I want to be emperor

As the technicians got ready, the steam engine in front of them quickly started.

Coal is continuously fed into the boiler for combustion, and the heat generated boils the water in the boiler. The high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor generated by the boiled water is transported to the cylinder through the pipeline, and then pushes the piston in the cylinder to reciprocate. .

This process is also the most basic principle of the steam engine. Of course, this steam engine is much more complicated than the basic principle says.

In particular, the structure of the cylinder is relatively complicated. In order to achieve long-term reciprocating movement, there is a valve inside the cylinder, which is connected to the piston through a traditional structure, so that every reciprocating movement of the piston can drive the valve to move.

Furthermore, it is realized that high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor can enter through the gaps on the left and right sides, and the water vapor that has done work is also sent out through the valve.

Due to the long-term high-speed movement in this process, friction will be generated. In order to reduce friction and ensure sealing at the same time, the materials used for the parts connected to the valve and cylinder are all special high-strength materials. In order to process these small parts The parts also use the most advanced machine tools from Daye Machinery Company, and the knives used in the new machine tools are the top knives that can be made in the Great Chu Empire.

Just the machine tool tools used to process high-strength components are expensive.

It is precisely because of the adoption of a series of new materials and new techniques that the steam engine can be forcibly produced in this era.

The only problem now is that the cost of this crap is too high.

Luo Zhixue looked at the steam engine that started to move in real motion after continuous boosting, and drove a flywheel next to it to run fast. He was already thinking about how to make this expensive and fragile and extremely expensive The steam engine was put into practical use.

Putting the steam engine into practical use today is not because of the improved production efficiency of the steam engine. To be honest, the current manufacturing cost and use cost of the steam engine, plus its power and stability in the actual use process, etc. A series of performance In fact, the index is no better than that of hydrodynamic machinery, or even worse.

In terms of purely commercial use, this thing is actually a loss-making thing, and it is still a very loss-making business.

If there is no need to intervene with some administrative means, I am afraid that few companies are willing to introduce steam engines for production.

However, it is unrealistic to force enterprises to use it. Even government-run enterprises cannot do this. After all, enterprises need to make profits.

Even government-run enterprises need Lilan to upgrade equipment, expand production capacity, and develop new technologies.

It's unrealistic for you to make them lose money.

The only way is to issue subsidies officially, and tax incentives can be used to reduce the cost of using steam engines for enterprises.

In addition, in many places, even if you want to use water-powered machinery, you can’t use it. At present, if enterprises in these places want to use mechanical equipment, they usually use power-storage machinery. This also leads to factories in places far away from rivers. Mostly because of small factories.

If there is a steam engine, then these places can use better and larger mechanical equipment for processing and production. …

In this way, even if the production cost is higher, it should be profitable.

After all, long-distance transportation these days can only rely on sea or river transportation, and the cost is not low. As for long-distance land transportation, don't count on it.

The huge cost of transportation will cause some places to be quite competitive even if they produce relatively high-priced book products for sale, because the transportation cost will be higher when transporting goods from distant hydropower factories.

Developing steam engine power in places far away from rivers is a development direction that Luo Zhixue thought of.

The other direction is to use it in mines, especially in coal mines. Coal mines are not factories, but they cannot be built on the banks of rivers, and coal mines also need power to lift water, transport coal mines, and Preliminary processing of coal mines.

The most important thing is that the coal mine itself produces coal. As coal producers, the cost of using coal by themselves is very low, which can greatly reduce the daily use cost of the steam engine.

The price of coal these days is still quite expensive, because coal has transportation costs in addition to mining costs, and in these years, transportation costs account for the main part of coal costs.

Just imagine, coal is mined from Liaodong, Luanzhou, Hebei, or Shanxi, and then transported to Shandong, Jiangbei, and Jiangnan by land, river, and sea for sale and use.

This long transportation distance, just think about it, you will know how much it costs!
Therefore, the price of coal in non-coal producing areas is very expensive, and it is generally unaffordable for the common people... Generally, it is used by steel or mechanical processing enterprises, mainly in the smelting industry.

But if the steam engine is used directly in the coal mine, or if the steam engine is used in the coal producing area, then the cost of using coal will be very low.

This makes the business profitable.

Although it is possible to promote a new business purely by administrative means, the cost is too high. If a suitable method can be found to make the enterprise profitable, then a virtuous circle can be formed.

The enterprise purchases the steam engine, and the enterprise itself generates additional benefits.

Enterprises that develop and produce steam engines can also obtain Lilan and accumulate production experience, and can also obtain a lot of feedback from customers using steam engines, and continue to improve steam engines in the future to make steam engines better in performance and reliability. The economic benefit is higher.

In the future, more companies will be able to use steam engines, resulting in greater production efficiency.

At the same time, if the industry starts to use steam engines for production, it will also greatly promote the technological development of the industry itself, and these promotions will in turn reduce the research and development and production costs of steam engines.

In this way, a good gradual cycle can be formed!

As the No. 17 experimental steam engine in front of him continued to operate, Luo Zhixue had already begun to imagine the grand occasion of an industrial explosion with chimneys everywhere in China and the smell of coal burnt everywhere.

Thinking of this, the corners of Luo Zhixue's mouth couldn't help showing a smile!
Others didn't know that Luo Zhixue was laughing because of the enjoyment of the future, and thought that he was simply happy to see the steam engine running successfully. …

No matter why Luo Zhixue is happy, but if he is happy, a group of people will follow suit.

A large number of R&D personnel of the steam engine project team and the officials who came to inspect with them all smiled...

Although many people don't know why they laugh, and they can't even understand why the steam engine is worth laughing at, but these are not important. The important thing is that Luo Zhixue laughed. Do you still dare to cry in such a situation?

With a hearty smile, Luo Zhixue stepped forward to Song Fufang, the leader of the steam engine project team, and said, "Congratulations to Song Aiqing and all the lovers of the project team, your years of hard work have finally paid off!"

"I'm so proud of you!"

After finishing speaking, Luo Zhixue turned to more people, especially a large number of imperial officials behind him, saying: "Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and the progress of science and technology plays an irreplaceable role in the development of society and the promotion of people's livelihood." effect."

"We are down-to-earth, unswervingly continue to promote the development of science and technology, and effectively improve the living standards of the people through the advancement of science and technology, so that the people have housing, clothing and food!"

When Luo Zhixue started a long speech on the spur of the moment, focusing on the importance of science and technology to the empire and the people's livelihood, a group of officials below also consciously made an appearance of listening carefully, and a group of low-level officials' followers were Take out the charcoal pencil and small book that you carry with you to make records.

These are all important speeches of His Majesty. Such speeches often represent the highest-level policy of the empire, and they need to be sorted out and distributed to the officials for careful study and study.

Some of the speeches will be sorted out and published directly in the Dachu Mansion newspaper in the form of imperial decree, so that everyone in the world will know the policy trends of the empire.

In Luo Zhixue's speech, he talked about many of his previous thoughts on steam engines, and even revealed the changes and effects of steam engines in advance in a predictable way, and then expanded the topic from steam engines to other topics. Scientific aspects, and put forward several conjectures.

"Although today's steam engines are large in size, small in power, and effective in application scenarios, what if they continue to develop? The size and weight of steam engines continue to decrease, but the power is getting bigger and bigger? Maybe one day in the future, we will be able to Dozens or even hundreds of horses can be powered by a steam engine the size of a carriage."

"And such a high-efficiency steam engine, can it replace mules and horses to haul goods?"

"Similarly, can such a steam engine be carried on a ship and replace sails as the source of power for the ship?"

"The steam engine is powered by high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor to push the piston, so can we use other methods to push the piston? For example, can the high-temperature and high-pressure gas produced by the combustion of a certain liquid or gas fuel replace high-temperature and high-pressure water? Where's the steam?"

"Science has infinite possibilities, and more possibilities are waiting for you to discover!"

One of Luo Zhixue spoke for a long time, and because it was an impromptu speech and there was no scheduled speech, he was completely thinking of where to say... The early stage was okay, he talked about steam engines and some fake content, all kinds of Meaning... listening to it makes people want to sleep. …

However, the content in the middle and later stages has deviated from the steam engine, and there are no fake words. Instead, there are more technology and various messy conjectures. In the end, Luo Zhixue even described a future world to everyone through words.

A time when there are trains, ships, and even airships, and people can communicate thousands of miles through some kind of electromagnetic device.

In this future world, the productivity is extremely developed, the efficiency is extremely high, the transportation is developed, the production cost of various daily necessities is extremely low, and the price is also extremely low. Ordinary people can enjoy high-tech industrial products.

Perhaps in the future, it will take only ten days or less for people or goods to reach Hami in the northwest region from Jinling.

Maybe in the future, in half a month or even less, you can take a boat all the way south from Jinling City to Malacca, and even cross the Pacific Ocean in a month or even less. But there is America with countless gold and silver.

Perhaps, in the future, wanderers who are away from home can send their family letters back to their hometown through some electromagnetic means, so that their parents can know their situation.

Even though the people who are listening to these speeches are important officials of the empire and technical experts, their vision and insights are far beyond ordinary people, but they are still shocked by the future world depicted by Luo Zhixue!

They know about steam engines, and even some people know about electromagnetism. There is an electromagnetism major in the Royal Institute of Technology, and there is a group of people who specialize in this stuff.

Even the internal combustion engine, in fact, the Royal Institute of Technology already has a special project team to conduct theoretical research on the premise!
They have more or less heard of the steam engine that is already practical, as well as the internal combustion engine and electromagnetic equipment that are still in the state of basic theoretical research.

But what the future world brought by the combination of these three things will be like, they can't imagine.

So now when they look at Luo Zhixue, some of them look wildly, while others are lost in thought, and some of them secretly despise in their hearts: A real Nima can brag!

But even if they don't agree in their hearts that Luo Zhixue's exaggerated and magical future world is really possible, they still have to admit one thing: when Luo Zhixue brags, he is really awesome!
Apart from other things, this imagination alone is not something ordinary people can have.

If it were someone else, if you asked him to brag, he wouldn't be able to boast such a traceable future world that is really very likely to come true.

No matter how good a science fiction writer is, at most he can imagine some features of the future society... It is impossible for him to imagine a complete future world, because there are too many things involved, and the knowledge of science fiction writers is limited. It is impossible to know everything, to make reasonable guesses, and to put those guesses together.

But Luo Zhixue, he directly referred to the entire future world and described a complete future world, but this future world is logical and self-consistent in almost all aspects.

Thinking about the many things mentioned in it, it is really possible to make it, and it is really possible to have the future scene described by Luo Zhixue after the combination of multiple things. …

Such as trains, such as airplanes, such as electromagnetic communication!

At this time, some people were whispering in their hearts, no wonder His Majesty was able to grow from a refugee military division step by step, and finally established a country and proclaimed himself emperor.

His Majesty is probably the only one with this ability to fool people in the whole world.

Others, even those ministers of affairs who are full of nonsense in their daily life and fool people at every turn, can't catch up with their majesty when it comes to bragging and fooling people!

After speaking, Luo Zhixue did not forget to give practical rewards to the technicians who developed the steam engine.

The leader of the steam engine project team, Song Fufang, who has been in charge of the research and development of steam engines for many years and solved many technical problems, was directly awarded the title of earl by him, and was rewarded with 10 taels of cash and a house.

There are honors as well as practical benefits.

Several other major engineers also conferred the title of viscount or baron on the spot, as well as cash and house rewards.

It also ordered people to reward other members of the project team and R&D personnel who, although not part of the steam engine project team, provided significant help and technical support during the steam engine research process.

"Technical personnel are the foundation of a powerful industrial country, and the relevant rewards and treatment must be guaranteed at the highest standard!"

Luo Zhixue has always attached great importance to the treatment of scientific and technical personnel, and it is a routine operation to give officials and actual salaries.

In the Great Chu Empire, an engineer with technology, or a scholar in a school, his social status would not be lower than that of an administrative official of the same level, and his social status was even higher, and his salary would be higher.

This is not just the result of Luo Zhixue's promotion. In fact, the high salary of technicians is also an inevitable additional effect brought about by the empire's promotion of industrial development.

The Great Chu Empire is in the stage of great industrial development. After so many factories are established, the number of various technical personnel required is very large, but in reality, the education system of the Great Chu Empire has no time to train enough technical staff.

This has also led to the situation that there are many temples and few monks. In order to compete for technical talents, enterprises will increase the treatment of technical personnel by themselves to gain an advantage in the competition for talents.

The supply of technical talents is in short supply, which has led to an increase in the income of technical talents.

At the same time, the government attaches great importance to technical personnel, especially in the Royal Institute of Technology and various official research institutions, all technical personnel are awarded official titles, which also allows these technical personnel to obtain a higher social status.

In addition, in many official administrative agencies, officials must also have certain technical skills. It is difficult for officials who are not from science and engineering to get promoted. No, even without the corresponding technical skills, you cannot even enter these departments.

In the imperial examinations of the Great Chu Empire, assignments were often based on needs. It was impossible for the Ministry of Civil Affairs to assign a new official without a technical background to an institution with a very large technical relationship.

In addition, the most typical example of many technical talents in the society starting their own businesses and then making a lot of money should belong to Luohua Shipyard. This shipyard was established by a group of engineers in the shipbuilding industry, and then introduced capital for investment. . …

Today, the founder team of Luohua Shipyard is all rich and rich!
In the contemporary Great Chu Empire, technical talents have great advantages whether they are engaged in politics, technology, or even business.

If you want status, you need status, and if you want money, you need money. This is the current status of technicians in the Great Chu Empire.

This also inspires more young students to actively devote themselves to the study of science and engineering, in order to stand out.

And this is the effect Luo Zhixue wants to see.

If a country wants to develop, especially industrial development, how can it do without enough technical personnel.

After finishing the inspection of the steam engine project of the Royal Institute of Technology, Luo Zhixue went to see several other research projects as usual, but these research projects basically did not have any major breakthroughs, but Luo Zhixue still encouraged some to do it. Scientific researchers who have made great achievements, and encourage them to continue to work hard and contribute their own strength to the scientific and technological development of the empire.

After returning from the Royal Institute of Technology, Luo Zhixue held some industrial meetings the next day, and the participants were mainly officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and other departments.

The theme of the meeting was very simple, how to promote the steam engine that has already had preliminary practical value and form a virtuous circle.

Although Luo Zhixue already had a stomachache, he still wanted to hear the thoughts of the officials under him, and at the same time needed these officials to perfect all the details.

At the meeting, after discussion, these officials proposed a plan that was similar to Luo Zhixue's previous estimate. They were all planning to start with mining companies; commercial use.

In terms of production and manufacturing, the Ministry of Industry plans to allow three to five domestic factories with relatively rich capital and strong technical capabilities to carry out industrialized mass production in different regions.

The simultaneous development of multiple factories can stimulate a certain amount of healthy competition, and only with competition can there be motivation

However, in different regions, manufacturers are limited to less than five at the same time, which can effectively avoid vicious competition.

While maintaining benign competition, it is necessary to avoid vicious competition. This is the experience of the Ministry of Industry in developing industry for many years, and it is also the experience they have summed up after going through many detours.

It has been reflected in the field of national defense and heavy industry, and the effect is not bad.

The most typical is the steel industry!

In the early days, the iron and steel industry of the Great Chu Empire was basically monopolized by Daye Iron and Steel Company. Due to the lack of external commercial competition, Daye Iron and Steel Company had been very slow in improving its technology for a long time, and the price of steel had also been rising. Run high.

Later, after the Dangtu Iron and Steel Company was established, the internal competition in the steel industry gradually increased. After the Ministry of Industry of the Great Chu Empire invested in the construction of a number of medium and large steel companies, especially after the Liaodong Iron and Steel Company in Liaodong was put into production on a large scale, The steel industry ushered in rapid development.

This development is not just a simple increase in output, but a continuous decline in steel prices, continuous improvement in production efficiency, and continuous improvement in technology.

At the same time, this kind of competition is limited within a certain range, because the distance between large steel plants is relatively long, and the transportation costs are relatively high these days, which is equivalent to giving these steel plants a basic market to ensure that they will not Suffer too much loss in the competition and go bankrupt.

In the end, the Ministry of Industry of the Great Chu Empire cultivated several large iron and steel companies. Among them, Daye Iron and Steel Company actively developed new technologies in the later stage, and finally realized the industrialized mass production of the Great Smelting Steel Method, solving the problem of the Great Chu Empire in one fell swoop. The most urgent problem of large-scale industrial production of steel products!