Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 389 Assembly Line Operations

The Ministry of Industry set up a special workshop at a dock on the Yongding River.

The warships of the Southeast were manufactured here.

In early June of the fourteenth year of the Hongzhi reign, Chen Ce got up early and the vegetable garden in the front yard began to yield a harvest.

In the past two years, Chen Ce has gained a lot of things here and there, but most of them are knowledge books, so I won’t list them in detail.

But an accident happened today.

[You have obtained the manufacturing blueprint of the Red Cannon]

The firearms technology of the Ming Dynasty was already very advanced, and artillery had been developed long ago. Although the Red Cannon was not a particularly advanced invention, it at least had more advantages than the existing artillery of the Ming Dynasty.

Chen Ce put the drawings back into the study, then put on his clothes and walked towards the Yongding River Shipyard.

He is now serving as a supervisor. During this period, the Ministry of Industry's Du Shui Bureau has been purchasing large quantities of teak and various splicing materials for the manufacture of the hull, but Chen Ce did not go to supervise the work.

Today the workshop officially began the construction and manufacturing of ships, so Chen Ce planned to go to the workshop to take a look.

When he arrived at the workshop, officials from the Ministry of Works and the Water Conservancy Bureau were busy directing the craftsmen to build huge warships.

Minister of Works Xu Guan also came to the workshop today to give instructions.

Although the crisis in Korea has been resolved, the Ming Dynasty's warships must be built quickly and deployed to the Japanese islands in the East China Sea as soon as possible.

Because the number of Japanese pirates in the southeast has not decreased but has become more and more serious, the Ming warships are now particularly important.

When Chen Ce arrived at the workshop, Xu Guan greeted Chen Ce with a serious expression and said, "Chun Jian, you are here."

Chen Ce hummed, nodded slightly, and asked Xu Guan, "How is the progress?"

Xu Guan was under great pressure. Purchasing teak was extremely difficult. Just the initial purchase of teak took more than a month. According to the emperor's three-month deadline, it was obviously impossible to build ten warships.

Chen Ce frowned and walked around the workshop. He suddenly asked Xu Guan, "They can't have so many people responsible for making a warship in one day, right?"

Xu Guan: “?”

"How about otherwise?"

Chen Ce shook his head and said, "No, why don't they use the assembly line to produce it?"

Xu Guan had never heard of this new word before, and he looked at Xu Guan with suspicion, his face full of confusion.

This is still not right.

I remember that assembly line production had been recorded as early as the Qin Dynasty.

Chen Ce explained: "Each craftsman is only responsible for making one part or one process, and finally all the parts and processes are assembled together."

"If all these people were to come together to build the entire ship structure, how much time would it take?"

"According to the assembly line, the deck manufacturers are responsible for making decks, and the base manufacturers are responsible for making bases..."

Xu Guan was initially confused, then gradually became clear, and finally understood. Now, his face began to turn red with excitement. He stretched out his hand and patted Chen Ce's shoulder heavily, saying excitedly: "Chun Jian! Wow!"

Chen Ce started coughing violently after being hit, which scared Xu Guan quite a bit.

Chen Ce waved his hand: "It's okay."

Xu Guan quickly asked, "Can this so-called assembly line be used to produce other things, such as textile machines, curved plows, etc." Chen Ce asked back, "Wasn't this how the Ministry of Industry produced things before?"

Xu Guan was very ashamed and said no.

He stopped talking and after understanding the principle of assembly line operation, he immediately began to organize the Ministry of Industry to change the production method and rebuild the ships.

……

Chen Ce, the supervisor, is actually a hands-off boss who seldom comes to the workshop. It is never the right choice for an outsider to command the insiders.

After confirming the assembly line operation, the Ministry of Industry built warships much faster than before.

After returning to the Ministry of Works, Xu Guan personally conducted experiments with textile machines. With the same number of people and the same parts, the efficiency of production and construction using this method increased several times compared to before, which could not help but surprise Minister Xu.

He knew that this method could be used not only in the Ministry of Works, but also in the Ministry of War.

Today, the small court meeting of the six ministries of the cabinet ended. Just as the court was about to be dismissed, Xu Guan suddenly spoke up and said to Emperor Hongzhi: "Your Majesty, Lord Chen has proposed a method that I think can be used in the Ministry of Works to produce military equipment."

Ma Wensheng was speechless, wondering why Chen Ce was everywhere?

He saluted and said, "Master Xu, the weapons produced by the Ministry of War, especially firearms and other weapons, are all manufactured by our own people in the Ministry of War. I don't need your guidance from the Ministry of Industry, right? And I don't need Master Chen's guidance either."

Emperor Hongzhi held his hands down, signaling Ma Wensheng not to rush to refuse. He asked Xu Guandao, "What solution did he propose?"

Xu Guan said: "Assembly line operation."

Everyone in the hall was puzzled, and then Xu Guan began to patiently explain the principle of assembly line operation. When he finished speaking, everyone opened their mouths slightly in surprise.

This is nothing special, and it is not even a great invention. It is just a slight change in the production method. But what surprised everyone was that Minister Xu said that this change in production method could increase production efficiency several times!
Xu Guan continued, "I have tried it out in the Ministry of Industry a few days ago. Using this method to manufacture textile machines, under the same conditions, it has indeed increased the speed several times over the previous production method."

"That's why I was wondering if this method could be used to manufacture weapons and armor for the Ministry of War."

Ma Wensheng finally gave up his previous rejection. He was silent for a moment, then he bowed to Emperor Hongzhi and said, "Your Majesty, I can try to make gunpowder using this method first."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded: "Yes."

After the small court meeting, Ma Wensheng began to conduct experiments in the military arsenal. The production processes of many Ming Dynasty firearms, such as muskets, were split up, with each craftsman only making a part that would be compiled at the end.

Experimental data have shown time and again that after using Chen Ce's assembly line operation, the efficiency of manufacturing firearms and other weapons and armor is indeed nearly three times faster than traditional production methods!

Ma Wensheng stared blankly at this set of experimental results and couldn't help but gasp frequently.

This Chen Ce... is such a monster!

No wonder he is everywhere, he is really talented!
When the six ministries of the cabinet met again for a small court meeting, Ma Wensheng informed Emperor Hongzhi of the result.

Emperor Hongzhi was almost numb. He really didn't expect that asking Chen Ce to supervise the work would actually lead to an unexpected surprise!
After all, this was just a trivial matter. Although Xu Guan praised Chen Ce for his achievements, the cabinet insisted on not letting Emperor Hongzhi reward Chen Ce with any substantial promotion or other rewards.

However, Emperor Hongzhi still rewarded Chen Ce with money and property, but Chen Ce did not care about these rewards.

……

In mid-June, the weather was getting hotter and hotter, and Liu Wentai went to see Chen Ce as usual.

Chen Ce's condition became more and more serious. Liu Wentai couldn't help but frowned and told Chen Ce not to work too hard in the future and to stay at home and take good care of himself during this period.

(End of this chapter)