Once the destination is determined, preparations for food, clothing, accommodation, and transportation along the way should begin.
As the saying goes, "A skilled craftsman must first have the right tools," and choosing the right mode of transportation is crucial for a safe and comfortable journey.
Nowadays, because Dai Viet stipulates that ordinary people cannot own horses, people generally travel by mule cart, donkey cart, or ox cart.
The two donkeys, one male and one female, that the Cheng family bought in the first year have grown much stronger after being fed and cared for well for more than a year. They look at least a head taller than ordinary donkeys, and they pull carts quickly, nimbly, steadily, and comfortably, making them the Cheng family's first choice for going out.
Moreover, after the mother donkey gave birth to a calf some time ago, according to the Cheng family's custom, they also named the family of three: the parents were named "Thunder" and "Ten Thousand Jun", and the calf was named "Pai Shan".
As for the other two donkeys that were bought later, they are currently staying at the villa to do most of the work. After all, the mother donkey is already pregnant, and it is not appropriate to assign her any work that is too dangerous or strenuous.
Cheng Ruyi observed these donkeys for several days and found that they seemed to be very strong. A single donkey could easily pull the Cheng family's carriage. So she tried to connect two carriages together. As a result, "Thunder" and "Ten Thousand Jun" had no pressure at all. One donkey pulled two carriages around Huaishan County several times without even panting!
It was definitely worth eating all those magical creatures from her house!
Since the donkeys are so helpful, she might as well redesign a multi-functional carriage that combines living and accommodation, making future escape journeys relatively more comfortable and convenient.
She had seen the Gu family's carriage when she was in Qionglin City. It was a huge vehicle, comparable to a small house, and much bigger and more luxurious than the carriages she had seen on TV before.
This shows that the shape of the carriage was not fixed in this era, and the carriages of wealthy families had all sorts of strange shapes, so she was not worried that her carriage would be too unconventional.
No sooner said than done!
So Cheng Ruyi spent several days writing furiously in her room. With her boundless imagination and limited artistic talent, she drew up astonishingly complex train carriage design drawings that looked like gibberish.
So much so that Cheng Yan spent a long time looking at the blueprints but still couldn't figure them out...
"Father, what do you think? The process shouldn't be too complicated, it's just probably time-consuming. If possible, I hope you can start making it now. Let's make the first one and see how it goes. We'll need to allocate time for repairs and making the second one..."
"Wait a minute!" Cheng Yan couldn't help but interrupt his daughter's rambling thoughts. He frowned and asked, "First, explain to me what's drawn in here? Didn't you say you were modifying the carriages? The pictures are a mess and don't seem to have anything to do with the carriages at all."
After Cheng Ruyi returned from Dabeisi Temple, she told the Cheng family about Master Lingjue's words that the world was about to descend into chaos. Of course, she didn't go into too much detail, only saying things like "the situation will become increasingly turbulent," "war will soon return," and "we may need to flee."
After the drought and snow disaster, the Cheng family members definitely trusted Cheng Ruyi's intuition more than outsiders. So after hearing her advice, they didn't think Cheng Ruyi was worrying unnecessarily. Over time, everyone had become accustomed to following her arrangements because it had proven to be true that doing so had helped them get through several dangerous situations.
So although everyone felt uneasy, they weren't too afraid, because they all believed that as long as they followed Cheng Ruyi and the whole family was together, there was no difficulty they couldn't overcome.
As for the most important task in the escape plan, "improving transportation", the responsibility naturally fell on Cheng Yan. After all, he was a carpenter with decades of experience. Although he lacked innovation, his technical skills were still very reliable.
After receiving the task, Cheng Yan had thought about how to modify it, but with his limited knowledge and vision, he could only think of things like making it bigger and wider.
Therefore, he was so shocked when he saw Cheng Ruyi's "design drawings". Even though he had seen his daughter's "drawing skills" and was mentally prepared, he still couldn't understand how a perfectly good carriage could look like a strange and unrecognizable mess.
Cheng Ruyi sighed. "Alas, as expected, no one here can understand my unrestrained abstract art style!"
So she patiently explained, bit by bit: "This is the floor plan of the carriage, and this is the internal structure diagram..."
Her inspiration for the design of the carriage mainly comes from modern "motorhomes".
In modern times, she has also taken several road trips in a motorhome, which is both convenient and novel.
However, considering the level of transportation infrastructure in this world, the carriages should not be modified to be too large, mainly because they might not be able to pass through particularly narrow places!
After careful consideration, she decided to set the main body of the carriage to be about 3.5 meters long, 2 meters wide and 2 meters high, with an additional 80 centimeters of outward extension space at the front and back, making the overall length more than 5 meters.
The interior of the carriage looks similar to a regular one, but there is actually a hidden sunken space at the bottom, about fifty centimeters deep, used to store some infrequently used items. At the very back of the carriage is a large bed that is one meter wide, and there is also storage space under the bed, where bedding and clothes can be stored.
The entire roof is a large storage rack, which can be used to store large items of luggage.
Under each of the two windows, there is a wooden box that is two meters long, forty centimeters high, and forty centimeters wide. The inside of the box is divided into several compartments, enough to store everyday tools such as food, tableware, tools, and weapons. The top of the box is covered with a soft couch to form a bench, which can seat eight adults in total.
Moreover, the wooden planks used to cover the hidden sunken space at the bottom of the carriage can be pulled up to reveal a small wooden table, which can be used to place tea, fruits and snacks, or as a dining table, which is very convenient.
If you encounter an accident while traveling and have to sleep in the wild, you can simply lay planks and blankets on the wooden boxes on both sides to immediately get a super large bed of two meters by two meters. With the fixed large bed at the innermost part, the whole carriage can sleep six adults. If women squeeze in, even ten people can sleep. After all, sleeping in the carriage is much safer and more comfortable than sleeping in the wilderness.
Of course, this part was fairly standard. Cheng Yan could barely understand it while listening to his daughter's explanation and looking at the blueprints. What puzzled him the most was that there was a strange object being dragged behind the carriage for some reason. He really didn't understand it, so he asked directly.
"This...this is a trailer, which can be considered a mobile small farm. Since the front compartment is mainly used for living and storage, it must be very clean and tidy. But we can't just leave our farm like this. Whether it's chickens, rabbits, or other animals, it's best to take them with us so that we can ensure our food supply during the journey."
Cheng Ruyi patiently explained, "This trailer isn't very big, and it's well-ventilated on all four sides, so it's not too heavy. It mainly has two layers. The bottom layer can be used to raise animals, and the top layer can be used to grow vegetables. It's connected to the front compartment with an iron chain. This way, once it's separated, the environment in the front compartment won't be affected by smells or other issues, and the people in the front compartment can also keep track of the plants and animals through the rear window."
The reason for using a trailer was twofold: firstly, we didn't want to abandon these plants and animals that we had put so much effort into, so we wanted to find a way to bring them all along; secondly, we were worried that the trailer would be too bulky and make it difficult to pass through. Now that it's divided into two sections, the flexibility has been greatly improved, and we can easily drive through turns and narrow roads.
Although it may seem a bit exaggerated to have a small carriage trailing behind such a large carriage, it is actually nothing compared to the behemoth that the Gu family owned, which was the size of a house and required four horses to pull!
"What does it mean that says 'telescopic tent' on the top of the carriage?" Cheng Yan asked curiously, pointing to the blueprint.
"Actually, you just need to prepare a few pieces of waterproof and tough fabric and hide them on the top of the carriage. When you set up camp, you can pull the fabric out from the top and add a few bamboo poles for support to form a large tent with the carriage as the main body. You can make a fire and cook or move around in the tent, and you won't be afraid of rain or wind."
This design is actually inspired by modern RVs, which are generally equipped with retractable curtains. These curtains can provide shade and shelter from the rain, allowing people to move around freely and making up for the shortcomings of insufficient interior space and inconvenience in movement.
After hearing this, Cheng Yan's eyes lit up. "Great! That's really convenient. Hmm, so this is what they call 'modification'!"
Cheng Ruyi's design completely overturned his previous understanding of the carriage. He never thought it could be modified like this. He couldn't help but feel proud of his daughter's intelligence. Fortunately, his daughter inherited her mother's talent and was not like himself at all. It was so comforting!
“This is a huge project. Dad, you can make a smaller model first, and only start making the larger one after you’ve tested it and made sure there are no problems.” Cheng Ruyi actually wanted to wait a few months for the thirty-odd small purple bamboo saplings to grow up.
Purple-veined bamboo is not only lightweight but also extremely tough. Ordinary swords, spears, and halberds cannot damage it in the slightest. It is simply the best protective artifact. She wondered if she could weave the bamboo into several large pieces and stick them inside the carriage, which would be both beautiful and practical!
After careful consideration, Cheng Yan said, "I think we can let Ding Tiechui give it a try. I've noticed that he seems very interested in your designs lately, and he has a very high level of comprehension."
Ding Tiechui was Old Man Ding's second son. Because of his talent in carpentry, he was promoted to work in a furniture shop in Lishan. Cheng Ruyi thought about the young man's performance and thought it was feasible. So she nodded and said, "You can decide who to hire, Dad. However, this matter should not be too high-profile, in order to avoid causing unnecessary panic."
"Don't worry, I'll tell everyone that I'm researching new furniture. I'll just have Ding Tiechui make it in the storeroom of the other courtyard."
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