In the 21st year of King Qin's reign, it has been two full years since Citron was honored as a duke because of his work on the "Anlu Pei" and was favored by the county engineer, who asked him to work as a craftsman in the county.
In the past two years, Citron and his wife settled down in the county town. From the initial novelty and uneasiness to gradually getting used to it, the life in the county town is much richer than that in Xiaolilu. He no longer has to watch others eat helplessly. He can get a fixed annual salary, plus
Zhong has been helping to cultivate the 100 acres of farmland, and the family has no worries about food and clothing, and is so wealthy that they can eat meat every day.
Citron is satisfied and feels that this is what he pursues in his life.
The only trouble is that as a government-run craftsman, you can't build whatever you want. You must receive a slip from the government and a "letter of orders" for production permission before you can start work. Without this, you can't work. Otherwise, you can't start work.
Including Citron's superior engineer, all of them were fined a second grade.
Even if Heifu asked Citron to help him make a stone wheel for pressing sugar cane pulp, he could only make it during his break. He had to bring all the materials by himself and did not dare to take a piece of wood from the workshop. Not long ago, a craftsman was accused of stealing.
Workshop materials were used for private work and were severely punished, reducing them to slave laborers without freedom.
In addition to Shiluo, when Heifu was about to leave Anlu in early January, someone sent a message to Citron, asking him to take leave and go back to his hometown for a few days. Citron thought something had happened, and after hurriedly returning to the sunset, he found that Heifu had given him
The wood of a tree was prepared, hoping that he would make something that has not yet appeared in this era!
The citron skill was excellent. Hei Fu just described the general appearance of the object, and he had a map in his mind. As the ax danced rapidly, the planer pushed out the rolled wood flowers, and the copper-nailed wooden citron was placed in the appropriate place. Hei Fu
The required machinery gradually took shape: a small water wheel no more than four feet high...
Heifu asked Citron to place the small water wheel in the ditch beside their field. When the brothers released water into the rice fields, the horizontal plates of the small water wheel drove the entire water wheel to roll counterclockwise under the impact of the water flow. As long as the water flow continued, it would
It won't stop.
"This thing is quite interesting."
Although Citron found it interesting, he didn't take it seriously. He didn't think this thing could be of any practical use. As Heifu left for the county town, in the next month, Citron continued to devote himself to his daily work and put this thing
Things were forgotten.
It wasn't until one day in early February, when Tong was teaching two apprentices to make treadmills, that the county engineer called him over with a solemn face and handed him a transfer order from the county. Tong felt that something was wrong...
"The county wants to transfer me to Ying County?"
Citron was a little confused. Although he couldn't bear to live a peaceful life at the moment, he didn't dare to disobey the county order. After his wife's nagging, he packed his bags and didn't bring much with him. He only brought rulers, squares, planers, saws and other tools for stone and wood craftsmen to eat.
Guy.
"As long as I have these, I won't starve to death wherever I go, so I don't have to worry about it."
After patting his trousers and comforting his wife, Citron set out on his journey. This was the first time he had left Anlu County in the thirty years since he was born.
While tossing and turning in the pavilion on the way, Tong also thought to himself: "Is it possible that the matter of transferring me to the county has something to do with Mr. Hei?"
Because two years ago, it was Heifu who gave him a big gift and allowed him to come to the county seat.
Citron originally thought that he would have to go to the county town to meet Heifu, but he never thought that just after they crossed the wide Han River ferry, Heifu was already waiting here.
"Sister-in-law!"
Hei Fu waved to the dusty Citron from afar. There was a young man beside him who looked honest and good-natured. But the tattoo on the young man's face made Citron a little surprised. Hei Fu was an official now, so why did he talk to him?
A tattooed prisoner staying together?
It turned out that Heifu had not been idle these days. He volunteered to go on a business trip to Jingling County, two hundred miles away, to determine the number of soldiers recruited in Jingling County. He also visited Huaimu's widow and two brothers.
He conveyed Huaimu's last words to Huaimu's widow, left twelve taels of gold and left. As for Huaimu's two younger brothers, they had also regained their freedom. The younger uncle was able to inherit Huaimu's "doctor" position.
Although Sangmu himself did not commit a crime, he had an experience of trying to escape, so his face was tattooed with ink. In addition to being a hidden official, he wanted to be in other positions.
It is extremely difficult to make a living in this industry.
When Heifu saw that he looked very similar to Sophora Mu, he couldn't help but miss his old friend, so he simply asked Sangmu to go back to Ying County with him.
"I happen to be short of a driver."
Hei Fu did not discriminate against Sang Mu. He patted him and said, "Sang Mu said he can drive an ox-cart. He has gone to school in the county for a few months and should be able to drive a carriage as well."
Tong couldn't say much, but the ink characters on Sang Mu's face still made him feel dazzling, because in Tong's subconscious, those who broke the law must not be good people. It was only when he was resting in a pavilion by the Han River that he finally found the opportunity.
I asked Hei Fu alone.
As a result, Heifu frightened Citron out of his wits with just one word!
"I told the county lieutenant that as long as you give your sister-in-law the manpower and money, you can transform the treadmill that still requires manpower to operate into an artifact that does not require manpower and can operate automatically. This can save manpower ten times!"
Citron's eyes widened, and he murmured honestly: "Is there really such a device? Why didn't I know about it?"
…
Citron couldn't eat again, and the "impossible task" Heifu had taken on for him made him worried.
Hei Fu was not worried, he just asked Citron to follow him to the bank of Han River in the evening.
"The Han Dynasty is so vast that it is impossible to think about it; the river is so long that it is impossible to think about it."
The boatmen who carry boats to and from transporting people still sing songs that were circulated hundreds of years ago. Under the setting sun, the water dyed red by the sun stretches as far as the eye can see.
"Water flows from the earth, and the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, and Han River are all rivers." The Han River, together with the Yangtze River, Dahe River, and Huai River, are the four major water systems of this era. Compared with the Ru River that Heifu once crossed, it is more than two or three times wider.
times.
There is a group of young people playing naked by the water. Unlike the landlubbers in the north, they have been in the water since they were young and have become good at water. This group of young people swim happily, or go along the river.
Those who are in good health will also cross the Han River back and forth. They will be the main recruitment targets of Nanjun's three thousand "building and boat warriors".
Heifu also saw groups of women washing their clothes by the water, waving mallets, pounding clothes and washing, and loudly tugging at their parents and children. There were even some old women washing baskets and earthen pots in the river.
…
The Han River is the mother river of Nanjun people. Tens of thousands of families live on both sides of the Han River. They rely on the Han River to irrigate their fields and also rely on the inexhaustible aquatic life in the river to supplement their meat diet.
However, in summer and autumn, the Han River is no longer as gentle as before. It is the "Han River Tangtang" that everyone fears. Floods occur every year, destroying some fields and houses in low-lying areas, and making residents near the water tremble.
."At that time, the Jingliu River will be really big, and there will be no cattle or horses between the two Zhuzhou cliffs."
After walking for more than a hundred steps along the Han River and exchanging seemingly unrelated words, Hei Fu asked Citron: "But sister-in-law, have you ever thought about the Jingliu River that runs faster than the galloping of oxen and horses?
How great it would be if they could be used to work for people like livestock!"
"Control...Jingliu?" Citron couldn't imagine.
"I dare not say control."
Those who are good swimmers are prone to drowning, so they still have to be in awe of nature. Heifu smiled and said: "I just hope that He Bo will share some of this wasted power of flowing water with us, that's all."
Citron still thinks Heifu's idea is whimsical. They can scoop water from rivers for drinking. They can build water conservancy dams to divert the runoff and let it flow into dry fields, but let the water flow directly help people work like cattle and horses?
"Even if it is something that only He Bo, Xiang Jun and other water gods can do, how can humans be as capable as water gods?" Citron raised doubts. The idea was good, but he didn't think that such a thing could be accomplished with just human power.
.
Heifu shook his head and said: "Otherwise, I heard that in ancient times, people thought that fire was a gift from the gods, until a sage named Suiren made fire with his own hands. Nowadays, any child can make fire with flint and a knife.
If it can be done, does anyone still think this is a miracle?"
He knows that the history of human utilization of energy, that is, the history of human understanding and conquest of nature, the first stage is the discovery and utilization of fire; the second stage is the utilization of natural power such as animal power, water power, wind power, etc.; and the third stage is fossils.
Fuel, electricity, atomic energy...
Today's China is still at the beginning of the second stage. It has made full use of the power of livestock, but the use of water power and wind power is still extremely limited. On the land of China, thousands of streams and rivers rush into the sea, and their potential energy is being consumed.
It’s a waste that no one thinks of using. Only countless concubines and common people are still desperately using their own labor to do those heavy tasks. They are suffering under such heavy labor. Many people do not live to be thirty or forty years old...
Therefore, Heifu felt that it was time to upgrade technology from 2.1 to 2.2. The time traveler should not only make up for the regrets of history, but also liberate productivity as much as possible and liberate more people from monotonous heavy work. This was also his mission
historical mission.
And it all started with this conversation by the Han River.
"Sister-in-law, do you still remember the small waterwheel you and I made in Anlu?" Heifu said.
"Remember." But Citron only regarded it as a game for children.
Heifu pointed out: "That is actually a sharp weapon used to utilize water power. The water flows against the crossbar on the water wheel, causing the water wheel to rotate day and night. If a wooden shaft is installed on the water wheel, there will be another wooden shaft on the wooden shaft.
Putting the wooden platform... In this way, there is no need for people to step on it with the weight of the body. Doesn't the wooden platform move by itself under the drive of the water wheel? "
Seeing Citron's expression of sudden realization, Heifu knew that he finally understood, and said: "This is what I said is an artifact that can pound ore and grain by itself without manpower."
"This thing moves with water, how about we call it Shui Lei?"