In fact, the real purpose in Zhao Hongrun's heart is naturally not as simple as making a ruler, what he really wants to do is to accurately weigh and measure.

You must know that weights and measures are the constant standard of all fine work, and without accurate weights and measures, the blueprint in Zhao Hongrun's heart cannot be realized at all.

It is undeniable that both the Ministry of Industry and the Smelting Bureau have a ruler as a necessary tool, but unfortunately, although the ruler is called a ruler, it is far from meeting the requirements recognized by Zhao Hongrun.

The next day, Zhao Hongrun came to the Smelting Bureau early in the morning, and he asked Wang Fu to invite the most experienced craftsmen in the bureau to help build the first and most standard ruler in his mind.

At this time, Zhao Hongrun's order to double the monthly income of the craftsmen in the Smelting Bureau had already spread throughout the Smelting Bureau, which made the craftsmen in the Smelting Bureau more than happy, and their recognition of Zhao Hongrun increased by a few points.

However, this also made Zhao Hongrun prepare to build the first standard ruler in his mind in a vacant field, surrounded by craftsmen from his smelting bureau, and those craftsmen all opened their eyes and looked curiously, wanting to see what His Royal Highness King Su, who gave them preferential treatment to their craftsmen, wanted to do.

"These people...... Is there nothing to do?'

To be honest, Zhao Hongrun doesn't like being watched when he is doing things, which makes him feel weird.

It may be that he saw His Royal Highness King Su frowning, and beside him, Cheng Wangfu of the Smelting Bureau carefully explained: "Your Highness, the people of the Construction Division are demolishing those sheds and building brick houses according to His Highness's orders, so ...... If His Highness does not like it, the lower officials tell them to retreat. ”

"I'm really idle and have nothing to do......

Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

However, after glancing at the craftsmen who were looking curiously, Zhao Hongrun shook his head and stopped Wang Fu. Because he felt that maybe this was a good opportunity for all the craftsmen in the smelting bureau to participate in the construction of the ruler and cultivate their sense of belonging.

Seeing this, he stepped forward a few steps and said to the craftsmen around him with a smile: "I am afraid that you are wondering what this king wants to do. In fact, it is very simple, this king just wants to build a ruler. ”

Hearing this, the craftsmen couldn't help but look at each other and talk about it.

First, they had rulers in the Smelting Bureau earlier, and secondly, in fact, the people in the Smelting Bureau did not use rulers to measure the length of objects, they were more accustomed to using ropes made of hemp and their own body structure to measure the length.

Even, ordinary people. They don't have a ruler at home, because they don't need it at all, and their body structure is enough to cope with the daily need to measure the length.

You must know that since ancient times, there has been a measurement standard of "cloth hands know the ruler, cloth fingers know the inch, and the elbow knows the search".

The so-called "cloth hand ruler" refers to the distance from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger after the palm is stretched. It's almost a foot in ancient times.

"Note: There is also a "pun" saying, that is, the right hand makes a handjob motion. The distance from the thumb to the tip of the middle finger is also almost a foot. Incidentally, women's hands are generally smaller, so when a woman makes this gesture, the unit of this length is called "咫". It is slightly shorter than the ruler.

In the phrase "cloth refers to the thumb", the cloth finger refers to the thumb, that is, the distance at the widest point of the thumb is almost an inch.

"Note: There's another way of saying that. Say it's the width of the second knuckle of the middle finger.'"

And "Shu Elbow Zhi Xun", this is much clearer, "Xun", that is, after an adult man stretches his arms flat on both sides, the distance from the wrist of one hand to the wrist of the other hand is about eight feet.

As a result, the ancients could measure the approximate length of an object even without using a ruler.

For example, to measure the length of a house, a craftsman would first measure it with a long rope and then mark the other end.

Next, pinch one end of the rope with your left hand, gently hold the rope with your right hand, and then stretch your arms and hold them flat at your sides, at this time, the distance from the left wrist to the right wrist is equivalent to 'one fathom', about eight feet.

Then, pinch the rope in the right hand again with your left hand, repeat the process again, measure the second "find", and until the end, the distance less than one fathom, and then measure it again with the palm of your hand.

So, by multiplying the number of "Ichixun" by eight feet, and adding the length measured with the palm of the hand, the approximate length of the house can be measured.

I believe that any craftsman knows this skill.

But unfortunately, this does not meet Zhao Hongrun's requirements, because what he asks for is precision.

"Your Highness, the hemp rope is ready."

Langguan Chen Tang handed Zhao Hongrun a few pieces of hemp rope about the thickness of his little thumb.

"Hmm."

Zhao Hongrun stretched out his hand and took the hemp rope.

For the manufacture of the first precise ruler, Zhao Hongrun has repeatedly thought about what noun should be used as the basic unit, in fact, he is more accustomed to using "meter" and "centimeter", but unfortunately, with the current conditions of the Great Wei, he simply cannot make those precise rulers in his impression.

He can only follow the old methods handed down by the ancients, and at most make it more accurate, so that it can be easily accepted by the Wei people.

"Everybody stands in a row." Zhao Hongrun commanded.

The onlookers looked at each other, not understanding why Zhao Hongrun asked them to stand in a row, but they did not resist in the slightest, who let Zhao Hongrun double their monthly income after entering the smelting bureau?

"Ordinary adult height...... Average adult height ......

Zhao Hongrun walked through the crowd, selecting suitable test subjects as he walked.

Excluding one tallest, excluding one of the shortest, and the rest of the remaining men over twenty years old, Zhao Hongrun asked the guards to measure the average height with those hemp ropes.

In the end, the hemp rope that represented the average height of the personnel in the smelting bureau was determined by Zhao Hongrun as "Yixun", that is, eight feet.

Zhao Hongrun then straightened and folded the hemp rope in half to reach a distance of four feet.

Repeat this process to get a distance of two feet.

This process is repeated again until the length of one foot is finally obtained.

At this point, Zhao Hongrun got the first accurate unit of length, "ruler"!

And at the same time. The experienced old craftsmen immediately compared the length of the hemp rope and used a planer to dig out a wooden ruler of the same length on a wooden board.

By dividing the wooden ruler representing the ruler in half to get the distance of half a foot, and then dividing the half ruler into equal fifths, Zhao Hongrun obtained the second precise length unit. "Inch".

Next, ten wooden rulers with a length of one foot are planed, and then these ten rulers are spliced together to form a long ruler.

Then, the craftsmen used a longer piece of wood to re-plan the long ruler that represented the zhang.

And at this time, Zhao Hongrun also got the third precise unit, "Zhang"!

The rest of the things are easy to do, it is nothing more than to continue to convert the old units. One zhang is ten feet, and one foot is ten inches.

On the basis of inches, Zhao Hongrun continued to subdivide them, using the same method to divide a foot into ten equal parts, and obtain the fourth unit of length, "points".

"Note: It's about two millimeters."

In fact, the unit of "cent" can also be subdivided, that is, "silk", and ten filaments are equal to one cent. However, Zhao Hongrun felt that their smelting bureau could not use such a fine ruler at present, so he gave up.

Holding the one-foot wooden ruler in both hands. Zhao Hongrun looked at the craftsmen around him and shouted loudly: "Maybe you are still wondering, wondering why this king made this ruler and mobilized the people, so now, this king tells you that we are waiting for this ruler to build together today." It's more than just a ruler, it's a new standard for length! ”

Hearing this, the surrounding craftsmen looked at each other, or one of the craftsmen said cautiously: "His Royal Highness King Su, His Royal Highness made a ruler based on this." There is a difference in length from the ruler of the Ministry of Engineering, which ......"

Zhao Hongrun raised his hand to interrupt the craftsman's words, and said in an unquestionable tone: "Didn't this king say it? Today, this new ruler of my smelting bureau is the standard for measuring the length of everything! …… The six departments and twenty-four divisions of the imperial court must comply with the weights and measures standards of our Smelting Bureau, otherwise, our Smelting Bureau has the right to refuse to build any utensils! ”

"This ...... Isn't that ......

When the craftsmen heard this, they didn't know why they were a little short of breath.

As if he had seen through the thoughts of the civil officials and craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau around him, Zhao Hongrun said loudly: "That's right, this king wants to make my Smelting Bureau the standard of everything in my Great Wei!" …… Our Smelting Bureau will abandon the original old weights and measures, and introduce the most accurate new rules of weights and measures, and in the future, anything created by our Smelting Bureau will be based on the new rules of weights and measures of our Smelting Bureau as the only standard! ”

Speaking of this, he glanced around at everyone and shouted loudly again: "My Smelting Bureau will create the standard of all the utensils of my Great Wei, and the other six departments and twenty-three divisions of the imperial court will also regard my Smelting Bureau as the only standard!" …… From today on, we are the embodiment of norms, standards, and authority! ”

"Wow——!!"

The surrounding onlookers shouted in unison as if they were uncontrollable.

On the same day, the new ruler made by Zhao Hongrun was quickly obtained by the inner chamberlain and presented to Wei Tianzi's dragon case.

"Su ...... Ruler? ”

Wei Tianzi played with the exquisitely crafted short ruler, and looked at the short ruler with great interest that neatly divided the units of "inches" and "points" with strips of black ink.

"Yes, Su Ruler, that's what the people of the Smelting Bureau call this new ruler." The great eunuch Tong Xian whispered beside him.

"This is really interesting...... Wei Tianzi played with a smile for a while, and muttered: "That bad son's first step, I didn't expect it to be a fine progress weight, so it seems that his plan is not small." …… What does the Ministry of Industry say? I remember that the Ministry of Engineering had a complete set of weights and measures. ”

Tong Xian lowered his head and said respectfully: "The Ministry of Industry has followed up and announced that it will abolish the original old ruler and choose the Su ruler of the Metallurgical Bureau, and any construction in the future will also be based on the 'Su New Regulations'. ”

"The Ministry of Industry is moving so fast...... Wei Tianzi was stunned, and then nodded and said with relief: "Well, but it's not surprising, now that inferior son is also equivalent to the backstage of the Ministry of Industry, the status of the Smelting Bureau has improved, and the status of the Ministry of Industry has naturally risen...... Cao Zhi, that old man, don't look at the old eyes and faint, his mind is very thief! ”

Hearing this, the great eunuch Tong Xian whispered: "The old slave thinks that His Royal Highness King Su's step seems to be too big...... It doesn't matter if you are in a ruler, the problem is that there may be a "Su Jin" in the next few days. ”

"Worried about what?" Wei Tianzi smiled, and said in an elusive tone: "Didn't you see what that kid said, the Smelting Bureau will become the only standard for my Great Wei, including weights and measures!" ”

“…… Be. (To be continued.) )