The advancement of any civilization must be supported by all aspects of the foundation, and it is definitely not a castle in the air.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which is called the Cao River by the Ming people, began a comprehensive restoration project in the early Ming Dynasty to remove many sections of the Yuan Dynasty, including Shandong.

As the world's longest and largest canal, the Grand Canal passes through half of China, and of course there are countless problems.

One of the most difficult problems is that there are many different levels of the river.

For example, in the Baitahe area, Guazhou area, Yizhen area and other places, the water level of the Cao River is higher than the water level of the Yangtze River.

Then at the entrance, it needs to be rebuilt.

Traditionally, the boat has to unload its cargo from a rock, which is shaped like a slope and carried along the river to the shore by coolies.

The boat was then lifted up with a winch and dragged across the slope by manpower.

This ancient technology, inefficient, it is not uncommon for ships to wait at the entrance for ten days and half a month, and it is not easy to maneuver the winch.

The largest double winch, which requires up to a hundred people to work together.

When a ship slides into the water, it is very easy to destroy the boat because of the huge impact force generated by falling into the low water level of the Yangtze River.

Technological advances have led to many problems, such as the installation of railings in the bow of the ship and the attaching of sturdy straw mats to the bow to protect the boat.

Zhu Gaochi finally met several officials of the Ministry of Industry who had come to the steam engine factory from Yingtianfu to inspect the factory.

They saluted the prince and told the new ideas put forward by the water conservancy officials in charge of the Ministry of Industry at the headquarters of China Heavy Industries.

Zhu Gaochi was speechless for a long time after hearing this.

The wings of the butterfly stirred.

The huge sluice project, which should have appeared in the middle of the Ming Dynasty a hundred years later and took 27 years to complete, came out ahead of schedule.

Officials from the Ministry of Industry came up with plans to build huge sluice gates in these places.

The function is to allow the vessel to enter a special waterway, and then to keep the horizontal line consistent between the two places by controlling the inflow and release of water from the sluice.

It not only saves the time and time required for unloading and reloading, but also improves the efficiency of vessel passage.

In the process of opening the gate each time, it can meet the rapid passage of thousands of ships full of grain, and more than 100 ships can enter in one day and one night.

This huge and magnificent project has shocked the world.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, in the fourth year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty, the diary written by the Dutch envoy to China has a description of this project.

Later, the missionary Leconte and his colleague Ammond Montanas, according to the contents of the journal of the Dutch mission.

"Without fully acknowledging the unparalleled abilities of the Chinese, Europeans would not have realized the role of these good sluices and the sturdiness of the tall and thick protective fences."

And technology certainly doesn't stop there.

Because of the emergence of sluice gate technology, many problems have been brought about, and many new technologies have been produced to solve them.

For example, the Yellow River is prevented from carrying excess sediment and overtaking the Cao River at the entrance. In the sixth year of Wanli, Pan Ji of the Governor's River played and opened the curtain of river sand.

For example, the construction of drainage ditches, the installation of flood-control gates, the formulation of flood distribution plans, flood discharge areas, etc., this set of Ming Dynasty plans were implemented for a full 400 years, throughout the Qing Dynasty.

Regarding the ideas of several officials of the Ministry of Industry, Zhu Gaochi made an idea of support.

"The reason why the Jianghuai region is economically rich is that in addition to the diligence of the local people, there are also dense waterways, which greatly reduce transportation costs."

"The importance of the canal can be called an important weapon of the country, and its role in promoting economic productivity is unparalleled."

Zhu Gaochi commented.

Several officials of the Ministry of Industry came into contact with Yan Wang Shizi for the first time, and they were very unaccustomed to Yan Wang Shizi's style, but they felt that there was something to say.

"The addition of the steam engine to the construction of the sluice gates shows the acumen and initiative of the proposing officer, and should be highly commended."

After Zhu Gaochi asked the name of this person, he continued to boast in front of everyone.

Several people were very touched.

"According to your plan, to build a sluice gate ten feet high, fifty feet wide at the bottom, and two hundred and twenty feet long, only one steam engine is needed to open and close the gate."

"And I think that the steam engine can play a role more than that, you can consult the technicians of the steam engine factory, fully combine the needs of the sluice technology, and develop more special steam engines."

Several officials of the Ministry of Industry hurriedly said: "In the steam engine factory, we saw many steam engines that we had never seen before and could play various roles, which was indeed eye-opening and had many new ideas. ”

Zhu Gaochi nodded and said with satisfaction: "China Heavy Industry supports the construction of the sluice project, and can send technicians to the local area to understand." ”

Naturally, several officials of the Ministry of Industry would not refuse.

The craftsmen all over the world are in the list of the imperial court, and the famous craftsmen are naturally treasures, and the officials of the Ministry of Industry were originally arrogant and did not take the technical level of China Heavy Industry into account.

But reality woke them up.

Under the model of China Heavy Industries, there are countless skilled craftsmen, and they are full of good ideas, and the important thing is to be willing to show them.

"Your Royal Highness, I heard that the engineering department under Zhonghua Heavy Industry has a very strong ability to build projects, can you send it to Ying Tianfu to support the sluice project?"

An official suggested.

Zhu Gaochi glanced at the official, unable to know if this person had other ideas, but Zhu Gaochi vetoed it.

It's not that he is unwilling to contribute, but that he is concerned about the model of the imperial court.

Zhu Yuanzhang's agriculture-oriented national policy cannot be said to be wrong, but the production model created by Zhu Yuanzhang is different from Zhu Gaochi.

If Zhu Gaochi wants to use the engineering department to build the sluice project, it will be a means of macroeconomic regulation and control under the industrial system.

And Zhu Yuanzhang used the means of service.

In short, if Zhu Gaochi agreed to the official's request, then the imperial court would not pay the salary, but would require service.

For many years in Beiping, Zhu Gaochi managed to minimize the intensity of his service, but he would not turn back.

As for persuading Zhu Yuanzhang to change his mind, Zhu Gaochi didn't have this confidence, and he didn't want to make extraneous branches, he just wanted to honestly guard one acre and three points to lay a solid foundation.

Therefore, Zhu Gaochi said with a smile: "The engineering department has failed to catch it, and it is reluctant to do it, but it is not good for the people, and it should not work for the people and hurt the money." ”

Hearing Shizi's words, several officials of the Ministry of Industry showed stunned eyes, but they didn't expect Shizi to oppose it on such a ground.

However, they could not force the prince to make the decision they wanted, and in the case of seven points of satisfaction, two points of disappointment, and one point of others, several officials left Zhonghua Heavy Industry.

Day 2.

The plenary business conference was held in the large conference hall of the China headquarters factory.

For the mode of holding the conference, the factory of Zhonghua headquarters is already handy, and the manpower of the rest of the departments is mobilized half a month in advance.

The factory protection team in the headquarters factory area has expanded from 500 to 1,000 people, and there is no concentration.

Instead, in each important factory, according to the importance and size of the factory, the factory protection team members are dispatched.

In order to ensure the smooth operation of the whole business conference, the headquarters factory transferred hundreds of factory protection team members to assist in the order and layout of the conference.

Hundreds of merchants from all over the country, some dressed in silk and satin, some discreetly dressed in coarse cloth.

They looked around curiously, taking in the scenery around them, and many of them were attending such meetings for the first time.

The large conference hall adopts a variety of traditional sound amplification technologies to ensure that the speech on the stage can be heard in the corner.

The building is made of cement, with large bright glass windows and red curtains, and the blue brick walls painted with shiny white paint.

On the walls, there are also various paintings.

There are imitation versions of paintings such as "Qingming Riverside Picture", "Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", "Fuchun Mountain Residence Map", "Spring Dawn Picture of Han Palace", "Luo Shen Fu Map" and other paintings.

Before the meeting began, many people stood in front of the wall, fascinated by the paintings on the wall.

The staff in the crowd shuttled back and forth, trying to tell everyone the rules of the meeting.

If there are three urges, please leave your seat silently, go around to the sides and walk back, there is a public toilet outside the gate at the back.

The teacups on the table in front of each seat are boiled in boiling water and sterilized, and the cups are already filled with tea, so you can drink them with confidence.

And there will be a special staff to pour water, in the meeting, will be according to the time to add water and other details.

In fact, it has been clearly written on the billboard at the door, but not everyone will go to see it.

In order to avoid anything, the staff of China Heavy Industries strive for excellence and are willing to make more efforts.

Finally.

There have been many people in the whole conference hall, and there have been no new people for a long time, and the time for the meeting has arrived.

Without any extra movements, Zhu Gaochi was followed by a group of people and walked in from the gate, and the people in the front row stopped talking.

The silence of the sound spilled back, and people returned to their seats, their eyes focused on the front.

Stage.

There was only one erect mahogany platform, and Wang Ren acted as the host of the meeting, and he was the first to come to the stage and greet the audience.

"First of all, I would like to welcome the convening of the 2nd Plenary Business Conference."

"Whoa."

Led by some people, everyone applauded.

Wang Ren waited for the applause to stop, and continued to say loudly with a smile: "Secondly, thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to attend the conference. ”

This time, the applause in the conference hall was skilled, and there was no need for someone to lead it, and everyone knew what to do.

After all, a businessman is a businessman, and the experience of traveling from south to north and the degree of acceptance of new information is not comparable to that of ordinary people.

Finally, Wang Ren began to read the topic.

"Coal is a resource-based industry, with the dual attributes of energy and industrial raw materials, and is the fuel for industrial development."

"It is the most important basic energy to support the rapid development of social economy, and China Heavy Industries will still give the most firm support for the support of the coal mining industry in the future!"

……

(End of chapter)