The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 216 Productivity changes life

Returning to the arranged residence, Zhu Xiongying sighed:

"You always told me before that craftsmanship is the biggest obstacle to the development of productivity."

"I have never understood that this law is obviously to protect craftsmen."

"Why would preventing the loss of skills due to personnel changes in turn hinder the development of productivity?"

“Only now do I understand how harmful it is to be a craftsman.”

"Even great craftsmen like Mei Laoshi and his family are having such a difficult time, let alone other craftsmen."

Chen Jingke replied: "The situation may be more serious than you think. Boss Xu should know something."

Zhu Xiongying looked at Xu Yungong: "Tell me what you know."

Xu Yungong didn't want to get involved in this kind of thing, but Zhu Xiongying asked, and he wasn't prepared to hide it.

Just tell me what you know.

The imperial court said it would give salaries to craftsmen, but the money was not enough for food, and it was difficult to get the full amount.

Most of them were withheld by officials for various reasons.

Afraid of their ambition, they are not allowed to take on private jobs to make money.

The life of a craftsman is only slightly better than that of a beggar.

Therefore, no matter how hard and tired they are, they still hope that the court will assign them something to work for.

It's not because they want to work, but because the dispatchers usually take care of the food, so they don't have to starve to death.

However, many times, even this small prayer is a luxury.

Yingtian's dignitaries drive the craftsmen of the Ministry of Works like slaves.

They don't pay for their work and don't care about food, and they are punished at every turn if they are not satisfied with their performance.

Because they are not sent by the imperial court, the Ministry of Industry does not care about food or wages.

So there was a lot of mourning under the craftsman.

Zhu Xiongying's face became very ugly.

Studying with Chen Jingke every day, he has a deeper understanding of productivity and craftsmen, and understands the importance of them.

But I never imagined that the situation faced by the craftsmen would be so tragic.

This has been the case since the founding of the country, and it will be even more unimaginable in the future.

He did not ask whether the ministers knew about this kind of thing, because he knew the answer.

Which civil and military officials don’t know this? To put it more harshly, doesn’t the emperor know?

No one cares.

No, it should be said that they care.

If the craftsman status is cancelled, who will the Ministry of Works and the officials who will serve as supervisors exploit?

When civil and military officials want to build pavilions and pavilions, there is no free labor and they have to spend more money.

Therefore, craftsmanship must exist.

As for the life and death of craftsmen? That is a problem for the imperial court and has nothing to do with us.

It has nothing to do with you, it has something to do with me, and it has something to do with Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Xiongying said categorically: "After I return to Beijing, I will personally tell Grandpa Huang that the craftsmen's status will be abolished and the craftsmen's freedom will be completely restored."

Xu Yungong said: "My grandson is kind."

Chen Jingke was also very pleased that he didn't teach for so long in vain.

The future of Ming Dynasty does not depend on Zhu Yuanzhang or Zhu Biao, but on Zhu Xiongying.

"As a good monarch, you can't just ask questions, but also find ways to solve them."

"It is very simple to abolish the craftsmanship certificate. I believe that His Majesty will not refute your face, but what happens after it is abolished?"

"The royal family needs craftsmen, and craftsmanship does, to a certain extent, allow skills to be passed down."

"How to solve this problem after abolishing the craftsmanship certificate?"

Zhu Xiongying said naturally: "Isn't it because of you? If you just think about it, you will have an idea."

Chen Jingke: "..."

Xu Yungong almost burst into laughter and quickly covered her mouth.

Chen Jingke took a deep breath and said, "You are a monarch and you must have your own ideas, otherwise you will be easily deceived by the people below."

Zhu Xiongying glanced at him sideways and said, "Do you think I'm stupid and everyone will believe it?"

Then he coughed dryly and said in a serious voice:

"Jing Ke, now you know how much I trust you, aren't you very touched?"

Chen Jingke: "..."

If it weren't for the fact that you are a grandson, I would have beaten you up today.

When he got up the next morning, Chen Jingke found a few blacksmiths and prepared to make several gadgets.

In the past, he only told Zhu Xiongying theoretically that the importance of craftsmen and productivity were ultimately separated by one layer.

Today he is going to show off his skills and reinforce this concept with facts.

In this way, even if someone tries to counter-brainwash, it will be difficult to have any effect.

He didn't plan to engage in any black technology, it was all easily achieved with current technology.

Just some gadgets really.

First for carriages, he designed springs and bearings.

In addition to making the carriage more comfortable, the springs have other functions that are difficult to show for the time being.

The bearing is different. The function of this thing is visible to the naked eye.

Without bearings, the shaft and wheel are in direct contact and are easily worn.

When you go on a long trip, you need to carry a bunch of axles with you and replace them at any time.

With bearings, it is more labor-saving and saves axles.

Considering that the quality of steel in this era was not up to par, he did not develop ball bearings, but cylindrical bearings.

Although the effect is not as good as ball bearings, it is an epoch-making progress compared to no bearings.

Skilled craftsmen were hired to build it purely by hand, and soon all the bearings and springs were produced.

After some tinkering, a new type of carriage was born.

Everyone who met said yes.

Zhu Xiongying complained: "If you have such skills, why didn't you show them earlier?"

Chen Jingke rolled his eyes: "Do you think these two things are only useful for this?"

Then he directed the craftsmen to make the pulley block.

Everyone was shocked when Chen Jingke used the pulley block to easily lift hundreds of kilograms of weight.

Especially Ning Jizhong, he was even more surprised and said: "That's great. With this thing, we can build ships several times faster."

"Chen Bandu is indeed a learned man. I admire him, I admire him."

Although Zhu Xiongying didn't say anything, his eyes were full of excitement and he ran over to give it a try.

Although not as relaxed as Chen Jingke, he was able to lift the heavy object.

"Okay, okay, it's really a good thing..."

That's not all. Chen Jingke proposed another concept of gantry crane for Ning Jizhong and others to study.

As for whether the name Gantry Crane is taboo - at this time, a certain grandson needs to take the blame.

This is the name given by the grandson himself. Who dares to disagree?

In response, Zhu Xiongying rolled his eyes several times.

Ning Jizhong was completely convinced by Chen Jingke, and immediately led people to study the design, and soon came up with a preliminary plan.

First, a small gantry crane was built, which easily lifted several kilograms of wood and accurately placed it at the predetermined location.

All the participating craftsmen cheered excitedly.

Even the taciturn Mei Laoshi said excitedly:

"With this gantry crane, the speed of shipbuilding can be increased dozens of times."

"In order to save manpower, many structures need to be dismantled and built piece by piece. You can first install them with a gantry crane." Therefore, a larger gantry crane that can be used for large ships with 5,000 materials was put on the agenda.

This is not finished.

Soon Guo Ying, the commander of Zhoushan Navy and Marquis of Wuding, came to pay homage to his grandson.

Zhu Xiongying still maintained enough courtesy towards him and greeted him in person to greet him.

Guo Ying naturally respected his grandson very much and did not dare to be disrespectful in the slightest.

These are not the main points. When Guo Ying saw the pulley group, she was also pleasantly surprised.

"With this thing, we can raise and lower the sail more easily..."

He then explained the importance of raising and lowering the sail.

Nowadays, it takes more than a dozen or even twenty people to raise and lower the sail, dragging it little by little, which is very laborious and troublesome.

According to his estimation, with the pulley block, two-thirds of the manpower can be saved, and at least more than a quarter of an hour of time can be saved.

When encountering an enemy, the faster you can raise and lower the sail, it means shorter preparation time and you can enter the battle faster.

That's the difference between life and death.

In addition, it has a stronger ability to cope with wind and waves. The sea climate is changeable, and the height of the sail needs to be constantly adjusted.

Sometimes there is a sudden strong wind and it is necessary to lower the sail urgently.

One operational error can result in a shipwreck and loss of life.

In short, with the pulley group, the combat effectiveness of the navy has been greatly improved.

After the explanation, Guo Ying immediately requested that Ning Jizhong and others study the pulley lifting.

At this time, he was even more fond of Chen Jingke.

Originally, his sister in the palace had hinted to him that Chen Jingke was not simple and should be friends with him.

He didn't take it too seriously and just dealt with it politely.

As Chen Jingke gradually walked to the stage, he realized why his sister warned him like this.

Unfortunately, it was too late to make friends at this time.

But he didn't expect that Chen Jingke actually knew how to be a craftsman, and he was indeed an all-rounder.

Military applications often make people feel the power of technological progress better.

Zhu Xiongying is like this now. He originally thought that the pulley block was already very powerful, but he didn't expect that it could be applied to the military field.

Ning Jizhong was immediately ordered to study it.

At the same time, people were ordered to report the technology of pulley blocks and gantry cranes to the other two shipyards.

He also sent someone to report the matter to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Because of this incident, Zhu Xiongying and his party stayed at the shipyard for almost a month.

But he didn't just wait around. In the meantime, he took a boat to the Zhoushan Naval Base Camp and personally expressed condolences to the soldiers.

The Zhoushan Islands are located in the northeastern corner of Zhejiang, close to the Yangtze River estuary, and their strategic location is very important.

The main base of a certain main fleet of our country in the previous life was right here.

In the original history, due to the restricted sea, this place was once occupied by pirates.

At most, there were tens of thousands of pirates.

Since we are going to open sea in this life, we must build naval bases in strategic locations.

Zhoushan was naturally selected and became one of the main naval bases.

Zhu Xiongying was busy winning people's hearts, while Chen Jingke was busy learning about gunboats and artillery, and even asked Guo Ying to fire a few cannons to see the actual effect.

Many shortcomings were found.

The gunboats at this time were very primitive, just moving cannons from land to the ship for use.

It's bulky, inconvenient to load, and has no way to adjust the angle, so you can only shoot close to it.

There are also problems with gunpowder, because the material supply is not enough and the power is low.

Moreover, powdered gunpowder is easily affected by moisture and easily delaminates after being bumped.

If the carbon powder is less dense and lighter, it will float on top. If the nitrate sulfur powder is denser and heavier, it will sink to the bottom.

There are also fire guns, three-eyed guns and nine-eyed guns.

The three-eyed blunderbuss is three feet long iron pipes, placed together in a "pin" shape, with a long wooden stick at the back for easy holding.

Load the gunpowder pellets into the iron pipe, light the fuse and shoot forward.

The principle of the nine-eyed gun and the three-eyed gun are the same, except that they have nine iron pipes.

This thing is really primitive and has no aiming device.

After igniting, just aim it in the general direction and excite it.

The range is very short, but the power once within range is not small.

The reason is very simple. The power of sprays with three or even nine tubes cannot be reduced if they are applied close to the face.

However, due to reasons such as range and reloading speed, you can basically only shoot once before a battle, and then enter hand-to-hand combat.

Chen Jingke didn't say how to improve it. Firstly, he himself had to think carefully about how to change it. Secondly, it was useless to talk to these soldiers.

They are only responsible for the use of firearms, and the production of firearms is the responsibility of the Ordnance Bureau.

The matter of improving firearms will have to wait until we return to Beijing.

After reviewing the navy, Zhu Xiongying returned to Shigangpu Shipyard with satisfaction.

After witnessing the actual effect of the pulley lifting the sail, we finally set off for the next place.

This time he planned to visit Fujian, Jiangxi, and Huguang, and meet Zhu Fan by the way.

He would like to go to Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, but let alone Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Jingke doesn't allow it.

At this time, the climate environment in Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan-Guizhou is too dangerous. If something happens to him there, the consequences will be too serious.

The road to Sichuan is difficult and cannot be reached.

Zhu Xiongying did not rush on the road blindly, but would visit the countryside from time to time.

Although what he saw was basically what the local officials wanted him to see, he finally gained a certain understanding of the people.

After all, there is Chen Jingke beside him who reminds him from time to time that no matter how bad the situation you see is ten times worse, it is the real situation.

He couldn't recognize it clearly even if he wanted to.

Chen Jingke did not forget his plan, and improved the loom again on the way.

While visiting a farmhouse, he saw a loom from this era.

It was almost the same as what he had seen when he was a child, but he could easily see the difference.

This difference made the looms of the Ming Dynasty several times less efficient than the ones he had seen as a child in his previous life.

The difference is the shuttle.

The shuttle at this time was a long wooden bar with a coil wrapped around it, and the wire had to be paid off manually.

In the loom he had seen when he was a child in his previous life, the shuttle was a wood-carved shuttle with a pulley hollowed out in the middle.

The pulley is somewhat similar to the reel on the fishing rod and can automatically pay off the line.

The weaver only needs to keep throwing the shuttle, saving the process of manually paying off the thread.

I don’t know when this flying shuttle was invented, but it doesn’t matter, at least not yet.

So he took action again and improved the shuttle.

With a little practice, the weaver woman can use it skillfully, and the weaving speed will be at least five or six times faster.

Now everyone was shocked again.

Just a small change can increase the weaving speed several times, which is really amazing.

If this was promoted all over the world, I don’t know how much manpower would be saved and the value created would be immeasurable.

In Zhu Xiongying's mind, something Chen Jingke often said to him could not help but come to mind:

Productivity changes lives.

It's a true and logical saying.

(End of this chapter)