Daming: If I find a great-grandson, I will teach an emperor through the ages

Chapter 222: Target Osman and make money!

As Cao Wei's two most capable lieutenants, Song Ping and Zhao Heng saw Cao Wei's embarrassed expression and immediately stood up and held up their hands.

"Your Majesty, the two of you are willing to go test the car!"

Cao Wei frowned, feeling a little unbearable.

Song Ping and Zhao Heng have worked under him for many years, and they have been working hard and making great contributions. They also learned a lot of scientific and technological theoretical knowledge from themselves a while ago, and they are the scientific and technological talents that Ming Dynasty is in urgent need of now.

Let them test the car, something went wrong...

At this time, the craftsmen from the Manufacturing Bureau who came with Cao Wei and Song Ping all spoke up.

"Your Majesty, my lord, let us go."

"We built the railway. If there is a problem, we should bear the risk."

"Yes, we must not let Mr. Song and Mr. Zhao get involved in danger!"

With that said, they came to Cao Wei and knelt on the ground to plead.

"Sir, just let us go."

"If something goes wrong during the test run, and Master Song and Master Zhao are implicated, we will feel uneasy!"

Facing the requests of many craftsmen, Cao Wei also couldn't bear it. Most of these people were familiar to him. They worked equally hard every day, and they all had families.

But no matter what, someone has to test the car. The lesser of two evils, it is undoubtedly the most appropriate to let these craftsmen test the car.

Cao Wei sighed and nodded with determination.

"You don't have to all test the train. Only five of you can keep the train running."

A group of craftsmen competed again, and finally five people were selected.

These five men were originally sent to help lay the railroad, and they also knew how to drive trains.

As the five people were about to board the bus, Cao Wei told them:

"Remember, if the train is gone, you must ensure your own safety. The train will go as slowly as it goes..."

There are doors on both sides of the locomotive. If something goes wrong, you can probably save your life by jumping off the locomotive. It is better to get injured than to lose your life.

"The younger one remembers it."

After saying that, the five craftsmen boarded the car one after another, then added coal to the boiler and began to boil water.

"Please, sir, give this train a name," a craftsman stood on the front of the car and said to Cao Wei.

Cao Wei pondered briefly:

"Let's call it Shunfeng, which means smooth sailing and smooth sailing."

"Good name."

After a while, steam began to come out of the pressure relief valve, and the Tailwind began to move slowly.

The five craftsmen on the train waved to everyone, and as the train went further and further away...

Cao Wei didn't look back until the entire train disappeared from everyone's sight.

They didn't know if they could return safely after leaving, but he still believed in the craftsmen of the Manufacturing Bureau. The railway they helped lay should not have any big problems.

The people at the railway crossing began to disperse. The officials were going to go about their affairs at hand, and Zhu Xiongying was going to deal with the memorial.

Cao Wei came to the Ministry of Communications. The Ministry of Communications was established after he developed the wireless telegraph, and its responsibility was to contact the provinces.

Wireless telegraph machines and towers have been set up in various provinces around Yingtian, and Henan is one of them. Only in the far west and the far north, wireless telegraph machines are already in place. Because the distance is too far, the towers are still there. debug.

Cao Wei asked the personnel of the Ministry of Communications to send a telegram to the south of Henan. If the five craftsmen arrived in Henan by train, they requested a reply as soon as possible.

After doing all this, Cao Wei asked Song Ping and Zhao Heng, who had been following him, to go back.

"Go back, don't worry, the train isn't going fast, they won't be in much danger."

"Technological progress will always come at a certain price. I have told you this before."

Song Ping and Zhao Heng nodded silently, said goodbye to Cao Wei, and returned to the manufacturing bureau.

Cao Wei turned to the staff of the Ministry of Communications and said:

"If you have any news, please inform me immediately."

The man nodded repeatedly, "I understand."

Cao Wei turned to the Scientific Research Institute, where Yiqiu was building a distiller for refining gasoline.

There are too many ingredients in the oil. Yiqiu's several experiments were not ideal, so he could only improve the still step by step. So far, it has been improved fifteen times, and this is the sixteenth time.

Although the oil has not been refined, the previous distillation processes have been able to extract asphalt, which is considered a big improvement.

"teacher."

Seeing Cao Wei coming, Yiqiu and others greeted him respectfully.

Cao Wei waved his hand and asked them to continue working. After observing for a moment, there was no problem and he turned to Xie Jin.

Xie Jin is responsible for calculating and testing all data of internal combustion engines and aircraft. Several people are also extremely busy, either lowering their heads and making repeated calculations on straw paper, or leading the staff below to design models.

Planes are different from trains. They involve more principles and are more subtle, so there is no room for error.

After all, if the train is not tightly sealed, you can jump out of the train to save your life. The plane is at an altitude of 10,000 meters, and if something goes wrong, it can easily crash and kill everyone!

To be on the safe side, Cao Wei also asked one of the students, Baicheng, to make a backpack alone. Inside the backpack was a rope parachute that could pop out when pulled. It was a parachute used to jump out of the plane in the event of a plane crash.

However, without experimental conditions, the parachute can only be tested by the pilot himself.

After walking around the scientific research institute, Cao Wei, who had something on his mind, didn't stay long and returned directly to his mansion.

Traveling at the lowest speed of the train, it would take about three days to get from Yingtianfu to Henan. If bad news came back from Henan in three days, then... it would be a real headache.

The worried Cao Wei didn't even have time to take care of the naughty little Cao Lin, so he just waved his hand and let him go and play.

Cao Wei was so abnormal that Cao Lin felt a little uncomfortable for a while. Without his father's whipping, he would have no fun in being naughty.

It was Xiaoyu who saw that Cao Wei was worried and took Cao Lin to play elsewhere.

Two days passed in this way, and on the third day, personnel from the Communications Department came to Cao's house in a hurry, asking to see Cao Wei.

When Cao Wei heard that he was from the Communications Department, he quickly came out to see him.

"Grand Master, the telegram came back from Henan, it's only half a quarter of an hour ago!" The man took out the decoded telegram in his hand.

Cao Wei took it and saw the line above, "Shunfeng has successfully arrived in Henan. The journey has been smooth. Take a short rest and return at full speed immediately..."

"Hahahaha," Cao Wei laughed out loud after reading it.

"Okay, okay, thank you for your hard work," Cao Wei said to the man.

"Don't dare, don't dare, it's just a little effort, not to mention hard work," the man was also very sensible. After handing the telegram to Cao Wei, he left.

Cao Wei took the telegram to the palace and told Zhu Xiongying the good news.

Zhu Xiongying was indeed very happy after hearing this.

Since this first railway can be successfully opened to traffic, it means that railways can continue to be laid in other areas! The Ming Dynasty, which extends in all directions, is really not far away!

Even Zhu Yuanzhang rushed over after hearing the news, grinning from ear to ear with joy.

At the beginning, he was still wondering whether he could survive until the day when the Ming Dynasty was opened to traffic, but now the test run was really successful!

He became increasingly reluctant to part with such a colorful Ming Dynasty...

The next day, Zhu Xiongying led all civil and military officials to wait at the railway crossing in Yingtian Mansion again.

Because it was confirmed that there was no problem with the railway, the craftsmen did not need to drive at low speed on the return trip. If they returned at full speed, it would only take two days according to Cao Wei's estimate.

So Zhu Xiongying brought everyone to witness this exciting moment.

Everyone was looking at the two railway tracks that extended all the way to an unknown place, eagerly waiting for the train.

However, they waited from morning to noon, and then from noon to evening. The sun hung in the sky, dyeing the entire sky red, but there was still no trace of the Downwind.

Just when everyone was about to lose their patience, a small black spot appeared in the distance, and steam came out from time to time, getting closer and closer.

"It's the Shunfeng, the Shunfeng is back!" Someone with sharp eyes shouted out after seeing it.

As soon as he shouted, other people looked around with wide eyes, and sure enough they saw the train coming this way.

Everyone suddenly became excited. The first train of Ming Dynasty was successfully tested!

"It's done! It's really done!"

"It happened the first time it was opened to traffic. This must be God's blessing!"

"Your Majesty is blessed with great blessings, and you should have smooth sailing."

……

Cao Wei grinned as he listened in the crowd. This horse riding was the result of the continuous efforts and calculations of the craftsmen of the manufacturing bureau. How could it involve God's blessing again?

However, at this moment when everyone was happy, Cao Wei didn't say much, just think that His Majesty is blessed with great blessings.

"Woo——"

"Woo——"

White smoke was rising from the chimney of the Downwind as it drove closer and closer. When it reached a few hundred meters, it began to slow down and finally stopped slowly in front of everyone.

"laugh……"

The pressure relief valve released pressure again, the train stopped, and the five manufacturing bureau craftsmen in the locomotive jumped out one after another.

Cao Wei stepped forward and took a look. All the good guys had giant panda eyes.

Although Cao Wei arranged for five people to go up so that they could have someone to change shifts and rest on the way, they were all nervous and excited and couldn't sleep. At most, they were so sleepy that they took a nap. I woke up again and kept going like this until now. I am still very energetic.

"Quick, quick, don't delay, go back and rest!" Cao Wei gave the order. It's okay to endure this, but if you don't rest, you may die suddenly.

The five craftsmen were taken away without explanation, and everyone stepped forward to see the Ming Dynasty's first train, the Shunfeng.

Xu Yungong, who is now the uncle of the state, said:

"In the past, from Yingtian Mansion to Henan Province, no matter how hard we rushed, it would have taken ten days and a half. If we were marching, it would have taken a full month or two! This train actually only took three to five days. It took me one day to go back and forth! It’s incredible!”

Cao Wei smiled and said,

"That's because we drove at a low speed when we went there. If we drove normally, it would take a little more than three days at most to make a round trip."

Everyone was stunned when they heard this!

Three days! So fast!

This train is really a great way to save money and effort!

If the train is used for military purposes, I don’t know how much it can save in terms of military expenses alone for a year!

Zhu Xiongying looked at the train in front of him, nodded repeatedly, and said with emotion:

"If I wasn't on official business, I would also like to take this train!"

Many ministers also thought so and nodded in agreement.

But in the future, if any minister goes to other places in the northwest to hold official offices, he can take the train, which greatly improves efficiency...

Since it was confirmed that the Daming Railway can be opened to traffic smoothly, the Shunfeng train has basically been idle.

There were no conditions before, but now that there are trains, countless things have been rushed at once, hoping for convenience.

Near Yingtian Mansion, in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi, officials from these places who want to go to the northwest and other places will come to Yingtian Mansion to wait for a flight, scrambling to get up...

This railway alone made many things more convenient, and people began to look forward to more railways in Ming Dynasty.

Because the smooth opening of the railway meant that there was no problem with the laying of the railway, Zhu Xiongying once again ordered the construction of railways to all frontiers of the Ming Dynasty with Henan as the center.

The construction of the railway this time naturally required the efforts of craftsmen from the Manufacturing Bureau. Cao Wei selected several hundred people and sent them to the court.

Then, inspired by the railway, Cao Wei set his sights on the asphalt refined by the scientific research institute.

They say that if you want to be rich, you must first build roads. This is absolutely true.

Just one railway can improve the overall rotation efficiency of Daming. Wouldn't it be more convenient if smooth roads were built on some main roads while building railways?

That would not only be a convenience for the army and officials in the DPRK, but also a convenience for the people of the entire Ming Dynasty!

Cao Wei went directly to Song Ping and asked him to recruit some people and set up a team to study how to use asphalt to build roads.

Refining gasoline from petroleum will produce asphalt, and burning coal to refine it can also produce asphalt.

It's just that the top priority now is to complete the construction of railways across the country first, which will cost countless amounts of money. The steel required to produce the rails alone is an astronomical figure.

Even if Ming Dynasty wanted to spend such a large financial expenditure all at once, it would have to bite the bullet and the construction of roads could only be postponed.

Perhaps... after taking over the Ottoman Empire, Ming Dynasty's funds will be enough to support these infrastructure projects.

Cao Wei returned to normal and started beating Cao Lin again, almost every three or two days, and the time passed by like this.

In May of the eighth year of Hongwu, Lan Yu returned from the Sun and Moon Kingdom.

It was Zhu Xiongying who ordered him to come back. He did not bring back all the troops of the Sun and Moon Kingdom, but only brought a few deputies with him to return to the Ming Dynasty to resume his duties.

The reason why Zhu Xiongying brought Lan Yu back is very simple: Ming Dynasty is ready to attack Osman!

Not knowing that firewood, rice, oil and salt were expensive, Zhu Xiongying ordered the construction of railways in other areas to continue after the first train was opened to traffic in Tianfu.

But seeing various departments busy and spending money as fast as water, Zhu Xiongying couldn't help but sweat on his forehead. The scope of building the railway this time was really too large, and the total cost was too staggering!

Increase revenue and reduce expenditure, increase revenue and reduce expenditure...

Everything the Ming Dynasty could do to reduce expenditures was done, and the only thing left was to increase revenue!

If we no longer think of ways to make money, Ming Dynasty, which has just become rich, will go back to before liberation once we build a railway!

(End of this chapter)