At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 371: End of term and the first sign of steam

Chang'an City, Prime Minister's Mansion.

As the rear base of this great battle in Mobei, the hundreds of Han officials in the Prime Minister's Mansion were extremely busy, going in and out with letters from various places.

Prime Minister Zhou Zhang looked at his chief secretary Zhou Ke and asked, "What is the current situation of grain and grass stored in Jiuyuan County, Yanmen County, and Liaodong County?"

Zhou Ke said: "Jiuyuan County has stored 500 million shi of grain. The railway from Chang'an to Jiuyuan County can transport 50 shi of grain every month. Before December, another 300 million shi of grain can be transported to Jiuyuan County."

"But the Imperial Household reported that there are too many carriages on the track, and all of them are fully loaded. The wooden tracks are being worn out at a faster rate, and derailment incidents are frequent. Please send more track craftsmen to repair them."

Now, there is a long queue of rail carriages from Chang'an to Jiuyuan County. Thousands of rail carriages depart from Chang'an every day. Each rail carriage is fully loaded, and the transport weight reaches 4000 kilograms. This causes the wooden rails to be consumed very quickly, and the rail carriages often crush the wooden rails.

Zhou Zhang said: "Order the Shaofu to send craftsmen, and the Shangjun prefect to recruit civilians and put them under the management of the Taifu."

"Yes!" The Han official beside Zhou Zhang immediately conveyed Zhou Zhang's order.

Zhou Ke continued, "The grain stockpiled in Yanmen County has exceeded 400 million dan. Because the imperial court buys grain for 100 coins, merchants from all over the Central Plains transport grain to Yanmen County, which can increase the grain supply by million dan every month."

Jiuyuan County had a railway, so the grain was simply transported from Lantian Granary to Jiuyuan County. As for Yanmen, the original plan was to transport grain from Jiuyuan County, but now that the war had started earlier, the Han court had no choice but to use civilian forces to transport grain.

At this time, the price of grain in the Central Plains was roughly around 30 coins, and the Han court purchased grain and fodder in Yanmen County at coins per stone, making three times the profit. Merchants from all over the Central Plains worked hard to transport grain and fodder to Yanmen County, and Yanmen County was able to stockpile millions of stones of grain every month, greatly accelerating war reserves.

The people in the Central Plains were also smiling happily. The price of grain had been falling in the past two years, but this year it finally rose for a while, reaching 40 coins per stone. If this price could last until the autumn harvest, they could earn thousands of more coins.

Zhou Zhang said: "Tell Li Shang, the governor of Yanmen County, that when the grain stored in Yanmen reaches 1000 million dan, stop purchasing."

"promise"

Zhou Ke continued, "General Peng Yue, the commander of the Zhenhai Army, has transported 300 million shi of grain from the Central Plains to the State of Lu, but the Duke of Lu has requested that the court transport 10 bolts of woolen cloth to the State of Lu, saying that the woolen cloth will be used to bribe and hire the barbarians in the north."

10 pieces of woolen cloth are worth 8000 million coins, which is a drop in the bucket for the Mobei War, which has already cost more than one million gold coins. If it is really beneficial to the war, this amount of woolen cloth is worth spending.

Zhou Zhang immediately said: "Order Guangyang County to transfer 10 pieces of woolen cloth to Lu State."

Zhou Ke continued, "The Liaodong Protectorate is short of armor. I ask the court to allocate 10 sets of armor and swords and spears."

Liaodong Protectorate was a relatively weak protectorate in the Han Dynasty, as it was located in the second line of the Han-Xiongnu battlefield. The main force was the princes' army of the Han Dynasty. The princes of Liaodong were divided into three groups, leading their soldiers to obey their feudal military obligations to the Han Dynasty. Therefore, they paid for both military expenses and weapons and equipment themselves.

Normally, the Liaodong Protectorate would fight some savages in the Liaodong forests by purchasing discarded second-hand leather armor and weapons from the Han Dynasty. However, this time when attacking the Huns, the intensity of the war would definitely be stronger than fighting the savages, so Lu Chen wanted to improve the strength of his army.

Zhou Zhang said: "Order General Zhenhai to transfer the weapons and equipment from the arsenals in Guangyang, Julu, and Linzi to the Liaodong Protectorate."

"promise!"

At this time, a Han official came to Zhou Zhang and said, "Prime Minister, the chief clerk of Duyang County went to the bill exchange to raise funds with the 500-year operating rights of the Chang'an to Duyang track to establish a track operating cooperative. It is said that many merchants have already invested, and the funds raised now exceed million yuan."

Zhou Zhang immediately became serious. He wanted to rebuke such behavior. In order to fight the Mobei War, the Han Dynasty had stopped many engineering projects. Duyang County's current practice was against the court's policy.

But when he heard that the chief clerk of Duyang County had raised 500 million yuan in half a day, he was extremely surprised. He did not expect that the merchants of the Han Dynasty would also be interested in the tracks that cost so much.

You should know that the track has extremely high economic and military value. Take the track from Chang'an to Jiuyuan County for example. It can transport 50 shi of granary every month, but it employed less than 2 people. If there were no tracks, people might not be able to complete this task. It is no exaggeration to say that tracks are a military weapon.

However, due to the high price, even the imperial court could not afford it, and it was difficult to popularize it on a large scale.

Now, if we use the money from the people to do things for the imperial court, and if we can build a complete rail transportation network throughout the Han Dynasty, then the army of the Han Dynasty can reach any part of the Han Dynasty within half a month.

This is of great strategic significance to the imperial court. If the tyrannical Qin army was able to quickly resist Chenjun, how could their uprising be so successful?
I’m afraid it’s hard to say.

The importance of the rail network to the Han Dynasty is self-evident. Even giving up the operating rights for 20 years would be worth it for the court.

After thinking for a while, Zhou Zhang said, "Order the Imperial Court Judge Wu Guang to send the Legal Supervisor to supervise the operation of the rail operator cooperative. Their every move must be reported to the court."

"promise!"

Zhou Zhang thought for a long time and sighed, "What a pity, this method appears too late."

According to the agreement between him and the emperor, he should abdicate as prime minister after serving for 10 years in the Han calendar.

Although he was reluctant to leave, after all, this position was second only to the emperor, and the emperor had delegated so much power to him that he could make decisions on minor matters of the Han Dynasty. The emperor would also respect his opinions on major matters. The entire Han Dynasty was thriving under his governance, so why would he be willing to leave this position!

But he also understood that he had to leave when the time came, otherwise it would affect the relationship between him and the emperor. After all, no matter how much the emperor trusted him, there was a limit. If he kept the position of prime minister, it would definitely arouse the emperor's suspicion.

Second, if he had stayed in the position of prime minister, it would have blocked the path to advancement for a large number of people. The three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty were generally young, and most of them were in their prime. They had a strong desire to advance, and they also wanted to rule the world.

But the upper echelons of the Han Dynasty were all filled, and if no one stepped down, naturally no one would take over.

It was agreed at the beginning that the prime minister could only serve for two terms at most. Now, many of the three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty, as well as local governors, are probably eagerly waiting to take the position. If he doesn't leave, he will block the position for newcomers.

By then, the nine ministers of the court and the local officials will blame him, and he will be condemned by everyone.

"It is a good idea to launch the Mobei War at this time. This war will put a perfect end to my career as prime minister."

Changan City Steel Plant.

Although it is called Chang'an Iron and Steel Plant, it has actually been moved to Bashang. After all, after the construction of the blast furnace, the steel production capacity has increased dozens of times, but the pollution has also increased dozens of times. The black smoke from the blast furnace can be said to cover the sky and the sun, greatly polluting the environment of Chang'an City. The steel plant is no longer suitable for being located in a densely populated place like Chang'an City.

The Han Dynasty court could only choose a site in Bashang to rebuild a new steel plant. The steel plant now has 5 blast furnaces, each of which can smelt 10 kilograms of iron at a time. The Chang'an Iron and Steel Plant smelts more than million kilograms of iron a year. There are tens of thousands of steel workers working here, and as many as to people supporting the steel plant. The arrival of the steel plant has created a new steel city here.

The emperor's arrival made all the craftsmen in the steel plant extremely excited.

"Your Majesty, this is the best blast furnace in our Han Dynasty. It can smelt more than 10 kilograms of iron at a time. Because it uses preheating temperature increase technology, it only takes one day to smelt a furnace of iron." Du Yang, the master craftsman of the steel plant, said proudly.

"Preheating technology?" Xu Fan was still a little confused.

Du Yang said: "In the past, steel mills blew cold air into the blast furnace. The temperature of the coke, which had been raised with great difficulty, was blown down by the cold air. I wondered if we could heat up the air in advance and blow the hot air in, so that the temperature of the blast furnace would not drop. So the blast furnace was improved with a heating chamber. The effect of this improvement is very good. It used to take three days to melt the iron ore, but now it only takes one day, and the efficiency of steelmaking has increased three times."

"Great!" Xu Fan applauded. It turned out that to improve technology, one still had to rely on these front-line producers.

Xu Fan said: "The steel plant should reward Master Du."

Chen Chui said, "I have already rewarded Master Du with a house and 10 yuan." Xu Fan held Du Yang's hand and said, "Talents like Master Du are the most valuable assets of our Han Dynasty. You must make use of Master Du in your steel plant."

Chen Chui said: "No"

Later, Xu Fan came here to inspect the new type of track. At this time, there were two sections of experimental tracks in the open-air warehouse of the steel plant. One was an iron-clad wood track, and the other was an all-iron track. Both experimental tracks were made into 20-meter-long circular tracks.

Chen Chui reported to Xu Fan: "The iron-clad wooden track can bear tens of thousands of pounds of freight rail carriages, and the speed is faster. The only drawback is that the price of the track will increase by 5 coins per mile, but the advantage is that the durability is more than doubled."

Then Chen Chui pointed at the railroad tracks and said, "Even if a carriage is crushed by this kind of track, the railroad tracks will not collapse, and the maintenance cost is also extremely low."

Xu Fan shook his head and smiled: "Why don't you tell me the price of the rails?"

Chen Chui said helplessly: "Double-track track costs 800 million per mile."

Xu Fan was not surprised by this. This price was not high, but it could only be afforded by an industrialized society with explosive wealth growth. In the feudal era, building railroads was a more difficult feat than building the Great Wall. Xu Fan did not want to use the Han Dynasty's precious funds to build feats. Developing productivity was what he should do.

"The rails can be used inside the steel mill. Use iron-clad wooden tracks to gradually replace the current wooden tracks. As for the rails, when you can build a blast furnace that can produce 100 million kilograms of iron, the railway can be built."

After inspecting the new track, Xu Fan came to a laboratory not far from the steel plant. His main purpose today was to come here.

Since the Han Dynasty established its capital in Chang'an, he has gathered the most elite talents from the entire Mohist school and the most elite craftsmen from the Qin Shaofu. He gathered so many high-end talents just to build the world's first steam engine.

To be honest, Xu Fan came to this world with a lot of inventions (copycat technology). He invented the water-powered spinning wheel and the blast furnace. The most advanced blast furnace in the Han Dynasty is not even inferior to the blast furnace in the 19th century. Cement, gunpowder, glass and other three items that were used in the early time travel were all made without any difficulty.

These inventions gave Xu Fan great confidence. He really thought he was a great inventor and that he could easily make a steam engine. However, reality slapped him hard in the face.

Let Xu Fan understand that some things can be worked out just by saying the principle, but some things cannot be worked out just by saying the principle.

A steam engine is not something that Xu Fan can make just by talking about the principle. He now regrets that he is a liberal arts student. He has heard of steam engines and knows that steam engines work through pistons. He has even seen how steam engines work on the computer, but he can only draw an ugly picture of a piston.

Yes, that was all he knew about steam engines.

Mohist scholars spent five years researching based on what Xu Fan knew, and finally achieved some results.

Mohist Yang Xiong saw Xu Fan and said excitedly: "Your Majesty, after five years, we have finally achieved some results."

It's no wonder Yang Xiong was so excited. The emperor had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the past five years. As long as he was in Chang'an, he would come to inspect them every month. But they had not produced any results, and they felt very ashamed of the emperor. Instead, the emperor had been encouraging them and investing more money. (In fact, it was Xu Fan who gave them the tips out of guilt, because they didn't give them enough.)
And today they finally made the steam engine that the emperor had talked about, and they could finally put down their worries.

Xu Fan came to the steam engine made by Yang Xiong and his team.

This steam engine is extremely ugly, with a huge boiler and a huge flywheel. It does look like a primitive steam engine, but what makes Xu Fan most embarrassed is that this machine really looks a bit like the one he drew, so he is also half responsible for the ugliness of this machine.

"Start the steam engine." Of course, Xu Fan didn't have the energy to care whether it was ugly or not. He just wanted the machine to start.

Yang Xiong pulled Xu Fan away and said, "This machine is still a little dangerous. Your Majesty, please go to a safe place first."

They were studying steam engines, and steam leaks were a common occurrence, occurring almost every day. Even the boiler exploded twice, killing one Mohist and injuring three craftsmen.

Of course, this did not stop the Mohists from continuing their research on the steam engine, but Yang Xiong did not dare to let the emperor get so close to the steam engine. If the emperor had an accident, he would die without redemption.

After Yang Xiong brought the emperor to a safe area with a wall, a Mohist began to light the coal in the machine, and then another Mohist used a human blower to burn the coal red.

Xu Fan was stunned by this scene. The steam engine was supposed to replace human labor, but this steam engine needed human labor to start. Was this half human and half steam?
The coal soon burned red, and after waiting for a long time, the water in the steam engine boiler began to steam. Soon the steam engine started slowly, the piston drove the crankshaft to move, and the crankshaft drove the flywheel to rotate, and the speed became faster and faster.

Xu Fan applauded after seeing this scene and said, "You have created a new era. Today's scene will definitely go down in history. The future history will definitely be divided into two eras, one is the pre-steam era, and the other is the steam era, or the industrial era."

Yang Xiong said ashamedly: "I have not thought of the use of this machine yet. The emperor has praised it too much."

They felt that the emperor attached too much importance to this machine. Was this machine really so exaggerated?

Xu Fan said: "It's not an exaggeration at all. You don't understand the energy contained in this machine."

"Do you think this rotating wheel can replace wind power and be used in mining water pumps?"

As long as mining occurs, there will inevitably be groundwater problems. After learning about this problem, Xu Fan developed a pumping system that connects the pressure well and the windmill. This system is used to pump water to the ground day and night. However, the disadvantage is that it is inefficient, and when there is no wind, water still has to be pumped by manpower.

Yang Xiong nodded and said, "This steam engine is very suitable for the coal yard. We don't even need to buy fuel."

"Theory must be combined with practice. Bring a few steam engines to the mines, listen to the opinions of these people, and then improve them."

"promise"

Xu Fan continued, "It's not just that. Since this steam engine can pump water from minerals, it can also pump water from rivers. Many places that can't be reached by canals can be irrigated with steam engines. The amount of water irrigated in the Han Dynasty can be doubled."

But Yang Xiong whispered, "Your Majesty, these windmills you mentioned can also be made, but the efficiency is a little lower. However, a windmill only costs 5000 coins at most, while this steam engine costs hundreds of millions of coins. Even without counting these, the cost of a steam engine will not be less than 5 coins. Moreover, the most important thing is that steam engines are not mature yet and often leak, but windmills will not have this problem. Even if they break down, the windmill villagers will repair them, and all the people in the world who can repair steam engines are here."

Xu Fan was embarrassed again. The water-pumping machine he invented, the pressure well, actually affected the development of the steam engine.

Xu Fan said: "The steam engine has not yet been used to weave cloth, and the water-powered spinning wheel and textile machine have too many limitations, especially in winter when ice freezes and water power cannot be used, but the steam engine can be used all year round."

Yang Xiong continued awkwardly: "The power of the steam engine is too weak to drive the spinning wheel, and the stability of the steam engine is also a problem."

"Hiss, hiss!" Something broke and a large amount of steam came out.

At this moment, one of the Mozi immediately opened a valve and "Chichichichi!"

A larger puff of steam came out.

The other Mozi shoveled the coal out of the boiler.

Yang Xiong said helplessly: "Look, it has only been running for a short time and there is already a problem."

Xu Fan smiled and said, "It's already very good. The breakthrough from zero to one is the most difficult. Now the real steam engine is in front of you. What you have to do is to repair it and make it more durable, with fewer failures, and more powerful."

"This small machine can replace countless water wheels and windmills in the Han Dynasty. Just imagine that if the mine uses steam engines, we won't have to worry about groundwater problems. If the farmland uses steam engines, the irrigated land in the Han Dynasty can be increased by two or three times, and we won't have to build expensive canals. If the textile mill uses steam engines instead of water conservancy, it can efficiently weave cloth all year round."

"It will bring extremely efficient productivity to the entire world. The world's ability to produce wealth will increase from one to ten. By then, each of us will have ten times the wealth we had before, and the world of great harmony will be one step closer to us."

(End of this chapter)