The experiment with movable type has entered a critical moment, thanks to the low melting point of money and other similar metals, which allows researchers to easily carry out formula experiments in various proportions, so far, they have tried almost all kinds of trial production of lead-tin, lead-zinc and other proportions, but they have not yet obtained a suitable alloy that can be used for a long time. What's the problem? The unkempt Song Yi once again walked into a dead end, after listening to Jiang Tian's lecture, he thought he had found a way to spy on alloy science, but he still couldn't get the desired results, seeing that half a month had passed, the researchers' excitement at the beginning gradually became a little impatient, and some people even began to doubt whether Jiang Tian's analysis was correct.

"You still haven't figured it out......" Jiang Tian shook his head in hatred, and he was dragged to the experimental workshop as soon as his lesson today was over. A large group of people were waiting for him to give an answer: "Since I said that it is something similar to lead, can you only think of tin and lead?" ”

Everyone looked at each other, as if there were only three types of similar metals that could be found on the market, right?

"Before you engaged in science, you were also a well-educated person, so who can tell me that Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty and minted new coins, what was used in those coins?"

At this time, a researcher naturally replied: "It is recorded in the Book of Han that copper is used for coinage, and it is confused with tin ......"

Song Yi suddenly realized: "I see, we still have Lian Xi useless!" ”

"Yes, Lian tin is not suitable for zuò ware because of its brittle texture, but if it is mixed with soft metal, what will happen?" Jiang Tian finally couldn't help but say the correct answer, and sighed in his heart, no wonder some people suspected that Wang Mang was an unsuccessful traverser, looking at the alloy he used to mint coins, he felt that this person was not simple. It's just that his reforms were too radical, and they were eventually abandoned by history: "Everything in the world, many things seem to be the same but are actually very different, as if we know that the lead is not actually lead, but just the shape, and later His Majesty changed its name to zinc!" Then even tin is like tin but not tin. I'll call him the brother of tin, and I'll call it antimony with a gold edge. ”

It is not known whether the antimony in the history books is pure antimony or antimony sulfide, but soon after getting a sample of the Hunan tin mine, Jiang Tian can be very sure that it is not antimony, because it is only a metal that flows out of the roasting ore through guò, so it is definitely not pure antimony.

"Actually, the use of lead casting is not the original of this dynasty, there are records of lead movable type in the south of the Yangtze River in the former Ming Dynasty, but the lead type is easy to wear and is more expensive than wood, so it has not been able to replace the copper movable type, becoming the decisive force of metal movable type printing. At the beginning of the new dynasty, a large number of books were needed to be engraved, and the traditional methods were not enough, and it was difficult to implement the use of expensive copper movable type......

After a few days of being behind closed doors with the researchers in the workshop, Jiang Tian, who was also sloppy, finally got the finished product of his dreams, and the formula of the lead movable type alloy that will be used in the future. In general, it is 70% lead, 11% antimony and 9% tin, after being made, this alloy has been tested and found that not only the melting point is low and the fluidity is good, but also the shrinkage rate is greatly reduced after cooling, and the font can also ensure that it is plump, and it can be printed hundreds of times in a row without wear, which can be called an indispensable artifact in education, media, scientific research, administration and other things. Of course, Jiang Tian was not idle, and by the way, he unified the specific specifications and font sizes of lead movable type, and also instructed Song Yi to classify and sort out the various numbers of metallurgical tests, preserve these important experiences in the form of standardized research reports in accordance with the common form of later generations, and stamp the files with the highest secret authority they can involve, and officials above the third grade will not be able to access these files.

"Through these days of research, I think you have understood that not all metals can be fused with each other indefinitely, so your job in the future is to find compatible metals and figure out the properties of new alloys, to know whether they are hard or soft? Is it light or heavy? Toxic or not? How toxic is it? Is there a way to help, etc...... This work is related to the well-being of future generations, and you should also pay attention to your own safety, and do not neglect the unknown, just like this antimony, if I had not found a yellow dog, who of you would have thought that it would be so poisonous? ”

Taking advantage of the time here, Jiang Tian began to popularize the recent experimental regulations, so that these scientific pioneers have the most intuitive understanding of the dangers in the future, especially when they saw that the dog was vomiting out the contents of his stomach and could only fall to the ground and convulsed, everyone understood that there were also extremely dangerous things in metal, and they also knew how important the operating procedures and protection knowledge that Jiang Tian emphasized. Until now, if there are still people who can ignore Lord Jiang's warnings, then it means that this person is not an idiot but also a second goods. If anyone dares to question his conclusions, he can be scolded by these people, and he can't even find Bei. Song Yi looked at the elites of these academies, and was gradually impressed by Jiang Tian, and could only sigh in his heart that there are indeed people outside the world, and there are mountains outside the mountains.

The news of the successful trial production of movable type did not cause much of a sensation in the government and the opposition, and if you think about it, movable type printing is already a commonplace thing, and you just replace the wood with lead, which does not make ordinary people feel much about it. Only those who are in the printing industry can know the mystery of this, because the news from the palace bookstore, with the new lead movable type plus ink lock printing book, the quality is not comparable to the traditional books, what is more novel is that as a trial production of the "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Names" two enlightenment small books were printed 10,000 copies each, and sent to various prefectures and counties as a blueprint, among the 20,000 books, the quality of the first and last books is almost identical, without the original lead movable type that gradually blurred and unrecognizable problem, In addition, lead is different from traditional wooden type in terms of manufacturing difficulty, as long as you have the right mold, you can cast it casually. In case of rare characters, it is only necessary to support the furnace to cast a new word, which is much cheaper than copper movable type, and there is no problem of wooden movable type gradually absorbing water and expanding. This surprised the bookstores in Beijing, but it was not easy to obtain ink and the paper used was also very exquisite, which temporarily prevented the promotion of lead movable type. Compared with the waves of the lead word, it was an edict of the emperor that made the people of the world side, and it was clearly stated in the holy decree that the important treasure of Lianxi is not an official camp that cannot be grabbed, and the local army took over the Hunan Lianxi mine!

There are many people who do good things in the world, but no one can understand why Lian Xi, who is usually worthless and almost useless, has become a national treasure? Even many people only knew that there was such a thing as Lian Xi after hearing the news. So there was a lot of discussion for a while, trying to figure out what the use of this thing was. According to the routine of the common people, it is nothing more than guessing that gold was dug up in the mine, and in order to hide people's eyes, the military took over. Some people also think that Lian Xi can refine the elixir of immortality. So the emperor wants to enjoy it alone? Anyway, there is anything to say, and those who participated in the development were ordered to keep a strict secret and not reveal a word, otherwise there would be no place for you in the world!

This kind of warning is still very useful in this time and space, after all, there is no such thing as fleeing in these years, in the eyes of the people of the Central Plains, the barbarian countries beyond the national border are all places that are not suitable for survival, otherwise there are not so many people who want to go to the Celestial Empire. In this case, there is no difference between fleeing and sending you to death, and if the state does not allow you, you will really be at a dead end. Moreover, those researchers also knew that even if they said it, they might not be able to reproduce qualified lead type, because the technique of refining raw antimony into pure antimony was only known to Jiang Tian and a very small number of people. It's like the most critical secret ingredient in some Chinese medicine formulas, without which it is nothing.

"Actually, the refining method of pure antimony has appeared in Europe, but they can't produce it on a large scale now, and even if they do, they don't know how to use it, so they must block the news while they don't know how to do it."

Zhang Tao nodded, don't look at his scientific foundation is not very good, but he also knows what the significance of strategic metals is to the country: "But you said that our country is a big antimony country, accounting for half of the world's total reserves, as long as we restrict exports, won't this problem be solved?" ”

"Are you confined to it?" Jiang Tian asked rhetorically: "As long as the profit is enough, there will always be people who will take risks, and besides, half of the reserves are abroad, won't they dig their own." Antimony can increase the hardness and wear resistance of the alloy, and will play an irreplaceable role in the industry, and antimony white is a paper dye, without this kind of thing in the future, it is difficult to appear in the snow-white paper, we do the manufacturing of finished products at a high price, don't always think about making a small amount of money by selling resources. ”

As soon as Zhang Tao opened his mouth, Jiang Tian knew what he was thinking, this emperor has been a little unscrupulous in order to balance the finances recently, but even if he is asked to carry out land reform, he can't fight the idea of these resources. If China can start the industrial revolution 300 years earlier, then it is still unknown whether these resources can be guaranteed to be consumed in the future, and with the current treatment methods, environmental pollution is almost inevitable, and the environment cannot be destroyed for the sake of industrialization before it has seen a shadow. Besides, as long as it can develop step by step, China does not need to make money by selling ore.

"By the way, the commercial tax model you talked about last time, I have thought about it for a long time, and I feel that at present, in addition to taxing merchants, almost no hawker can afford it, and with all kinds of tax evasion methods, it is difficult to imagine that it can support the national budget." Emperor Zhang also pondered how to make money, but after thinking about it, there was no means of primitive accumulation except for the tariffs and the development of industry. If it's a robbery, the surrounding countries are poor one by one, and it's really a bit impossible to rob them.

"The problem of taxation is easy to solve, as long as those who declare that they have paid their taxes can be exempted from forced labor, then do you think they will pay taxes?"

"In this way, it will not affect the construction of the country, and at this time, only by mobilizing the masses can we do our best to restore our vitality."

"That being said, but you have to consider that the productivity at this time is extremely low, and even if you mobilize the masses, you may not be able to do a better job than in our time. It's better to let them go home to recuperate for a few years, anyway, after a series of battles, even if Dolgon escapes, he won't be able to kill them back in a short time, and in a few decades, the polar bears will be able to catch them up and surrender to us. Or more than ten years later, you also came to sweep the north a few times, and completely eliminated the troubles. But at present, although the stricken areas are exempt from taxes, they have little work to do, and they will starve to death sooner or later without the relief of the imperial court. Let's get these people moving, come to a cash-for-work, and let them do the work for those who pay the taxes. ”

The reason why the emperor was obsessed with conscription was mainly to lay the foundation for the future Northern Expedition, and he planned to build an official road leading to the Great Wall within a few years, and build a large-scale military station, and when the material reserves were complete, he would be able to fight and level the world. I have to say that his idea is very good, but the reality may not be as expected. His years in the military have taught him that an army, even if it was once invincible, can wear off its sharpness in a long period of peace and gradually become mediocre, so that it breeds rot @ defeat and eventually becomes a scourge. This point can be clearly answered by looking at the army of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, he did not want to let the new army he created die out in waiting, but to keep taking the initiative to face one enemy after another, so that the soldiers' knives were always bright, and they were always vigilant against any jackal who coveted the country.

"If you want to fight, it's easy! Except for a bear in the north that will go south at any time, don't forget that the Kangxi Dynasty has made several personal expeditions, all of which went to the west! In the past, the Ming Dynasty no longer controlled the Western Regions, so they had an opportunity, so the Qing Dynasty spent hundreds of years and did not completely pacify the Western Regions. In the future, you may have to cross the sea to attack Japan to recover Taiwan and the Ryukyus, and you need to plan for the construction of a navy from now on. If there is an opportunity, it will still compete for hegemony in Southeast Asia, let alone compete for hegemony in the two oceans of Taiping and India in the future. From these aspects, war will be the main theme in the next 200 years, and you should think about how to ensure that military spending does not drag down the country. ”

There is no official record of this conversation, but it is not only the emperor and Jiang Tian who know some of the contents, because in the near future, the economic issues involved in this conversation will be officially raised and implemented throughout the country, and the vigorous land reform movement will be followed by a vigorous land reform movement. Jiang Tian, who was originally a book, inexplicably discussed the future development of the empire with the emperor, and when he walked out of the palace again, he found that the sun had set again, and every time he could talk with the emperor for so long, it was some military generals who had been on the battlefield for a long time and had been in the bloody field with the emperor for a long time, and they were a little inexplicably jealous. But it's useless for you to be jealous, Your Majesty is now in a hurry, and you don't have time to grind your teeth and quarrel with you, if you don't open your eyes to chat with the emperor, it is estimated that it won't be long before you can be sent to the border to eat sand. Therefore, everyone unanimously realized that Jiang Tian and the emperor were in the same room, and no one was present around them, so they must be plotting something. But it is not known what exactly was said between them, unless you are one of the very few people who reassures and values Your Majesty, and you may hear about some of the tasks you need to accomplish afterwards.

Qiu Si of the Pedestrian Division is such a person, originally according to his resume, he belongs to the kind of supernumerary who neither belongs to the die-hard loyalists of the previous dynasty nor is the meritorious personnel of the current dynasty, and at the same time he has no new academic background, he may have survived for a few years, and then mixed and passed the evaluation to change to a yamen and continue to be a petty official. It seems that things like getting ahead don't need to be considered, but fortunately, the new dynasty has raised the salaries of officials at every level, even if the official mission is canceled, it will not have much impact on him, a seven-rank Beijing official, but it is much more generous than before. But this almost forgotten sesame official suddenly received a holy decree to let him face the king immediately! After tidying up his official uniform, he trotted into the Forbidden City. Except for the emperor's summons, officials of his level rarely have the opportunity to walk here, even when the court meeting, he is the kind of person who stands outside the hall and drinks the wind.

When he walked into the study, he didn't even dare to raise his head and knelt down directly: "Pedestrian Si Qiutian, long live my emperor......"

Zhang Tao looked at this man in his early thirties kneeling in front of him, and just by looking at him, he felt that this person had a rare sense of ability: "Calm down, I don't have so many rules here." ”

"Thank you!" After kowtowing three more times, he stood up, and stood aside with his head bowed without squinting.

Zhang Tao nodded, this person is obviously from the imperial examination, although the rules are not less at all, but it is rare to be so calm and composed, the original officials of the Ming Dynasty in order to show their loyalty, they often pointed to their names and scolded. There are also some who show flattering faces in order to keep their glory and wealth. It was obviously the first time he had seen me at close range, but he seemed to be an old fritter who had been an official for many years, and he didn't look nervous at all, and it seemed that Jiang Tian's kid recommended him not without reason.

Qiu Tian was indeed recommended by Jiang Tian, and no third person except Zhang Tao knew this, so not only did Qiu Tian not understand the meaning of summoning him, but he was also ignorant that he was standing at the crossroads of life. Of course, from the perspective of later generations, it is not too much to say that he stood at the crossroads of the country, some people think that history pushed him forward, while others say that he completely changed the country. Of course, with the gradual lifting of the ban on confidential information, people finally discovered that he was just an actor on stage, and the real director was someone else.