The First National Preceptor of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 75

"My eldest brother has really gone astray from studying too much, and those old folks in the family are short-sighted and constantly fighting amongst themselves, only thinking about their own little interests." This is how Du Erlang commented on his elder brother and the clansmen.

"Since we didn't succeed today, things should be peaceful for a while," Xu Tian said.

Even without Du Dalang's involvement, Zheng Zhu would most likely still cause trouble if he found an opportunity after today.

If it were through normal channels, Xu Tian wouldn't care much. He was just afraid that Zheng Zhu would use some underhanded and despicable means, engage in some unorthodox practices, or take advantage of the government's improper methods.

There's no such thing as being able to guard against thieves for a thousand days without being able to do so. That's why, even though he won the bet today, he didn't dare to offend Zheng Zhu too much with his words.

After seeing Uncle Du and Du Erlang off, Xu Tian pondered for a long time. He decided that he and the shopkeepers needed to be extra careful when going out lately, just in case.

For the past few days, I've simply been living near the factory. It's remote enough that outsiders won't go there without a reason.

The factory project needs to be expedited; it seems we need to take bigger steps and go straight for water power. I've already figured it out pretty well. Even if there are still some problems, we can solve them on-site later, and I'm not afraid of spending more money.

Having made this decision, Xu Tian began to plan in detail.

To utilize water power, firstly, the river needs to be modified by diverting tributaries, raising the water level, and increasing the water flow velocity to enhance kinetic and potential energy. Secondly, water turbines, or waterwheels, need to be manufactured. Thirdly, a way needs to be found to transfer the kinetic energy to the factory.

Xu Tian gathered everyone in the factory to brainstorm ideas. Although he already had some initial thoughts, he still wanted to ask for everyone's opinions to identify and fill any gaps, and to further facilitate the team's collaborative development.

"If you need water power, you'd better hurry. May and June are the rainy season, and with so much rain, things will be difficult," a carpenter said.

This is a problem. Xu Tian nodded. The rainy season is coming soon, and then it will be difficult to modify the river.

"If you need to use water, you have to build a dam. The dam has to be sturdy and not too high. If it's too high, the water won't be able to flow through it in the summer and it will wash the dam away," the blacksmith reminded him.

This is a good reminder; Xu Tian will write it down.

“I’ve seen waterwheels before, though I’ve never made one myself. To be honest, I didn’t think it was that difficult,” another carpenter said.

After a long discussion, others also offered some opinions.

Cut the Gordian knot and only choose the currently feasible process; avoid solutions that are too technically challenging.

For example, when building structures like dams, using earth and cement would be a better solution, but currently there are no raw materials available.

We couldn't find a large amount of lime in a short time; at least three tons would be needed, and ten tons wouldn't be much, so we had to give up. Therefore, we will still use a conventional earth, stone, and wood structure for now.

The waterwheel is fine, as long as it's sturdy and doesn't fall apart when the water hits it. Since there's no belt, the transmission relies on the torque generated by the rotation of hardwood from end to end, and the roller design comes in handy. As long as the water flow has a strong impact, long transmission distances are not a problem.

Once the plan was finalized, Xu Tian spent two days designing the blueprints and explaining them to everyone. After everyone had no further objections, construction began.

The soil was everywhere, and although there weren't many stones, they weren't hard to find either. There were also quite a few pieces of wood, about ten feet long and a foot wide. The small river outside was only about two feet wide, and when I measured it, it wasn't very deep either, about five feet deep in the middle.

After two days of preparing various materials, a group of men worked together to isolate a tributary in one day, with a three-foot-wide opening at the lower end of the tributary.