Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 83 The face of capitalists! (Subscribe)
Zhou Ning looked at Xia Zhibai, his expression slightly changed, and he pointed to the 'steam engine' beside him and said, "Mr. Xia, according to your instructions, the Ministry of Industry has made a steam engine, but the effect is not as good as expected."

“There are a lot of problems.”

Xia Zhibai's heart tightened and he moved to the iron lump beside him.

He noticed it when he came in.

It’s just that I needed to make some things clear and discussed first, so I didn’t mention the steam engine.

He asked worriedly, "Is this steam engine not working?"

"That's not the case." Zhou Ning was stunned for a moment, and then smiled: "It can move, and it can indeed pump water, but the efficiency is not high. To some extent, it is actually not as good as manpower. If Xia Jinshi wants to use this thing to increase salt production, I'm afraid it's unrealistic."

Hear the words.

Xia Zhibai's expression relaxed.

He smiled and said, "As long as it works, it's fine."

"Everything is difficult at the beginning, but once you get started, things will get better slowly."

"If it can move, then it means that my idea is correct and it is indeed feasible. It just needs to be supplemented in other aspects."

"May I ask Governor Zhou if there are any clear omissions?"

Looking at Xia Zhibai's calm attitude, Zhou Ning was in a trance for a moment.

As a minor seventh-rank official, no matter how incompetent he was, he was still an official. He had heard about Xia Zhibai's affairs and thought that Xia Zhibai would be impatient or dissatisfied.

In the end, Xia Zhibai accepted the result with peace of mind.

This attitude of not rushing for success also made Zhou Ning feel relieved.

As an official working in the Ministry of Works, sometimes what I fear most is the orders given by my superiors without any regard for the consequences.

No consideration of the actual situation at all.

Zhou Ning went to the iron lump and patted the shell on it. He heard a dull sound and said, "I have carefully studied the operation of this thing in the past few days and have a general understanding of the operation process. It relies on boiling water to let the water vapor squeeze the rod inside, thereby driving the axle to rotate. This method is used to extract brine from the ground."

"It's just that the water vapor of this thing is running very fast at the moment."

"The axle friction is severe."

"."

Zhou Ning told everyone the problems he had found.

Xia Zhibai listened quietly.

He didn't know much about steam engines.

I only know a general idea, and the specific situation still needs to be improved by Zhou Ning and others.

However, as a later generation, he still has some knowledge. After listening to Zhou Ning's words, Xia Zhibai pondered for a moment, touched the iron lump in front of him, and said thoughtfully: "The iron refined by the court now contains a lot of impurities, and the craftsmanship is not very high, which causes the heat to dissipate quickly and the water vapor is easy to dissipate."

"Also, the sealing of the entire container is not good."

“The overall efficiency is too low.”

As for improving the overall process, Xia Zhibai gave up directly.

Unless he owns an iron mine, it would not be very likely, and iron is a strategic material, which Zhu Yuanzhang would not allow himself to control.

At present, he can only continue to make requests on the existing basis, asking the court to improve the manufacturing process and the overall internal sealing. Before rubber pads, if he remembered correctly, steam engines used lead pads.

Eat your meal bite by bite.

Xia Zhibai said: "Since the steam engine can run, it means that the idea is correct. We just need to keep improving it. The efficiency is low, so we can only improve it as much as possible, at least to a level higher than human efficiency."

“As for airtightness, I recommend using a lead pad first.”

"Lead, if I remember correctly, has good elasticity and plasticity, and will not deform easily even at high temperatures."

talking.

Xia Zhibai looked at the iron lump in front of him, pointed at one of the parts and said, "Or we can make a combination of copper and lead washers to improve the airtightness of the steam engine, so that the high-temperature water vapor can leak as little as possible and improve the efficiency as much as possible."

Hearing Xia Zhibai directly mention "lead pad", Zhou Ning, Li Sheng and others were all surprised.

They discussed this issue many times before coming here, and all of them agreed that the best way at the moment was to use a 'lead pad'. However, the cost of lead was not low, so they had been hesitating whether or not to tell Xia Zhibai about this idea.

Moreover, if Xia Zhibai saw that the steam engine was too inefficient and gave up directly, they would choose not to say anything.

Never thought about it.

Xia Zhibai has seen so much.

I found the right solution directly from what they said.

How could they not be surprised?

Xia Zhibai walked around the steam engine and stopped in front of the shaft. There were obvious traces of friction on it, all of which were very dry and hard friction. One could even see black marks on them, which caused great damage to the machine.

Xia Zhibai pondered for a while and said, "You can apply some lubricating oil on the shafts."

"If possible, the entire machine should be coated with a rust-proof coating"

"Tung oil?"

Xia Zhibai wasn't quite sure.

Zhou Ning and Li Sheng were completely stunned when they heard Xia Zhibai directly say "tung oil".

Xia Zhibai also knows this?
Apart from craftsmen and engineers, few people outside know about tung oil.

Many people only saw the shiny wood on the buildings, and had no idea that they were coated with tung oil. Especially since the world had just recovered from the war, many things were missing. This was normal. Most people couldn't even afford food and clothing, so how could they think about these things? Xia Zhibai was young, only in his early twenties. Logically, he should have been concentrating on studying before, and had no chance to learn about these things.

But now he knows.

Zhou Ning and Li Sheng looked at each other, with a wry smile in their eyes.

The top scholar is worthy of being the top scholar.

Although young, he is knowledgeable, has novel ideas and a wide range of interests.

It cannot be explained by common theory.

If we really judge people by their age, we will probably end up being humiliated.

In a flash, Li Sheng and the others completely put away their contempt and dared not be careless or disrespectful.

Zhou Ning showed respect and asked tentatively: "Mr. Xia, the things you just mentioned are indeed very helpful in improving the efficiency of the steam engine, but they will cost a lot, and the lead pads are easily worn out."

Xia Zhibai waved his hand and said in a relaxed tone: "Isn't money meant to be spent?"

"As long as the money is spent in the right place, it is not wasted."

"I need to consider the money. The only thing you need to consider is how to improve the efficiency of the steam engine as quickly as possible to speed up the extraction of brine, or to make the most reasonable use of fuels such as coal so that salt can be produced as quickly as possible."

"If you have any ideas or ideas for improvement, please feel free to put them forward."

"As long as I can satisfy it, I will try my best to satisfy it."

"but."

Xia Zhibai changed the subject and his expression became stern. He said, "My money didn't come from the wind. I won't buy some unfair money. I have my own requirements and ideas about steam engines."

"When you use this iron lump as a basis to improve the steam engine, you must make careful calculations."

"In particular, the shape, size and other data of each component must be marked in detail. Each component must be as consistent as possible to avoid problems in the future. It is convenient to directly replace the broken parts instead of stopping the machine directly."

"My request is simple."

"Fool-style."

"As long as you have the blueprint, even if the parts are completely scattered and thrown aside randomly, anyone can put them together according to the blueprint."

"And we need parts from other steam engines that can also be used on other steam engines."

“I’m facing a lot of pressure right now.”

"In the future, there will be more pressure, especially in terms of money."

“From now on, people can stop, but machines cannot!”

"This is the bottom line!"

After saying the last two sentences, Xia Zhibai also smiled bitterly. Did he reveal the face of a capitalist?
But he had no choice.

He also wanted to plan everything and start in an orderly manner, but time waits for no one, money is also pressing, and he cannot stop for a moment.

He doesn't want to slow down either.

This world needs to see improvement soon

Zhou Ning looked troubled.

This is not a low requirement.

But he also understood Xia Zhibai's difficulties.

It's impossible to let them do whatever they want. That would be a complete waste of money.

Zhou Ning looked at the people behind him and gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, let's listen to Mr. Xia. However, the steam engine is manufactured by the Ministry of Industry. If there is a deviation in the Ministry of Industry, we can't do anything about it."

Xia Zhibai said: "It's okay."

"I will try to get the Ministry of Industry to provide customization."

"Even if we have to spend a lot of money, we have to get the approval of the officials of the Ministry of Industry."

Zhou Ning nodded.

Since Xia Zhibai has made up his mind.

He would not persuade them anymore. Although it would be much more difficult, it was not a big deal. As long as the steam engine could work in the end, it would be worth their time. Moreover, being able to replace parts at will would also reduce costs.

They had no reason to stop it.

Xia Zhibai will not really set these limits, and will give them some space. He just needs them to wait for a certain period of time and improve the steam engine to a certain degree before he will carry out a clear upgrade, so that the previous machines will not be abandoned all of a sudden.

He doesn't have such a rich family.

Have to pay it back.

Xia Zhibai discussed with Zhou Ning and others and asked them to implement these improvements as soon as possible and then see the specific results. If the results are good, they can ask the Ministry of Industry to produce a batch in advance.

Subsequently.

Xia Zhibai left in a hurry.

He was going out of town, and when he came back he would recruit workers.

　Just two updates today

　　
　
(End of this chapter)