A new house for marriage! This was not only the practice of the later generations, but also the practice of the Tang dynasty.
In two years, the Mo's Village had solved the problem of bachelors in the village at the fastest speed. Of course, the continuous development of the Mo's Village and the gradual prosperity of the villagers was one of the reasons. Another reason was that the Mo's Village had directly arranged a new house for each couple.
In the Tang dynasty, the houses of ordinary people were made of mud and covered with thatch. Except for the landlord's house and the city, there were no brick houses. The brand-new brick houses in the Mo's Village were not inferior to the modern villas.
What's more, Mo Jiazi's brother worked hard and had a new house for his marriage. The village was rich, so naturally, there were daughters who were willing to marry into the Mo's Village. After all, no parents were willing to let their daughters suffer for the rest of their lives.
As the biggest contributor to the change of the Mo's Village, Meton was about to get married. Naturally, they had to build a new house. As early as when Meton and Princess Changle were engaged, the Mo's Family had begun to secretly prepare for Meton's new house.
At that time, a house in the east of the Mo's Village happened to be sold. The Mo's Village found the original owner and spent a lot of money to buy it. They had been secretly remodeling it. Now, after a year, the main building was finally about to be completed.
"One, two!"
As the disciples of the Mo family yelled loudly and worked together, the wall separating the Mo family and the eastern courtyard collapsed loudly, revealing an exquisite courtyard. The courtyard had been abandoned, but after a year of improvement in the village of the Mo family, its appearance had changed greatly.
In the center of the East Courtyard, a three-story building was in sight. Anyone would notice it at first sight. If someone in the later generations was here, he would definitely recognize it at a glance. Was this the common structure of villas in the later generations?
"How could this be?"
If any bricklayer in Chang 'an City saw this scene, he would be extremely shocked. Because a brick house could only be built with one story. If it was built with two stories, it would lack the support, and it would not be long before it could not bear the gravity and cracked. However, this house in the East Courtyard of the Mo's Mansion was three stories.
"Young master!"
Mo Jiazi's brother, who was cleaning the bricks, saw Meton coming. He stood up and saluted.
Meton nodded in return. Stepping on the messy bricks, he arrived at the villa in the East Courtyard.
In front of the villa, a black-haired Daoist priest and Wu Meiniang were throwing stones into the grayish-white mud in front of them. Soon, round holes appeared in the smooth mud.
"The crater on the surface of the moon was indeed caused by an impact," Wu Meiniang said excitedly. Since the Daoist School had already given him a telescope, Meton naturally had nothing to hide. As the eldest disciple of the School of Mo, Wu Meiniang naturally used the School of Mo's telescope to observe the surface of the moon.
The black-haired Taoist turned around and said in a clear voice, "Almsgiver Wu is right. Do I think so too?" It was Meton's old acquaintance, Taoist Changsheng.
As the leader of the Daoist School of External Alchemy, he was naturally fortunate enough to witness the telescope incident. He could not help but nod. He had already given up on the Path of Alchemy and switched to studying the Art of Material Immortality. Although the destruction of the Laurel myth was regrettable to him, it was not unacceptable.
"If you test it on a pile of sand, the results will be the same. You won't be splashed with mud," Meton said as he stepped forward.
"Master!" Wu Meiniang quickly turned around and stuck out her tongue in embarrassment.
Taoist Changsheng turned around and clasped his hands together. "The School of Mo is very fortunate. Almsgiver Wu is very intelligent."
"You flatter me," Wu Meiniang said embarrassedly.
"Is Merton here today to see the new house?" Taoist Changsheng asked.
Meton nodded and said, "It's all thanks to Taoist Changsheng's help that this house can be built."
"I also have to thank Merton for giving the Daoist School of External Alchemy a chance. If not for the School of Mo's help, how could the School of Taoism create such a miraculous item like cement? Although it took a year, it did not disappoint Merton's expectations, "Taoist Changsheng looked at the mud that Wu Meiniang had just thrown the stone into and said with a hint of excitement.
Before Meton left for Tuyuhun, he specially looked for the School of Taoism and made a request for the School of Taoism to develop and forge lime to find a new building material. The School of Mo provided the money and the School of Taoism contributed the effort. After nearly a year, they finally produced usable cement.
Not bad! To be able to produce the weight of three layers of bricks, it probably had to be cement. If the production of cement was not so low, how many layers would Meton want to make?
"How's the quality of the cement now?" Meton asked.
"I've gradually mastered the process, and the success rate has increased by a lot. However, it's all thanks to the School of Mo's method of reinforcing steel that the strength of the cement is doubled," Taoist Changsheng said.
When the cement was first developed, it could solidify quickly and become as hard as a rock. However, the strength of the cement was not high. The School of Taoism had researched many times before they could create a qualified cement. In addition, Meton mixed the reinforcing steel into the cement, which instantly increased the strength of the cement and the strength of the cement.
"Steel as the tendons and cement as the bones. Naturally, it's incomparably hard. This is the natural law of the human body. It's not surprising!" Meton said humbly.
Mixing the reinforcing steel into the cement to increase the strength was a modern technology. However, it was not difficult to understand in the ancient times. When the ancient people made mud, they would also add straw to the mud to increase its toughness. The School of Mo would also use straw to build roads to increase the strength of the foundation. It was the same principle, but Meton, the prodigal, was more extravagant. He used steel as the tendons and bones. Although the cost of production was doubled, the effect was also doubled.
Taoist Changsheng looked at the three-story villa in front of him with satisfaction. He had seen Meton's blueprint before. The entire villa would use steel as the tendons, cement as the bones, and bricks as the muscles. It was extremely compatible with the School of Taoism's natural law.
"But …" Wu Meiniang, who had been observing carefully, could not help but frown. She wanted to say something but stopped.
Meton noticed Wu Meiniang's expression and said, "If there's anything you want to say, just say it. The School of Mo and the School of Taoism do not have the bad habit of not disobeying the master's orders."
Wu Meiniang said straightforwardly, "The house that Master and Taoist Changsheng built is indeed sturdy, but it's too ugly! Master is sure that the princess would like to live in a house like this. "
As Wu Meiniang spoke, she pointed at the red bricks of the villa. There were white cement beams in the middle of the villa. The exterior could be said to be extremely ugly. Not to mention the palaces in the imperial palace, it was extremely ugly even compared to the other houses in the Mo Estate. If the imperial family knew that the princess lived in a house like this, they would probably give Princess Changle a princess' residence without a second thought and directly let Meton marry her.
Taoist Changsheng could not help but feel awkward. Clearly, he had noticed this problem long ago, but he did not say anything.
Meton laughed and said, "The School of Taoism emphasizes on cultivating both the inside and the outside. Naturally, a house is the same. If the interior is beautiful, then the exterior is naturally beautiful as well. That's why I came here personally.
Meton said and waved his hand. A group of Mo Jiazi's brothers pulled a few heavy carriages over. They came in front of Meton and said, "Young master, the things you wanted have been delivered."
Taoist Changsheng was curious. Could it be that Mo Jiazi still had a trump card that he had not used?
Modun stepped forward and touched the cubes on the carriage. Then, he turned to Wu Meiniang and asked, "Master used the Great Dao of the human body to build a new house. Do you know if there is anything in this world that can compare to skin?"
"Compare to skin?" Wu Meiniang frowned and said, "Is it jade?"
Meton smiled bitterly and said, "You think too highly of me. Jade is so precious that even the imperial family is reluctant to use it, let alone me."
"Master, are you talking about porcelain?" Wu Meiniang said as a thought came to her mind. Building a house was only about earth, wood, and stone. Porcelain was as smooth as skin. Porcelain was probably the most suitable material.
Meton looked at Wu Meiniang with praise and said, "That's right. I'm planning to use porcelain as skin."
Morton said as he opened the door of the carriage, revealing the palm-sized rectangular tiles inside.
"This is white porcelain. Is it from Hebei's Xing Kiln?" Taoist Changsheng exclaimed as he touched the smooth glaze.
Meton nodded and said, "That's right. This is indeed white porcelain from Hebei's Xing Kiln."
The Tang dynasty's porcelain was very developed. They often used porcelain to make all kinds of utensils. When Meton gave the order to Hebei's Xing Kiln, he had already ordered the design. The process of making flat tiles was simpler than porcelain. The only difficulty was the compression process, which was the strength of the Mo family.
The two families hit it off. Soon, the first batch of tiles from the Tang dynasty was made and shipped to the Mo family as fast as possible.
"Using porcelain as skin!"
Wu Meiniang looked at the white tiles in front of her and couldn't help but open her mouth wide. Even if they hadn't started yet, she could imagine how beautiful the house would be once it was covered with tiles.
However, it wasn't over yet. With the arrival of another Mo family carriage, window frames with transparent glass were brought down. Under the sunlight, they reflected light like mirrors.
"Using mirrors as windows!" Taoist Changsheng couldn't help but take a deep breath.
In the end, he had still underestimated the concept of the son of Mo. With steel as the tendons, cement as the bones, bricks as the muscles, porcelain as the skin, and mirrors as the windows, the moment this building was completed, it would surely shock the entire Great Tang.
。 Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
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