Chapter 1189 Postscript 45·The reformists in the cabinet
Lu Gai, the vice-president of the Royal Society, went to the city with confusion and confusion and entered the palace of the eldest princess of Qin Guojing.
The eldest princess often invited scholars before, but she never invited anyone alone.
Moreover, the president has been very busy recently.
"Lu Gai pays homage to His Highness."
"President Lu, please sit down."
In order to avoid suspicion, the meeting was not held indoors, but at a waterside pavilion called Lixue Pavilion.
The best green tea was served, and Lu Gai nodded to the maid to thank him.
Zhu Tangxi took the bag brought by Qingluan: "I heard that Yunnan has also begun to cultivate tobacco extensively, but the best shredded tobacco comes from Nanyang. This was brought back from Nanyang by an elder. I can't tell the difference between good and bad. Please give me some advice.
President Lu, give it a try."
It was good tea and good cigarettes, so Lu Gai felt that things were a bit difficult to handle.
He didn't beat around the bush and asked directly: "Your Highness, if you have any orders, just tell me."
Zhu Tangxi asked: "Does today's cement need to be improved?"
Lu Gai replied: "There are two types of cement on the market now, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, and both need to be improved. In the past few decades, many people have started to improve cement. Some results have been achieved one after another, such as adding certain materials and calcining them.
But overall, no qualitative breakthrough has been achieved.”
Zhu Tangxi asked again: "Which is the best smelting furnace now?"
Lu Gai said: "It is too dangerous and hard for workers to stir molten iron in blast furnaces and converters. So forty years ago, someone proposed the idea of ​​a converter. But suitable converter steel could not be found, and the furnace temperature of early converters was relatively low.
.”
"It wasn't until seven years ago that Mr. Wan, He, Xu and Xue finally succeeded in producing stable and usable converter steel. Mr. Wan jumped four levels in a row and was promoted to Jade Bachelor, and the three craftsmen He, Xu and Xue also made an exception.
Maester Jasper."
Zhu Tangxi said: "I remember. The year Mr. Wan was promoted to Jade Bachelor, I just moved out of the palace. Can I leave Mr. Wan's mailing address?"
Lu Gai reminded: "Your Highness can summon you directly, but this kind of converter steel is a secret of the imperial court. Currently, there are only four government-run steel plants in the country that can manufacture it. Private individuals who dare to imitate it are committing rebellion."
"So there are no converters among the people?" Zhu Tangxi asked.
Lu Gai said: "Other government-run steel plants and private steel plants can spend money to customize converters from the four major steel plants. But they cannot inquire about the steel formula to prevent the secrets from being leaked overseas."
Zhu Tangxi asked again: "Which government-owned steel plant that can produce converters is the closest to Luoyang?"
Lu Gai said: "Xuzhou Steel Plant. Wan Xueshi worked as a supervisor in Xuzhou Steel Plant. Although his official position was not very high, his official rank was already from the first rank. Even his wife was awarded the first rank.
"
Zhu Tangxi had finished asking questions and handed over a bag of cut tobacco with his own hands.
This is seeing off guests.
Lu Gai thanked him and took it, took the tobacco and excused himself, and left the princess' house in a daze.
He was thinking in the carriage along the way, and based on the questions raised by the princess, he guessed that someone wanted to improve cement.
Lu Gai didn't do much research on this.
Converters are Daming's top mechanical equipment. Although you can spend money to order them from the four major steel mills, each order needs to be submitted to the Ministry of Industry for approval!
Leaking the formula of converter steel and privately imitating converters are the same as concealing arms.
This was a decree issued by Emperor Dingtai. He was worried that someone would quietly build ordnance on a large scale.
…
Xie Yan was really shocked when he received the letter from the princess.
The Ming Dynasty in this time and space has actually developed the converter steelmaking method?
However, the word "converter" awakened similar memories in Xie Yan.
In "Civil Engineering Materials", a compulsory course for civil engineers, there is a chapter dedicated to how to prepare cement. Although the basic formula is explained in detail, the machinery for making cement is explained in one sentence with a picture.
Xie Yan only knew that a "rotary kiln" was needed to prepare cement. The picture showed a long and large pipe.
Apart from the shell of the big pipe, nothing can be seen. Who knows what the inside of the cement rotary kiln looks like.
Xie Yan thought to himself: Will the cement rotary kiln rotate like a converter?
In the early days of cement firing, traditional vertical kilns were used, and every method was tried to increase the furnace temperature.
After the invention of Portland cement, although it was widely sought after, the quality of the cement varied due to unstable furnace temperatures.
It took another half a century before someone built the first cement rotary kiln, and the cement industry was basically established.
Xie Yan decided to take action.
He first went to Jiangzuo Village to visit the old president, then went to the city to visit Chen Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, and then went to the princess's home again.
With three letters of recommendation from the old president, Chen Shangshu and the eldest princess, Xie Yan also brought his Furong Bachelor's Jade Pendant and finally successfully entered the Ministry of Industry's database.
A director from the Ministry of Industry accompanied him throughout the process, which not only facilitated Xie Yan's search for information, but also supervised and prevented Xie Yan from taking away top-secret information.
Xie Yan asked the director of the Ministry of Industry to find the drawings of various furnaces and kilns across the country.
For several days, Xie Yan was checking information.
…
Zhu Tangxi was waiting to be received by the Queen Mother.
It was not until two days later that Queen Mother Ye sent someone to summon her.
Tao Jinfeng was helping the little emperor with his homework, and Queen Mother Ye called Zhu Tangxi to the side hall next door.
"I heard that you invited Bachelor Xie to play polo?" Queen Mother Ye said with an expression on her face.
Zhu Tangxi said: "I also invited him to sit at home."
Queen Mother Ye asked: "Is he determined to have an official career?"
Zhu Tangxi nodded: "Xie Liulang is devoted to academic studies, and has recently been busy improving cement technology."
Queen Mother Ye smiled and said: "Whenever you need to grant a marriage, you can come to the palace and tell me."
Zhu Tangxi asked: "Is the cabinet still quarreling?"
Queen Mother Ye sighed: "Well, we have been arguing for several years. When the quarrel reaches a result, a decree is issued, and then the quarrel continues behind closed doors."
The seven cabinet ministers still have different opinions.
They all agree on the reform, but there are huge differences on how to change it specifically.
Especially when it comes to land!
…
Cabinet, another meeting.
Yuan Huaiyi, who was born as a low-level military officer and was known as the Qinwang Shouyi, was sitting there with an old look, his eyes half-closed as if he could fall asleep at any moment.
He comes from the Heilongjiang River, and his foundation is too shallow. Now he even loses military power. He has been pretending to be deaf and dumb since he joined the cabinet.
You can make as much noise as you want, just don't disturb my sleep.
"Reform industry and commerce first, agriculture cannot be touched, especially the land cannot be cleared!" Deputy Prime Minister Ge Congxin shouted loudly.
Prime Minister Deng Gongwu said: "You can start with agriculture, but you must start with agriculture within three to five years at the latest. Not only are mergers and acquisitions intensifying, but the mess of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes has also made a comeback. If there is not a large amount of overseas food that can be transferred to disaster relief, we will never know how to deal with it every time of famine.
How much civil unrest will there be?"
Ge Congxin said: "Since you can prepare grain from overseas, don't touch it yet. The area around the mouth of the Ganges River has been driving the Indian indigenous people to colonize it for decades, and now it is a big granary for the Han people to move there."
Decades ago, the Ming Dynasty sent troops to help Prince Xi Na restore his country, and Prince Xi Na donated the Ganges Delta to the Ming Dynasty.
Why is it so refreshing to donate soil?
Because the medieval Ganges Delta was full of mangroves and swamps, it was not a large granary at all. Instead, miasma was rampant and the mortality rate was extremely high.
The Ming Dynasty built a port there, and there were not many troops stationed there. It didn't care about places far away from the port.
But there is one thing that I have persisted in doing for decades.
To be continued...