Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 852 New Machine

"No!" Li Xian yelled. He walked to the door and looked at no one outside. Then he turned back and yelled in a low voice, "Are you crazy? You can talk nonsense like this? Be careful not to save your life!"

"Brother, I don't know what you are afraid of!" Li Xian said angrily: "People have bullied us in front of our door, but you are still timid. Haven't you seen it clearly? How can a daughter's house discuss affairs in the house, but the man can't do anything? The reason for not doing it?”

"Ah Xian!" Li Xian whispered: "I can understand your current mood, but you have to understand that things will never be as simple as you think. You just mentioned Xuanwu Sect, then let me ask you, do you have any people under your command? How many soldiers and horses?"

"There are more than 400 young and strong slaves in my house alone, and there are almost 600 people including the guards. My brother's house is no less than mine. There are more than a thousand people in total. Wang Wenzuo usually guards around him. There are only about 200 people, and five or six of us can't fight one?"

"Are you going to use the slaves in the mansion to assassinate Wang Wenzuo?" Li Xian pressed his forehead and said with a wry smile: "How do you say you are good? Let's put it this way! You probably haven't told anyone about this matter yet, right?"

"No, what's wrong?" Li Xian asked in confusion.

"That's good!" Li Xian exhaled a long breath: "I haven't heard you say anything about this matter today, and you should never say it again in the future! Ah Xian, I dare to bet you that if you tell you what happened in the palace now, If someone wants to assassinate Wang Wenzuo, someone will definitely come to Wang Wenzuo before dinner, and I'm afraid there will be more than one! "

"Brother, you mean that Wang Wenzuo has some secret agents in my house?" Li Xian was shocked.

"I don't know if there are any details, but the slaves in your house should not be stupid enough to think that they can defeat the guards around Wang Wenzuo with just a large number of people. Those are all crawling out of the dead, with martial arts, experience, armor, etc. Bows and crossbows are much stronger than yours! Moreover, the North Gate Imperial Army is now led by Hu Liang. As long as the guards around Wang Wenzuo persist for a while, Hu Liang's reinforcements will arrive as long as they don't want to bury you with you! Report on you to Wang Wenzuo!"

Mrs. Liu took a breath, frightened by the smell of blood in her husband's words. After a while, she asked: "This, this shouldn't be a problem, right?"

After finally convincing Li Xian and sending him away, Li Xian let out a sigh of relief. His impulsiveness toward his younger brother was understandable. After all, he had done stupid things before. Li Xian was still young. Born in the royal family, he thought things were that simple, but this was not the case.

"I said it was just in case. After all, a woman's birth means she has to pass through the gate of hell. Anything can happen!" Liu Peiji said.

"Lang Jun, have you heard?" At the dinner table, Mrs. Liu said to Liu Peiji mysteriously: "A big event happened in Chang'an today!"

"What do you say?" Mrs. Liu asked.

"What?" Liu Peiji raised his head in surprise: "Who, who opened the mansion?"

"I don't know. Maybe my brother has recovered, or maybe there is a turning point for the Queen!" Li Xian showed a wry smile: "But no matter what, you can't rebel. Ah Xian, remember what I said. "Don't go against Wang Wenzuo, you will never be able to defeat him!"

"I stay behind closed doors every day, how can I know what big and small things are!" Liu Peiji replied lazily. The beard on his chin and temples had not been trimmed for several days. It was very messy, and his eyes were full of eye mucus. It looks a bit depressing.

"Then, then our brothers just sit back and wait for death?" Li Xian said angrily.

Liu Peiji had recovered from his initial shock. He closed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and said, "This matter is not that simple!"

"Can a woman's family open a mansion and recruit staff?"

"Haha!" Mrs. Liu laughed twice: "Did you know? The eldest princess was named the princess of the country, allowed to open a palace, recruit staff on her own, and participated in the political hall to listen to the discussions of the prime ministers!"

"What if, what if?"

Mrs. Liu nodded, and the room was silent for a long time.

Liu Peiji glanced at his wife: "One corpse, two lives, no guarantee of safety!"

"Eldest Princess, who else is there? It's the son who married General Wang a few days ago!" Mrs. Liu said.

Liu Peiji's house.

"Wait a minute!" Li Xiandao.

"What's wrong with the woman's family!" Mrs. Liu was unhappy after hearing this and retorted: "She is the emperor's sister and the general's daughter-in-law. What's wrong with opening a government and recruiting staff? What's wrong with participating in the political hall and listening to the discussions of the prime ministers! "

"Open the government, recruit your own staff, and participate in the political hall to listen to the discussions of the prime ministers. This is either the prince, or an important minister or king who assists the government!" Liu Peiji said: "This is to prepare for the eventuality!"

"Wait, what are you waiting for?" Li Xian asked in confusion.

"Madam, let's leave Chang'an!" Liu Peiji suddenly said.

"Husband, do you think Chang'an will be unsafe?" Mrs. Liu had already followed her husband's thoughts.

"It's not that it's unsafe. Anyway, as a husband, I am now without an official position!" Liu Peiji said with a smile: "There are only two ways in front of me: either return to my hometown or go to Hebei!"

"Hebei?" Mrs. Liu understood immediately: "Then go to Hebei! To be honest, if the world is really in chaos, Hebei will be safer than home!"

Seeing his wife's agreement, Liu Peiji laughed. In fact, he had already decided to accept Wang Wenzuo's invitation a few days ago. He was just thinking about how to convince his wife. He didn't expect it to be so easy today, so he couldn't help but joked: "It seems that my wife is not worried about the general and the general." I’m settling old scores!”

"It's useless to worry about this kind of thing!" Mrs. Liu sighed: "I have also seen clearly these days. You stay at home every day and have trouble eating and sleeping. Suddenly you seem to have aged more than ten years. If you let me If you go back to your hometown and become a rich man, Mr. Lang, you will die of embarrassment. Instead of doing this, you might as well go to Wang Wenzuo's place!"

Hearing his wife's words, Liu Peiji couldn't help but feel moved in his heart. He stretched out his hand to hold his wife's hand and said softly: "You wait for me for a few more years. After I have made a great career, I will return to my hometown and live in seclusion in Linquan with you." A happy life!"

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Luoyang, Gao Wu’s mother’s house.

"Di Xianggong, please take a look!" Gao Wuniang respectfully lifted the cloth in front of her, revealing a machine in front of her. This machine consists of a pendulum, a wheel, and a clockwork gear. There is a turntable on the upper part of the machine. There are several scales and three needles on the edge of the turntable. Although its purpose cannot be seen from the appearance, its exquisite appearance still has a special charm.

"This is -" Di Renjie asked. "The pendulum clock was made according to the requirements of the general!" Gao Wuniang replied proudly: "It is used to keep time. It is extremely accurate!"

"Is it just for timing?" Di Renjie was surprised. He didn't expect that such a complicated machine in front of him was just for timing. Judging from the joy on Gao Wuniang's face, Wang Wenzuo should have promised a lot of rewards for this machine. .

"Ms. Di!" Gao Wuniang saw Di Renjie's thoughts: "Do you think it's not worth it?"

"Haha!" Di Renjie smiled: "This pendulum clock costs a lot, doesn't it?"

"Well, this one cost more than 700 yuan. But if it is mass-produced, it should be much cheaper!" Gao Wuniang said with a smile.

"Then who would buy it? If it's just for timing, you can get a rough idea just by looking at the sun. If there's a water leak, that's enough! Even rich people don't need this thing!"

"Di Xianggong! You don't know that the first batch of forty pendulum clocks has been sold!" Gao Wuniang smiled proudly: "They were mainly bought from Cangzhou Port. I heard that navigation and astronomy are in great need of these pendulum clocks! This one is planned to be sent to the top of Mang Mountain for observation of celestial phenomena!”

"Oh!" Di Renjie stopped asking after hearing this. Although he didn't know why navigation and astronomy needed this pendulum clock, he also knew that Wang Wenzuo had never been stingy with money in navigation and various craftsmanship. As for astronomy, there is no need to know too much about this kind of thing.

"Apart from that, what else did you bring this time?" Di Renjie asked.

"One more thing, Mr. Di will definitely be interested!" Gao Wuniang showed a mysterious smile. She waved her hand without waiting for Di Renjie to speak. The maid behind her came up with a tray. She lifted the silk cloth covering it and made a "please" gesture to Di Renjie.

Di Renjie looked at the tray. There was a metal round rod about a foot long and as thick as a sugar cane placed on it. He picked up the round rod and fiddled with it a few times, but couldn't see its use, so he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed.

"Wu Niang, this object is-?"

"Reporting to Mr. Di, this is also made according to what the general said!" Gao Wuniang said with a smile: "According to the name given by the general, it is called a telescope!"

"Telescope?" Di Renjie looked at the metal rod in his hand: "Where is the mirror?"

"Ms. Di!" Gao Wuniang pointed to the thin end of the metal round rod in Di Renjie's hand: "Please look out from here!"

Di Renjie hesitantly pointed one eye at the thin end of the metal rod. Suddenly his arm shook and the metal rod fell down.

"This, what kind of magic is this?"

Gao Wuniang bent down and picked up the round stick and handed it to Di Renjie: "This is not a magic trick. With this, you can see the scene in the distance clearly as if it is in front of you. You can rotate it like this and adjust it. Far and near!”

Di Renjie followed what Gao Wuniang said and carefully rotated the round stick in his hand. As Gao Wuniang said, he was able to adjust the distance of his sight. Even a few birds on the tree hundreds of meters away were clearly visible. , he couldn't help but marveled: "The name of this telescope is indeed wonderful. By the way, how is it made?"

"Report back to Di Xianggong!" Gao Wuniang said with a smile: "There are two specially polished crystal pieces inside this cylinder. Through these two crystal pieces, you can see the scene in the distance!"

"It turns out that the general is really a scholar!" Di Renjie said with a smile: "If this telescope is used in the army, it can pre-emptively strike. It is indeed an important weapon for the military and the country. By the way, are there many now?"

"There are only ten in the first batch, three of which were given to the ship, and the remaining seven were brought here!" Gao Wu Niang said: "There is no way, this transparent crystal is not easy to find, and the master craftsmen who polish it are even more difficult. Not much, it took more than twenty craftsmen five or six months to make these ten pieces.”

"Enough, enough!" Di Renjie smiled with a smile on his face. He carefully put the telescope back on the tray: "Gao Wu Niang, you have made a great contribution this time. The craftsman and production technology of this telescope must be Watch it carefully, don’t let it escape!”

"This little guy can understand!" Gao Wuniang said: "But don't worry, Mr. Di, in two or three years, this telescope will become cheaper!"

"How to say?"

"The most expensive thing in this telescope is the crystal. I heard from the general that he has a way to make the glass as transparent as crystal. If so, the cost of this telescope will be much less in the future!"

"Well, if that's the case, that would be great!" Di Renjie said with a smile. He was very pleased with the novel tool of the telescope. He made a rare joke with Gao Wuniang: "Wuniang, you deserve the credit this time. No, how about I write to the court on your behalf and ask for an order?"

"Thank you so much, Mr. Di!" Gao Wanniang said with a smile: "Actually, if you don't obey your orders, you are not in a hurry. I have something that I want to trouble Mr. Di!"

"What's the matter? Tell me!"

"The slave family heard that there is a locust plague and drought in Henan right now!" Gao Wanniang said with a smile: "I don't want to hide it from Di Xianggong. The slave family's workshop has been doing a lot of work in recent years and is terribly short of manpower! So——"

"You want to buy some people from Henan?" Di Renjie said with a smile.

"Actually, it's mainly children, preferably smart boys between eleven or twelve to sixteen or seventeen years old!" Gao Wu Niang said: "You have also seen that the instruments in my workshop are very delicate and powerful. That’s okay, the most important thing is to be smart and willing to learn. Although the strength of the boy at this age is still a little bit weak, he can learn things quickly and be able to work as an apprentice after five or six years!”

"So that's the case, that's a bit embarrassing!" Di Renjie sighed: "This is a matter of leaving human flesh and blood!"

"It's not like just a boy, anyone in Cangzhou can make a living!" Gao Wu Niang said: "But it's best not to be the kind of clan group, otherwise you won't be able to work in the workshop for a long time, and it's hard to practice I started farming two years after I came out!”

"Yeah!" Di Renjie nodded: "Let's do this! I'll give you a note, and as for other things, you can only look at yourself, how about it?"

"Thank you so much, Mr. Di!" Gao Wanniang said happily.

It turns out that handicraft workshops in ancient society had a big problem, that is, it was difficult to find enough skilled labor. Generally speaking, the vast majority of the population in ancient society was engaged in agricultural labor, and most craftsmen were usually also engaged in certain agricultural labor.

Take the textile industry as an example. Even cotton and silk weavers in the Songjiang area in ancient times usually had their own fields. They engaged in agriculture during busy farming periods and engaged in handicraft production during slack periods. Textile workers in Britain also had their own fields for a long time. In suburban areas, there is usually a vegetable patch or farmland in the backyard of their residence, and most of their food is produced by themselves.

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