Free Web NovelChapter 157: Chapter 157: Manual Rice Milling Machine
Under the scorching summer sun, the paddy spread on the yard only needed three suns to completely dry out.
Kaelen immediately instructed the clan members to pack them into jute sacks and transport them to his yard. The batch of rice harvested near the iron ore today had also been brought back, and everyone busied themselves threshing, cleaning, and sun-drying.
Kaelen planned to use his Divine Energy to force-ripen this later batch, milling it all into rice to serve as the main food source for the tribe for the next half a year. The amount cultivated by Ryder and Finnick would be divided: half for the Summer-Autumn crop seeds, and half for the Winter-Spring crop seeds.
The Summer-Autumn crop often suffered from pests and locust plagues. During this time, the agricultural production team held meetings every day. In addition, Kaelen also assembled a Lightning-attribute Divine Energy squad with Theron as the captain, specializing in researching and manufacturing pesticides.
There was mosquito-repellent grass in the tribe, which Kaelen had once used to make a lice-killing shampoo. Mosquitoes were insects, and crop pests were also insects; fundamentally, mosquito-repellent grass was also an ingredient for making pesticides.
The pesticide manufacturing workshop was located in a forest far from the tribe, avoiding any negative impact on the people’s lives.
Kaelen threw all the unrefined poisonous mung beans and mosquito-repellent grass into large water vats, then explained the principle of "disrupting cell membranes with electrical impulses" to Theron.
"If we boil this mixture to get water for spraying, the high temperature will cause the medicinal properties to evaporate. But if we leave it in cold water, then use your Lightning Divine Energy to continuously shock the water vats, it’s a different story." Kaelen pointed at the water vat: "The high-voltage current will instantly tear apart the plant cell membranes, forcing all the neurotoxins and insect-repellent essential oils to secrete out, dissolving into the water without reducing any of the medicinal properties."
Everyone in the pesticide manufacturing workshop wrapped themselves tightly in animal skin clothing, wearing gas masks and safety goggles carefully. Considering Theron’s overly sensitive nose, Kaelen asked him to wear a multi-layered gas mask; although a bit hard to breathe, it at least ensured his safety.
Having the experience of using electrical energy to make glass previously, Theron understood as soon as he heard it. He immediately reached out his hand, releasing crackling blue lightning bolts that struck straight into the water vat.
In just a few minutes of being "electrocuted", the water in the vat turned from transparent to a muddy green, foaming white and emitting an incredibly pungent smell that stung the nose.
Even wearing a gas mask, Theron still coughed violently. Kaelen hurriedly chased Theron out to avoid him getting pesticide poisoning.
Kaelen put on an extra layer of protective gloves, scooped a ladle of pesticide into a watering can, then added water to dilute it. He led the group outside, chose a flower bush with many pests, and watered the plant with the pesticide. The pests busy eating leaves instantly writhed and fell to the ground, then lay motionless.
Kaelen then took a straight tree branch, slightly pressed the plant stalk down, and continued watering. This time, the pests hiding underneath also couldn’t escape their fate. He turned back to look at everyone, slowly saying:
"See its formidable power? Know why you have to be fully protected from head to toe now?"
The group nodded profusely in fear. Kaelen pointed again at the pests lying on the ground and said:
"This bunch isn’t completely dead yet, only fainted. If it doesn’t rain, they will die slowly. Therefore, any crops or plants sprayed with pesticide must wait at least a month before they can be harvested. Otherwise, the result will be like these pests."
Actually, biological products usually only stayed on plants for ten to fifteen days, but since there was no tool to measure the pesticide concentration, Kaelen set the resting period a bit further away just to be safe.
"Additionally, the area sprayed with pesticide needs to be isolated; it’s best not to let anyone near during the spraying period. When spraying, you also need to monitor the wind direction, preventing it from blowing into crowded areas."
Pesticides could truly be lethal, so it was necessary to publicize their danger level. The noses of the people on the Beastman Continent were always very keen, especially Theron. If they accidentally inhaled too much pesticide fumes, their nervous systems could be paralyzed.
Thinking of this, Kaelen felt a bit regretful for placing the wet rice cultivation area right next to the residential area. A day or two would be fine, but over time, the toxins accumulated in the pesticide could seep into the groundwater, polluting the river in the tribe.
Regarding this issue, Sane immediately offered a suggestion:
"We still have time to transplant the rice, why not reclaim a new rice cultivation area. If the time is too tight, use the Divine Energy warriors. Have an Earth-attribute group handle the soil, ordinary people clear away stones and gravel, and Water-attribute warriors follow behind to turn that land into a sunken structure."
Kaelen knew he couldn’t be too rigid at this time, so he should utilize Divine Energy more.
"But what other place is more suitable for growing wet rice than the clay area?"
Sane shook his head: "Did you forget there’s another place? That is the swamp forest."
"The swamp forest?" Kaelen was stunned for a second, then his tea-colored eyes suddenly lit up.
That’s right! The swamp forest was located at the edge of the valley, flooded year-round and covered in mist.
The soil there was formed from thousands of years of fallen, decaying leaves. Beneath that muddy layer, there was definitely a highly fertile layer of humus-rich clay with excellent water retention. That place was truly a paradise born for growing wet rice!
As for the toxic gas generated in the swamp, the alum concentration, poisonous mosquitoes, bloodsucking leeches, and countless reptile demonic beasts or whatever... it wasn’t a major problem at all.
First, let the Fire-attribute warrior squad lead the way, using firepower to incinerate all the miasma, weeds, and roast the hiding demonic beasts. The ashes left by that massive fire would be the most excellent natural fertilizer to neutralize the acidity of the swamp soil.
Next, the Earth-attribute warriors only needed to release their Divine Energy to compress the mud, forming solid dikes, dividing the swamp into neat square plots.
Finally, the Water-attribute warriors would drain the toxic stagnant water out, then channel clean spring water from upstream into the fields to wash away the acidity and salinity. With the coordination of the three Divine Energy attributes, he guaranteed that in just three days, the deadly swamp forest would transform into the continent’s most prosperous rice granary!
"Alright! Let’s decide on that!" Kaelen clapped his hands with a smack, the heavy burden in his heart completely lifted. "After cleaning up, I will have an extra layer of lime powder sprinkled. I guarantee that land will become the most fertile field without fearing the pesticide affecting our daily water source!"
No sooner said than done. Over the following days, the three Earth, Water, and Fire Divine Energy squads worked at full capacity, transforming the swamp forest into a cultivation area spanning thousands of hectares.
However, with the existing amount of seeds in the tribe, only about four hundred hectares were utilized. The rest was left waiting to accumulate more seeds.
With the rice seeds after being improved by the children’s space, only about 20kg was needed for one hectare. Within a few short days, multiplying the initial 1 ton of rice seeds into eight tons was already overwhelming for the children.
These past few days, not only were the three kids, Ryder, Finnick, and Oliver, exhausted, but even Edward on the other side of the continent was as limp as a salted fish. Kaelen heartachingly rubbed the children’s heads, silently promising in his heart to never let them work so hard like this again.
He also researched the spiritual soil in the children’s space, then set up a spirit-gathering array in a place with abundant spiritual energy, turning ordinary soil into a spiritual field specialized for improving seedlings. This place was entrusted to Alden for secret management.
Because it was a spiritual field with abundant spiritual energy, besides the encroaching surrounding plants, there were also some wild beasts drawn by the scent. Fortunately, the Crimson tribe’s warriors were not weak, capable enough to protect this spiritual field.
After handling the wet rice fields and the spiritual field, Kaelen also spared some time to force-ripen the paddy intended as food for the tribe. The old field area in the tribe now incidentally served its purpose.
The whole tribe was busy again harvesting rice, threshing, cleaning, and sun-drying.
After these steps were completed, Kaelen had people bring the manual milling machines out to the grand plaza. The milling operation system consisted of two types: the husking machine and the bran separating machine.
The entire machine was a perfect combination of thick wooden blocks and a series of components reinforced with sanded wrought iron.
At the very top was a giant feed hopper shaped like an inverted pyramid. At the bottom of the hopper, a thin iron sheet was designed to be inserted horizontally as a slide valve.
First, the paddy needed to be fed into the husking machine.
When the hopper was filled with paddy, one only needed to lightly pull this iron sheet out, and an appropriate amount of paddy would flow steadily down into the machine chamber below, never having to worry about the rice getting jammed due to a bottleneck.
A Brown Bear warrior stepped forward, grasped the hand crank on the side of the machine, and pushed forcefully; the magic of the transmission system began to unfold.
The machine did not emit any ear-piercing creaks or the sound of wood grinding against wood. At the connection points, the two ends of the rotary shaft were not inserted directly into wooden holes but were encased by perfectly round iron rings, packed full of demonic beast fat inside for lubrication.
This primitive "bushing" system made the hand crank move so smoothly that the person turning it almost felt no resistance. The force from the hand crank transmitted through a large wooden gear, meshing with two smaller gears to increase the rotation speed. To prevent the wooden gear teeth from shattering under the pulling force, the blacksmith workshop had hammered wrought iron flat into U-shaped strips, wrapping and tightly gripping each tenon gear tooth precisely.
The paddy flowed from the hopper down into the central husking chamber – the heart of the machine. Inside the chamber was a solid round wooden block fitted with iron bars curving in a spiral groove, completely encased on the outside by a finely perforated iron mesh rolled into a tube shape.
Under the dizzying rotation speed of the spiral shaft, the rice grains were tumbled, rubbing intensely against each other and scraping against the iron mesh layer by centrifugal friction force. The tough husk layer was instantly peeled off, revealing the intact rice embryo inside without being crushed by compressive force.
The mixture of rice and husks continued to shower down into the compartment below. Immediately, the windbox system connected to the small gear unleashed its power.
Four thin wooden fan blades spun rapidly, generating a powerful crosswind. The light, porous husks were blown up by the wind current, swept straight out of the elongated discharge chute at the back of the machine, fluttering down like snow and piling into a neat heap.
In the first milling, the husks were only partially separated. People needed to pour the basket of once-milled rice back into the hopper and mill it three more times to produce the finished product of two parts rice to one part paddy, called brown rice.
Next, this brown rice would be fed into the remaining machine, the bran separating machine, and milled three more times.
Although the finished product was not the pristine white rice grains of modern times, having many broken grains, husk tips, and quite a lot of bran powder mixed in. However, compared to pounding with a foot pestle, it was several times better.
Kaelen then taught everyone how to sift the rice. During the process of shaking the sieve, the broken rice grains, husk tips, and bran rice would fall through to the winnowing basket below, leaving behind whole rice grains and unhusked paddy on top. People would pick out these unhusked paddy grains and set them aside.
"Note that during the sun-drying process, the paddy will be mixed with a few stone fragments. We must also pick them out cleanly, otherwise, eating them will chip our teeth."
This rice sifting job required meticulousness, which Kaelen assigned to the Sub-Beasts. Although picking rice manually took a long time, the advantage was that their tribe had many people. Over two days of milling, all of the tribe’s white rice was packed into jute sacks, stored in a well-ventilated place to prevent weevils.
The bran and broken rice, due to having too many mixed tips and fragments, couldn’t be used for cooking, so they had to be utilized as animal feed.
As for the clean white rice, Kaelen distributed ten kilograms to each person who participated in the harvesting and milling, and then distributed another ten kilograms per head based on those with official Crimson residential status.
The remainder was divided: one part was sent to the kitchen in the tribe and the kitchen over at Obsidian; the other part was handed over to the food distribution squad. Anyone who wanted to eat more could spend their own money to buy it.
For dinner that day, all the people in the tribe, including the hired hands and slaves, got to eat the first white rice meal on the continent.
These fragrant, sticky, and filling rice grains awakened the desire for good food and beautiful clothing in these ancient primitive people, urging the will to work diligently to create food and provisions to supply their personal lives and the tribe’s development within them.
On May 25th of the First Year of the Rat, fully loaded merchant carts began rolling out from Crimson’s main gate, kicking off the bustling era of commerce on the Beastman continent.
