1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 848 Technical Protection

On February 1669, 11, Hanzhou, Jianye.

Luan Jinxing, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the State of Qi, put the application document in his hand gently on the table, then shook his head with a smile and said, "Master Cao, don't say that our Ministry of Industry and Commerce will not approve your purchase application, it is from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce." , and will not allow you to transport such machinery to India."

"Why?" Cao Ning, the new head of the Indian trading company, was a little worried, and said in a deep voice: "I know that Qi State does not allow the export of various advanced machinery to other countries to prevent the spread of technology. But our Indian trading company has almost completely controlled Cochin. The Kingdom and most of the Qiulong Kingdom can completely place such machinery in the safest place and isolate any foreign forces and local natives from obtaining these advanced machinery and corresponding manufacturing technology."

Cao Ning used to be the commander of the polling office, and was a trusted minister of the former king of Qi. After Bai Yuangui, the former big shopkeeper of the Indian trading company, died of illness two years ago, he was nominated by the cabinet as the new big shopkeeper and became the largest overseas trading company in the country. the head of the family.I thought that, relying on my own relationship and past power, I submitted this application for the purchase of cotton doffers, which had been rejected several times, to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. .

But who knows, Luan Jinxing just looked at it casually, pushed the application over, and directly refused to approve it.

With the rise of the local cotton textile industry in Hanzhou, domestic cotton production is still insufficient. Under such circumstances, cotton from India has become the most critical source of raw materials for various domestic textile factories.

Indigo, saltpeter, female slaves, and cotton have become the four largest commodities shipped back to the country by Indian trading companies. Among them, cotton accounts for nearly [-]% of the trade share.As we all know, cotton is purely dumped in sea transportation and will occupy a large number of spaces on the ship.

In order to save the cabin space in the process of transporting cotton and load more other goods, Indian trading companies have established a number of cotton deseed processing plants in India, using the huge local human resources and using some relatively backward deseed machines and Manually, the seed cotton is converted into lint, and then packed and shipped back to Hanzhou.

But outdated machinery and clumsy labor make the cotton deseed operation very inefficient, and the purchased cotton is piled up in the port, so that most of the cotton often has to be packed and shipped to Han before the deseed is completed. continent.

"Well, I can save it in this way." Cao Ning nodded and replied: "One more thing is to ask our trading company to purchase grain from India and ship it back to the mainland. This kind of business may be very important for Nanyang Trading Company and Annan Trading Company. It is a profitable business. But for my Indian trading company, the distance is so far away. It is not cost-effective to sell the grain back to the mainland. Moreover, the purchase quota set by the government is as high as [-] tons, which takes up Our trading company has a lot of shipping space!"

"I don't know exactly what sulfonated oil can do. However, experts and craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry mentioned that this kind of oil can be widely used in textiles, leather, paper, metal processing and other industries."

"The more confidential the Hanzhou people are, the more strictly they are forbidden to carry out technical materials and books abroad, the higher their economic value will be." Viscount McMillan whispered to Aidan Water, the first ambassador to Qi State: " Dear Walter, in addition to maintaining the friendly relationship between England and Qi in Hanzhou, you also have to try to introduce various advanced technologies and production techniques from this country. After half a month of on-site visits, many of our England The workshop, not to mention lagging far behind them in terms of technology, is also far behind in terms of management and production."

The rhetoric of the Qi people is simply a lame lie, purely to block the advanced technology and industrial products they invented and created, for fear that others will learn from them.

"In this way, the trade profits that our Indian trading company can obtain this year will be greatly affected." Cao Ning sighed.

"They... seized what items?" Viscount McMillan's expression darkened immediately, and he turned to look at the several Qi diplomatic officials who were seeing him off.

"In this way, the large amount of cotton shipped back by our Indian trading company should not be deseed, so as to create greater value for our country?" Cao Ning's face softened a little after hearing this.

As a result, some shopkeepers in Indian trading companies suggested that a large number of high-efficiency cotton doffers be imported from the country and processed locally in India.In this way, the transportation volume of cotton can be increased by at least [-]%, creating more commercial profits for the trading company.

"Treasurer Cao, can you guarantee that there will be no risk of any technical leaks when these advanced machines are shipped to India?" Luan Jinxing saw that Cao Ning was a little dissatisfied, and said solemnly: "You need to know that the key to maintaining the strength of our Qi country is The reason is that our industrial technology is far superior to other countries, and we can rely on our huge production advantages to offset our insufficient population size. In addition, the reason why we ask your Indian trading company to bring back a large amount of seed cotton is not only for our country’s cotton processing The industry provides more employment opportunities, and it can also lengthen our cotton processing industry chain and create more economic value."

With extremely complicated feelings, the British mission was preparing to leave Hanzhou and return to the UK.According to the authorization of King Charles II, Viscount Maurice Macmillan, the British special envoy to the Far East, appointed a plenipotentiary representative to Qi, and set about establishing the English embassy in Qi, thus establishing formal diplomatic relations between the two parties.

After all, we are also envoys of a country. We purchased some personal items in your Hanzhou, but when we were about to leave the country by boat, we were searched for no reason by your military and police personnel, and some of the items were also seized.

"In order to absorb the largest wave of immigrants so far, it's not just your Indian trading companies that will be affected!" Luan Jinxing said with a wry smile: "Many departments of my cabinet and countless domestic trading companies and factories have to work around this arduous task. If Let Daming drive the Qing captives out of the pass in one go and regain China. Maybe there will be no chance of such a large-scale emigration in the future."

"It's these books." The entourage pointed to the dozen or so books about industry and agriculture explained and introduced by the customs officer, and whispered to Viscount Macmillan: "These books are exactly what we learned from Jianye City. They were publicly purchased in bookstores. However, Hanzhou customs officials said that these books were listed as sensitive materials in their country and were prohibited from leaving the country.”

During their stay in Hanzhou for more than two months, the British spent all their funds and purchased a large number of industrial products in Hanzhou, such as steel bars, pocket watches, porcelain, glass products, cloisonne, tea, fur (leather goods), canned food, The sauces... filled two [-]-ton merchant ships to the brim.

"Moreover, cottonseed is a high-quality raw material for fungus cultivation and is widely used in the cultivation of edible fungi. Like those mushrooms, Pteris edodes, fungus, Ganoderma lucidum, etc., can be cultured from cottonseed. In addition, cottonseed It is also a raw material for the manufacture of high-grade organic fertilizers. It is planted in farmland, which can greatly promote the improvement and improvement of soil fertility. What is even more rare is that in recent years, the Heishan Industrial Research Institute has also used cottonseed oil to produce Sulfonated oil."

"In fact, the Hanzhou people only care about preventing the leakage of industrial production technology and product manufacturing methods, but ignore the secrecy of another technology." Viscount McMillan looked up at the billowing smoke from the factory in Jianye City in the distance , Said quietly.

"Let's not say that many cotton processing factories and workshops in China have provided many jobs and created production value because of cotton seed removal. We just say that the cottonseed is also of great benefit to the subsequent industrial processing of our country. This is Cottonseed can be used to extract oil to meet the needs of people's lives. It is one of the important sources of grain and oil production in China. After the oil is extracted from cottonseed, the remaining cake can be used as feed. After mixing with other soybean meal, it is the best food for livestock Good feed will positively promote the livestock breeding in our country."

"The Hanzhou people's factory management system and production standards." McMillan showed a meaningful smile on his face, "Haven't you noticed that their factories have a completely different management model from many of our workshops in England? Whether it is theirs The weaving factory, or the mechanical processing factory, seems to deploy the entire factory into a machine-like whole, and centralize and manage the machines and workers. Every worker works according to a unified standard and a unified rhythm, and the division of labor It's very specific, it's nothing like the home-based workshops we have in England."

"Huh?" Aidan Water looked at Macmillan suspiciously.

You Hanzhou people are... so impolite!

However, after the procurement application was submitted, it was repeatedly rejected by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce for several years in a row on the grounds that it violated the proliferation of technology, causing Indian business companies to complain.

"This year's foreign purchases of grain totaled 50 tons, and most of them fell on Nanyang Trading Company and Annan Trading Company. Moreover, this is a political task assigned by the cabinet, and your Indian trading company does not have to object to this." Luan Jinxing said: "You also know that the mainland is going through a war of unification. Hundreds of thousands of troops from the Ming and Qing Dynasties fought together on the front lines of Hebei, Henan, and Shaanxi, causing millions of refugees. Qi will take this opportunity to prepare for the largest Immigration action. At that time, the number of immigrants who will be transported back to the mainland will range from 30 million to [-]. These people will all need to eat."

Hehe, stingy Hanzhou people!
"Lord Macmillan." A entourage walked over with an ugly expression, "The Hanzhou people seized some of the items we purchased, claiming that those items are prohibited from being taken out of the country."

These seized books mainly include "Tiangong Kaiwu", "Hanzhou Encyclopedia", "Agricultural Encyclopedia", "On Plague", "Compendium of Materia Medica", "Introduction to World Geography"...etc. geography and such.Although some of these books were also publicly published in Daming, they were all listed as books that were prohibited from leaving the country in Qi.

With regard to technical secrecy, whether it is the officials of the Qi State or the craftsmen in the factory, after decades of teaching and admonition by the King of Qi, they are still relatively vigilant.In particular, the technology may be leaked to other countries and regions, and the prevention is very strict.You must know that it is by virtue of our superior technological advantages that our Qi State has forged today's powerful national power, conquered the four barbarians, and dominated Nanyang.

Although the British special envoy, Viscount McMillan, made a small protest against this, the more sensitive books were still seized by Qi customs officers.However, as compensation, the accompanying diplomats of Qi State presented the British with several exquisite imitation Ming porcelains.

"My lords, my duty is not to deliberately make things difficult for foreign envoys. Please bear with me." A customs official saw Viscount McMillan walking over accompanied by several diplomats from the Qi Kingdom who were seeing him off. He cupped his hands and said .

Not to mention that the UK, which has always been feared by the king, is the Dutch who maintains a close relationship with our country of Qi. Various advanced technologies and crafts in the country are still strictly blocked and kept secret.

Originally, according to the plan of the British, they also wanted to purchase a batch of industrial and agricultural machinery, various machine tools, precision machinery, and steam equipment such as water pumps.However, their purchase application was politely rejected by Qi Guo, saying that the functions of such machinery were "not yet perfect" and would not be exported for the time being.This move disappointed the British.

"Sulphonated oil? . . . what is this for?"

"Oh,...is that so?" Cao Ning took a deep breath, "Let's hear it."

If European countries obtain these books, translate and publish them, and then use them for reference, they will definitely improve their current production technology levels in handicrafts and agriculture.

"If you, Manager Cao, hadn't come to ask about this matter in person, why would I explain it in such detail." Luan Jinxing smiled, "In short, whether it's your Indian trading company or Persian trading company, you can ship it back to our mainland of Hanzhou from all over the place. It is best to use unprocessed raw materials, so that many factories in our country can expand production and create more industrial value."

"That's true." Cao Ning nodded and said: "Once the mainland is unified, people's life is stable, and people's livelihood is restored, how many people are willing to leave their hometowns and risk their lives to emigrate to our country across thousands of miles of sea waves. This time, we Qi Guo must take advantage of this opportunity to become a big vote."
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On November 11, Jianye Port.

"I understand, Lord Macmillan." Aidan Walter nodded, he knew what Macmillan meant by the word "introduction", "I will do my best to cooperate with the The business representative of the East India Company in Hanzhou introduced all kinds of industrial products and corresponding manufacturing technologies that we need in England from Hanzhou."

In this era, neither in the East nor in the West, there are no real factories. They are all handicraft workshops or handicraft factories. When all workers work together, they basically do their own things. In terms of time and labor results Have a lot of freedom.

At the beginning of the establishment of the factory in Qi State, some scientific management systems and production methods of later generations were combined with the actual situation of the factory to formulate a series of slightly standardized factory systems, which represent a brand-new production organization system and concept. , but it greatly improves the production efficiency of the factory.

"In the ceramic factory in Hanzhou, they separate a ceramic product from more than a dozen processes such as soil mixing, embryo making, glazing, and kiln firing. Each process has a dedicated person in charge, like a fine production line. The pottery products they process and produce are not only uniform in specifications, but also extremely fast in production. In contrast to some ceramic workshops in England, all these processes are completed by independent workers, with different shapes and low efficiency. "

"I think that in terms of factory organization and management system, we in England can learn from the advanced production methods and management concepts of the Hanzhou people. Perhaps this will provide some positive promotion for the industrial development of our England. "

(End of this chapter)