Chapter 645: The Charm of Pocket Watch

"Speak. Read М" Zhao Xu said.

The ministers stopped and looked at Yang He.

He took out a bag from his arms and took out something. Yang He said to Zhao Xu: "Your Highness, this is a batch of pocket watches that the watch shop has just made. Please take a look."

Zhao Xu was delighted. He had been looking forward to this thing for a long time.

He took the pocket watch and looked at it carefully.

It was the size of the palm of the hand and the whole was silver.

Under the metal cover, the crystal glass covered the dial.

At this moment, the pointer on the dial was rotating, pointing to the first quarter of Shenshi, which was 3:15 in the afternoon.

This was exactly what he had explained at the beginning. The time scale of the pocket watch used the timekeeping method of Dasong.

There are twelve hours in a day, and each hour is divided into eight quarters, each quarter is fifteen minutes, and each minute is sixty seconds.

Zhao Xu felt happy when he touched the smooth shell of the pocket watch.

Since crossing, it basically has no precise concept of time.

With a pocket watch, he will be able to know the specific time at any time in the future.

In addition, he believed that pocket watches also had a certain effect on marching and fighting.

When generals commanded the battle, they could arrange specific times for their generals to launch attacks, which would make it easier to cooperate.

For the court, a strict time management system could be established to improve administrative efficiency.

Then, he took Yang He's bag and took out another pocket watch from it.

By comparison, he found that the two pocket watches were basically the same.

In fact, he had explained the matter of making pocket watches two or three months ago.

Yang He took it out now, not because the craftsmen in the workshop had recently mastered the manufacturing process of pocket watches.

But the workshop solved the problem of pocket watch assembly line production and achieved large-scale production.

Otherwise, he would not have asked for credit.

After all, large-scale manufacturing of pocket watches is truly meaningful.

Low cost and high output, so it can be sold as a high-profit commodity.

So he asked, "Can the workshop manufacture pocket watches on a large scale now?"

Yang He nodded, "The craftsmen have mastered the polishing of watch parts. Each group of craftsmen is responsible for different processes, and finally assembles them. They can produce 260 pocket watches every day."

"Oh?" Zhao Xu was surprised.

This number made him very satisfied, after all, they were all hand-polished parts.

At this stage, he felt that there was no need to waste steam engines on the manufacture of pocket watches.

Good steel is used on the blade.

The main task of Wang Chong and others is to build an industrial system from scratch.

After all, the steamship of the West has been launched, and the steam locomotive is running on the rails.

It's just that although he has started the plan to develop these two machines.

But if the supporting parts factory cannot be established, Chen Shou and Wang Chong will not be able to manufacture steam locomotives and steamships even if they understand the principle.

Thinking of this, he plans to use this window period before the war to personally participate in the construction of the industrial system.

"Your Highness, what is this?" When Zhao Xu was thinking, Chang Wei came over, his eyes rolling.

Zhao Xu smiled helplessly, "Why pretend? If you want to, just speak directly."

These old subordinates of his often interact with each other, and he doesn't believe that Chang Wei knows nothing about pocket watches.

After saying that, he slapped a pocket watch on Chang Wei's palm.

Chang Wei was overjoyed. Just as Zhao Xu guessed, he had heard about this new thing, the pocket watch, from Yang He a long time ago.

Knowing the function of the pocket watch, he often asked Yang He about the news of the pocket watch.

For him, this thing is perfect for generals.

With this thing, generals can command soldiers to complete a task within a precise time.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Chang Wei played with it for a while and stuffed the pocket watch into his arms like a treasure.

Yang Feng, Liu Fu and other ministers immediately showed envious eyes.

"Ahem..." Yang Feng coughed twice deliberately, glancing at his pocket watch from time to time.

Liu Fu rubbed his hands and stared at Zhao Xu.

"Okay, you're lucky." Zhao Xu couldn't resist the pleading eyes of the crowd, took out the pocket watch from Yang He's bag, and distributed it one by one.

Fortunately, there were only twelve ministers in the meeting hall, and the pocket watches brought by Yang He were just enough to be distributed.

Everyone got a pocket watch, and the atmosphere in the meeting hall became relaxed and pleasant.

The ministers fiddled with the pocket watch intently like children who had just got a toy.

Seeing this, Zhao Xu's confidence in the business prospects of pocket watches increased.

The performance of the ministers was enough to prove the charm of pocket watches.

So he said to Yang He, "Immediately expand the production of the watch shop and introduce pocket watches to Goryeo and the south."

This time Yang He came for this matter, so he said, "As long as Your Highness sets a price for the pocket watches, the first batch of pocket watches will be sold tomorrow."

Zhao Xu nodded and raised a finger, "One thousand taels."

Currently in Dasong, pocket watches are definitely top-level luxury items. Since they are luxury goods, they must be expensive.

This sentence did not scare Yang He, but it did scare Chang Wei and others.

One thousand taels of silver per piece, their three-year salary combined is not enough to buy it.

Looking at the pocket watch, they treasured it more and more for a while.

After deciding this matter, Zhao Xu ordered everyone to disperse.

Yang He returned to the business and immediately ordered the business officials to put the pocket watches on the business platform.

This platform is dedicated to displaying the current commercial goods for sale.

As the powerful merchants lifted their resistance to Yanzhou trade under the blackmail of the plague, more and more merchants poured into Yancheng.

In order to get first-hand information, merchants in Yanzhou often send people to watch the goods counter.

When Yang He put the pocket watch on the counter, there was a commotion.

The merchants in the bank and the servants sent by the merchants immediately gathered around to ask questions.

The officials of the merchant bank took the opportunity to put a sign that specifically introduced the function of the pocket watch in front of the goods counter, and allowed the merchants to touch and experience the pocket watch.

This is also a propaganda method.

After a commotion, many merchants immediately submitted orders to the merchant bank, and some servants immediately left the merchant bank and passed the information to their own shopkeepers.

In the next two days, the word pocket watch filled the streets and alleys of Yancheng.

Not only merchants flocked to it, but also dignitaries who fled from Jinling scrambled to buy it.

That day, after Zhao Xu distributed the pocket watch to the ministers in the meeting hall.

Including Chang Wei and Yang Feng, they wanted to stick the pocket watch on their foreheads.

No matter where they go, they will take out their pocket watches, take a look at them, and then put them back in their pockets in an extremely casual manner.

They are just pretending all the time.

How can those dignitaries who don't have pocket watches bear this?

They won't stop until they buy pocket watches.

In less than two days, the inventory of the clock and watch shop was completely sold out.

Nearly one million taels of silver fell into the Yan County Merchants.

While pocket watches were hot in Yancheng.

The Qi envoy who escaped from Yancheng arrived in Lucheng and brought back Zhao Xu's answer to Han Zheng.