Chapter 75

When planting the cotton seeds, Yang Yue still came out. Cultivating cotton, to a certain extent, is a technical job. Ordinary farmers would inevitably encounter some problems when planting. To ensure the germination rate, Yang Yue always followed the process. In each petri dish, 2-3 cotton seeds could be planted. At Yang Yuanzhao's request, they finally chose to plant two seeds. After planting, Yang Yue even placed a large amount of charcoal in a specific greenhouse to increase the carbon dioxide content.

Within just 10 days, Yang Yue had been observing these cotton seeds all the time, only relaxing when a large number of them sprouted.

After inspecting several specific greenhouses, Yang Yue returned to the greenhouse he had specially set up. Inside, he planted some local seeds and seeds collected from Shanghai. There was also a research project from the United States that he was conducting here.

Just as he was about to enter, a rumbling sound came from a distance. Yang Yue turned around and saw a huge object appearing on an open space a few hundred meters away from his greenhouse.

It looked very strange, entirely made of steel, with steel tracks at the bottom and a square upper structure, seemingly powered by some kind of internal combustion engine, with thick black smoke filling the air.

"Tractor!" Yang Yue was taken aback. On the way, Yang Yuanzhao had mentioned using machines to help with agriculture.

Mechanized large-scale production was a burgeoning industry in the United States. Some internal combustion machines had been applied to agriculture with some effect. Tractors were initially steam-powered, but a few years ago, they were converted to internal combustion engines. Although their power was relatively low, they showed great potential. However, the one Yang Yuanzhao had built was much larger.

After returning to Baotou, Yang Yuanzhao, apart from helping with the cotton planting, spent the rest of his time developing the tractor. During the round trip to Shanghai, Yang Yuanzhao had already thought through many details and produced a lot of machinery, but lacked testing.

The existence of the integrated machine made any experiment very quick. In less than 10 days, Yang Yuanzhao conducted many attempts, with over a hundred trials just for the track configuration. Through continuous testing, his tractor had taken initial shape.

After summarizing the lessons learned, Yang Yuanzhao finally came up with this prototype. It didn't have many functions, only the most basic plowing and driving capabilities, but it was sufficient for cotton field cultivation.

"Yuanzhao, is this the tractor you mentioned?" Yang Yue walked to the front of the tractor, curiously examining this massive machine.

As an agricultural scientist, Yang Yue had some knowledge of tractors. Specifically, in the United States, tractors had not yet completely replaced animal power. The reason was that large tractors could easily compact the soil, which was detrimental to cultivation. Farmland was generally soft, and the weight of a large engine would be too much to bear. On the other hand, small tractors had limited functions and were prone to issues, making them less practical than flexible animal power. Except for a few researchers and specific areas, tractors were rarely used nationwide in the United States.

Yang Yue's gaze immediately fell on the tractor's chassis.

The tracks caught his attention. Having studied modern physics, he understood that the weight would be distributed over the contact area. In the United States, tractors were considering how to increase the wheel area, but no matter how much they increased it, the wheel area was still limited, unable to significantly increase the engine's power. However, Yang Yuanzhao innovatively used tracks. The entire track, spanning several dozen square meters, evenly distributed the pressure from the massive volume. The pressure per unit area was even less than that of wheels. From the field conditions, it was clear that the soft soil did not sink under the all-steel tractor, which was stably parked on the land.

"Can it move?"

Yang Yuanzhao nodded and said, "Yes!"

This tractor had undergone dozens of revisions. The steel used was lighter and more durable than that of the current era. The tracked design provided some off-road capability, allowing it to easily navigate obstacles up to 2 meters wide and steps up to several dozen centimeters high, suitable for complex outdoor environments.

The tractor's performance gradually stabilized, but its functionality still needed further research. Currently, Yang Yuanzhao could only create a simple plow, about 4 meters long. He didn't choose the modern disc plow because he was unfamiliar with it. Instead, he used the classic plow, with over a dozen in a row. Made of high-hardness alloy from the future, they were exceptionally sharp and durable.

The tractor was a novelty in Baotou, and even Yang Yuanzhao was interested. Under his guidance, he quickly learned to drive it. Moving at a moderate speed over about 3 acres of wasteland, when the control button was pressed, the plow was placed in the soil, and a deep plowing of 50-75 centimeters began.

The powerful engine of the tractor, running at about 10 kilometers per hour, cut through the barren topsoil, replacing it with deeper soil. This land was not well-cultivated and was poor in nutrients, but after deep plowing, the deeper soil showed signs of fertility. An old farmer watching nearby grabbed a handful of soil, smelled it, and exclaimed, "Good stuff! Just this deep plowing should increase the yield by dozens of pounds!"

Farmers relied on the weather for their livelihood, and they were more concerned with the yield of crops. Even though these farmers had joined the Baokeng Company, they still did farm work and were amazed by the tractor.

At some point, Wu Guangren also arrived. As a large landowner with hundreds of hectares, he was more interested in the tractor's speed. Plowing was the most labor-intensive and time-consuming part of farming. Even with dozens of animals, he had to hire temporary workers during the plowing season to avoid missing the agricultural timing. This strange machine, with its loud rumbling and smoke, was far superior to any large animal. It took only a short time to plow 3 acres of wasteland. If it worked for a whole day, it could plow over a hundred acres. Such a machine, if there were more of them, would be perfect for large landowners like him.

Yang Yuanzhao made the final adjustments to the tractor, mainly to improve plowing efficiency. The classic plow was slightly slower than the disc plow but could plow deeper. Deep plowing and sun-drying could increase soil fertility and efficiency, and most importantly, reduce pests and diseases. The ultraviolet rays from the sun would kill the exposed insect eggs, which was the most significant benefit of deep plowing.

Finally, Yang Yuanzhao finished the adjustments. The tractor was now basically finalized, including the plow. The next step was to add more functions, such as harvesting and threshing. Yang Yuanzhao had some ideas, mainly based on modern designs. He couldn't directly use a combine harvester because he wasn't very familiar with it. However, for mechanized harvesting, he could design a side attachment to cut the crops, and then have the workers take them to a dedicated threshing machine. This added an extra step but significantly reduced the design complexity.

Walking with Yang Yue to the edge of the field, they met Wu Guangren, who had been waiting. He approached and asked, "Yuanzhao, I wonder, this machine, this machine..."