readx;?“ Anyway! Babu waved his hand nonchalantly: "Even if Beji doesn't stay, I will live in Naturalization City for a while longer, at least for a year!" ”

"A year?" Min Min was stunned when he heard this, and secretly wondered if the other party should have misunderstood his meaning, thinking that he was going to take him as a hostage of the covenant, so he smiled and said: "Babu Taiji, it's not that I want to stay, it's just that the weather is cold right now, and it's inconvenient to travel on the grassland. ”

Babu laughed when he heard Min Min's explanation: "Beji, I really want to stay on my own, you have many magical powers here, I will stay and learn." Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"Spells? Avatar? Min Min looked at Babu in amazement, and found that the other party's expression was solemn, not like a joke, so he asked carefully: "Babu Taiji, if you want to learn magic powers, you should go to Drepung Temple, Jokhang Temple, and Sera Temple in Tibet, my Silver Buddha Temple here has just been built, and I am afraid that there is no magic power!" ”

"Beji said it was funny!" A smile of "I already know, don't lie to me" on Babu's face: "There are a lot of scriptures and secret laws in those places, and there may not be magical powers. What I want to learn is the magic power of the Han people, and I can use it when I take it out, not those who chant scriptures and chant mantras! ”

"Han magic?" Min Min was completely confused by Babu, she looked at Ahmat, who was sitting on the side, and found that the other party was also inexplicable, obviously unable to help herself. She saw that Babu looked determined, so she had to patiently explain: "Babu Taiji, I do have a lot of Han people here, but they are either craftsmen, merchants, or soldiers, and there are no monks and Taoists. ”

"A craftsman is a craftsman!" Babu laughed, "I just want to learn those magic powers from the craftsmen, and I ask Beji Zhun!" ”

"But craftsmen can only do things, where can they have magical powers? Besides, there are craftsmen in Mobei, why don't you learn from them? ”

A look of indignation appeared on Babu's face: "Begixiu wants to lie to me, who said that craftsmen have no magical powers, the ice boat I sat on when I came, as long as one person pushes it on the ice, thousands of pounds of goods can move with the wind; There wasn't a brazier in the house where I came, as long as I pulled a trigger, the room would be warm, and then I turned the trigger back, and the room would be cold again. We have craftsmen in Mobei, but how can we have such skills? ”

Hearing Babu's words, everyone in the room burst out laughing, especially Min Min, who leaned back and fell back with a smile, unable to catch his breath, and only after a while did he say: "Where is this magic spell, the matter of the ice boat is not clear for a while, the house will become warm because there is a big brazier underground, and the house will naturally be warm." ”

"Begimmo thinks I'm a fool!" But the Báb did not believe it: "If there is a brazier underground, where is the chimney?" The ground should also be empty, I've tried it, and it's obviously solid. Even if it's really that big, whether it's lit or extinguished, it's not a bad thing for a while, how can it be good to pull the mechanism? Also, if there is a brazier, what about the iron pipes in the house and the stack of iron plates? ”

"This" Min Min was dumbfounded by Babu's series of questions, she didn't mean to coax Babu, but these new things were built by craftsmen from Chaoyi, at first she thought it was a little fresh and interesting, and asked the craftsman to ask a few words, but as time went by, every once in a while new things came over, and there were too many things in her hands, so she put them down. Where did she think that this Taiji from Mobei was so interested, she thought about it and said with a wry smile: "Taiji, I don't know how to answer your questions, otherwise I will let the leader of the craftsmen come, and you can ask him yourself?" ”

"Thank you Beji!" Seeing that Min Min opened his mouth to allow it, Babu couldn't help but be overjoyed, kowtowed twice and said, "But I don't need to let him come, I'll just go and ask for advice!" With that, he stood up and looked eager to try.

Seeing Babu like this, Min Min knew that the other party's mind was probably no longer here, so he called a personal attendant and asked him to lead Babu to the head of the craftsmen. When he went out, Min Min smiled bitterly and asked Ahmae: "Ahmat's father, is this Taiji usually like this?" ”

"Not really! If I'm not mistaken, he was like this the last time he saw Bingzhou! ”

"That's it!" Min Min shook his head, and said to Ahmat solemnly: "Dad, Ah Cheng is over there in Datong, I'm afraid I have to tell him about your affairs in person, I'm afraid I can only ask you to work hard for a few more days and go to Datong!" ”

Babu went out with the attendant, and went all the way west, and came to the ice boat by the Yellow River, where he saw a burly man with a cane, shouting at the workers to unload large and small boxes from the ice boat. The attendant said to Babu: "Taiji, this is Liu Zongmin and Master Liu, and the things you just said were all made by him!" ”

"I didn't expect this person to have such magical powers!" Babu looked at the man's appearance and secretly said: "But the Buddhist scriptures say that the Bodhisattva has ten million incarnations, and there are incredible supernatural powers, but do you know that it is not one of the Bodhisattva incarnations in front of you?" Thinking of this, he walked up to Liu Zongmin, flicked his sleeves, pressed his chest with his right hand, bowed down to his navel, and then knelt on the ground, his face close to the ground: "I am Babu, the eldest son of Chechen Shuolei Khan, and I say hello to people with magical powers!" ”

Liu Zongmin was busy directing his subordinates to unload the goods, when suddenly a person jumped out of the side and bowed to him, saying something he didn't understand at all, which startled him, and he thought he had met a madman. The attendants on the side hurriedly stepped forward to explain, explaining the origin and purpose of this Babudaiji. Only then did Liu Zongmin realize that the one in front of him was actually a noble chief in Mobei, but he came to learn from himself. He looked at it for a moment and said, "I don't know any magic spells, but if you ask me about the boiler, I can tell you about it!" ”

It was not surprising for Babu to hear Liu Zongmin deny that he knew what magical powers, in his opinion, such bodhisattva incarnations had incredible powers, and the incredible powers in the eyes of mortals like himself were naturally nothing in the eyes of the mighty, presumably the "boiler" was the name of the magic spells. He untied the gold belt around his waist, took off the gemstone ring on his hand, the jade wrench, and the gold necklace around his neck, and placed them in front of Liu Zongmin one by one, and said respectfully: "Thank you for your willingness to teach me magical spells, these are Babu's alms dedicated to the Venerable Master, and I hope to accept them!" ”

Liu Zongmin looked at the gold belt jewelry on the ground, frowned, and sneered: "I don't want your things, you can take them back!" ”

"Since it has been given, how can it be taken back!" Babu kowtowed again: "Please take it!" ”

Liu Zongmin was originally from a poor family, and what he hated most was those who relied on wealth to bully others, and when he saw Babu like this, he snorted coldly and walked towards the city, and Babu hurriedly got up and followed, leaving the property worth thousands of gold on the ground, and did not look at it again. Liu Zongmin saw it in his eyes, and the evil feeling in his heart went a little.

Liu Zongmin walked to a hut, opened the door, pointed inside, and said to Babu: "This is the boiler, this is the one that warms the house without a brazier!" ”

When the Báb looked into the room, he saw a huge metal object in the room, the lower part was a furnace, and the side was full of coal, and several workers were shoveling the coal into the furnace chamber, and several thick iron pipes were sticking out of the upper part, and from time to time white mist was sprayed from the iron pipes, and the burning smell of coal was mixed with the water vapor, producing an indescribable peculiar smell.

"This is the boiler?" Babu pointed to the metal object in surprise and asked Liu Zongmin, the scene in front of him was a little different from the magic spell he imagined.

"Well, this is a heating boiler! This has been used in Chaoyi shipyards, ironworks, forging factories and textile factories, but the steam boiler is still being tested, and it is estimated that it will take another year or two to build, there is no way, there are too few riveters on the top, and the quality of the iron plate is not stable enough! ”

Babu looked at Liu Zongmin who was pointing to the boiler and talking with admiration, but in fact, he basically couldn't understand the noun Liu Zongmin just said, and naturally he couldn't understand the deep meaning behind it. Liu Cheng ordered the manufacture of boilers not only for heating, but also for a very important point in the technology tree formulated by Liu Cheng, for the simple reason that it was a necessary pre-technology for the manufacture of steam engines.

After several years of accumulation, Liu Cheng has established an industrial center with textile, smelting, forging and other categories as the core in Chaoyi. Although this industrial center was small in size and a drop in the ocean compared to the vast natural economy of East Asia in the seventeenth century, it was fundamentally different in that its production efficiency and surplus products were far higher than those of the natural economy based on self-sufficiency. Therefore, in order to maintain and even develop this industrial center, there must be two prerequisites: exporting a large number of products outwards and importing a large number of raw materials inward. Both of these were actually based on Liu Cheng's military victories: a large number of military orders, long-distance trade under the protection of strong force, and control and conquest of raw material sources. As Liu Cheng's army won victory after victory, the industrial center grew, but as its reach expanded, a new problem emerged: logistics bottlenecks and energy shortages.

In ancient society, water transportation was actually the only cheap way of large-scale long-distance shipping, not to mention that Liu Cheng's existing industry was built on the basis of hydraulic machinery, which meant that this industrial center had to be built next to the river, which was actually the commonality of the earliest handicraft centers of mankind. However, although Chaoyi is adjacent to the Yellow River, neither the amount of water nor the navigation conditions can be compared with the south, and more importantly, due to the cold climate, about a quarter of the time will be frozen every year, that is, it cannot be navigated and cannot be started. In a sense, this is just Liu Cheng's helpless choice. But if you point out the technology of the steam engine, these shortcomings are not a problem Shanxi, which is across the river from Chaoyi, is known as the coal capital, which can provide nearly unlimited coal, as long as enough coal is hoarded in the navigation season, it can be started all year round, and after solving the steam engine, there is actually no technical obstacle to the railway, as long as you click on these two technology trees, it is only a matter of time before the productivity that bursts out crushes the world. And although the steam engine needs to light up valves, gears, pistons, connecting rods and many other technologies, the above actually had similar things at that time, nothing more than a layer of window paper, only the boiler, although it looks simple, is the most technical component how to make a large number of metal containers that can withstand high pressures,.) This has high requirements for smelting, forging and processing industries, and if the quality of the boiler is not up to par, the steam engine is a time bomb. According to Liu Cheng's plan, it is to let Liu Zongmin and Tang Muyao gradually accumulate processing experience and technical personnel from simple to easy, from low pressure to high pressure, so as to make technical reserves for the future manufacture of steam engines.

Listening to Liu Zongmin's explanation of the function of the boiler, Babu was still a little confused, and he asked suspiciously: "Those houses are so far away from your boiler, how can they warm up over there?" ”

"It's all about these lead pipes!" Liu Zongmin pointed to a few black pipes sticking out of the top of the boiler and said, "After the boiler is hot, the hot water will flow out from here until the house to be heated." It's like a rich man puts hot water in a leather bag and carries that thing in his arms, and the person is warm, and this is the same reason! ”

"But with such a long water pipe, the hot water hasn't flowed into the house yet, so I'm afraid it will get colder, right?"

"Look at this pipe?" Liu Zongmin picked up a lead water pipe as a spare part, Babu looked down, only to find that the water pipe actually has two layers, set together, and the middle is stuffed with some white fibers, which looks like wool, he stretched out his fingers and touched it tentatively, feeling that it was a little harder than wool, and turned around and asked in an uncertain tone: "This is wool?" ”

"No, it's asbestos!" Liu Zongmin took the lead pipe, blocked a section with a cork, poured some boiling water into it, and handed it to Babu: "It is better than wool to insulate the temperature!" ”

Babu took the lead pipe in disbelief, and immediately widened his eyes in surprise, although it was obviously boiling water that had just been poured in, but the surface of the lead pipe was still cold, he carefully stretched out his finger and touched the water in the lead pipe, and immediately retracted it, the stinging pain from his fingertips would not deceive, and it was indeed boiling water inside.