Three Kingdoms

The inner courtyard of the government office of the Han Dynasty's Hsiaoqi Mansion.

Fei Qian was sitting in the hall holding a book, and then smiled while reading.

Huang Yueying, who was tinkering with Fei Zhen's armor next to her, was a little puzzled. She glanced at the cover of the book, and then at Fei Qian. After all, she couldn't help it and leaned over, "What are you looking at?" Examination for work? Is there anything funny about the job exam? 』

Fei Qian nodded, then looked at the armor Huang Yueying was weaving, blinked, "What the hell... I said, that boy doesn't need to be so fine in what he wears?" Speaking of which, Yueying, you haven’t helped me repair my armor for a long time..."

Huang Yueying hummed nonchalantly, and then saw that what Fei Qian had in his hand was indeed "Exams of Work" and not a reskinned book, so she lost interest in continuing to ask, sat back again, and began to compile Fei Zhen's The armor scales rose, "Do you still need me to repair your armor?" Just give it to the master craftsman to repair...Besides, you don't go into battle to kill the enemy, you just sit in the back, so there is no need for such exquisite things..."

"ah? Then if Zhen'er doesn't go into battle, can he leave his armor to the master craftsman? Fei Qian said somewhat unhappily, "It's just a trip to Yinshan Mountain..."

Huang Yueying glared at Fei Qian angrily, "How can it be the same?" I can’t trust it if it’s made by a master craftsman! Oh! Don't bother me, look, the sewing is wrong! 』

Fei Qian: "..."

alright, you win.

Fei Qian was silent for a moment, then stood up with the book in hand, "I'm going to find my father-in-law..."

See if I can return it...

Returning it is probably impossible. After all, it has been opened and the seven-day statute of limitations has already expired.

When Fei sneaked into the side courtyard, he didn't find Huang Chengyan. When he asked, he left early.

out?

Fei Qian thought for a while, then took his guards and went straight to the workshop outside the city, and sure enough, Huang Chengyan was here.

After Huang Chengyan arrived in Chang'an, he saw so many workshops in Chang'an that Fei Qian had, and he became very interested. He seemed to feel that what he had learned in his life, or the ideas in his mind, had finally been put to use. These days Almost all of them hang out at the craftsmen's workshop.

When Fei Qian found Huang Chengyan, Huang Chengyan was discussing something with the craftsman.

Fei Qian was not in a hurry, and waited for Huang Chengyan to finish speaking, then stepped forward, met Li, and asked Huang Chengyan what problem he had just encountered.

"It's hard to get molten iron out..." Huang Chengyan licked the tip of a pen, and then wrote down what happened just now on the wooden slip, while saying, "Now there are halberds, spears, daggers, knives, staffs, arrowheads, helmets, etc., all of which are needed." The iron used is very new and not very beautiful. It is made by the old method. It is porous and slag, making it difficult to shape..."

Although bamboo paper has been produced in large quantities now, some people are still used to using old wooden tablets and bamboo pieces to record events. For example, Huang Chengyan feels that wooden tablets are more practical than bamboo paper because they are not too light or will disappear in the blink of an eye. Know where to throw it.

"The iron materials are different, even the proportions need to be different..." Fei Qian nodded. Because of the previous conflict with Cao Cao, the iron ore shipped from Shandong has naturally decreased a lot, and then Fei Qian naturally needs to make do with some of the original iron ore from Sichuan and Shu.

"If it's not beautiful, we should first make tools such as hoes, hoes, sickles, shovels, and adzes..." Fei Qian said, "There are so many refugees now that there will be an urgent need for such tools in spring..."

Huang Chengyan was stunned for a moment, then looked at Fei Qian, nodded with a smile, wrote down this article again on the wooden slip, then put it down and said, "What is the good son-in-law looking for?" 』

Fei Qian swallowed a mouthful of saliva, swallowed the two words on his lips, and then said: "Father-in-law, please look..."

Fei Qian handed over the "Kao Gong Ji" in his hand.

Huang Chengyan looked through it for a while, then he laughed a few times and said, "It's a bunch of nonsense, not worth mentioning..." just like he did before.

"Kao Gong Ji", in fact, it may not be as "not worth mentioning" as Huang Chengyan said. In some aspects, it can still show China's government-run handicrafts during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, especially in Qi It has certain reference value for various work specifications and manufacturing processes in the country.

But the key issue lies in this "certain reference value". If someone really wants to do what is recorded in "Kao Gong Ji", then they will definitely be tricked to death...

"Kaogong Ji" records some craftsmanship in the Bronze Age, that is, the Warring States Period. To put it simply, the smelting formula of bronze alloy has always been a key factor in determining the final performance of bronze ware. To measure the metal smelting level of a certain civilization in the Bronze Age, the most intuitive standard is its summary and mastery of bronze alloy formulas.

The most typical one is "Kao Gong Ji", which records a large number of technological processes and production specifications for the manufacture of various utensils at that time, including records of the bronze formulas that should be used for different utensils, collectively known as "Jinliu" Qi", but this "Golden Six Qi"...

"There are six equal parts of gold, six parts of which are made of gold and one of which is tin, is called the equal of bells and tripods, five fifths of which is gold and one of which is made of tin, is called the equal of axes and catties..." Huang Chengyan chuckled a few times and said, " If you really use this method of metallurgy, you will bring disaster to the country and the people..."

Fei Qian nodded, and then said, "Why is such a fallacious method spread?" 』

Huang Chengyan frowned, "This..."

Not only was it spread, it even became a royal ritual.

The full name of the "Kaogong Ji" in Fei Qian's hand should be "Zhou Li·Kaogong Ji".

At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, because the "Winter Official" chapter in "Zhou Gong" was missing, Liu De, the king of Hejian Xian, took "Kaogong Ji" to fill it in. Later, Liu Xin changed "Zhou Guan" to "Zhou Li" when editing and editing, and this chapter appeared.

The Spring and Autumn Period was indeed dominated by bronze, which is an alloy of copper and tin. However, the ratio between copper and tin was not as described in "Golden Liuqi", where "gold is divided into six parts, while tin dominates." One, even two cents of gold for one cent of tin...

Although in the early days of Chinese metallurgy, there were cases where people had incomplete understanding of metals, did not distinguish between lead and tin, or made mistakes in some aspects, but during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, after thousands of years of development of bronze smelting, people in production It is impossible for front-line craftsmen to make such major mistakes, nor to come up with such ridiculous metallurgical ratios.

If the tin content is too high, the alloy will become brittle and the blank cannot be further processed. That is to say, it can only be used for casting vessels that do not require sharpening. In other words, the bell and tripod can be barely used. As for other so-called Don't even think about swords, axes, arrows or anything like that.

Therefore, anyone who knows a little bit about it will find it ridiculous when they see the metallurgical ratio in "Kao Gong Ji". Just like Huang Chengyan, he can see the problem almost at a glance.

But the second question raised by Fei Qian was even more ridiculous. If the metallurgical proportioning was the first mistake, then the person who compiled "Kao Gong Ji" made the second mistake, adding up to one mistake after another. Then later generations used "Kao Gong Ji" to guide and discipline craftsmen, which turned into a catastrophic mistake...

"Or..." Huang Chengyan thought silently for a moment, "Pretending to mislead other countries?" After all, some of the things recorded in the "Kaogong Ji" were compiled based on the craftsmanship of the Qi State at that time, so it is not ruled out that the Qi State deliberately produced some specious records in an attempt to deceive other countries. .

Fei Qian nodded, this might as well be a relatively reasonable explanation, "But now that the Han Dynasty has unified the world, do you need such false books?" 』

"This..." Huang Chengyan couldn't answer, so he simply threw the book aside, then looked at Fei Qian and said, "After all, what do you want to do as a good son-in-law?" 』

"It's nothing..." Fei Qian chuckled, and then asked, "I don't know about my father-in-law, but are you willing to take up the position of "Grand Examination Engineer"?" 』

"ah? "Graduate Work Examination"? Huang Chengyan asked with a frown.

Fei Qian nodded slowly, then looked at the craftsmen busy in the workshop, and said slowly, "The great examination of craftsmanship, mastering the skills of craftsmen, and testing the work of the world, do not order such books, it is wrong." Human beings are too! 』

It is loud and powerful.

Huang Chengyan was stunned for a while, looked at Fei Qian, seemed to be moved by Fei Qian's huge heart and foresight for the future, and nodded deeply, "Very good!" Very good! But... what is the official rank of this "Grand Examination Worker" position? 』

"Hi! Fei Qian said angrily, "Compared to two thousand!" With Jiuqing! Do it or not? 』

Huang Chengyan laughed loudly, then took a step back and bowed his hands to Fei Qian, "So, I have seen my lord..."

……（o′?□?`o）……

For farmers, the so-called leisure time does not mean that they can truly relax. Like in later generations, when it snows, they can stay at home, cross-legged on the fire kang, and then chat about what they have and what they don’t have, and then they get tired of chatting. The days of eating, drinking, and sleeping were something farmers in the Han Dynasty would never dare to dream about.

For the farmers of the Han Dynasty, the slack time in farming means they have to do less work, and they don’t have to work in the fields from dawn to dusk. From a lot of work to a little less work, it is considered leisure time.

In winter, although the fields are covered with snow and do not need to be cultivated, the house needs to be repaired, the fence needs to be strengthened, the vegetable patch behind the yard may need to be tidied up, and the wasteland at the foot of the mountain also needs to be repaired. , otherwise after spring begins, the weeds will grow wildly, and most of the hard work spent in cultivating new fields for a year will be in vain.

Although the weather was cold, the farmer still took his two children and carried tools to the wasteland.

To convert wasteland into fields, it takes more than setting a fire.

That method was still available in ancient times, but not now.

Because although over-burning can kill weeds and insects on the soil surface, it has little effect on the grass roots and insect eggs deep in the soil.

Digging the ground can not only expose the eggs and insects deep in the soil and freeze them to death in the cold winter, but also because there are a lot of gravel at the foot of the mountain, some large and small on the surface, but more If these stones are not removed from the soil, the roots of Zhuanghe will not be able to stand, and naturally they will not grow well.

The father dug up the ground, dug it deep, and dug out the stones. Then the older children who followed behind him picked up big stones, and the younger children picked up small stones. Every time a basket was filled, they were thrown onto the ridges of the fields. Although the weather was cold, the three of them were still dripping with sweat and steaming with heat.

I don’t know how long it took, but when the three of them were covered in mud from head to toe, and both adults and children were a little unsteady, my father stopped and looked at the completed and unfinished land. , finally looked at the sky, and then spit out a vague syllable from his nasal cavity.

Maybe it was because he hadn't spoken for too long, or maybe his throat was dry and full of dirt, which made what the father said almost too vague to be heard clearly. However, the two children could understand what it meant, and they He held the basket unsteadily, followed his father, sat on the field ridge, put on his straw sandals, breathed for a while, and then walked back along the path.

You can't work in the fields with straw sandals. If it weren't for the cold weather, you might even be reluctant to wear them.

A peasant woman stood at the intersection, wearing a dress that obviously didn't fit well. There was a small shadow behind her, with a runny nose, and she was tugging at her mother's dress.

After seeing the father and son, the woman smiled slightly, then touched the heads of the two children, and the family gathered together and walked back to their home.

When he saw his home, his father, who had worked hard all day, couldn't help but smile with relief. This home with a front yard and a backyard, a house that is half stone and half wood, is his glory. It was also because he had such a somewhat similar home that his wife was willing to marry him...

After randomly grabbing some residual snow, rubbing my hands and face a little, and removing a little bit of the mud that was in the way, I have completed my cleaning work. I have to go to the fields tomorrow anyway, and it doesn't matter how clean I am.

The woman took some grass roots and other things that she had collected sparsely in her hand, and went to the house to light a fire and prepare to cook dinner. Holding the cauldron, he untied the grain jar hanging from the beam and scooped half a spoonful of miscellaneous grains from it. Then he looked back at his husband and children sitting at the door of the room. After thinking about it, he scooped another spoonful from the jar. Come out at one point...

The smell of food spread throughout the house, and the flames jumped, bringing some warmth to the family.

For most ordinary people nowadays, the word "rice" is noble and can only be expected during the Chinese New Year. On weekdays, it is more "porridge", either thicker or thicker. Just a bit rarer.

Worse, there was no porridge at all.

As usual, the woman gave her husband a bowl of the thickest one, then the two children, and finally herself and the youngest child.

The more you work, the more you get, the less you work, the less you get.

The simplest and most unpretentious distribution method.

"Today..." Father held the bowl and frowned slightly, "It seems like it was cooked a little more?" 』

"Well, I cooked it a little more... Today is the second son's birthday..." The woman looked at the second child, "That year, there was also a lot of snow..."

In the heat of the fire, the father's eyes softened a little, and then he called the second child over, and took out a little more food in his bowl, "Eat well, grow up well..."

Apart from the word "good", my father didn't seem to have or knew any other blessings.

After finishing the porridge in the bowl, the woman added some water to the cauldron. While there was still some fire, she scraped the remaining food residue into the soup, divided it again, and everyone drank it. It's almost time to finish dinner.

Sitting by the fire, enjoying the warmth of the embers, the father asked the second child, "Second son, what do you want for your birthday?" 』

"Father..." The second child hesitated for a moment, and then said under the encouraging eyes of his mother, "I, I want... I want to study..."

"What? "My father frowned, "What do you want? 』

"I, I..." The child's voice gradually became quieter, but he still said, "I... want to study..."

"We have no books. Even if there is a book, you can't read it..." Father said, then sighed, "You can't read it either. Books, books are very expensive, very expensive... Why do you want to read? Isn't it okay to be a sweetheart like my brother? 』

"I can go to the agriculturist for advice..." The second son raised his head, looked at his father, took a burned piece of wood, and scratched it on the ground, "He taught me, he is willing to teach me...Father, I know several words. Father, you see, this word is "home", which is where we live... Look, this is the roof, then the walls, and then the place where the livestock is raised. This is a home..."

"The agriculturist taught you this?" ’ The father tilted his head and looked at the crooked writing on the ground by his second son. He couldn't understand it, but it did look like a word.

"Um! "The second son's face showed some brilliance, like a color called hope, "The agricultural bachelor also said that I am smart..."

The father watched, silent for a long time, and finally sighed, "But we...we have no money...can't afford books...can't afford...can we change it to something else?" 』

The luster on the second son's face gradually faded, and then his head slowly lowered, "...No need, father...forget it..."

The afterglow of the fire pit disappeared little by little, and the family gathered together to warm each other.

Before dawn, my father opened his eyes, sat up, turned around, looked around, and then quietly got up...

"Husband..."

The father paused for a moment, then whispered, "I'm going to pick up some firewood and go to the city... In this weather, someone will definitely want to buy firewood... If someone buys it, there will be money... That means I can go in more times." Mountain, just chop more firewood..."

"The fields at the foot of the mountain..." the woman asked.

The father turned to look at his child, and then back again, "Let's wait until I come back. Just make it a little more tidy and do it later... If it doesn't work... forget it..."

"No, I'll go to the fields..." the woman said, "I'll take the child there, and we can get it right!" 』

"you? Can your body and bones... be able to do it..."

"It's okay... as long as, as long as the second son... can live a good life in the future..."