"One, one, two, one, one..." Wang Maobo shouted a trumpet and directed more than thirty craftsmen and apprentices to slowly place the huge waterwheel parts with ropes and pulleys on the base built by the stones by the river.

The one-story high paddles contact the water surface. The shaft of the paddle began to rotate slowly, but was limited by the stopping and snail, causing a series of unwilling "creaks".

Wang Maobo was not moved by the noise at all. He continued to direct the craftsmen and apprentices to install the transmission gears, transmission rods, reduction gears, worms, dual-wheel vertical stone mills and other components into place one by one. Then he clamped, oiled and corrected one by one. Then, he checked it three times repeatedly. After confirming that all the components were equipped with the operating conditions, he ran to a wooden pavilion by the river.

"Let's go!" In the pavilion, Zhang Qian smiled and waved, "Don't come over and ask me. At worst, I can start again if I remove it, I can go back to the furnace anyway!"

"Yes!" Wang Maozhong, who had just run halfway through, held his footsteps and clasped his fists gratefully. Then, he turned around quickly, ran towards the water truck, pushed the lever with his own hands, and pulled up the stops and tenons one by one.

"Cruffy kara..." There were wooden paddles one floor high, and were connected by the clear river water and pushed out of the water surface, and then resembled water from the other side.

The oar shaft wrapped in a layer of bronze on the surface is driven to rotate slowly by the blades. The gear at the tail end is tangent to the transmission wheel, driving a transmission rod that is two feet long. The invisible energy is quickly transmitted to the top of the transmission rod and transmitted to the tail, and then transmitted downward from the gear at the tail. After a complete set of mature and feasible mechanical systems on the windmill, it slows down and changes direction, and finally steadily reaches the top of the double-wheel stone mill.

The gears at the top of the stone mill made a loud "boom" sound, and then began to rotate slowly. Two wheel-shaped stone mills walked opposite each other on the millstone. In an instant, "Room, Rumble, Rumble..." The thunderous sound made everyone present excited.

"Give it, give it, give it, please give it!" Wang Yuanbao personally held a piece of frozen glass paste with an iron plate, and trotted through the crowd, stuffing the frozen plate and the iron plate together under the stone mill.

The glass, which was still in a semi-melt state, was quickly crushed into a flat plate by a stone mill. Then, it was quickly pulled out by him and the iron plate. An apprentice brought a basin of river water and quickly splashed it onto the surface of the iron plate. "Swish..." The white mist filled, quickly covering everyone's eyes.

A gust of spring breeze blew slowly, and the white mist dissipated. Wang Yuanbao ignored the hotness and carefully separated the glass from the iron plate with his hands. One piece of two feet square, with very irregular shapes, and the surface was covered with stone-milled patterns, and it instantly appeared in front of everyone.

The color is a little green and the thickness is not too uniform. You can see obvious bubbles at some locations. However, if you don’t use it as a mirror, but if you cut it, you can use it to inlaid the glazed windows after it is cut.

More importantly, during the whole process, only two people need to operate. One is responsible for stuffing the softened glass and iron plates into the stone mill, and the other is responsible for pouring cold water! Several processes such as mold making, wax melting, and casting are directly omitted. The thickness of the pressed glass is also far lower than that of the cast products.

If the grinding plate and grinding stone surface can be wrapped with a layer of iron sheet and polished smoothly, the pressed glass plate may be more uniform and flat, and even without any obvious patterns on the surface!

The huge front (money) scene quickly made Wang Yuanbao's eyes shine. He threw the glass plate worth hundreds of Tongbao into the hands of the craftsmen who were surrounding him. He rushed towards Wang Maobo without hesitation, smiling: "Zhengzhu, Wangzhu. What is the total cost of this set of water wheels and stone mills? Double the price, I will buy three, no, buy five sets!"

Regardless of whether Wang Maobo agreed or not, he pointed his hand at the construction of the Liuli workshop not far away and continued to discuss with a smile, "Finish it first, don't wait for the house to be repaired. I can start construction even if it is exposed. Although we are two workshops, we are actually a family. If you promise to help me do it now, I will pay you half the deposit in advance!"

"This, I have to ask the Shaoguan. The material cost is only a few dozen yuan." Wang Maobo, who looked honest and even a little dull, was not fooled by him at all. After thinking about it, he explained carefully in words and language that he was not familiar with, "But the Shaoguan ruled that as long as everything made by the military weapon supervision was not in the past, the user must pay a patent money."

"This..." Wang Yuanbao glanced at the pavilion and immediately wilted like a crop hit by frost.

He felt at ease to take advantage of Wang Maobo and even felt that it was a kind of fun. Anyway, the major shareholders behind each other were Liushen Business Company, and Liulifang and Iron-Sewing House were equivalent to brothers. Since they were all brothers, why should they settle the accounts too carefully between each other?

He dared not take advantage of Zhang Qian and gave Wang Yuanbao a hundred courage.

It’s not that he is afraid of Zhang Qian using power to suppress him, but that he is afraid of stealing chickens and losing rice. After all, so far, Wang Yuanbao has not seen anyone, and he can really take advantage of Zhang Qian. On the contrary, those who treat each other honestly and sincerely have gained a lot.

"Don't just look at the water truck that is easy to use. For this water truck, the craftsmen of the Shaoguan and the Military Arts Bureau have been working hard for more than a month. Just by drawings, hundreds of pictures were drawn. What's more, the various materials that were discarded by the failed experiment?" Seeing Wang Yuanbao's unwilling look, Wang Maobo, who had just been promoted to the chief clerk of the Hundred and Works Department of the Military Arts Bureau, couldn't help but whisper.

"Aren't I thinking, I'll get the moon first?" The weather in March was already very hot. Wang Yuanbao explained embarrassedly, with sweat on his forehead. "After all, we are..."

"You can't say that, it's better not to even think about it!" Wang Mao Bo glared at him, and his face suddenly became solemn. "I don't know how many pairs of eyes are staring at the young prison every day. He doesn't make any mistakes, and people want to pick the bones in the eggs. What's more, let you get the moon first when you get close to the water tower? If you want to use a water truck, no problem. According to the rules, go to the military weapon supervisor to pay the money and order the goods. I will arrange for people to help you get it out as soon as possible. But how much money is sold to others, you don't even think about a penny. Maybe in the end, you don't need to double the capital. Why do you have to take this shortcut?!"

"That's it, that's it!" Wang Yuanbao nodded frequently. Deep in his heart, he disagreed with Wang Maobo's speculation.

Windmills are indeed cheaper and cheaper now, but at that time, because of the huge amount of windmills, they have been quickly promoted from Jingzhao Prefecture to Longyou, Hebei and Shandong. Waterwheels are born to be used for various workshops, and in a short time, the number cannot be huge. Moreover, the output of waterwheels is more than ten times that of windmills. The stability is even more than hundreds of streets away from windmills!

"What are you two saying? It's so lively?" Zhang Qian's voice suddenly came from nearby, making Wang Yuanbao "shock" and quickly put away the little ones in his heart.

"Shopkeeper Wang wants to buy a few water trucks and place them in his glass workshop. When I ask me the price, I can't say it!" Wang Mao Bo was very kind and took the initiative to cover up Wang Yuanbao.

Wang Yuanbao also quickly put on a smile and explained quickly, "I, I'm not pushing the stone mill when I see the water truck pushing the stone mill. Is it very convenient to press the glass? I just wanted to customize a few racks before the glass workshop was built, so as not to re-adjust the place after the workshop was built!"

"That's easy, Wang Mao Bo, just help him customize it." When developing the water truck, Zhang Qian had already thought of a profit distribution plan, smiled, and responded immediately, "I will hand over this water truck to the Iron Smelting Floor. It is the first product of the Iron Smelting Floor except iron pipes. As for the patent fee, the Iron Smelting Floor will pay it to the Military Equipment Supervisor and pay it in one lump sum. In this way, no matter how many water trucks the Iron Smelting Floor will build in the future, it has nothing to do with the Military Equipment Supervisor. In addition to distributing the patent fee to the inventors and participants in proportion, the remaining part can continue to develop other tools that benefit the country and the people."

"For this, thank you for your support!" Wang Yuanbao was overjoyed and immediately bowed to Zhang Qian with a smile.

"Thank you, Shaojian! I will do my best to avoid falling into the sign of Liushen Iron Smelting Floor!" Unexpectedly, the problem that had troubled me for a long time was solved by Zhang Qian so easily, and Wang Mao Bo bowed with admiration.

"Don't press the glass naked. How well the iron melts, try the iron!" From the busy middle of the first lunar month to mid-March, Zhang Qian didn't just press the glass plate to watch the water truck. After solving the problem of interest distribution in a few words, he immediately put forward new requirements to Wang Maobo.

"I'll get it right away, and Ren Shucheng will watch from the ground furnace." Wang Maobo replied loudly, turned around and headed straight for the earth slope not far away.

"I'll go too, I'll go too!" Wang Yuanbao followed Wang Mao Bo happily, his voice trembling with excitement.

Thirty steps away, on a slightly higher soil slope, Ren Cong was commanding several apprentices to use a wind gourd to blow a half-person-high ground furnace. Under the ground furnace, the burning coke was blown by the wind and red stars rolled, sending heat waves to the top of the furnace. The top of the furnace was completely sealed according to the methods of Persian craftsmen. The clay pots and birches near the coke and the alchemy cauldron wrapped in clay have been burned to a dark yellow color, and there may be a risk of explosion at any time.

This was the iron smelting method that Ren Cong bought from a big fugitive slave last month for a high price of twenty yuan. For this reason, he also bought a Tang Dynasty household registration for the fugitive slave. At that time, Guo Nu laughed at him as kind-hearted and suitable for becoming a monk. However, after Zhang Qian looked at it, he thought the deal was very worthwhile.

As a child from the blacksmith family, Wang Maobo has not seen how much the deal is worth so far? Compared with the iron smelting furnaces that can be seen everywhere in the Tang Dynasty, the smelting efficiency of the ground furnace is more than a hundred times worse. The common vertical iron smelting furnaces in the Tang Dynasty are counted as tens of kilograms each time. However, the ground furnace can only produce dozens of kilograms at a time. Moreover, the ground furnace has extremely high requirements for iron ore. Iron ore with slightly worse quality must be smelted multiple times. It is better to just use scrap iron to make it back!

The only advantage is that the floor furnace is convenient. Dig a hole, pile some yellow mud, and wrap it in it with the most heat-resistant dragon and tiger elixir cauldron, and you can start refining. Even during the marching and war, it will not delay the start of construction anytime and anywhere.

Just as he was thinking about it, he heard Wang Yuanbao shouting loudly: "Shi Cheng Ren, Young Master, ask you, how is the iron smelting? Are the water wheels and stone mills waiting over there?"

"That's good, that's good!" Ren Cong agreed repeatedly, and then ordered people to stop the wind. Then, he picked up a sledgehammer from the ground and smashed it hard in the middle of the ground furnace.

"Bang!" The ground furnace and the Dragon and Tiger Dan Cauldron inside shattered at the same time. The iron carried the slag and rolled out from the Dan Cauldron like a waterfall. During the process of flowing downward, it was automatically divided into two layers. (Note: The ground furnace iron smelting, the complete video can be seen on the Internet, so I won't go into details.)

"Don't move, I'll do it!" Ren Cong's voice changed in excitement. He used a huge long-handled iron pliers to stir hard in the "waterfall" with red smoke. Soon, a large ball of solidified iron was stirred up and threw it into the iron chicken bus beside him. Then, he pushed the cart and ran towards the stone mill.

"The rest belongs to you!" While running, he explained to the craftsmen, fearing that the other party would delay time and waste iron level.

Without his explanation, the craftsmen of the Armored Staff Department had already picked up long-handled iron pliers and shovels, separated the remaining iron from the ashes, and put them into another iron chicken bus. Then, everyone pushed the car and followed Ren Cong closely.

Wang Maobo and Wang Yuanbao did not dare to neglect, so they followed him down the earth slope. In a blink of an eye, they returned to the stone mill. They just saw Ren Cong stuffed a large ball of semi-melted iron into the rolling millstone.

With the previous situation of crushing the semi-melt glass, the heavy grinding stone pressed over the iron mass without any obstacles under the water wheel. In the blink of an eye, the iron mass turned it into an iron plate. However, Ren Cong was not satisfied. He quickly adjusted the iron plate with iron pliers and repeatedly crushed by the stone mill. Soon, the thickness of the iron plate was crushed by half.

"Take it off and stuff the remaining iron into it. See if you can finish it in one go!" Zhang Qian's voice sounded behind everyone's back, and there was also an unconcealable excitement.

"Yes! Senior Brother!" Ren Cong quickly used long-handled iron pliers to remove the iron plate that was less than half thin at the moment the stone mill was crushed. The craftsmen who just arrived at the cart worked together to clamp the remaining fifty or sixty kilograms of iron onto the millstone.

"Boom, rumbling, rumbling!" The stone mill rolled over the iron material with a huge "roar" and circled, and then circled. No one around him spoke anymore, watching the color of the iron material gradually turned from orange to dark red, turning black, and gradually shining silver light from black.

After crushing for more than thirty rounds, the iron material finally cooled down completely. Under the command of Ren Cong, the craftsmen worked together again to remove the finished product from the millstone. A piece of iron plate with a huge surface area, a large semicircular shape and a thickness of about half a minute quickly stood in front of everyone. (Note: half a minute, the unit under the ancient inch was a quarter. One minute was about two millimeters.)

Compared with the iron plates knocked out by blacksmiths before, although the thickness is not necessarily much thinner, the overall thickness is more uniform. The efficiency is dozens of times that of hand tapping. For the military weapon and armor supervision agency that needs to make a large number of Mingguang armor every year, the benefits of this production method are self-evident. For the iron furnace workshops of Ren and Guo, the benefits of this production method are even more clearly visible.

"If you use a floor furnace to melt iron, crushing 100 kilograms of iron at a time should not be a big problem." After carefully observing the quality of the iron plate and the operation of the stone mill, Zhang Qian summarized with a smile. Then, he began to assign new tasks to Ren Cong, "Next time, you can put less iron and try how thin it can be. To make a furnace chimney, it is probably enough to be one-quarter of the thickness of the current one. Too thick will be a waste."

"Yes! Senior Brother!" Ren Cong put down the iron plate that was pressed out of the first round, clasped his fists with both hands, and answered without hesitation.

"You ask someone to find out if this dragon and tiger elixir can be added to the clay when firing. I don't know how much it is, between 20% and 40%. Or we can start the kiln and burn a few elixirs to try whether it can be successful." Zhang Qian squatted down, and frowned while hitting the iron plate with an iron hammer. In his voice, he was faintly disappointed.

"I'll come, I'll burn it. Anyway, burning glass is a must-have to use a elixir. You can't buy it outside every day!" Wang Yuanbao was afraid that he would not have the chance to show up, so he took a lot of money beside him.

"Then let the elixir shop burn the alchemy cauldron. The iron smelting workshop and military weapon supervisor need the alchemy cauldron, so they will all be purchased from the Liuli shop!" Zhang Qian did not look up, and his eyes were still staring at the iron plate, as if roses were about to bloom on the iron plate.

"Senior Brother, is there something wrong?" Ren Cong finally found that his senior brother was in a bad mood, and squatted down and asked carefully.

"No problem, or it's not your problem. I probably didn't understand what happened!" Zhang Qian smiled and nodded slightly.

According to the information you can find, the iron-making method that Ren Cong accidentally spent money to buy from the Dashi Escape slave should be a branch of ancient Indian steelmaking. It is also the method of making Damascus steel that often appears in another time and space literary works. However, I don’t know if it was because Ren Cong bought the incomplete technology or the Dashi Escape slave who sold the technology intentionally hidden his own private life. Several furnaces were continuously produced here, and the ones made can only be considered cooked iron. (Note: Damascus steel is actually a crucible steel produced in ancient India!”)

Although the quality of crucible iron is also very good, it is more than a hundred times less valuable than the legendary Damascus steel. The former makes the furnace chimney produced and sold by the Guo family and the Ren family lighter and thinner. The latter can increase the quality of the weapons of the entire Tang Dynasty by one to several levels!

However, Zhang Qian must not have time to figure out what the problem is. Before Ren Cong could continue to ask questions, Zhang Jiuling's complaints sounded after the crowd: "Use Zhao, use Zhao, you really have yours. The huge secretary and supervisor can't even let you go. I'm going to run to the Wei River to look for it!"

"Brother Zishou, are you asking me for trouble?" Zhang Qian frowned in surprise, put down the hammer, and slowly got up. The dusty face was washed black and white by sweat, which was so funny.

"Nonsense, do you think everyone is like you, and you can escape if you say you don't go to court?" Zhang Jiuling looked at it with a funny and admiration. He stepped forward and grabbed Zhang Qian's sleeve, and walked out of the crowd without saying anything. "It's not that you talk too much for your brother, you are a secretary and a few supervisors. You can't even show your face. You squat and make irons with others all day long! Those who know you know you want to show your strengths and create more magical weapons for the Tang Dynasty. Those who don't know you, they think you want to learn from Ji Kang!"

After he finished speaking, he suddenly realized that Ji Kang's name was unlucky. He quickly smiled and changed his words decisively, "Others are in the big city, so you can just go to the big city."

"I have handed over the affairs of the Secretary-General to He Zhuzhu!" Zhang Qian's face turned red when he was said, and he quickly explained awkwardly. "The printing problem has been solved long ago. Compiling dictionaries is a waste of time. I am far inferior to He Zhuzhu and their experts. Besides, Bo Gao, Ji Ling and Ziyu are helping He Zhuzhu."

This is a big truth. Original movable type printing does not have much technical content at all. After using copper movable type at all costs and solving the problem of adhesion of ink by adding rosin, the rest is just whether you are proficient in the operation!

The role Zhang Qian can play in the pure academic work such as compilation of dictionaries is not the same as that of He Zhizhang, Zhang Xu, Wang Han, Wang Zhihuan and other cultural mags. Therefore, after recommending the pinyin method to everyone, he will immediately let go, which is the wisest choice. If you barely participate, you will easily reveal your shortcomings.

Obviously, Zhang Jiuling also knew that letting Zhang Qian squat in the secretary-in-chief who had nothing to do in his old age was a waste of his life. Therefore, after a few random complaints, he quickly turned the topic back to the point: "When I meet the emperor later, you must not say that. You can report to the emperor that you have a lot of military weapons and supervision recently, so there is no time for the secretary-in-chief to clone him. However, it cannot be said that the secretary-in-chief has not much, not much, nor is it that the secretary-in-chief has. Otherwise, more than one person will cause trouble for you."

"The Lord summoned me?" Zhang Qian realized that Zhang Jiuling was coming to find him, not to watch the fun. He was stunned and blurted out his questions, "What's the matter? Are you not all the third ranks of the Zhongshu, Pushe, and the three ranks of the Pingzhang sect here?"

"The ruler has its own strengths!" Zhang Jiuling looked at him and curled his lips helplessly, "Fortunately, it's not far from the Military Arts Prison here. Hurry up and wash your face, go to the Military Arts Prison to change your court uniform, and take a shortcut with me to the Daming Palace. Today, you didn't participate in the Changchao. Zong Chuke and the Secretary-General Wei Juyuan started arguing. So, the emperor specially sent me to inform you to participate in the pursuit of the court!"

"They started arguing, what does it have to do with me?" Zhang Qian became more confused as he heard it, and his brows became tighter and tighter.

"Why is it not your business? You secretary and young supervisor, alas-!" Knowing that Zhang Qian likes to slip away when he comes to court, he doesn't pay attention to the movements in the court at all, Zhang Jiuling sighs helplessly. Then, he must explain it seriously to him, "Although the secretary Wei Juyuan is old and confused, he is your immediate boss at least. He was unable to come to Taiwan in public by Zong Chuke. As a secretary and young supervisor, how could you ignore it?"

"Oh? Isn't he a good relationship with Zong Chuke?" Zhang Qian still seemed to understand, frowned and digged into the bottom of it, "Why did Zong Chuke hold him today?"

"It's not because the "Linde Li" is becoming increasingly inaccurate!" Zhang Jiuling sighed again, and to be honest, "The solar eclipse appeared last year, not on the first day of the first day. This year is even more cruel. On the day of the Lantern Festival, the moon was missing a little half. It was only at the 18th and 9th day of the first lunar month that the moon was barely full. It is obvious that something went wrong with the "Linde Li". Huntian Supervisor belongs to the Secretary-General, so it should make timely revisions to the "Linde Li". From the first lunar month to mid-March, for two months, Huntian Supervisor Kashyapa Zhizhong, could not even come up with a general plan. Wei Juyuan is still thick-faced today. According to the "Linde Li", he will report that there will be a lunar eclipse next month for the fifteenth day of the next lunar month."

"It seems that Zong Chuke is not blamed for this matter!" Although Zhang Qian had a very bad impression of this person when he saw Zong Chuke for the first time last year. However, he really couldn't speak for his immediate boss on the issue of "Linde Li".

The reason is nothing else. After more than 60 years of use of "Linde Li", the shortcomings have been exposed very clearly. The predictions about solar and lunar eclipses are basically not accurate. The moon's losses and profits corresponding to the lunar calendar are becoming less and less suitable. (Note: When Li Chunfeng formulated the Linde Li, he denied the existence of the precession. As a result, the longer the Linde Li is used, the greater the accumulated error)

"Of course I know it's not that Zong Chuke is blamed, but who will solve this problem!" Zhang Jiuling was soft-hearted after all, and did not want Zhang Qian to be confused and was confused about the political vortex, and took the initiative to explain to him, "Calendar change involves not only the accuracy of the calendar. Many things related to fate, luck, celestial phenomena, etc., especially those related to the royal family, must be corrected one by one. Wei Juyuan may not be really confused, but feels that he is old and will not take on this stall if he doesn't take on this stall. And Kashyapa Zhizhong is not capable of taking on it."

"Oh!" Zhang Qian finally understood the meaning of the Emperor Yingtian Shenlong Li Xian summoning him. The secretary and supervisor above were confused, and the imperial supervisor was not able to use it. His young supervisor was impartial and just brought him to respond to the emergency.

Just as he was laughing and crying, he found that Zhang Jiuling's face suddenly became extremely solemn. Then, he heard the other party lower his voice and solemnly remind him with the amplitude of mosquito humming, "I always feel that Zong Chuke is holding on to the problem of "Linde Li" at this critical moment, which may not be a public intention. Therefore, you must do it today! Some things that are not done may not be wrong. If you do it, you may not be successful."

Huh, the wind blows through the river, bringing a sense of refreshing coolness.

Zhang Qian immediately knew it clearly and nodded slightly in the wind at Zhang Jiuling.

…………

"Hu——" The late spring breeze blew through a courtyard in Guangzhaifang, and the flowers of the locust tree were like paper scraps, swelling.

"Senior brother, the people are ready, this time, we must be foolproof!" The monk Huiming quickly walked through the locust tree flowers, his figure as if it was a ghost.

"Eliminate the demons!" The monk Huifan clasped his hands together and ordered in a deep voice. The wrinkles on his face were intertwined like scars.

"Yes!" Huiming bowed and agreed, turned around and left, leaving behind a lush vegetable bed.
Chapter completed!