I want to be emperor

Chapter 645 The Microscope and the Microcosm
The breeding of military horses can be regarded as the largest research and development investment in the animal husbandry of the Great Chu Empire. Not only the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry participated, but the military, especially the army, also participated in the key.

They bred war horses for various types of excellent cavalry, such as Hexi horses and Liaohe horses. They also bred draft horses suitable for artillery and supply troops, and draft horses suitable for use by mountain troops.

Then there are some logistics horses that adapt to extreme terrain, such as horses suitable for use in southern tropical rainforest areas. At present, the horses used by the Chu army in the southern region, mainly in Nanyang Peninsula, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and other regions, are Southwest horses and Hexi horses. As a result of the breeding, the new Southwest horse retains the characteristics of high-altitude dry cold resistance and low-altitude warm heat, strong endurance, short and strong, excellent carrying capacity, and easy breeding, and also improves the horse's physique to a certain extent. .

The new Southwest horse, the average shoulder height of the stallion can reach 1.1 meters, and the carrying capacity is quite good. It can not only meet the mountainous jungle areas of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, but also meet the use requirements after entering the peninsula area. It is a kind of horse in the southern area. Use very good draft horses.

The army troops deployed by the Great Chu Empire in the southwest region depended to a certain extent on this kind of southwest horse... Without the southwest horse, the military deployment of the Great Chu Empire in the southwest region, especially in areas such as Burma, would be greatly affected.

Therefore, regardless of the small character of the Southwest horse, the shoulder height is only 1.1 meters, which is much shorter than the average shoulder height of Liaohe horses of about 1.5 meters. Liaohe horse poor.

The large-scale breeding of military horses has also led to the improvement of the quality of civil service horses. After more than ten years of domestic horse breeding, the horses bred by many domestic horse farms have changed from the previous uniform Mongolian horses or old Southwest horses. Local horse breeds such as horses have evolved into a situation in which Hexi horses and Yidu horses are mainly bred; Liaohe horses and Xinnan horses are supplemented, and many foreign thoroughbred horses are used as embellishments.

This also led to the rapid development of the private horse breeding industry in the Great Chu Empire. A large number of excellent horse breeds appeared in the market one after another and were used in production and transportation, providing sufficient power for the transportation and agricultural cultivation of the Great Chu Empire.

In animal husbandry, the breeding of horses flourished for military needs and transportation needs, while the breeding of other livestock also maintained a very high development.

Such as cattle!
Cattle, this kind of livestock has an extremely important strategic position in the land of China, because in the overall situation of land with many people and little land in the land of China, except for a few northern areas that use horse farming, all other places use cattle farming.

The quantity and quality of cattle are directly related to the agricultural production and food security of the Great Chu Empire.

This is also the reason why the officials of the Great Chu Empire continued to invest in the cultivation of cattle, and set up related cultivation bases in places with different climates and terrains, so as to cultivate cattle suitable for different climates.

Therefore, the cultivation of farm cattle seems to be quiet, but in fact the scale is very large, and the investment resources are also very large, which is no less than the cultivation of horses.

In addition to the breeding of cattle and horses, the animal husbandry research work of the Great Chu Empire also focused on the research and cultivation of economic livestock such as sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, and silkworms.

Among them, sheep are more interesting. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Great Chu Empire conducts key research on sheep, not to increase mutton production or the like, but for wool and to develop the wool spinning industry.

The wool spinning industry of the Great Chu Empire is not developing fast, and the scale is relatively limited for the time being, because the Great Chu Empire lacked wool sources in the early days, and there has never been a large-scale traditional handmade wool spinning industry in the Central Plains.

Due to the lack of wool spinning industry, naturally there are not many wool spinning products. This is also the reason why cashmere fabrics are rarely seen in the development of clothing.

After the Great Chu Empire fully occupied the north, especially the Shaanxi-Gansu region, which had a relatively large number of sheep and produced wool, it also occupied North China, and even further controlled Monan Mongolia.

After obtaining a large number of wool sources, coupled with the demand of the military of the Great Chu Empire to use cashmere to make officer uniforms and coats, a large number of cashmere is ordered every year to make mid-to-high-end military uniforms.

The official capital of the Great Chu Empire, in order to meet the needs of the military for cashmere fabrics, has also successively developed a series of machinery and equipment for the wool spinning industry.

With the supply of wool, the innovation of equipment, and the demand of the market, the wool spinning industry of the Great Chu Empire ushered in a real spring.

The wool spinning industry continues to develop at a high speed. Today, in addition to the extensive use of various wool spinning products in the military, various wool spinning products are also widely used in the folk.

Of course, compared with the cotton spinning industry, today's wool spinning industry is far inferior.

However, it is worth noting that the wool textile industry has a great advantage in export, even compared to the large amount of cheap machine-made cloth produced by the Great Chu Empire, and the export price is very expensive.

This is because the Great Chu Empire adopted a series of new technologies, and the quality of the wool products produced was very good, and its fine cashmere fabric was even top-notch, which could directly hang traditional handmade cashmere from various countries.

Such good things are naturally liked by the upper class in foreign markets, and the price is naturally expensive.

Not to mention foreign countries, even in the Great Chu Empire, this kind of high-quality cashmere fabric is very expensive. Many rich people will wear cashmere products in autumn and winter. Well, this is actually brought up by Luo Zhixue fad.

From a very early age, Luo Zhixue liked to wear fine cashmere jackets in autumn and winter, mainly because silk was too cold, while padded jackets, down jackets, fur coats, etc. he thought were too bulky... they were ugly!

Therefore, unless it is an extremely cold winter season, he would choose a woolen coat for his outerwear in ordinary autumn and winter, which has a certain warmth retention effect and is relatively simple and smooth.

This is purely Luo Zhixue's personal hobby, it's the same as he likes the military uniform of the warlord, he likes to wear it like this...and he is the emperor, no one can control him.

A double-breasted slim jacket, straight trousers, a special military uniform, plus a long woolen coat, white or black leather gloves, long leather boots, and a round hat on the big bald head. Wearing a felt hat with a hard brim, with a knife on his waist, he sits on a tall horse and looks proudly ahead!
This is a typical image of Luo Zhixue that is familiar to the outside world, and it has been like this since the Funiu Mountain period.

Especially on military occasions, such as military parades, when inspecting troops, as long as the weather is not too hot or too cold, he usually wears such clothes, and most of them ride horses. He hardly rides in a carriage or sedan chair, and only rides for inspections or military parades.

For the specific image, you can directly look at the clothes of later generations of warlords... Luo Zhixue matched them according to the clothes of later generations of warlords.

On non-military occasions, he usually wears slim-fit tops and pants similar to military uniforms, and also matches them with woolen jackets and leather shoes.

No matter in military occasions or non-military occasions, the appearance rate of woolen jackets is very high, and you rarely see Luo Zhixue wearing cotton jackets or fur jackets.

Of course, this is also like Luo Zhixue staying in Jinling City. Although Jinling City also snows in winter, geographically speaking, Jinling City still belongs to the south. Although this winter is cold, it is different from the winter in the north. Two different things.

If the Great Chu Empire had its capital in the north, it is estimated that Luo Zhixue would wear a fur coat every day in winter... Otherwise, he would die of cold!

It's a pity that the capital of the Great Chu Empire is Jinling City, which is in the south...so Luo Zhixue can wear a thinner woolen coat in winter that is not too cold.

And Luo Zhixue's hobby quickly influenced the dressing preferences of the upper echelons of the Great Chu Empire in just a dozen years...

When many officials go out, they also learn to wear woolen coats... This is only for civil servants.

As for the generals of the military... people have uniformly dressed like this long before the Northern Expedition, because in the standard autumn and winter uniforms of officers, there are woolen coats in the overcoats issued.

Of course, in the northern army, officers will also be issued thick cotton-padded jackets or down jackets.

Daily wear is different from combat wear.

But on the whole, on formal occasions, the influence of military generals on the public is Yishui's big bald head and woolen long wide coat and long leather boots.

Whether they were civil servants or generals, the dressing styles of the core members of the high society of the Great Chu Empire were greatly influenced by Luo Zhixue.

For example, in summer, Luo Zhixue likes to wear ordinary Confucian clothes...then Confucian clothes quickly became the standard attire for officials of the Great Chu Empire...

For example, in autumn and winter, Luo Zhixue likes to wear a woolen jacket, and a large number of people also like to wear a woolen jacket.

These have directly promoted the rapid development of the wool spinning industry, especially greatly stimulated the demand for high-end woolen materials.

This is also an interesting situation. The rapid development of the wool textile industry is mainly driven by the demand for high-end fabrics, rather than the market for a large number of low-end and medium-end fabrics.

The huge demand for high-end woolen materials has also greatly increased the demand for high-quality wool in the wool spinning industry!

High-quality wool is not so easy to produce. There are certain requirements for length, thickness, strength, etc., and these requirements are finally transferred to the sheep that produce wool!

The main purpose of research institutes in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is to produce a sheep that can produce better and more high-quality wool.

The research on ordinary livestock such as sheep, pigs, chickens and ducks is mainly oriented purely economically, which is why in addition to the direct end of the government, there is also a large amount of private capital involved in the research.

For example, the Shaanxi-Gansu branch of Suqin Textile Co., Ltd., because their business is mainly in the wool spinning industry, in order to compete for the market and produce better cashmere fabrics, they set up a wool research institute to breed new breeds of sheep to produce high-quality wool. wool.

The development of the wool spinning industry in the Great Chu Empire has become the main growth point in the light industry after the cotton spinning industry. In comparison, the silk spinning industry is much worse.

Although silk has always been a traditionally advantageous product in the Huaxia region, it is even more popular when it is exported, and the unit price is also very high.

But it should be noted that the production of silk is very limited, and the limited production is doomed to be just a luxury accessory.

As for the luxury jewelry industry, its role in promoting the development of the entire industrial system is actually very limited, far less than that of cotton spinning and wool spinning, which can target the consumer market of ordinary people.

----

In the winter of Chengshun's 17th year, in Jinling City, Luo Zhixue rarely went out for inspection in the winter. Trip to Zhenjiang.

Zhenjiang is actually not an important industrial city in the entire industrial system of the Great Chu Empire. They don't even have a national-level industrial zone.

But there are several very important companies in the domestic industry in Zhenjiang!

These include Zhenjiang Heavy Machinery Company, Zhenjiang Optical Instrument Company, Zhenjiang Precision Machinery Company, etc.

This time when he went to inspect, Luo Zhixue's main inspection targets were these factories that played an important role in the domestic industry.

Take part in the ceremony where a large steam engine was first used in the heavy machinery industry!
After a long period of R&D and production, Tianjin Machinery Company has finally completed the research and development of large-scale steam engines. The first large-scale steam engine has been disassembled and shipped to Zhenjiang, where it has been installed and debugged at Zhenjiang Heavy Machinery Company.

In the heavy machinery company's factory, Luo Zhixue saw this huge steam engine.

This thing is different from the steam engine in Luo Zhixue's traditional movie impressions. This thing is too big and too complicated. In order to serve this big guy, Zhenjiang Heavy Machinery Company even prepared a semi-open-air workshop for it!
This is a big guy with six cylinders, six large boilers and a complete set of complex power transmission structures!

This thing is actually a power unit put together by three twin-cylinder 32-horse steam engines, and the combined force can make the power reach [-] horses.

It seems that the power is not small, but for its huge size and complex structure, this power is a bit like a big car against a small cannon.

Luo Zhixue stared at this thing, and then thought of the high-pressure steam engine being developed by the Steam Engine Research Institute of Royal Institute of Technology and Guangzhou Machinery Company.

If the high-pressure steam engine can be produced, the size of this [-]-horsepower unit may be directly reduced by ten or twenty times. At that time, there will be no need for such a large factory to install and serve it, and it can be directly made into a locomotive. .

Although there were many thoughts in his mind, Luo Zhixue still gave his appreciation and instructions to the accompanying technicians.

The enthusiasm for research cannot be destroyed. Under the current technical conditions, it is extremely rare to be able to produce such a large steam engine.

Anyway, it is an industrial steam engine, so it does not matter if it is larger in size and weight. Even if the energy consumption is higher, it is not unacceptable to be used in high value-added industries.

After a brief look, Luo Zhixue also watched the scene where they started the steam engine and drove the huge forging equipment for processing.

When Luo Zhixue looked at the big and heavy steam engine, it drove the same huge forging machine to start working. It repeatedly forged and pressed a wrought iron block weighing more than two tons, and finally hammered it into a beam with a length of more than five meters. At that time, I couldn't help but smile.

Regardless of whether it looks good or not, is it stupid or not, but being able to process such large forged parts is the last word!

With this kind of large-scale processing capacity, the research and development and production of various large-scale mechanical equipment of the Great Chu Empire, including iron-ribbed wood-hull ships, can proceed smoothly.

"Very good, I'm glad to see that your hard work has not been wasted, and it has successfully borne fruit!"

"In the follow-up, we must not quit, continue to maintain this spirit of being positive and striving for research and development, and further contribute to the development of my country's basic industries!"

Then he turned to the people of Tianjin Machinery Company and said: "On the large steam engine, it seems that you are already on the right track, but I hope that the steam engine with [-] horsepower is just the beginning, and I hope to see two hundred or even five hundred horsepower in the future." Horsepower, and even steam engines with even greater horsepower appear!"

After Luo Zhixue saw the practical application of the large steam engine, he began to repeat the same old tune, talking about the importance of technological research and development and industrial development to a large group of people.

Although a lot of things sounded like anecdotal talk and had no real nutrition, if you pull out a random report on steam engines, you can basically find similar content.

But the problem is that when such content is included in the report, it is exactly what Luo Zhixue hopes to see.

What he has to do is to continue to express to his courtiers and the industry his optimism about the prospects of the steam engine and his attitude of encouraging and supporting the steam engine industry.

Expressing his opinion on different occasions is Luo Zhixue's main way of supporting the steam engine, instead of personally leading a few engineers to immerse himself in the development of the steam engine...

As long as Luo Zhixue expresses his stance, countless people from all over the empire will work hard for the steam engine.

Just like the previous research and development of the steam engine with low-pressure usability, in fact Luo Zhixue did not personally participate in it too much. Except for the early theoretical foundation, the follow-up Luo Zhixue basically showed his attitude to influence the officials under him. Increase investment and emphasis on steam engines.

Most of the other research projects are similar.

After leaving Zhenjiang Heavy Machinery Company, Luo Zhixue went to Zhenjiang Optical Instrument Company on the other side of Zhenjiang.

This Zhenjiang optical instrument company is also the only two companies in the Great Chu Empire that specialize in the research and production of optical instruments.

Another is Hantian Optical Company.

Hantian Optical Co., Ltd. mainly produces optical products for military needs. Simply put, it is a variety of telescopes... such as various small telescopes used by army generals, and long-tube monoculars used by the navy. Lord, and a serious defense supplier.

Zhenjiang Optical Instrument Co., Ltd. is an optical instrument manufacturing company oriented to the scientific research field. They mainly produce various microscopes and astronomical telescopes. In addition to optical products, they also widely produce various glass products based on their research in the field of glass. Mainly all kinds of glassware products used in scientific research and teaching.

As for ordinary glass products... This thing has been invented long ago, and then quickly spread. Today's ordinary civilian glass is too competitive and the profit is not high.

The Royal Institute of Technology has fully conquered glass manufacturing technology when Chengshun was in the eighth year.

Because the factories in the early Great Chu Empire were basically owned by the Ministry of Industry, and there was no such thing as a patent, and glass was so profitable in the early days that many factories affiliated to the Ministry of Industry were involved in the glass manufacturing industry.

When there are more companies participating in the market, the competition will naturally increase and the profits will decrease.

But Zhenjiang Optical Instrument Company is different. Although they are also engaged in glass products...but they are not for the general civilian market, but for the field of scientific research and teaching. Their glass products are high-precision products, and the price is very expensive.

Among them, the flagship product is the microscope... Their microscopes have basically monopolized the domestic market in the field of microscopic research. If institutions or scholars who study the field of microscopic research do not have a microscope from Zhenjiang Optical Instrument Company on hand, they will not even conduct research. not go down.

Similarly, the microscope products of Zhenjiang Optical Instrument Company directly promoted the rapid development of the Great Chu Empire in the microscopic field!
(End of this chapter)