Chapter 508

“Pfft! What ‘sending to the end’!”

Immediately, Xiao Ming’s face turned green. He kicked the servant’s bottom.

“Your Highness, the people from the machinery department really said ‘zhong’ (clock)!” The servant looked wronged. Xiao Ming’s kick was powerful, and his bottom stung.

Xiao Ming shook his head helplessly. Ever since Li San went to the Secret Service, there hadn’t been a clever servant in the Prince’s Mansion. He said, “Let them in.”

The servant rubbed his bottom and walked out. Soon, Chen Wenlong walked in, followed by two craftsmen, who were carrying a pendulum clock as tall as a man.

“Your Highness, we have brought the pendulum clock,” Chen Wenlong said with a smile.

Seeing this old-fashioned pendulum clock, Xiao Ming’s mood immediately became cheerful. For him, this was not just a pendulum clock, but it meant that Qingzhou’s industrial system had progressed again.

In 1657, the Dutch physicist and astronomer Christiaan Huygens invented the pendulum clock using the principle of the isochronism of the pendulum. Although it took over a hundred years for Qingzhou to produce the pendulum clock after Europe, Xiao Ming believed that Qingzhou’s clock industry would soon surpass Europe. After all, he had already handed over the design drawings of various pendulums to the machinery department.

With the official birth of this pendulum clock, the next plan for the machinery department was to conquer pocket watch technology. Once pocket watch technology was mastered, Qingzhou’s watchmaking industry would completely surpass Europe.

Now that Qingzhou had a complete range of lathe types and steam engines were beginning to show their potential, he believed that the miniaturization of clocks and watches would not be a big problem.

After all, sometimes it wasn’t a lack of industrial capability, but merely a lack of an idea.

“Excellent, excellent.”

Xiao Ming’s face showed a deep smile. At this time, the pendulum clock was also called a chiming clock, and it would make a metallic striking sound at each hour.

The pendulum clock in front of him was embedded in a red wooden frame. In the middle of the frame was a circular glass cover, where the hour, minute, and second hands were rotating. At the very bottom, a spoon-like metal object was swinging back and forth, and each swing would advance the second hand by one tick.

“Eleven o’clock, thirty-six minutes, twelve seconds.”

Xiao Ming glanced at the reading above. Now that the pendulum clock was out, he would promote the timekeeping standard. After all, this timekeeping standard was relatively precise.

Chen Longwen and the other craftsmen understood the timekeeping method of the pendulum clock. The hour, minute, and second were all kept in mind. At this time, he said, “Your Highness, with this item, it will be easier to keep track of time, and there will be no need to specially appoint someone to announce the hours.”

“That’s natural. Not only that, but working hours can also be strictly enforced from now on,” Xiao Ming said, walking around the pendulum clock.

In fact, the craftsmanship of clocks and watches has basically not changed much since its invention to modern times. He remembered that when he was a child, his rich neighbor used to have a pendulum clock, and at that time, he only felt that the pendulum clock was very high-end.

Now, with a pendulum clock in front of him, that familiar feeling returned.

“Can it be mass-produced now?” Xiao Ming asked. The pendulum clock was absolutely high-tech in this era. When else would be a better time to make a profit than now?

Chen Wenlong said, “Your Highness, the principle that the machinery department adheres to now is to mass-produce what has been developed. So, like firearms, we first produce parts and then assemble them.”

Xiao Ming nodded, “Hmm, you’re all making rapid progress. How about this, immediately set up a watchmaking workshop and train a batch of watchmakers.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Chen Wenlong replied.

The two talked about pendulum clocks for a while, and then Chen Wenlong left with the craftsmen to arrange for the watchmaking workshop. If this watchmaking workshop was established, his various clock and watch drawings would be put into the workshop, and from then on, the workshop would be responsible for their development.

After Chen Wenlong left, Xiao Ming impatiently had someone call Fei Yuer over.

“Your Highness, what is this?” Fei Yuer showed a confused expression when she first saw the pendulum clock.

Xiao Ming smiled triumphantly and told Fei Yuer about the function of the pendulum.

“It can precisely record time?” Fei Yuer shook her head, she chuckled softly, “Your Highness, please don’t tease me, how can this thing record time? A sundial is almost similar.”

“This is much more accurate than a sundial,” Xiao Ming said, “If you don’t believe me, Princess, you can call the night watchman over and ask.”

Fei Yuer still couldn’t believe this thing would be so magical. She said to Xiaohuan, “Go and call the night watchman over and ask. If it’s true, then our Prince has indeed created something astounding again.”

Xiaohuan’s eyes had been fixed on the strange pendulum clock. She nodded and trotted to the Prince’s Mansion to call the night watchman over.

Before long, the night watchman was led into the main hall by Xiaohuan. Fei Yuer asked, “What time is it now?”

“Reporting to Her Royal Highness, it is now noon,” the night watchman said strangely. The sun was directly overhead, and one could know by looking up at the sun.

Xiao Ming then glanced at the pendulum clock and said, “To be precise, it is now one quarter past noon.”

Generally, the night watchman only reported the exact hour. At this time, he nodded in surprise and said, “Your Highness’s calculations are ingenious. About a quarter of an hour has passed.”

Fei Yuer was now shocked. She also looked at the moving metal strip on the pendulum clock. These metal strips had been rotating. She asked, “Your Highness, how do you tell the time from this pendulum clock?”

Xiao Ming was waiting for Fei Yuer to ask this question. The popularization of timekeeping had to start from the Prince’s Mansion. So he told Fei Yuer about the principle of the pendulum clock and how to tell time from it.

Fei Yuer’s big eyes blinked. This magical thing was beyond her comprehension. She was once again astonished by the constant changes happening in Qingzhou.

Having learned how to tell time, Fei Yuer was like a playful child. Every time the pendulum clock chimed, she would call the night watchman to ask the time. After four trips back and forth, she finally had enough fun.

Xiaohuan also joined in the fun, and the two of them circled the pendulum clock.

“Your Highness, this pendulum clock is truly magical. If the nobles and merchants saw this, they would surely go crazy!” Fei Yuer said. She had to admit, this time even she was tempted.

Xiao Ming’s face always held a smile. For him, this was just the beginning. Next would be the time for Qingzhou’s various goods to cover the Great Yu Empire. After all, after preparing for these days, it was time to earn back the invested silver.

He said, “Since the Princess Consort said so, if I don’t make a big profit with this pendulum clock, I would be letting down the craftsmen who painstakingly made it.”

However, he felt it was a bit too early to think about it now. After all, this was the first pendulum clock. It would take some time for Chen Wenlong to organize the craftsmen to produce more pendulum clocks. But he couldn’t stay idle during this period. He thought he could use this time to promote the pendulum clock externally.

And this current pendulum clock was his physical advertisement.