Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 904 0899 [Sewing machine? 】

When envoys from various countries met, Queen Mother Annandu had already been sent to the palace.

And our great emperor is developing a sewing machine!

Zhu Guoxiang opened up an experimental area in the outer city on the east side of the imperial city, and the BMW has been moved to a secret room here.

A hundred meters next door is the headquarters of the Inspectorate, and outside Donghuamen there is Denwen Drum.

To the south is the waiting area for officials and the parking lot for carriages traveling to and from the Imperial City.

There are also temporary dormitories for officials nearby, which are specially designed for officials who work too late to stay overnight. This situation usually means that something big has happened.

At this moment, only Shen Yourong and Li Qingzhao followed, taking their children to watch the Supreme Emperor's mischief.

In addition to the royal family, there are also several young craftsmen and teenage apprentices.

The craftsman graduated from Jinling Shipbuilding School, which has a mechanical major. The apprentices were all from Luoyang and Kaifeng, with clean family backgrounds, and were allowed to study BMWs.

"Your Majesty, this kind of hook and shuttle is extremely unstable. If you hook it, it will hook the wrong thread." A young craftsman said.

Zhu Guoxiang sat next to him and directed: "Carefully observe why it hooks up incorrectly."

As a result, a group of young people lay there, staring at the wooden hook and shuttle.

The final shuttle of the sewing machine will definitely be made of iron. But this is the experimental stage, and wood is easier to sharpen and improve quickly.

Since there is no rubber, the drive belt is made of cowhide instead.

Among the crowd was a fifteen-year-old boy, the son of Zhu Guoxiang and Wen Xiaomei, named Zhu Wenzhu.

Zhu Wenzhu is good at painting, especially bamboo.

But I don’t like Confucian classics very much, but my poetry and songs are quite good.

He doesn't like agriculture either, but he is interested in mathematics and physics. In the past two years, he has become obsessed with machinery.

After careful observation for a while, Zhu Wenzhu said: "When the hook and shuttle are being reset, the thread may be twisted and interfere with the thread that is inserted later."

An apprentice named Yu Ang said: "If the hook and hook need to be reset, it is difficult to avoid disturbing the sutures. Can you make a hook and hook that does not require reset?"

"How can you repeat the hooking without resetting?" another apprentice questioned.

Yu Ang said: "Just make it something that can be repeated again and again."

Zhu Wenzhu had a flash of inspiration: "Have you ever seen the Tai Chi Pisces diagram? The Yin and Yang Pisces can cycle back and forth, endlessly. Make this single hook and shuttle into two hooks and shuttles connected at the head, just like the Yin and Yang Pisces. Front When one hook is pressed down to hook the thread, there is no need to reset it to put the thread back, but to let the thread slide to the other end. When the next hook is pressed down, the thread from the previous hook will exit. The sewn threads are also connected to each other, so they won’t all fall apart if they fall off in one place.”

Not only did the craftsmen and apprentices not understand, but even Zhu Guoxiang was a little confused.

Zhu Guoxiang has no research on machinery, but he saw sewing machines when he was young. After all, the sewing machine was a classic dowry at that time.

Therefore, Zhu Guoxiang knew the external structure of the sewing machine and directly directed the craftsmen and apprentices to make it. But the internal structure had to be independently researched and designed, and refined and improved bit by bit.

Just when everyone was confused, the apprentice named Yu Ang understood, clapped his hands and praised: "Yin Yang Pisces is really wonderful!"

These two teenagers simulated the moving image of a "sewing machine shuttle" out of thin air in their minds!

Zhu Wenzhu said to everyone: "That's it, bring the axe, wood and knife."

Soon, he picked up an ax to chop the wooden board, and then used a knife to shape it carefully to make a deformed yin-yang double fish object.

Zhu Wenzhu pulled off the thread with his left hand, and turned the newly made shuttle half a turn with his right hand. After hooking the thread and pressing it down, he turned another half turn, and then pulled the thread out with his hand: "That's it. This kind of shuttle is called Just use the yin and yang shuttle.”

Everyone finally understood.

The craftsmen who were best at carpentry began to make more sophisticated yin and yang shuttles.

Then install it, step on the pedal and start working.

Unexpectedly, the Yin-Yang shuttle only made half a turn before the thread got stuck...

Zhu Wenzhu's expression was a little embarrassed, so he lay down to observe why the line was stuck.

The idea is right, but the shape of the yin-yang shuttle needs to be adjusted. If you are lucky, it will be done in one day, but if you are not lucky, it will take several days to adjust.

Zhu Guoxiang did not interfere during the whole process, he just sat aside and watched quietly.

Li Qingzhao took the cold drink brought by the eunuch and handed one to Shen Yourong and the other to Zhu Guoxiang: "My dear mother has thread in her hands, and you have clothes on your body. If this sewing machine is ready, it will be much easier for my loving mother to sew clothes."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "First it was used to sew official uniforms, military uniforms and other items, as well as a large number of sacks for loading goods. Then it will be slowly converted to civilian use. There will definitely be merchants willing to imitate it."

The original sewing machine still seems to have too high technical content for Daming Industry.

But many parts can be replaced, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be the original version.

As for components such as the yin and yang shuttle (shuttle), after the final design is finalized, it can be cast using a clay mold and then finely polished by craftsmen.

Technology has to improve little by little.

When the sewing machine is ready, Zhu Guoxiang will start building the steam engine.

There is no need to make it too sophisticated. At first, it was only used in various mines near coal mines to drain the accumulated water in the mines. Train a group of craftsmen who are skilled in machinery and then improve other machinery.

Both textile machines and looms need to be improved, otherwise it will be difficult to use steam engines for weaving.

What's more, cotton has not yet been completely popularized. There are now only more than two million acres of cotton fields.

Before the Dongting Lake Basin is fully developed, farmland in Jiangsu and Zhejiang cannot be converted into cotton fields on a large scale. Food security across the country must be guaranteed!

Ming Dynasty’s Patent Law is about to be enacted, but it may be difficult to implement it in the future. Putting aside the difficulties in implementation, let’s talk about the Patent Law.

What is good above is effective below.

Nowadays, people all over the country in the Ming Dynasty are taking the initiative to improve machinery and improve the manufacturing processes of various products.

Especially after the two books "Basic Mathematics" and "Basic Physics" were published, many ordinary scholars and even craftsmen bought the books for study and research. Practical books have always been popular in ancient China.

For example, various agricultural books and arithmetic books have a huge sales volume.

Abacus books from the Ming and Qing dynasties have been selling like hotcakes, and booksellers sell them directly to engravings.

The father and son of the Zhu family have brought technological influence and are in a state of accumulation.

In the next few decades, there may be a blowout.

After studying until evening, the Yin-Yang Shuttle was improved twice.

It has been able to hook and sew normally, but after an average of more than ten turns, the thread will still get stuck once in a while.

Zhu Guoxiang clapped his hands: "It's getting late. That's it for today. We will continue to improve the Yin-Yang Shuttle tomorrow. Today's research has made a major breakthrough. We will add a meat dish to the dinner and give each person a hundred coins."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The craftsmen and apprentices saluted with joy.

Craftsmen are paid, while apprentices are provided with food and accommodation, and are rewarded for completing the project.

Zhu Guoxiang added: "Zhu Wenzhu and Yu Ang have outstanding performance today, and each will be rewarded with a silver dollar."

The two bowed and thanked each other.

Zhu Wenzhu does not lack that dollar, and he is happiest when he can be recognized by his father.

Returning to the Supreme Palace, Zhu Guoxiang sent Shen Yourong and Li Qingzhao back to their respective courtyards.

Then, he took Zhu Wenzhu to Xiaomei Wen's place - if his son behaved well, his biological mother would be proud of him.

Annan's Queen Mother Du stayed alone in the empty room on the first day she entered the palace.

After two days in a row, a eunuch finally reminded her: "Your Majesty, the official family consecrated the new lady Du to the palace yesterday as the Supreme Concubine."

Only then did Zhu Guoxiang remember and said, "We will go to the Supreme Concubine tonight."

Mrs. Du waited and waited until finally the eunuch sent a message, and then she put on makeup and dressed up until dark when she finally heard "The Emperor has arrived."

"I pay homage to Your Majesty!" Du Shi had just learned Chinese and had a rather strange accent.

Zhu Guoxiang observed carefully and was quite satisfied with this concubine. At least he liked her appearance and temperament.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Can you communicate in Chinese?"

Du replied: "I know a little bit, I have studied for half a year. If I don't understand, I can talk about it in writing."

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "How much rice can be harvested from one acre of high-quality paddy fields in Annan?"

"what?"

Du Shi seemed to understand, but felt that she had heard wrongly.

This Ming Emperor didn't ask for his name or age when they met for the first time, but actually asked about Annan's grain yield per acre?

Afraid of making a mistake, Mrs. Du quickly took out a pen and paper and wrote down a few Chinese characters: "Your Majesty is asking, paddy field, grain, yield per mu?"

Zhu Guoxiang nodded and said, "Yes."

Du Shi replied in fear: "I don't know."

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "It seems that you must have come from a wealthy family and don't usually pay attention to farming."

Du Shi's mood became more and more flustered, and the more flustered she became, the less she understood: "Slave... I didn't quite understand."

"It doesn't matter, you can learn Chinese slowly," Zhu Guoxiang said, "The heat is about to come, and I will take you to Dongxi Garden to escape the summer heat in two days. The other sisters will lead you to get to know each other in Dongxi Garden. You can talk to them For games, these guys often play mahjong. They also like to play Cuju and Shuttlecock.”

Du Shi clenched her sleeves with both hands and said awkwardly: "Your Majesty, can you speak slower and less? I don't understand."

Zhu Guoxiang smiled and said: "Forget it, let's eat. Do you want to drink?"

Du Shi said: "You can drink a little."

A few candles were lit, making the room much brighter.

Du and Zhu Guoxiang sat across from each other and looked at the Supreme Emperor secretly. The more they looked at him, the more they liked him.

Zhu Guoxiang's appearance and features are pretty good in modern times, but in ancient times he was a middle-aged and extremely handsome guy.

The upright Chinese character face, slightly fatter, represents calmness, solemnity and nobility.

After a few glasses of wine, Mrs. Du's face turned red. The widow seemed to have a second youth, and her eyes were drawn when she looked at Zhu Guoxiang.

Zhu Guoxiang picked up a piece of meat and asked casually: "Do you have any children in Annan?"

Du replied: "One son and one daughter."

Zhu Guoxiang smiled and said: "My son is an Annan noble, right?"

Du said: "It is the Lord of Annan."

"Guo...cough cough cough!"

Zhu Guoxiang, who was chewing meat, almost spat it out and choked on the rice and coughed repeatedly.

After a long pause, Zhu Guoxiang said in disbelief: "You are the Queen Mother of Annan?"

Du Shi lowered her eyebrows and nodded.

Zhu Guoxiang really couldn't understand what was going on. He thought his son was deliberately causing trouble and forced the queen mother of his country to send it to him.

This little bastard!
(End of this chapter)