In Tsinghua Garden, Zhou Sijing, director of the Steam Bureau of the Ministry of Industry, held his hands in his big sleeves and stared forward at the emperor.

Emperor Wanli was not as nervous as him, but he shook his head a little awkwardly, and spread his hands and said: "Master Zhou, you said that you want to use the Forbidden City to shovel the snow of the Huode Xingjun, this is really not easy to do, change it, don't make another one, it's not in the Forbidden City." ”

Zhou Sijing is a special figure in the Ming officialdom, although he is an official of the imperial court, but his identity is more like a researcher in Beiyang or Jiangwutang than other principals, because he is extremely lacking in sleep at work, and even made three consecutive mistakes in falling asleep at the court meeting the year before last.

At that time, it was the critical moment when Huo De Xingjun was on the ship, and Wanli simply authorized him not to participate in the court meeting.

Since then, Zhou Sijing no longer participates in court meetings, does not need to go to the Yamen of the Ministry of Industry, and becomes a full-time researcher, except for special periods, his task is to toss new steam engines in the Steam Bureau.

Later, Wanli rarely saw him.

Zhou Sijing also lived up to Wanli's trust, today's steam engine is more than ten times better than the earliest model of the year, used for land, marine, agricultural, industrial, mining, multi-purpose and multiple versions, changing with each passing day.

The red Jiao for ships, the green dragon for railways, the basalt for factories, the black cattle for agriculture, and the white elephants for mines were transformed under the auspices of the Steam Bureau, and became the power source to pull the empire forward.

Every year, the production of various types of steam engines steadily advanced, and machine manufacturing unconsciously became a huge industry lurking under the empire, involving more than 700 parts processing factories, large and small handicraft workshops, and more than 80,000 fixed handicraft households on both sides of the canal and along the coast.

Parts are in square inches, small parts below square inches are covered by special factories and craftsmen, once there is a problem, in addition to recovering funds, never order from it again; Parts that exceed the square inch are traced directly to the factory or workshop, and are also never cooperated again.

There are more and more steam engines in need of the whole world, but only the steam bureau produces steam engines, and the business is very good, and the steam bureau in the tenth year of Wanli handed over 120,000 silver to the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Households, and the emperor's inner treasury, and kept more than 250,000 taels for themselves, which is still the profit after deducting the cost of the new machine.

Zhou Sijing worked hard and rarely asked the emperor for rewards or any requirements, and the emperor didn't know what to reward Zhou Sijing...... As a subordinate chief official subordinate to the Ministry of Industry Yamen, Zheng Sanpin is on the same level as the Ministry of Industry in terms of status, and has a medal as a symbol of honor, just over four months this year, Wanli has given Zhou Sijing four gold and silver medals, and is the most rewarded official in China.

This time, Zhou Sijing found Tsinghua Garden very rarely, and wanted to leave the Huo De Xingjun used for shoveling snow in the Forbidden City, which made Wanli difficult.

It's not that he doesn't want to give.

"That Huode Xingjun is already too small for me, and I will reward it to Chen Hailong, a hundred households of Nanyang Wei."

"Chen, Chen Hailong?"

Who's this?

Zhou Sijing paused for a moment, and immediately hugged his fists and said: "That Weichen asks Your Majesty to repair a book, and let the minister go to Nanyangwei to borrow Huode Xingjun for half a year." ”

"You don't have to go to Nanyangwei, he will be in Beijing, but his family can't go, they are all female dependents, alas, I will let Wang An go." Wanli scratched his head, he also felt that the official position of this Nanyang Wei Baihu was a little strange, and turned around and asked the military eunuch beside him to look for Wang An, turned his head and asked, "But Master Zhou, what do you want to do with that?" ”

That Huo De Xingjun is almost useless in Wanli's eyes, it is a well-maintained rocking car, Wanli thinks that Chen Hailong is very fun to sit on it and babble, so he simply sent him, and last year he also used that to shovel snow outside Donghua Gate, and a younger brother of his mother built a snow lion at the door of his house, and asked Wanli to see it.

I can't see it, Director Zhou of the Steam Bureau is so old and has a childlike heart, is it possible that he also wants to build a snow lion?

"The minister made the steam engine and found that all the steamers are not good at walking on the land now, so he wanted to find the Huo De Xingjun who can shovel snow to compare, to see how it is different, the age is long, there are many things, and the minister has forgotten what that Huo De Xingjun looks like." Zhou Sijing was not embarrassed at all when he talked about what he had forgotten, and said, "So I want to borrow it from Your Majesty to see it again." ”

"Then it's useless if you want him, it walks very slowly on the land, the stone road in the Forbidden City can shovel snow, and it can't walk in Tsinghua Garden." Wanli clapped his hands and said, "Who can walk on the dirt road, that ...... The big fire De Xingjun opened by Director Xu of the iron factory in his early years, you look for him, he can walk on the dirt road, walk from the Steam Bureau to Beijing City, and knock the Yongdingmen city wall into the city, you forgot? ”

As he was talking, Wang An, who was training with the forbidden army behind Tsinghua Park, trotted over, the lower edge of the armor skirt and breastplate collided all the way, hugged his fists and said, "Your Majesty is looking for a slave?" ”

"Well, but it's okay now, forget it, you're here, take the edict to the Jinghaibo Mansion outside Donghua Gate, Chen Hailong's official position in Nanyang Wei Baihu is too ugly, just build a snow lion and have merit, and promote thousands of households."

Is there a merit in building a snow lion?

Wang:???

"How can it be, you can't say that you have been able to milk in the past few years, right? Oh, you can just think of a credit to me to draw up an edict, and the sister-in-law Haihu got the brocade guard, or they all have a hundred brocade clothes, anyway, they have an earl and they don't rely on the hundred households to live. ”

Wang An gave up his hand, Zhou Sijing didn't react to this matter at all, he looked up at the sky in Tsinghua Garden and fell into thought, and only after a while suddenly exclaimed, clapped his hands and said: "Oops! Your Majesty, that Huodexing monarch remembered that it had big wheels, and later it was moved to the track to change the small wheels, and the wheels were shallow on the ground, and the ground would not be destroyed. ”

Not to mention, this kind of thing Wanli can indeed talk to Zhou Sijing for a couple of sentences, and Zhen Zhen said: "You are right, this is the same reason as the same gunpowder hitting small bullets far away and hitting large bullets closely, the force of gunpowder explosion can push small projectiles to push, and push large projectiles can't be pushed, I think this is a truth." ”

"But the big wheels are heavier." Zhou Sijing was only happy for a moment, and then changed to a bitter gourd face and said: "If it is heavier, it will have to use a steam engine with greater power, and a steam engine with higher power will be heavier, so difficult...... Your Majesty is wise, and may teach the ministers how to solve the problem? The minister wanted to get a steam engine that could plow the field and go far, and if it could be made into a chariot that could carry soldiers in the future. ”

Wanli shook his head, not optimistic about this: "I don't know, but I think even if it can plow the fields, it will burn too much coal, right?" Laying tracks in the fields? Let him carry the track on his own wheels? Or make wheels out of something else? ”