Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 2166 Datang All Stars

Such things as kites existed a long time ago.

According to legend, in the Spring and Autumn Period, Mo Zhai, the ancestor of the Mohist family, made wooden birds out of wood, which took three years to form.

Later, Mo Di taught the kite-making skills to the students of the Gongshu class. The Gongshu class improved the material of the kite, abandoning the heavy wood and replacing it with lighter bamboo.The bamboo was split, smoothed, bent over fire, and made into the shape of a magpie. It was called a "wooden magpie", which flew in the air for three days.

However, it later proved that this is just a legend, not credible.

The first time that kites were used in military affairs that can be proven in history happened when Chu and Han were fighting. The Han general Han Xin attacked Weiyang Palace, and used kites to measure the distance of the tunnel below Weiyang Palace...

Since then, kites have been used as a kind of ordnance and widely used in wars.Until the Southern and Northern Dynasties, this kind of ordnance, which was precious and important in the past, was no longer confined to the army, but gradually flowed into the folks, becoming entertainment items for the palace and the people.

……

Hearing that Fang Erlang was going to make a kite, many skilled craftsmen in the Gun Bureau put down their work and followed Liu Xi to the yard outside.

Bamboo strips and paper are common things, and hemp rope is also available. There is no shortage of anything in the gun bureau, and a pile is piled up in the yard soon.

An old craftsman with a white beard stood up and said with a smile, "I'm an old man who is good at making kites. Just look at it, Lord Hou!"

Fang Jun hurriedly said: "Come on, take your time, the kite to be made this time is different from the past, wait a moment, bring a pen and paper, and draw a sketch, and you will operate according to the blueprint."

Everyone got excited.

Who doesn't know that Fang Erlang's talent is endless, and his whimsical ideas emerge endlessly?
Whether it is glass, cement, or gunpowder, firearms, all come from the head of this genius, and now they have become popular all over the world.

Now that I am interested and want to make a kite, it must be different from the past.

As everyone expected, Fang Junhua is just a sketch, really a sketch, very sloppy... But for these most outstanding craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty, they only need to figure it out a little to know the meaning.

Holding the sketch, the old craftsman was a little confused: "Such a big kite...can it fly?"

Fang Jun couldn’t explain to him that whether a kite can fly into the sky is not determined by its size, but by whether it can maintain the balance of the kite and make it use the buoyancy of the air evenly. Even if it is an iron lump weighing several tons, as long as it is well balanced , can still fly...

I had to say: "If you can fly, you will know if you make it."

"Here!"

Seeing Fang Jun's self-confidence, the craftsmen also excitedly divided their work, some cut the bamboo strips, some roasted the cut bamboo strips with fire, and then bent them into the desired shape, some cut the paper, and some prepared the paste...

The kite designed by Fang Jun is very simple, it is a common centipede kite in later generations.

But now, it is very novel...

Today's kites are extremely rare, because the production is cumbersome and needs to be balanced, idle farmers can't make them at all, and craftsmen with a little craftsmanship are under the control of the government, and it is impossible to give up their jobs to make kites at will.

Therefore, kites are still just playthings of the rich and powerful.

Ordinary kites are only made of bamboo strips into shapes such as swallows, birds, and eagles, and kites like centipedes connect dozens of round kites together to form a long shape that looks like a centipede. Never seen before.

But it's just a rare style, and there are not many technical problems.

Fang Jun stroked his chin and thought for a while, and felt that it was a bit normal, so he sent a few soldiers back to the city, found a paper-making shop, and invited a paper-making craftsman.

Paper is precious these days, and the bamboo paper developed by Fang Jun will also become popular. In the past, paper-making craftsmen were top-notch craftsmen, and their seven main businesses were making paper-cart and horse figurines for funeral paper... …

But Fang Jun doesn't pay attention to this taboo.

Finding the paper maker, Fang Jun ordered him to make a faucet.

The dragon is the totem of the emperor, but before the Song Dynasty, the control of the dragon was not strict, and there was absolutely no such situation in the Ming and Qing Dynasties as "intending to rebel" and "killing the nine clans", as long as it was not used blatantly. "Five-clawed Golden Dragon", basically fine.

It’s even easier to make a dragon-headed kite, because this kite has no claws. Strictly speaking, a dragon without claws is a python...

Paper-making craftsmen are all ancestral crafts. They don't do anything else all their lives, but just find a field to immerse themselves in. Naturally, their craftsmanship is nothing to say.

Although the dragon head has never been pierced, according to the pattern of a dragon head drawn by Fang Jun, a pair of rough hands deftly manipulate the thin bamboo strips, and it looks like it was tied.When it was past noon, a huge faucet was finished and placed on the ground, stable and stable.

Paste the paper and put it there, and Fang Jun sent someone to find a scholar who is good at painting, and painted it with various colors of watercolors, and a vivid faucet was completed.

Fang Jun looked at the sun and saw that it was already the end of the day, so he sent someone to Lishan Farm to see if the school was over, and brought the two young gentlemen over.

Then, Fang Jun ordered someone to move a small horse, sat on it and tied the kite himself.

This is the most important step in tying a kite. If the ropes that tie the kite cannot be stressed, the whole kite will not be able to maintain balance, and naturally it will not be able to fly.

The craftsmen of the Gun Bureau were all driven away by Liu Xun. After the kite was tied, they hurried back to work...

By the time the two sons were picked up, the dragon-headed centipede kite had basically been completed.

It's just that Liu Xun was a little worried, and stammered: "This kite is a wonderful workmanship, but... that... Lord Hou, after all, it was made by a craftsman, and he is taboo about this thing!"

What does a craftsman do?

It is specially made for funerals...

But Fang Jun waved his hand: "This kind of thing, believe it or not. If you use it as a ghost weapon, it is a ghost weapon. If you use it to play, it has nothing to do with the ghost weapon."

Liu Shi could only shut up.

Several carriages were parked in the yard where the Firearms Bureau was working, and a large group of children "hula la" jumped out of the carriages and ran to Fang Jun, yelling.

Big ones and small ones, small ones like Fang Jun’s two sons who have just been able to walk on the road, big ones like Di Renjie and Li Jingye who are half a child, they are all children who choose to study in Lishan Fangjia School, most of them are old friends .

Fang Jun looked at it from beginning to end, good guy, it is simply Datang's "all-star lineup".

In addition to Di Renjie, Li Jingye, and King Luo Bin, Li Chengqian's eldest son Li Xiang, Cen Changqian whose parents died and was raised by his uncle Cen Wenwen, and Yan Liben who was called "the left minister Xuanwei Desert and the right minister famous Danqing" when he was the right minister Ke...

In the next few decades, half of the powerful officials in the Datang Center will be here.

The special mothers are from the second generation to the third generation...

But fortunately, even though there are kings of resistance like Li Jingye among them, most of them are capable, and they are not playboys who rely on their ancestors' meritorious deeds to make trouble.

"Wow……"

When a group of boys saw the long kite visiting on the ground and the vivid dragon head, they all exclaimed in surprise.

Fang Shu and Fang You hurriedly ran to Fang Jun with his short legs, hugged Fang Jun's legs from left to right, stared at the ground and threw a kite and cheered happily.

Li Jingye is a thick-headed kid who looks more like his uncle Li Jingye's scumbag than his father Li Zhen's heroic demeanor. This kid wiped his nose and looked at Fang Jun with a gaudy little face: " Second uncle, second uncle, is this a kite? It’s so big, can it fly?”

Di Renjie was much more well-behaved, leaned in front of Fang Jun, and said in a firm voice: "The second uncle of the Fang family made a kite, it must be able to fly!"

He originally wanted to call Fang Jun "teacher", but Fang Jun insisted not to.

However, his father, Di Zhixun, went to other places for his post two years ago, so he left Di Renjie in Beijing, and Fang Jun sent him to Chongwen Hall to study. They had a very good relationship with each other, and they were very close to Fang Jun.

King Luo Bin stepped forward and stretched out his hands to pull the faucet, looked at the thirty or so waist pieces of the centipede kite on the ground, shook his head, and looked suspicious: "It's so long, I guess it can't fly!"

Fang Jun was speechless.

That's right, this kid is indeed with Li Jingye. He looks old since he was a child, and he has a suspicious and rebellious spirit of death...

"You still don't believe me, that's fine, it's a mule or a horse, let's take it out for a walk! Let's go, Leyouyuan, fly a kite!"

Fang Jun gave a loud cry, and the crowd responded.

"Let's go! Fly a kite!"

A group of boys scrambled to get on the carriage, and only one person loaded the kite into another cart, followed behind, and headed for Leyouyuan in a mighty way.

(End of this chapter)