A plainly dressed woman came out of the house and saw the jar on the table. She asked casually: "Master, what have you bought? Oh, that's not right. It's not time to pay your salary yet."
,How do you have money to buy things?"
The boss opened his mouth and smiled: "One pound of tung oil, but I didn't buy it, it was distributed in the yamen."
"Did you get it?" The woman's eyes widened, staring at the man in disbelief, and asked, "You really don't need money?"
The man nodded and said: "It's really free, but when you light the lamp, you have to cover it with a bowl and scrape up the ash. Next time you need to get the tung oil with the ash. One tael of cigarette ash is exchanged for one pound of tung oil.
.”
"Okay, boss, don't worry. This has been done in my mother's family before. I know how to do it, so don't worry." The woman became more and more happy, and the more she looked at tung oil, the more she liked it. If it was like what the boss said, this would
Doesn’t it mean that you don’t have to worry about lamp oil at home in the future?
In the past, women were naturally dissatisfied with the head of the household taking rice grains to work for the yamen for nothing. Everyone knew that craftsmen were inferior to farmers. Although farmers had to pay taxes and perform corvee labor, farmers
The income is actually not low. Even if the land is taxed, farmers can still keep about 60-70% of it. As long as they own more land, the family can still live a good life.
Besides, Lao Zhu is resting with the people. All wasteland reclaimed by farmers will be exempted from all taxes for three years. In this way, as long as farmers are more diligent, endure hardships, and reclaim more wasteland, they will not only be exempted from taxes for three years, but also be exempted from taxes for three years.
The land can be sold, which gives farmers a certain amount of extra income.
Farmers have always been the envy of craftsmen like the woman, but now the woman has a balance in her heart. Since the government began to pay salaries to the heads of households, they have also given out some things from time to time, like this time tung oil.
There is even a time when silver is given out. Last time, I heard from the master that the craftsmen had done a great job and were given ten taels of silver.
The woman is extremely satisfied with her current life. If things go on like this for a long time, her family's life will be no worse than that of ordinary farmers, and they won't have to do corvee labor.
Han Du soaked in the banknote bureau, discussing with the craftsmen how to get ink. Although the tung oil Han Du had just distributed, no craftsman had collected the ashes yet, but Han Du was not short of money, and he was just trying to make it now.
As for the ink, I might as well just spend some money to buy some and use them for experiments.
Han Du sat on the chair, supporting his head with his arms, watching the craftsmen sitting together and discussing. These were the craftsmen responsible for ink production in the Banknote Bureau in the past.
After a while, the voices of everyone's discussions gradually became quieter until they disappeared. An old craftsman came up and spoke: "Sir, we have discussed it. If we want to achieve what you said, and be able to withstand blisters, we must
It would be too difficult to print clearly and dry quickly. We had never done anything like this before, and for a while, we had no clue at all."
Han Du was not angry. It was normal for him to have no clue. "It doesn't matter if there are difficulties. We can solve them one by one. Let's talk about the first one first. It can withstand blisters. In the past, ink became blurry like water.
, this is absolutely not possible. Treasure money is held and used by people, and it will inevitably be soaked with sweat."
"I have an idea. Oil is not soluble in water. Do you think we can try using oil to mix ink?"
After hearing Han Du's words, several craftsmen looked at each other.
Ink, ink, has always been mixed with water. Now Han Du suddenly proposed using oil to mix ink. This was very different from their experience, and they did not dare to speak easily.
The one who reacted faster suddenly opened his eyes and said tentatively: "My lord, this is a wonderful idea. Maybe you can give it a try. I wonder what kind of oil you want to use?"
Han Du lowered his eyes and said thoughtfully: "Just use tung oil. Anyway, we have it here now and it's easy to use."
After the first problem was solved, Han Du continued: "As for the second problem that was printed clearly, I don't know. You can only try it yourself. As for the third problem, I have some suggestions."
"Sir, please speak." Several craftsmen looked at Han Du.
Han Du thought for a while and said: "It's really just a suggestion. You still need to verify whether it works or not. If you want the ink to dry quickly, it seems that you need to add some plant ashes or some animal ashes. You can try it.
Isn’t it right at once?”
Han Du couldn't remember exactly what was added. After all, he was not a printing major. He only saw a mention in it when watching a movie, and his memory was a little fuzzy.
Several craftsmen nodded and were ready to try it out soon.
After Han Du finished explaining the matter, he was about to get up and leave when he saw Mr. Huang coming over in a hurry.
"grown ups."
Han Du nodded and asked, "What happened?"
Mr. Huang stretched out his hand and signaled, "Sir, please follow me."
Han Du followed Mr. Huang out and walked in the other direction.
While walking and talking, Han Du saw that Huang Lao had a bad expression, as if something big had happened, and asked with a sullen face: "What exactly happened?"
Mr. Huang quickly replied: "Sir, it's like this. Something happened to the printing plate. Today, I followed your instructions and asked the craftsman to engrave the printing plate with a lead plate. I didn't expect that the lead plate was too hard, so I cut the craftsman's plate directly.
The carving knife is damaged."
After hearing this, Han Du looked gloomy and went to the place where the printing plate was carved with Mr. Huang.
"Sir." Seeing Han Du arrive, the craftsman stood up and greeted him.
Han Du nodded and agreed: "Don't be restrained. The carving knife is damaged? Show it to me."
The craftsman picked up the carving knife and handed it over: "Sir, please take a look."
Han Du took the carving knife and took a look, and sure enough he saw that the blade had been curled. He frowned and asked, "Why is this happening?"
The craftsman was worried that Han Du would be blamed, so he quickly explained: "Sir, this carving knife is just an ordinary steel knife. In the past, there was no problem with using it on wooden boards. After all, even the hardest wooden boards are much worse than lead boards.
.Now it is very inconvenient to use this knife to carve lead plates. After a few carvings, the knife becomes like this."
Han Du threw the carving knife back on the table.
The craftsman was frightened when he saw it. It was a pity that such a precious carving knife was just thrown away. However, the craftsman soon realized that the carving knife was useless. Even if it was sharpened again, it would not take more than a few times, and then it would be used again.
Calm down your own ups and downs.
"What if we use the casting method? Can we cast the printing plate directly?" Since engraving with a knife is not feasible, Han Du's first thought was to just cast it directly.
The craftsman shook his head and retorted: "Sir, I also know the casting method. I also went to the blast furnace to take a closer look. However, this casting method can only cast rough things. After casting, it still needs to be carefully polished. But
The patterns on this printing plate are too small and cannot be cast using casting methods."
Han Du understood it as soon as he thought about it. It was just like when he cast the embryo of the waist knife, the blade was polished later.
After thinking for a while, he turned to look at Mr. Huang and asked, "What do you think?"
Mr. Huang was stunned for a moment and replied: "Sir, if this carving knife is not suitable for use, I have no good solution. Perhaps only the carving knife made of the legendary meteorite iron can be used."
Meteorite? Where can I find this type of meteorite?
Han Du was confused when he heard this.
Meteor iron is something that all depends on it falling from the sky. If it doesn’t fall from the sky, no one can do anything about it. Moreover, Han Du has never heard of anyone collecting meteorite. Meteor iron is regarded as a treasure from heaven, and Taoism considers it to be the highest sun.
It is a most precious thing. Even if someone has collected it, they would not show it to others easily, let alone give it to themselves.
Maybe Lao Zhu and Zhu Biao have this thing, but Han Du wants Zhu Biao's help now, and he is not willing to give Zhu Biao a free price for such a small knife.
Moreover, the magic of meteorite is just what the ancients took for granted. To put it bluntly, meteorite is just a lump of iron that has been subjected to high temperatures. Some of them are infiltrated with rare elements during the high-temperature process, and become as magical as the people say.
alloys, and some are actually just like ordinary steel, there is nothing magical about them.
Huh? Infiltrated with rare elements?
Han Du's eyes flashed and he thought of a way.
However, his method is of the type where distant water cannot save a nearby fire, so it cannot be relied upon in an urgent situation.
So, Han Du kept this idea in his mind. At the same time, he shook his head and ordered: "You can't rely on meteorite iron. Isn't Heizi's place good steel? Let's try it with the one there first. No.
It must be suitable for use, as long as it can be used reluctantly. It doesn't matter if one knife is broken, let Heizi make hundreds of them, and he can always engrave the printing plate."
Quantitative changes cause qualitative changes.
Since the quality was not enough, Handu simply used quantity to make up for it.
Anyway, the steelmaking at Heizi comes out in batches, just a few hundred carving knives, not even a drizzle.
"This is a good idea, sir." Mr. Huang praised with his thumb raised.
The craftsman lowered his head and thought for a moment, and felt that this method was feasible. He just stared at the carving knife on the table that had been with him for many years, feeling a little reluctant to part with it. The things he once regarded as treasures were now appearing in baskets.
But when he thought that the carving knife could be used casually and he no longer had to be careful every time he used it like before, the craftsman also showed a happy look on his face.
Han Du ordered to go down and took Mr. Huang for a walk inside the banknote bureau.
The Banknote Bureau has now gradually become bloated from its original single banknote production office.