amaotonovel Chapter 1034 What arrogant words are you spouting now that you've risen to power?
Chapter 1034 What arrogant words are you spouting now that you've risen to power?
Outside Nanjing city.
Emperor Zhu glanced at the steam locomotive belching white and black smoke, then at Yang Shaofeng standing beside him, feigning ignorance, and then thought about the stack of troublesome memorials in the palace…
What sins have we committed to deserve such a scoundrel as our son-in-law?
Go ahead and hit him, I can't bear to.
Although this scoundrel is indeed a scoundrel, his memorials are all written to address the many problems currently facing the Ming Dynasty, and each memorial is substantial and can even be directly copied and implemented.
But if I don't fight, I just can't swallow my anger.
You bastard, you wrote a memorial a long time ago, why didn't you just show it to me earlier?
If you had taken it out earlier, would we have needed to sit on the ground outside the city with Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, Xu Da, and Chang Heizi, pondering this point for nothing?
Emperor Zhu's hands, hidden in his sleeves, repeatedly shifted between tiger claws, eagle claws, fists, palms, and sword fingers, until after a long while he finally snorted coldly and said, "Tomorrow, bring those two heartless little brats home for dinner."
"Also, take those two big worms of yours back... never mind, let's just keep them in the palace for now, and talk about it after Jin'er gives birth."
At this point, Emperor Zhu looked Yang Shaofeng up and down again, and said in a sarcastic tone, "It's just like Wu Dalang playing with a night owl, like attracts like—you're no good either. Your two tigers are also acting like dogs. Damn it, I don't know where they learned to wag their tails and act cute. We've never seen a tiger that can choke on its own meat."
Yang Shaofeng was a little confused by Emperor Zhu.
No.
How come I'm considered a bad person?
Those two big worms were sent by Hu Weiyong, and later raised by your two daughters. They learned to act cute and wag their tails from the two big yellow dogs that your son gave me. What does this have to do with me?
You old man, that was a bit impolite.
Yang Shaofeng grew angrier the more he thought about it, and couldn't help but look at the top of Lao Deng's head with malice.
I still need to write you a few more memorials.
You deserve to go bald so young, you old man!
Yang Shaofeng's mind was filled with all sorts of random thoughts, pondering what kind of memorial he should write for Lao Deng next.
The steam locomotive, not far away, was already slowly moving forward.
In Yang Shaofeng's eyes, this somewhat rugged steam locomotive had no industrial aesthetic appeal whatsoever.
In front is a huge water tank and combustion chamber, and behind it is a small coal-loading carriage. There is a steering wheel in the middle for the driver, but the problem is that there is also a boiler operator next to the driver.
The four wheels were designed in bizarre shapes—
The two smaller wheels in the front are about two feet in diameter, and the two larger wheels in the back are about three feet in diameter. This size is within the normal range, but the width of the front and rear wheels is about one foot.
Especially after this "miniaturized" steam locomotive started running, it emitted both black and white smoke.
Black smoke is the smoke produced by burning coal.
The white smoke is the exhaust steam.
Just then, a northwest wind blew by, and black and white smoke immediately covered the faces of Emperor Zhu, Heizhi Tangyuan, Li Shanchang, and others.
Yes, Yang Shaofeng had already turned around when he noticed the wind direction was wrong, and even raised his sleeve to cover his face.
When the gust of wind passed, Yang Shaofeng turned around, pondering how to make a sarcastic remark, only to notice that Emperor Zhu seemed a bit off.
Emperor Zhu wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve, moved his lips a few times, and then grabbed Li Shanchang beside him: "Mr. Shanchang, look! Look! This thing can really plow the land!"
Li Shanchang also stared blankly at the steam locomotive that was dragging the rotary tiller away.
The rotary tiller was about five feet wide.
As the steam locomotive slowly moved forward, its spiral blades dug deep into the soil, turning over the deep earth to the surface.
Based on width, one rotary tiller is roughly equivalent to three or even five curved plows.
In terms of speed, a rotary tiller is slightly slower than an ox-drawn plow, but much faster than a human-drawn plow.
The key is that this thing only requires two people!
what does this mean?
This means that miniaturized steam locomotives and rotary tillers could indeed replace oxen and human labor.
At the same time, this also means that the farming methods that have been passed down for thousands of years will be completely changed.
This means that the Ming Dynasty has already reached the threshold of "industrialization" as described by the Prince Consort.
This means that the Ming Dynasty is about to undergo a major transformation.
If the reforms succeed, the Ming Dynasty can last for thousands of generations.
The reform failed...
Li Shanchang dared not even think about the consequences of failure.
Standing next to Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen also had a solemn expression.
This is a damn good stuff.
But it's also something that can be deadly.
The question is, whose life will this thing take?
Can ordinary people really withstand the impact of such a huge change?
Most importantly, while it was indeed the prince consort who proposed miniaturizing the steam engine, it was the craftsmen of Ningyang County who devised the idea of using the miniaturized steam engine for plowing.
What else can they come up with next?
What kind of impact will this have on the Ming Dynasty?
Just as Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen were feeling confused, Emperor Zhu was already overjoyed: "Build it! Every provincial administration, no, every prefecture, will have a small steam engine workshop. We will make sure that within five, no, within two years, every village in the Ming Dynasty has two small steam locomotives!"
Li Shanchang was completely dumbfounded.
What arrogant words are you spouting, sir?
The Ming Dynasty had more than a thousand prefectures and counties. Even if we assume that each prefecture or county was divided into ten communities, that would amount to more than ten thousand communities.
Within two years, more than 20,000 small steam engines were built?
How much steel would that take?
How much coal will have to be burned?
I'm done with this life!
Seeing Li Shanchang's bewildered expression, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but wipe his eyes, then laughed twice and said, "Mr. Shanchang, Mr. Qingtian, remember to come back to the palace with us later. We have some memorials to show you."
Ok?
Li Shanchang glanced at Emperor Zhu, then at Yang Shaofeng, who stood beside him with a sour face.
So, did the person who rose to power get the solution from the prince consort?
That's okay.
Although the prince consort's character was questionable, he was never ambiguous when it came to serious matters.
Since he wrote a memorial, it means he had already thought about these issues.
The rest is just copying homework and then making some minor modifications.
Just as Li Shanchang was pondering this in his mind, Emperor Zhu turned his gaze to Yang Shaofeng: "And you, you'll come back to the palace with us later, and you should talk to Mr. Shanchang and Mr. Qingtian about those memorials you submitted."