I, Zhu Youjian: the first prodigal son of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 35 The World's No. [-] Sewer

At the construction site of the underground passage, Zhu Youjian was wrapped in a fur robe and scolded Wei Zhongxian, Qian Qianyi, Xu Guangqi, Song Yingxing, Yang He and others.

Then, Wei Zhongxian was ordered to take off his cloak, and use a piece of charred tree branch to "plan and design" on it, making several ministers look at each other, but no one dared to speak.

Because the "underground passage" designed by Zhu Youjian has already exceeded the imagination of few people.

"At least four horse-drawn carriages must be able to run side by side. At the same time, flood drainage ditches must be built on both sides of the entire underground passage, so that even if there is a heavy rainstorm that occurs once in a century, it can be discharged smoothly;
I also want to build this underground passage into a Maginot line of defense for the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Even if there are millions of soldiers, we can make them come and go!
In addition, it should also have the function of heating the whole city. If we gathered so much coal in the Ming Dynasty to heat the whole city, tens of thousands of silver can be saved every year. "

Sewers, Maginot Line, steam trains, heating pipes...

The idiot emperor's words, like a myth, made several ministers tremble with fear.

Because with such a simple planning and design, the project volume has been multiplied by more than seven or eight times. How much money will be thrown into it?
Moreover, once the construction starts, it will not involve the hundreds of acres nearby, but the entire capital city!
During the construction process, demolition, compensation, etc. will be involved, which is unimaginable.

Moreover, under the auspices of Emperor Yongle, this capital city was built with great consideration in terms of flood drainage and flood discharge at the beginning of its construction. If it is redesigned and planned now, it will be more than ten times larger than the project volume when it was newly built. Times, twenty times!
"Your Majesty, if you design according to your plan, the underground of the entire capital... will be more difficult than the construction of a city..."

Xu Guangqi is a 'scientist'. He is very familiar with the capital's flood drainage system, and has recently gotten close to Yang He, Song Yingxing and others, so he has a lot of scientific and practical knowledge.

When he heard the emperor's planning and design, it was nothing short of nonsense...

Is there really such a large-scale and fully functional 'sewer' in the world?Except that the emperor's mind was hot, he was overjoyed, and he was thinking wildly, it was difficult to explain at all.

"You guys are the ones who understand science the most in the Ming Dynasty. Could it be that even you guys can't understand my painstaking efforts?
If a rainstorm is soaked in yellow muddy water, what kind of capital is it called?
Secondly, apart from these useless city walls on the ground, does the majestic capital of the Ming Dynasty have another defense system?
It's not that I'm dizzy, or that I'm overjoyed, but that I've thought about it over and over again, we can't put a bunch of eggs in the same basket! "

"No matter what, this sewer should be built to be the best in the world!"

In the end, the idiot emperor made a final decision and forcibly settled the matter, which became the largest engineering project of the Ming Dynasty after the spring of the new year.

"As for the money, money and grain, you guys should discuss it together. If it's for my Ming Dynasty's No. [-] sewer, I'm willing to sell the entire Forbidden City!"

After hearing this, Wei Zhongxian and the others secretly shook their heads and sighed.

Why does this idiot emperor want to sell the Forbidden City at every turn?Could it be the reincarnation of the prodigal star?
It's also exhausting.

"You guys, don't be dissatisfied!" Seeing the absent-minded looks of several ministers, Zhu Youjian was anxious, waved his big hand, and said, "Wei Zhongxian, go back to the palace!"

"By the way, you guys will also enter the palace together."

"I want to tell you a good story. In my heart, what our No. [-] sewer system in the world will mean to our great Ming country!"

So, under the leadership of the idiot emperor, a group of people came to the palace.

In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youjian gave seats to Qian Qianyi, Xu Guangqi and others, and asked the eunuchs to make tea for the ministers.

"Wei Zhongxian, take care of your pen and ink!"

After giving an order, Wei Zhongxian and several eunuchs took pens, inks, papers and inkstones and placed them on the brick floor of the main hall.

Zhu Youjian didn't need to take off his shoes and socks, but picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and started 'painting on the spot'.

According to the planning of the main urban area of ​​the capital, he first drew more than a dozen thick lines vertically and horizontally, held the brush and pondered for a moment, then summoned Wei Zhongxian over, and said with a smile, "My pen and ink are too dignified, I'd better let you draw."

Several ministers laughed secretly.

This idiot emperor is probably familiar with the Forbidden City, the Qianqing Palace and the Nuan Pavilion, but he doesn't know the streets and alleys of the entire capital...

It only took an incense stick of time for Wei Zhongxian to draw a "Planning and Design Map of the Capital City", in which the main streets and alleys, important buildings, yamen's gates, etc. were clearly marked one by one.

Look, this is called professional!

After Wei Zhongxian handed over the brush and ink to an eunuch, he smiled at Zhu Youjian and said, "Long Live Lord, please point out on this sketch."

Zhu Youjian didn't blush, anyway, he is the emperor, so it's normal that he can't draw blueprints.

He walked up to the 'Planning and Design Map of the Capital City', pondered for a while, asked the eunuch to bring over a vermilion imperial brush, and began to slowly explain the 'No. [-] Sewer in the World' in his mind.

"Along these avenues, eight avenues are built vertically and horizontally, as the outer periphery of the capital's underground fortress, and there must be at least eight horses galloping side by side, this is one of them;

Second, use local materials, transport gravel from the mountainous areas in the outskirts of Beijing, crush it and lay a thick layer covered with loess. When we can manufacture steam turbines in the Ming Dynasty, we can directly lay rails;
Third, we must reserve enough flood drainage ditches, lay the channels with bricks and stones, and then pour them with cement concrete..."

The idiot emperor talked eloquently.

The ministers looked at each other more and more, unable to keep up with Zhu Youjian's thinking at all, and murmured in their hearts: "What is this steam turbine?"What is this cement concrete?Why have never heard of ah. '

"Your Majesty, I have some doubts, may I ask you a question or two?" Finally, the scientist Song Yingxing couldn't help but interjected, "What is the steam turbine that Your Majesty is talking about?"

"Besides, what is this cement concrete? Is it a new material made by crushing some special ore and firing it?"

In the end, he was the number one scientist in Ming Dynasty, and he hit the point with one sentence.

Zhu Youjian cast admiring glances at Song Yingxing, and said with a smile: "Song Aiqing really lived up to my expectations, and she grasped the key to the problem right away."

Therefore, he told several ministers about the steam train in his impression, and based on his imagination and limited knowledge of mechanical principles, he roughly talked about the dynamics of the steam engine.

Xu Guangqi, Wei Zhongxian, Yang He and others shook their heads repeatedly, feeling that the 'machine' envisioned by the emperor was too mysterious and unimaginable at all.

Only Song Yingxing listened, his eyes gradually lit up.

"It turns out that it is the principle of wooden oxen and horses, but the power used in it is steam..."

Next, when the idiot emperor talked about cement concrete, several ministers roughly understood it.

'Isn't this the pouring method used by the first emperor when he built the city wall and the way of soldiers?However, this new type of material is not made of clay, gravel, millet soup, etc., but a kind of ore fired...'

"Okay, I'm talking a lot of nonsense. Are the lovers hungry? Wei Zhongxian, let the Shangshan supervisor have a few good dishes and two jars of good wine. I want to have fun with the officials!"

Wei Zhongxian knew long ago that as long as the idiot emperor "works overtime", he will find various reasons to eat and drink.

By the way, let the ministers around you also spend extravagantly.

"Your Majesty, I want to try to make a steam turbine!" Song Yingxing stepped forward while the ministers were waiting for dinner, bowed and said in a somewhat reserved manner:
"I feel that I should be able to manufacture the steam turbine His Majesty mentioned..."

(End of this chapter)