I want to be emperor

Chapter 1020 Sun Xu attends the Great Court Meeting

Just as Andre and other envoys from the vassal states arrived at the embassy area to prepare for the great court meeting in the next few days, many people preparing for the great court meeting were also welcomed in Jinling City.

Some of them are senior local officials, such as governors, envoys, prefects of important places, etc. Others are individuals who have made outstanding contributions in various industries, such as scientific researchers, teaching staff and even businessmen.

The nature of the grand meeting is actually somewhat similar to the state banquet on New Year's Eve, except that the invitations to the Spring Festival state banquet are higher in terms of standards and achievements, after all, the number of participants is limited.

The reason for the Great Court Meeting is that there are more people participating. Thousands of people participate in the Great Court Meeting every year. In this case, it can also accommodate more contributions that are not as high-level and have less outstanding achievements. personnel.

However, in order to distinguish it from the New Year's Eve state banquet, in addition to senior officials in Beijing and central China, a considerable number of participants at the Great Court Banquet were senior local officials and outstanding contributors in various local industries.

Among many people, there is Sun Xu, the former machine repair department manager of Anhua Textile Company, who has now started his own business and founded Sun's Rayon Company!

When Sun Xu, dressed in professional attire, stepped out of the first-class carriage of the Beijing-Shanghai Express Passenger Train, the cold wind that came in made him feel as warm as spring.

This heart is really hot!

Who would have thought that he, who came from a poor family and had not even graduated from junior high school, would one day attend the imperial meeting!

Let alone outsiders, even he himself never dreamed that such a day would come to him!

And all this was just because he had already accomplished his job in the field of machine repair a few years ago. After becoming the manager of the machine repair department of Anhua Textile Company, he felt that he had lost his pursuit of life!

However, he has never been a person who is satisfied with the status quo, and he also maintains a strong thirst for new knowledge. Therefore, after working in the field of machine repair, he wondered whether he could develop a fiber that was lower cost and more suitable for processing. .

He himself plays with textile machines and has a very deep understanding of the various cotton fibers processed by these equipment. After many years of self-study, he finally set his sights on the field of chemical synthetic fibers, which has been relatively popular in the textile industry in the past ten years. Here, this chemical synthetic fiber is also called man-made fiber.

The textile industry at that time had always wanted to create cheaper or better-performing fibers for use in the textile field.

Although cotton is good, it also has many limitations.

And silk is indeed all kinds of good, but it is expensive!

Therefore, many people are thinking about whether cotton or other plant fibers can be processed to obtain a fiber with properties comparable to raw silk.

At that time, the Dachu Empire actually had good research in the field of man-made fibers. Someone had already carried out nitration treatment on cotton fiber. The textile industry had already developed a kind of nitrocellulose... but this thing still could not be applied to the textile industry. Instead, after many improvements, it is used in other fields, used to produce carriage windshields, fake ivory products and camera film!

The industry management agency of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce calls this new thing synthetic plastics.

This thing should be the first purely artificially synthesized industrial product with certain rubber properties in the industrial history of the Chu Empire.

However, the textile industry's ambition for man-made fibers, or to be precise, rayon, has not died...

After Sun Xu started researching in a new field, he naturally devoted himself to it. He even set up a small laboratory of his own. When he had time, he would go to his private small laboratory to do some small things.

At the beginning, he didn't expect to be very successful. It was just some self-pursued hobbies in his spare time... After all, if he didn't find some hobbies, his life seemed to be over.

After all, he has already made his mark in the field of machine repair. He not only handles the installation, maintenance and debugging of various textile equipment within Anhua Textile Company, but also leads people to make some modifications to existing equipment based on his own experience. Make existing equipment more efficient and produce better quality products.

This also allowed Anhua Textile Company, a pure textile company, to inexplicably own dozens of patents in the field of textile equipment. After licensing these patents to several large domestic textile equipment manufacturers, it can earn a lot of money every year. What about the patent fees?

Sun Xu, as the leading technician, although he could not get a big share of the patent because it was a job title, he also got a certain amount of stock.

At that time, he could earn a super high income of four to five thousand yuan a year without any effort.

But...even so, he did not stop seeking new knowledge.

About four years ago, he became interested in the field of man-made fibers. However, Anhua Textile Company is a pure textile processing company and does not engage in material research and development... Material research and development is a super sinkhole, with no hard demand or strong strength and Confidence, ordinary companies rarely dare to engage in material research and development, let alone man-made fiber, which is the top material research and development field in the Dachu Empire.

Therefore, Sun Xu could only set up a small private laboratory outside and use his spare time to study and experiment.

Doing this made his life a lot more fulfilling, and his life was no longer boring or even scary like before... because he could see the future at a glance.

When he was conducting various experiments in his small laboratory, he mainly focused on the research of nitrocellulose, hoping to make a kind of rayon from cotton fiber with similar properties to raw silk!

To this end, he tried various methods... and even encountered several dangers, because nitrocellulose can easily spontaneously ignite and even explode.

This has greatly affected Sun Xu's various researches... He also hopes to make a kind of rayon from this nitrocellulose, but this nitrocellulose can spontaneously ignite or even explode, which has a great impact on research... So he I was thinking about adding various stabilizers to suppress the instability of nitrocellulose, trying to stabilize it, and then allow myself to continue making rayon with peace of mind!

The hard work paid off. After more than a year of repeated trials, he finally found a way to stabilize the nitrocellulose, and then it was much easier to conduct research on rayon.

Forty-five years after Chengshun, last year, he finally used nitrocellulose as the main raw material and produced a fiber with fairly good performance. This fiber is long and has a very good texture, although it is still far inferior to raw silk. .

But how expensive is raw silk... Even with the current wealth of the empire, silk products are not affordable for ordinary people.

Most ordinary people may not be able to own a traditional silk Hanfu in their lifetime, and most ordinary middle-class people may only have a silk Hanfu dress, which is absolutely impossible to wear unless it is a major occasion.

And the rayon he made is much worse than real raw silk, but at least it looks similar to raw silk... The most important thing is that the main raw material of this thing is actually cotton, and then some It’s just chemicals, and the overall cost is much cheaper than raw silk.

He was so happy that he came up with this thing. He quickly registered the patent and after discussing it with his wife, he simply quit his job and started his own business.

Thus came the Sun Rayon Company, the first rayon producer in the Chu Empire.

After this thing started to be produced in small batches and put on the market last year, it quickly caused a sensation in the market... This ghost thing seems inconspicuous, but it is really good... It looks almost like raw silk, and the rayon clothes made look also Very similar to silk... but the price is much cheaper than silk clothes.

This thing is simply the best substitute for expensive silk products.

However, the above-mentioned rayon could not actually allow Sun Xu to enter the official field of vision, or even qualify to participate in the Great Court Meeting.

The reason why he was able to participate in the meeting was because of a technology and related patents that he had never thought of before, that is, nitrocellulose stabilization technology!

The reason why he was able to produce rayon was because he added a stabilizer to solve the extremely unstable phenomenon of nitrocellulose... Otherwise, his rayon factory would explode every day, so what's the point...

As for this technology, he had previously only used it as a pre-processing technology for rayon. Although he had applied for a patent, he had no other unnecessary ideas.

But what they didn't expect was that it didn't take long for Zhenjiang Gunpowder Company to send him a letter asking about the stabilizer and the related performance status of stabilized nitrocellulose.

He was still stunned at first... He knew that the Zhenjiang Gunpowder Company was a large-scale enterprise in the chemical field directly under the Ministry of Industry, and it was also the largest gunpowder production supplier in the Dachu Empire.

What does this company's gunpowder company have to do with someone who used to be a machine repairman but is now engaged in rayon?

When the people from Zhenjiang Gunpowder Company came over, he realized that he seemed to have come up with something extraordinary, and it was something that the people from Zhenjiang Gunpowder Company valued very much.

Stabilizer for nitrocellulose...

In fact, his guess was not wrong!

Nitrocellulose has appeared a long time ago. In the early 1930s, professors at the Royal Institute of Technology came up with such a thing. It was the emergence of this thing that made the defense industry think about making better propellants. .

However, nitrocellulose is very unstable and can spontaneously ignite or even explode. There is no way to use it directly.

Whether in industry or in the field of national defense, it is difficult to directly use nitrocellulose.

Subsequently, Zhenjiang Gunpowder Company carried out continued research and achieved some results. Some of the results have been applied in the field of industrial production, such as being used as blasting explosives for mining and road opening.

But there is still a long way to go before reaching military standards...

It wasn't until they discovered that Sun Xu's rayon company had applied for a patent for a stabilizer and produced highly stable nitrocellulose that they ushered in a new dawn.

They first conducted an imitation test in the laboratory, but because there was no accurate formula and processing technology for the stabilizer, the test was not successful, but even so, they saw hope of success.

Only then did we formally send a letter and send a technical team to Sun's Rayon Company to conduct relevant inspections and try to introduce relevant patents.

Sun Xu naturally welcomed this!

The Zhenjiang Gunpowder Company is very powerful. It not only provides gunpowder to the military, but also to the industry. The annual gunpowder orders are huge. If you grant them the patent, the subsequent share of the patent will be a huge sum. Huge wealth.

After the Zhenjiang Gunpowder Company obtained the formula and related patents, the research team operated like a tiger and killed several people, and finally came up with a new propellant. This propellant was stable and not dangerous, and it also had the characteristics of nitrocellulose. The unique power is stronger, the burning speed is not fast, and it is smokeless and has almost no gunpowder residue, making it extremely suitable for use as propellant.

Last winter, they produced a small amount of finished products and made eight-millimeter smokeless bullets for various tests, and tried to use them as gunpowder propellant. This also means that the problem of propellant in small-caliber rifles that has troubled the military for many years has finally been solved.

The smokeless gunpowder research team of Zhenjiang Gunpowder Company received relevant awards, and several of its R&D leaders were even qualified to participate in the Dachao Conference.

Although Sun Xu is not a member of the R&D team of smokeless gunpowder, his outstanding results in the stability research of nitrocellulose are an indispensable part of the research and development process of smokeless gunpowder... Today's smokeless gunpowder They are all still using their exclusive patents.

Therefore, because of this, he received an invitation from the Great Court Meeting and was able to participate in this year's Great Court Meeting.

Participating in the Great Court Meeting can be said to be a great honor for an ordinary researcher and businessman.

After receiving the news last winter, Sun Xu had been looking forward to the start of the Great Court Meeting.

When he returned to his hometown for the New Year in the first month, many relatives and friends also congratulated him. During the ancestor worship ceremony, he, a junior, actually sat at the head table with a group of clan elders.

This is a great honor for him, a true honor for his ancestors!

In previous years, even if his income was not low and he was considered a super-paid worker among workers, he still wouldn't be able to sit at the top table during the Chinese New Year ceremony.

However, because of his breakthrough in research, he was qualified to participate in the Great Court Meeting, but he was seated at the top table.

After the New Year, he first returned to Songjiang to briefly handle the company's affairs, and then began to make final preparations for attending the Great Court Meeting.

Mainly to participate in etiquette training.

There are a lot of rules related to meeting a saint. Not to mention other things, just clothes are a troublesome thing.

The Great Court Meeting is the highest-level occasion in the empire. Whether it is Luo Zhixue, ministers, or outstanding people from all walks of life participating in the meeting, they are all wearing traditional Hanfu, and they must be the most formal Hanfu dress.

This kind of formal dress has very strict specifications and systems, which does not mean that you can wear it casually.

For example, officials of fourth rank and above wear crimson official robes, while middle- and lower-ranking officials wear cyan or green official robes.

As for ordinary people, they wear ordinary Hanfu. This is called ordinary Hanfu, but according to the rules formed in the past few decades, they generally wear formal white and dark clothes with black edges.

This kind of clothes was used as home clothes for scholar-bureaucrats in many dynasties in ancient times, but it was also used as formal clothes for ordinary people.

During the Chu Dynasty, the Hanfu worn by ordinary people on formal occasions did not have unified regulations or trends at first. Later, it gradually formed a unified trend of using deep clothes as formal attire for ordinary people.

Last winter, Sun Xu had invited the most famous traditional clothing designer and tailor in Songjiang City to tailor this dress.

The materials and workmanship are top notch!

Just this outfit, matching shoes, hat and some small accessories cost him more than two hundred Chu Yuan... This price is too expensive for ordinary people.

It's a sky-high price.

But for Sun Xu, although the money was expensive, it was not worth mentioning in order to attend the imperial meeting.

After everything was prepared, he took a few followers and arrived at Jinling City in advance on the tenth day of the first lunar month. In the next few days, he and other representatives from various industries who participated in the Great Court Meeting would attend an etiquette training class organized by the Ministry of Ethnic Education and receive the etiquette training. The final etiquette training is to avoid any inappropriate situation when meeting the Holy Saint.

After several days of training, on the 14th of the first lunar month, Sun Xu and more than 300 other outstanding people from all walks of life were taken by the Ministry of Ethnic Education to live together in a hotel near the palace in the inner city.

Here, he also rarely experienced the treatment of a double room... Since his income increased, to be honest, he has never stayed in a double room when traveling or on business.

But today, being able to live in this double room made him extremely excited!

Because this hotel is directly operated by the Palace Affairs Department and has the character of an official guest house, the Xuanwu Lake Hotel.

Just by hearing the name, you know that this hotel is not simple... because Xuanwu Lake is actually the lake in the palace... This hotel is also built next to Xuanwu Lake. It is also the only business in Jinling City that can see the scenery of Xuanwu Lake. Restaurant.

It has always been the place where officials from other places come to Beijing to meet the holy officials!

By the way, although this place has an official background, it is not free... Although this hotel is sponsored by the Palace Affairs Department, it is also a serious commercial hotel. It is responsible for its own profits and losses. You can't just give it to a high-ranking official. You provide free delicacies from the mountains and seas... You said that you are a high-ranking official with a great background, so you have to sneak up and serve you for free... Other hotel managers can look down on you with their small eyes... No matter how big your background is, it can be bigger than the royal family. ?

Even if the Minister of Counselor comes, the money must be paid!

In addition, the Xuanwu Lake Hotel is also open to the public during normal times, and receives business accommodation services from some powerful and wealthy businessmen... Their characteristics are the same, just one word: expensive!

Naturally, it is not free for Sun Xu and the others to stay here... However, the Ethical and Education Department of such large-scale events has special funds to pay for some of the expenses of private participants such as Sun Xu. Sun Xu and the others do not have to pay for it themselves. .

That night, Sun Xu couldn't sleep in the Xuanwu Lake Hotel. An old professor from Guangdong and Guangxi University in the next bed was snoring, which made him fall asleep in a daze until late at night. However, he felt like he hadn't slept for long before Someone called me.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was still dark outside the window, and there were candles in the room. At this time, the old professor in the bed next to him had already put on a decent crimson official robe and called him by the bedside.

This old professor is a full professor of Guangdong and Guangxi University. Although he is not an official official, he still enjoys the treatment of a fourth-rank official. When attending formal occasions, he can wear crimson official robes that can only be worn by fourth-rank officials or above.

After seeing Sun Xu wake up, the old professor smiled and said, "Young friend Sun, you have to get up. I'm afraid the etiquette department will come up to call for help later!"

Sun Xu got up immediately: "Thank you, old man, for reminding me, otherwise I might have missed the time!"

The old professor nodded slightly, did not speak any more, but took a sip of water from a thermos cup.

Sun Xu quickly washed up and changed his clothes in a hurry. As soon as he had changed his clothes, put on his shoes and was ready, he heard a knock on the door from outside.

After the old professor opened the door, he saw a young official wearing professional attire and a badge outside. He only heard this man say: "Professor Wu, Mr. Sun, have you all washed up? The restaurant downstairs has prepared breakfast, okay?" We went down to have breakfast, and after breakfast we will set off!”

The old professor said: "Everything is ready, let's go down now!"

The young official smiled and said, "Then I'll take my leave and go call the others!"

After the young official left, Sun Xu checked his clothes again, and after confirming that there were no problems, he went out with the old professor, and then took the elevator downstairs.

When he arrived at the restaurant downstairs, he found that many people had already arrived. Some of these people were wearing formal official uniforms, while others, like him, were wearing ordinary people's dark clothes.

Although the more than 300 people at the scene were all civilians, there were many people from the education and medical fields, many of whom were key personnel in government-run schools or hospitals. These people all received serious official status. Yes, they naturally wear official uniforms when attending formal occasions, while ordinary people like Sun Xu wear dark clothes.

After breakfast, it was already getting brighter, and the time on my pocket watch was exactly seven o'clock.

Then a senior official from the Ministry of Ethnic Education came up and spoke loudly with a loudspeaker about some follow-up precautions. Then he arranged for people to go out according to industry and level and board the four-wheeled carriage waiting outside.

Although there were many people, the treatment arranged by the empire was pretty good. There were all two-horse four-wheeled carriages, and each carriage could only seat two people. Sun Xu was still sitting with the old professor from Guangdong and Guangxi University.

There were more than 100 carriages alone for these more than 300 people, accompanied by carriages of officials from the Ministry of Ethnic Education in front and behind. Even if there were two carriages side by side, the entire procession would still be hundreds of meters long.

At this time, the streets outside had become empty. Patrol cordons were set up on both sides of the road. Patrol carriages blocked every intersection and patrol officers were on duty.

The most eye-catching thing is that on both sides of the convoy, there are hundreds of Guards cavalry riding tall horses escorting them on the left and right!

Because of the special occasion, even these Guards cavalry who came to perform escort tasks were all riding tall horses, wearing formal Guards cavalry winter uniforms, ceremonial cavalry sabers on their waists, and ceremonial black leather gloves on their hands. , and on his head was a hard-pointed red tassel helmet that was rare among ordinary cavalry.

And these more than a hundred Guards Cavalry will escort them, outstanding representatives of the people, all the way to the front hall of the palace to attend the imperial meeting!

The streets were cleaned and the roads were sealed, the patrols were on duty, and the Guards were escorting... This scene, this treatment... Even the Minister of Counselor would be envious when he came.

However, this kind of treatment is given to outstanding representatives of the people from all walks of life like He Sun Xu!

Just looking at the Guardsmen on both sides, Sun Xu couldn't help but feel excited!

Today's scene and this kind of glory are enough for him to brag about for a lifetime!

(End of this chapter)