"Mr. Zhang, we just mentioned that among copper, iron and tin, tin is the most fusible and not easy to rust. Then we can melt the tin and plate it on the surface of the iron, so that the iron will not react with water vapor. It has rusted due to contact. We in Australia and Song Dynasty already have such iron products. First make such a thick iron plate or iron wire-" As he said that, Liu San pinched it with his fingers and made a gap that was not much thicker than the bamboo strips. Zhang Dai looked at it and continued, "Then it is immersed in molten tin water, and the surface is coated with a layer of tin. Then the coating is scraped into a uniform thickness, and it becomes an extremely useful tinplate."
"Why is it called tinplate?" Zhang Dai asked coldly, which made Liu San extremely uncomfortable - why didn't you follow the script?
"Well - we first sold this iron to the Portuguese in Macau, and then they sold it to other Westerners. The Portuguese pronounced Macao as 'horse mouth', and other Westerners called this iron 'tinplate'. "The name "Tinplate" in another time and space is indeed this way, but in the opposite direction. Liu San borrowed this saying to fool Zhang Dai.
Zhang Dai thought about it, the iron produced in Guangdong is also called Guangzhou Railway and Southern Railway in other places. It seems that it is okay for this new iron product in Australia and Song Dynasty to be called "tinplate", but "the name and the utensils are not fake." As expected, this thief was vulgar and incompetent. He even asked a bunch of barbarians to come over and name their own product.
"There is nothing wrong with everyday products such as iron barrels and iron wire made of tinplate for daily use. However, if these items are to be collected and recast into weapons, they must be melted into an iron-tin alloy, and iron Pewter alloy is brittle in physical properties and is not suitable for making weapons. If the past generations had this knowledge, what if they just let go of selling tinplate to the north? In exchange for tinplate that can only be used for daily use, cattle, sheep, and horses are urgently needed in the mainland. Livestock, whether used for farming or eating meat, is profitable no matter how you look at it, from the perspective of people’s livelihood.”
This method is indeed a bit unexpected for Zhang Dai, and it is indeed a novel approach, but in his opinion, this is a typical "seeing the small and forgetting the big".
"Sure enough, this thief only cares about trivial matters!" He said secretly.
How much does the reason why Mongolia is in trouble have to do with the influx of iron tools? Zhang Dai knew very well that since ancient times, the Central Plains dynasties had a hundred times the manpower and material resources of the barbarians from all over the world. If the country was prosperous and the people's livelihood was comfortable, the barbarians from all over the world would not cause trouble at all.
Once the government is dark, evildoers are in power, and military equipment is weakened, the barbarians will take advantage of the chaos to break out, and there is no guarantee that there will be no iron. In the final analysis, to deal with the infringements of barbarians from all directions, first, the court must be powerful and intimidate the barbarians; second, it must be virtuous and educate the Rong and Di with civilization.
Selling tinplate for cattle, sheep and horses is simply putting the cart before the horse. Can't barbarians fight with bone arrows and stone knives? When I go to China, I still need a few cows and horses.
Dr. Liu's "high argument" may seem wise, but in fact it doesn't get to the point at all.
At this level of argumentation, it is really ridiculous to want to belittle the way of Master.
Zhang Dai thought about this, feeling contempt in his heart, and could not help but reveal a warm smile on his lips.
Liu Sanyi couldn't figure out his attitude for a while, but it seemed that Zhang Dai didn't show any "sudden realization" or any shock. Still playing the role of a good listener tepidly.
He realized that the plan he and Mayor Liu, Wu Mu and others had made had no effect on Zhang Dai. He was a little disappointed: Even if you don't "bow down and bow down", at least you should show some surprise and excitement!
The frustration was getting stronger and stronger. Looking at Zhang Zongzi who was still calm and relaxed, Liu San felt that he could no longer act according to the script.
The scene was very deserted for a while, one was in a daze and the other was waiting. After a long time, Zhang Dai finally said: "The student of Dr. Liu's liking has received it."
This time, Liu San was confused - I didn't give him any gifts.
"Mr. Zhang——"
"When students come to the south, their original intention is just to see new sights and taste the delicacies of Australia and Song Dynasty. If they really go to Lingao, their original intention is just to take a look around. Now, Dr. Liu With that in mind, when I go down here, I want to really take a good look at this Australian and Song Dynasty!"
Liu Sanggan laughed a few times and cursed a few words in his heart, Mayor Liu, who had come up with the idea.
"I just don't know -" Zhang Dai finally decided to ask the question in his heart: "Although I have a bad reputation, in reality, it is just a reputation for eating, drinking and having fun. Although the family has a small income, it is really different from being rich and powerful. Compared with the family, it is nothing. In the society, if you speak, someone will listen, but if you say something to change the political situation, it will probably only be treated as a joke by the real big guys in the society. Think about it. Go, I am not worth the trouble of being treated by the Song Dynasty court. I dare to ask Liu Yuanlao, why are you so 'courteous'?"
Now that he had opened up, Liu San was relieved of all the shackles of "following the script" and felt relieved. Zhang Dai is a smart man, even smarter than most elders. This little trick of my own is really a masterstroke!
In the final analysis, everyone still wants historical celebrities to impress themselves and enjoy the pleasure of being superior to celebrities.
"Because you have a great literary reputation. What you say will be more convincing to those bureaucrats and Confucian scholars of the Ming Dynasty."
Zhang Dai nodded slightly, he understood this.
Liu San pondered his emotions for a while and said: "We, the Elders of the Song Dynasty, have inherited the destiny of Yin and Shang from far away, and have inherited the legal system of the Song Dynasty. This time we return to China in order to lead the descendants of Yan and Huang to take a big step forward, so that we, China, can take a big step forward." In the next two thousand years, we will continue to lead the countries in the world. Whether it is Lingnan, Jiangnan, Huainan, Henan, including inside and outside the Great Wall, white mountains and black waters, deserts east and west, we will eventually unify all the old territories of the Han and Tang Dynasties. But we look further Looking at it, even in China's cultural gathering place, the so-called social elites, in our view, are not only frogs in the well, but also deceiving themselves and others. Perhaps to ants, cats and elephants are as heavy as they can be trampled to death. But some ants don't even have the concept of "may be trampled to death." For us, there is no difference between trampling one ant to death and trampling to death a group of ants, but for the new China we envision, It is always better to have fewer people die - especially those people who were deceived and could have been reborn in New China."
After a short pause, Liu Sancai said to Zhang Dai, "And sir, he is a 'Ming Dynasty elite' who is willing to open his eyes and take a look."
"I have been an official for three generations in my family and have been favored by the emperor..." Although Zhang Dai was quite touched after hearing this, he still stated his position.
Liu San interrupted: "We don't care whether you surrender. We just hope that some people in the Ming Dynasty can realize what kind of power we have."
I don’t care whether I surrender, but I hope I can clearly see the strength of Australia and Song Dynasty, and take the results of this observation back to Jiangnan, Shilin, and Ming Dynasty. In the final analysis, the Australians really don’t expect me to surrender. What they expect is that more people will choose to surrender in the future after they realize the strength of Australia and Song Dynasty!
Should this result be taken back? Thinking about Zhang Pu's advice to himself, he should take it back - the Ming Dynasty, both inside and outside, was ignorant of the Eastern barbarians, ignorant of the rogue bandits, ignorant of the Western barbarians, and even more ignorant of the Australians. There is no such concept as being trampled to death." Is it to die out of ignorance, or to surrender after knowing the enemy?
He fell into deep thought for a moment.
"I think it will be difficult for us to convince him..." Liu San said to Liu Xiang dejectedly, recounting the afternoon meeting process.
"Forget it, he is a scholar after all. How can we be his opponent in terms of talking nonsense..." Mayor Liu had to play the role of comforter at this moment - after all, he was mainly responsible for this script. He changed the subject and said, "At least he is now more and more eager to go to Lingao."
"That's true." Liu San has not yet recovered from the feeling of failure, "He is waiting for our tickets. He will get up as soon as the tickets arrive."
"We really can't argue with him, but it doesn't matter, let the facts convince him."
It was dusk when Zhang Dai returned to Liang Mansion. When he returned to the small courtyard where he stayed, he recalled today's meeting. Speaking of which, the Kun thieves were really a group of "wonderful people". One thing he is now more and more sure of is that the thief Kun will never detain him. Not only will he not be detained, but he will also provide him with good food and drink and considerate service all the way around Lingao, allowing him to fully see this "Australian scene".
This group of Australians are very "confident in the system"!
To be honest, he didn't quite believe the claims in various news that Lingao was a "paradise on earth" and a "ruling of the world that had never happened in thousands of years" - this was too much of a boast, except for the three generations of holy kings who had never seen it. In this era, even during the prosperous Han and Tang dynasties, there were inevitably people who were frightened by the cold, and when there was famine, there were inevitably people dying of hunger on the roads. Can the "productivity" that Dr. Liu boasts really solve these problems?
Thinking about it, it's just because they govern a small number of counties and have a small population. There are also some strange and cunning ways to make many toys and earn a lot of money. Even if there are floods, droughts, or famines, the surplus from business can still be used to subsidize the situation.
Although this method can be used in one state and one county, if there are more states and counties in the country, they will focus on one and lose the other - not to mention that no matter how much they can make money, they may not necessarily take over the livelihood of the common people in the world. As for Guangzhou, although the scene has changed in the past few months since entering the city, beggars have not disappeared. Due to the war, the number of refugees from all over the country has increased. The poor people in the market may not live and work in peace and contentment even though they have rough conditions.
The Australians are so militaristic. The small Qiongzhou supports hundreds of thousands of troops, builds cannons and big ships, and spends money like water. How much money can be spent on people's livelihood? Thinking that Lingao is the capital of the Australians, they must have spent money and manpower to decorate it to whitewash peace - it is nothing more than the old trick of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty - leaving Lingao, but this may not be the case.
seeing is believing. Let’s go and see for ourselves first.
