I want to be emperor

Today, Daye Iron and Steel Company not only takes the lead in producing soft steel in large quantities to obtain rich benefits, but also, in order to take the overall situation into consideration, under the leadership of the Ministry of Industry, they have authorized the technical patent of the Daye steelmaking method to other steel companies, but this patent Licensing requires money, and it is expensive, for which they have received substantial patent income.

And this also stimulates the determination and confidence of other steel companies to study new technologies.

No way, although they have obtained the patent authorization for the Dasmelting steelmaking method, it will take at least a year or two from obtaining the patent to purchasing equipment and completing the transformation of the production line, etc., and then the production has to be continuously debugged to stabilize production I'm afraid it will be three or five years later.

In the past three to five years, Daye Iron and Steel Company has been full of food.

If you don't make money yourself, but watch your competitors make a lot of money, it will be as uncomfortable as it is.

Although these iron and steel enterprises are all government-run enterprises, Lilan is not the only standard to measure the achievements of the leaders of these iron and steel enterprises, but the output brought by Lilan, advanced technology, the promotion of national defense and industrial development, employment, etc. Wait, but it is an important criterion for measuring political performance.

It is rumored that the general office of Daye Iron and Steel Company will be transferred back to the Ministry of Industry of Gyeonggi Province this year. At that time, he will at least be a real-power third-rank director, and in two years, he will even become a senior official at the ministerial level.

Everyone is an official, who doesn't want to be promoted!

And the competition that comes with that mentality is important.

The officials of the Ministry of Industry are still very experienced in guiding healthy competition among their companies, and they plan to do the same in the steam engine industry.

The final meeting was finalized, and it was initially planned to let three government-run machinery companies carry out the industrialized mass production of steam engines.

They are Dangtu Machinery Company, Guangzhou Machinery Company and Tianjin Machinery Company

These three companies are all large-scale machinery companies under the Ministry of Industry. They are companies with strong technology and strong capital. In addition, these three companies are located in the Yangtze River Basin, the Pearl River Basin, and the northern Bohai Rim. The geographical distance is relatively far. Considering the transportation Because of the cost, there will not be too much vicious competition between each other in the early stage.

This can also better cover the three major regions of the south, central and north.

Once it is done, the Ministry of Industry will take the lead in allowing coal mines and other mines in need and enterprises in need to purchase and try it out.

However, the Ministry of Industry will only take the lead in allowing companies in need to try it out once or twice, and will not force companies to use steam engines on a large scale. This is unrealistic.

At the same time, in order to support the steam engine industry, certain corporate tax reductions and exemptions are given to enterprises that produce and use steam engines, so as to reduce the production and use costs of steam engines and reduce the burden on enterprises.

Through this series of measures, the Ministry of Industry estimates that the Great Chu Empire will be able to put a small number of steam engines into actual production and application next year, and then increase the production and application of steam engines year by year.

After five years, the actual application scale of steam engines will reach [-] units, and it will expand from mines and enterprises lacking rivers to traditional enterprises built along rivers, so as to gradually replace hydraulic machinery.

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After finalizing the preliminary plan at the meeting, the Ministry of Industry and other departments will continue to communicate and improve the support and promotion development plan for steam engines.

And this plan will inevitably require a lot of funds from the empire's finances. After all, the support funds are mainly distributed through tax incentives, but there is actually not much difference between collecting less money and paying directly. It is estimated that the first batch of subsidy funds will reach 200 million Chu Yuan, and the follow-up will gradually increase depending on the situation.

One of the most important subsidy preferential policies is the long-term reduction and exemption of various taxes for steam engine manufacturers. Compared with the preferential policies for other technology-type enterprises, the entire preferential policy has doubled.

The tax exemption period has been directly extended from three years for ordinary new technology enterprises to five years.

The half-tax period has also been extended from two years to five years.

The tax reduction and exemption policy for ordinary new technology enterprises is generally three-year exemption and two-half tax, while the steam engine industry has been specially approved for five-year exemption and five-half tax.

This alone is a great favorable policy, which can greatly reduce the financial pressure of companies that are about to enter the steam engine production industry, so that they can invest more funds in technology research and development and production, so as to continuously reduce the production cost of steam engines , improve the performance of the steam engine, and finally allow the steam engine to enter ordinary factories and become the real power engine for the industrial development of the Great Chu Empire!
When the high level of the empire formulated corresponding policies to support the development of steam engines, the actions of the industry were actually earlier, especially the mining companies. After they got the news that the steam engines could be used, they quickly launched corresponding measures. action.

The first to act was the Chizhou Coal Mine Company, which was not a very well-known mining company among a large number of mining companies in the Great Chu Empire, and it was not a government-run company, but a company with pure private capital.

It was invested and constructed by a local gentry family in Chizhou, and the amount of coal it produces is not much. It mainly supplies to major enterprises in the downstream Dangtu Industrial Zone, especially the Dangtu Iron and Steel Plant, which is their main customer.

There are actually many small and medium-sized mining companies like Chizhou Coal Mine Company.

The prosperity of the steel industry and the rise and widespread use of private briquettes have led to a sharp increase in the demand for coal in the market. Although official capital has invested in the construction of a large number of coal mining companies, such as Jiangxi Pingxiang Coal Mine, Anlu Huainan Coal Mine and Hebei Luanzhou Coal Mine , several large coal mines in Liaodong, and Annan Guangning Coal Mine in overseas territories, etc., but coal is still in short supply.

At the same time, the Great Chu Empire did not restrict private capital from entering the mining industry, not to mention the mining industry, even the iron and steel industry. If you have money, you can do it.

Compared with iron and steel, smelting and other industries, the technical requirements are high, and the investment is very different. The investment in small mines is controllable, and the technical requirements are not too high. degree of coal.

This has also led to a large number of coal companies in Huaxia, and a considerable number of small coal mining companies are invested and operated by private capital.

Chizhou Coal Mine Company is such a small mining company. They operate a small coal mine in Chizhou Prefecture, and also own several small coal mines in several nearby prefectures and counties.

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The overall market value is not high, but Lilan is not low. After all, the coal business is still very profitable these years.

The small-scale mining industry, shipbuilding industry, and small and medium-sized machinery industry are the best fields for domestic private capital to enter the heavy industry. Other industries are too suitable for private capital to enter, the investment is too large, and the return period is too long.

An Songhua, the general manager of the Chizhou Coal Mine Company, learned that the Royal Institute of Technology had developed a steam engine, so he wanted to get a few steam engines back for pumping water in his coal mines.

The several coal mines of the Chizhou Coal Mine Company are all mines that need to be excavated, and there is water seepage... They have spent a lot of manpower and material resources on drainage, but the effect is not good.

Moreover, if the pumping capacity is not enough, it will be difficult to carry out large-scale coal mining operations, and at the same time, a lot of coal will not be dug out.

If the coal cannot be dug out, all that is lost is money.

And An Songhua is also a person with courage and a strong ability to accept new affairs. He was the one who persuaded his old father and several uncles to spend a large sum of money to bid for the mining rights of these coal mines, thus into the coal mining industry.

It is expected that the demand for coal will increase sharply, and the coal market is looking good.

Now, after seeing the steam engine, he also wants to build a steam engine to pump water.

For this reason, after he learned that Dangtu Machinery Co., Ltd. had obtained the patent authorization of the steam engine and was preparing to produce the steam engine, he immediately went to the door to prepare to place an order.

And Dangtu Machinery Company also pays more attention to the orders of Chizhou Mining Company. After all, this is the first mining company to take the initiative to come to the door.

As for the others, either the news is not well-informed and they don't know, or they just want to wait and see for the time being.

After all, the steam engine is a new thing. You don't need to ask to know that the price must be very expensive, and the cost of maintenance and use will not be low, and the overall risk is relatively high.

However, Chizhou Coal Mine Company came directly to the door, which is equivalent to sending a start-up order.

You know, at this time, Dangtu Machinery Company has not even figured out the process of producing steam engines, and the factory building has not yet been seen...

In order to show respect for the first customer, Dangtu Machinery Company said on the spot that it could give Chizhou Coal Mine Company a [-]% discount on the order of five steam engines, and promised to provide free operation training, free technical support for at least three years and Warranty service for core components within three years.

Warranty, this thing is not common in contemporary industry, generally only appear in some special industries, such as expensive large-scale equipment, especially some core components of hydraulic mechanical equipment, will have warranty service.

As for ordinary goods, even some ordinary machinery and equipment, it is popular these days to pay for them and deliver them at the same time. As for after-sales service, it is impossible.

If it's broken, you can fix it yourself, or ask me to fix it... As for repairing it for free, it's a good idea...

But for a new thing like a steam engine, it is foreseeable that there will be a lot of failures after actual use. If it does not provide maintenance guarantees, it is estimated that no one will buy it. In addition, the steam engine is originally an expensive large-scale machine. Equipment, so Dangtu Machinery Company decided to pay extra costs to provide certain warranty services.

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According to the test prototype (watt type) given by the Royal Institute of Technology, Dangtu Machinery Company estimates the manufacturing cost of a 250-horsepower steam engine based on the production cost of each component and its own comprehensive assembly cost. It costs three or four thousand Chu Yuan, even if it doesn't make any money, it will cost more than four thousand Chu Yuan, and the minimum price for each horse is at least [-] Chu Yuan.

This cost is quite high... You must know that the total assets of many small factories are not four thousand Chu yuan!
As for a water-powered device that can provide a stable supply of [-] horsepower, the cost of the machine itself, the cost of installation, and even the cost of the diversion canal are about [-] Chu yuan.

The cost per horse is around [-] Chu Yuan.

And in places where the terrain is convenient, for example, there is no need to dig aqueducts, and water power resources are abundant, the overall cost of erecting hydropower equipment is even lower, and the cost per horse can be reduced to twenty or thirty Chu yuan.

This is also the reason why factories these days like to build factories near rivers, especially in places with abundant water power.

With the current manufacturing cost and high price of steam engines, it is actually very difficult to popularize such an expensive thing.

Not to mention that the maintenance cost in the future is also not low.

Although the maintenance cost of hydrodynamic equipment is quite high, it is not as costly as a steam engine!

To put it simply, if the current textile factory uses a steam engine for production, even if the steam engine itself is given to him for free, the textile factory will lose money to grandma's house... It was discussed in the internal meeting of the Ministry of Industry. From the perspective of the textile industry, if you want to The use of large-scale use of steam engines is also profitable, and it is optimistically estimated that it will be ten years later.

Before that, don't expect the steam engine to enter the textile industry or other similar industries that have extremely strict control over production costs.

Chizhou Coal Mine Company ordered steam engines out of its own urgent needs, this is just an example.

Therefore, Dangtu Machinery Company also attaches great importance to it, and even sent technicians to the coal mine of Chizhou Coal Mine Company for on-the-spot investigation to understand the actual needs of the coal mine and the environment for installation and use, so as to improve the steam engine, and finally design a usable steam engine pump.

The technical information that Dangtu Machinery Company obtained from the Royal Institute of Technology is only the steam engine itself. After all, the steam engine project team of the Royal Institute of Technology only plays with the steam engine itself. As for the specific application design of the steam engine, it is not within the scope of their research.

If you want the steam engine to pump water quickly and more, the structure is stable and reliable, and the cost is not high, this requires Dangtu Machinery Company to work hard and study.

Dangtu Machinery Company, which has a start-up order for five steam engine pumps, is very optimistic about the steam engine project internally and has great confidence.

They believe that although steam engines are expensive and costly to maintain and use, they still have great application value in specific industries, such as the mining industry, especially coal mines.

The second is the machinery industry in areas lacking water power resources. There is no water power machinery available in these places. If you want to obtain high-horsepower mechanical power, you can only use steam engine power.

Finally, there are some high-margin machinery industries that have a high demand for high horsepower and high power stability. In order to obtain greater horsepower and more stable power, they would rather pay high costs, such as those arsenals, Especially the artillery factory.

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Their demand for power seems to be endless, which can be seen from the exaggerated super-large hydrodynamic equipment they built... Nima, the artillery factory under the Dangtu Armory next door, in order to process the barrel quickly and stably, customized A series of large-scale equipment such as super-large boring machines, cranes, and furnaces have been installed, and a considerable amount of power is required to drive these large-scale equipment.

In order to meet the power demand, the hydrodynamic equipment they created is very exaggerated...

In fact, this has also spurred the rapid development of the hydropower industry. From the most developed primitive waterwheels to waterwheels with more optimized structures, and now to the water turbines that have begun to be applied on a small scale, the hydrodynamic equipment is actually in the Continuous development and continuous improvement.

However, hydrodynamic equipment is inseparable from the natural defects of water flow, which is destined to have huge limitations in application.

Mining, areas lacking water and power resources, and Gaolilan industry, which requires high-performance and stable power, are all potential application markets estimated by the senior management of Dangtu Machinery Co., Ltd.

Once opened, the steam engine project will be on the right track, and after large-scale mass production, the cost of production and R&D will be continuously reduced and diluted through large-scale production, especially after companies in the upstream supply chain also reduce costs. Then the production cost of the steam engine may be reduced to hundreds or even tens of yuan per horse.

By then, more industries will be able to afford steam engines.

With the scale of the huge industrial system of the Great Chu Empire, once the steam engine is fully used on a large scale, the market size is almost unimaginable.

But if you want to eat this huge market in the future, it seems to lower the cost!
If you want to lower the cost, you have to pry out several key industries such as mining.

And if you want to pry out the needs of these key industries, then the product quality must keep up.

For example, the steam engine pump required by mining enterprises, in addition to the steam engine itself, the pumping equipment must also keep up.

Then they are also preparing to make steam engine tractors to make it easier for mining companies to pull coal mines out of mines.

Many potential application scenarios require them to ponder and develop corresponding technologies.

You can't just give a steam engine, and then let the customer make the rest.

Daye Machinery Company sells water power machinery and equipment, and at least it will provide technical support to assist customers in building a series of supporting equipment such as aqueducts and power transmission equipment.

If the steam engine equipment of Dangtu Machinery Co., Ltd. wants to be recognized by the customer, and it is still used when the customer has no experience in use or even no reference object, it is necessary to provide operation training, equipment installation, supply and installation of supporting equipment, etc. A range of services.

In short, the customer's mentality is to just pay the money, and you have to take care of the rest.

Otherwise, if you just give me a steam engine, I won't be able to use it.

Under such circumstances, Dangtu Machinery Co., Ltd.'s first steam engine research and development project did not develop core technologies such as better coal consumption and higher power, but focused on a series of supporting equipment. on the device.

Especially pumping equipment.

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Dangtu Machinery Company plans to use the steam pump for mines as its main product, and promote its use to a large number of mining companies in the empire that need to pump water.

It's just that even if the design and production go well, it is estimated that the first steam pump will not be produced until next spring.

Prior to this, Dangtu Machinery Company took advantage of the advantages of close distance and close relationship to find the Royal Institute of Technology and purchased two sets of prototypes from the steam engine project team to conduct early tests of various supporting equipment.

The work of Dangtu Machinery Company is one of them. In fact, Tianjin Machinery Company and Guangzhou Machinery Company are not far behind. They are all mobilizing a large number of technicians and funds to prepare for the steam engine project.

Making money or not making money is second to none. They will do it even if they lose money. The key is to get enough political capital.

And this kind of system that must be forcibly launched at all costs is also the main purpose of the Great Chu Empire to establish government-run enterprises.

A lot of things are related to a century-old project, and the R&D and production tasks of national development can only be achieved by relying on the attitude of official capital regardless of the cost, even if it is at a loss!

Count on private capital?People ignore you when there is no profit in the short term!
Pure capital is short-sighted and greedy. If it is not restrained, it will have extremely serious negative consequences for the economic system and even the entire society.

However, it is impossible to directly ban capital completely, because capital can also make the economic system run more smoothly and provide assistance for social development.

And Luo Zhixue's approach is to lock capital in a cage... On the one hand, establish a sound financial system, and use numerous and complicated laws and regulations, and various restrictions to prevent capital from getting out of control.

More importantly, the government went directly to the market, manipulating a large amount of capital to guide the operation of the economic system.

When the capital is controlled by the government, then the capital becomes a toothless tiger, and it can cut meat from time to time to feed the people.

The use of official capital to invest in heavy industry and various advanced technologies is an important manifestation of it.

It is unreliable to rely solely on private capital for the research and development of steam engines, and even to promote the application of steam engines on a large scale in this era. However, considering the important strategic role of steam engines in the development of industrialization, it must be done.

At this time, the importance of official capital is reflected.

Regardless of cost, momentary gains and losses, and even the interests of the capital itself do not matter, everything only serves the interests of the empire. This is the biggest and most important characteristic of official capital, and it is also the fundamental reason why Luo Zhixue values ​​official capital.

The three major machinery companies have begun to show their talents and are ready to spend money on the steam engine project, which has naturally attracted the attention of related domestic industries.

There are many coal mining companies or other enterprises that have the same situation as Chizhou Coal Mine Company.

It can even be said that most coal mining companies will have this demand, and most of them also have the funds to purchase steam engines. At the same time, because of their own coal production, the cost of using steam engines is low enough.

All of this is given to various mining companies, especially coal mining companies, who are very interested in steam engine pumps.

When the Chizhou Coal Mine Company placed the first order, other coal mining companies followed suit. Of course, most of them ordered one or two to test the waters.

They still have to see if this thing really works.

If the steam pump can play its due role in the actual use process, then with the size of the contemporary coal industry and abundant capital reserves, the rapid application and even popularization of the steam engine can be detonated in minutes.

In this regard, the three major machinery companies are looking forward to it, and Luo Zhixue is also looking forward to it!

Once the opening scene of the steam engine application is opened in the coal mine, it can be declared that the Great Chu Empire has entered the middle stage of the industrial revolution: large-scale application of steam engines!

To some extent, the large-scale application of the steam engine is more in line with the impression of the first industrial revolution in later generations... Although it is not, it does not prevent people from thinking this way.

But these are not important, the important Great Chu Empire is about to usher in a big industrial explosion, and this outbreak will not only bring about changes in industrial production, but also huge changes affecting all aspects of the entire society!
I want to be emperor