The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 264 Budget: 2000 yuan

Qi Chongli took the blueprints and went to the firearms workshop. He met up with the newly appointed engineering officer, and the firearms workshop became lively the next day.

Accompanied by the old man, the engineering officer summoned a large group of "technical backbones," including Li Tiezhu, the deputy engineering officer who scored 95 in technology and 5 in liberal arts.

A large group of technicians gathered together to work on the drawings made by Leonardo da Vinci.

A short while later, Leonardo da Vinci arrived with a translator and personally explained things to the craftsmen.

Don't say it, you really don't say it.

They understood this as soon as they heard it!

This illustrates the importance of having laid a solid foundation.

If they don't have any technical skills at all, they will only be confused by the blueprints. Even if Leonardo da Vinci explained it to them, they wouldn't understand. They would just think it's amazing, but they probably couldn't build it right away.

But they have already studied for a year or two, which is equivalent to having mastered the "prerequisite skills". When they look at the blueprints of these lathes and boring machines, they will have an "ah, so that's how it can be done" feeling.

This is also why Yue Wenxuan has always strictly followed the skill tree to develop technology.

If he skips grades and recklessly pushes through technology...

As a result, the craftsmen, not understanding the principles, only knew how to press the button on the boring machine to produce the cannon barrel. They learned nothing and became "monkeys who only knew how to press buttons".

Once the craftsmen have laid a solid foundation, when they look at the boring machine, they will understand that pressing a button will drive a wheel and axle, which in turn drives the cutting blade, which is doing what we used to do by hand.

In this way, they will not become "monkeys who only press buttons," but rather "people who make a button for monkeys to press."

Li Tiezhu grinned and said, "I understand now. We won't manufacture cannon barrels directly anymore. Instead, we'll manufacture this machine called a boring machine and have apprentices with less skill operate it. Even ordinary refugees who don't know any skills can be brought over to operate the boring machine."

“Yes!” the engineering officer chimed in. “Let’s build machines, and then let ordinary people who know nothing operate them. We can use the machines to make firearms. In this way, our problem of not having enough craftsmen will be perfectly solved.”

Qi Chongli laughed loudly, looking up at the sky: "Hahahaha, Heaven is helping my Great Song Dynasty! Heaven is helping my Great Song Dynasty!"

The craftsmen thought to themselves: Is that divine help? It's clearly the help of the true ruler!

Ah, no, the True Lord is Heaven, so saying that Heaven helps him doesn't seem wrong either.

The engineering officer said, "It's not just about firearms. Look at this lathe. It can actually be used to make all kinds of ironware. In the future, we can use lathes to make spearheads, iron tips for halberds, arrowheads, and armor plates."

Everyone nodded: "That's true."

"The manpower of the craftsmen has been greatly liberated." The engineering officer said, "Haha, everyone get moving! Our best craftsmen, put all their efforts into building lathes and boring machines."

Everyone: "Aww!"

Qi Chongmin: "Hahaha, you Jin thieves who give birth to sons without an anus, you just wait, I'll get my lathe and boring machine and come and take care of you bunch of turtle bastards."

Li Tiezhu glanced at him and whispered, "The Marquis is at it again."

The engineering officer whispered, "Everyone, run! Otherwise, we'll have to listen to him swear for another half hour. If you listen to others swear too much, you'll start swearing too and become a bad person."

Li Tiezhu: "Yes, yes! I don't want to learn to swear like that, or people will think I'm an uncultured bumpkin."

Everyone: "What are you saying, you educated person with only a five-point education?"
-
The sky was completely dark, and night fell in the sand table. The ancients worked at sunrise and rested at sunset.

Aside from a group of craftsmen in the firearms workshop singing "Sister, let me rest, but I won't, I want to go home and forge iron at night" while working, there wasn't much else to see on the sand table. Yue Wenxuan also ended his antics on the sand table and returned to his original body.

I checked the time, and it was only 10 p.m., damn it.

Who would be asleep this early?
Just as I was wondering how to kill time, the phone rang.

When I picked it up to listen, it turned out to be a call from Wenjie.

"Hey, Jie-ge, what's up?"

"Old Yue! Our perfume is selling like hotcakes!"

Wenjie's tone was tinged with excitement.

Yue Wenxuan then remembered, oh right, there was such a thing.

Just a few days ago, before the Jin army attacked, their incense had finally been prepared for the first batch of goods.

Yue Wenxuan then posted the pre-prepared short advertisement video on Douyin (TikTok) and casually added it to the shared bike advertising platform...

Orders placed through the shared bike platform are directly transferred to Wenjie, and the factory is responsible for packaging and shipping them; Yue Wenxuan doesn't interfere at all.

He was busy getting involved in the war at the time, not only had to immerse himself in the scene, but also had to switch out at any time to manage the cameras outside the sand table and capture exciting footage for video. In his busyness, he forgot about the incense-related matters.

Wenjie said, "Sales are very good. Our factory is working hard to produce and ship orders. Orders are still coming in. Hahaha, we've succeeded this time. My 20 yuan debt will probably be paid off in no time."

"Really? You've paid off all your debts? That's great!" Yue Wenxuan laughed. "Then you can relax now and stop thinking about dying, right?"

Wenjie chuckled: "I still feel a bit like dying right now."

Yue Wenxuan: "Huh? Why?"

Wenjie: "I'm 24 and still not married. I'm so anxious. I urgently need a boyfriend who is handsome, makes money, is kind, and can help my old classmates out of their predicament. The key is that his name has to be Yue Wenxuan. If I don't have a boyfriend like that to warm my bed, I still can't live."

"Pfft!" Yue Wenxuan: "Brother Jie, it's no wonder we call you brother, it came so suddenly."

"Alright, alright, enough joking around." Wenjie's tone suddenly turned serious: "Old Yue, let's get down to business. We've managed to get into the industry with just this one product, Ji's Fragrance, but the real challenge is yet to come. If we don't have any new products, we can only make a quick buck with just this one product, and then we're done for. It won't last long."

"Oh, indeed!"

Wenjie said, "We need new products and a certain amount of research investment. Based on Ji's Fragrance, we will develop a variety of different flavors in the same series to expand our product range."

At this point, Wenjie concluded, "You came up with Ji's Fragrance, so you must have some experts in fragrance research. I plan to allocate a portion of the company's profits as a research budget and ask your fragrance master to help us create new products."

"I see." Yue Wenxuan said, "I understand! Let's make the budget 2000 yuan. I won't pay for it myself. Just transfer 2000 yuan from the company account and I'll hire an aromatherapy master."

"What?" Wenjie's voice rose eight octaves: "2000 yuan? What kind of research budget is that? What kind of master can you hire with that amount of money? What kind of product can you make? Hey, Lao Yue, it was wrong of me to joke around earlier, but we're talking about serious matters now, so stop joking."

"I'm telling the truth, it's only two thousand."

Yue Wenxuan hung up the phone and called Cai Xinzi: "Old Cai, I want to order four life-size figurines of famous Chinese aromatherapy masters."

(End of this chapter)