In the late June of the fifth year of Qingli, seeing that the autumn of August is imminent, the biennial imperial examination drama is about to be staged again, and Bianliang has become very lively again.

Outside the Chase Gate, there is a lot of traffic. I don't know how many ships at the water gate drifted down the canal into the city.

The wharf is crowded with people and signboards. Groups of dock workers came and went, moving the goods on board to several large warehouses such as Phu Quoc Warehouse, Wanying Warehouse, Guangji Warehouse, and Guangying Warehouse.

These warehouses gathered the grain, tea, ironware, and cloth of the whole Bianliang people, and even to be sent to Hebei and Shaanxi Zhulu, which can be said to be the lifeblood of a country.

At noon, several large ships slowly approached, and a middle-aged man on board stepped off the deck with a young man in his twenties.

The young man stood on the pier and looked around, and when he saw the bustle and prosperity, he couldn't help but say: "Dad, the child hasn't been to Tokyo for several years, why has Tokyo become the way it is now, but it makes the child feel strange." ”

The middle-aged man said with a smile: "Now Bianliang has long since changed, and the outer city is now about to become the inner city." Didn't you see you on the way you just came? Outside the city, too, there are people and streets. ”

The young man scratched his head and said with some surprise: "It's only been nine years, but I didn't expect there to be more people in Kaifeng, and the streets have become more crowded, wait a minute."

He suddenly turned his gaze to a clearing on the other side of the river, and said in a lost voice, "What is that?" ”

The middle-aged man followed his gaze and saw that it was north of Bianshui, Datongmen East Street, and the vacant land to the south of Yuxian Temple.

Workers are erecting steel bars, bricks and tiles, coating cement and building a five-story building.

"It seems that the government office of the East Tibetan Treasury is building. The thing they use is called cement, which was invented by the official family a few years ago, and now all the government offices and public houses in Bianliang are built with this, and they can be built five or six stories high. ”

The middle-aged man explained, and then said: "My father once asked someone to inquire about how this cement is made, wouldn't it be better if it was used to repair the house?" However, this thing needs to be mined, even the imperial court can only be manufactured on a small scale, and it is difficult to develop it in large quantities, which is a pity. ”

The Kaifeng cement plant is built outside Xicheng, but Kaifeng does not have iron ore, limestone and clay mines, so it is necessary to bring in raw materials from other places, and then manually mix them to make them on site.

This is not only inefficient, but also low in production, so it can only be used for this kind of house construction.

There is no way, it is too difficult to find these three minerals that happen to be together, and at the same time meet the problem of convenient transportation and easy transportation.

After all, cement is a thing that will solidify quickly if you don't use it.

Therefore, it is best to have the three minerals not far away, and after the raw materials are concentrated, they are mixed together to make cement powder, and then water is added when they are used.

Otherwise, just by transporting raw materials from all over the world and then making them in the factory, the cost is still a little high, resulting in the temporary inability to mass production.

However, in the future, the steam engine will be popularized, and the appearance of trains will make transportation more convenient.

At that time, the raw materials can be concentrated in the cement plant by pulling the raw materials, and then the raw materials are put together, forged into powder with a steam engine, loaded into sacks, and sent to various places, which becomes cement.

I have to say that technology is really the first productivity. If there is no industrial power, no matter how rich the knowledge of mathematics, physics and chemistry is, it will be an agricultural society after all.

The young man looked blankly at the construction site where the house was being built in full swing, and muttered to himself, "Da Song is really different from before. ”

"That is, today's official Shengming, the prefect is decisive in killing and suppressing Xiaoxiao. Fan Xianggong is like a god, and he can govern the country well. And our official family is even more amazing, it is simply a god in the world. ”

A passer-by heard the conversation between father and son, saw that they were from other places, smiled and pointed to a woman washing clothes by the river in the distance, "Do you see what the woman has in her hand?" It's called soap, and it's much easier to use than the previous soap, which was invented by the government. ”

"That was also invented by the government?"

The young man was shocked.

He was surprised to hear his father say that the official family had invented cement, after all, smart people love to ponder, and it is normal to invent one or two things, but if many things were invented by that person, it is simply a genius.

"Not only that, but there is also a new manure method, what allicin is used in the hospital, cowpox to prevent smallpox, sugar, and honeycomb coal."

The passer-by counted his fingers and said: "Especially the honeycomb coal, it is really easy to use, and now it is used to boil water at home, which saves a lot of firewood than before." I don't know anything else, if Xiaolang wants to know, I'll go find a few old newspapers to read. ”

Thanks to the fact that Zhao Jun has a lot of travel history in his laptop, Zhao Zhen asked for the laptop on the grounds of looking for inventions in the crossing.

He now only does five things a day – morning morning, morning watch, and playing with his laptop. In the afternoon, the Chongzheng Palace usually held a meeting, and then went to the back garden to conduct experiments, and in the evening with the concubine Dunlun.

In this way, after a few years, he really found a lot of good things in history.

In addition to the lack of soda in glass, the white sugar yellow mud water drenching and decolorization method appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, the cowpox anti-smallpox method appeared in the 18th century, and even the honeycomb coal formula was made.

Even Zhao Jun didn't know how to make honeycomb coal, and he accidentally turned to a book in March this year, and there was a record. After learning the complete honeycomb coal manufacturing formula, Zhao Zhen quickly started the experiment in the back garden.

Except for the first two days of making a honeycomb coal mold, it only took one day for him to successfully develop honeycomb coal by adding various raw materials and distributing them according to the proportion.

So the imperial court set up a honeycomb coal plant in May, the only pity is that it is summer now, and the honeycomb coal is not as effective as winter.

But even so, it has caused a lot of people to buy it.

After all, as the number of people in Bianliang increases, the forests outside the city are about to be cut down, and the price of firewood and charcoal is becoming more and more expensive, and it is often necessary to transport firewood from far away to meet the needs of the people.

There are low-cost and burn-resistant honeycomb coal, as well as attached coal stoves for sale, and there are newspaper publicity, so people are naturally willing to try it and see the effect.

It's just that the price is low, but in fact, it's only a little cheaper than firewood.

The cost of living in Bianliang is still too high, and the price of charcoal is already expensive.

The main reason is that Bianliang does not produce coal, and it still needs to be transported from other places, so it will take a long time to produce honeycomb coal on a large scale and continue to reduce prices.

If it is really popular, it will probably be by the end of the year.

And firewood and charcoal are also the food and clothing of many firewood collectors and charcoal burners, and the imperial court cannot be one-size-fits-all, so it can only be planned step by step, and it is impossible to produce it on a large scale immediately.

But even so, the words of passers-by shocked the young people.

The changes in Tokyo now are really unimaginable, and they are completely different from Bianliang nine years ago, not only the scale of the city has expanded a lot, but even the street layout and urban construction have changed too much, which makes him a little confused.

Today's officials are really gods.

The young man sighed, and then stepped into the traffic with his father.

The twilight sun shines on the streets, but the blazing heat can't stop the people coming and going on the streets.

The rows of streets are more prosperous than before, I don't know how much, every house is lit up, and ribbons are hanging between the squares and markets swaying in the wind.

"Small food, cold food, cheap and delicious."

"Fresh rice cakes, fresh rice cakes, do you want to taste them?"

"Rock sugar gourd, there are delicious rock sugar gourds."

"The spices from the Western Regions, come and take a look, they are all kinds of good ingredients."

"The best summer tea of this year, the freshly picked summer tea, is still tender. It's just been fried, come and smell the tea. ”

The vendors shouted hard, and all kinds of rice, tea, spices, and other smells mixed with the smell came to the nostrils, giving people a messy feeling.

The father and son walked through the streets of all sizes, and when they were almost at the time of their meal, a little far from their shop, the middle-aged man asked, "Are you hungry?" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a nearby shopkeeper immediately came up, showed a flattering smile and said: "Guest officer, come from afar, if you are hungry, the shop has tea, pastries, meals, everything, as well as new pepper stir-fry from overseas, Zhiyuan likes to eat this the most." ”

"Pepper stir-fry?"

When the young man heard this, he immediately became interested, smelled the fragrance coming from the restaurant, and said, "Father, I happen to be hungry too, let's go in and eat." ”

"Okay, guest officer, please, is it the lobby on the first floor or by the window on the second floor?"

"Second floor."

"The shopkeeper, the two guest officers."

The shopkeeper shouted.

Restaurants come and go, in and out, and there are many vendors outside the store, and people are surging.

The father and son were led to the window on the second floor.

After ordering, the young man looked out the window, and he could see the scenery of Bianliang more clearly at this time from a high place.

He saw that a tall building was being erected to the north, about five stories high, and it was already the tallest brick building except for the seven-story Fantai Temple Pagoda.

And it is painted with red paint on the outside, the shape is not square, but the design of the circular tube building, there are bucket arches and cornices on it, take a look, and think it is the temple of Xiangguo Temple, but it is completely different.

"In the world, look over there."

The middle-aged man suddenly pointed to several high-rise buildings in the distance, and said with emotion: "It's Fan Lou, my father brought you here back then, but he left quickly." ”

"yes, the kid almost got into a big accident at that time."

The young man sighed.

He is Feng Jing, who returned to Bianliang again after nine years.

The middle-aged man is Feng Shi, who said: "I went back to Tokyo this time to participate in the scientific expedition, and during this time, I can study in the shop at home, or I can go out to play and find my classmates, but remember to be cautious in my words and deeds." ”

"Yes."

Feng Jing responded.

When he was taken away from Kaifeng by his father and returned to his hometown Tengzhou, Guangxi, he began to study hard.

After a few years, Feng's business changed, and he settled in Ezhou, Hubei.

He continued his studies in Ezhou to prepare for the imperial examinations.

As a result, Feng Shizhen heard that the imperial court had vigorously developed science education in recent years, and had added mathematics to the imperial examinations, and there were rumors that chemistry and physics would be added.

However, Feng Jing did not study mathematics, physics and chemistry in a public school opened by the imperial court before, which obviously may cause him to fail to pass the Jinshi examination in the future.

So originally, Feng Shi wanted Feng Jing to precipitate for a few more years, make his knowledge more solid, and then take the imperial examination, but now he has to participate in the imperial examination in advance, lest he fail the examination if chemistry and physics are added to the imperial examination in the future.

Fortunately, as a merchant family, Feng Jing has a lot of research in mathematics, so even if mathematics is added to the imperial examination now, with his current level of knowledge, it should not be a big problem.

The father and son chatted for a while about other things, Feng Shi is in the tea business, and he travels back and forth between Kaifeng and Ezhou every year, but he is used to it.

Feng Jing was very curious, and sighed at the great changes in Kaifeng Mansion in just nine years.

At this time, a child came downstairs, carrying a backpack and shaking a large folded piece of paper in his hand, shouting: "Selling newspapers and selling newspapers, the court has a new deal, and the court has a new deal." ”

"What a new deal, get me one quickly."

"I want it too."

"Come, I'll give you five copper plates."

Customers on the second floor immediately bought newspapers when they heard them.

In recent years, the price of newspapers has also dropped considerably, from more than 10 wen at the beginning, to only 5 wen a copy.

At present, not to mention Gyeonggi Road, the whole of Henan is covered by newspapers, and Kaifeng Weekly has now become Da Song Daily, with branches in Beijing Daimyo Mansion and Nanjing Yingtianfu.

The people's enthusiasm for reading the newspaper was very high, and even the peddlers and pawns would often buy a copy. Some people care about national events, some people like to watch the little jokes in it, and some people like to read the poems and songs in it, as well as serialization.

When newspapers are allowed to be opened by private individuals, the industry will blossom everywhere and quickly spread to the whole country.

"Bring a copy."

When the child passed by the table of the Feng family's father and son, Feng Shi asked for one.

Guests at other tables nearby had already taken a look.

"Yo, the content of today's newspaper has changed, how come these words have become the vernacular we usually speak?"

"Didn't that say above? The prefectural court should fully implement the vernacular reform system, and all kinds of official documents and policies issued by the government should be told to the people in a simple and easy-to-understand way. ”

"What's the use of this, many people don't know a single word, even if it's written in the vernacular, they still don't understand."

"yes, it's none of our business anyway."

"It's not okay, let's know some words. But sometimes some ancient texts are not fully understood, so isn't it much easier to turn into the vernacular? ”

"Seems to make sense."

Many diners talked about it, and felt that it didn't seem to be that important, so they didn't pay much attention to it.

Only Feng Jing was here, reading today's newspaper and showing deep thought.

Feng Shi knew that his son had always been smart, so he asked, "What did you see in the world?" ”

"The court is going to make a big move."

Feng Jing put down the newspaper in his hand, turned his head to look out the window, and said calmly: "This vernacular literary reform, I'm afraid it's just the beginning." ”

(End of chapter)