I want to be emperor

Chapter 553 Education and Steel

In Jinling City, Luo Zhixue looked at the report of the four-school joint exam that just ended.

This time, the joint examination of the four schools was an attempt by Luo Zhixue himself to give instructions, jointly deployed by the Ministry of Ethics and Education, the Military and Political Department of the Army, and the Military and Political Department of the Navy, and implemented by the Ministry of Ethics and Education.

Others didn't know it, but Luo Zhixue already regarded the joint entrance examination of the four schools as an attempt to unify the college entrance examination.

The joint examination of the four schools only covers the provincial level, so the workload is relatively small, easy to control, and any problems can be adjusted in time.

Now according to the report, the results of the joint entrance examination this time are still good, mainly because a whole set of entrance examination system has been initially explored.

After a few more years of experimentation, when more colleges and universities are established, then the scope of the college entrance examination can be gradually expanded.

After putting down the report, Luo Zhixue said to himself: "Now, it's time to establish the primary and secondary school system!"

There are now four colleges and universities in the Great Chu Empire, but there are still no matching primary and secondary schools. At present, the enrollment can only be combined with the imperial examination and recruited directly from the county schools.

However, an institution like the County School does not conform to the scope of a school in the modern sense, because the students of this thing are all composed of scholars who have passed the college examination, and the teachers in it are said to be teachers, let alone administrators.

The county schools in the pre-Ming Dynasty, and the county schools of the Great Chu Empire that did not carry out much reform after the Great Chu Empire took over, were schools, let alone scholar management institutions.

This does not meet the requirements of the modern education system.

The next day, Luo Zhixue summoned relevant officials from the Ministry of Rites and Education, and proposed the establishment of a new type of education and the establishment of primary and secondary schools in various places.

Each province must have at least one three-year high school, each prefecture must have at least one three-year high school, each county must have at least one three-year high school, and each town must have at least one three-year primary school .

As for the states, the Great Chu Empire had already implemented the abolition of state-level institutions at different levels in the fifth year of Chengshun. Some small states were changed to counties, and some large states were reformed into prefectures.

As a result, the local administrative system of the Great Chu Empire became simpler and more unified, consisting of provinces, prefectures, counties, towns, and villages.

In order to reduce the cost of implementing new education, it is also for a smooth transition.

The buildings of all county schools and prefectural schools were reformed into new-style higher primary and junior high school buildings, and the original personnel were either transferred to the county etiquette department or changed to government-run primary and secondary school teachers or administrative personnel.

In principle, there will be no abolition and dismissal, mainly to reduce internal resistance to reform.

If the county school or prefectural school is reformed into a new type of school, and some officials of the county school find themselves out of work, they must have opinions.

In order to reduce internal resistance as much as possible, especially at the grassroots level, and to maintain local stability and avoid too much turmoil, Luo Zhixue personally instructed to properly arrange the staff of the former county school and prefectural school.

The government-run elementary schools in each town are mainly newly established. This kind of elementary school is mainly for enlightenment. It does not have high requirements for school buildings and teachers, and the cost will not be great. As long as the documents are issued, each town will run a small The size of the elementary school will not be too big a problem.

As for high schools, limited by the shortage of teachers, they will be run temporarily by the Provincial Department of Ethics and Education, and the four major colleges will provide some support in terms of teachers.

However, in order to further increase the number of teachers, especially those in science and engineering, Luo Zhixue instructed the Ministry of Rites and Education to properly set up several normal colleges dedicated to cultivating educational talents.

In addition, vigorously encourage the private sector to run primary education by themselves, review and assess existing private schools, register and issue relevant school licenses, and carry out unified school system and student status management in accordance with the new education system. Apply for an officially recognized diploma.

At the same time, provide appropriate financial subsidies for rural private schools in remote areas, poor areas and difficult to operate.

The various requirements put forward by Luo Zhixue are actually not high. There is only one higher primary school in a county, and only one junior high school in a prefecture.

As far as the government is concerned, it is enough to directly adapt the original county school and prefectural school.

In addition, in fact, there are a lot of academies and colleges in the folk... and these traditional academies have actually started to add various new education content a few years ago!
why?Because the only purpose of the existence of these academies is to train students to take the imperial examination, and the imperial examination of the Great Chu Empire, even from the county examination, has already begun to involve basic science knowledge such as mathematics and physics.

These academies naturally have to study the imperial examination questions and subjects, and then educate the students in a targeted manner.

Nowadays, many private academies are very enthusiastic about running new schools.

And the expected large amount of criticism and dissatisfaction with the new learning from the scholar class...in fact, it did not appear. Or grandchildren go to study in those good academies run by new schools!

Why?Again, it doesn't matter what you study, the important thing is to be able to be an official.

After the imperial examination was abolished in the late Qing Dynasty, why did it cause large-scale opposition from scholars, and the students complained wildly.

It is because the imperial examination was abolished in the late Qing Dynasty, but there was no timely supplement and improvement of the civil service examination system... This is not a new type of education, but directly blocks the way for scholars to become officials!
I have been studying all my life, just to become an official... Now it's all right, you have canceled the imperial examinations, so you are still playing with wool, if I don't revolutionize, who are you going to revolutionize...

The Great Chu Empire did not abolish the imperial examinations. On the contrary, the Great Chu Empire also expanded the admission scale of the imperial examinations. A large number of so-called scholars were included in the administrative system, turning them into their own people...

Although most of them took the college examination and went to be a nine-rank staff member...but this is still an official status, and they can continue to climb without hindrance, most scholars are still very satisfied.

After all, most people don't have that much ambition, they just want a decent job to support their families.

Ambitious people, you can also continue to take the provincial examination, general examination, and get the top score in the examination to go to the sky in one step, directly from the sixth rank, and you can directly enter the Imperial Academy to work.

The existence of a large number of academies and a large number of private small-scale private schools also means that the scale of private education within the Great Chu Empire is still very large, even much larger than government-run education.

The most important thing is that this does not require official money!
Therefore, it is very necessary to encourage and support private education.

After receiving Luo Zhixue's instructions, the Ministry of Ethics and Education quickly made a preliminary new education plan according to Luo Zhixue's instructions.

According to this plan, starting from the second half of this year, all localities will enter the preparatory period, and in the spring of next year, all new government-run schools will set up a shelf and start recruiting students.

Considering the first version of the new education system, the early government-run enrollment will be more special. Elementary schools are easy to say, just recruit school-age children directly in the jurisdiction.

Although there is only one elementary school in the town, there is no need to worry about not being able to meet the needs... because not all school-age children will sign up for school...

After the failure of low-fee compulsory education in early education trials, government-run education is no longer taking the path of compulsory education.

Instead, they follow the path of conventional education. There is a tuition fee to go to school, and it is not cheap, which is about the same level as private private schools.

The tuition fee is enough to maintain the operation of the township primary school, and maybe it can earn a little more to build a few more school buildings.

If the number of applicants is large, then open a few more classes... You said that the primary school in the town is short of funds, and there are only a few teachers, so it cannot recruit too many students...

What a joke, how long can students recruit more teachers and build more school buildings? Fee-based education is always against those who have fewer students, not those who have too many students.

Even if it is too late in the first year, resulting in insufficient school buildings and insufficient desks, you will not rent a house, and you will not be able to temporarily sign teachers.

In short, one sheep is chased, and a flock of sheep is also chased. The more the better, all comers are welcome.

Well, in fact, after the opening of most town primary schools, they may not be able to recruit enough students, and it is unlikely that they will be full.

Elementary primary schools recruit school-age children, while county higher primary schools recruit students from the community first.

Students who have undergone enlightenment education are recruited from various private schools, and relatively young students are enrolled.

The elementary schools and high schools in the government also recruit students directly from the society.

Before a large number of three-year students graduate and apply for the exam, the enrollment of these higher-level schools still has to rely on social enrollment.

The so-called social enrollment, in fact, the main force is also the private schools, the original various private schools and academies.

According to the plan of the Ministry of Rites and Education, all private schools, no matter whether they are small private schools or large-scale famous academies, need to register, and follow-up teaching will be carried out in accordance with the school system formulated by the Ministry of Rites and Education. The four-level and three-year school system will also be implemented. , Three years of high school, three years of junior high school, three years of high school.

At the same time, some well-known non-governmental academies are allowed to apply for the establishment of private colleges and universities.

However, the admissions system of all private colleges and universities must also be incorporated into the admissions system of government-run schools, and they cannot recruit students privately as in the past.

The implementation of this series of new education systems requires a half-year preparation period, and it will be officially launched tomorrow spring. However, it does not require a one-step completion.

And these are matters related to basic education, and will not have any obvious effect on the development of science and technology in the short term. Now the development of science and technology in the Great Chu Empire still depends on the Ordnance Department of the Army Military Academy and the Royal Institute of Technology.

Especially for the Royal Institute of Technology, although the school has only been in operation for a few years, because of the high quality of students, the rigorous teaching, and a group of early Luo Zhixue personally trained, as well as students who have been exposed to Western learning and various science and technology In just a few years, many Western missionaries have quickly trained a group of basic technical talents.

Lin Mijian is one of them, and he is still the best one!
As a child born in a non-famous pirate family, this gentleman spent his childhood in Indonesia, played with artillery and guns, and sailed across the sea with his friends...

Of course, more importantly, he received basic Western-style learning in Indonesia.

A few years ago, his father followed Zheng Zhilong and returned to the empire. He changed from a pirate captain to a lieutenant captain of the Great Chu Empire Navy!
And Lin Mijian also returned to China with his father. It didn't take long for him to be recommended to apply for the Royal Institute of Technology because of his knowledge of Western learning and his cleverness. protrude.

Hanging and beating classmates all the way, finally passed the graduation exam successfully and stayed in school to teach.

At this time, Lin Mijian was only 15 years old...but he was already a fifth-rank lecturer in the Royal Institute of Technology!

When he was in class, the next group of students were all older than him...

However, this does not prevent him from teaching while also leading a group of students to conduct various chemical research. Among his research projects, the key project is iron and steel smelting.

----

The development of science and technology is inseparable from the development of materials.

With all kinds of suitable excellent materials, various mechanical equipment can be produced, and with various mechanical equipment and materials, various specific application products can be produced.

The production of artillery is a very typical example.

To produce artillery, you need to have qualified materials. It is not the same whether it is cast iron artillery or bronze artillery. Let alone the barrel, only the casing of the grenade. The material is not good enough to withstand the pressure of the chamber, so we can only The shell is made thicker, and if it is thicker, the internal charge will be less, and the explosive power will be lower. At the same time, if it is too thick, it will be more difficult to process the prefabricated fragments, and it will be difficult to produce a large number of fragments after the explosion.

However, if there are excellent shell materials, such as steel with stronger pressure resistance, many problems can be solved.

The processing also has extremely high requirements on materials. Today, the bronze artillery produced by the Great Chu Empire adopts the method of finishing after casting. Processing in order to make the inside of the barrel smoother and keep the caliber highly uniform.

And this puts high demands on the cutter head material of the boring machine. The performance of the cutter material is not good, but continuous high-intensity processing cannot be completed.

Not only the production of artillery, muskets, armor and even bayonets, but also various other weapons and equipment products are heavily dependent on the properties of materials.

At present, the most used and widely used material is naturally steel.

Iron and steel smelting is also a key research project in the Royal Institute of Technology, not only in the Department of Chemistry, but also in the Department of Physics and Mechanization.

A series of iron and steel smelting projects are all key research projects.

Lin Mijian, on the other hand, is in charge of steel smelting, not the specific production process, but the deep-seated principles.

The reason why Lin Mijian was able to graduate quickly and stay in school to teach is because in June this year, he proved through experiments that the fine steel made by craftsmen is not pure iron, but a mixture of iron and other substances. Among these other substances, there is the carbon element that His Majesty mentioned.

It's just that the experimental conditions are limited, and the theoretical conditions are also very limited. Although they already know that the combination of iron, carbon and other substances will produce various properties, they still cannot verify the specific ratio in detail through experiments...

Even now they are unable to analyze what are the other remaining substances in the steel made by the craftsmen besides iron and carbon, and what role will they play.

The research on iron and steel smelting is still in a very primitive stage at the current stage.

There is no way, the Great Chu Empire can't even make a complete table of elements...

Luo Zhixue told the early students that there are a lot of elements such as iron, carbon, and sulfur, but the question is, what are these elements?What are its characteristics?
Some of the common elements are okay, and Luo Zhixue can tell them from memory, but Luo Zhixue can’t remember many things clearly... After all, it’s not time for him to take the college entrance examination. Liberal arts direction, so once the college entrance examination is passed, it is basically at the back of my mind... A lot of high school knowledge has been blurred.

There is also a more critical question: empty words have no proof!
Facing a piece of steel, Luo Zhixue told the students that in addition to iron, there is also carbon in steel, and various messy elements may have been mixed in during the smelting process.

However, it is actually very difficult to carry out specific measurements and even microscopic observations.

The test equipment is not good, and many tests cannot be done.

Therefore, although Luo Zhixue personally taught many students in the early days, more often than not, he conducted a certain amount of science popularization, and then remembered all the things he still remembered based on direct memory.

How to learn these theoretical knowledge and how to transform it into practical results requires a large number of teachers, students and technical personnel to continue to think of ways.

How to put it, at least all kinds of test instruments must be produced before relevant tests can be done. Only with successful tests can accurate values ​​be obtained, and then they can be applied to production.

Lin Mijian and the others actually do these things, but Lin Mijian prefers the theoretical aspects and some cutting-edge experiments.

Although so far, Lin Mijian has not been able to explain the microscopic phenomena of steel in detail at the principle level, but it does not prevent him from many comparative experiments and reached a basic conclusion: the steel with less carbon content is softer, and the steel with less carbon content is softer. The higher the carbon content, the harder the steel, and if you want to get steel suitable for making various weapons or mechanical equipment, you need to control the carbon content in the steel.

At the same time, he also proved that there is carbon in the air, and at the same time, the charcoal or coal used for heating also contains carbon. Therefore, he proposed that by controlling the intake of carbon in each production process, iron with different hardness can be obtained.

Of course, these basic theories are not enough. In fact, it is difficult to control the carbon intake in the production process. It can only be adjusted repeatedly in the actual production process again and again, and then an optimal production process can be obtained.

As for the specific production process, Zi Neng let the iron and steel plant to explore on its own.

Even so, Lin Mijian's research on steel has brought great inspiration and help to the steel industry.

I used to do it blindly, and I still did it based on experience. I knew how to do it, but I didn't know why I did it this way.

Now, they know something, so they can improve the production equipment in a targeted manner.

This is actually useless to increase the steel production of the Great Chu Empire... but it has a considerable effect on the improvement of iron production. The main reason is to build a taller iron-blowing furnace that uses a water-powered blower.

In this way, large quantities of iron materials can be produced.

If you want to further obtain steel with better performance, that is, iron-carbon alloy steel with both hardness and toughness, then reprocessing is necessary.

At present, the Great Chu Empire is using the method of frying steel... Of course, it is not the previous manual frying of steel, which is too inefficient and difficult to control... The Great Chu Empire uses large-scale mechanically powered steel frying.

In this way, steel can be produced in batches. Of course, this batch is compared with the previous pure manual production, and it is far from being comparable to the steel production of later generations.

At present, the amount of steel in the Great Chu Empire is still very limited, far from meeting the needs of production.

In addition, the mechanical steel frying method developed by several large steel factories based on the traditional steel frying method... The quality of the steel produced is actually not good, the removal of impurities is not thorough, and the overall hardness is not high.

It should be regarded as inferior low-carbon steel in later generations.

In the steel industry of the Great Chu Empire, it was called soft steel.

At present, the Chu army's various breastplates, bayonets, waist knives and other cold weapons produced in various standards, and armor are basically produced with this kind of mild steel.

In addition to the mechanical steel frying method, in fact, ironworks often use other processes developed from traditional steelmaking methods, but the output is the same as the steel frying method, both of which are limited.

At present, the steel production in the Great Chu Empire, especially the production of steel, is in full bloom, and there are all kinds of messy methods.

There is the stirring method that has touched the threshold of industrial production, there is also the purely manual method of frying steel, and the crucible steel-smelting method... Basically, the steel-making methods that can be found in the land of China in the past, no matter what they are, good or bad , Basically all were dug out by the officials of the Great Chu Empire, and then the technology was sorted out and the principle research and analysis were carried out.

It's just that in the end, I found that many messy steelmaking methods are similar, either for reducing carbon or increasing carbon, but the methods used are different.

With the continuous construction of large-scale hydrodynamic blowing furnaces, the subsequent production of pig iron must be increasing, so the iron and steel industry is focusing on the research of decarburized steel.

In this regard, Daye Iron and Steel Works is at the forefront!

After all, they were the first to build tall and large water-powered blowing furnaces, and the output of various productions soared, and some also brought a large amount of pig iron.

Although these pig irons can also be directly used for the casting of specific products, such as artillery, they are still very difficult to use.

They urgently need a way to decarburize the mass-produced pig iron and then process it into steel.

Lin Mijian is now providing them with some theoretical research results to help them develop a new generation of steelmaking methods.

It's just that this work will be very long, and it is estimated that it will not be successful in a short time.

(End of this chapter)