A few days later, it was almost the end of the month, and Liu Yan did not go to Juntun that day, but stayed in the pier and instructed Chen Jiangshi to optimize the packaging of soap in the soap workshop.

Now that the output of the soap workshop has increased significantly, Liu Yan inspected it and estimated that the output in April could reach more than 3,600 yuan. If Wang Weizhen buys it, Liu Yan will be able to enter more than 1,000 taels of silver at the end of April, and next month's expenses will be more relaxed.

Liu Yan also wants to continue to expand production, but now the manpower in the dun is limited, and the soap workshop can only use some old women or old people to make soap here, and the rest of the strong women have been transferred to the military tun by Liu Yan, and there are only Chen Jiang's and two or three strong women left in the entire soap workshop, which is also a matter of no choice.

"All kraft paper should be cut decently, not only to be the same size, but also to have no raw edges."

"Don't worry, Captain A, I remember it all, and I will do it well."

Chen Jiang smiled and accompanied Liu Yan to inspect it, and then Liu Yan asked Chen Jiang and the others to continue to be busy, and he went out of the soap workshop, and met Chen Xun who came in a hurry.

"Captain A!"

Liu Yan asked, "What's the matter, something happened to Juntun?" ”

Chen Xun obviously had just rushed back from the military camp, and he was sweating profusely at this time, looking out of breath: "No, no." ”

Liu Yan asked with a smile: "Then what's wrong with you, what are you doing when you run back at noon?" ”

Chen Xun took a breath and said: "I just came back from the military tun, and today I started to water the ground everywhere, but the five shafts we drilled don't have much water, it's not enough, and many military households haven't been able to get water until now." ”

Liu Yan was slightly stunned, this situation was really something he didn't expect, he thought that five shafts could already meet the demand, but now it seems that he thought it was too simple.

"Let's go, let's go to the military camp and have a look."

Liu Yan and Chen Xun braved the noon sun to rush to the military tun, only to see that there were already many people lined up next to several shafts not far away, taking turns to fetch water.

Liu Yan frowned and said, "What's the situation over there, can't the water come through?" ”

Chen Xun said: "My subordinates have seen in the past, the terrain of the canal is higher, but now the weather is hot, and the water level of the Nanhe River has dropped a lot, so the river water does not flow into the canal. ”

"Now there are dozens of people working on this side of Juntun, and there are more than 20 ploughing cattle, and all the water in the pier is counting on these five shafts, so this water supply is not available."

Liu Yan nodded and said, "Then find a way to bring the water from the canal, and you have to dig a well in the pier." ”

Chen Xun said: "We usually use keel waterwheels to divert water, otherwise I will go to Wangjiazhuang and find some craftsmen to build some?" ”

At this time, Chen Xun is very anxious, now the spring ploughing is a step late, if the water supply for watering the land is not available, then this year's harvest is really not much, what to do next year?

This keel waterwheel Liu Yan knew, and later generations have also seen many pictures and real objects. However, for Liu Yan, this keel waterwheel needs to use special manpower every day, and the water attracted is too little and the power is too shallow.

Therefore, Liu Yan directly rejected the proposal to build a keel waterwheel, and after thinking for a while, Liu Yan thought of the big waterwheel in later generations, which is the kind of water diversion waterwheel that is common in Jiangnan water towns.

This kind of waterwheel does not need manpower and animal power, it can be driven by water flow, and the water diversion power is very large, and the daily water diversion irrigation can reach more than 300 acres. Of course, there are pros and cons, this kind of waterwheel is good, I am afraid that the cost is too high, and Wangjiazhuang must not know how to build this kind of waterwheel craftsmen, can only go to Xiahe Village in front of the thousand households, and even Lingshanwei to invite craftsmen.

Liu Yan thought about it, but still said his thoughts, and then asked Chen Xun to immediately go to various places to find craftsmen, he must be fast.

Before the waterwheel was built, Liu Yan had no choice but to transfer five young men and let his subordinate Dunjun named Wang Bo lead him to fetch water from the Nanhe River every day to make up for the shortage of water here.

At the same time, Chen Xun was not in the past few days, and Liu Yan asked his subordinate dun army named Zhang Yi to go up, urging the military to report to him in time if there was something.

This Wang Bo and Zhang Yi are both old men in the dun, originally the dun army under Chen Xun, reliable and down-to-earth, and clever enough, they are two malleable talents, so Liu Yancai used the two of them on top, ready to have the opportunity to promote them in the future.

Three days later, Chen Xun returned to Dapandun with more than a dozen craftsmen hired from the Qianqian households of Xiahe Village, the leading craftsman was a man in his fifties, very thin, but his spirit was very good, a pair of big hands full of calluses, and he knew at a glance that he was a craftsman who had been in the years of experience.

"My lord, the big waterwheel in the south of the Yangtze River you said is nothing more than a kind of cylinder car, this thing has appeared in the Tang Dynasty, and now there are many buildings in the south, the old man has seen the real thing in Xuzhou, and he has also participated in the creation, this thing is not rare or difficult to build, but it costs more money and food."

Listening to the words of the craftsman leader, Liu Yan was a little surprised by the development of Daming folk science and technology at this time, and he asked: "How much money and grain is estimated to cost?" ”

The head craftsman pondered for a while and said, "If it is a waterwheel used to irrigate wells, a water wheel will cost only more than ten taels of silver." It's just that this kind of cylinder car is huge in size and uses a lot of materials, and it is estimated that even the material and labor costs are calculated, and it will cost nearly 100 taels of silver to build a round of waterwheel. ”

Hearing that it cost nearly 100 taels of silver, Liu Yan couldn't help but hesitate, but after having a way to accumulate wealth with soap, Liu Yan would not be so stingy with the cost of silver, he gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, it's up to you, just tell me what you want, but there is a word first, if there is a problem with the waterwheel, I will not give money." ”

The head of the craftsman said proudly: "My lord, just rest assured, if there is a problem with the waterwheel, the old man will not take a penny." ”

Liu Yan couldn't help but smile when he saw this, and said: "Since this is the case, then you can start doing it, money and food are not a problem, as long as the construction is good, in the future, I will have construction work in this big plate, and it will be yours at that time." ”

The group of craftsmen was overjoyed when they heard this, and the head of the craftsmen even patted his chest and promised that the big waterwheel could be built in four days.

After Liu Yan's decision, these craftsmen began to work in full swing, designing drawings and preparing materials.

Liu Yan provided them with the materials and manpower they needed, especially the wood used to make the shaft of the waterwheel, which required a kind of thick and wear-resistant hardwood.

With this kind of hardwood, it is necessary to start making water wheel blades, which also requires a large number of manpower materials, Liu Yan mobilized the men and women of Dapandun, and only provided it to the head of the craftsmen to control, and those craftsmen were all on the battlefield, and they were in full swing.

While the head craftsman was making the waterwheel, he also sent several young craftsmen to the confluence of the Xitong Canal and the Nanhe River in order to choose a location for the installation of the waterwheel. At the same time, along the waterwheel by the river, it is also necessary to build a deep sink with stones, which is too busy for only a few craftsmen, and Liu Yan provides manpower to help.

While busy building a large waterwheel in the south of the Yangtze River, Liu Yan also asked the head craftsman to draw out the craftsmen and start to build the kind of waterwheel used for irrigation wells for himself, temporarily building about five. Of course, it is impossible to use manpower to carry water from this irrigation well, it is necessary to build a water truck to divert water, and it also needs to use animal power, and Liu Yan will have to buy a few mules again.

The difficulty of this kind of irrigation water wheel is much smaller than that of the big water wheel, and it only took two days to build the five irrigation water wheels.

Liu Yan has seen this kind of irrigation well waterwheel, in fact, it is an improved keel waterwheel, the cost is more than ten taels, and the maximum limit after water diversion can irrigate more than 20 acres.

Liu Yan actually has a higher efficiency water diversion water wheel in his heart, that is, the pipe chain water wheel of later generations, also known as the "liberation water wheel", which is composed of a frame, bevel gear, sprocket, chain, round skin money, water pipe and tow bar, etc., which are also driven by animal power.

However, this kind of waterwheel has a large technical content, and the gears, sprockets, and chains are very difficult to make, and they need a lot of iron materials and consume a lot.

Then Liu Yan remembered the matter of the well in the pier, so he asked the head craftsman to send someone to the Dapan pier to see if he could dig a well.

After the investigation of two craftsmen, a depression on the east side of the gate was finally settled on the outside of the big pan pier, and then the soil was taken and the well was drilled.

In order to protect the well, Liu Yan not only required the whole well to be built with a brick well, but also built a well pavilion on it to shelter from the wind and rain, and set up a roller next to the well to carry water. The craftsmen all agreed to come down one by one.

In fact, when it comes to irrigation, the best way is to build canals and ponds. In the Taiping Festival of the Ming Dynasty, some villages in the north, in addition to water canals, almost every village and fort have one to two pools, which are used to solve the daily water use of people and animals, and even domestic water.

However, it takes a lot of money to build a canal and repair a pond, and the project is large, even if a pond for water is dug in a village, sometimes it even takes several years to build, and it costs thousands of taels of silver to complete, and the annual dredging and pond digging is not a small amount.

As soon as he thought of this, Liu Yan had no thoughts, or the investment in well irrigation was small and the income was large, so he slowly dug wells and built water trucks.

After hard work, four days later, this Jiangnan waterwheel was finally built, the size is huge, up to more than ten meters, erected on the side of the river trough looks very spectacular.

When the waterwheel started on this day, the river can be said to be crowded with people, not only the military households of Dapandun poured out of their nests, but also the soldiers and civilians of the nearby Huoludun, Tunbao, and even Wangjiazhuang came to watch the wind.

In the breath of the people, several craftsmen pulled open the gate by the river trough, and immediately the weaving wheel blade of the waterwheel slowly rotated under the impact of the river, the huge waterwheel turned faster and faster, the sound of the roar, the bamboo tube on the wheel blade continued to pour water into the Xitong Canal on the bank, and the river continued to flow forward.

In the cheers, a group of craftsmen led by the head of the craftsmen were all emotional, and a few of them had tears in their eyes. Perhaps this Jiangnan waterwheel is the best work of their lives.

Since then, this big waterwheel has become a spectacle of Dapandun, and when later generations talk about Dapandun, the first thing that comes to mind is this big waterwheel.

Immediately after two days, the well outside the Dapan pier was also completed, this speed is already very fast, of course, it is also related to Liu Yan sprinkled silver, all the bricks are directly purchased, not fired on the spot, which saves more than half of the time.

The well is about more than ten zhang deep, the well water is shallower and the water quality is better, the bottom of the well is paved with fine sand, the wall of the well is built with bluestone, and the outside is surrounded by gravel. When the first bucket of water was pulled up, the surrounding onlookers were thunderous for a while, and they tasted it again, the well water was clear and sweet, far from his fort.

All the military households were smiling, especially some of the displaced people who joined the military households, many of whom had been trapped in drinking water all their lives, and many of them shed tears when they saw such good water.

In the crowd, Liu Yan was naturally very happy, and after returning to Dapandun, he generously paid the wages of the craftsmen

At this moment, Liu Yan received an urgent notice from Wang Weizhen that the defense officer, Lord Zhang Hailin, would inspect Dapandun today.