I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 437 – Not pounding fast enough? Then bring a few more.
“Swish.”
“Thunk.”
Water continued to flow steadily inside the bamboo tube, collecting more and more in the trough behind the tree trunk.
As the water poured in, this side grew heavier, causing the originally raised part to descend slowly.
The thick wooden pestle also lifted out of the mortar at the other end of the trunk.
When the trough filled up even more, the trunk finally lost its balance completely.
The trough suddenly dropped, water splashing out with a “swish.”
Then, the stout end of the trunk soared high, paused briefly, and abruptly fell.
The embedded wooden pestle underneath struck the mortar with a “thunk.”
The principle of this thing is very simple, akin to a seesaw commonly played with.
The difference lies in replacing the people at either end of the seesaw with water and the thick wooden trunk.
This simple water pounder will tirelessly work as long as water is poured in.
Of course, a true water pounder isn’t like this; it relies on the force of water flow to drive a shaft, which in turn moves a pole for pounding rice.
However, such a water pounder is too complex. Han Cheng and Lame fiddled with it for several days, feeling it couldn’t be completed quickly.
After pondering for a while, Han Cheng found another way to create this extremely simple water pounder.
Of course, this water pounder is just a transition. They will continue to attempt the more complex version.
This simple version of the water pounder can only be used for pounding rice or smashing other things, whereas the more complex version, with slight modifications, can be used to drive millstones and such. Han Cheng naturally won’t give up on that.
The onlookers from the Green Sparrow tribe, watching the water pounder rise and fall under the continuous flow of water, widened their eyes one by one.
So this tool is used like this.
Just ordinary water, yet it has this function.
After the surprise, a sudden realization dawned on them.
Indeed, water can be used like this. It’s just that before the Divine Child completely fixed things, they couldn’t think of such a method.
“Let’s try some grains,” Han Cheng said, looking around at the bewildered and amazed people.
Because when they came, they said they were there to test the water pounder, so they brought some grains.
Upon hearing Han Cheng’s words, Zhuang, who often pounded rice, quickly brought over a pot.
Taking advantage of the slow rise of the water pounder, they poured three bowls of grains into the mortar.
Then, everyone stood together and waited to see the results.
Water flowed, filling the trough. The water pounder rose and fell, pounding into the mortar.
Truly effortless, it only required cleaning up afterward, which was very convenient.
The strong men who often pounded rice looked at the husked grains in the mortar with a strange sense of joy.
However, this joy didn’t last long because they noticed a problem.
That is, the speed of this water pounder is indeed too slow. They can pound rice at an average speed five times, but this water pounder can’t even do it once.
While it saves effort, the speed is just too slow.
Using this water pounder to pound rice after a whole day, could the tribe’s people eat the freshly pounded rice?
More and more people realized this issue. The Green Sparrow tribe, happy just now, quickly became somewhat silent.
Shaman’s brow furrowed slightly. This water pounder was ingenious, but its speed in pounding rice was too slow.
As they calculated in their hearts, not long after, Shaman’s brow suddenly relaxed.
Because he remembered what the Mu Tou had been doing for the past few days.
There’s not just one stone the wood prepares to chisel into the mortar.
In other words, the Divine Child wants more than just one pounder installed.
One pounder is undoubtedly slower than a person, but if you install three or four or more, the speed of pounding rice will increase.
Moreover, this pounder relies on the power of water flow, never tiring, and its speed won’t slow down, unlike a person who gets tired after a while of pounding rice.
Thinking this way, Shaman surveyed the surroundings. The terrain here was open, so installing three or four-pounders was no problem.
It had to be said that Shaman, the original first sage of the Green Sparrow tribe, was not just famous for nothing.
While many people were still puzzled and confused, he had already figured out what was inside.
Having figured things out, Shaman became more and more delighted and excited.
Seeing the still puzzled crowd, he cleared his throat lightly, preparing to explain the matter to everyone.
“I have something to say. Please listen quietly.”
Of course, this wasn’t Shaman speaking, but Han Cheng standing nearby, who imagined it after noticing Shaman’s actions.
Shaman didn’t have Prime Minister Zhuge’s aura, so his passionate speeches would naturally not inflame the people of the Green Sparrow tribe.
But it still had an effect.
After Shaman spoke, everyone suddenly understood, and some overreacted, slapping their foreheads with their hands.
Yeah, one pounder isn’t as fast as a person pounding rice, but wouldn’t several of them solve the problem?
It’s a simple matter, yet they couldn’t figure it out themselves.
There were many things they couldn’t figure out. When Han, the Great Divine Child, had Lame tie another bamboo rod through three upright poles, the speed at which people slapped their heads, like the pounder, increased.
Pouring water into the pounder’s troughs with two bamboo rods directly halved the time between its rise and fall.
That meant, at the current rate, three-pounders could surpass the normal speed of one person pounding rice.
Furthermore, the wooden pestles used under the pounders were thick, and the mortars below were larger than those used manually, resulting in more millet pounded out at once.
As everyone waited, the grains in the mortar gradually cracked open.
Seeing their reddened faces and blue bruises on their foreheads, Zhuang and Qinghua were ready to go over and clean up the millet that had been pounded in the mortar, but Han Cheng stopped them.
After adding another bamboo tube, the pounder’s speed increased, and the interval between was too short for anyone to clean out the millet inside without risking injury from the pounder.
Han Cheng brought over a wooden post that someone had brought earlier, stood near the crossbar while the pounder rose, and propped up the trunk. This way, the pounder wouldn’t fall, and Zhuang and Qinghua could confidently clean out the pounded millet from the mortar without being too flustered.
After refilling the mortar with grains, they laid the supporting post back down, and the pounder continued tirelessly with its work.