Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 035: Primitive Capital Accumulation (X)
In ancient times, if a time traveler wanted to climb the technology tree as a whole, what should they do first? Some people said it was steel, some said three acids and two alkalis, some said it was gunpowder, and some said they would start with the steam engine...
However, in the eyes of a time traveler like Zhu Youdong who highly values standards, climbing the technology tree must first solve the problem of weights and measures. This is especially important in ancient China.
Throughout the dynasties of the Chinese Empire, the standards of weights and measures have changed a lot. The most notable example is the unit of measurement for grain in ancient China: shi.
When used to measure the amount of grain, shi is not a unit of weight but a unit of volume. It refers to the number of meters needed . This unit is very rough and constantly changing. In the Han Dynasty, one shi of grain weighed about 27 to 30 kilograms, while in the Ming Dynasty, one shi weighed more than 60 to more than 70 kilograms. Not only was there a huge difference between different dynasties, but even within the same dynasty, the difference was quite obvious in different places.
You say, if we can’t even solve the problem of weights and measures, using Han ruler today and Song ruler tomorrow...how can we climb this technology tree?
Length, area, volume, capacity, mass, temperature. The first four actually require the same thing: the most basic standard unit of length.
As a time traveler, Zhu Youdong certainly didn't care about inches, feet, and yards. He directly proposed the concept of "meter". Of course, he didn't have a meter prototype at this time, and he couldn't explain the concept of one ten-millionth of the meridian to these basically illiterate craftsmen. At least he remembered that three feet in ancient times was close to one meter in modern times. So he directly and roughly set the standard of three feet as one meter. Then he asked the craftsmen to divide one meter into ten, one hundred, and one thousand parts. This is to require the length standard to be accurate to the millimeter level. In the short term, this level of accuracy should be enough.
There is no need to worry that the craftsmen of this era cannot do this by hand. Snuff bottles were popular in the Qing Dynasty. The craftsmen of that era could make extremely perfect paintings . The micro-carving technology in China was actually quite advanced.
The fifth unit is mass. With the standard volume unit, it can be solved naturally: at room temperature, the weight of one cubic meter of water is set as one ton. Then the craftsmen are required to make copper weights according to the weight of water in the standard volume. Tons, kilograms, grams and even milligrams, all must be made in standard.
The last one is temperature. Under the current circumstances, forget about gas thermometers and resistance thermometers. Zhu Youdong asked the craftsmen to try to make a pointer thermometer first: put the copper sheet and the iron sheet together, with the copper sheet on the left and the iron sheet on the right. Since the two metals have different effects of thermal expansion and contraction, as long as the temperature changes, the pointer will slide. Zhu Youdong told the craftsmen: First make a semicircle, with the temperature of ice as 0 degrees and the temperature of boiling water as 100 degrees. Within this range, divide the thermometer into 100 parts. Then repeatedly test the copper-iron ratio. When it can accurately point to 0 degrees and 100 degrees, the thermometer is considered successful.
Such a thermometer certainly needs further improvement, but there is no other way, it can only be regarded as an emergency measure.
After setting the first phase of work goals for all the craftsmen, Zhu Youdong assigned tasks to different types of craftsmen.
The tasks of the porcelain craftsmen were first clarified : in addition to jointly producing weights and measures, they would build blast furnaces in cooperation with the blacksmith team.
The porcelain craftsmen of this era often had the potential to become material scientists. After all, they were able to calcine and shape a variety of complex materials in one furnace and show different colors and textures. No one was more clear than them about the single properties of various materials and their combined reactions.
After the blast furnace is built, of course, small-scale trials of refined steel and special steel firing are needed. All of these require the involvement of materials science. As a time traveler with a special mission, Zhu Youdong does not pursue personal enjoyment too much. He needs a porcelain craftsman, not to fire porcelain for him, but to lay a foundation in materials science.
The task of the blacksmith team is relatively simple at present: screws! Screws of various sizes and lengths. With screws, various precision-processed equipment will be guaranteed in the future. When the blast furnace is built and the quality of steel is improved, standard screws can be promoted.
The gunpowder group has two tasks. One is to further improve the gunpowder. There were many firearms troops in the Ming Dynasty, and the production level of black gunpowder was not inferior to any country of this era. The reason why it was not effective in actual combat against the Qing Dynasty in terms of history is that the output speed of the matchlock guns of this era was too slow and was greatly affected by the weather. In addition, the craftsmen under the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty had no enthusiasm for production and were blindly making shoddy products. Therefore, there is no problem with black gunpowder itself. What Zhu Youdong needs is to further improve the quality of black gunpowder and develop a small amount of smokeless gunpowder.
As a medical student, he certainly didn't know how to make smokeless gunpowder. But thanks to the fact that he had been in Qidian for many years before crossing over, he knew that the key to smokeless gunpowder was nitrocellulose. And now his pigpen production chain has even produced glycerin, so nitroglycerin can also be added. Whether it is nitrocellulose or nitroglycerin, the most basic thing is nitric acid. And the artificial synthesis of nitric acid seems to be very difficult at present. So we can only think of a way from saltpeter. As for saltpeter, before Shanshan County in the Turpan Basin was incorporated into the effective rule of the Ming Dynasty, the saltpeter mines in the whole of China were not very abundant. The limited output was mostly supplied to the Ministry of Industry. Therefore, Zhu Youdong's work here was more of a preliminary research and small-scale production.
"Masters, making this new type of gunpowder is very dangerous. So I have specially built a workshop for you, with open space around it. But for reasons that everyone knows, my guards are stationed around where you work, please understand this."
"Your Highness is too polite. We know the rules."
"Well, in addition to trying out new gunpowder, I also need you to spend some time on fireworks."
Improving fireworks is a must, otherwise I won't be able to explain to the emperor and the prince. I also can't explain the frequent explosions in this village in the future - this is an important place in the capital, only a few dozen miles away from Beijing.
The colors of fireworks are produced by the combustion of different metals. This was discovered by the ancients long ago, and they have been striving for perfection in making fireworks, trying all kinds of metals. Zhu Youdong asked for improvements on the propellant itself: the black powder should be further purified and the particles should be refined so that the fireworks can be pushed to a very high altitude before exploding. Second, the pattern formed after the fireworks exploded should be controllable. A single firework should not work, but a group of fireworks should be able to spell out words after being launched - he was still counting on this thing to flatter Wanli.
The carpenters also had a lot of work to do: molds! There were all kinds of molds, and they were not limited to wooden molds. Molds made of other materials also had to be prepared. And the design and production of hydraulic machinery.
The weavers also felt some pressure after hearing Zhu Youdong's specific requirements: they needed a fabric that was relatively light and wear-resistant - in fact, what Zhu Youdong wanted was denim.
The leatherworkers' tasks were now a little easier. Zhu Youdong handed them some drawings of modern boots and asked them to produce the actual products according to the drawings. In Zhu Youdong's plan, all future military uniforms would be designed in advance in Honghe Village and produced in small quantities in order to test the actual effect.
