Not long after, in the midst of the onlookers in the three circles inside and outside the three circles, the soldiers had already finished making the bag of flour.

When he was finished, one of the soldiers took out a handful of flour from his bag and shouted: "Fathers and brothers, by the order of the king, a stone mill for making flour has been placed in the city of Yingdu, as you can see, through the stone mill, wheat and rice can be quickly ground into flour. ”

While the soldier was talking, another soldier had already walked to the front of the crowd with a bag of flour and brought out the flour for the onlookers to watch.

At this time, many people grabbed flour with their own hands to watch under the signal of the soldiers.

"Sure enough, it's flour!"

"It's flour!"

"How can it be so fast?"

When the people learned that it was really flour, they immediately caused a burst of amazement.

You must know that the flour that has just been ground at this moment, if it is made by ordinary people in their spare time, it will have to take several months.

But with a stone mill, it only takes such a short time, and it is still a horse that pulls the mill, and it does not require much effort.

This kind of thing is simply an artifact.

For a moment, blazing flames appeared in the eyes of the surrounding people.

After the onlookers talked for a while, the soldier who had just shouted shouted again shouted: "Fathers and brothers! ”

As soon as the people heard the shouts of the soldiers, they immediately closed their mouths tightly and looked at the soldiers in front of them.

In an instant, the surroundings fell silent again, and at this time, the soldier spoke: "King Rende, after getting the stone mill not long ago, I found that the effect of using the stone mill to make flour is a hundred times more effective than scooping flour. The king did not dare to use such artifacts privately, but wanted to share them with the people of Chu State, so that the entire people of Chu State could eat precious flour.

Therefore, the king specially ordered the stonemasons to build thirty stone mills and put them in various places in Yingdu for the people to make flour. Of course, in order to provide grain and forage for the horses that pull the mill, a fee of one penny per stone of wheat is charged each time a stone mill is used. Similarly, in order to make stone mills accessible to as many people as possible, each household could only grind a maximum of one stone of wheat per day. ”

"A penny?"

After the soldiers explained the cost of use, the surrounding people were in an uproar.

The cost of one penny is not high, and now the price of wheat and rice per stone is the same as that of corn, which is thirty-three dollars per stone, and the cost of one penny, compared with the corn eaten by ordinary people, is equivalent to less than half of the price of flour than corn, which is now negligible in terms of the preciousness of flour.

One stone of wheat is basically a person's ration for twenty days, and compared to the previous corn, it is only one penny higher.

This...

At this time, someone in the crowd shouted: "Dare to ask this strong man, can this stone mill be used by all the people?" ”

As soon as this voice fell, the surrounding people immediately looked nervously at the soldiers.

"Yes, as long as you show your household registration, all the people of my Chu country can use it." The soldier nodded in response, paused, and emphasized again: "Of course, in order to prevent someone from monopolizing the stone mill, the king restricts each household to one stone per day, and can also use horses that pull the mill. ”

As soon as the soldier's voice fell, the surrounding people immediately looked at the stone mill with enthusiasm, as if this stone mill was like a peerless beauty.

It's just that in the eyes of the people, in addition to the heat, there is also a hesitation.

After all, a penny is a small amount, and a stone of wheat is a lot of money compared to ordinary people.

What if the stone mill eats the wheat but doesn't spit out the flour...

Although everyone is suspicious of this stone mill, no one has left, what if this is true, what if it is really the king's benevolence?

For a while, all the people around gathered around the stone mill, neither dispersed, but also stepped forward, all quietly waiting for the first person to emerge.

After about a meal, the surrounding people finally waited for a person who was grinding flour.

"It's Zhang Tie, the kid of the Zhang family."

"The son of a blacksmith."

Soon someone around recognized the visitor.

Zhang Tie walked to the front of the crowd, put down the wheat on his back, handed over a coin and his household registration, and saluted with some fear: "Dare to ask this strong man, can you use a stone mill below?" ”

The soldier collected the money and handed it over, and then after checking the household registration, he nodded, "Yes." Do you drive horses? ”

Zhang Tie immediately shook his head.

The soldier was not surprised to see this, after all, there were too few people who could control it, so he said: "Okay, so you are responsible for collecting the flour yourself, and I will drive the horse for you." ”

Soon, the stone mill was again turned under the pull of the horse, and in a short time it was all flour in one stone.

Until there was no more flour in the stone mill, Zhang Tie looked at the bag full of flour, blushed, and said with great joy: "Thank you strong men, the boy has grown so big, and he has never seen so much flour, let alone his own flour." ”

Saying that, Zhang Tie excitedly took out five coins from his arms and hurriedly handed them to the soldiers led by the side: "Brave men, be careful, not respectful." ”

The soldier was stunned at first, and then saw the people around him looking at him eagerly, his face was straight, and he said angrily: "I am waiting for the king's order to help the people make flour again, so that the people of Yingdu can eat flour, you are not grateful for the king's kindness, but you are here to bribe me, isn't this ignoring the king and insulting me?"

Go quickly, or I won't let you go easily. ”

Zhang Tie was stunned, and when he saw the soldier looking at him angrily, he looked like he was going to cut people, he was terrified, and hurriedly bowed a few times in the direction of the palace, and then praised the benevolence of the king of Chu, until the soldier's face was relaxed, and this time he hurriedly carried the flour on his back.

After Zhang Tie left, the people around him, you look at me, I look at you, and then shouted in unison: "King Rende, enjoy flour and don't forget the people!" ”

After shouting for a while, the crowd reacted until someone left suddenly, and then dispersed in an instant, and soon a large number of people came here with Mai Mi on their backs, and hurried towards the stone mill.

"Queue... Those who disturb the order are punished with three days of hard labor, and those who cut the queue are also punished with three days of hard labor..."

On this day, from noon to dusk, the thirty stone mills in Yingdu City were all crowded with people, and it was not until the curfew in Yingdu that the crowd dispersed.

For the next five days, all the people around the stone mill were crowded, and there was no decrease in the slightest.

In the Chu Palace.

Taifu Yin Dou smiled and said: "King, five days have passed, and the people's craze for flour has not yet passed. In the past few days, the people of the city have gone to the stone mill every day when the sun rises to line up to make flour, and it is not until the curfew at sunset that they leave, and in just five days, more than 150,000 yuan has been collected from the stone mill alone.

This is not counting the money from selling stone mills and flour, if you count these, these five days are almost equivalent to Yingdu's income in January. ”

Saying that, Dou You sighed again: "It's a pity that those Diao people are so popular that they actually bought stone mills from my Chu State shop, and then rented them out to other people at home, causing my Taifu to collect a lot of money."

Diao Min is really hateful. ”