With no choice, Su Hao could only abandon Cheng Yi and teach Han Qian another lesson, which finally made the little girl smile. Lu Xiuer was a slow girl and couldn't taste the taste. She only knew her brother.
My level is very high. I gave a lesson to Sister Cheng and a lesson to Sister Han. Now both sisters have understood it. But after Sister Cheng understood it, she was still thinking about it with the pieces of paper.
Her mind was all on those numbers. Sister Han was just satisfied with the process of understanding, and now she had begun to ask questions about her brother and learn about his going to the countryside.
"Mr. Su, I heard from my father that you are going to Xuanfeng Township to look for coal deposits. I wonder what you will get?" Han Qian returned to her seat, lowered her head slightly, and asked Su Hao.
Su Hao didn't intend to hide it from her, so he said truthfully: "The harvest has been very good, we have found several coal deposits, and we have negotiated the price with the owner of the mountain farm. Now we just wait for Secretary Dai to take over the kiln, and then raise the money."
Once you get enough and prepare some tools, you can start mining."
"In that case, congratulations to Mr. Su." Han Qian said.
"Actually, this is also an errand for Han Zhi County. Mining coal is also Han Zhi County's political achievement." Su Hao said.
"Then the little girl will thank Master Su on behalf of her father." Han Qian said.
Su Hao said quickly: "How dare you? Magistrate Han has entrusted the students with important responsibilities, and the students have nothing to repay. How dare you say thank you for doing such a small thing?"
The two of them were talking politely to each other. Lu Xiuer felt bored listening to it. She interrupted their conversation and asked Su Hao: "Brother, you just asked me to come downstairs and said you had something to do."
I'm helping, what's the matter?"
Only then did Su Hao remember his business. He spread the large roll of maps he had brought back on the table and said to Lu Xiuer: "It's a very labor-intensive and troublesome matter. Come and see, this is our trip to Xuanfeng."
There are more than 30 maps in total that I went to survey. I want to find someone to draw them on a map. I just need to follow the drawing, but the lines need to be thin. Can you do this?"
Since Su Hao planned to mine coal in Xuanfeng Township, he naturally had to master the local mountain and road distribution in order to arrange the location of mines, material yards, transportation channels, etc. During the inspection of Xuanfeng Township, he and Ma Yu,
They kept doing simple surveying and mapping, and drew maps everywhere. But these maps had a common shortcoming, that is, when drawn with a brush, the lines were too thick, and not much could be drawn on one piece of paper, so they had to be divided into many sheets.
Picture to express.
Su Hao has always thought about summarizing these maps and making a complete map. He tried it himself and wanted to use very thin ink lines to outline it, but in the end he found that this work was too grinding. As a theory
Master Wanji, it seems a bit wasteful for him to do such a thing.
In desperation, he thought of Lu Xiu'er. It would be most suitable for a girl to do this kind of thing. However, Lu Xiu'er was illiterate and had never written anything. It would be very difficult for her to do this kind of work. Su Hao was worried about it.
There is no good solution for this either.
Lu Xiuer clicked her tongue as she looked at the maps. This kind of thing that required figurative writing was what she was most afraid of. Han Qian and Cheng Yi also came forward. Listening to Su Hao's explanation, they also frowned.
I feel so embarrassed.
Cheng Yi said: "I'm afraid it's a bit difficult for Xiu'er to do these things. The little girl is proficient in writing and is willing to help. However, Master Su's drawings have too many lines. I'm afraid it won't fit into one picture.
, the ink stains seep into each other, and in the end nothing can be seen clearly."
Su Hao nodded and said: "I am also worried about this. Because the ink will penetrate, I have to use large paper to draw it. Now this is just a map of a township. In the future, if I want to draw a map of a county or even a province
, wouldn’t it require using a large piece of paper several feet square?”
Han Qian also thought about this problem, and she asked: "Mr. Su, can this picture be drawn with the kind of charcoal pencil you are used to? If you want to draw such thin lines, I'm afraid you can only use charcoal pencil."
Su Hao said: "It's OK to use the charcoal drawing for temporary use, but if it is used for a long time, the charcoal traces will be easily erased."
"Just erase it and draw again..." Han Qian blurted out, but halfway through, she swallowed the rest of the words. She also knew that this was unrealistic.
While everyone was worrying, Deng Kui and Hao Tong came over from the backyard. As soon as they entered the main room, they saw so many people gathered around the room, and they quickly saluted everyone. During these days when Su Hao went to Xuanfeng Township, Cheng Yi and
Han Qian has been here several times and has met Deng Kui and Hao Tong, so everyone is not unfamiliar with each other.
"Master Su is back?" Deng Kui and Hao Tong asked.
"Aren't you two going out to play?" Su Hao replied with a smile.
Hao Tong shook his head and stopped talking. But Deng Kui spoke out: "Master Su, our brothers haven't seen you in the past few days. I wonder what you are doing?"
Lu Xiuer glared at Deng Kui and said, "Brother Deng, you are just pretending to be confused. Didn't I tell you a few days ago that my brother went to the countryside to look for coal mines?"
Deng Kui was exposed by Lu Xiuer, but he was not upset. Instead, he continued to ask Su Hao: "Master Su, I wonder if what the eldest lady said is true?"
Su Hao heard some displeasure in Deng Kui's words. He didn't know the reason, so he nodded and said: "Xiu'er is right, I went to Xuanfeng Township to look for coal mines and spent a few days.
"
"As for the matter that Mr. Tu asked Master Su to do, I wonder when Master Su plans to start it?" Deng Kui asked.
Only then did Su Hao understand that Deng Kui and Hao Tong were angry that Cheng Yao went out to find ways to make money, but did not take the matter of making guns to heart. In Su Hao's heart, he felt that making guns should not be rushed and needed
Planning before taking action, designing the gun, and searching for craftsmen all take time. But for Deng Kui and Hao Tong, this matter is completely different. They were left in Fengcheng by Tu Wenhuan for the purpose of helping
Su Hao made a gun. Su Hao didn't do it for a long time. Didn't the two of them stay here in vain?
Su Hao wanted to say that he didn't need the two soldiers to control how he did things. Then he thought about it, it seemed that he had been a bodyguard for him a while before he got home, and he hadn't even thanked him for joining the house. If he didn't take care of the gun-making thing
If you take it seriously, what qualifications do you have to let others protect you?
"So you two are asking about this matter." Su Hao said with a smile, "You two don't know something. My younger brother went to Xuanfeng Township to look for coal. What Mr. Tu told me is also related?"
"What's the connection between finding coal and making that thing?" Hao Tong asked strangely. Because Han Qian and Cheng Yi were present, he couldn't directly say the word "flintlock gun".
Su Hao said: "What Mr. Tu wants is good cast iron. And to smelt cast iron well, you need high-quality coking coal. Now there is a shortage of raw coal in the Fengcheng market, let alone coking coal. My brother is going to mine coal.
In order to be able to build coking kilns and iron-making furnaces. Do you think this matter is related to Mr. Tu’s instructions?"
"This..." Both soldiers were at a loss for words. They didn't know much about industrial matters, but Su Hao's explanation seemed reasonable and they couldn't refute it. Only good iron can produce good guns. This truth makes sense.
Yes, but in order to build a gun, starting from mining coal is a bit too far.
"Master Su, this matter is of great importance. I ask Master Su to hurry up." Hao Tong said slowly. He originally planned to accuse Su Hao, but now he was stopped by Su Hao and he felt a little weak.
"Don't worry, I've been thinking about this. I'll go talk to the blacksmith in a few days and see what else needs to be prepared." Su Hao said with a smile.
Deng Kui and Hao Tong couldn't do anything to Su Hao. They nodded to Su Hao and turned around to leave. Su Hao's heart moved and he called out to them:
"You two stay here, I just have something to ask you."
The two came to the station and took a rest. When they turned around, Hao Tong asked, "Master, please tell me something."
Su Hao said: "I want to ask you, what materials are used to draw the maps in the army?"
"What are the maps used to draw?" Deng Kui and Hao Tong were puzzled by Su Hao's question. Deng Kui replied: "Isn't the map drawn with pen and paper? What else can be used?"
"What pen to use?" Su Hao asked.
"Of course it's a writing brush." Deng Kui said.
Su Hao pointed to the map on the table and said to them: "Take a look at how a picture like this is drawn in the army. How can you ensure that the writing will not bleed into each other with a brush?"
Deng Kui and Hao Tong walked to the table, looked at the map drawn by Su Hao, and shook their heads: "Master Su, what kind of map did you draw? Why are there all big traps and small circles? In our army,
Maps, that’s not the case.”
"That's not..." Su Hao finished speaking and suddenly slapped his head. He knew where he had made a mistake. The picture he drew used the contour projection method. The circles around him were all ground.
Contour lines on the map. On the maps of the Ming Dynasty, mountains and rivers were represented by pictographic symbols. It seems that contour lines have not been invented in the West. Regarding the use of contour lines, he once taught
Ma Yu, apart from Ma Yu, probably no one else in the entire Ming Dynasty knew what this was.
"This thing is called a contour line." Su Hao had to explain to everyone, "Each line represents the same height. This circle is 5 feet. If the height of the mountain is large, one circle represents 50 feet or 100 feet.
There are some too.”
"Contour lines..." The two soldiers stared at the map for a long time. Deng Kui pointed to a place hesitantly and asked Su Hao: "Master Su, you mean, this is a valley. The mountain on the east side is 15 feet high.
, 20 feet to the west. Is it a gentle slope to the east and a steep slope to the west?”
"Not bad, brother!" Su Hao couldn't help but wanted to pat Deng Kui on the shoulder. He was indeed a professional soldier, and his understanding of maps was so good. He didn't know anything about contours just now, but in the blink of an eye he already knew nothing about it.
Able to read pictures accurately.
"Great! Who created this?" Deng Kui's eyes widened and he asked Su Hao excitedly, "If anyone can grant this map-making method to a scout in our army, my deputy general is willing to pay a large sum of money to thank him.