Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 584 Immortal Art
The tinkling bells rang, and two boats heading north from Lingzhou Dongcheng Wharf arrived at Yongfeng County Wharf one after the other.

The two ships had a very deep draft, and with the help of the wharf workers, it took a lot of effort to adjust their direction and dock on the side of the trestle bridge.

What was loaded in the cabin was not precious cargo, but red bricks.

The city wall in Yongfeng County, Fengzhou, has been in disrepair for a long time. This year, it has been raining continuously, and a large part of it collapsed at once.

After reporting to the shogunate, it agreed to allocate funds for reconstruction.Cangcao, who had recently come into full power, intervened in this matter and decided to build a city with rammed earth inside and bricks on the outside, just like Huaiyuan New City, but on a smaller scale.

In fact, in this meeting, the traditional rammed earth version of the city wall is gradually becoming less popular.With the needs of the war, more and more bricks and stones are used in the walls of important cities, such as the new walls that have just been repaired in Chengdu-these walls were excavated in 2018. About 170 meters, 8.9-12 meters wide, the entire wall is made of rammed earth, and the outside is covered with bricks." It may have been repaired by Wang Jian in history after he entered Shu.

Being willing to spend money on the city wall shows the increase in the intensity of the war and the change in the way of war.

In the fifteen prefectures of Guanbei, the city with the best quality should be Xiazhou. Not only is the ground as solid as iron and stone, but even a certain distance underground has been protected. The blood capital is more.

The second is Huaiyuan New City, which is not small in scale, equivalent to an upper-middle-level state city. It took several years for the inner layer to be rammed earth and the outer layer to be covered with bricks.People in Ling and Feng counties should still remember this. They were conscripted in turn to collect soil, sift soil, make bricks, burn bricks, build walls, etc., which can be described as miserable.

The construction of the new city wall in Yongfeng County also imposed corvée, but only in this county.

Some of the bricks are fired in local kilns, and some are transported by water from other places. The two ships in front of us are just that.

"The bricks of Xiao's family." Under the gazebo outside the pier, Sun Chang, the secretary, reported in a low voice to Sun Tu, the county magistrate.

Sun Tu, a member of the Sun clan in Fengzhou, a close relative of Sun Ba, the Jiedu envoy of the Zhangyi Army (Jingyuan), has served as the Yongfeng Commander for three years.

"Which one is from the Xiao family? Xiao Mao, the shogunate right marching commander?" Sun Tu asked.

Xiao's influence in Shuofang Town is neither big nor small.

Xiao Yu served as the governor of Longyou for seven or eight years, and recruited a large number of talented people from Beijing, especially the Ministry of Water. One-third of the people from Langzhong and below were dismissed, and they were all very familiar with water conservancy affairs. Officials, the Pitang ditches in Longyou were severely rectified, which made King Xia very satisfied.

Now, although he has been transferred to the palace to consult and join the army, he seems to have lost his position as commander-in-chief, but it is a close position. He advises and advises King Xia, and his influence cannot be underestimated. This is Xiao's No.1.

Xiao Yun was transferred to the governor of Jiangzhou.In the early years, he served as the Yongle Commander of the Hezhong Prefecture, and later went to Longyou, where he served as a shogunate and a state official. Now he is the governor of Jiangzhou, which is also a close promotion.In addition, everyone knows that his daughter is the pillow of King Xia.

This is the second member of the Xiao family.

Xiao Mao, Xiao Yun, and Xiao Yun brothers are actually not very familiar with each other, and they are not in the same group. They started as a magistrate of the shogunate, then transferred to a local position for two years, and then returned to the shogunate to serve as one of the two marching commanders. Scholar Cao participated in the military, one of the real power officials of the Seven Caos, strictly speaking, he was no worse than the Xiao Yu brothers.

"It's Xiao Mao." Sun Chang replied in a low voice: "Xiao Mao's sister-in-law opened a brick factory in Huile County. The bricks are produced in a huge quantity, and they are cheap. They make money every day."

Scholars in the country are not ashamed to do business.They are not like the scholars of the later Ming and Qing Dynasties, who are reluctant to part with huge profits, but at the same time look down on the surface, cover up, and let the servants and servants of the family come forward as white gloves.

Scholars at this time, when they saw a good deal, even went to battle directly, and often wrote poems to express their pride.Business-related poetry has always been an enduring branch of the poetry world, and some of them are described vividly, which shows the trend.

"Did the palace get involved?" Sun Tu asked again with a low voice.

"But I didn't find out about it, maybe there is." Sun Chang thought hard for a long time, and said: "King Xia has always had a private business, and this brick farm may also have a share."

Sun Tu nodded.Even sages have internal treasuries, there was a huge Shaofu in the Han Dynasty, and it was not uncommon for King Xia to have private property to run.

It can be seen on the surface that it is probably Wei's blacksmith shop and Zhao Cheng's caravan. The palace does not participate in the daily operation, but takes a role and shares the benefits.In addition, the subordinates of Hongyuan, Woyang, and Yulin Sangong are also Shaw's private tribes, which is also an "industry".

It is entirely possible that Xiao's family opened a brick factory, and the palace would occupy some part of it.

"Why are the bricks produced in this brick yard so cheap?"

"It sounds like it's very big, there are almost twenty doors."

"Twenty gates?" Sun Tu asked doubtfully.

"The earthen kilns in the countryside are called 'one door', and the kilns in Xiao's brick yard have twenty doors, which are called 'round kilns'."

"What's so special about the wheel kiln?"

"I don't know that." Sun Chang replied, "The Xiao family has already built a second round kiln in Huaiyuan County. They are recruiting workers and apprentices, and the monthly payment is [-] qian."

In fact, there is no innovation in the "hard technology" of the wheel kiln, and its "miracle" is mainly reflected in the design.

A traditional small earthen kiln in the countryside. After the bricks are made, they are stacked and stacked. After the door is sealed, the firing begins.After the bricks are formed, wait for them to cool down, and then take them out one by one.

The wheel kiln is a continuous production brick kiln.

The flue gas produced during its production can preheat the adobe ahead.When a 20-door wheel kiln is in production, 4 doors are firing, 7 doors are preheating, 5 doors are cooling, and the remaining 4 doors are already producing bricks.As the flame moves between the kiln doors, continuous production can be achieved, and the efficiency is many times higher than that of small earthen kilns.

To put it simply, the wheel kiln makes full use of waste heat and waste heat, saves coal and time, and continuously produces bricks, which naturally greatly reduces the cost.

Utilizing existing technical conditions and engaging in design innovation is an effective means to improve productivity.

But in the use of hydraulic machinery to forge iron armor, it has suffered a complete and ignominious failure.

What kind of hydraulic forging hammer is completely insufficient in strength, and it cannot produce such a large piece of iron.Shao Shude once put forward this suggestion, but the craftsmen of Duzuo Academy told him that the imperial court tried to forge iron with water hammer, but it failed because it cost a lot and the quality was very poor.

Shao Shude thought for a while. He once read a book from Oxford University in his later generations. It seems that the plate armor in Europe was all hand-forged in the early days, and there was no such thing as repeated forging with a hydraulic forging hammer to form a large plate armor.

By the end of the 16th century, Europeans had made breakthroughs in iron-making and steel-making technology, and they were able to produce large pieces of steel, which was critical because it provided conditions for hydraulic mechanical forging.But even so, most of the work of a pair of plate armor is completed in the later stage, and the time and cost spent are still huge.

What really reduces the cost of plate armor is the more advanced smelting furnace.At the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, the design of the smelting furnaces of the Europeans was extremely advanced, the output was greatly increased, and the cost was reduced rapidly. At the same time, tests were carried out in the process of steel production. Theory guides production - compare the original European "Red Cannon" with the imitation of the Ming Dynasty decades later, and the Europeans have gained a technological advantage at this time.

In history, the so-called plate armor forged by hydraulic machinery in Korea and Japan was of extremely poor quality and lacked the most basic protection ability. The reason is that they, like the Ming Dynasty, could not produce large pieces of high-quality steel plates.The larger the area, the thinner and more brittle, which can only be solved by materials.

Today's Lingxia can't even make a slightly larger iron plate, you need to hit a hammer!Learned from Europeans forging plate armor with hydraulic forging hammer more than 700 years in advance, are you sure you are using the same material?Can you make such a large high-quality iron plate?
Anyway, in history, the Koreans and Japanese imitated European plate armor with hydraulic forging hammers, and the quality was extremely poor.Shao Shude determined that the current level of metal smelting in the Tang Dynasty was not as good as that of Korea and Japan 900 years later. They had learned a lot from the Ming Dynasty and Europeans at that time.

"Pile up all the bricks, they will be used later." Sun Tu sighed, "I don't like those small earthen kilns now. Send people to Lingzhou to learn. Maybe in the future, the people will be very happy." I love building brick houses."

"Obey." Sun Chang saluted.

Brick house?There are brick houses on the pier.Good is good, but most of the people will not build brick houses for a while.

More than [-] soldiers from the Tielin and Wuwei armies left Lingzhou. There were countless houses for sale. The prices were surprisingly cheap.

However, brick houses will still be built more or less.After all, it is impossible for everyone to live in the city or near the city wall, which is too far away from the fields.

After the hot work started on the pier, some "rice sellers" nearby also started to light the stove.

Sun Tu had already returned to the county ahead of time, and Sun Chang had to stay on the pier—the recorder, recording, copying, and general recording book, of course he had to stay.

"Why did the store prepare so many crisps and cheese?" Sun Chang chatted with a rice seller.

"Officer—"

Although it sounded very refreshing in my heart, Sun Chang was a miscellaneous job, not an official, so he interrupted immediately.

"Your Majesty doesn't know, milk is very cheap now, and you're still very hungry. The masters and laborers on the pier don't want to spend more money, so they often buy and eat. Hubing, corn and rice are also eaten, but they are less." The shopkeeper lit a fire. , while saying.

His stove was billowing with smoke, and the charcoal he used, which he did not know where to buy, had a very strong smell.

In the Helan Mountain area, except for shipbuilding, logging of large trees is prohibited.Many people go to the mountains to collect firewood, but they can only pick up some dead branches, which makes the price of firewood on the market soar.Over time, many people began to use coal as fuel.

The government even used coal on a large scale.There were firewood in the welfare of officials, but it was all changed to coal many years ago.

The burned charcoal is also collected and paved on roads, which is especially useful in rainy seasons.

"Where does your milk come from?"

"Of course I bought it in the countryside. I went to buy it this morning." The shopkeeper said, "In Xiaoliugou in the northwest of the city, every household grows grapes and makes wine. I don't know what happened, but the cows are suddenly willing to produce milk, and there are so many of them. A certain inquired about it, and heard that it was the great king who learned the skills of immortals, and then asked the officials of agriculture to teach the common people. A cow can get more than [-] catties of milk, which was less than seven or eight catties in the past."

A farmer's land generally consists of farmland, vegetable plots and gardens.Planting grain in the farmland, growing melons and vegetables in the vegetable bed, and house gardening depends on the situation.

Due to climate and traditional factors, the gardens of Lingxia farmers are usually planted with fruit trees, such as dates and grapes, especially grapes.

But in the Central Plains, mulberry trees are the main ones.For example, in the Bian Song states under Zhu Quanzhong's rule, one household planted fifty mulberry trees, which is different from that in Guanbei.

There are many Lingxia grapes, so wine will naturally be made. This is a regional custom and tradition, and it has been like this since the Northern Dynasty.

"Immortal Biography?" Sun Chang was startled.

"Isn't it?" The shopkeeper said seriously, "Your Majesty is valued by an immortal, so he must be a saint."

"Saint... saint?" Sun Chang is not an ignorant commoner, he has read books, although people in Lingxia people often call him "Shao Sheng", but he has never called him that.

The saint is in Chang'an!

But looking at it now, maybe King Xia is also a saint?Shao Sheng in Lingzhou, Li Sheng in Chang'an, each emperor?
The world is chaotic, but Lingxia is so calm, the days are getting better and better, even the martial arts man who talks the most strangely is full of praise for King Xia, and he will move if he asks them to move. Chang'an Saint is much stronger.

Sun Chang fell into deep thought for a while.

"Mr. Lang, would you like some white crisps?" the shopkeeper suddenly asked.

White crisp, ghee, milk, cheese, buttermilk, cream, milk dregs, milk skin, butter, and milk wine are the current mainstream methods of processing milk in Lingxia, and they are also common foods for ordinary people—in fact, pure milk is rarely drunk .

"Cut a piece for me." Sun Chang ordered, "I don't know what to do with so much milk."

"There are people in Xiaoliugou teaching the method of making milk powder." The store owner said while cutting the soufflé skillfully, "It's a pity that so much milk is produced all at once. If it is made into milk powder, it will be exported to the army." , should be of great use."

Sun Chang smiled and said, "You also know how to fight?"

"Warrior also wants to eat. Shao Sheng is sympathetic to us and the common people. After producing so much milk, it is not uncommon to take away some of the tax credit and use it as military supplies." The shopkeeper handed the white cake to Sun Chang and said, "Unfortunately, there will only be Xiaoliu here. The cows in the ditch produce a lot of milk, and the people who study agriculture only go there. If the whole county is like this, tsk tsk..."

Sun Chang ate the white crisp in silence.

A few days ago, the county received an order from Cangcao. After the autumn tax came up, it bought more old cattle, slaughtered them and made them into something called meat floss.At the same time, try to make as much cured meat and bacon as possible, waiting to be shipped to Tongguan.

Milk powder, meat floss, and bacon were shipped to Tongguan by boat, most of which were used to support the army.

It is indeed troublesome to transport millet and wheat long distances, but it seems to be much easier to transport milk powder and meat floss, and it is even more hungry.Your Majesty is accumulating food for the army, and there is going to be another war.I don't know who is going to be beaten again!

(End of this chapter)