The next day.
Fang Er hopped onto his long-unridden motorcycle, roaring to a stop outside the Taoist temple.
Two young acolytes stood at the entrance, already dozing off in the early morning.
Perhaps they had stayed up all night on watch, or they had just woken up and hadn't fully come to.
Was Master Yuan in the temple?
Fang Er asked the two acolytes.
One of them rubbed his eyes. "Ah, greetings, Marquis. This humble disciple greets you, Marquis. To answer your question, Senior Master Yuan has been summoned to the palace."
Was this old fellow being called to calculate auspicious dates for Li Yuan?
Having come up empty, Fang Er rode his bike to the New Oriental Vocational School.
Old Ma had already delivered the cotton.
They still needed to figure out how to machine-gin the seeds. A thousand mu of land had yielded hundreds of thousands of pounds of cotton, and relying on them to pick the seeds by hand would take until the end of time.
Zhao Gang followed closely behind Fang Er, his eyes glued to Fang Er's every move, terrified of missing anything that would make the principles incomprehensible later.
The cotton ginning machine first appeared in China during the late Southern Song Dynasty, invented by Huang Daopo.
This was a device for removing cotton seeds. A bookshelf was fixed to a table, with a wooden axle and an iron axle mounted horizontally on the upper part of the shelf.
The iron axle was above, and the wooden axle was below. A crank was fitted to the right side of the wooden axle.
A cross-shaped wooden frame, acting as a flywheel, was installed on the left side of the iron axle.
During operation, the right hand turned the crank, causing the roller shaft connected to the crank to rotate. The left foot worked the treadle, making the roller shaft and the lower shaft move at the same speed but in opposite directions.
The two shafts engaged. When hand-fed with seed cotton between the shafts, the cotton was drawn out in front of the machine, and the seeds fell behind.
Fang Er had only seen this contraption once in a mechanical museum. It was a simple little thing, and while not particularly difficult, it wasn't until 1793 that someone in the West came up with it.
At that time, Chinese civilization was a full six to seven hundred years ahead of the world!
It was only later that the foundations were nearly ruined by those with queue hairstyles, leaving the later Chinese nation subservient everywhere!
Speaking of which, should he eliminate the ancestors of those fellows in their sperm stage?
Fang Er shook his head, thinking a bit too far ahead. He should focus on the matter at hand first.
Fang Er made no improvements to the cotton ginning machine.
Although converting it to electric power would undoubtedly greatly increase efficiency, industrialization was not achieved overnight; it required a gradual process.
This process was also an opportunity for the craftsmen to better exert their creativity and accumulate a foundation.
To know the how, to know the why, and finally, to know the inevitability.
When this foundation reached a certain level, Zhao Gang and the others would surely bring him unexpected surprises.
Therefore, as Zhao Gang and the others watched in excitement as clumps of pure white cotton were successfully separated from their seeds by the cotton ginning machine,
Fang Er gave them a task.
Casually picking up a clump of cotton fluff, he said to Zhao Gang and the others.
"This Marquis will give you a problem. This material can be further processed to weave cloth, but currently, it is in a state of separate clumps."
"Therefore, what you need to do is to figure out the processing method, and you must also improve the existing textile machines."
"Having followed this Marquis for so long, you are all considered quite capable. So, consider this an examination."
"Of course, whoever succeeds can name their future methods."
Zhao Gang and the others did not disappoint Fang Er, patting their chests and saying, "Marquis, rest assured, we will definitely solve this problem."
Fang Er nodded, then continued, "You all handle this matter yourselves later."
"How are the textbooks for the vocational school coming along?"
Speaking of this, Zhao Gang's face was filled with pride. "Marquis, they are mostly done. We summarized them ourselves, along with some manuscripts previously given to me by Commander Qi."
"Commander Qi's manuscripts?"
Fang Er was startled for a moment, then immediately realized it must be the part transcribed by Zheng Lao Er and the others.
Speaking of which, he still didn't know what happened to Zheng Lao Er and the others.
He immediately took out his walkie-talkie and asked Qi Sui.
"Eagle Six, this is Eagle One, hear me and respond, over!"
"Eagle One, Eagle One, this is Eagle Six, awaiting instructions, over."
After a brief exchange, Fang Er had to accept a fact.
That was that Zheng Lao Er and the others had all died in the explosion of the gunpowder workshop when the workshop was attacked that day.
Alright, it could be considered that they had fulfilled their mission.
The blacksmiths and carpenters at the vocational school were divided into two teams. One team would scale up the cotton ginning machines to de-seed the harvested cotton.
The other team began to research the examination questions posed by Fang Er.
Fang Er then went to the Longshou Canal, where the Skyfire Army was rebuilding the barracks and training grounds.
Looking at the busy scene before him, Fang Er began to consider the matter of rebuilding the workshop.
The machine tools, generators, and transformers that he had exchanged from the system space were still idle.
However, whether to rebuild the workshop at the original site or move it away from Chang'an was a question that needed to be considered.
He casually picked up a mineral map and began to study it.
Post-industrial bases in later generations were generally concentrated in coastal areas, with the important factor being the convenience of transportation.
Chang'an clearly did not meet this requirement.
The Yellow River waterway was truly not friendly to large ships.
This problem was discovered when the "Wuya" warships entered and exited.
If he were to move away from here, then Shenyang would undoubtedly be the best choice.
His noble title was Marquis of Liaodong, and it would be natural to establish a government office there.
With this in mind, Fang Er closed the map and returned it to the space.
Riding his motorcycle straight to Chang'an, it was time to see the Emperor.
ps: Second update