Zhu Hongsan looked around and asked, "Dali, are the artillery we sold to Zheng Zhilong still produced?" ”

Liu Dali said: "It's no longer for sale, one is that the Zheng family said it was too expensive, one thousand taels of silver for one door, and they didn't buy it anymore after buying thirty doors." The second is that we are really short of raw materials, and Mr. Ma Er stopped last month because it was not safe to buy firearms for others, and now this kind of cast iron is mainly used to produce farm tools and knives. ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded, stop it, and next year he will fight with the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Manchus, and this kind of artillery will definitely fall into the hands of the Manchus, and now there are only thirty guns, and it is not a deterrent.

Zhu Hongsan asked, "What is the largest single piece cast in your workshop?" ”

Liu Dali thought for a while and said: "Of course, the heaviest is the artillery, but the biggest one is the waterwheel gear that I got last month." ”

It turned out that after Zhu Hongsan taught those people how to make gears, they completely carried forward the gears in the past six months. Last month, they saw that the wooden bearings of a waterwheel were broken, and the boys looked at whether they could replace the wooden bearings with gears. I didn't expect them to do it. As soon as the waterwheel was modified by them, the power transmission immediately went up a step. Now one watermill can output as much power as the previous three.

Of course, they also had trouble making gears, and they never had experience with large piece casting. Thinking that Liu Dali must have experience in casting artillery here, he came to ask Liu Dali for advice.

Liu Dali was also very difficult at first, he had never gotten this thing. At first, it failed a few times, because the gear components were too large, with a diameter of more than ten meters, and the gears required too high precision. The hot molten iron cooled and condensed before it could reach its place. Later, a kid invented the multi-point casting method to solve this problem.

Zhu Hongsan listened to Liu Dali's explanation, and thought to himself: "The progress of a society cannot be promoted by one or two great men, and it is precisely this kind of small person who can create a glorious history." ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "Vigorously, that little guy gave him a hundred taels of silver." In the future, personnel who have made outstanding contributions like this must be rewarded, and priority must be given to promotion. ”

Liu Dali nodded hurriedly, indicating that he remembered.

Zhu Hongsan continued: "Dali, you also saw it just now. Yan Qingshan is the person I found to establish the sailor, he went to find someone, let's get a boat. The most important thing for a ship is the keel, and you see if the keel of the ship can be successfully cast. ”

It was the first time that everyone had heard of building ships with iron, and Liu Dali thought for a while and asked, "I don't know how long the keel master wants to cast?" ”

Zhu Hongsan thought about it, don't make a big sea ship first, 200 materials is about 100 tons, and the length is about 15 meters.

Zhu Hongsan thought about it and said, "How about fifteen meters?" ”

Liu Dali said: "I haven't done it for fifteen meters, but the keel of the ship should be a big guy, I can test it." ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "Okay, let's experiment first." After a while, you will go to Yan Qingshan to ask for the keel diagram of the two hundred materials, four hundred materials, and eight hundred materials of the sea ship. Let's try them all. ”

Zhu Hongsan turned his head and said to Tie Niu: "Your side must fully cooperate with Liu Dali and Yan Qingshan, and strive to build our first sea ship within a month." ”

Iron Bull hurriedly agreed.

At this time, it was also noon, and it was time to eat. Zhu Hongsan was going to the factory canteen to have a look.

Coming to the door of the canteen, Tie Niu introduced: "Now our factory is divided into three shifts, and basically the replacement of people does not stop the machinery. That's why the cafeteria has to open five meals a day. ”

Tie Niu led everyone into the cafeteria, which was a straw hut built by the wall, in which hundreds of people were already eating, and some were queuing up to eat.

Tie Niu said: "This canteen can serve a thousand people together, and there are five of these canteens here, seven at Lao Liu's steelmaking factory, and one at the gunpowder factory. ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded, stepped forward and looked at the food, it was not bad. The staple food is sorghum rice and rice with two rice, and the dish is pork stewed with potatoes and a cabbage soup. Zhu Hongsan scooped it up with a spoon, and the soup was made of pork bones.

"In the past, there was no meat in the dishes, but I found that the workers did not have enough to eat, and they had no strength to work, and their productivity dropped a lot," Tie Niu said. When they added meat to their dishes, productivity immediately increased. Now they eat better than some of the local small landlords in Guangdong. ”

Of course, Zhu Hongsan knows how physically demanding the assembly line is, and it is not for nothing to give them such a high salary. Zhu Hongsan asked, "Is it like this all day?" ”

Tie Niu said: "Yes, the entire factory area will use up 200 pigs, 1,000 chickens, and 50 carts of vegetables for a day. Now there are special people outside the factory area who have started to raise pigs and chickens, and they are supplied to the canteen every day. ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "This is very good, don't let us make money ourselves, it is the right way for everyone to earn money together." ”

Zhu Hongsan continued: "I'll eat here at noon today, Tie Niu, let people go and get a few meals." ”

After a while, Zhu Hongsan has been in this era for 20 years, and he doesn't dare to say anything else, he has never treated himself badly in terms of eating. Although the family was poor in the past, the old lady also changed the way to make food for herself. Zhu Hongsan, in order to show that he is happy with the people today, has no way to eat this big pot of rice hard.

This pork stew with potatoes is very much to the taste of the workers, with a large fat slice per person, a large bowl of mashed potatoes, plus a large bowl of two rice, and a bowl of cabbage soup.

Zhu Hongsan tasted it, the mashed potatoes were good, and the cabbage soup was also very delicious, but this two rice was a bit throat-pulling. Zhu Hongsan asked, "Did we grow this potato ourselves?" ”

Tie Niu nodded and said: "This is called sweet potato in Guangdong, and Mr. Ma Er said that you let a large area be planted by the prince." He also said that you changed the name to Potato. Rich people don't like to eat this thing, and they used to feed pigs. I heard that I have collected millions of catties this year, and Mr. Ma Er can't send some to the factory. Let's help with digestion. ”

When Zhu Hongsan heard that millions of catties of potatoes had been harvested, he couldn't help but be happy, and said: "A large number of displaced people will arrive in a few months, so it's just right for them to eat." ”

Zhu Hongsan looked at the fat slices in the bowl, he couldn't eat them, so he picked them up with chopsticks and stuffed them to Ma Shaoguang, and said, "Let's eat it for you." ”

Ma Shaoguang is a guy who never gets tired of eating, and he has eaten this kind of food like pig food in his eyes, and said: "Lord, I... ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "What are you, eat, this is an order." If you don't eat, go home, and don't be my secretary in the future. ”

Ma Jiyuan told Ma Shaoguang at home that he must do this job well, and if he can't do it, he won't go home.

Ma Shaoguang was forced to be helpless, so he had to pinch his nose and eat two pieces of big fat meat. It made him sick.

Zhu Hongsan looked at Ma Shaoguang's dead appearance and was happy in his heart, and said: "Boyu, eat the rest, we still have to go to the gunpowder factory in the afternoon, and there are still twenty miles to go." ”

Ma Shaoguang couldn't eat all his share of food.

Seeing the torture of Ma Shaoguang, Zhu Hongsan was very happy, and finished his meal with mashed potatoes and cabbage soup. To be honest, the food in the cafeteria is okay, but it's a little salty. When Zhu Hongsan led the team to Henan before, he ate even more unpalatable meals.

At this time, some workers knew that the big owner was coming, and they all stood up and looked at Zhu Hongsan.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Zhu Hongsan stood up and said, "Hello everyone, let's sit down and eat." ”

At this time, some people knelt down and shouted: "Xie Dong's grace to live." "These are homeless people, and it would be difficult for them to survive without Zhu Hongsan taking them in.

Zhu Hongsan said: "You work hard to repay me." ”

Seeing that there were more and more people, Zhu Hongsan hurriedly ran out of the back door with Tie Niu.

After the meal was finished, the next step was to go to see Liu Dali's steelmaking workshop.

The steelmaking workshop is the center of Zhu Hongsan's factory area, that is, this place is closed, and other places will be closed. Zhu Hongsan took a turn in this place, which was no different from the small steel mills of later generations, and it was full of coal black.

Zhu Hongsan saw a bunch of people on the road in the middle of the factory, pushing an ox cart hard.

Zhu Hongsan said: "Do you use ox carts for transportation? ”

Liu Dali said: "Yes, coal, coke, iron ore, and pig iron all use ox carts, and now there are 500 people and 100 ox carts in the transport team. ”