Players who were discussing how to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in the forum were poured cold water on them by historian Fang Guoshou.
"The Mid-Autumn Festival means reunion, and it became a legal holiday only in the Song Dynasty."
"The Mid-Autumn Festival during the Tang Dynasty was called the Moon Worship Festival. It was just a small festival, not a statutory holiday of the Tang Dynasty."
What!
There was no holiday during the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Tang Dynasty!?
For those players who hold positions, this is a nightmare.
[Officials] Players have to complete work attendance to get experience points. If the Mid-Autumn Festival is not a holiday, what kind of celebrations are there!
Shazhou, in Cui Ruoyun's laboratory.
After best friends Jian Xia and Jiang Lun established their relationship, Jian Xia was transferred to Shazhou City and built a laboratory next door to Cui Ruoyun.
The dividends from the many iron workshops of the Guazhou Iron Factory made Jian Xia a rich woman.
Even Cui Ruoyun often rubs against her experimental equipment.
In Cui Ruoyun's experiment, Jian Xia's anger value is accumulating.
"Ruoyun, what do you mean by that boy? You have to go on a business trip for the Mid-Autumn Goddess Festival?"
Jian Xia was chewing a bun angrily and said angrily to Cui Ruoyun who was doing experiments.
Putting down the test tube, Cui Ruoyun sighed.
Ever since Jian Xia moved to Shazhou and officially started dating Jiang Lun, she has lived a miserable life.
While the two were mixing honey and oil, Cui Ruoyun was eating the dog food.
As soon as the two quarreled, Jian Xia rushed to Cui Ruoyun's laboratory to complain.
If you fall in love with them, you will be the only one who gets hurt.
Cui Ruoyun asked: "Isn't there no holiday during the Mid-Autumn Festival? Why is it the Goddess' Day again?"
Jian Xia immediately said: "Didn't Mr. Fang say that? The Mid-Autumn Festival of the Tang Dynasty is not a reunion festival, but it is also a festival."
"The Mid-Autumn Festival is now also called the Moon Worshiping Festival and the Chang'e Festival. It is a festival for women to worship the moon god."
“So it’s not wrong to call it the Mid-Autumn Goddess Festival!”
Cui Ruoyun nodded. It was true that August 15th in the Tang Dynasty was not a legal holiday in later generations.
But when the moon shines during the Mid-Autumn Festival, women will participate in activities to worship Chang'e, the moon goddess in the sky.
And elegant scholars will also gather together to admire the moon and drink wine.
In other words, the Mid-Autumn Festival of the Tang Dynasty was a non-holiday folk festival.
Jian Xia said: "Since it is a festival celebrated by women, the forum now proposes to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival as a Goddess Festival! Every player store has prepared promotions for female customers! Shazhou City will be very lively by then!"
Cui Ruoyun didn't like to visit forums on weekdays, so she rolled her eyes after hearing this.
This elegant festival of worshiping the moon god, admiring the moon and drinking wine has been turned into a women's shopping festival by these consumerist-minded players.
But this is fine. After two battles, Longyou also needs a carnival to celebrate.
Jian Xia added: "That guy Jiang Lun is going on a business trip, Ruoyun, please accompany me for the holidays!"
Cui Ruoyun glanced at Jian Xia and said, "Don't you have any experiments to do?"
Jian Xia said: "The proportion of iron-manganese alloy is still being adjusted. This requires repeated experiments to get the data. I have already asked my assistant to do it."
Cui Ruoyun snorted coldly and continued to pick up the test tube in her hand.
Jian Xia came over and said, "What other experiments are you doing?"
"Nitrocellulose."
"Didn't you already finish it last time? Have you tried firing the cannon?"
After the last time he produced nitrocellulose, Cui Ruoyun had already produced smokeless gunpowder and also held an experimental shooting at the artillery range on the edge of Shazhou.
King Jianning came to the artillery field in person to observe the test firing of the cannon, and then granted a large sum of money to Cui Ruoyun's laboratory.
"Well, large-scale manufacturing processes, safe production processes, and long-distance transportation methods all take time."
"Can't we just copy this?"
"The specifications of factories in later generations are all based on automated production. How can we copy them now?"
Jian Xia sighed helplessly and said, "Yeah, let alone a computer, it would be nice to make a steam engine."
"It is said that many players are already working on it, but the progress is still very slow."
Cui Ruoyun asked: "Is it because there is no rubber?"
Jian Xia said: "What's not rubber? You don't really think that the piston of a steam engine will be sealed with rubber, right? Isn't it worn out after a few uses? Besides, the steam engine does not need to be completely sealed, and rubber is not used to make steam engines.
necessary materials.”
"Ah? I thought the reason for the lack of progress in steam engines was because there was no rubber?"
Jian Xia shook his head and said: "The earliest models of steam engines did not have rubber, including some early steam trains and steam ships, which did not use rubber seals."
"Then why can't it be made?"
Jian Xia sighed: "It's still about craftsmanship and materials."
"I won't talk about the craftsmanship. There are no lathes now, so parts that meet the standards have to be made by hand."
"We mechanical dogs are nothing now without CAD and automated machine tools. Do you know how long it takes to polish a cylinder by hand?!"
"A prototype machine that can pump water has been built, but it will take a lot of time to be able to provide power to drive a factory or a steam engine that drives trains and ships."
Jian Xia nodded and said: "It's just like when I do chemical experiments. I know the results of the experiments, but the quantitative analysis process is the most difficult. This is also something that can't be helped."
Jian Xia nodded: "I also hope that the steam engine can be built as soon as possible. Water-powered hammering is really inefficient. If there is a steam engine, the work efficiency of the steel plant can be increased three times!"
Not only the two of them, but everyone in Longyou was looking forward to the steam engine.
The heart of the industrial age is the most terrifying beast. The emergence of steam power was the beginning of the first industrial revolution.
Li Yan is also always paying attention to the development of steam engines. Unfortunately, due to the shackles of the overall industrial level, a steam engine that can provide powerful power has not yet appeared.
A thick smoke rose from the test tube. Cui Ruoyun calmly put down the test tube and said to Jian Xia: "It's going to explode. Let's go out and tell it."
Jian Xia was frightened and ran out of the laboratory quickly, but Cui Ruoyun walked out leisurely and heard a slight explosion.
"The experiment failed again?" Jian Xia asked with lingering fear.
Cui Ruoyun nodded: "It failed, the nitrocellulose is still not stable enough."
Seeing Cui Ruoyun being so calm, Jian Xia asked, "Is the explosion just now okay?"
"It's okay, it's just a small explosion. I can encounter it more than a dozen times a month."
Jian Xia was speechless for a while, as expected, these chemistry guys are so perverted.
The experiment could not be carried out for the time being, so Cui Ruoyun asked: "Do you know where there is a coal mine in Longyou?"
"Coal mines? Yes, there are no coal mines anywhere. The players on the exploration team are crazy. They keep mining on the map for experience. There are several small coal mines near Shazhou."
Only then did Cui Ruoyun remember that there were some Baigong players who had changed their jobs to [Kanyu Masters]. Their job was to explore mineral deposits and gain experience.
The Kanyu engineers established a General Exploration Bureau, which was attached to the Salt and Iron Taxation Bureau. They logged into the game every day and drilled into the mountains and forests, searching for mineral deposits all over the mountains.
These crazy exploration players have already explored all the large and small mineral deposits near Shazhou.
"Why are you looking for coal mines? The mining cost of these small coal mines is not low, it is better to just burn charcoal."
Cui Ruoyun sighed and said, "He's not my unlucky brother. He's been pestering me every day these days, saying he wants to build a fertilizer base in Zhangye."
"Chemical fertilizer? Can we use current technology to produce chemical fertilizer? We can't even synthesize ammonia, right?"
Cui Ruoyun said: "The ones you are talking about are ammonia fertilizer and compound fertilizer. Of course we can't make those. But ammonium sulfate can still be made."
"Ammonium sulfate?"
Cui Ruoyun nodded and said: "Ammonium sulfate is the earliest chemically synthesized fertilizer. Although this fertilizer has many shortcomings, it can indeed effectively increase agricultural output."
"Can this ammonium sulfate be produced now?"
Cui Ruoyun nodded and said: "Theoretically, it is possible. As long as you use coal mines to make coke oven gas, and react with coke oven gas and sulfuric acid, you can get ammonium sulfate."
"However, specific experiments are needed to determine the output efficiency."
Jian Xia shouted: "This is synthetic fertilizer! If it can be made, wouldn't agricultural output be doubled! I will go to the General Administration of Salt and Iron immediately to look up the information and see if there are any coal mines suitable for mining near Shazhou!"
Cui Ruoyun shook her head and said: "Coal chemical industry is a particularly complex chemical industry, involving many processes. How can it be so easy?"
Jian Xia said: "That's true, but coal is really useful."
"Yes, before the emergence of petrochemical industry, coal mines have always been important fuels and chemical raw materials. Even petroleum cannot completely replace coal's status."
Cui Ruoyun looked at the blue sky of Shazhou and said:
"But once the coal mining industry starts, I'm afraid it will be difficult to see such a beautiful sky again."
Jian Xia also nodded and said: "This is inevitable. When I was in Guazhou, I already asked everyone to pay attention to the pollution problem, but the Dashui Gorge is still polluted. The giant industry is accompanied by pus and poisonous gas.
"
Cui Ruoyun also nodded. She naturally knew that with the current level of chemical industry, some waste gas and waste liquid must be discharged.
Moreover, there is a cost to deal with pollutants, and even the player's workshop must calculate profits.
Once the behemoth of the coal mining industry is unleashed, pollution will be inevitable.
Cui Ruoyun just wants to perfect the process as much as possible and make full use of waste gas and waste residue.
With the current pace of opening Longyou workshops, it is definitely not possible to always cut down trees to burn charcoal.
At the same time, Dashuixia Iron Works Area.
In a small blacksmith shop, a machine was rotating slowly, and then a burst of white steam spurted out from the machine, and the machine made a miserable howl.
"Gan! Failed again!"
After the steam dissipated, a player walked out. Looking at the completely scrapped steam engine, the player sent a friendly greeting.