Start: Datang Wanli a lonely city

Chapter 464 The Wonderful Journey to Kaifeng City ([-])

"Ouch! As the concubine said, the wine is good, but you can't be greedy; you only got half drunk last night, but today your head hurts badly."

Early the next morning, after Du Baojun got up, he hugged his head and started yelling.

It was a testament to the "burning knife" spirit newly produced by the Department of Commerce. If you drank too much, you would have a headache when you woke up the next day.

But even if Li Han's head hurts, it's because there are more important things on his mind.

Du Baojun left the city early as planned.

In fact, in Boss Shen's fleet, he found a servant who lived on the ship and watched the goods, who was the child of their Du family.

After handing over the letter written last night to the other party, it was repeatedly exhorted.

In the following time, I saw that the fleet unloaded all the cloth and silk, and handed them over to the officials handed over by the Department of Commerce.

And staring at the departure of the fleet just let go of the worries in my heart.

In the following time, they began to walk and inquire around in and around Kaifeng City; this situation will continue until the head of the Du family in Huzhou re-shipped more rice grains and cloth. give up.

honestly!Huang Yizhi's West Factory.

Such a method of monitoring suspicious outsiders by relying on the old lady in the street who is regarded as a non-staff; it may not be very decent when it comes to speaking.

But in actual effect, it was amazingly good.

These old ladies are very familiar with the neighbors in their own area, and they can recognize who are outsiders at a glance.

Even if the professional spies from Kingdom of Jin came over, they would not be able to hide from the hot eyes of these old ladies.

What's more, Du Baojun, this kind of rich man who has not received the slightest training, has always been pampered.

So there was no surprise, this guy was secretly reported by as many as three old ladies during the first day of wandering around and asking around.

Fortunately, he finished writing the letter to Patriarch Du last night while he fell asleep.

A thin man in Jinyiwei sneaked into the room and took a good look.

After he got up this morning, the kind of headache that was really not the cause of the hangover; it was because he was worried that he would wake up, and that rookie spy used some Jinyiwei's drug.

So, I already knew why Du Baojun?Will wander around and inquire about Jin Yiwei.

After receiving the report, he still didn't take any measures against him; otherwise, he would have been arrested and thrown into the imperial prison long ago, and he would have been given the treatment of two grains of corn bread a day.

As for what did Du Baojun inquire about during this process?
It can be seen from the diary he wrote in his own hand that night after he walked around a lot every day and returned to the inn.

That's right!It is a diary.

This thing is not a patent of modern people, nor is it an imported product from the West. In fact, it has existed in the ancient times of flower growers, and it is not a rare thing at all.

It’s just called differently. In ancient times, it was called daily records, counting days, logs, calendars, and so on.

Generally speaking, this kind of flower planting can be considered to have sprouted in Tang Dynasty and developed in Song Dynasty;

As for Du Baojun's diary, if the content in it is converted into vernacular, it will probably look like this...

In the second year of Jingkang, no!It's already the first year of Maode, but you have to watch your mouth carefully, and don't let it slip in other places, causing some troubles for nothing.

On March [-]th, it was another sunny day.

I have always been unable to figure it out, even though Kaifeng City is the capital of the Great Song Dynasty, where the three provinces and six ministries are located, all the talents in the world and most of the elite among skilled craftsmen are gathered here.

But the last time the Jinren came over, they heard that they took away all the craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry in one batch.

Even if the folk artisans can be requisitioned by the imperial court now, the number should be limited. Thousands of people are already the limit.

So here comes the question, how could these thousands of craftsmen produce so many novelties that the Department of Commerce has been producing recently?
After all, each of those novelty things looks extremely exquisite, and it is impossible to find some temporary labor to do it.

With such a doubt, I came to the Imperial College in the south of the city today, intending to take a closer look at what happened.

Why go where?Because since Empress Namaud took the throne more than two months ago, she has never intended to open Enke again.

In addition, during the Jinbing Rebellion, Mr. Yiying, teaching assistants, and students in the Imperial College had already dispersed.

But in the direction of Guozijian, there is thick smoke billowing every day, and it can be seen across most of Kaifeng City, but the water dragon team to put out the fire in the city has not been dispatched, and the common people are not surprised.

Apart from the expropriation of the premises by the Ministry of Industry to produce those so-called new commodities, there is no second possibility.

correct!In the city like this day and night, there are places where a lot of billowing smoke rises, and there are several other places, but there is more movement in the Shi Guozijian.

Presumably, as long as you go in and have a look, you will naturally be able to relieve your doubts.

Then, damn it!I couldn't even get in the door.

At a place far away from the gate, a few men dressed as imperial guards drove me away like a fly without waiting for me to speak, which is really insulting.

But even so, I lingered outside for a long time, and saw some unusual signs.

For example: There are often quite a few large carts, pulling heavy goods into the Imperial College; even if the carts are covered with some rags, it can still be seen faintly that they are full of coal.

It turns out that the Department of Commercial Affairs of the imperial court actually smelted iron in many places such as the Imperial College, so that it has such an amazing amount of iron for sale...

Actually?Between Du Baojun's guess and the reality, there is simply a mismatch between the bull's head and the horse's mouth.

At the same time, it was when Du Baojun stayed outside the Imperial Prison, looking over there with his head poking around.

Just inside the Imperial College, because he hadn't had a good rest for a long time, he stared at the warehouse manager with a pair of rabbit-like red eyes, and yelled at Lang Qing:
"Lang Qing, I see that the steam engine is almost done.

Although the steam engine we have built so far has a maximum horsepower of 70 horsepower; with this foundation and experience, it is not a big problem to reach 100 horsepower.

But Lao Hei is now urging us to exchange artillery every day, so that their artillery can start training.

I thought about it, in the shortness of time, there is no way for us to become fat in one bite; the current steam engine can only make do with it, after all, there are still many things waiting for us to solve one by one. "

"Yeah! Under the current circumstances, we can't pursue perfection, but the overall efficiency."

In the following time, AT echoed the same sentence, the spirit of this young white-collar worker seems to be fine, but the hairline is a bit thin.

After hearing the above two sentences, Lang Qing had to nod helplessly.

His expression was filled with the frustration of a person who wanted to kill a thief but was powerless to recover.

As the warehouse manager said, they have now produced a steam engine that is barely usable, and problems such as seals and lubricating oil have also been solved by them in other ways.

It seems to use copper piston rings to solve the sealing problem.

The problem is that in such an alternative method, not only the performance of the steam engine is not satisfactory for a while; even the overall production quantity is far lower than expected.

The key reason is that the three of them, he, AT, and warehouse manager, no matter how powerful they are, they only have one pair of hands.

Although the craftsmen recruited are not stupid, they also have some manual experience; but facing the process of casting a large number of parts with clay molds and then assembling them one by one, it also takes time to get familiarized.

The workers recruited from the modern plane need to be trained for a period of time before they can be used; especially the skilled workers need to be well trained before they can work, which is the same.

In short, today, with all their efforts,
A total of 50 steam engines with [-] horsepower were produced.

Eleven 60-horsepower steam engines, seven 70-horsepower steam engines, a total of about [-] steam engines; compared with their original plan, I don’t know how far they are,

Fortunately, with such thirty steam engines, they also solved the huge problem of insufficient power in military production.

After all, a steam engine can drive several machines such as forging hammers, grinders, and drilling machines, and the power provided is quite stable.

At least up to now, the [-] muskets that are used for training in the new army have been delivered successively.

However, according to the new army, there is a method of using people to stop, fight, and fire wildly, and wait until the three-month recruit training period is over.

The barrels of these ten thousand brown Beth muskets will basically all be scrapped.

So, where is the large amount of coal that Du Baojun saw was used to make iron.

It's just because in the Guozijian, a total of [-] steam engines were put down, as well as a large number of processing machines such as drilling machines and forging hammers.

It is completely used to provide fuel for the steam engine, as well as processing other equipment...

*******
The first year of Maode, March 26th; the drizzle, it is a bit like Du Mu and Du Mu's writings of the Tang Dynasty, "there is a lot of rain during the Qingming Festival, and the pedestrians on the road want to die".

Originally, today, I was planning to go to the inn where I live, and the nearest elementary school to visit Haosheng.

On the one hand, this elementary school is not an important place for the imperial court, and idlers should not get close to it, right?
(In this sentence, it is full of strong resentment, God knows what this guy has experienced in the past)
On the other hand, according to anecdotes, people in Kaifeng City, regardless of gender, can go to school as long as they are school-age children.

Empress Maude and Hu Yitong put on the appearance of the ancient sages who are "educated without discrimination", and they have a big tone. Don't they know how amazing the money and food will be spent for this method?
Especially under the current circumstances, such an impoverished imperial court still has to prepare the army for war. They can support such a large consumption, do they plan to pass the day?
But if they are really doing this, and not just pretending to be, these people are really a master.

Results?Didn't make it today.

After encountering another rare incident, the plan to go to that elementary school was temporarily cancelled.

At that time, I was still at a small stall on the side of the road, waiting for the peddler to make pancakes that were very popular in Kaifeng recently, and it was said that they were invented by Mr. Kicking.

When it was the deluxe version of pancakes with eggs and sausage, I discovered a strange thing.

I saw that on the street, suddenly there were bursts of loud Sanskrit singing, probably there were hundreds of bald donkeys, no!It was the master wearing cassock and walking towards the palace together.

That scene was even more lively than the Water and Land Ceremony in previous years.

I asked the street office aunt with red sleeves next to me, and I learned that these masters from the Daxiangguo Temple felt that the country's affairs were difficult and the imperial court's military preparations were not strong.

Today, we are going to go outside the imperial palace together, and ask to see Empress Maode and all the ministers of the court.

It is requested that the [-] bronze Arhat statues in the temple and several other larger bronze Buddha statues be dedicated to the imperial court, so that the imperial court can use them to make a whole range of weapons.

Beware of the Jinren's invasion, lest the Holy Spirit Tuta.

After all, Buddha is merciful, as long as believers have Buddha in their hearts, it doesn't matter whether the Buddha statues are made of stone, clay, wood, or copper.

Hearing such a statement, I immediately stood up in awe.

I have seen many monks who asked for money and food in this life, but this is definitely the first time I have seen such a monk who even contributed to the bronze statue.

Sure enough, he is worthy of being the master of Daxiangguo Temple. He has profound Buddhism and compassion in his heart, which is different from other small temples.

After eating a set of deluxe pancakes, instead of going to the primary school, I went to Daxiangguo Temple to pay homage and donate three sets of sesame oil money.

I don't know if it was the blessing of the Bodhisattva. When I came out of the Daxiangguo Temple, the drizzle that had been raining for several days stopped.

What Du Baojun didn't know was that when he was squatting on the side of the road, drinking a bowl of soy milk, gnawing on the deluxe version of pancake fruit, thinking about whether to go to Daxiangguo Temple later.

It was right opposite him, in the private room of a restaurant.

Yu Hanfeng, Song Zhe, and Huang Yizhi were also eating breakfast.

The difference is that after taking a bite of the noodles, Jin Yiwei's commander, Yu Hanfeng, couldn't help muttering, and calculated an account:

"Each copper arhat weighs about 120 catties, and the total of five hundred arhats is 6 catties of copper.

There are also several large Buddha statues, all of which add up to nearly 9 catties of copper, which must be enough for Langqing and the others to cast cannons.

After all, they only use copper as the core of the cannon, not all of them are made of copper; these bald donkeys are also the same.

Now that it has become like this, do they find it interesting? "

Yes!That's right, judging from some details in Yu Hanfeng's words, those masters donating bronze statues today was not voluntary in nature.

At least the leading masters are unwilling at all.

But in the face of the urgent request of the new army to cast cannons, because of the problem of raw materials at that time, the intelligence giants who were about to be driven crazy had no choice but to play tricks.

Specifically, I went to privately to check the scandals of the hosts and abbots of the Daxiangguo Temple.

In the end, I don’t know if I don’t check. I was shocked when I checked. Few of these guys have clean buttocks. Among them, they married several wives and gave birth to a bunch of babies. It’s a trivial matter.

In short, faced with the two different choices of whether to be ruined after the black material is exposed, or to save money and avoid disaster, the masters wisely chose the latter.

So this morning, a miraculous scene appeared in which hundreds of masters mobilized collectively to destroy the temple for the country.

Yu Hanfeng and the other three appeared here because they wanted to see their achievements with their own eyes.

Facing Yu Hanfeng's question that "[-] jin of copper should be enough", the public singer of Dongchang asked another question:
"I said, that buddy Langqing is an eighth-level fitter.

At his level, it shouldn't be a problem to directly mount an all-steel cannon, right? Why do you need so much copper? What kind of antique-like copper-cored iron cannon? "

Faced with such a question, Huang Yizhi, the factory owner of Xichang, answered:
"Of course the all-steel cannon is fine, but although Lang Qing has that skill, how many can he do if he just goes there with his own hands?

To put it bluntly, it is not necessary to rely on those craftsmen to do it.

It’s just that when the workers are trained, I’m afraid that the golden men will come over soon, so we can only use copper cannons with simpler craftsmanship~”

Just like that, after bragging for a while, the three of them left with the truth; what Du Baojun and the others saw was just the superficial situation that they hoped to be seen by them...

In the first year of Maode, April [-]st, the weather today was fine, neither cold nor hot.

I got up early this morning, but I didn't even have time to eat the court food, so I left the city just as the city gate opened.

Such a haste is not because the pancakes are tired of eating, this thing is crispy and delicious, it is simply a delicacy in the world, and you will never get tired of eating it.

It was only last night that I found out how to see what the imperial court's new army looks like.

In the future, if we meet a golden man, we should at least be able to defend the city; this is very important, and it is the key to whether my Du family will take refuge in the imperial court.

Of course, the army barracks of the new army, I and others naturally have no way to enter.

But I heard that those new soldiers would perform a drill outside the camp after getting up early in the morning, which could somehow tell their quality.

Sure enough, as the rumors said, after leaving the city in the morning and heading northeast all the way for seven or eight miles.

I finally saw for the first time, the appearance of the Great Song Xinjun.

In a round of golden sunrise, tens of thousands of soldiers lined up in six long lines, running in an orderly manner with a piece of wood weighing at least thirty catties on their shoulders.

A long section was discharged, which is quite like the taste of a dragon who sees the beginning but does not see the end.

I don't see how the generals yell and scold, but the tens of thousands of people command like one person; the appearance of a strong army is definitely the only one I, Du Baojun, has ever seen in my life.

With such elite soldiers in hand, why worry about those golden men entering the army again...

　There is another chapter tonight, but it may not be until after 12:[-], so don’t wait, read it tomorrow.

　　Tomorrow, the daily routine will end, and we will enter the second phase of the task.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)