After listening to Xu Ruo's story, Ye Ling felt completely at ease with him. At first, when Ye Ling went down the mountain with Xu Ruo, he thought that Xu Ruo was still young and had little experience in water control. He was a little arrogant and his words were a little frivolous. Now that they have arrived in Ye, they inspected the water conservancy and realized that this young insect has his talent. He said happily: "Sir's idea is exactly what I want. Now we can start construction." Xu Ruo said: "Now that construction can begin, Ye Ling can recruit tens of thousands of migrant workers, and the women and children at home can serve as logistics."
The next day, they started working on dredging the river. Xu Ruo stood on the top of the mountain to inspect, eating and living with the migrant workers. He ate whatever the migrant workers ate, shared the joys and sorrows with them, and became one with them.
At this time, Xu Ruo was sitting in the work shed, pouring realgar into the fire, adding some firewood to refine it, sometimes adding some sulfur and saltpeter, and sometimes increasing the fire. A few migrant workers walked in and often teased: "Sir, what are you practicing? You are refining the elixir of immortality." Xu Ruo looked at them and said: "You guys get out quickly, we are here anytime." There's a chance of an explosion." He drove them out again.
Ye Ling also often came to the construction site to visit them. The co-workers came forward and knelt down and said, "Big insects." Ye Ling walked up and said, "You all, get up." Ye Ling sat on a gravel, Said: "You all sit down together." The migrant workers sat down around Ye Ling. Ye Ling looked at them and asked with concern: "The food here is not bad." A worker squatted forward and said: "We have meat for every meal. It is rare to have a meal of meat during the holidays. A full meal is already good." Ye Ling said with some shame: "You have worked hard." The workers standing behind them said: "We are not working hard. Following the big insects, we work more vigorously. Ye Ling looked around them and asked: "Why don't you see Mr.?" A worker said: "Sir has locked himself alone in the shed for three days, but he has never seen it go out." There are two. A migrant worker said: "We went into Mr.'s work shed to have a look, and Mr. kicked us all out." Ye Ling asked curiously: "Why did Mr. Sir drive you out?" The migrant worker replied: "Sir told us, It's dangerous here, there will be an explosion." Ye Ling became more and more strange and asked: "Oh, what are you busy with, sir?" These migrant workers were also puzzled. One migrant worker said: "It seems that you are refining some elixir?" Ye Ling asked After hearing this, he laughed and said: "Nonsense, how could the elixir explode?"
While they were chatting happily, there was a loud noise behind them that made the earth tremble. They were all stunned by the loud noise. Only then did Ye Ling react and said: "Where is the sound of the explosion coming from?" The workers all looked behind them and said in shock: "It must be coming from Mr.'s work shed." Ye Ling immediately He stood up and said, "No, sir, something happened." They all got up and rushed towards Xu Ruo's work shed. When they broke in, they saw Xu Ruo lying on the ground with his head protected. They immediately stepped forward to help Xu Ruo up and shouted: "Sir, sir ." Only then did Xu Ruo wake up, shook his head, and asked, "Why are you all here?" Ye Ling said, "We all came over after hearing a loud noise and thinking that something happened to your husband." Xu Ruo then stood up, his ears were buzzing, he patted his ears, shook his head, and walked up to check. The cauldron was blown to pieces, and he said excitedly: "I succeeded, I succeeded." Ye Ling was very confused and walked up to him and asked: "Sir, are you okay?" Xu Ruo cheered: " I'm fine, God helps me, God helps me, I finally succeeded, I succeeded." He calmed down again and said, "Big Chong, come here and take a look." Ye Ling looked at the cauldron that was blown to pieces and said, "This is Things are very powerful, what is this?" Xu Ruo said: "It is gunpowder, black gunpowder." Ye Ling said: "What a good name, let's call it black gunpowder from now on."
After that, Xu Ruo began to refine black gunpowder. If the heat could not be controlled, it would explode. The process of refining gunpowder is very dangerous. It is also refining repeatedly, and each time it explodes and ends in failure. And record the time when the explosion occurred, and how to control the fire? I sat in front of several cases and speculated alone, summarizing the process of failure. If the heat is too high, it will spontaneously ignite; if the refining time is too long and the temperature continues to rise, an explosion will occur and everything will fail. So what is the most appropriate time or what kind of heat should be controlled? He closed his eyes again and began to meditate. This meditation lasted for an hour or two. Suddenly it opened its eyes, as if it thought of something again, it opened the slip and looked at the time it was refining. It turned out that the problem occurred in this time, which was the reason for its failure. After it has figured everything out, the sky has begun to dimly open, marking time. When I walked out, I saw all the workers coming out of the work shed. Xu Ruo asked: "You came out before dawn." The workers said: "We also want to finish the work early, go home early, and reunite with the domestic insects." Xu Ruo smiled and said: "Okay! I want to You promise, you will finish the job ahead of schedule." The workers all smiled and said, "We all believe that sir, we will finish the job ahead of schedule." A worker came forward and said, "Sir, you are refining gunpowder again." Xu Ruo said: "Yes, but they all failed." The co-worker said comfortingly: "Don't be discouraged, sir, you will definitely succeed." With their encouragement, Xu Ruo became more confident and said, "Okay, I will definitely succeed." Yes, you go."
Countless experiments ended in failure. At this time, it was not discouraged and looked for experience in the failures. This time, I added realgar and sulfur according to the original amounts, added some firewood, and finally added saltpeter. Because the heat was too high, it spontaneously ignited. Start over again, dry it over low heat, then over high heat, then take it out and put it into a bamboo tube. After repeated failures and repeated attempts, he became more courageous as he fought. The bamboo tube was filled with the black gunpowder it refined, and the remaining saltpeter from the refining was used to plug both sides of the bamboo tube. A fuse made of twine was pulled out, and the gunpowder was poured in and twisted together into a fuse, and buried at the foot of the mountain. The rocks collided with each other and ignited the fuse.
The craftsmen were still working and were startled by the loud noise coming from behind. They all ran over to see what happened. This experiment was successful. After summing up experience from one failure after another, it succeeded the last time. How joyful this is! It runs like a child, shouting: "I succeeded, I succeeded."
Because it had experience in refining gunpowder, it began to refine gunpowder in large quantities. It put the refined gunpowder into bamboo tubes, sealed both sides of the bamboo tubes with saltpeter, tied several bamboo tubes filled with gunpowder together, and moved them to the cliff. Under the wall, pull out the fuse. This fuse was not long enough, so he poured gunpowder to make up for it, and it fell like a thread. He waved it back and said, "You guys stay away." Xu Ruo looked behind it and saw that these migrant workers were hiding far away. At that moment, he ignited the gunpowder scattered on the ground and immediately hid under a boulder to protect his head. Clouds of green smoke rose upwards, fireworks burst out among the grass, and there was a loud bang, like a thunderous explosion. I saw rocks piercing the sky and rocks rolling down, as if they had collapsed. Xu Ruo stood up and patted the thick dust on his body. There was a "buzzing" between his ears. The loud noise was deafening! The migrant workers all rushed forward and were shocked by the scene in front of them. They asked, "Sir, are you the God of Thunder?" Xu Ruo immediately faced them and said, "You cannot blaspheme the God of Heaven. It is just a summary of experience after repeated failures." That's all." At this time, a look of worry appeared on Xu Ruo's face, and he said: "We must fear the gods of heaven and earth, so that we can get the protection of the gods."
Ye Ling also rushed over after hearing the loud noise and said, "What happened?" Then he looked and saw that the cliff collapsed. Xu Ruo stood in front of the piled-up rocks and began to be in a daze. Then he stepped forward and asked, "Sir, did you blow up this cliff?" Xu Ruo said, "I started blowing up the mountain without asking for a priest. Offending our own mountain god's land. If the gods are angry, it may be a disaster for the insects!" He looked up at the sky again. Ye Ling said: "God has the virtue of good life. You are seeking the welfare of the people of Ye, and I will not blame you and the people." Xu Ruo held the incense and prayed, and knelt down devoutly. Behind him, Ye Ling and the people knelt down and worshiped three times. Xu Ruo placed a stick of incense in front of the rocks, burned some banknotes, looked at the pile of rocks, and said: "Xu Ruo of the Mohist family, tell the sky and the mountain gods of this place. There are frequent floods in Ye, and the people suffer. . A weak heart leads to pity, and cannot bear to see the people of Ye suffer. It is the virtue of God to build water conservancy projects to benefit one area. This is a weak heart. Without inviting the priest, he acts rashly. He is frightened and sincere, so he bows his head and bows. " He kowtowed again and said: "Pray weakly to heaven and hope that the gods will protect you." Looking up to the sky, the wind was light and the clouds were clear, the wind was bright and the sun was bright. He stood up and smiled and said: "God has forgiven us, we can start work."
There was a sound of banging in the valley, as these migrant workers carried gravel. Xu Ruo was not idle either. He measured the land, made markings, and matched lines to draw vertical or parallel lines to build a large reservoir. There are two large gates in front of the reservoir. The gate is very heavy, and it is difficult for dozens of strong men to pull it open. This question stumped them. Ye Ling stood on the reservoir, looked down at the two heavy gates, looked back at Xu Ruo, and said, "Sir, look at this..." Xu Ruo lowered his head and said, "Let me think about it again." Then he added He said: "The big insect can instruct the river workers to dig a canal connecting the Yellow River and the Zhang River to divert water into the reservoir. The third step is to dredge the silt on the river bed." Ye Ling said: "Sir, you are right! I will instruct the river officials now. Go do it." After saying that, he left.
A gap was opened in the mountain, just enough for a canal to be dug through. The river workers went into the water and carried basket after basket of accumulated silt up. This silt can be used to block water and form a dam. It can be mixed with pebbles to build a ten-mile embankment. Countless days and nights, they came and went in the wind and rain. Like them, Xu Ruo picked up basket after basket of silt, mixed it into mud, and built a long embankment. Some willow trees were planted along the long embankment, forming a beautiful landscape. He also built a river official office to facilitate the supervision of river officials.
It was late one night, and Xu Ruo was sitting alone on the reservoir, meditating. At this time, the workers all went back to rest. They walked on the reservoir and joked with each other. They all looked at Xu Ruo, who was sitting on the reservoir, and called out: "Sir, sir." Xu Ruo looked back at them and said, "What can you do?" The migrant workers said, "It's late at night, sir. Let's go back and rest." Xu Ruo said: "There is one thing that I haven't figured out yet. You should go back first." A migrant worker said: "Sir, we are going back first." Xu Ruo just said one word and said: "Okay. "The migrant workers walked past it. You said, I laughed away. Only Xu Ruo was left sitting on the reservoir. The evening breeze blew in my face, and the treetops in the distance swayed in the breeze, seeming to be waving to it. The moon near the Mid-Autumn Festival is the roundest and hangs above its head. Xu Ruo looked at the full moon above his head, looking thoughtful.
