in silver is levied, totaling one tael and six fen in tax silver. The above plot is hereby transferred into the account of Wang Wei of the Sixth Jia of this li for payment and record. Filed for reference.”

“Seventh day of the first month, Eighth Year of Chongzhen. Yellow Register Li Head Jiang An, seal.”

“Administering household adult male: Wang Dou.”

“Scribe Qi Guan, seal.”

Both the contract and the tax transfer certificate were made in duplicate. When Wang Dou signed his name on the contract and the tax transfer certificate, Jiang An and Qi Guan both glanced at him with some surprise and said in unison, “Fine calligraphy!”

……

Although the land was purchased, Wang Dou had no time to deal with it for now; he had more important matters to attend to.

On the eighth day of the first month of the Eighth Year of Chongzhen, Wang Dou brought Zhong Diaoyang, Han Chao, and the others back to Jingbian Fort. There were many affairs inside the fort, and he could not stay at home for long.

Since Han Chao had newly formed a squad, Zhong Diaoyang took over his original squad of troops. As for his maternal uncle Zhong Zhengxian, Wang Dou had originally wanted him to come to his own fort, but when Zhong Zhengxian followed him and saw how crude Jingbian Fort was, lacking even a fort wall, he clearly was unwilling to endure such hardship. Wang Dou had no choice but to arrange for him to go to Dongjiazhuang, which inevitably required preparing another generous gift.

For Wang Dou’s sake, Zhang Gui gave Zhong Zhengxian a post as a clerk, with a monthly salary of a few dou of rice.

When he went to Dongjiazhuang, Wang Dou also requested Zhang Gui to transfer Gao Shiyin into his own fort for service. Out of consideration for Wang Dou’s standing and the gifts, Zhang Gui agreed to Wang Dou’s request. Since Gao Shiyin himself was unwilling to independently and comfortably serve as a jia head of a single beacon tower, what more could he say? He very readily agreed to Wang Dou’s request, and henceforth Gao Shiyin would remain at Jingbian Fort for service.

However, Wang Dou currently had few soldiers under his command, so Gao Shiyin clearly had no opportunity to lead troops independently. He would stay by Wang Dou’s side for now, and they would take things slowly in the future.

After Wang Dou returned to Jingbian Fort, the New Year holiday obviously ceased immediately, and the entire fort once again threw itself into intense labor.

The first and most important task was still to continue dismantling and hauling back all the timber and stone from the bandit stronghold at Siqingliang. For a time, every man and woman in the fort worked together, each person going daily to the Siqingliang stronghold to dismantle timber, planks, stone, and other materials. Through the diligent efforts of the entire fort, by the day of Jingzhe, the entire Siqingliang bandit stronghold was finally stripped empty.

After the thorough clearing by the people of Jingbian Fort, the entire stronghold was, one could say, swept perfectly clean, utterly bare. Not only were all timber and stone materials dismantled and pried away, but not a single plank remained. The final result was that the materials for building Jingbian Fort were at last fully sufficient.

Seeing the raw materials inside the fort piled up like mountains, everyone in the fort breathed a sigh of relief. Wang Dou also gave orders to buy a few more pigs and sheep, and the whole fort celebrated together for two days.

After the celebration, there were only about ten days left until the Spring Equinox, and it was imperative to begin preparations for the spring plowing for the entire fort.

First of all, there was a problem. In the autumn and winter of the previous year, although the military households of Jingbian Fort had dredged a section of the Company Commander Canal, it was now very obvious that the river was low and the canal was high, requiring water to be drawn up.

The local method was generally to use dragon-bone waterwheels to draw water. For Wang Dou, these dragon-bone waterwheels required dedicated manpower daily, and the amount of water they drew was too little, their power too shallow. Wang Dou needed a high-efficiency water-drawing tool.

He thought of the large Lanzhou waterwheels of later ages. These waterwheels required no human or animal power, driven solely by the water current, and their water-drawing capacity was extremely high, capable of irrigating over three hundred mu of fields per day. Of course, there were pros and cons. As good as this type of waterwheel was, the construction cost was probably too high.

However, after thinking it over, Wang Dou still sent Qi Tianliang and Yang Tong to search for craftsmen in various places.

……

“My lord, the large Lanzhou waterwheel you speak of is merely a type of noria. This device appeared as early as the Tang dynasty. It is not rare, nor is it difficult to build. When this humble one was by the Yellow River, I built them for the locals. It just costs a bit more in money and grain, that is all.”

A few days later, a group of craftsmen stood beside Wang Dou. They were all very professional carpenters and masons, recruited respectively by Qi Tianliang and the other man from Dongjiazhuang, Shunxiang Fort, and Baoan Department city. Among them, an old craftsman with graying hair, after hearing Wang Dou’s description, quickly stepped forward and spoke proudly.

Hearing the old craftsman’s words, Wang Dou was somewhat surprised at the level of development of folk technology in the Great Ming at this time. He asked, “How much money and grain would it roughly cost?”

The old craftsman calculated for a moment and said, “If it is a waterwheel for irrigating a well, one unit would cost just over ten taels of silver. However, this type of noria is massive in size and requires a great deal of materials. I estimate that, including materials and labor costs, building one waterwheel would likely cost nearly one hundred taels of silver.”

Hearing that it would cost nearly one hundred taels of silver, Wang Dou could not help but hesitate for a moment. However, having found a way to accumulate wealth through suppressing bandits, Wang Dou was no longer so stingy with his silver. He gritted his teeth and said, “Fine, we will do as you say. Whatever expenses you need, just tell me. But let me say this upfront: if there is a problem with the waterwheel, I will not pay.”

The old craftsman said proudly, “My lord, you may rest assured. If there is a problem with the waterwheel, this old man and the others will not take a single cent.”

Wang Dou nodded. Although this old craftsman had an arrogant demeanor, most people with talent were like that. As long as he truly had the ability, what harm was there in using him?

Thinking of this, Wang Dou already felt the urge to recruit this group of craftsmen.