The mint, located in the base factory, is a large courtyard with an extremely tight seal. The courtyard is divided into three parts, the banknote making workshop, the gold, silver and copper coin pressing workshop, and the vault. There are three blockade lines inside and outside the mint, which are guarded by the Ministry of Households, Jinyiwei and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Today, however, the mint's gold, silver and copper coin pressing workshop was bustling with people, and Galileo and more than 20 students stood on the edge of a two-man tall machine, watching the workers maneuver the machine and cut the next discs quickly and orderly on a large copper plate. About 20 pieces of copper can be processed per minute.

The steward of the mint casually picked up a handful of copper sheets and looked through them carefully, and then immediately happily brought them to Xu Xingsheng and said: "My lord, you see, this machine is really powerful, and it will be formed in just one time." The pattern on it is still very clear, at least 10 times faster than the previous machine..."

Xu Xingsheng picked up a copper coin and looked at it for a long time, and said with a smile on his face: "Let's go, take it to Mr. Galileo and show them, this time thanks to their help, otherwise we will have to explore for a long time to find the trick." ”

Galileo picked up the copper coin and looked at it for a while, then handed it to the student next to him, and then he said to Xu Xingsheng: "This hydraulic press for the mint is still a little smaller, and last time an engineer from the Ordnance Supervision came to me, and he said that he hoped to make a hydraulic press with a larger tonnage to replace those inefficient hydraulic forging hammers."

I have carefully considered that it should be no problem to build a hydraulic press with a pressure of 12,000 kg according to the model of this hydraulic press with a pressure of 12000 kg. However, in this case, all the parts of this hydraulic press need to be made of steel, which may be very expensive, and it is impossible to move such a machine after it is built, so you need to choose a good location before building it. ”

Xu Xingsheng didn't show any embarrassed expression, he immediately replied with a smile: "Of course, there is no problem, in fact, we think that the hydraulic press with a pressure of 12 tons is still smaller, if possible, can it directly go to 30 tons of pressure, or 24 tons." As you know, a 12-ton hydraulic press is fine for wood and rubber, but it's still a little short for large steel castings. ”

Galileo hesitated for a moment and said: "Theoretically, with this successful machine, it would not be a problem for us to design a hydraulic press with a higher pressure. But the key is whether your parts processing capabilities can meet the design requirements.

To build such a large machine, the processing precision of internal parts is very high, especially the columns and beams behind the pouring hydraulic press, once there is a problem in one position, the whole machine will either not achieve the design effect, or be completely scrapped. ”

Xu Xingsheng hesitated for a moment, and then asked cautiously: "Can you design according to the hydraulic press with a pressure of 30 tons first, let us discuss the processing requirements first, but it is really not possible, and then we will reduce the design?" As far as the current demand is concerned, a 30-ton hydraulic press is on top of 10 12-ton hydraulic presses. ”

Galileo lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then took a step to the side, letting out the two ladies behind him, and he said to Xu Xingsheng: "In terms of the principle of hydraulic presses, maybe I am more proficient. But when it comes to mechanical design, my daughter Maria Celeste and my student Ye Xiaoluan are a bit more talented. If you want to get a better design, maybe it would be more efficient to have them take over the work. ”

Galileo recommended his daughter and students to Xu Xingsheng, and there was also a certain selfishness. Although he received enough respect and preferential treatment beyond expectations after arriving in China, Galileo was already old at this time, and even his eyes began to be slowly damaged.

He feared that if he died in China, his daughter would return to Europe and continue to spend the rest of her life in a monastery. Although he sent his daughter to a convent when she was young, Galileo at the moment already regretted it a little. Years of struggle with the Holy See made him realize that perhaps the Lord was forgiving and merciful, but the Lord's shepherds on earth were not.

The fact that the 38-year-old Maria Celeste, after leaving Europe, is getting better day by day, is enough to prove that her days at the convent were not happy. Although Maria Celeste did not have a systematic scientific education, with self-study and the influence by his side, she also showed a talent in mathematics and physics, although this talent was not worth mentioning in front of Ye Xiaoluan.

For a scientist, Galileo can deeply feel Ye Xiaoluan's sense of science. The only regret is that as a woman, she is subject to too many restrictions. Even though he was personally praised by the emperor, Ye Xiaoluan still failed to obtain the ability to independently research topics.

Whether it is the Royal Academy of Sciences or Yenching University, the men who hold the power of scientific research have a tacit understanding to isolate Ye Xiaoluan from the field of scientific research. They can tolerate a great female writer, but they can't accept a female scientist.

Even Galileo himself could not break this bad habit, so he wanted to use this opportunity to pave a path for his daughter and students.

Xu Xingsheng glanced at Ye Xiaoluan, he naturally knew how much the emperor valued this woman, the reason why she would be shunned by the academicians of the Royal Academy of Sciences and the professors of Yenching University was that he was worried that this one would eventually enter the palace, so everyone didn't dare to approach her.

However, as an eunuch, Xu Xingsheng was not worried about this kind of thing at all, he nodded at the two women and asked, "Then I don't know what the two young ladies think of themselves?" If you can help us design the next hydraulic press, then I would be more than happy to hire two engineers from the Institute. ”

When Maria Celeste was still thinking about whether this was contrary to God's teachings, Ye Xiaoluan had already nodded in agreement. After going through a series of things, she prefers to be able to control her own life, rather than relying on her husband to decide her future destiny like her two sisters.

When Ye Xiaoluan returned home in the carriage, she felt extremely comfortable today, and when she stepped up the steps happily, the doorman who guarded the door hurriedly said to her: "The third miss is so happy today, do you already know that the second miss is back home?" ”

Ye Xiaoluan suddenly stopped with some surprise and asked Menzi, "Second sister is back?" When did she come back and where is she now? ”

"It's been half an hour since I've been back, and I'm chatting with my wife in the backyard now..."Menzi said respectfully.

Ye Xiaoluan immediately trotted to the backyard with her skirt, she didn't see the second sister in the backyard hall, but only saw a foreign woman wearing a Western skirt sitting in the hall, and the woman was wearing a hat with an extremely beautiful bird feather on her head. She was thinking about why the second sister had come back with a guest when the woman who was sitting in the inner room turned her head when she heard footsteps.

"Second sister, why are you dressed like this?" Ye Xiaoluan stood at the foot of the steps of the courtyard, covered her mouth with her hand, and looked at the foreign woman who turned back in surprise and said. The foreign woman she thought was her second sister who was quiet and virtuous in the past.

24-year-old Ye Xiaoluan stood up immediately when he saw his sister, ran out of the hall in a hurry, and gave Ye Xiaoluan a big hug, "Good sister, I haven't seen you for 2 years, have you ever thought about my sister." ”

The second sister, who suddenly became cheerful and lively, made Ye Xiaoluan a little unable to react, she subconsciously patted her sister's back and said, "Second sister, lighter, I'm about to run out of breath..."

While the two sisters were fighting, the mother also came out of the inner room. Ye Xiaoluan realized that her mother had also changed into a Western dress like her second sister. Although the two are mother and daughter, wearing this Western dress that does not indicate the status level, the two are more like a pair of sisters.

The Western skirt that focuses more on showing the female figure makes the mature and charming mother Shen Yixiu look more fleshy, and Ye Xiaoluan suddenly looked away a little shyly.

However, Ye Xiaojun did not let her go, she hugged her sister's waist and said: "I also left one for you, and you can change it in a while, giving my father an unexpected surprise." This is the most popular style in Jeju Island right now, and the underskirt is padded made of whale baleen, so it doesn't weigh at all when you walk around..."

Ye Xiaoluan immediately blushed and said, "No, no, I can't wear this..."

Ye Xiaojun suddenly hugged her heavily, and then said thoughtfully: "It's really a little inappropriate, I didn't expect that in less than two years, you have developed so well..."

Ye Xiaoluan immediately slapped her sister's hand, escaped from her arms, hid behind her mother, pulled her skirt and said, "Mother, take care of your sister, see what has changed after she got married..."

Shen Yixiu protected his skirt with one hand, grabbed the hat on his head with the other, looked at his second daughter dotingly and said, "I don't dare to care about her now, what if I hurt my grandson." ”

Ye Xiaoluan quietly poked her head out from behind her mother, her eyes blinked, and she looked at the second sister's belly in disbelief and said, "My sister has a baby, is it a man or a woman?" ”

Shen Yixiu gently tapped her head and said, "It's only been more than three months, what can I see." Your brother-in-law was worried that there would be no one to take care of her on Jeju Island, so he sent her back. Don't make your second sister angry, otherwise your brother-in-law will have to settle accounts with you. ”

Ye Xiaoluan subconsciously looked at the second sister and found that the second sister, who was still crazy just now, was now holding her stomach and making a shy appearance, which was really infuriating. However, looking at the sweetness on her sister's face from time to time, it is obvious that she and her brother-in-law are getting along well. At this time, it was the season of spring flowers in the capital, smelling the faint fragrance of flowers blowing in the wind, Ye Xiaoluan suddenly felt that such a day was really beautiful, which was more real than the days before they followed their father to Beijing.