The Struggle of the Reborn Prince

Chapter 40 Chinese New Year (1)

As soon as Laba Festival is over, it will be the day of offering sacrifices to the stove in a dozen days. Everyone in the house is busy for the occasion. The most important thing is cleaning, that is, sweeping the house. All the servants and servants in the house,

Mother-in-laws and maids were mobilized, and even family members visiting relatives were given brooms to sweep the yard.

There are many courtyards where people live in the mansion, and there are even more halls and pavilions. In addition to the free inner courtyard, there are no less than a hundred or ten rooms in total. Not to mention daily tasks such as cleaning windows and sweeping walls, just those indoor dark buildings,

Partitions, railings, and various carved screens are enough to clean up. Some things are carved with landscapes, figures, fish, insects, birds, and beasts. These exquisitely carved things will be damaged if you are not careful. In addition, there are also various objects in the house.

All kinds of furnishings, fine porcelain, jade, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, vases, tripods, Yi statues, etc. are all treasures, and you have to be careful. Some of them are washed with water, and some are wiped with oil, which is very complicated.

Without a large number of manpower, it would be impossible to achieve morning and evening tasks. Fortunately, Zheng Shou, who is responsible for the miscellaneous affairs in the mansion, and Jian Xi, who manages the inner courtyard, have participated in such a big battle and are considered experienced.

, they divided all the people into several groups, led by experienced people, divided the labor and cooperated, and each contracted a piece. It was completely a common "production contract responsibility system" model in later generations. The two of them coordinated the command and deployed the manpower, which was exactly the same.

He looks like a general commanding thousands of troops.

Zhao Tong saw that he was in trouble no matter where he was, so he simply hid in the workshop of the mansion with two small yellow men. There were about ten people here, including masons, carpenters, and blacksmiths who did rough work.

' There are also coppersmiths and silversmiths. These people who do fine work are usually responsible for repairing the house and making all the necessary supplies. They are considered the maintenance team of the house. However, despite their small manpower, they are

They are all experienced craftsmen who have been working in the industry for many years, otherwise they would not be selected into the palace.

As soon as Zhao Tong entered their small courtyard and saw the blacksmith furnaces, vises, hammers, saws and other tools on the side, he felt friendly. In his previous life, he studied mechanical manufacturing. In the future, he would either enter a design institute or go to a factory for production.

A master of aircraft, artillery, machine guns and missiles, he was selected into the special forces by accident, which changed his destiny in his previous life.

"Hello, Mr. Second, why are you here? There's not even a place to sit!" Zhang Erbao, the foreman in the workshop, was a little surprised when he saw Zhao Tao coming in. He said at a loss.

"Master Zhang, they always think I'm a nuisance wherever I go. I want to hide here with you, but it seems you don't welcome me either!" Zhao Tong said with a bitter look on his face.

"The second master is going to kill the young ones, why don't we invite you?" Zhang Erbao quickly let Zhao Tao and others into the room, and the others also hurriedly paid their respects. Zhang Erbao wiped the only chair in the room with his sleeves.

After several times, he was asked to sit down on a cotton cushion sewn by his wife. Others quickly turned on the brazier and poured him tea.

"Masters, please sit down and don't be restrained. I'm just here to hide with you. If you are polite, it will be my fault!" Zhao Tong made a bow and said with an innocent smile, revealing two small tiger teeth.

"Haha, the second master is joking, our place is simple, I'm afraid I'm treating you too lightly!" Zhang Liujin, the coppersmith, held out a handful of walnuts, dates, persimmons, chestnuts and other dried fruits and said with a smile, regardless of his appearance.

He was rude, but he was good at making copperware with a six-pound hammer. People called him Zhang Liujin, but ignored his real name. "Second Master, let's make do with it. These are all the women who come to the house to celebrate the New Year."

What you bring, although it is common, is produced at home, so eat it fresh!"

"Okay, everyone in your family is here, are you getting used to it?" Zhao Tong picked up a date, put it in his mouth and took a bite.

"I have to thank you for your kindness, Second Master. These old ladies rarely even go out. If the mansion hadn't sent someone to pick them up, they would have gotten lost as soon as they left. There is food and drink in the mansion, so why should they be uncomfortable?

, I stayed here for a few days and wanted to find something to do, and I didn’t want to go back!" said carpenter Lu Dabin.

"This is a good thing. As we develop in the future, what we are short of is manpower. When roads and dams are built in the new year, there will be no shortage of people on the construction site to boil water for cooking. After the dam is built, we can also raise ducks and fish. We will also be able to raise ducks and fish in the future.

We need to build a winery, and people are needed everywhere in the mill. If you are still worried that there is no work, and you are willing to stay, the government can help you find a place to live, which will also save you two lovesickness and inability to sleep at night!" Zhao Tong said.

"Then let's thank the second master. It's like having multiple wives to do laundry and cooking. I don't know how happy I am when I heard this!" Zhang Liujin said with tears in his eyes. Several other people also shed tears of gratitude. Who wouldn't want to

The wife and children live together as a family on the hot bed, but in the past these were all extravagant hopes. Craftsmen were registered individually. Not only could they not leave their citizenship at will, but they also had to wait for promotion at any time and work in the workshop. They often had families and could not

Hui, couples get together less and stay apart more.

Zhao Tong chatted with everyone for a while, and the topic turned to craftsmanship. He didn't know much about the production techniques in ancient times, and wanted to learn about the development level of modern science and technology from the conversation with them, and these craftsmen were exactly the same.

Each of them has living teaching materials, and it is they who have created many new techniques in practice.

"Master Zhang, look at this copper piece. If I want to make it look like this, what can you do?" Zhao Tong picked up a thin piece of copper sheet placed on the case and gestured.

"Second Master, this is easy to do. You can knock it out directly with a hammer, and there won't be any wrinkles!" Zhang Liujin took the copper piece and struck it immediately.

"If I need a lot of the same size, is there any faster way?" Zhao Tong asked again.

"It's not impossible to do this. Just make a yin and yang mold, put the copper sheet on top, and hit it with a hammer to ensure that they are all the same size!" Zhang Liujin quickly came up with a way, and he didn't know how to do it.

While he was free and talking, he made what Zhao Tong wanted.

"Master Cao, if I want to drill a hole in a two-foot-long fine iron rod, can you do it?" Zhao Tong asked Cao Shuangcheng, who was watching on the side. He was a blacksmith.

"Second Master, that one is too long. We can't do it. One of them doesn't have a good drill bit, and the other one can't guarantee that it won't deviate. The shorter one can be done!" Cao Shuangcheng replied respectfully.

"Oh!" Zhao Tong nodded. His question was not without purpose. He wanted to improve his gun, because the propellant of his revolver used black powder, which contained nitrate. This thing is susceptible to moisture if left for a long time.

If you are not careful, the gun may misfire when firing. The only way to solve this problem is to make a bullet in which the propellant and warhead are integrated.

In many people's understanding, the improvement of guns comes first and then the development of bullets. In fact, this is wrong. The development of guns develops step by step with the improvement of bullet manufacturing technology. From the conversation and demonstration just now

, Zhao Tong understood that it was a luxury for them to use the existing technology to make a bullet casing in the modern sense, but it was completely possible to make a flash cap with a primer. He had an idea, and it might be possible to use early paper bullet casings.

If it works, then the air leakage during firing and the serious wear and tear of the magazine caused by frequent firing can be solved. The barrel can be changed to fine iron, and a revolver that can be used in actual combat can basically be created.

"Second Master, do you want to make something? We will try our best to make it for you!" Cao Shuangcheng asked cautiously as Zhao Tong was stunned.

"Well, this is not urgent. I have an urgent task now that I would like everyone to help me find a solution for!" Zhao Tong said.

"Second Master, tell me!" Several craftsmen stretched their heads and said. These days, only Zhang Liujin made a big hot pot for the prince and got a lot of rewards. The others thought that their craftsmanship was not bad, so they held back.

I really want to show off my skills.

"Have you ever seen the mercury extractor used by Taoist priests?" Zhao Tong asked. The soju he made two days ago was made using the mercury extractor Qingyun left in the Taoist temple. Those ancient Taoist priests,

In order to extract mercury from cinnabar, they designed a distiller, which is divided into upper and lower parts. The upper part is shaped like a round-bottomed flask, called a "pomegranate jar."

It is made into a barrel shape and is called "Ganfuzi". When used, it is heated so that the mercury vapor generated in the container can flow into the condensation tank placed next to it, so that the mercury vapor generated in the tank becomes liquid in the cold water of Ganfuzi.

mercury.

Such distillation equipment seems to be quite complete even today. However, it can be used for small-scale wine making, but it will definitely not work for large-scale production of soju. Therefore, it must be improved on this basis, and these things

It may be used after the Chinese New Year, so I would like to discuss it with these experts now.

It is said that no one is better than a warrior, and craftsmen also love to differentiate themselves. These people formed a "scientific research team" around the proposition proposed by the prince, and started discussions. The carpenters thought about how to use their own skills.

The blacksmiths and coppersmiths also proposed solutions from their own perspectives. The only ones who were depressed were the silversmiths and jadesmiths, who couldn't inlay gold and silver on this thing and carve out flowers.

Everyone came up with their own ideas and tried their best to find solutions. Zhao Tong listened to this one and talked a few words with that one, which aroused everyone's enthusiasm. Zhao Tie stayed here for almost a day and ate lunch here.

Finally, we came up with a preliminary opinion and agreed to start trial production after the New Year.

When the sun was about to set, Jian Xi found this place in a hurry and said, "Second Master, why are you hiding here? Everyone is waiting for you to host the stove sacrifice. Come back with me and change clothes!" He saw the prince and Yi Yi.

He helped the craftsmen mingle and talked enthusiastically, saying with a sad face.

"Second Master, go back quickly. This is a big deal and cannot be delayed!" After everyone's persuasion, Zhao Tong left the workshop reluctantly and went back with Jian Xi.