The court meeting in Huangji Palace basically ended like this.
As the officials at all levels in the capital dispersed, they were all talking about this thing that was much more powerful than the "Shunfeng Ear". Why did it feel like it was not that difficult and achievable?
It was exciting to imagine that one day in the future, they in the capital would be able to talk to their families far away.
Like them, Emperor Chongzhen and other senior officials of the Ming Dynasty, who had to stay for small meetings, were all still immersed in the prospects for the future.
Just like Du Yinxi, he thought of many possibilities and first asked Zhang Mingwei: "My lord, when will this Shunfeng Ear be made? If this is really the case, we can contact Dongjiang Town immediately to know what's going on in Dongjiang Town." That’s it! By the way, things like this in Dongjiang Town will never happen!”
If instant communication tools such as telegraphs and telephones could be invented, they would definitely be more powerful than artillery in this era. It would be a real dimensionality reduction strike for civilization.
The territory of the ancient empire would have been many times larger if these instant messaging tools were available.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen was also very eager for this thing to appear immediately. After Du Yinxi asked, he immediately asked: "Sir, how much money does this cost, I support it! There is only one request, build it as soon as possible!"
However, after Zhang Mingwei listened to their words, he smiled bitterly and said: "Your Majesty, the principle of this thing is so simple, but it is easy to say but very difficult to do. There are many problems that need to be solved, but at present Generally speaking, Ming Dynasty still has too few talents in Xinxue!”
Another point is that Zhang Mingwei knew how to do these things when he was writing the book, but he had never actually done them.
After he finished speaking, when Emperor Chongzhen looked disappointed, he explained: "Theoretically, the steam age and this electric age can develop in parallel. However, for now, Ming Dynasty's technological foundation If it is too weak, it is impossible to jump to the electric age at once, and the steam age is also inseparable."
"As for the steam age, there are still a lot of things to do!" Zhang Mingwei saw Emperor Chongzhen and others listening attentively, and continued to explain, "Simply speaking, the steam engine only provided a kind of power. Nowadays, it is only used in trains On. As for trains, currently we can only build railways on the plains. If we want to roll out railways in Daming and extend in all directions, we will inevitably have to dig mountains and build bridges, and there will be many technical difficulties to overcome. "
"In addition, steam engines can also be applied to ships to solve the problem that today's ships mainly rely on wind power for navigation. In this way, the warships of our Ming Navy will be basically invincible in this era." Zhang Mingwei said this with emphasis. He reminded, "The feudal king's affairs overseas cannot be delayed forever. Therefore, the construction of the navy, that is, the research and development of steamships, must also be put on the agenda, which requires a lot of manpower and material resources."
Speaking of this, Zhang Mingwei saw that Emperor Chongzhen and others were looking thoughtful, so he continued: "As for the electricity, of course we have to start it, but there are also many problems that need to be solved. You should have noticed just now , that electricity must be conducted through the conductive medium, that is, copper wire. You can think about it, if we want to talk to Qiongzhou, this copper wire must be pulled to Qiongzhou. When talking to Dongjiang Town, this copper wire must be To cross the sea..."
"..." Just hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen, Du Yinxi and others opened their mouths in shock. After they realized that calling was far from simple, they received a critical blow. This thing was not as easy as they thought!
Zhang Mingwei ignored them and continued to tell them: "Also, there is an energy consumption problem when this electricity is transmitted through copper wires. That is to say, when this electricity is transmitted from Beijing to Qiongzhou through copper wires, it may not have escaped. The capital city disappeared. Regarding this, you can think of electricity as heat, which is consumed on the road. Therefore, it is necessary to treat the copper wires in several ways to avoid this situation, and there are also Relays to maintain signal on the line..."
Listening to this, Emperor Chongzhen's head got bigger and he couldn't help but said: "It would be great if we didn't use this thread!"
"This is impossible!" After hearing this, Du Yinxi immediately shook his head and sighed, "How is it possible to leave the copper wire!"
They could clearly see the test in Huangji Palace just now, and it must be wired.
Of course Emperor Chongzhen knew this, so he just said it casually.
But who knows, after Zhang Mingwei heard this, he smiled and said: "It is possible, and wireless communication can also be carried out..."
As soon as he heard this, before he could finish speaking, Emperor Chongzhen said ecstatically: "Really? That's great. Sir, why didn't you tell me earlier? You made me anxious!"
"Yes, Duke!" Du Yinxi and others also breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly agreed, "I told you how good this is from the beginning. No copper wires are needed. It's so convenient!"
Seeing how happy they were, Zhang Mingwei had to attack them and said: "Wireless dissemination of news over long distances is another application of electricity. At present, it is even more difficult to achieve than this wired one!"
"..." Emperor Chongzhen and others were dumbfounded after hearing this.
After they looked at each other, they turned to look at Zhang Mingwei. Emperor Chongzhen asked Zhang Mingwei: "Sir, this doesn't require such a troublesome thread. Why is it more difficult to do it?"
After hearing this, Du Yinxi and others nodded and agreed with Emperor Chongzhen's question.
Zhang Mingwei thought for a moment and then said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Wireless transmission is actually another way of propagating electricity. It is like ripples on the water surface, which can spread into the air. And in the sky, there is a layer called the ionosphere. When the ripples encounter The ionosphere will then reflect the light back to the mirror. Then it is the same principle. According to the different frequencies, the message can be transmitted in other places underground. However, this transmission and reception is very difficult, and It will be affected by weather such as violent storms.”
Emperor Chongzhen and others listened. Although they didn't understand the specifics, they could still imagine it through the example Zhang Mingwei gave.
They felt that this wireless one seemed even more incredible!
There was actually something like a mirror in the sky, and the electricity could also ripple. Anyway, these are incredible!
As they were thinking, Zhang Mingwei continued: "Relatively speaking, we can do it by hand for wired message transmission. It is only possible to implement it over a short distance. If the distance is too long, we can only wait for time. Here it comes. But compared to these, there is a simpler way. As long as you have a high-power telescope, you can transmit the message faster than the 800-mile express!"
Upon hearing that it was a simpler method, Emperor Chongzhen became excited again and immediately asked: "Sir, what is that method?"
"A communication method similar to that of a beacon tower!" Zhang Mingwei heard him ask and replied with a smile, "On the top of a high mountain, where you have a good view, build a platform, and hang a movable horizontal pole on the flagpole. Different combinations, the encodings I mentioned earlier, can deliver messages very quickly."
In one of the later movies "The Lord of the Rings", the command signal of the orc army on the top of the mountain is similar to this.
In fact, this thing appeared in the West. It was first used in France at the end of the 18th century. The distance from Paris to Lille is about two hundred kilometers, or four hundred miles, and twenty-two transfer stations have been built. After sending a signal from Paris, the message can be received in Lille in about two minutes.
Napoleon benefited from this bracket signal. When the Austrian army captured Monich in 1809, Napoleon knew the news that day and was able to quickly organize his army to counterattack. In the end, it took only six days to recapture Monich.
At night, this bracket signal can also be solved by hanging lights of different shapes. However, it is still greatly affected by the weather.
But regardless of this, this kind of bracket signal machine was really fast and was used in Europe for hundreds of years. It was not until the advent of the telegraph that it was eliminated.
Of course, the key to these long-distance communications is actually the encoding of information.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was a little confused after listening to Zhang Mingwei's introduction. These transmission methods are all good, but which one is best?
Finally, he asked Zhang Mingwei directly for his opinion: "What do you think we should do better now?"
After hearing this, Zhang Mingwei said directly without thinking: "Give me more talents. Start with information encoding. Wired transmission must be done. Others can be postponed for the time being. As for the bracket signal machine, it can be done in Used in a few suitable places.”
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen once again opened the information provided by Zhang Mingwei. After looking through it, he said to Zhang Mingwei: "If we want to popularize this Pinyin method across the country, I'm afraid it won't be possible. People from other places , don’t understand this at all.”
There is no way, this matter cannot be rushed, but fortunately there are already a group of Jinyi Guardsmen who can use this pinyin. Therefore, Zhang Mingwei nodded and said: "It can be piloted in the Ming Dynasty Capital Academy first. I will also compile a dictionary of this pinyin in the near future. In general, what I said today is achievable. It's just It’s just a matter of time!”
Although some things can be left to others, after all, all these things are not available in this era. More importantly, he has never done many things himself. Therefore, he is indispensable in participating in the matter.
