For a long time after that, Rizhao Village was much more lively than before.

The war seemed to be over, and trade between the previously isolated settlements and Sunset City resumed.

The reason why it is described as a residential place is because Gu Chuan soon discovered that the relationship between Rizhao Village and Sunset City is closer to the relationship between "Tun" and "City" in the previous life.

Hundreds of kilometers or more outside Sunset City, along the direction of the main stream and tributaries of the Rizhao River, there are a large number of newly opened tuns that have existed for generations or more than a dozen generations. Generally, a tun is a person with the same surname, that is, people of the same clan who migrated out together to open up new land.

And Sunset City, like the city he knew, was a place where a large number of people with different surnames lived together with their families.

There are many tuns near one city, and how far away can it be from another?

Gu Chuan hadn't heard of any second city from the mouths of the adults, and he hadn't even heard of the concept of a country. None of them seemed to want to go deep into the wilderness.

There is also the concept of merchants in this world, but the merchants only circulate between cities, villages, and tun. During the solar term, when the temperature is moderate and there is little rain, the caravan will travel between Sunset City and the villages outside the city. However, in the village, there are occasionally teams that choose to cross the mountains to Sunset City. The vendors often bring in some new gadgets from Sunset City, indicating the extraordinary level of technology that the world has reached.

For example, "clear glass".

Glass that is simply fired using ordinary sand mixed with other materials is not transparent, but opaque colored material.

With purer quartz sand, with better craftsmanship, large glassware can be blown out. This made the people in the town can't help but shout. The grandmother in the village didn't even dare to touch it, a pair of cloudy eyes stared at the edge of the transparent glass, felt extremely strange, and said in surprise:

"This thing doesn't seem to exist, it can only be touched...... That's not something that can be used to make invisible walls! If I run head-on, won't it be over...... It's still unusable, it's unusable. ”

The people of the village were shocked.

But Gu Chuan knew that the history of glass could be traced back to the slave society, and he was dismissive of this achievement.

But another thing in the city, the "counting clock", told him to keep his eyes open.

The calculation clock can be regarded as the earliest calculator in the world, and the whole is extremely large, and the principle of the multiplier is completed by the rotation of six cylinders, each cylinder is printed with the expansion of the multiplication table, and most of it is blocked by a baffle, revealing only one or two numbers. By rotating the mechanical buttons attached to the bottom of the six cylinders in turn, the six cylinders will rotate according to certain rules, and the calculation result can be obtained. The adder, on the other hand, relies on gearing for calculations and carrying, and several dials are divided into ten scales according to the circumference. The edges of the gears also have tenthed protrusions, so they perfectly represent the transfer of numbers on the gears. After a series of rotations of the gears, the result is finally obtained. The calculation clock can support addition, subtraction and multiplication up to six digits, but cannot realize the function of division.

But this is far beyond the limits of the villagers of Rizhao Village, who have not received a mathematics education.

He couldn't help but ask:

"Is there a lot of this?"

This kind of equipment, in feudal times, is undoubtedly a great treasure.

Chatting with Gu Chuan was the granddaughter of the grandma next door, a girl named Yuhua. In order to help the family with farm work, Yuhua's hair has always been cut short, like a tomboy. She went to the caravan's exhibition with her parents, and when she came back, she first threw out the concept of transparent glass to Gu Chuan, who was motionless, and was not surprised when she saw Gu Chuan, so she issued a trick calculation clock, which finally made this person's face change. So Yuhua was a little proud.

She laughed:

"I was also curious, so I asked. The people in the caravan said that there seemed to be quite a lot of this stuff in Sunset City. So it was brought here by a caravan......"

Children with memories of the previous world can clearly see the difference between things with supernatural abilities and those that humans can make.

But people in this world don't seem to be able to separate these two kinds of things, or these seemingly supernatural things are completely natural here.

The only difference between them is that the former is rarer than the latter, so they are often taken out to tell things alone, along with glass or counting clocks.

At that time, Gu Chuan's peers, a boy who could probably be called a river bank, ran over out of breath and found Gu Chuan who was squatting on the ground in front of his house.

At that time, there was no wind in the world, and the mud and dust on the ground could not rise. Gu Chuan slowly practiced the Chinese characters of the previous life with sharpened stems of a wheat-like crop called "golden ears".

After a few glances at the riverbank, I knew that this guy was drawing strange square drawings again.

"It's a caravan again!"

Gu Chuan didn't respond.

"There's something we haven't seen before!"

Riverbank asked him.

He'an may be a few years older than Gu Chuan—the village doesn't seem to have a definite concept of age—so it's not clear. Where his name came from...... As the name suggests, Rizhao Village is named after natural objects. For example, Chuan's mother used the abstract concept of "Gu", which is already very rare.

Riverbank is the most athletic of the generation of children in Rizhao Village, and looks fierce, but has probably the best personality — only occasionally a little out of line.

"Something I've never seen before!"

Gu Chuan raised his head, and when he looked up, he saw a silly smile on the riverbank.

He still has a good relationship with his peers. These children are very simple-minded, and being good to them is good. It would be even better if they knew something they didn't know and were willing to share what they were willing to share!

Then the river bank didn't explain, just took Gu Chuan's hand and dragged him up, and began to run in the direction of the farmland.

The golden spikes shone brilliantly in the twilight sun. There was a cool warmth coming from the land. The children are always very pleasant on the run. They crossed one or two glittering golden canals that diverted water from the Rizhao River to the fields, and they saw several families at the end of the farmland, where smoke was rising from the cooking smoke.

Buildings resembling tents or yurts are lined up next to the smoke.

Sunset merchants in cloth shirts are talking to the village adults about buying grain. Several children who had been brought over by adults were eating a kind of grass fruit that was a specialty of the world while waiting to watch the excitement.

In a closed town, caravans from outside are the highest entertainment.

When He'an and Gu Chuan arrived, it happened that the merchants of this caravan had finished talking about the purchase of grain.

"You want to see my collection, don't you?"

The merchant had a terrible scar running through the right side of his face. The entire right cheek is sunken inward. It's not like the trauma of war, it's like the removal of a tumor. He has a piercing voice, but a good character.

"Yes!"

Several children talked together, and the adults also said that they were interested.

"This collection is my own, I used to try to find a buyer for it, but no one bought it, and then I always have it with me, so it doesn't hurt to show it to you."

The merchant returned to his makeshift tent and took out a wooden box with something as slender as a needle. Gu Chuan visually measured that the needle was about thirty centimeters long and about five millimeters in diameter.

"What does this needle do?"

The carpenter in the village asked curiously.

Then the children whispered, the river bank guessed that it was used for sewing clothes, and it was possible to sew clothes without gaps, and Yuhua thought that this might be a murder weapon used to pierce the body!

"Neither." "It's a needle that will only point in one direction, unless it's kept in a box." Even so, if the box is very light, it will slowly change position. You see......"

The concave-faced merchant took the needle out of the heavy wooden box and placed it in a lightweight box, which he placed on the ground. At first it didn't change for a minute, but soon, the box vibrated and turned around the center at a few noticeable angles, causing the dirt on the ground to scratch out and startle the children.

"And then, if you drop this needle out of the air, it will also point to a single location."

The concave merchant took the needle out of the wooden box, held it upright on his chest, and let go.

The needle touched the ground at one point, nearly vertically, and then pointed in a rotation to the location of the caravan tent.

The concave merchant let a few kids try it.

Sure enough, no matter how the child threw or fell, the needle would definitely point to that location. Even if it is placed vertically on the ground, it will change its orientation in the tremor until it is in the correct position.

A pure mystery, an amazing show.

"Is this magnetism?"

Gu Chuan couldn't help but mutter, wanting to explain it with his own scientific worldview.

The phenomenon was similar to what he knew about a compass.

The concave-faced businessman didn't understand the word "magnetic force", but there is indeed a magnet in this world, and the magnetism that Gu Chuan said is also the etymology of magnet:

"Magnetic...... Are you talking about magnets? If it's a magnet, it should be sucked away! But it will only go around in circles, even if it is drowned in water, even if it is roasted in a fire, so this thing is not a magnet, and there is nothing exactly like it in the world. ”

The few children waiting for the river bank couldn't understand the magnetism and didn't know the magnet, so they only looked at Gu Chuan and the concave-faced merchant curiously.

Gu Chuan asked again:

"How much does it usually cost to sell for something special like this in the city?"

Sunset City and its vicinity are also used as an exchange of currency, and the currency issued by Sunset City is a precious metal currency that uses a metal-changing stone that can be dug up from the depths of the main stream of the Rizhao River, and melts the color-changing stone to mint currency.

"Other things are easy to say, but I don't sell this thing." The concave merchant said, "Just for exchange." ”

"And what do you want to exchange it for?" Gu Chuan asked naturally.

The concave-faced merchant glanced at Gu Chuan with interest. As he put the needle away, he explained to the crowd around him who were watching the play:

"I had this needle since I was a child, but I never understood what it was for, and I once wanted to sell it at the price of a rare item, but no one wanted to buy it. If the price is reduced, I will not be reconciled. Later, I had given up on the idea of selling it. Now I'm thinking, everything in this world has been created, and I think it must have its own use. So I'm going to have someone tell me what this needle is for? What's the point of pointing in one direction? ”

The children follow the adults to see the novelties from other parts of the city, while the village carpenter continues to talk to the concave-faced merchant about Sunset City:

"How's Sunset City going?"

The children were still watching all kinds of novelties with the merchant's attendants, including the "magnet", and the merchant's attendants began to demonstrate the effect of the magnet.

The concave face merchant said:

"Again, the second thing that everyone thinks of is to get rich, and the first thing that comes to mind is to find great treasures and present them to His Majesty in exchange for appreciation! But they didn't dare to leave the confines of Sunset City, knowing that there was danger outside...... Just finished the war. ”

"Is there any new technology emerging?"

The carpenter always wanted to send the carpenter's son into the city, which was the safest, and the farther away from the city, the more dangerous it was.

The people in the city are called citizens, and they do not have to farm outside to pay taxes, nor do they have to serve "border civil service". The people outside the city are called border people, some are people who have been deprived of their citizenship because of poverty or crime, and some people who have drifted from outside and are accepted by Sunset City.

The carpenter knows nothing but sawing wood, he only cares about the technique of sawing wood.

"Wood? There is no new technology in wood. The concave-faced merchant said, "No one cares how to cut wood to make furniture in the city now!" ”

This made the carpenter take aback, and hurriedly asked:

"Why is that? What's going on? ”

He had been to the city when he was a child, and at that time, there were still many people sawing wood.

"Because everyone is researching all kinds of new things out of cast iron, and some people are going to use cast iron to make houses and everything! Look. ”

The concave-faced merchant took out a small iron statue from the tent. The statue depicts a masked woman, and the concave face merchant has a price tag of one yuan. The carpenter dares to say that he must be much more delicate than this thing in cutting wood himself. It's a pity that nothing he carved was worth much.

"This iron gadget is very popular with citizens. The families who invented iron casting technology, mined iron ore, and smelted cast iron have all made a fortune! ”

The carpenter was in a trance a little and asked:

"Is there anything going on in town lately?"

The concave face merchant thought for a moment.

"Nothing particularly big...... It's not like nothing, there are two of them. He smiled, "One thing is a long time, and the private mining and private casting of the chameleon is very serious. The council in the city ordered the removal of a man from a border village who had engaged in private minting, and was considering abandoning the chameleon coins. ”

What the concave merchant didn't say was that inflation was very high in Sunset City. This may have been due to the fact that the council minted too much coinage in times of war, causing prices to skyrocket. He chose to go out for business and was more inclined to barter.

"How can this work?" Not to mention the carpenter, the other adults who were watching were anxious, "Then the money in our hands is not even money!" ”

"Don't worry, don't worry." The concave-faced merchant himself was also worried, but he comforted him with a nonchalized face, "The current color-changing stone coins with prints are still money, but in the future, the city may have to publish a small kind of paper, with a new pattern on it, which can be exchanged for color-changing stone coins in a new department." This new department has not yet been created, and there will definitely be new information after that. ”

"And what about the second thing?"

"The second thing is that the administrative officer revealed a few days ago that His Majesty intends to rectify the water supply and drainage system and rebuild the palace, which is a big fat difference, and the large and small families in the city are causing a sensation, and they are recruiting people everywhere."

The carpenter was a little moved.

"Do you want to go into the city and earn that little coolie money? Do you spend all day spinning in aqueducts and gutters? The concave-faced merchant shook his head, "I don't want to, anyway." I don't think you might as well cultivate it here now! ”

The carpenter pursed his lips, for he knew that the concave merchant was also a citizen, and he was rich, and he had both children and daughters, and he was attending a private school in Sunset City. The only flaw may be that there is money, but it is not rich enough.

Concave face businessmen certainly don't do this kind of tiring work.