Go to ancient times and engage in construction

Wei Qing took Young Master Guang and his party to the north for five or six hours ahead of Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui.Young Master Guang and other Dacheng nobles entered the territory of the Tang Kingdom, boarded a boat from a remote small village near the sea, and waited on the big boat for more than three hours. arrive.

There is no freshwater river in the small seaport leading to the inland, and commercial cargo ships do not dock here, but go to the mouth of the river more than a dozen miles north of the small seaport, and the cargo ships can go directly to the capital of Tang Dynasty from that river mouth.

It turned out that in order to secretly buy labor, Zheng Yuming asked Ma Ren to spend [-] gold every year to buy the right to use the small seaport and the village from the fief nobles. He simply couldn't figure out that someone would be willing to pay huge sums of money to rent a seaside village with nothing.

The village near Xiaohaigang is a small village with only 400 to [-] people. The villagers used to fish for food.After the seaport was leased, the tax in the village was exempted, and several fishermen who were good at rowing were hired with high salaries. The labor force in the village could help the big boat unload the goods and get paid, and the sea fish caught by the fishermen could be sold to Nanbu for labor. With big boats, the income of villagers in the village has increased, and their living standards have improved significantly. Therefore, villagers in small villages welcome the boats from Nanbu very much.

"Zheng Qing, where was this big boat made?" Young Master Guang was not seasick at this time, and he was still in high spirits. He kept asking when he saw Zheng Yuming boarding the boat.

There are 1500 large ships in the natural harbor near the village. After seeing the ship, Mr. Guang and the nobles of Dacheng were stunned. This large ship that can carry hundreds of people is like a giant, quietly parked in the seaside.

The staggered arrangement of multiple masts on the wooden boat can restrain the ship against the wind and increase the speed. The large sail adopts a hard sail structure to withstand stronger wind.The two sides and the stern of the ship have extremely deep stern sculls, which are equivalent to the propellers on modern ships. The driving force is the strongest at that time when it is stepped on by manpower, and the speed can be maintained even in the absence of wind.Such a large ship can be called a giant battleship with fully automatic control.

"It was built by Nanbu." Zheng Yuming knew that the nobles of Dacheng would be surprised to see the big ship.

After Chu Chaohui received the news that he was going to pay homage to the capital on September 1500, he ordered the Nanbu Shipyard to go all out to build the 1000-material ship.At that time, Chu Chaohui was already arranging other ways for the return journey. A ship of [-] materials can also travel in the sea, but the sea is windy in autumn, and the larger the ship is, the higher the safety factor is.

When the Dacheng Mission set off from Dacheng to the capital, the newly built large ship also set off from Nanbu Wharf, entered the sea from the Changhe River, and sailed to this remote seaport village in the Tang Kingdom to berth and wait for orders.Ma Ren was the second son of slaves that Chu Chaohui bought in the first batch. He was originally from Tang country and knew Tang country well. Ma Ren commanded the big ship to take over the task this time.

"Zheng Qing, what surprises are you and Chu Qing hiding?" Young Master Guang sighed, Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui were a bit like magicians in his eyes.He walked up and down the ship, very curious about the facilities on board.

"Young master, Bermuda's shipbuilding technology is very high." This 1500-material ship is no big deal, and Zheng He's treasure ship that sailed to the West is said to have 6000 materials.

"Is the big boat that your brothers take out to sea really that big?" Wei Shen asked suddenly from the side.

"No, the sea boat our brothers are on is three times bigger than this one. This boat can only travel on land, and it's not safe to go into the sea." When Chu Zhaohui heard this, Wei Shen didn't want to go by boat. In Bermuda's mind, he didn't want to be Columbus and go sailing. Columbus discovered that the tonnage of sailing ships in the New World was between 100 and 120 tons, which was similar to that of large ships of 2000 materials.

"Such a big ship will be in trouble when encountering a storm. Can this several times smaller ship reach Nanbu?" Wei Shen was worried.

When Chu Chaohui heard that Wei Shen was only worried about the safety of the big ship, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "Only when waves as high as Ulsan are set off, our ship will be in danger. There will be no big storms in the East China Sea this month, and a small wave will affect the big ship. Nothing at all."

While speaking, the sailor had already untied the ship's cable, lifted the anchor, raised the sail, and turned the rudder. The big ship gradually left the shore and sailed out of the harbor. The land was thrown farther and farther by the big ship.

A large ship of 1500 materials can carry more than 100 people, and this equipment ratio is calculated according to sailing.Because when sailing, one person needs to be loaded with one’s daily necessities. Therefore, a large ship of 1500 materials can not only carry more than 100 people. One hundred materials is equivalent to 4.6 tons, and a wooden boat can carry 70 tons of things.

In order to reduce the shaking of the wooden boat during sailing, each compartment of the wooden boat was filled with ten tons of coke in addition to fresh water and food.These cokes were just discovered. The coke mines are located in the territory of the Tang State at the junction of Tang and Wu. The location of the coke mines does not belong to any nobleman, but is directly owned by the king of Tang.Local villagers call coke a black stone.

The villagers discovered that the charcoal was caused by lightning strikes. Once a heavy rain struck and the trees on the hillside caught fire. After the trees were burnt out, the hillside continued to burn for three days. They waited until it rained again to extinguish the open flames.The villagers thought it was strange, so they went to the hillside to dig up the scorched soil and found that there were black stones under the scorched soil. The stones could be used as firewood when they were taken home and put in the stove.

Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui had always wanted to find coal to smelt metal, and asked many businessmen to help them inquire about this black, flammable stone.When the merchants of Tang State heard that there were black stones, they rushed to get a few pieces and sent them to Nanbu.Chu Zhaohui laughed on the spot when he saw the sample. This kind of black stone was exactly what they were looking for, but this kind of thing is not coal, but natural high-quality coke, which is a necessity for steel training.

Because the coke belongs to the king of Tang, it is impossible for Zheng and Chu to trade directly with the king of Tang. They only reached an agreement with the local villagers to secretly exchange grain for coke. port.

The villagers used to be hungry and full, but now they can get back a day's rations by going to Bala for a basket of black stones every day. Keep your mouth shut.

The sea was calm in the bay, and the big ship had ballast. The big ship didn't shake much when driving, and the son Guang and the nobles in Dacheng only felt a little uncomfortable. When the big ship sailed out of the bay, the waves in the sea shook the big ship greatly. Young Master Guang, who had never been on a ship before, lay down on the side of the ship and vomited out the contents of his stomach. He was supported by Zheng Yuming and returned to the cabin in a daze. He never took a step out of the cabin.

The other nobles in Dacheng were not as seasick as Young Master Guang, but most of them couldn't get up on the couch, even Wei Shen, who had super willpower, lay down.Only Chen Meng and Guo Huben, the shaking of the boat didn't affect them at all, they were more lively than on the shore.

Chu Chaohui has a good impression of Chen Meng, and always gives satisfactory answers to Chen Meng's questions from time to time. Only Guo Huben, Chu Chaohui feels dumbfounded about him.

Guo Huben has always regarded Zheng Yuming as the male god in his dreams, and he can't take his eyes off him whenever he sees him. During this trip to the capital, even Young Master Guang noticed Guo Huben's obsession with Zheng Yuming.Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui showed their talents in the royal capital, and Guo Huben's obsession with Zheng Yuming intensified.

This Guo Huben, because he doesn't get seasick, has to walk next to the cabin where Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui are staying every day when he wakes up, hoping to see the male god in his heart sooner.Chu Chaohui was deeply annoyed by this. During the trip to the capital, he and Zheng Yuming cooperated more and more tacitly, and their relationship deepened unconsciously. Zheng Yuming began to respond to Chu Chaohui's affectionate behavior.On the big ship, Chu Chaohui originally wanted to take advantage of most of the people being seasick and weak, and no one came to disturb him, to deepen their communication with Zheng Yuming in the cabin, and strive to achieve the deepest level of physical and mental integration.

I don’t want him to sharpen his sword here, but Guo Huben’s footsteps there are heavy. Except for eating and sleeping, Guo Huben’s ghost is always there, and this Guo Huben claims to protect the safety of the big ship. He is always vigilant and shortens his sleep time by half.That is to say, Zheng and Chu could only spend four or five hours undisturbed.

Guo Huben is obsessed with Zheng Yuming, but worships his love rival Chu Chaohui, and his eyes shine brightly when he sees the gloomy worship idol.Chu Chaohui was not polite to this admirer who always disturbed him in love and romance, and stared at his eyes. He used the excuse of teaching Guo Huben martial arts, and made Guo Huben hang there with only one breath left.

When Chu Chaohui tortured Guo Huben until he had no strength to stand guard in front of his and Zheng Yuming's cabin, the big ship had already sailed into the Changhe from the sea, Nanbu Wharf was already in sight, and Chu Chaohui also lost the opportunity for deep integration.

There are two waterways from Nanbu to Tangguo, one is through the inland river, and the boat that takes the inland river cannot be too large, because the inland river is tortuous, the riverbed is not deep, and when the water is dry and shallow, boats of five hundred materials cannot pass , It takes a lot of time to sail around. It usually takes seven or eight days to reach the border close to the Tang country. If the goods want to enter the Tang country, they have to go overland.

From the long river to the sea, it only takes four or five days for a sailboat to arrive. Like this large ship of 1500 materials, because it has 11 masts and uses a stern oar, it only took two days to return to Nanport.

With the support of Zheng Yuming, Young Master Guang stepped onto the shore from the boat, and he became even more dizzy, and when he landed, he became dizzy again.It was already evening when the big ship arrived at Nanbu, and Young Master Guang no longer had the strength to go back to Dacheng by car. That night, Young Master Guang stayed at Nanbu Governor's Mansion, and other nobles were arranged by Zheng Yuming at Nanbu Inn.

After Wei Shen got ashore, he took a short rest and recovered his body. He asked Chen Meng to lead him to wander around Nanbu.

After the house in the center of Nanbu village was burned, two rows of two-story new buildings were rebuilt. The new buildings are all made of blue bricks and tiles. Except for the inn and restaurant, everything else has been rented out.Although it is already evening and the sky is getting dark, the shopkeepers are still not closed. They light up a lamp using vegetable oil as lighting in the shop to increase the brightness for customers to see the goods clearly.

Every evening in Nanbu is when many workers get off work. Most of the female workers in the textile factory take advantage of their off-duty time to buy necessities at home, and the merchants are the busiest during this time.The wages of the female workers are very high, and they are very generous in buying things.

Looking at the female workers who came out of the store with large and small bags, Wei Shen's eyes were a little straightened. You must know that in other places, people work at sunrise and rest at sunset.It's getting dark like in Nanbu, and there are still a large number of people staying in the shops, which is a rare phenomenon.Moreover, the villagers in Nanbu are very well dressed, with healthy complexion and smiles on their faces.Seeing Wei Shen and Chen Meng who were dressed as nobles, they didn't panic, but when they met face to face, they bowed slightly to show politeness.

"Is this Nanbu?" Wei Shen's feet paused on the cement road.The whole street is like paved with a whole block of stones.

The streets and avenues in Nanbu were paved by Zheng Yuming with great effort. The cement was crushed limestone and raw coal, iron powder, coal gangue and other materials in a certain proportion and ground into powder with a water mill, and then processed by high-temperature calcination. Into cement semi-finished products - clinker.Clinker, water slag (waste slag from steel mills), slag, and gypsum are put into a water mill in a certain proportion to grind them into powder, and then cement is made.After the Nanbu street was paved, Zheng Yuming thought it was too laborious to make cement, so he stopped making it.

"Uh, it's Nanbu." Chen Meng's eyes were also shooting around, and Nanbu gave him a sense of strangeness after not coming for half a month.

"Then what kind of country is Bermuda?" Wei Shen sighed, the current appearance of Nanbu, it would not be possible for him to build it so well in ten years, while Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui only took less than two years, Wei Shen believed that Zheng and Chu remodeled Nanbu according to their homeland.

"Why is the dressing room outside? And it looks so weird?" Wei Shen pointed to the two green brick houses with a look of surprise on his face.There are two doors in the tile-roofed house. One door says men's changing clothes, and the other door says women's changing clothes. An elderly woman is cleaning in front of the door.

"This is a public locker room, which is convenient for pedestrians to use." Chen Meng was also curious about this locker room, and once went in and used it himself.

"Why do old people work in Nanbu?" Wei Shen saw an old man on the street pushing a cart with wheels. The cart was loaded with rubbish, and on the rubbish were brooms, shovels, and dustpans. .

"All the middle-aged people in Nanbu have entered the workshop, and the strong old people do some light work, and the old people are paid for their work." Chen Meng has been to Nanbu too many times, and he is the one who knows Nanbu best among the nobles.

"How much will you pay?"

"It is said to be one gold per month." One gold is 21 yuan when converted into the currency of the 2010st century. This conversion refers to the price of goods in China before [-].

"Oh!" Wei Shen nodded, one gold reward is not too small, but it is not outrageous.

"Any old man over 50 years old in Nanbu or a villager who is unable to work will receive a monthly subsidy, which is called a pension."

"This is old age." Wei Shen's expression was shaken.

"Villagers are not charged for seeing the doctor when they are sick. They pay for the medicine themselves for minor illnesses, and apply for subsidies from the governor's office for serious illnesses. Children in the village must go to the ancestral hall to learn to read when they are six years old. Children are provided with free lunch every day." Chen Meng said, watching Wei Shen's expression changed.

Sure enough, Wei Shen stopped in his tracks and opened his mouth wide open.

"This means that the old are supported, the young are educated, the poor are supported, the difficult are helped, and the widows, widows, lonely, disabled and sick are all supported?"

Wei Shen looked around, feeling that he was in another world.

"Where do they get so many coins to maintain?"

"Governor Zheng and Governor Chu pick it up, and all the money and silk sold by Nanbu Textile are used on the villagers." Chen Meng had the same doubts as Wei Shen, but after observing for a while, Chen Meng consciously discovered the truth.

After hearing this, Wei Shen remained silent, walked around Nanbu Street, and took Chen Meng and his men back to the Governor's Mansion.

The governor's mansion has already set up a dinner party, all of which are light and delicious food.Although light and delicious, Wei Shen had never seen many foods before.For example, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, and a kind of glutinous rice flour glutinous rice balls called glutinous rice flour. The glutinous rice balls are filled with sweet-scented osmanthus. This kind of sugar is said to be maple syrup.

Young Master Guang didn't go to the hall to eat, he ate a few glutinous rice balls in Zheng Yuming's bedroom and then lay down to rest.The other aristocrats in Dacheng were not as delicate as the young master, and after an hour on the shore, they generally recovered. They ate very deliciously at the light dinner at the governor's mansion.

Except for Young Master Guang and Wei Shen who were arranged in the Governor's Mansion, the other nobles lived in the inn. The Nanbu Inn was very clean, with simple layout and luxurious equipment. Except for the small room, the nobles were very satisfied.

After dark, security guards holding torches patrol the streets of Nanbu Village from time to time. Today, Nanbu's security measures are at the highest level.In addition to all the Nanbu security teams being on duty, Chu Chaohui also sent Wei Qing back to the valley, dispatched 100 soldiers to patrol outside Nanbu Village, and more than [-] people were guarding the checkpoint in Houpo Village.

Wei Shen returned to his room after dinner and did not rest, but sent envoys to invite Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui.

"Two governors, please sit down." Wei Shen looked amiable when he saw Zheng and Chu. He had been looking at this bedroom just now. This room was originally Chu Chaohui's room, and it was as simple as Zheng Yuming's room, except for the bedding on the bed. The Nanbu brocade is used, and the rest are made of logs that can be felled in Ulsan.There is not a single piece of precious ornaments such as jade and glass, and the jade ornaments on Zheng Chu and his body were all gifts from the original son Guang.

If the big ship wants to disembark from Nanbu, it is inevitable that Gongzi Guang and his party will see the development of Nanbu.But now Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui have been bound together with the Ulsan Monarch House. They share the same interests and have the same goal. Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui are not afraid to show their strength in front of the Dacheng nobles. The stronger the strength, the stronger the group The greater the right to speak.

"Is Nanbu Textile very profitable?" Wei Shen said only one sentence.

When Chen Meng and Wei Shen came back from wandering around Nanbu Street, they immediately took the opportunity to tell Zheng Yuming about Wei Shen's questions and emotions while wandering around.

Now that Wei Shen asks this question, Zheng Yuming knows what Wei Shen is asking. Wei Shen is amazed that the profits of a textile workshop can transform a village into a paradise on earth. Wei Shen has become interested in the profits of a textile factory.

"Yes, Nanbu Textile Workshop is very profitable. It can earn 10,000+ gold a year." Zheng Yuming hesitated for a while, and only cut the profit of the textile factory in half.

"Two 10,000+ gold?" Wei Shen opened his mouth wide open. The annual income of Ulsan Monarch's Mansion does not exceed 30 gold.

"After earning 10,000+ gold, it is still very difficult to spend all of it in Nanbu."

"How is it possible!" Wei Shen didn't believe that 10,000+ gold would not be enough in Nanbu.

"Two 10,000+ gold has to spend one-fifth of the training of slave guards, because there is no city wall in Nanbu, and guards are needed. These guards need money to support them. In addition, Nanbu needs to provide the refugees with tools, houses and land reclamation tools. Seeds, this requires a lot of expenses. In order to prevent disaster years, Nanbu has to buy grain from abroad every year as a reserve. In this way, 10,000+ gold is really not much." Zheng Yuming and Wei Shen calculated an account carefully.

Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui had a tacit understanding, and Zheng Yuming was the one to deal with civil matters, so when Zheng Yuming and Wei Shen were talking, Chu Chaohui just sat quietly and didn't interrupt.

"From this point of view, there is no hope that Dacheng will be the same as Nanbu." Wei Shen looked at the brand-new Nanbu village, and he wanted to build Dacheng as prosperous as Nanbu. Knowing that Nanbu's prosperity depends on the textile factory After piling up huge profits, Wei Shen was disappointed. Firstly, Dacheng did not have a golden chicken like a textile factory. Secondly, the population base was much larger than that of Nanbu. It would take a lot of gold coins to maintain the welfare for the common people.

"How is it impossible?" Zheng Yuming was surprised. "Doesn't Dacheng produce paper? This is money! This is a more profitable product than textile factories."

Ulsan has a lot of raw materials for papermaking, which are much cheaper than textile raw materials.

"But there aren't many people who buy paper." Wei Shen was distressed, as there were not many literate people in Dacheng.

"Basically all the cloth of Nanbu Textile Factory is sold to other places, and the paper should also be sold to other places."

"Sell to other places?" Wei Shen's eyes lit up.

"You should advertise before selling." Zheng Yuming smiled wryly. Wei Shen is really a business idiot, not as good as Chen Meng.

"What is an advertisement?"

"Advertising is to let people know about paper and its benefits and uses. Wen Zai can use paper as a gift, and first give it to the rulers of various countries and celebrities in the vassal states. If the rulers and celebrities recognize it, the paper will naturally be recognized by the intellectuals. People agree that after using it, they are our permanent customers of Dacheng Paper."

"That's right, Dacheng buys all the paper needed in Daqin." Wei Shen stroked his beard and laughed.

"Wenzai, with the coins, we can expand the army!" Chu Chaohui quickly reminded Wei Shen of the most important thing.

Wei Shen's eyes were shining brightly, and his whole body was full of fighting spirit. "The young master can get the help of the two, it is really a blessing from heaven."

Wei Shen sincerely bowed to Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui. From then on, Wei Shen regarded Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui as comrades-in-arms, not subordinates.