"Owner, where are you going today?" The coachman Zhang Gui opened the car door diligently and asked with a smile on his face.

"Riverside workshop area!" Zhang Qian said in a low voice without thinking. Then he stepped into the carriage, fell into the seat covered with soft cushions, and put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes to sleep.

The door closed gently and the wheels moved slowly. Soon, they drove from Jingyang Viscount Mansion in Jinchengfang to the main street in Chang'an City. The sound of horse hooves hit the bluestone floor, and along with the ringtone, penetrated the carriage with a layer of iron plates, and gradually came into people's ears, staggered. However, Zhang Qian's mood showed no sign of getting better, and he was also depressed, like crops hit by hail.

In the past half a month after returning to Chang'an, he had almost never heard anything that could make people happy. Based on his naked eyes over the past half month and his summary of various gossips, it can be easily concluded that the Dragon Emperor Li Xian suffered from a very serious heart disease and had reached the point of fainting at any time. Li Xian's right leg was also affected by the heart and could not coordinate with other parts of his body.

This disease may require major surgery to be cured in another 21st century in time and space. In the eighth century, the Tang Dynasty was basically an incurable disease. Although the imperial physicians tried all their efforts, Zhang Qian was almost certain that decoction and acupuncture could only delay Li Xian's death, but could not reverse this ending.

As for the Tai Chi used for the elderly for health care, Zhang Qian taught Gao Yanfu without reservation half a month ago, and also recounted the Tai Chi theories that had been heard from before, such as "unity of intention and energy", "comprehensive movement and stillness", etc. As a result, according to Gao Yanfu's feedback, after Emperor Yingtian Shenlong practiced Tai Chi, his spirit became obviously strong and his complexion seemed to improve greatly. However, Zhang Qian still did not want to think carefully whether this was a spiritual effect or a practical effect.

Deep down, he eagerly hoped that Tai Chi would be effective, at least to relieve pain. In this way, it would be a good thing for Li Xian himself, to the civil and military officials of the court and Zhang Qian himself. In the animal world, the old lion who was about to die had the strongest desire to attack, because the more he felt that there was not much time, the more he would magnify the threat from the outside world to himself infinitely. And the world of humans is probably the same.

Unlike Wu Zetian, Li Xian, who felt the danger, did not like to kill people very much. However, he would do as much as possible to drive people whom he thought would threaten him, and even rushed to the ends of the world. In the past half month after Zhang Qian returned to Chang'an, only three regular court sessions were held in the palace. However, there were as many as 17 officials above the sixth rank and above who were driven out of the court and demoted to the local area. Including Bi Gou, who had made contributions to the control of floods in various parts of the capital last year, did not escape this time and was rushed to Yizhou directly.

Those who were exiled on the same day as Bi Gou were also Taichang Shaoqing Zheng Yan and the Minister of Justice Ran Zuyong, who were charged with accepting bribes. However, according to Zhang Qian's private information, the real reason for the former was exiled was that he had a close relationship with Li Xian's concubine son Li Chongfu. The latter was the iron-core direct lineage of Princess Taiping.

The unlucky one was Song Zhiwen, a bachelor of the Direct Academy. The real reason why Zhang Qian, who had heard of a famous literary master in the 21st century, was that he had written poetry and sang harmony with Wu Sansi several years ago!

After a series of storms and storms, Princess Taiping's power shrank greatly. In contrast, Empress Wei's direct descendants, such as Dou Huaizhen, the new husband of Empress Wei's wet nurse, went straight up. This made Zhang Qian meet several new faces on the way every time he went to Changchao. He did not know the other party's name, nor did he share the same language with the other party, which was extremely embarrassing.

He was bored when he went to court. In the secretary's supervision, he could not do anything like He Zhizhang and others to study knowledge. Therefore, in addition to occasionally making appointments with Yang Qingqing, the only thing that could make him relax in the world was to go to the workshop area next to the Wei River to continue to study and improve the muskets.

That workshop is very close to the Military Arts Prison, almost facing Shanglinyuan. So if the court has something to look for him, he can go back to the Military Arts Prison to change his clothes at any time, then take a shortcut to pass through Shanglinyuan, and enter the palace from the north gate. When officials in the Military Arts Prison need to ask for instructions when they encounter problems, they can also come to the Riverside workshop at any time.

In addition, in order to make full use of the power provided by the water truck, the military weapon supervisor also has two workshops, which are opened on the banks of the Wei River. It is only one mile away from the workshop group of Liushen Trading Company. Many craftsmen usually prefer to come to the riverside workshop to verify some of their new ideas, rather than spending time in Shanglinyuan.

"Here, Master!" The carriage stopped steadily in front of a huge building complex. The generals following the carriage opened the car door with all their strength, and in an instant, a strong smell of peat penetrated into Zhang Qian's nose.

That's right, it was another time and space that was blown to the smell of peat. Zhang Qian could easily realize it in the eighth century Tang Dynasty. He raised his hand and rubbed his sore waist. He got up and jumped out of the carriage. Looking up, he saw a row of water trucks and chimneys lined along the river.

The three water trucks and three chimneys on the left are all part of the glass shop, which is exactly the old saying that they have specialties in their profession. Since learning to refine glass using the "crucible soda ash method" at the end of last year, Wang Yuanbao has completed the complete subversion of the Tang Dynasty's glass manufacturing industry in just half a year.

At present, the production of Liushen Glass Square in one day has exceeded the sum of all other glass workshops in the Ginggi region in one month. The glass refining process of Liushen Works has long been simplified to the point where only sand, lime, soda ash and a small amount of other additives can be used to directly produce finished products, and there is no need to burn kilns to produce coarse and fine materials of glass.

The two chimneys and a water truck in the middle belong to the iron smelting workshop. The iron smelting workshop that Wang Maobo was in charge of is now no longer satisfied with the refining of iron from the ground furnace, and has also begun to explore the process of refining pig iron and dry iron for coke. Although the output of pig iron, dry iron and dry iron have not yet reached a scale. However, because the coke lifting furnace and the temperature of hydraulic mechanical blowing technology were used, the quality of the product ranks first in the Tang Dynasty.

Especially for the cooked iron, because of its high purity and good flexibility, it is extremely convenient whether it is used to make iron pipes for water furnaces or roll them into iron sheets. As a result, almost one furnace is produced, and one furnace is bought, which is severely in short supply.

The iron produced by the ground furnace method, that is, the clay crucible method, is not sold to the public at present. Every day, the products are directly sent to the Military Armored Armored Office workshop not far away.

The Armored and Staff Office, which was in charge of Ren Cong, does not produce iron on its own now. It completely purchases spot stock from the iron smelting workshop of Liushen Commercial Bank. Before the purchased iron was completely cooled, it was reheated and returned to the furnace in the Armored and Staff Workshop. When it became soft again, it immediately used a hydraulic grinder to crush it into iron plates, and then cut it by skilled craftsmen to make it into the Yaoxing armor specially named by Li Xian, or an iron vest for cavalry.

Next to the iron smelting workshop, it is a workshop for making mirrors. There is no need for any chimney, but a water truck is also erected, and the workshop covers an extremely wide area.

In the Liushen Workshop area, the last waterwheel and a chimney belong to the R&D workshop. Ren Cong, Guo Nu, Wang Maobo and Wang Yuanbao, and the craftsmen of the Military Equipment Supervision can apply for experiments here no matter who have new ideas. Zhang Qian himself, the place where he usually stays most often, is also here. Whenever he hears the roar of gear biting and machinery collision, his heart becomes extremely quiet.

As a liberal arts student, he should have liked the beautiful Shanglinyuan more. However, for some reason, since the first water truck was set up on the banks of the Wei River, he found that he was fascinated by the roar of machinery. Every time he crossed the door of the R&D workshop, he felt that he had crossed another time and space. And he was no longer as far away from his hometown as more than 1,200 years!

Today's situation is no exception. When he entered the R&D workshop under the protection of his home, his face immediately became shiny and his legs became relaxed and powerful. Every step he took seemed to be on the same beat as the roar of the machine.

The generals were no longer surprised by this. They took off their helmets, took off their iron vests under the robe, and seized the time to recover their physical strength and spirit. The coachman Zhang Gui was very alert to open the way in order to prevent any craftsman from thinking too much and accidentally hitting his own junior supervisor.

As it turned out, his alertness was not redundant at all. Before he could reach the room where Zhang Qian liked to stay in his daily life, Wang Yuanbao was already carrying a big black urn and hurried over from the opposite side.

"Shopkeeper Wang, be careful!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhang Gui quickly stretched out his arm and pulled it. As a result, Wang Yuanbao was staggered by him, but his hands firmly hugged the big urn on his belly. He would rather fall to his head and blood than let the black big urn be damaged at all.

"Be careful!" Zhang Qianshou's eyes quickly and rushed over with a quick step, holding Wang Yuanbao's body with both hands. The latter was still a little unconscious, staring at his scarlet eyes and shouting: "It's done, it's done. I knew that this would be done. Shaoguan, I'm done, this time it's done!"

"What did it become?" Zhang Qian was confused by Wang Yuanbao's weird behavior. He stretched out his finger and bounced the big urn and asked casually.

"Ding!" Although the big urn was fired manually, it made a metal sound. Immediately afterwards, Wang Yuanbao held the big urn in both hands and twisted his body quickly, as if protecting a priceless treasure, "Don't play, don't play, you are too strong, the crucible has just gotten cold!"

"Crucible?" Zhang Qian frowned, and his eyes instantly turned into two lightning bolts.

"Crucible, the task assigned to me last time was added to burn the crucible with ink stone powder." Wang Yuanbao was afraid that Zhang Qian would continue to bomb, so he responded loudly while dodging, "It was said by the Shaojian, not called the alchemy tripod, but instead called the crucible. He also said that adding ink stone powder would make it more burned. I made no less than 300, and this time it was finally done. You can put it directly on the fire and melt the iron powder inside. Pour out the iron and let the wind cool down, and you can continue to use it. There is not even a crack on it on it!"

"It really happened?" Zhang Qian's eyes widened, and he held the black urn with both hands and looked up and down.

It was indeed just used, and the urn was a bit hot, and Wang Yuanbao had carried it all the way to the present! Inside the urn, some iron beads formed after cooling can be seen vaguely. Obviously, when the iron is poured, it was not poured clean. From the mouth of the urn to the bottom of the urn, there was no trace of cracking or deformation, which means that the object expanded evenly by heat and heat resistance far exceeds the Dragon and Tiger Ding Cauldron used before. If it is used to refine iron and glass in the future, it will not only increase the efficiency, but also significantly reduce the cost!

"Wang Yuanbao, what kind of demon are you doing in the morning?!" Guo Nu happened to come over to meet Zhang Qian. Seeing Wang Yuanbao holding the big mouth and unable to put it down, he couldn't help but whisper.

"You can't give them, I'm a young supervisor, what you said at the time. I asked my glass workshop to try to make a stone crucible. After it was made, let Guo Shuzheng, Ren Shuzheng and Wang Zhuzhul order from me!" The person Wang Yuanbao was most afraid of was Guo Nu. However, today he suddenly became bolder and held the graphite crucible and emphasized repeatedly.

"What, this big jar is made of ink stone. Did you really make it?" Guo Nu didn't bother to hit him again, and rushed forward with a quick step, holding the bottom of the jar with both hands.

"It's OK, but you can't take it away. If you want to use it in the future, you have to spend money to buy it. Brothers, settle the score clearly!" Wang Yuanbao's courage skyrocketed and continued to emphasize loudly.

"Brothers settle accounts clearly! Brothers settle accounts clearly!" Guo Nu agreed without hesitation.

Soon, Ren Cong and Wang Maobo also came from the nearby workshop. Everyone surrounded the black urn and were amazed.

Everyone knows the heat resistance of ink stone. However, everyone has no idea how to mix clay and ink stone powder and burn it into a useful alchemy (crucible). These two completely different materials, after mixing with water, either have too poor viscosity to knead, or they crack and deform during firing, and there is almost no possibility of being successfully released.

"When burning the kiln, you must control the heat. First use firewood, dry, and then simmer under low heat. Finally, increase the heat and use coke." Wang Yuanbao, who gradually calmed down from the excitement, began to introduce his experience proudly, "In addition, it is the recipe. In addition to clay and ink stone, I also added..."

"Okay, you write it out for me after you go back, including the recipe and process. But don't tell anyone anymore." Zhang Qian patted him lightly and interrupted with a smile. "In the future, other workshops will use graphite crucibles, and buy them from your glass workshop. For every time you sell one and deduct the principal, you will withdraw half a share to make a patent."

"Hey, hey!" Wang Yuanbao was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly. When he heard that he had a half-finished patent, he quickly shook his head desperately, "Self-prison, don't dare, I really don't dare. The formula was originally proposed by you, I, I'm all about hard work. I've got enough..."

"I just mentioned the general direction, the specific formula, you found it!" Zhang Qian smiled and interrupted again, "If you want to take it, just take it. Don't be polite to me, have you heard of Zilu taking a cow?"

Although Wang Yuanbao was a businessman, he was well-informed and remembered. He immediately understood that Zhang Qian wanted the inventor to enjoy the patent as a prescribed example. He grinned and nodded vigorously, "Then, then I won't be polite to the young prisoner. I, I have many children in my family, and I have to save money for them to marry a wife."

"Okay, don't behave like taking advantage of it!" Guo Nu smiled and raised his hand, slapped Wang Yuanbao hard. However, Wang Yuanbao was so scared that he loosened his hand, and the graphite crucible lost control and fell directly to the ground.

"Ding, Dangdangdang--" Accompanied by a series of crisp sounds, the graphite crucible jumped and trembled on the ground. Immediately, Guo Nu and Wang Yuanbao regretted it, and cold sweat suddenly appeared on their foreheads.

Fortunately, Wang Maobo, who was quick-witted and quick-witted, picked up the crucible again, and there were still no cracks on the surface of the crucible. He immediately made Wang Yuanbao feel happy, wiped his cold sweat, and whispered: "Mom, I'm scared to death. Fortunately, I didn't break it, otherwise, I didn't know when I could burn a second one!"

"Ah--" Everyone was stunned, and then they realized that Wang Yuanbao's success was completely a blind cat who encountered a dead mouse. They couldn't help but shake their heads and smile.

Anyone who has thought about new products knows that as long as you remember the formula and manufacturing process, if the first time you happen to be successful, there will be a second time. And so on, there will be a third, fourth, and even countless times. Therefore, everyone is not worried at all. Wang Yuanbao cannot create a second graphite crucible, and is willing to give him enough time and support within his ability.

The invisible black cloud hovering above Zhang Qian's head for several days also quickly dissipated with everyone's laughter.

He knew that he was not able to save Li Xian's life, nor could he have the ability to stop Li Xian from making plans under the threat of death.

He knew that Li Xian was not a saint. No matter who, like Li Xian, had experienced the frame-up of his biological mother and the betrayal of his biological son, and had tasted the feeling of being a puppet and the panic of being deposed at any time. I believe that I would not easily trust anyone, except Empress Wei, who had lived and died with him!

He knew that he was not the son of destiny, and could not shake his body, so that the heroes of the world would accept their heads and worship him. He knew that he was not the prime minister, and could not write an article casually, so he let the Tang Dynasty treat it as a national policy.

However, he had already seen that because of his appearance, the Tang Dynasty was changing bit by bit. The fate of these people around him would be very different from that of them in another time and space history!

Human resources are sometimes poor. It has already satisfied Zhang Qian. As for the Tang Dynasty, the waterwheel has been paved along the south bank of the Wei River. Will the Tang Dynasty still be the original Tang Dynasty?

"Senior Brother, I'm here to find you today, and I have some good news to tell you!" Seeing that Zhang Qian was in a good mood, Guo Nu hurried forward and smiled and offered treasures.

"What good news? Have you bought a big house?" Zhang Qian glanced at Guo Nu and joked with a smile.

The compensation for the Baima Sect has been in place. According to his initial vision, the three brothers and brothers divided half of the compensation. Each of them made a fortune. Therefore, the cash on hand was more than enough to buy a house in Chang'an City slightly away from the Daming Palace.

"No, there are several houses in my house that are empty and there is no shortage of residence. And the Jinchengfang where you live, no one has taken action recently!" Guo smiled angrily, and his head shook like a rattle. "Senior brother's farm has collected many roses recently. I have extracted the first batch of rose essential oils according to the method taught by my senior brother. It turns out that it is so fragrant. If you don't believe me, please smell it."

As he spoke, he trembled his sleeves hard in the air. In an instant, a smell of salted fish mixed with the fragrance of roses penetrated into everyone's nostrils. Everyone was immediately so fumigated that they held their breath and turned around. Only Zhang Qian, who had been with him for a long time, had adapted to this "chemical attack". He rubbed his nose with his hands, nodded with a smile, "It was refined? What's the yield?"

"Very low!" The excitement on Guo Nu's face disappeared immediately. He drooped his head and reported in a low voice, "More than two thousand kilograms of roses, only a few coins of essential oil were extracted. It was not much more than chrysanthemum essential oil. I have ordered people to collect the second batch of flowers. If you have time one day, you might as well go and see it yourself. I suspect there will be some improvements in the process."

"Okay, then I'll finish the work today and go to the village to rest. It's my turn next year!" Since moving to the house given by Li Xian, Zhang Qian's time to go to the Liushen Hualu workshop outside the city has become less and less. Today, when Guo Nu mentioned rose essential oil, he immediately felt itchy, so he nodded happily.

Liushen Hualu was the initial link between him and Guo Nu and Ren Cong. It was also the biggest source of wealth for Liushen Commercial Bank so far. Although with the launch of the mirror, the money-making workshop has attracted vaguely. However, the popularity of mercury mirrors is still not as popular as Liushen Hualu. Moreover, the patterns of mirrors only depend on their size and shape, while the flower luster can be subdivided into different colors, fragrances and packaging series.

As soon as people get busy, time passes quickly. It seems that they have just taken several workshops by the river to take turns. The sun has already set west. Seeing that it is rare for people to be together today, Zhang Qian simply called Wang Yuanbao and Wang Maobo, and went straight to Zhuangzi in Weinan County with Guo Nu and Ren Cong.

From Weiyang Palace to Weinan County, there is no need to enter Chang'an City. Therefore, the road is extremely smooth. In just about a quarter of an hour, everyone's carriages and horses got off the official road. Then, the surrounding scenery immediately changed.

Hundreds of acres of early-ripening sorghum, like a torch raised high, stand under the sunset. As the breeze passes, the sorghum nods gently, and the red "flame" immediately flows like water waves.

A clear stream flows against the world of flames, and the river reflects the intoxicating redness. The carriage passes through the small bridge and slowly drives into the path between the sorghum fields, as if it is directly above the sunset.

"Senior Brother, Senior Brother, you said that sorghum can be used to make wine, right?" Ren Cong's words sounded out of the car window with a very disgusting smell of expectation.

"Yes!" Zhang Qian leaned out of the car window without hesitation and nodded slightly at him. "You go back and invite a few masters who make rice wine. We will collect sorghum in a few days, and try to make wine immediately! The second half of the process should be similar to our previous refining alcohol. In the first half, let's explore together!"

"It's so bad!" During the day, he watched Wang Yuanbao and Guo Nu take turns to perform their merits, but he couldn't take out anything. Ren Cong felt regretful. At this moment, he heard that the senior brother was going to take him to think about making sorghum wine together, and immediately smiled.
Chapter completed!