Song Qiming gave the order, and within just one hour, the threshing machines and rice were delivered to all four city gates.
At the south gate of the inner city, yamen runners in official uniforms held handfuls of rice stalks and fed them into the threshing machine to remove the grains, steadily pedaling with their right feet.
As the cylinder spun, the grains fell like rain into the tub below.
The gathered crowd watched in amazement, drawing closer and closer, until some even started asking the yamen runners questions.
“Officer, what is this device?”
With just a pump of the foot, it could thresh rice far faster than beating it by hand.
The yamen runner in charge of introductions lifted his chin. “This is a pedal-operated threshing machine. It was invented by County Princess Linghui specifically for autumn harvests, to thresh rice ears.”
“With this, one person can finish threshing the rice ears from a whole mu of paddy in a single day—many times faster than before.”
An old farmer with a hunched back trembled, stretching his neck to peer into the tub, as if checking whether the grains were damaged.
Seeing this, the yamen runner immediately grabbed a handful of grains and showed them.
“Each grain is distinct, not a single broken husk.”
“And look at the stripped stalks—aren’t they clean?”
He held out a handful of rice stalks to the old farmer, who pinched the husks with his fingers. Not a single grain remained—cleaner than their own hand-threshing.
The old farmer opened his mouth as if to say something, then swallowed his words.
It was made of wood and iron, and so big—it must be expensive.
He slowly turned to leave, but after a few steps, he couldn’t help coming back.
Maybe it’s cheap. Asking won’t cost silver.
“How much silver for this threshing machine?”
The other farmers who also needed to harvest their rice all stared intently. They too wanted to know how much it would cost to buy one.
The yamen runner smiled and held up two fingers.
“At cost, it’s twenty taels of silver. If you have lots of land, consider buying one; if you only have one or two mu, just borrow from your village.”
“The prefect in his kindness has already sent two threshing machines to each village. If you want to use them, you pay a usage fee based on the land—twenty coppers per mu.”
Hearing this price, many people had their hearts set on it.
After all, threshing a single mu by hand would take a family of five two whole days without rest.
With a threshing machine, one person could finish it in one day, freeing up hands and time for other work.
A day of hard labor earned forty coppers; during autumn harvest, wealthy households hiring laborers paid twenty coppers a day plus a meal.
At the very least, one could chop more firewood, weave some bamboo baskets, and bring them to town to sell for some cash—still better than hand-threshing.
The old farmer grew so excited he tried to grab the yamen runner’s wrist.
“Officer, my home is in Han Family Village. Have the threshing machines for our village arrived yet?”
The yamen runner nodded without hesitation.
“This morning, all the machines for each village were delivered to the towns. By the time they reach here, they should already have been shipped.”
The old farmer’s face wrinkled with joy, his eyes disappearing into creases.
“Good, good, good—I’ll head back right now.”
He said “good” three times, swiftly turned, and pushed through the crowd, moving nimbly with his legs.
After pedaling for a while, the yamen runner felt a bit tired and noticed the onlookers all itching to try.
He immediately stepped aside and called out, “Who wants to give it a go?”
In a flash, seven or eight men rushed forward, and the noise exploded. Another yamen runner quickly hurried over to block them.
“No pushing, everyone line up.”
Gu Baozhu, curious, walked out from behind the door of the medical hall and looked westward.
“What’s going on over there? Why so noisy?”
Muttering, she stepped down from the stairs toward the city gate. Seeing the big crowd from afar, curiosity got the better of her, and she immediately ran over to join the fun.
Spotting the villagers gathered around a strange machine, she murmured to herself.
“Is this the pedal threshing machine Jinghong mentioned?”
She squeezed to the front, wanting to try it herself, but saw a queue of dozens of people and had to give up.
If only she had gone to take a look first this morning when her big nephew sent the threshing machines to Songzhou City.
In the end, Gu Baozhu watched the excitement for half an hour before returning to the medical hall.
Song Shixue was just seeing off a patient and, noticing Baozhu’s boredom, said, “How about we go shopping tomorrow afternoon?”
Gu Baozhu’s low mood immediately lifted, and her eyebrows danced.
“Great! These past few days, it’s been the same routine with no time to properly browse. I didn’t bring enough clothes, so it’s the perfect chance to buy a couple.”
