I want to be emperor

Chapter 581 The Wind Has Changed
After Luo Zhixue inspected the steam engine project team, he went to the iron and steel project team and the machine tool project team.

This steel project does not mean to study the mass production of steel, but mainly to study some things in steel theory, trying to understand the composition and specific proportions of steel, and to find out what kind of steel is better.

Speaking of it, it is actually more biased towards chemistry.

The steel research at the Royal Institute of Technology is biased towards the theoretical level, while the applied level is mainly conducted by the Iron and Steel Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and various steel plants.

The machine tool project team, their research is more intuitive. They mainly study various types of machine tools used in industrial production, but they are not specifically responsible for a certain type of machine tools, but more about basic research.

For example, in terms of transmission, there are also aspects such as knives.

These things belong to the most basic level of research. If breakthroughs can be made, the corresponding technologies can be used in most types of machine tools.

Especially the knives used by various machine tools are the focus of the Royal Institute of Technology's research.

The performance of the cutting tool directly affects the processing level, especially for the processing of steel materials, it is impossible to do without good cutting tools.

In the past, all kinds of knives used by the many machine tools of the Great Chu Empire were basically made by experienced old blacksmiths using mechanical and manual methods, and made of fine steel one by one.

Whether the knives produced here are good or not depends purely on the personal experience and even intuition of the craftsmen!

Now, the mechanical research and development personnel of the Royal Institute of Technology are trying to create better knives by adopting more scientific proportion formulas, and then obtain better performance. The most important thing is to produce energy.

And many of the above studies, regardless of whether it is steam engines, steel, or machine tools, are actually biased towards the research of basic materials and processing in the final analysis.

And it is more biased towards theoretical research.

This is also the field that the Royal Institute of Technology is responsible for and is good at, and it is also the direct purpose of Luo Zhixue's establishment of the Royal Institute of Technology.

The development of science and technology needs the support of basic industries, and basic industries need the support of theory.

When you don't even understand what the basic elements such as iron, carbon, sulfur, and oxygen are, you don't even know what the specific ingredients and specific ratios are in the low-carbon steel produced by the steel plant. I don't know, so what else to study?

Therefore, this is why after Luo Zhixue inspected the three major project teams, he summoned the head of the Department of Chemistry of the Royal Institute of Technology and listened to the research work on various elements led by the Department of Chemistry of the Royal Institute of Technology.

He also praised several researchers who found out oxygen and carbon elements through experiments, and clarified the combustion phenomenon based on this, and gave them a lot of rewards on the spot.

Combustion phenomenon, this is a very basic common sense in the eyes of later generations, but trying to figure out why combustion occurs and what works in it has actually puzzled ancient scientists all the time.

The messy myths or philosophical concepts of the ancients, or the messy theories of alchemists and Taoist alchemists, cannot explain the nature of combustion.

And this point, the researchers of the Department of Chemistry of the Royal Institute of Technology of the Great Chu Empire knew directly from the beginning that combustion is due to the exothermic reaction of the interaction between combustibles and oxidants.

Then Luo Zhixue directly told them that there is oxygen in the air, and oxygen is needed for combustion, and the reason why wood, coal and other things can burn is because they contain hydrocarbons.

In the past few years, Luo Zhixue has basically sorted out all the scientific knowledge he still remembers, including the chemical knowledge, and then handed it over to various departments of the Royal Institute of Technology for research.

Although the knowledge of Luo Zhixue belongs to a very basic level for future generations, and more of it belongs to only knowing a noun or a concept, but many things behind this noun are actually unknown.

And after sorting out these things, let the teachers and students of the Royal Institute of Technology look, in fact, they can't understand...

Luo Zhi's theory says that there is oxygen in the air, and only when there is oxygen can it burn... But what is oxygen, and what is hydrogen?What is carbon?
Even...they don't even know the word!
The word 'oxygen' is a word for many elements or a Chinese vocabulary to describe scientific phenomena. In fact, it is a new creation in modern times. In ancient times, there was no such word as 'oxygen'.

Oxygen, probably appeared in 1899!
So when Luo Zhixue said "oxygen", a group of teachers and students at the Royal Institute of Technology were confused when they first heard it. They didn't know the word, let alone the meaning behind it.

The students in the early Royal Institute of Technology, their so-called learning was actually nothing more than rote memorization. They memorized whatever Luo Zhixue wrote...

Then, according to the textbook compiled by Luo Zhixue, various experiments were carried out, trying to restore some phenomena in the textbook that were taken for granted by Luo Zhixue.

such as combustion.

Anyone can make a fire, but it is useless to burn directly. They have to produce actual evidence, so they need detailed design and more ingenious experiments, and carry out the most precise weighing before and after burning.

To some extent, the biggest task of the Royal Institute of Technology recently is not to study something, but to constantly conduct experiments and mathematical calculations to verify many phenomena and even theorems in textbooks.

It is necessary to completely explain things like combustion phenomena theoretically.

To be honest, this job is very difficult, and ordinary people can't do it. They are a little weaker, and they can't understand many things in Luo Zhi's theory, because many things in Luo Zhi's theory are too much for people in this era. Abstracted.

This is also the reason why the Royal Institute of Technology recruits only geniuses.

My brain is not working, I can't learn...

As for some application-level research, ordinary people can be used, and the Royal Institute of Technology is no longer needed. Naturally, many research institutions and factories under the Ministry of Industry are responsible.

Luo Zhixue stayed in the Royal Institute of Technology for most of the day, and halfway invited dozens of outstanding teachers and students from the Royal Institute of Technology to have lunch together, well, it can also be called a feast.

But this kind of banquet, except for Luo Zhixue himself, basically no one cared about eating it, or could eat it freely.

Although everyone pays attention to not eating or sleeping these days, but Luo Zhixue has always been busy, and the schedule is relatively tight on weekdays. He often summons his courtiers to discuss matters in the name of giving banquets...

Although they always talk before and after meals, but occasionally they talk while eating.

This made the courtiers feel more uncomfortable. This banquet was already more uncomfortable. Luo Zhixue sat on top, and no one dared to let go of the meal, so as not to be rude in front of the emperor, he basically ate casually.

Then he had to guard against Luo Zhixue saying something while he was eating, which was even worse.

Luo Zhixue asked a seemingly random question, but if you dare to answer casually, your official career is basically over, so you still have to think about the meaning behind these words in detail, and then organize the most rigorous language to answer.

Under such circumstances, eating with the emperor is definitely not a good job.

Today's banquet at the Royal Institute of Technology was relatively large in scale, with more than 50 researchers from the Royal Institute of Technology participating, and more than a dozen senior officials who accompanied the inspection.

It's just that no one eats it happily!

However, although eating is unpleasant, it is very happy for many people, especially for those scientific researchers.

It doesn't matter whether it tastes good or not, and how much you can eat, but this is a feast from His Majesty.

Although Luo Zhixue often had meals with his courtiers, they were basically important officials of the empire. Ordinary people didn't even have the chance to meet Luo Zhixue, let alone ask Luo Zhixue to give him a banquet and talk while eating.

The same is true for these unspeakable people. Of course Luo Zhixue values ​​them. As long as the students of the Royal Institute of Technology are successfully enrolled, they will be the ninth rank, and if they graduate successfully, they will be the seventh rank.

If you are excellent in academics, you can still stay in the school to teach. Even the most ordinary assistant lecturers are all five-rank, and soldiers are from fourth-rank, and then they are associate professors of fourth-rank, full professors of third-rank, and then the deputy dean of the department. The third grade, the director is from the second grade, the vice president and the dean are both the second grade.

Although the grades in the education system of the Great Chu Empire are the same as the grades in the medical system, they all belong to the salary grade and do not enjoy corresponding political treatment.

But this is only limited to ordinary positions, and for administrative positions, then they can also be directly transferred to be officials of other official institutions, such as the principal of a government-run elementary school, or the director of a certain prefecture's ethics department.

The grades of teachers and students of the Royal Institute of Technology also belong to this category. It is naturally useless for ordinary students or even ordinary teachers, but after holding an administrative position, they can be transferred to officials of other institutions in the future.

A deputy director of a third-rank department can be transferred to various departments to serve as the director without any obstacles; a director of the second rank can be directly transferred to the minister or governor of each department.

The dean is on the same level as the ministers of all ministries!
Of course, for the time being, this kind of thing has not happened in the Royal Institute of Technology, because in Luo Zhixue's view, ordinary officials are arrested in a bunch, but there are fewer researchers... He usually takes more extreme measures. The way allows them to do research with peace of mind.

For example, salary increases, rewards in the name of the royal family every three days, from the house to the clothes to the security personnel, etc., are all properly arranged, and there will be no shortage of honors. As long as the research results come, they will be sealed Jue, give the authority of the secret book, give the authority of frequent interviews, and then give his mother, wife, etc. also canonize Haoming and so on.

During the holidays, Wang and Queen came forward to invite their family members into the palace to watch games and so on.

In short, Luo Zhixue was willing to give whatever he could.

In the feudal dynasty, in fact, whether a courtier's status is important or not has nothing to do with whether he holds a certain position, but depends on their status in the emperor's heart.

Several main researchers of the Royal Institute of Technology, their status in Luo Zhixue's heart is much more important than any Shangshu.

Under such circumstances, the actual political status of these teachers and students in the Royal Institute of Technology is very high.

Because Luo Zhixue paid enough attention to it!
Also because Luo Zhixue attaches great importance to science, except for the Royal Institute of Technology, in fact, other ordinary researchers have relatively high social and political status.

All the officials above the third grade in the Ministry of Industry are all technical backgrounds. Even if they don't know much, they know more or less about technology.

Officials who don't know anything about technology can't get up in the Ministry of Industry.

They have also become relatively special technocrats in the Great Chu Empire. They are not the earliest technocrats in Chinese history, but they are definitely the technocrats with the largest number and the greatest influence.

And their influence continues to grow!
Just after Luo Zhixue finished his inspection of the Royal Institute of Technology, Luo Zhixue formally approved the plan to establish the Ministry of Industry and Commerce at the Imperial Counselor Meeting the next day.

According to the plan, many departments in the Ministry of Industry, mainly those related to industry management, will be handed over to the newly established Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and the Ministry of Industry will subsequently evolve into a purely government-run enterprise management agency.

The management functions of industry and commerce are handed over to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, which avoids the embarrassing situation where the Ministry of Industry manages itself in the past.

For example, the Iron and Steel Department, they are responsible for the management of the national steel industry, including various private steel companies, and are also directly responsible for the direct management of many government-run steel companies... This is both a manager and a market participant.

In the early years, because the size of the Great Chu Empire was small, for convenience, all industrial and commercial affairs were directly concentrated in the Ministry of Industry, that is, direct investment and operation of various industries, and various management measures were also introduced to guide and support the development of various industries. .

But now, this situation can no longer continue like this, so after several months of argumentation, Luo Zhixue finally approved the decision to split the Ministry of Industry and establish the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

The newly established Ministry of Industry and Commerce will be fully responsible for the development of domestic industry and commerce. Because of its strong technical characteristics, this newly established institution must support and guide the standardized development of all walks of life. Naturally, this newly established institution cannot do without technology...so this newly established Most of the officials in the institutions are also bureaucrats with technical backgrounds.

Technocrats, in the middle and high levels of the Great Chu Empire, not only did not weaken with the unification of the empire, but continued to increase.

This is what Luo Zhixue likes to see, and even he deliberately promotes it.

To be an official is not enough to know all kinds of principles, but also to have some scientific common sense, otherwise it is easy to ignore the basic scientific objective laws and do some messy things.

It's just that Luo Zhixue didn't expect that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce had just been established, and it would directly stab the knife at the old employer's Ministry of Industry...and directly issued several regulations for planning safe production, especially mining safety production, and required those who failed to meet the standards The company should improve immediately, otherwise it will be punished heavily...

And the mining enterprises in the Great Chu Empire are basically government-run enterprises affiliated to the Ministry of Industry... There are very few private enterprises and they are not popular.

To put it bluntly, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce directly used the Ministry of Industry after the separation, trying to become famous in the First World War and establish its political status in the upper echelons of the empire.

This made a group of people in the Ministry of Industry have black faces...

Nima, just as the front foot was separated, the back foot was slashed with a knife, what a hatred!
They weren't there, and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce's move certainly had their own intention to take advantage of the opportunity to take the position, but it also had the result that Luo Zhixue hinted at.

Why set up a separate Ministry of Industry and Commerce?

It is not because the Ministry of Industry used to manage itself, various rules and regulations were described as false, accidents in production safety occurred frequently, industry management was chaotic, and government-run enterprises frequently followed their own official background. Occupying is maliciously crowding out the living space of private enterprises.

It is the most typical case that Hantian Textile Company repeatedly used official means to suppress Su Qin Textile Company.

It's okay to use administrative means to suppress it, but it can't be suppressed. In the end, I was ashamed and lost the name of the No. [-] Textile Company.

Luo Zhixue didn't want to see this happen.

Government-run enterprises have direct responsibilities and functions, while private enterprises also have their responsibilities and functions, and no one can replace the other.

In normal competition, the winners and losers are not announced, but this kind of abnormal competition, especially the use of administrative power to participate in market competition, in Luo Zhixue's view, the situation is very bad.

However, this situation is not an exception, but a common occurrence!

This is the direct reason why Luo Zhixue established the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

After the establishment of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, it is natural to reflect its own sense of existence to satisfy His Majesty.

If the Ministry of Industry and Commerce does nothing after its establishment, Luo Zhixue doesn't mind replacing those senior officials of industry and commerce who just took office...

And the ass decides the head!
When these people belonged to the Ministry of Industry, they turned a blind eye to supervision, but now they have become members of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and after the Ministry of Industry has nothing to do, they directly picked up the knife and prepared to fight up!

The people are still the same people, and even the organization has not changed much. It is just a division of the family, but in the end, the industrial and commercial supervision and support in the true sense of the Great Chu Empire are on the right track.

The establishment of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and the major actions after its establishment, caused some turmoil in the political arena of the empire, but these were all worthwhile, even intentional, because this actually sent a signal to the people: the wind direction has changed!

The leaders of the private enterprises in the industrial and commercial circles saw this, and naturally felt the change in the direction of the wind, and knew what it meant.

It seems that there is no clear policy support or the like, but as long as there is fair supervision, they are already satisfied.

Because this means that from then on, they can compete fairly with government-run enterprises in the open industries of the empire, and limit the competition to the market and products.You don't have to worry about the Ministry of Industry directly using administrative means for the sake of subordinate enterprises, saying that you have violated certain regulations and need to be rectified for three days or two days. No one can sustain this kind of competition.

There is only one Su Qin textile company!

The establishment of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and its big moves also prompted the Li family of Foshan Li's Iron Manufacturing Company to make up their minds to transform.

Foshan Li's Iron and Steel Company, as one of the few private enterprises involved in heavy industry in the empire, and its scale is not small, their transformation is naturally not towards textiles and other light industries that seem to be easy to make money, but aimed at the need for a lot of money. , The profit cycle is also longer in the shipbuilding industry.

The Li family in Foshan is ready to spend at least 15 taels of silver on the shipbuilding industry. It is ready to build a shipyard with a larger scale and even better technology than the Guangzhou shipyard, so as to seize the ever-increasing shipping market!

(End of this chapter)