"Brother Shu, give, grapes." It is Xiao Mo who has the same persistent spirit as Shu Yan, but unlike Shu Yan's dedication to loyalty, the object of Xiao Mo's obsession is only Shu Yan.

"Why did you come here again in the morning?" Shu Yan was just about to go out, and almost collided with Xiao Mo who came in a hurry.

"I made a soup today, and I'll leave the rest to Ah Bing and lead the people to do."

"Tut-tut, do you think that Your Majesty is better fooled than the previous emperor, and you have actually learned to be lazy!"

"Don't wronged anyone. His Majesty is indeed not very picky today, but that queen is not a good servant, how dare I be careless? I'm not lazy, I've cooked many times before, I just want to give my subordinates a chance to practice and improve. If one day I don't do this delicacies, someone will take my place. ”

"Don't make a delicacies?" Shu Yan shook his head a few times, "I advise you, you'd better stay here honestly, you have no better choice than Zhen Yu Ling." ”

"Why do you give me a decision? You let me stay here honestly, but what about you? Do you want to stay here for the rest of your life? Xiao Mo asked with wide eyes.

"I-" Shu Yan didn't think about what he wanted to do in the future, let alone answer Xiao Mo's aggressive question.

"Didn't you say that the grapes are gone, and where did you grow them from?" Shu Yan changed the subject.

"Withheld from the eldest princess and Dr. Xin."

Shu Yan glanced at Xiao Mo: "Then what's the matter, since you promised to give it to others, how can you have no credibility?"

Xiao Mo said nonchalantly: "Don't worry, who said I didn't give it?" I'm only halfway through. Besides, how can the importance of the two of them compare to yours? As soon as this sentence came out, Xiao Mo seemed to feel a little abrupt, and hurriedly explained: "Oh-I mean, I have worshiped you, so I am naturally closer than to them!" What's more, they are pampered in the harem, what do they want? ”

Xiao Mo saw that Shu Yan was moved, and held the grapes in front of Shu Yan with a smile: "Let's eat a bunch first and then go out." ”

Good intentions are hard to resist. Shu Yan had no choice but to accept it.

"These grapes are for you to eat alone, and you are not allowed to give them to anyone else."

"I can't make my own decisions about what I gave me?"

"Can't! If you make your own decisions, you don't have anything to do with yourself. I came early today to keep you at home so that you can eat more grapes in peace. On top of that, I want you to show me how that giant elephant is made. ”

Of course, Shu Yan has to meet Xiao Mo's two so-called requirements. Two people came to the craftsman site. Whether it is the court or the people, the carriage or any other car, since the day when the car was introduced, it has basically been an all-wood structure for thousands of years. The car-making base of Taifu Temple is full of more than a dozen varieties of wood of all kinds, long and short.

At this time, all the craftsmen arrived one after another, and the adzes, axes, hammers, and saws were deployed. Planing, cutting, chiseling, chiseling, cutting, clanging, each with its own work, the air suddenly wafted the unique aroma of wood chips.

Shu Yan helped Xiaomo introduce: "Although the sparrow is small, it has all five organs. On the other hand, no matter how big a scalper is, he only has the same five internal organs. All the cars are made in the same way, like the car is the same as the horse-drawn carriage, but the size is different. A vehicle is divided into wheels, axles, wheels, wheels, wheels, public opinion, Shi and many other parts, of which the wheel is divided into three parts: rims, spokes and hubs. There are no strict requirements for the selection of wood for other components, such as pine. Only the three components of the rim, hub and shaft are very picky about the choice of wood because they need to consider the load-bearing and the requirements of constant rotational friction. The objects selected can only be acacia, jujube, sandalwood, elm and other types of hardwood. ”

"Can you tell all the wood?"

"Of course I can tell."

"What kind of wood are those two people carrying?" Xiao Mo pointed over there.

"It's locust wood, it's not very thick and long, but it's very heavy. The biggest difference between hardwoods and softwoods is this, hardwoods are much heavier than softwoods at the same size. Even if it is a hardwood or a softwood, the outer bark, the inner texture and the smell are different. However, this is something that ordinary people can't distinguish, and it requires a professional craftsman. ”

"You-how quickly became professional?" Xiao Mo looked at Shu Yan in surprise.

In fact, Shu Yan can not distinguish each kind of wood in detail, but he has always been serious and responsible, as a supervisor, for each kind of wood stock to do a good idea, when making vehicles, according to the different needs of different vehicles, for overall distribution. In order to achieve the most reasonable configuration.

Shu Yan smiled: "How can I be so professional!" I just know all the wood on the site, what kind of wood is placed where, what is used for it, I know it well, so that each piece of wood can be used to its own reasonable extent. ”

"It's a pity that I traveled north and south back then, and I also knew a lot of trees. But now so many pieces of wood are piled together, and they are not recognizable. ”

"You know trees, not wood. People are distinguished from their rich, poor, beautiful and ugly by their clothes and skins, and the same is true of trees. When it first grew, each tree had its own unique bark, branches, and leaves, but now it's been cut down and skinned, and it's lying naked, and you can't tell the difference. Just like people, under my clothes is Shu Yan, and under yours is Xiao Mo, if a hundred years later, we each have only one skeleton left, who will know us! ”

Xiao Mo recalled the scene when she had encountered the skeleton in the vast and desolate place several times, and she didn't feel anything at the time, but Shu Yan's words made her tremble, it was a very terrible desolation.

Whether others recognize us or not, the two of us will always know each other, even if we become skeletons. We said when we prayed that we should be born on the same day and in the same month, and we should die on the same day, the same month, and the same day. When we die, we are buried together and never separated.

"Ah, how can someone light a fire in such a place?" Xiao Mo asked, looking at the smoke not far away.

"Make rims."

"The rim was bent by fire?"

"What do you think?"

"I thought — I hadn't really thought about that. But I really didn't think it was roasted over fire. ”

"Roasting with fire increases the toughness of the wood while bending it. Each piece of wood is baked into a pre-calculated arc and then spliced together to create a perfect rim. ”

"It's so wonderful, let's go and see."

The two men watched a lap and came back making rims. At this time, there was a craftsman who made the hub, because the size of the interval between the holes of each spoke insert in the hub was not clear, and he was not sure of it, so he asked Shu Yan to look through the book and check it. Shu Yan didn't need to check at all, he opened his mouth and told him. The man thanked him.

Xiao Mo glanced at the man and said, "This person is really, can't you remember the sizes in your own division, and I'm still bothering you!" ”

Shu Yan hurriedly waved his hand: "Don't underestimate this person, he is the most skilled craftsman we have here, specializing in making hubs." ”

"I can't remember this little thing, but I'm still the best craftsman?"

It's not that he can't remember, but he wants to make sure that after all, this is the first time he has made an elephant car. Prudence and carefulness, not careless, is the most basic quality of a good craftsman. This is especially true of the craftsmen who make the hubs and rims. ”

"Why?"

"Because the shaft, rim, and hub are the three parts, in addition to the selection of wood should not be sloppy, the most important consideration is the accuracy of the production. The axles are better, especially the rims and hubs, which require a lot of skill. As for the rim, you have already seen it just now. It is required that the arc is connected as much as possible, and a circle is not counted, it must be the same height on both sides to be perfect. Otherwise, if there is a little distortion or asymmetry on both sides, there may be deviation and bumps; The hub is a key component connecting the shaft to the outer rim. If there is a deviation in the inner diameter, it will not fit with the shaft, and if there is a deviation in the outer diameter, it will not fit with the rim. Because the outer edge of the hub has to cut out thirty holes for inserting spokes, corresponding to the thirty holes on the inside of the rim. ”

"Why do you have to put so many spokes? The more spokes, the more difficult it is to correspond one by one. It can be fifteen or twenty, as long as the spokes are thicker, isn't it the same for the load-bearing effect? ”

In fact, for load-bearing, it is not necessary to have 30 spokes, but there is another reason for this, 30 spokes per round are taken from the number of days in the month, symbolizing the meaning of successful rotation. This is a tradition that has been passed down since ancient times. ”

Xiao Mo listened to Shu Yan say so much about vehicle production, and couldn't help but sigh: "It turns out that we only know that it is comfortable to ride in a car, but we don't know that it is not easy to build a car." ”

Shu Yan laughed and said: "It's not easy to build a car, it's even more difficult to build a good car, and it's even more difficult to build a world-class car." ”

"With you taking the lead, there are so many good craftsmen under your command, there should be nothing to worry about, right?"

"I've calculated the exact dimensions of all the parts, and there should be no problem with the craftsmanship, the rest is the material. In fact, the materials used to make elephant chariots are the same as those for making horse-drawn carriages, but there is a huge difference in size. It is precisely because of this huge size that it is not easy to select materials. For example, the wheel must be made of wood that is three times as long as an ordinary carriage and is thicker, and the servant has explained that it must be sandalwood. ”

"Why do you have to sandalwood? Sandalwood grows thousands of miles away and is relatively rare. Isn't it okay to have a wheel made of ordinary wood? ”

"Ordinary pine can be used as a wheel, but elephant cars are not ordinary cars, and of course ordinary wood cannot be used. The meaning of the boss, as the forerunner of the big car, is extremely large and significant, representing the face of the Son of Heaven, and the selection of materials and workmanship strives to be noble and atmospheric, and there can be no compromise. At present, there is no suitable one in the Chefu Bureau, and in the past two days, I have sent Zhang Chi to the timber wharf on the side of the Luo River to look for it, where there is a lot of timber in and out, and it should be encountered. ”

The two of them were chatting, when they saw Zhang Chi running over and shouting, "Yes, yes, sandalwood has." This morning, I saw a new boatload of logs, unloading at the dock, and there was sandalwood in it, so I hurriedly ran to inform the department to go and pick it up. ”

Shu Yan was happy: "I'm talking to Zhen Yuling about this, it's very good, take me to the dock immediately." ”

found the wood, and Shu Yan solved another matter. Xiao Mo also rejoiced. She knew that Shu Yan was busy, and it was time for her to prepare the imperial meal, so she said goodbye to Shu Yan.

Some people died, but not completely......