Siheyuan: I decide the fate of the world with my medical skills

Chapter 303: The Steps of Human Progress

"Your Majesty!"

Left Prime Minister Feng Quji and Imperial Censor Feng Jie stepped forward, and they clenched their fists and bowed to each other to express their respect.

"Old Prime Minister, please wait a moment..." Fusu took a step forward and pretended to support the Prime Minister.

Feng Quji shook his head, combed his silver hair, and said with a smile: "I'm not that old yet..."

Of course, you don’t say that it’s because you are young, but because you still maintain a youthful aura… Fusu smiled and agreed, and asked:

"What is the purpose of the Prime Minister's visit this time?"

"I have come specially to congratulate Your Majesty!" Feng Quji knelt down again and saluted: "First, I wish you a continuous victory in the battle of Longxi, and second, congratulations on the first batch of Xuan paper produced by the paper mill today!"

Since we know each other so cleverly and quickly, let's go and see what happened!" Fusu nodded, then pointed to the carriages and horses that were stopped by the sergeant and said: "Did you see it? Lianxian has people who are well-informed. This is incredible!"

Soon after, the ministers Fengchang Hu Wujing, Zhuke Ling Dunruo, Tingwei Yao Jia, Shaofu Gong Zuyan, Zongzheng Gong Zugun, Langzhong Ling Mengyi, Zhangsu Ling Zhengguo, Zhangdi Neishi Wang He and many others arrived one after another.

'Your Majesty!'

Fusu waved his hands to show his acceptance, and thought that if the god of justice descended from the sky now, the Qin regime would surely perish in the second generation. How amazing!

Alas, children speak without restraint, and their thoughts are purely innocent!

"Are you here just to see the new inventions?"

"That's right!"

Previously, Fusu had indeed given some officials inferior paper, but in contrast, these officials at the top of the court, who enjoyed generous salaries, cherished it even more, carefully keeping the golden paper, and even never saw it themselves. This is because paper is not just a daily stationery, it also has a deeper cultural and social value.

After all, the price of old books is not cheap today. Imagine that a book called "Records of the Grand Historian" contains about 52 words. If it is copied only on bamboo slips, and each bamboo slip contains 30 words and weighs 4 grams, a total of nearly 1.4 bamboo slips will be needed, weighing about 56 kilograms. This is the true meaning of the saying "rich knowledge can fill five carts" - at best, it is equivalent to a complete collection of Zhou Shuren's works.

After witnessing the distinguished officials of the rank of 2,000 stones pouring into the factory, Gongshugui Shaofu's eyes widened in shock, his face full of confusion. He wondered, could it be that just for papermaking, would so many people come?

But at this time Fusu just smiled and shook his head slightly in his heart, feeling deeply moved by the craftsman family's emphasis on the tradition of word of mouth.

In Gongshujia's traditional concept, the teaching of skills requires both heart and mouth, and the legend of "Lu Ban" is just a model passed down from generation to generation. Because, in such an era with limited material production capacity, the key to keeping the design drawings of various large-scale equipment passed down is - expensive plain paper.

For craftsmen, perhaps in the near future they will face the innovation of the technology and craftsmanship inherited from their ancestors.

It is naturally better to use models for teaching. Therefore, all the design models that were eliminated by the Gongshu family in the past six months were carefully preserved by Fusu.

From Fusu's perspective, just as Master Gao said, books are the ladder of human advancement. People with knowledge record their thoughts and experiences in books, which is the collection of wisdom. For a nation's spiritual civilization, they are not only manifested as the inner spiritual state and cultural life characteristics of the ethnic group, but also accumulated in various classic documents preserved by the nation for a long time. In this sense, the books at this time are the essence of the life of the entire race for tens of thousands of years, not the solitary work of a great genius or sage.

His mission is to inherit the ancient wisdom and to continue and pass on the knowledge lost in the torrent of time.

The drainage canals that were originally used to irrigate farmland were widened and reinforced here, and the clear and slightly yellowish water of the Wei River poured in, washing the rows of huge water mills. The river flowed, the water mills kept turning, and the subtle sounds between the gears were clearly audible.

In the distance, beneath a row of low, simple huts, stood a bunch of energy-saving stoves built with mud bricks. The bottom of the stove was filled with coal, and in the iron pot above, hot water was boiling and steam was everywhere.

Feng Quji looked at the huge water mill in the distance, turned to the public transport track and asked, "What is the purpose of setting up a water mill? What are those things being cooked?"

Gong Shugui replied respectfully: "Your Excellency, you do not understand. The raw materials for papermaking cannot be used for papermaking before they are boiled and crushed. The water-driven facility is used to drive these water mills to crush the raw materials."

After the eldest son of the Shaofu, Yan, came closer to take a closer look, he nodded and said, "That water mill seems to be similar to the pedal stone used to beat rice."

Wang He asked: "Footstone? What is it?"

Yan thought for a moment, but couldn't remember the name of the official who submitted the toilet improvement plan. "This device was also invented by the Anlu official who proposed the public toilet improvement strategy. His Majesty specially rewarded him with 500 copper coins and a wooden plaque."

Zheng Guomin, the Internal History of Grain, frowned slightly, "Water mills do save labor and are suitable for milling rice, but they are not suitable for grinding bamboo strips or pulp for papermaking.

I heard that once the water mill's operating cycle is over, its central parts are easily worn out and must be replaced frequently.

Yes, rice milling only takes place for a short period of time, but crushing bamboo strips or paper pulp is needed day after day and year after year. If we stop working, we will not be able to keep up with the pace of papermaking. It will also become very difficult and troublesome to replace it..."

Fusu nodded silently. He was an authority in engineering, especially in this era when precise measuring tools were almost unavailable. He had successfully guided the construction of a canal comparable to the Dujiangyan Canal, the Zhengguo Canal, which successfully irrigated tens of thousands of acres of land in Shaanxi.

Unfortunately... Fusu sighed lightly and said nothing.

"What Zheng Guomin said is absolutely correct!" Gong Shugui turned around and bowed to Zheng Guomin's colleagues. "But your Majesty's innovative design of the bearing has basically solved the pressure of repeatedly replacing the central assembly!"

Seeing everyone looking at him, Fusu smiled and did not express any further opinions. He did not create any new knowledge, but was just a transmitter and disseminator of knowledge.

Gong Shugui led Feng Quji and others to the water mill and explained: "Compared to the traditional pedal mill, this new device called the interlocking water mill uses a vertical spiral wheel. Only one wheel can drive four water mills to work at the same time, and the efficiency is far more than a hundred times that of traditional equipment!

"Let's take a closer look here. Notice the bearing system in the center.

Diaoguo trembled and looked closer, and found that the copper bearing structure was different from the common one installed on the wheel. Under the bushing and cover of the water mill, there was a row of small column-like objects, which seemed to be made of iron material.

"This device is called a ball bearing, and it is made of precision-cast steel. Compared to the previous copper sliding bearings, it saves ten times the effort and can run continuously for more than two months!"

Gong Zhenggui introduced the differences between the two types of bearings. Young Master Yan, who once served as the engineering director of the imperial mausoleum, said, "I understand. It's just like the round wooden strips laid underneath when moving stones. A huge stone weighing thousands of pounds can be moved by just a dozen slaves!"

Everyone present nodded one by one, praised with many flattering words, and continued to observe the next steps.

Arranged on both sides of the water channel are not only water pounding devices, but also huge gear-driven stone mills. The wheels mesh with each other and are driven by a power car outside through a pull rod, producing dazzling light and shadows at high speed.

Craftsmen occasionally shuttle between the two places to transport the bamboo materials softened by the external furnace to this place. The bamboo particles are slowly poured into the grinding holes filled with stones, and then the grinding teeth are closely arranged to crush the bamboo pieces between the contact surfaces. The bamboo juice flows out from the bottom of the grinding disc like a thin stream, and this process is smooth and efficient.

General Meng Yi, who had seen the making of straw paper, asked: "After the juice is dried and spread out, can it be used?"

The worker shook his head and pointed at the juice flowing into a container and said, "The slurry produced now cannot be used directly for papermaking."

"If it is used to make paper, the finished product will be loose and rough, with poor surface texture, no different from straw paper. It must be hammered again before it can be used."

Gong Zheng pointed to the water storage tanks in the distance and said, "That's where paper is made."

Fusu and others followed in and found that the people busy at the papermaking place were many disabled people, many of whom were hidden officials who had been released after being tortured. The reason for using a large number of such people was to provide them with a means of livelihood and mainly because the salary cost of these people was low...

At this time, many papermaking workers put the sticky pulp into the reservoir, dissolving it into a more diluted pulp. Then, they inserted a large bamboo net into the pulp, gently shaking the bamboo net to make it settle evenly and gradually form a thin paper, which became a layer of wet paper like a mask.

Then, the wet net is placed on the paper-making platform, and the bamboo net is slowly lifted up, so that the paper layer remains on the platform. This action is repeated again and again, forming a thick layer of paper pile. Then, the water is squeezed out layer by layer and dried in the sun, so that it is gradually dehydrated until it is completed.

Finally, by gradually unwrapping, packaging and cutting, it becomes a usable paper product.

Several people dressed like craftsmen, holding bamboo whips in their hands, were checking the papermaking workers' operation process. If they found any mistakes, they would stand aside and explain them in detail in a gentle tone. The papermakers working at the same time would also listen to their instructions attentively, and if they made the same mistakes, they would correct them immediately.

Of course, the master with the evergreen bamboo stick will not be polite to those workers who keep making the same mistakes.