Chapter 464 A wonderful trip to Kaifeng City (5)

Author: Uncle Long Legs

Chapter 464 A wonderful trip to Kaifeng City (5)

"Ouch! It's just like what the noble concubine said. Although the wine is good, you can't be greedy. I was only five or six points drunk last night, and my head hurts badly today."

Early the next morning, when Du Baojun got up, he hugged his head and started yelling.

This proves the characteristics of the new "Shaodaozi" spirit produced by the Department of Commerce. If you drink too much, you will have a headache when you wake up the next day.

But even though my head hurts and I feel cold, there are more important things on my mind.

Just as planned, Du Baojun left the city early.

In fact, in Boss Shen's fleet, he found a servant who lived on the ship and watched the cargo. He was regarded as the son of their Du family.

After handing the letter I wrote last night to the other party, I gave him repeated instructions.

In the following time, I saw the fleet unloading all the numerous pieces of cloth and silk and handing them over to the officials of the Department of Commerce.

And after watching the fleet leave, he let go of his worries.

In the following time, they began to walk around and inquire around Kaifeng City. This situation would continue until the head of the Du family in Huzhou brought more rice and cloth.

It's giving up.

Frankly speaking! Huang Yizhi’s West Factory.

Such a method of relying on an old lady from the street office who is considered a non-staff to monitor suspicious outsiders may not be very decent.

But the actual effect is amazingly good.

These old ladies are very familiar with the neighbors in their area, and they can easily recognize who are outsiders at a glance.

I'm afraid that even if professional spies from the Kingdom of Jin come over, they won't be able to escape the sharp eyes of these old ladies.

What's more, Du Baojun is a rich man who has always been pampered and pampered without any training.

So it was no surprise that on the first day of wandering around and asking around, this guy was secretly reported by three old ladies.

Fortunately, he finished writing the letter to the head of the Du family last night while he was asleep.

Then a thin man from Jin Yiwei sneaked into the room to get a closer look.

When he got up this morning, he had a headache. In fact, it was not the cause of the hangover; it was because he was worried that he would be awakened. The rookie spy had used some Jin Yiwei's drug.

Therefore, I already knew why Du Baojun was wandering around like this and asking about Jin Yiwei.

After receiving the report, no measures were taken against him; otherwise, he would have been arrested and thrown into prison long ago, where he would have been given two cereal grains per day.

As for what Du Baojun found out during this process?

It can be seen from the diary he wrote in his own hand that night after walking around a lot every day and returning to the inn.

That's right! It's a diary.

This thing is not a patent of modern people, nor is it an imported product from the West. In fact, it has been around for a long time in the ancient days of flower growers, and it is not a strange thing at all.

But the names are a little different. In ancient times, they were called daily records, day counting, diaries, calendars, etc.

Generally speaking, this thing sprouted in the Tang Dynasty and developed in the Song Dynasty; it declined in the Yuan Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties; the earliest diary in history did not even have time to produce paper, it was carved directly on wood.

As for Du Baojun's diary, if the contents were translated into vernacular, it would probably look like this...

It's the second year of Jingkang, no! It's already the first year of Maode, but you have to watch your mouth and don't let it slip in other places and cause some trouble for nothing.

March 20th was another sunny day.

I have never understood it. Although Kaifeng City was the capital of the Song Dynasty and the location of the three provinces and six tribes, the world's talents and most of the elite craftsmen were gathered here.

But the last time the Jin came over, I heard that they took away all the skilled craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry.

Even if all private craftsmen can now be requisitioned by the imperial court, the number should be limited. It is thought that the number of thousands of people is already the limit.

So the question is, how can it be possible for these thousands of craftsmen to produce so many novelties that the Commerce Department has been producing recently?

After all, each of those novel things looks extremely exquisite, so you can just find some temporary labor.

With such a doubt, I came to the Imperial College in the south of the city today, intending to take a closer look.

Why go where? Because since Queen Namode ascended the throne more than two months ago, she has never had the intention to drive an Enko.

In addition, during the Jinbing Rebellion, Mr. Yiying, teaching assistants, and students in the Imperial College were all dispersed long ago.

But in the direction of the Imperial College, thick smoke is billowing every day. It can be seen from across most of Kaifeng City. However, the water dragon team in the city to put out the fire has not been dispatched, and the people are not surprised.

Apart from the fact that the buildings were requisitioned by the Ministry of Industry to produce those so-called new commodities, there is no other possibility.

That's right! There are places in the city where a lot of billowing smoke rises day and night, and there are many other places, but the movement at the Imperial College is even louder.

I believe that as long as you go in and take a look, you will naturally be able to clear up your doubts.

Then, damn it! I couldn't even get through the door.

Far away from the gate, a few men dressed as Imperial Guards chased me away like a fly without waiting for me to speak. It was really insulting to my gentleness.

But even so, I lingered outside for a long time and saw many unusual signs.

For example: there are often many large carts pulling heavy goods into the Imperial Academy; even if the carts are covered with some rags, it can still be faintly seen that they are all loaded with coal.

It turns out that the imperial commerce department actually smelted iron in many places such as the Imperial College, so that it had such amazing iron materials for sale...

Is this true? Du Baojun’s speculation is completely inconsistent with reality.

At the same time, Du Baojun was staying outside the Imperial College, looking over there with his head in the air.

In the Imperial Academy, because he had not had a good rest for a long time, the warehouse manager, who stared at a pair of rabbit-like red eyes, shouted to Lang Qing:

"Lang Qing, I think the steam engine is almost done.

Although the maximum horsepower of the steam engines we have built so far is 70 horsepower; with this foundation and experience, it is not a big problem to solve the problem of reaching 100 horsepower.

But Lao Hei's side is now urging us to hand over artillery every day so that their artillery can start training.

I thought that we are in such a hurry that we can't become fat in one bite; the current steam engine can be used as it is, after all, there are still many things waiting for us to solve one by one."

"Yes! Under the current circumstances, we cannot pursue perfection, but overall efficiency."

Later, AT also echoed this, saying that this young white-collar worker seemed to be in good spirits, but his hairline was a bit thin.

After hearing the above two sentences, Lang Qing had to nod helplessly.

His expression was filled with the frustration of a man who wanted to kill a thief but was unable to save his life.

Just as the warehouse manager said, they have now produced a steam engine that is barely usable. Problems such as seals and lubricants have also been solved by other methods.

For example, copper piston rings were used to solve the sealing problem.

The problem is that in this alternative method, not only the performance of the steam engine was somewhat unsatisfactory for a while; even the overall production quantity was far lower than expected.

The key reason is that there are three people like him, AT, and warehouse manager, no matter how powerful they are, they only have one pair of hands.

Although the recruited craftsmen are not stupid, they also have some experience in manual work; but they need to first cast a large number of parts with clay molds and then assemble them one by one, which also requires some time to become familiar with.

It is similar to the fact that workers recruited from the modern plane need to be trained for a period of time before they can be used; especially skilled workers, they need to be well trained before they can take up the job.

In short, today, with their all-out efforts,

A total of thirteen 50-horsepower steam engines were built.

There are eleven 60-horsepower steam engines and seven 70-horsepower steam engines, a total of about thirty steam engines. Compared with their original plan, they are far behind.

Fortunately, with these thirty or so steam engines, they have also solved the huge problem of insufficient power in military production.

After all, a steam engine can drive several forging hammers, grinders, drilling machines and other machinery, and the power provided is also quite stable.

At least up to now, all the 10,000 muskets used in rotation for training in the new army have been delivered one after another.

However, according to the new army's training method of stopping, grabbing, and firing wildly, the three-month recruit training period is over.

Basically all the barrels of these 10,000 Brown Bess muskets will be scrapped.

So, the large amount of coal that Du Baojun saw in his eyes was not used to make iron.

It's just that in the Imperial College, a total of fifteen steam engines were put down, as well as a large number of drilling machines, forging hammers and other processing machinery.

It is purely used to provide fuel for steam engines and processing other equipment...

*******

It was March 26th, the first year of Maode. It was drizzling, and it was very much like Du Mu of the Tang Dynasty. Du Mu wrote, "It rains heavily during the Qingming Festival, and pedestrians on the road want to die."

Originally, today, I was planning to go to the nearest elementary school to the inn where I live to visit Haosheng.

On the one hand, this elementary school is not an important place for the imperial court, and no one can get close to it, right?

(This sentence is full of deep resentment. God knows what this guy has been through in the past)

On the other hand, according to anecdotal reports, Kaifeng City respects the common people, regardless of gender, as long as they are children of school age, they can go to school.

Empress Maode and Nahu Yitong pretended to be ancient sages who were 'educated without distinction'. They were speaking in such a big tone. Didn't they know that this approach would cost astonishing amounts of money and food?

Especially under the current circumstances, such a impoverished court still has to prepare for war. Can they support such a huge consumption, and are they not going to survive?
To be continued...