weaving

Chapter 1180 Changes in Hometown

"Commander, it's late. Let's go back to the tent and rest for a while."

In the new town, ten miles south of Kaifeng, there was a complete silence. Under the night sky, only a dozen figures could be seen looming on a mound not far south of the new town...

It was Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng, Sun Shixiang, Hu Yiwen, Liu Chengzu and other civil servants and advisers who climbed up to the heights to look at the moon. At the foot of the mound, there were dozens of sharp warriors in red armor, guarding the safety of their commander on the mound.

They were divided into groups of two, one looking at Earl Yongning and others, and the other observing any movement around the mound. They all looked straight ahead, for fear of missing out on any suspicious activity that would threaten the safety of their own coach.

There were only two people, one looking up and the other looking out, who were different from the other groups. They were actually talking in a low voice. They were Zhang Chengfang and Zhang Jintai, who had not been seen for a long time.

Zhang Chengfang has always been serving as a military officer beside the Earl of Yongning, and is the most trusted figure around Zhang Cheng. Zhang Jintai is now an officer in the Weiyuan Camp. Although he is no longer serving beside the Earl of Yongning, he is also a rare young general in the army.

  What's more, he is the first one among Zhang Cheng's many adopted sons to be sent to the camp for training and service. It is recognized by everyone that his future prospects will definitely not be inferior to Zhang Chengfang!

The two men were no longer refugee children, and although the topics of their conversation included their own experiences, they could not avoid the war before them. One of them had been with the Marshal for a long time, so naturally he knew more of the core content, but the other was serving in the military camp below, so he had a more real grasp of the actual situation in the army.

They were not only sharing their experiences and understandings, but also studying the battle with the bandits and guessing which direction it would develop...

However, at this moment, there was still silence on the mound. Sun Shixiang had just tried to persuade Zhang Cheng to go back to the tent to rest, but received no response. He dared not persuade him again. He just kept winking at Liu Chengzu, hoping that he could persuade him. After all, he was next to the Earl of Yongning and was closer to him. However, Liu Chengzu did not respond at all.

In fact, looking south from here, it is naturally pitch black. Even if there is a flash of light, it has nothing to do with the bandits. After all, they are still twenty miles away.

After a while, Sun Shixiang spoke again and advised: "Master, it's time to go back to the tent and rest. You still have military affairs to deal with tomorrow."

Zhang Cheng withdrew his gaze from the moon, looked back at Sun Shixiang, and suddenly asked, "Old Sun, in your opinion, does this moon belong to our Ming Dynasty, or to those red-haired barbarians from the west?"

Sun Shixiang was stunned. He didn't know why Earl Yongning asked this question. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "The moon is high in the sky. It is more than hundreds of thousands of miles away from me. How can I claim it as my own? Why do you ask this question, Earl?"

Zhang Cheng did not answer Sun Shixiang's question, but said to himself: "'Everywhere the sun and moon shine, wherever the rivers flow, all belong to the Han Dynasty'. According to this, not only the land under our feet, but even the moon in the sky belongs to our Great Ming, and the sun also belongs to our Great Ming!"

He ignored everyone and continued to talk to himself: "Even if someone climbed up to the moon before us, it cannot change the ironclad fact that the moon belongs to us Han people. We will eventually climb up to the moon and bring back the fairy Chang'e to see the changes in our hometown."

All of this was actually just Zhang Cheng's personal feelings. Naturally, the people around him could not understand the meaning of his words, but it did not affect Zhang Cheng's lofty status in their hearts. As before, they would carefully write down the words they could not understand, and then copy them down in their notes when they returned, leaving them for future generations to guess.

At this time, Zhang Chengfang, the central army officer, stepped forward quickly and reported: "Father, Mingyuan reported that Zhang Maoju came on horseback from the north and presented you with the latest pocket clock made by the Carpenter's Bureau."

"Pocket clock?" Zhang Cheng suddenly remembered that when he returned to the north from Liaodong last time, he had mentioned the pocket clock to Shi Tiegen, the chief steward of the craftsmen's camp. At that time, he said that the big clock made by the barbarians was much more accurate than the solar corona, but it was quite large in size, and it was very difficult to carry it around, let alone move it.

Therefore, Yongning Earl had suggested to Shi Tiegen at that time to organize the skilled craftsmen in the craftsman camp to work on the self-ringing clock that Johann Adam Schall von Bell had tried to make when he came to the north. The main purpose was to make it smaller and preferably so that it could be carried around.

To this end, Zhang Cheng came up with many ideas on the spot based on his remaining memories. However, he knew nothing about the actual application technology and could only give some general directions based on what he remembered.

For example, the miniaturization of gears in the same proportion, as well as the concepts of lever escapement and copper spring were all the research directions proposed by Zhang Cheng. With his suggestion, Wang Gancheng, Li Chengmao and others thought of Su Song of the Song Dynasty, and found relevant drawings in his "New Instrument and Imagery Methods". After research and development and modification, they were applied to the pocket clock.

Of course, Zhang Cheng didn't know all this yet, and asked excitedly: "Where is Mao Ju now?"

"Reporting to Father, Brother Maoju is waiting in the big tent for you to summon me."

"Okay. Let's go back to the tent. I'm already anxious to see what this pocket clock looks like!"

…………

On the large table in front of Earl Yongning was a spherical object, which looked like two bowls put together, with a small flat surface on the top and bottom that allowed it to stand on the table. There was also a wooden box next to it.

Sun Shixiang and others also came and gathered around the desk of Earl Yongning, looking at this strange new thing with surprise.

Zhang Cheng observed the pocket clock in front of him. Although it looked much smaller, it basically met his requirements. Although there was still a certain distance from his wish to carry it with him, it was not unacceptable.

However, when he stretched out his hands and lifted it, he found that this new thing was quite heavy. Even if an ordinary person held it, it would be difficult to hold it for a long time.

"Father, there is a lid on top. Push it here to open it so you can see the time."

Following Zhang Maoju's instructions, Zhang Cheng opened the mechanism according to the law. The moment he opened the lid, he was still shocked...

The lid is opened at the upper third, and it looks like a small plate turned upside down. After opening it, you can see the white round clock dial inside. There are twenty-four small black dots around it. In addition, there is a Chinese character between each dot, which are the twelve Earthly Branches, namely Zi, Chou, Yan, Mao, etc. There are a total of twelve Chinese characters used to mark the twelve hours.

Unlike modern clocks, this one only has one pointer on the dial, which makes it a little lacking...