"Just by applying this rubber to a steam engine, the performance of the steam engine can be greatly improved." Zhang Mingwei said with a smile, "In this way, all machines powered by steam engines will be much better than before. Train The more stuff you pull, the faster the ship goes.”
Speaking of this, Zhang Mingwei thought of something and said excitedly: "By the way, the air tightness of propeller warships has always been a problem, and now it can be solved! It can be said that with this rubber, our new Ming warships can Even more powerful!"
The future strategy of Ming Dynasty is to go to sea, and the most important thing for going to sea is this ship. Today's Emperor Chongzhen naturally knows all about this.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen immediately laughed and said: "Yes, yes, this rubber is indeed of great use. It is not too much to give it to a marquis."
"Actually, the uses of rubber are much more than that!" After listening to this, Zhang Mingwei's mind became clearer and clearer, and he continued to introduce it to Emperor Chongzhen, "To a certain extent, rubber is more useful to us humans than steam engines. , are much more important. No matter whether it is food, clothing, housing or transportation, with this rubber, it will be greatly improved!"
He had been writing about Chongzhen in his previous life, so the information he consulted mainly focused on the Chongzhen period. In this period, rubber was not actually involved, so I didn’t pay special attention to it.
But as he clicked on the technology tree, more and more places reminded him of rubber, and its use naturally became clearer.
For Emperor Chongzhen, this was like getting a treasure by accident. Of course he wanted to know how precious this treasure was, so he quickly asked: "Sir, what is the use of this rubber? How can it be reflected in the basic necessities of life?" above?"
Wang Erbiao and others were also curious after hearing this, so they all listened with their ears pricked up.
Of course Zhang Mingwei was happy to introduce these, so he started with the uses of rubber.
Rain boots, hot water bottles, and elastic bands used in daily life;
Surgeon gloves, blood transfusion tubes, etc. used in the medical and health industry;
Various tires used in transportation, etc.;
Industrial conveyor belts, transport belts, acid- and alkali-resistant gloves, etc.;
Drainage and irrigation hoses used in agriculture, ammonia bags, fresh-keeping plastics, plastics required for greenhouses, etc.;
Sounding balloons for meteorological measurements, etc.;
Sealing, shock-proof equipment, etc. for scientific experiments;
Aircrafts, tanks, cannons, and gas masks used for national defense; they have even become high-precision scientific and technological products such as rockets, artificial earth satellites, and spacecrafts...
All of these use rubber as a raw material. Of course, there were some things in these uses that Emperor Chongzhen had not seen and could not understand, so Zhang Mingwei did not talk about them, or simply described them to them.
However, no matter what, as he talked endlessly, the concept that rubber has a wide range of uses immediately penetrated into the hearts of these listeners.
At the end of Zhang Mingwei's words, his expression became serious and he said to Emperor Chongzhen very seriously: "Your Majesty, this rubber is called gold, and it is even more valuable than gold. This statement is not exaggerated at all! Therefore, I proposal……"
Emperor Chongzhen was already very excited when he heard that it was more valuable than gold. When he heard Zhang Mingwei's proposal again, he couldn't wait to say: "Say, sir, please say it quickly..."
He knew very well that if he hadn't come from the later generations, such a precious thing would never have been discovered. It’s true that the gentleman comes from the later generations. The many uses of this treasure are all achieved through practice. It is definitely not a boast, it is something that cannot be more real.
Moreover, Emperor Chongzhen could be said to know Zhang Mingwei very well. When he saw his serious expression when he said this, he knew that this matter must be very important. He couldn't wait to know what advice Zhang Mingwei would give?
As for the emperor's etiquette, he didn't care at all in front of Zhang Mingwei. I think back then, he cried in front of Zhang Mingwei and felt desperate. But what does this mean now? He was very clear about the great changes Zhang Mingwei had brought to him. Moreover, this is the son-in-law, one of his own family!
If Zhang Mingwei doesn't treat Zhang Mingwei as one of his family members, will he treat him as one of his family members? Will you regard Daming as your own? These kings, kings, ministers, etc. cannot be used by future generations at all. Only the human heart is the right path!
Therefore, even when other imperial masters faced the emperor, they would definitely call themselves ministers such as "Wei Chen". However, Emperor Chongzhen didn't mind at all that Zhang Mingwei never called himself a "little minister".
For this era, Zhang Mingwei is unique, and naturally he must be treated uniquely.
Zhang Mingwei didn't think so much. At this time, he heard him say to Emperor Chongzhen: "The planting of rubber trees must be given the highest priority. Therefore, I propose to plant it in Qiongzhou, the Ming Dynasty, and Annan in the future." Large-scale planting will be carried out in places such as the South. Those areas in Nanyang that are suitable for planting rubber trees will be directly brought under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty. When necessary, an army dedicated to planting rubber trees can be set up like a field army. "
In fact, he didn't know that there really was an army that planted rubber trees. It was secretly established during the New China period and was called the "Chinese Special Forces".
The reason for this is because rubber is so important.
It is said that the Japanese country had no supplies, so later on, they were forced to go to war with the American emperor and launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. In fact, the most important material mentioned here is not oil, but rubber. There was no rubber in Japan at all, only in Southeast Asia. Therefore, Japan had to send troops to Southeast Asia.
At this time, no one expected that Duke Xing Guo paid so much attention to this kind of rubber tree. For this rubber tree, they even directly suggested sending troops to occupy Nanyang and other places suitable for planting, and setting up an army to plant rubber trees like a garrison army. This really surprised them all.
In this way, they further realized the importance of rubber trees, confirming the saying that they are more valuable than gold.
With this thought in mind, Emperor Chongzhen immediately made a decision and said: "Okay, as Sir said, I will personally take care of this rubber tree matter and implement it one by one!"
At this point, he suddenly remembered something, and asked Zhang Mingwei a little worriedly: "Sir, this rubber is so important, what if others find out and learn it? What if... I send troops to occupy America? Then it was decreed that whoever dares to plant rubber trees is an enemy of the Ming Dynasty?"
Emperor Chongzhen’s idea was to make rubber trees, like salt and iron, exclusive to the court! But now, with the increase of national power, he has the ambition to conquer the world and become the first person in the world, so the scope of his words has been changed to the whole world.
Zhang Mingwei couldn't help laughing after hearing this, and immediately shook his head and said: "No, not many people are aware of the role of this rubber nowadays. And if you want to use this rubber well, there is a very special treatment method. At least for now. , no one else knows except me. As long as this is not made public, that’s enough!”
The special treatment method he mentioned is the vulcanization of rubber.
In the original history, it was not until 1852 that the American chemist Gu Teyi accidentally threw a jar containing rubber and sulfur on the fire while doing experiments. The rubber and sulfur flowed after being heated. Together, a block of rubber was formed, thus inventing the rubber vulcanization method.
This accidental act by Gu Teyi was a major invention in the rubber manufacturing industry. It eliminated a major obstacle in the application of rubber and made the rubber tree a formal industrial raw material. This also enabled many industries related to the rubber tree to Thrive becomes possible.
As for Zhang Mingwei's knowledge of this historical contingency, he was able to begin large-scale use of rubber as early as the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed when he heard what he said. This is the best, no one else can take it away!
While Emperor Chongzhen was happy, Zhang Mingwei continued to look through the remaining picture albums and introductions in the urgent newspaper.
It's okay if you don't look at it. At first glance, Zhang Mingwei's surprises are one after another.
Because he is familiar with many things here and they are very valuable.
Some have already existed in Ming Dynasty, some have not yet existed in Ming Dynasty; some have been fully promoted in Ming Dynasty, some are still hidden in nooks and crannies in Ming Dynasty, etc. In short, Zhang Mingwei was very pleasantly surprised.
Among them, corn, sweet potatoes and potatoes have been fully promoted in Ming Dynasty. Because it is grown outside farmland, it is a supplementary planting method for the original food, which greatly alleviated the food crisis of the Ming Dynasty and played a very important role in helping the Ming Dynasty survive the Little Ice Age.
In addition, this emergency report also includes jicama, cassava, pumpkin, peanuts, sunflowers, peppers, tomatoes, kidney beans, lima beans, apples, pineapples, custard apples, guavas, avocados, cashews, cocoa , American ginseng, papaya, upland cotton, tobacco and dozens of other species.
These are all American crops, and most of them were brought back from the Americas by Zheng Zhibao, but some of them were already in Luzon and were originally brought by the Spaniards.
It has to be said that Zheng Zhibao himself did not know that when he was in the Americas, his strategy of exchanging Ming products for things unique to the Americas and letting the Western barbarians and natives exchange them was basically equivalent to sweeping away all the specialties of the Americas.
This approach was of great merit to Ming Dynasty!
Of course, many things here have actually been introduced to the Ming Dynasty, but most of them are just in a corner, or they don't know the use at all, they just think they look good.
So, when Zhang Mingwei introduced these things to Emperor Chongzhen one by one, he was naturally delighted!
After introducing these, an idea suddenly came to Zhang Mingwei's mind.
