Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1885 The Iron Mansion’s Decision

Iron House, London, 1683 December 9.

It was another cloudy and rainy day, Cai Zhenguo opened the window of the room, and a gust of fresh air tinged with rain rushed in instantly, slightly dispelling the moldy and rotten smell in the room.

"No wonder the British developed water pumps and water pumps immediately after they got the steam engine. In such a country where it rains all day long, life without water pumps would be so difficult." Cai Zhenguo, the ambassador of the Republic of China to the UK, looked outside The rain curtain that covered the sky and the sun said in a teasing tone: "Could it be that the steam engine technology of the English is unique in Europe, and the mystery lies in the fact that the environment is rainy and humid?"

"Boss, you're joking again." The secretary put the teapot on the table, and poured Cai Zhenguo a cup of yerba mate.As the ambassador of the East Coast Republic of China to the UK, Cai Zhenguo has a wide range of hobbies in beverages. He likes green tea, yerba mate, coffee, cocoa, milk tea and even alcohol. He often asks his secretary to change his taste. It is filled with various raw materials from all over the world, which is very luxurious.

What I drink today is yerba mate tea, which was transported across the ocean from the northern part of the local Hejian, and it was sent through the channel of diplomatic parcels, but the cost is also quite high.However, the Cai family has a big business, and the brothers are either in the government or in business, so what is a little shipping cost?He, Cai Zhenguo, didn't even bat an eye.

"But to be honest, Ambassador, recently the British are trying to graft steam power to some of the more commonly used medium and large mechanical equipment. I went to see, and many of them are machine tools for processing tools. It wasn't very successful, but this attempt itself represents some kind of progress, and I think it should be taken seriously." The secretary quickly put the documents on the table aside, then brought a plate of special biscuits, and reported to Cai Zhenguohui.

Recently, the East Coast Embassy in the UK has received invitations from several British manufacturing companies to visit and inspect, and have a relatively clear understanding of the steam engine application level and mechanical processing level of British manufacturing companies-of course, this is only the UK. As for the level that people show, as for what they don't show, it's not very clear.

The reason why the British repeatedly invited people from the east coast to visit was to purchase many equipment from the east coast, the most important of which was undoubtedly the steam engine.Because there is no steam engine—especially a steam engine with a high speed—the rotation speed of the machine tool head cannot be very fast, and if this speed is slow, the vibration level will be high when processing parts, which will make the processing If the accuracy does not improve, the scrap rate will remain high. These will undoubtedly make the level of industrial processing at a lower level, so the British really want to get the high-speed steam engine technology on the east coast.

Of course, it is not too accurate to say that the British must have desperately wanted to obtain high-speed steam engine technology.After all, can some steam engines used by the British be worse than some hydraulic machine tools?Leaving aside the turbulent rivers, these can drive many machine tools to move at a higher speed, but most of the rivers are actually very gentle. The relatively slow speed movement is far inferior to the relatively high speed of the steam engine.What's more, rivers are also divided into wet seasons and dry seasons, and even freeze in winter, and the flow rate will vary within a certain period of time, which is far less constant and high-speed than steam engines.Therefore, no matter how bad the steam engine is, it still has a great advantage over hydraulic power. Hydraulic power is only cheap, and it is suitable for some projects that do not require high processing precision, such as the Shipu Reservoir built by Dongan people. Its hydraulic power is used to drive a sledgehammer to make armor, stamp silver dollars, etc. If it is used to process gears, it will not work.

Therefore, the British can bring the country's industrial production efficiency and machining level to a new level by greatly promoting and popularizing the steam engine.The main reason why they are still trying to get the high-speed steam engine of the East Coast people is that they eat what is in the bowl and look at what is in the pot. They are more greedy for the "artifact" of the East Coast people, not because they need this kind of steam engine. How big is it.You know, they have already surpassed Europe with their existing technology.

The embassy staff on the east bank who went to visit the British workshops all praised the level of industrial processing of the British. It is generally believed that these factories in the suburbs of London have almost caught up with the use of a large number of hydraulic machine tools. Some backward workshops in New China, Australia, and San Francisco in the Far East are still not as good as some large enterprises established by the government.These factories are not only technically superior to these advanced enterprises in the suburbs of London, which are regarded as British models, but also completely superior in management system and financial system. The leadership is all-round.

Cai Zhenguo's secretary summarized the various news from the subordinates, and then wrote a report with a deeper understanding and submitted it to Cai Zhenguo. Therefore, he is relatively clear about the current British industry, so this meeting I only heard him say again: "The British still have two major bottlenecks in the existing low-pressure and low-speed steam engines. One is the problem of sealing, and the other is the problem of machining accuracy. As for other aspects, they have done a good job. Although the level is not very advanced, the progress is obvious."

In fact, as Secretary Cai Zhenguo said just now, the British are not even ready for low-pressure and low-speed steam engines.The difficulty encountered in sealing is much smaller than ten years ago, but it is still limited by materials, processing or design, which makes the air leakage of the cylinder more serious, which has affected the steam engine. thermal efficiency.In fact, this problem is the same as the second so-called bottleneck. If the British's mechanical processing level has made great progress, then the air leakage problem of the steam engine cylinder cannot be so serious, so this is actually a combination of the two. One question.At present, if the British do not have the help of foreign technology, they can only make do with the steam engine with air leaks and low efficiency as in the early days of the East Coast. Of course, this is the only way for technological progress.

Compared with the British, the level of several other countries in Europe that began to officially use the steam engine as a new type of power is much worse.Take Portugal and Spain, two Iberian countries, as an example. The former produced two of their own and imported four from the UK. As a result, they were all damaged within a year. It was damaged again in one or two years and then repaired again. It was obviously a failed attempt. The Spaniards were even more weird. After ruthlessly refusing, they ordered three latest steam pumps from Birmingham, England, in a hurry to "follow the trend". They were installed around the dry farmland in Andalusia for water conservancy irrigation. Similarly, after more than a year of use, it was declared damaged. The Spaniards organized their own personnel to carry out a repair, but it was unsuccessful, and then they abandoned it. Who made this an official investment project in Madrid? They don’t care about the actual steam engine. How it's used looks like a purely trendy move.

Compared with these two funny countries, the princes of France and North Germany are much more serious, especially the latter.This area has always been a prosperous handicraft industry, and the products produced are sold everywhere. Every year, various trade fairs held in Central Europe and Italy can see a large number of industrial products produced in North Germany. The foundation is very good.Therefore, after the steam engine was introduced to this region, it developed rapidly, and the acceptance of the steam engine was relatively high—not high enough, but the central and northern regions of Germany were relatively cold, with heavy snow in the sky, frozen rivers, and all hydraulic machinery shut down. Products can only be produced by hand tools and pedal machine tools, and the efficiency will drop many times.Now that there is a steam engine, this shortcoming can be made up for at once. Although the initial investment is relatively high, it can be purchased through joint stock crowdfunding. When the time comes, everyone will modify this steam engine and connect a few more shafts, just like the people on the east coast. You can almost recover a lot of costs by renting out power alone.

Cai Zhenguo once received information from Brandenburg from the Riga Merchant Station, which carefully analyzed the use of steam engines in the North German region—well, in fact, it took Brandenburg-Prussia as an example— ——Knowing that this region has had a strong industrial foundation since the Middle Ages, and coal is relatively cheap, and transportation is relatively well developed. The whole country uses a lot of steam engines made in Britain, and has begun to try to imitate them. For this reason, from the original Hanseatic League Many artisans were hired from the franchised city-states (in which industry, commerce and navigation are more developed, and there are a lot of craftsmen) to come to Berlin to carry out special research projects.

Of course, this country also tried to buy "advanced steam engines" from the east coast through the people of Courland, but they were rejected several times. The level of some maintenance is also quite good.

"British people, this dog luck is really good! Coal, iron, lead, tin and other mineral reserves are abundant, domestic canals are criss-cross, and there are many good offshore ports. The cost of transportation is naturally very low. Food can also be self-sufficient. Since ancient times The industrial foundation is good, and the combined steel output exceeds the sum of other European countries. If you are determined to develop technology, you will not be able to hold back." Cai Zhenguo frowned while drinking bitter yerba mate, and said, "For today's We can only try our best to destroy the good relationship between the UK and the Netherlands. This country has such a strong industrial strength, if they are allowed to obtain the capital and sales channels of the Dutch, it will really become a problem. Our It is not in the interest of our country that this trouble must be prevented in advance, and that the commercial capital of Holland be prevented from combining with the industrial capital of England."

"By the way, I heard that the export of British goods to Russia has surged recently, and the group of Dongdi Company has become active again?" Cai Zhenguo asked suddenly after putting down the teacup in his hand.

"Yes, the British have no distractions and can concentrate on developing industry and commerce. Therefore, the results are more significant, and many markets that originally belonged to businessmen from other countries have been eroded. And after so many years, the bad reputation of British regicide has long since faded (and now the king is also In office), the trade between the Russians and them is very complementary, so the development is relatively rapid. These are all confirmed by the information sent back from Riga, Arkhangelsk, and Moscow." The secretary recalled what he had said before After contacting various documents, he replied: "A few days ago, Zhao Gui, who actually presided over the work of the Canadian Mercantile Station, sent a few pieces of information, which mentioned the British infiltration into the Baltic Sea and Russia, which deserves attention. Ah, that's right. , He also mentioned that the Austrians detoured Germany and Poland and sent a large-scale mission to Moscow, probably to discuss with the Russians the feasibility of jointly attacking the Ottoman Turkish Empire. The Austrians want to compete for the Balkans, Russia Anyone who wants to compete for Ukraine has enmity with the Ottoman Empire, so the possibility of a coalition is not low, and it is worthy of vigilance."

"I've also seen this information, it's not very easy to deal with." Cai Zhenguo also sighed when he heard the words, and only heard him say: "Both these two countries have territorial disputes with Ottomans, and they are both in a period of obvious rise. Economic strength, scientific and technological strength, and the combat effectiveness of the army are all increasing, which is in stark contrast to the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, these two countries are not very active in overseas trade, and they are almost devoted to competing for land interests. I’m afraid it’s not enough to beat them. Especially the Russian, who has a bad temper and is very disobedient. If he provokes them, this bear can’t think rationally. It is very difficult to rekindle the flames of war and ruin the business. So this is why I hate mainland countries. Sometimes their way of thinking is not on the same channel as ours, and the focus is different. It is difficult to start .”

"Let's hand this matter over to Special Envoy Gao Wengang of Cadiz. In the afternoon, you will gather up the recent intelligence data about Austria, Russia, and Turkey, and then write a detailed report to me. I will strive for this Review it in two days, and then look for an opportunity to send it to Cadiz for the decision of Special Envoy Gao. Well, our merchant ship from Amsterdam to Spain will be available in the middle of next month, let this ship take it there. This Information is more important, you arrange a smarter person to take it with you, understand?" Cai Zhenguo urged.

"I understand, Ambassador, I will keep an eye on this matter." The secretary nodded and replied.

(End of this chapter)