Chapter 129

Fishing, Li Yao was serious.

Last night, she had Da Zhuang make more than ten large bamboo baskets, and now all of them were carried over. As long as they could find a place to settle them properly, they might be able to catch some fish.

Seeing her doing this, everyone was convinced.

"Li Yao, do you think the water will rise again?"

"No."

The heavy rain had lasted for a day and a night. If it was going to rise, it would have risen already.

"Well, will a mountain flood come?"

"That's even less likely," Li Yao said. "My reservoir has only accumulated twenty percent of its capacity. To fill it up, it will take at least two more days and nights. I don't think this downpour can last that long."

Oh right, how could they forget about the reservoir?

Mountain floods came from the mountains, and in the past when the water rose greatly, they would inevitably rush down from the mountains and flow into the big river.

Now the mountain floods were blocked by the reservoir, so they couldn't come down at all.

As long as the heavy rain stopped within two days, they didn't need to worry about mountain floods either.

No wonder Li Yao still had the leisure to catch fish. Turned out she had it all planned out already.

"Sister-in-law, then let us help you catch fish."

With their worries settled, everyone naturally became more carefree. At Wang Yuanbang's suggestion, they went back home to fetch bamboo baskets and started helping Li Yao catch fish everywhere.

Sure enough, the results were not bad. Within half a day, they had caught several dozen catties.

There were crucian carp, carp, grass carp, silver carp, bighead carp...all kinds, but they were all very small, only big enough to raise as fish fry.

Carrying several dozen catties of small fish fry, Li Yao once again came to the dam of the reservoir.

The water in the reservoir had already accumulated half its capacity. Although it was still early from being full, she didn't dare let her guard down and planned to stay here tonight just in case.

After releasing the fish fry into the water, she went into the house on the floodgate and lit a fire on the ground to dry her damp clothes.

Boom boom--

Outside, the thunder still rumbled as the downpour continued.

The occasional lightning that tore through the sky illuminated the outline of the continuous mountain forest, looking extremely unreal. Counting the time, she had already been in this world for eight months.

Many things had happened in the past half year, and Li Yao had also thoroughly integrated into this world, transforming from a stupid and reckless peasant woman into a respected landowner.

Although there weren't too many fish in the reservoir yet, no lotus leaves and flowers covering its surface, the trees and flowers on the mountain hadn't grown up yet either, just the current achievements still gave her a great sense of satisfaction.

She was certain this was the life she wanted after retirement.

Next, she just needed to invent some gadgets to make her life more convenient, then she could completely relax.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help smiling. She took out a marinated chicken leg from her backpack and slowly smoked it over the fire, while also burying several sweet potatoes in the ashes to slowly roast them with the high heat.

The heavy rain continued through the night, gradually easing by dawn.

The reservoir had already accumulated half its capacity. Although it was still far from full, because of this rain, the accumulated water on the mountain would continue flowing down, so filling it was only a matter of time.

With the passing of the storm, as the river receded, the villagers of He Wan village returned to their previous state.

Those who were supposed to work continued working, those who were supposed to study continued studying, and those who were supposed to go to their jobs continued going.

Li Yao also took time to teach Wang San'er horsemanship. Before they knew it, the day came for Wang San'er to serve in the military.

For those like Wang San'er who were serving for the first time, they wouldn't immediately be sent to the borderlands or battlefield, but had to first train for two years in the Prefecture Army camp near their hometown.

The new soldier training was by the Yizhou Prefecture, which wasn't too far from home, but they were only allowed to return home once every three months.

Wang San'er had already packed up and got on his beloved warhorse, with a cart full of supplies behind him.

Of course, the cart also held his weapon--an iron cudgel.

This was forged by the blacksmith Xia Xian per his mother's request. It looked ordinary, with a rough, uneven surface, but Wang San'er knew how powerful this iron cudgel was.

The rough surface was to aid grip, and its material was extremely hard. Even Prefect Zhang's sword couldn't leave a shallow mark on it.

The bow and arrows behind him were also carefully designed by his mother.

The bow body and bowstring were made of high-grade steel. Ordinary people couldn't even draw it, and with his own strength presently he could only draw half the bow.

But even so, the power of this bow was frightfully great.

Additionally, he had a full set of armor, all made of hundreds-folded refined steel, impenetrable.

It could be said that Li Yao had equipped him with the best and most luxurious gear. Among the new recruits entering the army, he was probably the first.

"Remember what I told you," Li Yao said. "Don't rely too much on weapons. Your own strength is the greatest reliance."

"Mother, I'll remember."

"Then go quickly," Li Yao waved her hand very casually. "If you want to come back then come back for a visit. If you don't want to come back, have someone bring me a letter and I'll send stuff to you."

"Yes mother."

Wang San'er still wanted to say something, but realized Li Yao had already turned and left. He couldn't help a bitter smile. How could his cheap mother not be reluctant to part with him at all?

He was going off to serve in the army!

Only allowed to come back once every three months!

Oh well, Wang San'er knew his mother wasn't the fussy sort. Not chasing him out with a broom was good enough.

"Hyah!"

Riding his warhorse, Wang San'er left He Wan village, heading towards Yizhou Prefecture.

Watching his gradually distant figure, Li Yao's heart was as calm as still water.

Going to war and fighting was indeed very dangerous. He might get injured or even die at any time.

But this was the path Wang San'er chose himself. She wouldn't interfere too much, and she had taught him many things already. His future path depended on him now.

As for her, his cheap mother, she should hurry and go see if Xia Xian had finished modifying the steam engine.

...

Time arrived at July.

The blazing sun shone down, turning the world into a scorching furnace.

In Xia Xian's small workshop, a small piece of deep black iron was on the crimson furnace.

For this tiny piece, he had already tried 232 times. This was the 233rd try.

And each time it failed was because it wasn't hard enough.

The harder something was, the more brittle it became. This was common knowledge for every blacksmith. Li Yao asking him to abandon all toughness and stubbornly pursue hardness was clearly unreasonable.

But he was just a craftsman. He could only desperately do as the employer wanted.

Hiss--

The iron piece was quenched in water, taken out after cooling, and scraped against an ordinary iron sheet a few times.

Although the corners broke off, it left a deep mark on the iron sheet.

"Should be good enough this time right?"

Xia Xian took the result of the 233rd experiment to find Li Yao.

At this time, Li Yao was directing over a dozen villagers to erect a huge waterwheel in the yard.

Ever since the reservoir had water, she had dug a water channel to divert water from the reservoir to the back of several mountains, and also to her own yard.

She did this in order to drive this large waterwheel.

"Be careful, make the left side a bit higher, don't set it crooked!"

With a muffled sound, the ten-meter tall waterwheel finally stood firmly on the sturdy steel frame. Li Yao climbed onto the frame, spread plenty of lard in the bearings, covered them with the bearing caps, and tightened the screws.

"Open the sluice gate!"