GBP Chapter 213 A generous reward will surely attract brave men; if rewards and punishments are clearly
Chapter 213 A generous reward will surely attract brave men; if rewards and punishments are clearly
The Han Dynasty text "Huang Shigong's Three Strategies" states: "Under fragrant bait, there will surely be fish hanging; under heavy rewards, there will surely be warriors willing to die."
The Yuan Dynasty writer Wang Shifu wrote in "The Romance of the Western Chamber": "With a generous reward, there will surely be brave men; if rewards and punishments are clear, the plan will surely succeed."
As far as Magistrate Yang Shaofeng was concerned, as long as these carpenters could successfully build a wheat harvester that only required human labor and did not rely too much on animal power, it wouldn't matter if they were exempted from taxes for thirty years, let alone another thirty years.
To put it bluntly, the Ming Dynasty did not have a patent law or similar concept. Moreover, Emperor Zhu and the Ming court would not have allowed the monopolistic operation of something like the wheat harvester, which was related to the livelihood of the people. Otherwise, what would be the tax revenue of a mere thirty years based on patents or the sale of wheat harvesters?
But for these carpenters, the temptation of being exempt from thirty years of taxes and corvée labor was too great!
Thirty years, a full thirty years!
Based on the standard of paying 20 jin of grain per mu, and considering that the land was reclaimed three times in total—twice in the spring and autumn of the first year of Hongwu and once in the spring of the second year of Hongwu—each adult male in Ningyang County had 30 mu of land, and each family with three adult males had 90 mu of land. Therefore, an ordinary family would have to pay 1,800 jin of grain per year.
Over thirty years, how many kilograms of grain would that be?
Seeing the carpenters huddled together, counting on their fingers for a long time without figuring it out, Magistrate Yang couldn't help but frown and say, "Based on each of your families having ninety mu of land, the tax for thirty years would be approximately 54,000 jin of grain."
The carpenters were dumbfounded. After a long while, they all bowed to Magistrate Yang and said, "Your Excellency, rest assured, we will risk our lives to get the harvester you asked for!"
Magistrate Yang chuckled and said, "Just do your best. I asked you to make this thing so that people across the land could harvest wheat with their backs straight, not to kill you."
The carpenters chuckled, then bid farewell to Magistrate Yang and left, before gathering at the home of the leading carpenter.
"Whether you use livestock or people, there must be a place in front of this thing to catch the rope, so that it can be pulled along."
"If we do it the way the master suggested, this thing might be able to harvest wheat at a speed similar to a person, or even slower. We need to find another way."
"Or we could skip the wheat inlet and outlet and just make it into the shape of a waterwheel. We could take a few wooden sticks about three feet wide, attach blades to them, and cut off three feet of wheat with one stroke."
"Then we'll have to find a way to move the wheat to the side. If we leave it in its original place, won't we have to trample it when we turn around?"
"That's not right either. Look at what I drew. When you go from south to north, you cut from the east, right? If you turn around, the blade will end up on the west side, and there's no wheat on the west side. So you either have to go around in circles to harvest, keeping the blade aimed at the wheat, or you have to make this thing move so that it can be adjusted to harvest from the east after turning around."
"No, if we just cut down the wheat, someone has to tie it up and carry it away. Otherwise, when we come back in a circle, we'll step on the wheat that we just cut down. So it's best to cut down the wheat and put it directly on the open ground on the right. That way, no matter how many circles we go around to harvest, we won't step on the wheat."
"The harvester doesn't just harvest; it also lifts the wheat up. There's a wooden board under the harvester's roller, and then there's a mechanism to move the harvested wheat to the other side."
"..."
In order to receive ten taels of silver and a thirty-year tax exemption, the few carpenters in Ningyang County worked desperately, spending the night researching how to create a harvester that would satisfy Magistrate Yang.
As it turns out, laziness and greed are the primary driving forces behind technological progress.
Tempted by the high reward offered by Magistrate Yang, several carpenters produced a prototype of a simple wheat harvester in just over half a month.
Unfortunately, by the time the carpenters placed this rudimentary harvester, which didn't even have blades, in front of Magistrate Yang, all the wheat in Ningyang County had already been harvested, and the second stage of threshing and winnowing had officially begun.
Looking at the dejected carpenters before him, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but smile and said, "Give up already? Have you forgotten that I said before that as long as you can build a wheat harvester, I will reward you with silver and exempt you from taxes and corvée labor? I didn't mean that you have to build it before the wheat harvest is over, did I?"
It doesn't matter if it's made late. Although the people of Ningyang County can't use it this year, they can use it next year around the time of Grain in Ear. And people in other places who grow spring wheat can also use it.
Besides, although wheat and beans are very different, both crops grow in the ground and are cut from the root. This simplified harvester can be easily modified to make a bean harvester.
Hmm, and millet seems to be about the same?
After smiling and reassuring the carpenters, Magistrate Yang pondered in his mind as he circled the extremely rudimentary wheat harvester.
Ox.
Aside from the blade, it's almost entirely made of wood, without any carvings or paint. It's impossible for it to look good even if you wanted to.
However, the more Magistrate Yang looked at the harvester, the more interesting he found it. It was ugly in a cute way, ugly in a unique way, making it likable no matter how you looked at it.
After all, this was the first harvester in the Ming Dynasty. Although it could not actively bale wheat or separate wheat ears from straw, and other functions such as hulling were out of the question, the emergence of this harvester was a breakthrough from nothing to something.
Without combine harvesters, farmers have to bend over to cut wheat, which easily leads to various health problems.
The short lifespan of people in ancient times was due not only to various factors such as war and natural disasters, but also to excessive overwork.
With harvesters, people can straighten their backs and harvest wheat by manpower or livestock, instead of bending over all the time. This reduces the risk of developing hidden illnesses from overwork. It not only saves the Huimin Pharmacy a lot of medicine, but also allows Magistrate Yang to do more physical labor and pay taxes for two more years.
Even if this thing is very simple, it still requires manufacturing costs, and ordinary people can't possibly learn how to make it. So, why not set up a workshop that specializes in manufacturing harvesters? Besides keeping some for the people of Ningyang County to use themselves, the rest can be rented out or sold.
After pondering for a while, Magistrate Yang first had several dozen ten-string banknotes brought over and distributed to a few carpenters. Then he said with a smile, "If you want to exchange them for silver, go to the banknote shop. If you're not in a hurry to spend the silver, you should keep these banknotes safe. These are the first batch of banknotes issued by our Great Ming Dynasty. Exchanging them for silver would not be worthwhile."
"Also, you guys should discuss how to set up a workshop specifically for making this harvester. If you need a site or materials, talk to Brother Limpy Fifth and ask him to take care of it for you."
"Leave this harvester here for now. I will go and request credit from His Majesty and the court on your behalf."