I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1031 Nine methods, but only one is enough
Wang Qian is very grateful to Yin Zhengmao, the "Lord of the Nation," for leaving behind such a substantial legacy, which made his work exceptionally easy.

Yin Zhengmao made many plans for the future of Luzon. No matter which path the court chooses, and no matter which path the people of Luzon choose, they will eventually move towards a path of integration between the two places, rather than going their separate ways.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the northern part of the Liao Dynasty was mainly inhabited by Khitans, while the southern part was mainly inhabited by Han Chinese.

Faced with this situation, Yelü Deguang, the second son of Yelü Abaoji, had a sudden inspiration and chose a political concept of "the Northern Court not managing the people and the Southern Court not managing the soldiers," and began to implement it.

At that time, the conflict between the north and south of the Liao Kingdom was not particularly intense. Although their lifestyles and customs differed, there was not much division in terms of warfare, taxation, culture, and so on.

Emperor Taizu of Liao, Yelü Abaoji, called himself Liu Yi, adopted the surname Xiao for his empress's family, and took the initiative to Sinicize the Khitan people.

But Yelü Deguang suddenly had a brilliant idea and destroyed the system that his father had painstakingly established and gradually integrated.

After the political concept of "the Northern Court does not concern itself with the people and the Southern Court does not concern itself with the military" was implemented, the entire Liao Kingdom was completely divided into two parts, one in the north and one in the south, and even the bureaucracy was governed by two separate systems.

The Northern Court selected officials based on their lineage; those who were not Khitans or Khitan nobles could not become officials. The Southern Court, on the other hand, operated under a system similar to the imperial examination system of the Northern Song Dynasty.

In Yelü Deguang's vision, the Northern Court would be responsible for fighting battles, while the Southern Court would be responsible for governance, ensuring that both civil and military achievements would be outstanding!

However, the outcome was beyond Yelü Deguang's expectations, resulting in a situation where civil administration was ineffective and military strength was weak.

The reason why civil administration is not working is simple. These selected scholars are all outstanding individuals. If they control civil administration, they control the economy. Once they have economic status, they will inevitably seek political status. They simply cannot accept having a Northern Court above them, especially a bunch of fools who are pointing fingers at them.

However, the Northern Court controlled the military, while the Southern Court could only accept its jurisdiction, which directly caused the bureaucratic system to fall apart and collapse.

The reason why their martial arts skills are not good is simple. First, military talent is not inherited by blood. The so-called nobles in the North Court have no talent, no ability, no training, and many of them can't even ride a horse. Second, the South Court did not provide food and supplies during the war.

The Northern Court, which ignored the people, needed the full cooperation of the Southern Court during the war. Without their cooperation, the war would have been impossible to win.

The solution to this problem is simple: just avoid war, right?

After the Treaty of Chanyuan, the Northern Song and Liao dynasties enjoyed a century of peace. However, due to the equally decadent military equipment of both countries, they were eventually defeated by the Jin dynasty, which captured both the Liao emperor and the two Northern Song emperors and took them to Huanglongfu.

The sudden inspiration of a fool like Yelü Deguang was far more destructive than the carefully planned conspiracy of a treacherous minister.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, Qin Hui also proposed the political concept of "Southerners governing the South and Northerners governing the North," which was exactly the same as Yelü Deguang's idea.

Qin Hui's idea was adopted by Emperor Gaozong of Song and implemented for a period of time.

When Emperor Gaozong of Song wrote to the emperor of Jin, he said, "Your subject Gou said that today we have come to draw up the borders." This meant that he no longer considered the north to be lost territory of the Song Dynasty, no longer pursued the return of the old capital and the recovery of lost territory, and no longer recognized the northern people as subjects of the Song Dynasty.

At that time, there were countless uprising forces in the enemy-occupied areas of the north. These were all products of Yue Fei's "connection with Hebei" and were also the greatest source of confidence for Yue Fei's Northern Expedition. The people's hearts were at stake.

They connected with the Hebei region, united with the anti-Jin resistance forces north of the Yellow River, and coordinated with the Southern Song government forces.

Yue Fei dispatched personnel to incite the rebel army in the Hebei region, forming a pincer movement from the north and south. This is how rebel leaders such as Liang Xing and Li Bao emerged in the Taihang Mountains.

Song Gaozong's minister Gou said that Qin Hui's policy of "southerners ruling the south and northerners ruling the north" was tantamount to abandoning all efforts to recover lost territory, not recognizing these remnants of the Song dynasty as belonging to the Song, no longer supporting the righteous army against the Jin, and no longer launching a northern expedition.

Among these survivors was a man named Xin Qiji.

Under these special circumstances, the civil and military officials who went south from the north to join the Southern Song Dynasty were completely unable to be given important positions, and Xin Qiji could only write poetry.

In fact, during the Hongwu era, the Ming Dynasty also faced such a problem, and the North-South Examination Case occurred against this background.

Yin Zhengmao wove a large net for Luzon, trapping everyone in it, including his son Yin Zongxin.

No matter what choice Luzon makes, there is only one outcome: it will become more closely integrated with the heartland of the Ming Dynasty.

Yin Zhengmao had his own reasons for choosing this approach.

Historically, colonies and governorates have tended to disappear quickly once they lose the support of their homeland.

After the Western Regions Protectorates of the Han Dynasty were abolished, they quickly disappeared; the Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty, with the Tang Dynasty no longer supporting it, was buried in the sands of the Western Regions.

During the Ming Dynasty, after the Yongle Emperor opened the seas, the Governor-General of Luzon, the Governor-General's Office of Palembang, and Jiaozhi were successively abandoned and were unable to maintain their own existence.

Yin Zhengmao was not the first Governor-General of Luzon. The first Governor-General of Luzon was Xu Chailao, a native of Quanzhou, Fujian, during the Yongle era.

From a global perspective, Spain is losing its sea.

Felipe launched two expeditions against England, both of which ended in failure. These expeditions depleted the country's resources, and the Spanish viceroyalty lost its support. It had no choice but to either integrate with the local population or find a new ruler.

Even if Spain defeats England, so what? These governorates won't just sit idly by.

During the period when Portugal was embroiled in a royal crisis and Felipe was about to take over as the new king, the governorates of Diu, Algeria, and Mozambique all faced difficulties to varying degrees.

Even after Antonio became king with the support of the Ming Dynasty, these governor's mansions were gone forever.

Yin Zhengmao arranged what he considered to be the best outcome, while the Luzon region also had its own will and slightly resisted this arrangement.

After the welcoming banquet, Wang Qian consulted with Yin Zongxin, and the adjutant generals of the ten battalions of Luzon also gathered together to discuss countermeasures.

Wang Hu had drunk quite a bit of wine, his face flushed, and he said in an unfriendly tone, "What does the imperial court mean by this? Lord Guoxing's body is barely cold, and the imperial court has already sent a big shot to pick the fruit as soon as it's ripe. Isn't that a bit too hasty?"

"Besides, Wang Qian is a good-for-nothing who relies on his father to act arrogantly. If he weren't Duke Wencheng, what would Wang Qian be?"

Xu Zhen patted Wang Hu's arm and said, "Don't talk nonsense. The situation is still uncertain. If you say these things here, it will be easy for others to find fault with you. The key is what the governor thinks. If the governor is willing, we can only follow his orders."

Qian Sanyi of the Valiant Battalion frowned and said with some doubt, "We are all meritorious pioneers. His Majesty has allowed us to enter the Military Academy. Isn't this a great favor? After entering the Military Academy, we will be generals with official titles from the court. We will be Zhaoyi Generals of the third rank, with the position of Assistant General, and we will still be allowed to lead troops."

“We are nominally military commanders in Luzon, but we do not have the official seal of the imperial court. In the end, we are just a bunch of charlatans.”

Zhou Yantai, the deputy commander of the Fenyong Battalion, nodded repeatedly and said in great agreement, "Brother Qian is right, that's what I think too."

Some were unhappy that the court was reaping the benefits, some wanted to observe further, and some felt that the court's conditions were simply too good to be true, directly elevating them from a detached force to a general of the royal army, which was entirely the court's recognition of their military achievements.

To put it bluntly, even though the imperial court no longer allowed them to lead troops into battle after they graduated from the Military Academy, they still managed to secure hereditary military officer ranks ranging from the third to the fifth grade for their descendants.

Qi Jiguang was originally just a hereditary commander of Dengzhou Guard, a hereditary military officer of the fourth rank.

Xu Zhen, Wang Hu, and Qian Sanyi were all generals of the third rank, while the remaining seven, three of whom were of the fourth rank and four of the fifth rank, were granted titles by the imperial court based on their military achievements over the years.

“The conditions seem pretty good to me.” Another battalion commander, Liu Qiyuan, said with a smile, “I haven’t fought any battles these past few years. I’ve just been expanding Tongrui Town all day long. To put it bluntly, I haven’t done anything. They ruined themselves, and I just picked up the pieces.”

"I think my position as a fifth-rank Wude General and a garrison commander is already quite good."

Liu Qiyuan was a former soldier from Guangzhou. He was getting on in years and had wanted to go back home for many years, but he couldn't leave because of his duties.

Tongrui Town is near Miyan Port. When Yin Zhengmao sent him there, he told him: There is no need to wage war. We can wait for the barbarians to ask for help and then we can kill two birds with one stone.

Liu Qiyuan obeyed orders and carried out his duties. From the beginning, Tongrui Town was a small town with a ten-mile-wide wall, three plantations, less than 30,000 mu of land, and less than 30,000 people. Now, it has a thirty-mile-wide wall, twenty-eight plantations, a full one million mu of land, and 120,000 people. The roads are well-connected, and there is even a local Confucian school.

It was one of the larger Han Chinese towns in the entire Southeast Asia region.

Liu Qiyuan hadn't fought a war in over a decade, except when he did fight against barbarian bandits. He felt he hadn't achieved any merit, yet he received a very high praise from His Majesty: "A skilled warrior has no illustrious reputation." He was then given the rank of General of Martial Virtue and Garrison Commander, both of the fifth rank.

"Luzon was fought and won inch by inch by our old brothers. So many people died, so many are buried far from home, and the court just takes it away like that!" Wang Hu said angrily when he heard Liu Qiyuan say this. "Why?! How can the court be so shameless!"

General Xu Zhen, looking at the noisy crowd, sighed, slammed his hand on the table, and said, "Shut up! I'll ask the governor tomorrow, and then we'll talk. Everyone, disperse."

"When you get back, keep your mouth shut and don't say a word! Otherwise, you'll be court-martialed!"

"I'm doing this for your own good. No matter what the final outcome is, remember this: loose lips sink ships. Keep your mouths shut!"

Xu Zhen waved his hand, telling everyone to get lost.

Looking at the chaotic scene of the ten tigers, each expressing their own opinions, Xu Zhen knew that the imperial decree would definitely be implemented. These ten tigers were practically fighting amongst themselves!

Without a leader, without a backbone, this is what happens. Someone needs to make decisions. Xu Zhen could make those decisions, but he doesn't want to, doesn't dare to, and can't.

Xu Zhen looked worried. He had discovered a problem: the Emperor had never appointed a General of Luzon. This meant that with Yin Zhengmao gone, the Ten Tigers were equal, which explained the chaotic scene.

Xu Zhen was considered the number one among the Ten Tigers based on his military achievements and martial prowess, but he was still just one of the Ten Tigers and could not become the core leader.

"Brother, what do you say? These guys are incapable of anything!" Wang Hu and the others muttered after they left.

Upon hearing Wang Hu's words, Xu Zhen flew into a rage, kicked him, and shouted, "What are you saying? Do you know you're about to die? What nonsense are you spouting!"

"If these people tell what you said to the Governor-General, Governor Wang, and the Grand Eunuch Li Yougong, your head will be ripped off tomorrow!"

"Huh?" Wang Hu was stunned for a moment and said, "This can't be, we're all old brothers."

Xu Zhen sighed, tapped Wang Hu's head, and continued, "Those five battalions of the infantry, are they your old brothers? Liu Qiyuan is getting old, he's eager to return to the Ming Dynasty to retire, and he'll offer your head to the court as a pledge of loyalty. You'll see how powerful that is!"

Wang Hu then felt a bit scared and realized that he had drunk some horse urine and had said something inappropriate while intoxicated.

"What should we do then? Should I take the brothers and run?" Wang Hu was sweating profusely, and his drunkenness had mostly subsided. He immediately shook his head and said, "Where should we run? To the Thirty-Six Mountains of Cebu? How can that be? Would we rather become thieves than officials?"

He can't run away. If he doesn't, he'll still be a hero. If he runs away, he'll be a thief, not to mention there's the risk of a mutiny. Those few retired officers can easily keep him in check.

This is on land, not in the sea.

"Don't drink anymore!" Xu Zhen looked at Wang Hu. Wang Hu was fine when he didn't drink, but he was also a shrewd man. He thought thrice before he spoke and planned carefully before he acted in battle. The title of General Zhenhai was not given for nothing. He had taken down the thirty-six mountain barbarians one by one.

But once he drinks, Wang Hu is no longer Wang Hu; he becomes Wang Han, speaking without thinking, his mouth faster than his brain, daring to blurt out anything. Wang Hu wasn't the only one among the Ten Tigers harboring resentment; even Liu Qiyuan felt the same way, but only Wang Hu voiced it.

"I'll go see the governor tomorrow. Do you think he'll kill you over a few idle words?" Xu Zhen decided to try to save him. This wasn't wartime; Wang Hu's words wouldn't shake the morale of the troops, let alone bring him to court.

As expected, Xu Zhen's fears came true; Yin Zongxin already knew.

"That's just how he is. He doesn't know who he is when he drinks," Xu Zhen explained to Wang Hu. It was only because his own governor knew this; if Wang Qian or Li Yougong knew, it would be even more troublesome.

"He's forbidden from drinking from now on." Yin Zongxin said with a serious expression and a furrowed brow. "I know, the governor and Li Da Dang probably already know."

"I'll go and tell you not to make any moves, otherwise if something happens, I won't be able to handle it."

Yin Zongxin went to see Wang Qian and Li Yougong. Wang Qian remained silent, but Li Yougong waved his hand, seemingly unconcerned, and lightly dismissed the matter, saying that it was normal to have some resentment, and as long as it did not delay the great cause of the imperial court, it was not a crime.

In late May, when the court set a deadline, Yin Zongxin summoned each of the ten tigers to his presence for a heart-to-heart talk before finally sending them back to the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Hu's reckless words could be big or small. If he were to remain calm and obedient and follow the orders of the court, it would be a minor matter of speaking carelessly while drunk and not knowing how to weigh himself. Who hasn't made a mistake before?
But if something happens, Wang Hu's words will be considered as rebellion and disobedience, and he will be unstoppable.

Of the nine methods Wang Qian devised, only this one came up with.

When Li Yougong led the Ten Tigers back to the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yijun was watching a competition at the Bell and Drum Tower of the Imperial Palace on the Huangpu River.

In May, the capital city holds a wine-tasting competition to see who has the best wine in the land. However, due to a celestial event, the emperor ordered the cancellation of the wine-tasting event. Winemaking consumes grain, and the celestial event affected grain production. The court would not issue a ban on alcohol, but it would not encourage winemaking either.

Li Le, the governor of Songjiang, held another competition in Songjiang Prefecture. He felt that wine was not a good thing, as it was too decadent.

The competition in Songjiang Prefecture was about clock design, with five criteria, each worth a maximum of ten points.

"Almost all the clockmakers and workshops from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Songjiang Prefecture, and Yingtian Prefecture participated in this competition, selecting a total of 350 clocks," Li Le introduced to His Majesty, explaining the scale of the competition.

Since Antonio brought the Nuremberg egg clock to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has entered a new chapter in the field of precision manufacturing, with all kinds of clock designs emerging one after another.

These days, the two treasures of navigation are strong liquor and clocks.

Strong liquor was mainly used to dilute fresh water. The navy was the only military unit in the Ming Dynasty that was allowed to drink alcohol, and the imperial estate exclusively supplied them with high-proof liquor.

Clocks, on the other hand, are used to calculate longitude and are used for positioning.

"The first requirement is accuracy. The most important thing for a clock is accuracy. The initial selection requires a five-day cycle difference of less than five minutes." Li Le introduced the first standard. Sixty hours make up five days, and five days make up a week. If the watch runs for five days and the second difference is within three hundred seconds, it can be selected.

The 350 selected clocks were placed under the watchful eyes of a special person at the main hall's bell and drum tower, and then underwent a weekly evaluation. The results were divided into ten levels, with a maximum score of ten. The more accurate the clock, the higher the score.

"The second criterion is reliability. The drops will be made vertically from heights of one foot, three feet, twelve feet, and fifteen feet, and points will be awarded based on the degree of damage and stability." Li Le led His Majesty the Emperor through the first room that was constantly ticking and into the second room.

Nowadays, most clocks are used on ships, where the seas are not calm. The stability of the clocks must be extremely reliable, and the more reliable they are, the higher the rating.

In addition to the drop test, fatigue testing will be added in the future, which involves long-term observation over a year to check for any increase in error.

The observatory's error is less than one second per year, but it would be extremely difficult for an ordinary clock to achieve that. That's why clock towers and drum towers were built in various places to determine the time.

"Hmm." Zhu Yijun nodded with great satisfaction and said, "You have done a very good job. You genuinely want to improve the clock manufacturing capabilities of the Ming Dynasty."

Increasing the stability and accuracy of clocks increases the likelihood of ships returning to port. The safer the ships are, the larger the scale of maritime trade, and the more Songjiang Prefecture benefits, as it is a world trade center.

"The third criterion is practicality; the fourth criterion is innovation and improvement of the old; and the fifth criterion is price." Li Le led the emperor through the entire venue.

Practicality is essentially functionality; every additional function adds to its appeal.

For example, some clocks chime once at the beginning and end of each hour, with a very pleasant sound; others have a bird or a person emerging from inside the clock.

For example, some clocks will jump once every twelve hours to determine the date.

These kinds of functions are varied. For example, Zhu Yijun saw a watch with a mechanical snake on the dial. Driven by gears, the mechanical snake would crawl around once every hour. It was fancy but useless because the hour hand could tell time, but it was very interesting.

Innovation and improvement mainly involve the modification of mechanical structures, such as escapement mechanisms. In the Ming Dynasty, escapement mechanisms were mainly divided into anchor type, I-shaped type, crown wheel, etc. Improvements in mechanical structure help to improve the accuracy of clocks and watches.

The anchor escapement is an improvement on the pendulum, and this type of escapement is more suitable for large pendulum clocks that are placed on the ground.
The I-shaped escapement device is one of the achievements of archaeological research in the Ming Dynasty. It was made by imitating the water-powered astronomical clock tower from the Northern Song Dynasty.

The final price is determined by cost. No matter how accurate or reliable a clock is, how many fancy functions it has, or how innovative its escapement is, if the production cost is too high, even if it is unaffordable for a wealthy family, then it will be penalized.

The bell towers in the main hall, which are super-large and used for precise timekeeping, are like this. Even though the cost of building a bell tower is now very cheap, it still costs hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and daily maintenance requires more than a dozen people.

Even powerful local magnates couldn't afford to build one; only the imperial court could.

After taking a tour, Zhu Yijun was truly amazed. He had no idea that the clock industry in the Ming Dynasty had developed to such an extent.

"Huh, what's this?" Zhu Yijun saw a very strange clock. It had two ears, but the two ears were copper balls in the shape of pendulums. The whole thing looked a bit like a grasshopper.

“A grasshopper clock specifically designed for timekeeping at sea.” Li Le said with a complicated expression, “When Grand Secretary Shen was still in Songjiang Prefecture, he offered a reward of 50,000 taels of silver, hoping to gather ideas to create a more accurate clock that would not be affected by the swaying of the ship, so that one could more accurately determine one’s longitude at sea.”

"Will this work?" Zhu Yijun asked, looking at the grasshopper clock in front of him.

Li Le thought for a moment, realizing that explaining it would be a bit troublesome and that words alone wouldn't be enough. So he had someone bring over a round table, with a person standing on each side of it. He then fixed the grasshopper clock onto the table and began to shake it left and right and up and down.

Zhu Yijun understood; this thing really wasn't affected by the ship's swaying, and its timekeeping was even more accurate.

The pendulum clock remained the most accurate clock in the Ming Dynasty. Even the escapement mechanism of the bell and drum tower in the main hall was anchor-shaped, so it was truly accurate. However, the pendulum clock could not withstand wind and waves.

This grasshopper clock, which is no more than nine inches tall and no more than a foot long, is essentially a pendulum clock, solving the problem of swinging.

The most ingenious aspect of the pendulum with two ears is that no matter which way it swings, there will be a reaction force on the other side to cancel each other out, so it does not significantly affect the accuracy.

There are still some effects, but it's much better than before.

"Because it uses a pendulum clock, the error is less than three seconds a day and ninety seconds a month, which is already very accurate." Li Le said with a very complicated expression, "The only problem is that it is still not accurate enough and needs to be improved."

Back then, Shen Shixing had a clear stipulation regarding the reward: a ship's clock with an error within two minutes after 60 days of sailing. This clock did not meet the requirements.

Zhu Yijun inquired carefully and learned that the clockmaker had been working on this for seven years, making the grasshopper clock smaller and smaller, but it was always lacking and could not meet the requirements.

"I will allocate three thousand taels of silver from the imperial treasury as a reward." Zhu Yijun greatly appreciated this spirit of research and generously awarded a sum of silver. Although it did not meet the standard, it greatly helped the Ming Dynasty's navigation. Ships equipped with grasshopper clocks were safer than other ships.

Zhu Yijun personally observed the competition, and the results were announced on the last day of May.

He looked at the small object in front of him, and asked with some hesitation, "Why was it able to win the championship?"

The clock in front of Zhu Yijun looked rather simple and unadorned.

"A lever escapement mechanism based on the I-shaped escapement has been improved. The most important improvement is that the mainspring used before has been replaced with a thin steel wire, which allows the clock to be made very small. Now it can be made as small as an egg." Li Le answered His Majesty's question cautiously.

"The mainspring has been changed to a thin steel wire?" Zhu Yijun keenly grasped the key point and understood why this ordinary watch could become a champion.

The master craftsmen of the Imperial Academy once told His Majesty the Emperor that all escapement mechanisms work on the same principle: "Escape" means to seize and lock the movement; "Release" means to release and allow the movement to continue. And any improvement to the escapement mechanism is to reduce the impact of the mechanism on the accuracy of timekeeping.

Undoubtedly, the omnipresent force of gravity means that the heavier the escapement, the greater its impact on the accuracy of timekeeping.

Reducing the weight of a clock can effectively improve its accuracy, while reducing the size of the clock's energy storage device can greatly reduce its weight, thus making the time more precise.

The escapement that was disassembled separately in front of Zhu Yijun consisted of a balance wheel controlled by a thin steel wire, a balance wheel controlling the escape fork, and the escape fork controlling the escape wheel.

Each tightening and loosening of the thin steel wire causes the balance wheel to rotate regularly clockwise and counterclockwise. The escape fork is a lever structure with the fulcrum at the front and two limiters, which allow the escape fork to swing within a limited range. Each swing of the escape wheel is one second.

"Very good. What's the name of this thin steel wire spring?" Zhu Yijun examined the lever escapement in his hand and asked Li Le.

“A fine spring.” Li Le gave His Majesty a clear answer. Compared to the somewhat cumbersome mainspring, the new thin steel wire was indeed a delicate spring.

Zhu Yijun personally inspected the production process of this fine silk.

The mold is about the size of a silver coin. It has two openings. Place the two cut pieces of thin steel wire into the mold, secure them with screws, close the mold, and turn the handle to rotate it. The thin steel wire will then be completely wrapped around the mold.

Remove the wooden handle, take out the coin-sized, finger-thick mold, put it into an iron box filled with alcohol and borax, heat it in a large fire until it is completely red-hot, take out the mold and quench it in cold oil.

After quenching, the mold is disassembled, and the two thin steel wires are still rolled together. They are placed in a new iron box, copper strips are added, and the box is heated again until it is red-hot and then quenched again.

After the second quenching, the double-stranded hairspring is removed, separated with cardboard, placed into a wooden mold, and then the surface residue is rubbed off with a sheepskin towel. A hairspring with a bluish sheen on its surface is then made.

The copper strip is added during the second quenching process to prevent rust, as steel wire is very prone to corrosion, especially in marine environments.

A skilled craftsman can produce hundreds of such hairpins a day; the other items are easy to manufacture.

"Exquisite craftsmanship." Zhu Yijun nodded repeatedly after watching the production process of the gossamer threads.

With the grasshopper clock and lever escapement, the Ming Dynasty could finally shrink clocks to the size of pocket watches.

According to preliminary tests conducted by the Songjiang Prefecture government, the clocks using the new technology have an error of approximately three seconds over sixty days, which perfectly meets the requirements for navigation during the Ming Dynasty.

"Let's not split it equally. Take 50,000 taels of silver from the imperial treasury, 50,000 taels each." Zhu Yijun was very generous. He took out 50,000 taels of silver himself, plus the reward from Songjiang Prefecture, 50,000 taels of silver each for the two inventors of the grasshopper clock and the lever escapement.

Songjiang Prefecture felt that completing the reward was a joint achievement of both families, while Zhu Yijun believed it was of great significance and that the reward had been significantly exceeded.

It's only 50,000 taels of silver; once a ship returns safely, you'll have it.

(End of this chapter)