Chapter 1048 Sleeping with the Queen Mother, Supporting Her Son (Third Update, Please Subscribe)

Oops... it's crooked!

The Ming Dynasty’s railway technology tree almost went astray!

Looking at the quite confident Zhang Zhaoyu, Emperor Zhu shrugged helplessly.

Is this how you draw inferences about other cases from one example?

"We can only test it at that time to know whether it is applicable."

Do I need to ask whether it is applicable or not?

If applicable, similar products would have been developed in other countries in the world long ago, but the problem is... no, and even if they were, they have not become mainstream.

"By the way, has the company ever experimented with diesel locomotives?"

Emperor Zhu directly changed the topic to the internal combustion engine.

In fact, this is also his way of preventing Ming Dynasty from going astray in the technology tree. Appropriate reminders are extremely important.

"Internal combustion engine? The company experimented with gasoline engines a few years ago..."

On the way, Zhang Zhaoyu reported the advantages and disadvantages of the internal combustion locomotive one by one. Of course, the test results were a bit unsatisfactory. After all, gasoline engines have inherent deficiencies in the application of locomotives. Emperor Zhu had no way to deal with this. He could only hope for the invention of the diesel engine.

As they chatted, the topic naturally turned to France's desire to introduce the "Star of America".

“Is the Star of America really that important to France?”

The reason why Emperor Zhu asked this question was because Eugenie mentioned this matter in her letter. That's why he asked this question.

"Yes, Your Majesty. The railway they plan to build from Paris to Baghdad requires a high-speed train like the Star of America to shorten the travel time between the two places, so they hope to introduce the Star of America through licensed production."

How long is the railway from Paris to Baghdad?

It's at least two or three thousand kilometers. A railway from Europe to Asia, with the current railway speed of only 20 to 30 kilometers per hour, will take more than a hundred hours to travel 3,000 kilometers, which means it will take about five or six days.

It is only natural that the French would consider the "Star of America".

"If I remember correctly, our "Star of America" ​​involves a lot of leading technologies!"

Lovers are important, but skills are more important.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I think that compared to locomotive technology, the French are more concerned about the series of sub-technologies obtained after the introduction of the "Star of America", which will obviously promote the technological progress of France."

"So the real purpose is not to drink."

Deep in thought, Emperor Zhu's eyes were still fixed on the Brazilian Plateau outside the window.

Technological progress!

As early as the Nanhua era, he had been inadvertently promoting technological progress around the world.

For example, in order to improve the power of the Spencer rifle, Zhu Da designed the "centerfire cartridge case", which quickly replaced the rimfire cartridge due to its excellent performance. After all, cartridge cases were not a technical barrier for the European industrial sector in the 1860s, which is why Zhu Da did not impose a technical blockade on them.

Similar to this are pneumatic tire technology, gasoline engine technology, and many other technologies. As long as they involve products that are sold publicly, it is almost impossible to impose any technical blockade.

After all, the European mechanical manufacturing industry at that time was already extremely mature. They only needed to buy a car to imitate the Ming Dynasty's industrial products, conduct research, and then manufacture similar products.

Of course, their similar products were born very quickly, but the quality was far from that of Ming Dynasty's products, and it could even be said that there was a world of difference.

why is that?

This involves various aspects of technology such as metallurgical raw materials and metal heat treatment, and these technologies are what the Ming Dynasty needs to keep secret.

However, even though the Ming Dynasty kept technologies such as metallurgy and metal heat treatment secret, with the dissemination of education in universities and technical exchanges among scholars, European scientists were able to crack many technologies unique to the Ming Dynasty.

At least, at present, countries such as Britain, France and Germany have cracked the secrets of Ming Dynasty's nickel steel and other alloy steels. They have also mastered the theory of alloy steel and have developed a variety of alloy steels. Ming Dynasty's leading advantage in metal materials is no longer as obvious as it was ten years ago.

After all, scientists in Europe and the United States at this time were not just there to do their work.

Although they have been catching up with the Ming Dynasty, the scientific and technological level of European and American countries has been much more advanced than in history. Even airships have made amazing progress after several years of full development.

This is because the advanced technologies used by the Ming Dynasty inevitably brought about the acceleration of global technological iteration, which is the so-called "border effect."

Emperor Zhu was also helpless about this!

That’s why...it’s very important to properly guide other people’s technology trees.

If you want to deviate from other people's technological path, you always have to pay a price.

Emperor Zhu said, thinking of Eugenie's request in the letter.

"Well, France is different from other countries. After all, they are our allies. It is necessary to carry out appropriate technology transfer. Of course, we have to grasp a limit, that is, what technology can be transferred and what cannot be transferred. For example, we can transfer some technologies first. These technologies are the technologies that the French will break through in the next one to three years. We can sell these technologies for a good price before they make a breakthrough. Of course, this will also weaken their motivation for further research. And what about key technologies? For example, new alloy steel and wind tunnel test data, as well as braking technology, these core technologies must not be transferred. Not only can they not be transferred, but the price can also be appropriately increased... Hollow walnut! We can transfer a hollow walnut to them and keep the meat for ourselves to eat. Hollow walnut... By the time they eat the walnut meat, Daming should have made a complete breakthrough in internal combustion locomotives and electric locomotives. You can study this together with other aspects!"

Sleeping with the queen mother and supporting her son, this... is normal.

The debt of love is hard to repay!

After all, Judy... is our son?

Being a father always requires sacrifices... Of course, high-speed steam trains can also bring another effect - taking European train technology into the ditch.

The airship is good.

The steam train is pretty good too!

How long will it take to restore a technology tree that has been skewed?

I don't know about that, but one thing is certain: if they want to take it back, it will definitely involve a large number of interest groups, just like the British Empire today, which has built a mighty "air fleet" consisting of more than 300 airships.

If we talk about an empire that is willing to spend huge sums of money, it has to be the British Empire!

"By the way, how are the Pan-American Railway negotiations going?"

Emperor Zhu asked, taking his eyes off the car window.

The concept of "Pan-American Railway" was first proposed by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. It is a railway system that runs through the entire American continent. It even includes a highway system. Although the current plan is to run from Zhongdu to Mexico City, its ultimate plan is to start from Alaska in the north and end at Tierra del Fuego in the south, that is, to connect North and South America into a whole through railways.

"Your Majesty, you know that, except for Mexico, Spanish-speaking countries in America have always been hostile to the Empire, or at least extremely resistant. In their eyes, we are a group of outsiders - outsiders occupying their land. Therefore, our negotiations with them have always been very difficult, and they are even unwilling to negotiate with us on this issue!"

Zhang Zhaoyu's tone was full of helplessness. The Ming Dynasty really wanted to build this railway, but the problem was... the countries along the route had no interest in cooperating with the Ming Dynasty at all.

"Outsiders? Occupying their land..."

Emperor Zhu smiled coldly, and then said in a faint tone:

"Who do they think they are? Are they the masters of this land? Humph, they are just a bunch of cuckoos occupying the magpie's nest..."

Staring out the car window, Emperor Zhu's expression became a little cold. Outsiders... Until now, those guys still thought that the Ming Dynasty was an outsider.

Humph, when it comes down to it, we are all just occupying other people’s nests!

(End of this chapter)