CH 159

“Are you attending the imperial examination this time?” Zhao Lin asked while sorting out the books. He didn’t work under Zhou Rong originally, but when Zhou Rong told him he was short of people he thought that for the sake of brotherhood he should come. But he was also afraid of his family scolding him, so he avoided going home and went to Zhou Rong’s house to mooch off food and drink.

Zhou Rong’s family was different from other families. His family had suffered poverty, and knew the benefits of making it big. There were children in the family who were willing to sacrifice their lives in exchange for their future, and they were also willing to follow. They were bound together for good or ill, so they were all looking forward to riding on his success.

Zhou Rong was still reading the words. His eyes hurt when he looked at the words recently. He had to think carefully about how to change each word, how to simplify it, so that the illiterate would find it simple, he took a deep breath: “No. “

Zhao Lin: “You really won’t go? But it’s such a great opportunity? The first imperial examinations of the new dynasty, how honorable will it be to pass!”

“I can forget about thinking of being No. 1 or No. 3. It would be nice to have a No. 2 spot or just one of the Jinshi (TN: palace graduates).”

“I heard that His Majesty has added a new one. Shuji Shi (TN: title of the temporary position in the Hanlin Academy, conferred to meritorious candidates until the next examination) will be selected from the Jinshi and are able to enter Hanlin Academy.” Zhao Lin had already inquired clearly.

Zhou Rong waved his hand: “I’m busy, I’m already an official, how can I attend the imperial examination? You’re still a commoner, you can go by yourself, why do you insist on pulling someone with you, it’s not like we are little girls holding hands to go to the toilets.”

Zhao Lin choked: “What are you saying? Who makes comparisons like that?”

“Forget it, I am not chatting with you anymore.” Zhao Lin rolled his eyes and moved the sorted books to the other side, “I’ll pass the exam, and then my official post will be higher than yours, so don’t be envious then.”

Zhou Rong didn’t even look at him: “Then I congratulate Lord Zhao in advance.”

Zhao Lin couldn’t win against him in a verbal fight, so he could only return to the writing desk and continue with his work.

Outside because of the imperial examinations everyone was very busy, but Lin Yuan didn’t care, he was currently looking at the pencils made by the craftsmen.

The craftsmen were still experimenting how to make pens, but they have done a good job on pencils. Don’t underestimate the wisdom of craftsmen in this era. They sometimes have enterprising spirit and pioneering spirit. So long as the policies from above encourage them to be enterprising and pioneering, they would eagerly experiment and research.

There was also the improvement of paper, as the common people could not afford the paper of this era.

Especially fine writing paper.

Lin Yuan also gathered a group of skilled experts to make improvements.

Mainly because there was no machine, it all depended on manual labor, manual labor was also included in the overall cost, and the price of course could not go down.

Lin Yuan looked at the pencil.

It was thicker than modern ones, as thick as a finger of an adult man.

Lin Yuan asked: “Can it be thinner?”

The craftsman was very frightened and did not dare to raise his head: “As, as long as more time is spent…..it will definitely be possible.”

Lin Yuan smiled: “Well done.”

The craftsman breathed a sigh of relief.

The people would not be rewarded by him in person, they would be rewarded after they were dismissed.

It was a father and son who produce the pencil. They were both attentive people. They had tried countless times before they managed to produce the pencil.

When they returned to the workshop, the emperor’s reward arrived.

Four pieces of cloth, ten taels of gold, two jade rings and a piece of silk, as well as gold and silver jewelry for the women in the family.

These rewards were sent by the eunuchs, and the eyes of the craftsmen all widened.

Although His Majesty said that there was a reward for doing well, no one expected such a reward.

Twelve taels of gold…..So long as they didn’t spend it randomly, it was enough for a lifetime.

Not to mention the other rewards.

The other craftsmen were jealous, and they worked harder on their own work. So long as they did well, they might get a bigger reward.

Wasn’t it just making a small measly pen? They could make even more amazing things!

For a while, the heart of competition between craftsmen had grown.

But this kind of competition was benign, and Lin Yuan didn’t bother to mind it.

In addition to pencils and paper, the spinning jenny was also drawn out by Lin Yuan. He remembered the rough design and operations, and the rest could only be perfected by craftsmen.

The spinning jenny could only be regarded as a beginning, after all, the spinning jenny still relied on human power.

Lin Yuan remembered that after the spinning jenny, there was the hydraulic spinning machine. Although it was hydraulic, the factory needed to be built near water, and hundreds of workers needed to work together. It was not until the appearance of the steam engine providing new power that phased out the water based factory limitations.

The principle of steam was very clear to modern people. It was nothing more than the conversion of steam energy into mechanical reciprocating power.

Lin Yuan was impatient. He didn’t know if he could produce a steam engine, but if he had this idea, he would try it. If he didn’t succeed, he would lose some money, but not a lot. If he succeeded, then the impact on the development of society and industry would be huge.

And his greatest advantage was that he knew these principles and the approximate structure of a steam engine.

As long as a basic version was made, it could keep being revised and improved.

And the original steam engine was not difficult to manufacture.

Almost all the craftsmen in Beijing were brought together by Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan was not worried about these basic industrial equipment.

His worry was electricity.

It was impossible to develop electricity without basic industries.

The sources of electricity include thermal power, hydropower, wind power, nuclear power plants, solar power, and hydrogen power.

These all require industrial infrastructure support.

Lin Yuan thought about it, and finally decided to slow down.

At least basic industrial equipment was required to consider these.

And it was already very good that he could lay the foundation for industrial equipment in his lifetime.

The spinning jenny came out very quickly. The craftsmen used to make spinning wheels, all of which were used for spinning cloth. After having the blueprints, they learned by analogy. Aside from the spinning jenny there was the flying shuttle.

The flying shuttle could speed up the spinning thread, and the spinning jenny could speed up weaving cloth, and the efficiency was more than three times higher than that of the traditional textile industry.

But while the flying shuttle could still be called the flying shuttle, the spinning jenny had to change its name. Lin Yuan chose a simple and easy-to-understand one, which was the spinning machine.

These were not considered to be complete industries, but only handicrafts.

The power origin was still manpower.

The thing was made, but how to let the common people use it had become a problem.

In the end, Lin Yuan called Yang Shaowei and had him print out the drawings. Everywhere must have them, they must all  produce spinning machines, and they must promote and spread its use.

Yang Shaowei had been idle for these days, and his whole person had become uncomfortable since he was idle for a long time. With work, his whole person was much more energetic.

Although he didn’t marry, he still had a lot of close lady friends.

He didn’t know how to spin and weave, so he took the blueprints to ask his lady friend.

When his lady friend learned that this spinning machine and shuttle could increase the efficiency of weaving by more than three times, her whole person was dumbstruck.

Weaving was hard work, and spinning was the same. Many people wear out their eyes, and they couldn’t see clearly during dark hours once their age advanced.

However, most of the female members of small households rely on spinning cloth to supplement their households.

With something like this, they didn’t have to suffer like they used to.

The lady friend burst into tears: “I knew earlier that His Majesty loves the people, but now this slave finally has a better understanding.”

Yang Shaowei sent people to various places, and they distributed tasks non-stop. The carpenters in various places had work to do, and the imperial court provided food and shelter, and gave them monthly wages.

The spinning machines that were produced could be assigned to each village, and the same was true for the shuttle.

The drawings were also hung on the public announcement boards, and people could copy it down at will.

Gaoyou’s Lizi Village was the first village in the area to get their allotted spinning machine.

The villagers in Lizi Village did not have the surname Li. It was because the plums in their village have grown well every year, so they were called this name.

When the spinning machine was delivered, the whole village showed up, men, women and children gathered together and looked at the spinning machine as tgey were looking at an odd creature.

“So big…..”

“Just don’t know how to use it.”

“Is it used the same as the one at home?”

Fortunately, the imperial court also sent someone down to teach them how to use it.

There were many women who could weave in the village. After all, Gaoyou was richer than other places. The female members bought spinning wheels early on and weaved more cloth. Although they didn’t know if the current tax could be paid with cloth, so long as they could weave, no matter what it would still help them earn money.

“Aiya! So many! So fast!”

“That spinning thread thing is also amazing! Why are there so many!”

The villagers of Lizi Village were lively for the whole day, and the women all got a chance to try it, and they didn’t want to stop when their hands started to move.

But this was the only one in the village. If they want one of their own they have to go to the city to copy the drawing and then find a carpenter to make it.

But the carpenters were all in the government office now.

At this time, the ability of the businessmen was shown.

They found that there was profit to be made, so they quickly made copies of the blueprints and rushed to produce it overnight. As soon as the court’s spinning machines were handed out, the merchants began to sell spinning machines as well. They also asked the Merchants’ Guild. Now the Merchants’ Guild and the court were linked together, and the Merchants’ Guild also knew what the court intended, so they did not prohibit them from selling.

A spinning machine cost twenty taels of silver.

For ordinary people, it was simply unaffordable.

But Gaoyou people were rich.

Gaoyou produced salt, not only salt production, but also had a very developed commerce. Taizhou was rich, and Gaoyou was the richest place in all areas of Taizhou.

The merchants’ first batch were quickly sold out.

The merchants didn’t have enough carpenters, so they started looking for out-of-town carpenters, but the out-of-town carpenters were also recruited by the local government, so the merchants went to find the carpenters’ apprentices and sons.

Carpentry suddenly became a sought after profession.

Many families were preparing to send their sons to learn the craftsmanship of carpentry in the future, maybe they could lead the whole family to make a fortune.

Now, a carpenter who could make a spinning machine could earn two taels a month, which was not even the highest.

If one could be a master carpenter, one could even earn five taels a month.

There was also a merchant who found people to make spinning machines by, then build a workshop, and then hired female workers to do the work.

Why didn’t they hire men? Because the requirements for using the spinning machine were not very different between men and women, and women workers were cheaper than men, so of course women were selected.

When the merchants who were still selling sewing machines realized it, this surnamed Dan merchant had already taken the lead. He had his own shops that sold cloth and workshops to weave cloth. Monopolizing the whole process naturally earned him a lot of money.

The common people were very adaptable. Although the world had only been stable for a few years, they were already full of vitality.

The poor were still poor, but there were very few cases of starvation. The lands were open up for farming, and potatoes and sweet potatoes filled the belly of the poor.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

The people’s goal had changed from not starving to living a better life.

The weaving factories were built one by one, and Lin Yuan let it develop.

The domestic market would definitely be saturated.

He just wondered if it could be sold to Korea or Japan.