Chapter 455: Pulley

The archery academy that Yan Liqiang wanted to set up was at the foot of Mount Hundred Zhang, occupying an area of about three hundred hectares.

Yan Liqiang initially thought that he would need to pay for the archery academy’s land, but he only found out that the Pingxi Prefectural Governor had generously given the land under Mount Hundred Zhang to the archery academy after his return.

Since Gan Province was a border province where war raged, the bureaucracy gave preferential treatment to dojos and organizations that were catered to cultivate talented individuals and soldiers. Due to the current relationship between Yan Liqiang and Lei Sitong, whom he addressed as ‘Uncle Lei’, nobody could make a fuss about Wang Jianbei granting a piece of uncultivated land at Mount Hundred Zhang to Yan Liqiang for setting up an archery academy.

Although the archery academy spanned over a large area, most of the space was leveled to build a spacious ranch and archery range. Therefore, there weren’t many buildings within the archery academy. Due to this, the construction for the archery academy was much faster compared to the construction at Liuhe Town.

News of Yan Liqiang’s archery academy construction had spread across all of Gan Province and the northwestern region. For the past six months, when Yan Liqiang was cultivating, countless visitors came to visit the archery academy while it was still under construction. Yan Liqiang had scheduled for the archery academy to officially open for registration on the first day of the eighth lunar month.

Based on the current progress, all the construction work at the archery academy would be completed by the first day of the seventh lunar month. The remaining one month would be used for preparations for the opening of the academy. The reason why Yan Liqiang had chosen the first day of the eighth lunar month as the official opening date of the archery academy was very simple. To Yan Liqiang, the two digits combined together represented honor, responsibility, mission, and the halo of triumph in every battle. [1] This was a small token of hope and expectation from Yan Liqiang toward the archery academy.

The whole morning had gone by when he returned from the archery academy.

Yan Liqiang called Lu Wenbin into his study after lunch.

The Yan Residence had a study in the big courtyard, and Yan Liqiang was the only one using it.

Lu Wenbin was aware that Yan Liqiang had called him to his study to discuss what he had told him this morning. He was both nervous and excited because he knew Yan Liqiang was not joking with him when he told him about the profitable business, given his high reputation. Aside from feeling nervous and excited, Lu Wenbin also had another indescribable complex feeling of finally receiving appreciation and approval when he thought of all the meticulous hard work he had done in Qinghe County over the past six months.

“Please be seated for a while, I have something to show you.”

“Please do as you wish, Young Lord!”

Lu Wenbin sat down while Yan Liqiang retrieved some papers and charcoal pencils that Yu Qing had sharpened this morning from the drawer inside the study. He laid the piece of paper on the table and quickly sketched something using the charcoal pencil in front of Lu Webin.

Yan Liqiang sketched very quickly; it took him less than three minutes to complete the sketch. He set the charcoal pencil down and handed the paper to Lu Wenbin.

When Lu Wenbin received the paper, his eyes instantly widened as he looked at the unprecedented object on the sketch. It slightly resembled a series of wheels that were connected together, and there was a triangular frame. Lu Wenbin looked at it repeatedly, but still failed to identify or figure out the function of the object that Yan Liqiang had drawn on the piece of paper.

“Young Lord, what is this…this thing?” Lu Wenbin looked at Yan Liqiang with slight embarrassment. Although he used to brag about how smart he was, Lu Wenbin was still a little diffident of his intelligence and knowledge after learning about Yan Liqiang’s ‘glorious achievements’.

“This is what I came up with after surveying with you at the construction site this morning!” Yan Liqiang smiled, “You can call it a pulley!”

“What is the use of this…this pulley?”

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“Did you see how those artisans moved the boulders today?”

“Yes, I did!” Lu Wenbin nodded.

“With this pulley, those artisans will no longer need to exert so much effort when moving the stones or other heavy things. All they need to do is to put a rope through the pulley and one average person would be able to lift a big boulder like the one which required four to five people to lift this morning…”

“Ah Young Lord, do you mean to say that this pulley will give someone extraordinary strength?” Lu Wenbin’s eyes suddenly widened as he looked at Yan Liqiang in disbelief. If those words hadn’t come from Yan Liqiang, he might’ve been roaring with laughter.

“No, it won’t give someone extraordinary strength…” Yan Liqiang shook his head.

“Can it be this will make the boulder lighter?” Lu Wenbin’s expression dulled.

“It won’t make the boulder lighter either!”

“Then how can a person use this thing to lift a giant boulder that previously required four to five people?”

Yan Liqiang scratched his head as he struggled to explain the principle of a pulley to someone who had zero knowledge of physics. He wasn’t free enough to give an old man a class on junior high school level physics either. After much consideration, he could only give him a general explanation. “The principle behind this is almost similar to how we would use a wooden stick to lift a boulder off the ground. It is impossible for a person to lift a boulder with his own strength, but if he uses a wooden stick and finds a fulcrum on the ground to start lifting, then he will be able to move the boulder…”

“But these are just wheels and ropes. There’s no wooden stick nor fulcrum, and it’s not even placed on the ground!” Lu Wenbin was still puzzled.

“Uhm, this is for you to slowly understand!” Yan Liqiang put up a profound and mysterious expression on his face. “You will understand if you take my sketch to the blacksmith’s workshop and have them construct it according to the drawing and test it for yourself. As for the triangular frame, it is a movable wooden frame that can be opened and be stably placed on the ground. It can also be closed to put it away when it is not needed. You can take this to the carpenters and let them build the frame according to the specified dimensions. Just place the triangular frame on the ground and affix the pulley at the bottom, then you can give it to the workers at the construction site who are moving the boulders from the carriage or placing the boulders in the trenches of the foundation. This will greatly increase efficiency and speed up the progress at the construction site…”

“Alright. Rest assured, Young Lord. I will make necessary arrangements!” Lu Wenbin said as he was about to stand up.

“Hahaha, there’s no rush. I have called you here for another important reason. I want to discuss what I mentioned to you this morning!” Yan Liqiang smiled and had Lu Wenbin sit back down.

“What plans do you have for me, Young Lord?” Lu Wenbin asked uneasily.

“After looking at the construction site of Liuhe Town, I realized that you can actually gather a group of workers to form a construction company with you as the manager!”

“Ah, construction company?” Lu Wenbin’s mind went blank as he had never heard of the term before. “Is this a company that builds houses for people?”

“More or less, but it has to be even more professional. Not only do you have professional manpower, but you will also need professional tools and materials. As long as you are able to set this up, money will definitely start flowing in and it’ll be extremely easy for you to build your own reputation in Gan Province or even in the northwestern region!”

Lu Wenbin gulped and asked carefully, “What…what do you want me to do now, Young Lord?”

“This morning, you mentioned that many artisans from Pingxi Prefecture are bringing people to Liuhe Town. You’ll need to take note of those capable people at the construction site, then check out the large brick kilns that produce the best quality bricks in Pingxi Prefecture along with their workers. You’ll need to buy a brick kiln first as it will be very useful later…”