"It's too generous."

The smile on Su Song's face gradually turned into bitterness, repeating, "It's too generous." ”

"Ah, yes." Han Gang took a deep breath and sighed, "It's too generous." ”

Last month, news came from the Liao State that the puppet emperor of the Liao State, Yelu Yixin, told the world that as long as someone offered him a steam engine that could be actually used, he was willing to be rewarded with a prince.

As soon as this statement came out, it immediately spread all over the world.

Not only within the Liao State, but even the Great Song Dynasty spread to almost every state and county within a month or two.

Although there are many people who doubt this rumor, it has been confirmed by different channels that this news is absolutely true.

How many Confucian scholars sneered, saying that the puppet emperor of the Liao State did not distinguish between dignity and inferiority, and his downfall was just around the corner, but this world was already boiling for it.

No one could have imagined in advance that the emperor of Liao would give such a high reward.

The title of a county king, even in today's Great Song Dynasty, can only be obtained by the clan surnamed Zhao or a deceased relative.

His thirsty attitude is like that of King Yan Zhao during the Warring States Period.

Just Yan Guo, as soon as the golden platform was built, it attracted the golden phoenix of Le Yi. When the emperor of Liao built a golden platform, how many people who pretended to be thousands of miles away but did not meet them were not moved? Even those who are willing to make horse bones are in the thousands.

There are many Hebei scholars who have received the news that craftsmen are just horse bones, and their scholars are thousands of horses.

Since Yelu Yixin was able to give the title of prince of the county to the craftsmen who were engaged in lowly labor, the thirsty emperor of the Great Liao must have been willing to give a higher reward—perhaps even the word of the storyteller's mouth—to the countrymen who defected to him.

It seems to be the reappearance of the Shaanxi scholars who defected to Western Xia caused by Zhang Yuan and Wu Hao.

In just this month, more than a dozen people have been arrested by the scholars who have crossed the Song-Liao border in private, and perhaps even more have not been caught. This kind of situation can't help but make people feel ridiculous, Han Gang and Su Song are looking forward to the fact that these scholars who have expressed their feelings have gone to Liao and can save more food.

But when the craftsmen of the Great Song Dynasty began to hear such news, would they be moved? There's no need to guess at all. In a few years, perhaps the generals set up by the Liao State in imitation of the Great Song Dynasty will be full of craftsmen from the Great Song Dynasty.

Although this is a joke, thinking of Yelu Yixin's emphasis on technology, compared with the situation inside the Great Song Dynasty, it really makes people laugh.

It may be that the craftsmen who defected to the Liao State could not build a practical steam engine, but they were certainly able to greatly improve the industrial technology level of the Liao State.

Maybe in two years, the Liao State will be able to build a giant artillery of more than 10,000 catties, maybe the Shenhuo Battalion around the Liao Lord can expand its scale, and perhaps, in the next war between Song and Liao, the first thing that resounded through the world was the sound of thousands of artillery guns firing in unison.

Su Song smiled bitterly at Han Gang, they couldn't give the price that Yelu Yixin could give. They had no other way but to defend it.

"No way," Han Gang spread his hands and said half-jokingly, "One is the owner and the other is the shopkeeper, of course the master who can do it is different." ”

Even if the Great Song Dynasty did not recognize Yelu Yixin as the emperor, he was still the true lord of the Liao State.

He can casually take out a county king as a gift, and Han Gang and Su Song, even if they are prime ministers, even if they take out a nine-grade official as a reward, some people will talk about it, they ignore the gentleman and attach importance to the villain. How does this compare with Liao?

No matter how big the gap between Song and Liao is, the Jiupin officials of the Song State are still far inferior to the county kings of the Liao State. The city gate officials of the Great Song Dynasty may be more comfortable than the kings of Europe, but they are definitely not as comfortable as the county kings of the Liao Kingdom.

"Speaking of which, when I heard the news, I was moved." Su Song whispered half-jokingly.

"Brother Zirong, you're kidding."

Su Song's eyes narrowed slightly, "Half, half." ”

Han Gang now finally felt what it was like to be a scholar who traveled to other countries during the Warring States period. He is despised in his own country, but his enemy country is highly respected, and even if he has the heart to serve the country, he can't withstand too many temptations.

Therefore, Shang Ying will go to Qin, so Le Yi will go to Yan, so the craftsmen of the Great Song Dynasty will defect to Liao in the future.

In Han Gang's view, in addition to being a little older, Yelu Yixin's actions are alive and well with Peter the Great, who made Russia rise.

"What should I do?" Su Song asked.

"Let's wait and see." Han Gang said, and he said to Su Song again, "Fortunately, Yelu Yixin only knows about steam engines, even if he gets a steam engine that can be put into practical use, it will be difficult to use it in more places in a short period of time." ”

"Because the Liao people don't grow cotton?"

Su Song knew that among the many uses that Han Gang designed for the steam engine, one of them paved the way for the expansion of his family's industry.

"Today's water-powered spinning machines can take care of hundreds of spindles by one person. Now the reason why the output of cotton cloth cannot be increased is only the lack of cotton and the lack of water power. Han Gang pulled Su Song out of the small building of the water transport timepiece table, and walked slowly in Si Tianjian, "There is not enough cotton, so the planting area can be expanded, and there are enough wastelands in the Western Regions, especially at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains and the Ili River Valley, to be developed. But if the water power is insufficient, a steam engine will be needed. ”

Su Song nodded slowly. has been with Han Gang for a long time, and some of Han Gang's shocking views have already subtly changed Su Song's understanding. The importance of industry, the contempt for scholars who only have neat mouths, the current Su Song, if he saw it twenty years ago, he would never believe that this would be his own opinion.

"Soldiers are the heads, agriculture is the viscera, business is the blood, soldiers are the muscles, and the hundred workers are the bones, supporting the world. When the steam engine appeared in the world, the skeleton supported by iron and fire would allow the people of the Han family to travel all over the world. It is believed that Yelu Yixin also saw this, and only then gave a bounty for the steam engine. ”

The steam engine has long appeared in "Nature", and then in "Travels in the Nine Domains", even the principle has been released. Pistons, crankshafts, flywheels, boilers, Watt and others had to work hard to invent them, but they were just a picture from Han Gang's past textbooks.

It's just that for a long time, the steam engine that was built was only explosive, not practical. Until now, Fang has a little eyebrows. It is not impossible for the Liao State to build a steam engine one step earlier through the guò bounty. In this era when industrial technology is just beginning to emerge, the flash of a genius is worth the brains of a hundred craftsmen. It took Su Song five years to pierce the last layer of window paper on the pendulum clock, and if he changed people, maybe he would break through in one night when he went back.

But as long as someone starts, it is easy for others to catch up, and the Liao Guotong guò steam engine does not occupy too many advantages, and it is even difficult to change the balance of power between the Song and Liao countries.

The overall development of science and technology cannot be achieved by a few craftsmen alone, and no matter how many tens or hundreds of craftsmen are recruited to study the steam engine, this number is still too small.

Han Gang established the School of Engineering to encourage scholars to become technicians, and he expanded the Mengxue School in the hope that more talents would emerge from it in the future. Qualified engineers, as long as there are sufficient numbers, it is not a day or two to make up for it.

Moreover, the focus of Han Gang's work has shifted from light industry to heavy industry.

In the past, the protagonists of the mining and metallurgical industry were all households. The 36th metallurgy of Xuzhou Iron Smelting is contracted by large households, and the smelters involved in the mining often count 10,000 people. The imperial court levied taxes from it, and then made and bought as much as it needed.

Nowadays, due to the needs of industrial production, mining in various places has gradually become large-scale production under the control of the state. Xuzhou became the second largest steel base in the north, and the 36th metallurgical industry became 11 blast furnaces, large and small, and the miners and smelters below were swallowed by the imperial court.

With the expansion of the steel industry, it has now reached a new bottleneck in terms of technology. In the past, only small changes could bring huge benefits, but now, with more and more investment in developing new processes, and the risks are increasing, Han Oka is putting more effort into achieving his goals, and the results are being seen one by one.

Clocks are not included, but with the advancement of technology, clocks are just one of them.

"With the technical level of the Liao Kingdom, when they started steaming ships, the Great Song side was also able to put the steam engine on the locomotive, which was a gap in heritage. When the Liao State can manufacture steam engines on a large scale, our Great Song Dynasty will never be a year and a half late. ”

This is Han Gang's self-confidence.

Su Song smiled and nodded, but soon sighed again, "There are still people in the court who say that all the craftsmen should be arrested and locked up, and let them do things with their hearts, and they must be ahead of the Liao people." ”

Before Han Gang came to this world, he had heard that there was a so-called prisoner design bureau. Not wanting the wave of the political campaign to undermine the country's much-needed research on new weapons, the main messengers of the political movement put everyone in the entire weapons design bureau in a concentration camp and let them do their jobs as prisoners.

In this era, someone can come up with an idea similar to the Prisoner Design Bureau, which is really beyond the limitations of the times. It's just that he's so many steps ahead at once, and he's a crazy and stupid idiot without a doubt.

"Don't mention this kind of stupidity again. On the one hand, he is a slave, and on the other hand, he is a prince, and the idiots know how to choose. Han Gang sneered, "The important ministers of the court, the fish bag tamarin, are not as knowledgeable as the barbarians. ”

"Meat eaters despise, although not really, but it is also somewhat reasonable." Su Song suddenly became solemn, "But Yukun, don't underestimate Yelu Yixin." ”

"Brother Zirong can rest assured, he can usurp the country's power and traitor, how can he dare to look down on it?"

It was Han Gang who proposed the steam engine, and it was also Han Gang who made the steam engine surpass the artillery a symbol, when Yelu Yixin hung the bounty high on the steam engine, how could this matter not implicate Han Gang?

There are always people who want to take advantage of this to make trouble, or drag Han Gang into troubled water and get dirty.

When Yelu Yixin took out the bounty, he also saw this step.