Sister-in-law Liu thought about it until noon before going to see Jiao Shun. Unexpectedly, when she got to the west wing and listened, she found out that Lord Jiao had gone to the Yamen on duty after lunch.

Not to mention how she regretted it.

But when Jiao Shun arrived at the small courtyard of the handyman's office, he saw a few yellow-haired and green-eyed men gesturing with Liu Changyou's master and apprentice beside the kerosene pool.

Ever since they saw the method of refining kerosene that day, the Wuxi Mission has sent people to the handyman's office every now and then. First, they want to systematically learn the process of refining kerosene. Second, they hope to use the craftsmen of Xia State to discuss and solve some problems related to this.

.

Seeing Jiao Shun come in from outside, Liu Changyou, who was already disturbed by those foreign devils, hurriedly left his apprentice behind and came forward to greet him.

Jiao Shun raised his chin slightly toward the east chamber: "Go and invite Mr. Zhao, let's discuss what happened yesterday."

Liu Changyou immediately took the order and went to the west chamber.

When Jiao Shun sat down in the lobby, Zhao Yan and Liu Chang came hand in hand and lined up on both sides of the case.

Jiao Shun calmly opened the folding fan, shook it lightly and asked, "Where did we discuss yesterday?"

Zhao Yan hurriedly said: "Yesterday we talked about the Ordnance Department's request to purchase additional bristles, but I think this matter does not need to be urgent. We should still discuss the cost and pricing of kerosene lamps first."

Seeing that Jiao Shun had no intention of objecting, Liu Changyou continued: "I have consulted the Metallurgical Institute and the Liuli Bureau of the Imperial City Department. Since your Majesty plans to add more than ten large factories within three years, and iron materials have become increasingly tight recently, I am afraid there will be no

There is a possibility of price reduction - but if we can wait until the new steel plant is put into operation in three years, the price of this iron material is expected to drop a lot."

Jiao Shun shook his head when he heard this: "This is a move to benefit the people, and it is also a move for the court to inspire people's hearts. There is no possibility of postponement. Besides, Xiyi is still waiting to sell lamp oil, and we here have received subsidies.

But there has been no progress, wouldn't it damage the reputation of the imperial court?"

After a pause, he added: "Although I have repeatedly requested to reduce costs, we cannot just settle economic accounts and ignore political accounts."

"This is what my lord taught me."

Liu Changyou hurriedly bent his spine a few more degrees and said sarcastically: "Actually, iron is not enough, and there are some alternatives. For example, the brackets and handles can be replaced with wood or even bamboo - but transparent glass is inevitable.

It can be avoided that even if you choose thin, brittle and defective ones, the cost will account for more than half of the total.”

Thanks to Xia Taizu, colorless transparent glass has been produced on a large scale. However, Xia Taizu died young after all, and the technology tree was only half-clicked. As a result, the production cost remained high, and it was far from being able to benefit the general public.

degree.

The most inescapable thing about this kerosene lamp is the colorless and transparent glass cover.

Jiao Shun has been thinking about how to solve this problem recently, but now he has some ideas.

He closed the folding fan, picked up the kerosene lamp sample on the table, tapped the fat glass cover with his finger, and said, "In that case, you might as well reduce the glass cover by half."

"this……"

Liu Changyou hesitated and said with a bitter face: "The low-level positions have been reduced as much as possible. If it is thinner, it will affect the intensity of the fire and it will be easy to burn out the color on the glass cover. If it is shorter, it will not be able to contain the flames, and it will be easily affected by the wind."

It's swaying, and secondly, it's easy to get wet..."

"I'm not talking about reducing height, height and thickness."

Jiao Shun stopped what he was saying, made a vertical cut on the lampshade with his fingers, and explained: "Cut it in the middle, use a glass cover for half, and change the other half to a refractory material, such as stoneware or slate, just

Just let it provide light in one direction - it's best to make this part flat so that it can be placed against the wall. This can also improve a certain degree of safety to prevent it from being knocked over."

In fact, this was also because Jiao Shun initially limited the shape of the kerosene lamp, so the people below did not dare to think about it.

"this……"

Liu Changyou pondered for a moment after hearing the words, and then hesitantly said: "In this way, it can indeed reduce the cost a lot, but in terms of the range of illumination alone, I am afraid it is not as economical as the oil lamp."

Now that they have been together for a long time, he has become familiar with Jiao Shun's temperament. Although he is a man of means and scheming, his mind is much broader than that of previous Shangguan. Jiao Shun does not know how to argue politely and politely in person.

Don't mind, but if you are hesitant and secretive, you will be scolded by Jiao Shun afterwards.

Therefore, he did not shy away from the disadvantages.

However, Jiao Shun also considered this point, and then said: "Then try to get some cheap reflective paint, apply it on the inner wall of the stoneware, and focus the light in one place. In this way, although the lighting range is not as good, the brightness is better than ordinary candles. In daily life,

It consumes less than an oil lamp and should be enough to meet the daily lighting needs of people's homes."

The range that the old-style oil lamp can illuminate is also very limited. Compared with the directional lighting kerosene lamp, it only has a wider lighting angle.

But for ordinary people, when the consumption gap is not large, it is actually very cost-effective to exchange the lighting angle for more brightness improvement.

After listening to Jiao Shun's brief explanation, Liu Changyou thought carefully about it in his mind, and immediately bowed with joy: "Your Majesty, I would like to bring someone to try out a few samples!"

"Not urgent."

Seeing that he was about to leave in a hurry, Jiao Shun hurriedly stopped him: "Let's wait until the discussion is over - now that the kerosene lamp matter has been finalized, let's discuss the purchase of additional bristles."

This is still the subsequent impact caused by Xiyi's disturbance in the sea.

While the imperial court was sending troops to the southwest to show its power outside the territory, it also sent commissioners to the southeast for investigation, reviewing the events of several battles with the Western Yi, and summing up many experiences and lessons.

One of them is that artillery and other equipment are poorly maintained.

When the Wusi fleet first invaded the Yangtze River Estuary, not many of the cannons deployed in Ding and Zhen were destroyed by the war, but many were scrapped directly afterwards. The reason was due to a long-term lack of maintenance.

This also led to the fact that when the Wuxi people invaded for the second time, the imperial court had clearly deployed more troops, but the firepower of the counterattack was actually reduced.

A master who never forgets his past affairs, the imperial court decided to purchase more bristle [to make brushes] and tung oil for this purpose.

Tung oil has always been supplied and transported by the smelting house, and the purchase of bristles to make brushes was the job of the handyman's office.

This is not difficult to say. Many bristles are wasted in the private sector. As long as the publicity is expanded and the purchase price is increased, the additional purchase target can be easily achieved.

But the difficulty lies in the fact that the authorities have not allocated additional funds for this part.

This requires the horses to run without providing them with grass, so things naturally become difficult to handle.

But they said that the three of them were racking their brains in the lobby, and suddenly a book office came outside and spread the word that it was Minister Su who invited them.

Jiao Shun had no choice but to leave Zhao and Liu behind and follow the clerk to where Su Shilang's office was.

As they passed the courtyard, they saw Xu Dabao, Zhao Jijin and the Wuxi people with high nose bridges, discussing around a wooden barrel and an oil basket.

It seems that what we are discussing today is the container issue.

When they arrived at Shilang Su's duty room, they saw this old man with a gray beard making dots on an official document.

When Jiao Shun came forward to greet him, he did not raise his head. He just said: "I came to see you today, firstly, to understand the situation of Mengxue, and secondly, in the future, the cabinet will take the lead, the Sixth Ministry, the Supervisory Office, Honglu Temple, and the General Affairs Department

, and the newly established General Administration of Customs, are preparing to hold a joint meeting on how to distribute the compensation."

"Although you don't have to attend, you should always be outside for inquiries, and follow the instructions of Lord Shangshu to contact and discuss with people from other yamen - it will take about four or five days. Remember to make arrangements in advance and don't miss the meeting in the yamen.

Official business.”

Needless to say, the reason I took myself there this time was definitely because of the kerosene and kerosene lamps.

Looking at the collegial posture of various ministries and commissions, the imperial court and the Western Yi have also reached a preliminary consensus on the issue of war reparations.

In fact, the defeat by the Xia Kingdom in Shendu was not a big loss for the Wuxi people. After all, what they lost was only the northeast corner of Shendu.

However, the chain reaction caused by this incident made it difficult for the Western Yi to resist - the old enemies of the Western and Western countries took the opportunity to attack, and the rebel forces in the country also increased. In addition, the trade with East Asia was completely suspended, resulting in huge economic losses.

They couldn't help but bow to Xia Guo.

Of course, Jiao Shun's proposal to turn war compensation into subsidies was also one of the important reasons why they were willing to give in.

but……

While Jiao Shun respectfully accepted the order, he couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.

This time, the various ministries and commissions discussed the issue of quotas for reparations, and the other departments had to settle it. They were more or less related to this matter, but why would the Criminal Department among the six ministries join in the fun?

Is it going to establish Interpol?

At this time, Su Shilang raised his eyebrows and glanced at Jiao Shun, as if he could see the doubts in his heart, and said: "When you go back, you will be mainly responsible for liaison with the Inspectorate and the Ministry of Punishment. Try to discuss a plan with them."

We must take a prudent approach and implement this move to benefit the people, lest all this subsidy go into the dog’s belly!”

Tsk~

This is a bit troublesome. Fortunately for the Ministry of Punishment, the Inspectorate is the stronghold of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and it is most resistant to people like Jiao Shun who are lucky enough to join. It seems that there will inevitably be some intrigues.

While he was secretly complaining, Su Shilang asked about Meng Xue's situation again.

Jiao Shun picked up the important points and talked about them. At first, Shi Lang Su was still sketching on the official document, but then he gradually stopped writing, stroking his beard and pondering while listening.

When Jiao Shun's narration came to an end, Su Shilang immediately nodded and said: "The word "work-study student" is quite appropriate, but for "work-study students", the work comes first and the study comes last. The first thing is to learn more things that can be used in the workshop.

"

After a pause, he added: "Just take care of it yourself, I won't recognize what you say out loud!"

"The humble position also thinks so."

Jiao Shun said with a smile: "So the requirements of the few more craftsmen are higher than those of the private teachers in the school."

"You're asking students to vote to weed out unqualified craftsmen. Although it's not etiquette, it's a good way to avoid eating corpses." As Su Shilang said, he couldn't help but sigh: "If you can

If it works, I would really like to promote it to the world, but it's a pity..."

Halfway through the sentence, he shook his head, obviously knowing that this was impossible.

After all, this craftsman doesn't know about serious private school teachers, so he can barely make it through using this method. If it is used in a serious school, I'm afraid those old scholars will jump out and defend the tradition of "respecting teachers and respecting Tao" to the death.

After a long silence, he signaled: "If there's anything else, keep talking."
To be continued...