Traveling through Chenghan Xiandi, fortunately I have a simulator

Chapter 140 Transforming the Waterwheel

As one of the Nine Ministers, the Shaofu is also located in Nangong, but because the Shaofu is mainly a place to manage royal money and handicrafts, it has the most contact with the outside world.

At the same time, there are also officials in Shaofu, including salt officials, iron officials, and weaving officials. It can be said that the production of building materials such as furniture, bricks, tiles, wood and stone, construction projects, ships, paintings, and sculptures covers everything.

Zhang Ming had gone to the Shaofu many times before when Dong Zhuo was in power, looking for some interesting things, but since he took power, he never went to the Shaofu again.

Within the imperial palace, only the area where the Shaofu is located is the closest to the people's livelihood, so their office space is also the most remote, and the status of the officials in the Shaofu is not high, and the status and salary of some officials are not as good as the county magistrates in small counties .

The emperor's car soon arrived in front of the Shaofu gate.

Although Zhang Ming often visited the Shaofu in the past, he had never made such a big splash. After all, he came to the Shaofu before to find some interesting things, but this time he came to discuss business matters.

After Zhang Ming and others entered the courtyard, the Shaofu Ling trotted over. Today's His Majesty is no longer the one who was shopping for gadgets and was severely restricted, so the Shaofu Ling naturally did not dare to neglect.

"Your Majesty, I don't know what it means to come here?" The Shaofu Ling said respectfully.

Zhang Ming walked and looked around. There are many gardens in the courtyard where the Shaofu is located. Each garden should be a handicraft office. The officials in these gardens perform their duties and are rushing to make some necessary items for the palace. product.

In the middle of the courtyard of the Shaofu, there were workers walking around constantly. Some of these workers brought purchased items from the outside, and some of them handed over some items to the officials of other halls, in order.

Although these workers are also working in the palace, they are far different from those in other palaces in terms of dress and mental state. Zhang Ming can see that these workers are much more servile when facing foreign officials, and are even beaten by other officials. Officials did not dare to say a single word for guidance.

What's more, these workers' spirits are very poor. Although things are done in an orderly manner, there is no expression on their faces, and they are somewhat numb.

Yes, they are also officials in the palace, but these workers have the lowest status, and any other officials can bully these workers.

Zhang Ming followed the Shaofu Order and soon walked to the backyard hall. This is the meeting hall, where the royal mission is mainly to meet with the Shaofu Order.

"Shao Fu Ling, do you have any workers related to agriculture?" Zhang Ming looked at the workers walking around in the yard, turned his head and asked the Shao Fu Ling.

"Agriculture?" The Shaofu Ling looked at His Majesty suspiciously.

"Your Majesty, the agricultural affairs are in charge of the Da Si Nong." The Shaofu Ling said respectfully.

"What I said just now is a bit misleading. What I mean is, do you have any workers here who are engaged in agricultural production, such as the production of plow tools, such as making rollovers?" Zhang Ming explained.

It was only then that the Shaofu Ling suddenly realized that these things were not needed in the palace, so although some workers were doing these things, it was not their main task.

"Your Majesty, there are indeed some people here who have done these things before, but because they have nothing to do with the affairs of the palace, I asked them to stop." The Shaofu Ling shook his head and said.

Zhang Ming really wanted to curse, this kind of research that is helpful to agricultural productivity was actually stopped by the Shaofu order.

But if you are angry, you can only start over again now. After all, the original intention of the Shaofu Order is also for the palace. Who makes the palace not use these farm tools and waterwheels at all.

"Order of the Shaofu, you go and call all the workers who made farm tools and waterwheels to the hall. I want to communicate with them in person."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After the Shaofu Order finished speaking, he left the conference hall and ordered his subordinates to call all the workers who had studied agricultural tools and waterwheels here.

After a while, Zhang Ming saw two people coming to the conference hall. They tidied up their clothes, wiped their hands, and then greeted them respectfully.

"I ask you two, why did you come up with the idea of ​​making agricultural equipment?" Zhang Ming asked.

The two of them hesitated, neither daring to speak first.Their status is not high, and now they are still facing the emperor, let alone dare to speak without authorization.

"Speak frankly, I forgive your sins." Zhang Ming said with a smile.

"The villain's name is Bi Lan, and his family has hundreds of acres of farmland outside Chang'an City. This year, the villain's father once told the villain that because there was no snow in the whole winter last year, it is very likely that there will be a severe drought this year. So tell the villain to see if there is any way."

"Although the villain is not a farmer, he has some understanding of agriculture, so he agrees with his father's statement. Therefore, the villain wondered if he could make a water wheel to draw water from the river to irrigate the farmland."

"Later, the villain actually researched a waterwheel that can transport water from the low places to the high places for irrigation, but it is a bit rough, but the villain believes that as long as he continues to do it, the villain will definitely be able to do well."

The more Bi Lan talked, the more excited he became. He had this idea when he was farming with his father when he was very young. Later, he came to the palace as a worker and took advantage of his spare time to further improve his ideas. The waterwheel was made.

"Okay, okay, okay." Zhang Ming clapped his hands and said.

"What about you?" Zhang Ming looked at the other big man.

"The villain, named Pu Yuan, was originally an ordinary worker in a blacksmith shop. Because of his superb blacksmithing skills, he entered the palace and became a worker."

"Not long ago, the villain's father hoped that the villain could build some good farm tools for him. The villain thought it would be easy to do, so he started to build it. As a result, when building it, the villain found that the current plow tools were not strong enough, especially It was blunt, so I modified it a little.”

Compared with Bi Lan's excitement, Pu Yuan didn't fluctuate too much, because in his opinion, the craftsmanship of farm tools is really poor, and compared with weapons, they are simply wasteful.

Although there were already a large number of iron farm tools in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the quality of the farm tools was generally not as good as the iron used in weapons. Although these common farm tools could also complete the task of plowing the fields, the labor cost of the people was extremely exaggerated.

"Let's go, I'll go and see what you've made." After finishing speaking, Zhang Ming asked the Shaofu Ling to lead the way.

Although the Shaofu order prevented the two from continuing to study, some of the things that had been completed were still put in place.

The first thing Zhang Ming came to was Pu Yuan's site, which was a blacksmith's shop. He heard from the Shaofu Order that most of the elite weapons used by the guards in the palace were made by Pu Yuan. admiration.

Pu Yuan searched from the corner for a long time, and finally found some agricultural tools that he had laid before, including hoes, shovels, plows, rakes, and sickles, which were rich and varied. Create more patterns of farm tools.

Zhang Ming asked the guard to take the sickle from Pu Yuan, and then asked another guard to bring a sword. The sickle touched the sword, but the sickle was not cut off.

This sword is only suitable for generals in the army, and it can't even cut a sickle. The craftsmanship is outrageous.

"Very good, this is the farm tool I want."

Although Pu Yuan's transformation of farm tools did not change substantially, he changed the materials used for farm tools. From the earliest bronze farm tools to the iron farm tools of the Eastern Han Dynasty, agricultural productivity has increased by more than 01:30 points.

But even so, the iron in the current iron farm tools is just pig iron, which is far from the iron used to make ring swords.

Replacing the materials of agricultural tools is easy to say, but it is more difficult in practice, because in many cases, the quality of the knives used by soldiers is uneven, not to mention the agricultural tools of ordinary farmers, some of which are already very good.

Moreover, many blacksmiths' techniques for making and hammering iron are almost unknown to outsiders. This has also led to the fact that even among the people, the quality of the same iron farm tools can vary several times.

Almost all the knives made by Pu Yuan were supplied to the imperial guards. In addition, Pu Yuan was not able to produce knives for ordinary soldiers.

In order to completely change this phenomenon, unless the cast iron technology is spread or the production is expanded, Pu Yuan and his men may not be able to produce a large number of high-quality iron farm tools for the people of Chang'an City.

The spread of cast iron technology will definitely not work in a short period of time. Although the spread of technology takes time, the current court cannot control the consequences of the spread of technology. If Yuan Shao masters this set of cast iron technology by then, the court may be even more dangerous.

So the best way now is to expand the production of iron farm tools while strictly preventing the spread of cast iron technology.

"Pu Yuan, I'll give you a month to produce a complete set of iron farm tools for every farmer in Chang'an City. How many people do you need?"

There are [-] households in Chang'an City, and it is estimated that there are about [-] farmers, and almost [-] sets of iron farm tools are produced.

"I need 200 people." Pu Yuan said excitedly.

"Decree of the Shaofu, this matter is left to you. You actively cooperate with Pu Yuan's actions. I will see these iron farm tools within a month."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The production of high-quality iron farm tools does not help much in the coming drought, after all, what is most needed in a drought is water.

After seeing Bi Lan's waterwheel, Zhang Ming was a little disappointed. Unlike Pu Yuan, Pu Yuan's was already a complete manufacturing process. As long as there were enough workers, it would not be difficult to produce a large number of high-quality iron farm tools, but Bi Lan's waterwheel is too rough, and the water drawn from a low place is too little each time, which is only a little better than lifting water to irrigate the fields.

"This doesn't work, it's too bad, is there any way to improve it?" Zhang Ming asked.

"The villain is stupid, he can only think of these things." Bi Lan said sadly, he thought that he could also be highly regarded by His Majesty like Pu Yuan.

Zhang Ming looked at Bi Lan's disappointment, and he was also a little unhappy. After all, if he wanted to solve the next drought problem, the water truck was an indispensable thing, but now he was in a predicament.

After thinking for a long time, Zhang Ming felt a little helpless. Although he had some impressions of the waterwheels of the later generations, those impressions did not allow him to really make the waterwheels of the later generations.

"Your Majesty, I have a solution." Cui Ming stepped forward and said.

"Hurry up." Zhang Ming said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, why not ask Bi Lan to take his water truck to the farmland outside the city, and then issue a reward order to the Jingzhao area in the name of the emperor, if Bi Lan can improve Bi Lan's water truck or build a water truck that is stronger than this one alone The person who is here will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold, and can enter the court as an official." Cui Ming said slowly.

When Cui Ming was at the bottom, he understood a truth, that is, money can turn ghosts around.

Zhang Ming has been in this world for too long, and has been staying in the palace, almost forgetting the wisdom of the masses.

It is very difficult for one person to create and improve a waterwheel, but if it is based on the foundation of the predecessors, it will be much easier to transform it.

Whether it is Cai Lun's improvement of papermaking technology or Watt's improvement of steam engine technology, they have created such great achievements by standing on the shoulders of their predecessors. Although Bi Lan's waterwheel is very rough, it may not be impossible for someone to improve it.

Moreover, the waterwheel is closely related to the common people. Since Bi Lan's father could predict that this year might be a drought, presumably other experienced farmers could also predict it. Therefore, it may be the right thing to hand over the improvement of the waterwheel to the masses.

"Bi Lan, starting tomorrow, you will take your water truck to the farmland in the western suburbs outside Chang'an City, and I will send someone to assist you."

"Your task is very simple. No matter who can improve your waterwheel, or create a better waterwheel than yours, you will bring that person to the palace. Once that person is recognized by the court, you can also get A hundred gold."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, I will do my best to complete the task." Bi Lan said happily.

After leaving the Shaofu, Zhang Ming asked Cui Ming to call a 50-man imperial guard to cooperate with Bi Lan's work. At the same time, he also asked the 50-man imperial guard to set off together with a thousand taels of gold. the wisdom of the people.

Of course, on the one hand, the 50 Imperial Guards are to maintain order, and on the other hand, they cooperate to transform the waterwheels. Although Zhang Ming believes in the wisdom of the people, manufacturing and transforming waterwheels is not an easy task. With the cooperation of the Imperial Guards , as long as you have ideas, you can try to make and transform the waterwheel.

Early the next morning, Bi Lan and the 50 Imperial Guards set off from Chang'an City with a water tanker and a thousand taels of gold, and arrived at a farmland in the western suburbs of Chang'an City.

The land in Chang'an City is mainly concentrated in the western suburbs, where the Ju River just passes by, so the land is the most fertile, the water source is also the most abundant, and the terrain is flat, and there are countless farmlands, so it is most reasonable to choose this place as the experiment place.

The behavior of Bi Lan and his party naturally attracted the attention of the surrounding farmers. They watched Bi Lan put the waterwheel on a tributary of the Ju River, and then began to demonstrate the function of the waterwheel.

Fifty imperial guards began to clean up the surrounding area and leveled the nearby land. It is not yet the spring planting season, so the fields are still barren.

This field has the best terrain and is very suitable for displaying the function of the waterwheel. As for the owner of the field, the Imperial Guard said helplessly that this field was temporarily expropriated by the imperial court.

After everything is ready, the next step is to wait for the people with ideas to come.

As for the news of a thousand gold rewards for the renovation of waterwheels, with the help of Zhuo Yun's wine shop, it quickly spread in Chang'an City.

(End of this chapter)