Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Since the implementation of the honor system for craftsmen, many craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty have received honors and some have even been granted hereditary titles.

Most of these people have mastered a set of skills and are granted the status of engineers.

The one with the highest status among them is Lu Xiang, who has now become a hereditary viscount and is also a top-grade engineer with the honor of the fourth rank.

Bo Jue's lordship was slightly lower than his, but he was also one of the group of people following closely.

The two of them took the initiative and quickly gathered senior engineers from various government offices to exchange non-confidential information.

Seeing so many craftsmen gathered together, Lu Xiang said happily:

"I was busy with research before and didn't communicate with everyone."

"The last time I met with the emperor, he mentioned that the workers in Suzhou had organized a labor association and were evaluating the grades of craftsmen."

"According to the Emperor's wishes, the junior and intermediate craftsmen of levels one to six will be evaluated by the Employment Association itself. Senior craftsmen of levels seven to nine will also require the participation of the Engineers Association."

"You are all famous engineers in Ming Dynasty. The work of the Engineers Association still needs your efforts."

When the craftsmen heard this, they all had joy on their faces.

He was even more envious of what Lu Xiang said about having an audience with the emperor.

Since Xu Gao of the Jiajing Dynasty, there have been very few craftsmen in high positions. Lü Xiang is favored by the current emperor and is likely to restore the status of craftsmen.

Moreover, this restoration was not just Lu Xiang's job. The emperor established the honorary rank of craftsman, obviously intending to promote a large number of people.

The future craftsmen will have a place in the imperial court, especially since they control the Shaofu Temple. Even if they are suppressed in the future, they will have a stable base.

The Engineers Association is one of the associations established under the leadership of the Shaofu Temple. They had previously been listed in this association, and some of their people were sent to North Korea to assess the grades of North Korean craftsmen.

Now, the emperor asked the Engineers Association to communicate with the Employees Association, which was obviously to cultivate reserve talents for engineers. They all thought it was a good thing and expressed their support.

Another craftsman said:

"Our Engineers Association has a branch in Korea, and we should also set up branches in other vassal states and regions."

“Even if it cannot be rolled out in a short period of time, it should at least be established in various provinces.”

"An important prefecture like Suzhou Prefecture should be established first."

"In the future, we should set up levels like the imperial examinations, and strive to make it possible for craftsmen to have the ability of engineers and obtain the status of engineers after they reach level nine."

These words made everyone applaud, and they believed that the imperial examination system should be imitated.

Why have civil servants always been so powerful? Isn’t it because the imperial examination system continuously cultivates talents?

If craftsmen want to remain prosperous, they also need to study for the imperial examinations and create an examination for craftsmen.

Now that the emperor has given the right to evaluate senior craftsmen to the Engineers Association, this is their opportunity.

As the leader of the group of craftsmen, Lu Xiang had to shoulder this responsibility whether he was willing or not.

Seeing everyone looking at him expectantly, Lu Xiang pondered for a moment and said:

"Graded examinations should be conducted, but our craftsmanship is not just about talking, nor can it be done by pen alone."

"We still need to formulate a plan for how to conduct the assessment."

"I think we can let Wensi Academy explore this issue and allow high-level craftsmen with potential to come to Beijing to receive training in the academy."

"You should stop hiding it and write teaching materials to spread the technology."

"I have already made an appointment with Sir Bo to work together to compile a textbook specifically on firearms design."

Everyone knew that Lu Xiang and Bo Jue achieved their current status by designing firearms. Upon hearing this, they immediately applauded and wanted to take a look at their secret skills.

However, many people still have doubts about Lu Xiang's suggestion to write teaching materials, because most of them want to pass on the technology to their sons or disciples to maintain their own and their family's status.

The reason why Lu Xiang and Bo Jue did not have this worry was that most of their skills were self-taught, and now they had hereditary titles.

The two did not think that those simple techniques needed to be kept secret, nor did they think that their descendants would lose their status if they did not have the techniques. So they were naturally open-minded and willing to pass them on.

Especially since Bo Jue was a scholar, he was very keen on writing books. After Lü Xiang mentioned this matter, he planned to learn from Zhao Shizhen, who was posthumously awarded the title by the emperor, and write a textbook on firearms.

In the future, all talents who design firearms in the Ming Dynasty must study this book.
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After talking about some matters between the craftsmen and officials, Lu Xiang saw that everyone's expressions had relaxed, and said:

"The foundation of our engineers is technology. This time we gathered everyone together to hold a technical exchange meeting."

"If anyone has any problems, as long as they are not confidential, please raise them and discuss with us."

"As the saying goes, 'One person's plan is short, two people's plan is long'. Maybe when one person is in trouble, another person may come up with a solution and easily solve the problem."

"Such meetings should be held regularly in the future. Sir Bo even gave it a name, 'Zhuge Meeting'."

Everyone burst into laughter when they heard this, obviously they had all heard the saying "three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang".

Named after the famous Zhuge Liang, everyone feels very encouraged.

Someone immediately said:

"Since Lord Lu has said so, I will throw out some ideas to discuss this issue."

"Our printing institute follows the principle that the lord has drawn from the window frame, and we continue to subdivide the plates and study movable type printing."

"The problem now is that the finer the sections are, the easier it is for gaps to appear in the middle. And it's easy to get out of alignment, so the printout won't be neat."

"Especially when filling in the blanks, it can be clearly seen."

"All newspapers have reported this issue and asked us to study how to make the layout more detailed and avoid discrepancies."

"Do you have any good ideas? Has anyone encountered similar problems?"

Some of the many craftsmen knew nothing about printing, while others knew it very well.

For example, although Lu Xiang turned to the development of firearms after reaching this stage of research, he could understand the questions raised by the engineers of the Printing Research Institute as soon as he heard them.

However, he did not say much, but allowed these craftsmen to discuss freely.

In the end, the result of everyone's discussion was the same as what he thought, which was a problem of accuracy.

At this time, Lu Xiangcai said:
"The problem of precision is not limited to the printing industry. Weapon manufacturing has even stricter requirements."

"In order to solve this problem, the emperor ordered the invention of the vernier caliper and micrometer, which greatly improved assembly efficiency."

"If the small parts of the weapon can be assembled perfectly, your printed version will be no problem."

"Write an application later and bring a few sets of tools with you when you return to see if you can solve the problems you encounter."

As he spoke, he remembered another thing and reminded:

"The Emperor once said that the font and size should be determined."

“You can measure the length and width of various fonts and font sizes and develop a set of standards.”

"This way, when we fill in the characters, we have a standard, instead of making them abruptly bigger or smaller."

The engineers from the Printing Research Institute nodded repeatedly after hearing this, thinking that Lu Xiang was worthy of being the senior who set up the Printing Research Institute and had easily solved their difficult problems.

And that's not all. Lu Xiang revealed another piece of news that made them feel a sense of urgency: "When the emperor sent Sun Duwei to the West, he ordered him to collect printing machines in the West."

"The emperor mentioned this matter some time ago, saying that Captain Sun had been gone for two years and should be back soon."

"After Commander Sun brings back the printing machine, you must work hard on your research and try to make Ming's own printing machine."

"I have communicated with missionaries, and they said that many of the printed materials in Thailand and the West were printed with movable type. Their accumulation of movable type printing technology has surpassed ours."

After hearing these words, the engineers at the Printing Research Institute felt a sense of urgency.

Because their method of dividing the large version into small versions, the ultimate goal is to subdivide the small version into movable type. Then the movable type is recast into woodblock printing, completing the integration of movable type printing and woodblock printing.

Lu Xiang has already completed most of the work, and the only thing left is the step of patient subdivision.

Now the goal of the Printing Research Institute is to complete this step and obtain the emperor's reward.

But if the machine brought back by Sun Yuanhua got there first, their work would be in vain.

If they made the printing press by imitating the printing machines of the West, how could they be awarded the title?
Therefore, these engineers decided to step up research and development after returning, and strive to complete hybrid printing before Sun Yuanhua's delegation returned.

At this time, Zhang Tao from the Gunpowder Research Institute said:

"How do you print pictures in your printing house? What kind of paper do you use?"

"Can you print out the complete image on the film?"

"The Emperor asked us to use collodion to study photographic film. He said that by adding some silver bromide, it can sense the intensity of light and leave an image, which can then be printed on photographic paper."

"We have developed this film, but we are still exploring silver bromide and have no idea about photographic paper."

"Will you print all the papers that don't have this, or help us do experiments?"

This statement was incoherent and many people couldn't understand it.

However, Bo Jue, who jointly developed firearms with the Gunpowder Research Institute, understood some of it.

Thinking about the optical research institute he had just established, he said:

"I think we should leave this matter to our Institute of Optics."

"You can help the gunpowder factory and the printing house to avoid distraction."

"What's going on with this film? How far have you researched it?"

Zhang Tao said with some satisfaction and some headache:

"The emperor likes cotton wool and plastic very much, and he made us make a lot of small things."

"Especially the pipa and guzheng plectrums made for Consort Li, they have many styles and are very colorful."

"Once we made a colorless and transparent pick, and the emperor asked us how the film was progressing and when we could leave an image?"

"We are only good at collodion. We don't even know what silver bromide is. It would be great if you could take over."

He readily transferred this research project to Bo Jue, and did not intend to let the Gunpowder Institute spend too much energy on it.

But Bo Jue was very happy when he heard it, because his Institute of Optics was engaged in the research of optical instruments.

What made him particularly excited was that he heard Zhang Tao talk about making transparent film. Isn't this exactly what he was looking for?
So he hurriedly asked:
"What is the light transmittance of the transparency film?"

“Can you build a telescope?”

"I heard that cotton wool is easy to process. Wouldn't it be easy to make lenses?"

It's easy to think of plastic lenses as a possible turning point.

However, Zhang Tao's answer made him feel cold, and he knew that he was still far from solving the problem.

I only heard Zhang Tao say:

"Film is not durable. It will change color and deform over time. It is also not wear-resistant and is very easy to crack."

"Even if it is processed into a lens, it won't last long."

"If you want to use it to make a telescope, you need to develop better plastics."

This is well said, because even in later generations, plastics have not completely solved this problem and need to be coated to last longer.

Bo Jue's desire to use plastic lenses now is really too advanced.

However, he still did not give up and planned to study it. In particular, Lu Xiang mentioned one thing, which made him firm in his determination:

"Can the film still transmit light when it's thicker? Can you see the dial clearly?"

"If possible, put it on the clock. The cost should be lower than processing glass."

Zhang Tao didn't know much about watches, but the engineers from the Imperial Household's Watch Workshop were very excited when they heard about it.

He hurriedly communicated with Zhang Tao and told him what transparent film he needed.

After learning that film was very easy to process, they planned to use it on pocket watches first to further reduce the cost of pocket watches.

Someone else heard that the Imperial Household Supervisor had a problem with the watch mirror and said:
"I don't need to be that demanding when I look at the mirror of a watch."

"When you wear your watch inside out like I do, the glass on the dial will hardly get scratched."

"You wear your watch outside and bump into it frequently, so it's easy for it to have problems."

He raised his hand and showed everyone the watch he was wearing on the inside of his wrist.

He also told everyone about his experience of wearing the watch, which is to wear it on the non-dominant hand that is not often used, so that the watch is rarely bumped and the chance of problems is reduced.

Everyone nodded in agreement, and even the engineers in the watch workshop were enlightened and thought that this issue should be considered.

He planned to do an experiment when he got back to see if the glass dial would still break easily if placed inside.

The engineers in the watch workshop were very happy after finding two directions for improvement.

Lu Xiang and Bo Jue were also very happy because this solved one of the target problems.

Now, they and many craftsmen think that Zhuge will be very good. In the future, everyone should strengthen communication and solve the problems encountered in the research.

Of course, there are also people who attend the conference not for communication but to show off.

As a senior engineer of the Imperial Household Supervision Bureau, Xu Sen was invited to attend the meeting. He seemed to be communicating and showing off:
"I have also encountered problems in developing firearms."

"Many soldiers said that although my musket can fire continuously, it is not powerful enough."

"If it's powerful enough and too big, the ammunition capacity will be reduced."

"Can your gunpowder laboratory develop a new type of ammunition specifically for revolver muskets?"

"This revolver is not as hopeless as some people say. Many officers and soldiers like it."

"The cavalry in Liaodong urged me to design a revolver cavalry gun for use in next year's war!" (End of this chapter)