Zhu Zi and the others were instructed to bag the wheat seeds.
Fang Er demonstrated how to use the seed drill.
Several old men watched with wide eyes.
A small bag of wheat seeds was poured into the seed drill.
Zhu Zi pulled it from the front.
Fang Er straddled it, steadying the seed drill as he walked behind.
As the wheels moved forward,
the chain drove the seeding plate, which slowly rotated.
The small holes on the plate were just large enough for three to five seeds. As the seeding plate turned, the seeds dropped into the hollow seeding tube below and then onto the ground.
It was very uniform.
Was farming this simple?
This contraption was truly miraculous!
The seed drill was simple, and the farmers learned how to use it after just one viewing.
They scrambled for the remaining two seed drills, hoisted them up, and ran to the plowed fields.
Those who didn't manage to grab a seed drill had to carry the wheat seeds.
Out of the two hundred mu of land, Fang Er only had them plant on one hundred mu in the middle.
The sides were all left empty.
Wheat can undergo self-pollination or cross-pollination.
The empty space in the middle was an isolation zone deliberately left by Fang Er.
This was to prevent pollen from the wheat of this era from spreading and causing cross-pollination, leading to degeneration of the variety.
These hundred mu of land were exclusively for seed multiplication.
It was crucial to take this seriously.
Fang Er explained this to the farmers, as he had read from the instruction manual.
The farmers took this matter very seriously.
So, after the sowing was finished,
the farmers spontaneously erected an earth wall around the seed multiplication field, tightly enclosing it.
They even voluntarily began to guard the earth wall in shifts,
fearing that someone might sneak in and damage the wheat.
Fang Er was speechless upon hearing this but could do nothing about it.
After some thought, he recalled the vegetable seeds he had given to Old Ma Tou a long time ago.
He asked Old Ma Tou to take him to where the vegetables were planted.
The vegetable patch was near the village school.
A patch of lush green chili plants had already begun to bear fruit.
Clusters of small green chilies looked particularly pleasing.
"Young Master, these are the things grown from the seeds you gave us. We don't know what they are. A couple of days ago, my little grandson saw one that had turned red and picked it to taste. His mouth swelled up and only subsided after a long time. Could these be poisonous?"
Old Ma Tou asked, pointing at the chili plants.
"Hahaha, this is a good thing. It can ward off cold, induce sweating, dispel dampness, and stimulate the appetite. You just need to get used to it slowly,"
Fang Er explained with a smile.
He casually picked a chili that was already turning reddish.
He broke it in half and sniffed it.
A unique aroma, mixed with spiciness, hit his senses.
"Refreshing! That's the taste!"
Saying that, he directly popped the chili into his mouth.
Pure and pollution-free, it tasted so reassuring.
The long-lost flavor erupted in his mouth!
Perhaps it was because this body had never eaten chili before.
Bead-like sweat beaded on his forehead, and Fang Er felt his mouth burning.
The nearby lettuce and crown daisy, also planted, had already grown over ten centimeters tall.
Fang Er quickly walked over and casually pulled up a head of lettuce.
He removed the outer old leaves, plucked the tenderest heart, and put it into his mouth.
The crisp texture, with a hint of sweetness, slightly neutralized the spiciness in his mouth.
"Refreshing!"
"So refreshing!"
Fang Er picked some of each and brought them back to the Fang Mansion.
He sautéed pepper, chili, and ginger and scallion segments.
He stir-fried them vigorously over high heat with freshly killed young chicken.
The spicy aroma was intoxicating.
Xiao Qing and Hua Niang, who were learning from him, kept sneezing.
Tears welled up in their eyes.
Soon, a dish of "La Zi Ji" (spicy fried chicken) was ready!
Even before it was out of the wok, Fang Er grabbed a piece and put it into his mouth.
The young free-range chicken, raised for less than two months, was fried until the bones were crispy.
It made a satisfying crunch when bitten.
That familiar numbness, that familiar spiciness, stimulated his mouth, causing saliva to secrete continuously.
Sweat soon beaded on his forehead.
"This is the taste!"
Fang Er wiped his forehead and put the La Zi Ji onto a plate.
"Come, taste the La Zi Ji I made, young master."
Xiao Qing and Hua Niang, seeing Fang Er's state, carefully picked up a piece and put it in their mouths.
"Ah! So spicy! So spicy!"
Xiao Qing couldn't help but exclaim.
Fang Er handed her a lettuce leaf.
"Eat this, it will help a bit."
Indeed, after eating the lettuce, the spiciness diminished slightly.
"Mmm~ Delicious!"
"Young Master, you are truly amazing. I've never tasted such a flavor or cooking method before. If we put this in the restaurant, it will surely become famous."
Hua Niang ate two pieces and then stopped reaching for more.
"Hahaha, we can't sell this in the restaurant yet. The chilies in the field haven't ripened yet. We have to wait until they turn red to harvest them, so we can save the seeds for planting next year."
He ate two large bowls of millet rice with the La Zi Ji.
Fang Er felt incredibly comfortable, both inside and out.
Sitting in the courtyard, he took out "Electrical Engineering Technology" and began to read it carefully.
He studied how to generate electricity.
However, as he read, Fang Er couldn't help but frown.
"Damn it!"
"This is too complicated!"
A generator is mainly composed of stator, rotor, end cover, brushes, frame, and bearings.
Just the generator alone was enough to give him a headache.
And it wasn't enough to just have a generator.
He also needed a transformer!
"Go to hell!"
"I'll convert the lathe to water power first."
"Otherwise, with just the things mentioned above, it would take I don't know how long to make them with my bare hands!"
After recuperating at home for two days.
Fang Er began his renovation!
The overall power system of the lathe couldn't be modified.
Fang Er could only remove some of the parts and manually build a most primitive foot-powered lathe.
The power principle of this lathe was similar to a sewing machine, with a pedal under each foot.
Stepping on the pedals, the power was transmitted by a belt to the drive gear on the lathe.
Then, through the gears, it drove the rotation of the cutting tool, processing or drilling the workpiece clamped in the fixture.
Whether it was a generator or a transformer,
they both required one thing.
Wire!
It was too difficult to make this with manpower.
Fang Er could only make a simple wire drawing machine.
This contraption wasn't too complicated.
It involved a furnace that could be heated and a wire drawing die with holes of various sizes.
He melted copper plates and cast them into copper rods about one centimeter thick.
The cost of just one copper rod was as high as two liang of silver!
Then, after heating, it was drawn through the holes in the wire drawing die, from thick to thin.
Each time it became thinner until it reached the required standard.
As for the coiling drum, Fang Er directly used a water wheel as the power source.
With twenty blacksmiths as assistants,
the wire drawing equipment was completed in just one day.
The charcoal fire in the heating furnace burned intensely.
A three-meter-long copper rod was inserted from one side of the egg-shaped heating furnace and exited from the other.
Then it was passed through the wire drawing die and fixed to the coiling drum.