After agreeing on the composition of the "delegation to the south", the participants began to discuss what other gifts they should bring with them in addition to a few flintlock pistols and black powder to meet Chai Rong. In this regard, everyone agrees that we should bring some gifts with local characteristics or team characteristics. As far as the actual situation of the current team is concerned, the most distinctive thing is naturally the glass products. This thing has a low cost, a small size, a high market price, and although it is relatively fragile during transportation, as long as you are careful on the road, there should be no problems.

In this regard, Zhang Weixin raised objections, saying: "This suggestion is not very appropriate. Judging from the description of Chai Rong in the history books, because this person was born in poverty, his life after becoming the emperor was relatively frugal, and he never liked luxury and waste. I'm afraid that if we give him glassware, not only will it not make him feel good, but it may cause him to dislike us. ”

"The cost of those glass products is only tens to hundreds of yuan, how can it be regarded as something valuable," Xu Shaoan said disapprovingly.

"Otherwise," Zhang Weixin retorted, "We understand the details of these glass products, and naturally we know that it is a worthless thing, but Chai Rong doesn't know, he will only use the price on the market to evaluate the value of the gift." In our store, the top glass products are priced in tens of thousands, Chai Rong just doesn't know the specific market, and he won't treat glass products as ordinary utensils, but only as a luxury. Therefore, glass products, especially high-end glass products, must not be sent. ”

"The high-level one can't be sent, then we can't send him the lowest-grade one, he is also the king of a country, and the things that are sent to him can't be too much" Xu Shaoan still did not give up his claim.

"If that's the case, then let's give him some glass products with practical use value," Liu Wendong interjected at this time.

"Lao Jiu, what do you think, let's hear it," Zhang Weixin encouraged.

Liu Wendong explained: "I think so, the reason why Chai Rong doesn't like luxury things is mainly because these things have no practical value except for playing and watching, and they are purely waste of labor and money." However, if it is also a glass product, but it has a very practical military value, it should not arouse his disgust. ”

Zhang Weixin nodded and said, "So to speak. It's just that our current glass products basically belong to the category of luxury goods, and there doesn't seem to be any products with military value. ”

Liu Wendong smiled and said, "Of course I didn't have it before, but it will be soon." ”

"What's going to happen soon?" The brothers present asked almost in unison, and everyone wanted to know what good things the chemical engineering department would bring to the team this time.

Only then did Liu Wendong realize that he had leaked his mouth, and he had planned to show these new products to the brothers after they could be mass-produced. It's just that it's impossible to reclaim what he said at this time, so he had to confess: "This ...... is like this." During this time, I had been busy with new explosives, but I didn't want the development of new glass products to come to a complete standstill, so I assigned some shiyan tasks to my craftsmen in charge of glass production, and asked them to try to develop some new glass products in addition to existing products. Two of these things have been basically successful, and the southbound team can bring these two experimental products and give them to Chai Rong as gifts. ”

"I said Lao Jiu, don't sell it, you can tell me what new product it is," Xu Shaoan said impatiently.

"These two new products were very common in the previous life, one is a telescope, and the other is a glass mirror," Liu Wendong finally revealed the mystery to everyone, "I didn't participate too much in the lens of the telescope, but I just explained the processing method to the craftsmen." As a result, it took them two or three months to grind the lenses out. I've asked my brothers in the materials department to help me build a few cylinders, and I should be able to make them in two days. When the time comes, you can use it as a monocular with the lenses that have been grinded.

As for the glass mirror, when I was developing a new type of explosive, I used the ready-made nitric acid to make some silver nitrate solution, and then tried to carry out several silver mirror reaction experiments by using sugar as a reducing agent, and the results were really successful. However, due to the limited number of raw materials, after trying to make three small mirrors, we did not continue with the trial production. I had planned to wait until the development of the new explosives was completed, and then apply to the committee for more funding to conduct larger-scale experiments. ”,

After listening to Liu Wendong's explanation, everyone present was amazed. Telescopes and glass mirrors, both of which are extremely useful products. Telescopes, in particular, are of unquestionable military value. If this thing is given to Chai Rong, he will definitely like it very much.

As for the glass mirror, although it basically has no function in the military, it is a very good gift to give it to Chai Rong's concubines. For one, this gift can be called unique in this era, and it is absolutely handy. Second, since Liu Wendong is only making three small mirrors now, the price of the glass used alone is not very valuable, so it will not arouse Chai Rong's disgust.

Therefore, everyone praised Liu Wendong's behavior of providing such a valuable product for the team in addition to developing new explosives. In the face of everyone's praise, Liu Wendong was a little embarrassed. zuihou, or Wang Kunjun came forward to relieve him. On the one hand, Wang Kunjun asked Liu Wendong to bring the samples to everyone, and on the other hand, he proposed the next topic of the meeting-the issue of the team's decision-making method on the Youzhou side after the "southward meeting delegation" left.

Since Wang Kunjun, Zhang Weixin, and Xu Shao'an all had to go south, and Li Junwu, the only member left, wanted to focus on industrial production on the "Liangyuan" base, the committee felt that during the period when Wang Kunjun and others were away, it was necessary to appoint several temporary committee members to assist Li Junwu in the daily work of the team.

After some discussion, the meeting finally decided to appoint Qian Yuanshan, Yang Xin, Liang Ziyue and Fan Wu as temporary members, and they and Li Junwu formed a temporary committee to coordinate the team's daily work in Youzhou.

Except for a few particularly important matters that require contact with Wang Kunjun and other committee members through the radio to make decisions, the Provisional Committee has the power to make decisions on other general matters. Of course, this is a requirement in the case of normal radio communication. If the radio communication is not normal, the Provisional Committee, after immediately sending someone to inform the "delegation to the south," can take some necessary measures to control the development of the situation in light of the situation at that time, and does not have to wait for Wang Kunjun and other committee members to send back their opinions.

After solving the decision-making problem, Liu Wendong also brought the lenses and glass mirrors of the telescope to the meeting site. After some trials, the brothers attending the meeting were full of praise for the two new products again. The participants from the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Security and the Ministry of Military Affairs were very hopeful that the Chemical Section would be able to put it into mass production as soon as possible.

The committee supported this in principle, but stressed that only glass mirrors could be used for external sales, while telescopes could only be used within the team and should not be disseminated. However, in view of the fact that Liu Wendong's energy is now focused on the research and development of new explosives, and it is not easy for craftsmen to master the jishu of making mirrors in a short period of time, the committee only asked the Chemical Industry Section to first manufacture a small batch of telescopes for the Ministry of Security and Military Affairs, and as for glass mirrors, they can wait until Liu Wendong's research and development of new explosives has achieved certain results before mass production, so as not to affect the progress of its research and development. After all, the team can already make a lot of money from other glass products, and the demand for new products is not very strong.

Although the brothers in the Ministry of Commerce and Trade were a little disappointed by the committee's decision, they were able to distinguish the priorities of the matter, so they did not show any dissatisfaction.

After sorting out the resolutions of the enlarged meeting of the committee, Wang Kunjun announced the end of the meeting, so that everyone could rest for a while and prepare to convene the plenary meeting.

About half an hour after the end of the enlarged meeting of the Committee, a plenary meeting was held in the large hall in the northern part of the "Cool Garden", which is said to be the Great Hall, but in fact it is a large room of relatively large size dedicated to meetings.

At the conference, Zhang Weixin, on behalf of the committee, announced the previous resolutions and asked the brothers who were selected to go to Kaifeng not only to be excited, but to make all the preparations before departure as soon as possible, so as not to make mistakes in the rush at that time. At the same time, he said that the brothers who were not selected should not be disappointed, and there will be such opportunities in the future. He also hoped that the brothers who stayed behind, especially the brothers of the Provisional Committee, would do their best to do their own work well and provide a solid backing for the "delegation to the south." ,

Due to the long distance, all the members of the team stayed in the "Cool Garden" that night. This also includes several brothers from Feilong Village, whose residence is close at hand, and they also plan to experience their own small courtyard like the other brothers. Because, according to the brothers of the Ministry of Science and Technology, who have been living here for some time, the condition of these small courtyards is very good, and it will be very comfortable to live in them. Moreover, since the committee did not limit the allocation of a small courtyard to a certain brother, it was basically the first person who stayed in it for one night and nailed a small wooden sign with his name on it at the entrance of the courtyard, and the small courtyard belonged to him. Therefore, in order to choose a position they like, the brothers of the military department will naturally not be in a hurry to return to Feilong Village.

Of course, there are some things that you can only know if what others say is true or false if you have experienced it yourself. The traversers, who were full of longing for their new residence, soon discovered that this exquisite and chic small courtyard was not as perfect as the brothers from the Ministry of Science and Technology said. Although the layout of the small courtyard and rooms is very reasonable, and the various facilities inside are also very complete, due to the large-scale industrial production in the southern area of "Liangyuan" in the past few months, especially the smelting equipment of the materials department cannot be stopped even at night, and it needs to run continuously 24 hours a day, and with the existing jishu conditions of the team, it is not possible to take corresponding environmental protection measures, so the northern district, which is not very far from the southern area, has been polluted by a certain amount of environmental pollution, and living here is not as comfortable as the brothers from the Ministry of Science and Technology described.

It's a pity that when they found out that they had been fooled by the brothers from the Ministry of Science and Technology, it was already late at night, and it was too late to return to Feilong Village. Fortunately, it is winter, the wind is blowing from the north, and the air quality in the North District is quite acceptable, far more comfortable than the brothers from the Ministry of Science and Technology who lived here in the summer.

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