Chapter 418 Living in Chang'an Is Not Easy

After the young supervisor finished talking to himself, he saw Yan Lide suddenly raised his head and stared at him closely.

"Supervisor, I was just joking..."

"No... maybe there really is a lack of rafters."

Yan Lide shook his head, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt it was possible.

Because cement is like mud before it solidifies, their many attempts were to build the wall base with rammed earth.

But this cement is not yellow mud after all, so the rammed earth method may not be suitable for cement.

When he thought of it, he tried it. At that moment, Yan Lide did not hesitate to gather people again and share his guess.

A group of craftsmen looked at each other again, but then they did not hesitate to act again.

After all, this is the place where the supervisor of construction is in charge of all kinds of crafts. Those who work here are either craftsmen themselves or know the methods of craftsmen.

Therefore, they also know the simplest truth:

Whether it works or not, you will know after trying it.

Everyone worked together, discussing and using tools to make a simple set of rafters for the imagined rammed earth wall.

The wooden piles were used as the foundation, and after estimating the thickness of the cement wall, they built boards on both sides. Then, inside, the rafters and purlins were interlaced to form the skeleton of a wall.

While a group of craftsmen were building the wall skeleton, another craftsman tacitly prepared new iron slag cement slurry. After confirming that the wall wood skeleton was completed, they worked together to pour it in.

Seeing the completion, Yan Lide also breathed a sigh of relief:

"Success or failure, we will know tomorrow."

It will take time to wait for the cement to solidify. The people in the general construction supervisor clocked out smoothly, and did not forget to wash their hands and dust before leaving.

So Yan Lide looked at a group of craftsmen with an average age of at least 35 years old, swarming to the corner of this courtyard with a swarm of bees -

That was where the water diversion channel of the general construction supervisor was located.

At this time, beside the water diversion channel, an iron cylinder had been buried, with a handle on it that could be used to press, and a small tube in the middle of the iron cylinder facing the courtyard.

In the end, only the winner who ran the front held the iron handle first, and his expression instantly became proud:

"Line up, come and get water!"

After that, he pressed hard.

This is naturally a water pressure well. With drawings, people and materials, it is almost no difficulty for Yan Lide to replicate it. That night, he made one for Li Shimin, and the princes and princesses played with it as a new toy.

However, Li Shimin and Yan Lide didn't understand what this thing was used for.

After all, seriously speaking, the function of this water pressure well is no different from that of a bucket to draw water. It can't make water out of thin air, and most of its parts are cast in iron, and the cost is not low.

Without the convenience of the general supervisor, the cost of building this thing by a wealthy private family would be much more expensive than the price of a Turkic slave.

Although it is known to be a good thing under the situation of being praised by later generations, how to use it has become an unresolved issue.

So in addition to a water pressure well in the palace, Yan Lide simply built a water pressure well in the General Works Office with the remaining materials, hoping to gather ideas and come up with a great use for it.

But unfortunately... now it seems that this thing is only used for playing and playing in the General Works Office.

Shaking his head with amusement, Yan Lide's mentality is open-minded. If it is useless, it is useless. After all, the General Works Office is now responsible for maritime affairs, and has to step up the supervision of the Wu Lei Office's allocation of gunpowder, as well as the production of glass. In addition, Fang Xuanling recently proposed to him privately that a group of young craftsmen should be selected to learn mathematics.

There are enough things to do, and Yan Lide also chose to queue up to wash his hands with water from the water pressure well, and then punch in and go home at ease.

Going south from the Hanguang Gate of the Imperial City, crossing two streets, passing Taipingfang and Tongyifang, Xinghuafang, which is where Yan Lide's residence is.

To the west of here is Yankangfang, which was Yang Su's old residence in the pre-Sui Dynasty. Now the largest mansion has been given by His Majesty to his son, Li Tai, the King of Yue.

Further west is Xishi, so Yan Lide's mansion is definitely a prime location.

The brothers were able to live here because they were officials in the pre-Sui Dynasty and were familiar with the housing prices in Chang'an. Taking advantage of the change of dynasties, the brothers spent all their money to buy a small mansion in Xinghuafang to live in.

That's why Yan Lide would look at the vast mansion of Li Tai, the King of Yue, from afar every day when he passed by - I heard that the King of Yue was very favored and often stayed in the palace, and this mansion was not often visited, which made Yan Lide very envious.

This Yan's mansion in Xinghuafang is convenient, but it is too small.

Yan Lide suddenly thought of the Tongtian Tower in the future - with this means, the future should not be affected by the housing prices in Kyoto.

I wonder if there are thousands of mansions to make all the people happy?

Shaking off these sudden thoughts, Yan Lide quickened his pace. After all, his younger brother was probably waiting for him to have dinner together.

Now the two brothers are in different positions. Yan Lide is more and more comfortable in the General Works Office, and he is the last one to leave every day.

Yan Liben is different. He is almost the first to slip away when he is off duty every day, so he has to wait for his brother to have dinner together every day.

After washing his hands again, Yan Lide also sat down, and then almost immediately lamented:

"Vegetarian again?"

"If it's like this every day, I might as well go to Chongdefang to become a monk."

Chongdefang is next to Xinghuafang in the south. There is a Chongyan Temple built in the Jin Dynasty, which is also quite famous in Chang'an.

After hearing what his brother said, Yan Liben put down his bowls and chopsticks, stared at his hands, and looked like he was crying secretly.

This actually made Yan Lide feel quite sorry, so he could only quickly comfort his younger brother, saying that he should be vegetarian to lighten his body and rest his mind.

He had also heard how strict Dr. Sun was, and what his younger brother said was that Dr. Sun required the painter to hold a knife and dissect together, and to touch the internal organs with his own hands to know their positions. Yan Lide thought that he could not handle such a situation.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was usually a bit dull. Later, when the children were led away by the servants and the bowls and chopsticks were removed and replaced with tea, Yan Lide had time to express concern:

"When will the anatomy diagram be completed?"

Seeing his brother like this, he couldn't bear it. After the painting was completed, he went to His Majesty to ask for help, and asked his brother to come and serve as prisoner for help.

Yan Liben naturally knew his brother's intention. He hesitated when he heard this question. Finally, he gritted his teeth, took out a stack of paper from under the table and whispered:

"Brother, these are what I have done in my free time recently."

Yan Lide didn't know why, but he still took the painting.

It can be seen that these are drawn by my younger brother with a pen. The drawing paper is not large, the figures are simple, and the content of the drawings is also simple. They are sitting or lying, running or jumping. They are ordinary figures.

Yan Lide quickly finished flipping through the stack of seven or eight paintings, and then with a slight "eh" sound, he flipped back the stack of small paintings and looked back at the first one one by one.

Yan Lide was also good at fine brushwork, and now he noticed the difference and felt happy for his younger brother:

"The art of painting has improved again!"

Previously, they had only imitated the paintings of later generations. After all, they did not know the painting steps of later generations, so they could only use the stupidest method to reproduce exactly what they saw.

But the disadvantage is that it is difficult to achieve the level and charm of imitation when painting ordinary things. But what his brother painted at this time was different. Yan Lide could vaguely feel that these simple paintings were moving closer to the style of later paintings seen in the light curtain.

Facing his brother's doubtful and probing gaze, Yan Liben had a complex expression:

"I owe my improvement in painting skills to Imperial Physician Sun."