It was the 4th year of Shaoping in the Ming Dynasty, the Victorian era in Rome. The Qing Dynasty does not exist, Napoleon does not exist, and the British Empire does not exist.
Ming and Rome, two ancient empires united in the distant past and ruled the world unstoppably. For the people, this was a peaceful and prosperous age in which "people enjoyed themselves and were both drunk and full". As far as the country is concerned, this is a peaceful world where "the country has no troops and all parties share the same interests."
The two sides had the Great Wall across the continent in the Old World as a hard dividing line. But in the New World, the dividing line between the two sides was not so clear.
Between the San Francisco Bay Area of the Ming Dynasty and the Great Lakes area of Rome, there was a long neutral zone, sometimes called the "Great Plains." There are deserts and swamps all over there, with rain and heat at different periods, floods and droughts, and cold currents that sweep across the continent from time to time.
This kind of agricultural hell was not taken seriously in the past pre-industrial era. Only in recent years has a large gathering area with a "special" function like "Las Vegas" emerged.
San Francisco, San Francisco, was the easternmost metropolis of the Ming Empire.
Because this land was the first to be bathed in sunlight, it was called the "Yangzhou" - according to Rome, it was the American state.
The crimson bridge flies over the dark blue harbor, where the Maya, Mexica and Tawantinsuyu countries enshrine the "Great Pyramid of the Dragon God" that is bright day and night. Complementing the pyramid is the 41-story, 187-meter-high "Golden Gate Tower" in the Acropolis of San Francisco.
This building, covered with red bricks and covered with blue glazed tiles, is the tallest skyscraper in the entire New World and is also the residence of the Yangzhou Governor's Palace.
At the entrance of the Acropolis, in the Shang's Watch Shop. Shangluo sat behind his workbench.
The early summer sunshine shines in through the floor-to-ceiling windows and shines on the gleaming brass clock in the store. Golden light diffused on the casing of a clock, illuminating the store in a warm yellow color. The air is filled with the scent of wood and gear oil, professional and reassuring.
After making a cup of tangerine peel water, Shangluo was checking today's work schedule. At such a young age, he had already soaked five wolfberry berries, and even planned to soak a few more slices of Yangzhou ginseng.
"Ah, it's another day of peace in the world."
Looking back on his 16 years of life as a craftsman, he is very satisfied. Compared with the previous life, here there is no need to work overtime, no need to stay up late, no attendance, and no performance. As long as you complete the errands assigned by the court on time, you can get a stable salary.
The most important thing is that the imperial court is very rich, and the imperial court pays a lot of money. So much so that together with the allowance for business trips to Yangzhou, I have a considerable monthly income of 52 taels, which can be enough to buy a car.
Except that he had to go to Yangzhou with his father, Lao Shang, on official business a few years ago, he had nothing to be dissatisfied with.
Shangluo himself didn't actually need to work. Craftsman households are calculated based on household registration, and one person per household is enough. Moreover, it is not the turn of 16-year-old minors to run errands. They must be at least 20 years old before they are considered adults - 52 taels per month is not available to everyone. This is the price of an old businessman.
Two months ago, Lao Shang suddenly received a call and took the nearest military plane to leave, leaving Shangluo alone. Now Shangluo's main job is to look after the store and do some daily maintenance work.
As an outstanding graduate of Nanjing Wutaishan Training Institute, his skills are quite good. If he had not followed the business trip to Yangzhou in the past four years, but continued to study in the training center with other craftsmen's children until he graduated at the age of 16, his craftsmanship would probably be able to be directly employed as a royal craftsman supervisor, and the old merchant's craftsmanship certificate would also be hung there. .
"They will graduate soon." Shangluo looked at the ceiling. There was still a light on there. It was a Seiko light bulb made by Nanjing Liulichang. It had never broken once in four years.
The training center is a place where craftsmen who can make exquisite light bulbs are trained. It is also a public school specially established for the children of craftsmen. Correspondingly, military households also have training centers. This is very important, because the status of military households and craftsmen households is now limited to themselves and cannot be passed down to their heirs. Heirs must also take additional exams to become new military households and craftsmen households.
The Wutai Mountain Training School on Shangluo is a little more special. It trains military craftsmen there, and it is a brother school to the Wutai Mountain Training School next door that trains imperial soldiers. Shangluo's father also graduated from there and is now sent to the San Francisco Health Center on a business trip. This watch shop, where he usually earns extra money, is also open at the entrance to the San Francisco Health Center.
Shops that make extra money can only be opened at the entrance to the Acropolis. Because only people from "Kinei", that is, two capitals and thirteen provinces, can enter the Acropolis of San Francisco at will. There was no way to do business inside, otherwise he would have to apply for a temporary license plate for each customer who made an appointment.
"Well, I'm almost drunk." He glanced at his work log and arranged for himself the work of removing and cleaning clocks. He started working at 12 noon and worked until 6 pm when he closed the door.
This is how he works. For some reason, since attending Wutaishan Training Center, he always felt that he had an unusual "inspiration" when manipulating mechanical parts. As long as he is familiar with every part, the structure of the entire machine will suddenly be understood, and the principles of operation from the outside to the inside will seem to be exhausted.
Just like the chef Ding who can rely on the laws of nature, there is no complete cow in his eyes, only the sinew and bone structure of the cow. Just like the oil seller who can pour a gourd of oil from the hole of a copper coin without wetting the coin - no other, but his hands are familiar.
It's just that his hands seem to be familiar with it very quickly, as if the principles of the operation of these clock structures are already in his heart, and he can become familiar with them as soon as he gets started. This is also the reason why Shangluo was considered to be a craftsman supervisor at that time. He was indeed a genius.
After arriving in Yangzhou, Shangluo did not continue to attend classes at the training center. But somehow, he could feel that his craftsmanship was getting better and better, and he could even vaguely sense that there was something... something that seemed to be called "Qi" flowing between the gears.
This may be a grid of things, although it is not a grid of bamboos. Compared to the dullness of gridding bamboo, gridding an alarm clock is quite fun.
At 12 o'clock, the bells in the watch shop chimed the time. Mechanical gears, cycloidal wheels, oscillators, the brass movement runs in the brass case, and the simple and harmonious movement of the mechanical parts plays Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".
He put the tangerine peel water aside and prepared to turn on the lamp on the table to fill in the light. The warm yellow light in the room is a bit dim, so I still need to increase the brightness when working.
Shangluo put his hand on the lamp switch.
Shangluo flipped the switch.
There was a "bang" sound, the desk lamp shattered, and the light bulb above the head exploded. The Seiko light bulb that had not broken for 4 years was now turned into powder, and the glass shards fell into the tea cup.
"Good guy...what kind of magical skill have I achieved?" He looked at his hands in disbelief. He has always felt that his "inspiration" might be Qi, and he can feel spiritual energy.
"If it's spiritual energy, then it should have spiritual roots? Then what kind of spiritual roots do I have? Is it the thunder root that explodes the light bulb?"
Suddenly, the phone rang. Shangluo, who was planning to practice the thunder method, heard the call and could only get up to answer it.
After 10 seconds, he put down the phone.
"What's going on? It made me think I could become an immortal. It turned out that something happened to the power plant. I felt strange. Less than 10 years after the invention of the generator, how could the civil power grid be used so quickly? Fortunately, it doesn't cost any money. Otherwise, if the power is cut off every three days, I won’t pay the electricity bill.”
This power outage was more outrageous than the previous ones. The previous few times it just turned off the lights suddenly, but this time even the light bulbs exploded. Who knows what will explode next time.
But the call was not an apology. The call was to ask him to go back and save the situation - which is why the store didn't open too far away from the Acropolis. If there is an emergency like now, Lao Shang can rush there immediately. Although Lao Shang was not here, he said that he would come over to invite people no matter what, so Shangluo was ready to wait for the meeting before finding an excuse.
After a while, an off-road military vehicle stopped at the door.
"Is Mr. Shang here?"
"He's out." Shangluo poked his head out of the inner room. He stayed far away from the workbench, afraid that someone would see that he could actually work.
"You are...ah, you are Mr. Xiao Shang, right? The one who is very famous at the Wutai Mountain Military Craftsmanship Training Center. I heard that you have the Seven Orifices Exquisite Heart?"
"Well...someone said that."
That was when I was a kid.
Shangluo remembers that sometimes he would be lost in thought while "studying things" and keep mumbling words. The teacher joked that he was called "Little Bigan" because Bigan, who has a "seven orifices and exquisite heart", can also communicate with all things in the world.
If Bigan had had an alarm clock at that time, and had a good relationship with the alarm clock with his talent of "Seven Orifices and Exquisite Heart", he would have been an eighth-level fitter at least.
"That's good, come with me quickly. If you can fix it, it will be a good addition to your resume. We don't even understand how that thing works, and the old military craftsmen in the guard can't figure it out either. I understand. Generators are a new thing, only available in recent years."
Shangluo originally wanted to shirk it, but the guard soldier came in and dragged him to the car: "It's okay! Just go and have a look! Take a look! I don't blame you if it can't be repaired!"
With that said, he pushed Shangluo into the back seat. The off-road vehicle turned around and drove back to the Acropolis, all the way to the power plant in the Craftsman District.
The journey was smooth and the car drove all the way to the door of the computer room. The door was open, and the roar of these machines made his eardrums hurt as soon as he got out of the car. The steam engine was operating normally, but the lights in the factory were also turned off.
It was a tower-type high-speed steam engine that had just been invented two years ago. It could output strong power at a high speed of 450 revolutions per minute. Every cylinder and piston is crafted by professionals, and there are fewer than 200 of them in the entire empire. The boiler installed in the factory next door is also high-end.
This power plant was one of the first real power plants built in the world - electric lights had actually been widely used before. But just like the steam engines in factories, buildings that use electric lights will also have their own small steam engines and generators to generate electricity.
The power plant here in San Francisco is experimental in nature, because it is experimenting with two new technologies, "grid" and "long-distance power transmission." With the power grid, power supply can be centralized in power plants, and there is no need to provide generators where electricity is used. This is a revolutionary new technology, and new technologies will naturally cause new problems.
"So the problem is the big guy?"
"No, it's a small one." The guard soldier pointed to a much smaller machine next to the connecting rod of the steam engine. The red and blue cables are connected from the top to the outside. That was the generator. The generator was forbidden to move at this time, and there was a yellow paper charm attached to it.
Three old fitters were standing in front of the generator with their backs to the door, clasping their hands and mumbling something. On the red bench in front of her were three cans of green cans of Wangzai milk and three cigarettes. The three people bowed to the red bench while chanting something.
