Since the entire team rode in cars or on mules or donkeys, the team moved very quickly. In less than half an hour, they had crossed the stone bridge over the Xinjiangdong River and entered Baima Township.
The manor Yang Yi helped Li Dan find was in the south of Baima Township, but Li Dan didn't have time to look at it at the moment. He led the team to walk north along the left bank of the East River for a while, and then turned east.
There are three roads to Wannian. The southern route passes through Chatou, Huangguling, Lion Rock and Qingyun Town. The roads are all mountainous, making it difficult to go far.
The center line passes Baima and then goes down the pond, passing through the valley between Guishan and Xiangshan, and then along the north bank of Muxiantan through Dooshan Gorge to Qingyun Town.
The first half of this road is easier to walk, but the second half is difficult, and whether you can pass a car is doubtful.
The northern line needs to go north along the East River for a section, then turn east, walk along the south bank of Baihu Lake, pass through Longshan Pass to Gubu and Qibu, and go straight to the North Pass of Wannian City along the official road beside the West Pearl River at the foot of Songshan Mountain.
Although this road is a bit circuitous, the advantage is that it is safe and spacious, and it is no problem for carriages and horses. There are not many ups and downs on the mountain road, and it is generally flat. Li Dan and the others chose this path.
…
At the Li Mansion. After finishing the morning tea, Li Su saw Li Changjing shaking his face by the door, so he asked him to come in and asked in a confused way: "Leaving?"
"Yes, sir. The people at the south gate could clearly see that Saburo and his men were driving several new cars and a dozen donkeys and mules towards the official road over to Baima Township." Chang Jing replied respectfully.
"Tsk, what an out-and-out prodigal! How can he waste his newly bought carriage and horse on a business trip for the government?" Li Su frowned with some distress.
"Master, everyone has gone out to live alone. He spent his own money and we didn't lose anything." Chang Jing consoled him.
"That's the Li family's money too!" Li Su pouted unhappily and said, "I can't bear to see that little bastard looking so complacent!" After speaking, he paused and asked softly, "You have arranged everything over there. alright?"
"Don't worry, sir," Chang Jing looked back and saw that there was no one else in the room, and replied in a low voice: "I have found two or three groups of people. As long as one of them succeeds, Saburo will definitely be punished.
But... do you really want to do this? He is your nephew. "
"Who knows what kind of blood is flowing on his body? He was not born in this house!" Li Su sneered and gritted his teeth:
"If he comes back safely, he will get a share of what the old man left behind. If he wants to make another contribution, maybe the nostrils of that house will look up to the sky!
Look at the affectionate way the county magistrate talks about him now, hum! If he really gets an official position because of this, where will my wife's face go?
Therefore, no matter what, we cannot let his trip go without incident! "
…
Li Dan didn't know that his uncle was grinding his teeth behind his back.
On the official road in the south outside Gubu Town, he asked Mao Zaidi to order the team to stop and rest. Each of the horsemen (one chief and one mate, and also the cook) began to bury pots to cook rice. Gu Da and Xiao Yi went to the deserted place. He cut bamboo on the slope and ordered Liu Hongsheng and Nashi to collect pine gum on the mountain.
Everyone didn't know what he meant, but they still obeyed the order and cut down dozens of bamboos.
Li Dan asked everyone to keep the too thick part at the bottom of the bamboo, remove the too thin part of the upper branches, cut the head diagonally to make a sharp point, bake it on the earthen stove for cooking, and brush the bottom of the cut tip to cook it. Pine gum, wrapped with hemp rope, and there is also rope wrapped around the handle at the back. When it dries, it becomes a bamboo gun.
Everyone's eyes lit up, and everyone except Huo Bing started making it.
Li Dan arranged for each team to coordinate according to the six steps of cutting wood, sharpening, roasting, boiling glue, upper wrapping, and lower wrapping. He also assigned one person to each team to guard the livestock and materials with a knife, and to patrol the posts.
"In the future, we will follow this example every time we take a break, with one person standing guard at each break." Li Dan told Mavericks to be responsible for supervising this matter.
He also asked Chen Sanwen to make a whistle from the discarded bamboo shoots and give it to the police and other commanders for use.
"Third brother, how are the conditions of those carriages?" He asked Sanlang Chen, the most critical carriage must not have any problems!
"Don't worry, dear brother. My buddy and I have checked. There is a noise between the wheels and axles. It should be better after applying oil. No other problems were found."
Having only known each other for half a day, Chen Sanwen and Li Dan are already very familiar with each other as brothers.
"Wheels and axles?" Li Dan thoughtfully touched his chin and nodded: "You go ahead and I'll think of some ways to solve it."
Chen Salmon responded, smiled and walked away. Although this Li Sanlang is two years younger than him, he has the mind of an adult. Problems are often solved unexpectedly, let's see what he can come up with this time.
Li Dan didn't think about it for too long. He ate and laughed with everyone as usual.
But not long after he started on the road again, he suddenly asked Chen Sanwen who was sitting next to him: "Third brother, do you know what 'axial support' is?"
Chen Sanwen shook his head: "I have seen this statement in ancient books, but I have never seen the actual object. I don't know what it looks like. It seems to be related to the axis?"
Only then did he realize that Li Dan had been thinking about the "axle noise" problem he just mentioned.
"I just listened to the sound of the car's axle." Li Dan said: "It was mainly caused by friction between the axle sleeve and the axle seat or the possible entry of foreign matter, such as sand.
It is not difficult to solve it, just make a shaft bearing and seat chamber. "As he said this, he took out a picture drawn at an unknown time from his pocket and handed it to him, pointing and explaining:
"Well, this is the shaft support. This is the outer ring, the inner ring, the drum, and the support.
The drum is drum-shaped, with grooves on the outside of the inner ring and the inside of the outer ring. After the outer ring is heated, the drum just falls into the groove, and is then closed from both sides with supports.
This is the finished product of the shaft. The inner ring is fixed on the shaft sleeve, and the outer ring is fixed on the shaft socket. Closing the shaft socket with a protector can prevent sand and gravel from entering.
An oiled axle bearing can make the car run faster than it does now! What do you think of my idea? "
Chen Sanwen pointed to the drawing: "Wonderful! But this...shaft is supported by iron, maybe?"
"Iron won't work!" Li Dan replied decisively: "Either bronze, preferably steel!"
"Doesn't it mean that we still have to buy Fujian Iron? The iron we produce here cannot be beaten into steel. If the four axles are loaded, the cost will be at least two taels of silver per car!" Chen Salmon grinned.
"Money is not a problem. In ten thousand years, send someone back to tell your father to make the new car the same way!"
The two of them traveled and discussed all the way, and by the time they arrived at Songshan, they had even drawn the revised drawings.
Only then did Chen Sanwen notice the pen in Li Dan's hand: "What kind of pen does Brother Xian use? Why doesn't he even use ink?"
"Pencils." Li Dan smiled and handed the one in his hand to him: "I made it when I was at home."
Chen Sanwen took it and drew it twice on his hand, and two gray-black channels immediately appeared. "this……."
He turned around and was about to ask, but suddenly thought that it might be someone else's secret or unique skill, and immediately got stuck.
Li Dan laughed loudly, patted him on the shoulder and said: "Since you and I are brothers, there is nothing bad to say.
This thing is made by using the method of burning incense, adding a little clay to black lead - oh, maybe you also call it charcoal essence - and drying it in the sun.
Then cut a semicircular groove in the wooden strip, put some isinglass into the groove and put the lead strip in. Then use the glue to put the two wooden strips together and clamp them.
After a few days, take it off after it dries, shape it into a hexagonal shape or polish it into an arc, and you're done! When using it, just use the paper dagger to peel off the wood bark. "
As he spoke, he took out an unused one from his bag and said, "Here, this is what it looks like when it's done."
"My dear brother, this pen is very wonderful. There is no need to grind the brush with ink, and it is not as easy to dirty your hands as charcoal." Chen Sanwen couldn't put it down after seeing it.
Li Dan said generously: "This is for the third brother. It's just... I have a wish. I wonder if I can agree to it?"
"Please tell me!" Chen Sanwen was happy and said quickly: "But you want me to help my dear brother make a few more of these?"
"You're half right." Li Dan told him with a smile: "I want to ask my third brother to work with me to perfect this process after I go back and see how we can ship it in large quantities."
"You want to do this business?"
"There are many literate people in the world. Craftsmen, artists, merchants, doctors, and shops can all write and draw. You and I are not the only ones who want to use these things?
It has a purpose and the materials are not difficult to obtain. How much does this business cost? Don’t you think it could be made bigger? "
"Brother Xian, did you mean 'you and me'?"
"Exactly! I want to give the third brother 20% of my shares. How about I invite you to become my boss together?" Li Dan looked at him with a smile.
"This..." Chen Sanwen could not resist the temptation, and he agreed with a little humility: "In this case, I am disrespectful.
But since we are business partners, from now on Sanlang will only call me by my cousin's name "Jiang Ru". I don't want my elder brother to come or go. "
"Okay, okay," Li Dan laughed: "With Jiang Ru's help, I feel like I have two wings, so happy! Then Jiang Ru also calls me 'Sanlang'!"
Chen Salmon nodded in agreement, and the two looked at each other and smiled. The people around them didn't know what they were happy about. In short, they were also happy that the team was having fun, and they were very happy along the way.
Seeing that the sky was dark, a light came on in front. Li Biao rode his donkey back and reported that there was a restaurant there and there was a place in the backyard where travelers could stay and work.
"It's getting late, why don't we just rest there? It seems so fast, we will definitely reach ten thousand years in the day tomorrow." Li Biao said.
Li Dan looked up at the clouds in the sky and saw that Chen Salmon was also nodding, so he asked Li Biao: "Where are you? Is there any accommodation ahead?" He wanted to take advantage of some light to walk a little further.
Unexpectedly, Li Biao told him: "Third uncle, you can't walk. Ahead is Ax Ridge! The store owner said that three groups of people traveling in the past few days have encountered bandits who cut the path at night. Why should we take risks?"
"Hey, I have dozens of people, a dozen knives, and bamboo spears, so why are we afraid of just a few robbers?"
Li Dan looked back and saw that several senior officials in the car behind him had gotten out of the car and gathered around him. It was Gu Da who said what he just said.
Li Dan thought about it and said, "Although we are not afraid, this trip is for the imperial military affairs, so there is no need to get entangled with a few bandits. Let's stay overnight first."
It’s your first day away from home and you have a good rest and soak your feet in hot water. Besides, half of the bamboo spears are still unfinished, don’t you think? "
Everyone thought it was right, they were not here to catch thieves, so they all nodded. Gu Daye said: "Okay, then let's stay here first and then we can talk about it!"
So the large group of people continued to move forward in a mighty manner. The lantern looked not far away, but it really fulfilled the old saying of "looking at the mountain and running to death", and they walked for another two-quarters of an hour before reaching the door.
I saw a piece of wood hanging under the lamp, with the words "my old shop" written on it.
There was a waiter who had been waiting in front of the door. Seeing that they wanted to stay, he smiled happily and hurriedly called two more boys to help greet the guests and give directions to the livestock shed.
"The store is not big. I didn't expect that there would be so many people and cars, so I'd like to apologize to anyone who doesn't take good care of them!" He said it well and felt very comfortable. Li Dan couldn't help but nod towards the waiter.
"Third uncle, it seems that this place is really small. Even those big cars can't get in. There are not enough buildings, so we can only house half of the brothers." Li Biao looked around and scratched the back of his head worriedly.
"It's okay. Who would have thought that this car is so big?" Li Dan comforted him:
"I saw that the bottom of the east wall was relatively flat, so I arranged five carts to line up along the wall, one cart horizontally and four carts in column. The gap was surrounded by a fence made of thick bamboo and ropes we brought.
Each group lived in the house, and one group pitched a tent along the east wall. The brothers in the house take turns on duty tonight, one team per shift.
We must guard against bandits coming to harass and steal. We have many mules, horses, and tools, so we cannot be careless! "
Several ministers gathered around and agreed upon hearing this. Li Dan waved the guy over and asked him where the shopkeeper was.
