Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 411 The First Steam Engine
Grain hegemony cannot be achieved overnight.

It will take time to raise money, go to the people to buy grain, and then transport the grain to counties and prefectures for centralized storage. After all these are done, it will be the spring of next year.

Naturally, Chongzhen would not wait in Changde all the time.

To be honest, what Chongzhen did this time is quite dishonest.

This kind of behavior is like eating dry wipes and taking away the rest.

It is foreseeable that after this grain hegemony, the grain merchants in Huguang will suffer a devastating blow.

However, those grain merchants deserved what they deserved. At the beginning of the year, the imperial court issued an official document expressly prohibiting all grain merchants from entering Huguang to purchase grain without permission.

Blame Wang Fuzhi?

Wang Fuzhi will definitely be scolded to death this time.

After all, if it weren't for Wang Fuzhi's guarantee and the large sum of money borrowed from the water conservancy and grain bank, the Huguang grain merchants headed by Wang Guizhi would not have the courage to be a grain hegemony.

But Wang Fuzhi doesn't care about this.

Wang Fuzhi has entered the realm of disregarding personal reputation.

As Chongzhen said, Huguang is the granary of Ming Dynasty, and the grain in Huguang is the strategic grain reserve of the entire Ming Dynasty. Whoever dares to make an idea of ​​this batch of grain must have the consciousness of being iron-fisted by the imperial court.

For the sake of the country, Wang Fuzhi didn't care about being scolded at all.

Chongzhen didn't have time to wait for the Huguang grain merchants to make a grain hegemony, and he didn't even have time to wait for the Yongshun, Baojing, and Shinan soldiers to bring their families to the lake area, so they hurried back to Nanjing.

Because there was a piece of good news from Nanjing that Chongzhen was looking forward to.

After a year of trial and error, Fang Yizhi and Song Yingxing finally made a breakthrough from zero to one and built the first wooden steam engine.

Chongzhen was eager to see this steam engine.

Chongzhen didn't even take the cavalry battalion with him, he only took [-] barbarians on board the naval warship and went all the way down the river, and he didn't go ashore to Hanyang Mansion to have a look when passing through Wuchang.

The journey was smooth and smooth, and Chongzhen returned to Nanjing in the middle of the twelfth lunar month.

Chongzhen still did not notify the officials in Beijing, so no one greeted him.

As a human being for two generations, what Chongzhen hates the most is the formalism of welcoming and sending.

With this time, what kind of work can't you do?Even if it's just playing a few rounds of mahjong, you have to deal with these stupid people.

Chongzhen directly asked the navy to park the bird boat at the small pier outside Qingliangmen, and then brought Zhu Cijiong, Hu Guozhu and others straight to the Gewuke workshop inside Qingliangmen.

The area inside Qingliangmen, including Qingliang Mountain, has been surrounded by walls.

Even Qingliang Temple, located at the eastern foot of Qingliang Mountain, was relocated outside the city. The original temple building has been turned into a dormitory and workshop of the Gewu Division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where the best craftsmen of Ming Dynasty gathered.

These craftsmen include all categories, even shoemakers.

According to Chongzhen's will, the entire factory is heavily guarded, with the Beijing camp on the outside, the new army in the middle, and a guard team composed of hundreds of eunuchs at the core, so that no flies can fly in.

Seeing Chongzhen, the Jingying soldiers, Xinjun and eunuchs guarding the gate saluted one after another.

Chongzhen didn't even think about it, and walked straight into the inner door of the workshop, and as soon as he entered the door, he saw a machine that was half wood and half iron in the middle of the huge yard.

The machine is about as tall as a person.

The flywheel made of wood is spinning whirringly.

There was also constant water vapor leaking from the machine.

Fang Yizhi, Song Yingxing and a dozen craftsmen gathered around the machine, discussing how to improve the leakage of the machine.

Because they were too involved, they didn't even notice that Chongzhen walked behind him.

In the end, Fang Yizhi found Chongzhen when he turned around to add coal to the boiler.

"Your Majesty?" Fang Yizhi looked at Chongzhen in astonishment at first, and after he realized it, he hurriedly paid homage, "Minister Fang Yizhi, please bow to the Holy Majesty Jin'an."

Song Yingxing and more than a dozen craftsmen quickly followed and fell to the ground.

"No." Chongzhen waved his hands casually, and couldn't wait to walk up to the steam engine.

Fang Yizhi followed and pointed to the machines and introduced them to Chongzhen one by one: "Your Majesty, this is the boiler, which is made of tin, because iron boilers are too hard to make."

Chongzhen looked very carefully, the main body is two concentric tin cylinders.

There is no problem with this, anyway, it is just a verification machine, it only needs to be used to verify the feasibility.

But it is absolutely impossible to manufacture a real steam engine. One is that the strength of tin is too low, and the melting point is too low. The other is that the structural design of this boiler is also problematic. In this way, two concentric cylinders and a sandwich design can improve the heat exchange efficiency. It will be ridiculously low, and it is estimated that 20.00% is enough.

That's right, it's about the same thermal efficiency as a common firewood stove.

The coal burns in the inner tank of the boiler, boils the water in the interlayer, and the hydration in the interlayer turns into water vapor, and then guides it into the cylinder made of wood through a tin tube, pushing the piston to move back and forth and do work.

Fang Yizhi went on to say: "My lord, the structure of the cylinder is more complicated than that of the boiler. It must be impossible to make it with cast iron, so at the beginning we also planned to use tin to cast it, but in the end we found that it was not possible because the texture of tin is too much. It is soft, deformed and then stuck after a few reciprocations, and finally I decided to use iron wood to make this cylinder."

Chongzhen could only laugh and say nothing about this, but fortunately, this is just a verification machine, just move it.

Then the steam engine in front of me has obviously reached this technical indicator, because the wooden flywheel of this steam engine has indeed moved, although the power is very small.

Because Chongzhen grabbed the flywheel as soon as he stretched out his hand.

Then the entire steam engine leaked air, and the flywheel did not move at all.

Chongzhen estimated that the power of this steam engine was only a few tenths of a horsepower.

Fortunately, it was just a technical verification machine, Chongzhen once again comforted himself in his heart.

As long as the technical route is proved to be feasible, a real industrial steam engine can be made next.

At present, Chongzhen smiled at the other party and said with wisdom: "Mizhi, you have worked hard this year, and I am very satisfied with your work. You can go to Ma Mingtao to withdraw 1 taels of silver. All craftsmen who participated in the development of the steam engine Everyone has a reward."

"The ministers and others thank the sage Long En." Fang Yizhi, Song Yingxing and the craftsmen present were overjoyed for a while.

There are more than 90 craftsmen involved in the development of the steam engine, plus scholars, each can be divided into more than [-] taels!

Gao Qiqian's eyes were also hot, and he thought that the Holy Majesty is really generous to these craftsmen.

Chongzhen said to Fang Yizhi: "Secretly, this verification machine has fully proved the feasibility of the steam engine, so the next thing you have to do is to turn this verification machine into a real steam engine."

After a short pause, Chongzhen said again: "A real steam engine can't be so simple."

"Whether it's a boiler, a cylinder, a flywheel or a drive shaft, whatever, it has to be iron."

"Must it all be iron?" Fang Yizhi frowned and said, "My lord, I'm afraid this will be very difficult to do."

Song Yingxing also said: "My lord, the boiler can still be casted by the lost wax method, but the cylinder cannot. The internal neatness requirements of the cylinder are too high. However, the cylinders and pistons cast by the lost-wax method will get stuck and won't move."

At this time, an old blacksmith said: "It's not impossible. First cast a rough outline with wrought iron, and then polish it slowly. As long as you have enough time, it is not a problem to polish it into a mirror."

"Just polish it slowly." Chongzhen said, "Time is not a problem."

For things like steam engines, there is no rush, you can only take it slowly.

What's more, with a ready-made technical route, no matter how slow the second steam engine is, it will not be slower than the first steam engine. The breakthrough from zero to one is always the most difficult, and the improvement from one to two is much easier.

"Success." Fang Yizhi nodded and asked again, "My lord, how big is it?"

Chongzhen thought for a while and said: "To make a steam engine as big as a house, it must be at least ten feet high."

For the second steam engine, Chongzhen did not plan to repeat the verification machine, but was going to use it directly to provide power. When the time came, the forging machine and the drilling machine would be made first, and the processing speed of the barrel would be greatly accelerated.

Once the production capacity of the flintlock is raised, it can crush Jiannu.

As for now, due to the insistence on standardized production of the Daming Arsenal, the production capacity of flintlock guns is not even as good as that of Jiannu. The Daming Arsenal can produce [-] flintlock guns a year, but Jiannu can produce [-]. Standardization, so the processing speed of the barrel is faster, and Jiannu does not have a bayonet, so the cost is lower.

Of course, the total production capacity is actually not much different, because in addition to the Daming Arsenal, there are Hubu Arsenal and more than a dozen small arms factories, which can produce [-] pieces a year.

In addition, machine tools such as lathes, milling machines, grinding machines, and planers must also be designed.

When these machine tools are developed, the Ming Dynasty will truly enter the industrial civilization. At that time, barbarians or nomads such as Jiannu will sing and dance at home honestly.

At that time, it will be the era when Ming and Western countries compete for sea power.

Just when Chongzhen was thinking about the future, a huge shadow suddenly passed over the factory.

"It's coming again." Fang Yizhi shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, look, this is the flying car that Zheng Damu just made."

Wang Chengen, who was behind, handed over the binoculars in a timely manner. Chongzhen quickly opened the binoculars and aimed at the huge shadow over Qingliang Mountain. He really saw Zheng Sen on it.

Zheng Senzhen took his suggestion and made the hot air balloon into the shape of an airship.

The propulsion device on the hanging basket has also changed from a blower box to a propeller, so I don't know what material is used.

Judging from the effect, it is obviously much better than the previous hot air balloon. Even if it encounters strong winds, it will not be blown away at once, and at most it will deviate from the course.

But Chongzhen felt that this thing was of little use.

The reason is also very simple, the load is too small.

There is only a small load in total, and if you carry too much fuel, you will not be able to carry weapons.

But if you carry less fuel, you will not be able to fly very far, and you will have to return to replenish fuel soon. This is what is often called short legs in later generations of Air Force fighter jets.

But Chongzhen would not pour cold water on Zheng Sen either.

In any case, this spirit is worth encouraging.

Looking away, when Chongzhen was about to talk to Fang Yizhi and the others about the steam engine, there was suddenly the sound of chaotic footsteps outside, and then nearly a hundred officials headed by Lu Zhenfei and the other four cabinet assistants rushed in.

Chongzhen frowned immediately, thinking that he had to make another rule in the future.

Without permission, even the Sanpin hall officials cannot easily enter the Gewuke workshop.

While thinking about it, Lu Zhenfei had brought nearly a hundred officials over and paid respects.

"Get up." Chongzhen signaled Lu Zhenfei and other officials to get up, and said, "The four elders stay here, other officials can do whatever they need to do, I don't need your company here."

Qian Qianyi said: "My lord, you haven't seen Sheng Jia for a long time, and I miss you very much, so..."

"So what? So you want to stay and chat with Zhenla? It's better to get acquainted in front of Zhen?" Chongzhen said, "It's useless, because your selection and appointment rights are in the cabinet. Ministry, even if I want to promote you, I can't do it, I don't have the power."

Qian Qianyi got bored, and immediately shut his mouth embarrassingly.

Both Zhang Shenyan and Meng Zhaoxiang looked disdainful, thinking how could you hide Qian Qianyi's little thought from the Holy Majesty?If you insist on pretending to be highly regarded by the Holy Spirit in front of all the officials, you will be slapped in the face now.

To be honest, Chongzhen was speechless about Qian Qianyi's entry into the cabinet.

It can only be said that this man's influence among the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River is still there, and there will be no more cold water in this world line, and his personal image and reputation have not been damaged, so he was pushed into the cabinet by the court.

Fortunately, at his age, he would definitely not be able to take over as the chief assistant.

After all, Lu Zhenfei is eight years younger than Qian Qianyi, and Meng Zhaoxiang is even younger.

It was precisely because of these considerations that Chongzhen did not intervene, otherwise he would ruin Qian Qianyi's reputation and lose his qualification to join the cabinet in a matter of minutes.

Meng Zhaoxiang knew that Chongzhen hated talking about ostentation, so he said, "It's all gone, it's all gone."

All the senior officials of the Butangyuan Temple left the Gewuke workshop angrily, and there were only four elders left in the same place.

Only then did Lu Zhenfei complain: "Your Majesty, why didn't you say hello when you returned to the capital? You can lead all the officials to greet you. When the censors know about it, they should scold the officials for not being polite." gone."

"Let them scold you." Chongzhen said, "If you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight. Since you want to be the chief assistant, Lu Qing, you must have the awareness to be criticized by others. In the Ming Dynasty, there were people who did not get scolded." Shoufu?"

Naturally, there is no Shoufu who doesn't get scolded, and the good guy Shen Shixing is still criticized.

At this time Zhang Shenyan said: "Returning to the Holy Lord, it's nothing to be scolded by the junior ministers, but your personal conquest and successful quelling of the Shadingzhou chaos is still a piece of martial arts. It has been a long time since this dynasty has done so. To suppress the rebellion, it is really unreasonable not to hold a sacrifice of prisoners, and it is not conducive to uniting the hearts of our army and the people."

"Well, this is really my fault." Hearing this, Chongzhen could only obediently admit his mistake.

To be honest, I really can't say enough about these civil servants, the words of these people have been trained.

[Kneeling for a monthly pass]

(End of this chapter)