I'm in the Red Mansion

Soon, Johann Adam Schall ...

He did not come alone, he brought two assistants with him. The two assistants carried a heavy generator in together.

Of course, the items they carried were checked to make sure they contained no dangerous goods.

In addition, the emperor highly respected Johann Adam Schall ...

After the three of them had paid their respects to Jia Cong, Tang Ruowang could not help but exclaimed with joy: "Your Majesty, it's done, it's done!"

"Under the emperor's guidance, we have finally succeeded in making a light bulb. Your Majesty, please take a look."

As he said this, Johann Adam Schall von Bell directed his two assistants to start cranking the generator.

That's right, the generator they made was cranked by hand.

The generator was connected to electrical wires, which in turn were connected to a crude lamp holder, on which was already inserted a light bulb made by Johann Adam Schall von Bell.

The appearance of this light bulb is similar to the one in Jia Cong's memory, after all, it was Jia Cong who suggested it.

However, the curvature was quite different, which made Jia Cong feel a little weird.

But the appearance is not important, as long as it is easy to use, it is enough.

After the two assistants shook it for a while, the light bulb suddenly lit up, but the brightness was fluctuating and extremely unstable.

After all, it is hand-cranked, so you can't ask for too much.

Tang Ruowang asked excitedly: "Your Majesty, how is it?"

Jia Cong nodded and said, "Not bad, very good! You have worked hard!"

Tang Ruowang quickly said: "It is my honor to serve the emperor. What's more, I also like doing research very much."

"How can it be called hard work? On the contrary, it can be regarded as a fulfillment of my duty."

Jia Cong nodded and said, "Although this light bulb has been made, it still has some flaws."

"I am also planning to popularize electricity and light bulbs throughout the country. Of course, it is impossible to generate electricity by hand. Do you have any method?"

Hearing this, Tang Ruowang said in embarrassment: "Your Majesty, power generation can actually be replaced by steam engines instead of human labor."

"But if we want to promote electricity across China, I'm afraid the cost will be too high."

"The cost is too high. The gains do not outweigh the losses. I think that this electricity is only enough to supply the royal family, some important ministers or noble families."

"Why do ordinary people need electricity in their homes?"

This is probably the mentality of the literati and others.

They believe that ordinary people are not worthy of using such good things.

Jia Cong laughed and said, "That's wrong. I am the ruler of a country and the emperor of millions of people. How can I abandon my people?"

"The power of this generator, using a steam engine, has an extra layer of turnover."

"A steam engine is a machine that uses the power of water vapor to do work, and then uses this power to generate electricity."

"In that case, why not use the force of the river to directly drive the generator?"

"As for the unstable current factor, we can set up a voltage stabilizer to stabilize the voltage and solve this problem."

After hearing what Jia Cong said, Johann Adam Schall von Bell fell into deep thought.

After a long while, he said, "Great! It's really great! After I go back, I will look for a suitable place to build a hydroelectric power station."

Jia Cong said: "You are not capable of doing it on your own, so I will let the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue cooperate with you."

"There is a river outside the capital. We can build a dam and then make better use of hydropower to generate electricity."

"You will take the lead in this matter. The Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households will fully cooperate with you."

Tang Ruowang said excitedly: "Yes, Your Majesty, I will go down and arrange it right away."

Johann Adam Schall von Bell was indeed very excited because electricity was definitely a groundbreaking invention.

In the future, his name will surely be recorded in history books and go down in history.

This is a very exciting thing for many scholars.

Therefore, he was naturally a little impatient.

But Jia Cong called him.

"Master Tang, wait a minute."

Tang Ruowang stopped and asked, "I wonder if the emperor has any other instructions?"

Jia Cong said, "By the way, I plan to have your research institute conduct another study. Go back and find the right people to make the arrangements."

Tang Ruowang asked hurriedly, "Yes, Your Majesty, what kind of research do you want me to conduct?"

Jia Cong couldn't help but say: "I heard that there is a kind of rubber tree in the West, so I wondered if I could use rubber to make tires?"

"If it succeeds, it will definitely be an epoch-making change."

“It not only improves comfort, but also further enhances transportation capacity.”

After hearing this, Tang Ruowang said, "Your Majesty, there are rubber trees in the West. I have heard of them before."

"But it's not easy to make rubber into tires."

Jia Cong nodded and said, "Of course I know this. If it were easy, why would I need to find your research institute and ask it to study this matter?"

"Well, when you go back, go buy some rubber and do experiments with it."

"Then buy some saplings and find people to plant them in Annan to establish a rubber plantation."

"In southern Annan, there are areas that are very suitable for growing rubber trees."

"If you don't have enough manpower, just go find Grand Secretary Lin and ask him to assign some manpower to you."

"Also, I will write a research plan for your reference."

"Once it's finished, I'll have someone send it over."

After hearing this, Tang Ruowang hurriedly said, "Yes, Your Majesty, I will arrange it when I get back."

"With your Majesty's guidance, I have every confidence that I can complete your orders."

Johann Adam Schall von Bell admired Emperor Jia Cong with a kind of awe-inspiring admiration.

The emperor is so amazing. For example, electricity, light bulbs, etc., were all completed in such a short time under the emperor's advice.

Without the emperor's guidance, it would take them more than ten years or even decades to complete it.

And now, since the emperor has written a plan for you, it means that this plan must be feasible.

I really don’t know why the emperor, at such a young age, has such profound knowledge?
Not to mention that he is both civil and military, he is also able to govern the country in an orderly manner.

Moreover, he knows everything about new studies and various scientific research.

There are indeed saints and wise men in this world who are born with knowledge!
Jia Cong didn't pay any attention to what Tang Ruowang was thinking.

After Johann Adam Schall von Bell left, Jia Cong began to fall into deep thought.

By now the generator and the light bulb had been invented.

If you only build a small power station, it won't take much effort.

It can be completed in one or two years, or even shorter.

And after that, more power stations can be built across the country.

Build as many hydropower stations as possible and as few thermal power stations as possible. After all, thermal power stations pollute the environment too much.

Jia Cong traveled through time from later generations, so he naturally knew that the industrial revolution in later generations developed rapidly, but it also took many detours and caused great pollution to the environment.

Now, with him around, we can take fewer detours and pollute the environment less.

However, China's current technological tree is almost entirely driven by him.

Although this can lead to faster development, it is not a healthy development model.

This will cause China to lose its research autonomy and vitality.

However, there was nothing that could be done about it. After all, the time was too short. He had only been on the throne for two short years.

How long does it take for technology to advance?
It took at least a hundred years to push forward.

Therefore, it cannot be forced and can only be done slowly.

……

Next, China began to mobilize the people in the south to build railways.

The survey of the railway is still in progress, but the front section of the route has been surveyed.

The common people were very curious and didn't understand what this railway was used for.

I heard that the railway is specifically used for running trains. It is said that this train is a lump of iron, several dozen feet long, and can pull tens of millions of kilograms of things.

But few people believed this rumor.

If a train is a lump of iron, dozens of meters long, and can pull tens of millions of pounds of things, then how many people are needed to pull it forward?
It can't just run away by itself, right? No way? No way?
It’s such a heavy thing that I can’t even pull it!
Besides, the distance between the two rails is very narrow. Even the distance between the two wheels of an ordinary horse-drawn carriage is much wider than it.

How could something that was dozens of feet long be able to run in such a narrow distance? How could something that weighed tens of millions of kilograms be pulled?

But no matter what the purpose of building railways is.

In short, it has little to do with them.

Anyway, as long as the wages are paid, it's enough.

After the founding of the Chinese nation, forced labor was abolished.

In the past, when building railways, the people would have been summoned to do forced labor.

But now, corvée has been completely abolished.

Nowadays, when building railways, common people are recruited and paid. Not only are they paid 20 cents a day, but they are also provided with three meals a day.

The treatment was so good that countless people came to sign up as soon as they heard about the recruitment.

Building such a railway also requires a huge number of people.

After all, it is not the later times with a complete industrial foundation.

In this day and age, there is nothing, so naturally a large number of people are needed.

Jia Cong planned to use the people living in the surrounding area to work when that section was being built.

Therefore, just building this railway can boost the economy of the areas along the route.

Moreover, Jia Cong did not intend to start operation only after the railway was fully built.

If this is the case, I'm afraid it will be useless for more than ten years or even decades.

Jia Cong planned to put it into use after building a section.

In this way, the railway's transportation capacity will not be wasted.

Heading south from the capital, Jia Cong plans to choose Jingnan as his first stop (fictitious, not a real place).

Now Jia Cong has ordered the construction of a railway station to begin in Jingnan.

Naturally, we also need to start building a railway station in the capital.

However, the construction of railways is still extremely slow.

After all, the gravel needs to be crushed, the sleepers need to be cut, and the rails need to be cast.

Well, just smelting steel and making qualified rails is a huge project in that era.

In addition, since we had just started construction, we were very unfamiliar with everything.

And it is also necessary to ensure accuracy. The railway cannot become wider or narrower during construction.

In this case, how can the railway be put into normal use?

Isn't it going to go off track as soon as it starts running?
Therefore, in order to ensure accurate accuracy, Jia Cong also deliberately adopted Western units of measurement.

Western measurement tools were also used.

Based on his memory, Jia Cong could naturally ask Tang Ruowang and others to make tools.

But since the West has already produced it, there is no need for that.

Using the east for the east is also a good idea, it is not necessary to be ahead in everything.

It is enough to finally overtake others.

Of course, at present, China’s strength is not weaker than theirs.

And China's development is definitely not something they can compare to.

Due to all the reasons mentioned above, the speed of railway construction was not fast, and was even very slow.

But Jia Cong believed that with the accumulation of experience and as he became more proficient in the business, the construction speed would definitely become faster and faster.

With the construction of the railway, it is a good thing for both the government and the people along the way.

Needless to say, as for the common people, when they came to work, not only were they provided with three meals a day, which could reduce the food expenses of their families, but they also earned twenty coins a day.

After working for a full month, you can get 600 coins.

The same is true for local governments.

When people have money, their evaluations will naturally be better.

Not to mention, building railways is about much more than just making people rich.

Do the people who build the railways need to eat?
Do you need to go shopping when you cook?

Building a railway also requires purchasing a lot of things, right?

And these things must be purchased locally.

Therefore, it has a great promoting effect on the local economy.

This is also of great benefit to the evaluation of local officials.

Of course, there are pros and cons.

When there are many people gathered together, many problems are bound to arise.

If they cannot prevent incidents from happening, or if a murder occurs and the case cannot be solved in time, it will be detrimental to their evaluation.

But overall, it is good for them.

During the process of building railways, the role of new learning began to emerge.

Building a railway requires more than just migrant workers.

What is needed more are the technical personnel.

In the early days, technical personnel were naturally very scarce.

Of course, in the early days, everyone’s skills were not very good, and they were basically crossing the river by feeling the stones.

However, anyone who has taken a new course and passed a simple test can work as a skilled worker.

Not only do the skilled workers not have to do hard labor, they also eat better than them.

Moreover, their wages were one hundred coins a day, which was five times what they earned.

And I heard that if the technology is improved in the future, the salary will increase.

This alone makes the migrant workers envious.

Wow, this technician really eats a lot.

The wages are five times theirs!

Even the shopkeepers in the city probably don’t pay that much, right?

If only they had learned the new knowledge, they could earn a hundred coins a day! That would be three taels of silver a month. (End of this chapter)