OBS Chapter 868 Old Deng isn't just good at swearing.
Chapter 868 Old Deng isn't just good at swearing.
It must be admitted that the Ming Dynasty, which had only been established for a few years, still had a very rough and unruly atmosphere in its court.
Whether it was Zhu Chongba, that old scoundrel, or Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, and a bunch of other old scoundrels, they were all utterly despicable in their conduct.
Why are they called hammers?
Because in their view, everything that needs to be done is like a nail.
When dealing with nails, just hammer them in once.
If one blow doesn't work, then two blows will.
Just like now.
Li Shanchang only thought that steam engines needed iron ore and coal mines, and then he thought of sending a fleet to sea to occupy territory.
He couldn't even be bothered to come up with a plausible excuse.
While Yang Shaofeng was internally ranting, he led Li Shanchang and the other officials on a tour of Dengzhou University.
"This is the School of Mechanical Engineering."
"Strictly speaking, the School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Physics are almost inseparable."
"Many of the research projects conducted by the School of Mechanical Engineering rely on the support of the School of Physics."
"The School of Physics also has many ideas that need the support of the School of Mechanical Engineering or other schools to be tested."
"Such as this."
Yang Shaofeng smiled and stroked a clock, saying, "This clock was made based on Guo Shoujing's Daming Hall water clock."
"We removed the complex decorations such as wooden figures, musical instruments, and mythical beasts, keeping only the core functions, and then reduced the size."
"You only need to wind it up once a day to see the time accurately, without the need for cumbersome timekeeping devices such as hourglasses and sundials."
"This involves a whole host of technologies, such as spring-loaded energy storage, gear transmission, and balance wheel vibration."
"For example, this clock hand, each revolution is six hours, and after two revolutions, it is a complete twelve-hour period."
"This hand, which is slightly longer than the hour hand, is the minute hand. Each revolution of the minute hand marks half an hour."
"This small iron lump that swings from side to side is the balance wheel. Every sixty swings from side to side is one minute of time."
"Aside from the two obvious drawbacks of having to wind it up every day and not being very easy to move, almost everything else is an advantage."
Li Shanchang hummed in agreement, examined it carefully, and then asked, "Can it be shrunk a little more?"
Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback and asked, "How small?"
Li Shanchang held up his wrist and said, "It's about this size. It can be worn on the wrist or hung around the neck. Basically, it's something you can carry with you. Is that okay?"
Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but gasp, trying to alleviate the power of the Little Ice River.
That old bastard really dares to think and speak!
Yang Shaofeng said with a dark face, "This half-person-high clock is the largest size that can be made at present."
"If it's any smaller, the amplitude of the balance wheel between the two clocks cannot be guaranteed to be completely consistent."
"As for the messy academic knowledge involved, I don't understand it and have no good solutions."
Li Shanchang frowned slightly and asked doubtfully, "According to the standardization that the Prince Consort has mentioned countless times before, as long as the dimensions of each part are completely consistent, the final clocks will definitely be exactly the same. It seems that there is no such thing as inconsistent balance wheel amplitude?"
Yang Shaofeng's face immediately darkened.
This old scoundrel seems to know a little about standardization.
But they don't know much about it.
"No matter how skilled the master craftsman is, and no matter what method he uses, the final product will always have some errors."
Yang Shaofeng said irritably, "The smaller the parts are made, the more obvious the error will be."
"Although it is not visible to the naked eye, and not even visible with calipers."
"But once all the parts are assembled, this error will be magnified infinitely, leading to all sorts of problems."
"If we follow Li Xiang's suggestion and shrink clocks to a size that can be carried around, then a hundred clocks could possibly have dozens of different time changes."
Yang Shaofeng reached out and patted the clock next to him, which was about half a person tall: "This one, out of a hundred, can have more than a dozen different time changes."
"You won't see anything in a day or two, but it will become obvious over time."
"In short, the more precise something is, the more difficult it is to work with, and the more precise something is, the less room there is for error."
After a slight pause, Yang Shaofeng added, "Of course, they are already thinking about how to shrink this thing. The smallest one is about the size of a one-month-old baby."
"Once I've accumulated enough experience, I might be able to make one that's about half a foot long."
"Who knows, one day they might come up with something that can be worn on the wrist or around the neck."
Li Shanchang leaned closer to Yang Shaofeng and whispered, "Let's spare no expense and manpower to make two, one large and one small, that can be worn on the wrist."
"The style must be attractive."
"The timing must be accurate."
"At the very least, these two must be completely identical."
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Li Shanchang, who continued, "One is for the superior, and the other is for the superior to give to the Empress."
"After all, Dengzhou University needs money for everything."
"This is a great opportunity to ask your superiors for money; you can't miss it."
Li Shanchang pulled Yang Shaofeng aside and whispered a secret plot, while Zhu Biao, standing beside him, turned pale.
Korean public!
Your voice is a bit too loud!
Besides, why shouldn't we make three, give one to me, and let me give the other two to my father and mother?
Yang Shaofeng chuckled dryly, and like Li Shanchang, lowered his voice and said, "This thing can't be given away!"
"No matter who it is, they have to pay for it themselves; it absolutely cannot be given away as a gift."
"A clock, a timepiece, you can give these things away for free?"
"So even with my in-laws, I have to pay for it myself."
A layer of cold sweat immediately appeared on Li Shanchang's forehead.
A clock, that's definitely not something you should give as a gift.
And what Yang the madman said is right...right?
That's a load of rubbish!
Li Shanchang said with a dark face, "What you wear on your wrist is called a wristwatch or watch, and what you carry on your person is called a pocket watch. What do these two things have to do with clocks and watches?"
"You just want to rise in rank and for the Empress to pay for it herself, so you can sell it at a high price."
"Such a small scheme of yours, you can't even hide it from this old man, do you think you can hide it from the Emperor and the Empress?"
After complaining about Yang Shaofeng for a while, Li Shanchang lowered his voice again and said, "Listen to me—first, have the craftsmen figure out how to make wristwatches and pocket watches, and while they're at it, have them think about the style of the clothes."
"A watch, if you don't show it, how will anyone know what you're wearing?"
"Once the clothes are almost finished, the watch should be almost done too."
"Then you can have Princess Funing and Princess Fuyang present the clothes, wristwatches, and pocket watches to the Emperor and the Empress in the name of the people of Ningyang County or Dengzhou University."
"If the ruler is willing to mistreat you, how can he have the nerve to mistreat the people?"
"This is a great opportunity for you to benefit the people of Ningyang County and Dengzhou University."
"At most, I'll just get a few scoldings."
Yang Shaofeng had been nodding repeatedly.
Upon hearing the last sentence, he looked at Li Shanchang with a completely bewildered expression.
Excuse me, what do you mean by "at most, I'll just get a few scoldings"?
So you're saying that as long as it's not you, you old scoundrel, who gets scolded, I don't care how I get scolded, right?
No.
Let's not even talk about whether my skin is actually that thick.
The key point is that Old Deng isn't just good at swearing.
He sometimes kicks people!