Grasp the farming script in the famous book

As the cotton harvest approached, the $20 Roland gave Will and Melanie was almost gone.

Will's $10 has been spent to nothing.Melanie probably still had money left, but no one knew how much she had.

Melanie herself is so calm about money, so that everyone else is infected by this calmness, and there is no trace of anxiety in Tara.

Roland knew it in his mind—although she couldn't see the ledger, the money was spent from her hands, and she could figure out Tara's financial situation in her mind.

Melanie may only have a dollar or even a few dimes left.

Melanie is the only one who can live like a well-to-do rich family on $1.

Roland thought to himself: She really has to thank Melanie for stabilizing Tara's heart for her.

You know, if she hadn't used all the money to register the patent, they should be very well off now.Each could acquire a pair of sturdy shoes, and be neatly dressed; two more camels could be added to the estate, and perhaps another maid might be hired to look after the children. . . .

But Roland invested all this money in her patent business in order to gain future income.

—Thank you, Melanie.Thank you for trusting me so much.

Even though Roland still felt sour when facing Melanie, she had to admire this woman's tenacity and kindness.

Jonas Wilkerson, Tara's former foreman, came to Tara again to make trouble for him once or twice.He laughed at the vast fields of cotton that Tara had grown.

"Miss Scarlett, you also know that you can't do it?"

"There's only so much cotton planted this year—"

Roland: Indeed.Tara only planted two-thirds of the original area of ​​cotton this year—but these are all seedlings planted after careful breeding: the cotton yield is extremely high, and the cotton fibers are long and of good quality.

"When you collect cotton, you just wait to be dumbfounded!"

"Tara is no longer a manor with more than 100 black slaves!"

"The niggers, liberated! They'll never work for your shitty place again... I guarantee you won't hire a single man in Jonesboro, absolutely!"

As soon as Jonas lost his face, he saw a black man striding forward.

"Pork, you idiot! The blacks have been liberated, and there is no need for you to work in Tara."

Polk smiled and retorted: "Jonas, I don't listen to your nonsense."

"Miss Scarlett treats us as family. We are not slaves."

"Our family lives in Tara, we have food and clothes to wear; after listening to your words, go to Jonesboro, do we have a house to live in? Do we have food? Don't we have to work for you white people in the same way? Look at you cold eyes?"

Polk had a "you'll be damned if I believe you" expression.

Jonas actually felt that there was no way to refute, and after cursing "idiot" and "fool", he turned and left.

"Aren't you going to go to Jonesborough to work scumbags when Tara's cotton isn't coming in and it's rotting in the fields?"

Pok just wanted to retort: ​​"Who said..."

He was immediately pulled by Will.

Polk was not stupid at all, and immediately laughed: "Haha, when Jonas sees the cotton that Tara pulled out..."

Will and Polk looked at each other and smiled tacitly.

Roland was still struggling with money.

The cotton-picking season was just around the corner, so she went to Jonesboro in person to rent two cows. Without an internal combustion engine, her automatic cotton-picking device could only be powered by camels for the time being.

"Miss Scarlett, such a thing as renting a cow is really something only you can think of."

The owner of the carriage and horse dealer who is rich in camels and livestock said with a smile.

"Wilkerson went around saying it was hard on anyone who came to your house as a hireling—but he never said he couldn't rent you cattle."

Roland couldn't help but whispered: "Isn't it even more incredible to rent a cow and pay it on credit?"

She was hesitating whether to reveal the truth about her financial distress to the owner of the car dealership, but someone greeted behind her: "Mrs. Han——"

Roland turned his head and saw Rhett riding a fine horse and wearing a wide-brimmed hat, quickly coming towards her.Under the strong southern sun, his handsome face was tanned.He galloped up to Roland, dismounted quickly, and took off his hat.

"I went to Tara to find you, and you came to Jonesborough."

The man's black eyes stared at her wantonly, looking her up and down.

Roland secretly guessed what he could see.

As expected, the man wailed: "Scarlett, last time I sent you $100, you didn't spend any of it on yourself?"

Roland: Sure enough.

She replied blankly, "So what are you doing this time? Are you going to return the remaining $400 to me?"

"No!" Rhett said in a surprised tone, "Why do you think so?"

"Last time, I just wanted to make the old man happy. Back then, I won the $500 from Jiale."

Roland: ...

She was not the party involved in the past, and now it is really a bad debt and there is no way to talk about it.

"How about this, I heard that you have registered several patents, so I just use this 400 dollars to invest in you..."

Roland suddenly yelled loudly: "Obviously you owe my father 400 dollars, and it's only natural for you to pay me back. How dare you say that you are investing in me..."

People on the street turned their eyes around one after another, and the owner of the carriage and horse shop listened happily with his ears open.

With an embarrassed expression on his face, Rhett waved at Roland and said, "You really don't need to be so loud. Scarlett, you're showing your true nature again..."

Roland became more and more angry: yes, she was not a lady in the first place, and a lady didn't have to come to the town to rent cattle or horses, only a village woman like her deserved to yell at the street like this.

"...I'm very happy, you are still the original you."

Brad said with a smile.

Roland: ...?

"Let's not talk about the $400, let's talk about your patent."

Rhett tied the horse by the side of the road and walked slowly on the street with Roland.

"You really are a bottomless pit. Glenson lent you $300, and it disappeared in the blink of an eye. I lent you back $100, and it disappeared in the blink of an eye. Scarlett, the voice I heard in Jonesboro is terrible." They are all saying that you are stupid-it is enough to pack a bag and apply for one patent, but you have broken down so many."

"You have money you have to make and money you don't want to make, right?"

Roland was startled.

Although she didn't want to admit it, this Braide's judgment was really accurate.

She did have money she had to make--the biggest automatic cotton picker, and she was determined to make money from the big planters, the big planters, the people who made war fortunes and prospered after the war.

But there are also small farm tools, and she wants to help make their jobs a little easier for people like her who are struggling to survive on their own land.

She cleared her throat and said, "It seems that you still have some investment vision."

Ruide raised his face and shook his head in denial: "No, it's just that I have too much money in my hand, and I want to find something to invest."

Roland: ...

Could it be that this guy has a mouth just to tease people?

But in fact, Roland has rehearsed countless times how she should persuade the investor to cooperate with her. If Ruide is willing, she is willing to cooperate. At least she can take the patent as a share. After the large-scale machinery is produced, she will share the profit.

"One of the patents I obtained, the automatic cotton picker, was specially designed for the post-war southern plantations, meeting the new needs after the changes and minimizing manpower."

"Someone said that there are two opportunities to make big money, one is when the country is built, and the other is when the country is destroyed..."

Rhett looked at her more and more amusedly, Roland: Is there a tree or a flower blooming on her face?

"Scarlett, it seems that you remember my words very well!"

Roland's face immediately turned hot—this guy actually said the original words?

"However, I seem to have also said that when the country is destroyed, the speed of making money is even many times faster than when the country is built." Brad completed the original version.

Roland felt that the look on his face seemed to say: That's why I have such a huge fortune.

So Roland said with a straight face: "But I don't want to see the country destroyed again."

In the previous American Civil War, 75 people died in battle, more than 40 people were permanently disabled like Will, and countless families were destroyed.

The little wealth accumulated by Ruett Brad is certainly worth showing off for individuals, but for the entire country and society, it is just a small amount left in the hands of someone in the process of large-scale wealth destruction.

Rhett followed Roland and sighed: "Yeah, so when the country is rebuilding, although it's a bit slow to make money, I'm not in a hurry anyway, so let's take it slowly."

Roland: ...?

The guy has run out of good things to say.

"Scarlett, it's cotton harvest time in two days, and you know how Tara should behave, don't you?"

Rhett lazily put on his hat, got on the horse, gave Roland a bright smile, and slowly drove the horse away.

The owner of the carriage and horse shop behind Roland: "Madam, Madam... If you want a cow, then take it!"

"For someone who can do such a large amount of business with Mr. Bai, it's no problem even if I lend you this bull!"

So, Roland really rented two cows on credit.

Before the official cotton harvest began, Tara's financial situation had begun to improve.

Roland found some carpenter workshops in the town with the patents of some small machinery, tried to cooperate with them, and made one or two pieces of cotton sifter and seed remover, which were put on consignment in woodworking and farm tool stores.

She actually sold a few pieces to her.After deducting the carpenter's wages and materials, Roland actually recovered two or three dollars. Although the amount was not large, it greatly boosted everyone's confidence.

In terms of the reason, Roland had pushed himself too hard and pushed everyone too hard.

After an almost hopeless phase, it's finally paying off and everyone is excited.

And Roland always remembered what Rhett said: Tara needs to perform well.

On the day when the cotton collection began, the weather was fine.Roland built a pergola with his hands and stood in front of the vast cotton field.

Mammy told Roland thousands of times to put on her hat, lest the scorching southern sun tan her snow-white skin.But Roland had long forgotten about this.

All she had eyes for was the large automatic cotton picker.

Compared with other machines, this machine is really like a giant - it covers an area of ​​five or six meters wide and spans several field ridges.

Polk and a cow stood in front of the machine, dragging the machine forward slowly.

Ashley stood behind alone. He needed to observe the condition of the entire machine in time and notify Polk to move forward or stop.He even needed to reach out his hands to help the whole machine maintain balance, preventing the giant from falling sideways.

Will is on call with his toolbox.

This machine was built by them with the cheapest materials, and any part may break at any time.

Roland had thought of this a long time ago, and asked Wildo to prepare some key and fragile parts. In case something broke, he asked Will, the "technical brother", to replace it quickly.

As a result, Tara's cotton harvesting started stumblingly.

With a command, Polk dragged the ox forward. The huge machine was like a sleeping giant that had just been awakened. When it got up, the whole body slammed, and every bone and every joint made a sound.

The cow took one step, two steps, and the machine finally started to rotate with a rattle sound.Many "automatic arms" are opened, and the cotton branches are taken into their "arms". With a light scrape of the knife, one after another cotton is torn from the branches and naturally falls on the ground in advance. In the big bag you picked up.

Roland heard shrill applause and cheers behind him.

That was Melanie, Carleen, and Prissy, who also came to watch the cotton picking.The girls shouted happily when they saw that such a big machine was really working.

But Roland knew in his heart that picking cotton in this way would definitely not be as fine as manual labor—they would inevitably miss some cotton, and there would be a lot of impurities, branches and leaves that would be picked together by knives and mixed with the harvested cotton. in cotton.

It is impossible to achieve the precision of mechanical and artificial competition, just like in the 22nd century, artificial intelligence cannot completely replace human work.

The good times didn't last long, and the automatic cotton picker stopped before it lasted for 2 minutes.

Wei Xili's forehead was dripping with sweat, and he checked the damaged part of the machine—it was a bearing controlling the automatic arm, and it broke itself before it could bear the pressure.

Will was already prepared. He limped up with a cane, quickly replaced the entire automatic arm with both hands, and installed a new one.

Wei Xili wiped off his sweat, and issued an order for Polk to drive the cattle forward.

As a result, he didn't take two steps, but stopped again.

After going back and forth several times and repairing more than a dozen parts, even Will, who was originally confident, began to feel a little uncertain.He retreated to Roland and called "Scarlett" as if asking for help.

Roland was calmer than anyone else.

She even smiled and said: "This is great, we know where the strongest material is needed, and we can just mess around..."

Will froze: yes.

This Tara's own "prototype" is made of the cheapest, second-hand, scrap materials - now, they finally know where to replace the best hardwood, cast iron, and where to leave it as it is... …

In the distance, the old cow mooed impatiently.

Wei Xili and Polk both heaved a long sigh: within an hour, this large machine only advanced about ten meters, and only harvested a small piece of cotton field.

In the past, with one hundred blacks, this would have been a 10-minute workload at most.

Roland suddenly flicked the hat that Mammy had pushed halfway to her, strode forward, and asked loudly, "Pork, can you harvest all the cotton in this hour by yourself?"

Polk shook his head: "That will definitely not work."

He immediately understood: "Oh, Miss Scarlett, what you mean is that this machine can be faster than me alone, that is necessary..."

Roland continued: "Yes, as long as it is faster than you alone, it can prove that it is indeed valuable."

This made Wei Xili stunned for a moment.

People living in this plane are far from realizing the power of mechanization—but Roland sees farther than them.

"But as long as we operate more skillfully and the machinery runs more smoothly, sooner or later it will exceed the speed of ten or even a hundred people working for an hour."

"That's what mechanics are about."

"Ashley, Polk, Will, you are the most precious to me. So I will use this lifeless machine, which will not be hungry or thirsty, and will not know how to work, to replace you working in Tara."

The three men were very moved when they heard this, especially Polk—he never thought that his name could be listed alongside Mr. Wei and a white man like Will.

"Please don't be disappointed, but accept it slowly, it is also growing, and it will have greater power."

Roland is well aware that Tara's cotton harvest is in the spotlight this season—and it's not just rogues like Jonas Wilkerson eyeing Tara, waiting to see the "cotton rotting in the field" scene However, "investors" like Ruide will also wait to see the results of Tara's harvest.

On the surface, she was calm and calm, preaching about the "meaning of machinery" and comforting everyone, but there was a voice deep in her heart that shouted loudly:

"Don't drop the chain, don't drop the chain!"