Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 261 The Incurable Struggle for Power and Profit (Part 2)

The Fushe Society is like they're out of their minds. Ever since they entered the court, these guys have been submitting memorials every day, without end.

Seeing that he neither dealt with the eunuch faction nor distributed money and grain for disaster relief through the outer court, these guys actually started to take charge of suppressing the rebels again.

Despite the natural disasters and man-made calamities, the people of Northwest China suffered not only from natural disasters but also from the ravages of rebels, leading to a life of misery.

What kind of unprecedented and bizarre situation is this, where rebels are allowed to run rampant?

Why don't you quickly send people to mobilize a large army to suppress the rebels? The Ming Dynasty is in grave danger.

These guys seem to be working for the country and its people, but they just want to control the military!

If he agrees to send people to mobilize a large army to suppress the rebels, the Fushe Society will definitely do everything in its power to recommend its own people to take control of the military.

Do you think I'm stupid?

Do I need you to suppress the rebels?
I secretly sent people to deal with the traitors long ago. They can't cause any trouble. You're the ones who want to cause trouble!
Are you all beyond help?

Fine, you just wait and see. Once I've wiped out the rebels and the Jurchens, I'll deal with you!
Zhu Jue got tired of reading them and simply stopped. Whenever he saw a memorial from the Fushe Society, he wouldn't even look at it and would just throw it to Liu Ruoyu.

After hastily reviewing the memorials, he led Wang Chengen, Fang Zhenghua, and others to the Wanshou Pharmaceutical Factory to find Song Yingxing.

At this moment, Song Yingxing was holding a lump of dark ointment, looking troubled.

Making pellets by machine seems impossible. He has tried every method he could think of, and even moved many machine tools into the factory. The problem is, after tinkering for so long, he still can't figure out how to make a pellet-making machine.

Zhu Jue walked into the factory and asked curiously, "Chang Geng, what are you daydreaming about?"

Sigh, I've tried everything.

Song Yingxing quickly turned around, bowed, and then couldn't help but sigh, "Your Majesty, I am incompetent. I really can't come up with a machine to make pills."

Don't be discouraged.

Zhu Jue took the ointment from his hand, squeezed it, and asked, "What methods have you come up with?"

Song Yingxing hurriedly led him to the large platform in the middle of the factory and pointed to the wooden parts on it, saying, "Your Majesty, I have tried every possible method, but none of them work."

For example, this was made by rubbing two boards back and forth. The ointment was coated with dry starch and then rubbed in the middle. As a result, it came out as strips, not individual grains.

For example, this is like an alchemy furnace, spinning rapidly. After the ointment is cut into small, even pieces, coated with starch, and put in to spin, what comes out are messy, fragmented particles, not pills of uniform size at all.

And this one, made directly with a mold. The ointment was cut into even small pieces, coated with starch, and then pressed in. The result was that the ointment just came out, sticking everywhere, and the pills inside got stuck too. When you tried to pry it out, it was all oddly shaped.

You've really come up with a lot of ideas.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then encouraged him, "You're not far from success. There's just a problem with cutting the ointment into even small pieces."

Uh, how else can you make the ointment into small pieces if you don't cut it into even pieces? Are you going to knead it into small pieces by hand? That would be even slower.

Song Yingxing explained in detail: "Your Majesty, this ointment can only be made quickly by rolling it into a cake shape and then cutting it into even small pieces with a knife. If you knead it by hand, you won't be able to make much in a day, and it will be very labor-intensive."

You know it takes a lot of manpower?

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "Actually, rolling it into a pancake shape and then cutting it is also very labor-intensive. We can use squeezing instead, which will not require much labor."

squeeze?
There was no toothpaste available back then, and there was no such thing as squeezing toothpaste.

Song Yingxing didn't know anything about squeezing toothpaste. He thought for a while before carefully asking, "Your Majesty, do you mean squeezing it out like squeezing noodles?"

Heluo?

Those are buckwheat noodles.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "The idea is roughly the same as making noodles, but the mold holes cannot be distributed in a circle, they must be distributed in a straight line, so that we can proceed to the next step."

This is simple.

Upon hearing this, Song Yingxing quickly gave detailed instructions, ordering the craftsmen operating the machine tools to process the timber immediately.

The craftsmen quickly took two pieces of wood, one large and one small, and used them on a planer and a drill press. Soon, a simple mold was produced.

Song Yingxing rolled the ointment in his hand into a long strip and placed it into the groove in the middle of the larger wooden block. He then had two craftsmen press the smaller wooden block down into the groove, and a row of noodle-like ointment came out from below.

This definitely won't work.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly, then instructed, "Chang Geng, what we need are small pills, not noodle-shaped ones. Have them line the trough with something, and squeeze out a row of pill-sized amounts of ointment at a time." That's simple too.

After Song Yingxing gave a few instructions, the craftsmen took some scraps of material, trimmed them slightly with a knife, and put them into the trough. Then they rubbed some ointment into the trough and pressed it down.

This time, the ones that came out were indeed round, but they weren't very round and were still stuck to the bottom of the mold.

Seeing this, Zhu Jue instructed, "Make a scraper and try it."

This is also simple. The craftsmen simply take a long wooden board that is about the same length as the mold, plan it on a plane, and the scraper is made.

They then used a scraper to scrape down the mold, and a row of small balls fell out.

However, the little balls that fell down weren't round at all; they were oddly shaped.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and then instructed, "This hole is too big. Change to a drill bit that is half the size and make a new mold. Remember, use a large drill bit to enlarge a countersunk hole on top of each small hole."

This is also simple.

Upon hearing this, the craftsmen immediately did as instructed.

Soon, they made a new mold.

This time, the pressed product was indeed rounder, and it was still basically round after being scraped off with a scraper, although it wasn't quite regular yet.

Seeing this, Zhu Jue instructed, "Make a round groove mold, also long and narrow, the size of the groove should be the same as the mold for pressing pills."

This is even simpler; just take a piece of wood and plan it on a planer.

Soon, the craftsmen made the mold for the circular groove.

Song Yingxing was stunned when he saw the circular groove mold; he had no idea what it was used for.

Seeing this, Zhu Jue picked up the round mold, sprinkled some raw starch into it, and set it up at a 45-degree angle, asking the craftsman to hold it still.

Then, he gently pinched a small, squeezed ball and let it roll down the slope.

Now the small sphere is closer to a perfect circle.

Upon seeing this, Song Yingxing's eyes lit up, and he seemed to understand something.

Seeing his expression, Zhu Jue continued to instruct him: "Make a small platform, fix the mold for extruding small spheres on the top of the platform, and place the mold for pressing pills below the platform, connecting them in the middle with this round groove."

This is simple too.
Soon, the craftsmen finished making the platform, and the molds for extruding small spheres, the molds for circular grooves, and the molds for stamping pills were also fixed according to his requirements.

This thing looks like a water skiing toy, except that instead of people sliding down, it's little pills.

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Jue ordered them to apply a new ointment, press it gently, and then scrape it with a scraper. A small pill rolled down the groove and into the mold for pressing pills.

This time, the pills that came out were indeed round, and the surface was evenly coated with dry starch without sticking together.

Zhu Jue picked up the small pill and saw that it seemed to have a small gap, meaning that not enough ointment had been squeezed out.

He then ordered the craftsman to take the gasket out of the pressing groove, thin it a little, and try it again.

This time, what came out was a perfectly round little pill.

However, it's still not good enough.

He then ordered the craftsmen to sprinkle more dry starch into the round mold and try it again.

This time, the pressed pills were not only perfectly round, but also had a smooth surface, making them look very beautiful.

He picked up the small pill and examined it closely before nodding slightly and saying, "Chang Geng, do you understand now?"

The outlet of the extrusion die above and the round hole of the stamping die below are all aligned, and a round groove die is added in the middle, so that a row of pills can be stamped out at once.

Also, the groove of the extrusion mold can be made deeper, with more ointment placed in the middle, and the gasket placed on the outside. A square groove should also be made on both sides where the gasket is placed. The same square gaskets can be stacked in two layers. After each extrusion, one gasket is removed, so that multiple extrusions can be performed.

You can also press the ointment into a thick sheet about the same size as this extrusion groove using a mold before feeding, which will make feeding even faster.

You're amazing!
Such a difficult problem was solved in no time!
Upon hearing this, Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise, I understand."

(End of this chapter)