When the meal was delivered, Lu Ren and Zhen Mi chatted about some things about the casting factory while eating. Occasionally, although he would make a little joke, Lu Renyou deliberately kept a certain distance. Again, the Zhen family's copper and iron industry is very important to the development of Yizhou, and Lu Ren didn't dare to make any excessive moves, so as not to provoke the disgust of the Zhen clan. But if Lu Ren knew what the Zhen clan thought about him, Lu Ren would have to vomit three liters of blood and then faint.

After a few more little jokes, Lu Ren said, "Say something serious." In the past two years, how has your Zhen family been doing in Yizhou? At the beginning, I promised Lingtang, but then I went to Jingzhou, and I just came back for a few days, and I don't know how. ”

Zhen Mi smiled and said, "Sir, don't worry, our Zhen clan is doing well in Yizhou." Maybe the family situation is not as good as in the past, but it is better in Qingning and peace. is like a mother, at the beginning, she complained about you behind your back, but now she wants her to leave Yizhou, and she is unwilling to die. After that, my mother told me sternly that my husband is really kind to my Zhen family, and I must not fail you...... Hey, by the way, someone mentioned to me some time ago, saying that General Gao and the eldest sister Zhen Jiang are very compatible, I don't know what you think, sir? ”

Lu Ren was stunned, and said in his heart, why did Gao Shun get into trouble with Zhen Jiang? But seriously, the age between Gao Shun and Zhen Jiang is quite a match...... However, Lu Ren has been mixed for so many years and knows that a clan like the Zhen clan treats the marriage of the main members as simple as it seems. Thinking about it carefully, Gao Shun is in a semi-secluded state in Yizhou. However, since he accepted Lu Ren and Shirley's request to train the regular army, it is not an exaggeration to say that Gao Shun is the real power figure here in Yizhou. The Zhen clan wants Zhen Jiang and Gao Shun to form a pair, hum!

But I think so, though. Lu Ren was very relieved of Gao Shun's character, so he said quietly: "General Gao is loyal, rigorous, upright and innocent, and he is a trustworthy person; As for your eldest sister, she was widowed and widowed for many years in her early years, and she also needs a reliable person to pay for life, General Gao is very suitable, so I agree with this family business. But the key depends on the intentions of the two of them. After all, twisted melons are not sweet. ”

Zhen Mi smiled sweetly: "Then let it be natural, anyway, the two of them seem to have friendship with each other." Oh, and get down to business. Sister Xue ordered a batch of steel rods before, and she called them 'steel bars', saying that they were used for construction, so do you know where they are used? ”

Lu Ren said: "Steel bar? Oh. That's in concrete. You've also lived in Yizhou for several years. You should know that typhoons here in Yizhou are more frequent, and ordinary buildings can not withstand the invasion of strong typhoons, I remember that several typhoons hit the territory in previous years, and the losses were very large, and Shirley and I have been having a headache about this matter. In the past, she wanted to use steel and concrete earth buildings, but because the metal forging and casting process here in Yizhou was too poor at that time, she could only give up for the time being. Now that your Zhen clan has settled down, she is almost ready to make improvements. ”

Zhen Miqi said: "What is reinforced concrete? ”

Lu Ren actually only knows a little about this. But fortunately, Shirley said hello to Lu Ren, and explained it to Zhen Mi at the moment. In addition, it was added that the steel bars would be used in the keel erection of new ships, and so on. After hearing this, Zhen Mi was speechless: "Wouldn't such a usage be too extravagant?" As far as I know, the iron ore production in Yizhou is quite limited, and I am afraid that such a usage will not make ends meet. ”

Lu Ren smiled: "You can rest assured about iron matters. When I return from Jingzhou, I will almost open a new iron mine, but now is not the time. Let's not talk about that, I'm hungry, let's eat. ”

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After lunch, Lu Ren and Zhen Mi went to the forging and casting workshop on the other side. This is not comparable to the previous workshop, which mainly processed copper and iron objects for agricultural or industrial purposes, but here is further refining. Of course, the so-called finishing mainly refers to the forming and arrangement of copper wires, and Lu Ren just glanced at the workpiece that was winding copper wires and said dumbly: "Isn't this a generator component?" Shirley is really doing this! ”

Zhen Mi just glanced at Lu Ren's expression and knew that Lu Ren understood what he was doing here, so he immediately asked Lu Ren, after all, Shirley didn't reveal to Zhen Mi what these things were for. And Lu Ren just smiled and shook his head after hearing it, he believed that Shirley must have a purpose if he didn't explain to Zhen Mi what the generator was for, but after thinking about it, Lu Ren asked: "You Zhen Mi can make tungsten gold into silk?" ”

Zhen Mi smiled proudly: "This is our Zhen family's secret method of casting, and the tungsten filament produced is as thin as a hair." ”

Lu Ren nodded, and said in his heart that it would be fine. As for the colorless transparent glass and nitrogen filling used to make the bulbs, I believe Shirley has already done it, but she is a little worried about the melting point of tungsten of more than 3,000 degrees. In addition, Shirley had mentioned to Lu Ren before that her customized generator mainly relies on wind power to generate electricity, and the voltage is not high, so the quota is 100 volts, which is a civilian voltage, which is generally supplied to civilian lighting and other aspects.

As for hydropower and thermal power generation, it is not unconsidered, but with Yizhou's current productivity, technology, and related coal mining, after calculation, they are still far from meeting the requirements, so they can only be put first. But then again, after the voltage of 100 volts is transformed, it is still no problem to supply small-scale machinery industrial production, and it can be guaranteed with the current situation in Yizhou.

Turning to the other side, what Lu Ren saw was the components of the steam engine. In addition, Lu Ren saw something that was very common before the crossing, reached out and picked one up, looked at it and sniffed it, and finally pinched it hard and said secretly: "Sure enough, it is finished rubber!" After this thing is figured out, the sealing problem of the steam engine can be solved. ”

However, Zhen Mi didn't know that Lu Ren knew about rubber, and when he saw Lu Ren playing with rubber, he hurriedly explained on the side: "The strange tree species that Sister Xue sent when she went to the Yinan area by accident before, its sap will be made into this kind of thing after processing, and Sister Xue calls it 'rubber'. Later, although Sister Xue sent people to transplant some rubber trees to Yibei, but it still takes time for the trees to be planted, so she invited some Shanyue tribes to settle in the Yinan forest area, and those tribes collected pulp and sent it here, and then processed it into this rubber by the Mi clan. Speaking of which, Sister Xue also specially collected a batch of alchemy alchemists in Xuzhou and Wu County for this purpose, but she didn't want these alchemists to refine any pills, but what to make...... Hey, I can't tell. ”

Lu Ren casually picked up: "That's called chemical material processing." ”

Saying that, Lu Ren smiled secretly in his heart, and said in his heart that it was really thanks to Shirley that he could think of it! In this era, there is no real chemical industry, and the only people who have a certain amount of chemical knowledge are these alchemists. It is undoubtedly harmful to ask them to refine medicine, but under the premise of radish and stick, it is also a good way to let these people with relevant knowledge engage in the serious chemical industry. As for these alchemists' habit of pretending to be gods and ghosts, plus cheating...... Lu Ren believes that these people can't play with the high-tech Shirley.

Rubber can be one of the indispensable necessities for industrial development, such as air tightness, etc., all rely on rubber to complete. Now that Yizhou has the guarantee of rubber and Zhen's metal processing industry, it is not surprising that Shirley will try to make a steam engine. In addition, there are coal mines in Yizhou, but there is still a lack of vigorous mining, but Lu Ren believes that Shirley can do all these things well. After some time, Yizhou's new dual-power ships will be able to launch and set sail.

Dual power refers to the simultaneous use of wind power and steam engine power. When the wind is good, the wind power is still used, which can save the use of coal on board, and when the wind is headwind, the sail is lowered and the steam engine power is used, so that the ship's endurance and maneuverability are guaranteed, and it can also be basically not affected by the monsoon. In fact, in the modern history of Europe, it has been widely used by European ships, with the longest endurance being several months.

The first batch of steam engines to be equipped here in Lu Ren must be Gan Ning's fleet that went north to plunder the population. If dual-powered ships are used, the travel time of their fleets can be greatly reduced. In addition, a thought suddenly popped up in Lu Ren's head, and he hid somewhere where no one and connected to the conversation with Shirley:

"Shirley, is the steam engine made in Zhen Mi's factory a prototype or a molded product?"

Shirley responded, "The small 20 types are molded products, and the big 5 types B are prototypes. I've calculated the power of the Type A, but it's only enough for our medium-sized ships to propel forward, and I'm going to equip it in the newly built medium-sized clippers as patrol and scout clippers. The power of the Type B is enough for the current large ships, and after the test is fine, it will be officially produced, and then assembled into large ships. ”

Lu Ren said: "Then have you considered getting a freight railway connecting the wharf out?" We're going to be building a new city later, and if there's a freight railway, it could save a lot of money. ”

Shirley said: "Of course I have considered it, but I am afraid that it will not be possible to do it in a short period of time, land freight is not as good as sea freight, the power demand is greater, and the popularization of relevant knowledge is also a very fatal job." According to my calculations, if we want to get a railroad out, it will be at least three to four years before we have that condition. Oh yes, master, Zhen Mi's factory has a phone, you just use the phone. I'm discussing things with people, and it's not convenient to communicate with you with a chip with my eyes closed, and it's rude to the guests. ”

Lu Ren was taken aback: "Huh!?" What did you say? There is a phone in the factory!? ”

Shirley said, "Zhen Mi didn't tell you? It's no wonder that you've only been back for a few days, master, and there are so many things that you can't cope with, and of course you can't take care of anything else. Okay, I'll cut off the chip communication first, and you go to Zhen Mi's factory office and call again. (To be continued.) )