Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 459
"Well, good good good good good good good! It really is a hero born a boy, what's your name?"

Standing in front of Yang Chao was a young man who had just turned seventeen. He came to Xinjiangkou when he was 14 and had lived here for three years.

"My name is Song Sanjin."

"Are you from Shandong?"

With a full Shandong accent, Yang Chao guessed it all at once.

Song Sanjin said: "I am from Shandong, how does the governor know?"

Yang Chao laughed and said, "You can hear the accent, how did you get to Nanjing?"

Song Sanjin said: "In the 17th year of Chongzhen, he went south with the governor and the crown prince."

It was that group of refugees who were finally picked out by Yang Chao to pick out the craftsmen and their families, and the ordinary people were resettled in the two prefectures of Huaiyang.

It's hard to imagine that such a kid invented the method of casting cannons in iron molds.

"Tell me how you invented the cast iron cannon."

When it came to casting cannons, Song Sanjin immediately let go of his words. In fact, he thought of this idea shortly after he came to Nanjing.

Because his family is not an ordinary craftsman, but a coin-making craftsman, and his father is a craftsman at the Linqing Money-making Bureau.

What kind of mold is used to cast money?
It is the iron model!

There are thousands of copper coins at a time, but it takes half a year to dry if you can't wait for a clay mold, and the things cast by the clay mold are too rough, and the texture on the copper coins may not come out.

The iron mold is very suitable, not only clearly identifiable, but also a mold can be used many times, saving time and effort.

At that time, it happened that Yang Chao’s fleet transporting cannons sank into the river. Yang Chao asked the cannon casting workshop to increase its horsepower to cast enough cannons as soon as possible. It is just a large number of manufacturing molds, it is impossible to get the cannon out as soon as possible.

Song Sanjin, who was only 14 years old at the time, was assigned to work in a foundry workshop with his father because of his ancestral money casting technology. Song Sanjin was dissatisfied with the long process and low efficiency of clay mold casting technology. I told his father about the way of casting money and casting cannons, but his father scolded him and told him to stop talking, saying that casting cannons can be the same as casting money. His father swore that these techniques were passed down from ancestors Yes, whatever method is used to cast something is dead, let my son not be so ambitious, as a craftsman, he must be down-to-earth and step by step to make good things.

But Song Sanjin was very unconvinced. His father didn't believe him, which made him very sad, so he decided to do it himself.

But one person, no money, no materials, nothing, made him very helpless, and asked many people for help, such as the master craftsman of the cannon casting workshop, who was also scoffed at by others. No one believed that he could cast cannons with iron molds imagine.

Fortunately, Song Sanjin is a coin minter. He knows how to cast money. Private money was not banned at that time, so he secretly used the scrap copper in the workshop to cast private money. Although the quality is not very good, it can always be spent. The private money Turned into iron material, turned into a mold.

But Song Sanjin soon discovered that his idea was indeed very problematic. The first pot failed completely. After pouring the molten iron into the mold, he found that the cannon body and the mold were integrated into one, forming a lump of iron lumps. not open.

The first failure made Song Sanjin widely ridiculed, but he was not discouraged and continued to experiment.

He thought of the oiling method of casting coins, brushing a layer of oil on the mold, and then it will not stick together.

But the cannon still couldn't be taken out, and the overall mold was completely stuck on the cannon body.

Turned over and still the same.

As time passed, his father beat him several times, but Song Sanjin still did it quietly, and he didn't dare to experiment in a big way. He tried other methods, using mud instead of iron to innovate the method, but he still couldn't succeed.

Until one time, he went to the candle shop to buy candles for the Chinese New Year. At that time, the shop was out of stock, so he had to wait at the casting site. After the water has solidified, the mold is separated in the middle and a candle is cast.

This kind of mold that can be divided into two books immediately inspired Song Sanjin, and all the problems seemed to be solved easily.

So he immediately made the last experiment. The two halves of the iron mold were merged together. After pouring, the mold was pulled apart, and the cannon body was taken out very conveniently, and then the iron core was taken out, and the casting was completed in one run.

The iron mold can be cast for the second time immediately, and the time for casting a cannon is only the time for the molten iron to solidify. It is equivalent to making the casting once, and the clay mold for taking the cannon after casting has entered the old era.

But another trouble came for Song Sanjin. The workshop was still unwilling to use his iron mold. The reason was simple. The time needed to cast one iron mold was enough to cast dozens of cannons. The quality of the die-cast cannon, the quality of the cannon is not good enough, Yang Chao's punishment is very severe, so the craftsmen including the inspection must be punished, although it is not as serious as the pervert's direct beheading, but the minimum is half a year, and the maximum is a year The salary was gone. As a cannon-casting craftsman, Yang Chao gave them a very generous salary, ranging from two taels to twelve taels a month, and the master craftsman could even get 20 taels of silver a month.

"Too conservative. Qi Jiangtou, you are the master craftsman of the entire cannon casting workshop, you should be courageous. However, it is also because the supervisor is too rigid, so you dare not innovate. Pass it on, and in the future, all If there is an innovative technology, if it is less than 1 taels, the governor allows you to test it directly, and if it is more than 1 taels, report it to the governor.”

The application of new technology will always be hindered by old technology.

Qi Jiangtou said: "But the governor, if we use iron molds, what about the clay molds we made before?"

Yang Chao said: "Continue casting cannons. The governor wants too many cannons, and as long as the iron mold can be made, the clay mold will not feel bad even if it is thrown away."

Carpenter Qi asked again: "The reward?"

"Give it! Give it right away."

After speaking, he looked at Song Sanjin with a different look. This kid is too capable of tossing around. This guy's drive to do everything possible for technology is definitely the potential of an inventor and engineer, and he must be supported.

"San Jin, you are doing very well. Those who are craftsmen must have your energy. But you can't be complacent, and you will continue to try new technologies in the future. Well, I think you are suitable, you see Let’s see if there are any children like you here who want to play with some new gadgets. You organize them together and specialize in new technologies. If you have good technologies, Ben Du will not hesitate to reward you, and give you 1 taels of silver every year With the funds, you can do whatever you want, how about it?"

"1 taels per year!"

Song Sanjin was taken aback for a moment, he didn't even dare to think about such a large amount of money.

"How about it, do you dare to do it?"

Yang Chao provoked him.

Song Sanjin nodded vigorously: "Dare!"

"Okay, you should have this kind of vigor. How about this, the governor gave you a word, call it aggressive, Song Jinjin! You must remember not to forget the way of aggressiveness."

Song Jinjin was still dumbfounded at this moment, but Qi Jiangtou slapped him on the back of the head, making him stagger.

"You bastard, why don't you thank the governor quickly."

Song Jinjin thanked him immediately.

Qi Jiangtou kicked him again: "Kneel down and kowtow!"

As the master craftsman of the workshop, in fact, Qi Jiangtou has a very good relationship with all the craftsmen, especially craftsmen like the Song family who are honest, responsible, and skilled, and they get along well. In his eyes, Song Jinjin Just like his own nephew, that's why he took the risk of reporting what Song Jinjin had done to Yang Chao, but he didn't expect it to happen.

What Qi Jiangtou didn't expect was that not only did this bastard really get a huge reward, but he also got a gift from Yang Chao. In the eyes of these simple craftsmen, after Nanjing lost the emperor, Yang Chao would be like the emperor. It's the same, so this kind of honor and forgiveness is incredible.

Yang Chao helped Song Jinjin up, he laughed and said, "Jinjin, the governor will send you some books in the future, you should read them carefully."

What Yang Chao planned to give to Song Jinjin was the first six volumes of "Elements of Geometry" translated by Xu Guangqi and the missionary Matteo Ricci in 1606 and printed in Beijing in 1607.

When Xu Guangqi translated the original geometry, he could see that this book has a rigorous logical system, and the narrative method is completely different from the traditional Chinese "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic".

Xu Guangqi recognized this logical system completely different from traditional Chinese mathematics, and believed that "after a hundred years of stealing, everyone must learn it."

Let Song Jinjin, who has the qualities of an engineer and an inventor, accept the rigorous logic system of Western geometry, who knows what can be produced under chemical action, but as long as there is another craft like iron mold casting cannons, it is enough Yang Chao is worth the ticket money.

After using iron molds to cast cannons, Qi Jiangtou estimates that one mold can cast one cannon in three days, ten cannons a month, and one hundred molds can produce a thousand cannons. As for the quality, he can't guarantee it yet. Yang Chao asked him Continue to experiment, and don't adopt new technology immediately. It must be supported by rigorous experiments. This is the attitude that technology science should have.

After leaving Xinjiangkou, I immediately sorted out what I thought and saw, and immediately formulated measures to reward innovation.

Encourage innovation in your own workshop, and allocate 10 taels of silver every year as a fund for innovation. Any craftsman who wants to reform the craft can apply for funding. If the craftsman feels that the innovation is valuable, he can allocate it. For good craftsmanship, Yang Chao will give extra rewards to the craftsman himself.

At the same time, Yang Chao felt that it was time to introduce a patent law, so he immediately drafted a few stripes, notified the Huangfeng Mansion, and added them to the administrative regulations of the Southern Zhili Metropolitan Governor's Mansion.

The patent law is divided into three articles:

First, all unique skills can apply for patent rights. Anyone who applies for a patent right has the undisputed exclusive right of the patented technology. Anyone who uses this technology must obtain the permission of the patentee.

Second, anyone who willfully infringes on the patentee's patent will be severely punished by the law, and his income from illegally infringing on the patent will be confiscated, and the patentee will be compensated for the loss.

Third, patents are time-sensitive. From the first date of patent application, No. 15 years will automatically expire and will become a shared technology.

(End of this chapter)