With the time into November of the 40th year of the Emperor Ming Dynasty, Nanjing has been extravagant.

Under the Ming Union system, the kings or governors of seven countries, including Japan, Siam, Nanbur, Laos, India, Punggara, and Nanhua, arrived in Nanjing one after another.

Immediately after arriving was the three divisions of Moting, Liaodong, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and the original Guanxi Bawei in the Ming Dynasty, together with the recovered East Chagatai and other regions, after the re-splitting of Gansu, Qinghai, Anxi (Xinjiang), Henan, Sichuan, Huguang, Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Taiwan, Tibet, a total of 23 provincial-level political envoys.

Also arriving at the same time were the chief and deputy commanders-in-chief of the five main formed armies of the Liaodong Theater, the Northwest Theater, the Southwest Theater, the Southeast Theater, and the Navy.

Except for Ma Dajun, the commander-in-chief of the Southwest Theater, and Zhang Fu, the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Theater, who did not come because of their division with Samarkand, almost all the others who could arrive arrived.

The upcoming Ming Union National Day Ceremony will be destined to be a top event in the history of the world in the future.

The Ming Dynasty, which is the fifth day of the 11th month of the birthday of the Ming Emperor Zhu Yunwen, encompasses almost the whole of Asia marked on the world map of the Wuying Palace.

"Just wait for Shahru's head to be sent, and the Ming Alliance's troops will be unimpeded, directly through the Arab tribes, so that the roar of cannons will be transmitted to Eastern Europe, bringing them the civilization from the mysterious East, and helping their group of white-skinned barbarians evolve into decent civilized people."

The General Staff has long been full of chicken blood.

However, that is the future plan, and at the moment, Zhu Yunwen's eyes have no time to take care of Europe, what he cares about and attaches more importance to is the new objects that Zheng He visited at the Academy of Sciences before the ceremony.

"The matter of seed cultivation should be left to the cabinet to do."

For Zheng He's eagerness to praise those high-yield crops, Zhu Yunwen didn't have the slightest excitement.

Da Ming can't eat all the food at the moment, so there is really no need to plant so-called sweet potatoes, corn and sweet potatoes on a large scale.

"Those kinds must be planted, just as to let the people eat more on the table, including peppers or other non-staple foods, according to market demand, as much as you need."

Planting these new species on a large scale and destroying the already stable recipes and the benign operation of the market for agricultural and sideline products will not become a hole in the brain?

"Some areas with poor land can be promoted to be planted, and then sold to India at a relatively low price."

A country that survives on high-yielding plants such as sweet potatoes and potatoes deserves to be called a subsistence economy, starving people but also extremely poor, and it is just right to feed India.

After all, India is the most needed source of raw labor for the Ming Dynasty right now.

"Compared to these produce, the rubber you bring back is much more important than the crops."

This time, Zheng He brought back nearly 50 kinds of special products from the Americas, although most of them were crops, but the introduction of rubber trees was obviously the most important and valuable for the Ming Dynasty at this time.

Walking around the Academy of Sciences, which covers an extremely large area, Zhu Yunwen led Zheng He into a workshop with strong closure and security.

"I'll show you something good."

After entering this workshop, Zheng He's eyes straightened.

In front of him was a huge and extremely complex pile of mechanical structures.

Mo Cheng stayed on the side and didn't speak until Zhu Yunwen ordered the general.

"Mo Cheng, you can introduce to our Governor Zheng Dadu, what are these two or three zhang high objects."

Zheng He looked at Mo Cheng, and the shock in his eyes had not yet dissipated.

It was the first time he had seen such a cumbersome and complex mechanical component.

"Automatic Pump Combination."

Mo Cheng said his name concisely and directly, leading Zhu Yunwen, Zheng He and others to introduce the various components around this set of mechanical devices, and finally came to a pool next to it.

A small iron handle with a narrow round finish at the lower end.

When Mo Cheng's hand caught the iron handle and twisted it, the narrow round mouth at the lower end of the bottle shot out a large amount of water in Zheng He's shocked eyes.

It's a pity that the water is extremely turbid, and there are even some mottled mud blocks.

"Automatically provide a water source, you can call this type of water supply tap water."

Mo Cheng gave a brief introduction, and then began to elaborate on his idea.

"In the future, I plan to bury this automatic pump combination device in the ground, find a shallow water source nearby and dig a reservoir, so that the surface water pumped up will be relatively clear, this is only the first generation of experiments, and it cannot be put into use yet."

"He doesn't understand what you're telling him."

Zhu Yunwen laughed: "Let's go, follow me and look down." ”

The water system was not a major technological innovation, and the first water company in history was established not long after the advent of the Newcomen steam engine.

What a few people can do well in a few decades, to Daming, a few years to achieve what kind of unprecedented progress.

"I'll show you a good thing, and I'm also a tiger who drinks money."

After leaving from the extremely large, cumbersome and huge automatic pumping combination device, Zhu Yunwen took Zheng He and others to the next exhibition area, a guy with a round belly in iron sheets, and the outside was full of various gears and curved rods.

"The new steam engine, it's a pity it can't be used."

Zhu Yunwen said with a wry smile, which made Zheng He confused.

And Zhu Yunwen's next words surprised Zheng He.

"This is a model, a fantasy or a conceptual representation, just for this model, more than 2,000 people spent more than two years, spent 10 million small in the national treasury, oh, with the current settlement unit is 1 billion, to create this unusable thing."

Putting his hand on this round belly, Zhu Yunwen sighed: "In the idea of the Academy of Sciences, this is a boiler vessel used to burn coal, and these other objects are chimneys, cylinders, moving wheels, rockers, connecting rods, and this big gear is called a flywheel.

In the plan, the two spaces of the boiler are water and coal, the water is heated by the coal to produce steam, the steam pushes the cylinder to move the piston, and then the piston rod drives the slide bar to rotate the rocker at the crosshead.

Then the big flywheel is driven, and the pinions that are externally linked to the big flywheel will run at the same time because of the principle of the gear drive, and then push the thing up. ”

Looking at Zheng He, who was confused, Zhu Yunwen grinned: "It's a carriage that doesn't need a horse to pull but can run on its own." ”

A car that doesn't rely on the pull of horses and runs on its own?

Zheng He felt that the emperor had a fever or not, and this kind of nonsense could be said.

No wonder the emperor just said that it was a pity that it could not be used.

It's.

As for why it can't be used, Mo Cheng still gave an answer.

"The boiler is too small, the sealing of the cylinder is too poor, the exhaust efficiency of the combustion chamber is too low, and the air pressure is too strong, which can easily cause the boiler water to boil dry, and once the furnace water is boiled dry, the entire so-called steam locomotive will be burned."

The concept of a steam locomotive was born after Watt improved the steam engine, which is similar to the object that Zhu Yunwen sees in front of his eyes today.

Yes, but there are still many technical difficulties.

George Stephenson's technical breakthrough on the basis of the Watt steam engine finally led to the creation of a steam locomotive that only existed in concept.

He was joined by Richard Trevichck in overcoming this technical dilemma.

However, it is worth mentioning that whether it is the earliest Watt improved steam engine, or George and Richard, they all started from the most basic craftsmen, accumulated experience and exploration little by little, and then relied on their own experience and almost single-handedly invented these creations.

George and Richard, in particular, not only did they not get any help on the road to building and inventing the steam locomotive, but they were even constantly suppressed and prosecuted by Watt.

Because the two improved steam engines seriously damaged Watt's interests.

Does Daming need to gain experience? Absolutely.

But the only difference is that Daming has money and people.

Watt and they only have access to a few steam engines a year, and at the Academy of Sciences, any technician can tinker with several in a day.

"If you don't break this thing, how can you find fault and make something better?"

This is Zhu Yunwen's most brutal and simple way of supporting the Academy of Sciences to improve the steam engine.

"The first one before this one took four months to build, and it cost nearly 65 million yuan, but it ended up as a pile of scrap metal." Mo Cheng sighed: "And after that, three more were burned, and this one is the only one, and I am not willing to continue to destroy it." ”

"Can this thing really run on its own?" Hearing this, Zheng He had already begun to have some self-doubts, and listening to the meaning of the emperor and this great scientist, he always felt like there was hope.

"Based on the simulated data, it is indeed possible."

Mo Cheng frowned: "The diameter of the cylinder, the distance of the piston movement, the link between the flywheel and the gear transmission, the heating surface of the boiler, including the capacity of the boiler to store water, are all closely matched, but they can't move inexplicably." ”

"If you don't understand, then we can't do it."

Although the money was wasted, and time was only exchanged for a bunch of broken copper and iron, Zhu Yunwen still encouraged Mo Cheng with a smile.

"You can solve the problem yourself, I am only responsible for taking a look occasionally, I will make up for what is missing, you don't have any pressure, if you can't solve it, you will slow down."

It's easy to say that there is no pressure, how can Mo Cheng really not have any pressure.

In order to quickly train a group of technicians with technical experience, and pinned their hopes on quantitative changes to lead to qualitative changes, the Academy of Sciences recruited thousands of people in the independent project of steam alone.

A huge amount of wealth has been accumulated, and several years of time have been consumed, but I can't even do the most basic moves.

Of course, this made Mo Cheng feel very uncomfortable.

can't even move, how can you ensure that the emperor can comfortably ride this kind of automatic locomotive around the palace, let alone travel.

"Do you know why I took you to see this?"

Before leaving the Academy of Sciences, Zhu Yunwen asked Zheng He, who naturally shook his head and didn't understand.

"Because I hope that one day, this thing will be loaded on the ship."

Walking out of the gate of the Academy of Sciences, the sun is just right, and it is the most comfortable to coincide with the winter month.

Zhu Yunwen raised his head and closed his eyes to be intoxicated.

"In that case, I will board the boat from the mouth of the Yangtze River, and it won't take half a month to enjoy the scenery of the Ganges, no matter how vast and boundless this world is, it will only be my back garden after all."

Zheng He behind him was thrilled.

Even if he brought his grandson for a few years, the emperor in front of him was still the great emperor who expanded the territory with a smile and talked about it, and was as powerful as a god in the hearts of hundreds of millions of Minglian people.

It's just that this old man is no longer in the prime of his youth decades ago, and what he thinks is already difficult to see from some external details.

The bell tower rang the chime, which is the norm in Nanjing now after entering November.

As long as it is daylight, it will be struck once every hour, and the bell will be heard for dozens of miles, and sent to the ears and hearts of millions of people as a reminder.

That is getting closer and closer to Zhu Yunwen's birthday.