In London's Hampton Court Palace, the British consul Cromwell stands at his ornate desk, his eyes drawn to a pile of new weapons on the table.

At this time, the bourgeois revolution had broken out in England. Two major wars broke out between the army of the parliament and the army of the king in 1642 and 1648. In the end, the Parliamentarian army commanded by Cromwell won two wars, eventually overthrowing the rule of King Charles I of England.

Charles I, as an unlucky king, was executed by the parliament led by Cromwell.

Cromwell commanded the Parliamentarian army to fight in the British Isles, conquering Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, turning the territory that had belonged to several kings into a single United Kingdom. The country was ruled by a coalition of parliament and Cromwell, and increasingly tended to be dictatorship by Cromwell.

In Europe of this era, it was not uncommon for countries to be ruled by parliaments and consuls. In the Netherlands, for example, the Dutch, who trade all over the world, are governed by a bourgeois parliament. William II, Prince of Orange, was the consul of the Netherlands, but his power was constrained by Parliament.

The British and Dutch have the same form of government and have a special affection for each other. In the fight against Li Zhi and the invasion of Portugal, both countries came together.

However, this friendly relationship was not enough for the Dutch to take the initiative to teach the British the stolen military technology.

Cromwell's general, Bertrand, held up the Mini rifle bullet on the table and said, "Archon, this is the bullet we picked up on the battlefield in Portugal. In fact, both the Portuguese and the Dutch used this new type of bullet. Except that we, the British, are still using smoothbore guns, they are all already using rifled guns. ”

"And they all used flintlock shots, knocking out arquebuses."

Cromwell took the bullet from Bertrand's hand, looked at the rifled scratches on the bullet and the hollow tail, and said, "Rifled guns? ”

Bertrand nodded and said, "A rifled gun that can be easily loaded!" ”

Bertrand lifted an English-made rifled gun on the table, held up a lead Mini bullet, and easily slid the bullet into the chamber.

Pointing the barrel at the window, Bertrand said, "If we use a flintlock bolt, we can shoot once in twenty breaths." ”

"Good!" Cromwell said: "The production of this rifled gun began immediately, and I hope that our fighters in Portugal will use the same weapons as the enemy." ”

Bertrand nodded, and raised the mortar on the table again. Pouring out the mortar with a wooden butt, Bertrand threw the shell.

"Look, Archon!"

Cromwell asked, confused, "What is this?" ”

"It's called a curved cannon, Your Highness the Consul. It uses blasting shells and can bombard enemies in trenches. ”

Cromwell nodded and asked, "Where did you get that?" ”

"Archon, this is what we stole from the Dutch."

Cromwell smiled when he heard this.

Although the Dutch were well guarded with their new weapons, the Dutch and the British fought in a trench, and the Dutch bombarded the Portuguese with their curved guns every day, and it was impossible to completely protect them from theft. And for the British soldiers, they did not feel any shame in stealing for their country.

Even if ordinary soldiers don't steal, the spies planted in the army by the British do.

Cromwell asked, "Can we produce this weapon?" ”

Bertrand nodded and replied, "We can produce, Archon." After cutting the blasting shell, we found that this weapon was very simple. At the level of our British handicrafts, there is no difficulty in mass-producing such weapons. ”

Cromwell took the warp shell from Bertrand and looked at it.

"Very well, with these two weapons, our British army will be the strongest iron army in the world."

In the loud roar, eight steam engines roared under the fire of the boiler, driving the two generators of Fanjiazhuang No. 1 Thermal Power Plant to cut magnet wires non-stop.

The generator that cuts the magnet wire constantly sends out electricity through the wires of the thermal power plant.

Although it was the wax moon of December, the heat wave emitted from the steam engine boiler came one after another, and the heat made people sweat all over. Li Zhi only stood for a short minute before quickly taking off the bearskin coat on his body.

Li Zhi looked at the huge generator and asked, "What is the installed capacity of this generator?" ”

The stationmaster of the thermal power station replied loudly: "If you go back to the prince, the power of each generator is 1,000 kilowatts. Two is 2,000 kilowatts. ”

Li Zhi's middle school physics textbooks have long popularized the watt as a unit of power, so now the directors and technicians of thermal power plants can use this unit proficiently.

Li Zhi did the math.

Based on the use of three 30-watt incandescent lamps per household during peak hours, a 2,000-kilowatt thermal power station can meet the electricity needs of 10,000 households. Based on a household of five, this thermal power plant can supply electricity to 50,000 people.

Li Zhi nodded and said, "We will continue to build and equip more generators and steam engines." ”

The boss of the thermal power plant said loudly: "Lord Wang, now we have set a fee for the installation of electric lights at two or two. The electricity bill for each lamp is 50 wen per month. This generator can earn more than 1,600 taels of silver every month, and 20,000 taels of silver a year. The profits are quite substantial. ”

"The generators and steam engines that we ordered for the thermal power plant are about to be in place soon, and the problem now is that there are not so many people who are willing to pay for the installation of electric lights."

Li Zhi does not have an electricity meter, and the electricity bill is charged according to the number of light bulbs. For each light bulb installed in the house, the monthly electricity bill is 50 yuan.

The price of grain in Tianjin today is about 10 yuan a catty, and 50 yuan is equivalent to more than 16 yuan in later generations. For ordinary people, the electricity bill of more than 16 yuan a month for a lamp is still quite high.

Li Zhi looked at the manager of the power company, frowned and said, "You have set the installation cost and electricity fee too high!" ”

The head of the power company turned pale when he heard this, and hurriedly saluted Li Zhizuo: "The prince forgives the sin, I will change it and reduce the cost of installing electric lights and electricity by three percent." ”

Li Zhi lifted a light bulb on the table and said, "Our power business is a people's livelihood project and a public utility, how can we think about making a profit all day long?" According to your charges, if a family installs one lamp in each room and a villa installs five lamps, won't it cost 250 yuan a month for electricity? ”

"Change! The electricity bill was directly changed to fifteen cents per lamp! The installation fee for the light bulb should also be changed to two dollars each. In this way, there will be more people using electric lights, and our Fanjiazhuang will be bright. ”

The director of the thermal power plant and the director of the power company hurriedly shouted: "Lord Shengming! I'm waiting for my orders! ”