(0657) [Today's second update is delivered! ] 】

The month of May passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was June. 【Reading.com】

God seems to be deliberately trying to make things difficult for Xu Xingxia, and there has been no progress in the research of thunder mercury. There are also no decent results in the search for alternatives to mine mercury. Wang Zheng and others have worked hard to explore and research, and it can be said that they have put all their minds on their work, but they are always a little bit away from thunder. This made Xu Xingxia very annoyed. Could it be that he, a big living person, would be suffocated to death by this little thunder mercury?

Ningxia Town in June is even hotter than in May. The hot climate, coupled with the irritable psychology, Xu Xingxia is almost going berserk. During this time, the people who followed Xu Xingxia were all trembling and cautious, for fear that the committee members would get mad and find trouble with them. Even a rough person like Liu Chuang could feel that the chairman of the committee was not right. He gave a ban to the soldiers of the cavalry hunters, never to touch the chairman's moldy head.

Tesna and other women were also secretly frightened, worried about something unexpected to Xu Xingxia. Mrs. Lin's mother and daughter are more like quails after the storm, and they were frightened a lot, for fear that Xu Xingxia would destroy their mother and daughter. Fortunately, at this time, there was good news, but it was Uyunna who was successfully pregnant. Xu Fuqing and the Wang family were very happy, and hurriedly killed chickens, pigs, and sheep, and sacrificed to the gods from all walks of life. Xu Xingxia, who will become a father, is slowly getting better.

As if affected by the good news of Wuyunna's pregnancy, Wang Zheng's laboratory finally came with good news. But the laboratory has made some good progress in terms of propellants and bullets. The problem of propellant was the first to be solved. Then, there is the production process of fixed ammunition. Wang Zheng's brains are still very flexible. Using the steam engine as the power, they devised a set of machinery to process the bullet head and casing.

At that time, this was a primitive machine tool. Although there is a big gap between the bullets produced, both in appearance and quality, and the bullets of later generations. Most of the bullets of later generations were steel or copper, and the quality was quite good. The bullets produced by the white-clothed army are iron-shelled, relatively brittle, and easy to shatter. If you want to use it in real combat, you have to continue to improve. But, in essence, it's a fixed load. As long as the problem of mine mercury is solved, the appearance of breech guns is a thing that can be waited.

With the gradual maturity of steam engine technology, more and more workshops began to use steam engines as power to replace the original manpower or animal power. To a large extent, this improves production efficiency and reduces production costs. More importantly, the steam engine greatly expanded the distribution of the factory, making the factory more free when choosing the address. Gradually, many factories gathered together, and industrial areas began to appear.

It seems that around Fort Reifau, there are many steel mills and steel processing plants. Steam engines, locomotives, rails, train cars, etc., are all processed here. Many people in Ningxia Town, as long as they talk about Fort Leifu, will subconsciously think that this is a huge steel production base. The tall chimneys, boiling molten iron, and soot wafting everywhere are the most distinctive features of Fort Reifou.

The coal mines in Helan Mountain basically don't need money, just send people to dig them. Xu Xingxia also has no concept of sustainable development. Anyway, the coal mines in Helan Mountain have run out, and there are still a lot of coal mines around the world, as long as they are controlled in their own hands, they will not be able to use them up. Therefore, the famous Taixi coal was dug up and burned.

The development of breech guns is missing a key link, that is, thundermercury. Wang Zheng focused all his energy on the research of thunder mercury. In the meantime, there was good news, but the locomotive had already made it. If you want to say that the technology has made the fastest progress, it is still the locomotive and the railway. Because, the main design in this area is mechanical and physical knowledge, which is simpler than chemical knowledge after all. As long as you keep groping, you can always find a breakthrough.

Xu Guangqi's greatest ability is not in research, but in organization and coordination. The railway research group he led was very successful. In fact, many of the achievements were not made by Xu Guangqi himself, but by the technicians under his command. Of course, Xu Xingxia's predecessor also has his own uniqueness in scientific research. In the Ming Dynasty at that time, the longest-term vision was probably this old man.

Xu Xingxia, Xu Guangqi and others decided to set the width of the track at about five feet (about 1.667 meters). By the standards of later generations, this is broad-gauge. Many railways in later generations were actually only about 1.5 meters wide. Broad gauge has the advantage of broad gauge, which can better maintain the balance of the train when turning. It is very necessary for railway systems that are not yet technologically mature. If it is too prone to accidents, it is an absolute fatal blow to the researcher's positive surname. It is also very detrimental to the promotion of trains.

As for the speed of the train, Xu Xingxia's requirement is that it is about 30 miles per hour, which is about 15 kilometers per hour. At that time, the horse-drawn carriages that pulled goods were about the same speed. If it is a private carriage carrying people, it will run faster. If you gallop on a horse, the speed will be even faster. Of course, as the technology matures, the speed of the train will definitely increase. Otherwise, how can it show the superiority of the train?

The first section of the railway, which is about sixty miles long, runs from Fort Zhangliang to Fort Yaofu. Between these two places, there is a flat wilderness with almost no undulations in between, and the railroad requires little change in the terrain. The soil on this section of the road is also quite solid and does not need to be re-reinforced. It is only necessary to draw out the railway line and dig a certain depth, and then the foundation can be laid, and sleepers and rails can be laid.

With cement as a building material, there is certainly no problem in building foundations. Stones, Helan Mountain has stones. Sleepers, Helan Mountain has wood. The only difficulty was how to make the rails. Fortunately, the people in the steel mill are also very smart, and they have already figured out how to pour a complete long railway track as a whole.

There are roadbeds, sleepers, and rails, and it will not be very difficult to lay the railway. With Xu Xingxia by his side, the big problem will definitely not be mistaken. Small problems can be solved on the spot. Xu Xingxia adopted the strategy of starting construction in stages and going hand in hand. He divided the experimental railway into six sections, each of which was exactly ten miles, and was in charge of six different foremen. And he himself is the biggest foreman.

A large number of people who fled from Shanxi, Henan and other places became the main force in the construction of railways. Every day, there are at least 3,000 people, busy throughout the railway site. According to the most optimistic estimates, in about three months, this section of the experimental railway will be fully laid. In other words, it will be ready for trial operation in September.

…… June passed quickly, and July arrived.

Xu Xingxia was busy with the affairs of the railway, and Zhang Tianhao suddenly came to report, saying that the messenger of Nanming had arrived. Xu Xingxia estimated it and found that at this time, Cui Chengxiu was afraid that he would have returned to Yanjing City. I have to say that the efficiency of the Southern Ming Dynasty is really a bit of a problem. It's no wonder that King Fu can successfully usurp the throne, and others are the ones who really do it. This Southern Ming court, no matter how you look at it, it seems to be messing around.

There are more than a dozen officials from Nan Ming, plus their respective entourage, guards, family members and so on, there are at least 500 people. Fortunately, when they were in Xi'an Mansion, their subordinates were all intercepted by the white-clothed army. Only about 50 people came to Ningxia Town this time. Among them, the leader is Zhu Guozhen, the new cabinet scholar of Nanming.

Zhu Guozhen is not a member of the Zhu royal family, his ancestral home is Wuxing, Zhejiang (now Nanxun, Huzhou), and has nothing to do with Fengyang. However, he held a high official position. After all, he is a cabinet scholar, and his status is only after [***] Xing and Ye Xianggao.

The members of the Zhu royal family are Xu Xingxia's old acquaintances, Qing Wang Zhu Shuaizin. The original King of Qing, after running twice in a row, actually changed from King Qing to King Rui, and was divided into Ruizhou Mansion in Jiangxi. This time, he didn't know why, he actually became the envoy of the Southern Ming Dynasty and returned to Ningxia Town.

What's even more rare is that this King Qing, when he saw Xu Xingxia, actually smiled, and didn't seem to care at all that his territory was taken away by Xu Xingxia. Xu Xingxia didn't know if this guy was really stupid or deliberately pretending to be stupid. If you want to say that it is the happiness of the rest of your life after the catastrophe, it doesn't seem to be quite like it. Anyway, it definitely doesn't look right. Xu Xingxia really wanted to find an opportunity to understand what this King Qing thought in his heart.

In fact, the entire Nanming envoy group was a little abnormal. In addition to King Qing, among the envoys of Nanming, there was a character dressed like a Taoist aunt. When introducing the names of the parties, she only mentioned her Dharma name, as if she was called Yuanzhen. This name easily reminds Xu Xingxia of the thunderbolt Cheng Kun in "Heaven and Dragon Slayer". The only difference is that this Dao Gu is a woman, and her appearance is still very beautiful, which is completely different from the mixed yuan thunderbolt in her impression. It's really strange, what did Nanming send a Dao Gu to do?

Zhang Tianhao, who was in charge of contacting the Nanming envoy group, had already inquired about the intention of the Nanming envoy group. The purpose of sending an envoy this time was naturally to win over Xu Xingxia and the white-clothed army. It is necessary for the two sides to establish an alliance. And the way to establish an alliance is to hope that Xu Xingxia and Zhu Yilan can get married as soon as possible. In this regard, Xu Xingxia has no objection. He and Zhu Yilan have indeed reached the age when they should get married.

(To be continued)