"Don't be surprised, we have more here." Wu Han looked quite proud, and he continued to introduce: "When the Shaharul delegation came to visit, in order to make them feel at home, we also installed Another set.”
He said and pressed a big green button next to him.
There was another clicking sound, and several large religious paintings hanging in the hall were divided into several vertical strips, each of which began to rotate.
Only then did Sun Shiwan discover that these paintings were not whole paintings, but were painted on long wooden boards. The front of the board is spliced together with the religious paintings just now, while the back is a large-scale calligraphy and geometric pattern of Tianfang religion.
"The mechanism is here." Guo Kang opened the display stand under the painting. It turned out that there were a lot of gears hidden inside, which drove the rotation of the drawing board.
"This is inspired by bamboo slips." Wu Han said: "It takes a lot of space to rotate a painting, but it is much more convenient to split it into bamboo slips one by one."
"That's it." Sun Shiwan couldn't help but admired: "It's really unique."
"The texture of those oil paintings is very hard, and the canvas is not easy to fold. We actually want to make it softer, but there are not many painters here who can paint large murals. They are all veterans. People are already used to painting, and it is not easy to change." Wu Han continued: "Of course, a small one is much simpler."
He pointed to a small mural next to him. Sun Shiwan took a closer look and found that the mural was not painted on the wall, but on a soft cloth. At both ends of the canvas are two long rollers like scrolls. Those canvases are not single-sided, but a circle, set on a roller. The roller began to rotate, turning the religious painting to the back, exposing the part behind it.
At the same time, the religious statues on the wall began to rotate along with the background. It turned out that there was a hole in the wall, and in place of the wall was a board with a painted background. After half a turn, the statue of the saint over there turned into the wall, and the statue of a Tianfang teaching scholar wearing a big turban turned out.
"We have made these statues rotatable." Wu Han continued to explain.
He pressed the black button next to him again, and huge curtains embroidered with scriptures poured out from several stands protruding from the wall, covering several large sculptures. In front of several mosaic glass windows, a wooden sign was hung, just blocking the images of Saint George and the like on it.
"Those ones are really hard to move," Sun Shiwan said.
"Yes." Wu Han nodded: "Our technical strength is also limited. Without destroying them, we can only modify them to this point."
"Then... what to do with the biggest one?" Sun Shiwan pointed at Brother Tian Yishu who was still hanging.
"That one is simple." Wu Han replied: "Brother Tian is also a saint of Tianfang Sect, so it can be displayed. Just decorate it a little."
With that said, he came under the statue and pulled a lever next to it. A small window opened above Brother Tian's head, and a huge onion-shaped turban was hung down by a rope. With a click, it was attached to Brother Tian's head.
"There are magnets placed on the statue's head and inside the turban." Wu Han explained: "This way, as long as you get close, it can automatically align itself."
"What an ingenious idea." Sun Shiwan said with emotion as he looked at Brother Tian who had correctly put on a turban.
"Of course. The best craftsmen from Samarkand to Paris worked together to achieve these results." Wu Han said proudly: "The Empress Temple is a symbol of our Roman civilization and a symbol of world civilization. Here, Only then can everyone feel that Rome is the world.”
"Moreover, this project is still not over. We still have a lot of room for improvement." He walked to a wall, opened a mural, and showed the mechanism behind it: "Look, here is the waterway."
"The entire device is currently driven by water power. In the metropolis, there are a large number of underground reservoirs left by the previous dynasties, and there is a water palace next to the Empress Temple. The Roman ancestors built several elevated aqueducts to bring drinking water from outside the city. , to meet the needs of defending the city."
"We repaired a main canal, but instead of guiding the water underground, we introduced it into the newly built water tower. When we need power, we open the gate and release the water to drive the mechanism."
"I heard that the late Emperor Shun once designed a dragon boat." Sun Shiwan thought for a while and said, "It is said that the dragon boat has timepieces and various statues on it. At the hour, dragons and phoenixes dance, and auspicious clouds appear. Lifting and lowering. I think this is the same principle."
"Hey, this is what our Dayuan should look like. When Sun saw this scene, he knew that this time it was worthwhile." He cupped his hands towards Wu Han: "I have to say, you are here better than I thought. It has more foundation. It was Sun Menglang who despised this place before."
"Sun Daguan, don't worry, this thing is really just a semi-finished product." Wu Han said: "The advantage of the current hydraulic mechanism is that it saves a lot of manpower, and it is not easy to make mistakes while busy. The disadvantage is that every time it is discharged, the gate must be closed to store water. The water tower can only be used again after the canal fills it up. I didn’t think there was a problem at first, but there are too many devices in the temple that require power, and water can only drive part of it at a time, so I’ll make do with it.”
"Now our idea is to recreate the mechanism of the Alexandria church in the ancient Roman era. According to records, they can drive the door of the church to open and close with water vapor." Guo Kang said with confidence: "Since it has been more than a thousand years, Our forefathers have already succeeded, and now that we have better conditions, we can certainly do the same."
"Oh?" Sun Shiwan narrowed his eyes: "So, has Mr. Guo achieved any results now?"
"This is the last one we are going to show. Please follow me." Wu Han said, taking Sun Shiwan and others to a wall at the back of the hall, where there was a person as tall as a person. shrine.
Different from the main shrine, there are many Central Plains-style gods and beasts placed here, but the scale is much smaller. There are many such facilities in the church, so they are not very conspicuous.
He opened the sacrificial table there, revealing the window leading to the basement, stretched his head and shouted: "Is the water boiling?"
"It's open!" someone below answered loudly.
"Get ready!" Wu Han shouted: "Now - let go!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Guo Kang was beside him and pulled open an iron tenon with force. With a hissing sound, the stuck large gear spun.
In the shrine, all the characters, animals and even the cave in the background began to move. Occasionally, water mist emerges, making the shrine look like a fairyland shrouded in clouds and smoke, which indeed reflects the painting style of the Central Plains gods.
The difference is that behind the shrine, there are rows of tall metal columns. As the shrine rotates, they emit a shocking and powerful sound. If you listen carefully, you will find that different pillars actually have different tones. This made Sun Shiwan feel that the scene in front of him was not like a cave, but like heavenly soldiers and generals marching out of battle.
Although the scene was smaller, for some reason, it shocked him from the bottom of his heart.
"The style here has never changed." He suddenly remembered the previous changes and said.
"No need." Wu Han said without hesitation: "This is the most sacred place, greater than all those sects."
Sun Shiwan raised his head, looked at the smoke at the top of the column, and nodded.
"Mr. Guo has always been very confident. He persisted for several years and finally had this finished product." Wu Han said: "The advantage of this thing is that its output is very durable. If it is made large enough, I believe that all the mechanisms can be driven at once. No problem.”
"Since Master Wang took office in 1403, our church has been committed to further improving and upgrading various organs - arranging these is also his strength. Two years later, Mr. Guo came here and proposed some plans for us. It is said that Others didn’t care much, but Master Wang found it very interesting, so the construction of this institution started.”
"I came here two years ago. Master Wang wanted me to take over this job." He picked up a notebook from the other side of the table and handed it to Sun Shiwan: "To be honest, the difficulty here is higher than that of the hydraulic mechanism. Quite a few - such as the water vapor you see driving the organ. In fact, we don't want it to leak so much. It's just that the sealing of the mechanism is too poor, so we can only try to use it for other purposes."
"We will not be eager for quick success. In fact, if this new energy can be used for business and people's livelihood within fifty years, we will be satisfied. I hope that by 1453, the effect of switching the whole temple to a mosque can be achieved with one drive." .”
Everyone looked at the shrine and fell silent with their own thoughts.
