Open an aircraft carrier to fight against Japan

Lin Yuan asked the two old people curiously: "What are these?"

An old man pointed to two boxes in front of him and said, "This box contains sugar, and that box contains bristles."

When Lin Yuan heard the name "pig bristle", he was overjoyed, and thought: "Whatever you want! The bristle is the hair on the back of the pig's neck. Although these hairs are usually inconspicuous, they are very important in war. "

It turns out that whether it is an aircraft, a warship or a ground vehicle, for the sake of camouflage and cover, identification of friend or foe, and prevention of steel corrosion, the outer shell will be covered with paint. The tool used to paint these paints - the brush, is If there is no bristle, the speed of painting will be greatly reduced, so a small bristle can also determine the victory or defeat of the war.

China has always been the largest exporter of bristles in the world, and its bristle exports accounted for 70.00% of the world's total. [-]. During World War II, the United States listed bristles as A-level strategic materials, but their country lacked bristles, so they bought them from China. On the hump route opened by Chinese and American pilots risking their lives, a considerable part of the cargo transported is bristles.

Lin Yuan is about to start the construction of the navy. An important part of naval construction is the construction of warships. The construction of warships can be divided into two parts, one is the construction of the hull, and the other is outfitting and painting. Simply put, outfitting is To install equipment on the hull, painting is to paint the hull, and the painting operation will require a lot of bristles.

Seeing that Lin Yuan was lost in thought, the old man called softly, "Shuai Lin."

Lin Yuan let out an "oh", and then he came back to his senses, and asked the old man, "If you have anything to do, please continue."

The old man said: "Originally I was a craftsman in the city, named Xu Linxiang, who had been selling bristle brushes for many years, but more than ten years ago, suddenly a British foreign company opened in the city, called Taikoo, and they came to buy bristles from us. , the price is right, we will not make brushes, but sell them all the bristles, but who knows that this year the foreign firm has changed a new comprador, and something will happen."

The "compradors" are all Chinese. They are proficient in foreign languages ​​and act as trade intermediaries between Chinese and foreigners. Lin Yuan asked, "What happened if you changed to a comprador? What happened?"

The old man said: "That's why we came to you today. This comprador is going to drive us to death." As he spoke, the old man picked up the bristle and said, "Look at this bristle. It’s also suitable, foreigners like this, they signed a large contract with us at the beginning of the year, and now they have to deliver, the problem lies in the payment of the goods.”

"These bristles are worth 3000 taels of silver. When the contract was signed, one tael of silver could be exchanged for 2000 copper plates, so this batch of bristles was worth [-] copper plates. But at the beginning of the month, the price of silver skyrocketed, and one tael of silver It can be exchanged for [-] copper plates, so the comprador said that the value of this batch of goods is still [-] copper plates, so he has to pay [-] taels of silver."

Lin Yuan thought for a while and said, "What's wrong? Although they paid less silver, but you exchanged silver for copper plates, the amount is still the same?"

The old man said: "If this is the case, it will be fine, but there is a clause in the contract: the buyer pays the amount according to the silver-to-copper ratio when the contract is signed, and the form of currency payment is determined by the buyer, so the comprador decided to pay us with copper plates. Wenyin is 2000 taels, and according to the price comparison when the contract was signed, you only need to pay [-] copper plates."

"There was a difference of 1000 to [-] copper plates. Our bristles were all collected from ordinary people's homes. With so much money, we really have no way to live."

Lin Yuan said, "Did you bring your contract? Show me."

The old man took out the contract, Lin Yuan read it over and over twice, and found that what the fellow said was true, Lin Yuan understood now, it was the comprador who took advantage of the fellow's inability to count and did not know how to calculate ratios. After using such a despicable trick, Lin Yuan smiled at the fellow villagers: "It happens that we also need bristles, how about this, you sell me the bristles, and I will pay you 4000 taels directly, what do you think?"

Hearing Lin Yuan's words, the old man stood up and wanted to kneel, Lin Yuan hurriedly held him down, and said with a smile: "You don't have to be polite, old man, how about this, you can keep the bristles, and you can help me make a brush with the bristles, and then we will count on it." Money, what do you think?"

The old man thanked him again and again, Lin Yuan turned his head to another old man, and the old man said: "The little old man's surname is Zeng, his name is Zeng Ajiu, Lin Shuai, his business is fine, but mine is difficult."

Lin Yuan asked, "Mr. Zeng, what's the matter with you?"

Pointing to his box, the old man said: "I make sugar in Fengtian. Our family supplies all the sugar in Fengtian area. It turns out that our business is very good, but since the foreigner's sugar came in, we made sugar. Sugar sales plummeted."

As Zeng Ajiu said, he pointed to the box in front of him and said, "Look, in this box, on the left is our candy, and on the right is the candy of foreigners. You can see if our candy is similar?"

Lin Yuan looked at the color and found that there was not much difference, so he nodded, and Zeng Ajiu said: "Not only the color, but also the taste is not much different, do you want to try it?"

Before Lin Yuan could speak, a guard next to him said, "Shuai Lin, you'd better not taste it yourself, if it is poisonous, you will be in danger." The guard stretched out his hand to stick some sugar in his mouth, Lin Yuan said: "Shuai Lin, the taste is indeed similar."

Zeng Ajiu said: "Look, our tastes are similar, but their prices are much lower than ours. We are squeezed out and have no way out, so please help us."

Xu Linxiang said: "Old Zeng, I told you outside that it is useless for you to ask Lin Shuai for this matter. Lin Shuai can't issue an order to make everyone buy your candy, right?"

Lin Yuan asked: "Mr. Zeng, how do you make your sugar?"

Zeng Ajiu replied: "We grow a vegetable on the ground. When the vegetable is mature, we dig out the root of the vegetable, squeeze it into juice, and then steam the juice. Slowly, the juice becomes It turned into sugar, but at this time the sugar is still red. If you want to make sugar that is pure white like snow, you must add a process of "yellow mud and water" passed down from our ancestors. Can be turned into white sugar."

The yellow mud water spraying process started in the Ming Dynasty and is a treasure of my country's sugar making process. Lin Yuan asked: "When you are making sugar, do you do it by hand?"

Zeng Ajiu replied: "If you don't use handwork, can you use other things?"

Lin Yuan replied: "Of course, Westerners use large machines to make things, and what can be made by one machine is enough for a hundred of you to make."

Zeng Ajiu asked: "Then what does this big machine you are talking about look like?"

Lin Yuan replied: "Don't worry, we will equip these machines for you."

Zeng Ajiu asked again: "Then how long will it take for us to match this machine?"