Red Mansion Huacai

Chapter 193 Pot Camel Machine

On the early morning of New Year's Day, Li Weijian woke up from a hangover. Fu Qiufang urged him and quickly changed into red clothes. He burned paper in front of the heaven and earth stove, kowtowed in the family temple, had snacks, and then prepared horses and led people to congratulate everywhere. Festival is gone.

Wu Haiping looked fresh inside and outside all morning. He stood in front of the door, waiting to receive greeting cards and door-to-door registration. My Taoist master, Li Weijian, has just become an official. There are not many officials coming and going on weekdays, so logically there will not be many visiting today. Unexpectedly, since Chen time, there has been an endless stream of people visiting the door to deliver messages.

There were only Shanxi and Huizhou merchants traveling to and from the capital. Even several famous salt merchants in Huaiyang sent their children to send greeting cards. After that, four kings and eight kilometers later bought shares from Li Weijian and felt that they had taken advantage. Huizi also sent his servants to send greeting cards. Later, those who had contact with Li Weijian in the inner palace, whether they were doctors or chief officials, came to send greeting cards in person.

Wu Haiping was greeted by him, and his face was so full of smiles that he couldn't help but smile. Although he refused repeatedly, he finally received the offer. Especially Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants, they only sell ten taels or twenty taels, which is as much as three hundred taels in one day!

Wu Haiping couldn't help but secretly cursed: "No wonder the seventh-rank official in front of the Prime Minister's door is too rich!"

Wu Haiping was in trouble as to what to do with the money. After turning around to look for Qian Xue, the couple discussed it and simply told Fu Qiufang the whole matter. Aunt Fu felt that there was nothing she could do to put an end to such bad habits, so she simply made the decision. In the future, the family packages would be combined in one place and reserved for distribution according to rank at the end of the month. This would be considered a welfare for the servants of the Li family.

As expected, Rongguo Mansion is open to the public, and I don’t know who leaked the ginseng fruit matter. Since New Year’s Day, there has been an endless stream of people asking for it.

King Zhongyong came in person and scolded Li Weijian, saying that he had no authority over the emperor. Before leaving, he picked away more than a dozen ginseng fruits. Fortunately, King Zhongyong picked them all, otherwise it would be difficult to deal with the endless stream of people who followed.

In the second grade of junior high school, he visited his teacher Yan Xiyao. Yan Xiyao looked at Li Weijian with extremely strange eyes.

Li Weijian felt uncomfortable when he was looked at and said: "Teacher, if you have something to say, just say it. Why are you looking at your disciple like this?"

Yan Xiyao couldn't help but sigh: "It's a good thing that Fu Sheng is serious about his work. Otherwise, with Fu Sheng's ability, he can create a few auspicious things and rise to prominence easily. He might be a jester in the future."

Li Weijian felt sad. Fortunately, Tuosheng was born in such an age, and his miscellaneous skills could be put to use. If Tuosheng had been born a thousand years earlier, Li Weijian would really have become a jester.

Since the beginning of New Year's Day, Li Weijian visited various places and had New Year's wine for the first seven or eight days. After that, he visited his mentor's house, Zhongjinghou Mansion, and Zhongyong Prince's Mansion. When will the house be free? Wait until the time is calculated and it will be time to call back.

It’s not a good idea to bump into others when inviting people to celebrate New Year’s Eve, otherwise they will definitely be criticized in private, saying that they are ‘giving false love for fear of trouble’.

Although Li Weijian is a new rich man, his foundation is weak. He is taking advantage of the opportunity to maintain relationships with others, because he is very concerned about it. After the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, when everyone was free, Li Weijian invited everyone back in batches at his home.

Li Wan was worried, so he simply asked Jia Mu and took Jia Lan to live in Li Weijian's mansion for three days. Li Wan felt relieved when he saw that Fu Qiufang and Hongyu were discussing and making arrangements, and that the whole house was busy and orderly.

Everyone in Rongguo Mansion, especially Wang Xifeng, naturally also came, and it was scheduled to be on the ninth day of the lunar month. Not to mention eating wine and watching a show. Although the second sister is here to welcome the spring, there are so many people that she has no time to have a private meeting with Li Weijian. Only looking at each other from a distance.

But Wang Xifeng went to the greenhouse to observe it carefully this time, asked for details, and begged Li Weijian to transfer the employment contract of one of the vegetable farmers to the couple.

Li Weijian was setting up the greenhouse because he didn't want to eat winter vegetables in the open air in winter, so he didn't care about it. Wang Xifeng wanted something, so he naturally didn't say anything. Especially when he heard that this business was not funded by the Rongguo government, but was privately manipulated by Wang Xifeng and Jia Lian, Li Weijian was secretly happy, and even gave away a large sum of money at a loss.

Seeing Li Weijian agreeing so happily, Wang Xifeng felt anxious. After questioning carefully for a long time and confirming that Li Weijian had no reservations, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief and praised Li Weijian endlessly.

During the banquet, Wang Xifeng deliberately attracted Fu Qiufang. After drinking two glasses of wine, he took off the gold bracelet on his arm and forced Fu Qiufang to put it on. Afterwards he removed the screen and came over first to have a drink with Li Weijian.

Wang Xifeng felt that it was a great benefit. When she returned home, she sat in front of the mirror and briefly exchanged a few words with Ping'er, then said: "Brother Jian is really generous! Brother Jian is the only one who wants to point out the faults of this greenhouse business. We just want to break it." I can’t even imagine that during the flowering period, I would use the male flowers of Laoshi to light the female flowers...the flowers are also divided into male and female!"

While Ping'er was waiting, he said: "Fourth Master Jian is worth a million just by relying on water stocks. People will certainly look down on these three melons and two jujubes."

Wang Xifeng was sitting in front of the mirror, letting Ping'er take advantage of him. Hearing this, he frowned and said, "How come it's three melons and two dates? I've carefully calculated that the six-fen field's greenhouse produce in one winter doesn't count. I still have one or two thousand silver worth of ginseng fruit. If I plant all those ginseng fruits, eh, I can’t even think about it.”

Ping'er laughed and said, "Now that grandma has this recipe, I'm afraid I can earn a thousand taels or ten thousand taels by then!" After a pause, he added, "It's just that the greenhouse will cost a lot of money." It’s a little money, but grandma has so much?”

Wang Xifeng glanced at Ping'er in her glasses and said: "It costs ten or twenty thousand silver at a time. I can still get enough even if I sell all my dowry. I'm thinking that if I sell some of my dowry, I can borrow it from my brother." Some, I don’t expect to be able to build a six-cent building, but at least I can make a four-cent greenhouse.”

Ping'er nodded, took off all the gold hairpins adorning the emerald green, and said thoughtfully: "Didn't grandma talk to my wife a few days ago, what did she say?"

Wang Xifeng frowned and said: "My wife only said that no one has taken care of this greenhouse, and she was afraid that she would not get it right. She neither agreed nor refuted it. In that case, let's get started first."

Ping'er bit her lip and said, "This... what if the wife sees the benefits and asks for the greenhouse again in the future?"

"This..." Wang Xifeng hesitated for a long time and then said: "We paid for this money, and we also take care of the greenhouse. Your wife won't come to pick peaches just before the hour, right?"

Ping'er lowered his eyebrows and said nothing, while Wang Xifeng felt worried. Her aunt... wouldn't be so shameless, right?

After Ping'er brought hot water and helped Wang Xifeng wash up, Wang Xifeng lay on the kang like making pancakes, tossing and turning all night long and never slept soundly.

............................................................

Although Dashun inherited the Ming Dynasty, this annual holiday is not three days, but seven days. In fact, all the yamen opened on the eighth day of the first lunar month, but everyone was immersed in the New Year's Day and extremely slack. Even Chen Hongmou couldn't do anything about this situation, and it would only get better after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

On the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, Li Weijian finally responded to all the invitations and got busy without taking two days off.

It is now the first month of the year, and we have to go south again this year, and we have to return in June. With King Zhongyong rushing to Qinghai, it is really tight to calculate the time.

Li Weijian spent the reward money years ago, because after the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, all the more than 300 craftsmen returned, and the factory became busy again.

It was also because Li Weijian was willing to spend money that all kinds of equipment were progressing very quickly. The molds were prepared early in the morning. All that was left of the boring machine was the cutting head sent by the inner government. The remaining lathes had interfaces reserved, waiting for the steam engine to be produced. Can operate at full capacity.

Li Weijian took advantage of this and hurriedly tested Dongfeng. Various calibers were tested in sequence. He also consulted with military officers and assistants and roughly settled on two models.

One has a caliber of six centimeters and can shoot at 37 degrees up to steps away; the other has a caliber of and a half centimeters and can shoot up to steps away. Not only that, Li Weijian also got a rucksack. An ordinary soldier can carry four six centimeters of east wind, or two ten and a half centimeters of east wind. As for the accuracy of this thing... Not to mention it was made by Li Weijian, even the Katyusha has no accuracy and relies entirely on firepower coverage.

King Zhongyong observed several Dongfeng tests and knew that this thing could only be used intensively. When the time comes, the two armies face each other, aiming at the opponent's central army and smashing it over with overwhelming force. The cavalry takes advantage of the situation to cover up the attack, and they are almost invincible.

Because King Zhongyong personally ordered the palace to make 10,000 roots before June.

There was nothing difficult about the rocket designed by Li Weijian. The only thing that troubled the Armed Forces Academy was the allocation of saltpeter from various places. As for the frosting sugar, there is no shortage of money, just four taels of silver per load, just throw some money at it.

On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Li Weijian went to the Military Academy to beg his grandfather and grandma, and finally begged Chief Chen to send him the boring machine head.

The casing of the cylinder has already been cast, so what else is there to say? Li Weijian personally watched the craftsman drive four cows to pull the winch, and then the boring machine bored the cylinder bit by bit.

Li Weijian estimated that the speed was only twenty or thirty per minute, which was really ridiculously slow. I asked the craftsman again and he said that it would take at least three days to boring a cylinder.

Li Weijian had no choice but to turn to other tasks. On the contrary, the alkaline reflection mixing furnace was progressing smoothly. After asking the craftsman, I found out that this kind of steelmaking method had been spread from the Western Yi Dynasty for a long time.

Apart from other things, Xiao Fo Lang Ji Yi who stole Macau used a reverberatory stirred furnace. This steelmaking method spread, and now there are such stirred reverberatory furnaces all over Foshan. However, refractory materials are acidic and alkaline, and people haven't studied them yet. Because it took a lot of time to find alkaline materials to throw away.

By the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the mixing furnace was finally ready. Li Weijian immediately ordered the craftsmen to open the furnace, ignite the coke, and throw the cast iron in. The temperature of the furnace rose little by little, and it would take another day to stir.

This furnace can reach a temperature of 1,400 degrees. The cast iron inside is in a semi-melted and semi-solidified state. The craftsman has to insert an iron stick at the furnace mouth to stir it back and forth, so it is called a mixing furnace.

Li Weijian's mixing furnace has room for upgrade. Once a steam engine is installed, the flue is heated, and air is blown from below, it will be immediately converted into a converter. By then the efficiency will not be as wasteful as it is now.

At noon on the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, the first batch of molten steel came out of the furnace and was cast into steel ingots. Li Weijian carefully tested the performance. The carbon content of this batch was roughly between 0.5% and 1.5%, which was enough. . However, the next batch of steel ingots the next day were all high-carbon steel, which made Li Weijian dumbfounded.

There was no way around it. The quality of the cast iron produced by the upstream Zunhua Iron Works varied, and Li Weijian's steelmaking income naturally varied between good and bad.

Li Weijian pinched his nose and admitted it. He just wanted to go to Zunhua Iron Works when he had time. He had to dismantle all those short and fat blast furnaces and replace them with new ones.

On this day, the cylinder was bored and Li Weijian and his craftsmen assembled it by hand.

For the first time, Li Weijian used a semi-single-flow steam engine. Not only was this thing simple to build, it was also easy to maintain.

It took two days to assemble the steam engine. On this day, Li Weijian sent invitations all over the place, not only inviting all the shareholders of the factory, but also invited Dr. Liang from the inner palace to come and observe. Because King Zhongyong had no time, Li Weijian even wanted to invite King Zhongyong.

Dr. Liang had seen the steam engine built by Li Weijian. He looked at it carefully and couldn't help but said, "Master Li, your machine looks a little bigger than the last one?"

"Not only that, the material has also been changed to cast iron."

Li Weijian waved his hand, and the craftsman turned the valve. With the latex seal, Li Weijian felt that this time the machine was not limited to four atmospheres. But to be on the safe side, it’s still a little bit supercharged.

After a while, a craftsman stared at the mercury column and said: "Sir, four of them are pressed!"

Li Weijian waved his hand, and someone immediately turned another valve. The idling crankshaft was connected to the belt, which immediately drove the belt through the flywheel, and the machine tool at the other end immediately started running.

Li Weijian stared at the mercury pressure gauge and said, "Increase the pressure!"

The craftsman did not know the danger and continued to turn the valve. The mercury in the pressure gauge slowly rose, and when he saw seven atmospheres of pressure, Li Weijian was afraid that something might happen, so he hurriedly ordered the craftsman to stop.

Looking at the lathe again, the cutter head is rotated rapidly by the flywheel and belt. The craftsman tried to cut the iron rod, and the threads were cut out in just a moment.

Dr. Liang exclaimed in surprise: "Awesome!"

Li Weijian let out a long sigh, and then personally observed various tests, and later even did the extreme test. This small steam engine can provide seven horsepower at seven atmospheres of pressure. Under extreme conditions, it can work briefly at ten atmospheres of pressure within a moment.

It's small in size but has a lot of power, and this thing was developed with the Jiangnan gentry in mind. When we go back and redesign it, it will be a pot camel machine.

Dr. Liang came over and walked around the steam engine, marveling at it, and said: "This machine looks stronger than the one that Sir Alex built last time...?"

"Exactly."

Liang Langzhong said: "Water Affairs and Xishan need this thing to lift water. If the cost is suitable, the inner government will order fifty units first."

Li Weijian smiled and said: "It's easy to talk, but the doctor has to wait a little longer. It will take two months until everything in the factory is on track, and then we can deliver everything one by one."

Not to mention that he is about to go south, and he will always bring a few steam engines to Jiangnan for promotion. Just installing steam engines on various machinery in the factory will make things better.

After a little calculation, two more can be built by the end of the month. Next month is considered trial production, and it would be good to build ten units. After the craftsmen became familiar with the various machine tools driven by steam engines, after three or two months, the output would gradually increase.

Cao Yunsheng smiled from ear to ear and took Li Weijian to celebrate. Not to mention the guests at the present banquet, more than five months have passed since preparations were made, and the factory finally built the first steam engine.

　I will update the order tomorrow with 8,000 words. Please forgive me for being lazy today.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)