Chapter 435: Cannot joke around

Chapter 435: Cannot joke aroundIt seems it's time to improve the tools for pounding rice.

Han Cheng, who was constantly surveying the surroundings of the tribe from the walls and observing in all directions, thought to himself after watching Zhuang and Qinghua pounding rice from a distance for a while.

Pounding rice is not easy. Previously, when fewer grains were planted in the tribe, it was manageable, though tiring. However, now it's different.

This year, the grains in the Green Sparrow Tribe have had a bumper harvest. Under Han Cheng's intentional guidance, grains have become an important food source for the tribe.

Moreover, as time progresses, the proportion of millet in the tribe's food will increase.

This is because more grains are planted and harvested, and enough grains are available for consumption.

Secondly, because of several years of excessive fishing, the fish in the river in front of the Green Sparrow Tribe have become scarce. Even though there will be fish swimming upstream after the summer rains, the scale is not as large as before.

The recipe relying on fish as the primary food source is gradually becoming difficult to maintain. In fact, since several months ago, the proportion of fish in the Green Sparrow Tribe's diet has been gradually decreasing.

Fortunately, various wild vegetables and Han Cheng's few condiments as a part-time chef have sustained the life of the Green Sparrow Tribe without much impact.Thirdly, the tribe's population has grown rapidly in recent years, and daily food consumption has almost tripled compared to the previous period.Given this rise in demand, the fish in the small river can no longer bear the burden.

Fortunately, with these years of buffering, the planting industry of the Green Sparrow Tribe has also developed, and there is no need to worry too much about food.

In the future, appropriately reducing fishing in small rivers will be necessary. Han Cheng does not want his tribe to exhaust its resources.

In addition, the excavated pits for taking soil, burning bricks, etc., need to be expanded again, and some fish fry should be put in for breeding.

As for the koi in the water tank outside the house, Han Cheng thought keeping it in the water tank would be better. Firstly, it's pleasing to the eye, and secondly, Bai Xue likes it.

The only regret for Han Cheng is that he has not encountered lotus roots until now.

This makes his dream of fish playing among lotus leaves and frogs hopping on lotus flowers impossible.

Due to the increased millet consumption daily, pounding rice has inevitably become an indispensable task.

If fewer people were eating in the tribe, it would be manageable to pound rice daily. However, the current situation is that over a hundred mouths are waiting to be fed.

To satisfy these mouths, a considerable amount of rice must be pounded daily, requiring two people to alternate and not rest much.

No work can be done for a long time, let alone pounding rice, which is far from easy.

Of course, if there is no good solution, then the current method will have to continue.

However, coming from the future, Han Cheng knows that pounding rice is not just as simple as it seems.

He wants to create a water-powered rice pounder.

The so-called water pounder relies on the rush of water to use hydraulic power to pound rice.

This method should be very ancient, but it did not exist in Han Cheng is current era.

He has heard about water pounders for a long time, knowing they are ancient wisdom, but his most direct experience of them comes from the TV series "Tian Long Ba Bu."

Inside the mill by the river, Wang Yuyan's face was pale, and she looked weak as a breeze blew softly.

Duan Yu, who always fell for his younger sister, was busy taking care of her beside her and met Murong Fu disguised as someone else.

The thing that impressed Han Cheng the most at the time, apart from Wang Yuyan nearly crying, "Where are you touching?" was the water pounder smashing down repeatedly with no one managing the mill.

"Is pounding rice tiring?"

Coming down from the wall and walking up to the stone mortar, Han Cheng looked at Qinghua and Zhuang, sweat dripping from their heads and faces, and asked with a smile.

The two showed simple smiles and shook their heads repeatedly, "Not tired."

"Not tired?"

Han Cheng looked at the two of them and asked back.

Without waiting for their answer, he shook his head regretfully and sighed, "I originally wanted to make a tool to replace you in pounding rice. Since you're not tired, continue pounding then."

Han Cheng said this jokingly, of course. Regardless of whether they were tired or not, he intended to create the water pounder.

However, seeing Qinghua and Zhuang looking at each other, standing there momentarily unsure what to say, Han Cheng suddenly felt like he had swung at empty air.

He shouldn't have joked with them like that. Now it's awkward.

"Pound the rice well. We'll have dried millet for dinner tonight."

Feeling embarrassed, Han Cheng sniffed and left to find the Lame, leaving Qinghua and Zhuang puzzled.

"What did the master mean by what he just said?"

"Should we make that tool or not?"

After standing there in confusion, the two primitive women began to pound rice again.

Because the Divine Child said we'd have dried millet for dinner tonight.

"A tool that doesn't require people to pound rice."

While repairing a bone shovel there, Lame became excited after hearing Han Cheng's words.

Since making the single-wheeled handcart, Lame hadn't done anything similar to challenging things for a long time and had been dealing with doors and windows.

This made him itch to do something.

At this moment, when he suddenly heard such a thing from Han Cheng, he immediately became excited.

A tool that allows rice to be pounded without effort sounds exciting and challenging.

If it had been at the beginning, Lame naturally wouldn't have believed Han Cheng's words. However, after experiencing fish cages that let fish in by themselves, traps that let prey fall in by themselves, and deer-drawn plows, Lame had long since become a firm believer in what Han Cheng said.

After listening to Han Cheng, he immediately expressed his willingness to create this miraculous tool under the master's leadership.

He then looked at Han Cheng eagerly, expecting the master to sketch out the shape of the device that needed to be made as he had done in the past.

However, this time it didn't happen.

Regarding the water pounder, Han Cheng only knew it used water to drive it, causing the lever above to pound the stone mortar constantly.

As for the specific details that couldn't be seen, he had no idea.

This is the difference between knowing and not knowing.

Thinking like this in his heart, Han Cheng slowly explained what he knew about the water pounder to Lame, brainstorming with him to find a solution.