Chapter 48 The End of the Steam Engine Age
He Xi said: "Tie Xuan."
Tie Xuan stood up from behind He Xi and said, "My subordinate is here."
He Xi said: "I leave this matter to you. There are two things to do first. First, manage the canal and Chaohe River. This place is east of Dadu, and the terrain is relatively low. Although there is a road from Yanshan Mountain Uplift. But if it rains heavily, it is likely to be flooded."
"Therefore, during this period of time, you need to explore the local terrain, look for Su Lao, and see how to solve this problem. For example, whether you can dig an artificial lake outside the city to store water from various places. Without harming the capital."
Tie Xuan said: "I understand."
He Xi said: "There is one more thing, and that is to supervise the local land acquisition. This is a major matter for the court. Who owns the local land?"
Tie Xuan said: "The official has already asked, this area is the land of the guards, and the land under your feet belongs to the Yingzhou avant-garde."
He Xi was slightly startled, but felt that it was reasonable.
The entire north was originally in ruins, and a lot of land was occupied by the military. This is also quite normal.
He Xi said: "It was passed to Shen Guogong and asked him to move the land of several surrounding guard posts."
Yao Guangxiao said: "I'm afraid you need to discuss this matter with Duke Shen."
He Xi was stunned for a moment, then nodded, and understood that Yao Guangxiao was right, some things require equality of status. Although in this matter, Shen Guogong will not be embarrassed by He Xi. But the premise is that He Xi communicates with Shen Guogong in person. Instead of sending a subordinate.
Or, the sentence "passing the order to Shen Guogong" itself is inappropriate.
He Xi said: "Tie Xuan, you go to Shen Guogong's mansion to say hello and tell him that I am going on a patrol. When I come back, I will go and discuss this matter with him."
Tie Xuan agreed and said nothing.
Real construction will have to wait until He Xi's memorial comes back from Nanjing, and now He Xi can only make a plan.
After He Xi explained this, He Xi and his party headed north for about a day. At dusk, I saw a place in the distance glowing red, like a mountain of fire.
He Xi knew that this was not the Flame Mountain, but a steel furnace.
He Xi brought many people from Liaodong, some of whom He Xi took the initiative to bring, such as Tie Xuan.
The salt farm that Tie Xuan is responsible for has no room for expansion. On the one hand, this is because there are only so many tidal flats available in the Liaodong Peninsula. If you want to transform other places into salt fields, you cannot say no.
It can only be said that you get twice the result with half the effort.
On the other hand, the production of salt is too much. Not to mention anything else, in Shanhaiguan, Tianjin and other places today, the most stringent inspection is salt.
A large amount of low-priced salt has entered the Central Plains through many channels, which has caused a lot of trouble to the court's salt administration.
If we also expand production, something will be out of date.
Moreover, in the case of the textile factory, many people entered. But only Tie Xuan couldn't find a single problem. He Xi naturally wants to promote such a person. There is no specific official position yet, but he is just a front-runner for building the city of Beijing.
It may seem like a temporary job, but there are actually too many opportunities in it.
And some other people, like Ge Tiangong, came here because they had committed crimes and made meritorious deeds.
These people were involved in the textile factory case, but their crimes were not serious, and a lot of technical personnel were needed here. So, Ge Tiangong was sent to take these people to Zunhua Iron Factory to rebuild the Zunhua Iron Factory.
Directly north of New Beijing City, Zunhua is not far away, even closer than the distance from Nanjing City to Taiping Iron Works. This is also the meaning of the prince. Although the steel plant cannot be placed in a place where he can see it, he must also place the steel plant in the capital, so that the imperial court can control these places.
When He Xi arrived, it was already evening.
There is no need to mention how Ge Tiangong and his party greeted them. Early the next morning, He Xi came to see the steel plant, as well as the coal and iron mines.
Zunhua Iron Works already had a foundation, but now it is being rebuilt. Naturally, it saves a lot of trouble. Ge Tiangong has been here for a while and has dismantled several old furnaces and used the materials from these old furnaces to build a new steel furnace. Yesterday was non-stop production.
He Xi had nothing to say about this.
Without him, the technological progress of the Ming Dynasty now allows He Xi to only propose some directional things. He Xi can no longer figure out the specific things. Not to mention other things, just a few gears meshing with each other. How can we turn smoothly without causing the gears to collapse?
He Xi scratched his head a little.
Therefore, there is not much to say about the specific technology.
He Xi asked: "When will a steam engine be built here?"
Ge Tiangong said: "Sir, this matter may have to be delayed. Because the iron mines in Zunhua are different from the iron mines in Liaodong. The coal mines in Zunhua are also different from the coal mines in Liaodong. There is a difference between the steel in China and the steel in Liaodong. There is no other way. Only by trying it slowly can you know the hardness and softness of the steel. Then you can build a steam engine."
"And the current steam engines are far from meeting your requirements, my lord."
He Xi said: "It doesn't matter, now Beijing Construction needs a lot of bricks, and I need a brick machine driven by a steam engine."
When Ge Tiangong heard what He Xi said, he was stunned and said, "Brick breaker?"
His shallow imagination really couldn't imagine what this brick breaker looked like.
He Xi also saw that Ge Tiangong didn't understand, so he squatted on the ground and drew a sketch for Ge Tiangong. First, build a water tower, then build a pumping steam engine. There is a water outlet under the water tower. The water is released to impact the water wheel and push the water wheel. The water flowing down is lifted into the water tower by the steam engine.
Under the push of the waterwheel, there is a container for mixing the mud, and then there is a conveyor belt. Then the waterwheel drives the mold, and the mixed mud is poured into the mold, and then the waterwheel pushes the mold open. After laying the floor tiles, follow the conveyor belt out.
Let people load the car here and push it into the cave dwelling.
In fact, He Xi didn't know much about some details. So what I drew was more of a schematic diagram. But there is no problem with Ge Tiangong's technology. He himself has a family background, and following He Xi, he understood many scientific principles and design principles.
Therefore, even though He Xi's painting was very simple, many details were ignored. Ge Tiangong scanned it and had a rough sketch in his mind. Overall, it's not difficult.
Ge Tiangong said: "Teacher, as long as the steam engine is built, there will be no problem."
He Xi said: "Well, this is just the beginning."
This is not only Zhu Yuanzhang's idea, but also the reality that He Xi must face. I want to get it right in one step and build a steam engine that can go into the workshop and directly use steam to drive the machine. Not likely for some time to come.
After all, the improvement of steam engines was a long process. It is impossible for He Xi to use one person's efforts to shorten the improvement process of steam engines by a hundred years and reach a mature steam engine.
Moreover, it was a waste. In He Xi's opinion, this linkage between the steam engine and the waterwheel was simply too crude. But no matter what, he creates a stable water flow and thus has a stable hydraulic output. Can push the machine.
It becomes a stable mechanical power that is not limited by terrain. In addition to human and animal power, there is also this kind of mechanical power that people can stably control.
When the Ming Dynasty built the city of Beijing, it needed most bricks. Now that this brick breaking machine has become successful, many other machines can be used.
The industrial revolution has actually begun.
The construction of Beijing City will be one of the most critical nodes in the history of the Ming Dynasty in the future.
He Xi needs to use the excess profits brought about by technological progress to offset Ming Dynasty's excessive issuance of treasures in recent years. This is also the reason why He Xi dares to mix too many other things with the construction of Beijing city.
What He Xi wants to build is not a Beijing city. But the new Ming Dynasty.
He Xi secretly thought: "Only success is allowed, failure is not allowed." He Xi didn't know if he failed this time. He Xi didn't know when he would have such good luck.
Thinking of this, He Xi couldn't help but look to the south, which was the direction of Nanjing.
