Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 66 Alcohol Deterrence

A week later, when Zhu Wenkui arrived at the school grounds outside Dadu, Guo Kang was waiting for him outside the gate.

This training ground was originally in the city.Junbao had already declined in disgrace back then. The originally bustling city was sparsely populated. Inside the city walls of Theodosius, there was a large open space. Not to mention finding an open space as a training ground, there were even farmers in the city.

But now, the urban population is gradually increasing, and the training ground has to be moved.In particular, Guo Kang likes firearms, and always wants the whole thing to be more dynamic.The people in the city are so disturbed that everyone can only invite him and his messy gizmos outside.

As soon as the two met, Zhu Wenkui said hello in a hurry, and couldn't wait to take out a small iron part and showed it to Guo Kang: "This is the connecting part you mentioned last time. Changed it, adjusted the design, and asked someone to help type it out. How do you see it?"

"So fast?" Guo Kang was a little surprised.He took the iron object and flipped through it back and forth: "This curved surface is really good, how did you make it?"

"The master you were looking for before was recommended by a guild. The craftsmanship is too bad." Zhu Wenkui shook his head with displeasure: "I can't stand it, so I just do it myself. You see, I grind better than him .”

"This way..." Guo Kang didn't know what to say for a while.

The guild organization does have the problem of suppressing newcomers and monopolizing positions, but in today's Khan Court, there are many people who have experienced the world. If you want to occupy this position, you still need some skills.The previous Greek master craftsman was not only superb in craftsmanship, but at least at the top level of the local area, which is not too bad.

Guo Kang suspected that there were other reasons.

"Is it because their tools are not good enough, or what method is wrong?" He asked.

"Maybe there are problems." Zhu Wenkui thought for a while and analyzed: "I see that the grinding wheels they use to grind parts are not of good quality."

"The so-called grinding wheel, you can understand it as a high-speed rotating disc-shaped whetstone." He explained to Guo Kang: "In fact, this is a very ancient thing. It was used by people in the pre-Qin period. I also specifically checked According to the information, the Greeks also invented this kind of thing very early, and it was the first to be popularized in the metropolis.”

"I think this thing should have developed very maturely." He shook his head: "I didn't expect that it is still so crude."

"The Greeks have been beaten back and forth for hundreds of years by people from all walks of life. There is no way to retreat in technology. At least there is still a city here. When we regained Athens, it became a den of bandits." Guo Kang Excuse the Greeks.

"In the beginning, the 'Greek Homeland' around Athens and Moreana was a place where some Western European mercenary regiments fought chaotically with various pirates and warlords. Khanting had no interest in it at all, and felt that he was too poor."

"Later, when the Queen Mother Helena came to power, she insisted that regaining the homeland would help improve the legitimacy of the Purple Tent. Afterwards, she sent troops to drive away the Catholic warlords there, and then went there herself, and tried every means to subdue all the people in the mountains. The Greek villages—these 'descendants of Socrates and Aristotle'—are already more barbaric than the Slavs of the northern plains."

"A few days ago, I heard a Greek teacher talk about that place, saying that Athens was once the little overlord of the sea." Zhu Wenkui also felt a little emotional: "Looking at it this way, it is really a step backward."

"Yes." Guo Kang nodded and said, "So, if you have any problems, you don't have to criticize them. You can see what tools need to be improved, and ask the assistant to tell me directly. If you can find it, I will find it for you. All right; if you can't find it, I'll try to get you some extra money, or we can do it ourselves."

"I'm afraid you will have to spend more money." Zhu Wenkui immediately complained: "Although I am not a craftsman, I have been interested in these gadgets since I was a child. I have been in the land of Taixi for these years, and I know what I should know. Quite a lot. Their craftsmanship is not bad in one place, but in every place."

"Look." He pointed to the polished curved surface: "This place, it seems that the polishing process is not good enough. In fact, I looked at it. It is their grinding wheel, which is not round enough. I don't know how it was recognized as qualified. .Besides, the shaft that rotates the grinding wheel is not straight enough, and it jumps back and forth when grinding. How can it be used?”

"It won't work if the shaft is repaired by him, because the entire driving device is a crude product made of wood. It's normal for this thing to be unstable when it runs." It seems to be a problem.”

"If you really want to make a batch of compliant parts, I don't have to grind every one of them slowly. I guess I have to build a new workshop from scratch." He threw the parts to Guo Kang again: "There may be more than one. A workshop. Other workshops that provide components to this workshop have to start over with higher requirements. You see, it costs a lot of money."

"It doesn't matter, my family has a lot of money, so I can figure out how to do it." Guo Kang said generously: "Please go to the workshop to supervise the construction in your spare time. The things over there will be troublesome."

In his heart, he had already thought up a plan.

When he was working on the steam shrine before, his adoptive mother thought he didn't study hard and did some crooked things every day, so he didn't want to give money. He just used the demonstration of miracles as an excuse to convince Wang, who is good at magic tricks and has a lot of vision in this area. The great lama received special investment from the church.

And this time, it's not difficult.By recruiting Zhu Wenkui into the group, they can directly ask for money from the Khan's family in the name of diplomatic expenses.

The expenses of the Zizhang Khan Court are also divided into the private accounts of the Great Khan and the public accounts of the court.Usually, the expenses of entertaining guests and sending envoys are basically public accounts.When encountering rewards, gifts, banquets, etc., even if the Khan pays for the treats himself, it will be counted as a private account.

In the private account, there are some confidential expenses called "grape money" that are very flexible in scheduling.

This is not for the sake of greed and profit sharing, but because of the situation.

In the early years, the country of Aidenbey in the west of Asia Minor decided to pay tribute to the Purple Tent. Bey came to Dadu in person and was warmly received by the Great Khan.

However, after he went back, the Ottomans sent spies to infiltrate Dadu, and obtained exact accounts and delivery records from the wine merchants, and found that Bey not only drank at banquets and in the mansion, but also specially bought a large amount of wine. Bring back.

Osman used this to accuse the Aydin Dynasty of violating the Islamic law and called on everyone to jihad against him.

Aiden's Bey is not easy to mess with, he sent people, and quickly found the handle of Eastern Asia Minor and the Karaman Dynasty.

It turned out that Karamanbey not only drank heavily during his visit to the Purple Horde, but also made trouble: shortly after their banquet, the Great Khan John Shira died of illness.According to folklore, the profuse sweat was actually drunk to death.

So, why just hit yourself?With so many Turkic princes, he didn't believe that anyone hadn't done it.If you have the ability, check one by one, jihad one by one, and see who can hide.

Since Aidenbey realized the "wine binding" and deterred other Beys, everyone quickly reached an agreement and decided to jointly stop Ottoman from sending troops and not make things worse.

Karaman is a big country in the area. With the help of business contacts, Bey soon learned that Osman himself was actually worse: he didn't go to the purple tent to drink recently, and he didn't leave any accounts.But the court merchants there regularly crossed the sea to Crimea to purchase high-quality wines from the second dealers in Venice.Calculated, they consumed it quite quickly, spending more than other Beys.

After Karaman announced the news, Osman was also very embarrassed.In the end, everyone had to negotiate and decided not to condemn each other for this reason. At the same time, they sent a letter to the Zizhang Hanting, asking them to be stricter and not to make big news all day long.

The Purple Horde had no choice but to accept it.After that, in the account book of the Khan court, there was no record of this part of the wine purchase, but it was collectively referred to as "grape money", which represented the entertainment expenses.When purchasing, it is also to find a familiar businessman who is tight-lipped and buy secretly for other reasons.

Opening a workshop for Zhu Wenkui is also considered a diplomatic reception, so for this part of the funds, you only need to ask the queen to nod, and then ask the chief treasurer, Otrifus, to pay.Theodora was much easier to talk to than her foster mother, and it would definitely not be difficult to get some money through her.

After thinking of a way, Guo Kang accepted the parts and asked Zhu Wenkui to visit with him.

(End of this chapter)