Teapot No. 7 doesn't look like a teapot at all, according to Lu Zhe's scrutinizing eyes, it already has the appearance of 18XX AD, and listening to Lu Qi's introduction, some of the devices that should be there are available.

"Father, the cylinder is based on the latest material technology of the Empire, that is, the selection of steel." Lu Qi looked very excited, he vigorously slapped the steel wall of the cylinder, and said, "Copper and iron have been used before. The copper cylinder is made of casting technology, but unfortunately because of the softness of copper, the life is a bit worrying. Iron can also be cast successfully, and the life is not bad, but the performance is poor and unstable. ”

Lu Zhe does not understand the professional terminology, but he understands some about the selection of materials, and he also has relevant cognition of casting techniques. He walked beside the steam engine with curiosity, and could recognize the intake pipe, flywheel, and connecting rod from the outside, but the internal structure could not be seen.

"Steel ......" Lu Zhe frowned and said: "The choice of steel is not good, our steel output is low, too low, the total annual output is only four tons, but there are too many places that need to use steel." ”

"Iron is also possible!" Lu Qi hurriedly said: "The reason why steel ...... is used" showed an embarrassed smile, and after a pause, he said: "It's because there are still some small problems with the piston, slide valve, and crankshaft, and my father wants to come over to inspect it, so I ......"

Well...... In fact, some ministers are afraid of accidents, so what is safe and how to come, not at all to pay attention to materials and funds, but for safety.

Lu Zhe had a vague impression, he remembered that the original steam engine was actually made of copper? Only in the back did I choose to use iron. However, he didn't care so much, and the construction of the steam engine in 205 BC was a rather anachronistic thing. If he could make a flintlock pistol himself, wouldn't he allow a steam engine to be made by his own son?

"Further improvements are needed, and choosing iron as the main material will be the final solution." Lu Qi tried his best to assure. Seeing that the emperor's father was looking at him intently, he added a sentence slightly embarrassed: "Originally, I wanted to develop a steam engine ...... for land", looked at the behemoth next to him, and lowered his head: "It seems that it will take a while to reduce the volume." When he looked up again, he was full of a sense of accomplishment: "But it is absolutely suitable for sailing!" ”

Lu Zhe no longer knows what language to use to describe what kind of son he has born.

Lu Zhe's eldest son has always been interested in science, and his knowledge seems to be relatively mixed, and he can improve artillery and flintlock pistols, such as copper-shelled bullets. And now there's a steam engine. God knows what will come out later, and he is very skeptical that he will not be able to make an internal combustion engine in the last decade or two, and it seems that it is not impossible. Now what hinders Lu Qi's invention is that the materials can't keep up, not that some technologies can't be done.

Lü Zhe's second son, Lü Yi, did not develop much in science, but he seemed to have shown an extraordinary side to politics and military governance. When Lu Yi was four or five years old, he already knew how to form a gang and lead a group of noble bear children to become the leader. When I was seven or eight years old, I started playing what Boy Scouts. At the age of twelve, he also has a mature view of some ideas of statecraft.

The other sons are also strange, they have all kinds of hobbies, the most bizarre is Lu Yang, who knows that his fief will be in the Japanese Islands as if he has been developed some strange hobbies, and he even knows how to hire some mercenary teams to collect Japanese beauties on the Japanese Islands before he grows up!

The daughter made Lu Zhe feel a little more relieved, except for Lu Ying, who looked a bit like a female nerve because she was too lively, the rest of the daughters were more ladylike.

In fact, Lu Zhe didn't know one thing, Lu Yang's special hobby was instilled by Lu Yi since he was a child. Lu Qi seems to have left his own traces in it......

Recently, Lu Yang has begun to change his target a little bit, and he has begun to move to the side of the (Korean) Peninsula. Because he found that his aesthetic was normal. There are actually beautiful women, what nation would not have beautiful women? It's just that it's really ...... in terms of height How so? The average height of the Japanese people is one meter three, and the adult Japanese women are about one meter two, and the empire's nutrition in recent years can basically keep up, and ordinary children are nearly one meter four or so when they are ten years old. Raise it as a Chihuahua?

By the way, Lu Yang also tried to transfer his hobby of collecting beauties to China, but he was first taught by Lu Yi, and his mouth could not be persuaded and then his fist, and Lu Qi also joined in, and it was actually Lu Zhe who stopped Lu Yang.

It's nothing to collect beauties from other races, and the other races are two-legged animals for the empire, and the most that collects them is to keep them as pets. And in fact, Lu Yang really kept the collected interracial beauties as pets, and he wanted to keep his own beauties as pets? That time, Lu Zhe directly kicked it after he found out!

Lu Yang was first beaten by the eldest brother and the second brother, and he was quite aggrieved when he was beaten, because the concept of collecting beauties was taught by the eldest brother and the second brother. He also felt aggrieved when he was beaten by the emperor's father, but it was not hypocritical that he felt that he was the prince and collected the beauties of his own clan, and it was he who hired the beauties of his clan with money......

Nationalism has been propagandized in the empire for more than ten years, although it is not possible for everyone to respect each other, after all, people will always have their own thoughts, and there will be conflicts when there are thoughts, but the most basic point is that the same people must know how to unite in the face of foreign races.

There are other manifestations of ideological education, such as the reaction is not to treat aliens as human beings, or to take the aggression of foreign races for granted. In fact, it is not entirely out of ideological education, but mainly because of the huge profits generated by aggression and plunder.

Why did the people of the empire sharpen their heads and want to join the army? It's nothing more than because when they are fighting abroad, sixty percent of the seizures are handed over, and the remaining forty percent can be legally held. Please don't ignore the words "lawful possession", because you can spend it with peace of mind and don't have to worry about any legal concerns. In addition, the capture of the soldiers was a collective robbery organized by the state, and the equipment of the soldiers was also provided by the state.

"Later, within five years, the overall structure of the steam engine can be reduced." Lu Qi is full of confidence, he said: "Borrowed from the current railed carriage model. The steam engine was able to play a substitute role, and the only thing that plagued the Empire's rapid transportation network at that time was the speed of track paving. ”

Lu Zhe was actually excited when he saw the steam engine, and it was that kind of ecstatic excitement.

The empire is now the most populous country in the world. It is also the country with the most powerful civilization and military strength, and it is not a lack of funds and troops to open up to the outside world, but only transportation is an obstacle to the development.

If the steam engine could be used as a locomotive and enough railroads could be built, the empire would no longer have to worry about being too big to take care of the frontier. Fast and easy transportation is really too important for the Empire, far more than anything else.

Lu Zhe was excited about another item, the steam engine was used in navigation. The tonnage of warships can be increased again and again, and having enough tonnage is a key for the HNA to cope with the waves. There is also an increase in carryability, is there anything more important for ocean than carrying capacity?

"South America, North America, Africa......" Lu Zhe looked at the huge steam engine with bright eyes, and thought to himself: "Once the application of the sea steam engine is mature, the earth will be the earth of the empire. ”

Of course. There is another key to the Earth becoming the Earth of the Empire. The development of science and technology is actually only an auxiliary, and the most important thing is that the empire has the determination to always develop, otherwise no matter how advanced the technology is, it is useless.

"How many rail roads do we have now?" Lu Zhe asked Zhang Liang.

Zhang Liang was stunned for a moment very obviously, recalled for a moment, and replied hesitantly: "Mainly in Guanzhong, the longest is about ...... Twenty kilometers? Except for Guanzhong, the total will not be more than ten kilometers. ”

Guanzhong? That was built during the reign of the first emperor, otherwise the roads built in the back of the empire were concentrated in the Yangtze River basin. And there are rail roads that have been built for a short distance only for experimental purposes.

In fact, it's not that the empire doesn't build tracks, it's that there is no need for that for the time being. Second, there are too many roads that need to be repaired. Track-based roads and trackless roads are two different things, and the complexity of having track-free roads is about seven times that of trackless roads.

"It's only thirty kilometers?" Lu Zhe hadn't paid much attention to this, and frowned when he heard it.

Thirty kilometers, that also depends on what age it is. In 205 B.C., the empire's 30 kilometers of tracked roads were 100% of the world's total, which means that other countries did not have tracks at all.

"Father, our track hasn't been determined yet...... Lu Yi couldn't help it, and reminded in a low voice: "It's to confirm the specifications of the carriage first, then the specifications of the track, and then build the track that matches it." ”

Lu Zhe was stunned again, not that he had forgotten this, but that he remembered that he had arranged relevant research and asked the ruling government to confirm what kind of track specifications should be.

"The ruling government is doing this work, but ......" Zhang Liang was deeply depressed, hesitated and hesitated, and replied truthfully: "The horse-drawn rail car can speed up, but the loss of horses is too great." Also, the Empire doesn't need railroad much at the moment, so ...... So it's just about exploration and planning, and it's not going to be done any closer. ”

Lu Zhe relieved that it was true that it was quite difficult to build a rail lane, and the ruling government didn't know what a train was, and then there was no physical object to test the relevant data, so where should the test start? Is it a pat on the head and say how big the carriage should be, and then how big the track will be?

Now there are related mechanics and surveying, but it is not called this name, but there is really relevant knowledge.

There is no physical object, relying on patting the head, and then setting a series of data, it is not something that cannot be done, it is impossible to start, in today's era, everything is accountable, that is a good habit left over from the Great Qin period, that is, who is responsible for what must leave traces, and then find people when they are unqualified. The empire also has a law of accountability, which is used for quality inspection and is also a means of supervision, who dares to make something out of nothing?

"I'm too demanding." Lu Zhe was embarrassed to get angry, he asked Lu Qi: "Since you already have a preliminary concept, do you have any relevant thoughts about the track and so on?" ”

Not to mention, Lu Qi didn't need to think about it at all, he just needed to follow the specifications and data used by the "future" empire, he replied: "One hundred and forty-five .5 centimeters." ”

Lu Zhe was stunned again, and then stunned, even if he no longer has knowledge outside of engineering, he remembers that the textbook taught that the width of the Tian~ North Korean railway is 1.435 meters, and it seems that it is still "connected" with the world?

Since the whole world uses that kind of width, then there must be the most reasonable number that has been studied and tested countless times, Lu Zhe glanced at Lu Qi with inexplicable eyes, and then quickly moved away.

Lu Qi was uncomfortable by the emperor's father's eyes. In the "history" without him, the orbital width of the empire was set by Lu Zhe and then executed in the empire. He forgot about this for a while just now, and after saying that, he actually regretted it very much in his heart.

"So...... You can develop a steam engine for use on land in five years, right? Lu Zhe looked at his eldest son and nodded in a trance, the corners of his mouth hooked into a smile, turned to look at Zhang Liang, and said, "Then regarding the planning of the road, the ruling government should always have a plan?" ”

Zhang Liang nodded hurriedly and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty." ”

The ruling government did not know what the mechanically powered railcars were, but they did not dare to do nothing after receiving the task assigned by the emperor.

According to the government's repeated research, if the railroad is built, the most basic thing is to connect the various capitals of the empire first, and the starting point is still set in the middle of Nanling, and then connect the four directions of east, west, south, and north.

“…… The total length will be more than 110,000 kilometers, and it is planned to take ten years to build ......" Zhang Liang said here, and the flower was interrupted by the emperor.

"Too little, too little, and it can't just be a priority to connect the capitals, it should take into account the future direction of the empire's expansion." Lu Zhe said with a smile on his face: "The west and east are given priority to construction, and there are two places we need to explore in the future, the first is the Western Regions, and the second is north of Liaodong. ”

"Built at the same time?" Zhang Liang received a nod from the emperor in response, with a bitter face: "There is no financial problem, but the labor is ......"

"There will be labor." Lu Zhe's face was full of indifference, he stroked the huge steam engine with his hand, and said cheerfully: "Some of the overseas islands are Nanyang monkeys, and there are also one or two million natives in the Western Regions. We will also wage war on East Lake, even if there will be slaves on the Longxi side, don't worry about running out of labor. ”

Lu Yi said cautiously: "Father, you didn't count the Japanese Islands. ”

Lu Yang, who was already close, just heard the latter sentence, and asked with a grin: "Second brother, what do you say about the Japanese Islands?" (To be continued.) )