Three days later, Zhang Lang really came to the door as promised, accompanied by seven gray-haired old carpenters, these people are disabled, either lame legs or broken hands, but all of them are in good spirits, and their clothes are very clean, although they are disabled, but they have craftsmanship, and they accept a few apprentices to do some general carpentry, and their lives are stronger than ordinary people.

"The lower official visited the young eunuch, I brought the person you wanted!" Zhang Lang also saluted respectfully immediately after seeing Li Zhang.

"Zhang Lushi doesn't have to be polite, the other fathers-in-law have also worked hard, please sit down and serve tea!" With Li Zhang's order, someone immediately brought tea up, Zhang Lang was nothing, but the old carpenters were a little flattered, after all, no matter how exquisite their craftsmen were, but their status was also very low, when they were in the young palace eunuch before, any small official could show off their power to them, let alone the young eunuch in front of them, so they didn't dare to sit down at this time.

Zhang Lang knew that Li Zhang was an easy-going person, so he motioned for a few old carpenters to sit down with him, and finally these people looked at me, I looked at you, and finally sat down with half of his butt next to the chair, and saw Zhang Lang take a sip of tea when he picked up the teacup.

"Young eunuch, everyone has been found, I don't know what tools you want to ask them to make, as long as it is not a forbidden thing, they can make it." Zhang Lang asked again at this time, these seven carpenters were carefully selected by him, and they have been doing carpentry work since they left the Shaofu Prison, and their skills have not been left behind, and each of them has several apprentices, and their skills are also quite good.

"Actually, it's like this, I planted some cotton in the Zhuangzi outside the city, that is, white stacks, and planned to use cotton spinning to weave cotton cloth, which requires cotton seeding, as well as spinning and weaving utensils, but we don't have these utensils in the Central Plains, so I want to ask a few old men to help develop it."

Li Zhang finally told his purpose at this time, and when he said this, he also beckoned people to bring in some prepared cotton, which was also bought with seeds, although the cotton grown outside the city grew cotton peaches, but if it wants to bloom, it will have to wait for a while.

Several old craftsmen heard that it was just a tool for making spinning and weaving, and they all showed a relaxed look at the moment, it was nothing more than a spinning wheel and a loom, although this cotton was different from hemp and silk, but the principle of weaving was the same, so only some small changes were needed to make some small changes on the original loom.

Li Zhang sent the cotton to several old carpenters, at this time the seed cotton, the cotton seeds in it have not been taken out, and Li Zhang also knows a little about cotton cloth, knowing that from the cotton picking, to weave into cotton cloth generally takes three steps, the first is to remove seeds, that is, to take out the cotton seeds in the seed cotton into lint, the second step is spinning, that is, spinning cotton into fine threads, the last step is naturally to weave cotton threads into cotton cloth, of course, cotton cloth also needs dyeing and other processes to really go on sale.

After listening to Li Zhang's introduction to cotton, after obtaining Li Zhang's consent, several people also got together to discuss for a while, and finally one of the old carpenters with a beard stood up and said, "Young Eunuch Qiqi, we just discussed, the tools needed for the two steps of spinning and weaving are very easy, nothing more than to make some improvements on the original spinning wheel and loom, but this step of deseeding is a little difficult, and we need to plan carefully." ”

"That's right, but I have some ideas for building these utensils, so I've drawn a few pictures of these utensils, and a few old men can take a look!" Li Zhang said and took out a few drawings from his arms, these are what he had drawn a long time ago, there is not only a deseeding machine, but also the structural diagram of the ginning machine, and the structural diagram of several textile machines.

In fact, these drawings were not drawn by Li Zhang himself, but he found some historical documents about the industrial revolution in the computer of the plane, which not only introduced the trend and impact of the industrial revolution in detail, but also the structural diagram and principle of the textile machine that opened the industrial revolution, etc., so he copied it down, and even the model of the steam engine, but unfortunately Li Zhang did not know if he could make it now?

Several old carpenters took the drawings handed over by Li Zhang, at first they thought it was just Li Zhang's whimsy, after all, although Li Zhang's status is high, but he is too young, and he doesn't know how to work as a carpenter, but when they looked at the drawings carefully, they were all surprised, the ingenuity of the above equipment is really something they never dreamed of.

However, soon one of the carpenters found out about the problem, and then saw that he hesitated for a moment, and finally proposed to Li Zhang: "Young eunuch, the textile equipment on your drawings is indeed cleverly conceived, and it can spin countless cotton threads at a time, but this kind of equipment has a huge structure, I am afraid it is not shaken by manpower, if you use cows and horses, I am afraid that it will also need multiple heads to drive, right?" ”

"Hehe, in fact, this kind of equipment is not driven by manpower or animal power, but driven by water power, the flow of the Bianhe River in our capital is so large, it is enough to drive this equipment by the river, and the design and manufacture of the waterwheel will also need to work a few times!" Li Zhang smiled again at the moment.

Since there is cheap and more efficient water power, he is naturally reluctant to use manpower, after all, the manpower in the capital is very expensive, of course, now the cotton planting scale is small, and the water power may be a little wasteful, but the scale of cotton cloth will definitely get bigger and bigger, so simply one step in place, directly get the hydraulic loom out, so as not to upgrade the trouble in the future.

Hearing Li Zhang's words, several old carpenters also nodded in agreement, and then they carefully discussed several instruments on the drawings, and finally felt that there was no problem, but there were some places that needed to use solid metal, so they also needed to find some blacksmiths to cooperate, which was even simpler, and the most important thing for the firearms supervisor was the blacksmith.

The matter has been decided, Li Zhang asked a few old carpenters to go back to prepare, come to their own house tomorrow to gather, and then send someone to send them to work in the manor outside the city, and at this time Zhang Lang saw that there was nothing to do, so he was also ready to leave, but at this time Li Zhang stopped him and said, "Zhang Lushi, although it is the business of craftsmen to build these instruments, but one person is also needed to manage the overall situation, but unfortunately I don't have this time, I don't know if you are willing to replace me as the person who manages the overall situation?" ”

Zhang Lang couldn't help but be stunned when he heard Li Zhang's words, and then said with some embarrassment, "The lower official is naturally willing to serve the young eunuch, but I also have a lot of affairs with the young eunuch, and I really can't get out of it." ”

"Zhang Lushi, do you know Liu Shu?" Li Zhang smiled calmly.

"Naturally, I know that Liu Quanjian is the person who succeeded you as a firearms supervisor, and he is also the second firearms supervisor." Zhang Lang replied again puzzled at this time.

"Yes, Liu Shu was promoted from an iron case judge to the current firearms supervisor under my cultivation, and if you want, you can also become the second Liu Shu." Li Zhang said with a smile, Zhang Lang is a good young man, he has helped himself so much, so he will not introduce the other party to a chance.

As soon as Li Zhang's words came out, Zhang Lang suddenly grabbed the handle of the chair excitedly, because he was afraid that he would not be able to control his body and jumped up, speaking of which he was also from a noble background, but his status in the family was low, and he was not valued at all, and after finally entering the Shaofu Prison, he was also bullied everywhere, he was not born with such a good temper, but he knew that no one would stand up for himself, so he could only endure it, hoping to find an opportunity to get out of the way, and now this opportunity has finally come.

Thinking of this, Zhang Lang calmed down his excitement, and then raised his head to look at Li Zhang and said, "Thank you for the cultivation of the young eunuch, the lower officials are willing to serve the young eunuch!" ”

"Haha, don't you need to be a cow or a horse, don't go to the Shaofu Supervisor tomorrow, I'll help you with anything, tomorrow you will take these craftsmen to the manor outside the city, as long as you make those utensils and weave the cotton cloth for me, you will be a great achievement, and then a small Shaofu will no longer be able to trap you!" Li Zhang laughed at this time, and then patted the other party's shoulder and encouraged.

After entering the officialdom, even if Li Zhang does not deliberately cultivate his cronies, sometimes he still needs some people to do things for him, so it is also necessary to do something to buy people's hearts.