Three hundred meters away from the brick kiln, a simple straw shed was built. There were several long tables and chairs, with large porcelain bowls and teapots placed on them. It was a place for workers to rest.

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Zhao Zhikuan was sitting here with his head down and thinking hard. After the brick kiln was put into operation, Zhao Zhikuan handed over the task of building a new brick kiln to his new apprentice Shen Fu. He then aimed at developing the power source, that is, the steam engine.

As the brick kiln was put into operation, Zhao Zhikuan discovered that the production speed of bricks seriously restricted the production of red bricks. He now has more than 40 workers. Even if they are all sent to make bricks and make bricks, the consumption rate of the old brick kiln will be enough. If

When the new brick kiln is put into production, even if the shovel wheels of these forty people are smoking, the production will be far behind the consumption.

Although the number of bricks produced by the new brick kiln at a time is similar to that of the old brick kiln, about 40,000 to 50,000 yuan, the new brick kiln is not affected by the climate because it has a drying chamber, and can produce a furnace of new bricks in three days. The old brick kiln can produce a furnace of new bricks in three days.

Because the brick kiln has to wait for the bricks to dry, it takes six or seven days to complete the production cycle of one furnace of bricks, which is much less efficient.

Therefore, Zhao Zhikuan currently has only two ways to improve production efficiency. One is to increase manpower. According to Zhao Zhikuan's estimation, 150 people will be needed to supply bricks to ensure the production of the new brick kiln. This is unrealistic for the currently weak Zhao family.

Regardless of whether we can hire so many people, even if we can, the government will be alert. What do you, an outsider, want to do with so many people?

Since manpower cannot be increased, the work efficiency of a single person must be increased. The only way is to use machinery to replace manpower.

There are three common power sources used in industry in later generations: electric motors, internal combustion engines and steam engines. Electric motors and internal combustion engines are basically impossible to realize, at least not in a short time, so the only thing that can solve the current difficulties is the steam engine.

Zhao Zhikuan has drawn countless sketches in the past few days, several of which are very suitable for the Ming Dynasty. Zhao Zhikuan was considering which one to use when Zhao Fuxiang came.

Zhao Fuxiang walked into the shed and asked: "Dad, is this the address of the new brick kiln you selected?"

Zhao Zhikuan was focused on the steam engine at this time and did not hear what his son said. Zhao Fuxiang had no choice but to ask again.

This time Zhao Zhikuan heard it clearly and said: "Yes, I asked them to build a new brick kiln here!"

"It is indeed the old man's order!"

Zhao Fuxiang knew that although it was his father's idea, he did not dare to irritate him too much. After all, his father was almost seventy, and his dream of becoming an emperor would be ruined if he did.

Zhao Fuxiang said in a slow voice: "Dad, this place is too close to Suocheng. Zhang Qianhu has always been worried about our family. Now that the brick kiln is open at their door, doesn't this remind the Zhang family to always pay attention to us?"

Zhao Zhikuan didn't expect this. After being awakened by Zhao Fuxiang, he said after a while: "I didn't expect this, but the area along the Haidian River has the strongest foundation and is also the most suitable place to build a factory!"

After Zhao Zhikuan finished speaking, he found a piece of paper from the table with a sketch of Haidian Island drawn on it.

Haidian Island in the Ming Dynasty was not the trapezoidal shape of later generations, but was shaped like a dumbbell, wide on the east and west sides and narrow in the middle. Haidian Island became what it was in later generations mainly in the 1970s, when the Haikou local government reclaimed the sea for land reclamation.

A large area of ​​land was created in the Men Park area. The specific location of Baisha Village in the Ming Dynasty was near Haikou City Hospital, which was already very close to the seaside.

Zhao Zhikuan pointed to the sketch and said: "The north is full of sandy land, and the foundation is unstable! The west is full of mangroves and other tidal flats, and there are small lakes everywhere. It is not impossible to develop it, but the infrastructure is enough to keep us busy!"

After finishing speaking, Zhao Zhikuan pointed to the Haidian River and said: "Only here, due to hundreds of thousands of years of sedimentation, the sediment under our feet has long turned into rocks. Only here does not require much construction, just cut down the trees.

We can build a factory, but the investment in other places is too great, and it is impossible to succeed with our current strength!"

What Zhao Zhikuan said was indeed a difficult problem. After reading it, Zhao Fuxiang didn't have any good solutions, but he couldn't set up the brick factory at the gate of the city. Zhao Fuxiang pointed to the place between Nandu River and Haidian River and said: "Dad, where is this place?"

?Wouldn’t it work here too?”

The place Zhao Fuxiang was referring to was the beacon tower in Zuodun, Baisha. Not far from here was Baisha Village. Although land demolition in the Ming Dynasty was not easy, Zhao Fuxiang firmly believed that nothing could be done without money, not to mention that there were less than 100 households in Baisha Village.

, one thousand taels of silver can solve it.

Zhao Zhikuan smiled bitterly and said: "Son, the place you mentioned is the location of the steel factory. Where are you planning to move the brick factory? What about the steel factory? Move it to the nose of Suocheng?"

Zhao Fuxiang was completely dumbfounded when he heard what Zhao Zhikuan said. His father was right. Although the brick factory was a bit of an eyesore, the steel factory was not an industry that the government agreed to set up by private individuals! The Ming Dynasty had strict control over steel. You came back from Nanyang.

If the refugees want to produce steel privately, do they want to rebel?

Zhao Fuxiang had no choice but to agree to continue construction in the brick factory. Seeing that his employer had no objection, Shen Fu began to go out and lead the workers to continue working.

Seeing that his son had not left yet, Zhao Zhikuan asked, "What are you doing here? Didn't you produce sugar?"

Only after being reminded by his father did Zhao Fuxiang remember the main purpose of his return and said quickly: "Yes, Dad, I would have forgotten it if you didn't mention it! Although the white sugar experiment was successful, it is still far away from industrialized large-scale production. My son would like to ask Dad for your help."

Make some filter barrels!”

Filter bucket? Zhao Zhikuan didn't know what to use the filter bucket for? He asked: "What? Is a filter bucket needed to produce white sugar?"

Zhao Fuxiang sighed, explained the sugar process he had done, and then asked: "Dad, do you have any good ideas? My son also thinks that using a filter bucket is a bit unrealistic!"

This is not a problem at all. Zhao Zhikuan said with a smile: "It's simple. You just need to get a filter pool, which is a large filter bucket. After a while, just replace the filter layer in the pool!"

It's so simple. Zhao Fuxiang said with a smile: "Dad, my son has already thought of this, but the efficiency of the filter bucket you made is too slow. Can you ask dad to help redesign it and reduce the filtering time?"

Because there is no activated carbon in the filter barrel, very thick cork is added. As the thickness increases, the filtration speed naturally decreases. There is no problem if a few people drink water, but it will be a bit full in large-scale production.

Hearing what his son said, Zhao Zhikuan smiled bitterly and said, "There's nothing you can do about it. Making activated carbon requires high-temperature steam or carbon dioxide, and we don't have either now. What do you think we should do?"

The production of activated carbon is actually very simple. While burning charcoal, water vapor of one thousand degrees is added, and after heat treatment, activated carbon is produced. However, Zhao Zhikuan does not even have a boiler now, so how can he have any high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor?

Zhao Fuxiang heard what I said about high-temperature steam, and then saw the sketch on the table. Although Zhao Fuxiang was not an engineering major, he still understood that the sketch was a steam engine, but this type of steam engine did not have the connecting rods he recognized, and it was not the kind used on airplanes.

Almost like a turbofan engine.

Although Zhao Fuxiang didn't understand steam engines, he still knew something about turbofan engines because he often watched military programs. Seeing that his father had not even developed a steam engine but wanted to play with such high technology, Zhao Fuxiang laughed and said: "Dad, you are doing this

That’s too much! We haven’t even developed the Watt steam engine yet, so you actually want to develop a turbofan engine?”

Although Zhao Fuxiang didn't dare to say that he was talking about the egg, Zhao Zhikuan still heard it. He laughed and scolded: "How dare you laugh at me? This is not a gas turbine, this is a steam turbine!"

Steam turbine? Zhao Fuxiang does not understand the principle of steam turbine. In his impression, steam turbine is a high technology that can only be used by aircraft carriers and warships. Why did he want to replicate this technology in the Ming Dynasty?

Zhao Zhikuan knew from the look on Zhao Fuxiang's face that he didn't understand, so he had no choice but to briefly explain the principles of steam turbines.

The principle of a steam turbine is actually very simple, far simpler than the reciprocating steam engine built by Watt. To put it bluntly, it boils water and blows the blades with steam to drive mechanical movement. Of course, it is much more complicated to put it into practical application.

Because the principle of a steam turbine is very simple, the Egyptians invented a simple steam turbine as early as the 1st century AD. However, the steam turbine at that time was just a toy and had no practical value. In 1629, the Italian Branca

He invented a runner that was rotated by a stream of steam hitting the blades. This was the prototype of the steam turbine.

Although the steam turbine appeared earlier than the reciprocating steam engine, it was not until 1882 that the Swede Laval made the first 5-horsepower single-stage impulse steam turbine that the steam turbine had some practical value.

Compared with the reciprocating steam engine, the steam flow in the steam turbine is continuous and high-speed, and the flow rate per unit area is large, so it can emit greater power. High-power steam turbines can use higher steam pressure and temperature, so

Thermal efficiency is high. The thermal efficiency of steam turbines in some high-efficiency thermal power plants in China in later generations can even reach 80%, which has far exceeded gas turbines and internal combustion engines.

As an engineer with a background in thermal power plants, Zhao Zhikuan is not familiar with steam turbines.

In fact, Zhao Zhikuan did not want to build a steam turbine at the beginning. Although steam turbines have many benefits, because they require high-temperature and high-pressure steam, the boiler cylinder and bearings are difficult to produce, and they cannot be produced with the technology of the Ming Dynasty. But Zhao Zhikuan's reciprocating steam engine

I was not familiar with it at all. Although there was a simple Lancashire boiler in the manual, there was no steam engine. Zhao Zhikuan could not produce it without a sketch.

The purpose of the Friends of the Military and Civil Affairs is to make the transferred military cadres more adaptable to local work, so the boilers recorded in it are mostly low-pressure boilers for heating and providing steam production. As for the high-pressure steam engines that provide power sources, there is no mention at all. Of course, this cannot be blamed in the manual.
Chapter completed!