Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The spring-loaded gun gave Zhu Youjian the idea of ​​a lighter, and he believed that this was a new industry that would greatly facilitate life.

So he asked:
"What do we use to make fire now?"

“What tools do you use?”

Lü Xiang was confused and responded:
"You can use a fire stick or a flint."

I wanted to take it out and show it, but I found that I was not allowed to bring it when I entered the palace.

After all, he brought a musket into the palace, so bringing fire was strictly prohibited.

However, fire sticks and flints were also used in the palace.

Soon, the eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department brought them in. There was also a flint for the emperor's use, which was quite exquisitely made.

Zhu Youjian didn't make fire himself, so he had never used it. He was a little surprised to see such an exquisite flint.

After the explanation by Song Jin, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Seal, Zhu Youjian finally understood how to use it. He pointed at the flint and said to Lu Xiang:

"Can you use the spring-wheel lighter to make a lighter?"

"Use it instead of the flint to make it easier to start a fire."

Thinking about the kerosene lighter he had played with in later generations, Zhu Youjian roughly drew its structure and asked Lu Xiang to arrange for craftsmen from Wensiyuan to make it.

Looking at the lighter drawn by the emperor, although Lu Xiang felt it was a bit complicated, he did not think that Wensiyuan could not make it.

After all, the craftsmen of Wensiyuan were responsible for making exquisite objects for the emperor, and many of them had superb craftsmanship.

He had no problem with the outer shell, which was made of copper like the outer shell, and the drilled windbreak was no problem.

Those messy little parts aren't a big problem.

It was the flint and the spring underneath that made him feel a little difficult. It was not easy to make such a thin spring:
"This spring is too thin and made of wire. I'm afraid it won't be strong enough."

Regarding this question, Zhu Youjian said:
"If you can't make a spring, use a reed. Anything that can push the flint up will do."

"Anyway, it's not in direct contact with the flint. There's a thimble between them."

I explained the principle of the kerosene lighter in detail. It seemed very simple to him:
The main thing is to use cotton balls to absorb kerosene and put them inside the inner shell together with the cotton core.

The cotton wick absorbs the kerosene so it can be ignited by a spark and is protected by a windbreak.

When you need to ignite the fire, you just need to turn the gear and the flint to rub to produce sparks, which can ignite the cotton core and burn like an oil lamp.

Zhu Youjian pointed at the flint and said to Lu Xiang:
"Just think of the gear and flint as the steel and flint of a flint."

"The cotton wick can be thought of as tinder, except that it has oil underneath, like an oil lamp."

"If it doesn't light easily, you can put some tinder in to help it burn."

"Or you could add a spring-loaded lighter to the outside of the inner case, and connect it to the outer case with a hinged cover. You open the outer case cover to wind the spring, and then press the trigger to produce a spark, which ignites the cotton wick like a spring-loaded musket."

After hearing this, not only Lu Xiang, but also the eunuch Song Jin, who was in charge of the Imperial Household Department, understood and said with a smile:
"Your Majesty, I think the Imperial Household Department can also build it, so there is no need to trouble the Wensi Academy."

The Imperial Household Department is also very good at making this kind of sophisticated stuff.

Zhu Youjian glanced at him, then looked at Lu Xiang who was a little nervous, and said:

"The Imperial Household Department can also select craftsmen from the palace and form a team to make it."

"Whoever can build it will be rewarded handsomely!"

Now that there was competition, both of them became nervous and decided to recruit skilled craftsmen to make the lighter as quickly as possible.

However, Lu Xiang was still confused about the kerosene the emperor mentioned, and asked:

"What is kerosene?"

"I have never heard of it."

“Is it oil made from coal?”

Zhu Youjian finally understood what Lu Xiang was thinking about, patted his head, and responded:
"If you don't have kerosene, use lamp oil first. As long as you can use the spark to ignite the cotton wick, it will be fine."

"Also, collect some oil and distill it."

"Depending on the boiling point, petroleum will be distilled into gasoline, which is very volatile and may explode; kerosene, which burns steadily; diesel, which is more difficult to ignite; and the remaining heavy oil and asphalt."

"Kerosene is distilled from petroleum. It burns stably and brightly, does not emit black smoke, and does not form sparks, making it very suitable as lamp oil."

"When you find this oil, refine it more and use less sesame oil and other fats as lamp oil."

Fats are also a type of food. Eating more fats can reduce the consumption of grains.

So after being reminded by Lu Xiang, Zhu Youjian immediately realized that he could also extract petroleum from underground to use as lamp oil to reduce oil consumption.

Lu Xiang thought for a while and asked:

"Your Majesty, is the oil you are talking about the oil in Fuyan mentioned by Shen Kuo in Mengxi Bitan?"

"I heard that there is an oil well in Yanchang County. The oil flowing out can be burned and can also cure scabies in livestock."

"It can also be used to make ink. Someone in the Printing Research Institute is using it to try to make ink."

Of course Zhu Youjian had heard of the name of Yanchang Oilfield.

Hearing that an oil well had been discovered over there, and thinking about the disaster in Shaanxi, developing the oil industry would allow more people to survive, he immediately gave the order:

"Let the Imperial Household Department send someone to Yansui to establish an oil company with the locals."

“Distill the kerosene as quickly as possible to make kerosene lighters and kerosene lamps.”

"And the explosive gasoline that can be used to make incendiary bombs that can be dropped from city walls and hot air balloons."

"Diesel can be used to remove rust and can also be used for burning. Heavy oil can also be burned."

"Asphalt can be used to pave the road. Let's ask Taipusi to send people to explore the asphalt road surface."

Zhu Youjian was extremely excited when he discovered a huge industry from kerosene.

Although under current conditions, many substances in petroleum cannot be fully utilized, the refining of kerosene can support this industry.

He also thought of the steam turbines that would burn heavy oil in the future, and planned to use coal, heavy oil and other fuels together to try to make a steam engine.

If the efficiency can be improved a little bit and the steam engine can be put into practical use, the industry of Ming Dynasty will have a stable driving force and the industrial revolution can take place.

There is also steelmaking. Today's coking technology is immature, and the quality of steel smelted with coal is very poor.

But using charcoal consumes too much wood.

The Zunhua Iron Smelter was forced to close because the surrounding wood had run out.

If it is possible to use diesel or heavy oil to make steel, it may be possible to reopen it.

Or look for iron ore in Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places and smelt steel there.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian issued another order, that in addition to Yanchang, other places should also search for oil and develop oil refining.

This series of industries, as well as the honeycomb coal that was already ready to be rolled out, allowed Zhu Youjian to set up an energy group in the Neifujian, which was specifically responsible for coal, oil and other related industries.

After the order was issued, Wang Chengen, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, quickly arranged personnel and prepared to go to Shaanxi.

At this time, Shaanxi was already full of disaster victims.

After the failure of the autumn grain harvest, ordinary households in Shaanxi, which had already suffered a major disaster last year, could no longer survive.

If the imperial court had not issued an order to transform prefectures and counties into military garrisons, Shaanxi would probably have been filled with refugees.

But even so, there are still many people who become refugees.

Most of them were people who did not want to be incorporated into the garrison and did not want to join the military and civilian garrison. After all, the garrisons in the past were all military households. Their situation was even worse than that of ordinary civilian households, and they did not want to do that.

These people would rather disobey the imperial order and flee famine than stay where they are and migrate according to the imperial order.

Faced with this situation, Zhu Tongmeng, the governor of Yansui, who had received the news in July, issued an order from the Yansui Protectorate in August:
All soldiers in the garrisons were mobilized to incorporate the first batch of refugees fleeing famine into the garrisons for migration.

Li Sanshui from Yan'an Wei was sent out in this way.

His family was a military household that migrated here at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and therefore their life was particularly hard. They had long lost their land and were now tenants for military officers.

By now, the Li family is extremely poor. His parents and his brothers Li Dajin and Li Ermu have all died of poverty, and now he is the only one left.

Seeing that he was over 30 and still hadn't found a wife, Li Sanshui felt that the Li family would probably be extinct. This made him want to escape from the guard post and get rid of this dark life.

But as a military household, if he fled and became a refugee, he would be a deserter. If he was caught and beheaded, he would have no place to seek justice.

So he never made up his mind until this year when the harvest was completely gone.

"We can't even collect a single grain of grain, and we still have to pay rent to Captain Zhang."

"It's better to run away quickly, so as not to be forced to death by him!"

Looking at the withered seedlings, Li Sanshui cried and decided to escape from here.

But before he could pack his luggage to escape the famine, he suddenly heard a piece of news:
This year's rent is waived, and previous overdue rent does not need to be paid.

All able-bodied men in the garrisons were incorporated into the army.

As long as you join the army, you will have enough food to eat.

Li Sanshui didn't believe in such a good thing at first, and was worried that he would be sent to the battlefield, but Captain Zhang's words dispelled his worries:

"The Governor of Yansui has ordered that all refugees in Yan'an Prefecture be incorporated into the Yan'an Guard."

"Catch ten households and make them the head of the Jiajia, catch a hundred households and make them the head of the Bao."

"Come over here and get your weapons. Let's go catch the refugees together!"

He commanded his servants and distributed weapons to everyone.

As a tenant of Captain Zhang, Li Sanshui knew that Captain Zhang would never do anything without profit, and was extremely afraid of going to the battlefield.

Even he dared to set out with weapons, it seems that he really wanted to capture refugees.

This made him take weapons in a daze, enter Yan'an Prefecture, and arrest refugees fleeing famine.

The arrest process was different from what he had imagined. No weapons were used when arresting the refugees.

Captain Zhang didn't know where he found some food and cooked a pot of porridge, which attracted the refugees.

Then they issued number plates to the refugees and arrested them.

From now on, you will have to queue up to get meals every day with your number plate.

The refugees fled the famine just for food, and when they heard that they could get food by showing their number tags, many of them did not resist and were incorporated into the garrisons.

What Li Sanshui and other military households need to pay attention to are those people who refuse to be honest even after they are full.

Fortunately, there were not many such people, and Li Sanshui was still able to intimidate them, especially after Captain Zhang appointed him as the head of a group and instructed him to select strong men from among the refugees under his command to be deputy heads of groups.

After these people got their positions, they immediately felt different from others. They took advantage of their status as deputy chiefs to bully others and eat better than ordinary refugees.

Even Li Sanshui, after being assigned ten refugee households by Captain Zhang and appointed as the head of a group, no longer thought about fleeing famine.

Why would you flee from famine when you can lead ten households and have food to eat every day?

But he didn't want to go, but Captain Zhang forced him to go.

After distributing the captured refugees to military households like Li Sanshui and completing the orders of the Protectorate, Captain Zhang felt completely relieved and said to the captain of the Yansui Protectorate who came to supervise him:

"Captain Song, these military households have captured ten refugees and left. Should my land deed be issued now?"

"Captain Song, please be flexible and issue the title deed as soon as possible."

Song Yingsheng glanced at him and said:

"Captain Zhang, please think carefully."

"After you get the deed to the garrison, you will become a landlord and no longer be a hereditary centurion of the imperial court."

"This is a hereditary official of the imperial court. There is a chance that he can become a hereditary noble."

"Once you are overseas, you can open up a knight territory, which is ten miles square."

Captain Zhang smiled and said to Song Yingsheng:
"I, Old Zhang, don't have the ability to be a Spyker."

"Let others do the conferring of titles. I just want to protect my family business."

He asked Song Yingsheng to be lenient and issue the title deed to the military land he occupied.

The reason why he was so active this time was because the Yansui Protectorate wanted to settle old accounts. Anyone who did not cooperate with the immigration would have their illegally occupied land taken back.

It is said that in Guanzhong, the governor of the three borders, Sun Chuanting, has already taken ruthless measures. Anyone who does not cooperate has been sentenced to exile.

Under the martial law order, Sun Chuanting had completely seized power in Shaanxi. Captain Zhang had no ability to resist such a powerful official. In order to protect the land occupied by his ancestors, he could only use his family assets and the grain stored in his home to recruit more than a thousand refugees.

Then he divided these refugees among the hundred households under his command and let them embark on the migration journey.

It can be said that Li Sanshui and other military households were sold out by him without his knowledge and deceived into going overseas.

The land they left behind was divided up by the remaining garrison officers.

However, there are rules for how to divide the land. According to the policy formulated by the court, large landowners with more than 1,000 acres are not allowed to appear.

Zhang Baihu's position was relatively low, and compared with the commanders and thousand-householders, he was the lowest among the officers. This made him work hard, but he only got a land deed of 600 acres. Among them, only 100 acres were irrigated land, and the rest were dry land.

According to the reminder from the Protectorate, there will most likely be another drought next year, so he can only grow grass and graze on these dry lands.

Because of this, he did not need so many tenants. He only kept a few of his closest tenants and turned them into civilian households.

These people did not suffer any loss. According to the emperor's order, each family that stayed behind was allocated 50 acres of land from the garrison.

Most of them kept their own land from being occupied by officers, and some purchased it from the guards with money and grain.

After this migration, Yan'an Wei will be abolished, or merged into the Yan'an Wei, which is a county attached to Yan'an Prefecture. There will be no difference.

Captain Zhang therefore paid some money and grain to allow his tenants to buy the land and stay.

These lands nominally belonged to these families, but in fact they belonged to Zhang Baihu. In the future, they had to repay Zhang Baihu's debts, which was equivalent to paying rent.

Captain Zhang even thought about transferring their land deeds in the future.

However, what he did not expect was that the Protectorate had very strict protection for land deeds and directly froze the transactions, treating these lands as perpetual farmland.

His attempts to rob and plunder have never been successful.

Later, his tenants even found out the maximum interest rate set by the court, which stipulated that if the interest paid exceeded twice the principal, they would no longer have to repay the loan.

This meant that Captain Zhang only earned some profit but did not get any land.

Some tenants even fell out with the Zhang family, leaving Captain Zhang to farm the land on his own.

Of course, at that time, Captain Zhang was no longer a captain, but the so-called Mr. Zhang.

All that remained on him was his status as a public official bestowed upon him by the Emperor after he had resigned from his hereditary military post.

The next generation will have nothing and will be no different from ordinary landlords.

This made the descendants of the Zhang family regret it later. (End of this chapter)