The horsepower of a steam engine is limited by volume and weight, steam pressure, and cylinder volume. The most expensive part is the processing of the cylinder, and the processing of the cylinder is relatively extreme.
The larger the cylinder diameter, the more difficult it is to process, and its cost will increase exponentially.
Therefore, relatively speaking, the processing cost of small-diameter cylinders is much lower.
Guangzhou Machinery Company has built a small steam engine, and the small-diameter cylinder is easier to process and the cost is lower. This comprehensively reduces the cost per horsepower and the final selling price can be controlled to a certain extent.
This can also be seen from the selling prices of steam engines of each horsepower. A thirty-two-horsepower steam engine costs nearly 10,000 yuan, and a 16-horsepower steam engine costs more than 4,000 yuan. However, the eight-horsepower steam engine produced by Guangzhou Machinery Company , it only takes about 1,500 Chu Yuan to win.
And because the technology is easier to implement and mass production is easier, Guangzhou Machinery Company, although its first batch of trial production was later, achieved large-scale mass production faster than Dangtu Machinery Company.
In November of the 17th year of Chengshun, Guangzhou Machinery Company began to supply large quantities of steam engines to customers. In the first month, the supply reached 16 steam engines, and it is expected to supply at least 20 more steam engines in December.
At the same time, their production capacity is still rising. It is expected that their annual production capacity of four-horsepower or eight-horsepower steam engines will reach about 500 units by next year.
Dangtu Machinery Company is expected to produce only about 200 units per year, but they produce medium-sized steam engines with mainly 16 horsepower and 32 horsepower, and the added value is higher.
As for Tianjin Machinery Company, they don't even have a prototype yet, so they can't talk about actual production capacity, but they have a lot of pre-orders... According to pre-orders and research and development progress, they are building a large steam engine production line. It can produce about thirty steam engines per year... Don't think fifty sets is too small. You must know that the steam engines they produce have a minimum power of fifty horsepower and a big one with over a hundred horsepower.
As for the production line for the thirty-two-horse order... it is now a bit difficult to produce. Although the performance of the prototype they built before is feasible, the cost is too high and cannot compete with the same level of steam engines from Dangtu Machinery Company. After several potential customers saw the prototype, I turned around and ran to Dangtu Machinery Company to place an order.
Tianjin Machinery Company is now in a dilemma in the field of medium-sized steam engines. It should not be started. It has already invested more than half a year and a lot of R&D funds, and even the factory buildings and production lines are almost complete.
But come on... Nima, I haven't even had an order for one until now.
In the end, there was no choice but to continue technological innovation and then use the production line for other purposes to build large steam engines.
Anyway, the technical core of Tianjin Machinery Company's large steam engines is actually expanded on the 32-horsepower steam engine.
Even the method is simple and crude. Multiple 32-horsepower cylinders are directly connected in series to create a multi-cylinder and multi-boiler steam engine.
Well, this thing is not the same thing as the multi-expansion steam engine of later generations. In a multi-expansion steam engine, high-temperature and high-pressure steam gradually passes through the high-pressure cylinder, the medium-pressure cylinder, and the low-pressure cylinder to push the piston to do work. The core of the theory is to do as much work as possible Utilize all the kinetic energy contained in high-temperature and high-pressure steam.
The multi-cylinder steam engines of Tianjin Machinery Company have independent cylinders and boiler systems, but the linkage system is unified.
Stay away from carriages like two or four horses, where multiple horses pull the cart together.
Therefore, the production line of the 32-horsepower steam engine will not be wasted, and part of the production line construction cost of the large steam engine can be left.
As a result, based on the normal different choices of the three major steam engines and market choices, a situation was finally formed in which the three steam engine manufacturers focused on steam engines with different steam engine specifications.
But this situation is only temporary!
At least Tianjin Machinery Company has never given up on the medium-sized steam engine market with thirty-two horsepower steam engines. In addition, when Tu Machinery Company looked at Tianjin Machinery Company, they didn’t even have a sample, so they directly bought dozens of sets of large-scale steam engines. He was also jealous of the pre-orders for steam engines, and hastily launched his own large-scale steam engine project.
However, their core engine relies on sixteen horsepower. If they want to build a large steam engine, it is still relatively difficult in terms of research and development, production and subsequent cost control. At least you can ask them to build one with hundreds of horsepower. It would be absolutely impossible for a steam engine to come out... It would take at least seven or eight small cylinders with a power of sixteen horsepower!
A large steam engine made with so many cylinders will have a very complex structure and a very high failure rate.
On the other hand, the Guangzhou Machinery Company did not expect to build a large steam engine by adding more cylinders or simply enlarging the cylinders. They focused on increasing steam pressure, which is recognized as the most difficult technical route. They tried to increase the steam pressure and then Obtain greater horsepower while limiting the size and weight of the steam engine.
The other two companies also knew about this technical route, but they felt that it was too difficult and difficult to produce results in a short period of time.
What's more, even the Steam Engine Research Institute of the Royal Institute of Technology is now at a loss to develop high-pressure steam engines, and they have no confidence.
However, Guangzhou Machinery Company has identified this technical route and plans to fight against the high-pressure steam engine.
Of course, they are not pursuing ideals or anything else. They simply want to build a high-pressure steam engine, then directly monopolize the steam engine market, and directly kill Dangtu Steam Engine or Tianjin Steam Engine, leaving them no way to survive...
Although these three machinery companies are all wholly owned by the Ministry of Industry, they have become each other's biggest competitors since they began to fully transform into steam engine manufacturers.
Killing competitors is the instinct of a company!
Even government-run enterprises are no exception... If the general manager of a government-run enterprise leads his own company to kill his competitors, he can prove that he is more capable. This subsequent promotion will not be easy.
No matter what the ultimate goal of Guangzhou Machinery Company is, it is a good thing that people invest real money and talents in the research and development of high-pressure steam engines. Luo Zhixue even praised them after hearing about it.
It is a good thing that they have the courage to chew hard bones.
Regardless of whether the thing is difficult or not, or whether it can be successful, one thing is certain, that is, it will definitely not succeed if you don’t do it.
In Luo Zhixue's view, Dangtu Machinery Company and Tianjin Machinery Company have fallen behind in terms of technology.
After the high-pressure steam engine comes out, there may be a market for low-pressure steam engines for industrial steam engines, but in the field of trains and ships, that is the exclusive market for high-pressure steam engines, and it is also the most profitable market.
If they don't do it now, if they really wait for the Guangzhou Machinery Company to come up with the high-pressure steam engine and then follow up, I'm afraid it will be too late, even if they rely on the measures taken by the top management of the Ministry of Industry to maintain two or three factories with production capacity in specific fields. Strategy, they can obtain the patent of high-pressure steam engine, but the money will definitely be made by Guangzhou Machinery Company.
Just like the current steel industry... Among the domestic steel companies that currently produce mild steel, in addition to the Daye Steel Company at the beginning, more than a dozen steel companies have obtained patent authorization for the Daye steelmaking method.
However, due to the need to pay patent royalties, most of the profits these companies make from producing soft steel are actually taken away by Daye Steel Company in the form of patent licensing fees. In fact, these steel companies only get some soup.
This is the result of falling behind in technology and then losing everything.
This is due to the policy adopted by the top management of the Ministry of Industry to support two or three companies at the same time in order to maintain the competitiveness of the same industry and ensure that the supply of specific products will not be disrupted at critical moments. It is also to ensure healthy competition.
Without the request of the top management of the Ministry of Industry, Daye Iron and Steel Company would not license patents to competing peers. How cool it would be for one company to monopolize the market.
But this is impossible!
The Ministry of Industry has accumulated enough experience in more than ten years of practice, fully aware of the importance of healthy competition and maintaining supply chain stability, and ensuring that the production of a certain key people's livelihood and defense enterprise will not be affected. The entire people's livelihood and defense industry are affected.
Therefore, in some key technologies, especially those that have a great impact and that other companies will bypass for a while, the Ministry of Industry tends to make the decision and let the patent owner take the patent authorization method and grant it to several other companies. Of course, .
Money is definitely indispensable. The patent licensing fees obtained by Daye Steel Company are extremely huge, and it can be said that they are making a lot of money.
However, other steel companies did not sit still and were not willing to give Daye Steel Company a modern factory. They either raised funds on their own or joined forces to conduct technological research and development on Daye Steel's steelmaking method.
Why do we need to carry out technical research and development on Daye Steelmaking Method? That is because we are trying to bypass some key nodes of Daye Steel Company's patents.
The technical principles of the large-scale steel smelting method are actually public... Some theoretical research was also conducted by the Royal Institute of Technology's Steel Research Institute, and these steel companies were also authorized.
As for the patents owned by Daye Iron and Steel Company, they are mainly focused on engineering realization.
Some of the patented technologies implemented in the project can be bypassed, as long as the final effect is the same or even better.
In addition, many steel companies, especially Dangtu Steel Company, are also pooling funds to try to come up with new and better steel-making methods, trying to completely surpass them. Of course, this is more troublesome and difficult.
However, technology research and development in the steel industry benefits from factors such as patent restrictions and market competition. Overall, it is in a relatively good state of healthy competition.
This is also the result that the Ministry of Industry and even the Ministry of Industry and Commerce expect to see.
This is also the reason why the Ministry of Industry and Commerce officially promoted patented technology very early. Only with the protection of patents can companies confidently and boldly invest a lot of manpower and material resources in technology research and development.
If there is no patent protection, then it is useless to research. Wouldn’t it be easier to just wait for others to research it and then plagiarize it?
The existence of the patent system is to stimulate the enthusiasm of enterprises or individuals for technological research and development and innovation, and to ensure their interests, thereby promoting active innovation at the entire social level.
Only in this way can a hundred flowers bloom in scientific and technological research and development, instead of relying solely on the limited official research institutes.
Even these research institutes directly affiliated with official investment still need research funds. Although the official finances are rich, they cannot spend a lot of money on every project.
With limited funds, if these official research institutes want to study some new projects, they still need to cooperate with enterprises, or some self-developed projects may be sold to enterprises through patent authorization, and then receive financial returns to support subsequent development. Research.
These are all inseparable from the maintenance of the patent system.
Therefore, when the Ministry of Industry and Commerce wanted to establish a patent system, it received great support from Luo Zhixue. It can even be said that it was actually Luo Zhixue who proposed the patent system and asked the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to implement it.
However, it is worth noting that the patent system of the Da Chu Empire is only internal and not external. This internal refers to the companies or individuals of the Da Chu Empire itself, and is not limited to regions. Even if the companies or individuals of the Da Chu Empire go to indigenous countries, There is no need to infringe the patent rights of other Da Chu Empire companies or individuals.
However, if you infringe on the patents of other countries, well, if so...then the Chu Empire will not care about it, and you can even apply for relevant patents domestically.
After all, no country has yet reached a patent exchange agreement with the Chu Empire.
Not to mention patent exchange agreements, even for patent laws, few countries actually have them these days. A few countries, such as Venice, Italy, and the United Kingdom, have imperfect patent laws, but they are still very primitive.
The Chu Empire would not recognize the so-called patent bills of these indigenous countries.
Just like the Da Chu Empire never recognized the so-called laws of other indigenous countries and its jurisdiction over the people of the Da Chu Empire, even on the territory of indigenous countries, the Da Chu Empire did not recognize it... Therefore, the birth of extrajudicial law Governance is such a thing.
In a series of agreements reached between the Chu Empire and various indigenous countries in Southeast Asia, there was basically the provision of extra-legal jurisdiction.
This is not to say that the Chu Empire bullied or challenged the domestic political power of various countries. It is simply that these indigenous countries do not have perfect laws. Basically, they are still at the level where the rulers can impose punishments at a whim, even if there are some legal provisions. Very nonsense.
This made merchants or ordinary people who went to sea to trade and make a living in the Chu Empire very insecure.
In order to ensure that the people of the Da Chu Empire can receive the most basic legal protection when they go to other countries to trade or do other things, and they will not be arbitrarily abused by some stupid officials or monarchs of indigenous countries. Sentences for random crimes.
The official of the Da Chu Empire strongly demanded extra-legal jurisdiction in various countries in Southeast Asia: after the subjects of the Da Chu Empire violate local laws in indigenous countries, the local officials can arrest them, but you cannot judge... You can only hand them over to the Da Chu Empire established in The trial court in the local embassy area conducts trials according to the laws of the Great Chu Empire!
The above-mentioned extra-legal jurisdiction is limited to areas controlled by indigenous countries, and does not include areas ceded or long-term leased to the Da Chu Empire, because these places themselves belong to the territory of the Da Chu Empire, and there is no need for extra-legal jurisdiction. Da Chu The Empire has all sovereign powers in these places.
The emergence of extra-legal power is not because the Chu Empire wants to do anything, oppress the indigenous people, etc., but simply because it dislikes the laws of these indigenous people for being too strict, and the Chu people are not at ease with their laws...
However, this has also caused many indigenous countries to feel deeply resentful about the consequences of this clause, because since this clause was introduced, the Chu people have gone to other indigenous countries because they do not have to abide by local laws, which is basically lawless. …
Because even if you kill someone, strictly speaking, there is nothing the local natives can do... As for you saying that after arresting someone, they would be handed over to the Chu Empire for trial. It is theoretically feasible, but in reality, you won’t be sentenced to anything. They usually pay you money to settle the matter. It is impossible to impose a prison sentence or anything like that. .
Because in the laws of the Dachu Empire, there is no provision regarding whether killing people from other countries in indigenous countries will be punished by law...
You are not from Da Chu, nor are you in the territory of Da Chu Empire. Why should the laws of Da Chu protect you? It would be nice to give you some monetary compensation to the natives.
What, you said that even the natives of foreign lands need the legal protection of the Chu Empire... That's a joke. If you really do this, the trading companies in the Chu Empire will not be opened, and you can just pull out an overseas armed trading company. , all stained with the blood of indigenous people...
The Nanyang Trading Company is still at war with the local indigenous people in India...
Is it possible that the local natives could go to the overseas territories of the Dachu Empire to sue, and then shoot all the people of the Nanyang Trading Company and a large number of other armed trading companies?
This kind of conflicting extra-legal power has made the Chu people living in the indigenous countries a little lawless, and it has also made some victims among the indigenous people deeply feel disgusted... Until now, some powerful people have The natives simply did not arrest anyone and then handed them over to the judges of the Chu Empire.
They all had the opportunity to kill them on the spot and then destroy the corpses and eliminate traces... Of course, the premise is that they must be very concealed and cannot be discovered by other Da Chu people, especially Da Chu officials. Once discovered, the consequences are often extremely serious.
In the 16th year of Chengshun, a powerful man from the Kingdom of Aceh was very unhappy with a rogue businessman from the Chu Empire who had defrauded him of his money. Perhaps because he was used to being an arrogant man, he actually sent someone to kill the rogue. The businessman and his entourage were caught and hacked to death on the spot... This incident caused a big fuss. Within a few days, the Consulate of the Chu Empire in the Kingdom of Aceh learned of it. The local consul directly contacted the local garrison, and then hundreds of Chu troops came ashore directly. They slaughtered all the rich and powerful families.
This is not important. What is important is that they forced the Kingdom of Aceh to sign a new traitorous treaty and obtained a leased land directly next to their capital. At the same time, they also reaffirmed the boundary line between the two parties in the eastern part of Sumatra. The new The border line moved more than 200 kilometers westward...
Incidentally, there is also a compensation of one million Chu yuan... to supplement the families of the victims and pay for the Chu army's operational expenses.
Generally speaking, extra-legal governance has both advantages and disadvantages. To a certain extent, it has reduced the overseas merchants of the Chu Empire from being exempted from the restrictions of local indigenous laws. But on the other hand, it has also increased the number of merchants from the Chu Empire. When operating in an area controlled by an indigenous country, you can just wander around as long as nothing happens, and the local officials will be afraid of you... But if something goes wrong, you will basically disappear from the world, and even the body cannot be found!
The natives also know that you, the Great Chu Empire, are vengeful and ruthless, so they often either do nothing or destroy the corpses and wipe out all traces.
But then again, there are not many ordinary people who dare to go to indigenous countries to do business and make money these days. Except for large-scale armed trading companies, they are basically desperadoes who want money rather than their lives, and there are very few They act alone, often in small groups, and in so-called trading companies.
These people are in the business of wearing their heads in their belts. Death is a common occurrence for them and is not worth mentioning.
From patent laws to extra-legal governance, these seem to have something to do with the indigenous people, but in fact they have little to do with it. They are all extensions of a series of laws governed within the Great Chu Empire.
The Chu Empire was different from the traditional feudal dynasty. The traditional feudal dynasty emphasized the rule of man. A series of judicial procedures such as investigation, arrest, and trial of various local cases were handled by local officials, that is, county magistrates and prefects. These people lead.
But it is different in the Dachu Empire. The Dachu Empire has a complete legal system and a complete and independent judicial system.
In any county, there will be two independent institutions: the Supervisory Yuan and the Judicial Yuan. They are not under the jurisdiction of the local magistrate's Yamen. Only the local patrol bureau is under the jurisdiction of the magistrate's Yamen.
In fact, even the patrol bureau has dual leadership. In addition to the local magistrate having certain jurisdiction, the superior prefecture patrol bureau also has jurisdiction over the county-level patrol bureau.
However, the Supervisory Yuan and the Judicial Yuan are completely independent institutions from the county magistrates and prefectural yamen. They are only under the jurisdiction of the superior Supervisory Yuan and the Judicial Yuan.
In other words, the censors and judges in the County Supervisor's Court or the Court of Justice can completely override the local county magistrate.
In fact, many censors in the county-level supervisory councils keep an eye on the local county magistrate, waiting for him to make a mistake, and then quickly capture it... and finally use it as political performance capital to promote themselves!
Anti-corruption and promotion, this is a very unique scenery in the Supervisory Council system of the Great Chu Empire!
This also led to great opposition between the Supervisory Council system and other administrative systems... Local officials were extremely repulsive and even feared the local censor.
Damn it, no one wants to have a group of people staring at their heads every day, wondering how to use their heads as a stepping stone for promotion.
This kind of exclusion actually further led to the independence of the judicial system, especially in the system of the Supervisory Office, which was very independent in a series of institutions in the Great Chu Empire...
There is no way, people in other institutions don't like them... But the former Zuodu censors of the Grand Inspectorate are all ministers of staff and hold real power.
Moreover, because the censor was fighting corruption every day, he killed many corrupt officials, and his reputation among the people naturally increased. However, contemporary people, even scholars in the Great Chu Empire, still value reputation very much.
Therefore, don’t think that no one is willing to join the Supervisory Office because it is squeezed out by other departments. In fact, this is the most competitive institution at the beginning of the imperial examination every year.
A large number of young students apply for the law examination of the Inspectorate, trying to become a 'censor' with a good income, a good reputation and, most importantly, a lot of actual power.
Becoming a censor is basically the only goal of all law students in the law schools in the Great Chu Empire. Only those legal talents who fail to pass the examination to become a censor will choose to go to the patrol department or the police department. Court of Justice.
Of course, some people choose to become lawyers for money, but generally they are tax lawyers. Other lawyers have average incomes, with the exception of tax lawyers...
The tax laws of the Dachu Empire are really awesome and complicated. Personal taxation is fine and relatively easy to deal with, but corporate taxation, especially large corporate taxation, is very difficult.
Those guys in the tax department have made a lot of messy things in order to collect taxes. If we really follow the tax department's method and pay taxes honestly, that would be really a lot...
Therefore, a tax lawyer who is familiar with tax legal provisions and can adopt some legal methods to avoid excessive taxes reflects his value.
Tax lawyers who are responsible for corporate tax work generally earn top-notch incomes.
Even government-run enterprises will hire tax lawyers... Government-run enterprises are the official's sons, but in order to avoid the situation of working hard for a year and finally working for the tax department, they have to hire tax lawyers to handle taxes. question.
This shows the strength of the tax department in the Dachu Empire!
In the Dachu Empire, you can't bypass the tax department no matter what you do!
Paying taxes will continue from your birth until your death. Even if you die, the coffins and other funeral supplies used will still contribute to the tax revenue of the Dachu Empire.
After all, the coffins are produced and sold by merchants who do not need to pay taxes. It seems that customers do not need to pay taxes, but the tax cost is already included in the purchase price.
Unless you really live in the deep mountains and old forests, and have no contact with the outside world for your whole life, even if you don't buy salt from outside... everything is self-sufficient.
Otherwise, you will always have to contribute to the tax revenue of the Dachu Empire. It is just a matter of more or less.
Because any commodity you buy or exchange from the outside world, whether it is salt or food, or clothing, various daily tools, etc., these things are tax-included!
The taxes of the Dachu Empire are everywhere!
(End of chapter)
