When Zhao Jun received the news of the old man's location, what he saw was this strange and spectacular scene.
On the street that was supposed to be bustling with people, an out of place scene suddenly appeared.
A large group of people formed a circle, with their old man at the center, their heads lowered and they didn't know what they were looking at.
What's more, he also spotted the figure of Wu Hou patrolling the streets in the crowd. His expression was no different from the others!
Zhao Jun was stunned, carefully passed through the crowd, and came behind Zhao Duan to look at the ground where everyone was watching, with a puzzled look on his face. What are these people looking at?
After seeing the reaction on his old man's face, Zhao Jun directly asked: "What are you looking at?"
"Ouch!"
His voice instantly woke Zhao Duan out of his immersion.
Everyone was startled, and when they turned around and saw that it was him, they suddenly said angrily: "You brat, you are suddenly standing next to me, walking silently? Don't you know that scaring people can easily scare them to death?"
Zhao Jun scratched his head and continued to ask: "Then what are you looking at, so seriously?"
Only then did Zhao Duan come back to his senses. He pointed at the floor with excitement and said, "What kind of material do you have here? It looks like mud but not like mud. It is very hard when you hit it. If it is used to make a city wall, the thieves will explain!"
It’s much better than using glutinous rice to glue it together! "
Only then did Zhao Jun understand what attracted the old man's attention, and he said amusedly: "Are you just looking at the relationship here with cement?
Are you making such a big fuss over a little bit of cement? "
Zhao Duan was stunned, big movement? I just wanted to see what was going on in the concrete place.
But when he looked up, he saw a pair of dead fish eyes staring at him.
They had heard clearly the conversation between the father and son just now, and thought that this man had discovered something extraordinary. But in the end, their feelings had never seen the world, and they regarded cement as a good thing!
What's even more ridiculous is that his group actually squatted down and studied with him out of curiosity. In an instant, everyone felt their faces burning with pain, as if someone had slapped them in the face.
Zhao Duan looked up and was stunned when he saw this scene. At this time, Zhao Jun came to him and whispered: "Old man, if I were you, I would run away now, otherwise when they have accumulated enough anger, they will You can’t even run away when you want to.”
Zhao Duan listened carefully and observed, and sure enough, he found that anger was slowly building up in everyone's eyes. The more he thought about the people squatting down with him like idiots, the angrier he became. He was about to reach the anger level. peak!
Seeing this, Zhao Duan nodded seriously: "Well, I think you are right!"
After saying this, Zhao Duan turned around and nodded to Cao Shuang. Cao Shuang immediately understood, and then the master and servant slipped out of the crowd like monkeys.
That movement was clean and crisp, that speed! Just a blink of an eye!
Zhao Jun, who was still in a daze, looked at the people who had turned their eyes to his son and showed an embarrassed smile without being rude:
"Haha, what are you guys eating?"
"Eat your uncle! Beat him! His father has run away! Beat him!"
This sound was like a ignited fuse that instantly detonated the crowd. The angry crowd rushed towards him crazily, but after the noise passed, they could no longer find Zhao Jun's voice.
…
"Old man! Wait for me! How could you run away and leave me here! It's so unethical!"
Somewhere on the street, Zhao Duan, who was running wildly, seemed to hear the cry of his resentful son, but he immediately shook his head and forgot about the sound.
impossible! Absolutely impossible! He should be surrounded at this time, how could he escape?
right! That's right! That’s what it looks like!
Thinking like this, the movements of his feet suddenly became a little faster, and the wind seemed to be attached to him at this moment.
In the end, this was still Yunzhou City, Zhao Jun's territory, and Zhao Duan, the old man... the old man still couldn't run away and was caught.
Looking at Zhao Jun with a dark face, Zhao Duan not only did not feel guilty at all, but he was quite arrogant and did not seem to have done anything wrong at all.
When he saw Zhao Jun, he came up directly and asked: "You're here just in time. I heard that you have some kind of steam engine that can operate by itself. Recently, your official newspaper has been talking about it every day. Take me to see the real thing right now." .”
After breakfast this morning, Zhao Duan bought a copy of Yunzhou County's official newspaper from a boy selling newspapers on the roadside. He saw something about a steam engine in it. A piece of iron can actually move on its own. This is really true. Interesting and aroused his curiosity.
Hearing this, Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "That thing is still a semi-finished product. One of the materials has never been found, so now it is just a look-alike product. You have to stop after moving it twice."
"Have a look, have a look."
Finally, at Zhao Duan's insistence, Zhao Jun took the old man to the Tiangong Institute, which was studying steam engines.
The old craftsman responsible for researching steam engines, Mr. Ye, was originally a blacksmith. After Zhao Jun proposed the design of the steam engine, Mr. Ye led the land he cultivated to conquer the technology of steam engines.
From the initial unknown principle to the prototype now, the steam power is enough for a steam locomotive to pull a person to walk 100 meters in half an hour, which took three years.
Mr. Ye pointed at the iron knot behind him, which was similar to the locomotive in his previous life. "The biggest problem at the moment is that we can't find any good sealing materials to seal the joints of valves, pipes, cylinders and other parts, which caused us to invest in Ninety percent of the power generated by the coal in the steam engine is directly wasted, and only about 10% can be converted into the power of the steam engine.
If this problem cannot be solved, then the steam engine will be of little use. Firstly, it will not last long, and secondly, it will consume too much and is not cost-effective. "
Following Mr. Ye's introduction, father and son Zhao Jun and Zhao Duan looked up and down at the big guy in front of them. The dark steel body was full of strange industrial beauty, and just looking at it gave people a shocking feeling.
After watching for a long time, Zhao Duan suddenly said:
"Didn't you say he can move?
Let him move and see! "
Mr. Ye turned his head and looked at Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun thought for a while and finally nodded: "Go and get ready. I also want to see the current progress."
"Okay! Your Majesty, please wait a moment!"
After saying that, Mr. Ye went down to make arrangements. After a while, many people came to the original exhibition venue. They surrounded the steam engine and wrote and drew in the middle.
Zhao Jun took a look and realized that they were recording experimental data. It didn't matter what Zhao Jun mentioned. Nowadays, the craftsmen of Tiangong Institute will take the initiative to summarize the data of each experiment. They will collect all the data from Find areas for improvement to make things more advanced.
Soon after, a cartload of coal and a small cart were pulled over. The small cart was covered with stones and was soon hung on the tail of the steam engine.
Another group of people lit the boiler in the steam engine and began to add coal to it.
As black coal is continuously added to the boiler, the fire in the boiler burns more and more fiercely. The water in the steam engine is burned to produce a large amount of water vapor, and the kinetic energy generated by the water vapor is driven through the steam engine to drive various components.
The next moment, everyone heard the sound of boasting and eating, and the steam train, which had been motionless just now, began to move slowly with a trolley pulled by the front of the engine.
Although it was moving very slowly, the entire steam engine was leaking air everywhere and blowing out white smoke, just like a balloon filled with holes but full of water.
But he finally moved. The shock brought by this industrial miracle made Zhao Duan open his mouth when he saw this scene for the first time, and he couldn't close his mouth for a while!
"This... this... this iron lump is moving!"
Zhao Duan pointed at the steam engine that was moving slowly but slower than a turtle crawling, and looked at Zhao Jun in shock.
Zhao Jun nodded slowly and said with emotion on his face: "Yes, it moved!"
After a while, Zhao Duan's shocked expression gradually calmed down. He looked at the steam engine that had not moved much for a long time and said: "It's moving, but this thing is moving too slowly. At this speed, Whether you can advance one mile in a day is a question."
Zhao Jun said: "Old man, you can't look at it this way.
If before today, I told you that iron bumps can move on their own, would you believe it? "
Zhao Duan shook his head: "I definitely don't believe it!"
Zhao Jun pointed at the steam engine and said, "But it has already appeared before our eyes alive.
Everything is difficult at the beginning. Now that the problem of the iron lump being able to move has been solved, will it be far behind to make him move faster?
As I said, this thing is still a semi-finished product at the moment. Whether you see the white mist coming out of the steam engine or not, that is the power of the steam engine.
At present, it is because we have no usable materials that the white mist leaks from the inside of the steam engine, resulting in less than 10% of the power being used.
It's like a martial arts master who has been given the medicine of Mongolian sweat. He can't use it even if he has the strength! "
"Can you find that kind of material?" Zhao Duan asked, looking at the steam engines that were fogging everywhere.
Zhao Jun nodded affirmatively: "Definitely!
The world is so big, there will definitely be the materials we need, it’s just a matter of time before we find him! "
Zhao Duan nodded silently as he looked at the steam engine that had already moved forward a few feet: "I hope I can find it soon."
Saying this, Zhao Duan noticed the rails under the steam engine again and asked curiously: "Can your steam engine only run on these two iron bars?
If this is the case, even if you finally overcome the material problem, if your steam engine wants to go elsewhere, these two iron bars will have to be repaired elsewhere.
This sticker does not look like ordinary iron. Just forging it is not simple. If it is made in such a large amount, how much iron will be consumed? "
As worthy of being an emperor, he could immediately see another problem that steam engines would face in the future, and that was railway tracks.
If you want to use steam trains to transport materials, you must lay the rails to the destination. Not to mention the difficulty of construction, the amount of steel to be consumed is an astronomical figure. Just thinking about it makes people feel nervous. Numb!
However, what Zhao Duan didn't expect was that Zhao Jun said very calmly at this time:
"If we can find the materials, this won't be a problem. This steam engine can be used not only on this pull cart, but also in many other places. By then, steel production will be able to grow at a rapid rate. In addition, There is no shortage of iron ore in our Yunzhou County.
It can fully meet the needs of laying railway tracks. Father, have you ever thought about a question, why are so many people rebelling every year in the Song Dynasty? "
When this issue was mentioned, Zhao Duandang frowned, then sighed and said, "Tax and land."
Zhao Jun nodded and continued: "The heavy taxes and the continuous annexation of land by wealthy families and landlords have caused more and more people to lose their livelihood.
After they lost their land, they still had to pay high taxes. What's more, corrupt officials and landlords would pass on all the taxes they should have paid to the people.
When there is no source of income, you have to pay taxes for yourself or even for others.
Father, tell me, in this case, do they have any other choice but to rebel?
As for borrowing money and paying taxes, the final result is that even oneself is sold into slavery by others. "
When Zhao Jun said this, Zhao Duan opened his mouth to say what he wanted to say, but was interrupted by Zhao Jun and continued: "Don't say that the Song Dynasty does not allow people to treat Song people as slaves. As the saying goes, there are policies. There are countermeasures below.
When those common people could not afford to repay high-value loans, their creditors, the landlords and gentry who lent money, naturally took control of their destiny, even if they only signed an employment contract.
But all the terms in the contract are beneficial to the employer, and the employment term is lifelong.
How is this different from a slave contract? "
Zhao Duan was silent.
Zhao Jun continued: "This will create a vicious cycle throughout the Song Dynasty. The faster the landowners and gentry annex, the more people will lose their land, the more people will rebel, and the court will need to use more resources." Soldiers were sent to suppress the rebellion.
And suppressing the rebellion requires money. Where does the money come from?
It can only increase the tax collected.
The increased taxes caused some people to lose their land and rebel because they could not pay the taxes.
Over and over, over and over again.
If this continues, sooner or later the whole Song Dynasty will be full of rebellion, and the scene of the last years of the previous dynasty will be staged in this world again! "
"You said so much, can this steam engine change everything?
The reincarnation cycle of land annexation has been going on for thousands of years. All dynasties have been unable to escape this fate. What can this little steam engine do? "
Zhao Duan said a little unconvinced.
In response, Zhao Jun smiled confidently and looked at the steam engine that was still moving slowly.
My thoughts seem to go back to the tall buildings and prosperous world in my previous life.
He said in a firm and solemn tone: "Yes, there are still ways to break the cycle of fate. As long as productivity can be improved, then everything will not be a problem.
And this steam engine is the key to unlocking the productivity that has restricted the world for thousands of years!
Once this productive force is unlocked, the powerful power it unleashes will definitely shock the entire world! "
Zhao Jun's eyes were shining.
In a daze, Zhao Duan seemed to have seen the time when he was young and first came to Dabao, thinking that he had the ability to revitalize the Song Dynasty and make the Song Dynasty great again.
At that time, I was young and fearless, but now that I am old, I have become timid and conservative!
…
(End of chapter)
