Liu Tan asked, "You haven't seen these three types of dikes before?"
Xu Lin shook his head. "Master, you've taught me everything you know. I've never seen anything like this before."
Liu Tan asked again: "So what do you think?"
Xu Lin said honestly, "Master's expertise lies in digging canals and diverting water according to the terrain. I have dabbled in dam construction, but I have never put it into practice. Although I have learned a lot, my experience is limited."
Liu Tan let out a long sigh: "There's nothing we can do. You're the most experienced one here, so we can only discuss this between the two of us."
Xu Lin asked with some doubt, "Although I have little experience, I can see that these dikes and dams are of various types, and they all came up with three at once. Why don't you recruit such talents, Your Highness?"
Liu Tan looked at Xu Lin seriously and said, "This... I can't recruit them all."
Xu Lin was a little surprised. There were very few people in the world who valued water conservancy as much as the King of the Northern Territory. Although the emperor also valued it, he could not give as much as the King of the Northern Territory.
Nowadays, people who study water conservancy certainly have the world in their hearts and work for their ideals, but people have to live. They can realize their ideals and make their lives better. The King of the North can even solve the problem of succession. How could he not be able to recruit them?
Not to mention that the Northern Border Kingdom is located in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, and most of the problems in the lower reaches come from here. If the problems here can be solved, most of the problems of the Yellow River can be solved.
Logically and morally, the Northern Border Kingdom is the best choice. How could we not be able to recruit them?
Xu Lin thought for a moment and said, "My master's reputation is still there. Although I have grown old, I have traveled a lot over the years. Your Highness, please inform me of this person's situation and I will try to persuade him."
Liu Tan's expression suddenly became indescribable, and he thought: It's no use telling you, if you don't tell me I don't even know who it is. Even if I knew who it is, you can't travel through time and space to bring that person back.
After he said this, he did not get a response from Liu Tan. Even though he could not see Liu Tan's expression, he knew that there must be something unspeakable between them, otherwise the King of the Northern Territory would act frankly and would not avoid talking about it.
In an instant, the brain of the academic master started working and he thought of many rumors he had heard before. He remembered that he had heard someone say that the current Shuofang City was originally the city where the gods in the sky lived. The King of the Northern Territory was an immortal who came to the earth. He was heartbroken to see the destruction of Shuofang City, so he moved the city in the sky to the earth.
Xu Lin did not believe this statement. He believed that the construction of the new king's capital from scratch was traceable, so many people refuted this statement, and thus another legend came into being.
It is said that in order to conceal his identity, the King of the North led his people to find materials to build the Heavenly City, and then led the people to build the current capital. Everything in the capital was modeled after the city in the sky.
This statement...Xu Lin remained skeptical, but felt that it was possible.
Xu Lin turned to Liu Tan and asked carefully, "Could this... have been made by His Highness himself?"
Liu Tan coughed lightly and said, "Don't worry about this. Let's take a look at the blueprint first."
Xu Lin immediately understood that in this case, they were the only ones who could come.
However, Xu Lin was in high spirits. He still had doubts about the existence of the fairyland, but things from the hands of the King of the Northern Territory were indeed good things.
He touched it carefully and asked curiously, "Why do these three seem so different?"
Through exploration, these types of dams formed images in his mind. One was the largest and was a right triangle; one was an arc; and the other was more like a bridge, except that the piers were large triangles.
Liu Tan explained, "The largest one is a gravity dam, requiring the most materials. It relies on its own stability to block water, so it's probably the most commonly used. The circular arch dam, with its curved surface facing upstream, doesn't require as much material. It can carry the force of large amounts of water to both sides. And this is a buttress dam, the smallest of the three types. However, it relies on the foundation to unload the force, so it needs to be built on a rock foundation."
After listening to this, Xu Lin pondered for a moment, then slowly removed the wooden board with the buttress dam carved on it and said, "This isn't the first choice. The rock foundation means the ground is hard, making it more difficult to dig a canal. With so much land now vacant in the Northern Territory, we could definitely choose a more suitable location to dig a canal. There's no need to waste manpower on this."
Liu Tan nodded and took the wooden board of the pier dam aside. Although this thing was temporarily useless in the Northern Country, it would still be quite useful if one encountered a naturally formed waterway through the mountains.
Xu Lin carefully considered the gravity dam and arch dam, and after much deliberation, he said, "If it were me, I would choose the gravity dam."
Liu Tan said: "Gravity dam is indeed the most suitable."
There is no other reason, mainly because the construction is simple and the calculation should also be relatively simple. Arch dams have relatively high requirements for mechanical calculations.
At present, when mechanics has not yet formed a system, some people may have already found the way, but it takes too much time. The disadvantage of a gravity dam is that it requires more materials, so the latter is easier to build.
Just as Xu Lin was about to ask about the specific situation of the gravity dam, he saw His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory pull out two more pieces of paper as if by magic, on which were written a bunch of proposals that he could hardly understand.
Liu Tan said: "Based on our current situation, this dam exists to prevent river water from backflowing and to release floodwaters. We will try our best to stabilize the current river course and prevent the Yellow River from changing its course at will."
Xu Lin nodded and said, "So what we need is an overflow dam."
Liu Tan patted Xu Lin on the shoulder and said, "That's right, so the remaining work is very arduous. Just tell me what manpower you need. If it really doesn't work, I'll write to the emperor!"
Xu Lin was suddenly overwhelmed. He knew a little about dams. It was not about designing the structure and then directly building it. The most important thing was to make the dam body able to withstand the impact of the water flow.
He said cautiously, "Your Highness, please give me some time for this matter. I remember Master once wrote about it. I'll take a look at it when I get back."
Liu Tan encouraged him: "Go ahead. Provide the people and materials you need. Once the first one is built, the rest will be much easier."
This was Xu Lin's first time taking on a leading role. He was so excited that he immediately took his leave and went back to follow in his master's footsteps.
As he left, Liu Tan looked at Xu Lin's back, stroking his chin and saying, "It's really inconvenient to have people carry me around all the time."
Miao Rui also knew a little about Xu Lin's situation. He sighed and said, "It's a pity for Envoy Xu."
Xu Lin was previously appointed as the River Envoy by Liu Tan, so Miao Rui called him the Envoy.
Bigao asked, "The doctor said it seems to be incurable?"
Liu Tan shook his head: "This is an illness he's had since childhood. How easy is it to cure it after so many years?"
The disability caused by malnutrition is quite tragic to think about, unless he has his limbs amputated and given prosthetic limbs.
But considering the current medical level, amputation is likely to kill him, so this is not feasible.
Liu Tan slammed the table and said, "It's not like there isn't another way."
Miao Rui and Bigo turned to look at Liu Tan, who had casually drawn a wheelchair on a piece of white paper.
Miao Rui and Bigo looked at the wheelchair with bewilderment: "Is this... a car?"
This shape is somewhat similar to the previous ice sled, except that the ice sled has ice skates underneath, and this car... has two large and two small wheels, so this is more like the car in their traditional sense, but why doesn't this car even have a roof?
Liu Tan casually said, "It's a wheelchair. You'll know when it's finished. It's a birthday present for Xu Lin."
He felt a little guilty when he said this. In fact, he should have thought of the wheelchair a long time ago, but he was either busy with other things or hanging out with Lu Xuan, so he didn't think about it at all. If he had thought of it earlier, it could have been a New Year's gift.
Fortunately, Xu Lin’s birthday is at the end of February, so I have an excuse to give him a birthday gift.
For this kind of thing, Gongshu Yi can be contacted, there is no need for Gongshu Can to take action.
When Gongshu Yi saw the blueprint, his first reaction was also a bit confused. But after Liu Tan explained to him that it was for Xu Lin, he asked, "Then why are some wheels big and some small?"
Liu Tan said: "This is for his own convenience in movement. The large wheels can be pushed by hand, so a push rod needs to be added to the outer ring of the wheels, and the small wheels control the steering."
Gongshu Yi frowned: "Control the steering? How... can I control it?"
"Universal wheel." Liu Tan realized that he had spoken too quickly after he said it.
The universal wheel supports circular rotation and includes fixed casters and movable casters. Although it looks inconspicuous, it is a microcosm of industrial development. It can be said that this thing cannot be made without a certain industrial foundation.
So, after meeting Gongshu Yi's bewildered gaze, Liu Tan sighed and said dejectedly, "Become a steering handle. I'll come back..."
Gongshu Yi immediately said, "Your Highness, please don't worry. We will do our best to make... a wheelchair. If there are any problems, I will come back to consult Your Highness."
Liu Tan originally wanted to directly draw a diagram of the steering system. This is very simple. Anyone who has driven a car or even played with a four-wheel drive car will know how to control the steering of the front wheels.
Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Gongshu Yi.
After Gongshu Yi finished speaking, he secretly glanced at Liu Tan. He had no choice. After his father came here and knew everything, he scolded him. The general meaning was that if they had to give up everything, what would they eat?
Then his father used himself as an example to demonstrate his ability to add several mechanisms to the drawings provided by His Royal Highness the King of the North.
Gongshu Yi felt that he couldn't go on like this. The correct procedure should be that the King of the North gave the order and they would find a way to do it. Every time, the King of the North would figure out how to do it and then let them contribute, so they were indeed too easy to be replaced.
Liu Tan smiled and said, "Okay, go ahead, but make sure you do it quickly. I need it at the end of the month."
Gongshu Yi took his leave with the blueprint, while Liu Tan took out the letter he had written to Chang'an before, thought about it, and asked someone to send it to Chang'an.
At this time, Liu Che was looking at the winter jasmine outside the window and calculating how long it had been since Liu Tan wrote back.
The previous New Year's greetings did not count in his eyes. If counted this way, Liu Tan never wrote to him again since he returned to Chang'an!
I had just cursed you as a little bastard in my heart when I received Liu Tan's letter.
While opening the letter, Liu Che was wondering if his son had encountered any difficulties recently. Spring plowing was about to begin, and the northern border country should be short of many things. Maybe Liu Tan would act coquettishly and ask him for things in this letter.
Liu Che took a look at the newly delivered documents next to him. The agricultural tools and seeds were ready and were waiting to be sent to the northern border country.
When he thought of this, the corners of his lips rose unconsciously, and then he looked carefully and saw that the first sentence on the letter was: Father, your son has made a new plow that is more useful!
Liu Che: ???
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