The west test site of the Ministry of Industry.
Under the gazes of different eyes, the rather "advanced" biplane glided for tens of meters before flying unsteadily.
Zhu Jingyuan's expression was very calm, without the excitement of the first test at all, just like watching a model airplane take off.
The other spectators were different, and the crowd immediately burst into cheers.
Even the female shopkeeper Wang Zhenyi couldn't hold back.
Then everyone raised their necks and watched the plane hover over the test field.
After the plane circled around, Zhu Jingyuan vaguely noticed that the attention of the people around him had changed again.
From the plane in the sky, it gradually transferred to myself.
Obviously, the excitement of taking off has passed, and I am beginning to look forward to my own evaluation.
Zhu Jingyuan didn't want to directly dampen their enthusiasm. He didn't want to make do with words that were obviously perfunctory, which might also dampen their enthusiasm.
So he carefully observed the planes in the sky again, then nodded lightly and said in judgment:
"Not bad, compared to the first test aircraft, the flight speed this time is obviously much faster.
"It's still circling now. If it flies in a straight line, it should be able to reach 70 or 80 kilometers per hour, right?"
Li Rui and the craftsmen were obviously relieved, and they also made a mental evaluation:
"It should be 80 kilometers. Our next test is to fly in a straight line to test the maximum speed, and then fly a long distance to determine the theoretical range..."
Zhu Jingyuan nodded gently again:
"Okay, let's test it like this. After confirming the data, we will produce a few more as soon as possible and sell two to our company to use as display and test machines.
"By the way, we need to prepare a few more to conduct military function evaluations for the Commander-in-Chief of the Five Armies. We also need to send a few to the negotiation site. Maybe they can be used."
Wang Zhenyi next to her also reacted:
"Our company also needs at least two, preferably four, for display, learning and testing."
There is no compliment more useful than a direct order. Li Rui and the craftsmen around him agreed with smiles on their faces.
Zhu Jingyuan looked at Wang Zhenyi's reaction, and after thinking about it for a while, reminded Li Rui again:
“After the overall assessment, possible problems have been corrected, and then we can try small batch production.
"Let's make thirty or fifty of them first, and then explore the mass production plan.
“After the relevant news spreads, many yamen and companies should be interested.
"Like Shopkeeper Wang and I, we should be able to sell almost all the products just for display and testing orders."
Li Rui immediately realized that the ban on motorcycles had been lifted. Flying machines were also machines and could be operated directly by the private sector.
Once the news of the aircraft is made public, companies that simply want to enter the industry for evaluation may need dozens of sample orders.
The Ministry of Industry has its own arsenal and shipyard, which are preserved by the joint efforts of the vast majority of officials in order to avoid royal monopoly.
These factories were essentially departments under the imperial court, and were not nominally private commercial manufacturers, and were not subject to the exclusive influence of the royal family.
But in fact, it can carry out production and sales business, although its customers are mainly the Dudu Mansion and other government agencies.
Now, all the craftsmen, including Li Rui, were even more excited.
This is about to go into mass production!
Although they are officials of the yamen of the Ministry of Industry, they are not managers of factories under the yamen and cannot directly participate in business management affairs.
However, this aircraft was directly developed by myself, so it is inevitable to be excited when preparing for mass production.
Li Rui was a little incoherent:
"Okay, okay, let's prepare immediately, prepare the factory and production line immediately..."
Zhu Jingyuan asked them to mass-produce it directly because the shape of the aircraft itself was absolutely fine and could even be considered very good. It would not be considered obsolete after more than ten years of use.
Any subsequent problems are all internal problems and require constant repairs and upgrades, so mass production can be attempted.
Now Zhu Jingyuan heard Li Rui talking about "production line", a word left by Emperor Shizu, and thought of his plan again:
"By the way, I have decided that the aircraft patent licensing fee will be returned to the dealer based on the annual sales level, with a maximum refund of 80% of the fee.
"So the more we produce and sell, the lower the licensing fee for a single flight will be. I can only charge 4% of the total aircraft price as a licensing fee."
At this time, not only Li Rui and the craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry, but also Wang Zhenyi and the craftsmen from the Royal Flying Machinery Company next to them couldn't help but exclaimed.
The minimum licensing fee is 4%, which is not very low in this era, but ridiculously low.
This is the entire flying machine. For this top-level monopoly patent, the original 20% is already a very reasonable fee.
Zhu Jingyuan gave up 80% of the licensing fee, which allowed the dealer's costs to plummet and the sales price to drop accordingly.
Wang Zhenyi was even a little worried and couldn't help but remind her:
"Your Highness, isn't this bad? If the licensing fee is too low, where will your subsequent research and development expenses come from?"
Zhu Jingyuan smiled and waved his hand and said:
“You can’t sell too many in the beginning, so the early licensing fees are almost full, with only a small rebate.
“When the aircraft market opens up and your sales volume increases, the licensing fee ratio may decrease, but the absolute licensing fee will increase.
“And the most important thing is that I told Zou Shangshu from the beginning that what I care about is this industry, not pure profits.
“I hope that the military can use aircraft to transport troops and weapons, and can use aircraft to directly attack enemy airships, warships, positions, and even enemy cities and factories.
“I hope that our private sector can transport food by air to provide disaster relief and rescue people, carry water tanks to put out fires in the air, and spray pesticides in the air.
“I hope that people in Ming Dynasty can take planes to travel to distant places, and even young people who have the conditions can fly planes to go out for fun.
"I hope that in the future our Ming Dynasty will have tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of aircraft of various types, used in all walks of life and in various places!"
The craftsmen around him were already a little excited, but now they were infected by Zhu Jingyuan's ideal goal, and they all subconsciously cheered loudly.
Including Li Rui, a court official, and Wang Zhenyi, the female shopkeeper, they no longer have any image concerns.
Seeing everyone's excitement, Zhu Jingyuan felt quite excited himself.
It is not easy to have hundreds of thousands of aircraft. It was not until the 1970s in the history of the United States that the number of civilian aircraft exceeded 200,000.
However, the number of military aircraft soared to 200,000 at the end of World War II.
Correspondingly, the number of pilot licenses in the United States reached 600,000 in the early 1950s after World War II, and peaked at 800,000 in the late 1970s.
However, at the end of World War II, the United States had only 140 million people. Today, the total population of the Ming Dynasty is more than 600 million. The total number is uncertain because it is difficult to count the people in the vassal country.
However, even if we only count the total population of pure-blood "Ming people", the number has reached 423 million, which is 27% higher than that of the Qing Dynasty in the same period.
This is almost three times the U.S. population during World War II, and will grow rapidly in the coming decades.
The Ming Dynasty also had a broader vassal state, and the terrain of the mainland and vassal states was more complex, which was more conducive to the development of the aircraft industry.
In addition, the old emperor will definitely promote it vigorously, and Zhu Jingyuan will also provide full assistance. The number of aircraft and pilots in Ming Dynasty in the future should be an order of magnitude higher than that of the United States.
Zhu Jingyuan’s ideal goal is to obtain one million pilot licenses within thirty years!
