The Shaofu is one of the important central agencies of the Qin State, responsible for the income of mountains and seas and the government's handicraft manufacturing. Among them, the "Examination Office" in the Shaofu is responsible for leading the work officials of various counties and counties in the Qin State. There are offices in Xianyang and other places.
There are several handicraft workshops and countless officials.
At this time, Zhang Han was in his early twenties. He was just a minor official under Ling Cheng of the Examination Office. Due to the merits of his father's generation, he was promoted to an official as a "Renzi", but he only did small work of welcoming people and sending them there.
In fact, his real interest was in the military and battlefields. Zhang Han and his colleagues often discussed with great interest the battle between Qin and Yan, which was fiercely fought north of Yishui. Now the capital of Yan, Jicheng, has been commanded by the old general Wang Jian.
An army of more than ten thousand had been besieging the country for two months, and the state of Yan was in danger. However, because the Qin army had been stationed at the city for a long time in the winter, the journey was far away, and some of them were unable to keep up with the lack of food, so many people died of cold and starvation.
The timely supply of food and fodder to the front is also one of the responsibilities of the Shaofu and the internal history of the millet.
On this day, Zhang Han was making a bet with his colleagues on how long the Yan Kingdom could last. Suddenly, an urgent letter from Nanjun came from outside, as well as the wooden equipment on the transfer car. It was sent by a grumpy Nanjun
Escort by messenger.
Zhang Han led the envoy into the examination room of the Shaofu. He did not have enough title and position to be qualified to enter the palace, so he continued to wait outside. After a while, he summoned several more ministers and concubines to come in, and another hour passed.
, but I heard a burst of admiration and exclamation from the craftsmen and craftsmen inside...
Then someone came out and called him to go to the Su Nei History Office and ask some warehouse officials and agricultural officials to come over.
Zhang Han felt that something was fishy, but he didn't ask any more questions and just followed the instructions silently. He didn't know that in the next few days, the entire Shaofu Examination Office and the core staff of Xianyang Cang would be there.
Strive to discuss the effect of "stepping on the dirt".
Regarding the use of the "treading bucket", after listening to the explanation by the Nanjun envoy and asking several concubines to verify it on the spot, Xianyang officials did not have any doubts. Moreover, this thing is not complicated, it is just a simple wooden pole to step on.
, is a commonly used technology in this era, but people have been following it for a long time and have never thought of creating a substitute for the pestle and mortar.
Once they saw this, the minds of the craftsmen in the examination room were as simple as a layer of gauze being pierced, and they immediately understood: It turns out that this can still be done!
So the craftsmen in the examination room just did what they said, copied the gourd and painted the ladle, and after working hard for a few hours, they successfully copied the exact same treadmill. They then tried it again by people pounding rice, and the results were almost the same. A treadmill can indeed make rice pounding more efficient.
It has nearly doubled, and the rice pounders are no longer so tired.
"This thing can be made by a craftsman at a glance, and the materials required are simple. Compared with the stone mills that originated from Qilu, the Xianyang palace has already been installed, making it easier to spread to counties across the country..."
The engineers in the examination room thought so. Stone mills have been around in the Central Plains for some time. It is said that they were made by Lu Ban, a man with incredible craftsmanship more than a hundred years ago. However, it is not widely spread at present and is only used in some wealthy communities.
People use it at home. After all, it is easier to use a mill to crush food than to shell it. At this moment, wheat has not yet replaced millet as the staple food in the north, and northerners do not have the habit of eating pasta.
"Whether it is north or south, whether it is millet, wheat or rice, it can be used for hulling." The agricultural officer who was responsible for the internal history of millet rubbed his chin and thought.
"If this thing in my warehouse replaces the pestle and mortar, the rice provided for the more than 100,000 people in Xianyang to chew every day will be at least twice as much. If the soldiers on the front line can have this thing, they don't have to spend hours every day.
It's time to pound the grain..." The warehouseman in Xianyangcang thought this way.
Now the Qin State is conquering Yan and besieging Jicheng. The biggest difficulty is not the violent resistance of the Yan people, but the weather in the north and food supplies. The king has repeatedly ordered many soldiers to rush to the front line, not for fighting, but for
Transport food.
A lot of the grain that was transported belonged to this year's new grain, and the soldiers had to pound it before eating. The quartermasters on the front line had complained many times, but the warehouse officials in Hengshan, Handan, and Hejian areas were helpless.
It originally belonged to the State of Zhao, but it was a newly conquered territory. The situation was not stable. All the strong men were forced to go to the front line to transport grain and besieged the city. Only the old and weak women and children were left. With the busy farming season coming soon, how could there be time to pound the rice carefully?
If the three counties can be equipped with treadmills, doesn't it mean that more rice can be pounded out in a shorter period of time with less manpower and sent to the front line? If the front lines are also equipped with treadmills, then the generals don't have to worry about food.
Worried about the problem.
As a result, the Shaofu Kao Gongfu and the chief official of Xianyangcang in charge of Su Neishi submitted it to the Prime Minister's Office and the Yushi's Office in the official document. They all called the Tadi a "military weapon" and suggested that it should be used immediately.
Send it to all counties and counties, and order the government to produce and promote it.
This suggestion was finally submitted to the king, and the ministers were ordered to discuss it.
At this time, there was a little discordant sound. Sikong, who was responsible for managing the prisoners, worried that if the treadmill could be promoted, wouldn't "beating", the most serious punishment for female prisoners, be reduced?
A lot? It may even exist in name only...
This question was widely discussed by the ministers. In the end, Li Si, who had just been promoted to Tingwei, gave an answer that left people speechless.
"Shang Jun said: If punishment is used to remove punishment, the country will be governed; if punishment is used to bring punishment, the country will be in chaos. The purpose of punishment is not to punish people, but to let the people understand that certain things cannot be done. If there is any sign of doing something, they should be punished with severe punishment.
The eradication of such behavior will make the whole country understand what things should not be done and what things can be done. In the end, because no one violates the corresponding provisions, severe punishment can become a decoration forever and will no longer be used. This is called using punishment to eliminate
Punishment, this is the ideal of us Legalists..."
"Now, since stepping on the hammer can make the rice pounding twice the result with half the effort, for our Qin country, it is like the swords of the soldiers are twice as fast and the armor is twice as thick. Our country has always put merit first, so it should be implemented without hesitation. Now
How can you stop eating because of choking because you are afraid that your concubine’s punishment will be reduced?”
Tingwei is Tingwei, and he is indeed a disciple of Xunzi. His words left everyone in the court speechless, so the king also approved the matter and said in the edict: "Yes"!
The Shaofu and Zhisu Neishi are fully responsible for this matter. Officials have said that if this product can be promoted across the country, Nan County will take the first place in this year's competition of engineers and engineers in various counties. In the internal competition of Nan County,
Anlu County will also be the well-deserved number one. Both the Gongcao and Cangcao in Anlu County will be rewarded with thirty days of hard work.
However, so far, the imperial court still has no intention of rewarding the inventors heavily, because the Qin State's rewards for craftsmen and merchants are indeed much stingier than those for soldiers and officials.
There are hundreds of people engaged in agricultural warfare, but there is only one skilled person. All the hundreds of people are idle in agricultural warfare. In the Qin State, the population ratio of craftsmen to farmers is about one to one hundred.
The State of Qin has always believed that if the people see people who rely on empty talk to lobby for their salary, the monarch can also gain a noble status, businessmen can also get rich, and craftsmen can also support their families. The people see the career comfort of these three types of people.
, and if you can gain money, you will definitely avoid farming and fighting...
It is human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.
Therefore, for craftsmen who have performed well, it is enough for the craftsmen of the county to reward them. If they are promoted to one level and receive ten thousand yuan, then the craftsmen in the countryside cannot be happy? Do you want the king and the court to commend them vigorously? Wouldn't that be chaos?
Passed Qin’s laws!
At most, the name of the craftsman "Citron" who made this thing appeared many times in the Shaofu's wooden tablets, which made the young official Zhang Han remember this person, but he did not know that behind Citron,
There is also a small pavilion chief named Heifu...
…
Therefore, at the end of January, when the treadle was named "Anlu treadle" and was about to become popular in the Qin State, its inventor Heifu knew nothing about these things.
At this moment, he was standing barefoot in his field, arguing with his elder brother about what crops to plant this year...
"Brother, of my two hundred acres of land, I can allocate 150 acres to grow millet and rice, and the rest can grow beans."
Heifu pointed to a large piece of land that had just been plowed and complained: "But you have to leave me ten acres of land so that I can grow what I want!"
While talking, Hei Fu pointed to the field ridge, where there was a bundle of plants that looked like bamboo but not bamboo, with thick roots...