The next day, at dawn, a five-horse carriage left Xianyang City under the escort of nearly a thousand Imperial Army soldiers.
The convoy continued to accelerate and soon arrived at the bank of the Wei River, about five miles south of Xianyang City.
"This place should be Third Brother's newly built workshop, right?”
Looking at the smoke that had been gathering in the sky for a long time, Ying Zheng's face was filled with curiosity.
"Not bad." Ying Qian nodded with a smile.
"The reason why Foolish Brother requested to purchase military rations is also because of this place.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Ying Qian pulled open the curtain and got off the carriage, followed by Ying Zheng out of curiosity.
As soon as he pushed open the door of the workshop, Ying Zheng was forced to squint his eyes by the heatwave that came straight at him.
Looking around, Ying Zheng saw a total of ten stone grinders working repeatedly in the courtyard.
Beside each millstone, there was only a craftsman pouring corn onto the millstone, but there was no cattle pulling it.
Seeing this scene, Ying Zheng ignored the heat wave in front of him and rushed forward in shock.
"This is a stone mill?"
"Why doesn't this stone mill need a cow to pull it?”
It was not that Ying Zheng had never seen a millstone before.
However, Ying Zheng had never seen a millstone that could be turned by itself without the need for cattle or even manpower.
From afar, the scene of the ten millstones moving on their own seemed like a supernatural event!
Ying Qian smiled and pointed at the wooden pole above the millstone.
"Big brother, look here."
Ying Zheng's gaze followed the wooden pole, and was surprised to find that there was no wall on the south side of the workshop's front yard.
The wooden poles on each millstone extended all the way to the south and finally connected to the rolling waterwheels!
"This is…" Ying Zheng thought.
Ying Qian explained,"This stone mill is called a water mill."”
"Use the water flow of the Weishui River to hit the waterwheel. When the waterwheel turns, it will push the wooden pole and drive the millstone.”
"In this way, there is naturally no need for people or cattle to pull the stone mill.”
"The water power is inexhaustible, there is no cost, and there is no exhaustion. Therefore, this water mill can operate 24 hours a day.”
Ying Zheng ran all the way to the waterwheel in disbelief, his fingers stroking the entire water mill inch by inch.
"Good!"
"Great!"
"Although this item is not exquisite, it is very useful to the people!”
Ying Zheng could not help but laugh out loud.
"If we can spread these water-powered mills all over Great Qin, wouldn't the people of Great Qin no longer have to pound rice every day?”
"This way, Great Qin will save a lot of manpower!”
Meng Tian, Li Si, and the others were also overjoyed. They bowed and cupped their hands in unison.
"We congratulate the king! Congratulations to Great Qin!"
Great Qin had a population of four million people, and there were nearly thirty thousand female prisoners who specialized in pounding rice. There were also a large number of female workers who worked for the rich.
Apart from the poor families who could not even bear to throw away the wheat bran, the women in ordinary families had to spend one to two hours a day to pound enough corn for their families to eat for a day.
If the water-powered mill could be fully promoted, the people who worked on the rice would be freed to do textile and farming, greatly reducing Great Qin's shortage of manpower.
This set of water mill was simply too important to Great Qin!
"My joy comes from my third brother!”
Ying Zheng faced Ying Qian and bowed happily.
"Brother, I admire your talent!"
"I thank Third Brother on behalf of Great Qin!"
Ying Qian hurriedly helped Ying Zheng up.”
"Foolish little brother is also the young master of Great Qin, so he should naturally serve the country.”
"Next, I will definitely earn a lot of money by installing this water mill. It's just a mutually beneficial move.”
"Oh right, the imperial court won't refuse to pay, right?”
When he heard the first half of the story, Ying Zheng felt gratified.
However, after hearing the rest of his words, Ying Zheng did not know whether to laugh or cry.
"This elder brother wanted to reward third brother with some land based on this achievement, but I didn't expect third brother to actually aim for the money to install the water mill?”
"Great Qin will reward those who have made contributions and punish those who have made mistakes. Protecting private property is all written into the laws of Qin. How can the Imperial Court let Third Brother suffer for nothing?”
"Give the money allocated to pound rice every year to third brother to install the water mill. The officials who manage the grain will only clap their hands and will never refuse this matter.”
"If Eldest Brother wants to reward this foolish brother with some land, then this foolish brother will gladly accept it."”
"Who would complain about having too many fiefs?”
Ying Zheng pointed at Ying Qian with his finger and shook his head with a smile,""Third Brother's skill in climbing up the pole is really impressive!”
The laughter of Ying Zheng and the others spread throughout the entire workshop.
Xiao He, who was running the workshop in the backyard, followed the voice.
"Young Master?"
Seeing the unfamiliar crowd in the front yard and the ten trembling craftsmen bowing and cupping their hands, Xiao He was at a loss.
When he saw Ying Zheng's clothes, Xiao He was greatly shocked. He hurriedly bowed and cupped his hands,""Your Majesty!"
"No need to be so polite." Ying Zheng smiled and nodded.”
Seeing the item in Xiao He's hand, Ying Qian's eyes lit up."This is the finished product?"
Xiao He immediately ran over and handed over the armor in his hand.
"Young Master, this is the first batch of finished products.”
Xiao He bowed and cupped his hands nervously."This subordinate strictly followed the manual that Young Master gave to this subordinate.”
"However, the final product is like this. This subordinate has yet to figure out what went wrong.”
"Please punish me, Young Master!"
Ying Qian nodded in satisfaction after checking it for a while."Not bad."
"You've basically met my requirements.”
Xiao He looked at Ying Qian in astonishment.
Was this really not a defective product?
Ying Zheng curiously looked at the item in Ying Qian's hand and said,""Is this the armor that Third Brother prepared for his personal guards?”
The item in Ying Qian's hand was like a plate armor that covered his upper body. There were holes on both sides that could be used to shuttle hemp ropes.
As long as the two pieces of plate armor were strung together, it would become a standard upper body armor.
The only problem was that the surface was uneven, and the corners were uneven.
Ying Zheng smiled and looked at Ying Qian.”
"To do such a thing in front of this elder brother is truly a little too much.”
"Eldest Brother, where is the armor?" Ying Qian raised his eyebrows.”
"This is military rations!"
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