Now the judicial department of the Tang Dynasty is very fond of all kinds of legal provisions that can impose fines. Especially the local judicial agencies are very fond of such legal provisions of fines, and they are implemented very strictly.
They are quite supportive of the new patent law that allows for fines, and everyone pats their chests and says that they will strictly enforce the law. If anyone dares to infringe a patent, he will be fined to the point of bankruptcy!
Relatively speaking, the public does not pay much attention to the patent law. Although it has been reported by the Tang Dynasty Daily and the patent law has been interpreted, not many people are actually concerned with this matter.
But just because there aren't many people paying attention, it doesn't mean that no one is paying attention, especially those emerging factory owners who open factories. They pay more attention to technology than ordinary people, and they also pay more attention to patent laws that protect technology.
Therefore, as soon as the Patent Law was promulgated and the newly established Patent Office received hundreds of patent applications, the interesting thing is that all of these patent applications were institutional applications, and there were no individual applications.
Most of the patent applications come from the Royal Institute of Technology, which was just spun off from the military camp, and they are all patent applications related to various advanced technologies.
At the same time, some applicants also came from major factories under the Ministry of Industry and some factories directly belonging to the royal family.
However, although the number of private applications is small, there are still some!
The most notable one was the application from Chen's Grain Company, a subsidiary of the Chen family in Zhaoqing. They applied for three patents related to rice and wheat processing, and one of the patents was for transmission equipment in hydraulic equipment.
During the production process, they found that the output of the original hydraulic equipment produced by the machinery branch was not stable enough, which had an impact on the processing of flour, so they spent a lot of money to hire craftsmen to improve it, and finally built a brand new set of hydraulic equipment themselves.
Transmission equipment, this set of equipment can make hydraulic equipment run more smoothly and effectively improve processing accuracy.
Originally, when they applied for a patent, they just wanted to try to apply for one or two. Anyway, if they didn't pass, it would have no impact on them. If they passed, it would be better, but it was unintentional. The application had just been submitted to Zhaoqing Machinery Branch.
The people nearby came over immediately and said they wanted to obtain the authorization for this transmission equipment.
Moreover, they offered a fixed-price licensing fee of thousands of taels or 10% of the subsequent selling price of the transmission equipment as a share.
At this price, the Chen family simply cannot refuse!
And the reason why I couldn't refuse was not just because of the high price. For just a thousand taels of silver, I already owned three rice mills and one flour mill. The refined rice and refined flour produced already occupied nearly half of Guangdong's refined grain market.
For Chen's Grain Company, this is nothing.
But this machinery branch is an upstream enterprise that they cannot offend. On the contrary, they have to try their best to win over them. Most of the machinery and equipment in their factories are purchased from the machinery branch. If they offend the machinery branch, then this business will
Do you still want to do it?
However, even though they were ready to agree, the Chen family still tried their best to fight for the benefits they should have. First of all, the Chen family asked the machinery branch not to sell this transmission equipment to other grain companies within one year.
At the same time, if the subsequent machinery branch improves the equipment for rolling rice and flour, the Chen family has the right of first refusal. After the product is launched, the Chen family has a one-month exclusivity period and can sell it to other grain factories one month later.
Of course, the above two restrictions do not include grain processing plants directly under the Ministry of Industry, because the grain processing plants directly under the Ministry of Industry are not open to the outside world and only supply the government and the military. They are internal purchases and have nothing to do with the Chen family.
competitive relationship.
Of course, in return, it was not enough to just rely on the patent authorization of a set of transmission equipment. They simply transferred the patent directly to the machinery branch, and at the same time assumed part of the research and development funds for new grain processing equipment.
What the Chen family has paid for is just an opportunity to be the first to make arrangements!
Just like they did before!
The current Chen family still remembers that they were the first to discover rice milling equipment, and then spent a lot of money to introduce these equipment and enter the grain processing business. As the first family to enter the grain processing industry, the current Chen family
The grain business is booming.
Although the total amount of grain they are involved in is not significant in the entire grain market, what they buy is high value-added milled rice and milled flour specifically for the upper class.
After such refined processing, the price of ordinary rice and flour will rise exponentially, which means that the profit will also be several times higher!
Speaking of high profits, ordinary grain merchants cannot compare with them!
The Chen family, which had made a lot of money, did not sit back and rest, but continued to invest heavily in expanding factories and began to get involved in the processing of other grains. They even had dealings with the royal industry and the military. For example, they had relationships with people in the royal industry.
Cooperate with military dry food factories to try to develop and produce military dry food that can be stored for a long time, tastes not too bad, and ensures sufficient nutrition!
Of course, in this cooperation model, the Chen family is only the one who pays, and research and development has to rely on the Royal Military Dry Food Factory. But the Chen family doesn't care about paying. They only care about whether they can learn something, and then they care about whether they can cooperate with the royal family.
There is a relationship between industry and the military.
If this military dry food can be produced, then the Chen family will naturally become one of the suppliers of the military, and it is irreplaceable. It is one of the very special suppliers, and it is very different from the current ordinary military food suppliers.
big difference.
The Chen family can be regarded as the most typical and relatively successful representative of the rise of the Tang Dynasty and its support for industrial and commercial development, especially the wave of industrial development.
But the Chen family is definitely not the only family!
In the southern suburbs of Guangzhou, on the banks of the Pearl River, stands a huge shipyard. Near the river bank, there are several huge wooden ships under construction in several huge shipyards. The hull of one of them has been roughly completed.
, its hull is different from the Fu Ship, Guangzhou Ship and even the Galen Ship popular among Westerners now in Southeast Asian waters.
Its most obvious feature is its slender body. Just by looking at its appearance, you can tell that its speed cannot be that slow.
Naturally, this ship cannot be an ordinary civilian ship. It is a third-class cruiser specially designed for the navy by the Ship Administration Department of the Tang Dynasty Navy, which combines various Eastern and Western ship types. It is also the third ship of the third-class cruiser.
.
The shipyard that undertook the construction of this third-class cruiser was naturally the Guangzhou Shipyard directly affiliated with the Ministry of Industry.
Next door to the Guangzhou Shipyard, there is another smaller shipyard, the Shamian Shipyard. Although its scale is small, there are also many craftsmen busy in the several shipyards inside.
Shamian Shipyard is one of Xu Bingfu's industries.
Xu Bingfu was the first person to proactively supply ships to the Tang Dynasty Navy. He not only owned three shipyards to his name, but also owned a large inland river fleet.
In the past two years, thanks to the Tang Dynasty's support for industry and commerce, the Xijiang waterway was opened. At the same time, due to the rapid development of industry and commerce, shipping on the Xijiang River and even the inland shipping industry of the entire Pearl River system have also developed vigorously.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, the size of the private river fleet plying the Pearl River Basin has doubled from that of the second year of Xuanping, and it is still unable to meet the current demand for cargo transportation. A large number of merchants, regardless of whether they have large
Big businessmen of shipping companies, or small businessmen with only one or two ships, are all working hard to buy as many ships as possible to earn more profits.
In this way, it will directly stimulate the development of the shipbuilding industry!
This Shamian shipyard is also the largest of the three shipyards owned by Xu Bingfu. In the past two years, its scale has more than tripled, but the supply is still in short supply, and because next door is Guangzhou, which is directly under the Ministry of Industry.
Shipyard, when Xu Bingfu saw the super-large tonnage docks and large-scale professional shipbuilding machinery and equipment in the Guangzhou Shipyard, Xu Bingfu couldn't help but have this idea.
At this time, in the Shamian Shipyard, Xu Bingfu, the stewards of the shipyard, and several brothers and uncles were drinking tea and talking!
The person who was speaking was a wealthy man in his fifties with a long goatee. He said in an unhurried manner: "Now the momentum of our shipyard is good, and there are still twenty
Several sand ships are waiting for us to build. It is time to build more shipyards, hire more skilled workers, and seize the time to expand the scale. If we start to build a 500-ton or even 1,000-ton shipyard, the pressure on funds will be too great.
Moreover, this large shipyard will not be built within a year and a half, and even if it is built, who will come to us to order such a large ship?"
"Nowadays, the major shipping companies are looking for large quantities of sand ships with a tonnage of two to three hundred tons. Guangzhou Shipyard has not heard anyone say that they want to order such large ships of five hundred tons or even thousands of tons. Moreover, we have not had such large ships before.
It has never been built before. It is still unclear whether it can be built. The risk is too great!"
"It is true that we can buy some machinery and equipment, but these machinery and equipment are extremely expensive. I heard that the Guangzhou Shipyard next door spent no less than 50,000 taels on the machinery and equipment added this year. With our small body,
Even though I have a little money, how can I compare with the official family? I buy less and it won’t be of much use, but if I buy more, I’m afraid I won’t be able to turn around the money!”
After listening to this uncle's words, Xu Bingfu, who was sitting in the main seat, showed a firm look and said: "This dock must be built, and mechanical equipment must also be imported!"
"Don't worry about the order. I have inquired about it. The Royal Industrial Department is already planning to establish the Royal Maritime Trading Company. They have already let out the news. By then, they will order at least twenty large ships of more than 500 tons, and even some
We will order large ships of 1,000 tons. Now the government-run Guangzhou Shipyard cannot even build warships. As long as we can build the dock in time and prepare the equipment, it will be easy to grab some orders!"
After saying that, he looked at everyone: "The future will be an era of thousand-ton ships. If we don't prepare in advance now, it will be too late to catch up by then. Our Xu family must seize the future!"