Chapter 441 Self-Armament

While Pingzhou's infrastructure was in full swing, Lv Songli was not idle either.

The Seventh Institute reported a result, and she planned to take some time to go and see it.

Well, the Seventh Institute has also moved to Liaoxi County. However, at present, only four courtyards in the Seventh Institute, including Lv Mingzhi, are working.

Zhan Ruoshui and his two apprentices Zhou Congguang and Wei Wenqian went back to their hometown to visit their relatives. Counting it up, they have been away from home for more than a year and miss their families very much.

So, when they came to talk about this, Lv Songli agreed with both reason and emotion. The storm is coming, and it would be good for them to go back and visit their relatives before the war breaks out. It would be even better if they could bring their relatives to Pingzhou together.

During this period, Lv Songli also asked the housekeeper in their courtyard, Lv Mingzhi, and Zhan Ruoshui and his apprentice to talk more about the benefits of the whole family living in Pingzhou. I don't know if they listened to it.

Lu Songli ordered, "Make arrangements. We have to go to the Seventh Institute of Technology today."

The Seventh Institute of Technology made the cement she specified, and she couldn't wait to inspect it.

If the Xianbei marched southward, war would be inevitable for Pingzhou, a town on the frontier of the border. A tall and solid city would become particularly important. Cement is too important as a building adhesive.

When Lu Songli and his party arrived at the Seventh Institute of Technology, Lu Mingzhi and Sheng Peiguang, as well as their senior brother Ye Chengqian and second senior brother Gao Yan, were already waiting there.

Ye Chengqian and Gao Yan were both very stable and mature.

Lu Songli wanted to show some concern for them, but Sheng Peiguang couldn't wait, "Mrs. Qin Liu, take a look, is this the cement you want?"

The cement they made was about seven or eight pounds and was placed in a wooden basin.

When Lu Songli got close, she smelled a pungent smell, and she even picked up a small handful to try the feel.

It can be felt that the cement particles are still relatively rough, with a sense of stagnation, not uniform, not smooth enough, and the color is yellow and white, indicating that the strength of the cement is not enough.

But seeing the expectant eyes of Ye Chengqian and Gao Yan, Lu Songli did not directly say a negative conclusion, but said, "Bring water and see the effect."

Lu Songli wanted to see the solidification effect.

Lu Mingzhi quickly fetched a basin of water.

Ye Chengqian put some cement into the clean water.

Everyone stared at the basin with bated breath.

Lu Songli was also observing whether it could quickly settle and form blocks.

Finally, Lu Songli found that after the cement hardened, it was easy to fall off, which meant that the viscosity was not enough. She knew that the quality was not up to standard when she saw the color of the cement before, and she was not very disappointed.

Ye Chengqian, Gao Yan and others were quite disappointed.

Lu Songli encouraged, "It is already very close to the effect we want. If you work harder and improve it, it should be fine."

Nandi

For a few ordinary scholars, they feel that the three years of Tianhe are too unfriendly to them.

First, the price of paper has increased, and the prices of other four treasures of the study and books have also increased slightly. In addition, scholars consume a lot of paper, which directly increases their reading costs.

The scholars in the south are very dissatisfied with this, and Zhou Jing is one of them.

But some people agree with this.

"To be honest, Lu's silver paper has been improved and its quality is better than the snow paper sold by the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce Bookstore. The price of the new silver paper is a little higher than that of the snow paper. Isn't this normal?"

Zhou Jing found that the scholar who spoke was called Han Tiancheng, who had countless land and shops at home and a wealthy family.

Zhou Jing did not agree with his words.

For the same price, when the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce Bookstore was still there, they could buy three knives of snow paper, that is, 300 sheets, but now they can only buy 240 sheets of silver paper.

They are just ordinary scholars. For them, snow paper and silver paper of previous quality are completely enough.

But now they are forced to buy silver paper with higher price and better quality.

"Take a look at the title page of the recent book. The famous writer's message is copied from the rare copy of "Gongming History". The ancient sages once commented on "Gongming History", saying that it is good at arranging things and reasoning, eloquent but not flowery, and simple but not vulgar."

"If there were no Lu, no silver paper, where would you know the wonderful content of this book? Believe it or not, if there were no Lu, even if someone was willing to spend ten or a hundred gold, they would not be able to read the wonderful "Gongming History."

"Ask yourself, is it worth it?"

After Han Tiancheng finished speaking, many people agreed, "Brother Tan is right."

Zhou Jing found that those who agreed were all scholars from wealthy families in the south.

Han Tiancheng's words may make sense. But for scholars from ordinary families, they have not read many books in the world, and have not reached the point where they need to seek rare books to read after reading a lot of books.

Basic needs are not met, how can they think about icing on the cake?

Zhou Jing was too lazy to defend himself and left without saying a word.

As soon as Zhou Jing got home, someone knocked on his door.

He opened the door and found that the visitor was his classmate and the manager of the Xie family.

"What's the matter?"

"Brother Zhou, can you come in and talk?"

Zhou Jing stepped aside for the sake of his classmate and let the two of them in.

The manager of the Xie family quickly explained his purpose, but Zhou Jing was not interested in the other party's proposal.

The manager of the Xie family left with a look of regret, and before leaving, he said that if Zhou Jing changed his mind, he could come to him at any time.

Zhou Jing's classmates were puzzled by his rejection of the olive branch extended by Xie. "We only need to sort out the documents. The work is not heavy. The monthly salary is five taels of silver, which is quite a lot. Why did you refuse?"

"Aren't you very dissatisfied with the price increase of silver paper in Lu's bookstore? With this job, we can completely ignore the price increase of silver paper and other four treasures of the study."

Zhou Jing said, "Why don't you think about it? When the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce bookstore was there, we didn't need to work for Xie at all. We can still afford to study."

Yes, for a scholar like Zhou Jing from a middle-class family, it is very attractive to easily earn five taels of silver a month.

Zhou Jing didn't have a problem with the work. He had a problem with the way Xie recruited them.

Everyone knows that Xie and Lu are good friends. Now it is obvious that one is playing the red face and the other is drinking the white face.

The bookstore in the south is monopolized by Lu. Lu deliberately raised the price of paper and then let Xie's people recruit them later to make them grateful. It's a good idea. He would not be fooled!

Seeing that he could not be persuaded, his classmates also left Zhou's house.

When Zhou Jing was alone, he took out the letter from his good friend Ning Changge, put it in front of him, and fell into deep thought. He wanted to visit Liaodong Academy last year, but unfortunately his mother was sick, so he did not go.

However, he often communicated with his good friend, and through his good friend's description, he was full of yearning for Liaodong County.

The Liaodong County in his friend's letter was always positive, which was like a hook that made his heart itch.