Chapter 77

The rumbling tractor moved swiftly across the vast fields, quickly advancing and cutting the wheat in front of it, bit by bit. The tractor had only one function—reaping. Its speed was even faster than those in the future, and with its powerful engine, it could be considered a large model. It could handle not just a seven to eight-meter reaper drum, but even a larger one without any issues. It could complete the reaping of about 15 mu of land in an hour. Behind the tractor, several strong men followed, gathering the wheat from one mu of land, bundling it, and placing it to the side, waiting to be threshed.

A dedicated threshing machine was also prepared and placed at the edge of the field. Hundreds of them were made, and there were specialists responsible for operating them. Even with manual labor, they were not slow.

In this era, wheat reaping was entirely done by hand. A strong laborer could only reap 1.5 mu of wheat in a day, which was already an impressive number. Even professional wheat harvesters could not exceed 3 mu. However, mechanical reaping changed this situation. One machine, operated by one person, plus a few more for bundling and threshing, totaling seven people, could complete 75 mu of reaping in the five hours of a morning. Each person would not be overly fatigued, as bending to cut wheat and being pricked by the wheat awns, along with the physical labor, was far more strenuous than following the tractor and organizing the wheat. The difference in efficiency was enormous, and the labor intensity was greatly reduced.

Wu Guangren, who was watching the reaping, could not stop smiling. For landlords, land was the most important asset, and the harvest directly affected the annual income. The weather in May could change suddenly, and a single rainstorm could ruin a significant portion of the year's harvest. The speed and efficiency of the reaping meant that just a few days of clear weather would be enough to complete the wheat harvest. This significance was well understood by the experienced landlords. Upon seeing the extraordinary efficiency of the tractor, the two landlords began to cozy up to Yang Yuanzhao, asking about the tractor with both soft and hard tactics. Their only concern was obtaining one or a few tractors.

Yang Yuanzhao neither agreed nor refused. The current tractors used engines from the future, and it was not convenient to let them enter the market just yet. They needed to be under his strict control. In the future, when conditions were right and suitable engines and tractors for this era were developed, they would definitely be introduced to the market. Grain was the most crucial resource for a country, especially for a vast and populous country like China. This was a red line, and once it was compromised, no matter how strong the industry or how wealthy the country, it would be plunged into the sea of war, and peace would be lost.

Wu Guangren and others, being prominent landlords in Baotou, were not simple people. They immediately understood Yang Yuanzhao's reluctance and could not do anything about it. However, they persisted, asking for the tractor, even offering to pay any price.

Yang Yuanzhao, unable to shake them off, noticed a few grains of wheat bouncing out of the machine and landing at his feet. His eyes lit up, and he said to Wu Guangren, "Uncle Wu, have you heard of foreign flour?"

"Foreign flour?" Wu Guangren was taken aback. Foreign flour was a rare commodity, fine and white, much more expensive than ordinary white flour. Ordinary people might not be able to afford white flour, but a landlord like Wu Guangren could certainly afford it. He used it almost every day, and the monthly expenses for his family's food and drink were not small.

"Yes, why don't we partner up and open a flour mill?"

"A flour mill?" The two landlords stared at Yang Yuanzhao in shock, unable to speak for a long time.

In this era, many landlords had tasted foreign flour, but there were no flour mills. Foreigners would not export their machinery to China, preventing many forward-thinking individuals from entering this industry. They could only watch as foreigners made huge profits in China, and they would never hand over this golden goose to the Chinese, which was absolutely impossible.

"Can you really get the flour machinery, and how much would it cost?"

"Uncle Wu, Uncle Zhao, I studied mechanics, so I can make the machinery for processing flour," Yang Yuanzhao said after some thought.

"What, you can make it?" Wu Guangren was surprised. Most of the flour in Baotou was bought from Taiyuan, where there were foreign food companies that imported all their machinery.

Yang Yuanzhao felt very helpless under the skeptical gazes of Wu Guangren and Zhao Shuming. It was just a mechanical flour mill, a small motor or steam engine driving a stone mill, with the final step being the addition of a whitening agent to improve its appearance. This was the entire production process for foreign flour, and there was not much technological content. He could even design an automated production line, from flour production to packaging, almost entirely controlled by machinery.

"Uncle Wu, Uncle Zhao, words are not enough. I can have the machine ready in a day or two, and then we can discuss it further."

Wu Guangren and Zhao Shuming exchanged glances, both seeing the desire in each other's eyes. The sales of foreign flour were well-known, and if they could master the method, it would be like a money tree. In comparison, the reduction in labor from the tractor was not as significant. With only 10 tractors, the workload was very heavy, but hiring more temporary workers in other areas could complete the reaping as long as it did not rain.

In one day, the 10 tractors completed the reaping of 36 mu of land. At this rate, the entire wheat field could be harvested in at most seven days. The key was that the reaping was not just gathering the wheat but transforming it entirely into wheat grains, which could be directly spread on the drying ground. This was a significant improvement in efficiency compared to the past.

Back at the inn, Yang Yuanzhao immersed himself in the integrated machine. Shanghai already had a flour mill, though it was small and the machinery was relatively outdated. However, there was machinery available. He combined the blueprints, especially some small ship steam engines, where military technology was far more advanced than civilian technology. After modifying several metal formulas, the steam engine's power and stability were significantly improved.

Using a ship steam engine to drive a stone mill would be wasteful, so Yang Yuanzhao used a transmission system to connect a 20-horsepower small steam engine, which he had replicated from the Shanghai Navy. It was not the main engine of the navy; the heavier the ship, the more powerful the steam engine. For example, the Hai Qi, with several engines, had a total horsepower of 18,000.

Besides the power unit, there was the transmission system. Yang Yuanzhao needed to connect the power unit, transmission, and a dozen stone mills of various sizes. Under the power's drive, they would operate together, significantly increasing production efficiency.

The initial design of the machine was completed, and Yang Yuanzhao produced the first set of flour machinery in the integrated machine. It required a large space, about one mu of land for the factory. This was temporarily unsolvable, so he built a shed in his courtyard using plastic and straw and had the blacksmiths help install the equipment.

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