Ouyang Bijin took it and saw that it was an ordinary official letter envelope, and when he opened it, it was also an ordinary official letter letter, but there was a line of elegant writing on it:

'Wen Gong is known as the ambition of the wooden ox and the horse, not only to get a book, to describe its side, according to the picture, wonderful, extremely exquisite, just like the ancient book contained in the Wuhou Shenji. If the public is interested, but at noon today, the white clothes come to watch, and the public will not go back and forth in vain. ’

Here's the address of that person's house.

"What the hell, mysterious?" Ouyang Bijin said sourly.

But with the attitude of believing it rather than believing it, Ouyang Bijin finally decided to go to this appointment.

After lunch, he changed into the clothes of the old servant of the house according to the requirements of the letter 'in white clothes', and took no one with him, so he walked out of the back door, saw the direction and walked towards Zhengyangmen, and when he arrived at the noisy and sweaty chessboard street, the old man was almost not squeezed out by the bustling crowd.

It was easy to squeeze out of the crowd, he gasped violently, and said in his heart: 'Thanks to my body, if I am a little weaker, I will really squeeze it down...... "If I am really squeezed to death here, it will also become 'the first official book to be squeezed to death in the market', and it will be recorded in history and immortalized."

He inquired about others, went all the way to Qipan Hutong, walked to the deepest part of the house, saw that the door was hidden, pushed the door and went inside.

"What for?" Unexpectedly, four tiger-backed bears appeared in the doorway, and they surrounded him viciously in the middle.

After all, Ouyang Bijin had seen the world, and when he heard this, he said unhurriedly: "I...... I'll take a look. ”

The nurses looked at him and said, "What do you see?" ”

Ouyang Bijin said: "Wooden cow flowing horse." ”

"Go inside, and you will see it through the weeping flower gate." A reminder from the nursing home reminded the four of them to disappear into the darkness as if they had never appeared.

Ouyang Bijin settled down, and walked towards the house, and said secretly as he walked: "It looks inconspicuous from the outside, but when you come in, this courtyard is really magnificent." I can't help but wonder in my heart, which high-ranking official's home is this? Playing such a joke on yourself?

Thinking wildly, the weeping flower door arrived, and inside the door was the inner house of the people, the place where the female dependents lived, and it was generally stopped by visitors. He hesitated for a moment, then said, 'I'll look at the door......,' and went over, and looked in, and immediately couldn't pull out his eyes.

In the clearing of the garden, there stood two big guys—a wooden horse six feet long and five feet high, and a shorter but stout wooden cow. If you look closely, you can see that the heads, torsos, and limbs of the wooden oxen and the wooden horses are all in shape, and they are even covered with animal skins, which looks like they.

"This must be the wooden cow and the horse, just from the appearance, it is more like me...... 'Ouyang Bijin was like a demon, and it didn't matter if it was someone's backyard or not, whether there were female dependents or not, so he walked in and carefully observed the two big guys. He found that the back of the wooden ox was completely empty, and if it could really walk with a full load, it would be enough to hold seven or eight hundred catties of grain; And the abdomen of the 'flowing horse' is also hollow, and the volume is slightly smaller, probably able to hold about five or six hundred catties.

He has studied this thing for many years, and naturally knows that the ancient books record that 'the wooden ox and the ox are on their backs, and the flowing horse is shaped like an elephant.' Compare this cow with the wooden horse, and sure enough, the long tail of the wooden cow is actually a pair of double wheels connected by beams at the ends; And the flowing horse has a long horse neck, which is shaped like an elephant...... Of course, this kind of static display is not enough to fascinate Ouyang Bijin, not to mention that there is a beast skin covering, and he can't see the mechanism inside, so he can't wait for how to do this thing.

Just as he wanted to try it, he suddenly stopped and said, "If it falls apart when I touch it, they won't rely on me, right?" Thinking of this, the old man became more and more afraid to move, so he asked loudly, "Is there anyone?" ”

"Anyone?" He thought there would be no response anytime soon.

"Yes!" As soon as his voice fell, someone immediately replied, which startled the old man. Following the prestige, I saw a young man in a cloth robe, standing at the other end of the courtyard.

"You...... I know you! Ouyang Bijin patted his head and said, "Who are you?" ”

"The lower official is silent, and I will meet the lord of the ministry." He bowed silently and smiled.

"Yes, yes, you are silent!" Lord Ouyang said with an embarrassed face: "The prince of the country is the priest of wine, and he was still speaking on the court tui that day." ”

"It's Xiaguan." Shen Mo had a warm smile on his face.

"Is this your home?" Ouyang Bijin asked, "Why didn't I see you?" ”

"It's the Humble House. Lord Fang Cai didn't look away, staring at the two big guys, of course he couldn't see me. He said silently and made a gesture of invitation, "Lord Ministry, please move and have tea." ”

"No hurry, no hurry." Ouyang Bijin said with an itchy face: "Hurry up and show me a demonstration, is this wooden cow flowing horse useful?" He is now a scientist Ouyang, and he is wearing a cloth coat, and he can't see a trace of the majesty of a high-ranking official on his body.

Shen Mo smiled and nodded, walked to the side of the wooden ox and flowing horse, and asked, "Which one does the ministry want to see first?" ”

"Anything goes," Ouyang Bijin was so anxious that he stroked his beard knife: "Then Muniu." ”

"Okay, you see." As he spoke, he pulled up his placket and tucked it into his belt, standing behind the wooden ox, and reached out to rest on the ox's tail...... That is, the pair of wheels, with a slight force down, the seemingly heavy wooden ox, the front feet were lifted, and the front legs of the ox were further pushed; Lift the two wheels again, the front legs stand and the hind legs are pulled up, so that the wooden ox is repeatedly lifted, and the wooden ox walks forward step by step.

As the saying goes, the layman looks at the bustle, and the insider looks at the doorway. Ouyang Bijin knew that Zhuge Liang's wooden ox could 'walk six feet and the ox walk four steps.' It is said that the journey is twenty miles, and people do not work hard. Then he carefully watched the silent cow walk forward, and sure enough, when the wooden ox took four steps forward, the man also walked exactly six feet, and the walking stride was exactly the same as the historical record.

How? Ouyang Bijin knew that the ox's tail-like double wheel was actually a pair of levers, which played the role of a labor-saving arm. The longer the double wheel, of course, the more effort-saving it is, so this bulky wooden cow can be easily driven by Shen Mo alone.

And because its two hooves are forced, they always form a triangle with the person behind it, and he knows that among all shapes, the triangle is the most stable, and the center of gravity is low, so this wooden ox is also handy.

"Can it be loaded?" Although Ouyang Bijin felt that the problem was not big, he still had to see it with his own eyes before believing it.

Shen Mo nodded and asked him, "What is the load of the wooden ox recorded in the book?" ”

"The book says that the oxen 'can carry a month's worth of food for ten people.'" Ouyang Bijin said: "A single person has at least thirty catties in a single month, so why do you have to get three hundred catties?" ”

nodded silently and said, "How much do the good green bricks burned by the official kiln of Mentougou weigh?" ”

Ouyang Bijin is from the old Ministry of Industry, and once presided over the rebuilding of the Forbidden City, so naturally he will not be troubled by this kind of problem, and said without thinking: "The whole five catties, up and down must not exceed one or two, otherwise you will not be allowed to appear." ”

"That's just right," said silently, "Sixty yuan is three hundred catties, and ten more will spare you." Then he ordered, "Seventy bricks are moved." Then some of the guards brought seven bricks and put them on the back of the wooden oxen...... Ouyang Bijin took a look, it was indeed the color of the Mentougou brick kiln, and knew that it was now three hundred and fifty catties.

Shen Mo made a gesture of invitation: "The ministry may wish to verify it yourself." Ouyang Bijin happily agreed, put his hands on the wheel, and said in his heart that with the wooden cow itself, he was afraid that there were seven or eight hundred catties, so he had to exert some strength, so he pressed hard...... Who knew that the wheel was still very labor-saving, and he almost didn't flash his waist.

Ouyang Bijin was holding the wooden ox, at first the movements were still a little rusty, but after a while, he became familiar with it, he could move forward and backward in the yard, he was very free, and it was not effortless, and even one hand could drive, and the speed of travel was not slow, and his heart said, 'Twenty miles, and people don't work hard', it can definitely be achieved.

And the corbel has no knee joints, it is purely a thick log, although it is not as flexible as its own work, but it is certainly more practical. Because it is precisely these four pillar-like straight legs that play a good supporting role, it is no wonder that the silent wooden oxen and flowing horses do not have the problem of carrying weight...... After some hard work, Ouyang Bijin completed the experiment on the wooden cow and turned to the flowing horse again. Silently show him that unlike the wooden ox's longitudinal pole at the tail, the horse should hold the horse's head, press it hard, the horse's hind legs will be freed, and then pull, the horse's hind legs will move forward, and then the horse's head will be raised, and the horse's hind legs will stand and the front legs will be pulled up, and then pushed forward again. The effect is similar to that of the wooden cow, except that the movements are more flexible, and the corresponding weight is a little smaller.

Moreover, in the history books, the flowing horse has a detailed description of the size, and Ouyang Bijin found that this Trojan horse was made strictly according to the size of the book! What surprised him even more was that when the Trojan horse needed to stop, he only needed to press his tongue to get the action mechanism stuck, which was completely in line with the book's record.

Tossing all the two 'big things', Ouyang Bijin looked at Shen Mo and said, "As long as you can solve the last problem, I have nothing to say, admit that this is Zhuge Wuhou's wooden ox and flowing horse." ”

Shen Mo smiled and said, "Ministry, please speak." ”

"'Shu Road is difficult, it is difficult to go to the blue sky', this thing is spiritual light on the flat ground, and when it comes to that kind of winding mountain road," Ouyang Bijin said: "Can it also work?" ”

"Then try it." Silent smile: "It rained a while ago, and it washed down a few old houses in my west courtyard, and I pulled some bricks from Mentougou a few days ago, and they were piled up there before they started." As he spoke, he picked up the wooden ox and said, "Why don't we take this wooden ox and flow the horse, go over and experiment, and see if it works." ”

Ouyang Bijin is an inventor who is most disgusted by the so-called 'sit and talk', in his opinion, the Manchu officials are all misguided people who would rather talk about it for a day than do it. Therefore, the attitude of being silent and indisputable, and speaking with facts, really had an appetite for Ouyang Bijin, and he smiled and said, "It's better to be respectful than to obey your fate." "So he led the 'flowing horse' and went across the courtyard with him to the west.

The people in the house had already been ordered, except for a few guards, all were not allowed to go out of the house, so there were no onlookers along the way, and the two entered the West Cross Courtyard, only to see the guards who rushed over one step earlier, and they had already laid out a section of bricks three zhang long, three feet wide, undulating 'mountain road', imitating the plank road in Shuzhong.

Silence found one of the best guards in the body, and asked him to lay thirty bricks in a wheelbarrow and let him push it across the boardwalk. The guard did as he was told, but found that the small cart, which was as steady as a fly, on the flat ground, was immediately timidly as soon as it reached such a undulating place...... When I went down the steps, I pulled hard, but I could barely make do, but when I went up the steps, I was directly blind, and I couldn't push it up at the height of only two bricks.

Seeing that the guards were blushing, they silently asked people to go up to help, and pulled the cart in front, but they still couldn't pull it up. I had to add one more person, and the three of them pushed and dragged them together, and they used all their strength to get the little cart up the steps, and they were about to breathe a sigh of relief, but the car overturned at once...... The small cart ended in failure, and it was the turn of the wooden ox to flow the horse, and the wooden ox was silently loaded with more than 650 catties, and it was easy to walk through this 'plank road', no matter up and down, basically as if walking on the ground, without too much inconvenience...... Ouyang Bijin also walked on the 'plank road' a few times with his flowing horse, and finally said convincingly: "On the flat land, this wooden ox and flowing horse is actually not as convenient as a wheelbarrow, but on this kind of undulating mountain road, the advantages are fully reflected...... No wonder Zhuge Wuhou would create this kind of thing and use it to transport military rations on the rugged plank road. ”

Shen Mo smiled when he heard this: "It seems that the ministry admits that this is Zhuge Liang's wooden ox and flowing horse." ”

Ouyang Bijin nodded heavily and said, "Yes, it is!" Saying that, he gave a deep salute and said, "Please also ask Lord Shen to teach you what kind of structure is inside this thing." ”

"Your Excellency, please, let's talk inside." Shen Mo took Ouyang Bijin and walked towards the study.

Ouyang Bijin sat in the silent study, and said simply: "The old man once said first, whoever can help me uncover the mystery of the wooden ox and flowing horse, I will promise him a condition, but it must be within my ability and legal." As he spoke, he glanced at Shen Mo and said, "Lord Shen, please speak, as long as these two points are met, the old man will definitely agree." ”

Shen Mo smiled: "Of course. He picked up a gilded red-skinned letter of appointment from the table, handed it to Ouyang Bijin with both hands, and said, "I hope you can accept the appointment of the lower officials and serve as the president of the Suzhou Research Institute." ”

"What research institute?" Ouyang Bijin took the appointment letter.

Shen Mo introduced the situation of the institute to Ouyang Bijin, and said: "Since ancient times, we have only attached importance to scripture articles, and the so-called everything is inferior, only reading is high, as a beneficiary of this situation, I want to say that this view is extremely one-sided, and even wrong. ”

Ouyang Bijin's face was slightly excited, but he still forcibly suppressed himself and said, "I want to hear it." ”

"Back in ancient times, without the Suiren clan to teach us to make fire, we could only drink blood, and without the Nuwa clan to teach us to wear clothes, we could only be naked [***]. Naked [***], hairy and blood-drinking stool are no different from animals! Without the Chao clan teaching us to build a house, we could only live in caves, and we could not go out of the mountains and forests to develop civilization in plains; Without Shennong's teaching us to cultivate the fields and cultivate the land, and we would not survive on the plains, how could we talk about the development of civilization? Without Fuxi's words, how would our civilization have been passed down from generation to generation, and how would it have developed and grown? He silently said: "Suiren, Fuxi, Nuwa, Youchao, Shennong, these ancient sages were born before Confucius and Mencius, and they certainly didn't say anything about morality, but they taught us skills, let us get rid of ignorance, and move towards civilization, is this merit comparable to any philosopher?" ”

Ouyang Bijin shook his head and said, "It's not comparable." ”

"I am not belittling Confucius and Menglaozhuang, but I want to explain a truth -- in addition to the glorious philosophical thoughts, there must also be a great invention that has been seriously underestimated to promote the development of our China -- without the great inventions of copper alchemy, iron casting, papermaking, printing, guidebook, etc., how could the glory of the Qin, Han, Tang and Song dynasties appear? I'm afraid it has long been wiped out by the alien race, and there will be no more Huaxia! ”

If those elm-headed scholars heard these words, they would be criticized and even dismissed as heresy, but when Ouyang Bijin heard it, it was simply about his heart, and he couldn't help but clapped his hands and said: "Okay!" That's great! If we want to revive the Ming Dynasty, it is absolutely inseparable from the development of technology! "He can concentrate on the study of manpower cultivators when he is rinderpest, instead of praying to God and Buddha like other officials, hoping that God will bless him, precisely because he believes that saints and immortals can only solve ideological problems, but the problems encountered in reality can only be solved with realistic methods!

But he is not a simple-minded guy, after a burst of joy, he quickly calmed down, looked at the appointment letter again, and said: "Are you going to rush to Suzhou to take office before the year?" ”

Shen Mo smiled a little awkwardly: "Yes, it's in a hurry." "Ouyang Bijin is not an ordinary scientist after all, he is also the official of the Ming Dynasty, silently and painstakingly, layer by layer, just to make it easier to negotiate later, but he would never think that with two wooden oxen and horses, and a generous statement, he can directly achieve the goal.

(To be continued)