In October of the sixth year of Daming Zhongxing, after nearly two years of continuous reform, Daming's economy and people's livelihood are thriving, and all parts of the north have gradually restored prosperity.

"Your Majesty, Lord Xiumin is asking to see the emperor outside the palace!" Zhu Ci was reviewing the recital, and suddenly a eunuch came in to report it.

Xiuxiu? Zhu Ci was slightly stunned.

"Hurry up!" Zhu Ci smiled and put down the fold in his hand and looked at the door.

Soon, I saw Chen Xiuxiu walking in with a smile on her face.

"Little sister meets the royal brother!" Chen Xiuxiu smiled and gave Zhu Ci a serious salute.

Zhu Ci staggered, stood up and walked down, came to Chen Xiuxiu's approach, suddenly stretched out a finger and poked her head fiercely, and said with a smile: "Okay, don't be poor, I still know you?" ”

Zhu Ci smiled very casually, except in front of a few women in the harem, he only completely put down the emperor's shelf in front of Chen Xiuxiu, who made him really treat Chen Xiuxiu as his own sister.

Chen Xiuxiu rubbed the place where Zhu Ci was poked and gave Zhu Ci a blank look.

In fact, Chen Xiuxiu also likes to get along with Zhu Ci in this way, although she can't express the love in her heart, but she feels that the distance between her and Zhu Ci is not far at all.

Zhu Ci suddenly noticed a touch of dirt on Chen Xiuxiu's smooth face, subconsciously reached out to help her wipe it, and scolded with a smile: "Look at you, the dirt on your face hasn't been wiped yet, so I'm in a hurry to come to me, let's say, is there good news from the Science and Technology Institute or the Firearms Bureau?" ”

Chen Xiuxiu was obviously stunned by Zhu Ci's stumbling movements, and her face was slightly embarrassed.

Discovering Chen Xiuxiu's state, Zhu Ci realized that he seemed to have overstepped, and immediately touched his nose in embarrassment, pretending that nothing had happened.

Chen Xiuxiu resented for a while, and glanced at Zhu Ci fiercely before saying: "It's the Science and Technology Institute, the steam engine has been successfully developed." ”

The corners of Zhu Ci's eyes shook fiercely, and then he was overjoyed, he couldn't control the excitement in his heart, grabbed Chen Xiuxiu's shoulder, and asked excitedly: "Really, has the steam engine finally been developed?" ”

Chen Xiuxiu was stunned again, but she reacted instantly, nodded affirmatively and replied: "Well, it has been successfully developed, and I have specially come to report the good news to you, the imperial brother." ”

Isn't it, the moment the steam engine was successfully developed, she ran to the palace as soon as possible, she knew that Zhu Cicheng had always attached great importance to this project, so she wanted to tell Zhu Cicheng the good news as soon as possible.

"Hahahaha, good, great!" Zhu Ci staggered and laughed, and without thinking much, he took Chen Xiuxiu's hand: "Quick, take me to see it!" ”

Zhu Ci hesitated, and took Chen Xiuxiu's hand and walked briskly outside the imperial study.

Academy of Science and Technology.

When Zhu Cihesan saw the successfully developed steam engine with his own eyes, Zhu Cihe's face was full of red light with excitement.

He couldn't help but be excited, from the beginning of the project, more than five years of research and development, a lot of money investment, he has been looking forward to this day for more than five years.

Moreover, the steam engine successfully developed by the Academy of Science and Technology is not the super-large boiler when the steam engine was originally developed, but a small steam engine that can drive the gears to rotate quickly, which undoubtedly fully meets Zhu Ciji's needs for the industrial revolution.

The Industrial Revolution is a sign of the beginning of modernization, and the Ming Dynasty is more than a hundred years earlier than the original world.

Zhu Ciji immediately thought of textile machines, trains, ironclad ships and other industries that could be driven by steam engines.

The charm of the industrial revolution lies in replacing manpower with machines, reducing the cost of manufacturing, manufacturing a large number of products at a very low cost, enriching various materials on the market, and reducing the original, tens of silver dollars, hundreds of silver dollars to tens of silver dollars or even a few silver dollars, so that the most ordinary people can afford it, and after a large number of ordinary people can afford it, it will drive greater output and greater demand, and then reach the point of continuous economic prosperity.

Historically, Britain relied on the Industrial Revolution to make more goods than the hundreds of millions of people in the Qing Dynasty with a mere population of 10 or 20 million, and dominated the world.

The successful development of the steam engine was followed by the development of various machines driven by the steam engine, such as steam looms, steam motors, and steam machine tools, etc., all kinds of industrial machines.

The Academy of Science and Technology immediately took the steam engine as the blueprint and set up the project again, allowing the encyclopedia craftsmen to participate, and strive to develop these industrial machines as soon as possible, which completely triggered the industrial revolution of the Ming Dynasty.

This time, the entire science and technology institute moved, and all the types of work that might be able to use the steam engine were set up, and Zhu Ciji allocated a one-time allocation of one billion yuan, equivalent to 10 million taels of silver for research and development.

Of course, the real industrial revolution is not so simple, in fact, although the research and development of various steam machines is not as difficult as the steam engine, it is also extremely complex, even if there is more silver investment, it is impossible to develop it without more than one or two years.

The steam engine has been developed, and Zhu Ci is not so anxious, patiently waiting for the research and development results of various steam machines.

More than a month has passed in the six years of Daming Zhongxing, and after the Academy of Science and Technology, the Firearms Bureau also came with good news, Ji Niansheng of the firearms workshop has successfully developed a machine gun after two years of continuous experiments!

Machine guns, this is a sign of the real modernization of the army.

With machine guns, the firepower of the army will increase exponentially, and perhaps the strength of a division will be able to match the strength of the original army, and the combat effectiveness of the Ming army will be improved again.

Zhu Ciji saw the prototype of the machine gun for the first time, which is a slightly larger machine gun than the later Makqin machine gun, which can hold 40 rounds of ammunition, similar to the first generation of machine guns invented in Europe in history.

Things start with invention, and there is always a period of continuous improvement before they can be truly perfected.

Zhu Ci hesitated without the slightest hesitation, and immediately ordered to test the gun three days later.

Three days later, at the Firearms Bureau's test site, ten large old machine guns lined up.

"Ready, fire!"

The machine gunners operating the ten machine guns instantly hooked the trigger.

"Da Da Da" ten machine guns, 400 bullets all shot out in just 30 breaths.

The humanoid target from a hundred meters away was torn apart, and its powerful force stunned all the personnel present.

A moment later, the scene erupted in exclamations and cheers, signaling the advent of one of the most powerful weapons of the land, the machine gun.