After passing several rows of similar tall houses, Yan Shu and the others became more and more frightened as they walked. Most of these houses are doing the same thing as the place just now, how many machines and how many people are there? They could see that the machine tools were almost entirely made of steel, and how much steel was used to make them? In order to consume the steel produced, the iron superintendent had to use steel to make houses.

I don't know how long I walked, and finally arrived in front of a big house, Du Zhongxiao said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the parts made in front are all installed here as steam engines. Let's go in and take a look and see how the machine is made. ”

After speaking, he took a few people into this room, which was obviously taller than other buildings.

Unlike other places, there is a track in the middle with a machine at intervals. There is a row of workers on each side of this track, and behind each of them, there is a track with shelves and various parts and components.

From the place of entry, the shadow of the steam engine is not visible. I saw a huge base, made of pig iron, and the workers next to it were busy loading various parts and components on it. Two people, one left and one right, holding a notebook in their hands, patrolled back and forth. When this place is installed, they shout together and push it back. Along the way, it's almost always the same. Except that the parts installed at each station are different, the layout is almost the same.

Along the way, Yan Shu and the others slowly understood what they were doing in the places they had seen before. That's where the parts are made, and then they're shipped here, one by one, to the base, and finally it's a complete machine.

This is the assembly line, which stretches for almost a mile, and at the end, out of that there is a complete steam engine.

Du Zhongxiao didn't want to do an assembly line at first. At least common sense, although the assembly line has high production efficiency and saves manpower, the investment is huge, and the product model produced is single, which is only suitable for products with huge output. The steam engine is not mature now, and there will be many subsequent modifications, and it is inevitable that there will be a huge waste in building an assembly line now. But another reality is that the mechanical equipment required by the assembly line is much simpler in structure due to its single function. At present, the mechanical production of the iron supervisor is based on the production tools with a single function and simple structure, and the assembly line is the last resort.

In normal times, it is far less lively than this, and most of the workers are taken to do other things. Because the four governors came, the iron supervisor had saved up spare parts for a few days, produced them at full capacity, and showed them a look. It is not a steam engine for trains, but a model for small iron supervisors. The steam engine used in the train was much more complicated, and it took many days to get enough parts for one.

Approaching the end, looking at the large row of machines on the railroad tracks, Yan Shu asked, "Yun Ju, how many units can be produced in a year like this?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Back to Xianggong, if you don't stop, you can produce 20 units in five hours a day." ”

Yoo Sik asked curiously, "Why do you only do it for five hours?" I see you here, the workers rotate, day and night. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Xianggong, as long as there are people, it is naturally possible, but at night, there is no light." ”

Inside the factory, the brightness of the oil lamps was not enough, and work had to be stopped at night. Du Zhongxiao also remembered several lamps with particularly high brightness, such as gas lamps, calcium carbide lamps, and acetylene lamps, but unfortunately a lot of energy was wasted, and none of them were manufactured.

Ouyang Xiu said: "Twenty units a day, which is already a lot, six or seven hundred units a year." How many cars can you walk on an iron-paved road! ”

Hearing this, Du Zhongxiao said embarrassedly: "Xianggong, these machines are not used on trains, they are used by the iron supervisor." If it is the locomotive that pulls the head of the train, it is a bit reluctant to make one or two hundred units a day, and only one or two hundred units a year can be made. ”

Ouyang Xiu listened and asked, "Is this difficult to do?" I see you here, I don't know how many people and how many machines do this. If there are only one or two hundred units a year, how much does that one sell for? ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "If it's a train, it will cost almost 100,000 yuan." The others are cheaper, ranging from three to five hundred to twenty or thirty thousand. ”

When this number was reported, the four governors looked at each other and did not speak for a while. They walked around the prison and knew that this thing must not be cheap, but they did not expect it to be so expensive. In terms of trains, one or two hundred units a year is one or two hundred thousand. How much is the imperial court's tax in a year? The land tax and commercial tax are all counted, and it is only tens of millions. And that's just a part of the Iron Surveillance products, how much do all the products make in a year?

Looking at everyone's expressions, Du Zhongxiao said with a smile: "This is calculated according to the fact that the goods produced can be sold, where is it actually possible?" Now less than one-tenth of the goods produced by the Iron Supervisor are sold, and the money earned is in addition to the capital, and these things are built. In the past year, apart from the construction of the smelting of steel and the production of these machines, it can be said that not a penny has been earned. ”

Yan Shu said solemnly: "Yun Ju, as long as you build this place and make good things, it will naturally be sold." Not making money now does not mean not making money in the future. In two or three years, the iron supervisor may be able to make tens of millions of dollars here. ”

Of course, Du Zhongxiao knew that in a few years, Tiejian's products would be sold, not to mention one or two million yuan, and nearly 100 million yuan might be able to earn it. But how much money is there in the world? It can't be all the money from all over the world. In order to develop normally, the entire economic system must be restructured. At present, the greatest value of the railway supervisor is to provide a heavy industry base. Other consumer goods that sell well provide cash flow to keep the iron supervisor running.

Is 100,000 guan expensive? It's actually not expensive. A train has a capacity of 6,000 stones, the length of the Bianhe River, plus supplies and rest on the road, which is more than enough for a day and a night. The one-way capacity of 90,000 stones in a month is more than 1 million stones a year. Now six million stones a year are transported, which is just six trains. For the transportation of these six million stones, there are more than 100,000 slender men along the line, many transit warehouses, as well as special Jianghuai shipping envoys, and many ships, and the cost is much higher. Trains are much faster than water transport, and transit warehouses are not needed, and many links can be reduced. Is it still expensive?

In the final analysis, trains can facilitate the circulation of goods, facilitate exchanges, form a larger market, and greatly promote economic development. The more mature the market is, the greater the value of the train, and the production capacity here can be brought into play. The market has not been formed, this is a big toy, and now it is empty to say how much it is worth.

The difficulty faced by the iron supervisor now is that the external market has not been opened, and these spectacular factories are more for their own amusement. They can't make money, and the workers who work here don't know their worth. The iron warden gave them a house to live in, and they were paid a little higher than the odd jobs outside, and everyone was satisfied. Even those skilled workers don't have a few dollars a month, and they rack their brains every day and have fun day and night. When it is developed, you can see that this kind of treatment will not keep people at all.

With such a potential iron supervisor, how many officials is Su Songcai? It's just the lowest level of the Beijing officials. When you really earn tens of millions of yuan a year, it is completely impossible to be this extreme difference, and you are embarrassed to come over if you are not an official of more than two systems.

Du Zhongxiao has a blueprint for the future of the iron prison in his heart, but if he says it now, it will make people laugh, so he simply doesn't say it. When the railway connects Xiangzhou and Kaifeng Prefecture next year, everyone will realize the value of this place.

The four governors were only shocked by the factory of the railway supervisor, but they had no idea of the value of the railway. Du Zhongxiao said that he couldn't sell it, and a few people sighed for a while, and then they gave up. It's not an overnight thing, and there's no hurry.

Watching the workers push the loaded steam engine along the track and leave, Du Zhongxiao said: "This is the most valuable place in the iron prison now, but it is also the most difficult place to sell the goods produced. Ladies and gentlemen, let's go and see the other things in the Iron Prison, and it won't be so boring. ”

Ouyang Xiu smiled and nodded: "Exactly, exactly." These machines are only big and expensive, but they don't know what they are used for, so they will naturally be boring. In fact, before we came here, we saw a lot of iron prison goods, all of which were very useful. ”