"One zhang is equal to ten chi, and one chi is equal to ten cun. Since the size is a fixed number, we take the length of three chi as the sum and set it as one meter. One meter is equal to ten decimeters, one decimeter is equal to ten centimeters, one centimeter is equal to ten millimeters, one millimeter is equal to ten silk meters, and one silk meter is equal to one hundred micrometers. Although silk meters and micrometers seem very small now and may not be used in many places, we should first determine it so that when it can be used in the future, we will have a basis to follow..."
On the morning of November 16, a newly made plaque was hung in a courtyard inside the Huanglong County Manufacturing Bureau. On the plaque were three large golden characters - "Scale Hall". In a room in the Scale Hall, Yan Liqiang, Qian Su, and a group of craftsmen from the Manufacturing Bureau carefully placed several newly made standard scales of the Manufacturing Bureau into the display cabinets of the Manufacturing Hall as the future standards for the scales of the Manufacturing Bureau.
The new scales are made of the most expensive meteorite iron alloy that the manufacturing bureau can find. They are strong, wear-resistant, and difficult to be damaged by swords. As long as those things are not thrown into the steel furnace for recycling, they will basically not be damaged.
Looking at those rulers of different lengths, metal cubes of different weights, and metal measuring cylinders that were full of metallic texture and heavy in his hands, Yan Liqiang was filled with a strange feeling. To some extent, he was now creating the history of this world.
Regarding the issue of weights and measures, he had talked with Zhang Yourong when he was in the Imperial Capital. Zhang Yourong's opinion was consistent with Yan Liqiang's, that is, the current measurement standards in this world have great defects, and this defect is extremely unfavorable to the development of the mechanism of investigating things. The simplest example is length. There are only five commonly used measurement standards in this world, namely, li, zhang, chi, cun, and fen. One li is equal to 150 zhang, one zhang is 10 chi, one chi is 10 cun, and one cun is 10 fen. The smallest unit of length is fen, and one fen is 3.333 millimeters. The size of things made by craftsmen can be defined most accurately in fen, but the minimum error of about 3 millimeters can be seen with the naked eye. It is nothing to manufacture many daily necessities, forge furniture, swords, armor, and build houses. Once it comes to the manufacture of more sophisticated instruments, the embarrassment and helplessness of using fen as the smallest measurement for length becomes apparent. The so-called precision lacks a more objective standard for measurement.
In view of this, Yan Liqiang introduced the set of length units he was familiar with into the Manufacturing Bureau in the past two days. He used the standard three feet to determine the base of one meter, and then extended it downward. When it extended to the concept of millimeters, Yan Liqiang actually invented a new length unit - decimeter, as a transition between millimeters and micrometers, making it easier for craftsmen to accept.
With this basic unit of length, the units of area and volume are determined in order. The area of a length and width of one centimeter is one square centimeter, and the volume of a length, width and height of one centimeter is one cubic centimeter. At the same time, one cubic centimeter is equal to one milliliter of capacity, and one cubic meter is 1000 liters...
With this volume and capacity, the four traditional measurement units used by the craftsmen in the manufacturing bureau before - hu, dou, sheng and he - pale in comparison to the new set of measurement units.
With the measurement of capacity and volume, Yan Liqiang redefined the unit of measurement of weight based on the weight of one liter of water at room temperature being 1 kilogram. 1 kilogram is equal to 1000 grams, and 1 gram is equal to 1000 milligrams.
Yan Liqiang was in the weighing instrument hall, holding the carefully made weighing instruments, and explaining to the craftsmen of the manufacturing bureau the relationship and connection between the various weights and measures.
Putting down the one-liter standard metal measuring vessel in his hand, Yan Liqiang picked up a round plate and pointed to the scale and text on the plate and said to everyone, "In addition to the scales mentioned above, there is another time measurement standard that needs to be mentioned. I know that everyone is used to using the twelve earthly branches of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai to determine the twelve hours of the day. Each hour is divided into eight quarters. But even if everyone can divide a quarter into two and a half quarters, this division is too crude. You must know that for a master, even half a quarter of a quarter can determine the life and death of a duel, or kill hundreds of people. This short half a quarter of an hour can give birth to countless life and death victories and defeats. As craftsmen, how can we be so crude? If we want to keep improving, we must refine the time. As craftsmen, we must have a belief in our hearts, that is, everything between heaven and earth can be measured..."
“Ahem, in fact, in addition to the hour and a half a moment, there are other ways to say time in our daily life. The shortest is actually a breath, and there is also a moment, a cup of tea, a stick of incense. These are all ways to measure the length of time…” an old craftsman coughed and added in the crowd.
"Very good. You just said that a breath, a moment, a cup of tea, and a stick of incense are all units to measure time. Then let me ask everyone, how long is a breath? One inhalation and one exhalation is a breath. How many breaths are there in a quarter of an hour?" Yan Liqiang asked with a smile.
"Well, I haven't counted, but probably... about two or three hundred times?"
"Okay, then suppose you breathe 200 times in 15 minutes, and you say 15 minutes is equal to 200 breaths, but do you think other people will agree with what you said? When you say 10 breaths, does that mean the length of 10 breaths is the same for different people?"
"This..." The old craftsman was speechless for a moment.
"Of course the answer is different, because for different people, the time of one breath is also different. Children and weak people have a short breath, they breathe quickly, and strong people have a long breath. Especially for many practitioners, their breath is equivalent to more than ten breaths of ordinary people. Not to mention too far away, just in this room, my breath is different from yours. Basically, many of you breathe more than six times, and I only breathe once, so the ten breaths you said are different from the ten breaths I said. You said that a quarter of an hour is equal to two hundred breaths, but for me, a quarter of an hour is only a few dozen breaths. Similarly, for a cup of tea, some people drink it for a long time, and some people drink it for a short time. The time of a cup of tea is also different for different people. The same is true for a stick of incense. Different incense sticks take different times to burn out. Therefore, in the measurement of time, there must be a more objective and accurate standard..."
"In the future, a day in the manufacturing bureau will still be composed of the twelve hours of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai. But each hour will be divided into two hours. For example, Zi hour can be divided into two hours, the upper Zi hour and the lower Zi hour. At the same time, one hour is equal to sixty minutes, which is equal to four ke. Each ke is equal to fifteen minutes, and each minute is equal to sixty seconds. How long is one second? It is roughly the length of time it takes us to say one, two, three, four at a slightly faster speed. You can try it with me. One, two, three, four is about one second. To be more precise, one second is the time it takes for a bird egg to fall from a five-meter-high branch. Now we don't have a tool that can accurately measure one second, but the fact that we don't have one now doesn't mean that we won't have one in the future. If anyone can make a timekeeping tool that uses seconds as the unit, I will reward him with 10,000 taels of silver..."
Ten thousand taels of silver? Yan Liqiang's words caused a commotion among the craftsmen, and many of them suddenly had their eyes light up...
"In the future, we must form rules in the manufacturing camp. When using measurements, everyone must use the units of the scales displayed in the scale hall as the standard. The length, weight, and size of the things to be made must be accurately described using these new scales. The time required for each process must be at least accurate to the minute. For example, when painting, the time interval between the second coat of paint and the first coat of paint must be accurate to the minute. Determine how many minutes is best, and don't just rely on experience. The size of many delicate tools and instruments must be accurate to millimeters or even decimeters. The weight of metal processing tools and instruments must be accurate to grams. The specific accuracy error is determined by your discussion!"
"Some people may not understand why I emphasize these things in the Manufacturing Bureau. Then let me tell you, in just these few days, our Manufacturing Bureau has received orders for more than 30 four-wheeled carriages, and 170,000 to 180,000 taels of silver have been deposited into the account. We collect the money first and then deliver the goods. Half of the silver is yours. This is just an order from Pingxi County, and there will be more orders in the future. The carriages we manufacture will definitely make people jealous, and there will definitely be imitations in the future. If you want to live a good life in the future and get large dividends every year, you must have excellent craftsmanship. We must have what others don't have, and we must be better than them in what others have. To achieve this, we must have the spirit of continuous improvement. What is continuous improvement? We have to use these things to measure it..." Yan Liqiang turned and pointed to the tools and standard scales displayed in the room.
"Don't worry, sir Inspector. We know what to do!" The craftsmen expressed their opinions one after another.
Seeing the craftsmen nodding and patting their chests, Yan Liqiang finally felt relieved. He turned to look at Qian Su and said, "Uncle Qian, I think the Manufacturing Bureau can take out 50,000 taels of silver from the money we have received in the past few days and distribute it to everyone. It can be regarded as a reward for everyone's hard work in the past few days, to encourage everyone, and let everyone experience firsthand what it means to distribute dividends based on shares. In the future, if the Manufacturing Bureau earns more, everyone will get more. The rules I set in the Manufacturing Bureau are unchangeable. Real money, rewards and punishments must be credible..."
"Okay, we can distribute it today and make everyone happy!" Qian Su nodded and said, understanding Yan Liqiang's intention.
In the afternoon, the silver distribution meeting began. Everyone in the manufacturing bureau, from craftsmen, foreman, to soldiers and laborers, was excited, because according to the shares, everyone in the entire manufacturing bureau, even the lowest-level laborers, had a share, and with this share they could get 14 taels and 6 cents of silver. The foreman and managers who had 30 shares each received almost 400 taels of silver. The most ordinary craftsmen and soldiers who had 3 shares each received more than 40 taels. Many people were so excited that they shed tears while holding the silver they had received.
Since Yan Liqiang came to the Manufacturing Bureau, the Manufacturing Bureau has changed dramatically in a short period of time. Once the 50,000 taels of real gold and silver were distributed, it was more effective than anything else. The morale of the entire Manufacturing Bureau was boiling like a volcano, and Yan Liqiang's lofty status in the minds of the people in the Manufacturing Bureau was established...
(End of this chapter)