Chapter 1365 A Few Things About the Promotion of Agricultural Machinery

Sheen is a bankrupt farmer in Bavaria. He was supposed to be assigned to work in the royal estate. As a result, he was deceived into a gambling game and had no money to pay off his debts. He had to board a ship to Africa.

However, this place did not seem as scary as he imagined. It was just that this camp that looked like a military camp made him feel ashamed.

The proportion of soldiers in the early colonies of the Austrian Empire was quite high, so the architectural style was also militaristic.

An ordinary person in the 19th century would naturally feel scared when entering a military camp, but Sheen was not so restrained when he came to the farmland.

He liked the land here, it was too fertile! It was as if the land had not been cultivated for thousands of years!

Not only was it fertile, but it was also endless. Sheen could imagine the scene of a good harvest. He flew freely in the golden wheat waves.

Sergeant Hal stopped Sheen who was running around and reminded him.

"Sir, you are here to farm."

"Sorry, sir. I lost my temper."

Sheen took off his hat unconsciously and put it on his chest, which made Sergeant Hal laugh.

"No need to do that, we are not much better than you. The real big shots are in the castle, and if it were in the country, I would be the one who saluted. Haha!"

Sergeant Hal is not a German, he is a Slav, but his specific ethnicity is unclear since his grandfather's generation, anyway, he escaped back with Prince Eugen's team.

"But sir. How can we farm all the land with so few people?"

Faced with Sheen's question, Sergeant Hal smiled mysteriously.

"I will show you something good tomorrow."

This is the first time Sheen has seen a seed drill. He saw Sergeant Hal leading two cows, and a huge wooden cart between the two cows.

As the two cows pulled the cart, the sharp rake teeth slowly inserted into the soil, drawing regular grooves.

At the same time, with the sound of the axle driving the gears to rotate, seeds were evenly distributed to each gully through a series of delicate wooden chutes and metal screens, and finally filled the gullies with the pushers hanging behind.

Sheen was stunned. Even an old farmer like him could not be so precise, not to mention that the efficiency was many times higher than his.

"Brother Sheen, you try it too!"

Sergeant Hal shouted, and Sheen ran over in a hurry.

After experiencing it personally, Sheen sighed.

"Oh my God! This must be the greatest invention of mankind!"

Sergeant Hal said again.

"What's this! We also have fertilizer machines, rollers, and harvesters. Experts will come with new gadgets in a while."

Sheen said in disbelief.

"The Empire actually has such great machinery, so why does it need us?"

Hal took Sheen to the hillside in front and sighed.

"Look! There's no way to finish the crops."

What caught Sheen's eyes was the endless fields, and he felt the wheat aroma again.

The promotion of agricultural machinery in the colonies was quite smooth. After all, they really couldn't finish the work without machines, and people who were really conservative would not come to this land.

It was also easy to promote agricultural machinery in the royal estates, after all, many requirements in the estates could be enforced as in the colonies.

The subjective initiative of the farmers in the royal estates would be higher. After all, it was not easy to become a farmer in the royal estates. Not only did they have to go through many reviews, but they also needed some special skills or a little bribery.

As tenant farmers, the treatment in the royal estates was much better than that of ordinary nobles, not to mention those private farms that ate people without spitting out bones.

Perhaps due to the low average education level, most Germans in the 19th century were more accustomed to obeying, and would not ask so many whys.

In the eyes of some people, this was a group of fools who only knew how to obey, but in the eyes of Franz, it was their cuteness.

Of course, Franz will still take advantage of the agricultural machinery class to popularize German to the people in the royal estate, and the priest's loyalty education is also indispensable.

Regarding German and the so-called loyalty education, the church has explored a model that is most suitable for the national conditions of the Austrian Empire, namely the myth-drama model.

Myths and dramas have a low threshold and a wide range of applications. At the same time, they are entertaining and not easy to make the audience feel resistant, and they influence people's thinking in a subtle way.

In addition, good myths and dramas can enhance collective resonance and even help build cultural identity and inheritance.

Of course, the most important thing is that the church is very familiar with these models, and myths are suitable for promoting religion.

In this way, they can not only complete the tasks assigned by the government, but also carry private goods to promote doctrines.

Franz is naturally aware of the church's actions, but he is not very worried. After all, the church is tied to the chariot of the Austrian Empire at this time.

In addition, agricultural machinery classes are also very important. On the one hand, it is convenient for maintenance and repair, and on the other hand, it is the farmers who really understand what farmers need.

Franz can find a group of mechanical engineers to imitate agricultural machinery already available in other countries, and he can also let engineers improve the machinery according to his own memory.

But the people who can really make these machines fit the times and the country are the skilled farmers.

Engineers who can solve problems are great, but people who can find and raise problems are equally great.

The promotion of agricultural machinery in royal estates and colonies was quite smooth, and the estates of the nobles also embraced agricultural machinery, either actively or passively, under Franz's carrot-and-stick policy.

On the one hand, the benefits of agricultural machinery are visible to the naked eye, and on the other hand, if you don't use agricultural machinery, you will be eliminated by the market.

It is very troublesome for ordinary farmers because they have too little land and even less funds.

They are the ones who are most hurt by Franz's promotion of agricultural machinery, and they are also the ones who oppose it the most.

Agricultural machinery obviously makes farmers' work easier and can expand the planting area and increase income. Why would anyone oppose it?

First of all, not everyone can afford agricultural machinery. Secondly, most farmers do not have more land and cannot afford to buy more land.

In addition, agricultural machinery will greatly improve agricultural production efficiency, which means that the same work does not require so many people, and farmers will be unemployed.

The deeper impact of agricultural machinery is that it will reduce the production cost of agricultural products, and then reduce the price of agricultural products. Although Franz has been using policy suppression and state procurement to maintain food prices at this time.

But this kind of thing that obviously violates the law of the market cannot continue forever. It is only a matter of time before the proportion of agricultural population is reduced.

However, Franz hopes that people can go to factories, cities, and overseas for a better tomorrow, rather than being forced.

In addition, traditional concepts, suspicion and rejection of new technologies are also hindering the promotion of agricultural machinery. The reasons are quite complicated. Some people are stupid, some are lazy, and some have bad intentions.