Duke of Zhenguan

After entering September, the temperature began to drop significantly, and time seemed to pass even faster.

Aside from visiting Shanglin Garden every day to check on the construction progress of the Gewu Academy, Lin Chuan spends most of his time at home writing and drawing.

Occasionally, he would visit the Cheng family to see Cheng Churou.

Perhaps because they felt guilty, they rarely visited the Yan family.

Yan Xiangshi spared no effort in helping him with matters related to the academy. He not only sent his son to the academy as a teacher, but also wrote letters to his idle friends and disciples.

Given Yan Xiangshi's status, those people probably wouldn't refuse if he asked.

The more Yan Xiangshi helped him, the more guilty he felt.

He couldn't refuse such a kind offer. The most important thing for the academy was the teachers. With the Yan family's help, most of the academy's problems would be solved.

A tree that stands out in the forest will surely be felled by the wind; Lin Chuan certainly doesn't think that having Li Shimin's support means he can act without restraint.

The key is to nurture things subtly and gradually, so Gewu Academy is not much different from other academies in the Tang Dynasty. Lin Chuan does not plan to make the academy too different for the time being. The only difference between it and other academies is that it has an extra mathematics course and a physics course.

He plans to teach these two courses himself, first teaching some students and then having those students teach new students.

October arrived in the blink of an eye.

The buildings of the academy and the Institute of Gewu in Shanglin Garden have already taken shape. Because Lin Chuan required everything to be based on practicality and sturdiness, neither the Institute of Gewu nor the academy has a very complicated design.

It is expected that within a month at most, some of the buildings of the Gewu Research Institute will be put into use.

Lin Chuan also began to look for suitable craftsmen for the Gewu Research Institute.

In the early days of the Gewu Research Institute, Lin Chuan didn't need craftsmen with ingenious ideas and a research spirit; he needed people with superb skills who could realize his ideas.

He has too many modern ideas in his mind, but he only knows what things look like; he can't do them.

For example, in steelmaking, he knows the key lies in the carbon content of the steel, but what is the proportion? He doesn't know!

For example, he knows about coke, but doesn't know how it's made...

For example, chemical fertilizers...

Therefore, he needed a large number of highly skilled craftsmen to spend a lot of time experimenting and finding the right method.

What I thought would be an easy task has unexpectedly led me into an awkward situation.

The first place he went to was the Imperial Academy of Works.

Li Shimin simply refused to allow him to be transferred directly, but he didn't forbid him from poaching people, so he went directly to the Imperial Workshop to poach people.

While the craftsmen at the Imperial Workshop may not have been the most outstanding, their skills were certainly not bad.

Originally, it was thought that with Li Shimin's banner and the generous treatment he had proposed, craftsmen would flock to the institute, and recruiting people would be easy. However, in reality, not a single one of the highly skilled craftsmen in the Imperial Workshop wanted to go to the Institute of Natural Sciences.

Although the craftsmen in the Imperial Workshop may not have high social status, they could make a lot of money and even have the opportunity to become clerks and achieve a leap in social status.

This is precisely what Lin Chuan couldn't provide. Although Li Shimin gave him money and land, he didn't provide him with a government position, leaving Lin Chuan with no way to even make a promise.

Standing at the main gate of the Imperial Workshop, watching Yan Lide turn back, Lin Chuan could almost see a mocking smile on Yan Lide's face.

I sighed inwardly, but I wasn't discouraged.

To put it somewhat arrogantly, it's their loss that these craftsmen didn't go to the Institute of Gewu, not Lin Chuan's loss. They'll regret it sooner or later.

Moreover, the craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty were not only from the Imperial Workshops. Not to mention other places, the Cheng family had many craftsmen in their estate outside the city, and Lin Chuan himself had more than a dozen people from Tiechi Lane in his small laboratory in the east wing.

Lin Chuan just wanted to find someone with even higher skills.

But if you can't find anyone else, those other people will do.

After leaving the imperial city, Xu Laosan, who was waiting at the gate, noticed Lin Chuan's displeased expression and cautiously asked:

"My lord, things aren't going well?"

Lin Chuan nodded.

"Young master, if you ask me, you should just go to the Cheng family estate. If that's not enough, the Qin family estate has plenty too. Why bother looking for people from the Imperial Workshops? They have no skills but are all talk and no action!" Old Xu said with a look of disdain.

"That's the only way!" Lin Chuan sighed softly.

It was already noon when they got home. After resting for a while, Lin Chuan took Xu Laosan to the Cheng family's house.

There was no need for formalities with the Cui family; Lin Chuan directly asked them to help him find some highly skilled craftsmen.

Without asking the reason, Cui asked directly:

"How many people do you need?"

"We need at least a hundred people!" Lin Chuan said.

Hearing that Lin Chuan needed so many people, Madam Cui frowned, pondered for a moment, and then said softly:

"There are only a dozen or so craftsmen in the village. I'll send someone to fetch them tomorrow, and then I'll send someone to Qinghe. I'll definitely get you enough people!"

Seeing that Cui was about to ask her family for help, Lin Chuan was startled and quickly spoke up to stop her:

"Auntie, there's no need for that trouble. Just call the people from the estate. I'll go ask Uncle Qin again; we have enough for now!"

"You can make your own arrangements. Just come to me if you need anything. We're family, there's nothing to be ashamed of!" Mrs. Cui nodded.

"Thank you, Auntie!"

That evening, Lin Chuan had dinner at the Cheng family's house. After being plied with alcohol by Cheng Chumo and Cheng Chuliang, he stayed overnight at the Cheng family's house.

Waking up early the next morning, Lin Chuan yawned and asked Cheng Chun, who was standing in front of him:

"Did your wife send you?"

"Um!"

Cheng Chun nodded, went out to fetch water, and came in softly, saying:

"My lord, wash your face!"

After washing her face, she went to the front yard and saw Cheng Churou standing gracefully at the entrance of the flower hall, softly saying:

"Lin Lang, come and eat!"

Lin Chuan walked over and sat down. Cheng Churou personally handed him a bowl and chopsticks, and said with a smile:

"I had the kitchen cook some porridge this morning. You drank so much last night, this is perfect for you!"

"Chu Rou is so virtuous!" Lin Chuan praised with a smile.

"That's right!" Cheng Churou nodded proudly.

In reality, she knew nothing about cooking, but since she personally watched the cook prepare the food in the kitchen, it was naturally her achievement.

While eating, Cheng Churou suddenly remembered something and said with a smile:

"Father wrote, saying he'll be back in about two weeks at the latest!"

"Judging by the time, he should be back soon! Don't worry, Chu Rou, once Uncle Cheng returns, I'll go and invite Uncle Qin over!" Lin Chuan said with a smile.

"When did I say that!" Cheng Churou suddenly blushed and stared at Lin Chuan speechlessly.

After having breakfast and staying at the Cheng family's house for a while, Lin Chuan took Xu Laosan back to Tonghuafang.

Just as he reached the door, Lin Jiu came out to greet him and said softly:

"Brother, a man claiming to be Gongshu Qi arrived at the house early this morning, saying he wanted to see you. I didn't know if he was important or not, but I welcomed him into the front yard!"

Lin Chuan was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed:

"Important, of course it's important, Uncle Jiu, you haven't neglected them, have you?"

"Of course not!"