Chapter 65: Meeting An Old Acquaintance Again
As soon as it was dawn, Gan Ning was pushed awake by Da Qiao just like usual. Gan Ning let out a heavy sneeze, rubbed his nose, feeling his head a bit dizzy and his legs weak.
“Has the general caught a cold?” Da Qiao asked with concern.
“I’m fine, maybe I didn’t sleep well last night, my head is a bit dizzy.”
“I’ll help the general to relieve himself.”
“No need, I can walk by myself.”
Da Qiao stubbornly supported Gan Ning anyway. After he relieved himself behind the screen in the corner, she helped him sit back on the bed, and touched Gan Ning’s forehead.
“It’s a bit hot! I’ll have the butler fetch a physician.”
“Really no need!”
Gan Ning pulled her and smiled, “No need to make a fuss, I know what’s wrong with me myself, some hot water will do.”
Da Qiao was still worried and had the butler decoct a common medicine for headache and fever, forcing Gan Ning to drink a bowl of it before letting him leave.
Today Gan Ning had an extremely important matter: testing the chain pump ship oars. This was the first major project Li Zhuan had started researching after coming to Yuzhang Commandery. The creative blueprint was given to him by Gan Ning, and he was responsible for implementation.
The chain pump ship first appeared in the South during the Two Jins and Southern and Northern Dynasties period. Its foundation was the chain pump invented at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The chain pump was an irrigation tool, but inspired by it, similar oars were mounted on ships.
The most important role of the chain pump ship was not faster speed, but improved efficiency. A mengchong warship needed twelve men to row the oars; after converting to a chain pump ship, it only needed four men to pedal. The saved eight rowers could become combat soldiers, doubling the combat power of the mengchong warship.
But oars were mostly used in military applications, rarely on civilian ships. An important reason was that civilian ships were generally not large, and sculling was sufficient without needing an extra set of oars. Moreover, oars could easily get tangled in water weeds, which was troublesome.
The importance of oars to sea transport far exceeded that of inner rivers. Inner rivers could still use rowing for power, but before oars, large ships for sea transport could only rely on sails, which was too limiting.
Li Zhuan built a prototype in ten days. Of course, it was not yet mounted on a ship, just a bare frame, tested in the East Lake inside the city.
It was surrounded by a bamboo fence, ordinary citizens not allowed to watch to prevent leaks. A large shed was built in the water with walls on three sides, the open side facing the shore. Gan Ning and several officials stood on the shore, watching the test in the shed.
Two soldiers pedaled the pedals as if riding a bicycle. The horizontal shaft turned, driving the oars on both sides to rotate, churning the water with a rumbling sound and splashing water everywhere.
Chief Clerk Jiang Wan smiled beside him, “The principle is just putting wheels on the ship.”
Gan Ning nodded, “Indeed!”
Although the principle was simple, the hardest part was the initial breakthrough. No one had the concept until two hundred years later, when a shipbuilder passed by a chain pump, saw it rotating on the water surface, and suddenly had a bold idea, leading to the appearance of the chain pump ship.
So the zero breakthrough was the most precious. Gan Ning used a little historical knowledge to advance this idea by two hundred years.
He created the zero, then Li Zhuan would realize from zero to one: first drawing the real shipbuilding blueprints, then from one to two with Li Zhuan supervising, artisans building the actual item according to the blueprints, from two to three installing the actual item on the ship, and from three to ten mass production.
Gan Ning was responsible for the inspiration, Li Zhuan for design and supervision. There were many extremely important details, such as how mounting oars on the ship would affect balance.
For example, the relationship between the power of the oars and ship size: how many people needed to pedal for a large ship, how large the oars needed to be designed, the shape, width, and thickness of the blades, etc. Li Zhuan needed to consider hundreds of details and solve dozens of problems to finally build the chain pump ship.
This was why before Li Zhuan came, Gan Ning had many ideas but couldn’t implement them. Building required not only artisans, but also engineers.
The oars successfully operated. The next step was mounting on the ship, which would take one or two months to debug slowly.
Gan Ning rode his horse away from the test site and returned to the prefectural office. After drinking a bowl of medicine in the morning, he felt much better, not as uncomfortable as in the morning.
At this time, Gan Ning saw from afar a young lady in a green skirt standing in front of the Recruitment Hall, seeming somewhat familiar.
Gan Ning’s heart stirred, he urged his horse forward, and immediately recognized her. Sure enough, it was Young Lady Xu whom he had met in Xuchang.
“Miss Xu, it’s really you! How did you come to Yuzhang Commandery?”
Xu Wei said somewhat embarrassedly, “A clan cousin of mine came to Yuzhang to apply, I followed to play for a few days.”
At this time, a tall and strong woman emerged from the door, with dark skin, hand on her sword hilt, a pair of sharp eyes vigilantly fixed on Gan Ning.
Xu Wei hurriedly said, “Sister Yan, this is General Gan, my friend, don’t be rude!”
Qin Yan’s gaze quickly cooled, she stood behind Xu Wei like a statue, ignoring Gan Ning.
Gan Ning smiled and asked, “Your clan cousin also came from Jiangdong?”
“No! He is from the Xu clan of Yingchuan, idling around Xiangyang. Didn’t the general write him a letter?”
Gan Ning’s eyes lit up, “Your clan cousin is Xu Shu?”
“Who is talking about me?”
Two people walked out from the Recruitment Hall: one was Yin Mo, the other a tall young scholar with straight nose and square mouth, thick eyebrows and big eyes, a long face, and particularly spirited eyes.
Yin Mo hurriedly came forward to introduce, “My lord, this is Xu Shu, Xu Yuanzhi, my close friend from Xiangyang.”
Xu Shu hurriedly saluted, “I am Xu Shu, paying respects to General Gan!”
Gan Ning smiled and said, “I know sir was originally called Xu Fu, once used the name Fu to save people in Yingchuan, later changed to Xu Shu, right!”
Xu Shu said somewhat embarrassedly, “In my youth I liked to act righteously, only later realized the importance of study, then bitterly read the classics. Thank you, general, for giving me a chance to display my talents.”
Gan Ning nodded, “Our experiences are somewhat similar. I hope Mr. Xu can settle down quickly. I will send people to fetch Mr. Xu’s family as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, general!”
Yin Mo smiled, “My lord, I’ll accompany Yuanzhi to the barracks to walk around and meet Strategist Lu.”
“Go ahead!”
Gan Ning also wanted to go together, but there was a young lady here!
He smiled and asked, “Does Miss Xu have relatives or friends in Nanchang County?”
Xu Wei shook her head, “I’ll just play around for a few days and return to Lujiang. General, go ahead with your business, no need to mind me!”
How could Gan Ning not mind? Two Xu clansmen were working for him, and Young Lady Xu had no relatives in Nanchang. If something happened, how could he explain to the Xu family?
Gan Ning thought for a moment and smiled, “I have a little sister about your age. Let her be your guide, you two play in Nanchang for a few days, then I’ll send people to take you home.”
The person Gan Ning thought of was Xiao Qiao. Xiao Qiao was twelve this year, about the same as Young Lady Xu.
Xu Wei was bored alone. She tilted her head, thought, and smiled, “Alright!”
“Follow me!”
Gan Ning handed his horse to his personal guard and walked with Xu Wei toward the prefectural office rear residence.
“Didn’t Miss Sun who was with you last time come with you?”
“No! Her elder brother unfortunately passed away, she has to guard the spirit for her brother. She is Sun Ce’s sister, Big Brother Gan knows, right!”
Gan Ning nodded, “I heard. General Sun Ce was actually assassinated, too regrettable. Some even say I did it, simply absurd.”
“It wasn’t the general!”
Xu Wei gently shook her head, “I did a divination. The hexagram indicates internal strife. Marquis of Wu was assassinated by his own people, unrelated to outsiders.”
“Can divination predict fortune and misfortune, and solve cases?”
“Can’t solve cases, but can point the direction. Before I left, I did a divination for General Gan. General Gan will have military affairs in the next two days, in the North. I don’t know if it’s accurate.”
In the Three Kingdoms period, there were two wondrous women skilled in divination: one was Huang Shi, wife of Zhuge Liang, the other was Madam Xu, now Young Lady Xu.
“Who does the general think assassinated Marquis of Wu?” Xu Wei asked softly.
“I can only guess blindly!”
“Then guess!”
Gan Ning smiled faintly, “A certain interest group closely related to Xu Gong wanted to change lords, while someone else wanted to replace Marquis of Wu. These two demands colluded, making the assassination inevitable.”
Xu Wei sighed softly, “The general sees very clearly!”
Arriving at the side door of the rear residence, they happened to meet Xiao Qiao bouncing out, with a little maidservant following behind her.
“Eh! Brother-in-law is home now.” Xiao Qiao tilted her head and smiled.
“Miss Xu, let me introduce: this is my younger sister Xiao Qiao. Xiao Qiao, this is my friend Xu Wei, who came to Nanchang alone to play. Accompany her for me.”
“Alright! Sister Xu, I’m going to browse the cosmetics shop, come with me!”
Seeing Xiao Qiao was extremely beautiful, Xu Wei immediately liked her and nodded with a smile, “I’m thirteen this year, maybe I should call you sister.”
“One year older than me, no mistake calling you sister. Let’s go!”
Xu Wei waved to Gan Ning, “Big Brother Gan, I’m off.”
Gan Ning remembered something, “Miss Xu, do you have a place to stay tonight?”
“I’m staying at the Recruitment Hall!”
“The Recruitment Hall is not convenient. Stay at my residence! My residence has guest rooms.”
“Thank you, big brother. I’m off.”
The two young ladies were about the same build, arm in arm chatting and laughing as they left. Gan Ning was a bit worried and hurriedly had two of his personal guards follow them from afar.
