75: Chapter 75 Steam Threshing Machine, This is a Divine Weapon! Li Si and Feng Quji's Excitement

"Two premiers, you want to ask if the Steam Engine can be used in agricultural production now, right?"

Zhao Fusu looked at Li Si and Feng Quji with a smile and asked.

His eagerness to bring out the agricultural machinery was also to deal with the urgings of Li Si and Feng Quji.

Now, he had already manufactured the thresher and the rotary tiller.

He was no longer afraid of their urging.

"Mm."

Li Si and Feng Quji nodded.

They were both betting that the Steam Engine Zhao Fusu spoke of could truly improve the efficiency of agricultural production.

If Zhao Fusu had boasted and they had bet wrong, then the Great Qin Empire would fall into a state beyond redemption.

The consequences were so severe that they dared not be even slightly careless.

Their hearts were uneasy, and they stared at Zhao Fusu with tense expressions.

They were terrified of hearing Zhao Fusu say that it was still too early for the Steam Engine to be used in agricultural production.

Zhao Fusu said with a smile, "The steam thresher and the steam rotary tiller have both been successfully developed."

"The prototypes have been made."

"We have already tested the steam rotary tiller."

"The steam thresher has not been tested yet."

Zhao Fusu said, "You two premiers can find a plot of land to test it out."

"Alright."

Li Si said, "This old man will have someone make arrangements immediately."

"Mm."

Zhao Fusu said, "Once you've made the arrangements, I'll have someone send the steam thresher over."

"Good."

Li Si called for someone to make the arrangements.

On the outskirts of Xianyang, Li Si had his own millet fields.

He invited farmers to harvest two millet fields of the same size.

Li Si wanted to see exactly how much faster Zhao Fusu's steam thresher would be compared to Great Qin's traditional threshing methods.

Among the traditional threshing methods of Great Qin, a common tool was the flail.

Farmers used it to strike the millet ears on the drying floor, using vibration to thresh the grain.

The flail might be unfamiliar to some people.

The structure of a flail is very simple: a long handle, a wide wooden board, and a pivot to connect the two.

It can be considered the ancestor of the nunchaku.

Before Zhao Kuangyin became emperor, he was only a high-ranking military general of the Later Zhou. Liu Dingguo, the Great General of the Later Han, was ordered to lead an army to attack the border town of Xilinchuan, and it was Zhao Kuangyin who was guarding Xilinchuan.

During the great battle between the two sides, the front end of the eyebrow-height staff in Zhao Kuangyin's hand was chopped and cracked.

With his weapon broken, Zhao Kuangyin did not dare to continue the fight and immediately ordered a retreat.

Once, he saw three of his soldiers fighting with a farmer.

Although the farmer was one against three, he did not show any stage fright at all, holding a flail in his hand.

When using it, the farmer swung the wooden stick with both hands, driving the wooden board to generate 'centrifugal force'.

The soldiers were using long spears and it was three against one, but they couldn't gain the slightest advantage.

It can be said that this flail is very useful whether in agricultural production or in warfare.

Li Si wanted to see just how useful the steam thresher, which the Head of State had been boasting about for so long, would actually be.

After Li Si had arranged everything, Zhao Fusu also had the steam thresher brought over by horse-drawn carriage.

The size of this steam thresher was not large, intended for use by two people.

Li Si looked at the steam thresher being lifted off the carriage by soldiers, his eyes full of curiosity.

The most intuitive part of this steam thresher was that large roller, which had many spike-teeth on it.

To enhance the threshing effect, Zhao Fusu specifically had a spike-tooth roller made. It mainly used the impact of the spike-teeth on the crop, providing strong threshing capability.

Li Si watched as Zhao Fusu had people spread a large cloth in front of the steam thresher.

Next, someone began adding water to the steam thresher's boiler and ignited the coal in the furnace.

After a while, pushed by the steam, the roller with spike-teeth began to rotate slowly.

"Huo huo huo..."

"Huo huo huo..."

The speed of the spike-tooth roller became faster and faster.

Li Si saw that Zhao Fusu only had two people operating it, so he also only invited two people to use flails to beat the already harvested millet ears.

"Pa pa pa, pa pa pa!"

The two farmers holding flails stood on the left and right, raising the flails high and then striking the millet ears on the ground heavily.

They advanced and retreated in turn, cooperating with great tacit understanding.

In a short while, a significant amount of millet was beaten out from the millet ears by them.

Li Si nodded slowly.

His gaze turned toward Zhao Fusu's steam thresher; it would have been better if he hadn't looked, for once he did, he was instantly stunned, a look of bewilderment on his face.

Two soldiers stood on the left and right, with millet stalks piled up on both sides of the steam thresher.

Their hands grabbed a large handful of millet stalks and then placed the millet ears onto the surface of the rapidly rotating roller.

The spike-teeth on the surface of the roller swept over the millet ears.

"Hua la la..."

"Hua la la..."

Amidst the crisp sounds, a large amount of millet grain and ears fell off from the millet stalks.

After there were no more millet ears or grain on the stalks, the two soldiers threw the stalks behind them.

Their hands grabbed another large handful of millet stalks and aimed the millet ears at the spike-tooth roller.

The high-speed rotating spike-tooth roller knocked the millet ears off the stalks extremely quickly.

The two soldiers tossed aside the stripped stalks and grabbed another large handful of millet stalks.

In just a few seconds, the millet ears were all stripped off again, and they tossed the stalks behind them once more.

"This—this is too fast!"

Li Si and Feng Quji widened their eyes, staring at all this in dumbfounded shock.

The spike-tooth roller's effectiveness in threshing was too strong, giving Li Si and Feng Quji a tremendous sense of shock.

This kind of threshing speed simply broke through their understanding.

The two farmers who were using flails to beat the millet ears nearby both stopped their movements, looking at the spike-tooth steam thresher rapidly stripping the millet ears with curiosity and shock.

"Good, wonderful!"

Li Si was so excited he almost jumped up.

This steam thresher is truly powerful!

The Head of State did not exaggerate at all!

This efficiency has improved by so much!

Li Si and Feng Quji were truly shocked.

The gap was just too large!

"A divine tool, this is a divine tool!"

Feng Quji's cheeks were flushed with excitement, and he kept shouting.

"Divine tool!"

"Divine tool!"

...

The farmers were also full of excitement and shouted loudly.

Zhao Fusu was not too surprised by their reaction.

The speed of the steam thresher was indeed much faster than using a flail to beat the millet ears for threshing.

Beating with a flail also consumed a huge amount of physical strength.

Using this steam thresher for threshing would be much more labor-saving!