The day of the fleet's journey to the south was getting closer and closer.
Anyone with a bit of foresight would realize how lucrative the journey to the south would be. Furthermore, they would be escorted by the imperial army, so there was no need to worry about their safety. It was simply a godsend opportunity. As a result, there was a rare shortage of manpower in all the major shipping companies. Notices for sailors could be seen all over Chang 'an City. As long as you were good at swimming and didn't get seasick, you should hurry up and sign up! The ship owner would not only give you a generous settlement fee, but when you returned from the southern trade, the salary would be enough for your family to live on for 20 years!
The workshop was bustling with activity. Because some of the precise components of the compasses were previously polished by a few old masters, the efficiency was very low. Seeing that there were more and more people outside wanting to buy compasses, Faubert decided to organize the young craftsmen to learn from the old masters after consulting with Li Zexuan. Whoever could learn would be rewarded with five strings of cash on the spot.
With a generous reward, there would be a lot of brave men. A large number of smart and skillful young craftsmen immediately emerged. The precise components they polished were no worse than those of the old masters.
Just like that, with a steady stream of new people joining in and the advanced assembly line production model, the production of compasses continued to skyrocket day by day.
On the first day, the 50 compasses supplied by the Curious Pavilion were sold out in less than a quarter of an hour.
On the second day, the 300 compasses supplied by the Curious Pavilion were also sold out in less than an hour.
On the third day, the 800 compasses supplied by the Curious Pavilion were finally not sold out. The market for compasses was beginning to reach saturation. After all, there were only a little more than a thousand merchant ships going south. Furthermore, not every merchant ship owner was as rich as Wang Renbiao to equip every ship with a compass.
Seeing this, Sun Huaiyuan hurriedly reported to the workshop. When Faubert received the news, he immediately transferred half of the people from the compasses production team to produce carriages. According to Li Zexuan's previous plan, it was time to sell the carriages.
…
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
While the people outside were preparing for the vigorous southward operation, Li Zexuan was also extremely busy in the Drunken Wind Pavilion in the depths of the workshop.
Li Zexuan was already showing signs of going berserk. In the past three days, he had spent more than 90% of his time in the "laboratory" (cough, sleeping there as well). After a few days of hard work, Li Zexuan had really created a treasure. Moreover, it was a rare treasure in the world. However, his current image was somewhat unsightly.
"Haha, I've finally finished two telegraph machines!"
Li Zexuan's hair was a bit messy now, and his eyes were sunken. This was a clear sign that he had stayed up too late. At this moment, he looked at the pile of devices on the table and laughed madly with a deranged expression.
That's right. Li Zexuan wanted to make a telegraph, and a wireless one at that. The principle of wireless was very simple. The core part was the LC oscillation circuit, which was composed of an inductor L and a capacitor C to form a frequency-selective oscillation circuit, which was used to generate high-frequency sine wave signals.
The radiation power of the LC oscillation circuit was proportional to the fourth power of the oscillation frequency. In order to make the LC oscillation circuit radiate strong enough electromagnetic waves, the oscillation frequency must be increased, and the circuit must be in an open form.
Although the principle was very simple, in this era, there were no electronic components that Li Zexuan could use. It was very difficult to make. There were many technical difficulties, such as the signal modulation of the transceiver, the production of the buzzer, and so on. Fortunately, Li Zexuan, who had been in seclusion for three days, overcame these difficulties one by one. After going through untold hardships, he finally made two wireless telegraph machines.
Unfortunately, there was a problem that he couldn't overcome at present, and that was the problem of power amplification. It was also the biggest technical problem that had to be overcome in order to make progress in the electronic industry of this era — the transistor.
The transistor was one of the basic components of the semiconductor. It had the function of amplifying current and was the most core component of the electronic circuit. Without the transistor, there would be no integrated circuit, and there would be no electronic products in modern society.
In fact, the LC oscillation circuit needed an amplifying element, and that was the transistor. Of course, it could also use digital electric LCs such as integrated operational amplifiers. Using this amplifying element, through various signal feedback methods, the constantly consumed oscillation signal would be feedback amplified, and finally output a signal with a relatively stable amplitude and frequency, so that the radio signal could be transmitted farther.
Li Zexuan understood these principles, but what was the use of knowing? He couldn't make the transistor now, so he could only brace himself and try to make a wireless telegraph machine first. Because he had a glimmer of hope in his heart, that was, in ancient times, when there was no electricity, the space spectrum was very clean, and there was almost no interference. With a few watts of radio frequency power, it could be transmitted all over the world.
The earliest wireless telegraph machines also didn't use transistors. At that time, the transmission distance was 250 meters, but there was already electricity in that era, and the space spectrum was not clean, so there would be electromagnetic interference.
During the Liberation War, Mao (Ze) Dong was in Yan 'an, and Lin (Biao) Dong was in Harbin. They were more than 2000 kilometers apart, and there were no relay stations in between. They were all directly transmitted through radio stations. At that time, the radiating power of the telegraph machine was only a few watts, and it could transmit that far. If it was in modern society, it definitely wouldn't be possible.
"Young master, don't move, Xiao Xi is combing your hair!"
Li Zexuan was laughing crazily, but Xiao Xi was not happy. These days, Li Zexuan had locked himself in the 'laboratory', and whenever he encountered a problem, he couldn't help but scratch his head. Ancient men were not like modern men with short hair, they all had long hair, so his hair had been messy recently. In order to maintain a good image for her young master, Xiao Xi spent a lot of time combing Li Zexuan's hair every day.
"Haha, no need to comb, no need to comb! Come, Xiao Xi, try this young master's latest invention! "
Li Zexuan only just noticed that there was someone behind him. He turned around, squeezed Xiao Xi's shoulder and shouted excitedly.
These days, he was always in a daze when doing things, and many times he entered a state of forgetfulness. If it wasn't for Xiao Xi taking care of him, he would have either starved to death or died from his own sloppiness. In the end, although he could still make the wireless telegraph machine, his situation would definitely be much worse than now.
"Young master ~! Please wait a moment, let me comb your hair first. "
Xiao Xi was used to it. These few days, other than taking care of Li Zexuan's daily needs, she also helped Li Zexuan with various experiments. She had failed many times in the middle, so she was no longer as interested in doing experiments as before.
"Okay! Okay, Xiao Xi, hurry up! "
Li Zexuan could only helplessly compromise.
… …
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