Qingyan felt funny as she listened to the old ladies chatting about Yang Fugui's family. She didn't expect them to call the donkey Uncle Donkey, which was really interesting.
This also shows the status of this animal in the hearts of ordinary people.
After they put down all the wheat they had collected, they began to look for work again.
Since they were going to make a cart, they would definitely not be able to leave for a while, so the women went home to make breakfast. They had almost packed their luggage yesterday.
Although they hadn't slept all night, they were not sleepy. They couldn't sleep because they had something on their minds, so they might as well find something to do.
At this moment, the men all went to the haystack behind Yang Fugui's house.
That's right, the wheel was still standing there. One person couldn't move it at all. They had to move the hay away before they could take out the half-exposed wheel.
The other Qingyan couldn't help, so she was led by Lanhua and ran over to watch the fun.
When she saw the wheel that was pulled out, she was a little shocked. She didn't expect that the wheels of this era were so big.
It was not the kind of carriage pulley with copper nails and a copper ring that she had seen on TV before.
This one looks much thicker than that one. The spokes are eight-sided, not cylindrical, so they should be able to withstand stress better.
The reason why it is called a wheel is because a crossbar has been fixed between the two wheels, and the crossbar is also very strong.
Xue Qingyan took a closer look and couldn't figure out the principle of the wheel. She only saw that it was probably a mortise and tenon structure. There was no pulley bearing in the middle of the wheel, and she didn't know how it turned.
The spokes and axles are all made of pure wood, and the wood looks bulky and heavy, but it is indeed very strong.
The more she looked at it, the more surprised she became. Qingyan asked curiously: "Master Dashan, what kind of wood is used for the wheels of this cart? It looks really strong."
Yang Dashan and several others worked together to turn the wheel sideways from the upright position, and said to Qingyan: "This is made of cypress wood. Cypress wood is strong. It is most suitable for making wheels."
"Ouch! How could this happen!"
Just after answering Qingyan's question, she suddenly heard Yang Erzhuang's voice.
"What's wrong?"
As he asked, he walked to Yang Erzhuang's side and found that there was no iron inside the wheel, leaving only the bare wood surface.
Several men looked at each other in confusion. It seemed that when they were changing the wheels, Yang Fugui and his family had removed the iron inside.
I haven't done anything about the outside, but the main thing is that if they are all removed, the wheel will fall apart.
The five men suddenly fell into silence, all looking sad.
Yang Erzhuang sighed, "This is really a waste of joy. I thought we could save some time with a cart and carry more things on the road."
Qingyan also went over and took a look, looking at the iron sheet and the rivets on the outside, and then looking at the missing iron sheet inside.
He said to Chou Chou in his arms: "Chou Chou, do you have this kind of iron piece in your space? This iron piece looks quite thick."
Chou Chou replied: "No, I don't recycle such useless things, but I don't have it, you do."
Qingyan raised her eyebrows, "Where do we have this piece of iron? I never heard that this kind of iron is very rare here. We can't just melt those kitchen knives into iron sheets."
Not to mention that we have no way to refine it, if it is really ruined and we have to cook on the road, will we have to tear it all by hand?
I do have a dagger, but I can't leave it with them. If someone sees it, it will kill them. "
Chou Chou raised his little head and rolled his eyes at her, "Have you forgotten those Khitan swords you collected before?"
"Oh, by the way, there are those big knives too!"
Qingyan had really forgotten that when they picked up the bodies of the Khitan soldiers before, they took back all their swords.
These people must have forgotten it, but the question arises again, how do those big knives become the iron sheets on the wheels?
Chou Chou immediately understood the expression on her face and rolled his eyes at her again.
"Have you forgotten your own strength? Even if your strength is not good, you just need to burn those big knives and hammer them into other shapes so that you can't see that they are knives, and then connect them together and wrap them inside .
Anyway, it is the inside of the wheel that is missing, not the outside. If they are nailed to the wheel, it will not be visible from the outside. "
Qingyan nodded, it was true, so she opened her mouth and said to them: "Didn't we collect the Khitan swords before? How about we use those knives to make iron sheets and wrap the wheels of the cart. We don't dare to do that anyway. Take it out and use it blatantly."
There is a mark on this knife, and if the Khitans see it, they will die.
Even if he is seen by the Khitan people or the soldiers here, he will not end well.
Hearing this, the five men were stunned for a moment, and then their expressions lit up.
"It's true! How could we forget that those big knives are made of iron!"
"But we don't know how to make iron. What should we do in this short period of time?"
Qingyan said: "I have great strength. I just need to heat those big knives red and hammer them into other shapes."
She had seen that big knife before. Except for the thin part of the front blade, the back of the knife was still relatively thick. If the knife was heated red and hammered, it would be almost the same thickness, and it could be widened and elongated a lot. That way You can't tell it's actually a knife.
Of course, now it's a matter of burning. Firewood can't burn at that temperature.
Later I realized that this was not a big problem because coal was produced in the mountains here.
It's just that they are all government coal mines, sold to wealthy families in the city, and places where weapons are forged by the army.
They, ordinary people, cannot use it at will and cannot afford it.
If you can't use it, you can't use it, but they know where it is.
Yang Dashan pointed to a mountain to the west and said: "The mountain over there with few trees is just a coal mountain. It is usually guarded by officers and soldiers, and ordinary people cannot enter or exit.
Now that the Khitans are here, I don’t know what’s going on, but there are a few people working in the coal kiln in the neighboring village. I heard they make a lot of money, but they are all sick from exhaustion.
One of them contracted tuberculosis and died early, and the other is in poor health now and can't do anything. We can go to his house to see him.
It is said that when he was repatriated, he was given no money as a pension and only a cart of coal. He sold some during the winter when he was undergoing medical treatment last year. I don’t know if he still has any money left. "
When Qingyan heard this, it was easy to explain. If it didn't work, she asked Chou Chou to help go to the coal mountain and get some back. Anyway, it had space.
