Chapter 431 Steam Engine
On the first day he came to the Railway Department of the Ministry of Industry to observe the administration, Tang Xianzu knew what clerical hell was.
It’s not that Lu Gang, the chief railway officer, is not good at paperwork as he said, it’s that he doesn’t do any paperwork at all!
Since the establishment of the Railway Department, all paperwork has not been done, a large number of official documents have not been processed, the department's system has not been established, and the management of the entire department is in chaos.
Such a railway department, not to mention jointly issuing documents with other departments, even failed to straighten out its own internal affairs.
Tang Xianzu could only bite the bullet and start processing these mountains of official documents.
Lu Gang was right, the Railway Department was indeed a newly established department.
Although it is a newly established department, the support given by the Metropolitan Government and the Cabinet to the Railway Department is quite astonishing.
As soon as the Railway Department was established, the cabinet transferred fifty experienced craftsmen from government-run iron factories, mines and other departments and assigned them to the Railway Department as technical backbones at all levels. It even allocated a steel plant to the Railway Department. , specializing in the production of rails and track carriages.
The cabinet also selected experienced officials from the Cao Branch responsible for road construction in various local governments, and also transferred them to the Railway Department to serve as officials, responsible for road construction and rail laying.
Although the Railway Department is a newly established department, it has sufficient personnel.
Even looking at the number of officials alone, the Railway Department is not necessarily inferior to the Construction Department, which is now the largest department in the Ministry of Industry.
The Railway Department not only has a large number of people, but also has sufficient funds.
The Southeast Cabinet has allocated a large budget for the Xuzhou Railway, which is under construction. Lu Gang is even preparing to build a new steel plant near Xuzhou to be responsible for the rails needed for the Xuzhou Railway.
Too arrogant!
It seems that Gu Xiancheng's news is indeed correct. The Railway Department of the Ministry of Industry is a department with great potential!
However, Lu Gang, as an official with a technical background, did not pay much attention to administrative work and did not know any administrative talents. Therefore, when the railway department needed people, they transferred only craftsmen and technicians and no one at all. to handle the administrative affairs of the department.
Tang Xianzu was finally here, so naturally he couldn't let it go. Lu Gang immediately "entrusted an important task" to this young Guanzheng Jinshi.
However, Tang Xianzu quickly showed his ability after a brief period of confusion.
The framework of the Railway Department was established, various systems were compiled, and official exchanges with other departments became normal. It took Tang Xianzu less than half a month to straighten out all the government affairs of the Railway Department.
Lu Gang was even more overjoyed. He bluntly said that he had found a treasure, and immediately added more burdens to Tang Xianzu. In Lu Gang's words, being so busy was Tang Xianzu's "blessing". This was not something he could train in other departments. A valuable experience!
While other Guanzheng Jinshi were still getting familiar with their own yamen, getting acquainted with their colleagues and observing their daily work, Tang Xianzu had already begun to represent the Railway Department in various major yamen in the seven departments, five temples and two prisons, holding various official documents, regulations and The chief officials at all levels in these departments have accumulated rich "administrative work experience" by fighting each other.
However, Lu Gang did not let his subordinates enjoy the blessings. The chief director of the Railway Department was even busier than Tang Xianzu. He was busy in the workshops and experimental fields under the Railway Department every day, and he also traveled from time to time for field inspections. He enjoyed more "blessings" than Tang Xianzu.
His boss was such a workaholic, so Tang Xianzu could only grit his teeth and continue working.
Amidst such busyness, Tang Xianzu finally ushered in his first holiday after observing politics.
Tang Xianzu, who went out early and came back late every day, enjoying the "good fortune" at the Railway Department, just wanted to sleep in the dormitory for a good day, but he didn't expect that not long after the sun rose, someone came knocking on the door.
Considering that the treatment of ninth-grade officials is not very good, Southeast provides dormitories to Guanzheng Jinshi.
However, given the stingy character of Grand Governor Su Ze, the dormitory assigned was only located closer to the Seventh Cabinet Department, and the accommodation environment was not very good. Basically, it was a large courtyard with three or four households living together.
Even the convenient transportation to Shangya was not an advantage for Tang Xianzu, because the railway department where he worked was outside the city!
Because it was inconvenient to travel, Tang Xianzu did not live in a dormitory in the city most of the time, but directly set up a bed in the government office to sleep.
Tang Xianzu yawned loudly and came to the door with messy hair. When he opened the door, he saw Gu Xiancheng dressed as a noble prince.
Seeing Tang Xianzu's appearance, Gu Xiancheng was also startled. He asked with concern: "Brother Tang, are you sick?" The
sleepy Tang Xianzu became angry when he saw Gu Xiancheng. If he hadn't suggested that he choose How could the Railway Department of the Ministry of Industry enjoy such a "blessing" from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. every day?
Seeing Tang Xianzu's bad expression, Gu Xiancheng became even more worried. He added:
"I know a man who was assigned to the Medical Administration Department in the same year. Why don't you ask him to introduce you to a good doctor?"
Tang Xianzu saw Gu Xiancheng's concerned look, and the anger that had just risen disappeared.
Gu Xiancheng just made a suggestion, and he chose to go to the Railway Department of the Ministry of Industry. Moreover, Tang Xianzu felt very fulfilled during this period of work, and he really had no reason to blame the other party.
After the anger subsided, Tang Xianzu said: "It's okay, I'm just too tired these days."
After that, Tang Xianzu said: "Brother Gu, did you come early in the morning?"
Gu Xiancheng unfolded the folding fan and said, "I have wanted to invite Brother Tang for a night out several times. Jinling, but Brother Tang is not in the dormitory. We arrived in Xiumu today. Several of us who are the same year have made an appointment to go out of the city for an outing. I wonder if Brother Tang is willing to go together? "
Out of the city for an outing? These days, Tang Xianzu works outside the city every day, and he doesn't think there is any good scenery outside Nanjing.
But seeing Gu Xiancheng's enthusiastic look, he was born with an unusual affinity, and Tang Xianzu couldn't refuse.
He thought for a while and said, "Brother Gu, please wait while I wash up." "
No hurry, no hurry, I'm going to invite a few other people in the same year, all of whom are Jinshi in the same department. Maybe I can help you in the future. You should get closer and closer."
Tang Xianzu was pulled by him to change his clothes, and together they came to the public carriage station in front of Hubu Street.
Gu Xiancheng is worthy of being an observer of politics in the Literary Selection Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and his ability to make friends is indeed great.
Gu Xiancheng recruited more than twenty people this time, all of whom were this year's first-class Jinshi.
Naturally, Guanzheng Jinshi could not afford a private carriage, but now the transportation in Nanjing is very developed, and public carriages are provided to facilitate residents' travel.
The group of people arrived at the station in front of Hube Street. Today is a day for rest, and now it is a beautiful spring time. The station is already crowded with passengers waiting to take the bus.
Seeing the crowd of people, Gu Xiancheng immediately said:
"I don't know how long we have to wait for the public carriage. How about we pool our money and get a few private carriages. It will be more convenient for travel. What do you think?" When everyone saw so many
passengers queuing up, They all nodded in agreement with Gu Xiancheng's proposal. There were many private carriages near the bus station on Hube Street. Seeing this group of young people in brocade clothes gathering together, a clever coachman came up to talk to him after a while:
"Do you want to charter a carriage?"
Gu Xiancheng stepped forward and said, "How many carriages do you have? We are traveling together."
The coachman immediately said, "If you gentlemen do not mind the crowding, each carriage can seat five to six people. I also have a few fellow countrymen, you gentlemen, you can hire them to travel together."
Gu Xiancheng looked at the driver's carriage, which looked cleaner than the public carriage. The wooden carriage also had a peace charm of "safe entry and exit" attached to it. The horses were also well raised, so he nodded and said, "Then let some of your fellow countrymen come over and let's discuss the price of chartering the car." The
coachman called a few more companions, and Gu Xiancheng came forward to negotiate the price, and everyone rushed forward. , took a carriage and headed out of the city.
Although the price of a chartered carriage is more expensive than a public carriage, the carriage is equipped with shock-absorbing springs, making it much more comfortable to ride.
Tang Xianzu was short in stature and felt a little stuffy when crowded in the car, so he took the initiative to sit in the front passenger seat outside the car.
The carriage moved very slowly in the city, and Tang Xianzu chatted with the coachman.
"Handle style, where are you from?"
The coachman grinned and said, "My hometown is in Shandong. The Ming Dynasty burned down my fields and houses and fled south to here." After hearing what happened to the
coachman, Tang Xianzu was a little sympathetic, but the coachman said:
"But I have lived a good life after leaving my hometown, but my father and mother can't see it anymore."
Tang Xianzu didn't know how to comfort him, so he changed the topic and asked:
"This car Did you buy it yourself?"
The coachman said,
"How could I afford such a good carriage? It was rented."
"Rented?"
"Yes, it was rented to us by the Governor. The rent is very low. And as long as I save enough money in two years, I can buy this carriage and maybe pass it on to my son by then!" Listening to the coachman looking forward to the future,
Tang Xianzu also smiled and asked again Said:
"You said it was the car rented to you by the Grand Governor?"
The coachman nodded and said: "Yes, at that time, there were just private carriages for rent, and no one else dared to rent them. I did a handlebar style in my hometown, and I gritted my teeth and used all the carriages. I paid a deposit and rented this carriage." "
At that time, everyone said that the rent was high, but now I see that the Governor is a kind man. After paying the rent every month, I can still make a lot of money. This is how much I spent to marry my wife. I saved it after driving for a month."
"I heard that all the public carriages have been rented out, and there are also big businessmen who buy their own carriages and rent them to others, but the rent is so high that you can't save much money after a month of hard work. "
Tang Xianzu smiled and said, "Then you've caught up with the good times."
"Isn't that right? Last time, a fellow villager offered me a big price to rent my car, but I didn't even agree!"
Tang Xianzu looked at the traffic on the road. The tourists weaving saw the smiles on the faces of ordinary people and couldn't help but want to record them.
Otherwise, should we really listen to the Governor? Try writing an opera?
At the same time, in the workshop in the Governor's Mansion, Tang Xianzu's immediate boss Lu Gang was not on vacation and was accompanying Su Ze to assemble a new steam engine.
After this period of hard work, Su Ze finally reached level 10 of [Machining].
[Skill 'Machining' breaks through level 10, please choose the passive skill! 】
【Skill 'Machining' breaks through Level 10, gains one free point, remaining free points: 1]
Three blue rays of light flashed in front of Su Ze's eyes.
Three blue rays of light? It seems that I have not had good luck recently, and I only got the L10 guarantee.
[Blue Passive - Fine Work: When processing fine parts, the machining skill will be +2, and the relevant blueprint - bearings will be obtained. ]
[Blue Passive - Piston Movement: When processing pipes and cylinders, machining skills +1, strength +1, and related blueprints - piston. ]
[Blue Passive - Big is good, good is big: When processing large parts such as special-shaped parts and special-shaped parts, the machining skill will be +2 and the relevant blueprint - stamping machine will be obtained. ]
Su Ze suspected that the second skill was driving, but he decisively chose the second skill for the sake of the steam engine.
But this blue passive is not the most critical. The most critical thing is that the knowledge about steam engines comes to his mind.
Su Ze immediately understood what was wrong with his prototype steam engine.
It is also caused by the steam engine's insufficient utilization efficiency of steam.
The problem Su Ze encountered was the same as when Watt improved the Newcomen steam engine. Every time the cylinder was heated and work was done once, it had to be cooled with cold water before it could do the second work.
This is inefficient and wastes a lot of heat energy.
Su Ze also followed Watt's idea of separating the condenser and the cylinder that performs work, so that the cylinder can maintain heat and reduce the loss of heat energy.
Today is the day for testing this new steam engine.
At the same time, in the steam engine workshop invested by the second son, Lin An watched Ren Fu, whose face was stained with oil, screwing on the last pipe of the new generation steam engine.
In Nanjing and Hangzhou, the vigorous steam came out of the pipes, not only pushing the pistons, but also pushing forward a new era.
(End of chapter)