Next to the wheat fields piled with straw after harvest, as winter draws nearer, the Zhanghe River is about to enter the dry season. There are countless pebbles in the river, and fish swimming in the stream can be seen at a glance, and the river water is jumping with colorful waves in the sunset.

And the wooden support standing by the ditch is as tall and heavy as a siege tower, but on the support is a huge wheel...

The center of the spokes is a thick hub, and two rows of parallel spokes are arranged around the hub. A scraper is installed at the end of each row of spokes, and a movable bamboo bucket is hung between the scrapers.

"It's like a wheel on a car!" said a child.

"No, more like a mother's spinning wheel!" another argued.

However, they quickly held their breaths together like Ximen Leopard, because the huge machine turned itself after the craftsmen finished installing it!

Yes, there was no manpower to step on and pull, and there was no livestock to turn in circles. The huge machine seemed to have a life of its own. It was washed by the river, slowly rotating clockwise, and made a huge rushing sound. The leaves made of wood turn on their own with the bamboo tube above, and the water flow is scooped up. After reaching the highest point, it falls into the small ditch connected to the field. The water flow falls like a curtain. Although the whole process is slow, it is thrilling!

The children were stunned. They had never seen anything like this before. Only Ximen Bao suddenly remembered that just a few years ago, because of his excellent exam results, he was able to enter the Linzhang Academy with many peers. At that time, they not only went to the Wanjuan Library in Shiqu Pavilion, but also saw the "water mill" made by craftsmen and scholars.

Under the impact of the water flow under the mill, the water mill started to grind the noodles on its own without human and animal power.

Is the self-rotating "monster" seen today the same as the water mill?

...

Ximen Bao's guess was right, the thing in front of them was indeed another crystallization of the wisdom of those literate craftsmen in the Linzhang Academy who were known as the "Learning of Craftsmanship".

Lu Ban watched the huge wheel shaft in front of him turn smoothly, and the water in the canal was continuously brought to the field, and he couldn't help showing a satisfied smile.

"Things choose to compete with the sky, and the fittest survive", what Zhao Wuxi said at Longmen had a great impact on Lu Ban. He also realized that not only people have to improve, but also things and tools, such as materials: in the time of Shennong, stones were used as soldiers; in the time of the Yellow Emperor, jade was used as soldiers; in the time of Great Yu, copper was used as soldiers; And now, at least in the Zhao family and the state of Lu, iron farm implements and weapons have been widely used.

Another example is farm implements. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, one person ploughed only ten acres, but now, with the use of ox ploughing and iron plow techniques, a family of five can plough a hundred acres of land!

Therefore, there should be some progress in irrigation tools.

He didn't notice the eyes behind him, peeping at the side, but said to Ren Zhang, the official of the Zhao family who came to supervise the construction, "A few years ago, Zigong traveled south to Chu State, and when he was passing through Hanyin on his way back, he saw a The father-in-law of Chu State worked hard to irrigate water from the urn, and the work is half the work... This urn to draw water is probably the most primitive method of irrigation."

"So Zigong told the old man Lu and Wei of a kind of labor-saving tool, called '槔'. It is made by using a horizontal log on a wooden frame, with a wooden bucket for water at one end and a heavy weight at the other end. Like a lever, it can save the power to draw water. From irrigating the ground with the urn to the initial use of the equipment to draw water, it can be said that it is an improvement, but it is not enough."

He pointed behind him, so scared that Ximen Bao and the others thought their whereabouts were discovered, and ran away with a wow sound. Lu Ban watched suspiciously for a while before continuing: "The keel waterwheel is widely used in Yecheng. All townships, this is another step forward compared to Jue..."

"But with the drum cart today, mechanical irrigation will reach its peak!" Looking at the works in front of him proudly, Lu Ban is very ambitious.

The trolley is the name of the huge axle machine in front of you, and it is another masterpiece of Lu Ban after the Shaoliang Cannon. The car is more than 30 feet high, and 24 wooden spokes are supported by an axle that is 20 feet long and 3 feet in diameter, and spreads out radially. The tip of each spoke carries a scraper and bucket. The scraper wiped the water, the buckets filled with water, and the river water rushed in. With the momentum of the water, the waterwheels weighing more than ten tons were slowly rotated, and the buckets filled with the river water were lifted up step by step. At the top, the bucket tilts naturally due to gravity, feeding water into the aqueduct and into the irrigated farmland.

This is the principle of the drum car, which is basically the combination of a water mill and a keel water wheel, which is not complicated. Although its lifting and irrigation capacity is very small, due to its continuous rotation around the clock, from the time when the river water rises in March and April to when the water level drops in winter, a single waterwheel can irrigate two thousand mu of farmland for a large one, and a small one It can irrigate more than 1,000 acres of land, and does not require other energy sources.

Compared with the keel waterwheel, it is not only more effective, but also saves valuable manpower and animal power.

That's why Luban regarded it as the most efficient irrigation tool he could think of.

Ren Zhang was also very interested in this thing, he smiled: "In this way, many manpower can be liberated from the fields and fully rested."

"Rest?" Lu Ban felt inexplicable. He was not interested in Ren Zhang, the disciple of Lao Tzu, who taught the doctrine of "governance by doing nothing", but a radical engineering school...

"That's right, the construction of the trolley did save many people from irrigating in the fields all day, but people couldn't be idle, practicing battle formations, reading and literacy, opening up wasteland and mines to create greater wealth, or, It's to go to the front line with troops for the Zhao family!"

"A soldier is an ominous weapon, not a gentleman's weapon. It is used as a last resort!" Ren Zhang retorted, "Now that the Zhao family is peaceful and the territory is vast, why bother to have border troubles again?" The reason is to cause the surrounding countries to fall into war, while the Zhao family is at ease.

"How can you allow others to sleep on the side of the couch?" Lu Ban was deeply influenced by Zhao Wuxi's words.

"Relying on the greatness of the country and the multitude of the people, those who want to see power over the enemy are called arrogant soldiers, and those who are arrogant will be destroyed!" In the end, the two of them have already said that they are different from each other, and Ren Zhang has also finished reading the project. Then he left angrily, and he planned to write a remonstrance when he went back, asking Zhao Wuxi to retire next year and not to fight.

Lu Ban, on the other hand, glanced at Ren Zhang's far-away back, only to think that this person was incapable of eating ancient times, why did Shangqing value him so much.

He looked at the huge drum cart that was turning in front of him, and while Ren Zhang was annoyed, it was like a flash of lightning, and a thought flashed in his mind.

"Shangqing said that people can not only rely on the strength of themselves and livestock, but also find ways to use other forces of nature, such as wind, water, and the sun, as well as invisible and intangible, but real, called 'gravity'. ' things. I made water mills and drum carts, which are considered to be the use of water power in farming, and their foundations are water wheels that rotate on their own under the scouring of water currents."

"That Renzhang's ignorance reminded me that the water wheel can not only be installed on water mills and drum carts, but also can be used in iron smelting..."

Time has entered this year~lightnovelpub.net~ Zhao's iron smelting technology, both in terms of output and quality, has entered a bottleneck period. A stove uses several knuckles, which are put together and arranged in a row, which is called "pai sac" or "pai kui".

The platoon can no longer be stirred by manpower alone. Many animals must pull the axle together to drive it to blow air up and down, so that the furnace can have a higher temperature and smelt better and more iron.

Lu Ban suddenly thought: What if the power that drives the axles is changed from livestock to water?

If this is the case, I don't know how many manpower will be liberated from the workshop, and Zhao's annual iron and iron weapon production will double!

The iron armor and iron helmet that Zhao Shangqing had always dreamed of, or the whole body of bronze armor, may become a reality under the hammering of the forging hammer driven by hydraulic power.

For a time, Lu Ban began to dance, wishing to go back and start the experiment immediately, and the water wheel spinning in front of him also changed in his eyes.

This is also the giant wheel of the times. With Yecheng as the center, it turns quietly, not only moistening the ten thousand acres of farmland, but also driving the whole world...(.)