When Zhao Hao received Zhang Xiaojing's letter from overseas, it was already the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month in the first year of the Wanli reign.
At that time, he was standing on Niutou Mountain at the junction of Changxing County, Huzhou Prefecture and Guangde Prefecture, Huizhou Prefecture, overlooking the busy mining area in the valley.
The beautiful pastoral scenery here has disappeared, and instead, there is a land stained black by coal.
There were several dark coal mines scattered on the dark land. Each mine was paved with railroad tracks, winding out of the caves and merging into two long railways in the center of the mining area like a spider's web, leading directly out of the valley.
The coal miners were also all black, with only their eyes and teeth white. They chiseled coal out of the kiln, loaded it onto hand-operated mine carts, and then shouted slogans to transport it out of the kiln, and then harnessed mules and horses to the mine carts to transport it out of the valley. After the raw coal was roughly selected at the dock several miles away, it was loaded onto ships and shipped to Taihu Lake, and then transported to various places in the south of the Yangtze River through the extensive waterways.
As more people poured into Jiangnan, firewood gradually became in short supply and its price kept rising. Now burning coal is much more cost-effective than burning firewood, and the coal consumption of residents in various places has increased rapidly, which has been several times that of six years ago.
However, the main use of coal in each county is still agricultural fertilizer production. Under the guidance of Kunshan Agricultural College, farms in each county have learned how to configure and use nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. No matter how much coal the Changguang Coal Mine digs, it is not enough for them. Even the coal mines on Xishan Island were forced to operate and had to wait for the Tangshan coal to be shipped south by sea before they could close again.
However, in the eyes of the world, this scene really has no aesthetic appeal, and can even be called ugly. Especially the four huge machines two or three stories high next to the coal mine, with their thick rocker arms slowly nodding and constantly spewing steam, which shocked and frightened the people in the agricultural era...
No wonder people who came to watch the fun went home disappointed. Even the sour scholars who were fostered by the group's publicity department and were good at flattering others refused to compose poems and essays for it in order to whitewash the bad image of these "steam pumps" on the grounds that the objects had no aesthetic appeal.
But Zhao Hao has a special liking for these four big guys. He has been staring at them for a full hour and even shed tears of excitement.
The senior executives of the group who accompanied him on the inspection were all confused. Even a smart mind like Xu Wei could not understand why he was like this.
Pan Shujun, chairman of Changguang Coal Industry, hurriedly explained on behalf of the young minister: "This steam engine can greatly save manpower. Although it works slowly, it can pump out 20 to 30 tons of water from the mine in an hour."
"Oh, this will take the place of hundreds of people pumping water?" The senior executives finally became interested. The salary level of the group is getting higher and higher now. If this... 'Steam Queen' can replace a large number of workers, then we can order a batch.
The four machines in front of us are verification aircraft produced by Xishan Research Center 03 and do not belong to Jiangnan Group.
Only after the product is finalized will we produce it in a joint venture with Jiangnan Manufacturing Group according to the established model and share the profits.
Today, Zhao Hao came to inspect the completion of the First Five-Year Plan of Changguang Coal Industry and to inspect these steam engines.
"Don't worry about these guys who know nothing." Zhao Hao patted Zhang Jian's shoulder encouragingly and said, "It's enough for us to know how great this thing is!"
"Yes, Master." Zhang Jian smiled indifferently. He had become accustomed to the fact that the Ming Dynasty, with its abundant manpower, did not attach importance to mechanical inventions.
He didn't care at all...well, still a little hurt.
When the master asked him and Zhao Shizhen to choose the research direction, he gave them two options: guns and machines.
Zhao Shizhen grabbed the former, so he could only choose the latter. Of course, tinkering with machinery was also his hobby.
Six years passed, and Zhao Shizhen had already become famous for his Longqing rifle and the era series of artillery.
As the director of the research center, he also invented many machines such as the drainage king, crane crane, hydraulic clamping hammer with variable speed gear, hydraulic cotton gin, etc., which significantly improved the production efficiency of the group... For example, because of his improvements, the production cost of Songjiang cotton textile industry was reduced by 30%, but the efficiency was doubled.
But people all call Zhao Shizhen the "Ming Dynasty Artillery God", but are unwilling to call him the "Machine King"...
Other inventions would be fine, but this steam engine is the fruit of his hard work, into which he has invested most of his energy since the project was launched in January of the second year of the Longqing reign.
But still no praise from people...
~~
“It’s not easy to get to this point step by step, right?” Zhao Hao went down the mountain and came to the steam engine, looking up at this great invention that was destined to change the world.
"It's not easy." Zhang Jian nodded heavily, thinking back to the hardships he had gone through, and he almost cried. "I never thought that even after the master had given me the structure, it would still be so difficult to build. I really embarrassed the master."
"Hey, I just gave you a rough sketch. You guys have to slowly overcome all the technical difficulties." Zhao Hao said seriously, "I will always be proud of you!"
This is not an exaggeration. Even if the principle is known, it still takes a genius and years of hard work to make a practical steam engine.
For example, how to remove the compressed steam in the cylinder and the air that comes in with the steam? How to balance the heavy rocker arm? How to control the valve? And so on and so forth... Each difficulty requires hard research to overcome. Only when all these problems are solved can success be achieved.
"Yes, Master, I am content with what you said." Zhang Jian wiped his eyes, pulled himself together, and introduced to him the latest steam water pump, which has been running safely for 2,000 consecutive hours.
The earliest steam pump has been standing at the foot of Niutou Mountain for three years. After continuous improvement and repair by the 03 Institute, it is still slowly and firmly nodding, lifting the accumulated water from the depth of 100 meters...
Zhao Hao was very satisfied with this and gladly signed the word "qualified" on the acceptance certificate. He also named this big guy the "Zhang Jian Steam Engine"!
Then he gave a passionate speech to the researchers of Institute 03.
"Congratulations, everyone. This is a small step for us, but a giant leap for mankind! From today on, coal can not only be used to boil water, but also to provide power for our production!"
"This is the first time in human history that human power has been replaced by a machine powered by fuel! Although its role is still limited, as long as we continue to study it seriously and continuously improve it, making it smaller and more efficient, please believe me, the world will be changed by it!"
He waved his arms infectiously and said, "The first industrial revolution of mankind will be initiated by you! These rumbling machines will eventually smash the old world to pieces! And then rebuild a beautiful new world!"
"Boiling water changes the world!" The researchers, who used to be unemotional, were finally aroused by the young minister and became excited. They believed that they were engaged in a great cause!
~~
After finishing the inspection at Changguang Coal Mine, Zhao Hao and his party immediately crossed Taihu Lake and returned to Suzhou to attend the Fifth Group Conference, the First Five-Year Plan Summary Conference and the Second Five-Year Plan Release Conference!
Meanwhile, at the Niutoushan mining area, because Changguang Mining had overfulfilled the First Five-Year Plan, it was rated 'excellent' on the spot by the Strategic and Decision-making Committee headed by the young minister. Pan Shujun was in a very good mood and announced a half-day holiday for everyone to have a dinner!
The coal miners were naturally very happy. After finishing work as required, they rushed into the bathhouse to wash off the black coal dust that covered their heads and bodies.
The water flowing out of the sewer dyed the river outside into ink. The miners finally looked like human beings and rushed to the cafeteria impatiently.
In the canteen, the cooks had already prepared a sumptuous hot pot of food. Chicken, duck, fish, meat, all kinds of meat, everyone could eat to their heart's content!
There is also the newly developed Tiger Beer from Jiangnan Liquor, so you can drink as much as you want!
The miners have a heavy workload and big appetites, so this new type of wine, which they can drink freely, has a rich taste, and can also replenish their physical strength, has been very popular among them since it was released.
Of course, free is also an important reason...
However, not everyone has this treatment.
Because in addition to the free workers who had signed labor contracts, there was also a labor camp in the Changguang Coal Mine.
Nowadays, the government offices of various prefectures, counties and districts in Jiangnan basically do not punish prisoners, and even rarely sentence them to death, in order to preserve the prisoners' ability to work. After being sentenced, they are all thrown into labor camps and sent to various industrial and mining enterprises of the Jiangnan Group for punitive labor. And they are specialized in high-risk, high-pollution, and high-intensity labor.
Why is the government so eager to help the Jiangnan Group? Of course, it is mutually beneficial. The Jiangnan Group does not use the prisoners in the labor camp for free, but pays the government. Although it is less than half of the normal workers and does not increase with the length of service, it is a lucrative extra income for the government.
For example, in Changxing County, a total of more than 300 prisoners were sent to the Changguang Coal Mine. Every month, more than 300 taels of silver would be deposited into the designated account of Jiangnan Bank on time. That's 4,000 taels of silver a year! In addition, it can save prison management fees, prisoner food expenses, etc., which is another considerable income.
Of course, prisoners often died in labor camps, but the officials didn’t care at all. They would take the dead back to prison, report them as starvation and let their families collect the bodies.
Some people may say that this is torture of prisoners and will cause trouble for the group!
That's pure detachment from the real world. What were the prison conditions like in those days? Haven't you read "Miscellaneous Notes from Prison"? Oh, that was written by someone in the Qing Dynasty...
But the prison conditions are the same regardless of whether they are Ming or Qing.
If you don't believe it, just ask these labor prisoners. Even if they die of exhaustion or are crushed to death in the mines, none of them wants to go back to the prison which is even darker than the coal mine.
If you go back there, you might die of starvation, illness, or torture by the prison bosses in a few days...
Although the labor intensity in the Jiangnan Group's mines is high and the death rate is higher than that of normal workers, the working conditions and safety standards are much better than those elsewhere.
And as long as you complete the task, you won’t be beaten and you can have a full meal.
The mine didn't leave them out of the dinner today, but there was no wine and two less main dishes... It wasn't to save money, but mainly to widen the gap and not let the workers have any complaints.
In this way, the prisoners could eat until their bellies were round and their faces were radiant.
Compared to the prison, this place is simply heaven!
So some prisoners don’t even want to leave after their sentences are completed…
Of course, there are also people who dream of leaving this hellhole. For example, the former former cabinet minister...
ps. I have something to do at home today, so I am a little late. I will write one more chapter...