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Chapter 129 Industrial Foundation
"Have you met Master Xu?" Seeing the appearance of the carriage, Hong Tao knew where it came from.Tianjin Wei Machinery Factory finally passed the adaptation period and gradually entered the production stage. This four-wheeled carriage was the first mass-produced product of the machinery factory.

"My slave went to Governor Yuan's shipyard under the guise of inspecting the Tianjin Customs. On the way back, I went to the Imperial Mansion to have a look. As a result, I bumped into Chief Xu and undergraduate Wang Zheng driving this car wildly on the road. I startled my slave’s horse!”

Zhang Ran briefly described the general process of going to Tianjin Wei. The focus was not on the carriage, but how it was hit.In order to prove that what he said was true, he also lifted up the front of his official uniform to reveal his damaged trousers, and gave Xu Guangqi and Wang Zheng a small injection.

"Well, why didn't he come together?" Hong Tao's attention was mostly focused on the carriage and did not cause trouble.

"Mr. Xu said that there is still a car that is being built, and it needs to be completed before Long Live the Lord's birthday, so there is no time to meet the saint. There is his memorial here, and I asked the slave to bring it back." Seeing that the emperor had no intention of making decisions for himself. , Zhang Ran stopped complaining, took out a locked flat wooden box from his arms and presented it with both hands.

"Wang An, you and Zhang Ran get in this car and run around the pool twice to try it out for me." Hong Tao took off a bunch of keys from his wrist and opened the small copper lock.

There is also an envelope in the wooden box, with the words "Jin Cheng" and "I would like to seal" written on the front, and three seals are stamped on the seal.This was the standard secret writing mode for officials in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor knew who wrote it just by looking at the seal without opening the envelope.One of these three seals is a gift from the emperor and can be regarded as a kind of secret code.

After Hong Tao ascended the throne, he felt that this method of independent communication was not safe, so he asked Time Workshop to make a batch of copper marble locks according to the drawings, and gave them to the officials in the inner circle together with the keys.When the secret performance is needed, the envelope is placed in a wooden box. Presumably no one has been able to open the pinball lock of later generations without damage at this time, adding an extra layer of insurance.

Xu Guangqi is one of the people who owns the copper lock, and he really needs it, because the content written in the letter is confidential, such as the production progress of Tianjin Wei Machinery Factory and the development progress of the things drawn on the drawings.

In fact, you don’t need to write it down so carefully. You can roughly calculate it just by looking at the structure of the carriage.As the saying goes, laymen watch the excitement, while insiders watch the door.In addition to the steering structure of the four-wheeled carriage, Hong Tao also saw at least two major points.

The leaf springs are not counted, that is the credit of Jingxi Foundry.But what connects the leaf spring and the box together is not hot riveting but bolts, which shows that the machinery factory has created equipment for stamping, inserting outer wires, and tapping inner wires.

The second highlight is still on the chassis, to be precise, the axle.Unlike today's carriages, the wheel hub of the four-wheel carriage is not in direct contact with the wheel axle. There is also a small part, a ball bearing, nested in the middle!
Despite its small size and always working in dirty parts, it is very inconspicuous, but its appearance can make many impossible things possible, and it also marks that machining and smelting and forging technology has reached a certain stage.

There is no need to rush to develop further. We only need to refine the original process step by step, infinitely pursue precision and output, and vigorously popularize it to reach the level of the industrial revolution.

Specifically speaking, if you can make bolts and bearings, you should be able to make guns, cannons, and even steam engines and internal combustion engines.Of course, everything from workers to equipment to ideas requires a relatively long process of improvement and cannot be achieved overnight.

Starting from scratch, the first step took more than three years.At this point, the Ming Dynasty's industrial system has begun to sprout, and Hong Tao can only do half of it.

He can inspire the ancients on which way to go and how to start, but it cannot overly affect their walking speed.The remaining half will have to wait until the industrial level reaches the upgrade standard before it can be used. It is useless to say it now.

"Long live Lord, this car is unknown!" Before reading the letter, Zhang Ran and Wang An ran back in the carriage.Instead of praising the merits of the four-wheeled carriage, the two of them rejected it in unison. "What's the explanation?" Hong Tao was told that he was confused. He didn't need to ride on it. He could know its approximate performance by just looking at the carriage's driving posture.Xu Guangqi and Wang Zheng do have mechanical talents. Although the appearance of this carriage is not very exquisite and some parts of the chassis are rusty, its performance is already very good.

"My slave became dizzy within a cup of tea after sitting on it. The same goes for Zhang Zangyin. Sitting in the front and driving the carriage is fine. But after moving to the back, I feel uncomfortable for a moment." Wang An said it very truthfully, and it can be seen from his face that he is indeed He felt uncomfortable and was sweating profusely. Zhang Ran nodded vigorously beside him, deeply convinced.

"So weird? Could it be that a magic spell has been cast on you... Humph, trivial skills are of no consequence. Let's go up together and see how I can kill the monsters with my little tricks!"

If they were an ordinary emperor, Xu Guangqi and Wang Zheng would probably be in bad luck. Even if they didn't lose their heads, they would still be guilty, and the good buds of the industrial revolution would probably be pinched cleanly.The reason is ridiculous. Because the shock-absorbing steel plates are a bit soft, Wang An and Zhang Ran, who were not used to sitting, both got carsick!

Hong Tao has not counted how many inventions and innovations have been ignored, obliterated, or destroyed due to such reasons in history. If he traveled back in time to the Qing Dynasty and invented a flush toilet for the Empress Dowager Cixi, would he also be beheaded?
The reason is very simple. When I was pulling daddy, water splashed on my sacred butt!This is not bad, polluting the holy body with excrement is disrespectful!With this precedent, no one will dare to mention this matter in the future, and the exploration in this aspect will also stop. It will not be possible to wake up until others have surpassed it far beyond.

This shows how important it is for the development of a country to open up people's wisdom.Some people have said that it is okay if the people are ignorant, as long as the ruling class is smart.

Are Wang An and Zhang Ran considered the ruling class?They definitely belong to the Ming Dynasty people who have a lot of experience and a lot of brains, and such people are no more than one in ten thousand.

Why would such a smart and well-informed person make such a stupid mistake?Because they are selected from tens of millions of ordinary people, if the base level is too low, the level of the selected smart people will not be much better.

The ancients no longer say that generals can be chosen from within.It's true to call him a general, but his level is only a little better than stupidity, far from being smart, wise, and well-informed. In fact, he is still stupid.

Can Hong Tao quickly change this situation?No, compared to fighting for power and profit, it is much harder and slower to open up people's wisdom. If you don't persist for one or two generations, there will be no progress.And you have to go in the right direction. If you go the wrong way, not only will there be no improvement, but it will get worse.

People's intelligence is not simply universal education, and IQ has nothing to do with diplomas.Just like the imperial examination system, in addition to stabilizing rule, it has only disadvantages and no benefits in improving the IQ of the people.

But Hong Tao can use this to gain some benefits for himself, such as performing live performances to slay demons.Sitting on the carriage, he made random calculations with his fingers, invited gods and Buddhas from all over the world, and then walked around the Taiye Pond twice without any harm.

The two big eunuchs and all the little eunuchs were stunned and their legs were weak. For a long time in the future, the emperor must have an extra layer of aura in their minds, and they must think more about whether he has any evil intentions. Can you hide it from the long-lived master who has become a god!

(End of this chapter)