Chapter 321 The First Steam Locomotive in History
Queen Mother?
Ying Zheng murmured, and then asked him, "What did the Queen Mother say?"
"Grandmother said that all these years of war were caused by the feudal system. If we return to the feudal system, Qin will be just another Zhou Dynasty. Although the county system makes it difficult to govern local areas, this is not the problem of the county system. It is because the speed of information transmission is slow. As long as people and information can flow quickly, all problems will be solved."
This coincided with what Li Si said, but Ying Zheng didn't understand how the Queen Mother could solve the problem of the rapid flow of people and information.
"Is the Queen Mother in Ganquan Palace now?" Ying Zheng asked the eunuch beside him.
The chief eunuch hurriedly replied, "The Queen Mother is not in Ganquan Palace."
"I know!" Fusu replied quickly, "A few days ago, my mother said she wanted to go back to Yongcheng. They are in Yongcheng now and should be back in the next two days."
Ying Zheng was extremely busy, but he didn't expect that the Queen Mother would take advantage of this time to run back to Yongcheng.
"Why did she return to Yongcheng?"
"Grandmother said Meng Xi created a baby, and she wants to go and see it."
"What treasure?"
"Grandmother didn't say anything, she just said it was a groundbreaking product and that you would definitely like it."
Ying Zheng wanted to go and take a look, but there were too many things to do now, and he had no time to see what the treasure was. He could only send people to Yongcheng to inquire about the situation.
After Zhao Yuanxi received the news from Meng Xi, he rushed to the Mohist Research Institute in Yongcheng without stopping.
Li had been waiting for her there for a long time. When he saw her coming, he quickly bowed and said, "I pay my respects to the Queen Mother!"
"Excuse me, where is Master Meng?"
"The master is not here. I will take you there to find him."
Although the Mohist Research Institute occupies a large area, it is still impossible to make a steam locomotive run normally.
As early as two years ago, Meng Xi bought a large piece of land in the nearby mountains to facilitate his various tests.
Zhao Yuanxi arrived at the mountain area with excitement.
The huge, familiar yet unfamiliar machinery made a rumbling sound, and thick smoke rose from the land, which meant the arrival of a new era.
Zhao Yuanxi stood there in a daze, tears streaming down his face unconsciously.
He had never thought that he would actually be able to see this thing being built in his lifetime. The steam locomotive stopped not far from them. Zhao Yuanxi stepped forward and touched the locomotive with his hand. "Meng Xi, you are simply a genius. No—genius is not enough to describe you. You have created an era!"
In just two years, Meng Xi's hair turned as white as snow, which shows how much effort he put into building this steam locomotive.
"As long as the Empress Dowager is satisfied, it's all good. It's a pity that I can't build the vehicle you desire that can travel freely on the road. Today's locomotive can only run on tracks, but its load capacity will definitely meet the Empress Dowager's needs."
"That's great, it's already great!" Zhao Yuanxi shook his hand excitedly, very seriously, "I want to thank you on behalf of the Qin State!"
Meng Xi was also very happy. He took Zhao Yuanxi and began to introduce the characteristics of this motorcycle.
"This machine is different from those looms. It doesn't burn charcoal, but the stone that the Queen Mother once mentioned. Fortunately, the Queen Mother gave us the mining license, so we can find so much stone."
Stone is coal.
Zhao Yuanxi noticed that this steam locomotive was mainly divided into two parts, the front part, which was the power source. It had the boiler, the main core components of the steam engine, and the power conversion device on it. There was a row of wheels underneath. The wheels were about three feet high and were made of steel. The rear part was connected to the water tank, coal bunker, and some auxiliary devices.
This is just the front of a steam locomotive. If you want, you can connect many carriages to the back. According to the current speed of the locomotive, it takes less than five days to travel from the southernmost tip to the northernmost tip of Qin State. Once the car body is optimized, the speed can be further increased.
"Has it been named yet?"
"Name it?" Meng Xi was stunned. He obviously hadn't thought about naming it. "We call it the Jet Train."
Instruments made in the Qin State needed to be engraved with the names of the craftsmen in order to trace responsibility. No one expected to be able to name the item themselves.
The name "Jet Car" is quite appropriate. You can indeed see this big thing coming towards you from a distance, spewing gas and making a clanging sound.
"Jet iron car is the name of this type of machine, but this car should have a unique name. Why not call it Meng Xihao!" Zhao Yuanxi said with a smile.
Meng Xi's lips couldn't help but tremble, "Meng--Meng Xi number?"
"It's the name you created, and it deserves to be called your name. As long as this car exists, everyone will remember that you created the first one in the world."
Even if this car disappeared in the long river of history, it would be recorded in history books that in the 15th year of King Zheng of Qin, the leader of the Mohist school built the first steam locomotive, named Meng Xihao.
"Is this really possible? I didn't build this car alone!"
"Of course! Although you didn't build every single component, everything was put together by you. They're all your creative ideas. There's nothing wrong with naming it after you."
Li followed up, "Master, if it weren't for you, this car wouldn't have appeared."
Zhao Yuanxi asked someone to bring some mixed white lacquer and had someone write the three big characters "Meng Xihao" on it.
Meng Xi was a little excited at first, but after he finished writing, he felt embarrassed and asked Li quietly, "Isn't this too ostentatious?"
After writing the words, Li also felt that it seemed a bit ostentatious, but seeing that the Queen Mother looked very satisfied, he immediately praised, "It's not ostentatious. If you don't write your name on it, how can you tell the difference between the Mengxihao and other cars?"
Meng Xi also felt that there was some truth to it. Although he was still a little embarrassed, he accepted this conspicuous sign.
Zhao Yuanxi returned to Xianyang happily and was planning to share the good news with Ying Zheng later.
As soon as she returned to Ganquan Palace, the eunuchs around Ying Zheng came to pass on a message, "Queen Dowager, you are finally back. The King wishes to see you. Please go to Zhengyang Palace!"
"You came pretty quickly!"
Ying Zheng stared at the picture sent by his subordinates, and after looking at it for a long time, he still couldn't figure out what this thing was.
Naturally, what the Queen Mother asked Meng Xi to build was not a simple thing. Judging from the wheels on it, Ying Zheng inferred that it was a car. However, this car had no horses or cows, so he really didn't understand how it moved.
When Zhao Yuanxi entered, she saw the blueprints of a steam locomotive on Ying Zheng's desk. She felt a little regretful, then smiled and joked, "I was going to give you a surprise! But you're so well-informed, nothing can be hidden from you. I wonder if you've figured out what's going on?"
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