The trade with Japan was obviously going very smoothly.＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠＠�

Similarly, a large number of silver and copper materials were obtained from Japan.&1t;/p>

Japan has many silver mines that are being mined at this time, and Japan has not yet restricted the outflow of precious metals, and the silver export of foreign trade has not yet reached its peak.&1t;/p>

The scale of copper mining in Japan is not that large at this time, but there are also many copper materials.&1t;/p>

Apart from that, Japan has no bulk commodities. Those that can be shipped back to China for sale are samurai swords, some fishing goods, and the sulfur needed to make gunpowder.&1t;/p>

The cargo of twenty merchant ships was exchanged for more than 5 million yuan of silver, and at the same time, they also exchanged for a large amount of copper and sulfur, and then they returned to Tianjin.&1t;/p>

After the departure of Chinese merchant fleets, Japan's Tokugawa Shogunate ordered the increase in copper mining. Copper mining is of great benefit to Japan and can be exchanged for many commodities.&1t;/p>

In contrast, the profits of the Ming Dynasty reached about six times in this trade.&1t;/p>

It took only one trip, less than two months, and there was still a lot of time in between to wait for the Japanese to transport sulfur and copper to Nagasaki. After returning to Tianjin, the profit was as high as six times, which is definitely an amazing profit data.&1t;/p>

Such amazing profits are mainly because Japan is produced in silver at this time, and Japan does not have the ability to produce various luxury goods and some daily necessities, the purchasing power of silver in Japan is not high. Because these goods are scarce luxury goods, the price shipped to Japan will immediately increase exponentially.&1t;/p>

According to the original history, Japan will issue a purchase restriction order in six or seven years. It will restrict the purchase of luxury goods by Japanese lords and samurai. Thus, curb currency outflow.&1t;/p>

Therefore, trade with Japan, that is, there will be a higher profit for another six or seven years. The subsequent trade mainly involves obtaining copper from Japan.&1t;/p>

In a few years, China and Japan will actually face a huge challenge, that is, the number of natural disasters in the Little Ice Age.&1t;/p>

Not only China, but Japan will also suffer from famine.&1t;/p>

In such a situation, currency often plays a major role. Once the amount of silver circulating is insufficient, it will cause deflation, which will further hit the scale of production and aggravate the degree of famine.&1t;/p>

China interrupted trade with the Spaniards at this time, and silver inflows will obviously decline. However, the increase in trade with the Portuguese will not have much impact.&1t;/p>

Although such trade brings many problems, such as rich people becoming very rich, they have to continue. Otherwise, the economies of coastal provinces in the south will be greatly hit and affect the internal economy. Because the decrease in the inflow of silver will lead to a decline in circulation of silver. After all, most of the silver is actually in the hands of those rich people, and they don’t spend much money. They are basically placed in the bank warehouse and are "mold". After the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, a wealthy household was searched in Jiangnan, which was only tens of thousands of taels and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. It is enough to explain many problems.&1t;/p>

Trade with Europeans cannot enhance China's national strength. Because Europeans' productivity is not as good as that of the Ming Dynasty, but such trade has caused China's economy to be kidnapped by Europeans' silver. Once it is completely stopped, there will be chaos.&1t;/p>

The trade with the Japanese made a profit of more than 8 million yuan. At the same time, the trade between the royal trade and the Portuguese was also launched in Macau.&1t;/p>

The trade with the Portuguese this year was fully involved by the Royal Trading Company. The original Portuguese supplier became a secondary supplier.&1t;/p>

These merchants from Guangdong and Fujian provinces first sold the goods to the Royal Trading Company. Then the Royal Trading Company sold the goods to the Portuguese, making a difference in the middle. While slightly increasing the price of exported goods, they also lowered the purchase price of the goods of those suppliers.&1t;/p>

Press down on both sides a little, and the profit will rise immediately.&1t;/p>

At the same time, many commodities began to be supplied by Northern Zhili, such as cotton and porcelain. Most of the porcelain and cotton in the trade with the Portuguese were shipped from Northern Zhili. Although the quality was slightly worse, it was not much worse. The Portuguese were fully acceptable.&1t;/p>

In addition, steel products and glass products in Northern Zhili were also widely purchased by the Portuguese. However, the metallurgical industry in Guangdong has suffered a certain blow. In the past, iron pots and other items in Guangdong were relatively popular export commodities.&1t;/p>

The Portuguese prefers the steel products in Northern Zhili, which are higher in quality than those in Guangdong. Other products with higher requirements for steel, the more obvious the advantages of steel products in Northern Zhili. In terms of glass products, the Portuguese mainly buys glass plates produced by the Ming Dynasty and fitting mirrors.&1t;/p>

In addition, there are larger goods such as copperware, sucrose, and raw silk. Copperware is also made in northern Zhili, while sucrose and raw silk are provided by various southern provinces.&1t;/p>

What surprised the Portuguese was that among the export goods provided by the Ming Dynasty, there were actually a large number of muskets.&1t;/p>

These muskets are mature flints, with extremely excellent quality, and are at least twenty or thirty years ahead of muskets commonly equipped by Europeans.&1t;/p>

The Portuguese suddenly felt like they had found a treasure and asked the Ming officials to sell them more muskets.&1t;/p>

This requirement was quickly met, and the craftsmen at the Royal Military Factory of Northern Zhili began to drive at full speed and manufacture these flint rifles in large quantities.&1t;/p>

After all, these flints were exported to European countries and did not pose any threat to the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the performance of muskets in this era was just like that. If the Portuguese wanted to buy them, the Ming Dynasty would naturally be willing to sell them.&1t;/p>

But in terms of price, a flintsruds reached forty taels.&1t;/p>

The price is naturally relatively high, but for Europe, which has a lot of silver, such a price is barely acceptable.&1t;/p>

The Portuguese purchased 10,000 units.&1t;/p>

The scale of trade between the Ming Dynasty and the Portuguese is continuing to rise. The goods in Northern Zhili have also found new sales and are selling well.&1t;/p>

The demand for overseas exports has obviously injected a shot in the economic exhibition of Beizhili. The factories and workshops opened in Beizhili in the third year of Tianqi have increased a lot.&1t;/p>

By the third year of the Apocalypse, the steel smelting and manufacturing in Beizhili had become a leading industry.&1t;/p>

The metallurgical industry in the northern provinces has been hit by the steel products of Beizhili. The steel smelting in Beizhili has undoubtedly become the market overlord of the northern provinces. This is true from iron products to steel products.&1t;/p>

In contrast, steel smelting in southern provinces has also been more and more relentless. In terms of iron products, the metallurgy industry in the south can still occupy a major market share, but in terms of steel products, it is difficult to withstand the impact of steel products in northern Zhili.&1t;/p>

In this case, the production cost of converter steel in Beizhili has been reduced by more than ten times. Even if it is one-tenth of the original steel price, it can still make a lot of profits. What's more, the price of steel in Beizhili has only dropped by half, and the profits are extremely generous. The profit space is huge, and the market demand is still large.&1t;/p>

The market in the Ming Dynasty is naturally extremely broad and has a great demand for steel.&1t;/p>

What made Zhu Youxia even happier was that in April of the third year of the Tianqi, the Royal Academy of Sciences also made new breakthroughs in the smelting technology of converter steel.&1t;/p>

After some research, the Royal Academy of Sciences' research team successfully solved the converter steelmaking problem of high-phosphorus iron ore by changing the acidic silicate furnace lining of the converter to alkaline furnace lining, and then dephosphorizing limestone.&1t;/p>

Previously, converter steel was refined with iron ore with high phosphorus content, but the steel refined was very brittle and could not be used at all. After this technological improvement, iron ore with high phosphorus content can also be smelted using converter steelmaking.&1t;/p>

At the same time, the combination of charcoal in the molten steel will be further improved and matured. High-carbon steel to low-carbon steel can be produced in combination.&1t;/p>

This is definitely a huge improvement for the steel manufacturing industry.&1t;/p>

Nowadays, craftsmen who manufacture military equipment no longer need to repeatedly forge steel, the labor intensity is greatly reduced and the efficiency has been greatly improved.&1t;/p>

This steelmaking method does not require fuel, and also produces molten steel, which is faster. It saves a lot of high-intensity labor process in steel product processing, and the cost reduction is absolutely amazing.&1t;/p>

It is obviously very normal for steel products to become the leading industry in Beizhili. In this era, no country's steel products can compete with the Ming Dynasty.&1t;/p>

At this time, the converter steel technology has made another breakthrough, which is definitely a new opportunity for the metallurgy industry in Beizhili. Iron ore everywhere has smelting value, which is the most important. Steel smelting is no longer limited to Cizhou, and iron ore everywhere can be mined.&1t;/p>

Zhu Youxiao personally met with the project team for improving converter steel, which had more than a dozen students. In this breakthrough in converter technology, each of them received thousands of yuan in rewards and also received some patent dividends. It is absolutely impossible to be stingy with these talents.&1t;/p>

There are too many rich people in the world, but among these rich people, there are too few who have contributed to society.&1t;/p>

For these groups that contribute to society, we should find ways to make them rich. When there are too many people, we will form the backbone of a country.&1t;/p>

Therefore, although the patent is used by Royal Capital, these students who participate in the research project also account for a certain proportion. The benefits of these patents can allow these students to continue to earn profits in the next sixty years.&1t;/p>

"The converter still has some room for improvement, and no one has it now. During the oxidation process of the molten steel in the converter, the heat generated by the combustion of the gas has been wasted and not used." Zhu Youxiao reminded them when he met these students.&1t;/p>

"Yes! These heats have been wasted in vain! If they are used..." A student's eyes lit up, but he didn't know what he could do after using them.&1t;/p>

Other students were also confused.&1t;/p>

Zhu Youxiao continued to remind: "For example, smelting molten iron and scrap steel together and using these heat can make the refined molten steel better quality or further reduce the requirements for raw materials."&1t;/p>

"Your Majesty's wiseness."&1t;/p>

A group of students suddenly realized that theoretically, as long as they use the calories, they could do something. After being reminded by Zhu Youxiao, they immediately found the research direction.&1t;/p>

"You can continue to study according to the topic!" Zhu Youxiao said to them.&1t;/p>

What Zhu Youxiao said is, the buck furnace steel. The difference between buck furnace steel and converter steel is that buck furnace steel further utilizes the waste heat, thereby further reducing the requirements for raw materials. In the case of breeding animals, it is more resistant to rough feeding.&1t;/p>

In this era, open furnace steel still has an advantage over converter steel. After all, it has not yet reached the level of direct oxygen blowing, so the advantages of converter steel cannot be fully exerted.&1t;/p>

If it reaches the level of oxygen blowing, the smelting time of the converter steel will be greatly shortened and the production capacity will be greatly improved.&1t;/p>

The exhibition of modern smelting technology started with converter steel as the mainstream, and then for a period of time from World War I to World War II, the main position of the blast furnace steel was the mainstream. Then it turned into blast furnace steel as the mainstream steelmaking method.&1t;/p>

The essence of the two furnaces is the same, that is, to oxidize the molten iron, thereby burning the gas and charcoal in the molten iron.&1t;/p>

If converter steel is exhibited, then the steel smelting technology of Daming will be further improved, mainly because the quality of steel can be improved.&1t;/p>

After a while, Xu Guangqi also came and reported to Zhu Youxiao about the teaching situation.&1t;/p>

"The Royal Academy of Sciences' current research and self-study of textbooks, and some of the first-stage students are almost completed. The teaching of the second-stage students is also underway." Xu Guangqi reported that many of the students who entered the Royal Academy of Sciences have worked very hard to learn.&1t;/p>

With interest and talent, it is very normal for some students to finish the textbooks.&1t;/p>

"Yes, thank you for your hard work in Xu Aiqing." Zhu Youchao praised Xu Guangqi. The Royal Academy of Sciences is basically led by Xu Guangqi. Zhu Youchao does not come to the Royal Academy of Sciences very often.&1t;/p>

"Weichen is quite relaxing here. Your Majesty, the steam engine research group you ordered has been formed. You can start the research work at any time." Xu Guangqi mentioned the steam engine, and Zhu Youxiao said excitedly: "Then start this project! Drain the steam engine as soon as possible."&1t;/p>

"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Guangqi bowed.&1t;/p>

It is actually not difficult to develop a steam engine. The laboratory has proven that steam can indeed be used as power.&1t;/p>

According to this principle, just build the machine.&1t;/p>

The problem is only in terms of mechanical manufacturing.&1t;/p>

After more than two years of development, the mechanical manufacturing technology in Beizhili has reached a good level. Moreover, it does not require too precise mechanical manufacturing technology to develop a steam engine.&1t;/p>

When researching, craftsmen can make parts by hand. There is no problem with the precision of hand-made parts.&1t;/p>

As for sealing, it can be used even if the air leaks are leaking, but the kinetic energy conversion efficiency is not that high. When Westerners started working on steam engines, they actually used wool blankets to seal them. Rubber, etc., are things that only appeared after the steam engine was discovered.&1t;/p>

In fact, rubber cannot be used to seal the steam engine. If steam is so hot, use rubber to seal it? Isn’t this nonsense! It melts in two strokes, and it’s a big deal!&1t;/p>

In April of the third year of the Apocalypse, the steam engine research project was officially launched, with extremely abundant research funds, with a sufficient amount of research funds of 10,000 silver dollars.&1t;/p>

Steam engines can definitely be called black technology in the world of the 17th century.&1t;/p>

Just as Zhu Youxiao was holding back his technology, the battle on the battlefield in Liaodong finally kicked off. (To be continued...)&1t;/>&1t;/p>
Chapter completed!