With the crisscrossing roads and chickens and dogs, this is the most common scene in this rural area. Daoxiang Village is backed by the mountains and is a very flat river valley area, with the fields extremely fertile.

Because it is close to the capital city Jiangdu, the economic conditions of Daoxiang Village are obviously much better than those of other remote villages.

If you pick up some fresh seasons and sell them in Yangzhou City, you can also bring some input to your family.

There are many fertile farms around the Jiangdu of Fucheng, which are continuous, but most of them are the private property of the wealthy families in Yangzhou City, and have nothing to do with the villagers of Daoxiang Village.

Whether it is sowing seeds or harvesting and threshing, it is much more convenient than those fields scattered everywhere in the east and west.

This is the case with the 30 acres of fertile land in the Wei family. It is located on a river beach about five miles east of Daoxiang Village. Although it is not like a plain in the north, it also has high and low undulations, it is still connected in the end.

Compared with the other wealthy farms of the Sheng family, these 30 acres of fertile land are naturally nothing, but they are also unique in Daoxiang Village.

Among the Lin family, there are only a few families, and the land in the family is almost the same as that in the Wei family, but those families are full of descendants. If they are separated in the future, these land will naturally be divided.

Regarding the rent, Ding Jian and Qingli came to discuss with Xu Dashan personally, and finally decided to collect 40% of the rent like the others in the village, and the land tax was paid by the Wei family, and the Dante tax and corvee labor were each responsible.

As for the details of the discussion, Wei Yun did not ask much, and Ding Jian and his wife did not mention it either, but they thought it would not be so smooth, and they always had to have a bargaining dispute.

Time passed day after day. As the end of the year approached and the weather became colder, my second sister Qingli went to the city to buy a large number of supplies, including oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and cotton fabrics. She sewed a cotton coat and quilt at home.

I remember that Xu's embroidery life was also famous throughout Yangzhou City. With the use of embroidery, Wei Xiucai's private school world, the Wei family lived a very comfortable life.

The two sisters of the Wei family received the teachings of Xu since childhood. Although Xu died early, they also learned about embroidery work. Among them, the sister Wei Qingshu was a little older, so embroidery work was naturally even better.

Although Qingli's embroidery work is not as good as Qingshu, it is much better than these women in the village. Even compared with the embroidery masters in the city's Xiufang, it is only slightly worse.

I don’t know whether it was because of the awakening of my memories in my previous life or the fusion of my soul after traveling through time, until the end of the year, Wei Yun seemed to be sleepy. He fell asleep less than half an hour after dinner every night and slept until the next day before he woke up. He had to take a nap for half an hour every day, otherwise he would be dozing off in the afternoon and not energetic.

At first, Xiao Wei was a little worried about whether there was something wrong with Wei Yun's body, so he took him to find Dr. Lin. Nothing was found. He went to the pharmacy in the city to find a white-bearded doctor and looked at it. He said that he was overly exhausted, but now he was not seriously injured. As long as he was at ease, he strengthened his body, and ate meat, fruits and vegetables, he would be cured without medicine after a while.

Therefore, from that time to more than a month during the Chinese New Year, Wei Yun, supported by a good diet, daily exercise, and the benefits he traveled through time, Wei Yun's body has become extremely healthy and no longer the thin appearance of the month ago.

A little muscle gradually grew and his strength was steadily increasing. Now Wei Yun's strength is not much worse than that of a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child.

Wei Yun originally wanted to buy a bow to train his strength, and at the same time, he converted his good skills in shooting that he had learned in the army to the bow and arrow.

Unfortunately, the powerful weapon of bows and crossbows was under certain control in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and Wei Yun now has no way to get it.

Moreover, the production process of a good bow is particularly complicated and time-consuming, so the cost of a bow is naturally extremely high.

With the current financial resources of the Wei family, let alone a bow, it is a bit difficult to bear even an ordinary sword or a steel knife.

Since you can't buy it, you can only make it yourself.

This is what Wei Yun saw online, a simple method of making recurve bows. Of course, the bows made in this method are far inferior to those time-consuming and labor-intensive recurve bows.

There are many bamboos in the south of the Yangtze River, so the raw material for making bows is naturally bamboo.

There are scattered bamboo forests around Daoxiang Village, which is extremely convenient to obtain.

Wei Yun cut the bamboo into four pieces of bamboo slices of different lengths, and asked his brother-in-law Ding Jian to rub out several thin wire ropes with the bark.

The longest bamboo piece is about four feet, which is about one meter and two or three, and is used as a bow body, and then a bamboo piece about three feet is tied to tie the two ends with a soft sound, connecting it to both ends of the bow body, and then rolling the three feet of bamboo piece to make the connection between the two tight.

Then, two pieces of bamboo pieces of two feet and one foot are made in turn, stack them in turn, and tie them with hemp ropes at the ends to make them close to the bow.

Finally, the bow string is on the other side of the three short bamboo pieces, and such a simple recurve bow is completed.

Ding Jian looked at a bamboo pole that was originally used as a clothes drying rod, and slowly turned into a simple long bow in Wei Yun's hand. He stared at the boss with his eyes and face blankly, looking at Wei Yun who was polishing his bow.

"Brother Yun, where did you learn this skill?"

Wei Yun looked up at the top and said casually: "In the book! Brother-in-law, is there anything on my face?"

"No," Ding Jian swallowed and asked, "Can your bow be used? I heard that other people's bows are made of cow horns and cow tendons. If you make a bow so simple, it's probably not enough."

Wei Yun rolled his eyes: "Brother-in-law, am I not that okay? That kind of craftsmanship is either from the army or from the other person's family. Where can I go to go? And with the current conditions at home, where can I get cow tendons and horns?

Anyway, the principles of making bows are similar. Although my method is simple, it may not be useless. I thought I would try it out first. Even if it doesn’t work, it’s okay. Anyway, nothing is wasted.”

Ding Jian thought it was the same, a piece of bamboo and a few hemp ropes didn't have to spend half a copper coin. Besides, my brother-in-law is a scholar and he must know more than himself. He must listen to him.

Ding Jian was very strong, Wei Yun asked Ding Jian to help tie the bow body tightly, and then he started to adjust the angle and position of the bow string by himself.

Looking at Wei Yun, Ding Jian asked again: "Brother Yun, since you already have a bow, what should you do if you have the arrow?"

"Brother-in-law, don't worry, I have my own way!" Wei Yun's eyes rolled, his eyes fell on Ding Jian next to him, and he smiled and said to Ding Jian: "Brother-in-law, if you have time, why not help me cut some bamboo or branches, right?"

Ding Jian naturally had no reason not to agree to these reasonable requests from his brother-in-law.

Wei Yun told him his request again, and Ding Jian went out with a hatchet.

In less than a stick of incense, Ding Jian came back with a large bundle of bamboo and wooden sticks the size of a finger.

"Brother-in-law, didn't I say that more than a dozen pieces are enough? Why did you cut so many?"

Ding Jian showed a honest smile on his dark face: "Anyway, we're out! Why not cut a little more, and you're going to go to school after the New Year! You can use these to make a bookstore for you!"

The dustpans, baskets and other things that farmers make on weekdays are all made by themselves, just a book basket. It is not difficult for Ding Jian.

Looking at this honest and simple brother-in-law, Wei Yun understood why his second sister chose him as her son-in-law.

Unlocked the rattan, took out a few bamboos of the size of a tail finger, and asked Ding Jian to move a brazier out of the house, put a few charcoal on it, and then started making arrows.

I thought it was used temporarily anyway, and the range of this simple recurve bow is not long, so I don’t need any arrow feathers, just choose straight thin bamboo.

Wei Yun first cuts the bamboo stick out of a tip, then puts it on the charcoal fire, and finally grinds the arrows on the stones to smoothly. The arrows made in this way will be tougher and more durable than cut out directly.

Then use a knife to carve a groove at the end to resist the bowstring, so a simple version of the arrow is made.

In the cold winter, there was nothing to do in the fields, so Ding Jian was naturally happy to help his brother-in-law, so he learned Wei Yun's method to select suitable fine bamboo and polish it in the same way.

After handing over the pre-production tasks to Ding Jian, Wei Yun's work became a subtle adjustment of the arrow body. By roasting and bending, the originally slightly tiny arrow body was straightened, so that the accuracy would be greatly improved.

After getting started, Ding Jian's speed became faster and faster. It took less than half a cup of tea to make an arrow.

However, in one stick of incense, more than 30 finished products were added. Wei Yun also specially used a piece of bamboo tube to make a quiver, tied it behind his back with a hemp rope, and grabbed more than a dozen finished arrows.

After greeting his second sister Qingli, Wei Yun took his brother-in-law Ding Jian out with his bow and arrow on his back.

There is about half an acre of flat land on the small hillside in the backyard of Wei's family. It has been reclaimed into a dry land. It usually grows some vegetables and some other things. There are several big trees next to it that are embraced by one person.

The big tree is the target, and Wei Yun held the bow and stood about ten steps away from the big tree, which is about five feet away.

(The weights and measures of the Great Zhou Measures: One foot is about 30 centimeters in later generations, five feet is one step, and ten feet is one zhang.)

Pull the bow and wind the string, then pull it away, aim at it, three points and one line, let go!

Whoosh!

Bang!

With a light sound, the arrow was inserted on the trunk. Although the position was quite different from Wei Yun's aim, it could hit and inserted on the trunk, which means that Wei Yun's bow and arrow were successfully made.

Wei Yun ran over happily and pulled the arrow down. He measured it. He was more than half an inch into the wood, and it was still five meters away, which was enough to kill pheasants and hares.

"Brother-in-law, I succeeded!"

Top touched her head and smiled silly: "Brother Yun is so amazing! You have really made a bow and arrow!"

Next is to test the range of the bow and arrow. Ten steps, fifteen steps, twenty steps, basically no problem, both accuracy and strength are OK.

But after reaching twenty-five steps, problems arise. Not only does the arrow float, the accuracy decreases, but even the force is soft and has no lethality.

Moreover, this kind of force is naturally not a problem to shoot some pheasants and hares, but it is not very effective when encountering some larger prey.

Wei Yun, who knew a little about the simple version of bows and arrows he made, pulled his brother-in-law Ding Jian, who was standing beside him and started practicing arrows.

The two of them practiced on the mountain for more than an hour before they returned home while stepping on the rebate.

In the evening, under Wei Yun's step-by-step guidance, Ding Jian also successfully made a brand new simple composite bow.

The next day, the two of them ran to the mountain to practice arrows. The only regret was that the bowstrings made of the bark were not strong enough. After Wei Yun shot more than 100 arrows, he retreated and broke.

Then Ding Jian came up with a solution, found another kind of bark from the mountains, mixed it with fine linen, and kneaded it into a new thin rope. The bowstrings made of this rope were much stronger than the previous ones.

After shooting four hundred arrows, the bow string did not break, and cracks appeared on the bow body. After all, it was just a simple version. Without any special treatment, it was beyond Wei Yun's expectations to be able to hold on for so long.

In the next few days, Ding Jian started to go up the mountain to chop firewood with a hatchet. The weather was getting colder and colder. It might snow after a while. It would definitely be inconvenient to travel. The family must reserve enough firewood and charcoal.

Wei Yun also followed Ding Jian, carrying his simple recurved bow, carrying an arrow bag containing nearly twenty bamboo arrows, and carrying a bamboo basket full of Ding Jian, and also went up the mountain.

Unfortunately, the place where Ding Jian chopped wood was not far away, and there were no wild animals, so Wei Yun had no chance to take action.

In just five or six days, the woodshed at home was already piled up by the two of them. Wei Yun followed Ding Jian to burn several kilns of charcoal, which was enough for the family to spend the whole winter.

Leave enough charcoal at home to spend the whole winter, and most of the remaining ones were taken to Yangzhou City by Ding Jian.

It’s almost winter now, and the big families in the city are just when they are storing charcoal fire. Ding Jian’s more than 300 kilograms of charcoal, of which the good quality is more than 200 kilograms, and nearly three taels of silver were sold at a price of twelve cents per kilogram.

The remaining 100 kilograms were a little different, and I sold nearly one tael of silver at a price of 80 cents per kilogram.

The reason why Ding Jian can sell so much is that he has good charcoal skills. Not only is the quality of the charcoal produced, but it is also very resistant to burning.

This time, it took nearly twenty days to burn charcoal in total, but it earned a full four taels of silver, which is almost equivalent to a few acres of fertile land in a year.

The end of the year is getting closer and closer. Finally, on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, heavy snow like goose feathers fell from the sky, and the entire Daoxiang Village turned into a beautiful countryside covered with silver.
Chapter completed!