From Chief to Ball

When the mine owners heard that this was a deal, they had already made up their minds. As long as the price was right, it was completely acceptable, and they would not offend Chen Jian because of such a trivial matter.Besides, this is indeed a good thing, a refreshing good thing.

Once this kind of wooden rail is installed in my own mine, some mines that originally need to be carried by miners can be pushed away by carts, and the manpower saved can dig more mines.

Stone quarries, mines, basically these people who are invited to see need this kind of thing.

"Mr. Chen, how are you going to sell these mine carts and wooden rails?"

"You also know that I still have a construction team in my hand, which has brought in all the idle labor in our Nan'an. A few days ago, I was building a school and a house. In fact, these wooden rails can also be repaired by practicing. I am not familiar with your mine. , but you are familiar with it yourself. I came to you today because I hope that you can draw a rough map of your mines and quarries when you go back. If you need these things, draw them with lines and plan them. I will arrange people to build them. "

Chen Jian smiled and said: "You have also seen that this thing needs wood, cement, and rammed earth. Therefore, the price will not be low. Therefore, all those invited here today are big mine owners, but there are no small mine owners. In the short term, the price is not low; in the long run, it can save a lot of money.”

"There is a saying that asks for a lot of money and pays back the money on the spot. I invite you to come here today because of these eight words. We can warm up the wine and talk slowly, and talk while drinking. What do you think? Besides, the environment of each mine and quarry is different. , There are differences between high and low, rugged, soft and hard, and the price will definitely not be the same. Today, you can talk about the maximum price you can accept for one step, and I can see if I can take this business."

The mine owners all laughed and said, "That's right, asking for a lot of money and paying back the money on the spot. Let's discuss this today. If the negotiation is successful, Master Huang's carpentry workshop will make a lot of money again."

Huang De also said with a smile: "I have to thank Brother Chen. My Nan'an Woodware Factory can go to today. How could I dare to think a year ago? Now I don't know how many people are envious. The wooden frame of the glass factory alone is It makes many carpenter shops envious. At the beginning, I was timid and did not dare to expand the workshop. If it were not for the money invested by Brother Chen, how would I be able to afford so many jobs?"

"If the negotiation is successful, Master Huang may have to worry about it."

Hearing this, Huang De shook his head and said: "I don't care about these apprentices now, I just pay them for their efforts. When it comes to worrying, I still really worry about it now. Brother Chen entrusted me to make a wooden ware. Since he commissioned it, How dare I let apprentices do it, so I have to do it myself."

Everyone asked curiously: "What good thing? Could it be that Mr. Chen made some weird utensils again? This will open our eyes."

Huang De shook his head and said: "Weird is weird, new utensils are not necessarily. Brother Chen entrusted me to carve a piece of wood, he said it was a toy. You don't know how complicated this thing is, you need a piece of wood twelve steps long , requiring no bending at all. After the wood is dried, a groove must be carved. He gave me a small ball and asked that the ball must be able to roll down. "

"It's fine if it's just a groove. After the groove, you need to apply a layer of leather paper and wax to make it smooth... Tsk tsk, look at my current scenery, but I'm just as busy as when I was a carpenter. At the beginning, Brother Chen was right, saying that it would be good for me to lie down and count the money. But I see, before I get too old and can’t move, I’m afraid I won’t be able to fulfill my wish of lying down and counting the money..."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

A group of people laughed, and someone had already arranged a dinner in a newly built masonry house in the factory area.

Between toasting and mingling, the words were sometimes fierce and sometimes tactful, and the agreement was reached in the middle of the night, and finally a price that Chen Jian and the mine owner could accept was given.

By the way, all mining areas and quarries are unconditionally open to the people of the Mexican party. Chen Jian will find someone to go in to measure and map, and arrange the route.

During the period, Chen Jian repeatedly reiterated that he would not engage in coal, iron, mining and quarrying business, and everyone can interact with each other with confidence, and there is no interest relationship between them.By the way, according to the gentlemen's agreement made orally by the two parties, all raw materials such as coal, ore, and lime for Mincheng Glass Industry and Chen Jian's workshop are also purchased from Nan'an.

Most of the people at the banquet were drunk, and the only one who was not drunk was Huang De.

As a carpenter, he has to keep his hands steady.Although he was joking with Chen Jian, he was very grateful in his heart, so he was very concerned about what Chen Jian asked.

Chen Jian told him that he was going to the capital in the spring, and that he must get the grooved wood out before going to the capital.

Naturally, Huang De did it himself, selected a piece of high-quality wood from thousands of people, and polished it bit by bit.

With many years of craftsmanship and experience, the sharp eyes can feel the slight bends and bumps, and the final waxing and polishing is done without the hands of fake apprentices, and it is completely done by myself.

Looking at this ten-meter-long piece of wood and the smooth grooves on it without any burrs, Huang De was extremely puzzled.

He really couldn't figure out what this grooved wood was for... Could it really be a toy with a small ball rolling down, as Chen Jian said?

Chapter 75 Mincheng Autumn and Winter, Miscellaneous Notes of the Capital ([-])

It's not just Huang De who is quite puzzled, many craftsmen in Mincheng are quite puzzled now.

Li Kuixuan had ground a bunch of weird lenses, until now Li Kuixuan didn't know what these lenses were for, especially those triangular glass pillars.

A master craftsman was entrusted by Chen Jian with a lot of money to make a clepsydra timing device, which was required to be accurate to the difference in the blink of an eye.It is necessary to ensure the stability of the upper water surface and ensure that there is enough water leaking down, so that it can be used to accurately measure some subtle time.

The largest sail workshop in Mincheng also received a commission to make a cloth ball with a diameter of about forty steps from the most delicate cloth.Forty steps, the area after unfolding is scary, and it has to be hand-sewn and then coated with a layer of airtight soft tree varnish.This is a very difficult job, but fortunately enough money is given, otherwise no one would really want to do it.

The best silversmith and coppersmith in Mincheng received a sum of money and a blueprint.It is required to make a copper frame that can be separated and combined as shown in the drawing.It looks like a protractor, but it is more complicated and finer than a protractor, requiring extremely fine scales.

The coopers in Mincheng were asked to make a huge wooden barrel, which was not a big problem.Matching is that the iron smelting workshop was asked to make a very long iron pipe, a large iron pipe that is ten steps long.

If this iron pipe looks strange, then another thing received by the iron smelting workshop is even more strange: a double-pass iron trough, but with a very small opening on one side and a large opening on the other, and the lower part is through.

In addition, there are huge magnets, extremely long copper wires painted with purple tree lacquer and circled around the city, two strips of charcoal and bocic or graphite are very close to each other and glued together with Eucommia glue in parallel...

If that counts odd, an object to be made in one's own glass workshop is even more amazing.Several of the best glass craftsmen were asked to make a large glass tube that was one step and a half long.After it was made, no one knew what the thing was for, and it was expensive.What's even more puzzling is that this one glass tube, which couldn't be sold at all, was asked to make five tubes, on the grounds that it was worried that it would break due to bumps on the ship.

It's weird to be too big, but it's also weird to be too small.In addition to the big thick, long and thick glass tube, the craftsmen here also have to make a bunch of small glass tubes.

It is no problem that the small glass tube should be as thin as possible.The problem is that this kind of glass tube requires the inside to be hollow, and the hollow must be exactly the same as possible.Fortunately, the soft glass can be stretched by burning gas, and I can try it little by little with many years of craftsmanship.

It is easy to get a few out, and after cooling, blow the bottom to soften a small bubble, pour in mercury while it is hot, and then seal the top.When the temperature drops, the mercury cools and slowly falls to the bottom.

However, these craftsmen thought they were quite perfect, but Chen Jian threw them into boiling water and boiled them for a while, looked at the mercury in the sun, then put them in ice water made of saltpeter, and then put them in his armpits for study. Throw it away after researching it, and tell these craftsmen that it's not enough.It has to be thin, even, and smooth...

A group of disabled people were hired in the workshop, their wages were not low, and there was only one thing to do every day: Squat by the river with clay pots, filled with some strange liquids, and throw them away immediately if they found smoke or heat up. into the cold water.Three of them died within a month, and the death conditions were unbearable. There really was no whole body.However, the pension is extremely high. Some people who have lost their ability to live but still have families, and those who have advanced stage ulcers are not only not afraid, but flock to them, queuing up to die.Of course it is best not to die, and the salary is not low...

All kinds of weird things happened in Qiudong, and there were many craftsmen involved, not just these few people.

As long as the craftsmen do it, they don't know what these things are used for.

Moreover, the rewards for these weird things are also very rich. Except for some extremely delicate ones that are troublesome to make, most of them can be made by hand, which is nothing more than a waste of time.

All these weird things can't be exchanged for money, on the contrary, a lot of money will be wasted.

But Chen Jian, who spent money to let craftsmen make all these things, was not stingy. Not only was he willing to spend money on these things, but he also used his own money to drive the development of Nan'an County as much as possible.

In fact, this year was so frustrating, and by the end of the year, I basically didn't make much money.But he got everything except money.

My reputation in Nan'an County is getting bigger and bigger, and more and more official figures are walking with me, and I really have the meaning of supporting and colluding with each other.

At the end of the year, it is the year-end evaluation of officials.

This year is a small test, and next year will be a three-year big test.The officials in charge of evaluation in the county came to Nan'an at the end of the year. After admiring, all the officials in Nan'an got a high evaluation, which was the highest evaluation among all the counties in Fujian County.

There were many more buildings in the county seat, and the local people in Nan'an who led the official assessment also showed them the corners that were illuminated by the sun in a planned way.

A Kaimeng school with cement, masonry, glass windows, and black wooden boards as the standard covers a huge area and can accommodate hundreds of students.

The shape of the house is simple, but the windows are bright and clean.New and old desks are neatly piled up in the classroom, and the children who are being educated are learning words and counting. Looking at the situation through the glass window, the evaluation officials couldn't help admiring.

When the get out of class was over, the bell rang, and the children flocked out, in good and bad clothes, but they were close and smiling; when the class was in session, there were crowds of people, and Mr. Kaimeng was full of energy on the podium.

The sunlight shines directly through the glass windows, and there are still vegetation in the courtyard, which looks a bit desolate, but the evaluation officials feel that the flaws are not concealed.

The evaluation officials had seen the market, so of course they knew that glass was expensive, but the windows in this school were all made of glass instead of window paper, so they couldn't help being a little surprised.

"You guys in Nan'an are rich. Even Mincheng doesn't have such a school."

The school official of Nan'an County who accompanied him hurriedly said: "Last year, a school fell into disrepair and collapsed due to heavy rain. At that time, the county didn't have much money left, so I thought about repairing it. I don't want local merchants to donate enthusiastically. No matter how poor it is Education can’t be poor, such a school was built in a few months. The county spent part of it, and there are many local merchants who are members of the Mo Party, so glass, wooden tables, etc. are directly purchased from the workshop at a reserve price. Purchased. Coupled with the cement in the workshop, mixing the mud, it is extremely fast, and this Kaimeng School can start classes in just a few months."

The evaluation official said strangely: "Even so, it will cost a lot to build this school."

"Yes. Because of the use of glass for lighting in this school and the large size of the building, each classroom can accommodate 70 to 700 people, and the children are small, as long as they can sit down. This school can accommodate more than [-] children in total. On the contrary, it is less than before.”