Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

He Basheng was ill and unable to move, and the preparation and commissioning of the papermaking and printing industries were imminent, so Li Tai had no choice but to return first with his entourage and craftsmen.

When they crossed the Wei River and Luoshui River and returned to Huazhou, they clearly noticed that the atmosphere in the countryside was different. On the east bank of Xiaqu, Luoshui River in southwest Huazhou, many tent camps appeared, and many garrison troops were added.

Li Tai didn't think deeply about this. It was already the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, and he just thought it was the time when the local soldiers in the state gathered to prepare for the grand parade to be held in October.

After going out for a walk, more than half a month passed. When Li Tai returned to Shangyuan, the autumn harvest had already begun in the farmland.

Seeing the villagers busy harvesting millets in the fields, Li Tai couldn't help but feel as if he was in another world. It turned out that unknowingly, more than four months had passed since he came to this world.

In the past few months, all kinds of things have happened one after another, some proactive and some passive. Li Tai has been so busy that he has almost no time to stop. This busyness will continue for a long time.

"Mr. Master, the oil mill has begun work! My father has recruited more than thirty workers, and he can make several bushels of oil every day!"

As soon as he dismounted and settled down in the manor, a young man stepped forward to announce the good news. It was Zhao Jingzhi who was given to him as a follower by party leader Zhao from his hometown.

Li Tai was also overjoyed after hearing this. The oil mill was originally one of the pillar industries of the manor he planned, but it was never put into production due to the lack of craftsmen.

I originally thought that I would have to wait until the late autumn after the autumn harvest to start making it, but I didn't expect that Party Leader Zhao was so awesome and had already recruited the craftsmen in place during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

When it comes to mastering the power of local people, these local snakes are more familiar with it after all. Although the first meeting between him and Party Leader Zhao was not pleasant, they got along quite harmoniously afterwards, and this time they did him a big favor.

This wasn't the only good news. As soon as he patted Zhao Jingzhi on the shoulder and praised him, several more people walked into the main hall of the manor.

"According to the Lord's order, I have been waiting here for two days. The property of Kaifu Village in Beiliang has been replaced and can be used at any time!"

The person walking at the front was a close guard of Shuo Hui. He followed his master's surname and given name as Shui Zhang. He had met several times and was familiar with Li Tai. He crossed his arms and said.

"That's great, let's go take a look!"

Hearing this, Li Tai smiled even more. He was still worried that Shuo Hui might have some obstacles on his way back.

After all, it was already the autumn harvest season, and no matter how noble Liang Chun was, he would not give up one season's harvest and exchange the garden property with others. If that doesn't work, then we can only do the work at Whitewater Manor first, which will just waste more transportation time.

Unexpectedly, Shuhui was so efficient in doing things. He had already done things well while he was still on the road. With Liang Chun's manor connected up and down, all links will naturally flow more smoothly.

In particular, the Liangchun Manor is located in the rapids part of the Luoshui River, and there is a cofferdam that has been set up, making it more convenient to use water power. Whether it is pulping or grain processing, you can get great convenience.

Li Tai couldn't wait to enter the house and take a sip of water. Dangjie led a dozen strong men and paper craftsmen and rode fast, arriving at the newly acquired manor in less than an hour.

In the manor at this time, Liang Chun's subordinates were still packing and preparing to move. When they saw several Zhangs riding their horses, a steward quickly stepped forward and said, "The manor's family is so detailed that it will take time to clean up. No later than the end of the month." Just move them all away.”

"The village house is not in urgent need. As long as the work is not missed, your department can take care of it."

Zhang Zhang said to the steward with a smile, and then turned to Li Tai and whispered: "Liang Kaifu lives in Weizhou, Longyou, but his family members live far away here, and they cannot help with public and private matters. The lord replaced it with his old property in Yuanzhou. , which greatly pleases his disciples.”

Li Tai nodded after hearing this, knowing in his heart that Shuo Hui must have paid a heavy price for deciding on this matter so quickly, otherwise Liang Chun's tribe would not have been forced to move happily.

He didn't care much about the property of the manor. What he cared about most was the nearby water conservancy. After walking around the manor, he walked straight to the Luoshui River.

When he came to the river bank, he saw that wooden ladders and floating platforms had already been built in preparation for erecting the water dam.

"My lord, foreword, fighting is like putting out a fire. The most important task here is to use the rainforest, so before Li Lang returned, I made my own decision and arranged for my family to set up the rainforest."

A few chapters later, he said considerately on the side. He stood on the river embankment and pointed to the riverside and said: "The terrain of the river canal here can be used to build eight 碓玞. Completed. Because the slaves on the other side do not allow it, the equipment and materials can only be stored in the warehouse and can be used after taking them out. "

"Okay, very good!"

Li Tai was even more happy when he heard this. He just felt that his fortune had turned around. After experiencing the initial stress, now he had a smooth and refreshing feeling when doing things.

He stood on the river bank and was about to take a closer look at the specific structure of these ancient hydraulic facilities, but there was a boat coming along the river from the other side.

There were hundreds of strong soldiers standing on the boat, each waving their sticks, looking menacing. Just as they sailed into the middle of the river, someone on the boat shouted: "What kind of conspiracy is being done on the other side? Strike quickly, don't give it to your family." Liang Kaifu is in trouble!"

When Li Tai saw that the ridges had not yet been erected, he sent his slaves from the other side to scold and obstruct them. In his words, Liang Chun was not even looked down upon, and he became more and more aware of the arrogance and domineering behavior of Zhao Gui's slaves.

He was still thinking about how to deal with it, but he had already returned to his car, picked up a bow and returned to the river bank, broke a reed into an arrow, controlled the string and shot at the approaching boat, and shouted loudly: "The garden here is My lord will support you, and your family will live here. If any slaves dare to disturb me again, their arrows will be targeted!"

When the slaves of Zhao Gui's family on the boat heard this, they immediately became speechless. The boat stopped moving forward and stopped in the middle of the river. After a while, someone shouted again: "Liang Kaifu has been in business here for a long time. He is making empty promises." …”

After a few chapters, he was too lazy to talk nonsense with them. Seeing that these people were still entangled, he waved his arms and said angrily: "Put down the bamboo raft and sink the boat! If the dog slave is lucky enough to survive, I will show you the certificate!"

Following Zhang Zhang's order, several long bamboo rafts with sharpened fronts were put into the river, and dozens of tribesmen also jumped onto the bamboo rafts with their staffs in hand.

Li Tai saw that the bamboo raft still had green residue, and it was obviously a newly made one. He had already anticipated that Zhao Guibu would come back to provoke and obstruct him in the emotional chapter, and had prepared the means to meet the enemy in advance. He immediately geared up happily and wanted to take a look. Looking at this ancient water battle scene, it will be useful in the future when the Southern Dynasties are pacified.

Seeing that the other party was well prepared, the slaves of Zhao Gui's family on the boat in the middle of the river were a little panicked for a while. They shouted that they had misunderstood and rowed backwards with all their strength. Fortunately, the Luoshui River was not too wide, so we finally managed to escape back to the shore before several Hui tribes launched an attack.

"The slave looks like the master, but he is really fierce in appearance and soft in heart! I think that my paoze was abandoned by the dog thief Zhao Gui and trapped in Mang Mountain. I really want to kill him as a slave to vent my hatred!"

Seeing Zhao Gui's slaves escaping in disgrace, Zhu Zhang stood on the shore and said bitterly. It can be seen that he was not just showing off, but was really murderous.

Li Tai was also very excited when he saw this scene, and felt that it was right to recruit Shuo Hui to join the team. Otherwise, even if he started a business along the Luoshui River, it would be difficult to make it big with Zhao Gui, a river tyrant who blocks the river and sets up weirs here. Be stronger.

After this episode, there was no more movement on the other side, and the project of erecting the ridge here continued. Looking at the progress of the project, it will take at least two or three days to complete the installation and put it into use.

It just so happens that you can prepare the raw materials in these two days. The raw materials for papermaking are extremely wide, including bamboo, hemp, trees, crop straw, rag threads, etc. As long as the materials are rich in plant fiber, they can be used for processing and pounded with water. The pulp is then transported to kaolin from Whitewater Manor, processed and ground into fine particles, and the filler is screened out.

Li Tai only knew a simple process, but his cousin Cui Quan lent him ten skilled papermakers. As long as the raw materials and tools were in place, production could start immediately.

What is relatively troublesome is the preparation of printing ink. Although relatively mature formula technology has been developed in his own manor, the materials still need to be prepared.

The inks currently used are mainly divided into two types: smoked ink and graphite. Graphite is a general term for various mineral pigments including coal. It is relatively easy to obtain. There are open coal mines in the upper reaches of Baishui. However, the particle size is larger and the inkability is not good. It is strong enough to be used for writing, but not enough for printing.

Smoke ink is divided into wood smoke ink and oil smoke ink. Pine smoke ink in wood smoke ink is one of the best inks, but if it is used for printing, oil smoke ink is better. The oil itself is not low, and then mixed with linseed oil and rosin, the paper lock is stronger, the color is more uniform and longer lasting.

But no matter what kind of ink it is, the production capacity of Li Tai's own estate is limited. If he wants to meet the production capacity, he must purchase it from outside.

In daily life, ink is really a small commodity, after all, it is limited to writing. In the cultural desert of the Western Wei Dynasty, it's a shame that the folk can have such rich products.

Nowadays, apart from the government, only temples may maintain a certain scale of production, because temples require a lot of paper and ink to copy scriptures.

Li Tai didn't really want to ask the government for help. After all, this deal was with the government. If the government controlled the supply of materials, the right to speak would inevitably be infiltrated and usurped.

He was not very willing to deal with the temple, but he thought of a suitable candidate, and that was Liu Gong, a rich man and businessman.

Li Tai stayed here until evening, and then returned to Shang Yuan's home after confirming his purchasing ideas. Just as he reached the gate of the manor, he looked up and saw someone. He suddenly felt that his luck had really started to improve, and he could get whatever he wanted.

"The husband has a wonderful plan, the husband has a wonderful plan! Liu San is so convinced that he never dares to show off his clumsy tricks in front of the husband again!"

Seeing Li Tai approaching on horseback, Liu Gong jumped forward to meet him. From a distance, he raised his fists with his hands and shouted exaggeratedly.