It was already afternoon when the group arrived in Yongxing City, Jiang Jie and Su Hong learned the news in advance, and led their troops to wait for Bailiyan outside the city early in the morning:

"The last general, Su Hong, see Hou Ye."

"The last general, Jiang Jie, see Hou Ye."

"Two generals are excused."

"Master Xie."

The two of them spoke in unison, withdrew the number of courtesies, and the next moment Jiang Jie said:

"Master Hou, the head of the Ligong faction has been waiting in the main hall for a long time."

"Is the city ready?"

"Everything is ready, waiting for Boyuanjun."

"Good. By the way, why don't you see the little lotus seed. ”

"Oh, she's at home with the doll."

"I heard I'm pregnant again."

"Hehe...... Jiang Jie scratched his ears and cheeks, "I didn't care to get pregnant." ”

"You can be modest, it's good to be able to give birth and raise, but it's okay for the brothers to work together in the future after raising too much, if the brothers don't work together to toss blindly, you, the father, have to be responsible."

Jiang Jie is a species that can give birth, Xiaolianzi gave birth to two children in a row after passing through the door, plus the three children born by the original Tao, a total of five sons, and now Xiaolianzi is pregnant again, Jiang Jie is the father of six children.

At this time, Ji Feng and Ji Kang's uncle and nephew had just gotten off the carriage and were shocked by the majestic windmill and waterwheel in front of them.

"I haven't seen it for a few years, and the windmills and waterwheels outside Yongxing City have increased again, and within a radius of twenty miles, there are more than the third uncle's fiefdom."

Ji Kang said, Ji Feng said with emotion behind his hand:

"Countries are competing to imitate the Xianguo Feng Shui two cars, but there are very few people who have achieved it, and it seems that the mystery is still in this Yongxing City. Just from the outside, you can't see the doorway, let's go, go and see Bailiyan. ”

The uncle and nephew came to the horse team on foot, and Bai Liyan introduced them to Jiang and Su:

"This is Liang Guobo Yuanjun, the other two young masters, you should both know each other."

"The last general has seen Bo Yuanjun."

Jiang and Su saluted hand in hand, and Ji Feng laughed:

"Hehaha...... The two generals need not be polite. Yongxing Hou, you can enter the city. ”

"It's late today, Ben Hou has arranged for you to go to the main hall of the Ligong faction first, and meet with the head and the left and right heads, and it's not too late to visit tomorrow, Bo Yuanjun doesn't care about one night."

"Since that's the case, let's go to the Ligong faction first, I haven't seen you for many years, and Benjun is also very concerned about the head of the Ligong faction, so please ask Yongxing Hou to lead the way."

"Please!"

In order to cope with Bo Yuanjun's surprise inspection, Bai Liyan asked Wei Qi to inform Jiang and Su yesterday, and gave Duan Songzhi a thorough explanation, made preparations in advance, temporarily suspended work and closed the doors of things that should not appear in the city, and at the same time arranged the visit route, only let you see what should be seen, and not give the same thing that should not be seen.

As soon as he entered the city, Ji Feng was taken aback, looking at the tall towers and dense buildings, the buildings were lined up one after another, like a hill blocking the view, giving people an incomparably shocking impression.

"Yongxing Hou, why are those towers emitting black smoke, is it the kiln to burn firewood?" Ji Feng asked, pointing to the chimney with billowing smoke in the distance.

"It's neither, it's a machine that smokes and uses a chimney to lead it into the sky so that it doesn't gather in the city."

"The machine also needs to burn wood?" Ji Feng was incredible.

"Of course, but it's not firewood, it's coal. Let's go, Boyuanjun will see it tomorrow. ”

The total amount of coal burned by a single steam engine is limited, in fact, it will not produce too much black smoke, water vapor is the main leakage gas, but coal burning always has to form carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and other black dust substances, the traditional steam engine can only be discharged, after the refraction of sunlight, the original not very black smoke column and the sky form a contrast, so it looks very black. The tall tower that Ji Feng saw was a column of smoke formed by the black smoke of burning coal carried by the water vapor of a large steam engine.

After the relocation and transformation of Yongxing East City, a science, education and dense settlement area has been formed in the east of the city, with low-noise workshops, scientific research and offices on the periphery, and large-scale processing and production workshops on the periphery.

In recent years, the production of cement, thanks to the excavation and construction of mausoleums, the development of architectural engineering has led to the construction of large-scale cement steel and brick concrete factories in the city, and the extensive use of steel bars and angle irons has made the plant structure more solid, larger than the traditional wooden buildings, and the space utilization rate is higher, which is enough to accommodate large-scale processing equipment with ultra-high and ultra-long length.

The "hill" that Ji Feng saw was the cement wall and roof of the large factory, and the rows of buildings from a distance were mountains, and the factory was a factory for people to enter and exit when he looked closely.

"My good boy, uncle, these brick houses are really tall, they must be three or four feet high."

"Well, it's comparable to the Yongxing City Wall, and Liang Guo definitely doesn't have it."

"Not really. Except for the pavilion of the royal palace, which is several feet high, I have never seen anything else. ”

When Li Yi sighed, Ji Feng, Ji Kang's uncle and nephew's eyes straightened, and their faces became more and more heavy.

When I was young, I came to the main hall of the Ligong faction, and more than 100 people from Duan Songzhi, Cheng Jiyuan, and Baoning led a class of masters and their children to wait outside.

"The Marquis of Yongxing is here, and the old man is polite."

"Master Duan is polite, Master Duan and Bo Yuanjun are already old acquaintances, so there is no need for Ben Hou to introduce it."

"Yes, the old man has known Bo Yuanjun for many years, and he also has a lot of dealings with the two young masters. Today, Boyuan Jun can be here, and the old man feels very honored. ”

Duan Songzhi was courteous and polite, Ji Feng raised his hand and bowed down:

"I haven't seen you for many years, but Master Duan is in good health."

"Everything is fine, thank you Bo Yuanjun for helping back then, the old man is still grateful."

"The Ligong faction is a decent family in the world, and this gentleman should help. I came to disturb me today, and I hope that Master Duan will forgive me. ”

"Bo Yuanjun is serious, and he has to do the work of his hands, so why bother."

"Hehaha...... Benjun opened his eyes today, and in the future, I hope that Master Duan will not hesitate to give advice. ”

"How dare you, the old man has prepared a thin wine, how about you go to enjoy the light."

"That being the case, Benjun has a lot of puzzles, and he is about to ask Master Duan for advice or two."

Ji Feng changed his way to be dignified, hiding the anxiety and loss on his face, and chatting happily with Duan Songzhi and others, as if he had found the only way to make a fortune, and was about to do a big job, but the first meal in the city shocked Ji Feng.

The reason is very simple, the consumption treatment of the Ligong faction is no different from that of the nobles, and even better than the nobles who eat and drink. There are chickens, ducks, fish, meat, mountains and seas on the table, and with the standards of the world, it is already the level of the first-class state banquet, and this is still the standard of the sect's hospitality.

The reason for this is that there is a lack of material and low productivity, behind each product means that resources are limited, and it must be carefully worked to ensure the pass rate, so it is rare to set up a banquet to entertain foreign guests. Even if the emperor's relatives visit in person, in most cases, refreshments are prepared, and it is still rare to set the table for a banquet.

However, since moving to Xianguo, it is difficult not to eat and drink too much, and the increase in income and productivity has made food no longer a rare resource, and it is also difficult to improve life if you don't want to improve your life. After all, no one wants to watch outsiders eat and drink spicy food all day long, guarding gold, silver and jewelry, but they are hungry and panicked.

It is not realistic to want the horses to run fast and the horses to eat less grass, and it is important for companies to improve basic welfare if they want to retain talents.

Now only food, clothing, housing and transportation, Liang Guo no longer has the basic conditions to compete with Xianguo for talents, and other such as industrial scale, scientific research base, talent training, medical conditions, and academic atmosphere, none of Liang Guo can be compared with Yongxing City, and it is almost impossible to poach the Ligong faction.

At the banquet, Ji Feng did not forget to test one or two, Duan Songzhi did not have the slightest reservation, and tried his best to answer questions and solve doubts, Ji Feng was half skeptical:

"Master Duan, can machines really do work for people?"

"That is natural, but all the wonderful laws in the world, whether the wind blows and the clouds blow, or the tide rises and falls, as long as it is restrained and the truth is known, human wisdom can be turned into machinery, so that people can live on their behalf.

Presumably Bo Yuanjun also saw it, and now nearly half of the four-wheeled carriages in Xianguo are using iron axles, all of which are cut off by machines, and if they are worked by manpower, tens of thousands of iron axes will have to be completed in ten years. Now it only takes a few months or even dozens of days, how convenient. ”

"Then according to this, Xianguo can have today, it is all done by machines!" Ji Feng asked.

"Well, exactly. Even the swords and armor sold are all forged by machines, otherwise the labor by manpower is not only expensive, but the output is far less than today. ”

Ji Feng imagined that a machine that could work for people should be in the shape of a human, or simply an intelligent robot, otherwise he would not be able to explain everything Duan Songzhi said.

Of course, since Ji Feng was only an aristocratic merchant in a feudal agrarian society, it was impossible to have more knowledge, so he naturally could not imagine the scene of mechanized production.

At this time, the banquet was a little silent, Ji Feng and Ji Kang were in a complicated mood, only Li Yi continued to have no heart and liver, and he should eat and drink, without any scruples.

Seeing Ji Feng's expression fluctuate, Baili Yan took the opportunity to say:

"Boyuanjun, there is an organic door in the door of the Ligong faction, why don't you stay in the Ligong faction for the night today, how about you appreciate it first?"

"Machine-made doors? What is a machine-made door? ”

Ji Feng was puzzled and asked, and Duan Songzhi answered:

"The machine door specializes in the research of new machines, which is a new door built by this faction in recent years, Bo Yuanjun and the two young masters may wish to go to watch, and tomorrow they will look at the machine production in Yongxing City, and they can understand better."

"That's... It's better to be respectful than to obey fate. ”

"Machine-made door" is a scientific research department re-established by the master of the left and right doors and the children of the main door to receive new education. The development and creation of technology have always relied on the accumulation of traditional experience and rough cognition.

After the systematization of education, the first benefit is the formalization, centralization, and systematization of the scientific research system, and the establishment of its own scientific research institutions is the inevitable result.

Just as Yongxing City established the design and technology departments early on, the former is responsible for technical research, and the latter is responsible for improving the application technology and turning the drawings into products, forming a one-stop model of scientific research and manufacturing.

Of course, as the core secret of the technology research center, not to mention the presence of Bo Yuanjun, it is the Son of Heaven who gives up his old face, and Duan Songzhi may not be open to outsiders. In the final analysis, it is still the workers who want to make Ji Feng's money. After getting the tacit consent of Bailiyan, it opened up limited product results. The real core departments such as education, R&D, and technology will not appear in front of it at all, so there is not much dry goods in essence.