Chapter 102:

As soon as Wei Wei came back, she hadn't said anything about the situation of the villa, but Felix gave her good news first.

"The thresher artisans you mentioned earlier made it. After testing, they can thresh an acre of wheat in two hours—I'm talking about an acre and two thousand kilograms."

"Done? They're amazing. ." Wei Wei was a little surprised, but then a little regretful: "It would have been better if it had been earlier."

A little earlier, this year's wheat harvest can be used, but unfortunately, now that the wheat harvest has ended, it will be done at this time. Well, it made her feel pity instead.

After the wheat is harvested, it takes a very long time to separate the kernels from the husks. Even though she taught everyone to use flails last year, it took five days for an acre of wheat to the husk.

So Wei Wei had already planned to make a thresher, but she had to hide and tuck her when she first arrived last year, so as not to make herself too conspicuous, but this year she has no such scruples.

So back from the capital, Wei Wei assigned the blacksmiths the task of making wheat threshers.

The thresher was invented by Scottish inventor James Merkel and his son Andrew in the 18th century. Although the time was close to the industrial revolution, the first thresher was driven by horses, and then it was improved to rely on water conservancy. and steam-powered machines.

Wei Wei turned over a lot of information, made modifications based on the first thresher, and drew an improved horsepower-driven thresher. She didn't believe that with today's technology, it is impossible to make a steam model. Can't do it the structure of the thresher is very simple. To save the amount of iron, the first thresher made is a wooden shell, with a funnel-like inlet above and two outlets below, one in front of the machine and one in the front. Below, the inside of the thresher is a long roller. A round shaft is installed on one side of the roller, which is connected with the shaft below which is convenient for the horse to pull by a narrow belt. When the horse is connected to the thresher, it runs in place. Automatically starts to tell the operation, the constantly rolling round shaft will form an airflow inside, blowing the wheat husk and straw from the trumpet-like air outlet in front, and the wheat grains will fall from the slide-like exit directly below, complete. Separation of husks and kernels.

With the thresher, the most productive acre of land is now only two hours, and the rest will only be faster.

Of course, this kind of thresher can only thresh, and there is no way to eliminate the wheat bran on the wheat kernels. After all the subsequent wheat kernels are milled by the mill, they still need to be screened by a sieve to obtain pure white fine flour.

However, Wei Wei's thresher inspired the craftsmen who made it. Felix knows that the craftsmen he has dug back from elsewhere are currently researching methods of sieving surfaces that can be driven by animal or water power, such as making an oversized sieve. , pour the freshly ground flour on top, and let the horse shake the sieve back and forth like a thresher to achieve the effect of automatic stuffing.

However, although it sounds simple, it is not easy for craftsmen who have not learned much, but Felix supports their attempts and even told them that as long as they can make them, they can do the same thing as a thresher. Living the same is rewarding, and that's probably why the craftsmen are so active.

"It's not too late. Although the wheat cannot be used, it will be available when the barley is harvested next month."

Barley needs to be hulled just like wheat, and a thresher can also be used. Even rye and oats can be used. It can also be used to thresh rice with a change, which can be called a multi-purpose machine.

"That's right." Wei Wei knew that what he said made sense, nodded, and added: "But just one thresher is not very useful. Can the craftsmen make a few more before next month?"Felix Si smiled: "The structure of the thresher is simple. I asked. The blacksmith in charge of this piece can make at least five more units a month. If everyone participates, they can also make a hundred units a month."

Felix has a lot of blacksmiths. Originally, several well-crafted blacksmiths in his manor provided him with weapons and armour, and occasionally took over the work of making farm tools. There will be at least one blacksmith in the middle of the pack. He has already "borrowed" the skilled craftsmen from these people, and dug some from the territory of other nobles. Adding up the total, the blacksmiths who can make armour and weapons only There are more than 50, and most of these blacksmiths also bring apprentices. Although these apprentices who can be brought have not been apprentices, they have learned some crafts for a few years. Even if they can't make good armour and weapons, they can play with some Small objects is still no problem, and the number of people who can add up to a big iron will be doubled.

Of course, because the Count always has something they can't finish, and can allocate time to make a thresher, there are only a few big iron craftsmen with the best skills.

"One hundred units? You let them do it? Do we need so many?" Wei Wei knew that Felix had already made such arrangements after hearing his words.

But even though there is a large population and a lot of land in Sardinson County, the thresher does not require one machine for every household. It is too extravagant to have one machine in a village, and the villages and towns in Sardinson County are not enough. Fifty, there is no need for as many as a hundred.

But she quickly figured it out: "Do you want to sell the extra machine?"

Felix nodded in appreciation: "This machine has a simple structure, and people can learn it when they see it. We might as well sell it as soon as possible to reduce the cost. Take it back."

Felix is looking more and more like a businessman Wei secretly sighed.

Regardless of the simple structure of the thresher, even if they replaced all replaceable parts with wood, the amount of iron used in one machine is not low, enough to play three or five sabres, and it is enough to sell enough iron. It only takes three silver coins, and not to mention the craftsmanship and time spent on casting, the general residents can't afford it at all.

There are no mineral resources in Sardinson County. All the minerals needed are bought from merchants or other nobles. Although the sale of iron is not restricted in Europe, the price has always been high. For an ordinary person to become a knight You need to prepare a full set of armour, weapons and horses for yourself, and this is not enough for a small wealthy Felix who wants to equip the citizens with enough threshers, even the material cost of iron is enough to make several full sets of armour for the knights. He can't afford this price, but if he can get others to do it, why not Woolen cloth?"So how do you want to sell it?"Felix said, "barter and let them trade iron."Three times the amount of iron used by a thresher can be exchanged for a thresher. To buy, it is almost gold Wei thinks that he can't do this business: "You also said that the structure of the thresher is simple, and you can see it once. They can buy one and go back to imitate it."But it is always necessary to buy one first, right?" Fei What Lix wants to do is just a one-time transaction: "If you can sell one, you will make a profit, otherwise we will lose a lot when they see the structure of the thresher."These threshers are always sent to the people In their hands, those people in the village are not like the serfs in the manor. I am afraid that they can take apart the thresher to see if they are curious. The structure of this machine cannot be kept secret, and any blacksmith who knows it can make it, the difference is only in the quality of the craftsmanship and the length of letting other people get this technology for nothing, they might as well get back to it as soon as possible."And it will be time for the barley harvest soon. If the merchants don't say it, the nobles are afraid to buy two more for their use."Although the nobles exploited the serfs, they were not stupid, and they could improve productivity. They are also reluctant to use things, especially those nobles who have a lot of land but few people. They lack labour. They are naturally willing to spend some money to buy a few threshers to speed up the harvest. If they are harvested and sold early, they can still have a good price. If it is too late, when there are abundant grains everywhere, the price will be lower, and there may even be situations where grain merchants are unwilling to accept them.

Wei Wei thought for a while, then smiled and said: "Then you can find a few people who can talk about the thresher to promote it, mobilize their desire to buy, and maybe sell a few more."

Modern salesmen do it Isn't that what it is, the dead can be made alive for you, relying on a mouth to make customers willing to pay.

After listening to her suggestion, Felix left his head and started thinking about who he was suitable for the job, and soon there was a candidate.

"I'll arrange it tomorrow. Dingle has a lot of outsiders now, so it's suitable to promote there."

After talking about the thresher, Felix said one more thing.

He took out a drawing from the drawer, a city plan drawn by Pierre.

This city belonging to Sardinson and Thrott started small. After all, the two counties combined were less than 50,000 people, and most of these people would not leave their places of residence. The city was built fundamentally. It's useless and wasteful, it's better to develop slowly.

"The original plan was to accommodate a small city of about 10,000 people, without a city wall to facilitate future expansion."

Although it is a small city with only 10,000 people, the configuration inside is completely according to Wei Wei's vision. The hospital bank There are all public buildings such as small shopping malls in the school park, and Pierre chose the appropriate location for them. For example, the bank is located in the Centre of the commercial street which will inevitably be very lively in the future, and the hospital and school are located in the residential area of the nobles and commoners. In the middle, it is convenient for people on both sides to enter and exit, while the park is one on each side. The noble side is a large racecourse park where you can run horses. The civilian area is a flat grass with a small area, with benches on the side of the road, and plants around it. There are some beautiful flowers and trees, and because there is no charge, there is no need for a fence, only a few more trails are opened for everyone to enter and exit freely.

In addition, the public security bureau is also one on each side, but it is said to be the public security bureau. It is not the police, but the city guards and sheriffs. There are additional fire stations on the side. These people are naturally the official establishment and will be dispatched by the future city hall. It is currently not available.

Of course, although they didn't say it, Pierre didn't forget to give out a place to a future church.

And these public buildings are just blanked on the map because Wei Wei has their outline drawings. Pierre also saved time to design. He only needed to find a good location for each building, set the basic architectural style for the houses in the noble area and the poor area, plan the land area, and then design the appearance of the city hall, The last one was quite a challenge for him, and the others were easy to come by.

Who makes Wei Wei's preferences so clear, as long as the tone is neat and symmetrical, the performance on the design drawing based on this is to write names on grids of various sizes and then draw a representative building, which is simpler than the ones he painted before. ."This is the floor plan of the city. These are the outline drawing, internal structure drawing of the city hall, and house style drawings of the noble area and the civilian area." Felix took out several drawings. Wei Wei first looked at the drawings of the city hall. It was a huge Gothic-style building. It was a three-story building as a whole. The tower is a five-story minaret. There is a viewing platform at the same height as the building. There is also a clock pattern near the top of the tower, representing a clock tower."He probably designed it after seeing this." Felix pointed to the pendulum clock in the study, "I seem to have specifically asked Raymond to make sure it can be made."There is such a clock that is the first in the world. The tower is there, it is difficult to think of this city hall not being famous, not to mention that Pierre is worthy of being a designer who is good at designing and building churches. The building he designed has the same grandeur and exquisiteness as a Gothic church, with typical pointed arches. , ribbed vaults and flying buttresses, and Wei Wei's villa inspired him with the huge arched window ribs, plus the curved balconies, this building is a work of art, and if it can spread to In later generations, it will be listed as a cultural heritage. Looking at the internal structure, Pierre did not design the first floor as an area that can be used for public activities according to Wei Wei's requirements, but directly for various government departments, but in front of the city hall is the square and behind the garden. Design is not necessary, and in the internal structure diagram of the first floor, there are benches for people to rest in the corridor, and it is also very convenient for the residents to do errands.

This is the design of the banquet hall on the second floor. Pierre is very aware of the nobility's preference for holding banquets. Even the buildings used for official business do not have a downstairs section, so there are also matching kitchens and lounges. Very complete.

The third floor is the office area of high-level officials. Like the first floor, these office areas only roughly divide the size of the rooms, and it is not his responsibility to arrange the specific arrangements.

After all, even Wei Wei hasn't figured out how to plan government units.

Wei Wei is very satisfied with this city hall. She likes Gothic-style buildings very much, and Pierre's design completely hit her heart, so there is nothing wrong with it.

After seeing the city hall, the house drawings in the noble district seemed mediocre and even a little perfunctory - it was almost drawn according to Wei Wei's villa, but the details were slightly modified to be more in line with the aesthetics of the nobles."This shows that he likes your villa very much." Felix said: "Of course, I also like it very much. It is the most comfortable house I have ever lived in, even the palace can't compare."Lun Hua, Wei Wei's The villa can only be regarded as ordinary, but the comfort level can indeed surpass most of the houses. After all, her design is mainly based on comfort, and the decoration also tends to be homely, which is completely different from the nobles who pay attention to luxury. It is normal for Lix to feel comfortable living in. The slums are even simpler. They are all two-story houses with triangular roofs, and small windows and the grey stone walls are strong but not very beautiful. Wei Wei imagined it. Rows of grey stone houses stand on both sides, neat, but have a sense of outdated. For a new city, it is not so good, and the size of the stones is different, and it is still not neat. ."It's better to change the stone to brick. The red wall looks much better than the grey."But brick is more expensive than stone. If the house is made of bricks, ordinary civilians may not be able to live in it."The difficulty of mining stones The price of stones is not affordable for ordinary people, and the price of bricks is even higher.

Although bricks are easy to make, the preparatory work takes a lot of time, and the final firing requires a lot of wood, so the price of bricks is higher than that of stones.

When Wei Wei heard this, she could only say, "Then put more effort into the decoration."

She took a pen and added a small flower stand outside a few windows, with plants and flowers on it. The door has also added flowers and trees.

"The street can be widened according to the needs of horses and carriages in the middle, green belts on both sides, and the sidewalks on the inside, with green plants as embellishments. Wouldn't it look better? Also, separating the road from the sidewalk can reduce the occurrence of accidents."

Felix watched her drawing and added colours to the picture in his mind. The grey house with green plants and bright flowers is indeed better than the street with only houses. Much nicer.

"Go and talk to Pierre yourself, you can do the same with other receptions."

Wei Wei said a little embarrassedly: "I said before that I want to paint those public buildings, but I haven't started yet, so I have to wait for the painting. Well, let's find him again."

"It's not in a hurry. Those public buildings can't be built at first, especially places like banks. Just leave the land empty, and it doesn't matter when you paint it."

Wei Wei Frightened: "Aren't you going to run a bank yourself?"

Felix was stunned this time, running a bank, he didn't seem to have considered this issue.

But the banking industry indeed makes money. Something is going on here for Sardinson, his territory. If he doesn't hold all the currency in the territory himself, should he still hand it over to someone else?

Felix touched his chin and pondered: "You're right, I really should think about this."

Wei Wei nodded and joked: "Yes, state-owned banks are the most trustworthy, you are the lord here, The bank you open can be used with confidence, otherwise, what if another foreigner comes and runs away after receiving the money?"

It is unlikely to run away with money, but there is indeed a certain risk in handing over your money to others, and the person behind the bank can easily know his family background, which is also very annoying.

"But we have opened our bank. Even if the citizens are willing to buy it, foreign businessmen may not be willing. When other banks enter, our bank may not be able to rob others."

And banks serve businessmen. Yes, they won't put the money in, so it's a waste of time.

"Furthermore, several banks cooperate, so the bills of exchange they issue can be used nationwide, and they are even accepted abroad. We ventured in, fearing that no one would welcome them."

Wei Wei raised a finger and pointed to the building. Next: "Don't they all say that there is a church background behind the bank? Isn't there a ready-made person here? Don't they want to cooperate with us? Borrowing their relationship to join us in this should be possible, right?"

Felix felt that what she said made sense. The Pope didn't know if it was possible, but Bishop Umberto could try it.

"Let me tell you, you have to think about this, the economic lifeline should still be in your own hands, and don't be afraid that you won't be able to open it. The banking business in my hometown is rich, I remember some, look back Sort it out, and write it for you to read."

The big deal is to stay up all night and work overtime to read books, anyway, she's already used to it, so it's not bad.

Seeing that she was so positive, Felix became more and more moved and said that he would go and talk to the people in the church.

Afterwards, he went to Bishop Umberto, who heard that he intended to cooperate with the church to open a bank—although it was just an empty plan for now—and that he wanted to cooperate with them, Bishop Umberto was very happy.

"Don't worry, I'll write a letter to make arrangements. Don't look at us as doves and weak, but we have some rights within the church."

Weak doves are compared to hawks, but they are still very bluffing to the outside world. Since the church can support the Templars to run banks, they can of course support Felix, and Felix opens a bank in his territory. It doesn't affect other people's business. They can all allow other banks to open in the same city as themselves - such as the capital city. Wouldn't that prevent the master of Sardinson from opening a bank in his territory?

If they did that, they would be the first to lose, but don't forget, Felix is now a big customer of the major banks in the capital, and his monthly running accounts can support a lot of people. The reason is to offend him. Generally speaking, he will no longer deposit money in their bank in the future. This is a big loss.

Bishop Umberto thought clearly in his heart, knowing that Felix just didn't understand what was going on, but he didn't understand it. It wasn't difficult at all. Instead, he and the Pope took advantage of the fact that Felix took advantage of it. With the introduction of the banking industry, the share of the income that belongs to the church will naturally belong to them.

Felix was also satisfied with Bishop Umberto's reply, and he gave him a friendly smile, saying that if this happened, they could add some other cooperation.

He even directly invited: "Recently, our county has newly researched a thresher that can improve the efficiency of wheat threshing. I wonder if Your Excellency Bishop is interested in visiting with me?"

Bishop Umberto would naturally not disagree: "Of course, I'm very happy."

Then Felix led him to the performance of the thresher, and by the way said that this kind of machine has just been developed, and they only have this one, but he can wait here. After the new one is done, give it to him as a thank-you gift.

"It will be done well before you leave."

Bishop Umberto just wanted to say that the more the better, for this kind of thank-you gift, don't look at it as just a machine, let alone its purpose, as long as it can be imitated, it will be a big seller.

Of course, if he wants to sell, he will sell it in Italy, and he will not compete with Felix for business. He still understands this.