Fu Tang

The few people who got off the locomotive looked dusty and smoky, which made Li Congjia delay the idea of ​​laying the railway, and he felt... this railway seemed different from what he had imagined.

That is, the two rails are fixed on the ground, and there are no sleepers or stones left. In fact, Li Congjia does not know the specific function of those things, but he knows that since they are on the rails of later generations, then this thing must have its own. effect.

Li Congjia approached Lu Ji and asked, "What's going on?"

Lu Ji touched his head, moved the headrest on his head, and said in a very tangled manner, "The quality of the rails is not good. When the locomotive is running, the rails are easy to sink, and if the heat is too high, it is easy to cause problems."

Li Congjia tried to say: "Have you ever thought that the problem may not be the rails, but... something else is missing? For example, install sleepers between the rails and sprinkle irregularly shaped stones?"

Lu Ji looked up at the sky and thought for a while and said, "I'll try it!"

Li Congjia watched Lu Ji run away like a whirlwind, and said with emotion: "He is really old and strong."

No, Lu Ji is almost 50 years old this year, and he is already considered an old man in this age. Young people would bow to him and call him an old man when they saw him. At this running speed, Li Congjia reckoned that he might not be able to catch up with him!

Lu Ji continued to modify the rails and locomotives, but it was estimated that there would be no results in a short while, so Li Congjia simply took people back to the palace.

He was the only one who was relatively calm along the way, and everyone else was in a state of "I'm very excited, but I can't show it, or I'd lose my identity".

After all, before this, no one thought that one day a car would be able to run automatically without manpower or cattle or horses. Although rails are still needed, this is definitely an epoch-making invention!

Looking at a group of people who were so excited that their faces were flushed, Li Congjia stood in the middle and felt empty and lonely. No one could understand his sadness!

Life is really lonely as snow.

Li Congjia, who was as lonely as snow, returned to the palace and felt tired instantly when he saw the stack of memorials on the table. Even if the emperor is lonely as snow these days, he can only sigh with emotion. When he comes back, there will naturally be countless memorials for you not lonely.

Li Zhongyu looked at Li Congjia. Although Li Congjia's expression was still normal, he still keenly noticed that there was something different, but he couldn't think of the specific reason. In his opinion, developing a locomotive is no more than developing a new The weapons are bad.

Just when Li Zhongyu was wondering, he saw Li Congjia looking at him lovingly, and patted his head by the way and said, "Son, grow up quickly."

Li Zhongyu:? ? ? ? ? ?

Leaving Li Zhongyu with a confused face behind, Li Congjia went back to continue reviewing memorials, while Li Zhongyu... had to go to class.

After witnessing the unsuccessful communication between the father and son, Shi Xueting followed Li Congjia to the study with a smile, and said after entering, "If I were you, I wouldn't want Da Lang to grow up too fast."

Li Congjia looked up at him: "Huh?"

Shi Xueting said: "The faster Dalang grows, the more power he will need, and the more ministers will vote for him. It's fine if he has one heart with you, but if he doesn't... then it depends on how you treat him." The court is in control, but I didn't say it, the ministers of the cabinet...are very old."

Li Congjia looked at him in surprise: "Why are you talking about this all of a sudden?"

Shi Xueting was silent for a while before saying: "I just want to remind you that there are many examples of father and son killing each other for the sake of the throne."

Li Congjia smiled: "Not at all."

Shi Xueting wanted to say something more, but in the end he sighed and didn't say any more. The main reason why he suddenly said that was because he found out that Li Zhongyu had started to win people over recently, and even took care of his disciples.

Although most of the students he recruited were college students, anyone can see that these students will be the backbone of the court in the future. Now the ministers Li Congjia relies on are all old, and Li Congjia is still young. I don't know how long I can stay with Li Congjia. At that time, these people will be replaced, these people who are loyal to the prince... Shi Xueting has a sense of crisis.

In Shi Xueting's eyes, this throne belongs to Li Congjia, no one can take it away from him, not even his son!

On the contrary, Li Congjia didn't care. He felt that what he knew and could do was basically done, and going forward...unless the generator was really produced, it should have come to an end.

He hoped that Li Zhongyu would grow up quickly, mainly because he felt that being trapped in memorials day after day was really boring, no wonder there were so many foolish kings in history, why did they still work when they had money!

It's a pity that he and Shi Xueting have brought down this world together. He couldn't bear to be a foolish king, so he could only continue to work hard, hoping that Li Zhongyu would grow up quickly.

It's just that he thinks that Li Zhongyu is not old enough, but some people think that Li Zhongyu is old enough, at least he is an adult, um, he can marry a wife.

When Li Congjia heard from Zhao Pu that the marriage of the prince and concubine could be put on the agenda, Li Congjia was in Sparta.

In his eyes, Li Zhongyu is still a half-grown child. Although this child is a little precocious and sensible, he is still a child. Why did he marry a concubine so early?You are destroying boys and girls.

However, since it was Zhao Pu who raised this question, Li Congjia simply said: "Da Lang is still young, and the woman is not too old. Let's wait until they grow up physically. Now that they don't have enough energy and blood, getting married is not good for them."

This means that Zhao Pu and Zhao Kuangyin have a good relationship. Li Congjia suspected that Zhao Kuangyin was more anxious, so he explained it. If it was someone else, he would definitely say: no!

However, when Zhao Pu mentioned this matter suddenly, Li Congjia began to think, should he let Li Zhongyu get in touch with the young lady of the Zhao family?Although it is an arranged marriage, the two children must have a good impression of each other. If the couple disagrees... Li Congjia thinks about Zhang Taihua, and then thinks about his own mother, Queen Zhong. He knows that a person in the position of queen cannot be offended. For the sake of the son's life, let the young couple be more harmonious.

But soon he had some headaches again. Li Zhongyu is really a good boy. Although he has already mastered human affairs, he is not lustful, and he has never heard of him molesting court ladies. Every day he goes to class to practice martial arts and watch memorials. Where is the time to connect with the little girl?

The most cheating thing is that Li Congjia has no experience in this field!

Li Congjia misses Zhou Ehuang very much every time he comes to matters related to Li Zhongyu. If Zhou Ehuang is around, he will definitely help his son make proper arrangements.

Li Congjia sighed, thought for a while and decided to discuss it with Zhao Kuangyin. Anyway, Zhao Kuangyin's wife is still alive, so let them arrange it at worst.

Zhao Kuangyin, who had been idle for a long time, was suddenly called into the palace. He was still thinking about whether Li Congjia felt too boring and wanted to fight with which country?

As a result, after entering the palace, he found that the emperor was discussing with him the relationship between the prince and the future princess!

Zhao Kuangyin was a bit Spartan all over, and he said after a while, "This...is...it doesn't matter, right?"

In Zhao Kuangyin's view, there is really no big problem, such as feelings, etc., and they will be cultivated slowly after marriage.

Of course, it doesn't mean that he doesn't love his daughter. The main reason is that the prince basically grew up under everyone's noses. He is a good boy with a kind heart and not too cowardly. His daughter is naturally very good. Will we not be together?

However, Li Congjia knew that two good people may not be able to live together, but seeing Zhao Kuangyin's virtue, he simply said: "Come on, you don't understand anything, go back and talk to your wife, she must have a way." .”

Zhao Kuangyin glanced at Li Congjia inexplicably, and really didn't understand why he would think of such a thing. Is it because the difficulties encountered by Gewu Academy are not big enough, or are you not reviewing enough memorials every day?

Li Congjia felt overwhelmed by Zhao Kuangyin's gaze, and before sending Zhao Kuangyin away, he said, "I'm not going to marry Dalang until he's 20 years old."

Zhao Kuangyin did his calculations. When Li Zhongyu was 20 years old, his daughter was around 17 years old, and she was not too old, so he didn't object. Of course, his objection was invalid.

The reason why Zhao Putu mentioned it before was because he was worried that there would be changes. Now Li Congjia is still concerned about the relationship between the two children, so he probably won't easily break up the marriage contract. It doesn't matter whether it will be sooner or later.

"Okay, it's all up to you."

Li Congjia felt awkward hearing Zhao Kuangyin's words, turned around and sent him away, and then began to look at the experimental data sent by Gewuyuan.

The people over there were very serious, and recorded the data of every experiment conducted, and then sent it to Li Congjia.

However, Li Congjia never looked at these data, only looked at the conclusion, because he could only understand the conclusion, how did the data in the middle come out, why did it happen, I'm sorry, I couldn't understand it all.

However, because Gewu Academy cannot do without his figure in every invention and creation, those Gewu experts think that Li Congjia is very proficient in this area, and they dare not falsify the data at all!

After Li Congjia read the conclusion, he found that the operation of the locomotive with the addition of sleepers and stones can indeed last for a long time. This long time means that it can run at least until the fuel of the locomotive is burned.

In this case, Li Congjia thought about it and felt that he had met the initial requirements of the train, so the next thing to solve was how much the train could pull and the speed.

In fact, these two problems are really not easy to solve. Now the speed of the train is a little faster than the horse-drawn carriage. The only advantage is that the horse-drawn carriage cannot travel for a long time, and as long as the train has enough fuel, it will definitely be able to drive forever. — This is also theoretical.

But this is just a locomotive. If you add freight wagons or passenger carriages, this train may run slower than a horse-drawn carriage, and it will cost a lot of money. It is probably not as cost-effective as walking.

Li Congjia didn't know where the crux of the restriction of power was, but at this point, his poor knowledge had no guiding effect, and he could only see if these experts could continue to research better steam engines.

The only gratifying thing is the advent of the pressure cooker. At first, Li Congjia thought it would be a pleasure to use a pressure cooker, but he found that Shangshan Bureau didn’t use it at all. The crispy pork ribs he ate were always stewed slowly over low heat. , Later, I gave the pressure cooker to the chef, but the chef also disliked the taste of the things made by the pressure cooker.

Li Congjia was helpless, but let’s face it, this pressure cooker was originally intended for the common people. Since it was first mass-produced and launched, sales have been good.

Shi Xueting accompanied Li Congjia to look at the data. To be honest, he could understand more than Li Congjia. After watching for a while, he found that Li Congjia was still worried, and he couldn't help but said: "The steam engine looks very useful. Can it only be used as a train?"

Li Congjia:? ? ? ? ? ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Yes, who said steam engines can only be used for trains?Can't steam power do something?

Strictly speaking, many things complement each other. With steam power, steam power can be used in many places where artificial power cannot reach. With the gradual popularization of steam power, people will naturally continue to improve steam engines.

Needless to say about transportation, trains will definitely continue to be studied. Li Congjia also hopes to travel around the country by train in his lifetime, but more importantly, it would be great if he can develop a steam battleship.

Of course, none of this seems to be as important as Gewu experts starting to formulate a series of related units such as pressure units. In the past, these things were formulated by people who invented these things in the West. Now it is the turn of Datang experts to formulate them. Although Li Congjia He is not used to the unit they have formulated, but it does not prevent him from imagining that other countries will have to learn Chinese characters if they want to learn this knowledge.

The steam engine was developing, and Li Congjia directly approached Lu Ji and said, "The steam engine is definitely not something that you can study and understand. This is a big subject. I hope to call all people who are interested in this thing to study together. Not only Not just for trains, but for other things as well.”

Lu Ji and the others naturally knew that the scope of application of the steam engine is definitely very wide, but human energy is limited. Li Congjia called for the study of trains. It was proposed by Li Congjia.

Now half of the train research is done, they are unwilling to ask them to study other things, and they have no energy to study other things. They can only continue to establish research groups and study in groups, but by then they will not only study improving steam engines. , but to promote the use of steam engines.

But that's okay, it's a pity that such a good thing can only be dusted in the laboratory. As for the pressure cooker...it is simply a by-product of the steam engine, and they don't care about it at all. The only advantage of the pressure cooker is that it can be converted into money. , and then replaced with various materials they need to use.

Lu Ji listened to Li Congjia's advice, turned around and began to gather people who had ideas and interests in steam engines to study. Of course, not everyone can come to study. The people he knew were generally not simple, and several of them were from the beginning. The one that Li Congjia wanted to invite to be a teacher for the academy didn't even invite them, but a steam engine directly drove these big shots out of the mountain.

Li Congjia thought about it, and brought the old man Gongshu over. He remembered that the power of the textile machine seemed to have a bottleneck, and with the steam engine, it should be able to realize semi-automation.

What he never expected was that the old man Gongshu's face changed when he saw the steam engine, and he asked directly, "Your Majesty, do you want to use this thing instead of labor?"

Li Congjia nodded happily. Small handicraft workshops will never develop. Only the development of mechanical power can have an impact on industry.

The old man Gongshu almost changed his face when he heard it, and after a while he said in despondency, "Your Majesty, you are forcing those weavers to their death."

Li Congjia was taken aback after hearing this: "What do you mean?"

The old man Gongshu patted the steam engine and said: "This is indeed a good thing. If you want to use it on the loom, it is not impossible, but once it is used, it will hardly require manpower to weave. Where are those weavers going?" ?”

After hearing this, Li Congjia felt that this problem... He really needs to think about it carefully. In the historical process he knows, the reason for the industrial revolution is because of the growth of social needs, which can no longer be met by relying on the small peasant economy, and can only rely on machines. Instead, this directly leads to the elimination of the small peasant economy.

However, the industrial revolution has not yet occurred in Datang, because the needs of the entire Datang have not yet reached the point where the small-scale peasant economy cannot meet all of this. Li Congjia is actually promoting the process and development of industry.

But the biggest problem now is that the demand of Datang does not use machinery at all. If machinery is cheaper than labor, many wealthy households may choose machinery, but at that time it is inevitable that these workers will be driven away, resulting in Unemployment of a large number of labor force may cause social unrest at that time.

The more Li Congjia thought about it, the more solemn his expression became. He said while thinking: "I know this matter well, you can study it first, this thing cannot be researched in a day or two, and it may need various improvements after researching it. , don’t worry, it’s impossible for your so-called Weaver Girl to have no job.”

The old man Gongshu was filming the situation he said would happen. He is not a politician, and he does not have a good view of the overall situation. He is just very idealistic from his own point of view, but he reminded Li Congjia of very important things.

Li Congjia began to think about this matter after he returned. Industrial advancement is what he hopes to see. Even if he can't reach the high technology of later generations in his lifetime, he also hopes to make further progress, and even he wants to give this piece of land by himself. The land lays a solid foundation, so that the country may not be bombarded by cannons in the future.

After Shi Xueting finished dealing with the matter at hand, he turned his head and looked at Li Congjia's eyes straightened, as if he was in a daze, couldn't help stretching out his hand in front of him, and asked after Li Congjia came back to his senses: " What's wrong? What happened?"

Basically, Li Congjia is rarely in a daze. Once he is in a daze, he must have encountered a problem, but he will not have a good solution for a while, so he has to think. Others see him as a daze, but in fact his brain is spinning rapidly. .

Li Congjia held Shi Xueting's hand and described the old man Gongshu's worries, and then said: "This is really an unsolvable proposition. If these machines are invented, the demand of Datang is not enough, and the machines cannot be promoted. If Forced promotion means that a large number of laborers are unemployed, which is really an unsolvable proposition.”

After listening to it, Shi Xueting thought about it carefully and said: "Even if you solve the demand problem, there is still a more serious problem waiting for you."

Li Congjia looked at him with some puzzlement: "What?"

Shi Xueting asked: "Once the wealthy households own these private assets, they can form small kingdoms one by one. At that time, they will control most of the country's economic lifeline. With such rights, if they are not willing to continue Being controlled and continuing to be at the bottom, what shall we do then?"

Li Congjia stared at Shi Xueting with wide eyes for a moment, and didn't speak for a long time.

It’s a big trough, isn’t this a bourgeois revolution?

Although Shi Xueting didn't sum up the word, that's what he meant inside and outside the words.

In essence, the bourgeois revolution can be said to have abolished the feudal dictatorship. The feudal system has been overthrown, so what do emperors need?Even if it is still retained, I am afraid that it will be a constitutional monarchy at that time, or the royal family is a mascot.

In the past, Li Congjia would have thought that becoming a capitalist country or a socialist country would not be a bad thing, but when he led people to conquer the world little by little, and was surrounded by people and sat on the throne, now his thinking has become: Lao Tzu Why should the conquered world be shared with you people who only have money?

But this is an insurmountable obstacle. If you want to promote development, population demand, and industrial evolution, then the germination of capitalism seems to be an inevitable thing, unless... the court can firmly grasp these things in its hands.

Li Congjia didn't expect that a steam engine would have such a big impact. The wide range of radiation caught him off guard. This is no longer comparable to weapons like the Thunder Box.

Seeing that Li Congjia was silent, Shi Xueting touched his face and said, "Don't worry too much, maybe it's just me thinking too much."

Li Congjia: No, no, you didn't think too much, it's because I thought too little!