After returning to the inn to rest for a night, Zhou Jun immediately left the room early in the morning the next day, took Hua Yue with him to the courtyard where Liu Zai lived, found an inn nearby, and stayed there.
Not to mention anything else, next door to the inn is the Yushitai and the place where the foreign officials of Dali Temple stayed. This gave Zhou Jun a lot of peace of mind, and he did not have to worry about the Zoroastrian harassment again.
In this way, Zhou Jun went to Shangyang Palace during the day to take care of things, and after he left the house, he either took Hua Yue for a stroll, or went to have a drink with Liu Zai, but the Zoroastrian never showed up again.
Nearly a month passed in the blink of an eye. The Shangyuan Lantern Tower was half completed, and the craftsmen began to build the superstructure.
However, at this time, the lamp tower project encountered a lot of trouble.
On this day, Zhou Jun was working at Kandian as usual.
On the construction site, sharp and harsh scolding sounds suddenly came from the construction site.
Zhou Jun followed the voice and looked over, only to see an inner chamberlain wearing a palace robe, scolding a group of craftsmen kneeling on the ground in front of the general and the chief supervisor of the young mansion.
Supervisor Luo Nandou looked aside and couldn't stand it anymore. He cupped his hands towards the chamberlain and said, "Ding Naicheng, there are auspicious clouds, fairy ribbons, hundreds of beasts and other lanterns on the upper floor of the lantern tower. The construction difficulty is higher than that on the lower floor.
.In addition, the craftsmen participating in the construction this time came from different places and were not familiar with the work cooperation, which led to the extension of the construction period and the backward progress."
Ding Naicheng's face turned red, and he frowned and said: "We don't listen to your various reasons. In short, on the Lantern Festival, if the Taishang Xuanyuan True Immortal misses the construction deadline, the saint will blame everyone present.
It’s okay if you can’t even fall behind!”
After saying this, Ding Naicheng cursed at the craftsmen who were kneeling on the ground: "A bunch of idiots without eyes. They can't do anything according to the drawings. They can only be lazy and cunning. They don't give you any skills. You don't know."
Come on! Come on!"
As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of officials holding sticks came up behind the craftsmen and pressed them to the ground one by one.
At this moment, Master Mao Shun walked out from the crowd and shouted to Ding Naicheng: "Stop!"
Ding Naicheng glanced at Mao Shun and knew that the latter was the master craftsman responsible for building the Shangyuan Lantern Tower. His tone softened: "What? Master Mao Shun wants to intercede for them?"
Mao Shun said coldly: "Is it the fault of these craftsmen that the construction period is delayed? This lantern building is extremely complicated, and there are some processes inside that even those experienced craftsmen with more than ten years of experience may not be able to do it perfectly.
Not to mention those craftsmen who are not familiar with their skills?"
Ding Naicheng raised his neck, pointed his nostrils at Mao Shun, and said impatiently: "Craftsmanship is not learning, how can it be so complicated? Knock on it, if it doesn't work once, try twice, if it doesn't work twice, then try three times.
You will always succeed if you try a few more times. In the final analysis, you are too tolerant of waiting for me and feel lazy, so you can be confident!"
When Master Mao Shun heard this, he frowned angrily, clenched his big hands into fists, and his body trembled.
On the other side, Ding Naicheng waved his hand, signaling the officials to start the execution.
Zhou Jun was on the sidelines and got a general idea from the mouths of the watching craftsmen.
In this lamp building, the ground floor and middle buildings are relatively simple. The higher you go up, the more decorations, the more lamp rooms, and the more troublesome the process.
The craftsmen on the construction site use thirty people to work on one fire and one master craftsman as the fire leader.
Each fire is responsible for an area of the upper light building, and then all completed areas are connected.
But the problem is that not every craftsman's skills are excellent. Some people's skills are rusty, and some people are only outstanding in each specific field.
This results in the construction progress of each fire being completely different.
While some fires have completed construction in the area they are responsible for, some fires have only completed half of the work, which drags down the total construction period.
After hearing this, Zhou Jun generally had an idea.
He straightened his clothes, walked up to the superior officials, sang a song first, and then said to the chamberlain: "Ding Naicheng, please show your noble hand."
When Ding Naicheng saw that the person who came was only an eighth-rank official, he said angrily: "Who are you?"
Zhou Jun smiled and said: "This is Zhou Jun, the chief of the Ministry of Punishment's capital lawsuit."
Ding Naicheng was stunned when he heard this, thought for a moment, and then asked: "But Zhou Hengcai, Zhou Erlang?"
Zhou Jun nodded.
Ding Naicheng's expression softened and he said: "I have heard Mr. Fan talk about you a long time ago, and I always get to see you today... Then tell me, why can't you beat these craftsmen?"
Zhou Jun put himself in his shoes and knew that if he wanted to persuade Ding Naicheng, he had to give reasons from his perspective, so he said: "Cheng Neicheng, please think about it. If flogging is used, the hands and feet of these craftsmen will be injured, making them unable to do anything."
Wouldn't it be more delayed if they do work... In my opinion, it's better to record a demerit first and then see the consequences. If these craftsmen can make up for their mistakes, then forget it. If they can't, it's not too late to punish them."
After hearing this, Ding Naicheng felt that it made sense.
If this group of craftsmen were to be defeated, their authority would be established and their anger would be relieved, but people would be injured and there would be less manpower, and the construction schedule would probably be even further delayed.
After thinking about this, Ding Naicheng nodded to Zhou Jun and said to the craftsmen: "I will remember you for your mistakes today. If you slack off again, you will not be lenient!"
Seeing the craftsmen thanking them one after another, Ding Naicheng said to Luo Nandou and other officials: "The Lantern Festival is getting closer and closer. The construction period has been delayed again and again, so you must give us a schedule."
Luo Nandou looked at the officials around him and said to Ding Naicheng: "Please be patient, Naicheng. Let's discuss a strategy and we will be able to complete the lantern tower before the Lantern Festival."
Ding Naicheng said "that's how it is" and then left.
Seeing Neicheng walking away, Luo Nandou waved his hand and shouted to the craftsmen in the field: "Okay, let's go to work!"
After everyone gradually dispersed, Luo Nandou and other officials gathered together and began to discuss ways to catch up with the construction deadline.
Master Mao Shun, who had always had a stubborn temper, walked up to Zhou Jun and bowed to the latter.
Mao Shun: "I thanked Mr. Zhou for speaking up."
Zhou Jun was a little surprised. He quickly helped Mao Shun up and said, "Jun knows that craftsmanship requires the coordination of eyes, ears, hands, heart, and thoughts. Without decades of experience, it is difficult to do it."
To be complete. This delay in the construction period is not due to slackness on the part of the craftsmen, but simply to a lack of craftsmanship."
When Mao Shun heard this, his eyes widened. When he looked at Zhou Jun, the hostility and indifference of the past were no longer in his eyes.
At this time, Zhou Jun walked to the middle of the officials who were discussing the plan and said to Luo Nandou: "Jun has a method that may shorten the construction period and improve efficiency."
When Luo Nandou heard this, he hurriedly asked Zhou Jun: "What is the method? Come quickly?"
Zhou Jun: "This method is called assembly line."
Luo Nandou looked confused: "Assembly line?"
Zhou Jun turned around and pointed at the construction site and said: "At the moment, thirty craftsmen work for one fire, and each fire is responsible for building a lamp room."
"Because the level of craftsmen varies, some fires progress quickly and some fires progress slowly."
"The so-called assembly line is to divide all the remaining work into individual processes. Each craftsman is responsible for the processes he is good at according to his personal strengths."
Luo Nandou was still a little confused: "Can Mr. Zhou explain in detail?"
Zhou Jun picked up a piece of wood from the ground and said to the others: "Take the mortise and tenon joints that connect the wood. Columns, beams, beams, pads, trusses, purlins, brackets, rafters, and balusters are all needed.
Tenon."
"Among the thirty people in a fire, six are specifically responsible for making mortise and tenon joints. Those with skillful skills can make forty mortise and tenon joints in one day, while those with unfamiliar skills can only make fifteen mortise and tenon joints in one day."
"If we take another approach and break down and display all the processes involved in making mortise and tenon joints, roughly speaking, we can roughly measure the space, trace the line, cut the wood, grind the sill, make the shoulder, dowels, etc. Each person is only responsible for
After one process, you can hand over the rough materials you have made to the next person, so you can save a lot of time."
Luo Nandou took a breath after hearing this and asked with some anxiety: "No one has ever tried this method before. Can it work?"
“This method works!”
A voice suddenly came from outside the crowd. Everyone turned around and saw that the speaker was Master Mao Shun.
Master Mao Shun looked excited and said with excitement: "Master Zhou's method sounds a bit ridiculous, but it is in line with the essence and is a unique way!"
When Luo Nandou heard what Master Mao Shun said, he had some knowledge in his heart. He glanced at the people around him and asked, "How about giving it a try?"
Everyone looked at each other, then nodded in agreement.
Therefore, Luo Nandou followed the assembly line method and broke up the craftsmanship of thirty people per fire. Instead, he assigned the most skilled craftsmen to each of the most difficult processes such as measuring the perimeter, setting the stakes, and hooping.
.
Common processes such as mortise and tenon joints, cutting, and polishing were broken down and handed over to craftsmen with lesser skills.
As for those who help, they are responsible for the simplest tasks such as feeding, transporting, cleaning, etc.
At the beginning, the cooperation between the craftsmen was a bit rough, and mistakes would occasionally occur.
However, after everyone adapted to the assembly line craftsman's work, the structure of Shangyuan Deng Tower was completed in mid-November, a full month earlier than expected.
next chapter
This chapter has been completed!