Daming: My boss Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 322 Can I don’t want it?

In the Prince Consort's Mansion, Li Wei carefully helped An Qing move around. An Qing pouted, obviously unhappy.

During this period, Li Wei's care for her was very considerate, but it was also quite annoying. He had to take care of what she could and could not eat, and how many steps she walked a day. He was really better than Xiaohong, a female official who took care of everything. Be annoyed!

"I'm not leaving, I'm tired!"

An Qing paused and said shamelessly.

Li Wei quickly advised: "Take two more steps and the task will be completed. Just hold on."

"Oh, I don't. You've said this several times. It's all a lie!"

An Qing said, shaking off his hand, lifting up his skirt and walking towards the stone bench under the pavilion.

Xiaohong and the slaves behind him covered their mouths and snickered, while Xiaoqing also showed an envious smile.

Li Wei was helpless and sighed: "Okay, let's take a rest before leaving."

"Master, someone from the palace has come to deliver the order, let us prepare to receive it." Abu said.

He has been staying at home honestly recently, neither causing trouble nor making meritorious deeds. Why did Lao Zhu suddenly give him an order?

Abu paused and said: "I heard that the troops of the southern expedition returned to the capital. After entering, His Majesty generously rewarded them. You, sir, also accompanied the army on the expedition. I guess this is also a reward."

After finishing the matter of making a marquis, he took out Zhu Yuanzhang's additional edict: "Master Marquis, Your Majesty still has a decree."

"Hey……"

"Can I do without this thing?" Li Wei asked unwillingly.

While they were resting and chatting, Abu suddenly came to report.

Li Wei smiled softly, walked up to sit with her, and explained to her the need to keep walking.

Li Wei secretly lamented the end of his leisurely days.

He really couldn't understand this prince-consort. When he was demoted to Jiaofangsi, he was ecstatic, and he happily took office with his bad ass raised. Now, he was granted the title of Marquis, a great good thing that countless people dream of. It’s a lamentation and a sigh, and it’s really puzzling that he doesn’t even want the iron ticket to avoid death!

"Your Majesty's gift is indispensable!" the eunuch advised in a low voice.

Li Wei said indifferently.

Li Wei was stunned for a moment and muttered in a low voice: "There are so many things!"

According to the rules, whether it is an imperial edict or an iron certificate, after receiving it, you must respectfully place it on the incense table and offer it. You cannot throw it away casually. If it falls on the ground, it is even more disrespectful.

This small iron tile is also engraved with words. In addition to the words that are very different from the meaning of the imperial edict, there is also a line of small words that is the most important: "I hereby swear to you that except for treason, I will not forgive you. If you commit a capital crime, you will be spared two deaths, and if you commit a capital crime, you will be spared one death."

Seeing that the iron coupons were finally placed, the eunuch who delivered the order finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Hearing that he was about to leave, An Qing pouted his lips and stared at him coquettishly.

"What are you afraid of? It's iron and can't be broken."

"Yes!"

Now Anqing has been pregnant for more than three months, and her belly has begun to swell slightly. In order to make her delivery smoother, Li Wei racked his brains and listed all the precautions that future generations may occasionally see, and strictly implemented them. Unfortunately, The little princess Anqing was not very cooperative.

But Anqing was overjoyed when he heard the decree, and shouted in surprise: "Father is wise!"

Li Wei took the iron coupon in his hand and weighed it. It was quite heavy.

Li Wei stopped nagging and looked at Abu suspiciously: "Preaching the order? What's the matter?"

Just like in the legend, there is an iron ticket to avoid death, and rebellion is inevitable. These simple words turn death avoidance into certain death.

In fact, Li Wei's information was not closed at all. Many things he did not ask were reported to his bodyguards and confidants, but Li Wei himself had no intention of asking.

"The emperor is destined to be carried by heaven," said the edict: "The ancient philosopher kings established principles and disciplines to reward meritorious service and punish guilty ones. If they adhere to this way, the world will be at peace." Today, Li Wei, the commander-in-chief of your consort, has practiced firearms and accompanied the army in the southern expedition. He has made outstanding achievements. He is awarded the title of Marquis of Jiangdu with a salary of 1,500 dan, and is hereditary to his descendants..."

After reading the imperial edict, everyone stood up. The eunuch handed the imperial edict to him along with the iron certificate. Li Wei took it with both hands and casually handed the imperial edict to Xiao Qing aside and put it on the incense table. He held the tile-shaped "mortal iron" in his hand. "Coupon" looked at it.

He said helplessly and bowed down with everyone again to accept the order.

Li Wei held the iron coupon in one hand and sighed. He was sitting at home, and trouble came from the sky. When it arrived, he still couldn't escape this thing.

The eunuch delivering the order: "..."

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not reinstate him to his official position, his tasks remained the same. He still had to supervise the manufacture of firearms and the Ministry of Industry, which were just like the admiral's work in the Shenji Battalion, which was an errand.

Hearing the news from Marquis Jiangdu, Li Wei felt a little relieved, as long as he didn't return the magic uncle to him again.

Li Wei turned to look at her in surprise.

"That won't work either! Lord Marquis, please put it on the incense table!" the eunuch urged.

This time the edict was more pragmatic. Zhu Yuanzhang came up and reprimanded him first, and then assigned tasks.

Abu took the order and left.

Seeing this, Li Weicai curled his lips and put the iron coupons on the prepared shelf under the nervous gaze of everyone.

The eunuch who delivered the order was frightened and warned carefully: "Prince-in-law, oh no, please be careful, don't drop it!"

Zhu Yuanzhang also figured out that instead of putting him in a certain position, it would be better to treat him as a brick and move it wherever needed.

After a while, the incense table was placed in the front yard. After the eunuch who delivered the order arrived, Li Weicai led everyone in the house to receive the order.

Li Wei understood immediately after hearing this, hesitated for a moment and said: "Then let people prepare quickly. I will go there later."

The eunuch was so frightened that he quickly stepped forward and held it up with his hands, fearing that he would really fall to the ground.

The eunuch announced the decree loudly, and Li Wei led the crowd to kneel down and worship.

An Qing glanced at him with beautiful eyes and said angrily: "My father asked you to go out and work quickly, so don't stay idle at home all day!"

Li Wei: "..."

Hearing the unabashed disgust in An Qing's words, Li Wei felt very hurt...

Unable to disobey the emperor's orders, Li Wei could only end his vacation and go out to work honestly, but he did not let Anqing go. Before leaving, he specifically told Xiaoqing and Xiaohong to be optimistic about her and to follow her own schedule.

Hearing this, An Qing's little face elated and he stamped his feet in anger. In the academy, the students who were in a semi-freedom state finally came to visit their beloved Teacher Li first.

Fang Xiaoru now comes to the academy occasionally, but he definitely doesn't come every day to keep an eye on her. Li Wei spends three days fishing and two days drying nets. Especially after An Qing became pregnant, he came even less. If it weren't for Lu Honghe and Lu Xiu stared at the two children, fearing that these students were going to have fun.

Li Wei didn't have any other good teaching methods. He insisted on cramming education combining theory with practice, and took the students to the Ordnance Bureau again, so he could do both work and teaching.

Since the hydraulic chamber was barely usable, he focused mainly on the steam engine. With the smooth cylinder block, half of the sealing problem was solved, and the other half was the piston and piston rings.

The piston ring needs to be made of softer metal, such as mild steel, copper, etc., but it needs to be carefully polished to improve the tightness.

There are also boilers, air ducts, throttle valves, slide valves, etc., all of which must be made with precision. Too much air leakage will reduce the efficiency of the steam engine.

Fortunately, he had thousands of craftsmen at his disposal. All he had to do was ask Luti to find a suitable skilled craftsman.

After spending some time making these things, Li Wei led the craftsmen to start assembling them himself.

Put the piston ring on the piston, and use the principle of thermal expansion and contraction to force it in. After cooling, the piston and the cylinder will become very tight, and the sealing effect is very good.

Then there are the static seals such as air pipes and air valves. In addition to the powerful way to work miracles, you can also use rubber leather as filling.

A group of students watched their teachers and craftsmen assemble these scattered things into a behemoth that was more than ten feet long. Although they did not understand what it was, they had an unknown feeling.

The same goes for Luti and other onlookers. The craftsmanship of the steam engine assembled by Li Wei is definitely much more sophisticated than the original version of the Watt steam engine in history. At first glance, it looks very delicate and beautiful.

After installing all the valve pipes, Li Wei checked it again, then wiped the sweat from his brow and waved his hand: "Light the boiler."

"Yes, Lord Marquis!"

The craftsman who had been standing by the boiler for a long time responded immediately.

The boiler uses a simple fire tube type, which is just fine. As the blower assists combustion, the flames continue to lick the sealed pot shell, and the cold water inside gradually heats up.

In the corner of the pot shell, there is a safety valve, which is pressed by a heavy hammer using the lever principle. When the steam pressure in the sealed boiler reaches a certain value, the valve will be lifted up to automatically release the pressure. This thing cannot be missing, not too little. If the boiler is over-pressurized, it will explode.

"Sir, can this thing of yours really turn like a water wheel?"

Luti asked with bright eyes, and other craftsmen also looked at him.

In fact, Li Wei had already explained the principle to them, but they still couldn't believe it. Just by boiling a pot of hot water, this thing could keep spinning like a waterwheel.

Li Wei smiled: "Of course, just wait and see."

After everyone heard this, they could only be patient and look at this big guy expectantly.

After a long time, the water in the boiler finally heated up, and the safety valve was lifted to exhaust air. Li Wei said excitedly: "That's it, open the throttle valve!"

"Yes!"

The craftsman standing by responded, put on the heat-insulating gloves he had prepared earlier, and carefully opened the throttle valve on the ventilation pipe.

As the valve opens, high-pressure steam flows from the pipe into the cylinder, the piston is pushed, and the flywheel with a diameter of one and a half meters slowly rotates through the connecting rod!

"It's spinning, it's really starting to spin!"

Someone shouted in surprise.

Li Wei also smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the principle of this thing is simple, actually making it with his own hands still gave him a sense of accomplishment.

When the piston moves to the extreme position, the eccentric drives the slide valve connected to the sliding rod to exchange steam. The piston immediately begins to reciprocate, and the exhaust gas spurts out the used steam, making a popping sound.

As the piston reciprocates faster and faster, the sound of the exhaust also continues. The popping sound is like the old-fashioned locomotive that appears in the movie. The roar of the machine masks the knocking of the craftsmen. The industrial era has officially begun!

Listening to the roar, Li Wei felt that the machine noise that was so annoying before was now so beautiful!

When the throttle valve is fully opened, the steam engine reaches its maximum speed and rotates stably and at high speed under the action of the flywheel and centrifugal governor.

It's just that the sealing is not good after all, and white steam leaks from the pipe, piston, connecting rod and other places from time to time. However, this does not hinder its use. At most, the efficiency is slightly lower, and it can be gradually improved in the future.

With the steam engine, the lathe can get rid of water power and be directly driven by the steam engine. The processing accuracy and efficiency will be greatly improved.

The improvement in the precision of lathes can, in turn, improve the technology of steam engines again, and the electric motors can also continue to be improved, and most importantly, the steam engines can be used to drive generators to generate electricity!

Without water power restrictions, steam power generation can be deployed in any open space. When electric lights are built, the dim candle oil lamps will no longer be used at night!

Upstairs and downstairs, the days of electric lights and telephones are not too far away!

"Make more spare parts related to this machine, and also modify the waterwheels that drive lathes, blowers, etc., and replace them with this kind of steam engine."

Li Wei opened his mouth and gave instructions.

"Yes, sir, don't worry!"

Luti agreed with excitement on his face.

It is not difficult to replace waterwheels with steam engines. Craftsmen like them can do this.

Li Wei nodded, and then his eyes fell on the students. Because these children were too young, he did not let them follow suit, but this principle still had to be explained clearly to them.

After arranging Luti, Li Wei took the students back to the academy, drew pictures of the principles of the steam engine, and explained in detail the theories used in it.

The birth of the steam engine made his heart become more and more passionate, and he was full of desire for the convenient life brought by the technologies of later generations.

It's just that there are too many things that need to be developed to realize that kind of life. He can only count on the students in front of him to start teaching as soon as possible and help him light up various technology trees, so that he can enjoy the results.

The students are working hard to make progress, the Arms Bureau is undergoing earth-shaking changes, and the court is also experiencing a sudden rise.

In the evening, the young eunuch handed the memorials compiled by the cabinet to the emperor, and Zhu Yuanzhang reviewed them in turn after going down to the court.

In addition to normal state affairs, a special memorial made his eyes change.

Because Japanese pirates attacked Li Wei, he ordered the Ministry of Rites to send envoys to rebuke the Japanese state. Gao Xin, the minister of the Ministry of Rites at that time, was a member of Li's party. Under Li Wei's special instructions, the words in the credential were particularly harsh, claiming that the Japanese state should be allowed to Tens of millions of taels of silver will be compensated. If not paid, soldiers will be sent to destroy the country.

The Japanese country is far away from the ocean. Nearly a year has passed. Gao Xin, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, has been buried. The reply from the Japanese country was not delivered to Zhu Yuanzhang.

This memorial is in the name of King Huairiang of the Southern Dynasty of Japan, and the wording is also very sharp. Although he calls himself a minister, the wording is very arrogant, especially regarding the Ming Dynasty’s threat to send troops to conquer, it is even more so. Let's talk about gambling, why should I be afraid?" he replied, not taking it seriously at all.

"You bastard, how dare this small country do this! You really don't think we dare to hit you!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and started to fight!

(End of this chapter)