36. a lathe

For more than 20 days in October, Yang Siqi didn't wait for Ma Mengshi to come to the door, and Yang Siqi didn't care about it, after all, with Ma Mengshi's identity, it was not easy to sneak out of the city lord's mansion. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

On the ninth night of the first day of November, Ma Mengshi finally reappeared. As soon as I entered Yang's house, I found that there was a strange thing in the living room. This strange thing is all cast with iron, I am afraid that it weighs one or two thousand catties, in mid-October, Yang Siqi asked for thousands of catties of iron through Ma Yuyao, presumably just to make this guy.

This strange thing was shaped like a bed, about three feet wide and about a foot long. There are eight brackets underneath. There are several glittering knives mounted on it, and there is a turntable on the right. How weird it looks.

"What is this?" Ma Mengshi asked.

"It's a good thing that took me a lot of effort to make, and fortunately, I haven't lost the ability to make tools when I was a child, although it looks bulky and weird, but I've done my best, and I can still use it." Yang Siqi said proudly.

"What is this thing for?" Ma Mengshi couldn't see what this thing did.

"It's called a lathe, it's a tool I learned when I was a kid, and I'll try it for you to find out. Come on, do me a favor. You're standing here, yes, right here, and then, start turning this turntable. Not too fast, not too slow, yes, that's fine. ”

Yang Siqi instructed Ma Mengshi to turn the turntable, and the turntable rotated, driving the tool on the lathe to rotate. Yang Siqi put a hardwood strip about five feet long and eight inches thick that had been split from the side of the lathe.

The transmission of the lathe slowly transmits the hardwood strips from the left side of the lathe into it. Those knives began to cut the hardwood strips. In an unpleasant, harsh sound, the cutter cuts off the edges and corners of the hardwood strips, rounding them. By the time the hardwood bar teleported out from the right, it had changed from a square stick to a very smooth stick.

Ma Mengshi's eyes lit up: "Is this a tool for processing arrow shafts?" It's just too fast. ”

The bolts used in a Divine Crossbow cost up to five silver coins each. The cost can be described as very expensive, therefore, after a war, the cost of these crossbow arrows alone can reach thousands or even tens of thousands of gold coins, or even higher. What's worse is that the production of such crossbow arrows is extremely time-consuming, and even skilled craftsmen cannot make several in a day. Therefore, the consumption is large, but the replenishment is slow, which also makes it impossible for the human divine power crossbow to fully exert its power, if there are enough crossbow arrows, it is enough for any enemy to drink a pot.

Crossbow arrows, especially those that are more than five feet long, are the most troublesome to process, and the most troublesome thing is the shaft. It takes a lot of effort for a carpenter to cut such a large strip of hardwood into a round stick, which is the root cause of the low production of crossbow arrows. After all, there's so much processing capacity that it's impossible to produce on a large scale.

Now, with this lathe, machining the shaft of the arrow is the easiest thing to do, which allows the production of crossbow arrows to be greatly increased. What's more, its costs have also been dramatically reduced. Originally, a crossbow bolt cost five silver coins, and a large part of the cost was labor. After all, a skilled craftsman can only cut a few arrow shafts at most in a day, and the cost of labor is too great.

Now, with lathes, the cost of machining arrow shafts can be reduced to almost negligible. Although Ma Mengshi does not do business, it is conservatively estimated that the cost of crossbow arrows can be reduced to about two silver coins. At least more than double, this is a very staggering number, a battle can be fought, maybe you can save thousands or even tens of thousands of gold coins, this is all money.

"Shi'er, this can not only process the shaft of crossbow arrows, but also the shafts of other arrows. With it, you'll have almost an endless supply of arrows, and I'm sure this will help you. Yang Siqi is very proud, some of the knowledge of mechanical manufacturing he learned in college, coupled with his hands-on ability, let himself make such a simple lathe in almost a month, he also admired himself a little.

Ma Mengshi gave a hot kiss very enthusiastically, this is not just a kiss on the cheek, but a kiss on Yang Siqi's lips. Ma Mengshi knew better than anyone that if there were enough crossbow arrows in Pegasus City, when the war came, the casualties of the Pegasus Legion would be reduced by at least thirty percent. After all, the lethality of the Divine Power Crossbow was too powerful for ordinary warriors.

Yang Siqi hugged Ma Mengshi's delicate body and responded to her kiss enthusiastically. His hands moved from Ma Mengshi's vest to his waist, and when he wanted to move down from his waist, Ma Mengshi shrank his body and left his arms: "You are not well-behaved." ”

Yang Siqi smiled bitterly, indeed, a woman's buttocks are not so easy to touch. Ma Mengshi being able to kiss him is already an improvement, take your time.

"Shi'er, get me some money, in order to build such a thing, I spent all my money, I still want to study again, I can't do it without money." Yang Siqi really has no money now. He drew the drawings of this lathe, but all kinds of knives and other things were made by a blacksmith, and he couldn't play with it himself.

"No problem, is 10,000 gold coins enough?" With such a big killer, Ma Mengshi will not be stingy with such a little money, besides, with the support of Ma Jiuming's 150,000 gold coins, she is not short of money for the time being, and besides, with a lathe to help process crossbow arrows, how much money does this have to save.

"I don't have too much money, there's still too much to study. I also have a lot of ideas, but, Shi'er, it's still that question, once you have these things, I'm afraid it's just a blessing or a curse, are you sure you want to have it? ”

Although Yang Siqi is not from an engineering background, he has been used to it since he was a child, so he is also very interested in all kinds of mechanical manufacturing. Although he can't make it himself, it is not difficult to draw drawings, such as punches and other machinery, with the help of the Ma family's manpower and material resources, it is really not too difficult to make them.

But then the question arises, once the Ma family has an arsenal with strong production capacity, what will be the consequences? The royal family was already not very at ease with the Ma family, and now, the Ma family no longer needs to rely on the royal family for equipment. The heart of the army has returned, and there is no need to ask for military salaries, equipment, etc., so what else does the royal family use to control the Ma family?

An army that is already completely out of control, the royal family will rest assured that there are ghosts, and it is already God's blessing that the crusade is not immediately declared. Therefore, Yang Siqi is not sure of Ma Mengshi's thoughts, if Ma Mengshi does not have the intention of confronting the royal family, he will not take out these things, it will only destroy the Ma family.

"Is it true that the royal family can't tolerate my Ma family? My Ma family doesn't have the heart to rebel? Ma Mengshi smiled sadly and said, with an indescribable sadness in her tone.

"Shi'er, there is a saying in my hometown that says, 'People are harmless and tigers are harmful, and tigers are harmful.' In fact, if the power of a vassal is too strong, it will inevitably arouse the suspicion of the superior, throughout the ages, this is the case, unless you have no strength, otherwise, you will not be able to escape this law. Yang Siqi said lightly.

Ma Mengshi said: "Siqi, is there any other way to think about it?" My Ma family has been loyal and loyal to the Tiger Kingdom for generations, and I really don't want to be infamy. ”

Yang Siqi smiled bitterly and said: "I said, unless you give up everything now, give up the Pegasus Legion, and retire to the countryside from now on, otherwise, this kind of thing is unavoidable." ”

"Why aren't the other dukes so suspicious of the royal family?" Ma Mengshi was a little unconvinced.

"There are two reasons for this, one is that although they also have a certain number of armies, their military power is not secure, and the royal family still has control over the armies they control. Second, the reputation of our Ma family is really good. In addition, for generations, he only knew how to fight on the battlefield, but he didn't know how to be in the same stream with those nobles, so it was inevitable to attract the suspicion of the royal family. ”

Regarding the reputation of the Ma family, Yang Siqi spent some time to understand that the Ma family was also an alternative among the nobles of the Tiger Kingdom. The Ma family has been a general for generations, and they have produced generals from generation to generation, not without reason, it is related to the education they have received since childhood, at least, there are not so many gentlemen, and there is much less harm to the common people, which makes the reputation of the Ma family better.

Secondly, because the Ma family's territory is in Tianma City, it can be said that the area of hundreds of thousands of square kilometers near Tianma City is one acre and three points of land of the Ma family. The most important thing in war is to have a solid base. The Ma family is fighting the enemy on the front line, and naturally they don't want their backyard to catch fire, so they naturally follow the will of the people within their sphere of influence and don't do much harm to civilians.

Thirdly, in order to raise military salaries and materials in many ways, the Ma family naturally encourages production and prepares a stronger logistics base for themselves, so they reduce taxes in their own territory and encourage production, so that civilians can have an environment to live and work in peace and contentment.

In this way, the Ma family has become quite unusual, and a white crow suddenly appears in a group of black crows, which is inconspicuous and has a ghost. If you are different, you will be suppressed, this is a truth that is not easy to come, who made you unsociable?

In fact, for those who are vassals, it is not a good thing to have a good reputation, but a bad thing, and the people's hearts are such a thing, although the people's hearts are sometimes not very important on this alien planet, but the people's hearts are the people's hearts, and although those who win the hearts of the people may not be able to win the world, they will pose a great threat to the superiors. The Ma family does this, and as the days go by and the reputation grows, it is not normal not to arouse the disgust of the royal family and other nobles. As time passed, the Ma family's allies became fewer and fewer, but the enemies were more and more. Above the court, no one spoke for the Ma family, so the royal family has been in the remarks against the Ma family for a long time, and the Ma family wants to gain the absolute trust of the royal family, is it possible?

"I Ching, Kun Hexagram, Wenyan" says: "In the house of goodness, there must be afterglow; If you don't accumulate goodness, there will be aftermath. The minister kills his king, and the son kills his father, not overnight, and its origin is gradually disappearing, and it is not early to distinguish it. ”

Therefore, the reason why the Ma family is today is not from today, but because it has begun to plant the root of the bane hundreds of years ago. In Yang Siqi's opinion, the Ma family has not been destroyed by the royal family to this day, and it is already regarded as an ancestral virtue, and in ancient China, it has been finished for I don't know how many years.

"Siqi, what kind of lathe can be made in large quantities?" Ma Mengshi didn't want to discuss this question that made her nerves up, and instead asked the most practical question.

Yang Siqi said: "This lathe is just made by me to enhance your confidence, in fact, it is not too practical for the time being, and it needs to be improved." Therefore, for the time being, there is no need for large-scale manufacturing. ”

Ma Mengshi said in surprise: "This is already very good, but it needs to be improved?" ”

"Of course, now you need to use human hands to turn the turntable, which is too wasteful of manpower, in my imagination, there is no longer a need to turn the turntable by hand, and the knives used also need to be more durable, and even, to be sharper, not only can be used to process wood, even iron rods can be used to process that is considered a finished product, now, the top of the sky is a semi-finished product."

"Is this possible without manpower?"

"How could it not be? As long as I design a waterwheel, using the impulse of water, and with the help of a conveyor belt, I can use water power to drive the lathe to rotate, and at that time, only someone needs to keep feeding the wood into the lathe, and there is no need for people to turn the lathe at all, which is much faster than using manpower. ”

Explaining to Ma Mengshi that industrial production is a very laborious matter, Yang Siqi did not explain much, but also briefly explained the method, and his plan is to design a hydraulic processing arsenal, as long as this way, the equipment problem of the Tianma Legion can be completely solved.

It's just that Yang Siqi can't explain to Ma Mengshi what modern industrial production is, and the productivity of this alien planet is really not very good. How do you ask Yang Siqi to explain the huge capacity of modern industrial production?