Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 885 A World Transformed Before Our Eyes
Zhang Heling acted as the host, responsible for showing his brother-in-law, father, and a group of ministers from the court around the workshops and production facilities in the industrial park.

Having just experienced a brutal brawl in the capital, and fearing attacks from censors, he was now in high spirits, as if the troubles in the court had nothing to do with him, and that he and his brother were both capable men... It wasn't an act; he was genuinely carefree and didn't care about these things.

"Your Majesty, look here, this is the place where steel is smelted."

Zhang Heling pointed to the huge steelmaking furnace in front of him, "It uses a special formula and a special refining method to extract refined iron. The steelmaking process uses coke made from coal, and the furnace temperature is very high."

"In one go, several thousand kilograms of molten iron can be produced. After casting, the mold can be made... Over there is a machine tool. Through machine tool processing, the mold can be put into production."

Xu Pu had no liking for the ignorant and incompetent Zhang Heling, so he turned his head away and refused to pay any attention to him.

Liu Jian then asked, "What exactly will you produce?"

"They produce a wide variety of things, like building another furnace, or a locomotive, and over there they make railway tracks... The smaller parts are machine tools specifically for making firearms..."

"Huh? Aren't firearms made directly by craftsmen?"

Liu Jian continued to press for answers.

Zhang Heling turned his head to look at his father, as if to say, "You didn't ask me to explain this. Didn't you agree that I would explain and you would just listen?"

Why is there an on-site assessment?
Zhang Luan himself only had a vague understanding of the matter and simply ignored his son's pleading look.

Zhu Youcheng smiled and said, "Modern firearms are made up of small parts, and all parts are interchangeable. One part can be used on different firearms without any loss of performance. To make them like this, special machine tools are needed for processing, and machine tools are manufactured through steelmaking and casting... This is the whole production process."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Mao exclaimed with admiration, "Impressive! First, they use a unique steelmaking technique to create the production tools in one go, and then use those tools to produce smaller parts... This eliminates the need for meticulous manual polishing, allowing them to directly produce the finished product in one go... This model is excellent..."

Liu Jian, however, had a different opinion: "Things made in this way are bound to have many defects. How can anyone make something by hand with certainty?"

"It's really not."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Heling became furious and retorted, "Objects made using this method are extremely high in terms of hardness, toughness, and precision... Hey, you old fool, have you ever seen the finished products? Do you know how they are made? You're just spouting nonsense out of ignorance, relying solely on your mouth, is that all you've got?"

"No rudeness!"

Zhang Luan immediately rebuked him.

Liu Jian got angry as soon as he heard that.

You are a greenhorn who is inexperienced and unreliable. How dare you be so disrespectful to a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet just because you are the emperor's brother-in-law?

It is simply insulting to gentlemen!
With an apologetic smile, Zhang Luan said, "My son was reckless. I hope Grand Secretary Liu will not take offense."

"Humph."

Liu Jian did not respond.

Zhu Youcheng then asked, "How many machine tools can be made in a day?"

"Make a lot."

Zhang Heling said, "I haven't counted the exact number produced. I only know that with machine tools, we can mass-produce firearms. We can produce 300 firearms a day now, and 100,000 a year."

"How many!?"

This number startled the ministers present.

Zhang Heling sneered and said, "Of course it's impossible to make them all year round. This is just one type of firearm. In the future, we can make as many of these as we want!"

"What? You're not convinced?"

Xu Pu, Liu Jian, Wang Shu, and the others present never expected that the Zhang family's transformation of the Ming Dynasty would be so extensive. They accomplished it almost silently, right under their noses.

They were in the capital, unaware that the nearby Western Hills would rapidly develop into such an industrialized town in a short period of time, accumulating a large number of industries.

Zhang Luan casually remarked, "Don't be surprised, everyone. My son only built some means of transportation and firearms to help the Ming Dynasty become rich and powerful. It's nothing special."

Xu Pu glared at Zhang Luan and shouted, "What a fine line... Grand Secretary Zhang, what exactly are you and your son up to? Are you perhaps planning a rebellion?"

Zhang Luan completely ignored Xu Pu, looked at Zhu Youcheng, and said with a smile, "Everything is done according to His Majesty's orders. There are many things that I don't really understand. Every time I come here for a walk, I benefit a lot and am always very surprised."

What?
Even you don't know?

Is this something that the emperor and his brother-in-law conspired to create?
The key point is... it actually succeeded?
In any dynasty, if a minister were to quietly establish such powerful factories, not only privately casting steel but also manufacturing armor and cold weapons, and even creating more powerful firearms, it would be a capital offense of treason.

But rather...

With the current relationship between the emperor and his maternal relatives, everything seems perfectly reasonable.

Zhu Youcheng smiled and pointed ahead: "Heling, take me to the workshop ahead. I want to see for myself how firearms are made."

"it is good."

Zhang Heling was about to lead the way again, but Zhang Luan reminded him, "Your Majesty, there are too many uncertainties in the place where firearms are manufactured, and it is not very safe. Why don't we stop here for now?"

Zhu Youcheng said, "Since we're already here, there's no need to hide anything, is there? As for danger, it's all relative. I rarely come all this way, so why don't you let me broaden my horizons..."

Xu Pu and others tried to dissuade him, but they were also curious about the extent to which the mine, which had only recently been developed by Zhang Yanling, had become industrialized.

Zhang Mao suddenly ran forward and said enthusiastically, "Your Majesty, this old minister will lead the way for you. This way, please."

Everyone looked at them with disdain.

It's as if it's saying, "Old Zhang, you're also feeling a huge crisis?"
Why did you go early?
Don't you bear any responsibility for letting the Zhang family father and son develop to this state without your knowledge?

As the person in charge of the capital's defenses, shouldn't you have reported any problems as soon as possible and, through cooperation with us, nipped the Zhang family's ambitions in the bud?
……

……

The further the inspection team went, the more shocked everyone became.

It seems that only Zhu Youcheng himself came here specifically to verify his thoughts, while others, including Zhang Luan, came to experience the shock.

When you see the assembly line operation, the new firearms being assembled industrially, and the craftsmen temporarily packaging them before taking them to the firing range to verify their reliability, and then having them delivered to the warehouse by a specialist... that smooth manufacturing and inspection process is almost like a thousand trials and tribulations, and everyone involved has come to regard it as routine...

At this moment, they fully realized that the Ming Dynasty had been silently changed by the Zhang family.

Wang Shu walked to Zhang Luan's side, reached out and tugged at Zhang Luan, saying, "Father-in-law Zhang, it's not easy to have achieved such a level in just one or two years."

Zhang Luan laughed and said, "I am just an idle person. It was all thanks to His Majesty's guidance and my son Yanling's assistance that I dare not take credit. Please don't blame me for breaking the rules."

Wang Shu smiled and said, "Isn't it a waste that such a large town is only responsible for manufacturing firearms? We may not need the imperial court's funding for the time being, but what about in the future?"

Zhang Luan was taken aback.

Only then did he realize that Wang Shu hadn't simply come to express his feelings and congratulate him; he had also come specifically to cause trouble for him and his father, only with more sophisticated methods.

(End of this chapter)