There is a set of procedures for the evaluation of the temple examination. Although the chief examiner is the emperor, the emperor will not personally review these hundreds of articles. So in fact, it was still eight paper readers who made a preliminary evaluation, and then selected ten articles to be submitted to the emperor.

Eight readers will read through all the answers to the papers, without writing comments, just marking. For articles, those who think the article is good will mark a circle, and if the article is very poor, they will mark a cross. In this way, after the eight paper readers have completed the evaluation, they can evaluate the rankings according to the statistics of the five marks, and take out the top ten and send them to the emperor.

This process actually takes several days, so the results of the palace examination will have to wait for several days before the results are announced. And the days before that are the last days for the new science and technology scholars on the list in the spring festival to be ordinary people.

On the morning of the second day of the palace exam, Chunni was about to send someone to Sanyuanfang to inform her father Fang Zi'an about the high school jinshi. But who knows, before the people went out, Lao Zhangtou came from Sanyuanfang with a happy face.

Originally, during this period of time, Lao Zhang Tou was very dissatisfied because Chunni rarely went to the noodle shop to help Zhang Luo since the New Year. Several times Chunni invited him to come to the house for a walk, but he refused to come. But Chunni went to visit a few times by herself. Every time Chunni went back, Lao Zhangtou complained that she had forgotten her father when she got married, and she didn't come back to help her father do things. also said that Fang Zi'an didn't come to see him for so many days, didn't take him as a father-in-law in his eyes at all, and didn't respect him at all. Chunni went there a few times, listened to him say this every day, quarreled with him twice angrily, and sulked a few times.

But today, Lao Zhangtou took the initiative to come, and his face was full of smiles, and the wrinkles on his face were bursting as if they were about to bud, and his mouth couldn't close with a smile.

"What I said, when I was in Sanyuanfang, I said that Zi'an was not the thing in the pool, and I said it all. When my Chunni got married, some people said that I was blind, found a son-in-law who had no money and power, and gave my daughter as a concubine. They don't know that I have set my sights on Zi'an Bineng High School and has been soaring since then. These people don't understand anything, they don't have vision. Bah! ”

In the back house, Lao Zhangtou boasted in front of Fang Zi'an and Chunni's eyebrows, and Chunni frowned when she heard it.

"Dad, can you say a few words? If my husband doesn't pass the imperial examination, can he soar and become prosperous, what does it have to do with me marrying him? Even if my husband fails the exam, I am still willing to marry him. Can you please stop talking nonsense, old man. What you said is that my father and daughter have a lot of scheming, so that their husband can now be a jinshi before they can marry their husband. When you talk like this, what does your husband think of me in your heart? ”

"Oops, I said the wrong thing." Lao Zhangtou realized that he didn't have a brain to speak, and Fang Zi'an couldn't tell how awkward it was when he listened to it. So he looked at Fang Zi'an in a panic, afraid that Fang Zi'an would be unhappy.

Fang Zi'an didn't care about these words, he knew that his father-in-law was like this, he just liked to brag, he didn't have any bad intentions, and he was not bad to himself. If he won the imperial examination, can he not be allowed to brag?

"Father-in-law, the neighbors of Sanyuanfang should know about this." Fang Zi'an said with a smile.

"It's all there, it's all there. Of course they know about such a big event, and this is the first Jinshi in Sanyuanfang in ten years, and everyone is very happy. They are clamoring to come and see you, and beg for a drink. I refused all of them anyway, so many people, how much silver does a glass of wine cost per person? Don't spend this unjust money. Lao Zhangtou said.

Fang Zi'an smiled bitterly: "People are kind enough to congratulate and drink happy wine." It doesn't cost a few pieces of silver. Besides, doesn't this give you a long face? I know that when Chunni married me, someone said strange things that embarrassed you. In this way, Chunni, you and your father-in-law go back to Sanyuanfang, set up a flowing water banquet and invite everyone to have a banquet. First, I would like to thank the villagers of Sanyuanfang for taking care of me, although they didn't take much care of me, but at least when my father and mother died, they still helped. Second, I also have a long face, so that they know that you will not lose money by marrying me. My father-in-law's noodle shop will have a better business in the future, and others will not dare to bully him. The silver only cost one or two hundred taels, which is a great thing. ”

Chunni smiled: "Is this necessary?" ”

Fang Zi'an said: "This is a courtesy, after all, we are people from Sanyuanfang, we have to leave a reputation, understand?" In the eyes of others, we call it not forgetting our roots, and we are called wealth and not forgetting our neighbors. Is this a good name? ”

Chunni suddenly nodded and said, "Then listen to my husband, and I will go back with my father to discuss this matter in a while." ”

After Chunni and Lao Zhangtou left, Fang Zi'an packed up and left for the door. I haven't been to Su Heng for many days, and I don't know how Su Heng's progress is. When he was busy with the list and the palace exam in the past few days, he didn't show up, and Su Heng must have been very dissatisfied in his heart. Taking advantage of the gap between the palace trial lists, I have to go and see the progress. Come up with ideas together.

Half an hour later, Fang Zi'an had already ridden his horse to the outside of Su Heng's forest courtyard. After getting off the horse and knocking on the door, Sister-in-law Su hurriedly opened the courtyard door and said with a smile: "Oh, Fang Gongzi, you are here, my husband said yesterday that you are gone, and I don't know what to do." Go to the backyard. He's been busy enough these days. ”

Fang Zi'an hurried to the backyard of the Su family, the backyard was a mess, full of bricks, stones, mud, wood, and mess. In the open space in the northwest corner of the courtyard, a blast furnace made of clay has been erected. The tall masonry chimney is three or four feet high, and the whole stove looks like a gourd with a straw in it.

Fang Zi'an saw Su Heng at a glance who was busy on the top of the blast furnace with several craftsmen, his hair was unkempt, and the clothes on his body were dirty and full of plaster, where did he look like a master. Su Lei, the son of Su Heng, who was standing below, saw Fang Zi'an, and the young man had a good relationship with Fang Zi'an because of the last time Fang Zi'an lifted the siege for him. Some time ago, Fang Zi'an often came to the Su family, and he was also very familiar with the kid.

"Brother Fang, you're here. Dad, Dad, Brother Fang is here. Su Zheng shouted.

Su Heng squinted his eyes and looked down, and when he saw Fang Zi'an walking cleanly, he was angry. shouted: "Fang Zi'an, is there really yours, should you be the shopkeeper?" ”

Fang Zi'an hurriedly apologized, and Su Heng just said it, explained a few words of the craftsman, and then climbed down from the ladder and came to Fang Zi'an.

"Hey, this stove is magnificent. This is the first time I've seen a gourd-shaped iron smelting stove. Master Su has worked hard. Fang Zi'an said with a smile.

Su Heng glared at him, washed his hands in the bucket, tidied himself up a little, and called Fang Zi'an to come to the bottom of the thatched shed in the middle of the yard where the iron was struck, took two sips of tea and said, "If you don't come again, I don't know whether to build this stove or not." Fang Zi'an hurriedly asked, "Why?" ”

Su Heng said: "What's the use of making it? The proprietor ran away, and the collaborator was nowhere to be found, and there was not even anyone to discuss. Also, you said that you paid all the costs, and this stove cost two thousand taels of silver, if you don't give the money, will I pay for it? ”

Fang Zi'an was surprised: "Two thousand taels of silver are gone?" Just made this? ”

Su Heng said: "What do you mean? It's not good to dislike me for this stove? Let me tell you, this smelting furnace is a secret of my family. Don't you see the difference? ”

Fang Zi'an smiled: "It's like a gourd-shaped, why is that?" ”

Su Heng said: "The raw materials we want to make need special refined iron, can you also see that this is a gourd shape?" That's two smelting rooms, you know? After the upper smelting, the impurities are removed and then entered the lower furnace chamber for secondary smelting, and the required things are added to the inside, and all kinds of refined iron can be smelted. Do you think this gourd shape is good-looking? The inside of the furnace is different, smeared with sifted fine sand and mud, which is brought from the Yellow Ni River in the canal to the north. I had the craftsmen scoop it for a whole day, scooping all the fine sand into dust, passing it through a sieve and mixing it in the clay of the Yellow Ni River, so that the inner wall of the furnace could withstand higher temperatures. The temperature must be high enough to smelt the required fine iron, understand? ”

Fang Zi'an naturally didn't understand, but hearing him say this, it seemed that he had gone to great lengths, and it should be right. In short, I can only listen to Su Heng in terms of specific operations. It's just that this silver is really spending a little fast. I haven't done anything here, a few thousand taels of silver have gone down, and if it goes on like this, I'm afraid that the little silver in hand will soon be tossed clean.

"You've come just in time, the stove is on fire tonight, you must be there. Also, I have to ask you to buy charcoal. You must have good pine charcoal, at least one or two thousand catties first. This furnace first overheats itself, and only after the furnace is burned to refractory can it be officially smelted. At least you have to burn it for a day and a night. Two thousand pounds of pine charcoal is almost there. ”

"Two thousand pounds of pine charcoal?" Smacking his tongue, he shouted: "Isn't Chai He successful?" Pine charcoal is too expensive. ”

Su Heng looked at Fang Zi'an with disdain and said, "If you don't want to build your steam engine, just say it." If the firewood and grass are not strong enough to evenly harden the inner liner of the furnace, it will not be able to smelt refined iron and steel, and the parts will not be made. I don't care, if you can't get charcoal, you can't go on. ”

Fang Zi'an scratched his head and was speechless, so he had to nod and say, "That's it, I'll buy it." What more? I'll buy them all. ”

Su Heng said: "I will buy iron ingots with you tomorrow, the raw materials in the iron ingots in various places are different, so you can't buy them blindly." We've got to buy it. For example, the iron ingot from Nghe An County contains a large amount of copper in it, and this iron ingot has a tough texture and good elongation after smelting, but the hardness is slightly inferior, and it is very good to make a boiler because it is not easy to burst. It contains a variety of iron with different compositions, each with its own characteristics, some are brittle and hard, some are soft and tough, and can also be used for different purposes. When smelting, you can't boil it in one furnace, you have to smelt it according to its characteristics, you know? ”

Fang Zi'an really admired Su Heng, the smelted steel contains different ingredients, and the steel will show different characteristics, of course Fang Zi'an knows. But in these days, there is no way to know what is inside, so it is definitely an experience and a unique skill to distinguish what is contained according to the place of origin. Fang Zi'an believed more and more that with Su Heng's participation, the steam engine project would definitely be a great success.

The Great Minister of the Southern Song Dynasty

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