In the end, Feng Yunshan selected the top 20 people from more than 50 people recommended by Zuo Zongtang, Xu Xiangguang and others, among which Luo Zenan was the champion, Shen Guifen and Li Hongzhang were the top performers and Tanhua respectively, and these three people were the first in the imperial examination; The rest of Luo Xinnan, Zhang Zhidong, Liu Rong, Li Yuandu, Liu Kunyi, Wang Zhu, Jiang Yili, Mao Changxi, Tan Tingxiang, Zhang Weihan, Yan Jingming, Wen Xiang, Li Hongzao, Tang Xunfang, Shan Maoqian, Zhang Baoheng, and Xu Jiji are regarded as the second class. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Peng Yunzhang, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and Hu Linyi, the Sichuan envoy, did not participate in the imperial examination, and it is true that for those who have been officials for more than ten years, it is indeed a bit insulting for them to re-participate in the imperial examination. However, Yin Tan Tingxiang of Shuntian Mansion, Li Hongzao, Henan Xuezheng and Xu Jiji, the leader of the regimental training, were originally all Manchu Qing officials above the third grade, but they also participated in the imperial examination and also took the top 20 exams.

Feng Yunshan knows that the setting of these two questions does not fully reflect the true level of these demotion officials, but what he needs is to select people who can obey his wishes and understand his own thoughts, that is, people who are beyond the vision of this era, or in other words, people who want to stand in the entire era and open their eyes to see the world in order to enter their inner circle.

Other people, even if he can do Bagu articles, and admit death, thinking of making a splendid article and singing praises to himself, he thinks that he can become an official, and then educate the people or develop a local education atmosphere, so that he can "clear the prefect's mansion in three years, 100,000 snowflakes of silver", but he is delusional, he will not let this kind of person dominate the party, at most he is just idle or directly arrange them to do thankless work.

Feng Yunshan did not ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Education to post any lists, but as if he had never taken the imperial examination, no one revealed it.

The next day, all the officials who came to Shengjing to surrender to the Qing Dynasty and the representatives recommended by the local government received a notice and came to the factory of the Weaving Bureau five miles away from the palace.

Here, originally called the Jiangning Weaving Department in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, renamed the Weaving Camp during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, and now under the organization of Zeng Yuheng, Vice Minister of Public Works and Wu Chongyao, Vice Minister of Commerce, it has been renamed Shengjing Weaving Bureau and reopened. However, this is only temporary, Wu Chongyao has already ordered more than a dozen looms and spinning machines from the original Shengguo No. 1 Machinery Factory, and when the machines are finished and installed, there will be no need for such manual weaving.

Cangchang waiter Chonglun also stood in the crowd, he came to this Jiangning weaving house twice a few years ago, and now the old place is revisited, the loom is still there, the weaving helper is also there, but the people who wear the steps are not the original group of people, thinking of this, he has a feeling that things are not people.

He served as a waiter in the warehouse for several years, although he was mainly responsible for managing the grain of the northbound Jingshi, but silk and tea were also the majority. Therefore, he knew very well how time-consuming and laborious the silk fabric was, and how expensive the silk fabric was.

His Majesty had not yet arrived, and dozens of soldiers of the Imperial Army and the deacons of the Shengjing Weaving Bureau led their group of officials on a tour of the textile workshop.

Chonglun followed the flow of people to the center of the weaving camp, while avoiding those acquaintances, but he didn't expect to run into the governor of Hubei, Qinglin, and the governor of Anman, Fuji, the three of them are all banner people, and they are all Manchu officials from the second rank, and they have returned to the Chinese Empire together.

It was still that Qinglin who was thick-skinned, pulled Fuji and greeted him with a casual smile: "Oh, Lord Chonglun, why don't the three of us visit the weaving bureau of this Shengjing together, and take care of it all the way, how about it?" ”

"Yes, yes, what Mo Qing (Qinglin Zi Mo Qing) said is reasonable. The three of you and I are in the same situation, and we must work together, take care of each other, and advance and retreat together. Fu Ji on the side also interjected.

The three of them followed the others into the workshop. I saw that on both sides of the aisle were spinning machines, spinning silk into silk thread. However, the whole process is tedious and difficult, and even if the craftsmen are skilled, the output is extremely low. Seeing this, Qinglin smiled and said: "Lord Chonglun, you have been in charge of the Caoyun warehouse, you must be used to seeing thousands of loads of silk, but you didn't expect that the magnificent silk silk was actually woven from this primitive silk silk thread one by one!" ”

How could Chonglun not know that when he saw hundreds of thousands of quintals of silk, and sold it at an extremely high price, he thought that the people in Jiangnan were extremely rich, and everyone must be scrambling to spin silk, until he came to the workshop of Jiangning Weaving House, and saw the weaving workers washing silk silk, spinning silk thread, and the cumbersome manufacturing process, so he understood why the silk was so expensive.

It's just too inefficient. A silkworm pupa is pulled into silk with hot water, not to mention, just the silk is knotted into a thread, spun into silk, it takes a lot of labor and time, looking at a small silk satin, it does take several people to make it after several days, it is not easy.

Lord Mo Qing laughed, who wouldn't know, silk is difficult to make. However, now this silk reeling has improved a lot! With the widespread application of pedal reeling car, car components such as bamboo needle eye, drum wheel, wire rod hook, eccentric plate, etc., have also improved and perfected a lot, and even appeared one person and one stove, two people together to play the silk head, two people worth the pot master of the five people to make a large satin car, 30 pounds of satin cocoon, the work efficiency has improved a lot! Chonglun is obviously very familiar with the main steps in the silk reeling process, while walking forward, while telling the two of them, the head is the way, the difficulty of silk reeling, everyone can't help but sigh, the money of this silk reeling is really not so easy to earn.

Moreover, on the surface, Chonglun is talking about improving a lot of efficiency, but in fact, five skilled workers do it together, just open the cocoon, and at the end of the day, it is only thirty catties! This is just reeling silk, and then knotting the dissolved silk into threads and weaving them into satin, which is more troublesome. Qinglin and Fuji immediately knew that this silk was not easy to come by.

It's just that they don't understand why the emperor asked them to visit the workshop of the Jiangning Weaving Bureau? Could it be that it is necessary to develop the silk weaving industry on a large scale? I heard that this silk sells well among foreigners, and the emperor used to do business with foreigners when he was a Cantonese thief......

Just as they were wondering, suddenly, there was a violent buzzing sound in front of them, as if a monster was moving, and the earth-shattering sound hit everyone's nerves.

Chonglun's face changed, and he was startled. And Qinglin couldn't even speak, his face was pale, if there weren't a lot of people there, he was afraid that he would have to flee. A little better is Fuji, after all, he was born as a military general, but he is also a stumbling leader.

The others were also shocked, and a deacon of the Weaving Bureau stood up and said loudly: "Everyone, don't panic. This is a steam silk reeling machine in the silk reeling factory of our Shengjing Weaving Bureau, you can visit with the villain! ”

Then everyone suddenly restrained the panic in their hearts and followed the deacon to turn around and walk inside.

Qinglin patted his chest and sighed: "Oh, what kind of machine is this, it has a sound like thunder, it's weird and scary!" It's not going to explode all of a sudden, is it? ”

Fu Ji also looked worried, but Chonglun, who had seen the steam engine steamer of the foreigner, heard what the deacon said, and knew that the sound was originally made by the steam engine, and said, "Don't panic, two adults, this is the sound of the steam engine." I've always heard of this steam engine, and I've had several horses in the power race, but I haven't been able to see it, and now I'm just going to see it. ”

As they spoke, the three of them followed the others to a courtyard in the middle of the courtyard, which happened to be a shed. A huge iron pot in the shape of a large kettle is placed in the corner, next to a wide silk kettle, and in the middle, a tall chimney, next to several silk reeling carts.

The three of them naturally couldn't understand these artifacts, but fortunately, the deacon on the other side had quieted everyone down and explained loudly, but because of the rumbling steam engine, they couldn't hear it clearly. The three of them squeezed next to the deacon, and then they knew his words: "This is the steam silk reeling machine, which is one of the Shengjing, and it was only shipped from Macao a few days ago. The equipment mainly includes boilers, steam engines, water reservoirs, cocoon rooms, silk reeling cars and silk kettles and other large parts, except for the steam engine, which is purchased from the West, the rest are produced by the Guangzhou Machinery Bureau. Among them, the silk reeling car was changed to wooden, and the silk kettle was changed to pottery, which was imitated with reference to the single-twist straight reeling silk reeling machine of the Western Sardinian Kingdom. ”

"This set of steam silk reeling machine equipment uses boiler hot water to steam cocoons, instead of charcoal fire to cook cocoons for hand-reeling silk. The ancient silk reeling industry is backward in technology, and the cocoon is heated with charcoal fire in the reeling car, bamboo mill, pot horse, silk cage, pole, iron pot, etc., and the family workshop type earthen stove is used to heat the cocoon Suoxu. This cocoon cooking method is difficult to control the temperature and is easy to cause the problem of uneven raw silk titer. Nowadays, the silk reeling factory of the Weaving Bureau uses a steam engine as a power, and uses coal and stone as a fuel to boil boiled water, which can be used as a source of hot water, and can start a steam engine. ”

As he spoke, the deacon led the people to the silk reeling cart, and saw several women in front of them, indeed one of them guarding dozens of silk mouths, and they did not feel tired in an orderly manner.

Qinglin and Fuji are okay, they don't know exactly what the changes in this silk reeling field have brought, but they just think that from the mouth of this deacon, this steam engine seems to be not bad except for being noisy.

And Chonglun, who was somewhat familiar with silk reeling, changed his face greatly: he was frightened by the changes brought about by this steam silk reeling machine! Others don't know, but he knows best. Originally, no one could only manage up to eight threads, because this set of steam reeling machines was put into use, and each person could manage sixty or so threads, which was equivalent to increasing the efficiency by seven or eight times.

Moreover, this is only the function of a silk reeling machine, if it is a silk reeling field, how many more, how much labor cost must be saved? Where can other old silk reeling machines compete for the silk reeling field that uses new silk reeling machines? How much profit should I make this year? You must know that the main expenses of the silk weaving industry are the cost of raw materials for silkworm cocoons and the cost of hired labor, which is equivalent to the basic saving of labor employment fees and profits.

At this time, the deacon took out a handful of raw silk from the tail of the silk reeling machine and said: "The silk reeled by this new method has uniform thickness, clean silk color, and greater elasticity, so if it is sold to Southeast Asian or foreigners, the price is one-third higher than that of hand-reeling silk." Moreover, the silk production rate is much higher, and the hired weavers can be one-tenth of the original, and the skilled weavers who do not need several years can be engaged in more than ten days of simple training. Therefore, His Majesty personally issued an edict asking the Shengjing Weaving Bureau to fully introduce and promote this kind of steam silk reeling machine. ”

And that's not all! In addition to this silk reeling factory, the Seongkyo Weaving Bureau also renovated the silk weaving mill that was originally an old-fashioned raw silk woven into silk fabrics, and also introduced a steam jacquard loom. The deacon, with some pride, led the crowd into another workshop next to it, which was also rumbling, and introduced: "This is the silk weaving factory of the Shengjing Weaving Bureau. ”

The crowd followed the deacon and entered a large and spacious hall.

On one side of the hall were dozens of old-fashioned wooden looms, but in the middle and on the other side of the hall were a few black and shiny iron lumps, which were the steam engines seen before, and one of them was rumbling and humming.

Chonglun, Qinglin, and Fuji also entered the hall.

Chonglun is no longer so repulsive to this noisy place, and now in his opinion, this rumbling machine represents profit and silver. Although he was not in charge of the weaving bureau, his long-term experience in charge of the warehouse made him unconsciously become a miser.

As soon as he entered the silk weaving factory, the proud deacon began to introduce the looms again: "Look, ladies and gentlemen! He pointed to the dozens of old-fashioned wooden frame looms and said, "These wooden frame looms have been used since the Ming Dynasty, and they are still in use in the area for hundreds of years. This loom is operated by two weavers, a weaver and an apprentice, the weaver weaves underneath, and the apprentice sits on top of the loom to pull the thread, which is time-consuming and laborious. It takes nearly half a month to weave a five-zhang long piece of silk for two weavers. ”

After speaking, he led everyone around the humming steam engine and came to a complicated and cumbersome new loom on the other side, and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, please see, this is the new steam jacquard loom that we have newly shipped from Guangzhou, although it is still a copy of the Jacquard loom in France, but all the accessories, including the steam engine, are produced by the former Shengguo No. 1 Machinery Factory. Not only does it use less manpower, only one person needs to take care of the machine, but it is also five times more efficient than the old wooden frame looms. The same production of a five-zhang long satin, it only takes less than three days to weave, and the woven silk is more dense and strong, and because it is made by machine, the woven pattern is more exquisite and neat. The price of this kind of silk is more than 20% higher than that of the old wooden loom. ”

Seeing that everyone was a little shocked, the deacon seemed to touch everyone's nerves even more, and further explained: "Originally, an old-fashioned wooden frame loom, two weavers weaved 100 feet of fine cloud brocade in a month, and sold it to foreigners in Shanghai for ten taels of silver, deducting the loss of raw silk, fuel, and machinery, and a total of nearly three taels of silver, excluding the wages of the weavers and other handymen, the profit was at most one tael of silver. ”

"And the use of this new type of steam jacquard loom, although the machine money is a little more expensive, but only one weaver to operate, a month can weave 500 feet of fine cloud brocade, sold to foreigners for a price of up to 12 taels, after deducting the cost of raw silk and fuel, machine wear and tear, a total of nearly 80 taels of silver profits, excluding the wages of hired weavers and other handymen, the profit can be at least 756 taels of silver. A new type of steam jacquard loom can have a profit of 75 taels of silver in a month, and more than 100 machines can have a profit of nearly 10,000 taels of silver a month, which is 100,000 taels a year! His Majesty said that at the end of the year, my Shengjing Weaving Bureau will reach more than 1,000 units of this new type of steam jacquard loom, and the profit of this cloud brocade alone will reach 800,000 taels a year! If you add the income of raw silk is far more than this jacquard weaving, just my Shengjing Weaving Bureau in a year, the profit of two million taels is a breeze! ”

Hearing the words of this deacon, all the Manchu ministers were stunned! They never expected that such a so-called Shengjing Weaving Bureau, that is, the Jiangning Weaving Yamen of the original Qing Dynasty, would be able to earn so many silver taels! At the beginning, the Jiangning Weaving Mansion of the Qing Dynasty had to be supported by tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of silver from the imperial court every year.

Is this new-style foreigner's machine really so peculiar, that it can turn stones into gold and turn decay into magic? Everyone couldn't help but be interested in the rumbling machine, and even the piercing rumble was not so annoying!

Chonglun looked at the roaring steam engine with bright eyes, in his opinion, this black subway bump is no longer a machine, but a hen that can lay golden eggs! The roar of the buzzing machine is the pleasant sound of silver colliding in the warehouse.

Chonglun's heart was full of regret: If the Qing Dynasty could have such a machine ten years earlier, why couldn't even pay soldiers, and why couldn't even use artillery and muskets, and it wouldn't be like today, it was defeated by this Cantonese thief in a few years, and even the country was lost!

It's just that even the original Qing Dynasty officials like themselves, the Zhenghuangqi people, can't see or touch this kind of advanced machinery and equipment, let alone the Qing Emperor who stayed in the deep palace that day? Moreover, according to Chonglun's understanding of the Qing Emperor and those princes and nobles, even if he knew the benefits of these machines, he was unlikely to let them use them.

With such a high chimney, those princes and lords must say that they have destroyed feng shui, and these male and female weavers are mixed, and they will inevitably say that it is immoral, Chonglun imagined in his heart, and finally could only conclude with a wry smile, even if he knew that there was such a machine, the Qing Dynasty would not allow such and such a use.

Only this Cantonese thief would be so bold as to directly ignore the world's rumors and promote this machine passed down by foreigners. Thinking of this, Chonglun couldn't help but admire the emperor of the empire he had never seen, the original Cantonese thief chieftain!

How can a thief have such a belly, such knowledge, and such courage to introduce this Western machine into China, and his subordinates still support it!

And at this time, he finally understood why the emperor of the empire let these Manchu ministers come to visit this Shengjing Weaving Bureau. This is a lesson for them, to open their eyes!