eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 897 Military Order

Zhu Houzhao drank a few glasses of wine, and something good happened to him, so he had a good sleep at night.

The next morning, after getting up and changing his clothes, he walked out of the bedroom and stood at the white jade railing under the eaves. He suddenly felt a sense of comfort as if all the pores in his body were opened, as if he had unlimited energy in his body.

The early morning in May was neither too hot nor too cold, and the temperature was just right.

When he was in a good mood, he walked around the attendant's room, the cabinet and the Grand Council. He stopped for a while at each place, said a few words, and left when he saw that everything was normal.

With nothing to do, he changed into a set of casual clothes with a waist belt, turned around and left the palace.

The scene outside the palace was like a vivid market scene. Zhu Houzhao sat in the carriage and looked into the distance. The broad streets of the capital were crisscrossed, and there were shops of all kinds along the way.

Just the shops he saw along both sides of the street included silk shops, porcelain shops, bookstores, gold and silver shops, as well as spices and gems from exotic countries.

What meets the eye and the ear is the hustle and bustle of carriages and horses. The magnificent carriages of dignitaries and the common people carrying goods on their shoulders are intertwined, forming a unique moving landscape.

Before he could savor the thought, a voice rang out from outside the carriage, "Your Majesty, the Academy of Sciences has arrived."

"Oh."

The place Zhu Houzhao came to today was the Royal Academy of Sciences that he had always been talking about.

By the 76st year of Zhengde, the Royal Academy of Sciences had officially-appointed "scientists", who were distributed in several major fields such as the study of nature, water conservancy, navigation, mathematics, and chemistry.

The word "chemistry" should not have appeared in 1526. It was given to them directly by Zhu Houzhao.

He classified the smelting industry of silver and iron, and the food industry of sugar and refined salt into the category of chemistry.

Although modern people may not understand it at first, they will eventually understand it as they keep doing it.

The main project he came to inspect today was the steam power plant.

In fact, the principle of the steam engine is very simple. It is to burn to produce high-temperature and high-pressure steam, and then introduce the steam into the cylinder through a conduit. A piston is added to one side of the cylinder so that it can perform fixed piston motion.

At this time, a connecting guide rod is set on the piston, and a wheel is placed on the other end of the guide rod.

The steam pushes the piston to move, which in turn pushes the wheel to turn.

This completes the so-called conversion of the energy of the steam into the mechanical work of turning the wheel.

The early steam locomotive can be said to be one of the simplest applications. As long as the wheels move, the locomotive moves. The same is true on ships. The high-pressure steam will eventually drive the propeller to move.

This principle is indeed simple, so simple that even Zhu Houzhao could verbally describe it.

Of course, it is always easy to talk about it, but it is difficult to actually make it.

Zhu Houzhao decided to set up this project team two years ago, and the initial application demand was silver from Japan.

Mining is hard work.
In fact, mining has always been dangerous in feudal dynasties.

This danger is not only a direct threat to personal life, but also has another meaning, that is, mining will gather a large number of miners, all of whom are adult men, and the working environment is very difficult.

Therefore, it is easy to cause a civil unrest if one is not careful.

Didn’t Hong Xiuquan start his propaganda among the miners?
But if there is a simple steam locomotive and tracks are laid for transportation, the intensity of human labor can be greatly reduced. Otherwise, it will be a human-powered cart, pulling out one cart at a time.

It cannot be said that this factor was not involved in the unrest in Japan this time.

And if one scenario can be applied, with the wisdom of the working masses, it should only be a matter of time before it is used in other scenarios.

In the Academy of Sciences, this project is also the highest level project.

The person in charge of this project was not an old-school scholar-official, but a very young man named Qian Daomin who had shown talent in mathematics.

There are eleven members in the team, and this is the project with the largest number of people.

Hearing that the emperor had arrived, they all came out of their houses to greet him.

Zhu Houzhao waved casually and walked straight into the experimental factory in front of him.

You Zhi grabbed Qian Daomin at a glance and asked him to stand next to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, this way please."

"Oh." Zhu Houzhao pointed to a large container in front of him, "Is this a new boiler?"

"Exactly."

The emperor had seen these structures several times and was not unfamiliar with them.

Overall, it is a horizontal structure. On the left side, coal is added for combustion and steam enters the boiler. To the right is the piston and the connected wheel. When the piston is pushed by the steam, the wheel will rotate.

“What is the main issue now?”

Qian Daomin introduced: "There are several. The first is the speed control structure. It is easy to realize that the steam drives the wheels to rotate, but when it is really driving on the road, it is necessary to be able to control the speed, when to speed up and when to slow down, which is more difficult to do.

The second is the choice between safety and efficiency. For safety reasons, the pressure and temperature of the new steam cannot be too high, otherwise the boiler and condenser cannot withstand it. If there is not enough pressure and temperature, the driving force generated will not be large enough to pull the goods, and it will be meaningless. "

When Zhu Houzhao heard words like pressure and driving force coming out of his mouth, he always felt like he had returned to the future, but in fact that was not the case.

Sometimes the popularization of these concepts is also a form of progress.

"The high-temperature and high-pressure steam requires delicate flow control and sophisticated valve design. The wheels are constantly rubbing against each other as they run on the track, which can easily cause problems over time."

Zhu Houzhao looked at the rotating iron wheel and fell into deep thought.
The Industrial Revolution never solved all problems instantly by the emergence of one or several new products. It is a system.

When productivity is low, a small component may cause the entire machine to stop running.

Zhu Houzhao had no good solution for this. Where could he come up with an ingenious family design?

"At least the wheel is moving." The emperor pointed at the flywheel and sighed, "The fact that the wheel is moving means it is working. Even if it can't move the goods, we can think about whether there are other places where it can be used to replace human and animal power, and improve it while using it."

Qian Daomin nodded, "That should be possible."

"I'm still looking forward to it. Today's ships rely on wind power or oars, and their shortcomings are always obvious."

Speaking of this, Zhu Houzhao would feel a little anxious.

Although industrial progress takes time, after these few years, the current situation is that everything can only be operated in the laboratory, and it is still unknown when it can be put into practical use.

"If we want to build a steam-powered ship soon, I have to put some pressure on you, a great scientist. I come here every year, and it's always the same. This is not good."

Qian Daomin was shocked. "It is my incompetence that has disappointed Your Majesty. Please punish me!"

"I have mentioned the punishment, but I think you should plan your time and complete the tasks by the deadline. Otherwise, if you delay it indefinitely, I will be too old and frail to see the day of success."

After saying this, the emperor turned around.

Seeing that the atmosphere was somewhat solemn, You Zhi stepped forward and said, "Team Leader Qian, this is the project that His Majesty is most concerned about in the entire Academy of Sciences. His Majesty is a little anxious, and you and your colleagues should understand."

"Eunuch You said it's too much. It's true that we... have failed His Majesty's will."

"Then let's set a time. We can't expect everything to be accomplished in one go, but day by day, we have to let Your Majesty see progress, right?"

"Yes." Qian Daomin stepped forward, "Your Majesty, I hereby sign a military order that within five years we will be able to build a steam-powered vehicle that can be used in practice."

"understood."

Apart from that, Zhu Houzhao left without saying a word.

In fact, he felt that five years was an absolutely optimistic expectation. Of course, if it really couldn't be done, he wouldn't really kill people because of the slow progress. The main purpose was to put some pressure on them, so sometimes he still had to show a little bit of his power as an emperor to suppress them.

(End of this chapter)