"Waterwheel?"
When Cheng Yaojin heard that Li Zexuan said that he wanted to build a waterwheel, he couldn't help but look puzzled. He thought about it for a moment and couldn't help but said: "Xiaoxuan, you are right, the waterwheel should overturn, right?"
Hearing what Cheng Yaojin said, Li Zexuan realized that he had said the wrong thing. According to the memory in his mind, it seems that there is no such thing as a waterwheel now. In most cases, people call it a rollover, so he quickly changed his words: " Uh! Yes, Uncle Cheng, it’s just a rollover! "
According to folklore, the earliest water-drawing implement of the ancients was the "Jujue". Simply put, it was a strong wooden pole with a wooden bucket hanging on one end for holding water, and the other end was used to hang something similar to Nowadays, heavy objects like weights use the lever principle that the Chinese discovered many years before foreigners to achieve the purpose of saving the power of drawing water.
The waterwheel in China's official written records did not appear until the Eastern Han Dynasty. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, Bi Lan was ordered to build a 'turnover', which already had basic devices such as axle groove plates. There is also a saying that during the Three Kingdoms period, people in the Wei Dynasty and Ma Jun also made overturned carts. "Wei Lue" said: "Ma Jun lived in the capital city and had land for a garden. There was no water to irrigate it, so he made overturned carts and asked the children to turn around and fill them with water."
However, the waterwheels at that time were only some basic ideas and some basic structures derived from them, and its driving method was relatively backward human power. This is the first stage of the development of Chinese waterwheels and the most primitive stage.
Cheng Yaojin couldn't help but shook his head and said: "Xiaoxuan, it's okay to use this overturned truck to irrigate a small amount of fields, but for thousands of acres of land, it's not as convenient as using human power to lift water!"
Qin Qiong nodded and said: "Zhijie is right. This water truck is indeed not suitable for large-scale farmland irrigation. It is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Instead of doing this, it is better to carry water!"
Li Zexuan thought for a moment and realized that Cheng Yaojin and Qin Qiong must have misunderstood, so he smiled slightly and said: "Uncle Cheng, Uncle Qin, the rollover I am talking about is different from the previous ones. It does not require human power. Instead, it is directly driven by water flow, and its water output speed is much faster than previous rollovers, and it can run day and night, so instead of calling it a rollover, I am more accustomed to calling it a waterwheel~!"
When Cheng Yaojin heard this, his eyes were as big as copper bells. He was surprised and said: "There is such a waterwheel that can turn based on the flow of water? Xiaoxuan, are you trying to trick me?"
Qin Qiong and Niu Jinda also said it was incredible.
Li Zexuan said with a smile: "How dare my nephew deceive these uncles? After the morning court, my nephew will go back to Yunshan to draw the drawings. In a few days, the workshop should be able to make the waterwheel I mentioned." Make it!"
The kind of waterwheel he mentioned that can use the water flow to run by itself is called a "tube wheel" in history. It originated in the late Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty.
Since the invention of the rollover during the Three Kingdoms period in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it has been stagnant in the stage of human operation. It was not until the emergence of the barrel cart that this situation was broken. Using water power and animal power as the driving force, manpower was finally liberated from the pedal of the rollover. The "tube cart" not only has better irrigation efficiency than the previous rollover carts, but also saves manpower and material resources. It was loved by subsequent generations of kings and promoted in their daily lives.
Moreover, Li Zexuan does not intend to copy the historical waterwheels intact. He will optimize and transform them on the original basis, adding gears, bearings and other transmission mechanisms to key parts to further optimize the operating efficiency and friction loss of the waterwheels. Now his workshop definitely has this technology and strength!
At this time, Li Zexuan had to admire his foresight. After traveling to the Tang Dynasty, the first major thing he did was to found the Qiquge Workshop. Now, most of his honors and disgrace are related to this workshop~ !
"Haha! Okay! When Xiaoxuan builds this kind of waterwheel, you must tell me, Old Cheng! I have lived for most of my life and I have never seen a waterwheel that can move by itself, haha!"
Cheng Yaojin laughed excitedly.
Li Zexuan nodded and said: "Definitely, definitely~!"
Talking and laughing quietly all the way, they soon arrived at the palace. Naturally, it was impossible for the 50,000 left guard soldiers to enter the palace. When they were on Suzaku Street, they had already diverted to the main camp. The important generals in the army followed Li Er into the palace to receive rewards!
There was nothing wrong with Li Zexuan, so he stood there and dozed off. He vaguely heard that Yuchi Jingde, Chai Shao and others were rewarded with a lot of money, silk and satin, food, etc., and then he quickly fell asleep. !
Yes, he fell asleep standing up!
After spending so long in the court, Li Zexuan has already mastered the ability to sleep standing up. Speaking of this skill, he learned it from Cheng Yaojin. Old Cheng has been working hard in the court for more than ten years, and he is very good at this. You can sneak around much more than Li Zexuan~!
"Your Majesty, Wei Zuocheng has returned to Beijing and is now outside the Tai Chi Hall~!"
In the groggy state, a high-pitched voice from the hall woke Li Zexuan from his sleep. When he came to his senses, he couldn't help but said in shock: "Wei Zheng is back? No, no, no! We can't sleep anymore. ! If Wei Penzi takes a look at it, he will definitely read it!"
Li Zexuan quickly wiped the corners of his mouth, pretended to be energetic, and stood up straight.
Speaking of which, basically every minister has done this stupid thing of dozing off in the court. Therefore, when everyone sees it, they will turn a blind eye to each other, but there is no room for sand in their eyes. Wei Zheng is different. At best, he will wake you up, but at worst, he will scold you in front of you for being disrespectful and disrespectful to your Majesty!
Li Zexuan's position in the court was very close to Wei Zheng's, with only two people in between. I don't know whether Li Er intentionally or unintentionally arranged this position specifically for him, and he was not allowed to change seats privately!
So as soon as he heard that Wei Penzi was back, Li Zexuan's sleepiness disappeared immediately!
"Oh~? Wei Aiqing is back? Please come in quickly~!"
Li Er, who was sitting high at the head, said with joy at this moment.
It’s just that we don’t know what Lao Li is thinking at this moment. After all, as soon as Wei Fanzi comes back, he will often put pressure on Li Er. As soon as Lao Li does something wrong, Wei Fanzi will directly start complaining!
"Here~!"
The chamberlain handed over his hands and left. After a while, Wei Zheng strode in with a dusty look on his face. He bowed to Li Er and said, "Old minister Wei Zheng, see your majesty!"
To be honest, since he left Chang'an in the first lunar month and headed for Henan Province, Wei Zheng had missed Li Er a little since he hadn't gone to court for so long. This was not a love affair, but a love between a monarch and his subjects! Lao Wei respects and loves Lao Li from the bottom of his heart, and hopes from the bottom of his heart that Lao Li can become a famous king through the ages!
Especially after experiencing rebellion and narrow escape in Henan Province, Wei Zheng became even more eager to return the throne! So as soon as the Henan Road side was processed, he came back without stopping!
"Wei Aiqing is going to Henan Road without any courtesy. Thank you for your hard work, Aiqing!"
Li Er quickly said "emotionally".
Although he was very annoyed by Wei Zheng in the past, Li Er was still a little uncomfortable after Wei Zheng was absent from the court for so long! Now that he saw Wei Zheng coming back, Li Er breathed a sigh of relief for some reason!
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Wei Zheng stood up and said: "Your Majesty, during the first month of the lunar month, I was ordered to send Cui Junchuo back to Zhengzhou, and to inspect the illegal things the Cui family had done over the years, and to clean up the Henan officials. During this period, Cui Junchuo did not want the younger members of the clan to be investigated and punished by the old minister. Together with the Cui family of Boling and the Zheng family of Xingyang, they secretly plotted a rebellion. The old minister had the help of Liu Rengui, who joined the army in Bianzhou, and narrowly escaped death!
Afterwards, His Majesty sent a large army to Guancheng to quell the rebellion. After the rebels were put to death, the old minister stayed in Henan Road to appease the people and investigated the officials who had colluded with the Cui family. A total of thirty-three officials were found. All the evidence was conclusive. These The person has now been taken to the prison of Dali Temple to await His Majesty's fate! Fortunately, the veteran minister who traveled to Henan Province did not disgrace his orders and came to deliver the order today! "
At the end of the sentence, Wei Zheng bowed down and held his hands in hand.
Li Er nodded and said in a deep voice: "Wei Aiqing's journey has been extremely difficult and dangerous. In order to clean up the rule of officials in Henan Province, he has taken risks and even put his life in danger many times. I am very moved in my heart. Henan Province has also been affected by Wei Aiqing's efforts. , was able to restore the bright world, I decided to confer Ai Qing with the title of Crown Prince Shaobao, Doctor Jin Ziguanglu, and grant 300 households in the city~!"
Wei Zheng bowed and said: "I thank your Majesty~! However, when I came back, I saw that many farmlands were suffering from severe drought, and many people were carrying water from the river to irrigate the fields. I am sure that your Majesty's household The Ministry of Industry allocated money, and the Ministry of Industry sent craftsmen to help the people clear ditches and alleviate the drought!"
Hearing this, Li Er frowned and said, "I have known about this for a long time. In the near future, the imperial court will allocate manpower, material resources, and financial resources to order local prefecture and county officials to help the people clear ditches and ensure that the farmland with lower terrain can be The river is irrigated!”
Wei Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, you are wise! In this way, we can alleviate the drought to the greatest extent and reduce the losses of the people!"
Obviously, Wei Zheng also understood that it is impossible to take care of all the farmland in a drought of this level. For some farmland that cannot be reached by ditches, the people can only rely on the people to carry water~!
"Hey! Who said that farmland on high ground cannot be irrigated? As far as I know, Marquis Yong'an will build a rolling cart that can move on its own to carry water from low places to high places~!"
Cheng Yaojin couldn't help but show off at this time.
Today's morning meeting was all about watching others being rewarded. Cheng Yaojin originally thought it was quite boring, but now he finally found such an opportunity to show off, how could he miss it?
In the early days of the Tang Dynasty, the court was relatively free. Cheng Yaojin said something for no reason. No one blamed him, but everyone looked at him with stern eyes. Lao Cheng has been a "soy sauce" since this morning. The character suddenly became the protagonist!
Li Zexuan couldn't help but cover his face, and thought to himself that Lao Cheng really couldn't hold his temper. The waterwheel hasn't even been built yet, and you're bragging about it. Isn't it a little premature?
"Mr. Lu, are you telling the truth? Is there really a car that can move on its own and carry water?"
Wei Zheng looked at Cheng Yaojin with excitement and asked.
Although Miles Yaojin always quarreled with him on weekdays, Wei Zheng still knew how to put aside those personal feelings when it came to such big issues.
"Tsk~!"
Cheng Yaojin sneered and said with a proud look on his face: "I, Old Cheng, speak with spit and nails, can I trick you, Wei Xuancheng~? If you don't believe me, ask Yong'an Hou!"
This look is as if he wants to build a waterwheel himself!
Wei Zheng was too lazy to argue with the old guy. He quickly turned his attention to Li Zexuan. At this moment, Li Er finally couldn't help but speak: "Marquis Yong'an, is what Cheng Zhijie said just now true?"
Li Zexuan knew that he could no longer keep a low profile. He walked out of the group of civil servants, stepped forward and bowed: "Your Majesty, this is indeed the case. I call this kind of overturned car a waterwheel. It does not require manpower to step on the pedals and relies entirely on water power." It will work. But these are just some ideas in my mind, and they have not been built yet. Your Majesty will give me a few days, and then you will know whether this method is feasible~!"
Hearing Li Zexuan's words with such certainty, the ministers couldn't help but feel extremely shocked. Wei Zheng even trembled with excitement, only to hear him murmur: "It's saved, now the people are saved!"
Li Er was also shocked. He looked at Li Zexuan with stern eyes and said: "Waterwheel? Okay! In the past few days, I have asked you to concentrate on developing this kind of waterwheel. If you do a good job, I will definitely reward you~ !”
"My lord, I obey the order!"
Li Zexuan bowed.
Having said that, he couldn't help but look at Cheng Yaojin with resentment. Originally, he just casually mentioned the improved waterwheel in the morning. Even he didn't know whether it could be successful. But now that Cheng Yaojin did this, he was very satisfied. Everyone knew that he had to build the waterwheel no matter what, and he succeeded!
………………………
After coming out of the palace after the morning court, he had no time to chat with Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong and other elders, so Wei Zheng urged Li Zexuan to go back and develop the waterwheel.
"Marquis Yong'an, the drought is like a fire. For the sake of all the people in the world, please build the waterwheel you mentioned as soon as possible! Otherwise, I don't know how many people will have no harvest this year! I It’s really heartbreaking to watch!”
Although Wei Zheng did not explicitly urge Li Zexuan to go back to Yunshan, the resentful look in his eyes still made Li Zexuan feel uncomfortable for a while. Therefore, Li Zexuan quickly responded with his hands and immediately rode back to Yunshan!
It is said that although Wei Zheng sometimes likes to get into trouble, the old man really cares about the people. It is precisely because of this that Li Zexuan respects Wei Zheng.
"Ms. sir, are you back~?"
Seeing Li Zexuan coming back, Han Yuxi hurriedly stepped forward to greet him and said.
"Well! Madam, I have some things to do for my husband, so I won't have lunch at noon! Don't let anyone disturb me in the study~!"
Li Zexuan confessed to his wife and hurried to the study.
He must quickly draw the drawings of the improved waterwheel!
Not only did Wei Zheng know that the drought was like fire;
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First update!
Two chapters in one!
Thanks to Jiayan for the great reward! (April 3)
(End of chapter)
