Chapter 386 Selling
Some people are born to be the protagonist. Even if it is not their own play, they still have to find a way to grab the audience's attention.
Fatih is such a guy. After Frederick's speech, the expo officially started, and he held a signing ceremony on the stage.
He came early, and a lot of business was done while chatting and having fun with the businessmen. Today he just wanted to show off to others how rich he was and how much he bought more things than others.
The first person to come on stage to sign a contract with Fatih was Hoffman. He recently opened a new four-leaf clover armor factory, which has two brands in one set with the original four-leaf clover hinge factory. Team, today we signed a contract for three thousand sets of scale armor.
Next on the stage was a steel pipe factory. Fatih ordered from them 10,000 specially thickened water pipes with an inner diameter of 15mm and a length of 1.3m and five hundred specially thickened water pipes with an inner diameter of 100mm and a length of 1.5m, with rifling inside.
Frederick ignored this guy. Fatih said that he would have an in-depth discussion with him on political issues after the World Expo, and we would discuss anything at that time.
Today’s World Exposition is divided into vehicles, ships and accessories, large machinery, hardware tools, building materials, raw materials, daily consumer goods, handicrafts and gifts, jewelry, furniture, lamps, home accessories, clothing, shoes and hats, office and study There are a total of 16 exhibition areas including supplies, medicines, food and military supplies, with more than 600 large and small booths.
Frederick found the northern guests headed by Walcherei and Kosdorf from the very beginning and took them to the large machinery exhibition area by the lake.
Arrived at the destination, Kosdorf pointed to a machine and asked Frederick: "What is that big iron barrel used for?"
He had received news earlier that Frederick planned to import large quantities of ores, including iron ore, from the north.
Ore contains a lot of impurities. Naturally, the higher the purity, the better when transported over long distances. Those weird machines should be used for mineral processing.
Frederick pointed to several machines over there and said: "This is a set of iron ore beneficiation machines. The hammer here can smash the washed ore into particles smaller than a finger, and then Send it to the ball mill. "
The big iron bucket that Kausdorff pointed to just now is a ball mill. With the current industrial strength of Weisen State, the most mature mineral processing ball mill has a diameter of 0.6 meters and a length of 1.2 meters. Feeding and discharging materials can process 0.5 to 0.05 tons of ore per hour depending on the ore conditions.
After listening to the working principle of the ball mill, Kausdorff held several steel grinding balls of different sizes and marveled at them. He couldn't help but sigh: "When the machine rotates, the ore and the balls fall together, which is equivalent to having Countless hammers are pounding the ore, faster than hammer after hammer, and pounding extremely finely."
"Who has such a smart mind to come up with such a good idea."
The northern businessmen behind him nodded in agreement.
Frederick just smiled and didn't explain much. The excuse he used to make a ball mill was that he discovered it when he was using big rocks to hit small rocks when he was a child. After being embellished, it was included in the Chinese textbooks of primary schools.
He pointed to another piece of equipment next to him and said: "After preliminary screening of the ore powder, add water, and then pour it in from this spiral chute..."
The spiral chute here is just a sample, there is A floor-high sink with a steel wire frame and hard plastic installed on the iron frame, spiraling down layer by layer, like a rotating slide.
The ore powder is mixed with water to form a slurry and then poured into the water tank from above. When the ore slurry flows in the spiral water tank, the denser components are thrown to the outside due to centrifugal force. When the ore slurry flows to the bottom, the outer part of the particle density is larger and the inner part is smaller. , setting the diversion plate to separate the flow can obtain different ingredients.
“That’s it, that’s awesome!”
Kosdorf nodded repeatedly, as if he understood.
After the spiral chute is the grinding bed, which further refines the roughed ore.
There is no way to demonstrate on site, but samples of the ore processed in different steps are prepared on the side, as well as a complete set of instruments for measuring the quality of the ore using the slime acid extracted from the acid slime that can dissolve the female knight's armor.
This set is enough for this era.
Frederick said to Kausdorff: "The higher the quality of the ore, the more valuable it is. A ship of carefully selected ore will make twice as much money as the ore."
Kosdorff himself The king himself is the largest landowner in the Kingdom of Sverriers. There are many mines in the territory. After receiving a piece of information, he said: "This is not bad. I will order thirty sets first."
He has a plan. , to monopolize the ore selection industry at home and in the eastern North Sea to raise funds for the upcoming war.
"Duke Wesson, I want fifty sets."
A rich man suddenly appeared among the crowd. He was wearing a navy blue silk robe that was somewhat waist-slim and had gold embroidery on the collar.
The most eye-catching thing is the unfolded wings embroidered on his chest, which is a unique symbol of the uniform of the Piast Kingdom's Hussars.
"Your Majesty the Duke, we meet again."
He bowed deeply to Frederick, appearing very respectful.
"His Royal Highness Casimir?" Frederick had already learned from intelligence that Casimir, the crown prince of the Piast Kingdom who was defeated by him at the Elbe River, was also here, but he kept a low profile and negotiated They are all agents.
As the saying goes
holding an expo to entertain sixteen parties,
everyone who comes is a guest, and they smile when they meet.
Frederick said with a smile: "Okay, it's better to buy more." Casimir breathed a sigh of relief, worried that Frederick would not sell anything to him because of the war that year.
The Piast Kingdom has plains and mines. In addition to mining equipment, they also import large quantities of fertilizers, agricultural tools, and improved seeds.
Casimir has sidelined his father and queen to carry out reforms in the country over the years, which has offended the interests of many people. Advanced agricultural production tools are needed to win over small landowners. If they are banned, it will be very troublesome.
Frederick was happy for others to buy more mineral processing equipment. Importing the concentrated mineral sand himself could save a lot of trouble, and maybe it could also promote the export of snakeskin bags.
"Ahem..."
Frederick suddenly coughed twice, and the tense atmosphere between Kosdorf and Casimir instantly disappeared.
The Kingdom of Sverrier and the Kingdom of Piast look north to south across the North Sea. In recent years, when Kosdorf sent troops pretending to be pirates to go south for reconnaissance and plunder, they often invaded the coast of the Kingdom of Piast, and even went upstream.
Casimir did not show weakness, and the Piast Kingdom also sent pirates it supported northward to retaliate.
Frederick ignored them and left after saying something. Next, he had to sell river boats to little Louis.
Waltieri was hesitating whether to follow or not. Casimir whispered to her in a paternalistic voice: "Follow, what are you doing?"
Felt Lie was at the lake not far away. There were several paddle boats of different sizes parked here, and people were being let out in batches to visit.
Now the shipyard has launched two basic ship models, with a load capacity of 50 tons and 100 tons respectively. The width is 5.5 meters, the length is 30 to 40 meters, and the draft is about one meter. The steam engine and paddle wheel are located at the stern of the ship. Both are available in passenger and cargo models.
Passenger transport models are enclosed and directly copied from train carriages, with soft and hard seats, soft and hard sleepers, as well as kitchens and instant noodles.
The cost of the wooden hulls of these ships is not high, the hull of a 100-ton cargo ship is about 20 florins, and the cost of a 100-horsepower steam engine has dropped to 70 florins.
Little Louis saw Frederick coming over on the terrace on the top of the passenger ship, and was thinking about how to get him to lower the price. 200 florins should be enough for one, and the current three-masted large-scale ship would be enough. Just over a hundred florins.
There are many rivers in the Kingdom of Gaul, and water transportation is quite developed. The plain area of the country is located in the north. Next, we will use troops in the south. If we can buy one or two hundred ships back, the transportation of materials will definitely be much more convenient.
"No." Frederick shook his head helplessly, "260 florins is already the lowest price. If you lower the price any more, you will lose money."
Just kidding, if the price is lowered, where will I get the money to build an offshore building? Transport fleet and navy.
Frederick continued: "A ship of this size usually requires 10 oarsmen, but now they are omitted, and it is 50 gold florins a year."
" The boats in the past didn’t run so fast, especially when going upstream. What used to be one trip can now be done twice.”
“Also, they used to use rowers. You have to sleep at night, but now the machine does not need to sleep. If you find two more people to work on shifts, it is equivalent to running four times instead of one trip before. ”
"Look, if you calculate this way, you can get your money back in two or three years. It will be pure profit in the future!"
At this moment, he looked like a scammer running a takeaway, completely ignoring maintenance and not receiving the goods. The problem of window time.
Little Louis was deceived. He and the nobles who traveled with him only understood the macro data of water transportation, but did not understand the specific operation of the integration. They regarded the boats on the river as workers on the assembly line.
“Let’s make it cheaper.” He tried his last struggle, “I’ll place an order for two hundred ships.”
Frederick gritted his teeth and reluctantly lowered the price to 250 florins. , this is still the friendship price with him, others cannot get it.
He is not afraid that the ship will not be sold, because the efficiency of the ship is too high, and the core technology of the steam engine is still in his own hands and not available elsewhere.
It’s not that no one has thought about imitating steam engines. There are many people who plan to reverse engineer them. However, the export of various machine tools in Wesson is prohibited. The success rate of hand-made cylinders and pistons alone is less than 100%. one part.
Not to mention the pits dug by the guys at the steam engine factory. For example, the bolts on the top cover are all high-strength elemental steel. Bolts of the same size made by others using ordinary steel cannot withstand the pressure in the boiler. One experiment and that was it.
A few people have made a fake one, but the power, efficiency, volume and cost are far inferior to the Wesson product. It’s okay to use it in your own mill. If others want to buy it, it’s faster to go directly to Wesson State to buy it. Cheaper.
And now the propeller boats are about to set sail. Use paddle boats to harvest a wave first to build your own fleet, and then you can harvest again.
Little Louis could only grit his teeth and admit it. There was no other way. When the imitation steam engine of the Royal Mages of the Kingdom of Gaul exploded, the cover flew hundreds of meters away. Four of the mages in charge were killed and three were injured. A knight watching the gate was frightened. .
With a kind smile on his face, Frederick said goodbye to little Louis who was going to buy a steam engine. It was expected that the order for inland river steamships would exceed one thousand, and this was just the beginning.
He got off the boat and wanted to take a walk around.
(End of this chapter)