North and South groceries

While Heng and his son were devoting themselves to the manufacture of pedal threshing machines, Cui Weng's family was trying to produce sealed ink bottles by the Sanchuan River in the north of Lishi County.

Luo Sanlang ordered a batch of small porcelain bottles from them earlier, although only a few dozen or so were successfully fitted with lids, but those twenty or so were sold at a high price of two hundred yuan each.

Cui Weng and several of his sons believed that as long as they could master the technology of making airtight ink bottles, their pottery workshop business would definitely flourish in the future, just like the Heng's car manufacturing company and Yin's in Lishi County. His wheel goes like that.

But in this era when there is no mechanized production and everything has to be done by hand, it is not so easy to successfully produce large quantities of well-sealed bottles.

Originally they wanted to make porcelain caps for porcelain vases, but it was not feasible because the failure rate was too high. Not one or two out of a hundred could be successfully matched, and the manpower consumed in the process of finding a pair was also huge.

Then they thought of a wooden lid, but it was also not an easy task to carve a smooth spiral pattern on the inside of the lid of a small ink bottle with a knife.

Cui Weng and his son pondered over this problem for a long time, but they were still at a loss.

In the end, there was no other way. The old man went to Luo Yong with some successful or failed porcelain bottles they had recently made, hoping that Luo Yong could give him some advice. According to Weng and others, there is no one smarter than Luo Sanlang in Lishi County.

As expected, Luo Yong did not disappoint Cui Weng, he proposed an idea to Cui Weng.

That is, the lid of the porcelain bottle can be made shallower instead of so deep. The edge of the lid is slightly inwardly buckled. When tightening, the mouth of the bottle will be firmly fastened on the eucommia rubber pad, so that not only can it achieve a sealing effect, but the amount of eucommia glue is also very economical.

After Cui Weng learned of this method, he really found a treasure, thanked Luo Yong repeatedly, and then bought some Eucommia gum from him, and went home happily.

The method of sealing bottle caps that Luo Yong told him is actually the method of glass jars in later generations. It is very simple and practical, and it is also very common, but not everyone has carefully observed it. Luo Yong is also finishing the first batch. After the ink bottle, after thinking and thinking, I realized that there is still this method.

When they built the cement workshop before, the clay kilns for burning cement were all built under the guidance of Cui Weng, and he even personally participated in the firing of the previous batches of cement. They avoided many detours. This time Luo Yong came up with this method, and the other party just came to him to learn from him, so Luo Yong told him all the methods he could think of without reservation.

After Cui Weng returned home, he made the ink bottle according to what Luo Yong said, and he succeeded in making it very quickly.

The diameter of the lid of the ink bottle is about the same as that of a copper coin. Now they don’t use eucommia glue to make the entire bottle cap, but only a thin layer of eucommia glue gasket inside the bottle cap, which not only saves glue , the airtightness is also very good, because of the barrier of eucommia glue, when the bottle cap is closed, even if the ink bottle is poured, the ink will not directly stick to the wooden cover, so there is no need to worry about ink penetration. The entire cap was stained black.

From the original eucommia glue bottle cap to only a piece of rubber pad inside the bottle cap, the consumption of eucommia glue has been saved by more than ten times.

The ink bottles produced by Cui Ji Pottery Workshop only sell for [-] Wen, and there are many people who place orders at once, a large part of which are bought by these gentlemen who live in Xu's guest house. They want to buy some ink bottles , with the goose feather bamboo pen made by myself, and send it to family and friends far away.

Along with these things were sent, there were also the arithmetic methods they learned from Luo Yong.

Taiyuan City is relatively close to Shixian County, and it was affected earlier, but the biggest reaction was from Chang'an City, not because of the impact of the newly made goose feather pens and ink bottles. What really shocked them was mainly the simplified geometrical arithmetic.

In the eyes of many people, compared to this extremely simple arithmetic method that even a child who has just been enlightened can easily master, those pens and inks are all inconspicuous side details. Not worth the attention at all.

But there are also some people with a keen sense of smell, who have already smelled the coming wind and rain from the big and small incidents one after another.

"The morals of the world are about to change." An old man sighed in a garden full of spring.

"Why did Ah Weng say that?" A young man in a moon-white robe opposite him asked.

"Do you still remember how much time you spent just holding a pen and practicing calligraphy when you were enlightened?" the old man asked him.

"At that time, he was young, naughty and playful, but it took a lot of work for Mr. Zhang." The young man laughed.

"I haven't practiced for a few months, and I can't write any readable characters." Recalling the scene of his grandson practicing calligraphy when he was a child, the old man smiled slightly.

"That is." The young man nodded.

"Recently, the goose feather bamboo pen that has been circulating in Chang'an City is very convenient. Women, children and children can write by grabbing it." The old man said again.

"Then they must also be able to read first." The young man was somewhat disapproving.

"I don't know it now, write more and read more, and I will know it in the future." The old man shook his head, and asked his grandson: "Do you remember how much money was used for a piece of paper when you first started learning calligraphy?"

"I haven't done any serious calculations. Every time the servants spend a lot of money to buy paper, it usually doesn't take long." The young man replied.

"Then, do you know how many pieces of hemp paper you can buy for a penny?" The old man sighed again.

"..." The young man was silent. First hemp paper and then goose feather bamboo pen, if people want to read and practice calligraphy, the cost of learning is much lower than before.

Since the imperial examination system was implemented in the previous dynasty, I do not know how many children of the gentry passed the imperial examination and entered the imperial court.At present, the imperial examination system basically just provides another channel for the children of the gentry to become an official.

At this time, the imperial examination system did not adopt the system of ambiguous names, and the test results had a lot to do with the candidate's usual reputation and his family background, and it was really difficult for the poor to have the opportunity to study, so they had no way to compete.

On the contrary, there are some dilapidated families or emerging families who are competing for official positions with the mainstream big families by passing the imperial examinations, but they basically cannot compete. Under the background of power and politics, it is extremely difficult for a child from a poor family to succeed.

Moreover, the so-called poor family at this time does not refer to ordinary people, but some small families who are not seen by the big families. People like Luo Yongqiao Junlin, sorry, they are not even considered poor. superior.

But now, this absolute monopoly will soon be broken, and many people don't know it yet.

In the past, people of what kind of background were needed to have access to such things as pens, inks, papers and inkstones. Now, because of Naluo Saburo, the threshold has suddenly been lowered to such a low level. More and more, the original seemingly insurmountable gap, just like this three times, is almost being filled.

No one in Xipo Village will know about the conversation between the grandpa and grandson in Chang’an City. Everyone should still go to class and plant the land. Anyway, they are very busy all day long, but few people will be free. Sit down and think about these.

After the beginning of spring, everything is very busy. The business of the cement workshop is soaring day by day. Luo Yong's disciples are as busy as tops, and Luo Yong often runs there.

Those gentlemen living in Xu's guest house are leisurely, Bai Yimao and the others still ride horses for a walk outside every day.

On this day, Bai Yimao and the others returned to Xu's guest house after running wildly outside, and saw Second Uncle Bai having a happy conversation with Na Luo Siniang, immediately felt a little horrified.

"Why didn't you come back until now? You know how to play around crazy all day long, but it's not like Si Niang is learning." When Second Uncle Bai saw these few, he scolded.

"It's good to go out to relax when you're tired from studying." Luo Siniang said with a smile.Luo Yong usually said this a lot, but it was really the first time that Si Niang said this.

"..." Bai Yimao had a serious expression on his face, always feeling as if something bad was about to happen.

"I'm envious of them riding horses. I want to ride too." Sure enough, Luo Siniang said right away.

"It's not difficult, I'll let them teach you." Second Uncle Bai said straightforwardly.

If it were an ordinary woman, Second Uncle Bai would definitely not be able to say such a thing. Who is Luo Siniang?

"It's true." Luo Siniang's eyes sparkled.The math problems of the past few days seem to be worthless. It is very useful to get online with Bai Ershu. This strategy is very good.

"Naturally." Second Uncle Bai gave his nephew a warning look, this kid dared to screw him up again this time.

"..." Bai Yimao and the others didn't dare to resist, and Xiao Zhui'er was still holding on to Second Uncle Bai, afraid that he would say something to the elders in Chang'an City.

"Hee hee." Luo Siniang smiled, all the hard work has paid off, and the hard work during this period of time was finally not in vain.