Chapter 669: The Expectations of the Artisans

Just when everyone thought everything could continue to proceed so smoothly, a problem arose within Huaxia City: a child was bitten by a dog raised by his own family, and even two of the adults in his family were bitten. They thought the dog had turned into a wolf again, but they couldn't bear to kill it, so the whole family worked together to lock the dog in a house and then took the wounded to see a doctor.

If they had been bitten by a wolf in the wild, Huaxia might not have had much of a reaction, and the Hospital wouldn't have been too shocked; they would only worry about infection and inflammation, or perhaps a terrifying infectious disease Baifeng had told them about called rabies, though they hadn't seen a single case of it until now.

Because the matter was quite special, Baifeng received the news immediately. After all, when it came to dogs, Baifeng was the most knowledgeable in Huaxia; Baifeng's own household currently raised over twenty silver-white dogs, which were exclusive to the Royal Family.

The dogs Baifeng domesticated were, in the eyes of others, just like people—smart, obedient, and most importantly, they possessed human-like qualities. Even if the ones others raised could reach that level, everyone would still subconsciously believe that the ones Baifeng raised were the most formidable.

The number of dogs in Huaxia had also increased, but for the populous Huaxia, the standard of one dog per family was far from being met. Within the borders of Huaxia, in both cities, there wasn't a single stray dog; they were all domestic, and the families who raised dogs treasured them dearly.

Ordinary families would hang a dog tag on their dog's neck, basically made of Iron, with the owner's name and the dog's name engraved on it. Of course, this trend was started by Baifeng. He didn't force everyone to make their dogs wear these things, but Baifeng was, after all, the benchmark of Huaxia; whatever he did, there would be people who followed suit.

The dog tags for Baifeng's dogs were made of jade, and only Baifeng had the ability to engrave characters onto jade tags that the Artisans had polished into shape. Although it was extremely difficult, by engraving bit by bit, it was still not a big problem.

This also gave rise to a craft: jade carving. As far as Baifeng knew, various jade artifacts should have appeared in this era. He had indeed discovered tribes that collected jade, but so far, he hadn't seen a single true, qualified piece of jade carving craftsmanship; even the Xuanyuan Tribe hadn't mentioned this matter.

However, Baifeng knew that this era definitely possessed the technology to carve jade. After all, that dragon from Hongshan, as well as other jade artifacts, were similar to their current era, unless the technique for carving jade was unique to a certain tribe, just as Iron was to Huaxia.

But the technology of jade carving wasn't important to Baifeng; after all, jade couldn't be eaten, nor could it be used as a means of production; it was just a type of ornament, so he didn't need to place too much importance on this technology.

Nevertheless, he still arranged this task for the Stonemasons to see if they could find some way to carve jade. He gave them a hint: jade-grinding sand. He didn't know how jade-grinding sand was made or what it was; he only explained the principle.

Baifeng wasn't adding a burden to the Stonemasons, but rather giving them an opportunity to rise. The role of stone tools in Huaxia was becoming smaller and smaller. Stone tools were very durable; once a stone roller or a millstone was crafted well, it could be used for hundreds of years or even longer, so they basically couldn't be considered consumables. Huaxia basically had no use for other stone tools, so the Stonemasons went from being busy at the beginning of the founding of the state to being idle now, even to the point where they couldn't find a direction and lacked the motivation to move forward. They were very afraid that Huaxia would phase them out.

In the future of Huaxia, stone tools might really develop in the direction of ornaments. Wouldn't it be majestic to stand two large stone lions at the entrance of a house? But the Stonemasons were also afraid that the group playing with Cement would beat them to it and cast them out with Cement molds; as Stonemasons, they would have even less of a future to speak of.

Therefore, handing the research task of jade-grinding sand to them counted as recognition of them, and also a layer of security. It meant that no matter when, Huaxia would always need Stonemasons and wouldn't abandon them. Only then did the group of Stonemasons feel at ease, and then they focused on researching what jade-grinding sand was, to see if they could carve jade.

Carpenters didn't have such worries. Just as they had finished researching simple things, Baifeng would add to their burden. If they could make a door, then make a window; if a window was fine, then carve flowers on it! Hollowed-out, three-dimensional, all kinds of patterns—just draw them on the wood and carve them out. If there were only horizontal and vertical grids, that wouldn't look good either; make the window lattice look better, and make all kinds of patterns.

Once they could do these, good, then increase the difficulty: do mortise and tenon joints. What you called mortise and tenon before was bullsh*t; you build me an entire house without using a single nail first. Once you know simple mortise and tenon joints, there are still dougong brackets, winter-melon beams, cat beams, caisson ceilings, and so on. You don't have to worry about being phased out; even five thousand years from now, Carpenters still won't be phased out.

Therefore, the enterprising spirit of the Carpenters was still very sufficient. A certain new technology had to be mastered by oneself first. Once mastered, one became a Master; when going out, one had face, rewards, and could be promoted and ennobled. One's own technology could also be passed down to one's descendants. Huaxia didn't have any requirements for this at all; the son of a Master started out further ahead than others on the path of being a Carpenter.

While their peers were still peeling bark from trees, they were already pulling the Ink Marker line for their elders. The things one could learn from this were so many.

One of the Carpenters, in the process of practice, improved the ruler Baifeng had made, changing it into a ruler more suitable for carpentry, including the names of the scales on it, which he had improved himself.

After receiving the sample, Baifeng could only marvel. Although he didn't know if this was the same as a Luban ruler, at least it would be its prototype. With such a good thing, Baifeng naturally encouraged and promoted it. After asking for the opinions of many Carpenters and confirming that it could bring greater help to them, Baifeng completely opened up the weights and measures for the Carpenters, letting them research and formulate them themselves, but they must be able to be reasonably converted with the units like the rulers and meters they currently used, and be put on paper so that even non-professionals could understand them.

Later, at the grand enfeoffment ceremony, Baifeng bestowed the surname Lu upon that Artisan and enfeoffed him as a Count. This undoubtedly greatly stimulated the construction enthusiasm and innovation enthusiasm of the Workers. As long as you can make useful things, Huaxia will definitely continue to reward you and will not let your labor go to waste.