Chapter 1255 Roll it up for me!

Chapter 1255 Roll it up for me!

Chapter 1255 Roll it up for me!
The place for the conversation was in Shahai, but not within the Bianliang Palace, but in a house in the southwest.

This courtyard belonged to the Shaofu and was a small warehouse. It had been cleared out and used as a place for casual conversation.

Just like last year, the people around Shao Xun did not change, and Yan and Li were still there.

Before entering the venue, Shao Xun first visited with great interest a windmill with eight sails - a horizontal windmill.

It's a pity that it's still under construction and the progress is worrying. It can't be moved at all, which makes me lose interest.

"It's been a year..." Shao Xun looked at Yang Ben, whose face was a little pale, stretched out two fingers, and said, "There are still two years."

"Yes." Yang Ben responded repeatedly.

Shao Xun patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't be nervous, I'm just reminding you. I heard that four of the Hu girls in that group are already pregnant?"

Yang Ben lowered his head embarrassedly.

"You are still a young man. The young are to be feared. The young are to be feared." Shao Xun exclaimed.

"Just don't miss the important things." Shao Xun said, "The north wind is howling today. If the windmill is built, can it grind flour?"

Yang Ben thought about it and said, "Maybe."

Shao Xun nodded and said nothing. This kid was not very confident.

Windmills and watermills share some common principles.

Why are there so many lakes and pools in Jingu Garden and are they interconnected?
One is to enjoy the scenery, raise fish and aquatic plants, and the other is to avoid extreme situations - such as sudden floods, fast flow, or drought.

The water in these lakes and pools flows through dug channels to drive water-powered mills to pound rice. In the history of the development of hydraulic machinery, there is a professional term for channels: power channels.

The lake has the function of storing water, artificially regulating adverse factors such as different flow and flow velocity of upstream water, and can also intercept silt, so that the flow velocity in the power channel is as constant as possible to maintain normal operation of the machine.

However, wind power is difficult to accumulate, and how to regulate the speed is a problem, which requires a transmission mechanism.

Of course, the lack of transmission does not mean that it cannot be used. It can also be achieved by adjusting the force area and angle of the sail, using the "brake" to increase mechanical friction, and adjusting the counterweight. There are many ways to do this.

Shao Xun only thought of adjusting the sail, but he didn't say it out loud, wanting to see how the young man would solve it.

However, he still gave Yang Ben a warning, and he said, "In ancient times, the imperial court often cracked down on the powerful who privately built water wheels and intercepted water for their own benefit. Therefore, there are many restrictions on this thing, and it is difficult to promote it throughout the country. But the windmill is different. I have high hopes for it. You should pay more attention. My things are not so easy to take."

Yang Ben's face looked pale, and it was unclear whether it was because he was scared or because he was weak.

Shao Xun quickly got into the car and left.

Yang Xianrong and Shan Yinan sat opposite him, one on his left and one on his right.

Yangyang didn't look very good, and he stared at Yang Ben through the gap in the car window.

Shan Yinan seemed to be thinking about whether this story was worth being published in Shishuo Xinyu. She thought it was quite funny. The funny part was not the windmill, but the fact that the young man Yang indulged in women and wasted his body. However, that was painful and boring, so why did so many people want it?
Shan Yinan hadn't thought about it yet, but Shao Xun said directly: "Yinan, you can write this story in."

After that, he explained the whole story before getting off the car.

The two girls wore veils to cover their faces, entered through the side door, and sat behind the screen.

A palace maid brought writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone.

Yang Xianrong sneered and said, "There are only two anecdotes in this book, and they are all about him."

"I wrote a few anecdotes about Jiangnan," said Shan Yinan.

"Who wrote it?"

"One is about an old incident when we crossed the Yangtze River in the early years, called 'forbidden meat', one is about watching Wei Jie being killed, and the other is..."

Yang Xianrong was about to say something when the sound of stringed instruments was heard in front of her.

******
Li sat on the right, looking at the emperor and his sister-in-law Yan on the left.

She always felt that something had happened between them.

There was no evidence, just a feeling, because everything they did and said was different from before. She couldn't explain this feeling, and roughly speaking, her sister-in-law seemed to be trying to cover up something, but it was too much, as if she was guilty.

In short, it's an over-cover!
"Have you received all the gifts?" Shao Xun glanced at everyone and asked with a smile.

"Thank you for your reward, Your Majesty. I had someone make a coat for me to wear yesterday." Hua Yingzhi said.

Shao Xun was shocked. So brave?
"How?" he asked.

"It's a bit prickly." Hua Yingzhi said.

Shao Xun smiled and said, "The fur is short and coarse, so it pricks people. It can't be worn as an inner garment, it has to be worn outside."

"Your Majesty is absolutely right. I put it on my silk dress today and it feels much better." Hua Yingzhi said.

"Are your feet warm?"

"The clothes are as warm as spring."

"Good." Shao Xun said, "However, the price of fur is so high now, and it cannot be sold to thousands of households. Can you teach me?"

"Your Majesty, this is easy. In the Han Dynasty, one fur cost more than 100,000 coins, but nowadays, flower fur costs 50,000, white fur costs 20,000, and mixed fur costs less than 10,000. Yesterday, I went to the Silk Shop to ask for the price. Flower fur costs only 20,000 to 30,000, and white fur costs no more than 10,000 coins. If more furs are woven, the price will be even lower. In time, it will be common for a fur to cost 1,000 or even 100 coins."

"That makes sense." Shao Xun nodded slightly, and then said, "However, there are not many people weaving furs. There are only a few in Jinyang, Yecheng, and Luoyang. Most of them are sold by the Shaofu. What can we do?"

Having said that, if you still don’t understand, you’d be stupid.

Hua Yingzhi immediately said, "Your Majesty, I will leave for Pingyuan tomorrow and will persuade my tribesmen to set up a weaving workshop."

Shao Xun immediately turned to look at the invited Minister of Agriculture Pugu Chengen and said, "Mr. Pugu, the Hua family of Pingyuan wants to weave furs. Do you have any wool to sell?"

"There should be some." Pugu Cheng'en said, "I received a letter from my brother last time, asking if anyone in the Central Plains is buying wool? Not only sheep wool, but also cashmere (goat wool, which is produced in smaller quantities) and camel wool."

"Oh? There is also camel hair?" Shao Xun asked.

"Of course there are, and they are much longer than wool." said Pugu Cheng'en.

"This is a good thing." Shao Xun said.

According to him, camel hair has two types: an inner layer of fine hair and an outer layer of coarse hair. Overall, it is warmer than wool because camels live in a harsher and colder environment.

Moreover, the fiber length of wool is much longer than that of wool, making it more wear-resistant. The only drawback is that the production is relatively small. After all, every tribe has cattle, sheep and horses, but not all have camels. Even if there are some, they are not many and there is no demand for them.

"I'm afraid we have to go to Kujiesha to find this thing." Shao Xun said, "I heard that some tribes can't collect enough horse crotch leather as tribute, and have to exchange it with cattle and sheep, which is very difficult. In the future, maybe we can use camel hair and camel wool to make up for it."

"Your Majesty is wise." Pu Gu said in gratitude.

Shao Xun laughed, raised his glass, and said, "Set up a workshop for me. The price of fur is very high now. You can make a lot of money by weaving one piece. If you are slow, the price of fur will go down, and you won't make much."

As the saying goes, things are valuable because they are rare. In the Liu Bang era, fur was considered a high-end luxury item. Even in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was still very expensive and only dukes and marquises could use it.

It was not cheap during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Emperor Wen of Wei even gave it as a valuable item as a reward to the "Crown Prince of the King of Wu of the Great Wei."

The price of a horse in the Daliang Dynasty was much cheaper than that in the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, but it was still not a mass commodity if a horse cost ten thousand coins.

If everyone rushes to expand production capacity, the price of lithium batteries will slowly fall back, and may even collapse. However, the families that enter the market early can still make a lot of money, while those who are slow may not make much money. The payback period will be longer, and the cost can only be recovered slowly by selling in large quantities.

This is actually Shao Xun’s purpose.

It is originally a mass consumer product and should not be a luxury item that only princes can enjoy.

Flying into ordinary people's homes is better than traditional cotton-padded clothes in keeping out the cold, so why not?

Of course, this model of grasslands providing raw materials and Central Plains processing and selling them is not without side effects.

The most important thing is that you will probably have no choice but to buy grassland wool in the future.

Chief of the grassland: "What? You don't want to buy wool? I will fight you. Let's fight!"

It sounds like a joke, but there are similar cases in history.

Shao Xun remembered that in the middle Tang Dynasty, in order to quell the rebellion of the vassal states, the Tang court bought horses from the Uighurs in large quantities and in a hurry. The price offered was also very good. The price of a horse fluctuated between 20 and 40 pieces of silk, with an average of more than 30 pieces of silk.

Because wars were frequent and horses were consumables, there was a great demand for them. The Uighurs mixed thin and sick horses with the good horses, and the Tang court tolerated it. At the peak, they spent four million pieces of silk a year on buying horses.

But after the war, there was no need for so many horses, and the trade became a burden. The previous mutual benefit turned into a one-sided profit for the Uighurs. Moreover, the proportion of thin and sick horses in the horses they sold was increasing, and the price could not be reduced, which made the Tang court very distressed.

Because the vassal states could raise the banner of rebellion again at any time, and because they were worried that if they did not buy the horse, it would force the Uighurs to rebel, this transaction continued for many years until the situation became relatively stable.

Shao Xun couldn't help laughing when he thought that in the future some Hu chieftains from the grassland might launch a "Wool War". Although the possibility was not high, who could say for sure?

But this matter still needs to be promoted.

How can technology advance if there is not even a related industry?
Just like before when Shao Xun asked Yang Ben how the windmill could operate normally when the wind was very strong, what he actually wanted to ask was whether he could work with gear transmission structure?
Yang Ben certainly wouldn’t.

But if windmills become popular, you never know.

All technological advances must be related to demand and industry.

Only when demand reaches a certain level and the industry reaches a certain scale can technology develop, iterate, improve and pass on stably - inheritance is also very important, because only when it is widely used and mastered by more people will it not be lost due to social unrest, leading to future generations having to repeat inventions.

Maybe someone will come up with a gear transmission someday?

After decades or even hundreds of years of using gear transmission, maybe someone will be able to draw an involute?
******
After three rounds of drinking, many people in the room were already quite excited, some even spoke with lisp.

Of course, this is not a big deal. Many of the words and deeds of officials and scholars at this time, if put in the Ming and Qing dynasties, are all "improper in front of the emperor", even when they are sober.

The imperial power was not great enough, and there was not much respect for the imperial power in the social atmosphere.

Fortunately, no one came up drunk and patted the dragon throne, saying "What a pity for this seat."

Shao Xun was not a particularly serious and old-fashioned person. When he felt like it, he went down to drink with everyone, then sat cross-legged on the felt carpet and talked with several scholars who were planning to go south.

One of them was Liu Xian, the son of Liu Dan of Pei County.

Liu Xuan's two sisters were both in the Prince of Qi's mansion, one was a concubine and the other was a lady. He was considered Jin Dao's uncle.

At this moment, he was talking eloquently: "I heard that your Majesty was engaged in a grand conversation, and I thought it was a good thing, so I rushed here from Pei County. However, I was greatly disappointed. All we talked about were mundane matters, and I did not see your Majesty's ability in conversation."

Shao Xun didn't take it seriously and said with a smile: "From your point of view, how good is my ability in talking?"

"Slightly better than Emperor Hui of Jin and his ilk." Liu Xuan twirled his whisk and said.

Shao Xun laughed and asked, "I've heard that those who are good at idle talk don't have great works, but often make shocking remarks and flatter each other to gain fame. Do you really think that those who are so famous have real talent and knowledge?"

"Although he has no great works, he has broad knowledge and his talent is not bad," said Liu Xun.

"What Zhenchang is shaking in his hand is the handle and tail of a rhinoceros horn, but do you know where the rhinoceros horn comes from?" Shao Xun asked.

Liu Xuan was speechless.

"You need to see a rhinoceros to broaden your horizons," said Shao Xun.

Liu Xuan stopped drinking and the drunkenness also subsided a little.

Shao Xun suddenly laughed, patted Liu Xun, and said, "We were just joking."

Liu Xun breathed a sigh of relief.

"If it weren't for me, how could you sit and talk? The handle of the rhino horn and the tail of the fly whisk wouldn't turn." At this point, Shao Xun changed the subject and said, "Rhino horns are ultimately useless, but there are many things that are beneficial to the country and the people, one of which is 'sugar'."

"If Zhen Chang could go south and build a manor to grow Funan sugarcane, squeeze out the sugar and ship it back to the north, so that more people can eat sugar, wouldn't it be wonderful if thousands of households praised him?"

"You too, maybe you can go south together. If there is any sugar produced, I will open a sugar market just for you and encourage everyone in the world to buy it. What's wrong with that?"

After saying that, he looked at several people with burning eyes.

"Your Majesty is right. We should go south to have a look."

“It is only natural to seek the welfare of all people.”

"Servant, you obey."

"Your Majesty, I will also go south to plant sugarcane without your reminder."

Several people said one after another.

Shao Xun smiled, toasted them with a glass of wine, and turned to leave.

"Why are you scaring them?" Yang Xianrong covered her mouth and laughed.

"If we don't give them a kick, will they be willing to spend a lot of money to go to Jiaozhou?" Shao Xun said.

"There are rhinos in Yangzhou and Jiangzhou, so there is no need to go to Jiaozhou." Shan Yinan said softly.

"You are the only smart one." Shao Xun glared at her.

After that, he explained, "More and more people are going south these days, and it's been more than a year. I'm worried that they will just grab rice fields in the south and not care about other things, so I'm forcing them. In addition, some of the sons of the noble families are muddle-headed, talking all day and wasting their time. I want to guide them onto the right path. Yang Ben is an example. If Liu Zhenchang can't change his bad habits, I think his life will be over."

"Liu Zhenchang is from the family of King Qi's wife. You are so cruel." Yang Xianrong said again.

"So what?" Shao Xun said, "The children of noble families are born with blessings but don't know how to appreciate them. I hope they can either manage their business, study classics, or make mechanical things. I will remind them from time to time in the future."

(End of this chapter)