Northern Dynasties

Chapter 28
"Lang Jun is different from the children of rich families I have seen before!"

Zhou Changming was holding a steaming bowl of haggis soup, while sipping the oily and broken Polygonum on the surface of the soup, while looking at Li Tai who was sitting in the same pile with his fellow singers, gnawing on the leg of lamb, he couldn't help saying.

After Li Tai heard the words, he chuckled: "It's true that I don't look good when I eat, but every time I eat, the crowd are as hungry as tigers, and I am afraid that there will be no soup if I pay attention to my manners!"

When the subordinates around heard this, they all winked and laughed silly, but they speeded up their food chewing.

"It's not just about appearance and manners. Just take the plow tool as an example. There is no such new thing in Kansai, but your lord does not hide his secrets."

Zhou Changming took a sip of the soup, and his expression turned to reminiscence: "I lived in the house for three years. The eldest brother died at a few years old, and the second brother barely grew up. I was greedy when I was young. Falling apricots, pick them up and take a bite, and feel that they are delicious in the world. One day when my second brother saw them, he couldn’t bear the fact that I only ate rotten apricots, climbed the wall to pick them, but fell into someone’s yard..."

"When I saw my second brother again, he was already a corpse, and his stomach was cut open!"

While talking, Zhou Changming lowered his head and gestured on his belly, his eyes were already flushed: "From then on, I realized that good things hurt people! The family is rich in food and clothing, and it's not that they don't want to give up a few apricots, but they are afraid that my second brother I swallowed the apricots and took them out, so I opened them up for inspection. It turned out that the overripe apricots I picked up outside the wall had been pierced by his family..."

When Li Tai heard such a story, he was so shocked that he didn't know what to say. Just because he was afraid that someone would swallow the apricot core and spread it, he wanted to arrest and disembowel him?
He opened his mouth and said in a shy voice, "Then, after that..."

"After that, there was no Hexi apricot in Shangyuan. The strongest old apricot plant was cut down by me and made into a coffin for my elder brother!"

Zhou Changming wiped the wet corners of his eyes, smiled at Li Tai, and then said: "I don't ask you where you are from and where you are going, just because you are willing to give a good weapon to my countrymen. I will keep this kindness in my heart for the rest of my life!"

Hearing this, Li Tai couldn't help taking a deep breath.Originally, he thought that if Qu Yuanli was directly dedicated to Daxingtai Yuwentai, he might be able to change his official title, but when he saw Zhou Changming's dark and sincere face, he suddenly felt that it was not a loss.

"Speaking is dangerous, and I am not the same kind and good person as I appear to be. That clever plow saves labor and is more productive. The more people use it, the better it will be, so I dare not hide it. But if there are other secrets, don't worry. If you are willing to teach the villagers, Master Zhou Shu, please don’t blame me for being unrighteous!”

Feeling the heavy atmosphere, Li Tai said with a smile again.

Zhou Changming also laughed when he heard this: "Of course, of course. The management of the business is exquisite, and it should be rich!"

After dinner, it was already getting late, and the various parts went to their tents to rest. Li Tai also returned to his small tent where he lived alone, and lit an oil lamp.

Back in ancient society, the most unbearable thing was the boring night life.

If you live in a peaceful world, you can still pursue the fragrance of the Qinhuai River in Pingkang, and add fragrance to the red sleeves to pass the long night.But now he has to go through all kinds of troubles and overcome obstacles, and he really has no conditions or mood. He directs construction during the day and plans big plans at night.

Holding the bamboo ruler made during the day in one hand, and the sharpened charcoal strip in the other, Li Tai drew out the structure of the spinning wheel in detail from memory, and then began to draw and mark the shape and proportion of those components.

I stop and write, and occasionally my thoughts get stuck and I have to think about it for a long time.It is true that he has a deep memory of the structure of the spinning wheel, but the specific size of the components has gradually become blurred with the passage of time, so he can only fill in the details on a half-guess basis and then make adjustments in practice.

The oil lamp was smoky, and Li Tai's eyes were red from the smoke after a few hours of cooking. During the day, his vision was a little blurred and he was photophobic, but he finally restored the structure sketch.

After a few days, the open field has been plowed once more, and the millet has been planted. During the period of seedling growth, weeding is still done diligently to prevent the new crops from being robbed of nutrients by weeds.

Li Tai saw all the tedious work in his eyes, and he couldn't help but feel that the ancients had a hard time living. Even if there were no wars and chaos to force them, they would still stop talking.

After the sowing was finished, the garrison leader Zhou Changming led the crowd to leave, leaving only a dozen carpenters from the village.Li Tai also fulfilled the agreement, dismantling the functions of each component of Quyuanli and explaining them in detail.

In addition to the necessary personnel for hoeing and mowing in the field, the other parts were not idle, felling wood and erecting piles, and building huts. In a few days, rows of huts were erected in the fence. Although the shape was still rough, But it also temporarily meets the living needs.

There were many people in the camp, so Li Tai surrounded a pass in the valley, built a wall with freshly fired blue bricks, and did not allow random people to enter at will.

As he said to Zhou Changming, he is not a good person on the outside, and he also has his own calculations. Qu Yuanli is willing to share it with the masses, but he is not so willing to share it with the large spinning wheel, a tool that directly improves textile efficiency.

"The Quyuanli can be used by small households, but the large spinning wheel requires many people to work together. If it is scattered, it will only benefit those big households with many private songs. I am not stupid!"

He said so in his heart, whether it is the drawings or the manufacture of parts, he will only be handed over to his confidantes, and they will try to assemble them in this blue brick compound.

The traditional water spinning wheel consists of four parts: water wheel, conduction belt, spindle, and twisting. However, Li Tai wants to modify the most important source of power, the water wheel, and replace it with a bull-pulled mill. Add one or more sets of axle structures.

The spindle and twisting parts are basically the expansion of the traditional spinning wheel. Although the components are more complicated, it is not difficult to manufacture and assemble, and it can be completed after a few tries.

"With so many spinning ingots, how hard can it be to urge them?"

Seeing more than [-] spindles on the spinning wheel, Li Xiaoyong, who was in charge of assembling, clicked his tongue. His widowed mother was no stranger to spinning wheels. Grandma was too tired to walk after spinning for a long time.

"That's why you have to stop driving!"

Li Tai replied casually, squatting aside and fiddled with a few small models, because there was no sufficient water power available, animal power was needed instead, and these spindles had already been cut.

He imagined that the water wheel would be replaced by a bull-pulled millstone, which would require a set of kinetic energy conversion from horizontal to vertical, which could be done with bevel gears. The structure is not difficult, but the material is a bit cumbersome.

Right now, there is no condition for making cast iron and steel, so it needs to be replaced by fine and tough wood with sufficient oiliness. Otherwise, no matter how delicate the structure is, it will be troublesome to wear and replace parts every three days.

Although his family's manor has two hills, because it belonged to public land earlier, the large and good materials on the hills have been felled many times, and there are not many suitable woods.

When he made this request, the oldest but liveliest Li Yantou raised his hand and said: "The day before yesterday I was hunting wild beasts in the forest with a few disciples, and strayed into Yuandongyuanye. A thuja cypress that is thicker than the perimeter, this tree is tough, not inferior to metal and iron, do you think it is suitable for you?"

"Thuja?"

Li Tai was also delighted to hear this term. It is a good thing. In later generations, a fan of him gave him a half-meter-long thuja walking stick.

As the name suggests, wild thuja mainly grows among the mountains of high mountains and isolated cliffs, such as Qinling and Taihang Mountains.Li Tai didn't expect it to grow in low mountains and hills like Shangyuan. Perhaps the ancient thuja was not as scarce as in later generations, but why didn't it grow on his own mountain?

"Could it be that the blessing is so rich that there are good trees in the mountains?"

To the east is the manor of Dugu Xin, the most outstanding old man. Li Tai traveled here, and he dare not say that he is not superstitious. Thinking of Dugu Xin's family will be so rich in the future, he made up his mind.

"Is the thuja cypress under special care? If not, dig it up at night!"

He probably couldn't count on Dugu's Wangfu's BUFF, so he simply dug up his Fengshui tree!

After Li Yantou heard the words, he laughed: "Ah Lang, just wait, I remember the location clearly, it's far away from people, so I'll cut it back tonight!"

Before dawn the next day, Li Tai was in a drowsy sleep when he heard Li Yantou shouting in a low voice outside the tent, he quickly put on his clothes and got out of the tent. Ah Lang!"

Those who didn't know thought that the two were plotting to assassinate Duguxin. Li Tai was so happy that he lost sleepiness and walked straight to the Nanpo compound.

This thuja has indeed grown for many years. Although the branches are bent, they can still be taken vertically because of their thickness.The wood is not as good as Li Tai imagined. After all, it lacks a bit of tempering compared with the good wood of the cliff, but it is also far better than the ordinary pine and cypress wood.

The parts were busy processing parts, while Li Tai was digging holes in the yard with a hoe, and inserted the pruned thuja branches into the soil one by one.Even if you can't add Dugu Xinjia BUFF, stealing some Feng Shui is better than nothing.

After the important power parts were chiseled and ground, Li Tai began to try to assemble the spinning wheel.His big spinning wheel is mainly used for spinning hemp, so the structure is taller and more than several times larger than ordinary pedal spinning wheels.

With the rotation of the oxen and the transmission of power, the more than [-] spindles on the spinning wheel also rotated synchronously, and several trilogy around them suddenly widened their eyes in surprise: "There are so many spindles, no amount of flax is enough to spin!"

"Add hemp material and try it!"

Li Tai had asked someone to collect tens of catties of hemp material that had been retting and degummed. Seeing the machine turning, he excitedly asked someone to add the material.

As the machine rotates, more than [-] strands of hemp fibers are pulled and twisted together, and gathered at the other end to form a thread.Everyone, including Li Tai, held their breaths and concentrated, lest they would break the twine if they panted too loudly.

But even so, the twine snapped after being pulled out a few meters.

Everyone regretted again and again, Li Tai bent down to pick up the broken thread and inspected it carefully, and observed the spinning wheel for a long time, looking at the crushed and broken teeth, and then concluded: "The new wooden wheel is not good enough. Running in, the bull force is not uniform enough, and the thickness of the thread body is also uneven. But the way works, continue to debug, and it will always be good!"

Even so, he was secretly melancholy, the model is different from the real thing after all, if it's just a big spinning wheel turned by water, the materials at the moment are enough.However, because of the need to add a transmission device, the wood material is still not suitable.

The more than [-] wasted money at home can be used as waste!
(End of this chapter)