112: Chapter 112 Loyalty! Loyalty! Loyalty!

As the time for the summer harvest approached, the millet planted in the countryside gradually turned golden. Farmers began to harvest the millet ears with sickles under the scorching sun.

In Great Qin, to ensure they would not starve, every household would reclaim a hundred mu of land to plant grain.

Of course, a 'mu' in the Qin Dynasty was a Zhou mu, not the modern market mu. A hundred Zhou mu is only equivalent to twenty-two modern market mu.

However, for a household calculated at five people, being responsible for cultivating twenty-two market mu was still extremely hard work.

This is also why people in ancient times generally did not have long lifespans.

Excessively heavy farm work drained the farmers' labor; being able to live to fifty was already considered reaching a great age.

Zhao Fusu's mind was also focused on the summer harvest.

It was also time to ship the orders to the nobles who had purchased steam threshers.

To facilitate delivery, Zhao Fusu ordered over a thousand flatbed carts from the Woodworking Workshop.

When the laborers transported the goods, one person would pull in front while another pushed from behind.

One flatbed cart could carry three steam threshers.

Zhao Fusu planned the deliveries according to the quantity of steam threshers ordered by the nobles and their distance.

A total of two thousand people were gathered by Zhao Fusu; they worked in pairs, one pulling and one pushing, to deliver the goods to the nobles.

“General General Wang Jian.”

“Please check the count; your three hundred steam threshers are all here.”

Two seventeen or eighteen-year-old youths spoke respectfully to General Wang Jian.

General Wang Jian nodded, looking at the three hundred steam threshers arranged neatly in the square in front of his manor.

General Wang Jian had conquered six nations single-handedly and acquired a vast amount of land.

He could not cultivate it all by himself, so every year during the spring plowing and summer harvest, he hired a large number of hands to help.

After the restrictions on the grain trade were lifted, General Wang Jian sensed that many people would enter the grain business, and the difficulty and cost of hiring labor for the summer harvest would increase. Thus, he also ordered a batch of steam threshers.

He wanted to see if these steam threshers were truly as useful as claimed.

The two youths asked, “General General Wang Jian, would you like to inspect the goods?”

“Very well.”

General Wang Jian had never actually seen a steam thresher in operation, so he was curious about what it would look like once it started working.

The two youths were named Da Wu and Xiao Wu; they were brothers.

Both brothers were quick-witted and fast learners, becoming repairmen for the steam threshers.

They were both repairmen and trainers.

Their mission at General Wang Jian's manor was clear: they were responsible for the after-sales service of the steam threshers and had to teach the manor's staff how to use them safely.

General Wang Jian watched as Da Wu and Xiao Wu got busy, adding both coal and water into the steam thresher.

They lit the coal in the furnace, and after a while, the water in the boiler boiled, generating steam.

As time passed, more and more steam was generated, entering the cylinder and pushing the piston.

The piston then pushed the crankshaft and connecting rod, making the large gear rotate.

The large gear then drove the small gear, causing the steam thresher's drum to begin spinning.

The faster the large gear turned, the faster the small gear rotated.

“Chug-chug-chug, chug-chug-chug!”

The Steam Engine's drum rotated rapidly, emitting a loud noise.

This was the first time General Wang Jian had seen a steam thresher work, and he found it very novel.

If a man of his advanced age felt amazed, it went without saying for the rest of the people in General Wang Jian's manor.

They were all like curious children, eyes wide open, watching the steam thresher's drum spin rapidly.

Not just the people of the manor, but passersby also gathered to watch the spectacle.

“What is this thing? It's actually turning on its own. It's so miraculous, so incredible!”

“I don't know!”

Not everyone knew about the steam thresher.

“I know, I know.”

But not everyone was ignorant of it either.

“That's called a steam thresher.”

“It's a divine tool invented by His Majesty the Head of State!”

“My brother is responsible for casting the parts for the steam threshers!”

“With the steam thresher, we don't have to use a flail to beat the millet ears anymore.”

“We just need to cut a handful of millet stalks and put the ears against the drum; the spikes on the drum will help us knock the millet off.”

“Besides millet, the steam thresher can also thresh wheat and rice. It's very convenient and far faster than hitting rice ears with a flail!”

“His Majesty the Head of State could actually invent such a remarkable thing!”

“Indeed, His Majesty the Head of State invented this divine tool so that we laborers could have an easier time during farming.”

“His Majesty the Head of State treats us commoners at the bottom with sincerity; we must be loyal to His Majesty!”

“Loyalty!”

“Loyalty!”

“Loyalty!”

...

The onlookers all shouted their loyalty to Zhao Fusu.

After confirming that there were no issues with the three hundred steam threshers, General Wang Jian signed and pressed his thumbprint on the receipt Da Wu brought out.

“Xiao Wu, take the receipt back.”

Da Wu said.

He intended to stay behind to train the staff at General Wang Jian's manor on how to use the steam machinery.

He would also follow the manor's staff to the countryside to provide technical support for the steam threshers.

“Yes.”

Xiao Wu left with the receipt.

Similar scenes were occurring at the manors of various major nobles.

Trainers were introducing the servants of the nobles to the safe operation of the steam threshers. These servants would take the machines to the countryside to hire laborers for harvesting and threshing millet.

According to Zhao Fusu's original plan, he also wanted to set up nearby repair stations.

However, he had to build the Straight Road from Xianyang to the Industrial Zone, produce three thousand Iron Pagoda armors and a large amount of buren armor, and the Industrial Zone was still building a Steel Mill. He also had to reserve money to buy grain to sustain three million people.

Zhao Fusu had earned a vast amount of money by selling steam threshers, steam rotary tillers, and Magic Box Napkins, but the projects he wanted to undertake were all massive, requiring investments of hundreds of millions.

He could only build about a dozen 4S stores for selling and repairing agricultural machinery in the outskirts of Xianyang, where the fertile fields were most concentrated.

Once his economic pressure eased, he would increase the number of 4S stores.

Of course, Zhao Fusu also welcomed nobles interested in cooperation. Through a win-win model, he could partner with them to increase the number of 4S stores and expand the market for steam threshers.

Currently, the production of Hexagonal Boron Nitride Release Agent was still too low to meet the high demand.

Zhao Fusu decided to cooperate with the nobles, letting them collect raw materials outside the passes to produce Hexagonal Boron Nitride Release Agent, which he would then purchase from them.

Given the massive demand for Hexagonal Boron Nitride Release Agent, Zhao Fusu believed the nobles would be willing to invest in its production for the sake of profit.