Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1608 The Queen's Car

"What came out of the palace just now? Why did I vaguely see Her Majesty the Queen?"

"Probably you misunderstood. How could Her Majesty the Queen travel without escorts and maids?"

The guards standing at the gate of the palace guarding the palace saw a strange carriage driving out quickly, but they hadn't reacted yet.

After a while, a group of maids ran out in a hurry: "Her Majesty the Queen is driving out, hurry up and catch up!"

"Is that really Her Majesty the Queen?"

The guards heard the maids mentioned that it was really the queen who was in the strange carriage just now, so they hurriedly chased after her on foot.

Sophia sat in the driver's seat and drove the four-wheeled car on the streets of London. Because of the large population on the streets, she had to reduce the speed of the car.

People on the street looked curiously at this strange machine that was not drawn by horses but could walk.

"She wears a crown, so she can't be our Queen, can she?"

"It's very possible that it's really the Queen..."

The citizens on the streets of London immediately turned their attention to Queen Sophia sitting in the driver's seat.

Sofia, still wearing a tiara and flamboyantly attired, would have been impossible to go unnoticed.

"I heard that the Spaniards were defeated by the French, and that the Swedish army defeated the Holy Roman Empire again at Braddenfield. I guess the Habsburg dynasty is about to end. Sweden is still held back by Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, and Tsarist Russia. Only we, England, can check and balance France."

"Cardinal Richelieu passed away. It is estimated that the French court will also be shaken. I wonder if Louis XIII can stabilize the aftermath of Richelieu's death."

Prince Rupert is talking to upstart General George Monk, who are now leading officers in the Royal Army, about the changing situation on the continent.

Suddenly, they sensed the commotion on the street and looked to the source of the commotion.

"Isn't this Her Majesty the Queen!?"

As the current army general and Queen Sophia's nephew, Prince Rupert naturally knew this sister-in-law. He didn't expect Sofia to go to the streets without guards!

If the queen of a country is assassinated on the street without guards, the consequences will be quite serious!
Especially the existence of muskets and gunpowder makes the assassination easier!

"What is that?" George Monk was very curious when he saw the car Sophia was driving.

"Your Majesty, why did you leave the palace without your guards? This is really dangerous!" Prince Rupert and George Monk stopped Queen Sophia's car with several guards.

"It's really Her Majesty the Queen!" Londoners on the street kept gathering after confirming that it was Queen Sophia.

"Let me see how the people live." Sophia parked the four-wheeled car on the side of the road, turned off the engine and got out of the car.

Behind them came the panting Royal Guard, who managed to keep up with the Queen by virtue of their feet.

"Even if you want to come out, you still have to bring your guards." Prince Rupert warned the Queen, while turning his attention to the four-wheeled vehicle.

This strange black machine is like a wacky buggy—except without the horses.

In fact, the car is designed according to the appearance of the carriage. At the beginning, it tried to simulate the appearance of the carriage as much as possible. It was only after the development of fluid mechanics and engineering that it gradually deviated from the framework of the carriage.

"This thing is called a car in the East. It uses an engine instead of a horse to provide power. It can last for several hours without rest, and its speed is comparable to that of a horse. I got this car a few years ago, but unfortunately it has been shelved since I returned to London. I don’t know why today, but I suddenly want to try driving.” Sophia said.

"Car!?" Prince Rupert and George Monk looked at each other, neither knowing what a car was.

The inhabitants of the City of London are even more ignorant of cars, and they whisper in private.

"I'm going to inspect Queen's College, do you want to follow?" Sophia asked.

"Okay!" Prince Rupert saw that his sister-in-law was inexplicably energetic today, and he didn't want to discuss state affairs with her so as not to make her feel heavy, so he followed her with George Monk.

Sophia boarded the car again and drove the four-wheeled car towards Queen's College on the banks of the Thames, while Prince Rupert and George Monk experienced the pain of the Royal Guards. Although Sophia deliberately lowered the speed of the car, Rupert It is quite difficult for the Prince and the others to keep up with the effortless cars.

"Is this a car? As long as people sit on it, it will move automatically like a carriage, and Her Majesty doesn't seem to be struggling at all, it's like witchcraft."

"There are many strange things in the East. Her Majesty the Queen once went to the East for study tours. It is not uncommon to bring some strange things back from there."

"If it is used to transport artillery, goods, and travelers, wouldn't it save tens of thousands of horses? You don't need fodder for horses, you don't have to worry about horses getting old, sick, and dying, and you don't have to endure the smelly horse manure on the streets!"

Prince Rupert and George Monk have seen the wonders of the car, and walk behind it while discussing the possible uses of the tool.

The vast majority of people do not understand the principle of cars, but they only need to know the purpose of one thing. Thinking that cars may be used to replace horses, the prospect may be quite broad.

It has been three years since Queen’s College was established, and a group of lecturers assisted by Chu Yun also taught Chinese here for a year to train new-style English scholars to counteract the long-term influence of theology, Latin, and Greek in Western academic circles .

Sophia has been educated in Latin and Greek since she was a child, but now she thinks that, except for mathematics and logic, which are worth keeping, other ancient subjects do not seem to have much value.

"Her Majesty the Queen is here to make an inspection tour. We temporarily suspend classes to greet her."

The teaching mode of the college is quite loose. When they heard that Queen Sophia, the founder who funded the establishment of the college, was coming, they temporarily stopped the course, and about 600 people came to greet the queen.

Queen's College already has three classes of students, each class recruits 200 students, half of nobles and half of commoners, there are men and women, but the proportion of men is significantly higher.

Because Queen's College strongly broke the stubbornness of Cambridge University and Oxford University, especially by recruiting a large number of civilian children, the Queen won the support of many merchants, small gentry, farmers, handicraftsmen, and farmers without noble status. Supported by women's groups.

"There is some improvement here, but it is still far away from the Imperial University." Sophia went around the Queen's College. Because of the small country and few people, the Queen's College implements elite education, which recruits thousands of students a year like the Imperial University. It is difficult to compare with the super universities of China.

(End of this chapter)