After a general introduction to the military workshops of the past two years, Kang Buxian led Liu Yu to the most secret workshops on Liugong Island.

Glass, soap, mirrors, Lublan's alkali method, white phosphorus matches, cigarettes, and other workshops that would be dumped as light industrial products in the future are being experimented.

Some of them hired Western craftsmen and relied on their experience. Others are chemical principles that Liu Yu knows.

These workshops are not large, but the schools on Liugong Island are already using glass windows, and are able to produce enough soap for the navy, and are accumulating skills and enough workers.

These were laid out before leaving, and none of them were very difficult things.

Burning a few pieces of glass is not called preliminary industrialization, but it solves the problem of starting from scratch.

These workshops will be of great use in the future, but now they are just continuing to accumulate experience and keep investing money to try.

"According to Childe's arrangement, the workshop that makes soap can actually be produced on a large scale. Mainly soybean oil from Liaodong, or cottonseed oil here. In recent years, the price of cotton has been quite high, and a lot of cotton has been planted in Henan and other places, and cottonseed is used to make soap, and ordinary people will buy one or two pieces. This thing washes clothes, faces and hair, it's really good. ”

"But now it's only used in the military, and it's distributed as military supplies."

I picked up a piece of soap and smelled it, and there was a strong smell of beans, which was a little stinky. Next to it are some floral-scented ones made of beef and mutton fat.

"Stinky pancreas is cheap, and this fragrant pancreas is more expensive. However, no matter how cheap it is, it is difficult for ordinary people to afford it, and if you have the money to buy pancreas, it is better to buy the same oil and eat a few meals. ”

Kang Buxian was very emotional about the consumption power of the people of Dashun, Liu Yu pinched up a few pieces of soap and said with a smile: "Naturally, whoever has the money to sell it to." I can't afford to eat, so I don't have to think about it, and they will buy soap. However, Wenden will be able to sell a lot in the future. ”

"The implementation of the perpetual tenant system can be regarded as leaving some money in the hands of the tenants to improve their lives. Second, many people also work in the workshop, and their lives are better than those of tenants for the time being. ”

Kang Buxian was very supportive of this, and sighed: "If the cultivators all over the world have their fields, and there are no landlords to collect rent, we can sell more of these things." ”

Liu Yu smiled, and said in his heart that you think it is beautiful, but isn't this nonsense?

"Zhongxian, don't think so. Even if 19,900,000,000 of our 20,000,000 people live like livestock, wouldn't there be a million people who could afford it? Such a large market, looking at the world, is also unique. And Jiangnan is rich, when there is no problem. ”

"Besides, let's all tie our hair, and this hair must be washed, otherwise it will be greasy and unkempt. If you have a little money, you will buy it. You don't have to worry about not being able to sell. ”

I bypassed the soap workshop and went to see the cigarette workshop. The cigarette workshop and the white phosphorus match workshop are matched, the difference is that the former is not harmful to the body, and the workers of the latter are basically seven or eight years of life.

"Most of the cigarette factories are made up of women. In the match workshop, most of the phosphorus makers are widows, widows, lonely old and weak, sick and disabled, although if they do this kind of thing, they can live for seven or eight years, but if they don't ask, they may die tomorrow. This can also be regarded as a widow and a lonely child, and the benevolence of the son is rare in the world. ”

I don't know whether Kang Buxian's words are praise or sarcasm, Liu Yu took out a cigarette, struck a white phosphorus match and lit it, took two puffs and praised: "Okay, this taste is still okay." ”

After going around in a circle, I have taken a look at these industries that are counted as light industries, and these industries do not conflict with the developed textile industry in the south of the Yangtze River, so there is no need to worry about being smashed into a factory after they are made.

"In a few days, I'm going to go to Songjiang Mansion. It is also the time for this year's trade dividends with Japan. Pick out some good cigarettes, mirrors, glass, etc., pack dozens of boxes, and I'm going to bring them. ”

"The workshop needs to be expanded, but it can't be eaten alone. You have to get the local snakes involved, and the Raptors can't get involved. ”

These industries are all light industries where money can be made, and they are not industries such as shipbuilding and military industry, which invested heavily in the early stage and no one in the DPRK and China did not dare to do it at all.

These light industries, except for the alkali industry, if the rest can be moved to Songjiang, Guangdong and other places, it is best to move there.

Kang Buxian was not surprised by Liu Yu's idea of combining these things into shares.

"Childe is good at fishing. Before that, Qianjin Shigu made a stake in such a profitable and loss-making trade with Japan. Now the stock price is soaring, and it was a hundred taels of silver a share, but now it has risen by three or two percent. ”

"Nowadays, the big businessmen in Songjiang and other places know that Gongzi is credible, dividends are distributed every year, and the accounts are clear. Now when they do these deals, they must believe in Childe. ”

Every year, a huge amount of silver is transported to the vicinity of Songjiang Customs as a dividend for investing in Japanese trade, which has become a strange story in Songjiang.

In the past, I was still skeptical, but now I am convinced, lest I miss the opportunity again.

Liu Yu smiled: "I'm good at fishing. This time it's level, and it's also the next bait, waiting to be hooked. Otherwise, how can you convince the DPRK and China that it is profitable to build a navy at a young age? If you want to take it, you must give it first, this truth is easy to say, but it is difficult to do. ”

"Just like when he sold shares to Japan Trade, Lin Yunwen was puzzled, and you have calculated whether it is cost-effective. Actually, don't I know? It's just that there are some things, and the more people who do it, the better. ”

After checking it again, I left Liugong Island and went to Weihai and the surrounding mountainous areas to have a look at the water workshops, which were already beginning to take shape.

In addition to some of the victims recruited at the beginning, with Wendeng's trial implementation of the perpetual tenant system reform and the policy of apportioning land to mu, the labor cost of this workshop group has been rapidly reduced.

Some tenants who are not qualified to be permanent tenants choose to go to Weihai to eat in the workshop, where people are recruited every day.

In addition to the grain and rice every month, there is also a salary of one tael of silver a month. The price of goods in Wendeng is also stable, and the development of shipping has made it possible for rice from the south to go directly to Weihai by sea.

Most of Liu Yu's money is invested in this, the navy is the emperor's, and he doesn't need to use his own money if he can, unless he has to use some of it.

Now the emperor is finally going to throw money from the treasury, as Kang Buxian said, as long as the money is in place, the ship is not a problem.

The teak, cypress and oak accumulated in the past few years have been air-dried for two years, and the money is from Liu Yu, but as long as the emperor invests the money, the money can be transferred back.

As a novice apprentice, he followed the Western craftsmen to make guns, and the manufacture of guns and cannons is still a handicraft industry, but some drilling machines, hydraulic sawing and other machinery have been introduced, and the efficiency has been improved a lot.

Today's shipyards are not only capable of building warships, but also merchant ships.

Most of the merchant ships purchased and manufactured by the trading companies that traded with Japan were purchased and manufactured here, and Weihai has faintly become the shipbuilding center of the north.

The trading company is not only trading with Japan, but also buying rice and timber from Siam and other places, and the company's main business is trade with Japan, but the rest of the market can be seized at all. Although the joint-stock trading company does not have a monopoly authorized by the government, it still squeezes out a lot of the trade volume that originally belonged to others by virtue of more share capital.

In terms of trade with Japan, the trading company relied on the privilege of carrying smuggled goods to Nagasaki, and soon tore a big hole in the small door, and the local Japanese merchants also became active, and exhausted all means, and the income from smuggling increased year by year.

It is estimated that the shogunate will soon find out that something is wrong, but by the time they find out that something is wrong, it should be too late.

Now that the emperor has decided to invest money, a trading company specializing in trade with Japan has been formed, and as Kang Buxian said, as long as the money is in place, several warships will soon start construction at the same time.

These fifth-class ships will definitely not be qualified to go to the European sea to engage in battleship bombardment. But there was no pressure to fight the Japanese navy; Robbing Dutch merchant ships and cutting off Dutch trade routes is what this kind of cruiser is best at.

Seeing Liu Yu's great interest, Kang Buxian knew the confidential things Liu Yu was going to do, so he said: "As Childe has seen, the Japanese navy can be defeated with only ten warships. His Majesty asked how much money he wanted to invest, but it didn't seem to be much. ”

"Nowadays, a warship, with a full set of cannons, the craftsmen are normally issued with silver taels, and it is only 60,000 taels of silver a piece. Now there are four ships, and even for the sake of safety, ten more ships are only 600,000 taels of silver. ”

Liu Yu looked at the four warships that were being trained on the water, shook his head and said, "Six hundred thousand taels? Where is it? The navy has to pay a salary, and the navy of 10,000 people will have a salary of 300,000 or 400,000 taels a year. Training, gunpowder...... That's a lot of money. ”

"You don't think that Xinghai only needs to build a few ships, do you? There is also a supporting school, which is the big head. ”

"Those who learn the words of the sages, you ask them, trigonometric functions and artillery angles, do they understand? This has to be cultivated from an early age, a full set of practical learning schools. ”

"Based on the three-way method of this dynasty, the practical learning and literacy based on the outer house; The inner house should be divided into whether to continue to study and enter the upper house, or whether the inner house can be a small official, a gun commander and so on after graduation. ”

"Let's put it this way, when can there be 1,000 students in the official academy of Jinghai Palace every year, and 10,000 students in the outer house every year, can it be regarded as the beginning of the navy."

"I doubt that the court is reluctant to get this money. Your Majesty agreed happily and asked me to make an offer, Your Majesty is thinking that the household government will pay for it, and the internal funds will not pay for it, which will cause big trouble. Do you think this school learns the words of the saints? If you don't learn, will the imperial court pay this money? If you learn, how can you have time to learn those things that are useless for fighting wars at sea? ”

"I estimate that one million taels a year will be enough. The Navy spends money, and it is a bottomless pit. But if you want to say that you only win against Japan, it really doesn't cost too much money. But in that case, it is a change of personal death and political life, and it is not sustainable. Once defeated, start from scratch. ”

Kang Buxian frowned and said, "Childe's requirements for the navy are too high. When the French came, they didn't see that their officers were all learned. Why do you have to let all officers learn so well? ”

Liu Yu said: "Because France has an academy of sciences, we don't. The number of people we want to compare is not simply compared with the literate and geometrical people in the French navy. Instead, in the future, the official school of Jinghai Palace will be compared with the French military academy and the Academy of Sciences. ”

"It's not that I have to be literate, geometric, arithmetic, and physics, but to understand geometry, arithmetic, and physics, and at this time I can only be an officer and a petty officer. You have to give them a way out of learning, right? Otherwise, learn from practice, and have a fart use? ”