The second Big Ben in Chang'an City was not installed in Guanshishan Academy, but was installed in the Daming Palace under Li Shimin's personal invitation.

This actually makes the start time of future court meetings more accurate.

Of course, it also allowed all officials of the court to witness the extraordinary features of Big Ben.

This is no less impressive than CCTV’s Biaowang commercial.

"Your Majesty, under the leadership of Kuan'er, Guanshishan Academy is very similar to his style. It has all kinds of fantastic ideas that people can't even imagine."

Empress Changsun followed Li Shimin to the city wall of Daming Palace and observed the Big Ben at close range, the only one in the Tang Dynasty.

"Yes, the meaning of this Big Ben is really extraordinary. They say things change rapidly, but now with this Big Ben, the time scale can reach seconds, which is equivalent to being able to grasp the time changes of every breath."

As an emperor throughout the ages, Li Shimin was naturally aware of the extraordinary nature of Big Ben.

All along, everyone has lived a life of working from sunrise to sunrise.

In a sense, everyone uses the rise and fall of the sun as a unit of time measurement.

Such accuracy is naturally open to question.

Especially on days when there is no sun.

"I heard that Kuan'er specifically requested the establishment of a Datang Royal Patent Office for this Big Ben. It seems that he has placed very high expectations on these things."

Although Empress Changsun is not involved in political affairs, it does not mean that she is ignorant of what is happening in the court.

"According to what he told me, he hopes to encourage everyone to invent more new things through the establishment of this patent office. Take the Big Ben as an example. The clock workshop of the Prince of Chu's Mansion recruited 500 people in one go.

Famous craftsmen are equivalent to giving five hundred ordinary households a fixed income, which is of great benefit to stabilizing the rule of the Tang Dynasty and improving the living standards of the people."

Li Shimin has now slowly accepted the view that the wealthier the people are, the more stable the Tang Dynasty will be.

It is said that those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes. Once everyone no longer worries about hunger, how many people are willing to follow others to kill their heads?

Therefore, it has a very different meaning to turn all barefoot people into people who wear shoes.

"I heard that the number of craftsmen in various workshops under the Chu Palace has exceeded 50,000. A large number of craftsmen in Chang'an, Dengzhou, and Liangzhou have become rich because of Kuan'er. But the price of this Big Ben should be very expensive, right?

, he has recruited so many people, what will he do if he can’t sell them out?”

"Although I don't know how Kuan'er plans to sell Big Ben, it is definitely not cheap. However, Guanyin, you still underestimate the number of wealthy people in the Tang Dynasty. In recent years, whether it is going to sea or building various workshops

, made nobles from all over the Tang Dynasty earn a lot of money. No matter how expensive this Big Ben is, there will be no shortage of people to buy it. After all, if you put this thing at home, it is not only very practical, but also

It’s a status symbol.”

Li Shimin is obviously very optimistic about the future of Big Ben.

To put it bluntly, if it weren't for the fact that the Big Ben seemed a bit big and was said to be very troublesome to build, he would have planned to install one in every palace in the Daming Palace.

"Your Majesty, I heard that Wang Fugui of the Prince of Chu's Mansion has announced that he will auction a batch of Big Ben clocks in the Treasures Pavilion before the Chinese New Year. His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu has also frequently visited watch workshops and watch research institutes in the past few days. Wei Chen estimates that

There will be new news coming out of Big Ben soon."

Li Zhong interrupted at the right time.

"Horology Research Institute?"

When Li Shimin heard about this organization for the first time, he felt a little strange.

"That's right, this Watch Research Institute is a newly established research institution under the Guanshishan Academy's Institute of Objects. It is said that His Royal Highness the King of Chu and Naxu Jingzong attach great importance to it and have arranged for a large number of students to study and research. And the institute is

The elder is Langqing who invented Big Ben."

Big Ben had made such a big noise, so Li Zhong naturally spent a lot of energy to understand it.

Fortunately, these efforts were not in vain.

"Lang Qing? Didn't it say that the Big Ben was invented by a student from Guanshishan Academy? Kuan'er directly appointed a student as the director of the Watch Research Institute? This support is quite strong!"

Li Shimin couldn't help but become somewhat interested in the student Lang Qing.

In the Tang Dynasty, it was not that easy to reach the sky in one step.

Li Zhong: "The support is indeed quite strong. It is said that even 5% of the clock and watch workshop was directly allocated to Langqing, and the various equipment purchased by the Prince of Chu just for this workshop is said to have exceeded

Two thousand guan, several new and strange pieces of equipment from the mechanical workshop, all sold to the clock and watch workshop."

"These are all okay, and they don't actually count much in total. But the profit from selling Big Ben in the future is a big number. If my estimate is good, the profit of this watch workshop in a year can at least reach 1

Ten thousand guan of money, or even more. This is equivalent to the amount of money that Langqing can receive every year, and this kind of money is available every year."

Li Shimin's internal funds have also become richer in recent years.

A small amount of money was no longer in his eyes, but he still felt that Li Kuan valued Lang Qing.

Kuan'er is really willing to spend thousands of gold to buy horse bones.

…

"Your Majesty, all of these devices are made of steel. The processing speed is too slow, and the scrap rate of parts is very high. As a result, the cost of each Big Ben is very high. Can we use part of the hardwood and brass?

Come and make it, in this case, the construction speed will be greatly accelerated."

In the watch workshop, Lang Qing and Li Kuan were reporting on the latest situation.

In the past few days, Lang Qing basically didn't get much rest. He spent every day in the watch workshop and watch research institute, in order to meet Li Kuan's goal of increasing the production of Big Ben to one thousand units per month.

.

According to the current speed, let alone a thousand units a month, we cannot produce a thousand units a year.

What limits the production speed of Big Ben is the processing speed of each part.

“Use hardwood and brass?”

Li Kuan thought about it in his mind and analyzed its feasibility.

"These parts are in operation all day long. If hardwood and brass are used, will they wear out quickly? In this way, the accuracy of the clock will be greatly affected, right?"

Processing hardwood and processing steel are definitely not that different in difficulty. Li Kuan is naturally aware of the benefits of changing materials.

However, it is meaningless if the accuracy of the clock drops significantly due to changing materials.

"There is definitely some influence, but we can choose harder wood such as rosewood, and then apply more whale oil for lubrication. And tell people who buy Big Ben that in addition to winding the clock regularly every day, the intervals

For ten days and eight days, some whale oil should be applied to Big Ben.

In this way, the accuracy of Big Ben can basically be guaranteed. As for the time, the difference of one minute, two minutes, or even five minutes and ten minutes does not actually affect the use of ordinary people.

Besides, the Watch and Clock Research Institute can do a special study to see how the accuracy of these Big Ben clocks changes during use. Later, we can use the results of these studies as an experience to inform the purchasing customers.

Let them readjust the time periodically."

Lang Qing and Li Kuan made the suggestion to change the materials, which was obviously something they had carefully considered.

As the inventor of Big Ben, he naturally knows what precision means and has thought up corresponding compensation plans.

"Your Majesty, I think Lang Qing's proposal is good. Even our Big Ben can set different prices according to different materials. If you want a Big Ben with higher precision, you need to pay more money.

If you want it to be cheaper, we can also provide cheaper options. This will allow more people to afford Big Ben."

Wang Fugui interjected from the side.

After working with Li Kuan for so many years, his business awareness is much stronger than before.

Obviously, if the Big Ben at Mingdemen were made according to the current price, even the cost price of a Big Ben would be more than 100 yuan.

The production speed is so slow, and if the Big Ben is not sold at several times the cost price, the watch workshop will not make much money in a year.

But selling a Big Ben for hundreds of dollars is actually not conducive to its large-scale promotion.

After all, according to Li Kuan's expectations for Big Ben, although he initially sold it as a luxury product, he hoped that Big Ben could enter thousands of households.

After all, this thing has a different meaning than crocodile bags and mirrors.

"Okay, then let's do it according to your idea. Wang Fugui, you and Lang Qing can discuss it together and see how many Big Ben models it would be more suitable for the watch workshop to launch."

Li Kuan thought for a while and finally agreed to the plan to replace the materials.

Let’s solve the existing problem first, and then solve the problem of improving accuracy.

After lathes and steam engines are developed, the processing of metal gears will not be so difficult, and the accuracy of clocks will naturally increase.

"No problem, Your Majesty. I have already thought about it. In addition to distinguishing the internal parts and materials, the outer shell can also fully reflect the difference in grade of Big Ben. Just like this dial, we can make it more expensive.

Add a glass cover to it. And the base of Big Ben, we can make it copper or even silver. If someone needs gold, it can also be made."

Wang Fugui is definitely not good at technology.

But he obviously has a lot of experience in selling goods.

"You can take care of this. But I have another request, a permanent request for the watch research institute and watch workshop."

As soon as Li Kuan said these words, Lang Qing and Wang Fugui stood up straight, ready to listen carefully.

"The first requirement is to make it smaller! If one day, this Big Ben can be the size of a fist, or even the size of a finger, then its use will be completely different. Each of us can carry a clock with us.

, you should have an idea of ​​how big the business opportunities are contained in this."

Hearing what Li Kuan said, Wang Fugui couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

Everyone has a clock. If it were to this extent, how many clocks would have to be produced?
To be continued...