Subsequently, Ma Chao carefully observed the character molds that had been made, and saw that these character molds were only the size of small fingernails, and they were all simplified characters, written in regular letters. Most of the original fonts of the character mold were written by Ma Chao, and Cai Yong and Chen Lin also wrote some, which are extremely standardized. Among them, there are not only Hanzi, but also Hanyu Pinyin and some simple pictures, 200 characters that are not commonly used are made each, and there are thousands of punctuation marks like Zhihu.

In order to facilitate typesetting, Ma Jun and Chen Lin also made countless wooden boxes, and collected these character molds according to the arrangement of Hanyu Pinyin, which filled more than a dozen houses.

Ma Chao was very satisfied with this, and said: "This thing is only time-consuming and laborious in typesetting, but as long as one page is discharged, hundreds of thousands of copies can be printed. And these fonts can be used flexibly, which has many benefits! ”

Ma Jun said: "The lord really has unpredictable talents, and on the basis of what the lord said, the work efficiency can be increased by another twenty times!" ”

Ma Chao was shocked, and said urgently: "Deheng has such a ability, bring it to the general!" ”

Ma Jun said: "In fact, it is also easy, only need to typeset 20 pages at a time, and make a large template, the size of this version is the same as the size of the paper, so each printing is 20 pages." At that time, the uncut paper will be cut into 20 identical sheets of paper, which will be collected and bound into a book! With that, he took out a bound yellow book and handed it over.

When I opened it, I saw that it was the "Analects" of Sage Confucius, which was not only full of simplified characters, but also pinyin and annotations, which was very suitable for beginners. The content that could be memorized in several rolls of bamboo slips is now only a short more than 100 pages, which is convenient to use, and greatly reduces the cost.

Ma Chao was immediately overjoyed, and said with a smile: "With papermaking and [***] printing in hand, why worry about the Han nation!" A few of them have made great contributions to the nation and deserve a great reward! On behalf of the imperial court and the people of the world, he will reward 500 gold and 200 households, and hope to make persistent efforts in the future to engage in more utilitarian inventions and creations. Your great name will also write a book of history, which will be passed down through the ages and admired by future generations! ”

Kong Xi and Ma Jun were excited, bowed down and bowed: "Most of all this is the credit of the lord, I just practice it myself, if there is no guidance from the lord, I don't know how long it will take for this thing to be published!" ”

Ma Chao said: "This will be the most important invention and creation, if there is no theory and no one to practice, it is empty talk!" ”

The two didn't dare to say it together, Ma Chao's heart moved, Ma Jun is definitely a rare talent, if he cultivates it well and teaches him some physics and chemistry knowledge in later generations, he doesn't know what strange things he can do in the future! And this Zhuge Liang is also a great inventor, if he is not allowed to participate in internal affairs, he only specializes in research like Ma Jun, and his future achievements are limitless. The most important thing is that there is no shortage of strategists and internal affairs talents, and it is precisely the lack of such smart and wise people who are quick in mind and dare to innovate.

Thinking of this, Ma Chao said: "Deheng has great talents, and now he has successfully researched [***] printing, and he will be very happy, but there will be a series of important tasks to be handed over to you to do in the future, you can hand over the typesetting work to Chen Lin to be responsible, and in the future, you will follow this general like Kong Ming, and there are still countless knowledge to pass on to you, if you can complete a few more difficult tasks, you will be crowned the king and the prince in the future!" ”

Ma Jun was overjoyed, busy and bowed down, hugged his fists and said: "The lord has unpredictable talents, all of them have this intention, I don't want to be crowned kings and princesses, I want to have more inventions and creations, for the benefit of all people!" ”

"Well said!" Ma Chao was also a little excited, turned around and pointed at Kong Ming and said: "This is Langya Zhuge Liang, the word Kong Ming, although he is young, he is also a talented person, you and the two of you will follow this general anytime and anywhere in the future, I will teach you what I have learned!" ”

"Thank you, Lord!" Ma Jun still felt something, but Zhuge Liang's heart was full of turbulence, with his intelligence, he could naturally think of the great benefits brought by papermaking and [***] printing. In particular, the creation process of these two strange things is simply miraculous, and it is beyond the power of human beings!

Ma Chao helped the two of them up, he was in a good mood, and said with a smile: "There is a task that the three of us need to complete together, I want to transform the carriage, I have a preliminary idea, if the two of you help, this matter will be done!" ”

Ma Jun said: "Carriage? I don't know how the lord plans to transform? ”

Ma Chao said: "To prosper the Han Dynasty, all places should communicate with each other, and trade is indispensable!" However, the carriage used now is too backward, due to the limitation of the axle, the load capacity of the carriage is far from the maximum weight that a horse can bear, and the wooden axle is not strong enough, and the efficiency is too low, so it was planned to change the wooden axle to an iron axle, and add a steel ball lubrication system, if this happens, the load capacity of a carriage can be increased by at least two to three times! ”

In ancient times, including the Han Dynasty, horse-drawn carriages were mainly used as a means of transportation, but because of the limitation of bearings, the transportation efficiency of horse-drawn carriages was not high. In ancient times, there was no rubber, and it was almost impossible to make cushioned pneumatic tires, so Ma Chao had to work the axle to transform.

At that time, the wheels were made of hardwood, and most of the axles were hardwood, which was also a technical work, and the quality of a carriage mainly depended on the quality of the axles, which had been used for thousands of years until the Qing Dynasty. What Ma Chao wants to do now is to transform the wooden axle into iron, and also add a steel ball lubrication system, if this happens, not only the load capacity will be greatly increased, but also the horse-drawn up will save several times the effort, and the efficiency can not be improved.

But the difficulty is also extremely great, because it is not ordinary to make an axle with steel balls, and even in the future, it is not something that ordinary people can make. In particular, the requirements for steel are extremely demanding, and it is by no means acceptable to ordinary steel. But the reason why Ma Chao dared to put it forward was at least thirty percent sure in his heart.

According to later historical records, the Chinese mastered the technology close to ductile iron as early as the Western Han Dynasty, which is definitely a miracle in the history of world metallurgy. This kind of iron ductile iron has high strength, toughness is better than cast iron, wear-resistant, comprehensive surname can be particularly good, can be used for camshafts, gears, machines, valves, etc., and can even replace high-strength steel, the effect can be greater.

As the saying goes: if you want to get rich, build roads first. Convenient transportation is needed for interconnection, trade, and even normal exchanges in various parts of the country. Ma Chao wanted to conquer the Roman Empire in Western Europe, military strength was not the first element, transportation was the focus, logistics supplies, looted materials and so on were inseparable from transportation. Therefore, the development of transportation capacity must be put on the agenda.

Ma Jun and Kong Ming couldn't help frowning when they heard this, in their opinion, it was simply impossible to make axles with iron, and it would be even more difficult to add steel balls for lubrication. Ma Chao is full of confidence, Ma Jun is a master of machinery, let him transform the carriage just to make the best of his talents, and Zhuge Liang in history is the invention of the wooden ox flowing horse, the combination of ancient and modern technology, the development of a crude axle is not difficult to think of, no matter how bad it is, the current carriage can be improved.

Leaving Wubao, Ma Chao came to the west of the city again. At the beginning, the occasional poppy seeds were planted here, and in three years, 200 catties of high-quality opium were produced, and the seeds were more than 100 catties. The seeds of the opium poppy are extremely small, and the germination rate is not low, and this more than 100 catties of seeds can grow 100 acres of land.

The next step was to expand the cultivation and mass production of opium, which would then be sold along the Silk Roads to the Western countries. When the nobles, slave owners, and even soldiers of the Roman Empire became addicted to smoking, it was time to send troops.

Ma Chao paid great attention to secrecy and handed over the matter of cultivating opium poppies and making opium to Ma Teng's old subordinate Ma Zhilai. Even the sergeant in charge of this did not know what it was for. He divided these people into several batches, starting from planting, fruit picking, pulping, boiling, purification, and Dan making.

These large tobacco clays are only semi-finished products, and then these large tobacco clays are sent to other places for purification and Dan making. The entire process was carried out by the captured Xianbei slaves, who had little freedom, let alone knew the origin of the object, and even if they escaped, they would not leak the secret.

After listening to Ma Zhi's report, Ma Chao was overjoyed and said: "This thing is very important, there must be no slackness, I want to expand the planting area, increase the scale of production, and at the same time the confidentiality work can not be left behind!" You can choose a few experienced farmers to choose a few valleys suitable for poppy cultivation in the Taihang Mountains, and you will send another 10,000 soldiers to your command. ”

Ma Zhi hugged his fists and said: "Don't worry, the young master, the last general will not dare to be careless!" It is guaranteed that the area under opium poppy cultivation will be expanded to 1,000 acres within two years. However, the number of relevant personnel must also be increased accordingly, I don't know what the lord plans to do."

Ma Chao said: "This matter is easy, I will immediately mobilize 10,000 foreign slaves from Yanmen to drive you, but we can't blindly exploit and oppress, the part of the people who perform well can be given corresponding treatment, such as allowing them to start a family, open and free, etc., in short, we must find a way to break their resistance and hatred, and it is best to assimilate them into Hanmin!" ”

Ma Zhi said yes, and Ma Chao said: "This work is a long-term matter, and the infrastructure must be in place, and the long-term and stable supply of poppy fruits must be guaranteed." Thou shalt consult with Thou shalt discuss specific matters, and if necessary, build a base in the valley, without stinginess for the upfront investment, and in a few years thou shalt be able to recoup a hundredfold or even a thousandfold of profits. ”

Ma Zhi nodded, but he frowned and asked, "Lord, I don't know if I should talk about it or not!" ”

Ma Chao smiled slightly and said, "Whether you say it or not, the general is about to tell you!" (To be continued.) )