A few days later, it was almost evening, and all the ministers in the cabinet were preparing to disperse.
But at this moment, a chamberlain appeared and conveyed the order to them, and the emperor summoned them in the Wenhua Palace.
Xue Guoguan and others were a little puzzled when they heard this, thinking in their hearts, could something urgent happen?
Now that the world is peaceful, rebellion should be impossible. The emperor's invincible reputation is the best deterrent.
Then, there can only be a serious disaster: the most likely possibility is that the earth dragon turns over, or a hurricane strikes.
Such disasters will come very suddenly and are difficult to prevent. Moreover, it is likely to be very serious, so it is possible that the disaster has been reported to the imperial government before the cabinet is aware of it.
Thinking like this, they didn't dare to neglect and hurried over.
Just when they were in the square at the entrance of Wenhua Palace, Xue Guoguan and others suddenly found that six ministers were also coming in a hurry. They couldn't help but be very shocked. Could it be that a very serious disaster had really happened?
"Do you know where the earth dragon turned over?"
"Haven't you heard of the earth dragon turning around? If there is one, it's most likely to happen in Sichuan!"
"Maybe a hurricane is coming. Is there a report from Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong, or Annan?"
“The cabinet doesn’t know, how could we possibly know?”
"..."
After asking each other for a while, they couldn't get any results. When they arrived at the entrance of Wenhua Palace, all the civil servants had serious faces. They straightened their appearance and went to the audience before talking.
The emperor was already in the Wenhua Palace. After the roll call, Xue Guoguan and others were surprised that everyone from the Supervisor of Ceremonies was already there, even the prince and Song Yingxing from the Kaiwu Department were also there. And each of them looked a little excited, which made them even more surprised. It didn't look like a serious disaster had occurred!
Immediately afterwards, they saw something they had never seen before placed in the middle of the hall. There was a glass bottle on top of the vertical pole, and there seemed to be something in it.
When they saw this, Xue Guoguan and others suddenly came back to their senses. The emperor had said a few days ago that there was something else they needed to open their eyes to. Could this be the one in front of them?
This was confirmed when they saw Emperor Chongzhen's smiling face.
As a result, they felt relieved, and at the same time, their curiosity grew.
After seeing the ceremony, Xue Guoguan said on behalf of everyone: "Your Majesty, what is this?"
The other courtiers looked at this strange thing and were also curious in their hearts. They listened carefully to see what new things the emperor wanted to show.
At least one thing they knew was that everything the emperor showed them was of great use.
For example, steam engines are used in many places today. Steam trains, steam ships, and other steam forging presses are all things that have revolutionized the Ming Dynasty.
So what is this thing in front of me used for? Anyway, looking at it, there is nothing close to the steam engine!
Emperor Chongzhen glanced at the faces of the ministers below, smiled slightly, and looked outside for a while.
It was already dark at this time, and if it weren't for the light from the candles in the Wenhua Hall, it would have been difficult to see clearly what was a few feet away.
So, he ordered in a relaxed and cheerful tone: "Song Qing, let's get started, get ready to blow out the candles!"
As soon as Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, Song Yingxing bowed to receive the order. He immediately walked to the strange thing in the palace and squatted down on a place with a handle before he could figure it out.
"Puff puff..." Immediately afterwards, the chamberlains who had been waiting beside each candle blew out the candles they were responsible for. In the Wenhua Hall, it suddenly became dark.
Xue Guoguan and others suddenly felt like the world suddenly turned dark when they went from a bright environment to darkness.
But before they could adapt to this environment, they saw a bright light appearing in front of them.
Even if it was just a glimmer of light at the beginning, it was still very conspicuous in this darkness. What's more important is that this light is slowly getting brighter and brighter. Later, at least it would be able to illuminate this hall.
At this time, Xue Guoguan and others saw clearly that Song Yingxing was squatting there shaking something, and then the glass bottle they saw before emitted light. In the dark night, it is like a light, much brighter than ordinary candles.
What I didn’t say before was that the thing that the emperor said he wanted to open his eyes to was definitely this shiny thing in front of him.
This thing is definitely not a luminous pearl, let alone a candle. But this thing just shines. However, it seems that the light is not consistent and changes slightly from time to time.
What is this thing? Could it be related to the knowledge imparted by the emperor?
Thinking of this, these ministers immediately recalled it and wanted to know what knowledge this had to do with the emperor's teachings.
"Your Majesty, what is this?" Xue Guoguan asked directly, saving time.
However, after Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he did not answer. Instead, he ordered Prince Zhu Cixiang: "Go and show it again."
"I obey!" Zhu Cixiang agreed quickly, then walked over with something and put it on the glass bottle. Immediately, Xue Guoguan and others saw a bright light, and as the prince's wrist turned, Turn.
As long as the place hit by this beam of light can be seen clearly, at least within the scope of this hall, no matter which corner.
"That's it!" After a while, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly said.
So, the chamberlain relit the candle, and the hall suddenly became very bright again, instead of only being bright where the beam of light hit.
Song Yingxing, who was squatting on the ground, stopped shaking the thing and stood up to salute the emperor. As he took this thing, the light on the glass bottle slowly dimmed.
Zhu Cixi also took down a bell-like cover, placed it on the ground, and saluted Emperor Chongzhen to express that he had complied with the order.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said: "This thing, I call it an electric lamp. It does not emit light by burning candles or the like, but is related to electromagnetic induction in physics and cutting the magnetic circle. Let the prince take over for me. Let me give you a rough idea!”
After hearing this, Xue Guoguan and others were really eye-opening, and it was related to the knowledge imparted by the emperor!
When Zhu Cihong heard this, he was very happy and immediately explained it to Xue Guoguan and others.
Emperor Chongzhen was also listening, smiling.
The electric light can surpass the technology of the steam engine. However, for the current Ming Dynasty, the practicality is far less than that of steam engines. Therefore, the power of electricity was put in the back by Emperor Chongzhen. At least for now, the development of steam engines has been relatively mature, and he came up with this thing.
However, it is not easy to make this device. At least at this time, mass production and large-scale application are impossible. Copper wire, enameled wire, tungsten wire, vacuum in light bulbs, permanent magnets, bearings, etc. cannot be mass-produced.
This also determines that, at least for a long time in the future, before the advent of front-end technology, mass production will be impossible, and it will only be destined to be a luxury product. But one thing is possible, it is possible to use it as a headlight on a train or even to illuminate the carriage.
As for why this electric light experiment was carried out, it was what Emperor Chongzhen told them at the beginning to open their eyes. Not only to open the eyes of Ming Dynasty’s senior officials, but also to the Ming Dynasty’s scholars and common people.
Once a luxury product like electric light was used in the royal family, the upper class of the Ming Dynasty, including princes, nobles, civil servants and generals, would flock to it and strive to own it. In short, it will become the new fashion of Ming Dynasty.
In this way, more people will study electromagnetic induction, study the applications of electricity, etc. We no longer just rely on the Ming Dynasty official yamen such as the Kaiwu Department and the Military and War Bureau to do this.
Another point is that more facts prove that the knowledge taught by Emperor Chongzhen has so many magical applications, which will also make more scholars study more attentively.
In short, the electric light, just like its name, pointed out a scientific direction to the people of Ming Dynasty.
Of course, the development of electricity in this original history was different. With Emperor Chongzhen's knowledge as the forerunner, the people of the Ming Dynasty could avoid many detours, and the technology of the Ming Dynasty would develop faster than the original historical development.
Just like these, in terms of chemistry, Emperor Chongzhen has actually been asking them to study, and they are also experimenting with three acids and two bases. As a person who traveled through time in later generations, he certainly could not be satisfied with using black powder to conquer the world, although he could certainly do so.
However, Emperor Chongzhen was not omniscient and omnipotent after all. In terms of chemistry, he really didn't remember much. He could only do his best, just guide him in a good direction and give him a heavy reward.
After a long time, Zhu Cixiang finally gave a brief introduction to the principles of electric lights, their current and future applications, etc.
Needless to say, Xue Guoguan and others were amazed. After a while, Xue Guoguan said with emotion: "Your Majesty, it would be great if this electric lamp could keep the light steady."
Emperor Chongzhen laughed when he heard this and said: "This is the reason why Song Qing's hand cranks at an uneven speed. It would be better if no manpower is used, such as water power. Of course, the best thing is to have an energy storage device and a voltage stabilizing device. It would be better. But these things don’t exist yet, and someone needs to study and build them.”
Xue Guoguan and others half understood what they heard, but they knew that this thing could be improved to what they wanted. So, they couldn't help but look forward to it. In fact, this kind of light is better than the light of a candle.
I don’t know what happened, but after this day, rumors started to spread among the capital, saying that something strange happened in the palace.
Miaoshuwu
