The most arrogant in history

Chapter 170 I will support you!

Ye Kun had no choice but to come out to meet the guest.

Qin Caiwei smiled and said, "Master Ye, you promised to give me something fun tonight. Have you made it?"

“It’s already been done.”

Ye Kun took out a firework stick, lit one and handed it to Qin Caiwei:

"Master Qin, take it and play with it slowly. I am a little tired today and want to sleep. Here is a box of fireworks sticks, a total of 100. Be careful not to set fire to my Dongba City."

"How did you make this? It's so funny!"

When Qin Caiwei saw the fireworks stick, he grinned like a hungry wolf seeing a sheep: "Master Ye, I am more and more interested in you."

Uh……

Ye Kun's face twitched and he was speechless.

"You just called me Uncle Qin. It seems you are tired of me. Well, you should take a rest first. I will bother you again tomorrow."

Qin Caiwei grinned and left with a box of fireworks, feeling very happy.

Ye Kun then returned to his bedroom and did some homework with Teacher Wen.

Early the next morning, Ye Kun and others went to the hydraulic workshop, installed the sawing machine, and carried out the first debugging.

This thing not only adjusts the lathe, but also adjusts the water flow upstream.

A dam has been built upstream with many sluice holes that can be adjusted.

After a whole day of hard work, the sawing machine was finally put into use.

Ye Kun fixed all the data and asked Lao He and the master chefs to continue making adjustments based on this.

With such a lathe, it is easy to slice loose small wood.

For example, pine, cypress, fir and poplar can all be easily dealt with and pushed straight through.

The efficiency is five or six times higher than manual sawing, and it is not tiring; you just need to sit there.

Moreover, the thickness of the wooden boards is very precise.

When dealing with elm, locust trees, jujube trees and mulberry trees, you have to go slower.

Ye Kun was very excited and moved, and he took care of this sawing machine as if it were his own son.

After the wooden lathe is made, copper and iron can be used to slowly replicate the parts and make a steel lathe. Although it is still a long way to go, the first step has been taken.

The master carpenter said, "This thing can only be used to make small wooden boards. It doesn't seem to be very useful."

"Not too big?"

Ye Kun was surprised and said with a smile: "Can it be used to produce wooden tablets for writing? Can it be used to produce carriage boards and paddles for water wheels? Can it be used to produce rafters for building houses? Judging from our current construction scale, even if we install ten such sawing machines, it will not be enough."

The master carpenter grinned and said, "Master Ye is right. Even if we can only produce small wooden boards, it will save us countless time."

Ye Kun nodded: "Assign a team to continue producing lathes. Make ten first and put them into production. If there is no work for this first sawing machine, produce a large number of wooden tablets for me with unified sizes. I want them."

Schools, military seminars and various departments of the county government all needed a large number of wooden tablets.

In the past, wooden tablets were too thick, which wasted materials. With the advent of sawing machines, thin wooden tablets could be mass-produced, and holes could be punched and bound into books with hemp ropes.

The saw blade is detachable and can be replaced if broken.

The replaced saw blades are returned to the furnace and quenched, and the sharp edges are sharpened before continued use.

When I returned to the county magistrate's mansion in the evening, I saw Qin Caiwei waiting there again.

Qin Caiwei said with a smile: "Master Ye, you have been avoiding me all day today. Are you really annoyed with me?"

"Nonsense, you and I are in love, I wish I could be with you day and night."

Ye Kun smiled and took Qin Caiwei's hand: "Brother Qin, don't leave in the future, stay in Dongba City, I will support you."

Qin Caiwei sighed: "But I can only play, I can't do anything else."

"I can do it, you don't need to worry about it."

"Forget it, Lord Ye. I will be in Jingzhou tomorrow. The caravan I brought with me has already purchased your tea, porcelain, soap, perfume, and soybean paste. We will leave tomorrow."

Qin Caiwei was a little unhappy: "I don't know when we will meet next time, and you don't come to Jingzhou to see me... and you still say we are brothers!"

"I will definitely come to see you, but I can't do that right now. There's so much to do and I'm so busy."

"You are upside down, you are not an animal."

Qin Caiwei chuckled and said, "Keep your word. Give me a waterwheel and the blueprints."

"I'll give you two. You can help me take one and present it to Lord Wei of Jingzhou. Lord Wei recommended me as the governor of Dongba County last time. His kindness is as great as a mountain."

Ye Kun pulled Qin Caiwei to sit down and said, "Bring me another letter to Lord Wei. I will visit him when the time is right."

Qin Caiwei still wanted to cover up: "But, I don't know Lord Wei."

"Since you are my special envoy, Lord Wei will naturally receive you. Who knows, Lord Wei might even reward you with a few taels of silver if he is happy."

"That's true. My father knows Lord Wei and can contact him."

Ye Kun nodded and wrote a letter to Wei Dingshan in a very humble tone, attaching the drawings of the waterwheel.

Then, Ye Kun brought over a rocking chair and said to Qin Caiwei with a smile:

"Master Qin, this is also made for you. It's a fully automatic rocking chair. From now on, you can hold your concubine in your arms and sit on the chair and rock. It will be very comfortable."

"I don't have as many concubines as you do!"

Qin Caiwei blushed and sat on the rocking chair to experience it.

It’s really comfortable.

When it shakes, it can also provide a slight massage to the back.

Ye Kun smiled and said, "Take it back and rock it slowly. I'll have my personal soldiers escort you tomorrow morning."

Qin Caiwei stood up to thank him, and suddenly asked with a smile: "Master Ye, I heard that your wife Liu Yuejuan is a relative of Master Wei of Jingzhou, is that right?"

Ye Kun nodded: "Master Wei is Miss Yuejuan's great uncle. However, they may not be very close."

Qin Caiwei frowned: "Why not get too close?"

Ye Kun sighed: "Ms. Yuejuan's mother, Mrs. Hou, is the niece of Lord Wei. If Lord Wei had taken care of them a little and transferred Mrs. Hou and her husband to Jingzhou as officials, Mrs. Hou would not have died."

"This... maybe Lord Wei was too busy and didn't take care of it."

Qin Caiwei smiled bitterly, clasped his fists and said goodbye: "I will go back to rest and will not disturb Lord Ye."

"Let me take you there, Master Qin."

Ye Kun personally saw the guest off and accompanied Qin Caiwei to the inn.

Along the way, the two held hands, fingers interlocked, and were silent.

Arriving in front of the inn, Ye Kun opened his hands, clasped his fists and said:

"If no one comes to attack me, I may go to Jingzhou to visit Lord Wei in about two months. Then, I will visit my brother again."

Qin Caiwei was somewhat moved and took the initiative to hold Ye Kun's hand: "Brother Ye, I... will wait for you."

"It's a word."

Ye Kun said goodbye and left.

The next morning, Ye Kun ordered his personal soldiers to bring a rocking chair, a water wheel, and selected porcelain to the post station.

Qin Caiwei accepted the gift, left one hundred taels of gold and asked him to pass it on to Ye Kun.

There is also a jade pendant in the shape of mandarin ducks playing in the water.

Is this jade pendant a token of love?

Ye Kun left the jade pendant and took 100 taels of gold to pay the bill, which was considered the waterwheel and porcelain he bought.

This is called distinguishing between public and private.

There was another on-site meeting in the morning, which was about rice sowing and seedling raising.

Most of the rice planting in Dading Kingdom is still done by direct sowing, and there are not many farmers who raise seedlings and transplant rice seedlings.

Because there are so many fields, most families are too busy to handle the tasks of raising seedlings and transplanting rice, as well as picking mulberry leaves and raising silkworms.

But direct sowing has many disadvantages.

There is a great waste of rice seeds, low yields, and a particular waste of water in the early stages. The farming season cannot be adjusted, so only one season can be cultivated.

Ye Kun acted decisively and promoted rice transplanting throughout the county, prohibiting direct sowing.

At the same time, the rice area was slightly reduced, and most of the dry land was planted with sorghum and beans.

In areas where water and fertilizer conditions are particularly good, double-season rice is experimented with.

In the experimental field, Ye Kun personally took the officials in charge of agriculture to the fields to experience production and sow seeds and raise seedlings according to the methods of later generations.

Some old guys couldn't bear the hardship and resigned voluntarily.

Ye Kun just happened to replace people and promoted experienced and educated farming experts from the bottom.

Ye Kun was extremely busy as he had to take care of agriculture, military training, and technological research and development.

Fortunately, Lao He was capable and shared a lot of pressure with Ye Kun. Before the wheat harvest, he led the craftsmen to build five hydraulic saws and five manual saws, all of which were put into use, greatly improving efficiency.

In mid-April, wheat harvest officially begins.

Ye Kun ordered his troops to help the people harvest wheat. One hundred people were stationed in each village with a hundred households, bringing their own food and cooking staff.

There was not much wheat to begin with, and within three days, the wheat harvest in the entire county was basically completed.

Regardless of the output, Ye Kun would just collect half of it as tax.

Fifty percent tax is actually very heavy.

However, the local gentry implemented a land rental system and collected taxes in this way, regardless of the lives of the common people.

Ye Kun provided a large number of farm tools and cattle and horses, organized soldiers to help with the harvest, and opened a large canteen in the early stage. He paid too much. Even if he collected 50%, it would be far from enough to make back the money.

Ordinary people know how to do the math, so they have no objection to a 50 percent tax rate.

Unexpectedly, Ye Kun announced:

"I won't take a single grain of wheat that everyone has handed in. This is because some villagers missed farming last year and have no wheat at home. Therefore, the wheat harvested this season will be distributed equally to those families who have no harvest. Starting from the next season, the tax rate will be reduced to 10% tax and 3%. I only want 30% of the villagers' income!"

During the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing, the tax rate was one in thirty.

The money and food in the court are endless.

As long as there is no war, production will recover quickly. Even if the tax rate is one in thirty, the civil servants in the counties cannot eat up all the tax.

As soon as the news came out, almost everyone in Dongba County celebrated, and the people rushed to tell each other and expressed their gratitude to Ye Kun.

However, the local gentry and wealthy people were not satisfied and strongly opposed it.

Early in the morning of the third day, more than twenty wealthy families came to the gate of the county magistrate's mansion, clamoring to see Ye Kun.

Ye Kun went up to the hall to discuss matters. He looked at the gentry and frowned as he asked, "You elders have come together. What advice do you have for me?"