Early Ming Dynasty: Turning Clouds and Rains into New Learning Saints

Chapter 264 The truth is only within the range of the cannon
Upon hearing what he said, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but be very happy.

As a result, what he didn't expect was that when he saw what Zhang Yifan asked him to see, he was stunned.

What is this?
Isn't it just for boiling water?

It's a bit like an artillery piece, but Zhu Yuanzhang can be very sure that this is definitely not an artillery piece!
I saw a long, cylindrical thing on this iron shelf, as well as various blades, and something connected to it. What is this?
Zhu Biao also didn't recognize this thing. He was one step ahead of his father and asked Zhang Yifan curiously: "Yifan, what is this?"

Zhang Yifan listened and introduced with a smile: "This is called a boring machine. It is a tool that is mainly used to process the inside of large objects, such as artillery. The smoothness of the inside of the barrel is very important. With this boring machine, it can It’s easy to process the barrel.”

This boring machine is actually a barrel boring machine.

In the original history, it was invented by British John Wilkinson in 1775.

As the founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang was of course very concerned about the military aspect.

Before Zhang Yifan invented the new cannons and firearms, he personally inquired and knew every process of making new firearms.

At this time, Zhang Yifan said that the thing called a boring machine in front of him was mainly used to polish the inner wall of the gun barrel to make it smooth or not, and he was overjoyed immediately.

If this tool could easily process the inner wall of the gun barrel, the imperial court would be able to build artillery much faster.

But then, Zhu Yuanzhang also became confused, and immediately said to Zhang Yifan: "Aren't you building that water-heating machine? Why did you suddenly think of making this thing and reforming the artillery process?"

New artillery already existed. Although it was a good thing to have this tool to speed up the construction of artillery, for Zhu Yuanzhang at this time, he was more looking forward to something that would bring about earth-shaking changes in the Ming Dynasty.

After all, one already has it, and the other one doesn’t have it yet!

"Yes, Yifan!" Zhu Biao listened and nodded in agreement, "Is that thing difficult to make and you encountered a problem, so you did other things first?"

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan walked over, patted the barrel boring machine under his command and built it after several modifications, and said: "This tool can process barrels, and it is also used to process steam engines."

Having said this, he motioned to a craftsman standing next to him and brought over a small model. Then he came to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao and explained to them: "Father, brother, this is one of the key parts of the steam engine." Parts. You see, when water is boiled here, the steam will push the piston outward. In this process, the piston must be closed as smoothly as possible. Only in this way can the efficiency be fully utilized..."

The invention of the steam engine in history was improved step by step.It took at least hundreds of years to go from the most primitive steam engine to the practical steam engine improved by Watt.

But Zhang Yifan knew the process, so of course it was impossible to copy every step of the invention of the steam engine, one step ahead of time, at least the key components were made together, this is what a real time traveler would do.

At this time, he used a model to explain the energy efficiency of this part of the piston to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao.To be honest, this is actually not difficult to understand. Similar things are common in life.

No, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao nodded after hearing this, indicating that they understood what was going on.

When Zhang Yifan saw it, he concluded: "... What I want to do is to make the steam engine as good as possible, so processing the tube wall is a very important thing. If a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools. I have to make all the tools for making a steam engine first!"

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with satisfaction and said, "Yes, that's how it should be. I can rest assured when you do your work!"

Haha, don’t worry, I came here to inspect!

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan thought in his heart, waved his hand and said to the craftsman: "You guys, show your majesty how to use this boring machine!"

"Yes, Prince Consort!" When the assigned craftsmen heard this, they were overjoyed and responded quickly, and then began to demonstrate to the Ming Emperor and the Crown Prince according to the procedures they had already learned.

First, place the iron barrel to be processed on the boring machine table and clamp it.Then, by adjusting the tool holder and adjusting rod, insert the boring head into the inside of the iron barrel pipe and start rotating the boring head.Then, the boring head is moved along the axial direction of the iron barrel, and at the same time, the position and angle of the tool holder are gradually adjusted through the operating lever on the boring machine, so that the boring head can cut to the correct depth and diameter.When the boring head rotates the entire pipe, a machining process is completed.

Zhang Yifan explained from time to time. When he saw the craftsman finished the demonstration, he added: "In order to improve the accuracy, they may need to repeat the process many times until the required size and smoothness are achieved."

As he spoke, he pointed his finger and said: "At present, this power device can only be pedaled and relies on human power. Water power can also be used. Try using this to make a smaller steam engine first. Later, When driven by water power, a steam engine with higher precision and larger size can be made.”

After hearing this, Zhu Biao immediately laughed and said: "In the future, will this steam engine drive the steam engine?"

Zhang Yifan listened and immediately laughed with him. Although it was a bit convoluted, that's what it was about.Steam engines are what provide power.

With the boring machine, the problem of air leakage in the steam engine can basically be solved.In other words, the steam engine leakage is within the tolerable range.Of course, it is best to seal it with rubber, so that the thermal efficiency will be higher.Without rubber, silk would do just fine.

However, Zhang Yifan did not tell Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao these things. At this time, he took this opportunity to ask another question: "Father, brother, this boring machine tool is very practical and can be easily imitated. .You see, these craftsmen and I have been busy with this thing these days, and we have finally created a tool. If someone else directly learns and uses it, do you think this will dampen my enthusiasm as an inventor? I will not want to do it in the future. To make these inventions, just wait for others to invent them and copy them?"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he knew what Zhang Yifan wanted to say, so he said to him: "You want to talk about patents?"

Zhang Yifan had already mentioned the patent matter when he went to Xiangshan County to serve as the county magistrate.However, Zhu Yuanzhang was busy, and the court had never come forward to deal with matters like patents before, so it was left alone and not dealt with.

Even though Zhang Yifan later set up R&D departments in various factories in Xiangshan County to promote this matter, there was still no movement from the court.

But at this time, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the boring machine in front of him, nodded and said: "That's right. Although I know that you don't actually care about your knowledge being learned by others, what you said still makes sense." At this point, he changed the topic and said: "But don't worry, if anyone dares to imitate these things of yours, I will ransack his home and kill his people to see who dares to imitate them?"

There are actually similar words printed on the Ming Dynasty banknotes.

In the Ming Dynasty, at least in the Hongwu Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang could certainly do what he said.No matter what, I gave Zhang Yifan an explanation.

However, Zhang Yifan was not satisfied and insisted: "Father, not only the sons and ministers, but also the things invented by others. The imperial court has relevant laws, and only the people can obey them! Another point, if foreign countries learn from it secretly, Where are you going? So I feel that this matter cannot be avoided, and it is best to clarify it through legal means. In this way, in addition to me, Zhang Yifan, there may be others like Liu Yifan and Zhao Yifan."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang did not answer right away, but thought carefully, and then said: "In this regard, there is no precedent to refer to, or you can write a copy, and I will see if it is possible, then do that." , this is always okay, right?”

At this point, after a pause, he asked a little doubtfully: "If Fanbang really has to learn from it, what can we do?"

In Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, it was out of his control, there should be no way!
Such thoughts may not have occurred when he first ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.However, after he proclaimed himself emperor, he sent envoys to the Japanese state. As a result, they did not give him face at all and chopped off all the envoys.

The same goes for Goryeo. The Ming Dynasty envoy represents him. Even if he is killed, there is nothing he can do about it.Even Lao Zhu in Jiaozhi was not very convinced, let alone others.

After being hit by these things, Zhu Yuanzhang could say this.

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan said without thinking: "Everyone who shines under the sun and the moon must obey the laws of our Ming Dynasty. Anyone who dares to violate the laws of our Ming Dynasty or infringe on the interests of our Ming Dynasty will be punished no matter how far away!"

Zhu Yuanzhang: "..."

Zhu Biao: "..."

Zhu Yuanzhang himself did not dare to say this, let alone Zhu Biao, but this son-in-law dared to say this!

Zhu Yuanzhang came back to his senses and immediately coughed and said: "Yifan, although Goryeo won the battle, it was just a special case. Don't think that other foreign countries can conquer it so easily. Once you use weapons, you don't know how much it will cost." How much food is there, and that’s not all, the mountains are high and the roads are far away..."

He felt that Zhang Yifan was a little arrogant, so he explained to Zhang Yifan with a little sincerity. It was fine to talk, but it would be very difficult to take actual actions.

At the end of the sentence, he became a little more serious and said to Zhang Yifan: "...Those who resort to violence have never ended well in history. You are so smart, you should understand, right?"

Zhu Biao listened to his father's words and looked at Zhang Yifan. He suddenly had a feeling that his eldest brother-in-law would never be easily persuaded by his father.

Sure enough, Zhang Yifan immediately replied to his father: "There will be no good end to the war, just because the gains from the war are less than the losses. If we can do it, the gains from the war are far more than the benefits, so what if we fight for years? "

Zhu Yuanzhang: "..."

But in Zhu Biao's heart, the secret message was indeed correct!

Zhang Yifan continued to say to Zhu Yuanzhang: "If foreigners can steal something, it must be a good thing. For example, our Ming Dynasty's silk and porcelain are famous abroad, and the money spent on buying and selling these silk and porcelain every year I don’t know how many there are. Foreigners will definitely be envious. If they secretly learned these things, how much money would the Ming Dynasty lose?”

Silk was not available in the West before, but later it was said that a missionary secretly hid silkworms in the handle of a walking stick and brought them out.Of course, Zhang Yifan didn't go to verify it at first, he just heard about it.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned when he heard his words.

Although he is not actually paying attention overseas at the moment, his focus is still on allowing the Ming Dynasty to recuperate and at the same time completely defeat its biggest enemy, Meng Yuan.However, after hearing Zhang Yifan's example and thinking about the loss of money, he was naturally not happy.

While he was thinking about it, he heard Zhang Yifan say: "Of course, the example given by Erchen is not very appropriate. From the perspective of human interests, silkworms can be taken abroad, but the technology of raising silkworms cannot." Being smuggled like this, especially the latest technology, makes it even more difficult to smuggle it away. This is also..."

But who would have thought that before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhu Yuanzhang: "That's not okay, it's just that this matter is difficult to deal with. After all, it's a foreign country. If you try to reason with them, you don't know how much it will cost. How much time!"

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was the founding emperor, he obviously still had certain limitations due to his family background.It is impossible to give your good things to others!

Zhang Yifan heard his concerns and stopped talking about the previous topic. Instead, he followed Zhu Yuanzhang's words and said: "This is easy to handle. The so-called truth is only within the range of cannons. As long as our Ming Dynasty's military force is strong enough, if foreign countries are disobedient, they will directly Just clean it up. If the force of our Ming Dynasty is not good, even if it makes sense, others will not listen. After all, it is all for profit!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly shocked.Based on his experience and a little review of himself, he can actually prove that this sentence makes sense.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang has been paying attention to Confucianism in the past few years, and also referring to history. For the Central Plains Dynasty and Fanbang, it is more inclined to the tributary system, rather than the kind of military conquest of the vassal state, which has actual control over the vassal state.

With Zhu Yuanzhang's talent and strategy, and being more or less influenced by Zhang Yifan, he immediately thought of the key: that is, the reason why the previous Central Plains dynasty used such methods to deal with vassal states was because the cannon's range was not enough!
Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly became interested, looked at Zhang Yifan and asked: "Then tell me, how far can the cannons of our Ming Dynasty reach?"

This cannon range is obviously not in a physical sense.

Zhang Yifan naturally understood this.If the previous statement that the cannon must be killed no matter how far it is is actually a wish, then when Zhu Yuanzhang asked about the range of the cannon, he really had to consider how far the actual impact could be.

People at this time couldn't see how far it was, but Zhang Yifan could easily answer it based on history.

(End of this chapter)