Chapter 311 How Big Has Bianliang Changed?

In late June of the fifth year of Qingli, the autumn of August was approaching, and the biennial imperial examination drama was about to be staged again, and Bianliang became very lively again.

Outside Datong Gate, there was a lot of traffic. There were countless boats at the water gate, drifting along the canal and entering the city.

The pier is crowded with people and there are many signboards. Groups of dock workers came and went, moving the goods on board to several large warehouses such as Fuguocang, Wanyingcang, Guangjicang, and Guangyingcang.

These warehouses gathered the people of Bianliang and even shipped grain, tea, ironware, and cloth to various roads in Hebei and Shaanxi. They can be said to be the lifeblood of a country.

At noon, several large ships slowly docked, and a middle-aged man on the ship walked off the deck with a young man in his twenties.

The young man stood on the pier and looked around. When he saw the excitement and prosperity, he couldn't help but said: "Dad, I haven't been to Tokyo for several years. Why is Tokyo like this now? It seems strange to me."

The middle-aged man smiled and said: "Bianliang has changed a long time ago. The outer city has almost turned into the inner city. Didn't you see it on the way here just now? There are now people and streets outside the city."

The young man scratched his head and said with some surprise: "It has only been nine years. I didn't expect that there will be more people in Kaifeng and the streets will become more crowded. Wait a minute."

He suddenly turned his eyes and looked at an open space on the other side of the river, and said in a voiceless voice: "What is that?"

The middle-aged man followed his gaze and saw that there was an open space to the south of Yuxian Temple, north of Bianshui River, on Datongmen East Street.

A large number of workers are building steel bars, laying bricks and tiles, applying cement, and building a five-story building.

"It seems that the government office in Dongzangku is building it. The thing they use is called cement, which was invented by the government a few years ago. Now all government offices and public houses in Bianliang are built with this cement. It can build five or six floors. The building is high.”

The middle-aged man explained, and then said: "My father once asked someone to ask how to make this cement. Wouldn't it be better if it was used to repair houses? However, this thing requires minerals, and even the imperial court can only produce it on a small scale. , it is difficult to develop it in large quantities, which is a pity.”

The Kaifeng Cement Factory is built just outside Xicheng, but Kaifeng does not have iron ore, limestone, or clay mines. Raw materials need to be brought in from other places, and then manually mixed to make temporary on-site production.

This is not only inefficient, but also the output is not high, and can only be used for this small amount 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 transportation convenience and ease of transportation.

After all, cement will solidify quickly if you don't use it after you make it.

Therefore, it is best to have the three types of minerals not far away from each other. After gathering the raw materials, mix them together to make cement powder, and then just add water when needed.

Otherwise, just by transporting raw materials from various places and then making them in the factory, the cost will still be a bit high, which will make mass production temporarily impossible.

However, it will be much better in the future when steam engines become more common and trains appear to make transportation more convenient.

At that time, the raw materials can be gathered in the cement factory by pulling them together, and then put the raw materials together, forge them into powder with a steam engine, put them in sacks, and send them to various places to become cement.

It has to be said 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 still be an agricultural society after all.

The young man looked blankly at the construction site where houses were being built in full swing, and murmured to himself: "Da Song is really different from before."

"That is, today's official sage, the magistrate is decisive in killing and suppressing Xiaoxiao. Fan Xianggong is like a god in using troops, and he can govern the country well. And our official family is even more amazing, they are like gods in the world."

A passerby heard the conversation between the father and son and saw that they were from out of town. He smiled and pointed at a woman washing clothes by the river in the distance and said, "Did you see what the woman was holding? That's called soap. The soap locust was much easier to use in the past, and it was invented by the government. "

"That was also invented by the government?"

The young man was shocked.

He was surprised when his father said that the official invented cement. After all, smart people like to think about it. It is normal to invent one or two things, but if that person invented many things, it would be a genius.

"Not only that, there are also new fertilization methods, allicin used in medical clinics, cowpox to prevent smallpox, white sugar, and honeycomb briquettes."

The passerby counted on his fingers: "Especially the briquettes, they are really useful. Now we use them to boil water at home, which saves a lot of firewood than before. I don't know the rest, if Xiao Lang wants to know. , just look for some old newspapers.”

Since there were many time-travel historical novels in Zhao Jun's laptop, Zhao Zhen took away the laptop on the grounds that he was looking for inventions in the time-travel novels.

He now only does five things every day - go to court, read novels in the morning, and play with his laptop. In the afternoon, there was a regular meeting in Chongzheng Hall, and then he went to the back garden to conduct experiments, and in the evening he had sex with his concubines.

After a few years of this, he really found a lot of good things in historical novels.

In addition to the fact that glass cannot be made without soda, the white sugar and yellow mud water decolorization method that appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, the cowpox prevention method that appeared in the 18th century, and even the recipe for honeycomb briquettes were developed.

Even Zhao Jun didn't know how to make briquettes. In March this year, he accidentally found a record in a novel. After learning the complete recipe for making honeycomb briquettes, Zhao Zhen felt like he had found a treasure and quickly started experiments on his own in Houyuan.

Except for the time spent making a briquette mold in the first two days, it only took him one day to successfully develop briquettes by adding various raw materials and distributing them in proportion.

So the imperial court set up a briquette factory in May. The only pity was that it was summer and briquettes were not as effective as winter.

But even this has attracted many people to buy it.

After all, as the number of people in Bianliang increases, the forests outside the city are almost cleared, and the price of firewood and charcoal becomes more and more expensive. Firewood often needs to be transported from far away places to meet the needs of the people.

There are low-priced and burn-resistant briquettes for sale, as well as attached coal stoves, and there are newspapers to promote them. Naturally, people are willing to try it and see the effect.

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

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

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

If it becomes truly popular, it probably won’t be until the end of the year.

Moreover, charcoal is also the source of food and clothing for many firewood collectors and charcoal burners. The imperial court cannot be one-size-fits-all. It can only over-plan step by step, and it is impossible to produce large-scale production immediately.

But even so, the words of the passerby shocked the young man.

The changes in Tokyo now are indeed unimaginable. It is completely different from Bianliang nine years ago. Not only has the city expanded a lot, but even the street layout and urban construction have also changed so much that he is a little at a loss.

Today's officials are really gods.

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

The late summer sun shines on the streets, but the obviously hot weather does nothing to stop the people coming and going on the streets.

The rows of streets are more prosperous than before. Every house is decorated with lights and ribbons are swaying in the wind.

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

"Fresh rice cakes, fresh rice cakes, would you like to have a taste, sir?"

"Candied haws on a stick, there are delicious candied haws on a stick."

"Spices come from the Western Regions. Come and take a look. They are all kinds of good ingredients."

"This year's best summer tea, freshly picked, is still tender. It has just been roasted, come and smell the fragrance of this tea."

The vendors were shouting hard, and various aromas of rice, tea, spices and other unknown mixed smells came to the nostrils, giving people a chaotic feeling.

The father and son walked through the streets, and it was almost time for dinner. They were still a little far away from their shop. The middle-aged man asked: "Are you hungry in this world?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a waiter from a nearby shop immediately came over and said with a flattering smile: "Sir, you have come from afar. If you are hungry, the shop has tea, pastries, meals, everything you need, as well as new pepper from overseas. Stir-fried vegetables, Zhiyuan likes this the most.”

"Pepper stir-fry?"

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

"Okay, please invite me inside. Is it the lobby on the first floor or by the window on the second floor?"

"On the second floor."

"Shopkeeper, you two guests."

The waiter shouted.

The restaurant is coming and going, in and out, there are many vendors outside the store, and there are crowds of people.

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

After ordering, the young man looked out the window. From a high place, he could see the scenery of Bianliang more clearly.

He saw a tall building being erected in the north, about five stories high. Except for the seven-story Fantai Temple Tower, this was already the tallest brick building.

Moreover, it is painted with red paint on the outside, and its shape is not square, but a circular tube building with brackets and cornices. At first glance, I thought it was the temple of Xiangguo Temple, but it is completely different.

"In this world, look over there."

The middle-aged man suddenly pointed to several tall buildings in the distance and said with emotion: "It's Fan Tower. My father brought you here before, but he left quickly."

"Yes, the child almost caused a disaster at that time."

The young man sighed.

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

The middle-aged man was Feng Shi. He said: "I returned to Tokyo this time to take the scientific examination. During this time, you can study in the shop at home, or you can go out to play and find classmates, but remember to be careful in your words and deeds."

"yes."

Feng Jing responded.

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

A few years later, Feng's business changed, and he settled in Ezhou, Hubei.

He continued his studies in Ezhou and prepared for the imperial examination.

As a result, Feng Shi found out that the imperial court had vigorously developed science education in recent years and had included mathematics in the imperial examinations. There were rumors that chemistry and physics would be included.

However, Feng Jing had not studied mathematics, physics and chemistry in a public school set up by the imperial court before, which obviously might cause him to fail to pass the Jinshi examination in the future.

Therefore, Feng Shi originally wanted Feng Jing to settle down for a few more years and solidify his knowledge before taking the imperial examination. Now he has to take the imperial examination in advance to avoid failing the examination when chemistry and physics are added to the imperial examination in the future.

Fortunately, as a businessman, Feng Jing was well versed in mathematics, so even if mathematics were added to the imperial examination, it should not be a big deal given his current level of knowledge.

The father and son chatted about other things for a while. Feng Shi was in the tea business and traveled back and forth between Kaifeng and Ezhou every year. He was used to it.

Feng Jing was very curious and marveled at the great changes in Kaifeng Prefecture in just nine years.

At this time, a child came up from downstairs with a backpack on his back and a large folded paper in his hand, shouting: "Sell newspapers, sell newspapers, the court has a new policy again, the court has a new policy again."

"What new policy, give me one quickly."

"I want one too."

"Come on, I'll give you five copper coins."

When the customers on the second floor heard about the newspaper, they immediately bought it.

In recent years, the price of newspapers has also dropped a lot, from more than ten cents at the beginning to only five cents a copy now.

At present, not to mention Jingji Road, the entire Henan Province is covered by newspapers. Kaifeng Weekly has now become Dasong Daily, with branches in Damingfu, Beijing and Yingtianfu, Nanjing.

The people are very enthusiastic about reading newspapers, and even peddlers often buy one. Some people care about national affairs, some like to read the jokes, and some like to read the poems, songs, and serialized novels.

When newspapers are allowed to be opened privately, this industry will flourish and develop rapidly across the country.

"Bring one."

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

Guests at other tables nearby have already started reading.

"Oh, the content of today's newspaper has been changed. How come all these words have become the vernacular we speak every day?"

"Didn't it say so? The prefecture should implement the vernacular reform in an all-round way, and all kinds of official documents and policies issued by various government offices should be told to the people in a simple and easy-to-understand way."

"What's the use of this? Many people can't read a single word. Even if it is written in vernacular, they still won't understand it."

"That's right, it's none of our business anyway."

"Why not? We know some words. But sometimes we don't know all the ancient texts. Isn't it much easier to turn it into vernacular?"

"It seems to make sense."

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

Only Feng Jing, after reading today's newspaper, showed deep thoughts.

Feng Shi knew that his son was always smart, so he asked: "What have you seen 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 reform is probably just the beginning."