After Luo Zhixue inspected the steam engine project team, he went to the steel project team and machine tool project team.
This steel project does not mean studying the mass production of steel, but mainly studies some aspects of steel theory, trying to understand the composition and specific proportions of steel, and find out what kind of steel is better.
Speaking of which, I actually prefer chemistry.
The steel research at the Royal Institute of Technology tends to be at the theoretical level, while the applied level is mainly conducted by the Steel Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and various steel plants.
The machine tool project team, what they study is more intuitive. They mainly study various types of machine tools used in industrial production, but they are not specifically responsible for a certain type of machine tools. They are more concerned with studying some basic level things.
For example, in terms of transmission, and also in terms of cutting tools.
These things all belong to the most basic level of research. If breakthroughs can be achieved, the corresponding technologies can be used in most types of machine tools.
In particular, the cutting tools used in various types of machine tools are the focus of research at the Royal Institute of Technology.
The performance of the cutting tool directly affects the processing level, especially the processing of steel materials. It is impossible to do without good cutting tools.
In the past, the various types of knives used in the many machine tools of the Dachu Empire were basically made of fine steel one by one by experienced old blacksmiths using mechanical and manual methods.
Whether the knives produced are good or not depends purely on the personal experience and even intuition of the craftsmen!
Now, the mechanical R&D personnel of the Royal Institute of Technology are trying to create better tools by using more scientific proportions and formulas, thereby obtaining better performance. The most important thing is to increase production.
Many of the above-mentioned studies, regardless of whether they are steam engines, steel, or machine tools, in the final analysis are still biased towards research on basic materials and processing.
And it is more inclined to theoretical research.
This is also the area that the Royal Institute of Technology is responsible for and is good at, and it is also the direct purpose of Luo Zhixue's establishment of the Royal Institute of Technology.
The development of science and technology needs to be supported by basic industry, and basic industry needs theory as a support.
When you don’t even understand what basic elements such as iron, carbon, sulfur, and oxygen are, you don’t even know what the specific ingredients and proportions are in the low-carbon steel currently produced by steel plants. I don’t know, so why should I study it?
Therefore, after Luo Zhixue inspected the three major project teams, he summoned the director of the Department of Chemistry of the Royal Institute of Technology and listened to the research work on various elements led by the Department of Chemistry of the Royal Institute of Technology.
He also praised several researchers who discovered oxygen and carbon through experiments and clarified the combustion phenomenon based on this, and gave them generous rewards on the spot.
The phenomenon of combustion is a very basic common sense in the eyes of later generations, but trying to figure out why combustion occurs and what plays a role in it has actually troubled ancient scientists.
Some of the messy myths or philosophical concepts of the ancients, or the messy theories of alchemists, Taoists, etc., cannot explain the nature of combustion.
As for this, researchers from the Department of Chemistry of Da Chu Imperial Institute of Technology knew right from the beginning that combustion is an exothermic reaction caused by the interaction between combustibles and oxidants.
Then Luo Zhixue directly told them that there is oxygen in the air, and oxygen is needed for combustion. The reason why wood, coal and other things can burn is because they contain hydrocarbons.
In the past few years, Luo Zhixue has basically sorted out all the scientific knowledge he still remembers, including chemical knowledge, and then handed it over to the departments of the Royal Institute of Technology for research.
Although Luo Zhixue's knowledge is at a very basic level for future generations, more often than not he only knows a noun or a concept, but he actually doesn't know many things behind this noun.
After sorting out these things and letting the teachers and students of the Royal Institute of Technology look at them, they actually couldn't understand them either...
Luo Zhixue said that there is oxygen in the air, and only with oxygen can it burn... But what is oxygen and what is hydrogen? What is carbon?
Even... they don't even recognize the word!
The word 'oxygen' is a Chinese word for many elements or a Chinese word to describe scientific phenomena. In fact, it is a newly created word in modern times. In ancient times, there was no such word as 'oxygen'.
The word oxygen probably appeared in 1899!
So when Luo Zhixue said what 'oxygen' was, a group of teachers and students at the Royal Institute of Technology were all confused when they first heard it. They didn't even recognize the word, let alone the meaning behind it.
For the early students at the Royal Institute of Technology, what they called learning was actually just rote memorization. They memorized whatever Luo Zhixue wrote...
Then we conducted various experiments based on the textbooks written by Luo Zhixue, trying to restore some of the phenomena in the textbooks that Luo Zhixue took for granted.
For example, the phenomenon of combustion.
Everyone can make a fire, but burning it directly is useless. They have to come up with actual evidence, so they need to design more ingenious experiments in detail and carry out the most precise weighing before and after burning.
To a certain extent, the biggest task of the Royal Institute of Technology recently is not to study anything, but to continuously conduct experiments and mathematical calculations to verify many phenomena and even theorems in textbooks.
It is necessary to theoretically and completely explain things like combustion phenomena.
To be honest, this job is very difficult, and even ordinary people cannot do it. Even those with a slightly weaker brain cannot understand many things Luo Zhixue said, because for people of this era, many things Luo Zhixue said are too far-fetched. Abstract.
This is also the reason why the Royal Institute of Technology only recruits talented people.
If my brain is not good enough, I can’t learn...
As for some application-level research, ordinary people can be used, and this does not require the Royal Institute of Technology. Naturally, there are many research institutions and many factories under the Ministry of Industry.
Luo Zhixue stayed at the Royal Institute of Technology for most of the day, and during the process he invited dozens of outstanding teachers and students from the Royal Institute of Technology to have lunch together. Well, it can also be said to be a banquet.
But except for Luo Zhixue himself, almost no one cared about eating this kind of banquet, or could eat it freely.
Although everyone pays attention to eating and sleeping these days, Luo Zhixue has always been busy, and his schedule is tight on weekdays. He often summons his ministers to discuss matters in the name of giving banquets...
Although we always talk before and after meals, we occasionally talk while eating.
This made the ministers feel more uncomfortable. This banquet was already more uncomfortable. Luo Zhixue sat on top, and no one dared to eat, so as not to be disrespectful in front of the king. They basically ate whatever they wanted.
Then you have to guard against Luo Zhixue saying something while eating, which is even more terrible.
Luo Zhixue seems to be asking casually, but if you dare to answer casually, your career will basically be over, so you have to ponder the meaning behind these words in detail, and then organize the most rigorous language to answer.
Under such circumstances, dining with the emperor is definitely not a good job.
Today's banquet at the Royal Institute of Technology was quite large in scale, with more than fifty researchers from the Royal Institute of Technology participating, and more than a dozen senior ministry officials accompanying the inspection.
But, no one ate happily!
However, although eating is not enjoyable, it is very happy for many people, especially those scientific researchers.
Regardless of whether it tastes good or not, or how much you can eat, this is a feast given by His Majesty.
Although Luo Zhixue often had meals with his ministers, they were mostly important officials of the empire. Ordinary people did not even have the chance to meet Luo Zhixue, let alone let Luo Zhixue give him a banquet and talk while eating.
The same is true for these worthy people. Luo Zhixue certainly values them. Now, as long as the students of the Royal Institute of Technology successfully enroll, they will be in the ninth grade, and if they graduate successfully, they will be in the seventh grade.
If you are excellent academically, you can still stay in school to teach. Even the most ordinary assistant lecturer is a full fifth-grade officer. The officers and soldiers are from the fourth grade, and then to the associate professor of the fourth grade, from the third grade to the full professor, and then to the deputy director of the department. The director is of the third grade, the director is of the second grade, and the vice president and dean are both of the second grade.
Although the grades in the education system of the Dachu Empire, like the grades in the medical system, are salary grades and do not enjoy corresponding political treatment.
But this is only limited to ordinary positions, and for administrative positions, you can also be directly transferred to become officials of other official agencies in the future, such as the principal of a government-run junior high school, the director of the ethics and education department of a certain government, etc.
The grades of teachers and students at the Royal Institute of Technology also fall into this category. They are naturally useless when they are ordinary students or even ordinary teachers. However, after taking up administrative positions, they can also be transferred to officials of other institutions in the future.
A third-grade deputy director of a department can be transferred to various departments to serve as director without any obstacles; a second-grade director can be directly transferred to be a minister or governor of each department.
The dean is on the same level as the ministers of various ministries!
Of course, for the time being, this kind of thing has not happened at the Royal Institute of Technology, because in Luo Zhixue's view, ordinary officials can catch a lot of them, but there are fewer researchers... He usually takes more extreme measures This way allows them to conduct scientific research with peace of mind.
For example, salary increases, rewards in the name of the royal family every three days, everything from residence to clothing to security personnel, etc., are all arranged properly, and there will be no shortage of honors. As long as you make research results, you will be awarded the title. The prince gave him the authority to go to the secret palace, give him the authority to visit him from time to time, and then give his mother, wife, etc. the title of Haoming and so on.
It was a festival, and Queen Wang came forward to invite their family to the palace to watch games and play games.
In short, Luo Zhixue is basically willing to give whatever he can.
In the feudal dynasty, the importance of a minister's status had nothing to do with whether he or she held a certain position. Instead, it depended on their status in the emperor's heart.
Several major researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology, their status in Luo Zhixue's heart is much more important than any minister.
Under such circumstances, the actual political status of these teachers and students at the Royal Institute of Technology is very high.
Because Luo Zhixue pays enough attention to it!
Also because Luo Zhixue attaches great importance to science, except for the Royal Institute of Technology, other ordinary researchers actually have relatively high social and even political status.
All officials in the Ministry of Industry with a rank of three or above have technical backgrounds. Even if they don't know much, they understand technology to some extent.
Officials with no technical knowledge at all will not be able to get up in the Ministry of Industry.
They have also become relatively special technocrats in the Chu Empire. They are not the earliest technocrats in Chinese history, but they are definitely the technocrats with the largest number and greatest influence.
And their influence continues to grow!
Just after Luo Zhixue concluded his inspection at the Royal Institute of Technology, at the imperial council meeting the next day, Luo Zhixue formally approved the plan to establish the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
According to the plan, many departments in the Ministry of Industry, mainly those related to the management of industries, will be transferred to the newly established Ministry of Industry and Commerce. The Ministry of Industry will subsequently evolve into a purely government-run enterprise management agency.
The management functions of industry and commerce are transferred to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, thus avoiding the embarrassing situation in the past when the Ministry of Industry managed itself.
For example, the Steel Department is responsible for managing the national steel industry, including private steel companies, and is also directly responsible for managing the direct operations of many government-run steel companies... They are both managers and market participants.
In the early years, because the Chu Empire was not large in scale, for the sake of convenience, all industrial and commercial affairs were directly centralized in the Ministry of Industry, which directly invested and operated various industries, and also introduced various management methods to guide and support the development of various industries. .
But now, this situation can no longer continue, so after several months of debate, Luo Zhixue finally approved the decision to split the Ministry of Industry and establish the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
The newly established Ministry of Industry and Commerce will be fully responsible for the development of domestic industry and commerce. Because this newly established agency has strong technical characteristics, it must support and guide the standardized development of all walks of life. Naturally, this cannot be done without knowing technology... So this newly established agency Most of the officials in the institutions are also bureaucrats with technical backgrounds.
The position occupied by technocrats among the middle and high-level people in the Chu Empire not only did not weaken with the unification of the empire, but instead continued to increase.
This is what Luo Zhixue is happy to see, and he even promotes it deliberately.
To be an official is not just about knowing all the big principles, but also having some scientific common sense. Otherwise, it is easy to ignore the basic scientific and objective laws and do some messy things.
But Luo Zhixue didn't expect that when the Ministry of Industry and Commerce was just established, it directly stabbed his old employer, the Ministry of Industry... and directly issued several regulations on planning safety production, especially mine safety production, and required those who failed to meet the standards. The company must improve immediately, otherwise it will be severely punished...
The mining companies in the Dachu Empire are basically government-run companies affiliated with the Ministry of Industry... There are very few private companies and they are not popular.
To put it bluntly, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce directly took action on the separated Ministry of Industry, trying to become famous in one battle and establish its political status among the top leaders of the empire.
This made a group of people from the Ministry of Industry look black...
Damn, as soon as the front leg separated, the back leg came over with a knife, what a hatred!
They are not here. Although the Ministry of Industry and Commerce's move has their own intention to take advantage of the situation, it also has the consequences suggested by Luo Zhixue.
Why set up a separate Ministry of Industry and Commerce?
It’s not because the Ministry of Industry was in charge of itself in the past, and various rules and regulations were described as false. Safety production accidents occurred frequently, and industry management was chaotic. Moreover, government-run enterprises frequently used their own official backgrounds, and maliciously squeezed out the living space of private enterprises.
Hantian Textile Company has repeatedly used officialdom methods to suppress Su Qin Textile Company, which is the most typical example.
It was okay to use administrative means to suppress him, but he couldn't suppress it. In the end, he was disgraced and lost his reputation as the No. 1 Textile Company.
Luo Zhixue didn't want to see this happen.
Government-run enterprises have direct responsibilities and roles, while private enterprises also have their own responsibilities and roles, and no one can replace the other.
Normal competition does not matter the outcome, but this kind of abnormal competition, especially the use of administrative power to participate in market competition, is a very bad situation in Luo Zhixue's opinion.
However, this situation is not an isolated case, it is common!
This is the direct reason why Luo Zhixue established the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
After the establishment of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, it naturally needs to reflect its own presence and satisfy His Majesty.
If the Ministry of Industry and Commerce does nothing after its establishment, Luo Zhixue would not mind replacing the senior industry and commerce officials who have just taken office...
And the butt determines the head!
When these people belonged to the Ministry of Industry, they turned a blind eye to supervision, but now that they have become members of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and have nothing to do with the Ministry of Industry, they directly picked up the knife and prepared to fight. Got it!
The people are still the same, and even the institutions have not changed much. They are just divided into different families. But in the end, the real industrial and commercial supervision and support of the Dachu Empire have been formalized.
The establishment of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and the major actions taken after its establishment, caused some turmoil in the imperial political arena, but these were worthwhile, even intentional, because it actually sent a signal to the people: the wind has changed!
When the leaders of private enterprises in the industrial and commercial circles saw this, they naturally felt the change in the direction of the wind and knew what it meant.
There seems to be no clear policy support, but as long as there is fair supervision, then they are satisfied.
Because this means that from now on, they can compete fairly with government-run enterprises in the open industries of the empire, and limit competition only to the market and products. There is no need to worry about the Ministry of Industry directly using administrative means for the sake of its subordinate enterprises. It will tell you that you have violated certain regulations and need to make corrections every three days. No one can sustain this kind of competition.
There is only one Su Qin Textile Company!
The establishment of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and its major actions also prompted the Li family of Foshan Li's Ironmaking Company to make up their minds to transform.
Foshan Li's Iron Co., Ltd. is one of the few private enterprises in the empire that is involved in heavy industry and is not small in scale. Naturally, their transformation is not towards light industries such as textiles that seem to be easy to make money, but towards industries that require a lot of capital. , the profit cycle is also longer in the shipbuilding industry.
The Foshan Li family is planning to spend at least 150,000 taels of silver on the shipbuilding industry. It is planning to build a shipyard that is larger than the Guangzhou Shipyard and has even better technology to seize the increasingly soaring shipping market!
