Qiuchi Pavilion. The wind blows by the curtain of the dawn court. The frost leaves have not faded yet. The crows and magpies are half startled.
He laughs at himself and has a weak reputation. He seems to be alienated from the world. He has a lazy heart and lazy feet. He is easy to teach and spends his time doing nothing.
——"Visiting Kinmen·Qiu Xing" Su Shi
…
After arranging military supplies such as uniforms and bedding, Bai Fu focused on the equipment for defending the city and weapons for the soldiers.
Tong Yan, the minister of household affairs, got another batch of money from somewhere and allocated all of it to Bai Fu. Bai Fu was overjoyed.
Bai Fu thought to himself: "The boy servant is picky and picky, but he never loses his grip at the critical moment. He is worthy of being the iron-clad servant of the household department."
On this day, Bai Fu came to the Ordnance Supervision of the Ministry of War to supervise the preparations of the Tang army's equipment and ordnance. The craftsmen of the Ordnance Supervision were busy making bows and crossbows.
Bai Fu picked up the withered bow, shot several arrows in succession, and said to the officials of the Ministry of Finance: "These arrows are missing. The arrow shafts are soft, the feathers at the tail are of varying thickness, and the arrows are unbalanced in front and back. Once the distance exceeds a hundred steps, the accuracy will be lost."
The temperature will be greatly reduced.”
Ordnance Supervisor Wai Lang said: "What your Excellency said is absolutely true. Your archery skills are superb, and the deviation only occurs after a hundred steps. For ordinary archers, the deviation will already occur after fifty steps."
The main reason for the problem is the rush to work: not enough time for the arrow shaft to dry; the glue paint that bonds the feathers to the arrow shaft is not evenly applied; not enough time for polishing the arrows, resulting in a slightly uneven weight of the triangular arrow clusters...
To be honest with you, this is an unexpected surprise. If you hadn't allocated this batch of money from the Ministry of Finance in time, we wouldn't have the materials to start work."
Bai Fu frowned and asked, "How could this be so?"
Ordnance Supervisor Wai Lang said: "Since the Kaiyuan Dynasty, although the Tang army has expanded its territory, the wars have been outside the territory. There have been no large-scale wars within the territory. Especially during the Tianbao period, the Tang Dynasty was peaceful and armaments were relaxed.
According to the regulations on combat readiness of the Ministry of War, the vehicles, equipment, ordnance and other war-ready supplies stored by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of War can only be used by 500,000 Tang troops for three years. If they are stored for too long, the ordnance will age and be damaged.
After the rebellion of Anlushan, they fought for several years. Both sides invested more than one million troops. The war-ready troops and supplies stored by the Ministry of Transport and the Treasury were not enough for the Tang army. After the rebels invaded Chang'an and Luoyang, they also sent troops to the Ministry of War.
The hoarded military supplies were plundered.
Nowadays, weapon supplies are expensive and scarce, craftsmen are short of manpower, and ordnance supervisors are working at full capacity, working day and night, which is not enough to ensure the supply of the army.
Weapons manufacturing involves military aircraft secrets, and cannot be outsourced to private blacksmiths, carpenters and other workshops, causing the Ministry of War to be stretched thin."
…
After an inspection by the Ordnance Supervision of the Ministry of War, the problems revealed were many times more serious than imagined. Bai Fu felt dizzy, anxious and depressed.
The next day was Xun's holiday. Early in the morning, Bai Fu came to the palace to visit Princess Qingluan.
Seeing that Bai Fu was worried about military affairs, Princess Qingluan was like a spring bird, chirping, thinking of ways to make Bai Fu happy.
Princess Qingluan showed Bai Fu a dressing table in the dormitory. The dressing table was made of golden nanmu and was exquisite and luxurious. In the middle of the dressing table was a mirror table, with two floors under the table, both equipped with doors.
Princess Qingluan smiled slightly, pressed the button, and the first wooden door of the dressing table opened. A small beauty in palace clothes made of wood came out from the wooden door, delivering towels, combs and other toiletries. After Princess Qingluan took it, the palace maid puppet automatically
Return to the wooden door.
Princess Qingluan pressed the second button, and the palace maid puppet on the second floor walked out of the wooden door carrying facial makeup, powder, eyebrows, hairpins, and other supplies. After Princess Qingluan put on her makeup, she automatically returned to the original place.
at.
Princess Qingluan clapped her hands and said with a smile: "Brother Fu, this dressing table is very interesting. These palace maid puppets are like clumsy little maids."
Bai Fu exclaimed: "This thing is so ingenious, who made it?"
Princess Qingluan said: "This dressing table was originally a birthday gift dedicated to the emperor's concubine, Queen Wang. After Queen Wang was deposed as a commoner, this dressing table was circulated among the concubines in the harem. I accidentally found it a few days ago.
I found it and asked the chamberlain for it.
I asked around and found out that the craftsman who made the dressing table was called Ma Daifeng.
During the Kaiyuan period, the imperial court summoned skilled craftsmen from all over the country to build a luxurious six-horse carriage for the emperor.
Ma Daifeng, a native of Xinxian County, Donghai County (today's LYG City), rushed to Chang'an in response to the imperial edict. He first made various ceremonial guards and legal vehicles for the emperor's outings. Then, Ma Daifeng damaged the palace for many years and piled it up in the warehouse.
We repaired and transformed many instruments and instruments such as the guide car, the drum recorder, the wind bird, etc., making these old objects more exquisite than before. It is simply a masterpiece of craftsmanship that astonished the emperor and the courtiers."
Bai Fu fiddled with the dressing table a few times. The more he studied it, the more he felt that it had an ingenious structure and a strange idea. Bai Fu had a thought in his mind and asked eagerly: "What is the official rank of Ma Daifeng now and where is he?"
Princess Qingluan replied: "After these exquisite utensils were made, Ma Daifeng reported them to the emperor's grandfather, hoping to get an official position.
Although the emperor couldn't put it down, he believed that these artifacts could only be regarded as ingenuity and obscenity, and could not be used in a refined manner, so he did not summon Ma Daifeng, but only rewarded him with some gold and silver, without granting him an official position.
He was not promoted to any official position and was only regarded as a skilled carpenter. Ma Daifeng felt ashamed of this and complained about his bad luck. He left Chang'an and disappeared without a trace."
Bai Fu secretly sighed that skilled craftsmen like Ma Daifeng had made a large number of utensils for the royal family, but they only won the laughter of the emperor's concubines and did not receive the attention they deserved, and were even deliberately suppressed.
Throughout history, there have been countless such things that did not pay attention to talents, which eventually led to the loss of many unique skills and secrets.
If these skilled craftsmen were reused and ordered to manufacture instruments for farming, irrigation, and military use, the national power of the Tang Dynasty would be completely different.
Thousands of miles of horse-drawn carriages, a waste of natural resources. This is not only the personal tragedy of talented people, but also the tragedy of the Tang Empire.
…
After drinking tea with Princess Qingluan, admiring flowers, playing the piano and painting, at the end of the day, Bai Fu felt much more relaxed and his thoughts became more open-minded.
Back at the Bashu Guild Hall, Bai Fu found Huang Zhen and Xiong Badou, and asked the black and white teams to go out and find Ma Daifeng's whereabouts. At the same time, he recruited skilled craftsmen from the private sector to serve as the Ordnance Supervisor.
A few days later, Bai Fu inquired about the whereabouts of Ma Daifeng, who lived in seclusion in Xihe Mountain in Hanzhong.
Bai Fu traveled hundreds of miles in a light carriage with his personal entourage to pay him a visit in person.
Ma Daifeng was living in seclusion and had no intention of leaving the mountains, but Bai Fu visited the thatched cottage three times and sincerely invited him to help him with his boxing.
Ma Daifeng was moved by Bai Fu's sincerity and held a banquet to entertain Bai Fu and his party.
Arriving at Ma Daifeng's banquet hall, there was a "wine mountain" in the middle of the banquet.
The wine mountain stands on a wooden plate, which is four feet and five inches in diameter. There is a big turtle holding the plate underneath. All the organs are hidden in the belly of the big turtle.
The wine mountain is about three feet high and has many peaks. It is very beautiful and beautiful. The middle of the wine mountain is empty and can hold three buckets of wine. There are wine pools around the wine mountain, and there are fairy mountains surrounding the pool. There are lotus flowers all over the wine pool, and they are decorated with iron
Cast. The lotus is in full bloom and the lotus leaves are stretched out. It can be used as a plate to hold dried meat, meat sauce and various fruits.
There are double-storey pavilions and pavilions on the top of Jiushan Mountain, and the doors of the pavilions will open automatically. On the mountainside on the south side of Jiushan Mountain, there is a gilt-coated dragon with its body hidden in the mountain.
The golden dragon opens its mouth and can spit out fine wine. There is a large lotus leaf below the golden dragon, with a wine cup placed on it. When the dragon's mouth spits out wine that is only eighty-full, no more wine will be poured in. You need to get a cup to drink immediately.
If the guest drinks slowly, the door of the pavilion will open automatically, and a drunken doll dressed elegantly, wearing a horned hat, and holding a copper plate will come out of the door. He will beat the copper plate with the copper plate to urge people to drink quickly.
After the drinker finishes drinking, he puts the wine glass back on the lotus leaf. After the golden dragon automatically pours the wine, the wine-inducing doll will return to the pavilion and the door will automatically close.
If there were still people who drank too slowly, the drinking doll would come out again and urge them again with a copper plate. Until the end of the banquet, there was no error at all.
The wine pourer made by Ma Daifeng is also very wonderful. There are wine glasses that can tilt automatically around the wine mountain. When there is no wine in the glass, the glass will tilt; when half a glass of wine is filled, the glass will be level; when it is full, the glass will automatically tilt.
Tip it over and pour the wine into the pool. This is designed based on the "sitting utensil" installed in the Confucius Temple, which is intended to remind gentlemen that the precepts are full and the precepts are full.
Jiushan's manufacturing, from conception, design drawings, measurement data, to material selection, is novel and full of imagination and wisdom.
Bai Fu and his party were eye-opening and full of admiration.
After three rounds of wine, Ma Daifeng stood up, bowed deeply to Bai Fu, picked up the wine, and said: "Uncle Liu Huang visited the thatched cottage three times, and Prime Minister Zhuge couldn't refuse his warm hospitality.
Ma was a commoner with few talents and little knowledge, but he was highly regarded by Prime Minister Bai and enjoyed the kindness of Mr. Wolong. He was really ashamed and embarrassed.
If Ma continues to shirk, I really don’t know where to put this old face. From today on, Ma and his disciples are willing to follow Master Bai, go through fire and water, no matter what!"