Han Cheng found the first carpenter of the Green Sparrow tribe, Lame, and began explaining his idea for a curved shaft plow.
Of course, the "curved shaft plow" that Han Cheng spoke of wasn’t the one commonly seen in later generations. Just the iron-made plowshare and moldboard of those future plows would be enough to stop him from attempting it.
What he described as a "curved shaft plow" was so primitive it was almost outrageous.
In simple terms, the structure was based on a fallen tree branch. The upper branch was long, and the lower one short. The longer branch was meant to tie a rope to so a deer could pull it. The shorter branch was sharpened as much as possible, serving as both plowshare and moldboard, making it a powerful, multifunctional existence.
The handle in the back was for controlling the plow.
This all-wooden plow was extremely crude.
Bo stared at the item lying on the ground and couldn't help but wrinkle his nose, imitating the Divine Child.
The Divine Child hadn't asked him to make anything new for a long time, so Lame, a now more seasoned carpenter, was thrilled. The long break from making new things had left him itching to create again.
The saying, "Anything from the Divine Child is top quality," was widely believed in the Green Sparrow tribe. As the most skilled carpenter in the tribe, who had made several groundbreaking tools under the Divine Child’s guidance, Lame believed in this more than anyone.
The plow could use animal power to till the fields, greatly increasing farming efficiency. This would save labor and allow the tribe to cultivate much more land.
Hearing this description, Lame knew this tool was incredibly valuable, at least on the same level as the seed drill.
Bo immediately got energized, rolling up his sleeves and preparing his tools. He was ready to tackle the numerous challenges ahead and, after many exhausting efforts, complete the plow.
The result was nothing short of shocking.
From the moment Han Cheng approached him, explained the design, found materials, and made tools—it all took less than a day.
And the tool that Han Cheng had praised so highly? It was beyond his wildest expectations...
This... this is way too simple!
Looking at the object on the ground, essentially just a tree branch hacked off and shaped a bit, Lame, still with his sleeves rolled up, didn't know how to express his feelings.
"What is this thing? Just a red light got me all fired up for nothing!"
Lame's thoughts echoed the famous line from a future film, where a taxi driver who had watched too many cop dramas expressed a similar sentiment.
This thing didn’t need such a fuss, right?
Complaints aside, the tool was made, so it had to be tested.
So, under the leadership of the great Han Cheng, Lame hoisted the primitive plow, one that even cavemen would frown upon, and followed the Divine Child to the deer pen. They wrangled the strongest deer for the job and set off toward the fields outside the tribe.
The fields around the tribe were filled with people working hard on the land.
The slaves mostly handled the more labor-intensive tasks of clearing new land, while the older tribe members worked on the cultivated fields.
Compared to clearing new land, plowing already tilled soil was much easier.
The Green Sparrow tribe’s land now spanned over a thousand mu (acres). Even with more people, clearing all this land quickly was no easy task. So far, they had only managed to plow about one-eighth of it.
Han Cheng and Lame arrived at a field close to the tribe.
Lame didn’t know how to use the plow, so Han Cheng, the knowledgeable Divine Child, was tasked with testing this extremely primitive wooden plow.
The tribe had already used deer for seeding and harrowing, so they had plenty of “deer harnesses.”
Han Cheng tied the deer harness, made of rope and leather, onto the big deer. The harness hook was attached to the front of the wooden plow, looping through a hole drilled in the plow.
Han Cheng bent slightly, gripping the handle of the wooden plow tightly with both hands.
With the command, the deer, conditioned from long work hours, began walking forward.
The wooden plow moved, but the effect was not ideal.
Because the plow was too light and its wooden plowshare was not sharp enough, it barely scratched the soil's surface.
After a while, Han Cheng had to press down hard on the handle, eventually using his entire body weight to force the plow deeper into the ground.
With this added force, the slanted wooden plowshare finally dug deeper into the soil, creating furrows similar to what a person could make with a bone shovel.
Following behind, Lame’s eyes widened as he looked at the furrowed earth. This primitive tool could plow the land.
And it seemed much faster than people using bone shovels.
However, Han Cheng, pushing the wooden plow for a while, began to frown.
Using this wooden plow was exhausting.
He had to press down on the handle constantly, and because the plow lacked a curved moldboard, the turned soil scattered to both sides.
Unlike later plows, which turned the soil neatly to one side, this left the soil uneven, with some covering the unplowed ground, making it harder for the next pass and increasing the chances of missing spots.
This plow was tiring not only for the person pushing it but also for the deer pulling it.
They hadn’t plowed long, yet the strong deer’s legs trembled.
And this deer was the strongest of them all. If they used any of the weaker deer, the plow wouldn’t move if it dug a bit deeper.
This wooden plow might work better with larger animals like cows, horses, or mules. Using deer to pull it was too much.
After plowing for a while, seeing how much the deer struggled, and feeling exhausted, Han Cheng finally stopped.
It seemed that using this plow for farming wasn’t practical yet.
To make plow farming viable, they must meet one of two conditions.
They had to find metal ore or smelt enough metal to make a proper iron plowshare and moldboard, creating a true curved shaft plow.
Or they needed large animals like cows, horses, or donkeys to pull the plow.
If either of these conditions were met, plow farming would be possible.
Of course, if both conditions were met, that would be even better.
But for now, both options seemed far off.
If only that rhinoceros from the Flying Snake tribe hadn’t been killed. No matter how dull, such a behemoth could easily pull a wooden plow.
But alas, that creature was long dead...
Wait a minute, maybe deer can still be used to pull a wooden plow!
After mulling over his dilemma for a while, Han Cheng suddenly stood up...