A wrought iron boiler full of rivets and its appurtenances are not much larger than a large copper vessel for brewing beer. On the boiler is a vertical cast cylinder. About 4 stories high, the thick red brick walls serve as the fulcrum of the levers, and the top supports a large cast-iron beam with rounded arched heads at the ends.

The arch head on the right side is connected to the piston by a chain, and the arch head on the left side is connected to the pump rod by a chain. The steam enters the bottom of the cylinder above the boiler, and the piston rises to the top of the cylinder, mainly due to the weight of the pump rod suspended at the other end of the lever. The boy who operates the steam engine closes the steam valve, opens the water injection valves, and the cylinder condenses. Under atmospheric pressure, the left arched head is raised.

Do the work in one go.

The atmospheric steam engine is primitive, rough, and exudes a metallic texture. It took three years and spent 100,000 taels of silver to develop the first thermal engine with practical value.

The leader of the atmospheric steam engine project, Claudio looked at the order with reverence on his face.

"Sir, the beam swings 12 times per minute, and each stroke lifts 10 gallons of water vertically by 51 yards."

"How much power?"

"Yes, this machine can put out a steady 5.5 horsepower, which is amazing."

5.5 horsepower, for the time being can only be used to lift water.

"Is there any way to increase the output power?"

"We thought about increasing the cylinder diameter, connecting multiple boilers and cylinders in parallel, adding water injection pipes and valves. Improve manufacturing equipment and improve thermal efficiency. But, Archon, all of this requires money. ”

Shou Xiang looked at the secretary Lynch, the steam engine was a project personally coordinated by the Consulate, and Lynch was specifically responsible for finding money.

"Your Excellency, I can find a way to raise 20,000 pesos for Mr. Claudio, but now there are many projects that need money, and it is difficult to raise more funds."

Claudio: "Archon, Mr. Lynch, thank you for your generosity. Maybe we have another way. ”

Orderly: "Tell me about it." ”

"The Lupa Valley Coal Mining Company saw our demonstration and placed an order for 50 steam engines. If this business is completed, we will be able to get funding to continue our research. ”

Lynch: "Your Excellency, Mr. Claudio has not taken this order for the time being. ”

"Why?"

"Capacity, sir. The shareholders of the Lupa Valley Coal Mining Company are all domestic bigwigs, if I can't complete the order. Oh God, they're going to kill me. ”

Orderly: "Straight to the point, what do you need to increase productivity?" ”

"I need a lot of things, the most important thing is the worker, the more skilled blacksmiths the better."

"I will take care of the workers' affairs when I take the order."

Shou turned to board the carriage, and Claudio bowed.

Shou Orderly lifted the curtains, "Mr. Claudio, a group of Persian slave girls have recently arrived in the capital. You go to Lynch tomorrow and he'll arrange it for you. ”

Claudio's eyes lit up, this was a new product that money might not be able to buy.

"Thank you, Your Excellency."

After the carriage started, Lynch said, "Your Excellency, I don't give Claudio more money because there may be some problems with the ledger of the atmospheric steam engine project. ”

"Claudio's problem?"

"Yes."

"How many?"

"I estimate it to be around 10,000 pesos."

Shou Xiang closed his eyes and leaned against the wall of the carriage. "Get a few accountants to audit at the end of the year."

"Okay."

"You check, don't make things bigger. Claudio contributed a lot to the successful development of the atmospheric steam engine, and this loss can be bearable. ”

"Your Excellency?"

"In Chinese words, hold it high and put it down gently."

"I see."

……

The four cuirassiers of the ruling guard, 2 in front and 2 behind, their spears pointed straight to the sky, and the pennants of the orca crest waved in the wind at the tips of their spears.

The horses' hooves beat crisply on the stone pavement, and the steps remained almost at the same pace. Walter trained the cavalry well.

More than 30 cavalrymen from the Swedish and North German princes returned with Kinphili, and Walter assigned them to be instructors, and the cavalry director was finally able to free himself from tedious routine work and study some new cavalry tactics.

The war in Europe was over, and it was difficult for the Confederation to fish in troubled waters. However, there are also some advantages: various countries have been disarmed, and a large number of officers and non-commissioned officers with rich combat experience have lost their jobs and lost their jobs in an instant. Now is the time when the cost of recruiting military talent from Europe is minimal. Philby set up offices in London, Hamburg, Königsberg and Venice to attract and recruit talent, and to open regular merchant ships between Europe and the Commonwealth through the channels of the British East India Company.

Of course, all the chips cannot be put on the British.

"Lynch, how are you talking to those Jews?"

"The Jimenez family, the Caldera family and the Evola family from Lisbon are interested in our plans, the Rodriguez family in Venice, the Abravanel family in Naples and the Mingus family in Istanbul have doubts."

These were the most powerful Jewish families on the Mediterranean coast, and the Confederation was established through the famous Amsterdam rabbi Jacob Brown. Sasportas established a bond with them.

"What are the Jewish families in the Mediterranean worried about, ships?"

"The boat is not a problem. Wealthy Jewish merchants, whether in Portugal or Italy, could easily assemble a fleet to sail to Asia. But the Jews of Lisbon could sail to the East under the Portuguese flag, but the Jews of the Mediterranean did not. ”

The situation of the Jews in Europe was very tortuous. Major European countries such as Spain, England, and France, as well as Italian city-states such as Venice, had ordered the Jews to be expelled, and the British deportation orders were still in force.

Often one country expells Jews and another opens its doors for them. The constant migration of these Jews from one country to another in Europe was certainly not a pleasant experience. Many Jewish travelers were sold into slavery by captains and sailors during the ship's voyage.

The political status of Jews was low, and countries had similar discriminatory provisions, and even the news that Jews had mated with Christian slave girls in Istanbul as normal men and women caused suspicion and unease in Western Europe.

Spain was the most extreme of the nations. Jews were often oppressed in Europe, and many of them emigrated to Ottoman-Turkish-controlled areas such as the Levant and Istanbul.

There were tens of thousands of Jews living in North Africa. Spain attacked Tunisia and sold tens of thousands of Jewish slaves in one fell swoop. Fortunately, the wealthy Jewish merchants in Italy immediately united and paid for the redemption of many people, otherwise it would have been another great tragedy in the history of the Jewish people.

Portugal's policy towards the Jews was relatively lenient, and Portugal's colonial empire had been losing money, and since Manuel I, Portugal has needed Jewish money and trade networks. There are quite a few Jewish settlements in the city of Goa today.

In Portugal, as long as Jews converted to Catholicism, they were able to marry nobles and rise to the top of society. The conversion of most Jews was, of course, half-hearted.

The Jews were most successful in Lisbon, Venice, the Levant and Istanbul. The Protestant merchants, represented by the Dutch, joined forces with the Jews and pushed their trade power deep into the forbidden territories of Spain in the Mediterranean, further crushing the Spanish economy.

The prosperity of Amsterdam in the 16th century, the control of the sugar and spice trade, and the network of Mediterranean Jews with huge pockets played a large role in this.

Most of the Jews were not of high economic status, they were skilled craftsmen, excellent tailors, and brilliant cosmographers. If the Fugue comptoirs of North Germany and the Genoese bankers attached to the Habsburg crown were at the top of the European financial food chain, then the Jews of Portugal and the Mediterranean filled a large part of the middle and bottom of the pyramid. They started as a poor man's bank like a pawnshop, and climbed up step by step.

The early Jewish merchants controlled the import and export channels of Tripoli and Aleppo in Syria, and the Venetian merchants could only buy second-hand goods that were poured by the Jews. Some small Italian states wanted to follow the example of the powerful countries in expelling the Jews, and Jewish merchants retaliated by cutting off the grain trade. In North Africa, some even described Jews as "belligerent" and that they used to have some militaristic organizations.

The Jews are not yet a people, and the Jews of North Germany and Poland are very different from the Jews of the Mediterranean, even in language.

It cannot be said that capitalism invented by the Jews, and that there is no nation in history that can carry the grand proposition of capitalism alone. But Jews did make an important contribution to the emergence of capitalism.

Capitalism means a net, a set of trust, a series of cooperation on the world chessboard. Due to a number of common circumstances, there was an intertwined network of trade finance among the Jews of the Mediterranean. As early as the time of the Crusades, Jews crossed religious barriers, waving Saracen money orders and checks to and from the eastern Mediterranean coast.

Venice had deep trade ties with Istanbul, and the Catholic Republic and the Ottoman Empire exchanged 20,000 ducats. Among them was the Jewish, the first head of the Mingus family, the Istanbul branch of the Portuguese Mendes family, Juan Brown. Mingus was made Duke of Naxos by Sultan Selim II, and the wealthy Jewish merchant even had a land of his own.

Shou Xu asked: "The Portuguese ship can come, and there are many financial means in Europe that can solve the problem of money going to Asia." Can the Jews of the Mediterranean go to Egypt? The route of the Red Sea should be open. ”

Contrary to popular belief, the Portuguese, who arrived in the East by sea, did not block the route between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and even the Grape themselves sold spices to the Saracens in the Persian Gulf, which transported them to Aleppo and Tripoli to sell them to the Venetians.

The land route of transporting people to the Persian Gulf is too long, so you can take the old shipping route, go up the Nile, and take 80 miles overland to board at Suez.

This is how the Mamluk warships of the Battle of Diu arrived in India, Egypt was short of wood, and the Mamluk sultan transported large timber from Lebanon to the Red Sea through the Nile and the desert to build a fleet in the Indian Ocean. If it was difficult for Egypt to build a ship, Jewish caravans could also buy spinnals in India or Southeast Asia suitable for sailing in the Indian Ocean.

Some cold sweat broke out on Lynch's head, "Captain Scarfield and the others just grabbed the Red Sea. ”

Shou Order's eyes narrowed, "This problem is not difficult to solve. ”

"I see, I'll talk to them."

The Venetians and Jews also had influence in Cairo, depending on their ability to function.

The Jews are a shrewd, capable, scheming people. They were also the lowest-cost human resources in Europe, and the Jews also possessed a great deal of folk wealth.

"Tell the rich Jewish merchants that I can give them a city on the shores of the Andaman Sea. A self-governing city that belonged to them, where Jews did not have to convert to Catholicism, did not have to be isolated in small neighborhoods, did not face the threat of deportation at any time, and did not have to be sold into slavery. Since they are armed in North Africa, I allow them to form their own urban garrisons. Even if they bring enough money and talent, it is not impossible to build a state. ”