Chapter 165: Sky Screen Live Streaming System (40)

After eating breakfast, Xie Yang took the two little ones and followed Wen Dajiu out the door.

They did not head straight for the Nongchang gate, but instead walked leisurely along the river embankment to help digest their meal.

"Great Uncle, is that a Water Wheel?"

Xie Yang saw a large wooden Water Wheel standing by the river across from the stone arch bridge.

"Yes, but it hasn't been used for a long time. Irrigation is all automated now, so the Water Wheel was phased out long ago. However, tourists like to take pictures with it, so it has been left there."

As they spoke, the group crossed the stone arch bridge and arrived beside the Water Wheel.

"Auntie, what is this Water Wheel for? Is it for us to play with?"

Jinbao looked up at the large Water Wheel and asked curiously.

In her eyes, this Water Wheel was similar to the Ferris wheel she had ridden during summer vacation.

"Haha! The Water Wheel isn't for playing." Wen Dajiu laughed heartily, then pointed to the vast farmland behind him, "The Water Wheel is for watering the crops."

Xie Jilin's eyes shone brightly: "Great Uncle, how does the Water Wheel water the crops?"

"..."

Wen Dajiu was not quite used to his little grand-nephew's formal way of speaking, so he simply walked over to demonstrate for them:

"In the earliest days, there were no Engines, so people had to stand here and pedal the water. Once the Water Wheel started turning, it would scoop water from the river into the buckets, carry it to the canal side, and then pour it out. It would then flow along the canal into the fields. Otherwise, for a piece of land this big, people would have to carry water bucket by bucket; it was incredibly exhausting."

"Later, Engines were installed, so people didn't need to pedal here anymore. When water was needed, you would turn on the Engine, and the Water Wheel would start turning; when it wasn't needed, you would turn the Engine off, which saved us a lot of effort. But now, with the Automatic Irrigation Machine, it's even more convenient. You don't need anyone to watch it, and you don't need anyone to turn it on or off; it waters automatically based on the soil moisture..."

"Wow—"

The two children listened with great interest, as if a door to a new world had been opened.

Xie Jilin thought to himself: So, the farmers in this world don't even need to water the crops themselves. If only their Great Liang knew of such a method!

What he did not know was that all of Great Liang already knew...

【If this Water Wheel could be promoted in our Great Liang, it could indeed save a great deal of labor.】

【What kind of chicken is an Automatic Irrigation Chicken?】

【And what kind of chicken is an Engine Chicken?】

【Regardless of the chicken, just now Auntie's Great Uncle demonstrated that human-powered water wheels can also cause water to pour into canals and irrigate the fields.】

"Has the Minister recorded it all?"

Xiao Yanze lowered his eyes to look at the Minister of Works, who was writing furiously to his lower left.

"Your Majesty, your subject has copied it exactly, but whether it can be implemented specifically will only be known after the craftsmen build it and test it."

"Then why not quickly send men to test it! It must be popularized in every county and town before the spring plowing."

"Your subject obeys the imperial decree!"

The Minister of Works retreated in a hurry, returning to the Ministry of Works to find people to work overtime to develop the Water Wheel.

Xiao Yanze led the other members of the imperial core team to continue looking at the Sky Screen.

Xie Yang and her group had already arrived at the Nongchang.

"That over there is the breeding farm." Wen Dajiu pointed to the west, "Business is best during this period before the New Year. Every day, people come to order live chickens, ducks, and beef and mutton. It's too bloody, so I won't take the children there. After the New Year, when the place is cleaned up, I'll take you to visit if you want. Today, I'll take you to tour the Planting area first, and afterwards, we'll go to the strawberry garden to pick a few baskets of strawberries."

Xie Yang had no objections; the breeding farm before the New Year was indeed similar to a slaughterhouse, so it was better not to take the two little ones there.

"Great Uncle, the source for the Nongchang's Biogas Digester is the livestock manure from the breeding farm, right?"

"That is indeed the main part. In addition, there is rotting fruit, vegetable leaves, Corn stalks, wheat straw... The village also raised funds to build a public toilet, and the Septic Tank underneath is connected to the Biogas Digester."

Seeing that his niece was so interested in Biogas Heating, Wen Dajiu led her to the Biogas Boiler Room.

A large stainless steel boiler occupied the entire room.

"This is a custom-made extra-large smart boiler that can provide heating for the entire Nongchang and every household in our Beihe Village. At the time, this one boiler alone cost tens of thousands. A Solar Water Heater was also installed on the roof; if the biogas is insufficient, we just open the second valve..."

Xie Yang: "..."

She hadn't expected Biogas Heating to be so advanced now.

She had thought they were just venting gas directly from the Biogas Digester to boil water for a heat cycle.

How was this supposed to be borrowed by the Daliang People?

"Great Uncle, the smart boiler is a recent invention, right? I remember that years ago, Biogas Heating wasn't this convenient."

"That's for sure! It used to be very simple! We would just lay pipes from the Septic Tank to draw out the gas, light it to boil water and cook, and the hot air would be channeled into the smoke pipes, circling around the Fire Kang. It was warm, just not as convenient as it is now. Now, the biogas pipes for boiling water and cooking are separate from the hot air pipes. Whether we are cooking or not, there is always hot air circulating in the hot air pipes, so the room stays warm throughout the heating season."

Xie Yang smiled; what the Daliang People needed was the old-fashioned Biogas Heating.

Thus, she asked many questions surrounding the old-fashioned Biogas Heating. The niece and uncle went back and forth, one asking and one answering, which finally allowed some of the people under the Sky Screen to understand it quite well:

【Human and animal waste buried in the ground? The gas produced can be used to light fires and cook? The exhausted hot smoke can make a room warm? Is this true or false?】

【That's not called burying it in the ground, that's called fermentation. According to the Great Uncle, the fertilizer after human and animal waste ferments is called Biogas Slurry, and the fertility of the Biogas Slurry is even better. If you just carry it out to fertilize, the fertility is less than two or three tenths of the Biogas Slurry. No wonder the crop yields in the Heavenly Palace are so high; it turns out it's the difference in fertilizer!】

【So human and animal waste can be utilized in this way!】

【Everything else is fine, it's just that it consumes bricks and stones. Especially the Hot Smoke Pipe; it must be built to be seamless and airtight.】

【That just means the Hot Smoke Pipe in the room costs some bricks; the Septic Tank can be built with stones collected from the mountains or picked up from the creek, so it doesn't matter much. No matter how expensive the bricks for the Hot Smoke Pipe are, it's a one-time investment. Compared to the cost of burning charcoal for a Fire Kang, I think it is worth it!】

The imperial nobility have Earth Fire Dragons, so perhaps they aren't as concerned.

But the common people are more or less tempted.

Especially in areas where the winter is cold, who wouldn't want to imitate the Heavenly Palace's Biogas Digester, dig a Septic Tank, and build a warm kang made of Hot Smoke Pipes?

Not only can it make the room warm, but it can also light fires for cooking without wasting firewood!

The Biogas Slurry after fermentation has stable and long-lasting fertilizing effects!

It is simply a great, wonderful thing that achieves multiple goals at once!

It's just that bricks are too expensive!

Many families still live in thatched huts; where would they find the money to buy bricks?

Even if they wanted to buy them, they wouldn't be able to get them in a short time.

Most of the commoners gave up on the idea.

Only the landlords and Wealthy Philanthropists with sufficient "money power" immediately hired a group of craftsmen, and with a clatter and clang, they began to busy themselves.

Xiao Yanze also had people set up an experiment at the Imperial Villa; compared to Biogas Heating, he wanted to know more if the fertility of the Biogas Slurry was truly as highly effective as "Big Uncle" said, compared to applying fertilizer directly?

At the same time, Xie Yang and her party had already entered the Greenhouse Planting area, feeling as if they had suddenly arrived at late spring or early summer, so hot that everyone began to take off their down jackets.

"Wow! So many fruits!"

Hearing Xiao Jinchu's joyful cheer, everyone laughed.

Besides vegetables, there were indeed many out-of-season fruits: Watermelon, muskmelon, grapes, bananas, Hosui pears, honey peaches...

The central area of the Greenhouse, where the temperature was highest, also cultivated a few mango trees and durian trees.

"Big Uncle, is the warm shed also using Biogas Heating?"

"That's right! It's warm and saves on costs."

The Daliang People were completely stunned:

【That so-called Biogas Digester can actually grow fruits and vegetables that can only be eaten in summer!!!】

Now, even the nobles who had Earth Fire Dragon for heating and didn't care much about Biogas Heating, as well as the lower-class commoners who felt bricks and stones were too expensive and were reluctant to build a Biogas Digester, were all itching to take action!