Chapter 71: Chapter 70: Using the Curved Plow

After Ronin met briefly with the village heads and group leaders, he left the execution and supervision of his orders to Wilson.

He then went to Carlos’s blacksmith shop, accompanied by Chahar and Gallon, to get a good look at the newly-crafted Curved Plow.

The blacksmith shop was as messy as his last visit. Broken bone implements, pottery, and stone tools were strewn about everywhere. The only clear space was a patch in the center where the finished Curved Plow had been placed.

If Chahar hadn’t given him advance notice that the Lord was coming for an inspection today, Carlos probably wouldn’t have bothered to clear even that small space.

“Lord, you’re finally here!”

Carlos and his son, Baal, hurried over to greet them from a distance. “We finished assembling the Curved Plow yesterday,” he said. “We were just waiting for you to come test it out!”

“You’ve worked hard, Carlos.”

Ronin kept an amiable smile on his face. “I’m also quite eager to see your results. Come, show me.”

Led by Carlos and his son, Ronin entered the blacksmith shop. He immediately spotted the Curved Plow, sitting on a small, clean patch of ground in the center of the room.

His eyes lit up as he strode over to it. He examined it carefully from every angle, then crouched down to inspect the plowshare. Its shape and size were nearly identical to the plows he remembered.

“Carlos, everyone in town says you’re a skilled blacksmith, and today I’ve seen it for myself!”

He couldn’t resist praising him. “This Curved Plow is a ninety-nine percent match to my design. Excellent work!”

Receiving the Lord’s praise, Carlos finally relaxed. He was secretly proud of his own handiwork, but his words remained humble.

“The blueprints you designed were incredibly clear, Lord. I just had to follow them.”

Ronin grasped the end of the plow handle and gave the Curved Plow a lift.

It had some weight to it, but as an Intermediate Knight, it was nothing to him. He lifted it with ease.

’A bit heavy for a normal person.’

He looked over the plow’s body and asked, “Do you have an estimate of the weight? For the iron plowshare and moldboard, and for the wooden frame?”

Carlos knew the details by heart and quickly replied, “Lord, the plowshare and moldboard should weigh about five pounds; I forged them from a five-pound piece of iron. The frame is birch, which Mr. Chahar had William’s son cut down. It should weigh about a hundred pounds or so.”

Ronin looked at the plow’s frame. “As expected of William’s son. He did a fine job on the woodwork.”

The young lad Baal, standing nearby, couldn’t help but blurt out, “Lord, I helped him make it!”

The words were barely out of his mouth before Carlos clamped a hand over it. He looked at Ronin apologetically. “Lord, please forgive Baal’s impudence.”

Ronin chuckled. “Baal, is it? How old are you?”

Baal struggled free from his father’s hand and answered loudly, “I’m thirteen years old, Lord!”

“Impressive! Your skills are excellent as well.”

Ronin said with a smile, “Keep learning blacksmithing from your father. And yes, keep learning how to make these plow frames, too. I may have a lot of use for you in the future.”

Baal was thrilled to have spoken so much with the Lord. After receiving such encouragement, he nodded firmly. “I’ll work hard to learn, Lord!”

Carlos’s trade would eventually be passed down to Baal, and Ronin genuinely hoped the boy would master the art of blacksmithing.

’From his experience with the wrought iron he’d bought in Pasture City, he’d discovered that this world’s iron-smelting technology wasn’t as advanced as he’d thought.’

’That so-called wrought iron is actually just sponge iron, reduced from ore in a low-temperature environment.’

’The blacksmiths forge this sponge iron into various tools, weapons, and armor.’

’This method is fine for forging things like weapons, since the demand is relatively low. But trying to mass-produce farming tools this way would work a blacksmith to death.’

’The solution is to smelt liquid iron—cast iron. That way, you can pour it into molds to mass-produce farming tools.’

’But looking at Carlos’s forge—with its open furnace and small leather bellows—he knew it would be difficult to reach the temperatures needed for smelting.’

’Clearly, this was another problem that would require him to draw upon his own knowledge.’

’First, he’d have to design a better bellows, and then a new furnace, to raise the temperature high enough to produce cast iron.’

He made a mental note of this, then announced to the group, “Alright, let’s go test it out. I want to see how this Curved Plow really performs.”

Baal, who could hardly wait, immediately shouldered the yoke. Ronin gestured for Gallon and the others to help Carlos carry the Curved Plow outside.

In a nearby field, Chahar had already arranged for the Cowherd to bring over one of the Black Water Buffaloes from the castle.

Under Ronin’s personal direction, everyone pitched in to fit the yoke onto the buffalo’s neck, connecting it to the plow’s beam with a Flax Rope.

“You can adjust the position of this pin,” Ronin explained, “depending on the soil conditions to ensure the plowshare makes contact with the ground at the right angle.”

Ronin made a few adjustments himself, setting the pin in roughly the right position, then signaled for the Cowherd to begin.

At the Lord’s command, the Cowherd lightly cracked his whip. The Black Water Buffalo heard the signal and began to plod forward.

The buffalo wasn’t fast, but it was powerful. It trudged ahead, pulling the Curved Plow along behind it.

At first, the Cowherd struggled to control the plow’s direction. He was nervous and unfamiliar with the new tool, so his plowing was uneven.

However, he was an experienced hand. After a few adjustments, he was soon turning the soil smoothly.

Carlos, Chahar, and Gallon, who were following behind and watching closely, all gasped in amazement.

“Good heavens, it plows so deep!”

“It’s not just deep, it looks so effortless! It’s much faster than when it takes several of us to pull a light plow!”

Before becoming a manservant, Gallon had been a farmer. He had tilled the land himself—with a hoe, with a light plow, with manpower, with an ox—and it was never a job for one man and one beast. He always needed help.

But now, a single Cowherd and a single buffalo were easily plowing a furrow down the entire thirty-meter length of the field!

If the onlookers were excited, the Cowherd operating the plow was beyond words. He felt as if he wasn’t holding a plow, but a Divine Artifact!

“This is… just unbelievable!”

The Cowherd’s heart pounded. All he had to do was lightly guide it and walk behind. It still took some energy, of course, but compared to the old way of tilling, this was so much easier!

When he finished the first furrow, he guided the buffalo to turn around. With just a slight touch on the handle and the pull of the animal, the plow turned around with incredible ease. The sheer convenience of the maneuver left him stunned.

“Look! So many earthworms!” Baal shouted excitedly, squatting down and pointing at the worms wriggling in the freshly turned soil.

You’d see earthworms during normal fieldwork, but never this many.

Ronin wasn’t surprised. The Curved Plow cut deeper than a light plow or tilling by hand. Plus, the moldboard broke up the clods of soil. It was no wonder all the worms were being churned up to the surface.

What interested him more was the quality of the soil.

He crouched beside the new furrow and picked up a handful of soil. It was moist. The dark color and the abundance of worms told him the fertility was excellent.

The land quality around Mountain Forest Town was clearly quite good. It made sense that they could achieve a barley yield of 90 pounds per mu with only casual farming.

He dusted the soil from his hands, stood up, and asked the Cowherd, “So, what do you think of the Curved Plow?”

Although the Cowherd had met the Lord when he was first hired, he still felt nervous being addressed by him directly.

After thinking for a moment, the Cowherd finally managed to put his feelings into words.

“Lord, this is the most amazing, most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in my life!”

He said with some exaggeration, “It usually takes two or three of us to handle a light plow, but I was able to manage this one all by myself, and easily! It’s not just fast, it saves so much energy!”

The Cowherd glanced at the fallow field. “If I had to clear this field by myself, it would probably take me two or three days. But now, with this Curved Plow and this buffalo… Lord, I guarantee I could get it done in a single day!”

The Cowherd’s description might have been a bit over the top, but Ronin knew he wasn’t far off. The Curved Plow would truly bring immense convenience and efficiency to the farmers, dramatically reducing the difficulty of plowing and clearing new land.

Now, the only question was how to mass-produce them.

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