Chapter 121: Curved Iron Plough

Lu Lin had asked the Yamen runners to visit the neighboring villages. Many villagers had already built kangs for winter. However, there were still some families who were too poor to buy materials or hire people to build kangs.

Seeing this situation, Lu Lin paid out of his own pocket to help those villagers to build kangs .

Although some people thought that Lu Lin only did this to win over people's support, but the fact was Lu Lin's actions were pretty generous and the villagers all felt grateful towards Lu Lin.

Seeing how righteous Lu Lin was, the patrolling team volunteered to help him out, saving Lu Lin a lot of trouble.

Ji Yun An had a completely new appraisal of Lu Lin as well, "Your Lordship, I didn't expect you to be such a great officer!"

Lu Lin looked at Ji Yun An and smiled, and said in all earnestness, "I'll try my best to become a great local magistrate and bring benefits to the people! You're from an extraordinary background, Young Master Ji. You are bound to have a great future as long as follow the correct path."

Ji Yun An blushed and said to himself, 'Great! Now we are talking about me groping into Xiao Mai's room again! It's no use regretting now, how I wish......'

Ji Yun An took a deep breath and said, "The soldiers in the military camp asked me to convey their gratitude to you."

Lu Lin waved his hand and said, "This is nothing, don't mention it."

100 pairs of knee pads were far from enough, Lu Lin planned to make another 200 pairs in the near future. It didn't cost much to make those knee pads, but it would help the soldiers to stay warm in bitter winter. There also came the benefit of eliminating prejudice and winning people's hearts.

Ji Yun An said seriously, "Maybe they are nothing to you, Your Lordship, but the soldiers appreciated them a great deal!"

......

Sha County owned a vast territory with a sparse population. Lu Lin enclosed a desolate land near the county yamen and put it under Chen Xiao Mi's name.

Lu Lin had been paying villagers money to enclose more land, it went on smoothly, the villagers were grateful that they exchanged the desolate land with money.

Ji Yun An looked at Chen Xiao Mai and said, "Why is the county magistrate enclosing so many land?"

Ji Yun An wasn't proud of the moment when he had to beat around the bush for more information with a child.

Chen Xiao Mai raised his head and rolled his eyes like he was judging Ji Yun An, "Of course to grow yummy food, you dummy."

Ji Yun An frowned and said, "But who are responsible for growing the food?"

Chen Xiao Mai puffed up his cheeks and said, "We can always hire more people."

"But Sha County is short of manpower in general, who is willing to do that?"

Chen Xiao Mai shook his head and he suppressed the impulse to call Ji Yun An a dummy out loud. "Trust me, you will be surprised by how many people are willing to do it as long as there's good pay."

Ji Yun An nodded in silence as if deep in thought.

......

Lu Lin walked to the backyard. The Qins were assembling the parts of curved iron ploughs according to Lu Lin's instructions.

"Your Lordship, it's almost done, please have a look. " Qin Yi rolled up his sleeves in excitement.

Lu Lin looked at the assembled ploughs and said approvingly, "Great job, how many have you assembled so far?"

"Four, but we can assemble ten by the end of the day," Qin Yi said.

Lu Lin nodded and said, "Alright, take the out and plough some fields tomorrow."

Lu Lin thought to himself, 'Hopefully it will work out, the mules need some exercise anyways.'

Although winter was a slack season for farming, it was still necessary to furrow the fields for a better harvest the following year.

The next day, Chen Xiao Mai followed Qin Lang and four farmers to the field. Ji Yun An also decided to join Chen Xiao Mai to watch the fun.

Ji Yun An's eyes were wide opened with surprise when he saw how the plough left furrows in the field.

"What tool is this?" Ji Yun An looked at Chen Xiao Mai excitedly and asked.

Ji Yun An looked at the field and thought: This tool is amazing. With this thing in hand, farming becomes so much easier. However, this tool looks quite complicated and it's probably not cheap.

Chen Xiao Mai rolled his eyes at Ji Yun An and said disdainfully, " You don't even know what this is, oh man, this is a trolley! You just push it with your hands."

Ji Yun An nodded and said: "It turns out to be a trolley!"

Ji Yun An had been wondering what Lu Lin was up to when Lu Lin hired so many carpenters and blacksmiths. Ji Yun An originally thought that Lu Lin was making something showy and not substantial like the rocking chair again, but he had completely changed his mind when he saw this 'trolley', he couldn't help but treat Lu Lin with increased respect.

"Farming would become much easier with such a helpful tool."

Ji Yun An thought to himself, 'There are still a lot of uncultivated land in Sha County. With this tool, reclamation becomes a possibility.'

The four farmers were amazed at the function of the plough, and soon it had attracted a lot of farmers.

With Qin Lang's permission, other farmers who were drawn by the plough had even tried the plough themselves. The plough had blew their minds.

Suddenly, the reputation of the "trolley" spread across Sha County.

The farmer had quick wits. Quite a few farmers quickly thought about the carpenters and blacksmiths who had been invited to the county yamen. They wondered if they could hire someone to make the same tool.

Unfortunately, the parts of the "trolley" were indeed made by the carpenters and blacksmiths. However, they had nothing to do with the assembling. They were very confused about the "trolley" that they had made. They didn't understand that how come the parts they had made could turn into such farm tools.

Lu Lin summoned the "trolleys" back that afternoon.

......

Lu Lin woke up from his nap only to find the reputation of the "trolley" had already spread across the county. Lu Lin did not how come his plough suddenly had a new name "trolley", and everyone was convinced by the name. At that point, Lu Lin didn't bother to correct them.

That night, Lu Lin welcomed people from the patrolling camp, Lu Lin was amazed by how fast the word of mouth could spread.

"General Ji wants to report it to the Imperial Court for me?" asked Lu Lin.

Liu Yun nodded, "Yeah! Magistrate Lu, you have developed such an amazing farm tool not long after you reported for duty. This is such a blessing for the common people, of course we should report this to the emperor. This farm tool is so useful, I'm sure you will be rewarded and even get a promotion."

Lu Lin raised his eyebrows and said, "I'm just a nobody."

Lu Lin thought to himself, "I'm just a seventh-ranking petty official and I know nothing about politics, I better be worldly wise and make oneself invisible, that's the only way to survive. If I have high hopes for this one, I'm afraid my merit will be snatched, and I will be in a dangerous place.'

Ji Cheng Kang guessed what Lu Lin was thinking. He smiled and said, "If Magistrate Lu trust me, I can report it on behalf of you."

If Lu Lin wanted to report it, it was going to be a tedious process for him since he was a petty official Ji Cheng Kang on the other hand was a high-ranking official, it would be more efficient for him to report.

Lu Lin nodded and said, "I cannot think of anything better, thank you so much for your help, General Ji. But please say it's the patrolling camp that has developed this tool."

Ji Cheng Kang frowned and hurriedly said, "I need to give credit where credit is due. How can I do such a thing?"

Ji Cheng Kang could benefit from this matter for reporting it to the Imperial Court anyways.

Lu Lin smiled and said, "I'm very green in official circles, trust me, General Ji, you are doing me a favor by saying it's the military camp who has developed the tool!"

"If that's the case, I'll say it's you who has come up with the idea and our camp has assisted you." Ji Cheng Kang smiled resignedly and thought to himself, 'Lu Lin is so timid for an official, I'm afraid he can't weather any political storm. But on second thought, you can never be too careful when you cannot predict the future.

Lu Lin nodded and said, "That's perfect."

Ji Cheng Kang asked Lu Lin to send him a trolley as soon as possible so he could ask the messenger to escort one to the capital city.

Lu Lin did not give a 'trolley' to Ji Cheng Kang directly. Instead, he gave the parts to him and taught him how to assemble.

Ji Cheng Kang sighed in admiration for Lu Lin. It was much more convenient than carrying a finished product. Moreover, even if someone robbed them on the way, they would have a hard time figuring out what this tool was.

Lu Lin, Ji Cheng Kang and Liu Yun discussed the details and they talked for more than an hour.

Liu Yun couldn't help but exclaim how smart Lu Lin was when he walked out from the County Yamen.

"General, this Magistrate Lu is something else!"

Ji Cheng Kang nodded and said, "I agree. I've heard one thing or two about his commercial house, the products he made were all superficially clever. I didn't expect that he would be able to make such a useful tool. If this trolley could be promoted, it's going to be a blessing for the farmers."

Liu Yun nodded and said, "Yes, General Ji, this matter should not be delayed, let's send this thing to the capital early as soon as possible."

Ji Cheng Kang nodded.

Liu Yun held his chin and his eyes sparkled. If everything went on smoothly, Ji Cheng Kang would gain favor from the emperor for reporting this tool, that would help his official career greatly.

......

After Ji Cheng Kang left, Lu Lin pondered on this thing. Soon the tool would be popularized after the emperor approved it, he figured he better make a batch before that took place. Then he sighed contracts with carpenters and blacksmiths who had worked for him that they needed to prioritize work for him in the following years, he had also signed confidentiality agreements with them.

Lu Lin soon left this matter behind.

Lu Lin found a blacksmith in the village and made a special pot so they could enjoy two-flavor hot pot on cold nights.

They were having hot pot for dinner this night.

Chen Xiao Mai tried so hard to pick up a quail egg from the pot, he raised it high into the air only to slip it back into the pot.

Chen Xiao Mai puffed up his cheeks and launched a second try without hesitation. Luck wasn't on his side this night.

After failing for several times, Chen Xiao Mai still refused to take no for an answer.

Ji Yun An picked up a quail egg with grace and gave it to Chen Xiao Mai. Chen Xiao Mai showed a bright smile.

Yuan Bao was pigging out on a giant bowl of noodles. Yuan Bao wasn't a fan of plain noodles, but he went crazy for spicy noodles.

Lu Lin picked up a few slices of potato and Chen Xiao Mi enjoyed some tofu.

Ji Yun An was amazed by hot pot, he blamed himself for indulging in desires but on the other hand, he couldn't resist the addictive flavor of hotpot.

Lu Lin rubbed his hands and said, "The winter here is much colder than Forest Town!"

Ji Yun An looked at Lu Lin and felt a little disdainful. 'A real man never complains about the cold, you need to brave the coldness and thrive!'

All of a sudden, Ji Yun An didn't respect Lu Lin as much as he saw the ploughs.

Lu Lin only regarded Ji Yun An as a stubborn child. He did not care much about Ji Yun An's impression of him.