The huge sound of cannons made Ding Yunyi's ears buzz.
"Mr. Jiao, the power of this cannon is too great." Ding Yunyi was startled and looked into the distance. The target that had been temporarily piled up was almost smashed to pieces by the cannon.
Jiao Xu had a look of pride on his face: "Back to the Marquis, this is the 'Shenwei' Class E cannon newly developed by our Firearms Bureau, which is specially used to attack cities. Compared with the previous artillery, its rate of fire has been increased.
and stability.”
"Oh, eh? E-class cannon?" Ding Yunyi suddenly noticed something was wrong: "A, B, C, D, the 'Shenwei' seems to have missed a D-class cannon, right?"
Jiao Xu said respectfully: "Back to the Marquis, because the Marquis' surname is Ding, to avoid taboos, we deliberately did not name it after the 'Ding' class."
"Taboo? What kind of taboo are you avoiding?" Ding Yunyi was startled, and then he suddenly realized: "Mr. Jiao, I'm not the emperor, so why do I have to create so many taboos? My name is Ding Yunyi. Do all these three words have to be taboo?
Mr. Jiao, you don’t have to go to such trouble in the future, just call it whatever you want, let alone the D-class cannon, as long as you develop a cannon for me that can knock down an entire city wall with one shot, it doesn’t matter even if it’s called the damn Ding Yunyi cannon.”
There was laughter all around, and Jiao Xu also smiled and nodded repeatedly.
The Marquis is very dignified in front of others, but he really has no airs in front of his brothers.
Since the artillery bureau and shipyard were relocated to Quanzhou, the construction of weapons and ships has all entered high-speed operation mode.
In fact, it's not just these two departments. All the departments that existed before or were established later are running at high speed.
A new blueprint designed by Ding Yunyi himself is slowly opening
For example, the Textile Bureau. This is a brand new department.
When Qin Yun was in Taiwan, he once told Ding Yunyi that there was a woman named Li Sanniang. The textile loom she modified was more than twice as fast as other people's.
These words immediately piqued Ding Yunyi's interest, and he immediately transferred Li Sanniang to the Textile Bureau. She was not required to do anything else, and had only one task: to concentrate on improving textile machines.
When Ding Yunyi appeared at the Textile Bureau, Li Sanniang, who was concentrating on the textile machine, did not notice that Wu Liehou had arrived. Ding Yunyi made a gesture to his subordinates, telling them not to disturb her.
Li Sanniang brought a brand new textile machine to textile workers: the Sanniang machine.
This is a machine named by Ding Yunyi himself. At first, Li Sanniang was very embarrassed, saying that she was illiterate, so how could she deserve to be named after her? But Ding Yunyi insisted on doing so.
Not for anything else. Just to let everyone remember the person who invented this machine. Of course, this is also inspired by Ding Yunyi from "Jenny Machine".
Since those Taixi people can name it like this, why can’t I, the Ming Dynasty, do the same?
Li Sanniang now seems to be stuck in a difficult problem. According to the request of the Marquis, the textile machine used by two people should be turned into one person. In addition to greatly reducing manpower and improving textile efficiency, it can also weave wider textiles.
cloth.
But this is not so easy to do, especially since Ding Yunyi knows nothing about these textile technologies. He can only briefly express his ideas, and cannot make any substantive suggestions.
There was a "bang" sound. One of the threads was broken again, and everyone could hear Li Sanniang sigh.
"Sanniang, don't be depressed. If you fail, just start over."
Such a familiar voice came from behind, and Li Sanniang turned her head quickly: "I have met Mr. Hou."
"Sit down and continue to do your thing." Ding Yunyi said with a smile: "It doesn't matter how many times you fail. If you come back again and again, I will call you more people and you will always succeed."
Li Sanniang was a little embarrassed: "There has been no progress for more than sixty days. But I am getting as much salary as the Marquis in vain."
Li Sanniang always feels awkward talking about the word "salary".
Whether in the firearms bureau, the shipyard, or the textile bureau, everyone receives a salary, which is the previous salary, and is settled weekly.
This is really a rare thing for these workers.
Moreover, since moving to Quanzhou, what Wu Liehou called "factories" began to be built one after another.
For example, the Firearms Bureau no longer produces all artillery parts to the Firearms Bureau, but is dispersed to several newly established factories.
Each factory is recruiting a large number of workers and then training them. All the expenses during the training period are covered by Wu Liehou, and there is also a certain amount of living expenses.
Workers who pass the training can smoothly enter the factory and enjoy the wages and benefits of formal workers.
All these changes were difficult to adapt to at first, but as time went by, they became accustomed to it.
The most shocking thing is the invention of another new thing, and this new thing was also invented under the direct command of Wu Liebotin Yunyi, and was named by him:
cement!
This new thing, made of lime and clay mixed in a ratio of three to one, aroused great curiosity as soon as it came out.
In fact, cement is not really a new thing. As early as thousands of years ago, the Dadiwan people in Qin'an, China, laid floors similar to cement.
Later, the ancient Romans used a mixture of lime and volcanic ash in construction. This mixture is very similar to modern lime pozzolana cement. Concrete made of cemented gravel with it is not only stronger after hardening, but also resistant to fresh water or
Salt water erosion.
In another era, the third brother whom Ding Yunyi followed once had shares in a cement factory. Ding Yunyi also stayed there for a while, so he was somewhat good at making cement, which directly contributed to the early birth of cement.
In Fujian.
The birth of cement means that Fujian will take a brand new leap in civil construction, water conservancy, Fujian defense, etc.
And such a leap would be astounding
Of course, the advent of cement cannot be entirely attributed to Ding Yunyi. A large part of his contribution comes from the "Fujian Academy of Sciences", which is also a newly established institution.
In the "Fujian Academy of Sciences", a large number of Chinese and foreign talents have been networked. Talents from the Ming Dynasty, Hongyi, Folangji, Qianlasi, France, Britain, etc., all gathered in the "Fujian Academy of Sciences"
Among these talents, some of the Thai and Western talents were recruited from Luzon and other places, some came to the distant Ming Dynasty to seek opportunities, and some were discovered by the long-distance trade fleet and brought back to Fujian.
This is an institution that Ding Yunyi attaches great importance to. For the "Fujian Academy of Sciences", he specially selected a place in Quanzhou that is far away from the bustling, noisy, quiet, and covers an extremely large area as the location of the Academy, and allocated a large amount of funds to support it.
These studies by Chinese and foreign scientists.
There was a Frenchman, Demothy, who was introduced by Al. He invented something that was despised by his colleagues but made Ding Yunyi ecstatic: a cooking dish.
The so-called "boiling vessel" refers to a device that boils bones in water in a sealed vessel to soften them. According to Demothy's introduction, when water is boiled under high pressure, it has a higher boiling point, which enhances the dissolving power of water.
Obviously, in the eyes of his colleagues, Wu Liehou Ding Yunyi spent so much money to hire these scientists and did not ask them to invent utensils for eating and cooking.
But the "steaming dish" seems to have another level of significance in Ding Yunyi's eyes. Such a "steaming dish" has another name:
Pressure cooker!
And what does it mean that the pressure cooker came out decades in advance? It means that the prototype of the steam engine has quietly appeared! This is something that makes Ding Yunyi ecstatic!
Although the true birth of the steam engine may still take a long time, at least at this point, Fujian under his leadership is already far ahead of any other country in the world!
Pressure cooker - steam engine, these two things are inextricably linked, will usher in an unprecedented revolutionary era!
Something happened that stunned everyone in the Academy of Sciences:
Ding Yunyi, the Marquis of Wu Lie, not only greatly commended Demoxi, but also awarded him a full two thousand taels of silver in recognition of his contribution to the invention of the "steaming dish".
God, those Chinese scientists were surprised and envious, but their hearts were boiling with infinite hope. An invention for cooking rice can be rewarded like this by Wu Liebo, but what about other things? Those more important ones
Doesn’t invention lead to a reward several times or even dozens of times higher than that of Demothy?
Under heavy rewards there must be brave men. This sentence is not only applicable to the army, but also to scientists.
Offering a reward is always a very good idea, and Ding Yunyi knows this very well.
What do countries rely on to invent technology? Apart from natural progress, there is only one answer: offering rewards.
In the 18th century, Europe made a sextant that could be used for navigation. However, the sextant could only measure latitude. To measure longitude, in addition to the baseline, a high-precision timer was required. The so-called longitude was actually a high-precision marine clock.
As long as the time is stable on a rocking ship, the error will be within a certain range for a long time.
This way the longitude can be calculated with acceptable accuracy.
The method of using clocks to determine longitude at sea was first proposed in 1530. In 1637, Galileo said that the pendulum could be applied to clocks with wheels to assist navigators in determining longitude. In 1660, Huygens followed the same principle.
Two marine clocks were completed, but the error was too large.
The British Parliament passed the "Longitude Act" in 1714, which wanted to reward those who invented the actual method of measuring longitude. The standards and bonuses are as follows: Those who can accurately measure one-half degree will receive a bonus of 20,000 pounds; those who can achieve two-thirds of it will receive a bonus of 10,000 pounds.
£5,000; once it was £10,000. £20,000 was a large sum at the time, so it was also called the "King's Ransom".
How accurate are the requirements of the Longitude Act? 15 degrees is equivalent to 1 hour, so 1 degree, the distance on the equator is 111 kilometers, which is equivalent to 4 minutes, and half a degree is equivalent to 2 minutes. At that time, it took about 6 weeks to travel from England to America, so
The speed of a day cannot exceed 3 seconds, otherwise the cumulative time will exceed 2 minutes. In fact, this is a requirement at the equator. If it is at 30 degrees latitude, it will be reduced by 30 to 2 seconds. The higher the latitude, the greater the requirement.
strict.
In 1714, the "Committee of Longitude" established by the British came to Newton for consultation. Newton replied: "Such a timer has not yet come out."
Around the 1720s, the British Longitude Committee offered a reward of 20,000 pounds for "an instrument capable of determining the longitude of a ship at the end of a six-week voyage with an error not exceeding 30 nautical miles."
At that time, the British clockmaker John Harrison worked alone and devoted himself to the design of marine clocks. It took him 40 years and after testing several prototypes, he finally met the standards set by the Committee of Longitude. In 1761, he designed
"Theodolite No. 4" was placed on the Royal Navy warship "Deptford", leaving the United Kingdom and sailing to Jamaica. Harrison's son William aboard the ship to operate the theodolite. After nine days of sailing, William calculated the longitude based on the theodolite,
Report to the captain: They will definitely see the Madeira Islands the next morning. The captain bet William 5:1 that they will not see the islands. William won. Two months later
, the "Deptford" arrived in Jamaica; the timer designed by Harrison had an error of only 5 seconds. The accuracy of Harrison's chronometer exceeded the standards set by the Longitude Committee. Then, because of the obstruction of the British bureaucracy, until he
Three years before his death, in 1773, Harrison only received a bonus of 20,000 pounds. Of course, it was not until he received the bonus that he made the design know-how of the chronometer public to the world. It was not until the 1770s that Harrison's chronometer was
Begins to be put on the market in large quantities.
As for this meridian, it was the British clockmaker John Harrison who worked alone with the human and financial resources of himself and his son. It took him nearly 40 years to make the final result. It is not an accumulation of technology, but
It relied on his genius. However, due to the critical obstruction of those astronomers, it was not until near the end of his life that he received due recognition in 1773.
Another example in the 18th century is the invention of the Lubulan alkali production method, known as the "ancestor of modern chemical industry".
The earliest alkali was the so-called plant alkali, which was made from plant ash. The output was small and the price was high. Due to the Seven Years' War between Britain and France from 1756 to 1763, the source of plant alkali that was dependent on Spain was cut off. France was very short of soda ash, so in the 18th century
The world's highest scientific research institution, the French Royal Academy of Sciences, began research on a new alkali production method. They adopted the most advanced research method at the time: offering a reward.
In 1775, the French Royal Academy of Sciences began to offer a reward for a method of making alkali. They offered a "huge gold" reward of 1,200 francs to ask for a practical method of making alkali. To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it.
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