() Soon, Zhong Jinwei and Xu Guangqi appeared outside the palace gate, and then walked in quickly.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at Zhong Jinwei and Xu Guangqi both smiling, and a stone fell in his heart. It must be good news.
Zhong Jinwei arrived at the palace, waited for Xu Guangqi for a while, and then played together: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, the cement was successfully fired."
Sun Chengzong saw that Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren were very happy after hearing this. He felt that he had missed something, and quickly asked: "Your Majesty, what is cement?"
Emperor Chongzhen was in a particularly good mood at this time, and Sun Chengzong was a person he trusted, so he explained everything to him personally, including the one-stop plan.
When Sun Chengzong heard about the efficacy of cement, he immediately thought of the Liaodong city building plan. If there was this cement, the progress would be much faster, and the city building would have an even better chance of winning.
Then he heard about the follow-up package plan, some of which he already knew, and some of which he didn't know. At this time, listening to Emperor Chongzhen explain it in detail, a harmonious scene could not help but unfold before his eyes: businessmen transporting grain to the disaster area, and people building roads.
In exchange for grain, roads are built, taxes are collected, and there are profits from state-owned enterprises. These are then used according to the plan. Officials, people, soldiers, and businessmen are all happy.
Of course, those few vested interests such as the big salt merchants, northern grain merchants, merchants selling Western glass, and Westerners were directly ignored by Sun Chengzong.
Sun Chengzong thought about it with more and more smiles on his face. When Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, he quickly asked: "Your Majesty, where is the cement?"
Emperor Chongzhen looked at Zhong Jinwei, and Wen Tiren and Sun Chengzong also followed Emperor Chongzhen's gaze and looked at Zhong Jinwei.
Zhong Jinwei said excitedly: "Just outside the Meridian Gate."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he wanted to go to the Meridian Gate to take a look. Zhong Jinwei knew that this might happen, so he quickly said: "Your Majesty, I have a small bag of cement here. It's not really worth seeing. It's just gray powder."
After Zhong Jinwei finished speaking, he took out a small bag of cement from his sleeve and presented it to Emperor Chongzhen.
Emperor Chongzhen stood up from his throne, walked to Zhong Jinwei, and opened it to look. Wen Tiren and Sun Chengzong also gathered around, stretching their heads to look.
Indeed, as Zhong Jinwei said, there is nothing special about it.
Zhong Jinwei suggested on the side: "Your Majesty, there is a cart of cement outside the Meridian Gate. We can find a place for the craftsman Wu Shengda brought by me to build a house for your Majesty to see."
Emperor Chongzhen handed the small bag of cement to Sun Chengzong, and then said to Zhong Jinwei: "Okay, it's at the Meridian Gate. Once it's built, I'll take all the civil and military officials to see it."
Then he asked another concerned question: "Master Zhong, is it possible to make Western glass?"
Zhong Jinwei nodded: "Your Majesty, I think it should be possible to bake it. You can ask the craftsmen of Liulichang to learn how to build a new kiln, and then build a new kiln according to the characteristics of firing colored glaze, and let's have a look at it."
Emperor Chongzhen heard the words "good", then turned to Xu Guangqi on Zhong Jinwei's side and said: "Xu Qing, I have approved the cabinet's memorial nominating you as Minister of Industry. Tomorrow morning, it will be officially announced. Then, you have to concentrate
Experienced craftsmen from Liulichang and Ironworks went to the ceramics factory to learn new kilns."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Guangqi happily agreed.
"Your Majesty, I still have a question." Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen seemed a little too happy, Zhong Jinwei quickly spoke up and prepared to pour cold water on him.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at Zhong Jinwei, smiled and joked: "Master Zhong, are you going to give me a reward?"
"Ah, no." When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he blushed and quickly changed his attention: "Your Majesty, the new kiln is not mature yet, oh, no, it hasn't taken shape yet. There are still many places to improve, and the most important thing is that at present,
The output of the new kiln is limited and cannot meet the requirements of assembly line operations."
"Assembly line operation?" Several people did not understand the term, and a question popped up in their minds. Emperor Chongzhen asked the question in their minds.
Zhong Jinwei looked at them and saw the puzzled expressions on their faces, and said strangely: "Assembly line operations are like running water, making things continuously."
Zhong Jinwei's image is impressive to everyone. If this is the case, the efficiency is indeed very high.
Xu Guangqi, in particular, was a technical officer and had some experience with this. Thinking of some of the equipment he had seen, he reported to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I want to go back to the ceramics factory immediately to study this assembly line production method.
"
Emperor Chongzhen was very happy to see Xu Guangqi's high enthusiasm for doing things. He waved his hand and said to him: "There is no rush for now. It won't be too late for you to go after tomorrow morning."
Zhong Jinwei just mentioned the assembly line operation casually, and felt that it was necessary to emphasize it. After all, in Daming's workshops now, basically all manual work is done, and assembly line operations are not yet possible. In the future, with the development of society, assembly line operations will be the trend.
So, he said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, this assembly line operation is very important."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard Zhong Jinwei's emphasis, he listened carefully.
"Your Majesty, assembly line operations can significantly increase production. There are two types. One is like flowing water, all steps are automatic, raw materials go in, and finished products come out directly. There is no need for interference in the middle, and production can be continued far away. The other is
It is to break an object into many small parts, and each person is only responsible for one of the small parts. After everyone is finished, the finished product will naturally come out."
Xu Guangqi was thoughtful, but Emperor Chongzhen was a little dissatisfied with the second method: "Master Zhong, your second method is not as good as one person being responsible for each. There are as many finished products as there are people. This is easy to calculate."
"Your Majesty, you are wrong. Listen to me." Only Zhong Jinwei could speak like this, and he was not afraid of offending the emperor.
However, Emperor Chongzhen obviously didn't mind and said to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, what's wrong?"
"Your Majesty, if a person is responsible for making a gun, for example, he must understand and be proficient in every part and step?" Zhong Jinwei asked Emperor Chongzhen.
Isn't this nonsense? I don't know how to make a gun. Emperor Chongzhen thought to himself, and nodded as usual in cooperation with Zhong Jinwei.
"This kind of craftsman is difficult to find and train. It is also possible that one of the parts is not what he is good at, which will delay time. But the kind I just mentioned, one person is responsible for one part. Compared with the one just now, there are many advantages.
.”
"What are the benefits?" Emperor Chongzhen liked to ask this question the most.
"First, if a person is only responsible for one part, then the time for this person to master this part is shorter than the time for someone to master all the parts? Is it easier to train such a person?" Zhong Jinwei guided Emperor Chongzhen with rhetorical questions.
Emperor Chongzhen nodded, and beside him Sun Chengzong and Wen Tiren also nodded, but they were ignored by Zhong Jinwei.
"Second, if a person specializes in making a part, will his ability to make this part get better and better? In fact, it doesn't need to be how good he is, he just needs to make it exactly according to the sample of the part.
.If you only do this, it will be easier to meet this requirement."
"Master Zhong, what are the benefits of doing this?" Emperor Chongzhen asked.
"Your Majesty, these are called standard parts in my hometown. If everyone makes the parts according to the samples, then all the parts are interchangeable. From a maintenance perspective, two guns may have been scrapped in the past, but now because of the parts
If they are all interchangeable, it is possible to scrap only one gun. Especially on the battlefield, this is especially important in terms of logistics or timely replacement."
"Your Majesty, I heard that this is what the pre-Qin Dynasty did." After hearing Zhong Jinwei's explanation, Wen Tiren presented the treasure to Emperor Chongzhen.
When Sun Chengzong heard Zhong Jinwei use the gun as an example, he felt even more sad and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "I think what Uncle Zhongxing said is reasonable."
Xu Guangqi is familiar with the current working methods of the workshop, and some parts are already being made in this way. However, this is only done because these parts are difficult and time-consuming to make, so specialized craftsmen are required to do it. What Zhong Jinwei said
Concepts, similar but different.
Now that Zhong Jinwei emphasized this concept, Xu Guangqi seemed to have a door opened. On the other side of the door was a place he had never been before, and he discovered another way of doing things.
In fact, Zhong Jinwei just put forward some concepts of later generations. To the people of the Ming Dynasty, it did not appear to be very profound. It was like a layer of window paper that broke with a light poke. Just like temperature,
As soon as he told the reason, Wu Shengda immediately thought of how to do it.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen told Xu Guangqi to implement this idea in the Ministry of Works. Then he found that Zhong Jinwei had bloodshot eyes, so he said to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, thank you for your hard work. You go back and have a good rest. We will discuss it with Xu Qing tomorrow.
See how to improve the new kiln."
Zhong Jinwei was actually excited last night and couldn't sleep. He got up, took Gu Baichuan and Wang Peng to drink for a while, and then went to bed late.
Now that he saw that Emperor Chongzhen cared so much about him, he was happy to go home and rest. He hadn't gone back for several days, so he went back to see how the shop provided by Emperor Chongzhen was.