Chapter 53 Sheep Eat Horses
How to obtain stable land and sheep from the neighbors next door was something that Ying Zheng and his court officials had to think about.
At this time, Wei Shengxue was checking the completed underwater spinning machines and looms. They were operated by water power, and the depth and speed of the water flow were required to be very high. It was also because of the system cheat that she could find the right address so quickly.
"Your Excellency, the water power is available." But further adjustments are needed to achieve a smooth level.
Because they wanted to use the river, the water chief also came along. He was good at water conservancy and after a tour around the area, he told Wei Shengxue,
"In winter, the water flow is weak and slow, making it difficult to drive the shaft. Using water power is more suitable when the river is full."
Weishengxue: I understand. It means working for three quarters and then taking one quarter off.
According to the planned efficiency, the wool stockpiled in the previous three quarters will be enough for one winter, so it doesn't matter even if work is temporarily suspended.
"This area will be turned over to the textile factory. All the rooms will be connected, and the canteen and office area will be set up separately. The machines will be placed here." She put forward her own requirements, and the specific details will have to wait for the craftsmanship department to design the drawings.
Du Shui Chang Cheng reminded: "If these two machines are not in use, they can be returned to the warehouse to avoid damage."
Shao Lan, the director of the maternity and child health hospital, also came this time.
Wei Shengxue directly decided that she would provide manpower for the textile factory, but the workers in the textile factory also needed certain skills, so Shao Lan still needed to train them as soon as possible.
These days were the rare days when she moved around a lot. She left here and went to the department store.
Well, a while has passed, and I don’t know whether her department store has started construction. In a few days, it will be winter and it will be inappropriate to start construction.
Unlike the textile factory, when it came to the department store, she said she would just take a look and didn't make any requests.
But when I saw the red bricks produced by the brick factory, my eyes lingered for a while longer.
The person in charge took the initiative to report: "In another half a month, the general structure will be completed." But it is hard to say how long the specific decoration will take.
After many people's houses are built, they spend more time decorating the interior than building the house itself.
Wei Shengxue had no opinion on this. With the current level, even if the department store was really opened, there wouldn't be much to sell. It was completely different from what she had imagined, with so much variety and so complete.
However, the dim lighting inside made her frown. "Can't the windows be opened a little more? It's a little too dim."
The person in charge looked around and found that the lighting here was definitely bright. Most noble homes did not have such good conditions.
Wei Shengxue looked around with disdain. With such brightness, the goods on the shelves were blurry. How could they attract people to buy them?
The person in charge felt a little embarrassed by her request. This brick house was different from a wooden structure house. As long as the main beams and pillars were erected, there was no need to worry about it collapsing. The bricks were all solid, and coupled with the weight of the cement, he was really afraid that if there were too many windows, the house would not be able to bear the weight.
When it comes to safety, everything else takes a back seat.
Wei Shengxue counted and found that there were about ten windows in all the unsealed compartments, which was actually not a small number. She felt it was dim because she had just come in from outside and was used to the indoor environment that was as bright as day.
This is the case here, the silk screen window has limited light transmittance. Located in the north, you can't just open the windows wide, and you can't withstand such temperatures in the winter.
Wei Shengxue didn't complain anymore, but was a little silent on the way back.
Princess Yangzi noticed the melancholy and annoyance that was swirling around her, and after a few quick thoughts, she guessed what she was thinking. She smiled and comforted her, "The arrival of the immortal has already brought many changes to the Great Qin. There's no need to be troubled by this."
Wei Shengxue didn't believe him and remained depressed: "I looked around and it seemed like I'd been struggling for a long time, but in fact, not much had changed."
Princess Yangzi spoke again, getting straight to the point: "Do you think there hasn't been much change, or are the changes not as big as you imagined?"
Without waiting for Wei Shengxue to reply, she continued, "We now ride in a carriage with smooth traffic. A house this large can be built in no time. Our daily meals no longer have a bitter taste. Bean sprouts, tofu, and soy milk have become essential dishes in every household... These changes are far greater than you realize, but they are not happening right before your eyes, or perhaps they are too common for you to be called changes."
Moreover, things like new iron plows, winter wheat, new agricultural tools, high-yield seeds, etc. will not truly show their power until the beginning of next spring.
The system also consoled him: [It's only been less than 160 days since we met Ying Zheng. Infrastructure development takes years, so it's normal that we haven't demonstrated sufficient influence.]
Otherwise, why do we need "people" whose brain circuits match? The system's words are much more effective than Princess Yangzi's long speech.
Weishengxue felt that it said a lot. The infrastructure to improve living conditions and the environment would take years, decades, or even hundreds of years. She had been working on it for a few months and was frustrated that there had been too little change.
It's not that she hasn't changed much, it's that she has seen too little.
Have sufficient understanding of the time-consuming nature of the work.
Princess Yangzi saw that her originally depressed spirit had recovered. Although she didn't know why, she also became happy.
In order to keep her in this state, she thought about it and brought up a topic:
"You seem to attach great importance to the textile factory." Other factories have been built for several months, but no one has paid much attention to them. However, you personally went to a small textile factory and even came to choose a site in person.
"Because you don't have to worry about the rest." Although it was something the Qin Dynasty had never seen before, they would be able to use it after they came out. If they could use stone farm tools, would they not be able to use them if they switched to iron farm tools? There was no such road.
"But textile mills are different. Water-powered spinning machines and looms rely on water power. If the location is not appropriate, they won't even turn. How can we expect human power to move those 20 or 30 spindles?"
Then it will become a man-eating machine.
“And I don’t know if you have any nomadic people here.”
She was not good at history, but she also knew about the long-lasting love-hate relationship between nomadic people and agricultural civilization.
And it's not just their civilization. All other interstellar civilizations, as long as they have similar geographical conditions and living conditions, have a history of mutual entanglement, which is really hard not to notice.
The history teacher said that this is the inevitable path of human civilization, and that climate inevitably affects cultural lifestyles.
Princess Yangzi didn't know how the topic jumped from spinning and weaving to the grassland, but since the immortal said so, she naturally wouldn't hide it:
"Linhu, Donghu, Shanrong..." She paused and continued, "and Xirong."
Before and for hundreds of years after the establishment of the Qin State, the Qin State was really snatching food from the mouths of the Western Rong. It took hundreds of years of fighting with them before they were driven away and assimilated. Now many old Qin people have the blood of the Western Rong in their veins.
On the way back, Weishengxue listened to the love-hate relationship between the Qin ancestors and the grassland people, and gained a preliminary understanding of the grassland people here.
Well, how should I put it, it’s not much different from her perception.
"Do you have any trade with the grasslands?"
Princess Yangzi shook her head: "I don't know." It was impossible for her to find out about such taboos, and she couldn't ask about it. She was just a rookie who had been familiar with court affairs for less than half a year.
"You might as well ask your father directly about this matter. He will definitely know." She said as she got off the carriage.
"What do you want to ask?" a familiar voice came.
Princess Yangzi turned around and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Father."
"He told me to ask you about trade with the grassland." Weishengxue jumped directly to the ground, much faster.
Ying Zheng did not hide anything from her and said directly: "In border trade, they will exchange cattle and horses for clothes and salt from the Qin Dynasty."
At this point, his face darkened. "The barbarians are rude and unrighteous. Once they find an opportunity, they will go south to plunder. They have no idea what cooperation is, let alone keeping their promises."
I understand. If you can grab it, grab it. If you can’t grab it, change it.
It's really... a very nomadic way of doing things.
Wei Shengxue pulled out an example from the history books he had read with great difficulty during this period: "Qi silk and Lu silk, economic sanctions."
This story tells of a story about Guan Zhong, who, in an effort to annex the state of Lu, urged Duke Huan of Qi to adopt a new style of silk clothing. This trend spread throughout the country, but Guan Zhong forbade the people of Lu from weaving silk, forcing them to import it from abroad. Consequently, the supply of Lu silk fell short of demand, and the people of Lu abandoned their farmland to make silk. As Lu's fertile land fell into ruin, Guan Zhong issued another decree prohibiting the production of silk clothing in Qi. Unable to sell Lu silk, it accumulated in large quantities, causing its price to plummet. To survive, Lu resorted to buying grain from Qi, but was repeatedly rebuffed. Finally, Duke Zhuang of Lu agreed to Qi's terms and submitted to Duke Huan of Qi, accepting his orders.
Guan Zhong's move of conquering a country without a single soldier or bloodshed has long been analyzed, studied, and imitated. However, without such an economics expert, other countries cannot afford to engage in such economic warfare.
Just copy it exactly. Your opponent is not stupid and will not fall into the same trap.
So Ying Zheng was really happy, "Can my Great Qin also use this method to deal with the barbarians?"
The two of them talked as they walked and entered the inner courtyard. They no longer had to worry about being overheard by people who shouldn't be overhearing, so they spoke without restraint.
Wei Shengxue analyzed the system's calculation results and said, "One acre of pasture with abundant water and grass can support more than a dozen sheep, three to six horses, and two or three cows."
Born into a family of horse breeders in the Qin State, even though Ying Zheng no longer needed to do this kind of work personally when he was born, he still knew this basic common sense.
He nodded, agreeing with the data.
"If we buy enough wool every year, the sheep on the grassland will eat the horses."
Ying Zheng was stunned and didn't understand.
Sheep are vegetarians...right?
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