I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 287
Chapter 286

If it wasn't for the invention of the Fire Bull, Wang Zheng, as a Catholic missionary, would have been desperate. Fortunately, because of the Fire Bull, he has won the support of the Liaodong Management Committee. At least now he is definitely not short of money.

The Liaodong Management Committee bought Wang Zheng's Fire Bull with money. Wang Zheng didn't need money, he only needed a piece of land in Jinzhou City and the largest church.

It was under such circumstances that the Bishop of Basel came to Liaodong. After the Bishop of Basel brought dozens of missionaries into Liaodong, Basel and the missionaries discovered that this place was not quite what they had imagined.

The road here is wide and flat, as if it was polished from a whole rock, which is not seen in Europe. They were extremely surprised!
In particular, the luxurious cathedral located in the southern city of Jinzhou made them even more dumbfounded. The Bishop of Basel exclaimed: "My God, what kind of school is this? It's clearly a city!"

Wang Zheng proudly said: "Am I right? This is really a good place! The best part is, not many people have discovered this good place yet, we can definitely make a career here!"

Basel said: "It's not bad here, but will His Excellency the Duke allow us to preach in his country? You know, he is very repulsive to our sacred religious beliefs!"

Wang Zhengdao: "What's so difficult about this? As long as we do what we like and use our wisdom..."

Seeing the dirt all over the bodies of the Bishop of Basel and those dozens of missionaries, as well as the smell of biological and chemical weapons, he hurriedly changed his words: "Hurry up and take a bath to wash off your stinky mud, Liaodong people I don't like dirty people!"

The Bishop of Basel stared and said: "My lord, taking a bath is a depraved act! How can you be so depraved!?"

"This is called the holy bath, the holy bath!"

Wang Zheng took a pack of soap and gave them a piece of soap: "Hurry up and take a bath!"

Just as the missionaries entered the bathhouse, Cheng Shijie, Sun Zhishen and others also rode to the church. This church covers an area of ​​about 36 mu, or [-] square meters, so in the eyes of the Bishop of Basel and others, , this is not a church, but a city.

The church seat of the whole church faces east and west, narrow in front and wide in back.The plane of the church is in the shape of a Latin cross, and the outer wall is cast with cement and steel bars. On the west facade, there are two tall pointed bell towers and many small steeples.

The west part is the auxiliary building of the seminary, and the east part is in the form of a courtyard house, which are respectively used as living quarters for students, mainly as dormitories, public baths, restaurants, classrooms, libraries and offices.

The middle of the courtyard is surrounded by a small garden, and the open space in front of the garden is used as a place for religious activities.The attached houses surrounded by four sides constitute the entire Jinzhou Catholic Church complex.

Judging from the overall layout of the church complex, the church adopts a symmetrical courtyard layout. The gate of the church courtyard is on the central axis with the main entrance, nave and altar inside the church.

Take the Jinzhou Catholic Church as an example. If it weren’t for the advanced technology level in Liaodong, it would take at least two or three years to build this church in the Central Plains. However, the original site of this church is the earliest briquette factory in Jinzhou. , with more and more people in Jinzhou, and the price of land is getting higher and higher, the original briquette plant is not enough.

As the briquette factory moved out of the city, this land was left unused, and this church was built in the staff dormitory and factory area of ​​the briquette factory. Now the large square in front of the church is the drying yard and public bathhouse of the original briquette factory. , which is also the original bathhouse for the employees of the briquette factory.

Except for the two main poured Gothic towers, about two-thirds of the building is the original building, just painted.

"Meet the Master!"

"Mr. Wang is polite!"

Cheng Shijie looked at Wang Zheng and said, "Where is your iron bull, I want to see your iron bull!"

"This is a church. If you want to see the Iron Bull, you can only go to your house!"

Everyone came to Wang Zheng's home, which is about three kilometers away from the church. This place is actually close to the South City Gate. As the saying goes, the rich live in the city, and the poor live outside the city. This principle is the same in Jinzhou.The richest tycoons in the entire Jinzhou are not far from the place where they live, and the Ning Navy General Mansion.

Arriving at Wang Zheng's mansion, Wang Zheng's mansion is a courtyard with five entrances, and a small courtyard near the northeast corner is a workshop like a hall.Cheng Shijie looked at this building similar to the factory buildings of later generations, as if he saw the handmade production workshop.

This is actually a mill. At the same time, Cheng Shijie also saw a not-so-large "iron ox". Of course, the shape of this iron ox is completely different from that of a cow. A small boiler, one end of the piston rod of the boiler is linked to a set of gears, and after passing through the transmission mechanism, it is linked to a pulverizer.

Looking at this steam engine, it is only slightly larger than the later Thomas the train.

"This is my Fire Bull!"

"Can you get up?"

"of course can!"

Wang Zheng smiled and said, "No problem. I have tested it many times. The efficiency of 'Iron Bull' is six times that of an adult bull. The workload of twelve draft horses in one day can be completed by Iron Bull in two hours."

Wang Zheng is also full of confidence now. The advantage of the fire cow is that it does not need to rest. As long as the machine is not broken, it can continue to work. This is an advantage that livestock cannot match.

"Then let's get started!"

Although Cheng Shijie has never seen a real steam engine in later generations, he has seen the pictures, although he has not tried it. Seeing Wang Zheng's confidence, perhaps in his opinion, the iron ox can only be used for grinding, but in Cheng Shijie's view Come on, the biggest treasure of this Iron Bull is the boiler.

The application range of the steam engine is very wide, not only for mills, crushers, and tractors, but also for automobiles, ships, and the entire industrial field.

The most important thing for Cheng Shijie is the steam engine train in the future. The 30-year war in Europe will end in more than ten years. The time left for Cheng Shijie is not much, or a lot less. If Cheng Shijie wants to make the most money in Europe in 30 years benefits, then from now on, every day is precious.

With a roar of "hangchihangchi", the fire cow started to work, and Sun Bi, Chen Guodong, Zhou Yandong and others immediately came over.

Wang Zheng is right, the Fire Bull is indeed "incomparably powerful". At this time, the crusher connected to the Fire Bull was actually driven by water power at first. Later, because water power could not be used all year round, animal power was used instead of water power. However, this This kind of crusher requires two horses, and the crushing efficiency is very slow.

But the fire cow is different. The fire cow drives the crusher with higher efficiency, because Cheng Shijie knows that the efficiency of the steam engine must be much higher than that of the draft horse.Wang Zheng didn't move forward either, because he had confidence in Fire Bull.

"Wang Zheng, are you continuing your research on Fire Bull?"

"Yes... just don't have a clue yet!"

"You can study how to use the fire ox on the carriage, so that the carriage does not need a horse, and only the fire ox can drive it. You can also study, the fire ox can be made bigger or smaller!"

Cheng Shijie assigns tasks to Wang Zheng. These two extremes correspond to two different directions. If Wang Zheng can come up with more designs, the prospect of Liaodong will be even broader.

Compared with internal combustion engines, steam engines have many disadvantages such as bulkiness, loud noise, large vibration, and high pollution.Corresponding to the shortcomings, the steam engine has high power, good economy, and higher reliability. These advantages are enough for Cheng Shijie to ignore the shortcomings of the diesel steam engine. What's more, Liaodong now has to solve the problem of whether it is good or not. question.

The result is obvious. In just half an hour, this small fire ox grinds three or four hundred thousand wheat into fine flour. If it is replaced by horses, twelve horses will be needed in turn. Otherwise, the horse's body would not be able to bear it.

The most exciting thing is actually not Sun Zhichen, but Chen Guodong. According to the power of this kind of firepower, it can be mounted on a carriage, representing a horse. In this way, Ning Haijun's moving speed can exceed 150 miles, and he can even forcefully march one or two times a day hundred miles.

With the steam engine, scientific and technological progress is not at 01:30. The first is rifle production, which can also make breakthroughs. More importantly, Ming can start the industrial revolution.

In Sun Zhichen's view, the biggest advantage of the fire ox is that it can replace the horse and animal power. The biggest advantage of the fire ox may be that it does not produce horse manure. When horses enter the Golden State, only the cavalry and letter cavalry can ride horses in the city, and the cavalry's horses are all trained, and they will not defecate anywhere during work.

"The fire ox can completely replace the draft horse!"

"It's too soon to say what will replace the draft horse!"

Just as Cheng Shijie finished speaking, the fire ox stopped running. It turned out that the coal in the furnace hall had burned out, and coal and water needed to be added.

Wang Zheng led several technical craftsmen to start to deal with the problem. Cheng Shijie encouraged Wang Zheng, then looked at Sun Zhichen and said, "Wang Zheng's invention needs a lot of rewards!"

"Already rewarded!"

"not enough!"

Cheng Shijie thought for a while and said, "Draft a memorial for me, and I will ask Wang Zheng to seal it!"

Cheng Shijie wanted to reward Wang Zheng heavily, at least give Wang Zheng the title of a craftsman of a great country, and at least let him be reinstated as an official. Of course, he can only be an official in Liaodong.

……

After Cheng Shijie came back, Cheng Jialong didn't dare to go home at all, so he lived in Jingjing Town. Of course, Cheng Shijie didn't stop the competition in Jingjing Town, so it was held normally.

Amid the blaring music of gongs and drums, the competitive delegations from all states and counties began to line up to participate in the opening ceremony. However, there are no entertainment activities these days, and even people from as far away as Liaoyang and Guangning came to visit This tournament.

That scene was crowded with people, good guy, tens of thousands of people crowded together, how spectacular!Those small traders are going crazy with joy, this is like giving them money, even if the price of the goods is doubled, they can be sold out in a blink of an eye!Quite a few timid guys turned pale with fright at the crowds and the deafening sound. So many people, if they start their hands, they will turn into meatloaf!
Just when Cheng Jialong and Gao Jie were estimating how much money they could make this time, there was a roar of shouts like a tsunami in the distance. Following the sound, they saw Cheng Shijie, Zhu Weiti, Empress Zhang, Empress Zhou, and the prince. , Sun Chengzong, Sun Zhichen, Yang Yunniang and other big figures in Liaodong came and went.

After a long time, the terrifying sound finally stopped, and the order slowly returned to normal.At this time, Cheng Shijie came to speak on stage, and several loudspeakers allowed tens of thousands of people to hear Cheng Shijie's voice.

Cheng Shijie's speech was actually very simple, basically similar to a work report, telling everyone how much grain was produced in Liaodong last year, how much tax was collected, how many roads were built, and how many orphans and widows were paid.

How much land has been planted this year, and how much grain will be harvested in the future if the weather goes well.

Ordinary people can't understand things that are too profound, but the numbers are very intuitive. Comparing these numbers with those of last year, the difference immediately comes out. The speech was interrupted several times.

"Long live Daming, long live Cheng Shuai!"

Everyone shouted at the highest volume: "Long live Daming! Long live Cheng Shuai!"

Some literati snorted coldly with disdain: "A group of fools in the countryside, they don't know the east, west, south, north and south for a little profit. They are really stupid!"

But their hearts are sour, because they have never enjoyed the heartfelt and unreserved respect and love of the common people.

These slogans fell into Queen Zhang's ears, and her face turned pale instantly.

Empress Zhou smiled lightly and said, "Sister-in-law, please be safe and don't be impatient!"

The shouting of the people below was definitely not arranged by Cheng Shijie, unless Cheng Shijie wanted to rebel.

Cheng Shijie and the rest of the people's fanaticism stabilized a little bit, and then they said: "Fathers and folks, Liaodong has developed well this year. Our Liaodong is more vibrant and hopeful than any surrounding counties and counties. A vibrant, Where there is hope, there must be a future. Liaodong may be even more difficult next year, and natural disasters may befall us, but I believe that as long as we all work together, no matter how difficult it is, we can overcome it. Now, the commander-in-chief It is announced that the tournament is now starting!"

More than 200 drummers waved their fist-sized drumsticks and beat more than 200 big drums. Amidst the thunderous sound of drums, players from all walks of life entered the arena one by one holding their own flags.

After nearly half an hour of the entrance ceremony, the competition officially began, and the first competition event of the competition was the first to start.

race.

A total of more than 36 horses from 100 counties in the seven prefectures of Liaodong, as well as [-] representative teams of the Ninghai Navy rushed out at full speed.

Just at the beginning of the Liaodong Athletic Conference, located in the Aegean Sea, the Venetian Navy and the Ottoman Navy met unexpectedly, and an encounter battle officially started.

What is different from the past is that this is an experimental strike fleet of the Venetian Navy, with a total of 300 main battleships, fighting against more than [-] ships of the Ottoman Navy's Mediterranean Fleet.

There was still a distance of 700 meters between the two sides. The Venetian Navy asked Catherine: "Your Excellency, Commander, do you want to fire?"

"Fire, free fire!"

Following Catherine's order, the quadruple fire dragons came out of the water, dragging their long tails, and flew towards the Ottoman fleet. More than 100 fire dragons came out of the water, two-thirds of which fell to the ground, but caused more than a dozen enemy ships to die. gun.

(End of this chapter)