During the entire third year of Zhangwu of the Han Dynasty, Chen Mu spent time in Huaibei, Henan, and Jiangdong.
In the first half of the year, we fought in these places, and in the second half of the year, we worked in these places to manage people's livelihood, study agriculture, inspect the terrain, and study the canal.
The situation in Henan is not bad, because Cao Cao's governance is not bad, but Jiangdong and Huaibei are relatively chaotic. There are many powerful families in various places, bandits are rogue, and the people's life is quite bad.
Therefore, suppressing bandits, calming the people, fighting against the powerful, restoring agriculture, and clearing out the rebels who disturb the people are what state and county officials sent to the local areas must do.
Chen Mu just went to one place and did this casually, not full-time. At the same time, he ordered Huang Zhong and Tai Shici to establish the Southeast Military Region in Yangzhou. While suppressing all local dissatisfaction, Chen Mu actively prepared to go north to attack Jiangxia.
As a result, in December, when he heard that the fleet that had gone overseas had returned, Liu Bei sent someone to give him a large bag of "Mayan Magic Medicine" tobacco and a tobacco rod, and he suddenly felt dumbfounded.
In Wuxi County, Jiangdong, in the county government mansion, Chen Mu had his hands in his sleeves and was staring at a cigarette rod placed on the table in a daze. His expression didn't know whether he should cry or laugh. The muscles on his face twitched slightly.
The emotions in his eyes are very complex.
The military intelligence chief Jie Cong who came to deliver things was still there and said: "Si Ming, Ambassador Pei said this is a miracle medicine used by American people to treat diseases. Your Majesty felt good after using it, so he sent me to give it to Si Ming."
Give me one as a gift too.”
Chen Mu remained silent, still looking at the cigarette rod in a daze.
Jie Cong waited for a while and saw that he didn't respond, so he asked strangely: "Si Ming? Si Ming?"
"Um."
Chen Mu responded and said, "I understand."
Jie Cong was surprised and said: "Si Ming, I haven't told Si Ming yet how to use this thing."
Chen Mu smiled and said: "I said I got it. You go ahead and reply to His Majesty for me. It's a medicine that is three parts poisonous. It's okay to smoke this thing occasionally. It's better to smoke it less often."
"Uh...yes."
Jie Cong had no choice but to obey the order, stood up and slowly exited with his hands in hand.
The expression on Chen Mu's face became more complicated. He slowly stretched out his hand, wanting to touch the cigarette rod, but after hesitating for a moment, reason defeated his desire and stopped.
Traveling back to the Han Dynasty 23 years ago, the addiction to smoking in the previous life has long since disappeared. If you catch it again now, if you get lung disease, there will be no antibiotics to save it.
Speaking of which, I remember that tobacco was grown in the village when I was a child, and my uncle Liu’s house had a yellow mud tobacco furnace. When I grew up, I occasionally went back to my hometown, but now they no longer grow tobacco, and the tobacco furnace was dismantled. I don’t know what happened.
Chen Mu thought.
He still remembered one thing, that is, the village used to burn a large amount of tobacco and every household used it to disinfect.
Later I heard that this kind of thing can effectively kill plague, such as plague and cholera, and the killing rate is very high.
If this is the case, tobacco is indeed a sharp weapon for today's big men.
Because there have been wars all over the country over the years, even if Chen Mu took conscious measures, the plague still existed on a large scale.
Not only plagues caused by wars, but also population deaths caused by hunger, natural disasters, banditry, and migration. These population deaths will naturally cause plagues, which will be carried everywhere.
It is difficult to completely eliminate the virus by relying on ordinary isolation and epidemic prevention measures alone. Only large-scale disinfection can do it.
But the big guy doesn’t have disinfectant.
Therefore, the plague cannot be completely and effectively controlled.
But now that tobacco is available, perhaps tobacco can replace disinfection.
Chen Mu was thinking this, and considered not returning to Luoyang until the inspection of Huainan and Huaibei Jiangdong was over. He would instead go to Qingzhou and conduct an experiment at Taishan Academy to see if tobacco can really be disinfected.
There is also penicillin, I don’t know what the progress is now.
He remembered hearing his chemistry teacher mention that there was an indigenous method for extracting penicillin, but he didn't know the specific method because the teacher had never taught it.
So even though it is known that penicillin is extracted from moldy food, there has still been no progress over the years.
The method of isolating penicillin is complicated and cumbersome. Every time the isolation fails, new penicillium must be cultured again. Over the past ten years, the medical school has used thousands of isolation methods, but they have failed one by one.
There is no way. As glass technology matures, the emergence of microscopes will make it easier to study microorganisms, but it does not mean that it will make the purification of penicillin more convenient.
After all, penicillin was discovered after World War I and before World War II.
The level of chemistry at that time was already very advanced, and various methods of purification and separation were also relatively common.
Even so, the interval between the discovery of lysozyme by Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, in 1923, and the official purification of penicillin by two other scientists, Frawley and Chain, in 1941 and the start of mass production, was 18 years.
time.
Although the intermediate purification process only took a year or two, Fleming discovered penicillin, but could not find a purification method. Frawley and Chain saw the article about Fleming's discovery of penicillin in 1938, and then used
It took 2 years to find a way to purify it.
However, with the current limited chemical level and purification capabilities of Qingzhou Medical College, it is really impossible to achieve that step.
after all.
Not to mention the orthodox penicillin purification method.
There are more than twenty steps in the crude purification of penicillin. If any one of them is wrong, the entire experiment will be lost.
Therefore, even though Chen Mu informed the medical school of the existence of penicillin, medical scientists including Hua Tuo, Zhang Ji, etc. were also extremely interested in penicillin and started researching it one after another, saving them more than 10 years of time. However, the purification technology has continued to improve.
If you don’t go, naturally you won’t be able to complete the purification.
With the advent of tobacco, long-term heavy smoking is very bad for the lungs. A slight cold infection combined with the bad habit of smoking may lead to pneumonia. If there are no antibiotics, it will be a big problem for smokers' health.
Therefore, Chen Mu had to go to Qingzhou. Firstly, he wanted to conduct agricultural observation and guidance on the newly arrived American crops. Secondly, he wanted to urge the purification of penicillin. He also wanted to take a look at the recent scientific research results of the Academy.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In the spring of the fourth year of Zhangwu, that is, February 204 AD, the inspection that lasted more than four months finally ended, and Chen Mu planned the planting of double-cropping rice.
After planning the scope and canal route, we left Jiangdong and Huaibei and set off for Qingzhou.
It is spring in February, when everything revives and is full of vitality.
Chen Mu entered Qingzhou from Xuzhou.
Arrive in Linzi more than ten days later.
Zhong Yao led some senior officials from the government affairs desk to greet him.
After inspecting the results of the Agricultural College's trial planting last year and harvesting this year, Chen Mu gave important instructions. He said that agriculture is the cornerstone of a country, and productivity is the standard to measure the health of a country, while the quality of crops
Production is related to the livelihood of every citizen.
Therefore, even if this trial planting is a great success, we cannot stop here. Instead, we must continue to select and cultivate the best, adhere to the principles of scientific development, and actively search for genetic laws. No matter what crop it is, we must maintain a scientific development attitude and study
Hard work, selected high-quality hybrids.
When the Agricultural College conducts hybrid trial breeding, it must also adhere to three insistences and three objections.
We should adhere to pragmatism and oppose fraud. We should insist on hard work and oppose laziness and slippery. We should adhere to experimental science and oppose being conservative. We should forge ahead and face difficulties. We should strive to cultivate better crops and contribute to Dahan biology and Dahan agriculture.
This important instruction was quickly sent to the printing factory, printed into a newspaper and widely circulated.
Nowadays, there are newspapers and magazines in Qingzhou, all of which are officially founded. Private broadcast publications do not yet have distribution licenses.
The main reason is that the literacy rate of the Han people has not yet improved, and Chen Mu is very clear about the importance of controlling mouthpieces, so he personally controls public opinion.
The nine-year compulsory education is now being promoted as scheduled. Qingzhou's development has surpassed other states by a large margin in today's Han Dynasty. The Qingzhou model can be copied and will be promoted nationwide in the next few decades.
After inspecting the Agricultural College, Chen Mu went back to his home to rest for a few days, visit his parents and parents-in-law, and spend a few days with his wife and children.
In fact, he owes a lot to his family, Chen Mu. His eldest son, Chen Xiyu, is already ten years old, but he only spends a handful of time with him and has not given him a good education, fearing that he will become a playboy.
Fortunately, Luo Fu was virtuous, and the masters in the academy were rigorous in their studies. Even the children of high-ranking officials were not merciful. They punished them when they needed punishment and suppressed all disobedience.
Chen Mu's younger brother Chen Zhi almost became a dandy, but he was severely educated by his master at the college and changed his mind. Now he has become a county magistrate.
There is no way, even high-ranking officials were taught by these masters.
For example, Master Zheng Xuan, who is 76 years old and has retired at home, retired from the third-grade Taishan Academy to offer wine. Before retirement, he was a deputy ministerial-level cadre. After retirement, he was given the honorary title of first-grade prince and tutor and enjoyed deputy state-level treatment.
.
Even if such a big shot like Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Chen Mu saw him, they would still respectfully hold discipleship ceremony. No one would dare to care about those disciples such as the ministers and nobles, not to mention being scolded or beaten to death by him.
It is worth mentioning that before the Prime Minister came out, Sangong, who was from the first rank, was already the highest rank among the officials with real power.
In the past, the highest official ranks were Taifu, Taishi, and Taibao, but these were honorary titles and empty positions.
Now that Liu Bei has restored the prime minister system, Zhengyipin has the only official with real power. In a sense, Chen Mu is now the executive deputy emperor, and his power is not much worse than that of Liu Bei.
It’s just that he is well aware of the dangers of monopolizing power, so no matter what the order is, he will follow the procedures. For example, when officials are promoted or demoted, they will not do it according to his wishes.
If he saw that an official was talented or mediocre, he would only give a memorial to the cabinet. After the emperor read it and gave instructions, he would demote or promote him through the Court of Civil Service, which was just a formality.
But that was when I was in Luoyang. If I was alone outside, I would rarely act like this. If I saw an official doing nothing, I would dismiss him on the spot.
It's not that he broke the rules, but Liu Bei gave him the power to "act as if I were here in person" when he was walking outside.
When people are in other places, it is too troublesome to follow the procedures. Flexible use of power is the way to be an official.
After spending a few days with his family, Chen Mu entered work mode again.
Accompanied by many officials, the general will conduct surveillance after entering.
Jiangzuojian is the place where weapons are made in Qingzhou, which is equivalent to an arsenal. Chen Mu established the Dahan Weapons Manufacturing Bureau, which has design institutes, factories, specialized business groups, etc. under it.
In order to regulate commerce and trade, Chen Mu also established the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, which required a license to operate any business. Weapons manufacturing companies were state-owned enterprises.
In fact, state-owned enterprises are not a modern product. They existed in the Spring and Autumn Period. They were invented by Guan Zhong, the originator of Chinese economics. At that time, they were called "salt and iron monopoly" and "all the treasures of mountains and seas belong to the Shaofu".
That is to say, salt, refined iron, forests, and minerals are all nationalized and controlled and managed by the state.
Although there are many private limited liability companies in later generations, state-owned enterprises are the lifeblood of a country. For example, salt, grain and rice are the cornerstone of the country. If they do not exclusively control prices, the result will be that salt merchants and grain merchants hoard goods, drive up market prices, and people will not be able to make a living.
.
Therefore, in order to put an end to the phenomenon in the late Ming Dynasty that the country's grain and salt were controlled by merchants from the south of the Yangtze River. The salt merchants and grain merchants were all extremely wealthy, but the country had no money at all. Chen Mu naturally set up a state-owned enterprise to avoid this.
Even though state-owned enterprises have many shortcomings, such as lining their own pockets, false accounts, corruption, and manipulation, which are all common phenomena in state-owned enterprises, there is nothing that can be done about it when it comes to people's livelihood and the country.
We can only operate like this for now, strengthen supervision and inspection, and try to reduce corruption as much as possible with iron-fisted measures and high salary incentives.
Chen Mu came to supervise the general, and now they are researching new firearms.
It has been more than ten years since gunpowder was invented, and firearms have already appeared. However, firstly, the production of steel is not good, and secondly, the craftsmanship of firearms is very poor. Firearms in the late Ming Dynasty are acceptable, but they were developed after hundreds of years from the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty.
Years of precipitation.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Although it started quickly now, with Chen Mu’s guidance, the quality of the firearms is still not up to standard. Just like the late Ming Dynasty, there are problems such as explosive chambers, dumb bombs, range, power, etc.
, causing firearms to be inferior to cold weapons.
In the general supervision factory, the blast furnace is blazing with flames. After the coking coal is burned, molten iron is produced, which is then poured into the mold to be plasticized, and then hammered by craftsmen to refine weapons and weapons.
As for firearms, they are currently only in a small workshop in the Jiangsu Supervisory Factory. There are dozens of craftsmen and designers who specialize in firearms research and exploration all day long.
After inspecting the cold weapons manufacturing factory, Chen Mu said to the accompanying officials such as Zhong Yao, Ma Jun, and Wei Ao on the way to the firearms workshop: "Weapons manufacturing is an important part of a country's military strength. Only by possessing advanced weapons can we
Enhance a country’s strength.”
"Having a sword in your hand and not using it, and not having a sword in your hand are two different concepts."
"So promoting the development of advanced weapons is an important part of weapons manufacturing."
"I predict that thermal weapons made from gunpowder will be a trend in the future, but the current technology is not yet mature, steel production capacity is insufficient, and technology cannot advance, making it difficult to make breakthroughs in musket research."
"But it is difficult to break through, which does not mean that it is impossible to break through. If there are difficulties, we must overcome them. If we lack research funds, we will invest money. If we lack technology, we will delve into technology. In this regard, the School of Physics and the School of Chemistry must cooperate sincerely, and one party must develop
The other side is developing better firearms and barrels, while the other side is researching better gunpowder formulas and striving to achieve perfection."
After receiving the instructions, everyone nodded frequently to express their understanding.
Entering the firearms workshop, it is a small factory with two courtyards next to it, where designers and craftsmen live.
Although firearms manufacturing is not very popular in the entire weapons manufacturing factory, it is taken seriously by the higher-ups, so even if it is squeezed out and opened independently, it still has a large space.
There is a shooting range on the west side of the factory building. The yard is filled with large and small guns, all with different design styles. They are basically flintlock guns.
And there are not only firearms, but also cannons.
When Chen Mu saw the cannon in the courtyard entering the factory, his eyes suddenly lit up and he quickly walked up to take a look.
The cannon was made of steel and had wheels on both sides. It was huge and very similar to the red cannon of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
"Who made this?"
Chen Mu asked.
The director of the weapons manufacturing factory, who was previously a top swordsmith and technical official, came up and replied: "It was made by Du Kuan."
"Where is Du Kuan?"
Chen Mu asked again.
When the leader inspected, officials of all sizes gathered around to show their faces in front of the prime minister.
As a result, ordinary craftsmen and designers can only watch from afar.
When Chen Mu asked the question, the designers in the distance glared at each other, and some of them ran away with a "whoosh".
The factory director asked: "Who knows where Du Kuan is?"
One designer laughed and said: "Du Kuan is sleeping."
The factory director and the officials in the surrounding factories all turned green.
There are also people who enjoy themselves secretly.
Yesterday, a notice was sent out saying that the Prime Minister was coming to inspect, and Du Kuan just slept today.
That kid was sent to Guanzhong as the prefect of Guanzhong by relying on his father Du Jiwai. He often acted freely in the factory and even oversubscribed steel materials for various experiments. Some people have long been disgusted with it.
Now I'm going to be in bad luck.
After a while, a young man in his twenties came out yawning.
Du Kuan is the second son of Du Ji. He is 20 years old and has just graduated from Taishan Academy of Physics two years ago. Because he is interested in manufacturing weapons, he was assigned to a weapons manufacturing factory.
I worked on research until midnight yesterday and took a nap today. Anyway, he likes to be free and undisciplined, and his father is a mid-level and senior official, so he rarely interacts with others.
Suddenly he heard that the Prime Minister was going to summon him. Although Du Kuan was surprised, he was still calm and trotted over and joined the crowd to pay his respects.
"Are you Du Kuan?"
Chen Mu asked.
Du Kuan, who was neither humble nor arrogant, raised his hands and replied: "It is a humble position."
A craftsman is a craftsman and a designer is a designer. He is a civil servant within the establishment and calls himself a humble position.
Chen Mu smiled and pointed at the cannon and said, "Did you do this?"
"It's a humble job."
Du Kuan couldn't help complaining: "In order to build this thing, I went to the factory director many times to ask for steel, but he didn't approve it. It should have been completed in three months, but it took almost a year."
The factory director said angrily: "You kid, how dare you not know what's good and bad? Do you know how much steel you need? More than three thousand kilograms! How much steel can we produce in Qingzhou in a year? How many swords and armors can we make with more than three thousand kilograms? What are you talking about?
It takes so much, but if we make something useless, I don’t know how much it will be wasted!”
Ma Jun on the side turned slightly red.
The steam car he built used only a lot more steel than Du Kuan used to build the cannon, but the result was still a waste.
Du Kuan was dissatisfied and said: "How could I build a useless thing? This thing of mine is so powerful. If it goes on the battlefield, the city will be destroyed by me in an instant!"
"You're still on the battlefield. Did you forget that the last time the explosion nearly killed you?"
There are colleagues nearby who are making trouble.
Du Kuan argued: "The Prime Minister has said that scientific research is allowed to go astray. Since firearms can shoot bullets, by the same token, as long as the barrel is enlarged, larger bullets can be fired. The principle is understood by everyone.
I understand, how can you say it is a useless thing?"
"OK OK."
Chen Mu said with a smile: "Director Zhang is right, and so is Du Kuan. What is wrong is that our country is now poor and weak and cannot vigorously develop steel. Now that it is better, rubber has come. In the future, steam engines will be used to mine and smelt steel, and the output will increase."
It will be improved. Let’s not talk about this for now, Du Kuan, what’s the use of this thing you made?”
Du Kuan said proudly: "Prime Minister, this is a large gun that I have worked hard to design for many years. The principle is the same as a firearm, and it is different from the barrel. They have many difficulties in making the barrel, such as how to engrave threads, explode the chamber, dud bombs and other issues. I
This one is so big, there’s no such consideration at all!”
Chen Mu went to the United States to study and also worked on Wall Street. He stayed there for nearly ten years. As a free America, where gunfights occur every day, how could he not understand guns? Own guns?
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! So he understands the principles of firearms, including the threads engraved in the barrel, and the secrets of firing modern firearms. He is relatively familiar with it.
It's just that due to the industrial level, he can't make modern guns.
But now that we understand the structure of modern guns and make inferences, we can naturally understand the structure of muskets in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Therefore, he is still very knowledgeable about firearms.
After hearing what Du Kuan said about the musket problem, Chen Mu thought about it: "The problem with the explosive chamber is that the steel is not up to standard. Dean Wei, I remember that a long time ago, the School of Chemistry had developed steel with perfect proportions."
Wei Ao replied: "Prime Minister, steel is actually made of iron after removing all impurities and adding a suitable proportion of carbon. After many tests, we believe that a ratio of 0.02%-2% is the most suitable. Such steel
With our current level, it can be manufactured."
It was not possible before, but it is possible now. Because the temperature in the past was not up to standard, now we use blast furnaces, coke, and steam-powered blowers to raise the temperature to more than two thousand degrees, so that pig iron can be refined into molten iron and all impurities are burned away.
In this way, by adding appropriate carbon powder, steel materials that meet current standards can be produced.
If you use this kind of steel to make a musket, it will be difficult for the barrel to explode.
However, Du Kuan said: "Prime Minister, I want to report that the steel the factory gave us for the gun shop is all original wrought iron and does not meet the standards at all."
The director's face turned even greener and he said: "Good boy, do you know how many soldiers on the front line fought bloody battles? What if their knives were made of wrought iron and could not kill the enemy? If their armor was made of wrought iron, they would be hacked to death by the enemy.
What should I do? Should I care about you first or the frontline soldiers?"
"I agree with Director Zhang on this point."
Chen Mu muttered: "But I think firearms are a future trend, and always using wrought iron for experiments is not an option. The productivity is still insufficient, so be patient and wait. When there are enough steel pipes in the future, you can use them as you like, Du Kuan."
Du Kuan was all excited and replied: "I have a humble position."
"Can you fire this large musket?"
"Don't worry, I have already tested it. One shot can bring down a house."
"Then try it."
Chen Mu laughed.
The principle of artillery is actually the same as that of muskets. They both use the thrust generated by burning gunpowder in a closed space to shoot bullets or shells out.
Du Kuan used to study small muskets, but then he thought what would it be like to enlarge the small muskets dozens of times?
So this cannon was designed.
He thought it was just an enlarged version of a musket, but he didn't know that it was no longer a gun.