Han Dynasty, Liu Che exclaimed, “Such perseverance, such breadth of mind—he is a true sage!”
He had the Grand minister of Agriculture lead his subordinates in researching this so-called Hybrid Rice. Even if they could not achieve a Yield per Mu of several thousand jin like the Future Era, they should at least double the yield first.
Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen Zhu Youjian watched the Heavenly Screen’s introduction to Elder Yuan’s achievements with ecstatic joy. Although it had revealed only a little about the reason grain yield had increased, that was enough. With a direction to follow, they could save considerable effort.
He hurriedly ordered people to research the Hybrid Rice mentioned on the Heavenly Screen. If possible, they were to produce results within a year or two. He was not demanding that they immediately reach the Later Generations’ Yield per Mu; even an extra one or two dan would do.
The people from the Ministry of Revenue looked troubled, but they could only accept the assignment.
The Chongzhen Emperor knew he was making things difficult for them. Even under the Future Era’s technological conditions, developing Hybrid Rice had taken ten years. Knowing the research direction would save them many detours, but producing successful results within one or two years would still be difficult.
But he could not wait that long! When he thought of the lives the common people were living now, his heart ached with grief.
The late Ming Dynasty was in the midst of a Little Ice Age. The cold caused grain yield to plummet, and famine ravaged various regions. In addition, there were all kinds of natural and man-made disasters. With no food to eat, the common people went into the mountains to eat wild grass and gnaw tree bark. Once the wild grass and tree bark were gone, they ground stones into powder and mixed it with tree bark to eat. This was almost certain to be fatal, but to ease even the slightest bit of hunger, many people still did it.
The famine was so severe that cannibalism emerged, and it was not an isolated occurrence. In a memorial, Ma Mao-cai, a Vice Director of the Ministry of Rites, mentioned that children and people traveling alone disappeared after leaving the city. Later, people discovered others outside using human bones as fuel to cook human flesh. Only then did they realize that the missing people had been eaten.
The Chongzhen period became, in the literal sense, an “era of man-eating.” That was why Chongzhen was so desperate—the common people could not wait much longer!
He had chosen to ignore the fact that they were in the midst of a Drought Disaster. Even if they developed high-yield seeds, they could not plant many of them, so the problem would remain unsolved. But they had no other option. He could only regard this as a straw that might save their lives. Perhaps the Drought Disaster would end by the time they developed the seeds.
In the Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng admired Elder Yuan when he saw him share Hybrid Rice technology with the entire world free of charge.
After all, whether the Eight-Nation Alliance had attacked their Qing Dynasty or the Nation on the Heavenly Screen, both sides must have suffered greatly at the hands of the other.
They were all enemies. If he were in Elder Yuan’s position, he would never share the technology with other nations for free. At the very least, the other side would have to pay a corresponding price.
Even without a grudge between them, that was still an enormous amount of money! The comments said he was the richest person in the world, probably wealthier than a nation. Few people would resist the temptation.
That was why he was a man who held all the people of the world in his heart—a true great sage!
The common people living through the famine era regarded Elder Yuan as an immortal above all. How could someone capable of raising Yield per Mu to more than three thousand jin not be an immortal?
They knelt and prayed, hoping he could give them some food.
Not long after finishing the Video, An Ran saw Grandfather come out of the house and drag a bag from the corner. An Ran stepped forward to look. It was Cement.
“Grandfather, what are you going to repair?”
“I’m going to repair the bit of road in front of the house. Some time ago, a large vehicle lost control and almost crashed into our house. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but that section of road took some damage. Isn’t it almost time to harvest the wheat? Repairing it won’t interfere with drying the wheat.”
When An Ran heard that a vehicle had almost crashed into her family’s house, she was badly startled. Fortunately, nothing had happened. An Ran nodded and looked around. There was no sand, so she volunteered, “I’ll go shovel some sand.”
“No need. I’ll do it. You’re not strong enough; you won’t be able to move it.”
“I can do it. I’m not weak.” Without waiting for Grandfather to reply, she pushed the one-wheeled handcart outside with the shovel in hand.
Chancellor Zhuge Liang invented the one-wheeled handcart. The people before the Three Kingdoms had never seen one, so they were extremely curious about its strange shape.
When they saw An Ran fill it with a dou and push it along with ease, they understood its advantages.
“This thing is excellent. Even a little girl can push it with ease.”
“And it’s compact, making it suitable for steep mountain roads.”
“Oh, if I had a cart like this, I wouldn’t be so exhausted every time I went to the town to sell things.”
Every day, he had to carry so many things to The Town, and each trip left him exhausted. A cart like this would make things much easier. He hurried toward the village carpenter’s house. Such a useful thing would surely be in high demand, so he had to place his order first.
After bringing back the sand, the grandfather and granddaughter mixed it with the Cement. Once they had stirred the mixture evenly, they began repairing the road.
Only a small section of the road had been damaged, so they repaired it quickly. After it dried for several hours, they watered it from time to time to prevent surface-drying cracks.
After finishing, the grandfather and granddaughter sat in the shade and chatted.
The Common People of Ancient Times watched them repair the road and exclaimed, “It’s that simple?”
“I repaired roads when I went to perform corvée labor before. It was exhausting, and several people who went with me died! If it were as simple as it is in the future era, it would be so much easier.”
“The Future Era is truly wonderful. Roads run everywhere, making it much easier to transport goods.”
“Exactly. If we had such a flat road, I wouldn’t have to struggle to carry vegetables out to sell. An Ning Village has a good road, so someone comes specifically to collect the vegetables we grow. It’s so convenient.”
Qin Shi Huang had noticed the exceptionally flat ground in the Future Era from the beginning. So many vehicles traveled back and forth every day without the slightest problem, proving how sturdy the roads were. He had assumed building them would be extremely complicated, but he had not expected it to be so simple.
The simple process and sturdy roads were probably due to the material. He guessed that the gray powder was the key ingredient.
He wondered how much it cost.
However, since nearly every road in the Future Era was like this, it should not be expensive.
He wanted it! There were too many things from the Future Era he wanted. When would they be able to contact the other side?
He had never believed that contact would be impossible. The Heavenly Screen could not have appeared merely for entertainment or to broaden their horizons by showing them scenes from the Later Generations. It must have some purpose.
The other emperors could also see the importance of cement.
After all, Xunzi had said, “If you want to become wealthy, build roads first.” Good roads played a major role in economic development.
Unfortunately, they could only stare enviously for now. Until they established contact with the Heavenly Screen, they would have difficulty reproducing anything technically complex from the Future Era unless An Ran explained it.
Still, no matter how difficult it was, they had to try. The emperors had skilled craftsmen study cement and see whether they could determine how it was made.
After only a week at home, An Ran felt she was going to gain several pounds. The food and drinks had been so good these past few days that she had eaten far too much. The People of Ancient Times had also spent several days watching what rural people in the Future Era ate, and they were so envious, jealous, and resentful that their eyes were practically red.
The meat a farmer in the future era ate in one day was more than the meat they ate in an entire year. There were also all kinds of fruit. How could they be so happy?
An Ran did not know how much the People of Ancient Times envied her family. Today, she had gotten up early because it was time to harvest the wheat.
The People of Ancient Times had also risen early to wait. Seeing so much Grain Yield, they felt happy even though it did not belong to them.
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