Chapter 141 The sound of a sighing bell

Huang Da quickly took out a few long and short tubes from the table and handed them to Zhao Xing: "Master, the devil-subduing transformation has been created, but the kind of gunpowder you said is not good. It only sounds, and the iron balls sprayed cannot be made far away, or the iron balls cannot be sprayed out at all, just fire smoke?"

"How is that possible?" Zhao Xing was looking at the table. He found the target and hurriedly grabbed a book on the table and asked again: "The recipe on your top is as recorded in "The General Yao of Wu Jing"... Could it be that all kinds of medicines are impure?"

"The Grand Official, we have tried several recipes recorded in the Seven Books of the Wu Jing. We have repeatedly tested and examined more than 20 ingredients. You once said that the problem of weight and measurement is too large, and we have also changed it. The scales that weigh now can weigh the "half grams" and "one tenth grams" that the Grand Official said, but the result is still like this - this thing is just smoke and ignorant, but it does not have the explosive effect that the Grand Official said."

"Impossible. There are three gunpowder formulas on the book: 'Fireball Gunpowder Prescription', 'Tripox Fireball Gunpowder Prescription', 'Poison Smokeball Gunpowder Prescription'. Not to mention the toxicity - why did Croton also incorporate gunpowder? Explosion, try picking up the explosion first. You can match me with 'Tripox Fireball Gunpowder Prescription' on site. The formulas are: nitrate, sulfur, rosin, yellow dan, arsenic yellow, tung oil, charcoal... You might as well not match it, this thing really cannot explode."

Zhao Xing stared blankly at the pile of medicines spread on the table. He couldn't figure it out: "It's impossible. It's obvious that this is the ancestor of gunpowder... By the way, it's a word different, a word different! I was deceived again. This is a 'fire' medicine instead of 'explosive' medicine. 'gunpowder' and 'dynamite' are two different things."

At this time, Zhao Xing vaguely understood that there were more than 20 materials, material purity, blending ratio... There were too many opportunities for problems in the middle. Even if the quality was strictly controlled, this ratio would only make the expansion ratio generated by the entire chemical reaction insufficient, and of course there would be no explosive effect.

So it is just "ignition burning medicine", referred to as "gunpowder", and is by no means explosives.

I wasted so long. Zhao Xing now deeply regrets that he does not have a "Physical and Chemistry Manual" on hand. Otherwise, if you check the moisture and enthalpy of the compound, you can measure the expansion ratio of the chemical reaction through mathematical calculations...

That would save yourself a lot of detours.

"I remember the best formula is 75% minus minus , and the ratio of sulfur to charcoal is 15% minus , and the other is 10%. You can get it by changing the ratio twice.

Also, we have to pelletize the gunpowder, let me think about it... it should be to wet the prepared explosives, make them into blocks, then stuff them into a sheepskin bag, crush them by rotating the sheepskin bag, and then they become particles.

Next, the next step is to quantitatively divide and divide each gram as the base to determine how many pieces of gunpowder can push the iron balls out and how far they are. There must be standards, and I need accurate numbers..." Zhao Xing said in annoyance.

Huang Dalian nodded repeatedly. Among the five young people, some of them had already started to use a pen to record what Zhao Xing said just now. Seeing this, the five Israelites also took out a pen to record. Zhao Xing thought for a while and reminded him: "These five newcomers who are one of the best friends to know the text and write down their words. They follow you to record your experiments... I will write a safety manual and write down all the things you should pay attention to. You will do as you say in the manual. These five newcomers will be responsible for recording your experiments."

He heard that he was a cultural person who knew the literacy and snipped the words. Huang Da slightly eased his hostility. He nodded at the other party, took out a few arrows from the table, and said, "Grand official, this is made according to the gunpowder arrows in "The General Law of Wu Jing". Look..."

Zhao Xing glanced and sneered, "No need to look at it. I know it cannot be used - there is a large medicine bag wrapped on the arrow shaft, which causes the center of gravity to be unstable, and the arrows shot out can't even be shot out. Moreover, using silk cloth to wrap gunpowder like this will inevitably bump during transportation. Once the gunpowder is leaked, it will be a disaster when it is actually used - gunpowder pollutes the arrow shaft, and soldiers may burn themselves when they are ignited, and they cannot defeat the enemy, which will cause chaos on the city."

Huang Da nodded: "Since the great official knows, I won't say it... The center of gravity is used well... The great official please see, this is our improved arrow. The shaft is a hollow barrel. The thicker the more you reach the tail. If such an arrow is shot, the tail will spit fire and shoot very far away."

"It can also be improved. Since this gunpowder has a spray effect, you can make the arrow shaft into two pieces, and put the new gunpowder I mentioned in the first half, and mix it with a little iron sand. At that time, the front end will explode and the effect will be better."

Huang Da then pointed to a large cabinet on the table and said with a wry smile: "Grand official, this is the turbulent cabinet made based on the pictures drawn in "The General Yao of Wu Jing", but..."

"It's not practical!" Zhao Xing glanced at the fierce fire cabinet and smiled bitterly.

This turbocharged oil cabinet is a large square wooden box with a copper fire-breathing faucet on it. It looks powerful enough, but it is scattered. Two people cannot lift this weight, so it is impossible to carry it to the battlefield. It can only be placed on the top of the city to defend the city. But if it can really take the responsibility of defending the city, it will be fine. Unfortunately, it often breaks the city for the enemy.

This large cabinet has no booster device, so if you want it to spit fire, you can only barbecue outside the box, and then use high temperature to cause the fierce tinder oil in the cabinet to expand, thereby spewing out the fire dragon. In this way, the outside of the cabinet will heat up slowly, and the enemy will start to attack the city, and the fire nozzle may not work. When the enemy retreats, the fire will gush. Moreover, the temperature outside the cabinet is very high. Once the control is lost, the oil cabinet may explode, which will hurt the soldiers guarding the city.

Since there is no supercharge device, the fire dragon sprayed out of such a fierce turbulent oil cabinet is not too far away. Instead, the heat waves around the cabinet body make the city guards afraid to get close... So, to be precise: it is the enemy's weapon.

"The entire "Seven Books of Wu Jing" should not record all these wastes," Zhao Xing shook his head and sighed, "At least the three-bow crossbows, siege cars, etc. it records are indeed useful..."

Jiao Tu smiled bitterly: "The siege car is huge, and we can't set it up here, so there is no trial production... But what do the siege car do if the siege car is? Let's attack that city?"

"Aoaoao--" Zhao Xing looked at the book "Seven Books of Martial Arts" and roared in annoyance.

No wonder the "Seven Books of the Martial Arts" did not take confidentiality measures. It turned out that many of the weapons inside were miserable. Perhaps there are other secret methods for military weapons supervision...

Zhao Xing couldn't help but think of a long-standing debate. It is said that the Song Dynasty was the most prosperous era when formations were studied, and hundreds of formations were studied to resist nomadic cavalry. For example, during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song, the "Pingrong Wanquan Formation" was established. However, those formations were tested in actual combat and their effect was not as effective as "no formation". The most abnormal example was the "Pingrong Wanquan Formation". The formation required 150,000 people to be deployed, and the actual effect was: one hundred battles and one hundred defeats, without exception!

Think about the Olympic team gymnastics events. More than 2,000 people have been rehearsing for two years. Many signs and codes have to be made on the venue to ensure that the formation is not chaotic. You can understand why the formation of 150,000 people has a 100% failure rate - it will take at least 100 years to practice 150,000 people. When they practice 150,000 people, they don’t have to hit them anymore.

Even if they miraculously practiced, it would be useless, because there would be no signs on the battlefield to remind people to stand. Even if someone secretly placed a standing sign on the battlefield, the Song army also stood in line according to the sign, but as long as the enemy took a step back or moved one step left and right... it was all messy, the signs were useless, and the soldiers didn't know where to stand!

"Science, it's not OK without system support!" Zhao Xing lamented.

He thought for a while and said slowly: "I have an acquaintance in the German countryside. I heard that the farmers there had a pump-type water well that squeezed air into the water pipes and made water come out from the ground. The turbocharger was just a negative pressure tank. I waited for a few blacksmiths to solve the problem from there.

The most urgent task now is to cast large guns and allocate new gunpowder... There are more and more bandits in the Nanyang route. If we want to maintain the exclusiveness of the route, we must be more thoroughly armed. Now that the large gun has been tested, we will quickly cast it. I need a lot of large guns. And..."

Zhao Xing originally wanted to talk about the three-bow crossbow, but this guy was huge and could not hide it. The Song Dynasty did not allow ships to carry weapons abroad. All officials of the Song Dynasty knew about the three-bow crossbow, but they might not know about the big gun. Maybe they would mistakenly think it was just a copper pipe. Isn’t it a trivial matter to deceive the ancients?

"It's just a big gun. I'll determine the caliber, determine the charge amount, and the weight of the projectile. All of them are fixed..." Zhao Xing decided.

Several people in the room agreed repeatedly and began to discuss in a low voice.

After the discussion on the matter, Jiao Chu talked to Zhao Xing about nothing: "Master, have you noticed that the weather is stuffy? Since the beginning of spring, there has been no rain here, and the water level of West Lake has dropped by more than one meter. There are rumors in the countryside accusing us of building a large scale of construction and destroying Feng Shui.Master, fortunately, if it doesn't rain in a few days, I'm afraid that the villagers will be incited, it will be difficult to deal with."

The crime of damaging Feng Shui... Zhao Xing was a little ridiculous. He touched his nose, thought for a moment, and ordered while walking outside: "We are actually trying to pry a hole in the court's currency policy and enter the copper into the country. Now the court has accused of the input of vassal coins. I think the matter of minting copper coins should be reconsidered.

I heard in Bianliang City: During the reign of Emperor Shenzong, the minister Zhang Fangping wrote a letter saying, "Sales ten coins to melt, get one liang of fine copper, and make objects, and make profits five times." It is said that the price of copper is much higher than the price of coins... five times! Five times the profit, why not! Therefore, in the future, we should gradually reduce the amount of copper coins and focus on gold and silver coins, so that this thing can get the best benefits!"

Jiao Teng nodded: "Brother Xing is right. But we may not necessarily make a profit by casting copperware. Copper is bought (forcibly purchased) for the imperial court, and it is difficult to deal with it. We have a spiral rod-type coin minting machine that does not require a fire, and can produce copper coins with one pressure with manpower. When casting copperware, it is necessary to add a furnace and a mold... I don't think it can make a greater profit than copper coins.

Besides, if the copperware is to be shipped, we also need to find shops, select merchants, calculate profits, and list separate accounts... It takes time, manpower and money to go through it. But copper coins do not need this trouble. Since the court has opened its doors, it can be taken out and spent, right?"

Zhao Xing pondered for a moment and replied: "It's reasonable... I'll discuss this matter again! However, since the court opened the gap, the Japanese girls did not need to hide deep underground. Let them all live in the building, and be careful about the surroundings. I have other uses for freeing this place... I plan to open a candle workshop."

"Okay, just as the high-ranking official said," Jiao Tu agreed repeatedly. At this time, the two had already walked back to the location of the group of Japanese women who were minted coins. Jiao Tu pointed out the names of several Japanese women and introduced to Zhao Xing: "These female women have expired on the first day of next month. It is twenty-five today, and it is not a few days away. It is better for the high-ranking official to give them a grace to go out in advance."

Jiao Chu said while squinting. Zhao Xing nodded and agreed. The Japanese girls hurriedly thanked him. Then, they ran back to their small table, leaned over and picked up the basket next to the table, weighed it gently, feeling that the weight was not enough, and then poured a lot of gold and silver coins from the basket next to them, then picked up the basket and staggered towards the door.

According to the rules, these Japanese women can do their best to take away the coins they can take. The only requirement is that they cannot rest in the middle. Once the basket they hold in their arms lands in the middle, they cannot take away a single one of the entire basket of coins. The final income is the only severance payment given to the manager.

The Japanese girls live underground. Apart from minting coins, the rest is to exchange experiences with each other. It seems that several Japanese girls have learned from their companions' failed experiences. They held half-full of money baskets. Although they were struggling, they did not pause at all in the middle and successfully carried the basket out of the hall.

How many coins are there in fifty or sixty kilograms? The standard weight of a copper coin is five zhu (3.4 grams), and the weight of a gold and silver coin is half a tael (15 grams). There are slight differences in coins from different places. Generally, copper coins weigh about 4 grams. 50 kilograms of copper coins are only about ten jin. If there are some gold and silver coins in the basket, then the basket is worth about a hundred jin. Then this money is used as a reward for working underground for one year. The Japanese girl is satisfied and Zhao Xing is also satisfied.

Several Japanese girls left the underground factory. They put down the basket and kowtowed to Zhao Xing again to thank him.

According to the rules, they also had a bonus issued by production, and Zhao Xing would bear the travel expenses and send them to Bianliang, the capital of the Tianchao, for a ten-day tour. Then, whether they planned to return to China or stay with "spawning" was arranged by Zhao Xing. Zhao Xing accepted their bows calmly, and Jiao Tu continued to take them to get the reward and record their requests.

Japanese women can endure hardships and stay underground for a year, but they still complain without complaining. Instead, they are grateful for it. Because compared to domestic... in Japan, men do not work, and their main task is to fight. Therefore, whether modern or ancient, the work in the fields is women, while men make money outside.

The Japanese girl left and the room became quiet, and Chen Yiyi's laughter seemed particularly loud. Zhao Xing followed the sound and saw Azhu and Yiyi in the attic. They pushed open the window of the room, revealing half of their bodies in front of the window, holding a pair of monoculars and looking at the dock by the river.

"I like this place, I like this house." Chen Yiyi saw Zhao Xinglai, and she waved her telescope and said, "Will we live here in the future? I want to live in the attic... Look, I saw a boat entering the port just now. Is that our boat? Why is there no red flag on the boat, and it is still so dilapidated?"

"This is a Japanese girl staying in the house." Zhao Xing took the telescope from Azhu, walked closer to the window to observe the ship that had just entered the port, and continued: "Our house should be next to you. Azhu, it has been difficult for you in the past few years. Let's move out. I'm back, no one needs to guard it here. Has the county lord Qin settled it?"

As he was speaking, the ship on the dock caught his eye and scared Zhao Xing. He wiped his eyes and looked carefully: it was indeed his ship, but it seemed to have just returned from the region. Cheng Azhu didn't know that the ship was better. Zhao Xing knew, so he was shocked by the tragic appearance of the ship.

It was a three-masted ship, but now the foremast of the ship has disappeared and the tailmast is half broken. Although the hull looks very complete, the stairs, command towers, portholes... are full of ravaged breath. For example: all the window frames on the ship are covered with rags, and the beautiful window screens are nowhere to be found.

The crew members on the deck seemed a little dejected. They were lazily preparing to enter the port, and some crew members were even bandaged with bandages, which was an image of a defeated general.

Zhao Xing put down his telescope and ordered Azhu: "You two should clean up the house quickly, I'll go and see what happened?"

Azhu quickly took the opportunity to answer Zhao Xing's question: "My County Lord Qin is placed in the room on our left. Officials, when you come back, go directly to the small building on the east side, where will we live?"

Zhao Xing nodded while running.

What happened - the ship suffered a storm near the South China Sea. Fortunately, the crew was experienced and reached the edge of the storm area. When they felt that the wind was not right, they took action. In order to escape from the storm area, the crew cut off the front and rear masts and threw out a lot of cargo to lower the center of gravity of the ship. Fortunately, the ship had replenished it in Jiaozhi and had sufficient supplies, so after rushing out of the storm, it kept sailing into Hangzhou.

"It's good to come back. Those goods are not worth much money. People are the most important." Zhao Xing comforted the crew.

He said it was easy, but in fact, this time it was a heavy loss. The cargo on the ship was light and was afraid of being pressed on it. In order to reduce the center of gravity, the crew on the upper layer threw most of the ivory, glass, tortoiseshell, pearls and spices loaded into the sea, and then threw a lot of copper ingots. Although the ships are loaded with half a ship cargo, 80% of the valuable cargo has been lost, and nine out of ten are worth of it.

The crew members were placed for two days, and the injured were treated and the victims were given. The goods transported were also unloaded. Zhao Xing was busy as soon as he returned home, and the current prefect of Hangzhou Jieshu also came to make fun. He heard that Zhao Xing had taken the official imperial edict home and immediately visited him.

Jieshu was successful in his youth and became the prefect in his twenties. Because he had dated Su Shi for a while, he called himself Su Shi's student when he met Zhao Xing. When he met Zhao Xing, he called himself "Senior Brother": "Senior Brother, look, the weather in Hangzhou has been getting hotter and hotter recently. Since the beginning of spring, the people have been talking about it. What can I do with my senior brother?"

It doesn't rain, what can Zhao Xing do?

Before Jieshu came, Zhao Xing was still wondering. It is said that when the Jinshi returned home in the first grade, it was the time when the new Jinshi became rich. Countless villagers took land to invest in the recharge, hoping to hiding under the Jinshi and reduce taxes and exemption from taxes. The gentry also gave him happy money for emotional investment. But in the past few days after he returned home, there was no one who gave money. He was so idle here that Zhou Bangshi had to count the money and cramped his hands...

So strange. Good life is hard!

Now, he knows the reason - he is rejected!

Zhao Xing opened his mouth, smiled silently, and asked back: "What are the plans for Ping Zhong (Jie Shu's word)?"

Jie Shu glanced around him, and his head was organized with language.

Zhao Xing welcomed Jieshu in the courtyard. Although doing this is a bit incompatible with the welcoming ceremony, who said that Jieshu considered himself a brother? Doing so happens to show that the two of them have a good family background.

At this moment, beside Zhao Xing, a group of craftsmen were making the final decoration of a city water clock.

Is there a city water bell in China? Yes! The Northern Song Dynasty happened to be its most popular era. At present, most Song Dynasty cities like to erect this thing. This is fashion, it is fashion!

It is said that this thing was invented by a man named Yan Su during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty. This Chinese version of the city water bell was called "Lotus Leak". In just three or five years, "Lotus Leak" became popular in various states of the Song Dynasty and became a city timing tool for various prefectures and counties. The Song poem "One Day of Harmony" records the twelve hours of "Lotus Leak".

The so-called urban water clock is actually an enlarged version of the zipper. It is made into several stages of water pool, and then the pool pours water into the next stage of the pool step by step, and the time is counted by controlling the amount of water injection. Each stage of the pool has a hydraulically driven mechanical device, which relies on buoyancy to ring the bell and call the time on time.

Urban water bells originated in Italy. Today, Western cities are good at building fountain pools. In fact, it is the urban construction habit left over from thousands of years of use of urban water bells. Later, with the progress of the times, the fountains no longer have the function of timing, but the remaining pools of large and small have become the common Western urban landscapes in our modern times.

The slight difference between the "Lotus Leak" and the "City Water Bell" in the West is that its water spray device is not beautified into a statue or a fountain, but is just short and thick pipes, but its timing function is exactly the same as that of the ancient Roman "City Water Bell".

The city water clock only appeared briefly in the Song Dynasty, and became a fashion after Renzong. The subsequent Mongolian invasion made all the "lotus leak" objects destroyed under the iron hooves without missing. Later people returned to the habit of burning incense and timing, so they had the oral "one stick of incense kung fu" and "one cup of tea kung fu" and other timing methods. In modern times, only the Japanese preserved the "lotus leak" map of the Song Dynasty.

The design of the "Lotus Leak" printed on the Song Dynasty books is very rough, which may be for confidentiality. However, Zhao Xing, who was in the Song Dynasty, did not have to guess the design of the Lotus Leak, because Yan Su's descendants had not disappeared from the change of dynasties. Zhao Xing found the scholar named Yan Xiaoshan, and Yi Qianguan hired him to build the Lotus Leak in his own garden.

However, the water clock made by Zhao Xing is actually no longer a lotus leak. Because Zhao Xing specially added statues made by Arab craftsmen, this water clock is closer to the "Roman Water Bell". Its twelve-stage pool is layered and high according to the hillside. The water nozzles of each level of pool are hidden in ancient Greek style. The Arab-style statues have springs as high as two meters high, low as a broken bridge, single columns, thin as a shower, and water umbrellas as thick as pavilions.

These water flows are either spit out from the statue's mouth or gushing from the statue's body objects. Lotus vases (pure bottles), tridents, demon-subduing pestle, and the water flows are pouring everywhere at the fingertips, high and low, which is pleasing to the eye.

Some of these statues are very tall, such as the most conspicuous Egyptian Mamuliuk camel soldier. It is more than three meters tall. People ride on the camel, holding a shield in one hand and dancing a knife in the other hand to fight. Some are very low, like a carp leaping out of the water...

With Jie Shu's size, he stood by the pool and could only look up. Zhao Xing was pondering there, and Jie Shu was also distracted. He held his official hat and looked at the head of the camel soldier. He felt a sense of awe in his heart and couldn't help asking: "What country's gods are these gods standing by Li Ren? Well, the neighbors were talking and preparing to hold a sacrifice to the Dragon King. Brother Li Ren might as well come forward to worship and calm the resentment of the neighbors."

Jie Shu muttered in his heart as he said: This person who believes in the demon gods of the foreign vassals, right? Look at these statues, they all have their breasts and breasts exposed, which is too infuriating.

Just at this moment, two Israelites walked to Zhao Xing and bowed their heads to Zhao Xing. Their outfits that were completely different from those of the Central Plains made Jie Shu more and more trust his judgment.

These two are the heir of the Israeli tribe named I, and Bai Qiao, the heir of the Bai tribe named I, and they are the leaders of the group of Israelites sent to Zhao Xing. Obviously, these two people have not mastered the skills of official favors, so they talked about housework with Zhao Xing in front of Jie Shu.

"Zhao Enzhu, you said the ship we sent was the one that entered the port? I think it was severely damaged, and I'm afraid it won't be able to get out of the sea in two or three months. It's a good wind at this moment..."

Before Zhao Xingxian could answer An Yu's words, he made a gesture of waiting and answered Jie Shu: "I'll listen to Ping Zhong's arrangement! How many parts should the Dragon God be given, and what kind of tools should be needed? Ping Zhong said... Oh, my ship had just entered the port and was stormed on the sea. Most of the goods had been abandoned, leaving only two boxes of ivory, but they were all whole ivory. Ping Zhong carried one away when he left."
To be continued...