Late Ming Dynasty: Conquering the world starting from riding and cutting

The sky above Hsinchu is filled with the sweet aroma of sugar, the strong aroma of rice, and the aromas of various smoked and cured foods, rice wine, and sugar cane wine.

If there are gods from the past, they will definitely be attracted by these fragrances and stop moving forward.

Many people who grew up in Hsinchu will mention a fruit in unison when they recall their childhood.

sugar cane!

Sugarcane is a semi-annual herbaceous plant, mostly used for food and sugar extraction, and has certain medical effects.

At the same time, sugarcane is also one of the three major supporting industries in Hsinchu. Together with the salt industry and the textile industry, it is also known as the three major industries in Hsinchu, and it is the most profitable industry.

In the summer of May and June, the air throughout Hsinchu will be filled with bursts of sweet sugar cane smell.

That's because the pressing season started in the pressing factory area next to the canal. A large amount of Hsinchu's local sugar cane and sugar cane sent from Ryukyu were crushed to pieces by the steel pressing rollers, draining out the last bit of juice in the body.

The children in the school who were on summer vacation quietly followed the sweet smell and lay outside the high wall, greedily breathing in the free sweet smell.

If there are parents working there, when the process is quiet, they will send two or three fresh Ryukyu sugar cane to the little ones to try.

Let’s see if the sugar cane produced in Ryukyu is really good.

Children who have tasted it all say that the sugar cane is crisper, more juicy and less sweet than the sugar cane they have tasted before.

It’s no wonder that Hsinchu has sent more than a dozen masters to personally teach Ryukyu’s sugarcane planting this summer. In addition, Ryukyu is located on the border between temperate and subtropical zones, with high temperatures and rainy weather, making it the best production base for sugarcane.

If Ryukyu's sugar cane can't compete with Hsinchu, Qin Hao will definitely hang the Ryukyu king and his son on top of the city.

Don't doubt that Qin Hao definitely has such strength.

When he left Ryukyu, he left behind three squads of sixty people. After thinking about it later, he still felt that it was not safe, so he transferred another battalion of soldiers from Keelung, with more than a thousand people to garrison.

It can be said that Qin Hao is the de facto King of Ryukyu, while Shangyin and Shangyi are just puppets on the surface.

Compared to the gluttonous and playful nature of the younger children, the older children had seen a lot more, which made them even more enthusiastic about the soldiers' drills.

After school, fifty or sixty young adults gathered sparsely next to a school field in Hsinchu, watching the training of the new recruits who had just joined the army.

They learned in style, and some even held bamboo sticks of different lengths in their hands, imitating the movements of the new recruits on the school field, and occasionally laughing at the newcomers' slow reactions and clumsy and wrong movements.

The soldiers on the school grounds and on the shooting range did not notice at all these little naughty guys who dared to laugh at the recruits of the Shuntian Camp. Now their attention was focused on the training in front of them by the ruthless instructors.

As recruits of Shuntian Camp, each one of them is the strongest young man in each village. They are determined to make great achievements and honor their ancestors. They declare their own momentum amidst bursts of murderous aura and endless shouts of killing. , soaring into the sky.

In the distance, in the mountainous area near the Bazidou Coalfield, there were fires soaring into the sky, day and night. The smoke and dust in the fires were enough to make the gods cough, shed tears, and stop looking at them.

"Lord, this is our experimental blast furnace!"

After several months of construction, testing, and more construction, Li Chun and hundreds of craftsmen worked day and night to test the blast furnace and it has been running smoothly.

Today I specially invited Qin Hao to come and review the results.

"Will the operation of the blast furnace affect Hsinchu?" Qin Hao had just come out of the beautiful and peaceful environment of Hsinchu, and he was afraid that the blast furnace area not far away would destroy that beauty.

This kind of thing happens all the time. A steel factory is built in a residential area, a sewage treatment plant is built next to a school, and public resentment boils over. Qin Hao doesn't want the people of Hsinchu to suffer like this.

"Lord, don't worry. Bazidou is 50 kilometers away from Hsinchu and is in the downwind. The exhaust gas emissions from the blast furnace will not drift there. Furthermore, we have designed the coking pool and the blast furnace together, so that , the hot gas generated by coking can also be used to warm the furnace and utilize waste, killing two birds with one stone, reducing the output of waste, waste water and waste residue. "

Li Chun, the head of metallurgy, always tends to get carried away when talking about things in his industry.

This seems to be a common problem among technicians, but Qin Hao is not surprised by it. Sometimes, he quickly enters this state and starts heated arguments or even quarrels with these people.

"This experimental blast furnace can now produce 530 tons per furnace, which is hundreds of times better than the previous small furnace for making iron. However, a man with a big belly eats a lot." Li Chun said with a doting expression as if talking about his own son. His expression and tone describe the unlicensed small blast furnace in front of him, which is an absolute target of crackdown and ban in the 21st century.

"We have done experimental calculations. Basically, for every ton of steel produced, one ton of coke is consumed. If the amount of coal consumed during coking is included, almost two tons of coal are consumed for every ton of steel. But even so, at the same time, Compared with the previous small furnaces for making iron, it was still cheaper.

But it is not without its disadvantages. Firstly, the amount of coal consumed every day is huge, and the number of mining personnel must be increased several times. Secondly, the number of craftsmen and technicians working on each furnace must be increased to prevent accidents. Calculated based on this furnace alone, the steel produced each time is enough for the consumption of our military and civilians. "

"However, what my subordinates don't understand is that since the previous light steel manufacturing can already meet various needs from casting artillery, armor and swords in military camps to civilian kitchen knives, why do we need to spend so much time on steelmaking?"

In front of many craftsmen, Li Chun still spoke frankly.

A science and engineering man is a science and engineering man.

Indeed, the quantity of light steel used to be enough to control half a million households, and could even be exported.

But, here's the problem.

"Li Chun, you don't know that our army will soon fight the Japanese shogunate, and we need a huge number of swords, guns, swords and halberds.

Also, we sent a lot of equipment to Zheng Zhilong and the Saga family in Kyushu. If we don't develop some new skills, they will be able to imitate them in a short time. Over time, our strengths have turned into weaknesses. This is So what? "

This is technical reserve, a common trick used by the old and the United States today. They sell backward equipment to those in need and let them pay for the research of new equipment. This forms a closed loop and is always three or two steps ahead of others.

"If my lord must open a blast furnace area, the amount of coal will inevitably increase, and the manpower consumption will be huge!" Li Chun still looked at the problem from his own point of view, which is also the worry of many craftsmen in the Bazidou Coalfield.

At present, the entire island of Taiwan has just over 500,000 households and more than 2 million people. If we increase mining, we will inevitably have to use labor force, which is not worth it.

"Hahaha, Li Chun, you only know one but not the other." Qin Hao argued with a smile. "Now, I only hope that you can use more coal and produce more steel to make artillery, swords and guns."

"Can you please help me clarify my doubts?" Li Chun asked.

"The reason is very simple. Since you are prolific in weapons here, shouldn't I be able to capture more prisoners for you on the battlefield in Japan?" Qin Hao prompted, "Japanese prisoners are very hard-working. When the war begins, Whatever you want, I’ll give you double.”

Hearing this, Li Chun suddenly realized and looked at Qin Hao with admiration, as if he had met a peerless master.

"Master Li Chun, this is the first one, as for the second one" Gu Cheng, who was in charge of land reclamation matters, looked at Qin Hao with a smile.

Knowing that Gu Cheng wanted to show his face, Qin Hao didn't stop him. In fact, he didn't want any other benefits from iron-making.

After receiving the favor, Gu Cheng started to talk about the second point: "Li Gong, do you know what the price of rice is this year? How is the price of oil? What about the price of wine, meat, and vegetables derived from this second price?" ?”

"These things are taken care of by the housekeeper at home and the general affairs in the factory, but a certain family doesn't know about it." Li Chun answered Gu Cheng's question honestly.

"Don't make fun of Gong Li, he is a kind man."

"Gong Li, colleagues, after the coal is coked, the coke and iron ore are burned together. In addition to steel, what is obtained is residues such as coal ash.

What troubles Li Gong is my treasure.

After fly ash is mixed with pure ash, the resulting product is the most fertile land, especially for use in barren land.

After the advent of precious fertilizer, we made a rough calculation and found that more than 5 million acres of newly opened wasteland were reached.

Not to mention the original land and such sharp tools, how could the rice, oil, meat, and vegetables not be cheap?

At the same time, hundreds of thousands of acres of dry land are used by merchants to grow sugar cane. Because rice is cheap, some people want to plant sugar cane and other things to make more money. It is thanks to this thing that we can have such a low-cost Mijia! "

"How much should be sown per acre of land?" Li Chun asked curiously.

"To make base fertilizer, you need at least thirty kilograms per mu of land. If you want good results, you need fifty kilograms to one hundred kilograms. If it exceeds one hundred kilograms, the seedlings will be burned. According to the current number of acres, five kilograms are needed. Ten thousand kilograms of coal ash is just enough. So, no matter how much coke you consume here, it won’t be enough.”

Gu Cheng straightened his clothes and bowed deeply to Li Chun, "Gu Cheng would like to represent hundreds of thousands of settlers and millions of people. Thank you very much, Li Gong!"

"I don't dare to accept this courtesy. It's all thanks to the Lord." Li Chun hurriedly returned the courtesy to Gu Cheng, and then bowed to Qin Hao.

"It's all thanks to the lord!" The surrounding craftsmen and miners also started a chain reaction with Li Chun, prostrating together and shouting in unison.

"Okay, let's all get up. Say what you need to say and don't be so pretentious." Although he was scolding, his work on his hands did not stop at all. He helped Li Chun, Gu Cheng and others up and nodded. .

Although he was said to be addicted to technology, Li Chun was not a stubborn person. He suddenly remembered something, "My lord, in the past, when making coke, except for the coke, what was obtained was tar. If there is no grass ash falling into it, it will be stained. I don't know how to send it." Where can I use it?”

The raw material of Hsinchu dye is a kind of dye used for textile dyeing, mostly plant extracts such as plant fruits and tree sap.

But the tar mentioned by Li Chun can actually achieve the effect of dyeing cloth, and most of it is extracted from natural chemicals.

Tar textile dyes have good coloring properties, are not easy to fade, and are not easy to fade when washed.

After the textile is colored, the feel will not change much and will not harden.

However, the color is less bright and saturated than natural dyes.

"This item is sent to the Hsinchu Textile Workshop and can be used to print and dye cloth." Qin Hao explained.

"Sir, I heard that Zheng Zhilong of Xiamen transported a thousand Sanhe horses? It is said that this horse is very powerful and good at pulling carts?" Knowing that the matter of coal manpower has taken shape, Li Chun began to care about the transportation capacity issue again.

"Yes, there are one thousand horses, three hundred horses, and seven hundred horses. However, you guys, don't make any decisions about these horses for the time being! I want the faction to use them."

"Lord! I don't want more! Give me a hundred horses, and I can save thousands of people!" Li Chun was still a little unwilling to give up.

One hundred horses?

You are really a lion with a big mouth!

"The heat is up!" someone shouted in front of the furnace, obviously the molten steel was about to come out of the furnace.

As it happened, Qin Hao didn't bother to refuse, so he took a few people to observe the molten iron.

"My lord and ladies, please put on your glasses to prevent damage to your eyesight!" Several servants in the metallurgical workshop held a wooden tray in their hands, which contained a pair of black goggles.

Historically, kiln burning, forging, metallurgy, etc., in addition to physical damage, also caused damage to the eyes. In order to protect their eyes, kiln workers in many places specially worship the Tearful Empress and pray that she will protect the eyesight of believers from or Less damage.

In fact, science has proven that shedding tears can really prevent blindness, and they were not wrong.

In future generations, when the construction site starts, it is not necessary to congratulate and offer sacrifices. This is the blood and blood passed down in the culture and is indelible.

When metallurgy, ceramics, glass and other workshops were first established, some of the directors forwarded the kiln workers' request to build temples for worship.

As a person who has accepted modern industrial production, Qin Hao himself naturally does not believe in any category of empress. However, Qin Hao has reservations about these cultural sacrifices to gods and gods. He neither approves nor bans them. As long as nothing happens, he will let them go. go.

At the beginning of glass production, in addition to the decolorization and transparency of glass, another requirement of Qin Hao was how to make black glass.

Firing and decolorizing glass is not difficult. Under Qin Hao's prompts, Li Chun led the craftsmen to add potassium nitrate, the crystal precipitated after boiling plant ash and saltpeter and cooling, as a decolorizing agent for glass.

When the glass is fired into a semi-liquid state, stir continuously to remove the bubbles, then add the decolorizing agent potassium permanganate to complete the decolorization process through oxidation. (Although the optical glass produced using this technology is not as good as the products of the 21st century, it was still an amazing technology in the 17th century!

After the glass was fired into a liquid state, through the gravity of the glass itself, the concave and convex lenses quietly became clairvoyants in the hands of officers at all levels, and also became the lenses of microscopes.

By the way, the famous Dutch scientist Leeuwenhoek used gravity lenses to deceive the world into saying that he obtained them through grinding. Such a simple method actually deceived the world for hundreds of years!

This is so weird!

Finally, the craftsmen carefully added various pigments such as patina and black paint one by one, and the glass began to show different colors, which were basically consistent with the added pigments.

Soon the first black goggles were produced.

As for the use of goggles, the bosses of these various workshops have naturally heard about it, but they don't quite understand the mystery. They only know that the Lord is considerate of his subordinates and ordered people to make this thing with great effort. Moreover, the goggles are registered and numbered by the craftsmen one by one, and stored in their personal lockers with great care. If anyone loses them, they will inevitably be scolded by the foreman.

This is what my lord made with so much painstaking effort. You kid is damned and unlucky.

Qin Hao didn't know whether it was okay or not.

"Get ready to start the furnace!" Accompanied by a hoarse shout, everyone hurriedly put on their goggles and stared at the blast furnace in the distance without blinking.

A few strong men used iron hooks to open the furnace door, and waves of heat rushed towards them. Even though everyone was ten meters away, they were suddenly sweating profusely and extremely hot.

As the furnace door opened, sparks of steel suddenly dazzled and sparks flew everywhere. Everyone did not care to marvel, but just stared at what they had never dared to think about in their dreams before.

Pieces of still smoking steel ingots were carried in front of everyone, "Lord, gentlemen, this is this furnace of steel!"

"Everyone, what do you think of blast furnace steelmaking?" At the banquet celebrating the success of the metallurgical workshop, Qin Hao held a wine glass and looked at the people around him with a smile.

"My lord is so smart! I can't wait to reach you!" Everyone raised their glasses together and laughed endlessly.

"Hey! Don't brag, I'm covered in steel ingots, how many nails can I drive? It's all thanks to you guys!"

"Sir, I have a piece of advice that I would like to share with all my colleagues." Ge Yihan, who was in charge of shipbuilding, stood up and raised his wine glass to toast Qin Hao.

"That is, if you understand what your lord says, you should implement it, and if you don't understand it, you should implement it. You will understand it in the process of implementation!" Ge Yihan drank the wine glass in one gulp, turned it over and took a look at the glass to everyone.

"On that day, my lord ordered me to lay a layer of brass below the waterline of the Wansheng. To be honest, I am quite dissatisfied! I feel that my lord is a tyrant! Use good brass to cover the bottom of the ship!

However, the navy's ships have been undergoing maintenance recently. Basically, there are no shellfish attached to the bottom of the lord's ship, let alone aquatic plants growing!

Such a ship's speed does not slow down in the water!

As for other ships, to be honest, they cost me my life. I want to take the big guys and clean up those nasty guys attached to the bottom of the ship bit by bit!

All in all, the money and food cost is no less than covering the bottom of the ship with copper! And it needs to be cleaned every year! "

"Old Ge, you've been chattering there for a long time. Do you want the lord to give you money and food so that you can coat all the naval gunboats with copper?"

"Of course!" Ge Yihan drank a drink happily. He looked at Qin Hao in the main seat with bright eyes. Not only was he watching, but the naval officers present were also looking forward to it.

"As long as it can be solved with money and food, it is not a problem!" Qin Hao's words made the naval generals present burst into cheers.

yes! Everyone knows that what Keelung is not short of now is money and food.

"Everyone, listen to me, don't say I'm smart, I just dare to think and do something more than you all.

Therefore, you can also be smart people, as long as you dare to think! If you dare to experiment, I think you are all smart people! "

"yes!"

Qin Hao's words made the entire banquet guests happy.

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