Chapter 67: A Fork in the Road in Science and Technology

Zhang Guozhu was very disappointed......

In the middle of a huge reservoir, a boat with two huge wheels is slowly moving through the reservoir.

The ship was ugly, with a long hull with two large paddlewheels in the middle, and a towering chimney on the hull, from which black smoke was constantly coming out, and various mechanisms were making unpleasant sounds, and there was almost nothing to be desired.

It's just that the two wheels are slowly turning, dragging the boat slowly in the reservoir with difficulty.

"This is what Your Majesty is going to throw me into the ground?"

Seeing this thing, Zhang Guozhu didn't even hide his disdain.

"Don't underestimate this thing, it can travel without wind, and I'm telling you, on the river, this thing can go against the water without being dragged by a slender man."

Zhang Guozhu laughed and said: "Your Majesty, do you know that after the south wind rises on the Yangtze River every year, the sailboats on the Yangtze River will go upstream, and when they encounter a place where the water is turbulent, these boats will also release heavenly sails, which are kite-like things to help drag the boats up the river."

So this stuff isn't very useful. ”

Yun Zhao pointed at Zhang Guozhu and said, "You will be ashamed of what you said in the future." ”

As he spoke, the whistle on the ship suddenly sounded three times, and then he saw a thick smoke rising into the sky, and then, the speed of the two paddle wheels suddenly accelerated, and they drove like cleaving waves in the reservoir, and after a while, they left the sight of Yun Zhao and Zhang Guozhu.

Yun Zhao looked at Zhang Guozhu, who was a little hesitant, and said, "How?" ”

Zhang Guozhu was reluctant to say anything against his heart, rubbing the short beard on his chin and said, "It looks a little interesting, so Your Majesty is going to send this thing to the sea?" ”

Yun Zhao shook his head and said, "Until a better boiler appears, this thing can't be sent to the sea." ”

Leaving the reservoir with Zhang Guozhu, they came to a place with a high wall, and even Zhang Guozhu was visiting this place for the first time.

The gatekeepers were royal guards in black uniforms, heavily armed and serious-looking.

When the carriage arrived at the door, the barbed wire gate slowly opened, and Yun Zhao's carriage carried Yun Zhao and Zhang Guozhu into the gate together.

The first thing that catches your eye is an iron shelf running all over the ground, there are four wheels on the iron shelf, the wheels are made of expensive rubber, and there is also a steaming teapot on the iron shelf, and two thick connecting rods are running around with the twitching of the steam pistons.

There are a lot of iron shelves running around like this, there are four wheels, there are six wheels, and there are even two large iron frames with two small four wheels.

Zhang Guozhu didn't feel too strange about this thing, he just felt unaccustomed, he once thought that if it went on like this, the Ming Dynasty would be full of teapot monsters everywhere.

"How much silver does Your Majesty spend on these teapots each year?"

Yun Zhao smiled: "Six million." ”

"Is it worth it?"

Yun Zhao laughed and said, "As long as there is a success, it is worth it." ”

Zhang Guozhu shook his head and continued to follow Yun Zhao inside, and there were more and more steam monsters inside, including steam-driven hammers, steam-driven grinding discs, and steam-driven machine tools...... He even saw a steel dog powered by steam that could walk on its own.

Yun Zhao stepped forward and twisted the ears of the steam dog, and the steel steam dog that was originally in action stopped, and a man in a blue shirt walked over, added some water to the steam dog's body, and twisted the steam dog's fart. When the steam dog's nose began to puff white, the man in the blue shirt twisted his ears again, and the dog began to move four feet again and began to walk in a straight line.

Yun Zhao happily looked at the scene in front of him and said to Zhang Guozhu: "How is it compared to Zhuge Wuhou's wooden ox and flowing horse?" ”

Zhang Guozhu sighed, patted the tall steam hammer with his hand and said: "Playthings will lose their minds, Your Majesty should be closer to the living and stay away from these cold things." ”

Yun Zhao also patted the steam hammer and said: "Do you know that as soon as this Wanjun hammer comes down, it can top the work of a blacksmith for a month, and even do things that blacksmiths can never do." ”

After that, he pulled Zhang Guozhu to leave the hammer, only to see six craftsmen pushing a red-hot iron rod with an iron cart, placed under the hammer, a craftsman wrenched the bracket, and the hammer hanging high fell with a bang, smashing heavily on the red-hot iron rod, and then quickly lifted the hammer, and then continued to fall, the iron rod sparkled everywhere, the black crust cracked, the craftsman kept turning the iron rod, and after a while, the iron rod changed from a cylinder to a cuboid.

After seeing that the temperature of the iron rod had dropped and it was no longer red, the craftsmen pushed the iron cart and left again, re-stuffing the cuboid into the furnace to heat it.

"Every part of our artillery is hammered out like this, and the cannon parts made of hammered steel are far from being comparable to the parts that have been cast."

"We've got a hydraulic hammer, and that stuff works just as well. As far as I know, the hydraulic hammer of the Yushan Iron and Steel Plant is already unique in the world, why did Your Majesty order someone to develop such a steam hammer?

You see, for this hammer, the workshop first had to build a boiler that covered an area of half an acre, and then connected the gas outlet with pipes, and needed to seal it with expensive rubber, and even then, the boiler still leaked everywhere, and the efficiency was far less than that of a hydraulic hammer.

Just what I saw was the result of how many times the craftsmen who maintained the steam hammer had tried.

Your Majesty, don't indulge in it, whenever an emperor indulges in something, the result is not good.

The dynasty allocates 10 million national funds to His Majesty every year, hoping that His Majesty can use this money to reward meritorious heroes, motivate progress, compensate for injustice, help the weak, highlight the royal family, and promote the royal family's kindness.

Your Majesty spends most of your money and food on these things every year, and after a long time, it will inevitably chill the heroes, and it will make the people of the world think that Your Majesty does not care about them, and only knows how to blindly play with some useless things. ”

"You say these are useless things?" Yun Zhao was shocked after listening to Zhang Guozhu's words.

Zhang Guozhu sighed and said: "Your Majesty, the above words are not the meaning of Weichen, but the meaning of the subjects of the world, and Weichen naturally knows the importance of these things.

Whether it is a train, or a cable telegraph, or the heavy ship that I have just seen that can travel without sails, it is extremely useful, and can even change the Ming Dynasty, which Wei Chen has seen and used with his own eyes, and of course understands that as for the steam hammer and all the things related to steam here, there is a gratifying prospect.

As His Majesty said, as long as there is one that can be truly developed and applied in real life, six million silver dollars is not too much, but it is not much less, and gritting your teeth will always squeeze out this money.

However, it is useless for us kings and ministers to know this truth.

If only a few people or even dozens of people are on the book, Weichen can still accept it, and even try to convince them, but unfortunately, the people who wrote the book are not a few, dozens, but hundreds or thousands.

What they care about is not a mere six million silver dollars, but they beg Your Majesty not to indulge, you still have thousands of miles of territory to govern, and you can't use your energy on these trivial matters that need to be tried and tested and revised. ”

Yun Zhao glanced at the steam dog walking over with a waddling step, nodded and said, "It seems that I have gone too far." ”

Zhang Guozhu pressed the head of the steam dog, let the dog squeak, squeak and walk in place, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, hand it over to Yousi to deal with, even if the process of their development is slower, Your Majesty and Weichen can afford to wait, there is no need to do it overnight." ”

Yun Zhao sighed, and took the lead to walk outside the workshop, Zhang Guozhu let go of the steam dog with a smile, and followed behind the emperor with his hands behind his back, he was very satisfied, it seemed that the emperor should listen to his advice.

Yun Zhao knew through Qian Shaoshao that the officials had a great reaction to his behavior of not misleading his business, so he thought about convincing Zhang Guozhu, who had the most fierce opposition, and then did the work of others.

It's a pity that Zhang Guozhu is a person who understands, it's not that he doesn't know the importance of these things, he just doesn't want Yun Zhao to do these things himself.

Now that he heard Zhang Guozhu tell the reason for the incident, Yun Zhao gave up the idea of persuading others.

Just like Zhang Guozhu said, he can convince a few dozens of people, but there is absolutely no way to convince hundreds or thousands of people, and once the number of people who oppose reaches a certain number, even the wrong thing will become the right thing.

This is the majority effect of terror.

Since ancient times, those who have opposed the majority effect have not ended well, and those successful people recorded in the history books are just a few fish that have slipped through the net, Yun Zhao does not want to set off a storm in the court, this is not necessary.

However, if he doesn't participate in these scientific inventions, God knows how many detours they will take, if they continue to develop as they are now, Yun Zhao believes that Da Ming will definitely embark on the road of steampunk.

When the time comes, the castle that will walk on its own, the bridge that will walk on its own, and the hot air balloon that will cover the sky and the sun...... Maybe it will happen.

Moreover, with the current strength of Daming, he is definitely qualified to lead the world trend...... Yun Zhao didn't even dare to imagine the beautiful scene of steampunk comics coming into reality.

Yun Zhao didn't go home in the evening, but continued to stay in the big study and work diligently.

Not only that, but the officials also hoped that he, the emperor, would leave Yushan City and inspect the world, and the prefects of Shuntianfu, Yingtianfu, Lantian City, Guangzhou City, and Shanghai City, which was being built on a large scale, had written countless times, hoping that he would go and see it.

Feng Ying, when Qian Duoduo came to deliver food, Yun Zhao didn't have much appetite, and after eating a few bites, he dropped his rice bowl and continued to work.

Feng Ying whispered, "Why is my husband so diligent today? ”

Yun Zhao said angrily: "People say that I am addicted to wine and am about to become a faint king." ”

Qian Duoduo rolled his eyes on the side and said, "Our youngest child, Yunlu, is eight years old, if you are addicted to wine, we will definitely not have only three children!" ”