Watching Du Zhongxiao and the others leave, Zuo Du turned his head to the military envoy of Gu Zhi and said: "According to the meaning of the Yun Judgment, it is difficult for us to do this mission." I thought that as long as we provided food and drink for the people in the Iron Prison, even if the requirements were higher and the food was better, there would always be a way to think of it. If you pursue tricks like this, all the strange things around you will be brought here, wouldn't it be difficult for the dead? ”

Commander Gu said slowly: "Dutou, you still don't understand the meaning of the judgment. The judgment is not about tricks, but about cultivating new species here and doing things for the people. It's easy to do, so let's recruit some scholars from the local area from tomorrow. I thought that I had come to farm, and I didn't have to learn any more literacy and Fangtian, but it seemed that I couldn't escape after all. Yun Juan said that we should be the same here as other places in the Iron Prison, even if it is farming, we must keep studying, keep summarizing, and compile a booklet. Alas—"

After speaking, Commander Gu stood up, put his hands behind his back, and slowly paced into the distance. Although he is old and can't learn, he still has the ability to look at his face. Du Zhongxiao said that he was just asking the vegetable garden to keep pace with the rest of the iron prison, keep learning, and not really become a place for the elderly. The iron superintendent is constantly to make continuous progress in industry, and the same is true for agriculture. Although the scale is smaller, the agriculture of the Iron Prison is supported by industry, and it is really done well, and the technological progress is much easier than that of the local government.

Commander Gu is old and doesn't want to toss like this anymore, but he can still arrange for the following to run as required.

After leaving the vegetable garden, Du Zhongxiao, Su Song and others went around to the small reservoir and returned to the iron prison from there.

The surface of the water is covered with not thick ice, which melts during the day, and various water birds frolic on the surface of the water. There are flocks of geese, and swans fluttering.

Liu Lan said: "This place is southern, the ground atmosphere is warmer than the Central Plains, and waterfowl gather in winter. At night, when the water freezes, many geese are frozen on the ice. Those who have iron prisons, who come here at night, can occasionally pick up frozen geese by the water's edge. Two days ago, a few were sent to us. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "There are a lot of ducks in the vegetable garden, why eat these wild things? The meat is woody and old, and it is difficult to eat. In addition, geese inhabit the water at night, and their bodies are hot, so they will not be frozen, let alone frozen. Nine times out of ten, those who were picked were sick. If you eat it cooked, if one is not good, you may be poisoned. The yamen unveiled an example and did not allow the people of the iron prison to come here to pick food. ”

Su Song said: "This is reasonable. How could these wild creatures, if they were not weak or sick, be picked up? What is hunted is enough, and what is picked cannot be eaten. There is a natural principle between heaven and earth, birth, old age, sickness and death, and what is natural is better to return to nature. ”

In this era, there is no need to protect wild animals. But those that have been eliminated by nature, human beings don't need to eat, the iron prison has abundant food and clothing, and it has not yet reached the level of being so hungry to eat.

Looking at the reservoir, Du Zhongxiao said: "In the past few months, we have built several more smelting furnaces, and the water here is no longer enough to support the forging hammer in the iron prison. Because of the small amount of water, several furnaces could only cast steel ingots, but could not be forged into steel bars. This is not a way, people will come after the year, can the new furnace only cast steel ingots and iron ingots? I heard that the newly made steam engine over there has eyebrows, but I don't know when it will be made? ”

Su Song said: "Actually, one has already been made, but everyone feels that there are many dissatisfactions and are still being modified." It is inevitable to do things like this, as soon as things are made, you will find that many things are different from what you think, and you always have to change them several times. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Don't change it, tomorrow I will transport the made ones to the smelting furnace and use them to drive the forging hammer." Only when you really use it can you see where it is suitable and where it is not, and change it while using it. After using it, you immediately start to make a second one. In the future, they did so, and after they made it, they immediately used it, and according to their opinions, they changed it and made a new one. ”

Su Song was stunned for a moment and said, "Go and bring the forging hammer?" I didn't want to use this machine when I made it. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled: "After all, it's a machine, water power can drive a forging hammer, isn't the machine even more can?" Not only with a forging hammer, but also with a blast in the future to drive the conveying material. We are proficient in using it here, and we can also use it to pull goods with trucks, and use it to carry watering, I don't know how much use it is. If this machine is well done, the iron supervisor will be completely alive. ”

Han Jiang's car and ship have a lesson, although the steam engine has been used for several years, but due to the inconsistent model, each one can always find new problems, and the back one is different from the front one, one by one. The maintenance cost of vehicles and ships is high, and each one has a special maintenance team, and it is not necessarily necessary to repair this one. That is, the canal pulls boats, the benefits are huge, and they can be supported. If the land train is like that, the maintenance cost alone is unaffordable, and it is difficult to promote.

Du Zhongxiao went to the manufacture of a basic steam engine, and what he wanted was simple and reliable, uniform stereotype, universal components, and unified maintenance operation. Operation and maintenance personnel can be trained in batches and replaced with each other. To meet this requirement, it is not simply possible to make it, but must go through a lot of practice in the process of use. The iron supervisor has this condition, and the machine in the trial production process can digest it internally.

How much water can such a small reservoir have? With the gradual increase in personnel, the construction of new blast furnaces is no longer enough to ensure that there is power everywhere. The most newly built furnace can only cast steel ingots, and the forging behind it cannot keep up, and the quality of steel has decreased significantly.

The steam engine is a power machine, but it is not just used to pull trains, it is only a small part of the purpose. The industrial revolution can be promoted because the steam engine can be used in all aspects of society, widely replacing human and animal power. Industrially, with the steam engine, factories could be opened, and everything from heavy industry such as machine building, to light industry such as textiles, to agriculture such as irrigation and land reclamation, was of great use.

In the iron superintendent, if the steam engine is used instead of manpower and water power in the blasting, transportation of materials, forging and other links, a larger smelting furnace can be built, there is a higher output, and the steel has better quality. At that time, it can be called a factory, and it can be regarded as the prototype of industrialization. With such a systematic industry, we can sum up experience in practice and cultivate industrialized talents.

It's already winter, and seeing that the New Year is coming, Du Zhongxiao can't stay in the iron prison all the time. Now there are still some idle lands in Tangzhou, Ruzhou, and Caizhou, and Du Zhongxiao can take care of the slender men who can be placed. When there are no contiguous wastelands in these three states, and the camp field affairs are expanded to other states and counties, Du Zhongxiao must go to those places, and the iron supervisor can't take care of them here. Before this, Du Zhongxiao hoped that the big framework could be set, and even if he was not there, he could develop normally.

Du Zhongxiao has already written to the imperial court and recommended Su Song to be the first governor of the iron prison, there is no accident, nine times out of ten Su Song is going to be promoted. The only thing that is uncertain is that the scale of the iron prison is too large, and I don't know what level the imperial court will set. The level is set too high, and Su Song's qualifications are too different.

Seeing that it was still early, Du Zhongxiao went to the place next to the reservoir to study the steam engine with Su Song and Liu Zhuo. This is Su Song in charge, most of his energy is spent here, except for a few other places where the iron prison is engaged in technology, most of the time is soaked here.

With the increase in the number of iron supervisors, it has also been expanded several times, and now there are nearly 100 people. Seeing Du Zhongxiao and his entourage coming in, they saluted one after another.

Led by Su Song, Du Zhongxiao looked at the newly made steam engine. Compared to the previous one, the new machine is significantly smaller, with a delicate structure and very fine polishing, which is even more aesthetically pleasing. Different from the impression of stupid black and coarse, these people are used to designing with a freehand style. Because Du Zhongxiao specially confessed, it was not allowed to embroider and engrave on it, and the whole machine looked very smooth. In particular, the copper pipes on the top have clear and smooth lines, and there is no sense of chaos, and the strips are separated and arranged exceptionally neatly.

Su Song said: "The newly made machine, don't look much smaller than before, but the strength is more than doubled. If you make a car now, you can pull goods on the stone road. Although it doesn't pull much, it is better than an ox-cart and a horse-drawn cart. ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head with a smile: "Not to mention how many cattle and horses can be bought with such a machine, just the stone road, where to find it?" This thing is still used to pull apart, like transporting ore, and laying railroad tracks is much easier than a stone road. ”

For the train, the horsepower of this steam engine is smaller, and it is still suitable for smelting iron.

The person who operated the machine next to him came over and lit a fire, let the machine move, and showed Du Zhongxiao.

It took a while for the machine to work normally from ignition, and Du Zhongxiao was in the room, watching around.

The next house is where the parts are machined, and the outside shed is casting, and there are two forging hammers. One is driven by water power, one is handmade. Hydraulic forging hammers are mainly used for die forging and machining large parts, most of which are used for manual forging.

Thousands of slender men came, all of whom had a skill, or who were young and intelligent, were selected here. Coupled with the recruitment from the local government, there are many talents in these nearly 100 people. They didn't have a special blacksmith, and a few young men went out to study for a few days and came back with a good look. According to the blacksmiths outside, these people are good blacksmiths. There is no way, there are always a few of these selected young people who can learn everything quickly.

Next to the forging hammer are a number of finished bearing balls, ready for further processing. Bearings are the guarantee of precision, and in the machine industry, it cannot be overstated. After studying it for several months, everyone here understands this truth, and they have put a lot of effort into it. The bearings they made were much more sophisticated than those used to make cars in the Volcano Army. From large to small, several models have formed a series.

When I entered the room, there was a row of several lathes. Lathes have been around for a long time, and they are not a rare thing in this era, but they are used here with special fineness and higher processing accuracy.