Wentang

Chapter 702 Car and Li Chengqian Return to Beijing
What Yue Shan wants to build is not an internal combustion engine car like in his previous life, but a steam locomotive.A chassis with four wheels and a steam engine on it can make the car run.

It is not a good decision to build a car so soon. It can be said that it is a bit counterproductive.Even building a boat is cheaper than building a car.

The purpose of Yueshan's doing this is to use this car to make the elites of Datang more intuitively aware of the importance of steam engines, and then allocate part of the scarce steel to build steam engines and related supporting products.

It is not for nothing that steel production has long been regarded as a measure of industrial strength.

In the past few years, Datang has opened many new iron mines, and its steel production cannot be said to be small, and it can even be said to be unique in the world.

However, the country is too large and has a large population, so there are more places that need steel.On average, even a man can't even hold an iron knife. Many people still use copper daggers in their kitchens, and even the steel used to make cannons is squeezed out between teeth.

The steam engine is a big iron bump, and the steel needed to repair the rails is even more terrifying. Without the support of the imperial court, Yueshan is useless no matter how rich he is.

The plan was good, but when it was actually built, it was found that it was more difficult than I imagined.

The first problem encountered was the problem of bearings. There were no bearings on ancient wheels.Just cut a hole in the middle and put the shaft in.

In this way, the loss of power is particularly large, and the shaft is easily damaged.Vehicles traveling far must bring many spare axles, which can be replaced at any time.

Horse-drawn carriages and rickshaws are okay, but steam locomotives or trains are certainly not.Think about it, a train running and breaking its axle, that scene...

So build the bearings first.

Steel balls must be used to make bearings, and they must also be spherical steel balls of general size.

This is beyond the scope of Yue Shan's ability, and he can't imagine how to make steel balls of uniform specifications in this era of manual work.

However, the facts tell him that the ancients had their own methods.When he told others about his idea, someone immediately proposed a solution.

Casting.

They have no way to make qualified iron balls, but they can carve out standard wooden balls.Then use this wooden ball as a standard to make a mold, and with the mold, you can make steel balls of normal size.

Yue Shan immediately found a few skilled carpenters and blacksmiths, and sure enough, they cast steel balls of uniform specifications. Even if there were slight differences, they could be polished manually to narrow the differences.

This made him sigh again, not to underestimate the handicraft masters.

This also reminded him of a rumor that was often circulated on the Internet in his previous life. The most advanced and precise parts of some advanced machinery were polished by hand by super craftsmen, and the precision of the machine could not reach such a high level.

With the steel ball bearing sleeve, it was easy to solve, and the bearing was quickly manufactured.

With the bearings, it becomes very simple to improve the wheels... In a few days, a chassis was built, and it was the kind that the first two wheels could steer.

It took a few more days to install the steam engine on the car site, and a very strange steam locomotive took shape.

This car is very simple, it doesn't even have a casing, and there are no brakes at all. It is just a steam engine on four wheels, which is about the same size as a small bulldozer in the previous life.

Test drive next.

Naturally, I didn't dare to go on the road for the first test drive, so I found an open space.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Tian Shungu said excitedly.

"Forget it, let me do it." Yue Shan said.

It's not that he wants to grab the achievement of being the first person to drive a car in history, but that he is afraid that something will happen if Tian Shungu fails to grasp the direction.

"It's okay, I'll jump out of the car at worst." Tian Shungu patted the thick protective clothing on his body and said.

"..." Yue Shan thought he would say that it was his duty to devote himself to science, but he didn't expect to say such a sentence, he was too cowardly.

But he didn't compete with him for this opportunity, and jumped out of the car seat to give him the seat.

"Light it up." Tian Shunfu shouted excitedly.

Han Chaoshui and others brought the brazier that had been prepared earlier, stuffed the flaming coals into the stove, and then added half of the stove of coals to wait for the water to boil.

Because of the transportation, cold water was added to the boiler, and it took about half an hour for the water to boil.

Not only does this car have no brakes, it doesn't even have gears, everything is connected dead.When the steam engine is running, it means that the car also starts to run, and it will not stop until the steam engine stops running.

So when the water in the boiler was boiled and the sound of pistons running sounded, the two steam locomotives actually moved slowly.

"It moved, it really moved." Everyone couldn't help but exclaimed.

"Oh!!" Tian Shungu was also crying and howling in the car excitedly.

Yue Shan was also very excited. Looking at the steam locomotive that was moving slowly, he seemed to see trains moving fast on the land of Datang in the not-too-distant future.

The speed of the steam locomotive quickly reached its limit, and Yue Shan estimated that the speed was around [-] to [-] kilometers per hour.This made him breathe a sigh of relief, even if Tian Shungu made a wrong operation at this speed, nothing would happen.

As for whether the speed of [-] to [-] kilometers per hour is too low... Yue Shan doesn't think so.

First of all, the steam engine is too small, and the water tank is only two meters long. If it is replaced with a large water tank, the power will be greater.

The second reason is that there are no rails, and the wheels make deep ruts on the ground.If there is an orbital speed, it will only be faster.

The car stopped slowly until the coal in the boiler was burned out.

Tian Shungu said unwillingly: "Add coal, add coal, add a furnace of coal, and I still have to drive."

Yue Shan came to the front of the car and said angrily: "Come down quickly and let everyone check if there is any problem."

"It's so easy to go wrong." Tian Shungu reluctantly got out of the car.

Then a group of teachers and students surrounded the car and checked each part one by one. If there were problems, they would record the problems, and if there were no problems, they would also record the current situation. These are all data.

After confirming that there is no problem, start the second test drive.

This time Tian Shungu still wanted to go, but before Yue Shan could speak, he was chased away by a crowd, and another person went up to test the car.

In this way, each of us went up and opened a round, and it took almost half a day for a round.Although there were many minor problems, they did not affect the overall condition of the vehicle.

Yue Shan also went up to experience it, and then he didn't want to go up for a second time.Among other things, he had to exert all his strength to turn the dead steering wheel, and his arms were sore after driving in a circle.

Overall, today's test drive is considered a success.

Yue Shan invited everyone to a big meal and gave everyone bonuses, and then assigned new tasks.Add brakes and gears to the car, at least start and stop gears.

Of course, he will definitely give a hint.

In his previous life, his first car was a second-hand car, which was used for practice. The bad thing was that he bought a defective product and it broke within three days.

As the saying goes, a long illness makes a good doctor. When the car breaks down more often, he can even watch other people repair the car. Later, he can repair any minor problems by himself.

So there is still some understanding of brake reduction gears.Draw the design drawing and tell them the principle, and let them transform it by themselves.

……

Time entered the end of the year without knowing it, and the court began to get busy again.The summary of the year, the plan for the coming year, the return of the officials of the frontier to report their duties in Beijing... In short, everyone is busy.

Even Yue Shan, who was idle at home, had to move to the Marquis Mansion in the capital for a temporary residence.

Li Shimin would call him every three days, and the officials who returned to Beijing would post visits and so on. He couldn't escape these things, and it would be easier to deal with these things when he moved to the Marquis's Mansion.

The work summary has nothing to do with Yue Shan, he just listens in.

He really cares about three things:
One is the census and land survey work, finally completed.More than 200 million hidden households were found out, and more than [-] million hectares of fields that were not on the register were cleared.

Li Shimin's eyes turned red when he saw this data, and he wished to kill all the powerful families in those places.

In fact, it can't be all their fault. It is normal for these powerful families to annex land in large numbers during the war.

In the 20 years since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there has never been a national census. Naturally, people will not take the initiative to spit out the benefits they have obtained.

This time, with so many people and land cleared in one breath, the imperial court is really fat, and at least it can recruit another 30 to [-] soldiers.

Counting the original army, Datang will have 120 million elite soldiers.

This is a real 120 million people, not the kind of dissatisfied army that is paid by generals in later generations, and the combat effectiveness of the government soldiers is much stronger than that of recruits who are paid by the army.

Among the 120 million people, there are nearly 30 cavalry. There is absolutely no problem in sweeping the world.

The second thing Yue Shan is concerned about is the production of food. Food is the most important resource these days, and it's useless to have more troops if you can't eat enough.

Datang this year can be said to be in good weather, and the output in the northern region is enough for the whole country to eat.

The most exaggerated is the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, with an annual output of 600 million shi of rice. This data once made the court think it was fake, and it was only after several inspections that it believed the authenticity of this data.

In addition to grain, Lingnan also contributed 70.00% of Datang's brown sugar and 90.00% of white sugar production.

In the eyes of the imperial court, Lingnan has changed from a wild land to a cornucopia.In order to maintain the rule here, the Guangdong Dudufu and Guangxi Dudufu were expanded this year, and [-] troops were stationed in each.

At the same time, the Naval Governor's Mansion was established in Guangzhou, with four Zhechong mansions and more than [-] navy troops.It's just that most of this navy is newly recruited, and their combat capabilities are not strong. For the time being, they mainly focus on training bandit escorts.

In addition to the grain from Lingnan, the imperial court could also purchase a large amount of grain from Champa.After the induction of the Tang Dynasty, almost all the vassal states such as Champa are now planting rice on a large scale.

Datang easily exchanged the fruits of their labor from the local nobles with various luxuries and filled them into Datang's warehouse.

Coupled with the reserves of several large granaries, it is not an exaggeration to say that next year's national harvest will survive.

This is only the food that is directly in the hands of the court, including more of the people's homes.

In order to allow the common people to cooperate with the census and land clearing work, the imperial court not only exempted the whole country from poll tax for ten years, but also exempted most areas from land tax.

The common people don't have to pay for grain, they own as much as they produce, and finally there is grain in the granary.

It can be said that Datang's current reserves are enough to start a war on multiple fronts at the same time.

The third point worthy of Yueshan's attention is the production of steel and the number of artillery.This year, Datang's annual steel production has reached a scale of [-] tons.

This number is not too much, and what is really worth looking forward to is next year.Because three more large-scale iron and steel plants have been built, and other iron ore production expansions, next year's output can skyrocket to about [-] tons.

But that's all for next year. This year, because of Li Shimin's special account, a large part of the [-] tons was supplied to the artillery foundry.

At this time, the number of Tang's artillery finally exceeded a thousand.

Seeing this data, Yue Shan became more confident in destroying Goguryeo.

Let alone Goguryeo, Yueshan is sure to bring them down even if they pull John Bull from the first industrial revolution.

Moreover, after a year of recuperation, Datang's army has returned to its peak state. It is the time when the combat effectiveness is the strongest, and it is most suitable for Goguryeo to operate.

Even with certainty, the crusade against Goguryeo is not an easy task. The imperial court has not carried out large-scale mobilization until now, and has been secretly mobilizing resources.

However, everyone at the core knows that the start of the war is only a matter of time, and it will not be too late. It is preliminarily estimated that the spring of next year will be the time for the army to launch.

Li Shimin must be in charge of the imperial conquest, so the prince must stay in Beijing to supervise the country.

So Prince Li Chengqian, who had been at ease outside for nearly a year, was recalled to the capital by a decree.

Supervising the country is not something that can be accomplished just by talking about it. There are too many tasks that need to be handed over to the crown prince bit by bit. Give him time to adapt and give the ministers time to adapt.

When Li Chengqian arrived in the capital, it happened to be Xiaonian's day, and Li Shimin sent Ma Zhou to meet him.Yue Shan, Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling and others accompanied him to wait in the palace.

Today is also an assessment for Li Chengqian.

But Yue Shan didn't think so, he felt that Li Shimin was deliberately showing off how good his son was.

It can be said that Li Chengqian has attracted much attention in Lianghu Road. Not only the court is paying attention to him, but also all the powerful and powerful families are watching him.

After all, he is the future emperor of the crown prince, so if he understands his virtuousness and style of conduct, he will be able to make targeted changes in the future and continue to maintain his family's prosperity and wealth.

His every move was watched by everyone, every time he sneezed in Lianghu Road, it might be put on the tables of countless big bosses as information.

So this report is completely redundant, let alone any assessment.

But the emperor said so, and it was hard for everyone to refuse, and they all put on a serious assessment.Even if Yue Shan wasn't interested, he didn't dare to sing a different tune at this time.

Besides, he really wanted to see with his own eyes how much progress Li Chengqian had made.

Soon Li Chengqian came down to the conference room of Zichen Hall under the leadership of the guards.

As soon as he entered the door, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Li Shimin, saying: "I met my father... my son misses you."

It could be seen that he was quite excited, and his voice was choked with sobs.

Li Shimin suddenly raised his head, and from his heavy breathing, it could be heard that he was also very excited.It took a while before I lowered my head, and it was obvious that the eye sockets were moist.

"Come here, let Aye take a good look at you."

Li Chengqian got up and came to his side, and at the same time looked down at his father.

"Okay, okay, you are stronger, more mature, and calmer than before."

"Aye is still as energetic as before, and I am relieved."

"Haha... Let's catch up on the old days later, let's greet the ministers first." Li Shimin laughed heartily.

Everyone couldn't really wait for him to salute themselves as a human being, so they quickly got up and saluted first: "Meet Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Chengqian quickly returned the gift politely.

After the two parties saluted and took their seats, Li Chengqian began to report on his work this year.

To sum it up in a few words:

The first step is to suppress bandits, fight crime and stabilize local law and order.The second step is to clean up the administration of officials, solve corruption and other problems, and completely control the power of Lianghu Road.

The third step is to exempt the household tax and land tax as a condition, re-divide the land boundary and move the scattered people together, strengthen the management of the place, and at the same time free up a lot of land for subsequent immigration.

The fourth step is to cancel the checkpoint tax in the territory of Lianghu Road, and only need to pay the checkpoint tax once to be able to travel unimpeded in Lianghu Road.

In addition to the convenient transportation of the Yangtze River and other waterways, the business of the Lianghu Road has gradually prospered, especially Ezhou has become the largest cargo distribution center in the south.

There are too many benefits brought by commercial prosperity. Even if the cumbersome checkpoint tax is cancelled, Lianghu Road will still make a lot of money.

If you have money, you can speak hard, and you can do things with confidence. Li Chengqian dug dozens of ditches one after another to reclaim hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile land.

The resettlement work was also done very well. The standard given to him by the imperial court was that he could resettle [-] households as a perfect completion of the task, [-] households as excellent, and [-] households as average.

As for less than [-] households, no one has considered it. If the dignified prince can't even accommodate [-] households, it would be too disappointing.

However, Li Chengqian overfulfilled the task, relocating more than [-] households, and did not arouse widespread opposition from the local people.

In fact, everyone has known these things for a long time, but Li Chengqian, the person involved, personally narrated the process, which still has a different feeling.

Through his narration, everyone knows his thinking, the process of doing these things, and how to correct the mistakes he made during the period.

After understanding these, he is naturally more satisfied with the prince.

Li Shimin is also very pleased that there are successors in the Tang Dynasty, and he is more confident in leaving Li Chengqian to supervise the country.

Generally, the emperor of the crown prince will appoint several ministers of the auxiliary country, saying that the prince supervises the country is actually just a show, and it is the ministers of the auxiliary state who are really in charge.

When encountering matters that the ministers of the auxiliary country could not solve, they hurriedly asked the emperor on the front line for instructions.

In view of Li Chengqian's excellent performance, Li Shimin decided to give him more power when he supervises the country next year.

After passing the assessment perfectly, the family banquet will follow.

Li Shimin, grandson Wugou, Li Tai and other royal families all participated, as did grandson Wuji and Yue Shan among the relatives, and important officials such as Fang Xuanling also accompanied them.

And today's family banquet is not divided into men and women, everyone sits together to eat.

This is the Tang Dynasty, and it is impossible to put it in later dynasties.

Naturally, drinking was indispensable at the banquet. Everyone knew Yue Shan's habit of not drinking at all, and no one cared about him.On the contrary, it was Li Lizhi, who occasionally drank a few glasses of wine and was not bad, but under the influence of Yue Shan, she didn't drink much.

But today Li Chengqian is coming home again, and she is ready to have a few drinks with everyone when she is happy.

Unexpectedly, the wine glass was brought to his mouth, and his stomach twitched when he heard the smell of alcohol, and he couldn't help covering his mouth and retching.

(End of this chapter)