In the tall forging workshop of the "jingle bell" space, several huge hammers of forging hammer machines staggered up and down, making a huge impact sound, covering up the roaring steam engine sound, at first glance into the workshop, as if in another world, tall machines, huge noise, hot gas, unified tooling, focused and busy workers,

Lin Zexu looked surprised, looking at the huge hammer that rose and fell with interest, but Yu Baochun pulled the sleeve of Layi's contented shirt and said softly: "Why don't you let the craftsmen come up to pay respects?" ”

The workshop was noisy, Yi Zhixiang couldn't hear what he said at all, I saw his mouth open and closed, and immediately pointed to his ears, Yu Baochun saw this and said loudly: "Why don't these people come up to salute?" ”

Yi Zhizu waved his hand, pointed to the machine, and said loudly: "Can't stop!" ”

Lin Zexu naturally didn't care whether the workers came up to salute, he followed the production process with great interest, watching the rough billets take shape quickly under the forging of one machine after another, and the surprise on his face quickly turned into a smile.

Out of the workshop, when the noise was low, Lin Zexu stopped and said: "The West is not full of strange and ingenious things, this steam engine is extremely practical, can Changle Machinery Factory make steam engines?" ”

"Yes." Yi Zhishu said loudly: "However, mass production will not be until next year. From the beginning of the establishment of Changle Machinery Factory, he hung a lot of money to attract Citi mechanics to imitate and improve the steam engine, he knew very well that the steam engine was the foundation of the industrial revolution, and it was a joke to develop the industry if it could not produce the steam engine independently.

Hearing that he could make a steam engine, Lin Zexu nodded approvingly and said, "For some practical machine technology in the West." It is still necessary to try to learn and master as much as possible. After a pause, he then asked, "What kind of machines are the machines being produced by the machine factory now?" ”

Yi Zhizhi said: "Changle Machinery Factory is currently mainly producing silk reeling machines and sugar presses, which are currently in high demand. ”

With a slight groan, Lin Zexu said, "Contentment, why don't you try to make muskets with these machines?" ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhizhi smiled contentedly and said, "Lord Ministry, this is encouraging Changle Machinery Factory to make muskets?" ”

"How?" Lin Zexu looked at him and said, "Isn't Lord Deng allowed Changle Machinery Factory to manufacture muskets?" ”

"Not really." Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "The establishment of Changle Machinery Factory. Because of the large demand for silk reeling machines, imported from France, one is time-consuming and laborious, and the other is expensive, after the completion of the construction, because the demand for silk reeling machines and sugar presses is large and itself is a generous gift, it has not considered the manufacture of muskets, so it has never been mentioned to Deng Butang.

When he found out that war might break out with England, he did not think about making muskets with machines. However, one is that the manufacture of muskets requires specialized craftsmen, and the other is that Citigroup and France have strict control over the machinery and equipment and related technical craftsmen who manufacture muskets. ”

Lin Zexu glanced at him, and said silently for a while: "Craftsman." The main department can provide it to you within half a year. How about setting up a machine firearms bureau? ”

Preparing for the establishment of a firearms bureau? Yi Zhishu quickly weighed it, in this way, he can blatantly make guns, how long can Lin Zexu stay in Guangzhou? Crow. Before the war ended, he was sent to Xinjiang. After a slight sigh, he spoke: "I'm afraid half a year is not enough, the construction of a firearms factory requires a high-horsepower steam engine, and Changle does not have this production capacity at present, besides." Now that the war with England is imminent, very few merchant ships come to Guangzhou, and even if there are merchant ships, they are selling arms, and no one wants to bring machines to Guangzhou. ”

After a pause, he continued: "The barrel is not as good as ordinary machine parts, and the strength of the machine forging and the process flow require time and continuous experimentation, which is not the ability of the craftsman who makes the musket by hand. As he spoke, he looked at Lin Zexu and said, "Yuan Qi immediately organized human, financial and material resources to conduct research on machine-forged muskets, and speed up the production of high-horsepower steam engines, but the time is not guaranteed, it is possible to do it for one year or two or three years at the latest." ”

Hearing him say this, Lin Zexu also realized that he was in a hurry, and immediately nodded, and said: "Be content and do your best, if the Machine and Firearms Bureau can be completed and produced within a year, the headquarters will try its best to protect you from the imperial court." ”

Trying to keep it up? Yi Zhixiang secretly slandered in his heart, and I don't want to be an official, what's the use of guaranteeing? Slander is slander, he still bowed down and said: "Lord Xie Butang, I will do my best to build it as soon as possible." ”

Lin Zexu bowed his head slightly and said, "Let's go, go to the Ammunition Bureau and have a look." ”

The Luoxi Ammunition Bureau has not yet been officially put into production, it is in the trial production stage, the factory is not small, and there are many machines, but there are not many workers, and there are many Citi technicians, Lin Zexu obviously has some understanding of the production of gunpowder.

The technology of manufacturing gunpowder introduced from Citigroup, although there is little difference in terms of proportion, but the production process is beyond the reach of the Qing Dynasty, first refining the purity of nitrate and sulfur, using a steam engine to drive the drum device to crush and mix the medicine, and then using machinery to put the gunpowder in the configuration and roll into solid and uniform particles, so that the gunpowder has a certain geometric shape and compactness.

After that, a mechanical granulation cylinder is used to block the gunpowder into uniformly sized gunpowder granules; The granular gunpowder is placed in the drying chamber and dried with a steam heater to keep it in a good and ready dry state, and finally the surface of the granules is polished with a light-modifier made of graphite, so as to remove pores and reduce hygroscopicity, so as to prolong the storage period of gunpowder.

After a detailed understanding of the production process of Western gunpowder, Lin Zexu sighed: "The West really has something extraordinary, everything is excellent, no wonder Guan Tianpei said that Western gunpowder is far better than the gunpowder produced by the sailor, speaking of which, the Western gunpowder technique is still learned from China." ”

Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "The reason why Westerners can be better than the blue is because of the competition mechanism and the patent protection system. ”

"Oh, contentment knows a lot." Lin Zexu became interested and said, "Let's go, go out and talk about it in detail, and see if we can learn from it." ”

Out of the workshop, Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "I'm afraid it's a little difficult to learn from it." Both the competition mechanism and the patent protection system were difficult to implement in the Qing Dynasty. After a pause, he said: "Let's talk about the steam engine, which was invented by a man named Watt in England. government patent application.

After the patent was granted, all the factories in England that produced Watt steam engines had to pay Watt a royalty. Watt also became a wealthy man because of the invention and improvement of the steam engine.

English Politics. The government promulgated the "Patent Protection Law" to encourage invention, improvement and innovation, and protect the interests they deserve, which is unimaginable in our Qing Dynasty.

In recent years********, the style of study in Guangzhou has changed somewhat, advocating the application of what they have learned and applying what they have learned, but they still look down on craftsmen and disdain these strange and ingenious skills. It can be said that the most cutting-edge talents of our Qing Dynasty are wasted on scientific research.

There are also talented and intelligent people among the craftsmen, but there is no incentive and encouragement mechanism, there is no protection mechanism, and the craftsmen are not willing to spend time to specialize in research and improvement to keep improving, even if there are unique technologies and processes, they are all secret, becoming a secret recipe, for fear of leakage. In the event of natural and man-made disasters, especially large-scale wars that change dynasties. Many secret recipes have been lost, and our losses for thousands of years can be said to be incalculable. ”

Hearing this, Lin Zexu couldn't help but sigh, feeling a lot of regret in his heart, every time he changed the dynasty. It was all a big destruction, and all walks of life don't know how many secret recipes have been lost, but it is pure fool's dream to want the imperial court to promulgate the "Patent Protection Law" like England.

"Let's talk about the competition mechanism." Yi Zhixiang continued: "England believes in free competition. Especially in business, the competition is very fierce, there are no government-run factories in England, all factories are private, take the military factories as an example, if you want to start a war, the government wants to purchase guns and gunpowder, and it will order from various military factories.

How do I order it? It is to convene several major military factories to demonstrate on the spot, compare whose quality is good and powerful, and then buy whom, which is not fake at all, and therefore stimulates the various military factories to invest a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to constantly innovate and improve, which is like sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat, and all large and small factories in England are like this, if you can't develop and grow, you have to go bankrupt. ”

Lin Zexu frowned and said, "England allows private individuals to open military factories? ”

"Whether it's England or the United States, France, Portugal, and other European countries, the military factories are all privately run." Yi Zhi said confidently: "Our military industry in the Qing Dynasty is all government-run, from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty to the present, hundreds of years, our firearms and gunpowder have been significantly improved?" Even if there are improvements, they are all from the West, on the other hand, all kinds of firearms emerge in an endless stream, whether it is power or quality, we are far inferior. ”

Lin Zexu obviously still didn't believe it, and said: "If a private person runs a military factory, he is not worried about the proliferation of civilian firearms?" ”

"That's a lot of options." Yi Zhisuff said with a smile: "Send officials to supervise the factory, the number of guns produced, once it is found that there is a leak of guns, it is easy to find out which factory it is from, and how to ban the business license, no one dares to joke about the factory that has been hard to create." However, Citigroup is a special case, and Citigroup allows people to legally own firearms. ”

"And this?" Lin Zexu said in surprise: "The Musket Country is not worried about the people making trouble? ”

Yi Zhixiang said with a smile: Citigroup has no king, only a president, their president is elected by the people, every four years, if the people are not satisfied, there is no need to rebel, and the president can be removed by voting for impeachment. ”

"It's a strange thing in the world." Lin Zexu turned his head around as he spoke, and said, "Contentment doesn't mean that you also want to run a private military factory, right?" ”

Yi Zhishu seemed to have a piece of Coptis chinensis, and said with a bitter face: "The military industry is the foundation of the country, the government-run military industry, long-term stagnation, it is indeed worrying, the private military industry, not to want to, but dare not, Yuan Qi is such a big stall, in the next day is like walking on thin ice, dare not take risks." ”

"I heard Guan Tianpei mention it." Lin Zexu looked at him and said: "The Naval Division Ammunition Bureau has been completed, and in addition to ensuring the needs of the Guangdong Naval Division, it also plans to sell gunpowder to other provinces. ”

"Yes." Yi Zhishu nodded and said: "The Ammunition Bureau is making gunpowder machine production, with high efficiency and large output, how much can the Guangdong Navy Division consume in a year?" How much can the Eight Banners Green Camp in Guangdong Province consume? The Ammunition Bureau's production in January could not be used up by the Eight Banners Green Battalion in Guangdong Province, and it had to be sold to the Eight Banners Green Battalion in other provinces.

In addition to military gunpowder, the Ammunition Bureau is also preparing to produce civilian gunpowder in large quantities, fireworks, and the demand for gunpowder for mining and road construction is not small, which is enough to maintain the normal production and profitability of the Ammunition Bureau. ”

Lin Zexu nodded and said, "Gunpowder can be exported to the Eight Banners Green Battalion in various provinces, why can't the musket?" Muskets of high quality and low price will be purchased by officers and soldiers in various provinces. ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhixiang hesitated for a moment before saying: "The imperial court's management of muskets is much stricter than gunpowder. ”

Groaning slightly, Lin Zexu said: "Contentment first try our best to build a firearms bureau as soon as possible, run by the government, privately, and jointly run by customs and businessmen, and then discuss it carefully in the future. The system of the imperial court is not immutable. ”

Yi Zhishu hurriedly said: "Don't worry, the Lord of the Ministry will definitely live up to the high expectations of the adults." ”

Lin Zexu glanced at him and said, "It's already February, and the Ammunition Bureau has to put it into production as soon as possible." ”

"Don't worry, Lord Ministry." Yi Zhizhi said: "It is estimated that in three or five days, the Ammunition Bureau will be able to officially start construction." ”

After seeing off Lin Zexu and his party on the dock, Yi Zhixiang smiled secretly in his heart, Lin Zexu's courage is much greater than Deng Tingzhen, but it is a pity that he did not stay in the position of the governor of Liangguang for a long time, otherwise, there is no need to sneak around and be a thief.

The official ship left the dock, and Feng Qigui, the director of the Ammunition Bureau, said with a smile: "The big shopkeeper is like a god, and the lord of the ministry has really come to inspect, to say that there are many local officials who inspect the academy and academy, and it is really rare to come to inspect the workshop." Saying that, he said tentatively: "Now you can start work at full strength, the workers can't wait." ”

"Don't worry, wait another three or five days." Yi Zhizhi said: "We should be ready to start work in the next few days." As he spoke, he admonished: "The gun production workshop must be strictly controlled, it is better to be short than excessive, and the output is not afraid to be small, we have time, and if something happens, it is not a trivial matter." ”

Feng Qigui hurriedly said: "Don't worry, the shopkeeper can rest assured, all the personnel have been repeatedly audited, and they are all old and young, and they are outsiders with a very tight mouth. (To be continued.) )