Reborn Wu Dalang

Wu Dong, Ling Zhen and the others had already left the ironworks. They were far away, but they could still see thick smoke billowing from the huge chimney in the distance. The surrounding air was very bad and a bit choking.Looking at those huge chimneys, Wu Dong couldn't help frowning.

"Governor, the ordnance factory is only three or four miles away from here, and it will arrive soon. After arriving there, we will have dinner first, and then go to the workshop." Ling Zhen saw Wu Dong stop, thinking that Wu Dong had inspected a I worked in the morning, so I was tired and wanted to rest, so I reminded.

"Ling Zhen, in the future, we will plant more trees around the Academy of Sciences and the factory. The more trees we plant, the better." Wu Dong said suddenly.

He actually saw the chimney in the distance and thought of environmental protection.Originally, he wanted Ling Zhen to transform the iron-making process to reduce waste emissions.But if you think about it carefully, it is simply unrealistic to want to modify the process now, and it is impossible for the ironworks to figure out a way.And even if a method can be figured out, if the steel production is limited, Wu Dong will not agree.Now is the time for vigorous development, and the speed of development must not be slowed down. Even if it pollutes the environment temporarily, that's the only way to go.

"Governor, why do you want to grow trees?" Ling Zhen asked a little strangely. <It's filthy.Staying here for a long time will affect the health of workers.If there are many kinds of trees, these black smoke can be absorbed and the harm to the human body can be reduced. "Wu Dong said.

"Is this true?" Ling Zhen asked in surprise.

"Of course it's true." Wu Dong said with a smile.

"Governor, there is actually a person in the Academy of Sciences who is interested in these black smokes." Ling Zhen said.

"Interested in black smoke?" Now Wu Dong was surprised.

"Actually, he's not interested in black smoke, and it's hard for me to describe what's going on. By the way, he's interested in 'qi'. Some time ago, he was thinking about why humans inhale and exhale, and what exactly humans inhale , What is it that is exhaled?" Ling Zhen said while sorting out his words.

"Oh? What did he discover?" Wu Dong asked curiously.

"He said that what humans inhale is 'life' and what they exhale is 'death air'. He also did many experiments and finally proved that 'life' can make fire burn, but 'death air' cannot make fire burn. It can even extinguish the fire. He also collected the black smoke from the ironworks some time ago, trying to figure out whether the black smoke is "angry" or "dead". However, black smoke is not easy to collect, and it is often collected just now. It will dissipate after a while. He put the black smoke in a porcelain jar, even this cannot prevent the black smoke from dissipating." Ling Zhen said.

"What's his name?" Wu Dong suddenly became interested.

"His name is Jinhu. He was originally a nobleman in Korea. He was almost overthrown by those poor peasants. Later I heard that this man knew how to make colored glaze and was very famous in Korea, so I accepted him into the Academy of Sciences. But after he came , Instead of developing colored glaze, I studied these inexplicable things instead." Ling Zhen said with a wry smile.

"Besides him, is there anyone else in the Academy of Sciences who studies some strange things?" Wu Dong asked hastily.

"Yes, there are quite a few people! Ever since you, the governor, said to encourage all miscellaneous studies, many people have started to study some weird things. The most famous person in the Academy of Sciences is a man named Su Yuan. An ordinary craftsman, but he has been interested in the stars in the sky since he was a child. Half a year ago, he even said that the land we live in may also be a star, which is distributed in the universe like all the stars. Such absurd remarks naturally attract people. Pay attention, many people have argued with him, but he still believes in that point of view." Ling Zhen said.

An expression of extreme surprise appeared on Wu Dong's face. He came from later generations and naturally knew that the earth is also a star, which is almost common sense in later generations.But in this era, it is really not easy to come to such a conclusion. Such a discovery has surpassed this era.

"Ling Zhen, do you believe what he said?" Wu Dong asked.

"Great governor, I think it's ridiculous! The earth we live in is a round sky, the sun shines on everything, and the stars are just things used by Emperor Yu to decorate the night sky. How could it be possible that the land we live in is also stars? By the way, he It is also extremely absurd to say that our land is round, not square!" Ling Zhen shook his head.

"I want to meet this Su Yuan." Wu Dong said suddenly.

"Great Governor, after we go back, I will ask him to come and see you as soon as possible." Ling Zhen said.

"Aside from him, does anyone else have any unusual discoveries?" Wu Dong asked.

"There is another person who is proficient in arithmetic. He is called Lu Jiu. This person was born as a poor peasant, and he didn't even have a name. He was ranked ninth, so he was called Lu Jiu. He used to be a clerk in a small shop in Jiangnan, and he couldn't stay in Jiangnan anymore. , he just came here. He was called to the factory because he was excellent in arithmetic. He discovered many calculation methods, and any addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division could not be difficult for him. I once tested him, and found that he was really very good. He also Teach me the method, and after I learn it, my arithmetic ability will be greatly improved." Ling Zhen said.

Wu Dong walked all the way towards the armory, while listening to Ling Zhen explaining the strange people in the Academy of Sciences and explaining their various discoveries or inventions.Jin Hu, Su Yuan, and Lu Jiu, besides these three, there are more than a dozen other people of various kinds who also have their own discoveries, many of which are based on the basic theories of some modern basic disciplines.It's just that they are still ignorant and unable to understand these things thoroughly.

Wu Dong was shocked. From the looks of it, Koryo seemed to be on the verge of a technological explosion.

In the history of human civilization, science and technology have never developed at a constant speed, but will suddenly accelerate development, and a "technological explosion" will appear.The so-called technological explosion refers to the scientific achievements in a short period of time exceeding the sum of the previous hundreds or even thousands of years.

In the original history, it was not until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that there was a technological explosion in Europe.Almost all the basic subject theories were discovered in that era, and the discoveries in mathematics, chemistry, physics, and biology exceeded the sum of the previous thousands of years.Before the [-]th and [-]th centuries, the development speed of science and technology was extremely slow. There was almost no essential difference between the science and technology of the Song Dynasty and the science and technology of the Qin Dynasty, and the principles were almost the same.

Now, Goryeo seems to be entering the era of technological explosion, four or five hundred years earlier than the original history.

In the [-]th and [-]th centuries, the technological explosion in Europe was mainly due to the end of the dark rule of the Holy See in the Middle Ages, and the shackles of human thought were broken, so science and technology developed explosively.According to Wu Dong's guess, the reason why there is a sign of technological explosion in Koryo now is that the government treats craftsmen well, vigorously encourages various discoveries, inventions, and encourages various ideas in the scientific community.From ancient times to the present, the status of craftsmen in China has been extremely low. For thousands of years, craftsmen have not enjoyed such treatment as they are now.Since the Qin Dynasty, China has been dominated by reading people. "Everything is low-grade, only high-level reading." Except for reading, everything else is basically a cheap industry. Any discovery and invention, if it has some practical effect, is fine.If it has no practical effect, a discovery like Su Yuan's would be "rebellious" and would be knocked down by readers.Ancient Chinese science and technology have never experienced the explosive development of Europe, and the dominance of Confucianism is also an extremely important reason.

In any case, such a momentum has emerged in Koryo now, and Wu Dong is very excited. If the technological explosion can be achieved in China hundreds of years in advance, China will completely leave the West behind, just like the West has always left the East behind. Same at the back.

"In my lifetime, I don't know if China can enter the industrial age? It seems that I will continue to encourage various discoveries and inventions, and continue to encourage the Academy of Sciences to engage in innovation! In the future, science will also be included in the examination content for admission officials, and science in the whole society will be encouraged. Atmosphere." Wu Dong thought to himself.

Only relying on the Academy of Sciences, the potential is too low, and the whole society needs to set off a revolution in scientific research, so that the technological explosion can continue.

After today's ordnance factory, they took a short rest here and had a simple lunch before Wu Dong and Ling Zhen continued to go inside.

The sound here is even more noisy. There are more ordnance to be manufactured, and there are countless forging operations, so noise is definitely inevitable.Working in such a place for a long time, I am afraid that the hearing will be affected.

Walking all the way in, Ling Zhen stopped when he reached the rows of huge rooms on the left, and said, "Commander, this is all saber production workshops."

At this time, the person in charge of the workshop had already received the news and rushed out to greet him.Wu Dong didn't exchange pleasantries with him, but directly entered the workshop.

This is a pure assembly line operation, some workers are in charge of hardening steel, some are in charge of the production of embryos, some are in charge of quenching the package, and some are in charge of grinding.Each process is orderly, and all kinds of workers are only responsible for their own procedure, and there are special supervisors who are responsible for checking the work of the workers.

Everything is so orderly, just like coming to a modern factory, Wu Dong looks at everything in front of him with relish.

"Governor, this is our latest cavalry saber! Here are all finished products!" The person in charge of the saber workshop followed Wu Dong, introducing his products to Wu Dong, with obvious pride in his voice, Obviously very satisfied with their products.

Wu Dong took a saber and examined it carefully.This saber is about 14 meters long. The overall blade is somewhat similar to the Japanese samurai sword, but it is much thicker than the Japanese samurai sword, especially the spine. This design is more conducive to chopping and the life of the saber will be longer.It's just that with such a design, the weight of the knife will be much larger, and cavalry can rely on horsepower to fight. There is no problem with such a saber.If it is infantry combat, using such a weapon is a bit too heavy, and soldiers with poor physical strength cannot use such a saber at all.

The blade is very bright, giving people an unusually sharp feeling. Wu Dong slashed hard, and there was a sharp sound in front of him.

"Have you given the saber you designed to the cavalry for experimentation?" Wu Dong put the saber away, and then asked the person in charge of the workshop.

The person in charge of the workshop hurriedly said: "Governor, more than ten famous sword makers of various ethnic groups in our workshop designed a total of more than 20 cavalry sabers, and all these more than 20 cavalry sabers were sent to the troops of General Han Shizhong on the front line. After the general's army tried it out, they were most satisfied with the saber in front of them, so we began to vigorously produce the saber in front of us."

Wu Dong nodded, and said: "How is the quality of the knife? How is the sharpness, hardness, and durability compared to the sabers of the Song Dynasty, Khitan people, or real women?"

The person in charge of the workshop said: "Governor, our sabers are better than those of other countries! Our famous knife makers come from all over the world, and they are all the best craftsmen from all over the world. The sabers they jointly designed are by no means comparable to the sabers of other countries! Before mass production, I compared it with the sabers and armors of various countries. The Song Dynasty generally used spears, and there were very few sabers. When their sabers and our sabers slashed each other, they can be defeated by us in five or six strokes. Cut off. Khitan's sabers are better, but their sabers will be chopped off at most ten strokes. Most of the female sabers come from Khitan, and their sabers are not far from the Khitan's sabers. In the past six months, we have been continuously improving the knife-making process, paying attention to excellence in every link, and I believe that we will surpass other countries in every link."

"How much is the current output?" Wu Dong nodded and asked again.

"From the first month to the present, we have produced 200 sabers, and all of them have been sent to the army of General Han Shizhong in Liaodong. Now we are vigorously increasing production, hoping to achieve [-] people in charge a month.

"Do you have a test site here? I want to try the saber in front of me myself!" Wu Dong said.

"Great Governor, please come to me." The person in charge of the workshop said humanely.

Wu Dong thought for a while, and asked the guards who came with him to each take a saber and go to the test site in front to have a try.

The test site in front has various experimental materials, including Dasong, Khitan, Nvzhen armor, huge solid wood, and even various animals used for experiments, as well as some tiny steel bars, which are also used for experiments The sharpness of the saber.

Wu Dong held the saber in his hand, and slowly waved it in front of a row of wooden pillars, constantly feeling the performance of the saber, and the guards he brought also began to wave the saber in their hands.

After a while, Wu Dong called all the guards over.

"What do you think of this knife?" Wu Dong asked.

"Great Governor, it is exceptionally sharp, it can cut through the armor of the Khitan people, and there is only a small gap on the knife. It is much more powerful than the sabers we used before! Moreover, this knife is unusual to use. It's comfortable, it seems to be able to release all the strength in the whole body!" A soldier said fondly, holding the saber in his hand.

"If you're riding on a horse, this knife is more effective. You can chop or stab straight. There are no enemies now, but I feel that in actual combat, the effect of this knife is much better than that of the enemy." Another soldier said.

The rest of the soldiers spoke up one after another, mostly in praise.Wu Dong nodded slightly, feeling extremely satisfied in his heart.He had heard about half a year ago that the ordnance factory of the Academy of Sciences had started to produce sabers, but at that time he was busy with the Liaodong War, and the production of sabers had just started, so he hadn't caught his attention yet.Under the current experiment, he also found that this knife surpassed all the knives he had used before.It can be seen that the Academy of Sciences and the Ordnance Factory have also put a lot of effort into this knife.

"Warrior is indispensable in fighting the enemy. In addition to bravery, weapons are also extremely important. Now that we have such a saber, if our cavalry encounters female cavalry again, I believe it will not only be a stalemate with them , We may even beat them. It’s just that the number of sabers is still too small, only [-], I hope you can produce faster.” Wu Dong said with a smile.

"Governor, in fact, we have developed some sabers used by infantry, but the infantry's current spear weapons are very good, and the demand for sabers is not very urgent, so we have not mass-produced them." The workshop manager said humanely.

Wu Dong nodded, thinking that the infantry formed a spear array, which was very powerful, and had already exerted great power in various battles in Liangshan.For sabers used by infantry, there is really little need.In the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dao was once extremely popular. The Mo Dao in the Tang Dynasty was also a sharp weapon for the Tang people to deal with cavalry at that time, but the Mo Dao was only prominent for a while, and it was eliminated by the army at the end of the Tang Dynasty.Whether it is the East or the West, most of the cold weapon era uses spear weapons and crossbows to fight against cavalry. Thorns or four-edged thorns, like the "Big Sword Squad" that appeared in the War of Resistance Against Japan, used big knives to chop off the devils' heads. These are relatively rare infantry weapons.

"Governor, in addition to the cavalry saber, we have also developed a very special kind of armor during this period of time, which is extremely powerful. If this kind of armor is equipped in the army, no matter how fierce the real female is, it will never be ours. Opponent." Seeing that the inspection here was over, Ling Zhen said to Wu Dong.