In front of everyone's eyes, Zhu Youzhen carefully put the five-pound weighing stone on the suspended glass.

I only heard everyone exhale a long breath in unison, and the five-pound weighing stone stood firmly on the suspended glass, and the glass trembled slightly, but it did not crack.

Then Zhu Youzhen changed the scale for ten catties, but when he put it on, the glass was pressed a little bent, and then there was a "pop", and the glass shattered.

Everyone breathed a long sigh again, but this time it was mostly a sigh, but then there was a burst of cheers, and the glass that was suspended to withstand ten catties of pressure was very good.

'The compressive strength is still a little weaker. ’

Zhu Youzhen thought to himself.

In later generations, glass of various shapes and uses emerged in an endless stream, and the special glass used on the glass plank road, people were fine when they went up, and Zhu Youzhen went up to play.

Of course, that kind of strength glass is not only a matter of process, but the special materials used in it are beyond the scope of Zhu Youjian's cognition.

"The problem of strength should be related to this annealing step, if it can be improved, the strength should be improved, as for the problem of bubbles, in addition to speeding up the stirring, you should think about what is the better process."

Zhu Youzhen instructed Bi Maokang and Song Yingxing, and then added.

"There are also these technological and technical improvements, you must hurry up and come up with a reward charter, personal manpower is exhausted, you must give full play to the wisdom and wisdom of craftsmen, encourage craftsmen to improve their skills, I do not care about silver, if there are outstanding contributions, it is also okay to award officials."

After the Son of Heaven finished speaking, Song Yingxing and Bi Maokang had not yet reacted, and the craftsmen in those factories had already bowed down to thank him.

In the feudal society with clear strata, the idea of the official standard is particularly important, if there is an official body, it is not a matter of earning two more silver, even if it is a miscellaneous official of the ninth grade, for the ordinary people, it is enough to glorify the ancestors.

The development of the commodity economy in feudal society is limited, the ancients are simple-minded, although the merchant is rich, but the status is indeed limited, if there is no official in the merchant family, it is a piece of big fat that everyone loves, and it has long been eaten cleanly.

The officials of the feudal society are extremely powerful, and the prefect of the county is not casually said.

has an official body, even if it is the smallest Jiupin miscellaneous official, or even a county official who is not in the stream, it can protect the safety of the family.

So when these craftsmen heard that they could be conferred officials, their eyes straightened.

At this time, Bi Maokang and Song Yingxing also reacted, if the inventor of the steam engine who was rewarded with a knighthood was shocked enough, then this time it was even more shocking to reward the official for the improvement of the technical process.

Because the invention of the steam engine is really difficult, and the principle inside is complicated, it is far from being able to do it by those craftsmen.

But the general process improvement is different, these craftsmen have been in the industry for a long time, and sometimes it is easy to improve the process.

Compared with knighthood, it is easier to confer officials, so the shock is greater.

Zhu Youzhen was very satisfied with everyone's expressions, and took the lead out of the glass factory with his hands behind his back.

Later, Zhu Youzhen visited the steel mill and the soap factory, pointed out some problems, and put forward some suggestions such as expanding the scale of production.

At present, crucibles are still used in the production of ingots in steel mills, but the open-hearth steelmaking method is also being experimented.

Zhu Youzhen had been to the iron and steel factory to inspect because of the needs of his work in his previous life, and he had a general idea of the development of iron and steel smelting technology in the past dynasties, and he also knew a little about the general principles of crucible method, open-hearth furnace and converter steelmaking.

But I only know a little bit about it, and I can't remember some steps very clearly, so I can only give a general framework, and let Bi Maokang and Song Yingxing take the craftsmen to study it little by little.

At present, the main direction of Xishan Iron and Steel Plant is the open-hearth steelmaking method, with the regenerator, blower and coke with higher calorific value provided by Zhu Youjian, the world's first open-hearth furnace should not let Zhu Youzhen wait too long.

Out of the factory area, Zhu Youzhen and others got on their horses and traveled for a quarter of an hour to the agricultural area at the foot of the West Mountain, which was much quieter and more peaceful than the noisy and smoky industrial area.

In about a dozen acres of fields, dozens of old farmers are composting in the fields, waiting for the spring to thaw and then water and fertilize.

These more than a dozen acres of fields are experimental fields, and the larger experimental fields are all in a village at the foot of the West Mountain, about a few hundred acres of scale, because of limited breeding, so most of them are still planted with traditional wheat or millet.

Before coming to the test field, the field was covered with a layer of grass and straw, because potatoes and sweet potatoes are not frost resistant, and there is no plastic greenhouse, so you can only use grass to resist frost.

In fact, Zhu Youzhen doesn't know if the sweet potatoes and potatoes can be planted in winter, but the drought in the north has been dry for many years, and there is not much time left for Zhu Youzhen to breed and promote.

If it is promoted a year later, thousands of more people may die, and under pressure, Song Yingxing can only give it a try.

Because the tuber is buried deep enough, and the grass is covered on it, the effect is okay at first glance.

At most, in a month, the earth will have spring, and this batch of potatoes and sweet potatoes should be able to survive, but the yield is estimated to be blind.

In August last year, when Song Yingxing presided over the potato and sweet potato harvest, he was really shocked.

Although it was the first time to plant, under the care of Song Yingxing, the yield of potatoes and sweet potatoes per mu exceeded 500 catties, which was unimaginable in the northern farmland of the Ming Dynasty, which was generally two or three hundred catties in the northern farmland.

Of course, in Zhu Youzhen's view, this is not satisfactory, because Zhu Youzhen remembers that in later generations, the production capacity of potatoes per mu reached more than 2,000 catties, and the yield of sweet potatoes per mu could reach 5,000 catties.

But what Zhu Youzhen forgot is that under the cultivation of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and improved seeds, the yield of wheat per mu is only about 1,000 catties.

And this is the first time to plant, professional breeding, planting, and cultivation techniques are all half-baked Zhu Youzhen's oral description, all by Song Yingxing's exploration little by little, it would be good to have this yield.

Because of the need for a large number of breeding, although there are now a lot of potatoes and sweet potatoes, no one dares to take these precious seeds to eat, and only when major festivals or Zhu Youzhen comes, will they take sweet potatoes and potatoes to taste.

Of course, the way to eat sweet potatoes and potatoes was also taught by Zhu Youzhen.

Looking at the potatoes and sweet potato seedlings all over the ground, Zhu Youzhen was in a stirring mood, and waved his hand at Bi Maokang and Song Yingxing.

"I'll stay in Xishan tonight, add a few sweet potatoes and potato dishes for dinner, and have dinner in the Xishan canteen, so that both the officers and the master craftsmen of the factory can participate."