Iron Dynasty

The roar of steam engines and the smell of metal filled the military workshop.

Simply stating the purpose of coming here this time, Xiao Ming inspected the gun workshop and artillery workshop as usual.

In the musket workshop, he focused on the production of conical bullets. Each conical bullet was cast in a mold, and then it was polished and calibrated by craftsmen.

The advantages of rifled guns are obvious, but the requirements for bullets are also strict, and unqualified conical bullets will cause disastrous consequences for soldiers.

Therefore, after each batch of bullets is cast, the craftsman will strictly check it. After the check, the craftsman will insert the wooden support into the hole behind the conical bullet, which is also to ensure the air tightness during shooting.

Xiao Ming said that the production of three bullets a day by each craftsman is only a minimum prediction. After all, the current military workshops have mastered assembly line production.

Different craftsmen are responsible for different processes, casting, grinding, making wooden pallets, and assembling.

After a tour of the gun workshop, he went to the gun workshop again, where he asked Chen Qi to study rifled guns a long time ago.

After groping, the artillery workshop has successfully produced a rifled gun. According to Chen Qi, the production speed of the rifled gun is slow, but the range is much farther than before. Now the cannonball can be shot five miles away.

Five miles? Xiao Ming was slightly satisfied with this data. Five miles is 2,500 meters. This range should not be lost to Western artillery.

Provide this kind of naval gun to the warship first. Xiao Ming ordered, whether it was the news of the French or the British, Xiao Ming began to be vigilant.

The internal worries have not yet been resolved, and the foreign troubles are coming. Xiao Wenxuan really left him a huge mess, but fortunately, it is too far away from the West, and neither France nor the United Kingdom can deploy a large-scale army here.

Now they are just acting as shit sticks, making waves in East Asia. Now his main enemies are the barbarians, the Japanese, the Koryo, and the king of Chu.

And this is precisely what Britain, France wanted to use to contain his target, so with the cooperation between France and the King of Chu, Britain went to the Japanese country.

Although Xiao Ming is angry at the small actions of these two Western powers, he is helpless at the moment, but the world will not always be theirs.

When the six states popularized industry and the people's livelihood in the north was restored, this was when he showed his sharp claws.

After inspecting the military workshop, Xiao Ming and Qian Dafu returned to Qingzhou City.

At the same time, under the auspices of Fiji and Pang Yukun, the six-state reform movement is also unfolding step by step.

...

At the door of the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce, Zhu Wuliu, like other businessmen, was waiting for Li Kaiyuan to come out.

News of the private workshops in the newspapers had spread across the six states, and merchants who wanted a piece of the pie were flocking.

In the past two years, Zhu Wuliu has made a lot of money because of the white sugar workshop, and his family has become rich. Not only has he bought a large house in Qingzhou City.

Not only him, but also five wealthy families from Zhujia Village, all of whom lent money to Zhu Wuliu when Zhu Wuliu built the white sugar workshop.

At that time, Zhu Wuliu promised to give them money according to the amount of money. Because of this, they also became rich and envied many people.

Brother Wuliu, there are so many people here today. Behind Zhu Wuliu was a short and lean young man, his name was Shangguan Yong, and he was also from Zhujia Village.

Zhu Wuliu looked at the long dragon behind him. The merchants who came to the chamber of commerce this time were not one thousand or seven hundred. He said: This time it is dangerous. These merchants are all rich, and we may not be able to compete with them. It is said that the number of steam engines is limited. , you'll have to wait until it's sold out.

Shangguan Yong was even more anxious than Zhu Wuliu. Last time, many people in the village did not participate in the white sugar workshop. This time, I heard that Zhu Wuliu was going to set up a workshop again, and everyone gave Zhu Wuliu their money. The purpose is to get a piece of the pie from this workshop this time.

Touching his chest, Shangguan Yong confirmed whether the banknotes he exchanged at Qingzhou Bank were still there.

Brother Wuliu, if you can't do it, you can go to Brother Third and Fourth. I heard that Brother Third and Fourth has been transferred back from Ryukyu and he has been promoted to captain. You let him go to fight, this time the steam engine will be more stable. Is it? Shangguan Yong said hehe.

Zhu Wuliu's face darkened when he heard the words, he said: 'Second brother is a member of the army and cannot participate in business. If he finds out, he will be expelled from the army. If you ask me to go to him, you are hurting him. My business If you can do it, the second brother can't take off his military uniform. This is an honor for our old Zhu family.

Shangguan Yong laughed twice: I'm not in a hurry, in fact, if I didn't break my leg when I was a child, I would like to join the army now, you see how majestic the soldiers are now, not to mention that the government ya will send rice and noodles at the end of each year, it is said that Now soldiers can give priority to many things, even buying things at the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce store only costs half the money.

Of course, if no one was willing to join the army before, now it's better to break their heads and join the army one by one. Zhu Wuliu said with envy.

It is said that the two years of war have made many soldiers rich, and they can get rewards after each battle, which makes many troops scramble to fight.

The soldiers who came back from the village gave the family dozens of taels of silver at a time, which also confirmed this rumor.

When the two were stunned, Li Kaiyuan suddenly appeared at the door of the chamber of commerce, glanced at the waiting businessman, and frowned.

There are a total of 100 steam engines sold this time, but it is just a steam engine, but it is actually a complete set of steam engine production lines, which means that this is a hundred sets of production lines. For the sake of fairness, the sale of the production line adopts the method of auctioning the highest price. You can now enter the venue to prepare.

Li Kaiyuan made a please gesture after speaking, and the merchants rushed into the auction venue of the Chamber of Commerce.

One by one fiery businessmen passed by, and Li Kaiyuan showed a hint of helplessness. In the past two days, he quarreled with Lin Wentao over the matter of the hundred production lines.

For him, the more the steam engine, the better, but Lin Wentao put him back on the grounds that he had to sell the money before he could continue to manufacture it.

He only got these 100 sets of steam engines from the steam engine workshop, and now there are more monks than porridge.

After a while, the auction venue was filled with excited businessmen.

Before coming, the government office opened official workshops such as imitation workshops and white sugar workshops to them. The role of steam engines in these workshops impressed them.

Businessmen who were chasing profits immediately saw the value contained in it, and this is what happened today.

PS: One more chapter