"Water wheels? The ancients were able to design it, I don't believe that I am inferior to the ancients, a small waterwheel is a big deal to design one! Li Xiu walked back and forth in the room a few times, and finally suddenly gritted his teeth.

Irrigating the fields is a big problem, there is no need to think about the pump, the only thing that can solve the current problem is the waterwheel, but he can't find the craftsman who designed the waterwheel.

In fact, Li Xiu also thought about finding Princess Pingyang for help, but according to his observation, the tenants on Princess Pingyang's side did not use water wheels, Li Xiu estimated that although there were many craftsmen in Princess Pingyang's family, no one should know how to design water wheels, otherwise her character would definitely not sit idly by and let the tenants work so tired.

It's just a waterwheel, and the complexity certainly can't be compared with the machinery of later generations, although Li Xiu has not studied mechanical design, but he has never eaten pork and never seen a pig run? In his later life, he came into contact with not a few machines, the bicycles were all repaired by himself, and the principle of the waterwheel was not complicated, so it should not be very difficult to design it.

In addition, there is one of the most important reasons, that is, in the village where Li Xiu lived when he was a child, there was an old mill driven by water, of course, it has long been unusable, so the abandoned mill has become a playground for Li Xiu's children, for the internal structure of the mill, Li Xiu vaguely remembers that of course, the function of the mill and the waterwheel are different, but the principle is the same, so there are many references.

Deciding to design the waterwheel himself, Li Xiu sat down to calm himself down, trying to recall the experience of playing in the hydraulic mill when he was a child, so as to reorganize the internal structure of the mill, and then use the knowledge of his previous life to supplement the missing structure, and after sorting out a rough idea in his mind, he immediately walked to the desk and began to draw graphics on the paper.

However, in the middle of the painting, Li Xiu found that he had made a mistake, and had no choice but to tear up the drawings and redraw, but they were torn up before they finished painting, and after repeating it several times, Li Xiu found that he had underestimated the structure of the waterwheel, and he was no longer in a hurry to do it, but sat there again and thought about it seriously.

"Huh? I remember seeing a kind of pedal waterwheel on TV, and the structure seemed to be much simpler. After a long while, Li Xiu suddenly opened his eyes and said to himself, what he wanted to design just now was the kind of water-powered waterwheel that looked like a Ferris wheel, but some details needed to be scrutinized, compared to the big waterwheel, the waterwheels on the foot seemed to be simpler.

At that moment, Li Xiu thought about it again for a long time, and finally began to write, this time it was very smooth, writing and drawing on the paper for a long time, and finally drew a structural drawing of the treadle waterwheel, and then Li Xiu made several modifications to the drawing, trying to reduce some parts as much as possible, so that it is as simple as possible, because the simpler the structure, the less likely it is to fail, and it is also more convenient to maintain.

It has been revised more than a dozen times, and the final draft finally made Li Xiu nod with satisfaction. However, the efficiency of this kind of pedal waterwheel is not high, and it also requires manpower to brake, so Li Xiu is still not very satisfied with this, and immediately picked up the design of the waterwheel again and began to think seriously.

Perhaps it was the successful case of the treadmill that made Li Xiu accumulate a certain amount of experience, and after a success, he felt that his brain was also flexible, and some of the theories he had learned before could be turned into practical use, such as the conduction of force, the application of gears and chains, etc., these things were learned from textbooks before, Li Xiu thought that there would be no chance to use them at all, and even he began to forget about it, but he did not expect that after returning to more than a thousand years ago, these things would become his greatest wealth.

After several drafts, the structural diagram of the hydraulic waterwheel was finally completed, and like the previous treadmill, Li Xiu also refined the structure of the entire waterwheel, and at the same time made the whole structure more in line with the principles of mechanics, and used the kinetic energy provided by hydraulic power as much as possible.

When Li Xiu sorted out the drawings of the two different types of waterwheels, he looked up and found that it was already late at night, and a few candles were lit next to him, Yuechan and Liu Er were sleeping soundly on the opposite case, and it was estimated that the two little girls also knew that Li Xiu was busy with important things, and did not dare to disturb him, only when it was dark, he helped him light the candles.

At that moment, Li Xiu walked over and looked at the two sleeping little girls, Yuechan was still that chubby, and it was very attractive to see it after a long time, Liu'er was still a little girl who hadn't grown, and the two girls were sleeping soundly next to each other, although the weather was starting to warm up now, it was still very cold at night, especially Liu'er, who was thin, had shrunk tightly in her sleep, and she drilled into Yuechan's arms one by one, and the two looked even more petite in comparison.

At that moment, Li Xiu bent down to pick up Liu'er, the little girl was only a few dozen catties, and it was not overwhelming, and then Li Xiu strode to the wing room and put her on the bed, and covered the quilt, and then came back to pick up Yuechan as well, but he obviously underestimated Yuechan's weight and overestimated his strength, and suddenly used force not only to pick Yuechan up, but also to almost press himself down.

Yuechan was also awakened, and when she opened her eyes and saw Li Xiu holding herself, she immediately broke free in fright, and then fled to the corner like a frightened little rabbit, no, it should be like a little fat rabbit and fled to the corner and asked in a panic: "Old ...... What are you doing, sir? ”

"Don't get me wrong, I saw that you and Liu'er fell asleep, and I wanted to carry you to bed, but I didn't hug you." Li Xiu stood up with his waist at this time, and then complained to Yuechan with a wry smile, "But Yuechan, you really have to lose weight, and it almost flashed to my old waist just now." ”

Hearing Li Xiu's ridicule behind, Yuechan couldn't help lowering her head a little shyly, and after a while, she said in a voice as low as a mosquito and a fly: "Master, you must be hungry, I'll help you make something to eat!" ”

After Yuechan finished speaking, she ran out of the room, causing Li Xiu to laugh out loud, speaking of which, although Yuechan is a little fatter, she has a gentle personality, knows how to run a house and is proficient in female workers, she is a standard ancient woman, and I don't know who has so much luck to marry her in the future?

After a while, Yuechan brought a bowl of porridge and two side dishes, she was already very good at cooking, and after learning Li Xiu's cooking skills during this time, her cooking skills became better and better, plus Li Xiu was really hungry, and when she just wanted to eat, she suddenly thought of one more thing, and asked Yuechan at the moment: "Yuechan, have you eaten with Liu'er?" ”

"We've already eaten, and at dinner, I saw that the master was painting so seriously, so I didn't dare to disturb, but I didn't expect the master to be busy until midnight." Yuechan said in a crisp voice, she and Liu'er are both southerners, and Guanzhong's words always have a bit of the glutinous softness of southern Wu dialect, which sounds very special.

"By the way, Yuechan, you are from the south, you should be very familiar with waterwheels, right?" Li Xiu suddenly thought of Yuechan's origin at this time, and immediately patted his head and said, Uncle Liu said that there are more waterwheels in the south, but he forgot that there was a southerner around him, and he should have listened to her opinion before he knew it.

"Well, the rice fields in the south need more water, so waterwheels are very common." Yuechan nodded immediately.

"That's great, look at these two drawings, what's the difference between them and the waterwheels you've seen?" Li Xiu handed the drawings of the two waterwheels to Yuechan and asked, these two waterwheels were designed by his imagination, and he didn't know if it was feasible, and he could find someone who had really seen the waterwheel to take a look at it and help him give his opinion.

Yuechan took the drawings and looked at them seriously, in fact, she was also very curious about what Li Xiu was painting in the middle of the night, the top was the pedal waterwheel painted by Li Xiu, but Yuechan recognized it at a glance and said: "Master, you have been busy for a long time, so you were painting the keel waterwheel?" ”

"Keel waterwheel? Is that how the water wheels are called in the South? Hearing this, Li Xiu was also a little surprised.

"Yes, sir, you see that this waterwheel is composed of a section of water buckets, which looks like a keel, so it is called a keel waterwheel, this kind of waterwheel is said to be created by the eunuch Bi Lan in the Han Dynasty, and it has been recorded in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, but some people say that it was created by Ma Jun in the Three Kingdoms, and this matter is also recorded in the "Three Kingdoms", but no matter who created it, the keel waterwheel is a great creation, with it, it is much more convenient for the people to irrigate the fields." When Yuechan said these words, the whole person actually looked a little radiant.

"Book of the Later Han Dynasty" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", I didn't expect you to read a lot of books Yuechan?" Li Xiu was surprised again when he heard this, he knew that Yuechan was literate, but he didn't expect that she had read history books, such a maid was rare.

Hearing Li Xiu's question, Yuechan's face was obviously a little pale, as if she didn't know how to explain, and finally simply lowered her head and stopped talking, and her two little hands kept nervously rubbing the corners of her clothes.

If it were replaced by another master, seeing that the maid had hidden something from herself, she would definitely get to the bottom of it, but Li Xiu was a descendant after all, and he still respected the privacy of others, after all, who in this world didn't want to say something to others? So he smiled and didn't ask any more, but changed the topic and said: "Yuechan, do you see the difference between the waterwheel I painted and the keel waterwheel, I haven't seen the keel waterwheel before, so I can only design it out of thin air?" ”

Seeing that Li Xiu didn't ask, Yuechan was obviously relieved, and looked at the drawings of this pedal waterwheel seriously, but the more she looked at it, the more surprised she became, and finally said in disbelief: "Master, is this really just a waterwheel designed by yourself?" ”

"Of course, haven't you seen it all, so busy that even dinner has become a supper." Li Xiu said as he put rice in his mouth.

"Although this waterwheel is similar in appearance to the keel waterwheel, the structure is much simpler, and looking at the principle of its operation, it should also be feasible!" Yuechan nodded in admiration when she heard this, and there was a little more respect in her eyes when she looked at Li Xiu.

"Haha, I'm much more relieved to have your words, you can look at the drawings below, and the above is another waterwheel I designed." Li Xiu couldn't help but smile happily when he heard Yuechan's words, it seems that the tuition fees he paid when he went to school in the future life were really not wasted.

Yuechan heard that there was another kind of waterwheel, and hurriedly looked at the next drawing, but this time she was even more shocked, compared to the keel waterwheel, this waterwheel looks even stranger, like a big wheel, Yuechan has seen something similar, that is, a water-powered mill, but it is used for grinding noodles, but Li Xiu actually installed a bucket to lift water on it, so that it can automatically lift the water to a high place, and then pour it into a specific trough, so that it can be led to the field.

"Well, this waterwheel is better than the one just now, isn't it?" Li Xiu asked with a smile at this time.

"The old man is ingenious, and he even added buckets to the waterwheel mill, if this thing is made, it will be more convenient for the people to irrigate the fields!" Yuechan praised again, she now has the same idea as Ma Ye, that is, the more she gets along with Li Xiu, the more she feels that he is unfathomable.

"A water-powered mill? This thing is available now? Li Xiu was surprised again when he heard this, although there was an abandoned hydraulic mill in his hometown in his previous life, he really didn't know when this thing was invented by the ancient people?

"Of course, the water-powered mill was also invented in the Han Dynasty, but it has always been used to grind noodles and rice, and only the old man thought of using it to get water." Yuechan looked at Li Xiudao with admiration.

Li Xiu was a little speechless when he heard this, he thought that he had made an epoch-making invention, but he didn't expect that similar things had already appeared in history, and he had made improvements on the basis of his predecessors at most, but then he comforted himself and thought that Watt in later generations was also an improved steam engine on the basis of his predecessors, but when people mentioned the steam engine, they first thought of him, so maybe after he invented the waterwheel, later generations would be the first to think of him when they mentioned the waterwheel?

In fact, what Li Xiu didn't know was that the real use of hydraulic waterwheels for irrigation began in the Tang and Song dynasties, and this method had not been invented in the early Tang Dynasty, so he only advanced this invention by one or two hundred years.

Early the next morning, Li Xiu rushed to find Ma Ye, after all, although he designed the drawings, but he needed craftsmen to transform the things on the drawings into real objects, and if he wanted to find a craftsman, he could only go to Ma Ye, and Li Xiu didn't want to trouble Ma Ye for other things, but the waterwheel was a good thing for the benefit of the country and the people, and after it was built, not only could it be used by himself, but also by the tenants on the princess's side, so it was reasonable for him to go to Ma Ye this time.

But just when Li Xiu came to the gate of the princess's courtyard, he suddenly saw a person he didn't want to see, fortunately, he reacted quickly, turned around and left, and at the same time silently thought in his heart: You can't see me! Can't see me......