Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 362 Production Problems

While waiting for the potatoes to sprout, the land on the southern slope of the mountain was turned over inch by inch, carefully leveled, and dug into vertical ridges.

Then dig holes at regular intervals on the ridges, making the depth of each hole slightly larger than the size of the potato. Place the potato pieces in the holes, with the buds facing up, and gently compact the soil.

Then open the water pipe on the east side again and water the potatoes with enough water to keep the soil moist.

During this period, Hualei was often busy on the barren mountains, either checking the laying of bamboo pipes or leading people to plant various suitable crops.

However, I would go to the Agriculture Bureau for three or four days every ten days to complete my duties as a farmer in the Bureau. During this period, the Bureau also started to get busy because it was time to start preparing to plant this year's corn.

This year, the corn planting area will be larger, so the task will be heavier. In addition, Emperor Shengwu has been paying attention to this matter, so all the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and even the Ministry of Revenue dare not relax.

As soon as the weather turned warmer, the workers had already started to prepare the fields and apply base fertilizer, and the corn seeds had also begun to be raised as seedlings, so Huabud was even busier. From time to time, he had to take turns on duty in the Seedling Department of the Agriculture Bureau and follow his superiors to the field to check the germination and seedling status of the corn.

In addition to the work of the Ministry of Agriculture, Hua Lei also had to take time to go to the Construction Department of the Ministry of Industry to check on the progress of the waterwheel. She didn't dare to rush the progress, lest people misunderstand that she was impatient to get the waterwheel for free.

However, every time they went there, Hua Lei would tactfully send some snacks made by Aunt Zhao to the people working there, including a lot of seasonal flower cakes and egg yolk pastries, and Bai Yunhe would interject and help introduce them.

Before she knew it, Hua Lei had become familiar with everyone in the Construction Department of the Ministry of Industry. She had a pretty good relationship with some of them, who would occasionally help Hua Lei by providing her with some new tools for the new land.

When the potatoes and sweet potatoes on the barren hill were almost planted, the first waterwheel of the Ministry of Industry was finally completed.

Because it is made relatively large, the diameter of the waterwheel body is nearly ten meters, and including the frame, it is nearly twelve or thirteen meters.

Therefore, the construction department considered that if all the parts were installed, it would be inconvenient to move them to the middle of the mountain. So after assembling the main parts, they decided to move all the parts to the middle of the mountain first, and then start the final installation.

That day, a large group of workers from the Ministry of Works, led by Minister Li, carried large and small waterwheel parts to the halfway point of Beishan Mountain. The ponds here have all been reinforced and raised.

Because Hualei knew the size of the waterwheel in advance, he had already sent people to fill the mound at the appropriate location to facilitate the installation of the waterwheel.

After a group of workers from the Ministry of Works had been busy hammering and banging for five or six days halfway up the mountain, the waterwheel was finally assembled. With the help of the pioneers, the huge waterwheel was finally installed next to the pond.

After all the programs were installed, Hualei asked Uncle Fu and Uncle Zhao to sit down and start to step on the pedals. However, the waterwheel did not turn even after the pedals were stepped on.

Minister Li's face showed some surprise for a moment. He went up himself, replaced Uncle Zhao, and started to step on the pedal, but the pedal moved but the waterwheel remained motionless.

"What's going on?" Li Shilang asked his staff, but they all looked at each other and didn't dare to speak. Because they didn't know why the waterwheel didn't turn.

"It should be that the gear between the pedal below and the bearing connection is not stuck properly." Rong Jin walked forward, bent down, looked at the bottom of the waterwheel, and spoke.

In fact, this situation also occurred when Hua Zhai was making a small waterwheel. At that time, when the waterwheel body was placed on the rack, the gears were not locked correctly, resulting in the waterwheel body not turning when the pedal was stepped on.

So, there was another lot of work to move the huge machine to new position, align it with the gears below, and then they started pressing the pedals again. Finally, the body of the waterwheel began to turn slowly.

Minister Li's face relaxed slightly.

But before he could completely relax, the waterwheel had problems again, and this time Hualei also noticed it.

It should be that the tilt angle of the water bucket is not correct. The water is brought to the top, but only about two-thirds of the water in the water bucket is poured into the sink. The remaining one-third continues to remain in the water bucket because the angle is not tilted enough.

It was not until the water in the bucket was dumped back into the pond during the descent that the remaining water was dumped. This means that there was a problem with the manufacture of the waterwheel, and the efficiency of water extraction was reduced by at least one third.

Minister Li looked unhappy, and so did several people working in the Ministry of Works. Rong Jin and Hua Lei were also silent. Those who knew the business saw the problem with the waterwheel, but no one dared to be the first to speak. For a moment, the atmosphere was a little heavy.

"Uncle Fu, the waterwheel has been installed. Let's go have dinner first. Everyone has worked very hard today, so after dinner, let's go back early." Hua Lei instructed Uncle Fu to take away all the pioneers who were surrounding them.

This is Hua Leibai's waterwheel. Although the Ministry of Industry made it for her on orders, she still has to know her limits.

Anyway? There is something wrong with the waterwheel now, and only Minister Li and the staff of the Ministry of Works need to know about it.

If hundreds of people around knew about it, and the news spread out, it would become more and more mysterious. Minister Li and the Ministry of Works would not be able to lose face, and the Minister of Works and Emperor Shengwu might be furious, and he might also be angered by the Ministry of Works.

Therefore, not only could she not make it clear in public, she also had to help maintain the face of the Ministry of Industry. Therefore, Hua Lei promptly dismissed all the pioneers around her who were unaware of the situation.

Only Hua Lei, Rong Jin, Uncle Zhao and a group of staff from the Ministry of Industry were left around the waterwheel.

"Master Hua, the water bucket of this waterwheel is tilted at the wrong angle and has not emptied all the water." Minister Li spoke, his voice a little low.

Hualei nodded slightly and said, "It seems so. However, Lord Li, this is the first waterwheel made by the Ministry of Industry. We have no experience, so it is normal to have some shortcomings. It is already very good to be able to do this.

Although there is still some water left to be poured out, there is no problem with other parts. This also means that when we make the next waterwheel, we only need to pay attention to adjusting the inclination of this water bucket.

When we made the waterwheel, it took us countless attempts before we succeeded. We wasted a lot of wood, and we are still using it to steam buns in the kitchen."