About sixty miles away in a straight line to the northeast of Daliang, there is a county called "Xiaohuang". The soil here is fertile and there are many farmlands. It is an important planting area that supplies corn to the Daliang market.
At the same time, there is also a Mohist "experimental field" here, and the corresponding "rice pounding workshop" and "grinding workshop".
That large experimental field, including the surrounding open space, was rented to the Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau by the wealthy "Wushi" family in Xiaohuang County at a very low price. The reason is very simple. "Xiaohuang Wushi" is the Wugui concubine.
’s natal family.
Thanks to the care of Concubine Shen Shu and Zhao Hongrun, mother and son, when she heard that the Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau was planning to allocate a piece of land for experiments, Wu Guibi wrote to her parents' family and asked "Xiao Huang Wu's" to rent a lot of land at a very low rent.
Land to Smelting Bureau.
Of course, Zhao Hongrun reciprocated the favor afterwards and allowed "Little Huang Wushi" to join the Sushi Chamber of Commerce. Now, Wu Guibi's brothers and nephews are all working hard to make money in Luocheng, Sanchuan or the border market of Qixian County, so that there are only some
The old people stayed in Xiaohuang, such as Wu Guibi's father and Zhao Hongzhao's grandfather Wu Yuan.
At the end of March, when Zhao Hongrun came to Xiaohuang's experimental field, Wu Yuan was walking in the field with two servants on crutches to inspect the field.
Seeing Wu Yuan from a distance, Zhao Hongrun stood up, walked to the former, bowed his hands, and respectfully called him "Shigong".
"His Royal Highness King Su." Wu Yuan returned the greeting with his hands in hand.
In this regard, Zhao Hongrun could only smile bitterly. After all, he asked Wu Yuan to call him "Hongrun" more than once, but Wu Yuan always said that etiquette cannot be abolished.
After some pleasantries, Wu Yuan asked eagerly: "Your Highness, King Su, your decrepit grandson, have you ever written a letter?"
Wu Yuan's grandson is Zhao Hongrun's sixth brother, Zhao Hongzhao, who now holds the power of left prime minister in Qi State.
But how could Zhao Hongrun know about this? After all, he and Zhao Hongzhao did not communicate every month. Due to the distance, it was already extraordinary to receive one or two letters from Zhao Hongzhao throughout the year.
Zhao Hongrun knew that Wu Yuan loved his grandson Zhao Hongzhao very much, even more than his own grandson. Who made Zhao Hongzhao smart and popular since he was a child?
In this regard, Zhao Hongrun could only comfort him with kind words.
"Your Highness King Su, it is said that the civil strife in Qi has not subsided yet?" Wu Yuan asked, blinking his eyes.
To be honest, Zhao Hongrun really didn't pay much attention to the civil strife in Qi these days, but looking at the worried look on Wu Yuan's face, he vowed: "It should be soon... Shigong doesn't need to worry too much."
Worry, in terms of status, the Sixth Brother is the son-in-law of King Lu Xi of Qi and a dignified left prime minister. In terms of intelligence, the Sixth Brother is above the younger brother. In addition, the Sixth Brother also has the will of Qi King Lu Xi.
The civil strife among the princes is of no concern... On the contrary, it is the prince, please take care of yourself, you are now the ‘grandfather’.”
Upon hearing this, the old man suddenly beamed. For this old man who always loved his grandson Zhao Hongzhao, what could make him happier than his grandson getting married and having children.
Unfortunately, the old man has not seen his great-great-grandson in person so far.
Wu Yuan told Zhao Hongrun that after the civil strife in Qi subsided, he would take a boat to Qi to visit his grandson, his grandson's wife and his great-great-grandson. Zhao Hongrun naturally followed his words and made the old man smile.
After chatting about personal matters, it was time to talk about business. Zhao Hongrun told Wu Yuan that he was here specifically to inspect the "hydraulic rice pounding" and "hydraulic grinding" workshop machinery developed by the Smelting Bureau, and invited Wu Yuan to go with him.
Wu Yuan was delighted to be invited. After all, he was also quite curious about some of the hydraulic machinery of the Smelting Bureau.
In fact, to be precise, these civilian machinery were not developed by the Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau, but by a group of former Song craftsmen, Xu Ruo, the great master of Song Dynasty in the Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau - possibly influenced by Zhao Hongrun, the Metallurgical Manufacturing Bureau
The bureau is particularly focused on developing war weapons, improving armaments, and building giant ships. In comparison, it is not enthusiastic enough about promoting "hydraulic rice pounding machinery" and "hydraulic grinding machinery", even after they are improved according to Zhao Hongrun's requirements.
, either thrown into the warehouse or given to the Ministry of Industry. However, the arrival of Song Mo Juzi Xu Ruo and his group made up for the shortcomings of the Smelting Bureau.
After all, the Mohism of the Lu State actually focused on civilian equipment first, and armaments only secondarily. However, because the war weapons produced by the craftsmen of the Lu State were so powerful that they overshadowed the civilian machinery, making people mistakenly think that the Lu State
The real strength lies in arms manufacturing.
In fact, this is a wrong view.
I remember that Zhao Hongrun was invited by the monarch of Lu to go to Lu after the "Four Kingdoms Attacked Chu". At that time, he noticed that Lu's use of water- and wind-powered equipment was very widespread. Almost all the people of Lu
They all use machines to pound and grind rice in specific workshops, but Wei still uses human power to this day. The difference between the two is more than a tiny bit.
Therefore, after returning to China, Zhao Hongrun handed over the matter of civilian machinery to Xu Ruo, the great scholar of Song Dynasty, and asked them to cooperate with the Ministry of Industry and devote themselves to improving Wei's private production.
Things like waterwheels and canals for field irrigation, water-powered rice pounding, and hydraulic grinding were all improved and manufactured by Xu Ruo's Mohist disciples.
After arriving at the rice pounding workshop, Zhao Hongrun inspected the hydraulic rice pounding machinery.
In fact, to be honest, in his opinion, these crude machines are not very advanced. They are nothing more than hydraulic rotation of a large gear set, which in turn drives the shaft, causing the pounding rod fixed on the shaft to hammer.
The stone mortar underneath.
But it is undeniable that this greatly reduces labor. After all, only those who have tried it can deeply understand how tiring it is to pound rice and shell it. Even two strong young men cannot persist for long.
In this workshop, water power has replaced manpower. People only need to stand next to the stone mortar and turn the corn with their hands from time to time. I don't know how much easier it is.
The hydraulic grinding machine is similar. You only need one person to pour the shelled grain into the small opening above the stone mill, and the water will drive the stone mill to rotate in circles, grinding out fine rice noodles or flour.
It is also very simple to stop these machines. Just remove a piece of gear about one foot from the shaft connected to the water wheel, and a whole row of machinery in the entire workshop will stop.
"very good!"
Zhao Hongrun did not hesitate to praise Xu Ruo and other Mohist disciples who were accompanying him.
Although in his opinion, these water-powered machines are still quite cumbersome, considering the overall technology of this era, it is undeniable that this kind of water-powered machinery is already a very remarkable invention, which will greatly speed up rice pounding and grinding and reduce labor.
.
"Write a detailed record and send it to the Ministry of Industry, which will report it to the court."
Zhao Hongrun was giving instructions to Xu Ruo and others.
In the following days, Zhao Hongrun and his party stayed in Xiao Huang Wushi's mansion, because in addition to the hydraulic machinery, he also had to inspect the irrigation and sowing of the experimental fields. If the experimental results were good, the Ministry of Industry would vigorously promote them to other countries.
Everywhere.
In early April, just before the joint examination, Zhao Hongrun and the Zongwei rushed back to Daliang to preside over the main examination.
The official examination day is set on the third day of April. This day was chosen by the Ministry of Rites, which probably means "this day is auspicious". After all, the Ministry of Rites is most influenced by "quasi-superstitious" things to some extent.
Imperial government office.
On the third day of April, Wen Qi, a retainer of Prince Su's Mansion, quietly slipped out of the palace before dawn and went to Confucius Temple. After all, during the first examination, due to Lu'er's relationship, he was criticized by many candidates. He
I don't want to suffer the consequences again.
When Wen Qi arrived in front of the Confucius Temple, he saw the friend he had met a few days ago, Jie Zizi.
What surprised Wen Qi was that Jie Zizi was alone today, and his sworn brother Wen Shaobo didn't seem to come with him.
Possibly guessing Wen Qi's confusion, Jie Ziyu said with a smile: "I pulled him up to drink in the middle of the night last night and knocked him down. If I expected it to be true, he would probably still be in the mansion now."
Deeply asleep...Where is Brother Zhao?"
Wen Qi then told him about sneaking out of the house early, which made Jie Zigou smile knowingly.
Of course, he deliberately ignored the fact that "the owner's mansion is Prince Su's mansion".
Today's formal examination procedure is not much different from that of the preliminary examination in March. Officials from the Ministry of Rites will also roll their names, and then the candidates will enter according to the examination cards.
As for the examination venue, it is divided into two parts. One part is in the "hui"-shaped room adjacent to the Confucius Temple, and the other part is still in the open space.
I don't know if it was luck, but Wenqi's examination room was arranged in that open space.
"Is it true that King Su is not worried about me cheating?"
After learning the location of his examination room, Wen Qi was so surprised that he was speechless.
After all, he originally thought that Prince Su Zhao Hongrun would use his authority as the examiner to place him in the room.
But after thinking about it, Wen Qi felt relieved. After all, for a cheating expert like him, cheating in the room is easier than in the open-air examination room. After all, there are several walls blocking the room.
Well.
But it was different in the open-air examination room. There were countless invigilators staring at me.
"However, this does not trouble me, Wen Qi..."
With a chuckle, Wen Qi found his seat. Then, he was dumbfounded because he found that his exam seat had not changed and was still the same as the last time he took the exam.
That is to say, in the front seat is Tang Ju of Huayang, in the back seat is Shangshui Jiezi, and on the left is He Xinxian of Daliang.
"...What are you doing?!"
Wenqi was absolutely furious.
He couldn't tell whether this was the Ministry of Rites' laziness or whether His Highness King Su didn't pay any attention to his bet. But in fact, the reason why the seats in the examination room had not changed was because Zhao Hongrun felt it was unnecessary.
Because the invigilators responsible for patrolling this exam are the Blue Crows.
A bunch of candidates want to cheat in front of hundreds of people? Don't even think about it!
"It seems that the only way to start is from the left front seat and the left rear seat..."
While chatting casually with Jie Zizi, Wen Qi looked at the two test subjects in front and left.
At the same time, in the Confucius Temple, Du You, the Minister of Rites, opened a copy of today's exam questions and took a look at it. The expression on his face was very strange.
"Is it really appropriate? The question asked by His Highness Prince Su..."