117: Chapter 117 Xu Fu, the Navigator of the Qin Dynasty!

After Zhao Fusu liberalized the grain trade, nobles and landlords were able to sell their grain, allowing it to circulate in the market, which significantly lowered grain prices.

After the summer harvest, grain prices are expected to drop even further.

With Zhao Fusu only collecting one-tenth as grain tax, not only could nobles and landlords sell grain, but even the common people at the bottom had surplus grain to sell.

Under the regulation of a market economy, grain prices are expected to drop to one hundred coins per dan.

The reason Zhao Fusu did not immediately spend money to purchase grain after discussing it with the major nobles at the banquet was not only because they currently had no grain in hand, but also because he wanted to wait for the prices to drop further before buying at the bottom.

If the steamship isn't used to fetch grain from the south, using it to cross the vast ocean to the Chincha Islands, Macabi Island, Guape Island, Lobos Island, and other islands of the Indian South Continent to bring back massive amounts of bird guano would surely bolster agricultural production!

Next, in terms of agricultural development, Zhao Fusu intended to vigorously develop the Hetao Plain seized from the Xiongnu people.

The Hetao Plain covers an area of 28,000 square kilometers, with over 9.6 million mu of arable land.

The Hetao Plain is near the Yellow River, providing convenient water sources and flat terrain. Once developed into farmland, it would be perfectly suited for large-scale mechanized farming.

Even if each mu produced only two hundred catties of grain a year, that would still be 1.9 billion catties, enough to feed 3.55 million people for a year.

If he could transport guano back from the Indian South Continent, Zhao Fusu was confident he could double the grain yield, feeding an additional 3.55 million people every year.

What would it mean if he could support seven million people?

It would mean seven million people would depend on him to fill their bellies.

If anyone in the Great Qin Empire rebelled against him, those seven million people would be the first to stand up in opposition!

Even Han Xin, known as the God of War, wouldn't be able to summon a force of seven million like he could!

Therefore, as long as he could bring seabird guano back from the Indian South Continent and develop the Hetao Plain...

...the Remnants of the Six States wouldn't be able to stir up even the slightest ripple before him!

The corners of Zhao Fusu's mouth curled up willfully.

However, Zhao Fusu soon thought of another problem.

That was the fact that he didn't have any excellent navigators under his command!

Even with a steamship, traveling to the Indian Continent seventeen thousand kilometers away would be a suicide mission without a significant amount of navigational knowledge; one would likely end up buried at sea!

Zhao Fusu's expression turned somber.

His originally great mood soured.

"Does Great Qin have any suitable navigators?"

Zhao Fusu pondered in his heart.

"Wait, there really might be one!"

Zhao Fusu suddenly thought of a person.

This person had explored the high seas in search of the Elixir of Immortality for the First Emperor.

He first went to Korea and then made ten consecutive landings in Japan.

Some even said he had taken a trip to the American continent.

He ultimately failed to find the elixir and, fearing he would be executed by the First Emperor for his failure, settled in Japan.

Zhao Fusu estimated the time of Xu Fu's departure; Xu Fu had already been gone for seven years.

Xu Fu still had two years before he would return to the country.

When the time came, he would find Xu Fu and have him make a trip to the Indian South Continent.

Xu Fu had managed to survive at sea for nine years while relying on human-powered rowing.

This proved that Xu Fu had a profound understanding of maritime conditions. Rather than calling him an alchemist, it was more appropriate to describe him as a navigator.

Zhao Fusu was calculating his future plans.

During these two years, he would issue national bonds to raise funds and build the steamships.

Once Xu Fu returned, he could negotiate with him.

He would see what conditions Xu Fu required to be willing to explore the Indian South Continent.

Whether Xu Fu wanted power or money.

If Xu Fu wanted power, he could grant him Fusang as a fief; making Xu Fu the Prime Minister of Fusang was not off the table.

If Xu Fu wanted money, he could simply pay for his services.

Everything was negotiable.

If none of that worked, Zhao Fusu himself was somewhat skilled in martial arts.

Xu Fu's personal wishes were not important; Zhao Fusu's will was what mattered most.

Even if Xu Fu didn't want to follow his wishes and tried to flee to Fusang...

...after building steamships and mounting Cannons on them, he could go and bombard Fusang to force Xu Fu to do as he was told.

He had his sights set on that bird guano in the Indian South Continent that had accumulated for hundreds of millions of years.

Even if he had to start a war, he had to secure that guano.

Zhao Fusu knew very well that those bird droppings would become the cornerstone for the Great Qin Empire to launch its industrial civilization!

Zhao Fusu then went to check on Elder Mo's research progress regarding the steam tractor.

Because a steam tractor was so large, it was nowhere near as easy to manufacture as a steam thresher.

The design difficulty of a steam tractor was also much more complex than that of a steam rotary tiller.

The larger the size, the greater the energy consumption, and the more steam was required.

Therefore, the steam tractor needed a backup water tank in its design.

How to transport the water from the backup tank to the main tank was a technical hurdle that was not easily solved by Elder Mo's Team.

If they had an Electric Pump, they could just pump the water over directly.

But where would they get an Electric Pump?

They could only see if they could use the power of steam to create a device to transfer water from the auxiliary tank to the main tank.

This was similar to a design in the steam tractor where pipes were used to direct a portion of the steam into the combustion chamber.

By increasing the airflow in the combustion chamber, the flames inside could burn more vigorously.

This design could significantly speed up the startup time of the steam tractor.

Previously, when starting the first version of the Steam Locomotive, they had to wait for a full three hours before there was enough pressure to get it moving.

Zhao Fusu also knew that the manufacturing difficulty of the steam tractor was too high; it likely wouldn't be finished in a short time.

Even if it were built, its performance reliability would still need to be tested.

They had to see if any malfunctions would occur during the work process.

This meant that the research and development of the steam tractor would inevitably be measured in months.

Zhao Fusu also understood that the development of such large machinery was different from small-scale R&D.

Even if his requirements were extremely low—as long as it could move—

it wasn't something that could be whipped up in a moment.

Zhao Fusu shook his head slightly.

He could only wait patiently.

For now, his focus still needed to be on the production and training for the steam rotary tiller.

Especially safety training for the customers.

The steam rotary tiller was far more dangerous than the steam thresher.

Those rapidly spinning blades could slice a person's foot off if they weren't careful; it was no joking matter.