Chapter Seven: Money is Life

  "Magistrate Liu, if suitable equipment and sufficient conditions are provided, one person can lift a weight of 10,000 catties. However, this clumsy equipment is not feasible, and the greater the weight, the stronger the frictional force, which will actually reduce the effective weight. The actual effective weight that can lift 600 catties may only be 200-300 catties, while the effective weight that can lift 100 catties may increase to 50-60 catties."

  It's no use saying anything to Song Jiu anyway.

  "Kokoro Kuranosuke, where did you learn this knowledge from?"

  "It's simple, there are some records in Mo Jing, and it's also used by the people. For example, in the dry areas of the north, the wells are very deep, and the people use a pulley to draw water, or the winch on a boat to lift the anchor. The two principles are the same. Buddhism says that looking at a mountain is a mountain, looking at a mountain is not a mountain, and looking at a mountain is still a mountain. Seeing the winch lifting the anchor without thinking is the first level of looking at a mountain as a mountain. Thinking about it, there are some underlying principles, it's not as simple as it seems on the surface, that's the second level of realm, looking at a mountain is not a mountain. If you understand the principle thoroughly, that's the highest level of realm, looking at a mountain is still a mountain."

  It's all the same as saying nothing.

  "When will it come in handy?"

  Liu Yue didn't dare to be certain, maybe Song Jiu was just boasting, or maybe it was true. Whether the mule was a horse or not had to come out and take a stroll to know for sure.

  "At least four or five more days are needed for repeated testing and correction."

  It cannot be tested on the high platform by the river embankment, the technology must be kept secret, and besides, the different wave surfaces, gears, and chains on the high platform will produce what effects, all need to be repeatedly tested, this can only be continuously corrected at home, and accurate data can be obtained.

  "Then you will make this dish, what is it..."

  "Formal."

  "You write out this formula and let me take it back."

  "This won't do, the blackboard and chalk are related to poor children's education, I can hand it over to the government, this is my rice bowl, absolutely cannot be handed over to the government. Judge Liu, you also saw that my family is extremely poor, in order to make it, borrowed more than 100 taels of debt, Second King also ordered me to compensate others for 120 taels of money, if I hand it over to the government, I'll become a beggar?"

  "This also relates to people's livelihoods."

  "It's not about being related to the people, Mencius said that when one is poor, he should cultivate himself, and when he is successful, he should help others. The two great kings told their officials and people that a gentleman loves wealth, but takes it in a proper way; a gentleman makes his ambitions known, but takes them in a virtuous way; a gentleman seeks knowledge, but takes it with diligence. I don't like dishonest children as an official. I want to be an honest young man, when I become successful, I will think of others, before I get rich, I can only take care of myself. Besides, this is my clever plan for making money, not ill-gotten gains. Magistrate Liu, please forgive me for not following your orders."

  Mencius said "When poor, cultivate virtue in solitude; when rich, cultivate virtue with others." But is this what Song Jiuyue meant?

  Liu Yan returned with a mixture of laughter and tears.

  The next day, the Kaifeng Prefecture came again, not an official, but two bailiffs, who rushed into the Song family and said: "The prefecture magistrate asked us to convey a message to you. The money of the Zhu and Gu families has been compensated by this official on your behalf. But you are very detestable, this official asks you, do you want money or your life?"

  "Tell the two of you, Qin brothers, to tell Erda Wang that we want both money and lives." Song Jiubrow opened his eyes and smiled, this is great, saving 120 taels of silver at once. One coin can still make heroes and good men difficult, forcing Qin brother to sell Huang Tuma, and it's 120 taels of silver, converted into cash, a full 700 or 800 catties!

  The official continued, "The prefect also instructed us to inform you that you are a reckless and arrogant young man who will certainly accept this 120 taels of silver. This is not a problem, but you must succeed; if you fail, you will be punished for two crimes."

  "Two brothers, it's a misunderstanding, I didn't accept 120 taels of silver, it was compensation given to someone else."

  "What's the difference? The prefect has spoken again, let us tell you that as a scholar, when meeting royalty, you can refer to yourself as 'minister' or 'your humble minister', and when meeting other officials, you can refer to yourself as 'Song Sheng'. If you continue to be rude, then just call yourself a 'small person', what's with this strange 'minister-subject' nonsense?"

  It seems like correcting Song Jiu's mistake, is it really worth sending someone to correct it? In fact, it's ridiculing Song Jiu for being greedy, you're just a petty person.

  "Yes, yes." Song Jiu smiled wryly, a small man is just a small man after all, how dare he compete with this Emperor Taizong of Song.

  "Little brother, write down that formula."

  After all, it's still for the formula.

  This Taizong emperor's martial arts are insufficient, but he is extremely careful with internal governance. That day when he was about to leave, he deliberately took a few more glances at that high platform, which is also a side reaction.

  Song Jiu's way of thinking is not very comprehensive, so he attaches great importance to it, and there is another reason...

  He immediately wrote down the formula, two sets of simple and complex formulas. The latter formula was a more precise pulley group calculation formula, which was useless for the current Song Dynasty. Song Jiu honestly marked what letter represented what, but whether there is anyone in the Song Dynasty now who can understand it, especially the latter formula will be even more confusing. Song Jiu didn't care.

  As orthodox literati, they would regard what Song Jiuzhang is doing now as a minor path, a strange skill and clever trick. If Zhao Pu could govern the world with half of the Analects, then wouldn't reading the complete Analects, plus the Book of Rites, Spring and Autumn Annals, Poetry, History, and Changes, enable the Song Dynasty to achieve four modernizations?

  But for various reasons, Song Jiuxing's equipment has attracted attention from all parties.

  ……

  Four days later, it was clear, and by the end of March, the peach blossoms had already withered, and the weather gradually warmed up.

  Song Jiuxian first found Seventh Brother-in-law and had him call over a few more relatives and friends to carry that strange large wooden log towards Bian Dike. Two strong men were also carrying a big bag of iron chains, while Song Jiuxian himself was carrying many ropes, arriving one after another at the banks of the Bian River.

  Many people have gathered before the assembly even started.

  Song Jiu's father was quite famous in the river before his death, and Hu Lao Da was the leader of the bitter laborers. The two made a bet, which has been the talk of the town for the past few days.

  The most important thing is still livelihood. Many ordinary people in the river rely on selling their labor to make a living and support their families, so they also pay close attention to Song Jiu's tool in their subconscious mind.

  Song Jiuxian untied the iron chain bag, which was a very long iron chain with three strange objects wrapped in iron skin in the middle.

  It's not hard to understand in later generations, and it's not hard to understand in some Western countries. It's just a pulley group, the difference is that it may be the most precise pulley group currently owned by this world. The ship loaded with tourists pulled by Archimedes' compound pulleys was pulled to move the boat, mostly on the river surface, which can be done by several trackers, so there are still some defects in that compound pulley, making people neglect its practical value.

  There should be similar pulley equipment in this world, but none of them are perfect.

  It is true that Song Ji and other people of the Song Dynasty could not go westward for verification.

  This iron chain and three huge pulleys are the first hurdle. How to wrap the chain, how to wrap it, makes a big difference.

  Then hang the two pulleys on the hook of the wooden beam, these two pulleys are movable pulleys, and one pulley is hung at the top of the iron pillar as a fixed pulley. The wood is the axis, the best way is to replace it with the base of a bearing, the friction will be smaller, but this is not possible now. Song Jiubens ambition was not great, not expecting to lift tens of tons of goods with one pull, just two or three tons of goods.

  Song Jiu was putting on roller skates when Hu Lao Da walked over with a few of his men.

  This gamble is beneficial to them, winning is a given, losing doesn't matter either, it's helpful to everyone, at most they'll just sing a song in front of the Zhu family's door. The Zhu family has money, but don't want to take advantage of it, even if they have more money, who's afraid of whom?

  Many hands make light work, and as fellow villagers, everyone worked together to lift the wooden beam onto the high platform. The hole in the center of the beam was placed on top of an iron column, and it landed steadily on the flat surface of the iron wave. Song Jiu pulled out the iron chain facing the river and tied a net bag made of coarse hemp rope to it. This is just the beginning, and if you want to use it officially, you don't necessarily need to use a net bag. Even some heavier goods, such as large wooden beams weighing several tons, can be lifted directly onto the shore with the help of two pulleys.

  In short, once this thing appears, the whole move will undergo earth-shaking changes.

  "Assembly is complete," Song Jiu said to Seventh Brother-in-law, "You go and receive a shipment of goods."

  "Alright," said Qi's husband, a honest and simple man, as he took over the task.

  This strange object appeared, causing many people on the banks and under the river of Bian to watch. The people on the shore knew what it was for, but the boatmen and merchants on the river did not know, and they were all discussing it in a flurry.

  Seventh brother-in-law went down to receive the goods.

  There were many people helping out earlier, and it was hard to tell who was in charge. I only noticed Song Jiu, who was responsible for directing and installing, but didn't notice Qi Jie at all. It's okay to watch the commotion, but the goods can't be delayed from being unloaded. Qi Jie quickly received a shipment of goods, and at this time, the large river boats with a capacity of 20,000 dan on the Bian River had not yet appeared, but there were already large river boats with a capacity of nearly 10,000 dan. It's not that there weren't many, but rather, there were two main reasons: one was the limitation of ship technology, and the other was the limitation of bridges. Currently, most bridges are flat, with arched bridge holes, but the surface is flat. Large ships can pass through relatively easily, while empty ships need to lower their masts, and during high water levels, none can pass through. As a result, only capable large ships can enter, and when they return, those that are not capable have to use stones and mud bags to weigh down the ship, and then remove them again when returning. The larger the boat, the more difficult it is to navigate. It wasn't until the appearance of Hongqiao Bridge, also known as a single-arch bridge, with a large arched bridge hole and a slightly arched surface, which increased the height of the bridge hole, that large ships began to appear in greater numbers.

  "The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" also has such a scene. What Zhang Zeduan painted may not necessarily be the Dongshui Gate scene on the Qingming Festival. Firstly, there is watermelon. Watermelon was introduced to North Song in the late period, but it's impossible to eat watermelon during the Qingming Festival. Secondly, there is river water. The Bian River section near the capital city is close to the Yellow River, mostly in summer and autumn. If it were during the Qingming Festival, the river water wouldn't be that high, and a very deep embankment would be exposed.

  During the flood season, the river water was high. A boat passed under the Hongqiao Bridge outside the East Water Gate. Although the mast had been lowered, its height was almost level with the bridge floor. Many people on the bridge shouted loudly to the people on the boat to be careful and to steer towards the middle of the bridge, otherwise the mast would hit the bridge.

  That's painting, in fact the ship should be bigger.

  But most of the ships were hundreds of tons, small cargo ships of tens of tons.

  The goods that Brother Qi received were porcelain, which was fragile and more troublesome to transport. Of course, the transportation fee was also higher than other goods.

  Having agreed on the price, Seventh Brother-in-law rushed towards Song Jiu and shouted: "Little Jiu, can you take it?"

  "Alright." Song Ji put down the net bag, and Qi Ba Lang and his wife carefully placed a bundle of porcelain into the net bag.

  The boatman hurried over and blocked their way: "What are you doing?"

  "It's your loss, not mine." Qi Balang pushed the boatman aside with one hand and turned to unload the cargo onto the shore. As long as nothing was damaged, he didn't care whether it was done manually or with machinery. This dock was for manual labor, this water was for manual labor, protests were futile.

  Song Jiuzhe and He Erlang started pulling the iron chain on the shore.

  Success or failure depends on this one move!