It was the beginning of a new day. Ang Lee got up refreshed, stretched, and walked out of the door. At this time, the sun had not completely risen, and there was still a trace of cold air in the air. Even a strong man like Ang Lee could not help but shiver.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp …"
A group of magpies suddenly sounded. There were three to five of them, and all of them landed on the tall pear tree in the yard next door. They were not looking for food, nor were they returning to their nests. It seemed that they were here to report the good news.
Magpies reporting good news was just a superstition. In fact, there was no such thing at all. At this time, the ecology of the Tang dynasty was relatively good, and no one was willing to hunt magpies. Therefore, the number of magpies had increased greatly, and people could often hear the sound of magpies.
Although there was no scientific basis for magpies reporting good news, it did not prevent people from liking the sound of magpies. For example, Ang Lee did not believe in magpies reporting good news, but he was still very happy to hear the sound of magpies.
"Magpies reporting good news early in the morning. It seems that the handheld corn sheller yesterday must have been finished. I can try it myself later."
Ang Lee said to himself.
After eating some delicious food, Ang Lee went to work in the R&D Center as usual and began a pleasant day of work.
Because the salary was high enough, the staff of the R&D Center were full of enthusiasm. They knew very well that as long as they made achievements, they could earn a lot of money. Ang Lee rewarded the staff who did a good job well. Ang Lee was a generous person.
"Good morning, Assistant Minister Li."
"Good morning, Assistant Minister Li."
All the low-level officials who saw Ang Lee saluted respectfully. They were the only ones without skills here, but they were good at management. They knew how to control the staff here and how to make everyone obedient. They also knew how to deal with emergencies. Skilled craftsmen could only work, and they did not know how to manage.
For example, Liu Bang did not know how to lead troops to war, but he could control generals. This was enough. Being able to control generals must be of a higher level than directly leading soldiers. Otherwise, how could he sit on the throne of the emperor?
No matter what era it was, professional and technical talents were always suppressed. No matter how high their ability was, it was nothing more than a trick. How could they be compared with the high and mighty scholars? How could they be compared with the gentry?
Li An had once seen a picture where a magician gently lifted the curtain and immediately conjured a parrot. However, a high-ranking official easily conjured a mansion with beautiful women and luxurious cars beside it. Even the magician felt inferior. Magic was magic, but it paled in comparison to real politics. There was no comparison at all.
There was no comparison at all. To put it simply, people who played with production were not as good as people who played with exchange, and people who played with exchange were not as good as people who played with integration. This was a completely different level of difference.
A farmer worked hard for a year, but the grain he planted could not be sold for much money. In the society of later generations, they could not even recoup their costs. The frequent losses caused many farmers to rather let the land grow grass than plant it. This caused a large amount of land to be wasted.
Exchange referred to the merchant class. They did not need to work hard to farm. They only needed to spend money to buy the crops produced by farmers, and then sell them to the city hawkers at a high price. The money earned by this class was higher than that of farmers, but not on the same level. This was the main reason why the price in the production area was dozens of times higher than the retail price in the city.
As for the higher level of integration forces, they were involved in finance. With a casual move, hundreds of millions of dollars would be in their pockets. After waking up, they had increased their assets by tens of billions. This was more than the income of countless businessmen and farmers. It made people dumbfounded. They could not believe that this was real. However, this was all real.
Of course, there were more powerful forces, such as the emperor of the Tang dynasty. As long as the emperor was short of money, he could take away all the wealth of the richest person with a word. It was useless to make a scene. If the emperor ordered his subjects to die, they had to die. Now, the emperor did not want you to die. He just wanted you to take out your property, and you had to obediently hand it over. Of course, the current Tang dynasty would not do that, because the royal family was not short of money, and the national treasury was very full. In this case, there was no need to make trouble with the rich, nor was there much need to plunder the property of the common people. After all, according to the economic theory, only when the common people had money to spend could the development of the Tang dynasty be faster and better.
"Assistant Minister Li, the parts that we asked the craftsmen to make yesterday are all ready. Please have a look."
A petty official pointed to various parts placed in the open air and said.
"Good, good! With so many parts, we can assemble several machines. Assemble them now. You guys, listen to my orders. "
Ang Lee pointed to several craftsmen and asked them to work.
"Yes, yes, yes. Put the big one first, then put the small one in. Finally, the screws on the side must be tightened. The base must also be fixed. It can't be shaken. Oh, it seems that we need a more stable base."
After instructing the craftsmen to assemble three hand-cranked corn threshers, Ang Lee felt that this tool was a little light. When he really worked hard, it was not stable enough. It would be perfect if there was a heavier base.
"Assistant Minister Li, this is easy. Just put a thick plank under it. I saw a few useless thick planks in the morning. They are about the same size. It will be ready soon."
As the craftsmen spoke, they glanced at Ang Lee's eyes and then ran away quickly.
Ang Lee kicked the three hand-cranked corn threshers that had just been assembled and nodded with satisfaction. Although the base was not very stable, it was much better than peeling by hand as long as it was used properly. If a thick plank was added to the base, this defect could be solved. In this way, it would become a divine tool for peeling corn. Because the structure was relatively simple and did not require high skills, ordinary craftsmen could also imitate it. Therefore, once it was launched, there would be people selling imitations on the market immediately. Thus, this technology could better serve the people and increase the speed of development of the Tang Empire.
"Go, bring me all the corn cobs you brought yesterday. I want to try it myself."
Ang Lee said.
A petty official ran to get the corn cobs in person and soon ran back.
Yesterday, he had taken more than a dozen corn cobs that had not been peeled from the Zhao Family's corn threshing workshop. Now, he was going to use these corn cobs as an experiment to see how effective it was and whether it was several times faster than manual labor.
A petty official considerately brought a small stool for Ang Lee so that he could sit and do the experiment.
Ang Lee sat on the stool gently. He put the corn cobs into the mouth of the hand-cranked corn thresher with his left hand and gently pressed down. Then, his right hand turned the handle hard. Then, a miracle happened. The corn kernels on the corn cobs fell off one after another, leaving only the bare corn cobs at the bottom.
"Good, good, very good. It seems that this hand-cranked corn thresher has been successfully developed. You guys can also try it!"
Ang Lee said happily.
The petty officials also felt that it was very interesting. They all went to try it out happily.
"Oh, you are quite strong!"
"It's okay! Is it because you're too weak? Can this little bit of strength satisfy your wife? "
"Hahaha!"
Ang Lee had already walked far away. The petty officials were joking while trying it out. These guys had already understood Ang Lee's temper. They knew that as long as it was not something out of line, Ang Lee would not take it to heart.
Through the experience of these guys, they indeed found that the hand-cranked corn sheller had a certain flaw. Although this thing was a good thing, if one was not careful when using it, the tool would tilt up, and this was naturally caused by the instability of the site. If the site was stable enough, this kind of thing would not have happened.
Soon, the craftsman who had left ran back with a few thick planks. He specially processed the planks and removed the edges of these planks so that they would not hurt people.
Without Li An's reminder, the craftsman took the hammer and nails and skillfully nailed the hand-cranked corn sheller onto the thick wooden planks. Only then were the hand-cranked corn shellers completed. It was easier to use them, and they no longer had to worry about the corn shellers tilting up and not being able to use their strength.
The planks had been nailed, but more than a dozen corn cobs had been used up. If they wanted to continue to try it out, they could only go to the corn workshop to try it out.
"You guys carry these to the cart. Let's go to the Zhao Family's corn thresher workshop together. There are enough corn cobs there. Let's see how it works."
Ang Lee said.
Soon, his subordinates and a few craftsmen carried the newly built corn thresher onto the cart, and then went straight to the Zhao Family's corn thresher workshop.
The Zhao Family's little housekeeper never thought that Ang Lee, who had just come yesterday, would come again early in the morning. The time difference between the two visits was too short. It was less than a day. This made him a little flattered. He did not know that Ang Lee would visit again. Otherwise, he would definitely inform his master in advance and let his master come to greet him personally.
"Greetings, Assistant Minister Li."
The Zhao Family's little housekeeper quickly came to greet him.
Ang Lee was not polite. He said, "The workers are here to work! That's easy. Take the newly made corn thresher here and try it out. If it works well, make more of it and promote it. "
After that, he waved his hand and asked a few craftsmen to quickly bring the hand-cranked corn thresher up.
The Zhao Family's little housekeeper had never seen such a machine. He felt that it was very magical. He seemed to be able to see how it was used. He was full of expectations for this gadget.
The reason why Ang Lee wanted to take the machine here to test it was mainly to figure out how efficient this hand-cranked tool was. How many times faster could it be than purely manual corn threshing. Ang Lee was eager to know how much manual labor could be replaced by a hand-cranked corn thresher. This was something that Ang Lee urgently wanted to know. It was also something that he had to figure out.
After going up to the workshop on the second floor, Ang Lee saw a group of men working. These men were working very hard. Ang Lee randomly selected three people and let them try the hand-cranked tool and learn how to use it.
It was because this tool was too simple. Although these men were not very smart, they were not fools. Naturally, they could see how to use this tool. After adapting for a while, they learned how to use this tool. Then, they continued to adapt and become proficient in it.
"How is it? Is it good?"
Ang Lee asked.
This was simply asking the obvious. Whether the tool was good or not was written on the faces of these three men. Obviously, it was very good. If it was not good, they would not be so happy.
"Good, very good. Hehehe."
"This is still good. This is good."
"Much better than a knife."
The three men were very positive. They praised the machine that Ang Lee brought. They were simply full of praise.
"This tool is much faster than peeling corn by hand. It's a good thing!"
The Zhao Family's little housekeeper smiled with satisfaction.
Ang Lee smiled with satisfaction. He looked at the Zhao Family's little housekeeper and said, "Why don't we participate in the competition? Let's have a competition between those who use the hand-cranked corn thresher tool and those who do not use the tool to see how much faster it is. This way, I can also figure out how effective this tool is. "
The Zhao Family's little housekeeper naturally agreed. He quickly said, "It's best to have a competition. I think it's at least five times faster."
The officials around Ang Lee thought it was six or seven times faster. Some said it could be ten times faster. Everyone's estimates were slightly different, but the overall result was about the same.
"Assistant Minister Li, how do you think we should compete? I'll ask them to stop and get busy with the competition first."
The Zhao Family's little housekeeper said. In order to verify the efficiency of the machine, he naturally did not care about the temporary loss of output. As long as this machine could be obtained, the output could be quickly made up.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and felt that it was more reasonable to have a fair competition. After all, everyone's level was not the same. If the competition was carried out in groups, the strength of the individual could not be seen. In addition, the number of corn cobs in the competition could not be too small. If it was too small, the overwhelming advantage of the hand-cranked corn thresher could not be seen. If it was too long, it would definitely not work. Ang Lee's time was precious. He could not spend it all the time here. After he finished reading the data, he had to leave and return to the R&D Center.
"Why don't we do it like this? Everyone will get two hundred corn cobs, regardless of whether they use the hand-cranked tool or not. Then, they will start working at the same time. When the first person finishes processing two hundred corn cobs, everyone will immediately stop working. Then, we can count the remaining corn cobs. Won't we be able to calculate how many each person processed? "
Ang Lee suggested.
"Assistant Minister Li is right. Then we will do as Assistant Minister Li says. I will go and prepare now."
The Zhao Family's little housekeeper felt that Ang Lee's words were very reasonable. Thus, he immediately ran over and asked everyone to stop working and prepare for the competition. He meant that everyone should participate in the competition.
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