Six hundred and seventieth eight chapters questioning before the imperial court
Fang Jun showed the drawings on the table to Liu Laoshi and said, "Come and see if this plow can be made."
When Liu Laoshi heard this, he quickly rubbed his hands on his pants. He was repairing farm tools at home just now, and his hands were stained with a lot of dust. He was frightened by Fang Jun's "Master".
Sweat and sticky hands.
After it was a little clean, I respectfully took the drawing handed over by Fang Jun and looked at it carefully.
"Huh? The shape of this plow stick is a bit strange... The shaft of the plow is straight, why did it become curved? The shaft of the plow? The shaft of the plow is curved..."
Liu Laoshi frowned and looked at this strange guy on the drawing. He was sure it was a plow stick, but it was different in many places.
He is an old carpenter, and his craftsmanship is very good. Not only the Fang family village, but also several nearby noble farms will occasionally ask him to help make and repair plow sticks. In most of his life, he has made no plow sticks.
One hundred also has eighty.
He couldn't understand the thing on the drawing, but looking at the lines in the drawing, although they were thin, they were clearly distinguishable, so it was obvious that they were not drawn wrong.
Liu Laoshi felt a little guilty and glanced at Fang Jun secretly, wondering if Erlang was just idle and drawing something to entertain himself?
But that shouldn't be possible. Erlang is a very noble man, so he has nothing to do to amuse himself, a stinky carpenter who makes trouble with mud?
Is it possible that this strange thing is really a plow stick?
Liu Laoshi felt that Erlang would not amuse himself for no reason, so he calmed down and looked at the drawings carefully, wondering what the purpose of each scattered component was.
After all, he is an experienced carpenter, so he immediately saw some clues.
"The curved shaft... Oops! Since this time, isn't it that the center of gravity has been firmly fixed at the top of the arc of the curved shaft? No matter how the cattle pulling the plow move, the center of gravity will not shift at all. In the past, in order to ensure that the plow
The center of gravity of the stick allows it to move forward in a straight line. It uses a straight shaft, which requires two oxen to drive the plow stick forward at the same time... The plow shaft changes from straight to curved, doesn't it mean that only one oxen can pull the plow?
Plowing the ground with a stick? My God, this design is so ingenious!"
Liu Laoshi was shocked and immediately saw how significant it would be once the plow stick in this drawing could be made.
The simplest thing is to turn two oxen pulling the plow into one.
what does that mean?
This means that under the premise of the same time and the same number of cattle, the speed of plowing will double!
The number of cattle is extremely limited. Even a prominent family like the Fang family only has a dozen cattle and more than 2,000 acres of land. According to the past, when straight-hook plows were used to cultivate land, two-thirds of the land would be plowed every year.
The land cannot be cultivated completely. What to do with the uncultivated land? It is very simple, use human power to cultivate the land.
However, manpower is limited. Even if all the old, young, women, and children go into battle, only about one-third of the total number can be cultivated.
What about the other third?
Because I didn't have time to plow the land, I simply used a plow to draw out a ridge and planted some random seeds. You can imagine what the yield would be.
If this kind of curved shaft plow is used to cultivate land, wouldn't it be possible to use oxen to plow two-thirds of the land? If the remaining one-third is plowed by humans, all the land can be plowed!
This year’s grain production will increase by at least 10%!
The most serious thing is, what if everyone in the world uses this kind of curved shaft plow?
Oh my god...
Liu Laoshi's hands holding the blueprint kept trembling, and his whole body was trembling. He just felt that the blueprint in his hand was simply a priceless treasure. If a commoner presented this to the court, it would not be too much for your majesty to reward him with a marquis.
?
Fang Jun was shocked when he saw Liu Laoshi's expression was dull and his body was shaking. Could it be that this old carpenter also suffered from a stroke?
"Plop"
Liu Laoshi knelt on the ground, raised the drawings above his head with both hands, and said in a trembling voice: "I beg Erlang!"
Fang Jun was confused, why did he kneel down again?
"Please get up quickly, Lao Liu, why are you doing this? What's the difficulty, but it doesn't matter."
Liu Laoshi raised his head, his old face with wrinkles like chrysanthemums was already full of tears, and said in a harsh voice: "I only ask Erlang to entrust me with the making of this curved shaft plow. Three days, give me three days, and it will be done."
Make this plow staff!"
Fang Jun was a little speechless and said, "I asked you to do it originally. If you don't do it, why should I do it?"
Liu Laoshi was overjoyed.
He is an insightful person, so he naturally knows the meaning of this thing. This thing was drawn by Erlang out of imagination, and he would not dare to take it for himself. No matter the morality and secular laws in his heart, he would not be allowed to do that.
.
Even an old carpenter like him didn't dare to think about being granted a title or title.
But once this thing proves to be as convenient as I guessed, it will be spread all over the world. And the first person to make this thing, won't I also be able to leave a name in history?
"In the winter of the 11th year of Zhenguan, the carpenter Liu Laoshi made the first curved shaft plow..."
Just thinking that this sentence might appear in a certain history book, Liu Laoshi was so happy that he almost went crazy. He held the drawings as if he were holding a rare treasure, said goodbye, and went straight home in a hurry.
.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he turned around a corridor, he was stopped by someone.
A graceful and graceful lady stood in front of the corridor with a smile.
Liu Laoshi didn't know this person, but the gossip spread in Zhuangzi told him that this must be the concubine given to Erlang by His Majesty, the Wu family.
"Liu Laoshi has met the noble man and wants to pay his respects to the noble man..."
Liu Laoshi saluted respectfully, still holding the drawing in his hand.
Wu Meiniang smiled softly and said softly: "Master, there is no need to be polite."
Her tone is soft, her manners are elegant, and she is indescribably dignified and virtuous.
Liu Laoshi shivered again. Why are the people in this village so strange? They all call me "Master"...
Wu Meiniang's beautiful eyes turned slightly and asked: "Master, do you know what you have in your hands?"
Liu Laoshi was a little surprised and replied: "To tell you the truth, it's a drawing..."
Wu Meiniang covered her lips and smiled softly: "I know it is a drawing... I mean, do you know your duty as a servant?"
Liu Laoshi was startled, and quickly bowed and said: "I know that I will never dare to do anything to harm my master's family... But, what are your orders?"
Wu Meiniang looked at the drawing he held high in his hand and said softly: "This thing was created by Erlang. I don't know. It will become an heirloom of the Fang family in the future. I hope the master will handle it carefully and not be stolen by others."
It’s over.”
Liu Laoshi's heart trembled, and he quickly said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured. Although I am stupid, I also know how precious this thing is, and I will strictly abide by the drawings to prevent others from coveting it."
Wu Meiniang smiled and shook her head. A golden walking stick was inserted into her bun of cloud-like green silk. It swayed slightly with her movements and reflected the halo in the sun.
"Since this thing is named a plow, it is used for farming. If it is really beneficial to farming, sooner or later it will spread all over the world, and there is no way to cover it up. As long as you remember, before Erlang makes this thing public, it must be kept a secret
And it’s done.”
Just when she went to Fang Jun's study, she overheard the conversation of several people. Wu Meiniang, who was extremely intelligent, knew how valuable this thing was. Seeing that Fang Jun didn't care much about it, she stopped Liu Laoshi here and gave her instructions.
I sighed in my heart, I really don’t know whether this Fang Erlang is smart or stupid.
Call him stupid, but he could come up with such an ingenious thing.
But if you say he is smart, he has no idea what impact this thing will have on the Tang Dynasty. Although it is impossible to keep this thing secret for a long time, once it is used in the field, it will inevitably be leaked, but before that, there are too many ways
You can get more benefits with this thing.
Wu Meiniang stood quietly in the yard, looking in the direction of the study, with complicated thoughts.