At this time, Yuan Xi brought Guo Jia, Tian Yu and others and returned to the top of the city after inspecting outside the city. Yuan Xi told Tian Yu about Xian Yu Fu.
Tian Yu whispered, "As soon as I arrived in the city last night, Xian Yu Fu sent someone over and said he wanted to meet me."
"After I found out, I sent some people to his residence to protect him. The soldiers who came back said that he reacted very calmly."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi laughed and said, "I'm afraid he will bear a grudge against you."
Guo Jia said, "Xian Yu Fu is a smart man, otherwise he wouldn't have done this when the young master entered the city. Otherwise, he should have waited for the young master to leave and sent someone to deliver a letter to Guo Rang alone."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi laughed and said, "I was wrong indeed. What he is most looking forward to is for me to meet him in person, right?"
Tian Yu heard this and said with a smile: "That's exactly what I meant, but you are condescending to me."
Yuan Xi waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. If I don't have this sincerity, he will only look down on me."
Several people stood on the city wall and looked out at the land outside the city. Several intricate rivers flowed by. Craftsmen were cutting trees beside the rivers, then peeling off the bark and sawing them open to make the spokes of the waterwheel.
Guo Jia said: "When we were in Beixin City, the young master proposed the idea of making a new type of waterwheel. Now it has been realized and it is quite effective, saving a lot of manpower."
"There are many rivers near Quanzhou, and it is inconvenient to carry water manually. After trying out the waterwheel a few days ago, the response was very good, so we started to manufacture it on a large scale."
Seeing the waterwheel spinning rapidly under the rush of the river water, Yuan Xi said, "Don't you think it's a bit of a waste to only use this thing to transport water?"
"If we connect a millstone to grind flour, can we save more manpower and animal power?"
Guo Jia was a little surprised after hearing this and said, "I am proud of my intelligence. Although I think I am better than you in terms of strategy and human heart, you are a craftsman with wild and unrestrained ideas and unique wisdom."
Yuan Xi thought that the idea of the waterwheel mill was not his own. It first appeared in the Tang Dynasty and became widely popular during the Song and Yuan Dynasties.
This was gradually developed and improved along with the emergence of waterwheel-related technologies. The reason for such a long delay was that there were frequent wars in the middle hundreds of years and the invention of tools was not taken seriously. It was not until the peaceful and prosperous times that craftsmen had the opportunity to make breakthrough inventions.
Now Yuan Xi wanted to fundamentally change this problem. The classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans were clearly divided. He began to purposefully improve the status and remuneration of craftsmen and reward craftsmen who made inventions.
Only in this way can we mobilize the enthusiasm of these people to invent, and let the horse run without eating grass. In the end, it will only lead to this group of people giving up and changing careers, which will lead to the loss of technology and the regression of craftsmanship.
Only after solving the problem of enthusiasm can we face the more fundamental aspect: the imperfect knowledge system.
During Yuan Xi's time in Beixincheng, he met many craftsmen. Many of them had good ideas, but many of these ideas were limited by the cultural level and cognition of the craftsmen themselves and could not form a perfect prototype. They could only rely on the craftsmen to slowly explore and accumulate experience in long-term work, and finally have a flash of inspiration and make a breakthrough by chance.
Only outstanding craftsmen with extraordinary talents can achieve this.
The most regrettable thing is that the knowledge of mathematical geometry, which craftsmen need most, is not in the hands of craftsmen, but in the homes of a very small number of scholars.
After these nobles mastered this knowledge, most of them did not use it to invent things, but instead devoted themselves to activities such as stargazing, divination, and rituals.
Acquiring knowledge was so difficult that there was a saying that "the truth should not be passed on easily, and the technology should not be sold cheaply." Not only did the nobles strictly guard this knowledge, but craftsmen were also extremely demanding in accepting apprentices, which invisibly hindered the spread and improvement of technology.
What Yuan Xi is doing now is trying to change this situation so that the common people and craftsmen engaged in labor can obtain the most basic knowledge inheritance.
Yuan Xi said, "It's a pity that I know too little. I want to introduce craftsmanship into charity schools, but now people who know craftsmanship can't read, and people who can read don't know craftsmanship, so it's difficult to start."
"Moreover, the current teaching and inheritance method has a big problem. I heard that before the nobles learned numerology from a young age, they also had to learn oracle bone script and bronze script symbols, and then learn how to use various observation instruments, and then astronomy and geography, alchemy and medicine making, and finally numerology?"
Guo Jia said, "That's true, because among all the crafts, these all belong to the art of alchemy."
"The nobles learned these things not for the purpose of harvesting more food or forging more iron, but almost all for the purpose of refining elixirs."
"Ever since the Qin Emperor sought the secret of immortality, everyone from the emperor to the nobles has regarded this as their ultimate goal."
Yuan Xi thought that this was the root of the problem. Alchemy was a waste of manpower and resources, and also a waste of precious opportunities for knowledge inheritance. It seemed that he had to think of a way to stop this unhealthy trend and transfer most of the manpower and resources to more useful places.
He said, "I am now looking for people who are dedicated to improving craftsmanship. Unfortunately, in the past two years, most of the craftsmen are illiterate. It's okay to let them make tools, but it's a bit difficult for them to handle affairs as officials."
"Cai Zhaoji does know a little bit about everything, but as a woman, it's a pity that she can't do many things."
"I want people who are both literate and skilled, so that they can pass on knowledge as quickly as possible, make inventions, and improve tools."
Guo Jia pondered over it, and suddenly his eyes lit up, "There are people like you mentioned, sir."
"I heard that many of the Fufeng Ma family's disciples studied alchemy."
"The Fufeng Ma family is a local big family. Their children have no problem learning to read and write since childhood. Moreover, Jia heard that there is an outstanding person among them who invented and improved the dragon bone waterwheel, which is superior to the young master's rotary waterwheel."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi was surprised and asked, "There is such a person. What is his name?"
Guo Jia thought for a moment, "I think his name is Ma Jun?"
After hearing this, Yuan Xi couldn't help but stand up and asked, "Ma Jun? Which Ma Jun?"
Guo Jia said, "I heard that Ma Jun and Ma Deheng were from a poor family and made tools for others in the countryside. Their reputation gradually spread, but it was only limited to the Fufeng area."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi suddenly came to realize that this was not the famous inventor who was later known as a world-famous ingenious person and had made contributions to both folk and military inventions!
He said excitedly: "Send someone to look for this person, and do everything we can to bring him back!"
Guo Jia agreed immediately, and Yuan Xi couldn't help but praise him: "I didn't expect that you not only focus on the general situation of the world, but also pay attention to these things in Fufeng. It's true that you can plan the world while sitting in the room."
Guo Jia blushed for a rare moment. "Sun Li's mother was from the Fufeng Ma family. I was somewhat interested in her that day, so I learned some things about her family, but it was of no use later."
Yuan Xi was stunned: "You want to attack Sun Li's mother?"
Guo Jia saw a look of contempt on Tian Yu's face and coughed quickly, "I never force anyone!"
"Besides, Ma had no interest in me, and the matter was left unresolved in the end."
Yuan Xi's curiosity got aroused, and he said with a smile, "Mr. Fengxiao is quite a romantic man. I'm afraid that Sun Li's mother is very loyal to her husband, so she ran into a wall."
Guo Jia said angrily: "Don't mention it. She scolded me at that time, saying that she was not a chaste woman, but just looked down on a weak scholar like me."
"She said that the Ma clan members are all mighty and brave. They carry guns when they mount horses and hold swords when they dismount. This is what a real man should be."
"She didn't even look at me, a weak person like me. This really pissed me off."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi and Tian Yu couldn't help laughing.
Guo Jia was furious, thinking that Ma had indeed not lied to him, and that she was actually flirting with Qu Yi. He felt really sad!
At this moment, Yuan Xi was thinking about something else.
During the Han Dynasty, the imperial court separated three regions close to the capital for management, thus forming the Sanfu region, namely Jingzhao Yin, Zuofengyi and Youfufeng. At the end of the Han Dynasty, Youfufeng was changed to Fufeng County.
Since the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Sanfu area has always been a place of great people and land. The Biography of Wang Yun in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty records: "At first, Yun appointed Song Yi, a fellow countyman, as Zuo Fengyi and Wang Hong as You Fufeng. At that time, the people of Sanfu were prosperous and the military and agricultural areas were rich."
Unfortunately, however, the current Sanfu region has become dilapidated after the brutal rule of Li Jue and Guo Si.
The Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Biography of Dong Zhuo, records: "At first, when the emperor entered the pass, the population of the three prefectures was still several hundred thousand. After the attack by Kuaihe and Sihe, the emperor returned eastward, the city of Chang'an was empty for more than 40 days. The strong scattered and the weak ate each other. After two or three years of silence, there was no trace of people in Guanzhong."
As a result, the gentry of Fufeng were forced to flee to various places, among whom were some who became quite famous figures in later generations.
Ma Chao, She Yuan, Fa Zheng, Meng Da and others were all from Fufeng.
Yuan Xi thought it was a pity. If Youzhou was adjacent to Sanfu, he would definitely find ways to recruit talents. But now there was Bingzhou in between.
The two forces in Bingzhou, the Southern Xiongnu and the Black Mountain Army, have always been a major threat. If they are not resolved, they will not be able to expand into the Sanfu area.
The situation in Xuzhou is stable now, and it is estimated that there will be no major changes in the next few years. I will focus on the area around Youzhou. It is time to find a way to pull out these two nails in Bingzhou.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi became a little annoyed. He always felt that he did not have enough time. Every time he wanted to plan something, he found that the power in his hands was still too weak, so he always had to take risks and try to gain big with small.
In military operations, the unconventional approach is to defeat the strong with the weak, and the kingly way is to use the strong to bully the weak. Everyone knows that the kingly way is the way to win in an upright manner, but the key is that Yuan Xi does not have this strength now.
So he could only secretly seek help and strike a balance between the parties to deal with the common enemy.
In planning to take over Bingzhou, Yuan Xi no longer counted on Yuan Shang of Jizhou, and if Yuan Shang got involved, Yuan Xi would probably not get a single piece of the pie.
Not only is Qingzhou Yuan Tan far away, but he also has to deal with the Taishan bandits, so he can't get away for the time being.
So Yuan Xi has to find help this time.
The first people he wanted to look for were Yan Rou, Xian Yu Fu and others.
The second person to find, and the most critical and difficult to predict, is Lu Bu who is now in Hanoi.
Lu Bu's forces are more crucial than Yan Rou and Xian Yu Fu.
Because even if the Black Mountain Army was defeated, Youzhou could not be separated from the Sanfu area by Henei County.
Henei County is an extremely critical place. In Yuan Xi's vision, the situation in Henei County in the next three years will determine the direction of the entire world!