Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 517: Germination of the Industrial Revolution
Please bookmark the new book "The Rise of Great Powers 1900".

----------

Although the Northern Expedition failed, it consumed a huge amount of materials.

For this reason, Yang Chao sold 5000 million bonds, plus last year's surplus of more than 1000 million, the funds flowing into the market this year will be more than 6000 million taels, which is almost the same as the previous circulation.

But it's not entirely a bad thing, because not all of the silver has become the silver of the wealthy family, dug a pit and buried it.

Most of them have actually turned into cotton cloth, iron armor, and weapons, that is to say, they have flowed into industries such as textile workshops and iron workshops.

Stimulated by this, a large number of large-scale factories appeared in the south of the Yangtze River, and the number of factories with a thousand looms in the Songjiang area reached a hundred.

This is the typical germination of capitalism.

In fact, Yang Chao has never understood why the emergence of such a large-scale handicraft workshop is called the budding of capitalism. Yang Chao thought that the phenomenon of capital aggregation began to appear in human history, and it happened in the generation of big businessmen, but why only this The phenomenon of agglomeration of industrial capital is called the budding of capitalism.

In Yang Chao's view, this phenomenon is nothing more than a manifestation of the early stage of the industrial revolution and the basis for the beginning of industrialization. Therefore, Yang Chao thinks that it is more appropriate to call the germ of the industrial revolution than the germ of capitalism.

In any case, this kind of sprout appeared and was nourished by the war. Maybe capitalism was born because of the war, and it could have something to do with this sprout of capitalism, so it got its name?
Yang Chao felt that this sprout deserved to be vigorously supported and cultivated.

After a month of recuperation at home, Yang Chao began to act non-stop. The failure of the Northern Expedition this time made him realize that his strength was not enough to form an overwhelming advantage over the Manchus. Be patient and don't rush for success. There are many things where civilization loses to barbarism. It is even a trend. He doesn't want himself to become like this.

First went to Xinjiangkou.

This used to be a big camp, but now the role of the big camp has been reduced, and the role of the production base has been highlighted.

Yang Chao recruited [-] craftsmen, and there are craftsmen working here day and night.

But among the [-] craftsmen, a dozen or so are particularly conspicuous. This is not because they are exceptionally good, but because they look too strange.

Because these are foreigners.

When a dozen foreigners first came to Daming, they came with a proud attitude, because they came from a new empire.

This emerging empire is not Britain, the Netherlands, or even France, which dominated the continent after the Thirty Years War, but Sweden, which also rose during the Thirty Years War.

Sweden, a country that fell silent after the Viking era, has been regarded as a barbaric place by European civilization for hundreds of years, and it is on the same level as Russia.

However, during the 30-year war, under the leadership of the heroic king Gustav, they rose in Europe at a crazy speed. The spirit left by the Vikings and the modern military organization made the Swedish army invincible all over the world, across the entire German continent. .

The reason why the Swedish army is strong is nothing more than three points. The first is super brave spirit, the second is strict organization and discipline, and the third is advanced weapons and equipment.

The first point is easy to explain. The descendants of the Viking pirates naturally retain a lot of the spirit of their ancestors. Culture is a thing that has been passed down far beyond people's imagination. The second point is because of the new military strategy initiated by the Dutchman Morris Reform, the Swedes introduced this reform, which strengthened the probability of infantry, cavalry and musketeers; the third point is a bit surprising, that is, Sweden is already a powerful country in military industry at this time.

The Swedes have only been independent for a hundred years, and they have experienced two or three generations of kings. Before that, they were just a barren pasture under the subjugation of Denmark.

After independence, under the governance of the Vasa dynasty, it attracted Dutch investment.The Dutch's business management organization knowledge, coupled with Sweden's rich iron ore and forest resources, enabled Sweden to form a well-developed military industry. The Swedish army was able to show its talents during the 30-year war.

The workshops in Sweden are almost all run by the Dutch, so the cannon casting craftsmen that Yang Chao entrusted the Dutch East India Company to recruit are also Swedish craftsmen.

When these dozen or so craftsmen first came to Daming, they were very proud, but they were shocked very quickly. The large workshop of 5 people in Xinjiangkou was enough to surprise them.Before the Industrial Revolution, the unique organizational ability of the Easterners was unimaginable in the Western world. Without a high degree of obedience and super organizational ability, it would be impossible to build the Great Wall, dig canals, and control the Yellow River time and time again.

The Swedish craftsmen also discovered that the craftsmanship of the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty was not inferior to them at all, and they were even unique in many aspects, so they quickly put away the unique arrogance of the subjects of a rising empire.

However, the Swedes also have their own specialties, and they were quickly recognized by the Xinjiangkou craftsmen, and they did not despise them as barbarians, and the two sides enjoyed themselves happily.

The first advantage of the Swedes is the casting method, and the second is the processing technology.

There is nothing special about the method of casting cannons. Both the East and the West melt molten iron and inject it into the mold, but the blast furnaces used to melt molten iron are different. Daming uses a shaft furnace, or even an open-mouth melting furnace. The temperature of the furnace is not high. It will exceed a thousand degrees, and even special treatment is required to melt the pig iron.Westerners have already adopted blast furnaces with hydraulic blasts, and the furnace temperature has been greatly increased to more than [-] degrees.

High temperature is the secret.

In fact, the Chinese have long mastered the secrets of high-temperature furnaces. For example, the maximum temperature of a magnetic kiln for firing porcelain can reach [-] degrees, but it has not been applied to cast iron.In the past, Westerners have not mastered the porcelain-making process all the year round, and the big reason is that they have not mastered the kiln temperature.

The technology of high-temperature furnaces is used by Chinese people to make porcelain, while Westerners use it to cast cannons, that's all.

After the innovation of the blast furnace, the quality of Xinjiangkou cannons has improved.

The second technology of the Swedes is the barrel boring machine. Da Vinci had already designed the blueprint of the machine tool more than 100 years ago. During the 30-year war, the West used a large number of artillery, so the technology of the boring machine was greatly improved.

The Ming people still use manual cleaning of the barrel, so this technology also makes the craftsmen admire.

I am especially interested in Song Sanjin. He is the boy who invented the iron mold casting cannon, but at this time he has become a young and promising young man. His identity is the youngest master craftsman in Xinjiangkou, and he is an apprentice. The second level of the four-level craftsman system of , master, master and craftsman.

It was with the help of Song Sanjin that the Swedish talents copied the Western barrel boring machine in just three months, but this kind of boring machine, like the casting furnace, needs water, so Yang Chao had to let people do it in the clock. Opened another new factory in the mountains.

Song Sanjin was at home in this cannon factory composed of Swedes and Ming gunsmiths. The boring machine made him obsessed. He continued to research and improved several places, and the performance was even better than the original Western boring machine. This is the essence of technology. The overflow effect produced by the collision.

Song Sanjin also made a drilling machine based on the principle of a hydraulic boring machine, which replaced the previous process of drilling gun barrels by humans, and increased the production speed of bird guns again. It is no longer a problem to produce [-] bird guns in Jiangnan in a month. Yang Chao has The condition is that all soldiers are equipped with bird guns.

But Song Sanjin still has some dissatisfaction. For example, if the factory is built in the mountains, the water power will always be affected. It can still meet production during the wet season, but it can't work during the dry season, even if a dam is built.

Song Sanjin is already studying how to use the power of the Yangtze River waterwheel. If the water power of the Yangtze River can be used, obviously there is no need to worry about the dry season, and the Yangtze River will never stop flowing.

Yang Chao met these craftsmen, learned about their work, and praised them. According to Daming's habit, each of them rewarded something, and they were very happy.

At the same time, I also learned that in addition to casting cannons, these people can also make Western muskets, and some even can make Western swords and armors. The Western military industry is still independent, and almost a craftsman can make anything.

It's just that these people said that if they want to forge swords and armor, they need hydraulic forging hammers and an additional investment. This is not a problem at all. Yang Chao wished that they would import all Western machines, so he asked the master to immediately raise manpower According to the requirements of these foreigners, a hydraulic forging machine was made.

Inspired by the inspection in Xinjiangkou, Yang Chao spent more than ten days and combined his understanding of other industrial and commercial situations to write down a long plan.

Then he took people and rushed to Suzhou.

Previously, Zhang Guo had bought more than 100 acres of mulberry forest in Wuxian County, as well as a landlord's house, and invited a group of 50-[-]-year-old women.

The mulberry forest is an old mulberry forest that has been in operation for decades. The house is not too big on a hillside, but it is not a problem to accommodate hundreds of people.

The landlord's family sold the house and mulberry forest on the south side of the hillside because they lost money in business. His family still has thousands of acres of fertile land nearby, and it is not a small wealthy family.

These old women are also old silkworm women who have raised silkworms all their lives, but their lives are quite tight now.

Not to mention the silkworm raising women of ordinary farmers like them, they are the skilled old craftsmen in the city. If they fail to raise sons, or if they don’t have sons and don’t receive good apprentices, they will have a miserable life in old age without the ability to work.

These old women are also physically exhausted, and it is already difficult to continue raising silkworms, so they were invited by Yang Chao, and they were very satisfied with a monthly salary of three taels of silver a month.

Yang Chao chatted with them and asked them carefully about the secrets of raising silkworms, and they all knew everything.

Mulberry silkworms are precious animals. After thousands of years of domestication, they cannot live without humans. They are very delicate, just like the famous horses of later generations. Mongolian horses can be contented on the grasslands, but these horses may die .

Silkworms in different periods need different environments. Small silkworms need a high temperature and high humidity environment, while large silkworms need ventilation to grow. These old silkworm girls know this, but in the past they only raised silkworms at home, so the conditions were often not met. requirements, the quality of silk cannot be guaranteed.

Yang Chao intends to fully satisfy their request.

(End of this chapter)