White-hoofed Wu Liu Bei sent someone to give it to Zhang Xiaopang.

Zhang Xiaopang replied with thanks. He also asked Liu Bei about the Northern Expedition. Liu Bei picked up the important ones and told them to him.

Zhang Xiaopang hated that he couldn't grow up early, and went into battle with Liu Bei to kill the enemy. He also said that his father was very strict and was not allowed to go out. Learn literature and martial arts all day long. Now he can open a two-stone strong bow, and his riding skills have also improved a lot. If your father allows it, you can ride on the white hoof, and you can go to Lousang in an instant and reunite with your eldest brother and mother.

Zhang Xiaopang and Liu Bei exchanged letters from time to time. The north went out of the plug and went for a few months. The military affairs were urgent, so Liu Bei cut off correspondence with him. Now that he has returned to Lousang, Zhang Xiaopang writes very frequently, asking about the Northern Expedition. It seems that he is very interested in the marching formation.

Liu Bei thought about it, and compiled the marching formation, the art of war, and the strategies of his mentor into a book. By the way, I gave him the thirty-six plans I had sorted out. It is said that Zhang Fei is fierce, but in fact, it is not. Zhang Xiaopang is also very efficient when he uses it.

Lou Sang specialty, first there are bedding, Songquan stuffed, and blankets, fish sauce, sausages, rice fish, dried carp, and now there is a new Du Kang japonica rice. Liu Bei first selected brocade mats, sausages, Songquan stuffing, and golden silk blankets, which are collectively known as the four famous products. First of all, it swept the Northland. Later, it was sold in the north and south of the river, and it was well-known in the world. Now it has been able to gather eight famous products: brocade mat, sausage, fish paste, dried carp, Songquan stuffed, golden silk blanket, blue smoked ham, and Dukang japonica rice.

Smoked ham is not complicated. In the process of salting, smoking, fermentation and other processes, when pickling the hind legs of animals, they are smoked with Western spices. Nanban mountain pigs and grassland fragrant pigs are salted, shaped, turned legs, washed and dried, and air-dried, and are completed in a few months. The fragrance is intense. It is easy to store and carry, and sells well in the north and south of the country.

Hundreds of miles of water, fish and rice are fragrant. The rice flower fish is inexhaustible, dried into dried carp, pounded into fish sauce. The grassland cattle and sheep are also inexhaustible and made into sausages and hams. The sheared wool is spun into wool and woven into carpets and woolen sweaters. Lousang is a city, and it has been unable to meet the merchants who continue to arrive in the countryside. The people of Licheng and Dukang also joined in. Production has increased significantly. Qingxi, Liting ditch, Dukang ditch, three waterways, boats are like weaving, and businessmen gather.

The cars and horses on the official road are like dragons, and they are also full of people.

The grains of white "Hedong Salt". The marinated fish sauce, sausage, and ham are beautiful in color and flavor, and they will not rot for a long time. Therefore, there are often Liaodong salt boats going down the big river, entering Wenshui, and arriving at Qingxi through Lao Yadu.

One stone of salt is worth eight hundred dollars. 100 stone salt can be sold for 80,000 yuan.

Liaodong salt merchants, see Lou Sang wheels and boats back and forth, flexible and fast. I wanted to convert the price of salt into the price of the ship. Unfortunately, the dock is busy, and its own orders cannot be completed. Unable to supervise the salt merchants.

The salt merchant came to Lou Sang Changle Yin. Le Yin smiled, why is this difficult? It is difficult to build a new ship, but it is easy to change an old ship. Why not convert a salt ship into a wheel boat?

The salt merchants rejoiced. Then he went to find the dockyard master. The director informed Su Bo, and Su Bo came to report to Liu Bei again. Liu Bei nodded happily, but also.

Su Bo asked again how the renovation fee should be charged.

To build a 100-stone wheel boat, the materials are labor, and a total of 25,000 to 30,000 yuan is required. Just if you transform, you can save a lot of materials and labor. However, the wheel boat is expensive in advanced technology. It cannot be converted at cost price.

Liu Bei thought for a while and said: Tell the salt merchant that if the price of salt can be reduced, it can be transformed for free. There are as many salt ships as there are to transform them for him.

Subo took the order and left.

Soon, the salt merchant was negotiated. A stone of salt can be sold for 500 yuan.

Liu Bei was very happy. This left the dockyard not to mention the transformation of its wheeled boats. In fact, the reason why salt is expensive is related to its shipping costs. "Twenty-five dollars in a car, and one mile and one penny." The car is one mile and one penny, and the east of the river goes to Zhuo County, and it travels more than 2,000 miles. Therefore, the price of salt costs 800 yuan a stone.

Switching to boats can reduce freight costs a lot. It is also sold for 800 yuan, which is a high price. Five hundred dollars also has a small profit. If it is changed to a wheel boat driven by animal power, the freight is still low. Therefore, the budget-conscious salt merchants took the initiative to reduce the price, just to be able to renovate the ship.

Liu Bei readily agreed.

So the wheel boat followed the Liaodong Tian clan and the Hedong salt merchants, and trafficked to the north and south of the river. It is gradually becoming famous all over the world.

The salt merchant's calculations are not shrewd. After the renovation of the salt ship, the freight rate is reduced. Therefore, the sale of large salt, whether it is Lousang or the north and south of the river, can be converted into a salt price, which can be lower than the price of other salt merchants. It is also a big boat of salt, and other houses sell it for 80,000 yuan. He sold it for seventy thousand dollars. And the profits are even higher. is also Hedong Big Salt, so naturally they all buy his house. The share also increased. He became very rich.

Hedong salt merchants, regarded the wheel boat as a sacred object. This led to the sale of salt buildings one after another, not seeking to make money, but only to transform the salt ship.

Liu Bei did not refuse.

Nor is there any fear of technology leakage. The principle of a boat on wheels is not complicated. However, the test is a series of technical regulations from design, casting, installation, repair, maintenance, etc. None of the links that are missing are enough. Easy to imitate, difficult to run. It's harder to run for a long time. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly go back and forth to the Lousang dock for maintenance and maintenance. After moving the blacksmith shop to Dukang, the workshop area was quite idle. Liu Bei ordered Su Bo to expand the dock and change it into two columns in the front and back, and six slipways of 100 stones. There are also two separate 500-stone slipways.

More than 500 stones, most of them are two-masted building ships. Sail on the Yangtze River, major rivers, and offshore waters. Wind power is required. If you only use manual rowing, it is difficult to drive.

However, the advent of the big paddle wheel (paddle wheel) made it possible for a 500-stone merchant ship to abandon its oars and sails.

The 500-stone wheel boat is 36 zhang long, 4 zhang 1 foot wide, 7 zhang 2 feet 5 inches high, with eight large paddle wheels, driven by animal power, and hidden collision angles. Said: "paddle steamer". It can accommodate 500 warriors and 500 stones.

Nowadays, shipbuilding is not calculated by tonnage, but by length "zhang". Some wealthy merchants, such as the Liaodong Tian clan, have ships of a thousand zhang.

Paddle steamer, the waterway in the upper reaches of Qingxi is impassable, but it can go out of Baihu Shui, enter the Dukang ditch, pass through the Nanjuma water, and then enter the Liting ditch water, and go back and forth between Licheng and Lousang. It's easier to go to sea. Hydrate the water. The north and south giant horse water is synthesized into Laishui, which can enter the Bohai Sea. Along the inland sea route, you can sail north and south.

Nowadays, the city is surrounded by mountains and rivers. In addition to guarding against danger, it also enjoys the convenience of shipping. Water transportation is far more time-saving, labor-saving, and cost-saving than land transportation.

Paddle steamers have advantages and disadvantages. If it is caught in aquatic weeds, the paddle wheel is plugged. It can't be driven.

In the water wars of later generations, there were examples of 'building huge trees as rafts, stuffing them in the harbors, and floating up and down with rotten trees and grass, accumulating grass and trees, and the boats and ships could not be obstructed, and they were captured'.

If you want to solve the problem of entanglement of aquatic weeds, it is actually very simple. The paddle wheel is covered with a wire mesh shell, and it is OK.

Moreover. Inspired by a lawn mower, Suber installed a rotor set between the hub and the axle frame to cut off the weeds and debris sucked in by the paddle wheel. The results are remarkable. It's just that using this method is too laborious. Liu Bei ordered someone to drive the rotary knife separately with a set of gears. If necessary, the soldiers on board can shake together. In this way, the paddle wheel is accumulated, and the rotary knife is driven by manpower. The results have been remarkable.

As soon as the paddle steamer comes out, it will cause a sensation in the countryside again.