Although Yang Willy is also a person who is indifferent to fame and fortune, every time he thinks of this, he feels angry.

As a good friend, Sheldon told Willy Yang more than once not to waste time on the steamship anymore, and to go to the shipyard to work with him, not to mention that it was safe to be a second engineer, at least on an equal footing with the current Captain Chris.

Every time he heard this, Yang Willy's face turned three points darker, but Shelton was extremely smart, but he couldn't look at people's eyes, and he had to babble endlessly, which always made Yang Willy have a feeling that he had nowhere to vent.

"Even if you make some sacrifices for what you love. Yang Willy always comforts himself in secret, but sometimes he can't help but wonder if if he had chosen to take the road of engineering design, his current status would be much higher than now, and even the position of chief engineer in Sheldon could be competed for.

However, there are not so many "ifs" in this world, this time Zhao Dagui sent someone to ask him to go to Dinghai to talk, and he could only obediently take a boat over, constantly wondering what Zhao Dagui's intentions were to see him, could it be that the two steamships he bought some time ago were to be given to Chinese sailors to try?

When I arrived in Dinghai, I learned that Zhao Dagui was currently in the machinery factory under the shipyard, to be precise, a factory that used Western-style machine tools to produce various parts and components.

Yang Weili went directly to the machinery factory and passed several inspections before he was able to enter the factory workshop, and he sighed in his heart that the shipyard was becoming more and more formalized, and this strict traffic system alone was much more advanced than any private factory or official workshop in the Qing Dynasty.

When he entered the workshop, he found that Zhao Dagui was wearing a piece of clothes worn by ordinary workers, and was using a lathe to process a part like an iron pipe, and it was just at the critical time, when he saw Yang Weili coming over, he just nodded, and did not stop to say hello.

Yang Willy had no intention of disturbing Zhao Dagui's work, so he could only wait on the sidelines.

Zhao Dagui was processing an iron pipe more than one meter long at this time, and the drilling had already ended, but he still had to use a lathe to process some structure on the pipe wall.

Yang Weili just looked at it boringly for a few moments, and then suddenly understood what Zhao Dagui was processing, his eyes couldn't help but widen, and a monstrous wave turned in his heart.

After a while, Zhao Dagui processed the things in his hand, and measured them with a measuring tool called vernier calipers, so he became satisfied, and took the iron pipe to Yang Weili.

"Is this a freshly machined part, or is it hot, Brother Yang, how about looking at my craftsmanship?" Zhao Dagui proudly handed the iron pipe to Yang Weili to see.

Yang Willy took the iron pipe, carefully tapped to listen to its sound, and measured its size with the vernier caliper handed over by Zhao Dagui, and finally put it down.

This kind of vernier caliper is a measuring tool invented by Zhao Dagui a few months ago, the measuring principle is similar to the spiral micrometer invented by the Englishman Watt, and combined with the caliper structure of the Han Dynasty Wang Mang, the accuracy can reach one hundredth of a millimeter or one thousandth of a millimeter, which is very convenient to use in the factory.

After Zhao Dagui designed the structure of the vernier caliper, he used high-quality brass to make parts and promote the use in the factory.

Speaking of which, this Zhao Dagui is really a versatile person, Yang Willy sighed a little in his heart.

"This is the barrel, or the barrel engraved with four rifling lines, and the material is not the commonly used wrought iron, but high-quality steel. Yang Willy said in disbelief after inspecting the iron pipe.

The Qing court has always strictly forbidden the possession of firearms by the people, let alone the manufacture of firearms without permission, and if someone is found to have produced this kind of gun barrel in Shanghai, it is inevitable that the government will destroy the family and exterminate the clan, even if Zhao Dagui is rich and powerful, I am afraid that he will have to peel off a layer of skin.

"The current bullets are all made of lead, and there is no problem with firing them with wrought iron barrels.

However, if you really want to use it for a long time, steel is more suitable.

However, steel is also more difficult to process because it is stronger, and it is more difficult to obtain tools for machine tools. Zhao Dagui nodded and said.

This is not the point, the key is that this is a head-killing job, Yang Willy wanted to roar at Zhao Dagui, but he didn't know what to say, so he could only remain silent.

Fortunately, Zhao Dagui had no intention of continuing to discuss the issue of firearms, and after handing the barrel to the worker who had beaten him before, he pulled Yang Willy outside.

"I'm looking for Brother Yang, there is really something important to discuss, let's find a quiet place to talk. ”

"Then I'll listen to it. ”

Speaking of which, Yang Willy can also be regarded as Zhao Dagui's employee, but Zhao Dagui has always been kind to scholars, never treated as his subordinates, and usually treated his friends with courtesy, which is a rare approachability in this era.

From Li Xinlan to the ordinary scholars of the Oriental Academy, they were all very moved and appreciated by this.

When the two of them sat down in Zhao Dagui's office, Zhao Dagui said to Yang Weili:

"Brother Yang also knows that a few months ago, our silk reeling factory was hacked in by a gang of pirates, killing and injuring many employees, and finally burned it down, right?"

"Naturally, I know that I heard that these Japanese robbers were later repelled by the Fuwei Dart Bureau, and they also captured many people and sent them to the government. Yang Willy nodded and said.

This incident caused a stir in Shanghai at the beginning, and some people thought that this was the fuse for the sudden collapse of the foreign cloth business some time ago, and they hated those Japanese robbers to the core.

Gong Mujiu confirmed that these people were indeed the widows of Dinghai Peach Blossom Island, and they were usually robbed of passing ships, so they couldn't help but be furious, and immediately ordered to cut off their heads and hang them in the city to show the public.

Originally, Gong Mujiu also said that he wanted Fujian and Zhejiang officials to send troops to quell this group of daring pirates, but this matter later fell silent and was over.

The court is probably doing things like this, and everyone is used to it.

"In this matter, our trading firm suffered heavy losses, and when we were angry, we spent a lot of money to find out the roots of these pirates, and now we have some eyebrows. ”

Zhao Dagui took out a stack of documents and handed them to Yang Willy to read.

Yang Willy looked at these documents, which recorded information about this gang of pirates, such as how many ships, how many guns, how many people, etc., as well as a rough topographic map of Peach Blossom Island.

Moreover, this information is not limited to the Japanese pirates on Peach Blossom Island, but also the distribution of many other pirates, from Fuso pirates to Portuguese and Luzon pirates and Chinese local pirates.

"This information is very detailed, but I don't know what Brother Zhao's purpose is for me to see these materials?" Yang Weili put it down after reading these materials and looked at Zhao Dagui suspiciously.

"As the saying goes, revenge is not revenge, and these pirates are accustomed to plundering passing merchants, and even dare to go ashore to attack good people, and are the great enemies of our merchants.

I want to send troops to exterminate these pirates, so I want to ask Brother Yang for help. Zhao Dagui said.