Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 244 Machinery 2
The autumn harvest season is the busiest time for everyone in the mountainous agricultural country.

It wasn't just about harvesting wheat and autumn grain; there were also troublesome floods and droughts, population statistics, and the inventory of government funds.

The mileage of newly built highways and railways, production figures of various factories, and random checks of livestock numbers in ranches and farms in various regions.

Compared to the various busy government teams, the people of Luoyang were much more relaxed.

The Shan Nong Daily shop was also bustling with activity.

As the breakfast stalls not far away began to quiet down, fewer people came to buy newspapers as well.

Business is available almost every hour, from morning till night.

Fortunately, the number of employees in the store has increased from the initial four to ten.

498 also got a break, and the shop's affairs were usually handled by the older retired palace maid, Tani Nami.

It's not just 498 who get holidays; Wu Yue also enjoys the same public servant treatment as someone who gets paid to take a break and have fun.

Being a public servant is much better than being a princess!

As a princess, Wu Yue is the most qualified to speak on this matter.

Because the company is like family, 498 has no intention of taking a holiday.

"time to eat."

Hu Yan walked in carrying a food box and greeted everyone with a smile.

Wu Yue opened the wooden board and let Hu Yan walk into the large area behind the counter.

There was only a 1.5-meter gap between the doorway and the counter, while the distance between the counter and the central door in the back wall was more than four meters. A curtain was hung at the central door leading to the courtyard to block the view.

Inside the room were rows of glass bookshelves, filled with various newspapers, each with a date sticker on the glass to prevent misremembering.

The day's newspapers would be piled up directly on the floor near the counter, forming several mountains of paper more than a meter high.

There were water tanks filled with water and covered with wooden lids in the house and in the yard.

Besides serving as drinking water, it is also used to deal with fires.

When Wu Yue returned from the seaside, she brought back two turtles, which are now kept in a basin of water in the corner of the wall.

Everyone started eating. They had eaten a little in the morning, and now it was already past ten o'clock, so they could eat a little more.

The group shared meat buns and soy milk.

In this era, people generally eat meat buns, unless they are poor or Buddhists; otherwise, they don't usually eat vegetarian food.

The meat buns are all handmade, and the meat used to make them is supplied by nearby farms.

To facilitate management, several key areas of the Mountain Farming Kingdom no longer allow the separate raising of chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep; they are all managed and sold in a unified manner.

Animal husbandry generates waste and requires space for activities. Land is scarce in Beijing, and mountain farmers have always preferred to conduct business in a centralized manner.

While the variety of condiments may be limited, the basic necessities of life, such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation, have largely reached a level of civilization.

Today, the Mountain Farmer Kingdom has reached the pinnacle of agricultural society and is moving towards an industrial society in all aspects.

Overall progress will be made, but some aspects will regress where they are meant to.

While eating a meat bun, I passed by Tian Gu Bo's seat on Route 498 and saw him reading a fashion newspaper.

Si Jiuba glanced at it and realized it was the swimsuit section.

"Sister Tian, ​​are you going to Qiongzhou for vacation after autumn? Our team should have some spots available, I'll see if I can get one."

498 proactively applied for welfare benefits for Tian Gubo, who had helped with his shifts recently.

Tian Gubo laughed and said, "It's good, but winter is coming and it's freezing cold at the beach, so we can't go swimming."

Si Jiuba sat down and continued eating his steamed buns, and also picked up today's fashion newspaper to read.

"It's in the south, and the winters there are very warm, even more comfortable than spring here."

“I’ve never seen it either. Sister Tian, ​​why don’t you go and take a look, and come back and tell us? You can take time off during the week, the shop is always busy.”

Sijiu carefully looked at all kinds of swimsuits. Last time she went, she didn't bring a swimsuit and just waded in the water wearing her clothes. She didn't learn to swim in the sea like those children.

Sitting on a cushioned birchwood chair, Tian Gu Bo leaned back and smiled, saying, "What are you talking about? I could do this job for a lifetime. I wouldn't take a break even if you asked me to. It's much better to earn more money to buy food, drinks, and entertainment." Several women nearby laughed along, "Hehehe~"

Wu Yue frowned. These women would just exchange a few words and then burst into laughter all day long, which Wu Yue found very incomprehensible.

Of course, Wu Yue was the same way when she talked to the girls; she would laugh after saying just a few words, but she was probably unaware that she was the same kind of person.

The work in Luoyang is easy and comfortable; there's hardly any hard work to be had.

Not to mention the newspaper sellers in the shops, even the patrol guards could do it with ease.

Selling breakfast is tiring, but it makes things much easier if you have more than ten children and two elderly people at home.

Xiao Gua has dropped out of school and now focuses on running his newsstand and selling newspapers.

With an income of three or four hundred coins a day, it's neither too much nor too little, enough to live a carefree life.

My sister paid off the mortgage a long time ago. Even without my sister, as long as I have this job, I can pay off the 60-tael house within a few years.

The trend of achieving success through education did not appear in the Mountain Farmer Kingdom.

The people of Shan Nong Kingdom, especially the common people, do not value reading. Compared to previous dynasties, the enthusiasm for reading has actually decreased.

Despite the rapid increase in literacy rates, going to school is only for recognizing characters and numbers, not for getting ahead in life.

It's practically impossible to stand out from the crowd now, as most paths have become relatively fixed.

Unless they could gain the favor of King Wu, their ancestors would have remained in this situation for generations.

It's peaceful and stable, without so many troubles.

Nowadays, Beijing is just a city for getting by. People don't care about national affairs or external wars. They are busy with their daily lives, such as cooking, cleaning, and dealing with work, family, and welfare benefits.

Although the future is predictable, most of the people at the mountain farm, like the residents of Beijing such as 498, are satisfied with their current situation.

Murong Xinghan and Wang Qing are different!
Wang Qing must complete King Wu's mission, especially the core mission that King Wu has always valued.

If Murong Xinghan wants to advance further, he cannot afford to make mistakes, especially in crucial tasks.

"What were you guys thinking?! This is full of holes!"

Murong Xinghan was able to remain calm at first, but as time became increasingly tight, he finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"You only realize you've made a mistake when you've already made one! Why didn't you use a harvester that wasn't flawed in the first place?"

"Why couldn't they have come up with a perfect machine from the very beginning of the design process?!"

The group of designers, both new and experienced, were speechless and unable to refute the argument.

They did indeed produce a self-propelled combine harvester riddled with flaws.

Although this machine can move on its own and complete cutting, threshing, separating and cleaning operations in the field in one go, it can also cover 200 acres a day.

But it's too inefficient and too prone to malfunctions.

Even after three or four days of urgent repairs and modifications, the maximum area is now only two hundred acres.

Various problems arose, such as the cylinder breaking, the screws falling off, or the cylinder getting stuck.

The transition from manual harvesters to steam-powered self-propelled harvesters has been a difficult one.

Murong Xinghan's anger couldn't change the machine's efficiency problem.

A few days later, the decree of the Arctic Warrior was issued.

Beijiwu also felt that these people had an improper attitude and wouldn't know how to work hard unless they were put under some pressure.

[The First Mechanical Engineering Division of Huanghuai Province is responsible for researching internal combustion engines. Due to inefficiency at the Tongzhou Machinery Factory, this year's year-end bonus, holiday benefits, and priority promotion for the next three years are cancelled. The steam harvester must be improved within five years, without fail!]

[All officials and public households in the province of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will have their year-end bonuses cancelled. Those who fail to produce a properly functioning combine harvester before the summer grain harvest will be investigated.]

The group had no idea what level of difficulty their task was; they only felt that they were incompetent and had failed to complete King Wu's orders.

They receive roughly the same salary, but the work they do is worlds apart.

But there was no turning back. For my own family, for my whole family, for my elderly parents, wife, children, brothers and sisters, I had to complete the mission!

at all costs!
(End of this chapter)