Meng Ming bought 1,000 acres of land on a piece of high ground on the north bank of the Wuzhang River, spending 25,000 yuan. The terrain here is nearly 40 meters higher than Tokyo, and the water access is not favorable, so it is much cheaper, only half the price of a good field. Meng Ming plans to burn bricks and build buildings here, and by the way, try to burn cement. It is easy to burn bricks, but Meng Ming wants to burn red bricks, which is different from the current green bricks, and the process is more complicated. Meng Ming set up his own team of craftsmen, and in order to build this university, he had to invest a lot of money, and he also had to generate income from some new things that were not available in this era.

Meng Ming found out the recipe of cement, and needed to try to make many materials, such as refractory bricks, clay, gypsum, refractory bricks fired with kaolin, Meng Ming handed over this matter to Uncle Xiang to take care of, with refractory bricks, the craftsman built a kiln according to the drawings he gave, five meters high, can burn 20 square cement at a time, and asked people to dry the vertical kiln with fire, which is also a fine work, can not burn cracks, five days later The vertical kiln is available. Meng Ming handed over the raw material ratio of cement to Uncle Xiang, first of all, it can not be leaked, the material is easier to find, and the raw materials for firing cement clinker are: calcareous raw materials (such as limestone), siliceous raw materials (such as sandstone, silica), aluminum raw materials (such as fly ash, bauxite) and iron raw materials (such as iron ore, sulfuric acid slag, copper slag). The raw materials for making cement also include: clinker, gypsum, mixed materials (such as slag, fly ash, slag, desulfurization gypsum, ironmaking waste slag, etc.).

The red bricks that Meng Ming fired first fired 200,000 bricks first; As soon as the cement furnace was successful, a furnace was burned, about twenty squares. Meng Ming's principle is to burn bricks while building, and the cement is less, and it can be a furnace every three days. Meng Ming is now crossing the river by feeling the stones, and some things are done while thinking about them, such as steel bars, and he doesn't dare to build three layers without steel bars. The first batches of buildings were built on two floors. The school building is much simpler than the residential building, the school building is eight meters wide, 60 meters long, two floors above and below, ten classrooms, each classroom can accommodate 30 people, and five buildings were built first. It can accept 1,500 students. The dormitory building is not built for the time being, and it can be built when there are steel bars, and it can be built with four floors.

At this time, a wall was built first, and the circumference of the school was seven miles, and there were canals leading from the Wuzhang River to the west and north of the school, which were five meters wide and about three meters deep. Meng Ming decided to build only the south and east walls, which were two meters and five meters high, almost four miles long. Nearly 2 million bricks were used to build the school building and walls. The cost of these bricks alone reached 20,000 yuan, and the labor cost and other expenses reached nearly 30,000 yuan.

It's now May, Meng Ming found Kou Zhun, and at the cost of the steelmaking law, he was able to prepare for the establishment of an iron-making workshop, because the current national monopoly on salt and iron, there are only a dozen individual workshops with iron-making qualifications in the country, and Kou Zhun gave Meng Ming the green light. Meng Ming planned to build an iron-making factory by the Wuzhang River, covering an area of fifteen acres. Kou Zhun walked around, Meng Ming hired a large number of craftsmen from the Mining and Metallurgical Institute of the Salt and Iron Division with a high salary, and he directly handed over the method of steelmaking to an old craftsman named Yang Keliang. Meng Ming appointed him as the head of the iron-making factory, and he said: "Master Hou, I think this steel-making method is very good, but I think it is better to build an iron-making furnace, with a large iron output and good sales." Steel, on the other hand, is produced in small quantities and sold in small quantities. Meng Ming said: "Master Yang, what he said is reasonable, then build another iron-making furnace, but build it according to my drawings, if there is any difficulty, tell me in time, and I will solve it." "Meng Ming decided to use coke to make iron. So he handed over the method of coking to Director Yang. In the past few days, Meng Ming has taken ten days off. People kept staring, and an iron-making furnace, a steel-making furnace, and a coke oven rose from the ground. Meng Ming designed two devices to drive the blower in the water, which were used in the iron-making furnace and the steel-making furnace respectively. Since nearly 300 people participated in the construction of the furnace, it took ten days to build the six-meter-high iron-making furnace and steel-making furnace, and ignite the furnace. The method of iron-making and steel-making have been informed to these craftsmen, and it is up to them how to smelt it.

Meng Ming still has to give a lecture to the prince, and now the pinyin literacy method has been finished. Meng Ming's compilation of the "Great Song Dictionary" was also printed, first printed 30 volumes, today Meng Ming is talking about arithmetic, and then gave an example: there are 40 rabbits and ducks, with a total of 112 legs. How many rabbits and ducks are there? It's relatively simple, but only the prince made it, Meng Ming explained, and talked about a few algorithms, as well as multiplication formulas, and talked about ten Arabic numerals, so that they memorized them, Meng Ming didn't talk for a long time, and most of them talked about example questions. In the end, Meng Ming assigned his homework again. It's still the same as before, and a few other acolytes teach their lessons.

After class, before anyone left, Meng Ming gave each of them a copy of the "Great Song Dictionary", which Kou Zhun and the ministers of the Political Affairs Hall had already delivered. And all the people looked up, and the prince was fascinated. In the end, Zhang Zhizhong said: "Meng Shi said that it is really a great talent, a work of God, when our Great Song Dynasty will be prosperous, when we learn this pinyin method, we will know more than 20,000 words, and each word is annotated with the meaning of the word, and there are examples of word combinations, and then the Great Song Dynasty is full of readers." Lu Zongdao also came over and said: "Meng Shi said, the book of enlightenment, movable type printing, and the "Great Song Dictionary" you launched will be famous for centuries, and the old man admires it very much."

At this time, the political hall was also talking about the "Great Song Dictionary", and it happened that Zhang Huaizheng, the priest of the country, went to the political hall to perform, and Kou Zhun handed him the "Great Song Dictionary" to see. He said: "Strange books, easy to understand, easy to promote, as long as you master the method of pinyin, everyone can read, everyone can read, everyone can read, the time of the great Song Dynasty has come, enough to circulate, Ze Pi for future generations." He asked who wrote it, and asked Kou Zhun to give him the dictionary, Kou Zhun smiled and said: "What a Zhang Xiantong, he actually robbed me, this is written by Beihaihou, I informed him, let him give you a copy." Zhang Huaizheng said: "Kou Xianggong, so that Beihai can wait for my country's sub-prison, and also talk about the method of pinyin literacy." Kou Zhun said: "Yes, I will inform him and confirm the time." ”

At this time, Meng Ming was about to leave, but the prince Zhao Zhen stopped him and said: "Mr. Meng, go slowly, I have something to ask", Meng Ming quickly stopped and said: "What is the matter with the prince, I dare not ask for advice." The prince said: "Sir has been very busy these days, I heard that you have built an iron-making factory, and you have dug earth and burned bricks, and someone in the court has impeached you, saying that you have built iron-making privately, destroyed the salt and iron franchise, and competed with the people for profit." And say that you are a well-educated person, and you can do some strange tricks and tricks, please Mr. Puzzle. ”

Meng Ming asked: "Why does the prince think it is a strange skill" The prince still didn't quite understand the strange skills, Meng Ming said: "Prince, some scholars look down on or even despise some craftsmen, and call their exquisite skills strange and obscene. If these are all strange tricks, then the cars, horses, boats, boats and boats we take, the four treasures of the study room that we learn to use, the pots and pans we use for eating, the weapons used by the soldiers, and the houses and palaces built by the craftsmen are all created by craftsmen, and they have all become strange tricks and tricks" Meng Ming said again: "This is eating other people's food, drinking other people's food, using other people's food, and in the end scolding other people's mothers." It is the act of forgetting the ancestors. ”

The prince was a little confused, and said: "Reading people are good books, my father wrote "Persuasion Poems", saying that "everything is inferior, only books are high", isn't it right." As soon as Meng Ming saw that it was still on the line, he said: "Reading is good, but this book is not necessarily a book such as the scriptures and meanings that the reader reads. What I understand is that the books that the officials say are books that are beneficial to the country and can promote the prosperity and strength of the country, and they refer to the knowledge in this book, and the strange skills and tricks mentioned belong to this kind of knowledge. ”

Meng Ming's theory made the people present thunder, they had never heard of it, and they couldn't come back to their senses for a while. Meng Ming also said: "Practice is the only criterion for testing truth." Meng Ming said: "I will inevitably break the face of this kind of person who reads books is high, can only talk and can't do things, please read the book for a few years, I get carried away, I don't understand the words of the sage, I will only take the words out of context." What else will they do and what will they contribute to the country. In my eyes, they are not as humble craftsmen and farmers as they see. ”

At this time, I only heard a voice say sternly: "Meng Shi said, be cautious, please don't mislead the prince, the industry must be distinguished between high and low, high and low", Meng Ming saw that it was Lu Zongdao, I said: "Lord Lu, I don't agree with your point of view, scholars represent scholars, in the future, everyone in the world can read, they are all scholars, the words of the sage have long been misinterpreted, if the reader will only be full of moral articles, his limbs are not diligent, the grains are not divided, he does not do business, empty talk and mislead the country, what is the use of the country?" "Lile Shooting Imperial Books" is the six skills that must be learned by scholars in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and now, it is the scholars of the former Tang Dynasty who can get on the horse and shoot arrows, wield knives to kill the enemy, and dismount to chant poems and sing, and most of the current scholars are there."

Seeing that Lu Zongdao's face was red and red, he was speechless, Meng Ming also accepted it when he saw it, and said: "Lord Lu, I am a little extreme, I can't generalize with partiality, there are still promising people and people with lofty ideals, I apologize to Lord Lu, please forgive me for my young ignorance." Lord Lu's face also softened, and he said: "I know what Meng Shi said, but I also have to understand the truth of being too much, and we will encourage him." "Most of the ministers of this era are gentlemen, at most they are political disputes, but they will not attack in private, and they are friends all the same. This Bulu Zongdao and Meng Ming said: "Thank you Meng Shi for the dictionary, you have time to sit in my house and sit down." Meng Ming hurriedly responded. In the end, Meng Ming and several attendants were on duty together, and Meng Ming was the east, and they went to Fanlou to get together. At this time, the crown prince memorized everything Meng Ming had just said. Prepare for later research.