Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 161: Your Teacher is a Gentleman
The sturdy man was still a little confused about his current sitting posture, so when faced with this question, he instinctively answered yes.
The next moment, when the other party stretched out his hand, as if to pull him up, he suddenly realized that he had just tried to grab the other party and question him, but ended up being knocked down for no reason! At that moment, the young man in front of him seemed to have a mysterious face, so that he not only did not respond to the other party's hand, but was alert.
As soon as Zhang Shou saw the strong and sturdy appearance of this man, he knew that Ah Liu had scared him badly.
He glanced at Ah Liu helplessly, and seeing his innocent face, he pointed at Lu Sanlang next to him with his index finger and said with a smile: "Uncle, the person who invited you here is the son of Minister Lu of the Ministry of War, this Lu Sanlang, but he invited you because of me as his teacher. I didn't have time before, and I kept you waiting for several days. I'm really sorry."
The big man looked up at the fat boy next to Zhang Shou, who had an obviously unnatural expression on his face but still managed a smile. Then he looked at Zhang Shou, who smiled gently and generously, and made people feel trustworthy at first sight. He couldn't help but blurt out, "I'm not well educated, young man, don't lie to me. You look younger than this fat guy, how could you be his teacher?"
Who are you calling the fat guy?
Lu Sanlang was so angry that he was fuming. But when Zhang Shou turned his head to look at him, he remembered that he had not yet passed the test of setting up a small dark room privately, so he could only quickly explain with a smile on his face: "Uncle is Carpenter Sun, right? Doctor Zhang is indeed my teacher. Don't look at his young age, he is the doctor of the Imperial College appointed by the emperor. Many young masters who are older than me are his students!"
The sturdy man called Carpenter Sun was skeptical, but when he saw Zhang Shou reaching out to support him again, the hand had round joints, long fingers, and fair skin, which looked extremely handsome at first glance. He looked at his own hand with calluses, suspicious black spots between fingers, and protruding knuckles, and felt a little embarrassed until Zhang Shou took the initiative to hold his hand and pulled him up.
"Ahem, I was just a little impulsive because I was delayed for several days. Don't mind it, Dr. Zhang." Carpenter Sun stood up straight, laughed awkwardly, and then asked in confusion, "Why did Dr. Zhang invite me? By the way, it's not just me. The ironworker Zhang, the house builder Li Er, and the ship repairman Zhao Da were also invited."
Zhang Shou looked at Lu Sanlang again, and this time he was finally convinced that they had indeed hired more than one craftsman. In order to dilute the influence of the small black room, Lu Sanlang hurriedly said flatteringly: "Young sir, compared to the masters in the Military Equipment Bureau, they are the best we can find outside..."
However, before he could finish his words, Carpenter Sun suddenly refused to accept his request: "What Arms Bureau? The ironworkers in the Arms Bureau may be better than Lao Zhang, but there is absolutely no better carpenter in the Arms Bureau than me! No matter if it is coarse or fine wood, as long as it is related to carpentry, I have never lost to others. The Arms Bureau does not want the best carpenters, they just want craftsmen who are willing to work hard!"
Seeing Carpenter Sun shouting loudly and refusing to admit defeat, Zhang Shou couldn't help but smile, and then hurriedly comforted him: "Uncle Sun, don't argue with Lu Sanlang. How could he know what the spirit of craftsmanship is! Dedication, leanness, focus, innovation, this spirit has been passed down from generation to generation, and this is why you have such a unique skill now, isn't it?"
Zhang Shou, who was very good at rhetoric, casually hit Lu Sanlang. Seeing that Carpenter Sun's eyes were shining with praise, he said sincerely: "It's also my fault that I didn't explain it clearly to Lu Sanlang before. I grew up in the countryside and don't know much about many things, so I want to find a few master craftsmen with superb skills and broad vision to inquire about the ingenious achievements in various industries."
Carpenter Sun was naturally very proud of being praised so many times . He felt that this handsome young man in front of him was not only unparalleled in appearance, but also had a good personality. Hearing this, it was no wonder that the fat guy who sent people to invite them but didn't even show his face called him teacher! He was almost annoyed to death by living under the same roof with those hypocritical and long-winded scholars every day!
At that moment, Carpenter Sun suddenly turned around and ran to the room he had come out of. When he reached the door, he shouted, "Lao Zhang, Li Er, Zhao Da, come out quickly! They are here to ask us about something. Don't stay in there and get angry!"
Before anyone could hear any sound from inside, Zhang Shou quickly came to the door of the house and said, "Everyone, if I have been negligent before, I would like to apologize to you on behalf of Lu Sanlang. After all, this incident was caused by me, so please forgive me."
As Carpenter Sun dragged a skinny man with hair like a chicken coop out of the door, two people finally followed him out reluctantly. However, one of them narrowed his eyes and asked before Carpenter Sun could, "Dr. Zhang, since you are a doctor from the Imperial College, you must have read a lot of books. Is there anything you can ask us, a few craftsmen?"
"It is better to have no books than to believe in them blindly. After all, I am different from other doctors. I do not teach classics and history, but mathematics. And how to apply mathematics is a big problem. That's why I want to meet the best craftsmen and learn what the best ships in the world are like, what the best houses are like, what precision the sharpest weapons can achieve, and how much the most sophisticated spinning wheels and looms can produce every day..."
Zhang Shou asked a lot of questions in one breath. Seeing that the four craftsmen had finally given up their initial doubts, he smiled and bowed, saying, "I am sincerely asking for advice. Can I go inside and talk to you slowly?"
A serious official of the imperial court spoke to them so politely, asking for advice. The four craftsmen looked at each other and finally decided to let go of their previous annoyance. After all , although Lu Sanlang had sent someone to invite them over but did not show up and detained them for several days, he provided them with food and wine and the treatment was not bad. Now that they understood his purpose, there was nothing to be angry about.
Lu Sanlang, who was outside, saw that the evil star Ah Liu also followed Zhang Shou into the house. He finally breathed a sigh of relief, looked around, and saw the middle-aged doorman who had caused trouble at the beginning was peeking out. He went over and kicked the man and sent him back to guard the door. Then he waved to the servants who had just heard the news but did not dare to step forward.
When everyone gathered around, he asked in a low voice, "Where are those scholars?"
"Master, those guys won't cry until they see the coffin. They finally finished writing the book that needs to be printed this month last night, and they ate delicious food and wine until their stomachs were full. Now they are all sleeping. I don't think they would wake up even if there was thunder, let alone this noise!"
If it were a normal day, Lu Sanlang would be very happy to hear that this month's mission could finally be completed, but now he thought about Zhang Shou's reaction just now, and he just felt a headache. After all, even if his starting point was good and the reward was enough, God knows whether Zhang Shou would think that his means were brutal! But after thinking about it, he was still unwilling to let him go.
These guys were obviously quite talented, but they wasted their time in the imperial examinations. The best one only passed the examination for a scholar, and some even failed the county examination. As a result, he showed them a way to make money, but these idiots either wanted to squander it or go back to take the exam again... What the hell, if they could pass the exam, would they still be old students at the age of forty?
He hesitated for a moment, and finally ordered his lackeys in a bad mood: "Everyone, cheer up, be smart, and look at my signal. Oh, and prepare a feast quickly. Make it rich. The young master is a picky eater!"
Seeing that Lu Sanlang ran into the room after saying this, several servants looked at each other in surprise. They were all loyal followers who had been subdued by Lu Sanlang through various means. Now seeing that this Shangshu son, who didn't look good but was actually very scheming, was really like a well-behaved and obedient student, they all felt a sense of disillusionment.
Zhang Shou didn't know that Lu Sanlang was already dealing with the problem of the exposure in the small black room, and he didn't react much to the people coming in. He started with Carpenter Sun, asking about the development of various technologies one by one, and soon got a general idea.
Today, Jiangnan is just like the Ming Dynasty in history. Silk and cotton spinning are extremely developed, attracting many agricultural population to industry. Suzhou and Hangzhou, once the land of fish and rice, now have to rely on external food imports, and the remaining land is used to grow cotton. And the few loom and spinning wheel drawings that Carpenter Sun drew casually were also collected by him.
Nowadays, the houses of wealthy families are generally designed with bathrooms, boilers, hot and cold water pipes, and showers. It is even said that the imperial palace has something similar to the prototype of tap water, which can be used just by turning it on, but is mainly used for fire prevention. So other wealthy houses also have similar things, but the principle is slightly different.
Today's ships come in all sizes, the largest of which has nine masts and twelve sails on four levels, and a fleet of more than a dozen ships travels in formation. Civilian ships are limited in size, and shipyards are regularly inspected by the government. At sea, there are people who specialize in calculating routes using star maps, compasses, and various star-pulling techniques. Moreover, although glass has not been fired, telescopes with ground crystal lenses have been invented.
As for weapons, not to mention the cold weapons such as swords and spears, the range of artillery and firearms is far better than that of the Ming Dynasty he knows, because many of them are shrapnel shells, which greatly make up for the lack of accuracy. This does not involve confidentiality, so Zhang the blacksmith said it casually. However, the precision and batch processing of various small parts is still a big problem.
Zhang Shou asked and listened until he heard several gurgling sounds. He turned his head and saw Lu Sanlang looking at him with a bitter face. He smiled and said, "I didn't realize it was so late. Let's talk while we eat. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't know that the world is like this now."
Not only Carpenter Sun, but the other three also had a good impression of Zhang Shou, who had an excellent attitude and was very elegant, so they naturally agreed. When they had enough food and drink, when Zhang Shou said that he would come to ask for advice again in the future, and maybe even ask for help in making something, they also agreed. They were even happier when they heard that Zhang Shou asked Lu Sanlang to give them money to send them away.
This time, Lu Sanlang personally escorted them to the door, and asked the carriage he had brought with him to take everyone home one by one. But when he came to the door, he lowered his voice and said, "Everyone, I was wrong to keep you here without explaining the reason before, but please keep your mouth shut about those scholars. You know, scholars are useless. Without me, many of them will starve to death!"
Before anyone else could say anything, Carpenter Sun said in a careless manner, "We don't care about those trivial matters. It seems that many people have brought it upon themselves. Instead of worrying about us talking nonsense in the future, you might as well think about how to explain it to your teacher. Your teacher is a gentle and elegant gentleman!"
