"Put aside the gun making for now and focus on making cannons for me." Zhao Hao glared at Zhao Shizhen and said, "Even if it's a bronze cannon, I want the best!"

"Uncle, don't worry. This thing is much simpler than making a gun." Zhao Shizhen patted his chest and said, "Whether it is the Portuguese cannon or the two kinds of cannons that uncle gave me, it is not difficult to make them. I will prepare for it in the meantime, and I will start making sample cannons after the New Year!"

"Yes." Zhao Hao's expression eased a little and he said, "I will go to the Military Equipment Bureau again during the New Year and ask for a few artillery craftsmen for you."

"Okay!" Zhao Shizhen naturally smiled.

~~

Zhao Hao spent the whole morning visiting several research institutes. What he saw was pretty much the same: none of them had yet to solve the topics he had given them, and none of them had come up with anything that would impress him.

How does that saying go? The future is bright, but the road is tortuous...

He was not surprised by this. If he could turn a concept into reality in the blink of an eye, then he might as well stay in seclusion on Xishan Island for decades, build a pair of planes and tanks, and then sweep across the world and dominate the world. Wouldn't that be great?

Unfortunately, that is all daydreaming. No invention is born without roots. The more revolutionary a new gadget is, the more it needs the accumulation of industrial foundation and scientific research, and there is no room for fraud.

But there was one thing he had to do now.

After having lunch at the center, Zhao Hao asked Zhang Jian to gather all formal researchers and hold a small meeting in the center's conference room, which was not very formal but had historical significance in the history of Ming Dynasty industry.

As the director of the research center, he announced that from now on, the center will officially adopt a new set of standard weights and measures!

The researchers, especially the older ones, looked at each other in bewilderment when they heard this. They couldn't understand what was wrong with this young director. Why did he make such random changes to the units of measurement that had been used for thousands of years without any problems?

"First of all, we don't want to abolish the current weights and measures, and we don't have the qualifications." Zhao Hao picked up the teacup and took a sip of Biluochun slowly.

“Hahahaha…” The old gentlemen laughed when they heard this, and their resistance was greatly reduced.

"This set of weights and measures passed down by our ancestors is simple, practical and easy to understand. It is of course excellent, but for those of us who are engaged in science, it is not quite enough." Young Master Zhao is used to dealing with scientific researchers, and that is not to challenge their common sense easily.

"Emperor Taizu of this dynasty strictly established the standards for weights and measures, but after 200 years since the founding of the country, the scales have become very chaotic. For example, the size of a dou is different for officials and civilians. The size of the iron dou used as a standard in each county is also different. A dou in Kunshan is only 95% of that in Taicang, but one centimeter larger than that in Chongming. When we do scientific research, there can be no ambiguity. A slight error can lead to a huge mistake, so it must be determined accurately."

"Furthermore, our weights and measures must be easy to calculate. For example, one jin is equal to 16 liang; one li is equal to 150 zhang and 1 chi 5 cun; and the chi is divided into construction chi, tailoring chi, and land measuring chi, and the sizes are slightly different. There are also volume units, stone for grain, and material for ships... This is not inconvenient in daily life, but it is a nightmare when it comes to scientific calculations."

"Thirdly, it is also to protect our scientific research results." Zhao Hao said calmly: "A set of unique measurement standards has the function of confidentiality itself."

"Understood." The researchers were convinced.

Of course, even if they were dissatisfied, it would be useless because on Xishan Island, Mr. Zhao's words were the law.

Several disciples brought up a table with various measuring instruments on it.

Zhao Hao patted the clock on the table first and said, "Let's talk about the simplest thing first, the time unit. There are twelve hours in a day, and the minute hand of the clock makes one circle in exactly half an hour. I stipulate that one hour is a big hour, and half an hour is an hour. One hour is set as sixty minutes, and each minute is set as sixty seconds. In the future, all records of the center must be accurate to the second."

"Yeah." The researchers nodded one after another. This is indeed very convenient, and much more precise than a breath, a moment, a cup of tea, or a meal.

He glanced at Zhang Jian again and said in a deep voice, "The best Western clocks currently have an error of two to three minutes a day. You in Institute 04 should speed up your efforts to master the watchmaking technology and strive to reduce the error as soon as possible. In addition, you should refer to the astronomical records given by your Junior Brother Bei and adjust the clock every day."

The Imperial Astronomical Observatory records the time of the sun, moon, stars, and sunrise and sunset every day with incredible accuracy, and can be used as a reference system.

"Yes, Master." Zhang Jian nodded. He had devoted a lot of energy in the past few months to the manufacture of measuring instruments.

"I stipulate that the angle of one rotation of the minute hand, that is, a circle, is divided into 360 degrees." Zhao Hao picked up a protractor and said, "Because it is easily divisible, many special angles are integers, such as a full angle of 180 degrees, a right angle of 90 degrees, and each angle of an equilateral triangle is 60 degrees... In addition, one degree is equal to 60 minutes, and one minute is equal to 60 seconds."

"Let's talk about the unit of length." Zhao Hao picked up a brass ruler and said, "I stipulate that one-fifth of a mile is one meter. The central meter is based on the length of this ruler, and is referred to as meter."

In fact, he originally planned not to call himself "Mi", but a mysterious force from the East stopped him. It seemed that this would be convenient for some noble people...

"It is also stipulated that one thousand meters is one kilometer." Young Master Zhao shook his head, shook off the strange thought, and continued: "One tenth of a meter is one decimeter, one tenth of a decimeter is one centimeter, and one tenth of a centimeter is one millimeter. Millimeter is the smallest unit on this ruler, but it is far from the smallest unit."

He picked up a vernier caliper and said, "It can be accurate to one-tenth of a millimeter, which can be called a decimeter. I hope everyone can use this unit soon."

There was laughter in the conference room. They didn't even need to use millimeters.

"From this, we can derive an area unit. I stipulate that a square with a side length of one kilometer has an area of ​​one square kilometer; a square with a side length of one meter has an area of ​​one square meter..."

"And derived the unit of volume. A cube with a side length of one meter has a volume of one cubic meter..."

"Then there are temperature units." Zhao Hao said, carefully picking up a long glass column and said, "I stipulate that the boiling temperature of water on Xishan Island is 100 degrees. The temperature of the ice-water mixture is zero degrees. Use this glass tube filled with mercury as a thermometer, mark these two temperatures on the glass column, and divide it into 100 equal parts, each equal part is 1 degree... In order to distinguish it from the angle, we can call it..."

"Zhao's degree." Zhang Jian replied softly.

"Whatever." Young Master Zhao gave a fake smile, causing everyone to laugh.

"So the current temperature is..." Zhao Hao looked at the scale on the thermometer and said, "4 degrees."

"Wow, this is great..." Many craftsmen couldn't help but say excitedly, "Now we can know the furnace temperature."

"That's not possible at the moment." Young Master Zhao couldn't help but smile bitterly. "Mercury's boiling point is only over 300 degrees, and this thermometer can only measure up to 200 degrees. I hope that in the future I can satisfy everyone's wish."

"Finally, the unit of weight. I stipulate that on Xishan Island, at today's temperature, 1 cubic decimeter of pure water weighs 1 kilogram. 1 cubic meter of pure water weighs one ton. 1 cubic centimeter of pure water weighs one gram..."

"That's all for now." He weighed the one kilogram silver weight in his hand and said:

"All measurement units will take effect from now on, and all data in the center must be converted by the end of the year. Starting next year, all written texts must be presented in scientific measurement units!"

"Yes, sir!" everyone responded in unison.

P.S. Using the current measurement system is the result of everyone's previous vote...