On this day, it was a sunny day, the sun was cold, but there was no trace of warmth, the water outside the house was dripping into ice, as long as people breathed, a thick mist came out of their mouths, and after a while, the hair seemed to be stained with a layer of frost.

At the gate of the Xishan Match Factory, there was a group of people standing, Yang Bo, Xu Ji and his son, Ji Shun, and Su Luoer were all there, they had just visited the match factory.

Xu Ji was still unsatisfied, and there were still many projects under construction along the way, which were also considerable, so he proposed not to take a carriage and return to the stone temple on foot.

A few days ago, because the Dutch were coming, Yang Bo was in a hurry to go to sea, and he couldn't talk to Xu Ji and his son a few more words, so he left in a hurry.

When the war was over, Xu Ji came to the door and wanted to go to the match factory in Xishan to have a look, which was also explained by his father Xu Guangqi in the letter.

Xu Ji is a distinguished guest, and his father is a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Rites, the most important thing, Yang Bo knows that Xu Guangqi is a famous person in history, so he naturally will not be slow.

Early this morning, everyone rushed to Xishan, and Yang Bo personally accompanied him, first leading Xu Ji to see the Xishan Iron Works under construction, and then to visit the match factory.

In the process, Xu Ji was full of interest and kept asking questions, and Yang Bo also answered all questions, and he didn't seem to hide his secrets.

Of course, the core secret, Yang Bo naturally will not reveal it, such a visit, in the final analysis, is just a careless, Rao is so, which also makes Xu Ji shocked.

Ji Shun and Su Luoer are also there, Yang Bo originally invited Xu Ji to come to the stone temple to be the principal through Su Luoer, and Yang Bo also intended to let Su Luoer take over his so-called cultural industry, so Xu Ji's activities in Shenjiabao are basically taken care of by Su Luoer.

Now the industry under Yang Bo's name, the structure is slowly becoming clearer, for example, the industry of Shimiao is a modern industrial group, Yang Bo is the chairman of the group, Yang Bo is not in Shimiao, Shen Yanqing is acting, which is equivalent to the vice chairman, and at the same time she also has to practice medicine and open a real medical hall.

Ji Shun is the general manager of the industrial department, building bridges, building roads, opening mountains, phosphate mines, cement factories, match factories, iron factories, carriage factories, and many other factories in Xishan, these industries are all under Ji Shun's name, and he is in charge of more than a dozen factory directors of all sizes.

Mei Xian'er is Yang Bo's secretary of the board of directors, in addition to assisting Yang Bo's work in the headquarters, she also serves as the general manager of the commercial department.

Money villages, real estate, shops, and cultural industries that Yang Bo values, such as the Wenxiang Chess Club, billiards halls, and schools, are all under her jurisdiction.

The problem is that Yang Bo is a hands-off shopkeeper many times, Mei Xian'er made the chairman, she is too busy, Yang Bo thinks about handing over the cultural industry to Su Luoer, then Su Luoer is the general manager of the Ministry of Culture and Education.

It's just that Shen Yanqing didn't know what to think about, she still refused to nod, and Su Luoer didn't mind, she still had to do what she had to do, but she didn't have an official title, it belonged to friendship support.

In the morning, they accompanied Xu Ji and his son to visit the factory, and in the afternoon, they also went to the bank defense battery of the Nanxi River to observe an artillery bombardment.

The bombardment was what Han Zanzhou had asked to see, and Yang Bo planned to invite several Dutchmen, such as Wanbain, Saunders Hogan and Billy Lange, to watch together.

At the beginning, Yang Bo and He Qifeng went to the July alone, and the captain Wan Baien invited Yang Bo to the artillery deck to observe, and now that Wan Baien has become a prisoner, Yang Bo also wants to invite him to see it, which can be regarded as a courtesy exchange.

Of course, the Dutch were invited to observe, but Yang Bo had ulterior motives, and now it is just the beginning, which is a later story.

Everyone chatted about the weather for a while, and then set off to return, along the way, the unusually cold weather made Xu Erjue unbearable, while stomping his feet on the frozen ground, his two hands still on his mouth to breathe, wanting to warm his hands.

"Brother Yang, it's so cold outside, but it's warm like spring inside the factory, but why?" Xu Erjue called Yang Bo as Brother Yang, but in fact, he was two years older than Yang Bo.

"There are heating pipes in the factory, and if there is no heating, the workers' hands will freeze and the operation will be out of shape." Yang Bo said with a smile.

"Heating?" Su Luo'er blinked, her brain made up for a while, and she suddenly said, "You mean those crooked pipes in the room, and the heating in them?" ”

"Exactly." Yang Bo nodded, "In fact, it is waste hot gas, which is brought in with pipes and used for heating, which is also considered waste utilization." ”

When Xu Ji heard this, he was amazed again, and said: "Today I am an eye-opener, especially the assembly line, the material from beginning to end, it is really like flowing water, and at the end, it is the finished product, which can be called magical." ”

What Xu Ji saw today, it was like a thunderbolt, he was very shocked, and then looked at Yang Bo, but there was a little more admiration in his eyes.

Xu Ji asked with a smile: "Yang Bo, people say that you are a magic boy, when you see it today, sure enough, you can tell me, what kind of exquisite heart and liver, there are such wonderful ideas?" ”

"Giggle.."

Su Luo'er walked over, stretched out her slender jade hand, pinched Yang Bo's face, and said in a playful voice: "Some people say that he is the god of fire, I pinch it like this, I feel that I am just a mortal in the flesh." ”

Yang Bo hurriedly hid back, but he couldn't dodge, his old face turned red, and he said, "Hehe, there are still many places in the factory that need to be improved, and you two can't be so praised." ”

It's not that Yang Bo is modest, he is weak-minded, the assembly line is in the later generations, but it is a commonplace thing, Yang Bo is just a courier brother, take it and copy it, it's not that he has any exquisite heart.

"Mr. Xu, as you can see, the factory needs a lot of literate workers, but most of them are from displaced people, and there are not many literate people, I plan to get a literacy class in the school, so that they can take turns to read and write, and they need Mr. to help in this matter."

Literacy classes?

Xu Ji stroked his beard, a layer of hoarfrost had accumulated on it, and he thought about it in his heart, but there was a puzzled expression on his face.

Yang Bo's assembly line, from mining, to the production of match heads, and even the final packaging and shipment, every process must be marked, counted, and recorded on the process card, workers and grassroots managers must be able to read and count, otherwise production will be messy.

The so-called literacy class is to send workers to the school, which is nothing more than to let them know a few words, know how to count, and teach some basic things.

This kind of thing can be easily done by finding a few teaching gentlemen, so why bother asking him to be the principal?

Xu Ji has been promoted to a person, his father is a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Rites, and the Xu family is also a well-known family in Songjiang Mansion.

Xu Ji's mind was naturally expected by Yang Bo.

"Literacy classes are just a temporary need, and reading and literacy must start with children." Yang Bo glanced at Su Luo'er, then turned his gaze to Xu Ji, and said, "The younger generation heard Sister Luo'er say that Mr. Xu has always had a relationship with Western missionaries, and there is an Italian named Jinnige who brought 7,000 Westerner books from Europa, but is there such a thing?" ”

When Xu Ji heard this, he was stunned for a moment, this person's mind is enough to jump out, and there is no explanation for the literacy class, so this is talking about Western missionaries?

"Indeed, when he returned to the Ming Dynasty a few years ago, he brought with him more than 7,000 copies of Europa's latest books, which were enough to fill a library, and these books were illustrated, beautifully printed, and unrepetitive, covering the theology, philosophy, astronomy, arithmetic, and the study of things in the West, in a wide variety of categories.

He and a German named Deng Yuhan, when they lived in Hangzhou, had a lot of dealings with their father, and I had seen them myself, but unfortunately, Jinnige died of illness in Hangzhou earlier this year. ”

"Where are these books now? Can there be an organized manual translator? Yang Bo asked urgently.

"Most of them were shipped to Beijing and stored in the Beitang Bookstore in Beijing, when Jinnige was alive, he set a translation plan, just to translate these books, how easy is it? First, most of these books are written in Latin, and very few people in my Ming Dynasty know Latin, and when translating them, they are quite turnaround and very complicated. Second, this matter is a huge task, my father tried his best to advocate that the translation be completed as soon as possible, and the imperial court also set up a special pavilion bureau, but he did not give much silver, and without silver, it would not be possible, and in general, the progress was quite unsmooth. ”

Xu Ji kept shaking his head and sighing, with a lot of lonely looks on his face, Yang Bo sounded, but he was overjoyed in his heart, and said: "If Mr. can succumb to the position of principal and translate books, you just call someone over, and I will give you the money." ”

"Is that true?" Xu Ji couldn't help but be stunned, and exclaimed: "This is not a trivial matter, translating books is time-consuming and laborious, but it requires a lot of silver." ”

"The stone temple lacks everything, that is, there is no shortage of silver, silver is needed, Mr. just open his mouth, hahaha." Yang Bo smiled quite heroically and said with a swear.

Xu Ji's face showed an expression of disbelief, Yang Bo's words were really beyond his expectations, he thought for a while, and asked: "Yang Bo, in your opinion, how should I treat the study of Westerners?" ”

"Middle school is the body, and Western learning is for use." Yang Bo said casually.

Yang Bo didn't remember who said these eight words, he only knew that these words were famous, and since they were very famous in later generations, it should be very similar if they were said now.

"Middle school is the body, and Western learning is for use." Xu Ji muttered to himself, and finally high-fived and praised: "That's right, you have such insight at a young age, it's amazing." ”

Yang Bo's old face was red again, he coughed a few times, and hurriedly said: "Senior, just translation, I'm afraid it's not enough, after the translation is completed, it still needs to be printed and published, after publication, someone has to specialize in research, in order to take its essence, eliminate the dross, for my use, I plan to set up a research institute, dedicated to its affairs, the position of the president of this research institute, should be held by Mr., and please don't resign." ”

Xu Ji was still pondering the eight words Yang Bo said repeatedly in his heart, but his son, Xu Erjue, was impatient, and said: "Dad, since Brother Yang promised to help translate the book, why don't you quickly take the position of principal?" ”

Xu Ji finally came to his senses and said with a smile: "Since Yang Bo is so arrogant, I should be duty-bound, and I did this principal." ”

"Yay." Su Luo'er also said happily: "If you need manpower, you will be hired by your seniors, and the moon in the stone temple is notoriously generous." ”

Everyone laughed and talked for a while, and soon arrived at the boundary of Shenjiabao, not far from the Xishan Gap, a cement platform was erected on both sides of Yang Bo Road, and a bunch of people were busy building windmills on the platform.

"Mr. Xu, it's called a windmill, and it's also a thing that Yang Bo tosses, I'll take you to see it." The windmill project belongs to the industrial project of the factory category, which is naturally under the name of Ji Shun, and Ji Shun invited Xu Ji to take a closer look.

This was originally a gap in the West Mountain, after the opening of the mountain, it became a tuyere, the wind was very strong, the windmill was built on the side of the road, one on one side, it was very suitable.

The windmill in the north is used to drive the converter in the cement factory, and the south is used to develop the ball mill with a long horse track, the ball mill is loaded with iron balls, the wind energy drives the windmill, the windmill drives the ball mill to rotate, and the iron balls hit each other in it, so as to grind the rust powder inside into smaller particles, which can be used to make artificial magnets.

Theoretically, it is impossible to reach the micron scale, but it is possible to achieve it after countless experiments.

With artificial magnets, Yang Bo had the opportunity to make large generators and even electric motors to solve the power problem that had plagued the stone temple for a long time, which was originally the solution of Ma Daochang.

The length of the blades on the windmill was enough, Yang Bo walked closer, reached out to pluck one of the blades, and without exerting much force, the wind wheel turned.

"Well, it's not bad." Yang Bo nodded with satisfaction and said to Xu Ji.

Windmills are not uncommon in the Ming Dynasty, but large windmills like Yang Bo, which can be moved with one hand, are unique, because Yang Bo's windmill shaft is equipped with the latest large bearings developed by Shimiao.

"Childe..."Gan Xin was directing the installation at the scene, and when he saw Yang Bo and his party coming, he greeted him and walked over happily.

"Gan Xin, you are early in the morning, full of energy, what kind of happy event has you encountered."

"Childe, you're not authentic." Gan Xin feigned anger and said: "My monthly income has risen again this month, thirty taels, you should have talked to me beforehand, right?" ”

Only then did Yang Bo remember that he had indeed increased Gan's salary this month, and Gan's salary was increased once a month, and it was doubled.

Xu Erjue drew a cross on his chest and exclaimed, "God, some people are still unhappy with the addition of monthly money, Brother Yang, your master can actually get thirty taels of silver a month?" It's almost time to catch up with my grandfather, wow, my grandfather is the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites. ”