Chapter 655: Rubber Outlook

"To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools; these lathes are the tools. With a complete range of lathes, manufacturing all kinds of machinery will be done with ease."

Zhao Xu nodded with satisfaction.

The lathes he provided to Wang Chong were all mature lathes from before the mid-19th century.

For example, the horizontal milling machine that appeared in 1817.

Compared to the knife rest lathe used for drilling workpieces, the horizontal milling machine can cut on the surface of a workpiece, carving like a chisel; it can be used to manufacture gears, threaded grooves, and other accessories that require grooves.

There is also the gantry planer that appeared in 1837; as the name suggests, a planer is like a carpenter's plane used to plane flat and inclined surfaces on wood.

A planer is a lathe used to plane smooth, flat surfaces on metal, and it can also be used to manufacture T-slots and other flat grooves.

Besides these, there is the hexagonal turret lathe that appeared in 1845.

This type of lathe looks like a hat fixed to a bench; different cutting tools can be mounted on the six corners of the hat, which can be used to manufacture parts such as nuts, sleeves, and shafts.

As for the boring machine, drilling machine, grinding machine, and forging machine, the corresponding technology in Yanzhou had long since matured.

However, he still requested that Wang Chong make some improvements to them to make them more suitable for steam power.

With this, Yanzhou basically possessed all types of lathes from the steam age.

Developing further, the requirement for lathes would be an increase in precision, but this requires more stable power, such as electricity.

Generally speaking, steam engines are still relatively prone to unstable rotational speeds.

Then, his gaze rested on the belt connecting the two pulleys, and he frowned.

For a steam engine to drive a lathe to rotate, it must link its own pulley with the lathe's pulley.

Therefore, a sturdy belt is definitely needed between the pulleys to pull them.

In the current Western Lands, this type of belt is made of rubber.

Since Yanzhou lacks this raw material, Zhao Xu could only have Wang Chong and the others use cowhide as a substitute.

After all, cowhide is very wear-resistant and sufficiently strong; multi-layered cowhide stitched together can completely replace rubber belts.

It is just that this has caused the price of cowhide in the Yanzhou market to skyrocket.

"Rubber." Zhao Xu softly spat out the two words; this is a problem that must be solved.

The rubber plantations in South America are controlled by Xitu Guo, and with stable relations between the two sides, he can still obtain rubber through trade.

But if the relationship between the two sides deteriorates, I fear the only way to obtain rubber resources will be through war.

Of course, according to the data in his mind, there is a plant called rubber grass in the Western Regions that can also be used to extract rubber, but it is currently controlled by the Northern Di, and he cannot obtain it in the short term.

It is precisely because of these considerations that he sent Zhou Yi to rescue Fei Wen.

Because the Frankish Kingdom is one of the most important colonizers of South America in this world.

Currently maintaining relations with the Frankish Kingdom is beneficial for him to obtain rubber tree seeds from South America.

Moreover, there is a very important point: after the 18th century,

The Frankish Kingdom did not participate in the invasion of the Qing Dynasty.

Because during this period, the Frankish Kingdom was also suffering from the aggression of an emerging great power, the Sam Country.

The Sam Country successively seized the Philippines and numerous South American colonies from the hands of the Frankish Kingdom.

It can be described as very miserable.

This situation seems to be repeating itself in this world.

According to Fei Wen's exposition on the current international situation under the last question of the questionnaire.

One year ago, the Sam Country issued the Cain Declaration, opposing other Xitu Guo from seizing colonies in the Americas.

In fact, they just want to turn the Americas into their own backyard and occupy it for themselves.

This is aimed at the Frankish Kingdom.

Although the Sam Country currently does not rank high among the Xitu Guo, it is indeed more than enough to suppress the declining Frankish Kingdom.

In the future, the relationship between the Frankish Kingdom and the Sam Country will become increasingly worse.

Besides the Sam Country, Britain, Frank, and other countries are also squeezing the living space of the Frankish Kingdom.

Two hundred years ago, the Frankish Kingdom annexed the Kingdom of Putani.

But decades ago, they supported the independence war of the Kingdom of Putani, causing it to become independent from the Frankish Kingdom.

And this prompted the Frankish Kingdom to join the Holy Alliance established by the Ross Kingdom.

It can be seen that it has basically become a punching bag in the Western Lands.

Of course, Zhao Xu does not sympathize with the Frankish Kingdom at all.

Because before Britain became the maritime hegemon, the Frankish Kingdom was the hegemon on the ocean; it is precisely because of this that it was able to obtain so many colonies in South America and Dongtu.

The conflict between them is nothing more than a rising young lion challenging an aging old lion king.

Furthermore, the Frankish Kingdom is a colonizer to both the New Continent of South America and Dongtu.

It has also committed countless crimes.

His seeking to establish contact with the Frankish Kingdom is still based on interest considerations, in order to achieve his own rubber strategy.

After pondering the rubber problem for a while, Zhao Xu said to Wang Chong: "Besides the transmission belt, the only remaining difficulty is the cutting tools, right?"

Wang Chong nodded, "If we can replace high carbon steel cutting tools with tungsten steel alloy cutting tools, the efficiency of the lathes will increase by a large margin."

"This King will go to Qu Sheng's place right now and urge him for you." Hearing this, Zhao Xu patted Wang Chong on the shoulder again.

Leaving the steam engine Workshop, under the protection of Xu Lie, he went straight to the Technology Academy.

Finding Qu Sheng, he directly inquired about the problem of smelting tungsten ore.

"His Highness has come at just the right time; this subject was just about to go find His Highness to report on this matter." Qu Sheng smiled.

Then, he led Zhao Xu to a Laboratory, pointed to a Glass Bottle, and said: "Your Highness, this is the tungsten powder that was just smelted."

Zhao Xu looked at the black, powder-like substance in the Glass Bottle and could not help but feel a surge of excitement.

Qu Sheng continued to explain from the side, "This subject adopted the method of mixing carbon powder with tungsten ore powder and heating it to extract this tungsten powder."

"If Your Highness agrees, I shall order the students to recruit a group of craftsmen to be specifically responsible for smelting Tungsten Powder in the smelting workshop."

During this period, he had been busy with the matter of Yellow Gunpowder, and the matter of Tungsten Powder had only just begun these past two days.

Zhao Xu nodded, indicating his agreement.

After humans discovered Tungsten Ore, the most primitive method for extracting tungsten was to directly employ carbon powder reduction.

Although this would cause waste of Tungsten Ore, it was the cheapest and easiest method to implement.

As technology advances in the future, it can be improved slowly.

Having confirmed the matter of Tungsten Powder smelting, Zhao Xu instructed Qu Sheng that once Tungsten Powder was mass-produced, it should be delivered directly to the Steel Workshop to produce Tungsten Steel.

Immediately after, he returned to the Prince's Mansion, called Liu Fu over, and spoke to him about the matter of universal education.

"The Imperial Court must establish a specialized agency to be responsible for education in Yanzhou; this agency shall be called the Education Department, and once the Education Department is established, it must immediately begin addressing the education problem in Yanzhou from three aspects."

"First, build Public Schools in every prefecture and county; in the countryside further away from county seats, the scale can be smaller, but there must still be Public Schools to provide a place for rural children to enroll."

"Second, establish a Teacher Academy to specifically train teachers for the Public Schools."

"Third, divide the Public Schools into seven levels and implement free public education."

"Free!"

Originally, because of the matter of universal education, Liu Fu still had a smile on his face.

Upon hearing this, he was suddenly startled.