After half a month, the weather gradually cooled, and the defense in the palace finally began to be replaced in an orderly manner, and then Tian Cewei left for Mengjin.

Qin Shaoyou also breathed a sigh of relief, and when he was leaving, he saw him in the Xuanzheng Palace.

Wu Zetian instructed a few words, all of which were lackluster words, Qin Shaoyou naturally responded, and immediately left the palace.

There were only a dozen guards waiting outside the palace, thinking that he was about to return to Mengjin, Qin Shaoyou's mood was extremely hearty, he turned over and got on his horse, and looked back at the horse, the palace wall was particularly dazzling under the afterglow.

It was almost dusk, and there was still a distance to Mengjin, so it stands to reason that he should stay in Luoyang overnight and set off the next day, but Qin Shaoyou returned to his heart like an arrow, but he went straight to the night road and returned to Zhuangzi.

As soon as I arrived in Mengjin, there was a lot of construction here, the only thing that was difficult to do at the moment was manpower, this era was not like the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were many people in the late Ming Dynasty, so there were displaced people everywhere, and here, although it did not reach the point of being vast and sparsely populated, it was very rare to have any idlers.

Because of this, for the sake of people, Qin Shaoyou can be regarded as having gray hair.

Nowadays, if you want to build a large number of buildings, you need a lot of manpower, but where does it come from? The only way is to hire from other places at a high price, and even then, it is still stretched.

For example, Yang Wulian, a master craftsman, once asked people to constantly go to Luoyang to complain to Qin Shaoyou.

When they approached Zhuangzi, they saw many people digging the canal, because of the open canal, not far away, there were people because of the construction of a high wall, actually erected a shelf ten feet high, the shelf was fixed with ropes and some small brackets, dozens of wrestlers pulled the rope under the head, and lifted the boulder on the other side.

Qin Shaoyou couldn't help but be stunned when he looked at it, just as Changshi Chen Jie and others came over, Qin Shaoyou asked, "What is that?" ”

Chen Jie shook his head and said: "I don't know, it's all the gadgets that Yang Wulian made, and the villain doesn't understand it." He's always getting weird stuff and it costs a lot of money. ”

Chen Jie deliberately bit the four words that cost a lot of money, obviously as a long history, Chen Jie felt that Yang Wulian's expenses were too big, and he couldn't stand it, and Qin Shaoyou asked Yang Wulian to take charge of civil engineering, he couldn't intervene, and now when he saw the main master coming back, he couldn't help but want to make some small reports.

Qin Shaoyou frowned, and he took a closer look at the things on the stand. I think it's a bit like the structure of a pulley, which has existed since ancient times, and has appeared since the Han Dynasty, but it has not been popularized on a large scale. The only thing Qin Shaoyou thinks is that this guy has made up something, Qin Shaoyou originally planned to go to see Anima, but now he is not in a hurry, and said, "Go and invite Mr. Yang to come." ”

Chen Jie only said that Qin Shaoyou wanted to teach Yang Wulian a lesson. I was busy and went in a hurry.

Not long after, Yang Wulian came, this guy didn't have the image he had when he first saw him, and his skin was much darker. Maybe he thought that the big sleeves were inconvenient, so he was dressed in short clothes, and the boots under his feet were full of dirt, and he was busy coming over to salute Qin Shao. said: "Captain Qin, the lower officials are polite." ”

His voice was a little hoarse, and Qin Shaoyou glanced at him. After getting off the horse, he was holding his hands behind his back, looking at the huge bracket, and after a long time, Qin Shaoyou said, "Mr. Yang, what is that?" ”

Yang Wulian said: "Captain, this is a scaffolding. ”

"I heard it costs a lot?" Qin Shaoyou didn't know what he was thinking, which made Yang Wulian very incomprehensible.

Yang Wulian scratched his head and said, "Captain Qin, the cost is indeed a little more, just one like this, the cost is more than 100 times." ”

Baiguan, this is the expenses of ordinary people for a few years, this is definitely a large amount, although it is nothing to Qin Shaoyou, but for ordinary people, it is also a huge amount, but Yang Wulian actually said it very calmly, as if he didn't take it seriously.

Chen Jie was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood, and was about to say something, but Qin Shaoyou's voice sounded, "Huh? This is the thing that lifts things to a high place, and how many catties of boulders can be lifted. ”

Yang Wulian was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect Qin Shaoyou to be interested in this, he hurriedly said: "Roughly two or three thousand catties." He paused, and then stopped.

Qin Shaoyou happened to look sideways, and when he saw that he still wanted to speak, he couldn't help but say: "Mr. Yang might as well say it bluntly, there are many things, and the official doesn't understand them, so I have to ask you for advice." ”

Yang Wulian said: "Presumably, the captain must have listened to what people said, saying that Yang Mou got a lot of gorgeous and fancy things, and the cost was huge, and even many people were afraid that they were muttering in their hearts, this must be Yang taking the opportunity to be greedy for ink." It's just that...... Yang also had to do it, hey...... Such a huge palace city, Tiance Mansion is not the imperial court after all, can levy and issue forced labor, so to build the city, the following officials originally expected, I am afraid that there are not more than 10,000 craftsmen, but I am afraid that it will not be completed on time, but although Tiance Mansion does not skimp on the cost, but the manpower is still insufficient, in fact, it is okay to recruit people, but the price is afraid that it will have to be doubled several times, which can attract more craftsmen. ”

Yang Wulian paused, he was afraid that Qin Shaoyou would not be able to understand what he meant, so he might as well say it in more detail, and said: "If the wage is doubled a few times, it is not impossible, but the expenses of more than 10,000 people are really astronomical." So Xia Guan had to think of another way, since this road can't go, then take the road of saving manpower, let one person do the work of three or five people, such as this shelf, originally to hang stones to the city wall, so many stone bricks, it stands to reason that no dozens of people spend ten days and a half months to complete, how much is the cost of manpower here? Xia Guan has calculated the accounts, but I am afraid that it will not be less than 100 times, this is not enough, more importantly, this is only a section of the city wall, and now the captain is going to build a big city, is every section of the city wall going to be like this? But with this shelf, it is much more proper, the lower official only needs to spend thousands of times, customize more such shelves, put them on the city walls everywhere, only a few craftsmen, and the same thing can be done in a few days, so the lower official dares to ask the captain, is it worth making a shelf, or is it worth hiring more manpower? ”

He may not be understood by ordinary people, but Qin Shaoyou suddenly understood.

This shelf, its practical is the structure of the pulley, nothing more than labor-saving, this thing, in fact, the ancestors have long invented it, but in the past two thousand years, the use is not widespread.

Jerked...... Qin Shaoyou suddenly realized something.

In this place where I am located, there have been too many innovations, and later generations always describe what the ancestors used and produced first, but these things, until later, were finally annihilated in the long river of history, and there has been no trace since then.

Just like the pulley, since the Qin and Han dynasties, has appeared, but there has never been the slightest development, and even now, not only the level of production and design has not made the slightest progress, but is not as good as the ancient, what is the reason?

Demand......

A noun flashed suddenly on Qin Shaoyou's alarm clock.

Yes, the crux of the matter is here, because there is no demand, so although there are too many 'kitsch tricks' and too many 'innovations', they have all become useless, and this 'strong' dynasty has no demand for anything new.

Just like this kind of bracket, it is incomparably ingenious in this era, saving a lot of manpower, but don't forget, this kind of thing, it is only in demand when the big project, ordinary rich people or people, they are at most to repair a tile house, build a few houses, there is no need for such a bracket, it is always impossible, you in order to build a hundred times in the house, but it costs hundreds of times to get a bracket to use.

The only thing that has a demand for big projects is the imperial court and the government, whether it is to repair the river or build the city or build the palace wall, the cost is very large, so to a certain extent, the court and the government do have this demand, but a hateful thing has appeared again...... Corvee.

The system of conscription meant that the imperial court and the government had an infinite amount of manpower, and at the first order, there were countless free laborers to participate in many large-scale projects.

For example, if you use new tools, a few people, you can get things done in a few days, but you don't use new tools, you have to use dozens of people to complete it in the same number of days, if Qin Shaoyou builds a city, because he needs to recruit labor, it takes a lot of wages, so for him, using new tools is his choice, otherwise recruiting more people will cost too much. But what about the imperial court and the government? Their choice is the opposite, new tools are convenient, but troublesome, and manpower is endless for them, as long as the order is given, there are tens of thousands of hundreds of thousands of free labor to carry these masonry, in this case, why spend money to make such a scaffold?

This kind of thing, maybe now is rougher, if it is over time, in the process of use of continuous improvement, I am afraid that it will not take long, it can be more refined, but since the Qin and Han dynasties, the use of such pulley brackets is very little, the reason is a little funny, just because of the low manpower.

Qin Shaoyou's heart couldn't help but be shocked, the experience of being a human being in two lives made him suddenly think about something that he couldn't figure out before, he couldn't help but glance at Yang Wulian with a smile, and said, "Mr. Yang, will there be any use for such a frame in the future?" ”

Yang Wulian smiled and said: "Captain, in fact, the way of craftsmanship is the most unconservative, the use of the shelf is only to carry stones for the time being, but even if the city is built, there are still many other things that cost labor, and the labor here is expensive, as long as this kind of shelf is modified, it can still be used as other ways, if the captain needs it, the lower officer can think about it with the craftsmen." (To be continued......)