Although His Majesty the Emperor specially asked people to worship, this spring snow did not fall much, but it was cold for several days, which hurt the winter seedlings.

It's winter wheat.

Although there are not many in the south of the Yangtze River, it is more common in the north of the Yangtze River.

Jiangbei ......

As you can imagine, it's even colder.

God doesn't give face, but there is nothing to be done.

Entering the palace in the past few days, facing Lao Zhu's sad face, Zhu Yuan actually didn't have much empathy, but he was also worried together.

Last year was a spring drought, and this year there will be another one, although it can't hurt the Ming Dynasty, but ...... Two years after the founding of the country, two years of spring drought...... That's not a good sign.

This is what I believe in this day.

Lao Zhu has also mentioned it, if it doesn't work...... This year, we will start the 'cash-for-work' method.

In the past, it was all direct reduction.

This time, it was Zhu Yuan's repeated indoctrination that Lao Zhu changed his concept. Moreover, the foundation and resources of cash-for-work have been operated by Lao Zhu for many years, and he can also get them.

It just so happens that the two major projects of the 'three-year plan', the excavation of the Jianghuai Canal and the dredging of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, require a large number of labor.

But......

If this spring drought can be avoided, it is better to avoid it.

Under Lao Zhu's worries, Zhu Yuan came to the machinery factory again today to check the progress of the transformation of the steam pump that will be demonstrated at the pro-ploughing ceremony.

In the compound of the first machinery factory.

When Zhu Yuan arrived, Zhonghe and Jin Sanhu were the first to send the transmission belt.

According to Zhu Yuan's proposal, strings were added, steel wires were added, or the two were mixed, and it was no longer the previous separate cowhide bonding. Among them, the steel wire is provided by the spring workshop, and the string ...... It's silk.

Silk, something that sounds very soft, is rolled into a thin rope, but it is actually very strong.

In addition, the two factories worked together, and during this time, 10 steam engines were built again.

As with the first batch of samples.

Moreover, all of them have been tested, and they are all the ones that can work for several hours at a time.

This is also the thing that makes Zhu Yuan the happiest today.

After looking at the transmission belt, he turned to a total of 12 steam engines, and the first thing Zhu Yuan saw was not a pile of brass expensive, but the beginning of some kind of virtuous circle.

Then it's time to see the results on the spot.

Steam engines can be made, let alone pumps with a simpler structure.

So he ordered a well, pulled out 12 leather water pipes, connected them to the 12 pumping machines that matched the 12 steam engines, and started running.

In the sudden sound, looking at a large group of steam engines that were operating at the same time, and looking at the well water gushing out of the water pipe, Zhu Yuan felt that such a wonderful scene could not be enjoyed by himself, so he instructed Zhao Xu to go directly to the palace and let his ancestors come over.

His Majesty the Emperor arrived.

There are also Li Shanchang and other central ministers.

After adjusting and optimizing during this time, plus the latest batch of ten steam engines, all 12 steam engines were lined up in a row, turned on together, pumped water together, shook the sky and the earth together, and watched the bubbling groundwater quickly gather on the surface.

Old Zhu Liang couldn't speak for a long time, and after a long time, when Zhu Yuan ordered all the machines to stop temporarily, someone sighed: "This ...... It's the industrial age. ”

The weather was still cold, Zhu Yuan was wearing a fur coat, standing beside Lao Zhu with his hands in his hands, in order to avoid Lao Zhu's expectations being too high, he shook his head when he heard the words and said: "It's just a trick." ”

Lao Zhu looked over.

Zhu Yuan didn't put down his hands, but just gestured to him: "Ancestor, these machines are actually not very powerful, so I feel very shocked when I listen to the sound, but ...... The pumping efficiency is actually quite low. Moreover, we looked at it this time, 12 units did not fail, this is luck, but ...... It would be unrealistic to want them to run for ten days and a half in a row, anyway, there is still a long way to go. ”

Lao Zhu has been worried about the possible spring drought during this time, and when he heard Zhu Yuan say this, he was a little dissatisfied this time: "You kid, this is ...... Miracles, what more grievances can there be. ”

After being trained, Zhu Yuan shrunk his neck, shook his head and said, "Ancestor, I'm also in a hurry." ”

There is nothing to say.

Zhu Yuan's original idea was that these machines were not built to do the most basic pumping of water, but should be built into machine tools, while quickly producing more industrial parts and assembling more steam engines.

Moreover, the fact that brass is made is also a limitation.

Daming is really short of copper.

Even if relatively speaking, how much copper is needed at the moment, the imperial court can be regarded as a supply, but the problem is still the cost.

The cost of making it with copper is too high, and it is doomed that the steam engine cannot be popularized on a large scale.

Therefore, steel materials are inevitable.

Zhu Yuan hopes to be able to complete all the prototypes of steam engines made of steel this year.

After reading it here, Lao Zhu wanted to pull this batch of steam engines into the field as soon as possible to pump water and water the ground, but he was still stopped by Zhu Yuan.

It doesn't make sense.

Then talking about the machine tool, after an in-depth analysis and discussion, Lao Zhu was persuaded again and agreed.

However, at the pro-ploughing ceremony, these steam pumps still have to show up.

Show them all.

At that time, there will be many elderly gentry to participate in pro-farming, as well as the people of Beijing, Lao Zhu hopes that everyone can see the shocking scene of the steam pump drawing water to water the fields, which is also a kind of maintenance of the people's hearts.

stayed here until noon, and Lao Zhu reluctantly left.

Zhu Yuan also went home temporarily, and after lunch, he didn't rest much, so he came directly to Jinling University.

Here is the second lesson of this time.

Three times a month.

It was the students who asked questions, Zhu Yuan prepared the class, and then explained.

The lecture was mainly attended by a doctor who had already identified two universities, as well as many high-level officials of the university, as well as other imperial court officials who had come to observe the lecture.

For example, today, Chang Yuchun, who followed His Majesty the Emperor in the morning and grew up in the machinery factory, came to listen to the lecture with Deng Yue, vice president of Jinling University, in the afternoon.

Today's topic is about the compilation of textbooks.

And, a small project among them.

Compilation of professional history.

Among them, he was inspired by the last military university meeting to revise the history of the founding war.

Then, Zhu Yuan discovered that various other majors should also have their own development history.

For example, Chinese culture...... It goes without saying.

For example, medicine...... That's more to say.

For example, even if there was no physics major in the past, in fact, the ancients also left a lot of discussions, such as the classic small hole imaging in "Mozi", and so on.

These are all suitable for sorting out.

Why tidy up?

Or cultural reasons.

Chinese culture likes to pay attention to an orderly inheritance and has a long history.

Some of the philosophers have walked this road, so if you walk again, you will not feel lonely, because there are many footprints there, guiding the direction of the latecomers.

That's probably it.

At the end of the two-hour course, in addition to the ideas given by Zhu Yuan, it was also determined on the spot, first of all, a total of 16 majors from Jinling University and National University, and then, each major, should compile its own discipline history book, and in the future, it will be used as the corresponding textbook.

The same is true for medical universities, national universities, and technical universities.

It's just that the situation of the three companies is different, so it needs to be considered more carefully.

Lao Zhu attaches great importance to this matter, and after the class ended, he went to the palace the next day, and was specially advised.

In addition to the discipline history books, today I also discussed the matter of Tuntian with Kang Maocai, the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and the envoy of the field for half an hour, in the conference room.

Mainly on the Shandong side.

The land measurement is basically completed, and it is already spring, and Kang Maocai plans to leave Beijing and rush to Shandong during this time.

It can be seen that when discussing things with Zhu Yuan, Lao Kang was very worried.

I was afraid that Zhu Yuan would faint suddenly.

Just like last time.

Of course not this time.

Zhu Yuan gave a variety of ideas that he has been thinking about, and finally promised that he would urge the quarrying iron mine to start faster, and in addition, the steel and coal companies in Yizhou, Shandong can also be used as the backing of Kang Maocai to provide agricultural tools for the Tuntian in Shandong.

Lao Zhu did not attend this meeting, but allocated another sum of money to let people purchase farming cattle from all over the south of the Yangtze River, and planned to send them to Shandong.

In this era, cultivating land and ploughing cattle was the most indispensable.

At the end of the meeting here, he was called by Lao Zhu again at noon, and the family had lunch together.

And the crown prince this time.

Zhu Biao talked about the content of Tu Xiao's recent lecture to him, and the young man also expressed enough appreciation for a certain surveying and mapping envoy.

Zhu Yuan could see that even if he had a little bit of a youthful upper thoughts, he really liked it more.

That's good.

Tu Xiao is only 25 years old after all, no accident, after a period or two, it must be no problem.

After eating, he came to the city in the afternoon.

About coinage.

Jinling Castle ...... The previous station of the Firearms Division, the one that Zhu Yuan was frightened when he came to see it once, was changed to a mint workshop.

For the time being, there are both silver and copper coins.

However, the plan was in the north of the city, of course, Zhu Yuan suggested, after the completion of another mint factory, the two sides will be separated, the city will only be responsible for minting silver coins, outside the city, the factory is larger, so it will be used to mint a large number of copper coins.

In addition to the Beijing Division, according to the research of the previous dynasties, various places have also been preparing to build coinage workshops of different scales.

All minting institutions will be under the jurisdiction of the Mint Department of Zhengwupin, which is subordinate to the Daming Central Bank of Zhengsanpin. The Central Bank of Daming is directly under the Zhongshu, which is in charge of Zhu Yuan and reports directly to Lao Zhu.

There is a house in the city, and after seeing the minting workshop here, Zhu Yuan stayed directly in the city.

The next day was the twenty-sixth day of the first lunar month.

Before you know it, January of the first year of Hongwu is about to pass.

I woke up again in a small two-story building overlooking the Qinhuai River, next to a certain Xu who had recently been talked about by Zhu Yuan.

Seeing that the little master got up and pushed open the window and lay on the side of the bed, Xu hesitated, didn't pretend to be asleep anymore, got up, carefully wrapped the bedding around the young man Pingzhang, and reminded softly: "Adult, don't freeze." ”

Zhu Yuan let the woman wrap herself up, and did not respond, just looked out the window, feeling that this side was ...... Not high enough.

If it's the third floor, it's good.

The ugly slave and the fairy who were guarding the house last night, as well as Lin Xiaoyu, came over together.

Glancing at a certain woman, the ugly slave said, "My lord, do you want to wash?" ”

"Hmm." Zhu Yuan responded, and said, "Let's eat here, breakfast will be delivered." ”

The ugly slave agreed, turned and walked out the door.

The remaining two, Tianxian Zi and Lin Xiaoyu, carefully went up to this side of the soft collapse, ignoring a woman who was quietly looking for clothes to cover her body, and continued to help her adult wrap the futon.

After a while, the young lady came in with the maids, holding hot water and other things.

Zhu Yuan turned around, pressed a woman who was even more helpless because of the large number of people to lie down, threw himself on the side of the bed, and lazily let the women of all ages help wipe her face and wash.

I've been busy for a few days, and I want to stay in bed again.

After washing, I simply shrank back again.

I found a sack inside, and I don't know when the window has been closed again, so I reached out and pulled it over, grabbed Nizi's little face and kissed it.

The young lady waited for the wash, and saw that she had no intention of getting out of bed, so she went to the kitchen here to bring breakfast in person.

After breakfast, Zhu Yuan leaned against the window again and picked up a manuscript written by Jin Dahu and Wei Ye together on the significance of controlling time brought about by the improvement of engraved watches.

The ideas given by Zhu Yuan before, the two also have their own good performances, and Song Lian has been polished in advance, although the overall type is still biased towards the vernacular, it is also a very good popular science article.

There are also accompanying pictures.

It is the pocket watch that Zhu Yuan is becoming more and more inseparable from in his daily life.

And so on until noon, when I finally got dressed and got up.

After eating a simple lunch again, and was about to return to Xuanwu Lake, the young lady came over and whispered: "Adult, tea...... Tea is coming. ”

Tea ......

Oh.

Green Tea Girl.

Seeing that the young lady was weak and expectant, Zhu Yuan first scooped the woman over and kissed her a few times before patting her away: "Call it." ”

The meeting place was the study on the first floor of the small building.

Zhu Yuan sat behind the bookcase, writing some other thoughts about the two new magazines, while watching the young lady accompany a girl who was already taller than his mother to come in.

Another great gift.

Zhu Yuan motioned for the girl to get up, watched Qingniang consciously turn to her side and stand still, and said with a smile: "Why don't you move a chair for your daughter first?" ”

Only then did the young lady find out that she came to the opposite side with a red face, moved a chair for the green tea girl, watched her daughter sit down, and then looked at the opposite side, waiting for instructions.

Stupid woman.

Zhu Yuan simply didn't order, and asked the girl opposite, "Have you got in touch?" ”

"There are 11 tea merchants...... Counting the slave family, this time ...... plans to make up 110,000 taels of capital and make Gansu ...... together Or there can be a tea business in the Western Regions. The green tea girl said, paused, and added, "Slave to ...... This, this company, also looked for a name, called 'Yunfeng Tea Trading Company', the little prince thinks...... But is it okay? ”

"Yunfeng, what do you mean?"

The green tea girl said: "From a sentence in the Song Dynasty, the smoke locks the clouds, which is consistent with the artistic conception of the tea mountain." ”

Zhu Yuan nodded: "Not bad." ”

The green tea girl hesitated, and then said, "Little prince, it's actually ...... The slave thought, this company, the capital should be 200,000 taels, it is better, little prince...... There is also the imperial court, but is it intentional? ”

Zhu Yuan subconsciously calculated.

The total principal is 200,000 taels, and the tea merchant accounts for 110,000 taels...... That's a 55% stake.

Half.

It's still the kind of absolute control.

Looking at the cautious appearance of the girl opposite, Zhu Yuan was a little unsure for a while, this Nizi was thought out in advance, is it really an accidental 110,000 taels?

was looked at by the little prince opposite, and the green tea girl suddenly felt a little weak. However, she was much stronger than her mother's Taoism, and although her heart was weak, she was even more pitiful on the surface, and her eyes looked at the young man opposite.

There are 11 companies, totaling 110,000 taels.

This......

Intentionally, of course.

It is impossible for a green tea girl to know concepts such as absolute control in a few hundred years, but as a businesswoman, it is also an instinct to want to have absolute initiative in certain things in the process of doing business.

After all, although there are 11 families on her side, these 11 families are the only ones who are the head of the Gao family.

Of course, she is the only one who is tall and green tea.

Zhu Yuan saw the answer from the green tea girl's slightly flickering gaze, but he just smiled and said, "That's it." The remaining 90,000 taels, I will have people make up for it, and I can register this company in the Ministry of Commerce in the near future, and the matter of selling tea to Hexi also needs to be done quickly. ”

Seeing that the little prince had no objections, the green tea girl suddenly showed joy.

However, he still thought that he had covered it up well, and he was humble again.

After chatting about some details, Zhu Yuan sent off the guests with a smile, and deliberately said with some kind of repetition: "That's it, you go back first, well, your mother won't send you, I still have some things to talk to her about." ”

(End of chapter)