Wang Qi and Li Xiang's senses are extremely sharp, but this time they went out to pretend to be rich people and show off to get some information. In the city, they would usually ignore them unless they were particularly hostile.
The investigators sent by the Church of Light were not stupid enough to follow them directly. The investigation background and what the target was doing now had nothing to do with each other. They went all the way east to investigate what these people had done on the road.
It's basically a waste of effort, after all, people are really traveling, they are just curious as foreigners.
Wang Qi and his party visited Huguang City for a few days. In addition to looking around, they also did some errands.
Nothing happened to me, but the problem was from the east side.
After visiting Xiahu Diocese, the rooms in the main city were suddenly full in just two days, so much so that the hotel sent people to ask them to squeeze out of the rooms.
There are a lot of people in their group and they want more rooms. Wang Qi and Li want a suite that is not the most luxurious, and the rest will stay in standard rooms. Among them, Natasha and Akeem will live in single rooms, and all the others will live in double rooms. There are seven rooms in total, which contributes to a lot of occupancy rate.
The hotel came over and even offered to waive the cost of two standard rooms in order to let them vacate the room.
After asking around for a while, he understood the situation. A wave of wealthy households from the east had arrived, and housing prices had risen sharply.
It stands to reason that the timid ones should have run away when the [Great Wall] failed before. Now that there is a sudden wave, there is a high probability that the demons have arrived, making the place where they could still hang out become extremely dangerous. , and forced a group of people to run away.
Huguang is the capital of the Thunder Kingdom. With the "capital halo" and the base of one million people, there should be a considerable amount of magical power. It would be a good choice to use this place as an escape target.
It's not good for Wang Qi to stand in the way of others doing business, and it's not good to ask for extra money. Although he has spent some money recently, he still knows that his pockets are not enough.
After discussing for a while, the two guarantors who had helped a lot decided to visit the Capital Chamber of Commerce first.
It doesn't matter if you don't look at it, once you see it, something big has happened.
The Agnel Dog appeared in the east, and the merchants at the starting point notified the office here through magic channels. They may have packed up and hit the road by this time.
As for the temporary accommodation needed by the two guarantors, it was arranged, but only two days were given.
The guarantor came back to the hotel and explained to Wang Qi, and then Wang Qi understood the situation of the Chamber of Commerce.
There are chambers of commerce in various places, and those established in the capital are generally called chambers of commerce. Chambers of commerce across the country and even foreign chambers of commerce will set up offices here. In fact, it is just a lobby counter and two offices. If you need other functions, you need to purchase them yourself. or lease.
After problems occurred at the East [Great Wall], various chambers of commerce in the east area were looking for and purchasing buildings in the capital. On the one hand, they were used to house some people who could not be dismissed, and on the other hand, they were used as warehouses to store some chamber of commerce assets.
This kind of purchase is not for the purpose of settling down in the capital. After all, there are many official positions in the capital and they are all relatively well-equipped. It is very difficult for foreign chambers of commerce to grab some food from local snakes.
Buying a house is just a temporary settlement to wait and see how the situation develops. If you don't have the chance to go back, just divide the property and dissolve it.
However, due to the competition among wealthy households who have fled to the capital, housing and land prices have increased significantly recently. The offices of various chambers of commerce in the east are struggling. The chambers of commerce to which these two guarantors belong have decided to give up the fight for land in the capital. Go directly to some cities in the west for resettlement.
In this case, his living space is very limited, and he has to deal with people coming from the headquarters at any time.
"What is the evil dog Agnel?" Wang Qi suddenly asked.
The guarantor hadn't seen it either, so he said with a smile: "It's a kind of devil dog. If you want to know, let's go to the Chamber of Commerce to look for connections and see if we can find a portrait."
"That's a problem for you two."
There is a free room here, and I will make arrangements to put Akeem into a double room.
By freeing up two rooms and reducing the room charges for two standard rooms, I've saved hundreds of dollars.
I went out for another walk during the day. This day I mainly asked for information related to equipment.
This kind of information can be checked directly at the Chamber of Commerce. However, Wang Qi is not thick-skinned enough. It is really a bit awkward to delay other people's business without intending to buy it.
Anyway, I have to wait for the colorful scale pearl necklace to be ready, so it doesn’t matter if I walk around.
In a workshop that provides metal parts for docks, I asked about the price of a steam engine.
The steam engine they used was connected to a connecting rod... It's not surprising. Complete shaft transmission of steam power must be achieved through a steam turbine. The technology span may be larger than a small-scale DC power grid to a nationwide AC power grid.
According to the information provided by the person in charge of the site...the son of the workshop owner, the price of the steam engine including shipping is around 300,000.
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There is nothing wrong with what can be inferred from steam paddle steamers, except that steam engines are too expensive. 300,000 is still a workshop price, and it will probably cost twice as much to prepare it on the ship when it involves issues such as structural strength, fire protection, and smoke exhaust.
The current currency purchasing power of gold in Lei Ming Kingdom is about 50 yuan per gram, and the purchase price of gold with Phoenix Coin is 6 yuan per gram. The difference is less than ten times. The price of a steam engine of this size in the kingdom back then was less than 10,000 yuan.
Of course, the pricing system that was extended from iron was not a natural development. There was an intention to deliberately lower the manufacturing threshold. But even taking this factor into account, the price of local steam engines is still more than double after converting the currencies of both parties.
In this regard, Wang Qi is a curious baby. After getting the price of the steam engine, he continued to ask: "Don't you think 300,000 is too expensive?"
"There's nothing we can do about it. The labor costs in Huguang City are very high." The second-generation workshop owner pointed to the people working next to the machine and said, "Just for that position, it costs 600 a month."
Wang Qi looked around and found that it was... a porter?
The machine performs a cutting action in that part, cutting the iron plate with a width of only about 20 centimeters into small strips. The worker's job is to wait for the iron bars coming out of the discharge port to fill a bucket, and then change the barrel. Transport the filled tubes to the next step.
It's a bit like an assembly line, but because the steam engine is not big enough and has limited power, there are still two places in the workshop that need power, so the cutting speed is very average, and it can only make more than a dozen cuts in one minute, so the " The work intensity of "porters" is relatively limited.
If this kind of work station costs RMB 600, then the work stations that are in direct contact with the machine are estimated to cost thousands!
Calculated based on the average salary of 800, 300,000 is just three years’ wages for ten workers. However, it is inevitable that the production value of a steam engine exceeds that of ten workers. Even if the materials are poor, they can be used for more than ten years with good maintenance and sewing and repair. .
"Living in the capital is not easy."
"Oh, you said that very well!" In the eyes of the Nidaime workshop owner, business is indeed difficult to do. Most of the work is just waste, and there is very little money that can really be put into the pocket.
Wang Qi blushed a little, but fortunately he was not thin-skinned and didn't show any clues.
He had other questions: "So, shouldn't more workshop owners use steam engines? But from the dock to here, it seems like you are the only one?"
After chatting for a while, the Nidaime workshop owner already knew that the other party was a foreigner, so he was not surprised and explained directly: "Because the smoke from the boiler is very choking, and the adults are not happy. I can use it here because there is a lack of docks." We really can’t move it, so we specially approved it. There may be more machines in the suburbs.”
Is he a big shot again? The bespectacled man on the boat also said the same thing.
After talking with the second-generation workshop owner, Wang Qi realized that the industrial development progress of Lei Ming Country was stuck.
Affected by the rejection of coal smoke by the gentlemen, and perhaps also the fault of the melon-eating public and the Church of Nature, premature environmental requirements suppressed the market demand that should have exploded. Equipment manufacturing capacity could not increase, so it was natural to talk about it. Not technological innovation.
There seems to be no necessary connection between equipment production capacity and technological innovation. Xincheng Heavy Industry is a counterexample. Its production capacity is not high compared to the number of skilled workers. However, it is a government-owned enterprise and its operating logic is different.
It is understandable that normal operators pursue profits. If they do not see the prospect of substantial profits, they will naturally not invest capital in innovative technology.
In Wang Qi's opinion, the threshold for technological innovation in the age of steam engines was very low. After a few years of reading, being willing to accept new knowledge, and a few years of exposure to machines, one could be called an engineer, and one person could complete the conception of a new machine or the development of modern machines. There are machine improvements.
Lei Ming State-owned steam paddle steamers, trains, and workshop equipment should have been around for some years judging from the degree of category proliferation. They should have accumulated a lot of talents related to steam equipment. It is really a waste to be stuck here.
It's a pity that my family has passed this stage and doesn't need them. Otherwise, I could try to trick a few back.
