After the explanation was completed, Zhu Youzhen said to Wu Youxing unsatisfied: "Of course, it is best for you to write down the grinding method of this lens and the construction principle of the microscope into words, and form a theory like the "Telescope Diagram Theory".

I plan to start three courses in Physics, Chemistry and Zoology at Yenching University and Jinling University next year. If you can summarize the construction principles of the microscope, then I hope you can work at Yenching University. Also, about the cost of making the microscope..."

Zhu Youzhen called Wang Chengen, who was waiting outside, and asked him to allocate 300 taels of silver to Wu Youxing's research fee.

Zhu Youzhen said to Deng Yuhan: "At that time, Father Deng will take him to the Academy of Sciences to meet Mr. Xu, I hope that he can enter the Academy of Sciences, and the funds for research and microscope production in the future will be paid from the Academy of Sciences." ”

Deng Yuhan immediately said respectfully: "Obey, Your Majesty." I will definitely convey His Majesty's meaning to Lord Xu in full. ”

"I hope to see you develop a new microscope as soon as possible. When you succeed, remember to send me two microscopes. When Zhu Youzhen was leaving, he told Wu Youxing again.

After leaving the hospital, Zhu Youzhen's drowsiness had completely disappeared. He looked around, and said to Wang Chengen and Lian Shanxiang beside him: "Anyway, it's all out, let's go to Wensi Academy to see how Zhang Xingsheng is straightening out, and I also want to see if those few things have been made." ”

Located just one street south of Wong Wah Fong, the temple covers a large area and is a place where various utensils for the imperial court are manufactured.

The initial number of craftsmen in Wensi Academy was more than 700 people, and by the time Chongzhen ascended the throne, the number had exceeded 3,000.

However, most of these craftsmen are superficial, and not all of them are highly skilled craftsmen. Some craftsmen don't know anything about craftsmen, and some even have a name to receive a piece of money, but they never appear in the temple.

Su Maoxiang had estranged Chongzhen before, saying that the Wensi Academy had overspent more than 20,000 taels of silver a year, and requested that the number of craftsmen in the Wensi Institute be verified and a part of it should be refunded.

For the cleaning of the Wensi Academy, Zhu Youzhen chose to send someone from the palace to verify, and Zhang Xingsheng was the supervisor he sent to check and verify the number of craftsmen in the Wensi Academy, and by the way, he studied a few new things for Chongzhen.

In the lobby on the east side of Wensi Academy, Zhu Youzhen observed a few things on the table in front of him, a piece of soap, a can of oil, and a piece of honeycomb coal.

"How effective is this honeycomb coal combustion?" Zhu Youzhen took the honeycomb coal and looked at it, it was similar in appearance to the honeycomb coal he used when he was a child, more than 10 centimeters high, with 12 holes.

"It can be burned for 3 quarters of an hour to half an hour, which is easier to burn than the previous clay coal blocks, and it is also more economical. That is, the dug lump coal needs to be rolled into powder first, which is equivalent to an additional process. Zhang Xingsheng stood under the hall and explained to Chongzhen.

"How's the cost?" Zhu Youzhen put down the briquette, looked at Zhang Xingsheng and said.

"According to the experiment, 100 kilograms of pulverized coal mixed with 30 kilograms of loess has the best combustion effect. However, the honeycomb coal produced in this way is easy to loosen, and after experimentation, the craftsmen found that it is still 3 parts coal and 1 part loess to make honeycomb coal, which is of solid quality and has a good combustion effect.

Buy 013 taels per 100 catties of coal in the market, and if you pull it directly from the coal mine, it is about 01-011 taels.

Each 100 catties of coal can make 86 honeycomb coal, plus loess and labor costs, the cost is only more than 015 taels, and it is about 82 Wen - 85 Wen in Wanli gold back money, if the scale of production is expanded, the cost can continue to be reduced. ”

Zhu Youzhen calculated, "That is to say, if it is converted into new money, the cost of 86 pieces of honeycomb coal is 2 cents." ”

Zhang Xingsheng nodded and said, "Your Majesty is right. And burning honeycomb coal is more economical than burning firewood. The worst firewood is about 0135 taels per 100 catties, but 10 catties of firewood for a meal is not enough, and it is enough to replace it with about 2-3 pieces of honeycomb coal.

100 catties of firewood can be used for less than 5 days, but honeycomb coal can be used for about 15 days. Therefore, it is more appropriate to sell 04 taels of 86 pieces of honeycomb coal on the market, which is almost more than double the profit. ”

"And what about the stove that burns honeycomb coal? Is it done? ”

"The simple tin furnace that Your Majesty said has not been successfully made, because the core is still being fired in the glaze factory, and now it is only a fixed masonry furnace."

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and said: "86 pieces of 04 taels are too difficult to calculate, so they will be sold at the price of 100 catties of honeycomb coal 03 taels, that is, 045 yuan in banknotes."

You have arranged several things, one is that the craftsmen who calcined charcoal in the base factory will be reduced and replaced by coal workers, and the accounts of the coal plant will be accounted for separately in the future, and they will not belong to the base plant. These workers were exempted from servitude, abolished their monthly rations, and paid according to the value of their production, except for the time being, when their status as artisans remained unchanged;

2. Set up a coal storage point in each square of the capital, and give priority to the operation of those soldiers who have been laid off from the Beijing battalion. 045 yuan per 100 catties of honeycomb coal in the market, and 04 yuan for coal storage points sent by coal yards.

3. After the iron stove is made, you can choose to buy 200 catties of honeycomb coal and send a stove when promoting the use of honeycomb coal, but it is only limited to one person at a time, and the time is set within one month.

In addition, the sale of honeycomb coal and stoves will have to be settled in paper money in the future, and silver taels or copper coins will not be accepted, so the coin exchange points of the Four Seas Commercial Bank must cover all squares in the capital, understand? ”

When Zhang Xingsheng was estimating how many workers this coal mill would need, Chongzhen picked up the soap and looked at it, and said, "Fetch me a basin of water, I want to try this soap." ”

On the other hand, the deputy envoy of the Wensi Academy immediately went down to order the preparation of hot water, and Zhu Youzhen took an iron spoon and scooped up the grease from the tank and looked at it, the color of the oil was a little black, and there were many impurities.

"Is this the oil pressed from cottonseeds?" Zhu Youzhen asked with some curiosity.

"Yes, Your Majesty. However, peeling off the cotton lint on the seeds and breaking the cotton husk is really labor-intensive, so I thought that a process could be saved.

In addition, although the oil output seems to be inferior to soybeans and flax, in the past, cottonseeds were discarded and useless, so they were considered an add-on to buying cotton. Zhang Xingsheng hurriedly said.

"Can these husks and oil-pressed cottonseed kernels be used to feed animals?" Zhu Youzhen did not answer Zhang Xingsheng immediately, but was concerned about the use of the latter two.

"The minister experimented with separating the husks from the oil-pressed cottonseed kernels, or mixing them together for feeding. It was found that cows and chickens did not react much to mixed cottonseed husks and cottonseed kernels, but horses and other animals could only eat simple cottonseed kernels, otherwise they would get sick. Zhang said.

Zhu Youzhen put his hand deep into the hot water that was served, then took the soap and carefully applied it to his hands, and after washing off the foam, he felt much refreshed.

"This soap is not bad to use, the first batch of soap was made, and I ordered someone to send some to the Tai Hospital, the Academy of Sciences, and the palace. How many bars of this soap can be made in a day? ”

Zhang Xingsheng calculated and said: "According to the recipe given by His Majesty, 10 parts of fat, 4 parts of caustic soda and 15 parts of water, and then add salt and a little flour, a pot of material can produce about 8 or 90 pieces of soap the size of a palm, but if you want to wait for it to be completely hardened and easy to use, it will take more than 15 days."

But as long as there is enough fuel, the minister thinks that thousands of yuan a day is not a difficult task. And this soap is cheaper than pancreas, I don't know how many times cheaper. This year, one stone of japonica rice in Beijing is one or two, almost 14 yuan in banknotes, and 08 cents for a pound of rice.

The cost of a piece of soap is about 1 catty of rice, and the minister thinks that the price of 5 points will definitely not be a problem, which is 5 times the profit. Although the output of cottonseed oil is not large, the soybean oil on the market is only about 2 catties of rice, and the direct purchase of soybean oil to make soap is at least nearly twice the profit.

Compared with honeycomb coal, the material of soap is easy to purchase, and the finished product is small in size and easy to carry. In the past, the Cao ship went north to transport grain and Jiangnan specialties, but the southbound Cao ship was often empty and out of goods. ”

Since Zhang learned to calculate production costs and profits, the fog of business operations and wealth appreciation that had shrouded those businessmen was no longer a secret to him.

After calculating the profits, he was able to clearly confirm the income from the production of soap, and although he knew that the income had nothing to do with him, he was also excited about how to expand the scale of production these days.

After all, soap production is now a separate business, and translucent soap looks much more pleasing to the eye than the black fragrant pancreas.

For Zhang Xingsheng's excitement, Zhu Youzhen was not excited at all, he dried his hands with a coarse cloth, and said slowly: "The soybean oil in the Beijing market is limited, and as soon as you buy it, the price of soybean oil will inevitably rise."

For the people, the presence or absence of soap does not affect their lives, because they have not yet developed the habit of using soap. But the soybean oil used to cook has risen, and it is closely related to them. Even if the people don't turn their grievances towards this soap-making factory, it will inevitably be counted on my head, so I don't agree to buy soybean oil to make soap. ”

Zhang Xingsheng hurriedly defended: "Your Majesty, we can no longer buy it in the capital, there are many oil mills in Shandong, and it is a cotton producing area. We can set up an oil mill in Shandong to crush cottonseed oil and buy soybean oil by the way. ”

Zhu Youzhen still shook his head and said: "It's okay to set up an oil mill in Shandong to press cottonseed oil, but it's still not okay to buy soybean oil." The per capita edible oil of the Ming Dynasty itself is insufficient, and the food of the Ming soldiers is basically lacking salt and oil.

I plan to start implementing the food standards for sergeants from next year, and we must set down the salt, sugar, oil, and rice required for a soldier's meal, so the price of soybean oil must not rise.

You don't have to think about the idea of cooking oil, let's find a way to use other oils. As long as the planting area of cotton is expanded next year, cottonseed oil is a good source.

Secondly, in the area south of Zhejiang, I heard that there is a kind of black tree whose fruit can also be used to extract oil.

There are also coconuts in Hainan Island and Southeast Asia, the husk can be used to make charcoal, the pulp can be pressed for oil, and the fiber between the husk and the pulp can be used to make ropes.

Overseas there is also a kind of palm tree that bears fruit, which is rich in oil. If you still send people to the south to promote the planting of these trees that do not occupy the cultivated land, you will naturally not have to worry about oil in the future. ”