In Hampton Court Palace in London, the British consul Cromwell stood in front of his gorgeous desk, his eyes were deeply attracted by the pile of new weapons on the table.
At this time, the bourgeois revolution had broken out in England. Two wars broke out between the parliamentary army and the king's army in 1642 and 1648. In the end, the parliamentary army commanded by Cromwell won the two wars and finally overthrew England.
Reign of King Charles I.
As an unlucky king, Charles I was executed by the Parliament led by Cromwell.
Cromwell commanded the Parliamentary Army to fight on the British Isles, conquering Scotland, Wales and Ireland, turning the territories originally belonging to several kings into a complete United Kingdom. This country is jointly ruled by Parliament and Cromwell.
And increasingly inclined towards Cromwell's dictatorship.
In Europe of this era, it was not uncommon for countries to be ruled by parliaments and consuls. For example, in the Netherlands, the Dutch, who were engaged in trade around the world, governed the country with a bourgeois parliament. Although William II, Prince of Orange, was the consul of the Netherlands,
However, power is subject to various constraints from parliament.
Britain and the Netherlands have the same political system and have a special sympathy for each other. The two countries came together on matters such as the fight against Li Zhi and the invasion of Portugal.
However, this friendly relationship was not enough for the Netherlands to take the initiative to teach stolen military technology to the British.
Cromwell's general Bertrand raised the Minie rifle bullets on the table and said: "Consul, these are the bullets we picked up on the Portuguese battlefield. In fact, both the Portuguese and the Dutch are using them.
This new type of bullet. Except for us British who are still using smoothbore guns, they are all already using rifled guns."
"And they all used flintlock muskets, eliminating matchlocks."
Cromwell took the bullet from Bertrand, looked at the rifling scratches and the hollow tail on the bullet, and said, "Rifled gun?"
Bertrand nodded and said: "A rifled gun that can be loaded easily!"
Bertrand raised a rifled gun made by the British on the table, raised a lead minion bullet, and easily slid the bullet into the chamber.
Aiming the barrel of the gun at the window, Bertrand said: "If we use a flintlock bolt, we can shoot once in twenty breaths."
"Very good!" Cromwell said: "Start producing this rifled gun immediately. I hope our soldiers in Portugal can use the same weapons as the enemy."
Bertrand nodded, then raised the mortar on the table. He poured the shell with the wooden holder out of the mortar, and Bertrand threw the shell away.
"Look, Archon!"
Cromwell asked in confusion: "What is this?"
"This is called a cannon, Your Highness the Archon. It uses explosive shells and can bomb enemies in trenches."
Cromwell nodded and asked, "Where did you get it?"
"Consul, we stole this from the Dutch."
Cromwell smiled when he heard this.
Although the Dutch guarded the new weapons very tightly, the Dutch and the British were fighting in the same trench. The Dutch set up their cannons in front of the British to bombard the Portuguese every day. It was impossible to completely prevent the British from stealing.
For British soldiers, they had no shame at all in stealing for their country.
Even if ordinary soldiers did not steal, the spies placed by the British in the army would.
Cromwell asked: "Can we produce such a weapon?"
Bertrand nodded and replied: "We can produce it, Archon. After cutting the explosive shells, we found that this weapon is very simple. With the level of our British handicraft industry, it is not difficult to mass-produce this weapon."
Cromwell took the cannon shell from Bertrand and looked at it.
"Very good, with these two weapons, our British army will be the strongest iron army in the world."
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Amidst the huge roar, eight steam engines roared under the firepower of the boiler, driving the two generators of Fanjiazhuang No. 1 Thermal Power Plant to continuously cut the electromagnetic wires.
The generator that cuts the electromagnetic wire continuously generates electricity, which is transmitted through the wires of the thermal power plant.
Although it was the twelfth lunar month of December, the heat waves emanating from the steam engine boilers hit his face one after another, making people sweat all over. Li Zhi only stood for a short minute and quickly took off his bearskin coat.
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Li Zhi looked at the huge generator and asked, "What is the installed capacity of this generator?"
The stationmaster of the thermal power station replied loudly: "To tell you the truth, the power of each generator is one thousand kilowatts. Two generators are two thousand kilowatts."
The power unit of watt has long been popularized in Li Zhi's middle school physics textbook, so now directors and technicians of thermal power plants can use this unit skillfully.
Li Zhi did the math.
If one household uses three 30-watt incandescent lamps during peak hours, a 2,000-kilowatt thermal power plant can meet the electricity needs of 10,000 households. If a household has five people, this thermal power plant can provide power to 50,000 people.
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Li Zhi nodded and said: "We need to continue construction and equip more generators and steam engines."
The boss of the thermal power plant said loudly: "Your Majesty, the installation fee we have set for the installation of electric lights is two taels per month. The electricity fee set per lamp per month is fifty cents. This generator can earn one thousand cents per month.
With more than 600 taels of silver, you can earn 20,000 taels of silver a year. The profit is quite considerable."
"The generators and steam engines ordered by our thermal power plant will be delivered soon. The problem now is that there are not so many people willing to pay to install electric lights."
Li Zhi does not have an electricity meter now, and the electricity bill is charged based on the number of light bulbs. For every light bulb installed in the home, the monthly electricity bill is fifty cents.
The current price of grain in Tianjin is about ten cents per catty, and fifty cents is equivalent to more than sixteen yuan in later generations. For ordinary people, the electricity bill for a lamp is more than sixteen yuan a month, which is still quite high.
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Li Zhi looked at the general manager of the power company, frowned and said, "You set the installation fees and electricity bills too high!"
When the manager of the power company heard this, his face turned pale, and he quickly bowed to Li Zhi and saluted: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I will make changes right now and reduce the installation fee of electric lights and the electricity fee by 30%."
Li Zhi raised a light bulb on the table and said: "Our electric power project is a people's livelihood project and a public utility. How can we think about making profits all day long? According to your charges, one lamp can be installed in each room of a family, and one lamp can be installed in each villa.
Five lamps, wouldn’t the electricity bill cost 250 yuan a month?”
"Change! The electricity bill will be directly changed to fifteen cents per lamp! The installation fee for light bulbs must also be changed, to two cents per light. This way, more people will use electric lights, and our Fanjiazhuang will be brighter."
The director of the thermal power plant and the general manager of the electric power company quickly raised their hands and shouted: "Your Majesty Shengming! I will take your orders!"
