Chapter 70: Using the Curved Plow

After Luoning met briefly with these Village Chiefs and Group Leaders, how to specifically execute and supervise the matters he entrusted became Wilson's business.

He himself, accompanied by Chaha'er and Jialun, took a trip to Kalesi's Blacksmith Shop to get a good look at the completed Curved Plow.

The Blacksmith Shop was still as cluttered as last time; broken bone tools, pottery, stone tools, and the like were placed haphazardly everywhere, leaving only a vacant space in the middle to display the finished Curved Plow.

If Chaha'er hadn't notified the Lord in advance that he was coming to inspect it today, Kalesi probably wouldn't have even bothered to clear out this empty space in the middle.

"My Lord, you've finally come!"

Kalesi, bringing his son Ba'er, greeted him from afar, "We finished assembling the Curved Plow yesterday, just waiting for you to come and test its effectiveness!"

"You've worked hard, Kalesi."

Luoning maintained an approachable smile, "I am also a bit impatient to see your results; come, lead me over quickly."

Under the guidance of Kalesi and his son, Luoning walked into the Blacksmith Shop and caught sight of the Curved Plow placed on the palm-sized patch of clean ground in the center.

His eyes lit up; he strode over, examined it carefully from front to back, and then squatted down to inspect the plowshare closely, its shape and size differing very little from the plow in his memory.

"Kalesi, everyone in town says your blacksmithing skills are good, and today I have finally seen it for myself!"

He couldn't help but give the other man a compliment, "This Curved Plow has almost ninety-nine percent of the completion level I designed; very good!"

Having received the Lord's affirmation, Kalesi's tense mood finally eased, and at the same time, he felt secretly proud of his craftsmanship, though he remained very humble in his speech.

"The blueprints designed by you, my Lord, were truly too clear; I only needed to follow them to make it."

Luoning gripped the front end of the plow handle and lifted the Curved Plow.

Although this thing had some weight, he was now an Intermediate Knight, so this bit of weight was nothing at all, and he lifted it with ease.

"It is a bit heavy for ordinary people."

He looked over the plow body and asked, "How heavy are the plowshare and moldboard, and the wood of the plow body? Do you have an estimate?"

Kalesi knew this well and hurriedly said, "My Lord, the plowshare and moldboard should weigh five jin; I forged them using five jin of iron. The plow body was made from birch wood felled by Mr. Chaha'er and William's son, and the weight should be around a hundred jin."

Luoning looked at the plow body, "As expected of William's son, this plow body is made quite well."

The young lad Ba'er to the side couldn't help but say, "My Lord, I made this together with him!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kalesi hurriedly covered Ba'er's mouth and looked at Luoning apologetically, "My Lord, please forgive Ba'er's rudeness."

Luoning laughed, "Ba'er, is it? How old are you this year?"

Ba'er broke free from his father's hand and answered loudly, "I am thirteen years old this year, my Lord!"

"Not bad, your skills are also great!"

Luoning said with a smile, "Study blacksmithing well with your father; oh, and also study the making of the plow body well. In the future, I might have many places where I can use you."

Being able to speak so many sentences with the Lord, Ba'er was somewhat excited, and after receiving the Lord's encouragement, he nodded firmly, "My Lord, I will study hard!"

Kalesi's position would eventually be handed over to Ba'er, and Luoning was truly counting on the other party to be able to deeply refine the craft of blacksmithing.

Because from the experience with the wrought iron he bought back from Muma City, he discovered that the iron smelting technology of this world was not as high as he had imagined.

Those so-called wrought irons were actually sponge iron, which was iron reduced from ore in a low-temperature environment.

Blacksmiths used this wrought iron to forge various tools, weapons, and armor.

This method was fine for forging weapons and the like because the demand was relatively small, but if one wanted to produce large quantities of farm tools, it would probably tire the blacksmiths to death.

To solve this problem, the specific method was to smelt liquid iron, and through pouring the molten iron into molds to form directly, produce farm tools on a large, mass scale.

But Luoning looked at Kalesi's Blacksmith Shop; with that open-mouthed furnace of his, plus a small leather bellows, it was likely very difficult to raise the temperature of the iron smelting.

Clearly, this would again require Luoning to bring out his own knowledge.

First, he had to design a bellows, then design a furnace, thereby allowing the temperature to rise to a level sufficient to smelt pig iron.

He noted this matter down, then instructed everyone, "Let's go, let's go test it first and see exactly how effective the Curved Plow is."

Ba'er had long been unable to wait and hurriedly shouldered the Jia Xia, while Luoning signaled Jialun and the others to help Kalesi carry the Curved Plow out.

In the fields not far away, Chaha'er had already had the cowherd lead over a Black Water Buffalo from the castle in advance.

Under Luoning's personal direction, everyone scrambled to mount the Jia Xia onto the buffalo's neck, while simultaneously connecting the Jia Xia and the plow beam with linen rope.

"When using it, you can adjust the position of the plow arrow according to the condition of the land to ensure the angle between the plowshare and the land is appropriate."

Luoning adjusted it himself, and after setting the approximate position, he signaled to the cowherd that he could begin.

Having received the Lord's order, the cowherd gently flicked his whip, and the Black Water Buffalo began to step forward upon hearing the command.

The buffalo's speed was not fast, but its strength was great, pulling the Curved Plow forward under the traction of the ropes.

At the beginning, the cowherd could not control the direction of the Curved Plow very well, and coupled with a nervous and unfamiliar mindset, it did not plow well.

However, he did have some experience after all, and after multiple adjustments, he was finally able to turn the soil smoothly.

Kalesi, Chaha'er, Jialun, and others who were following behind to observe carefully all let out exclamations.

"Heavens, it can actually plow this deep!"

"Not only does it plow deep, but it also looks very smooth; it's much lighter and faster than when several of us pull a Light Plow to till the field!"

Before becoming a manservant, Jialun had needed to farm, and he had turned the soil before; whether using a hoe or a Light Plow, whether by human power or buffalo pull, it was never something one person and one buffalo could complete, and there were always helpers by his side.

But now, one cowherd working with one buffalo could easily turn a thirty-meter-long stretch of land!

If the bystanders were excited, then the cowherd actually operating it was even more so; he felt that what was in his hands was not a plow, but a Divine Artifact!

"This is truly... too incredible!"

The cowherd's heart was trembling violently; he only needed to control the direction slightly and walk behind. Although it would consume a certain amount of physical strength, compared to the previous way of turning soil, this current method was much easier!

When he finished plowing one row, he directed the buffalo to turn around while slightly controlling the plow handle, and under the buffalo's pull, he actually achieved the turn very easily; such labor-saving and convenient operation shocked him even more.

"Look quickly, so many earthworms!" Ba'er squatted to the side, pointing at the earthworms moving on the soil surface, shouting excitedly.

There were also earthworms during normal labor, but there were not as many as seen now.

Luoning was not surprised by this phenomenon; after all, using a Curved Plow plowed deeper than a Light Plow and manual soil turning, and coupled with the moldboard breaking up the soil clods, it was not strange to turn all the earthworms out from the soil.

What he was more concerned about was the quality of the soil.

He squatted beside the furrow that had been plowed, reached out to pinch the soil, which was relatively moist, and then looked at its black appearance and the many earthworms present; at a glance, the fertility was very good.

It seems the soil quality here in Shanlin Town is indeed quite decent; it is no wonder that just by planting barley, the yield per mu can reach 90 jin.

Luoning patted the dirt off his hands, stood up, and asked the cowherd, "How does it feel to use the Curved Plow?"

Although the cowherd had met the lord when he first "started the job," he still felt nervous facing the lord directly at this moment.

After pondering for Along while, the cowherd finally spoke his thoughts.

"My Lord, this is the most magical and incredible thing I have ever seen in my life!"

He said exaggeratedly, "When we operate the Light Plow, we usually need two or three people, but just now I was able to operate it easily by myself; not only is it fast, but it also saves a lot of physical strength!"

The cowherd looked over the fallow field, "If I had to plow this land alone, it would probably take two or three days, but now with the Curved Plow and this ox, My Lord, I guarantee I can finish it in just one day!"

Although the cowherd's description was a bit exaggerated, Luoning knew clearly that the Curved Plow had indeed brought great convenience and efficiency to the farmers, reducing the difficulty of tilling and clearing land.

Now, the question is how to mass-produce them.

(End of chapter)