In fact, rail transportation is not a new plan, but has been tested in the Tangshan Coal and Steel Complex. After a period of application in coal mining, more scientific and reasonable data reference was obtained.
Moreover, the Academy of Sciences has developed a "hand rolling car", which is a manual rail car, in accordance with the ideas and suggestions provided by the emperor.
This manual rail car weighs nearly 500 kilograms and is driven by mechanical devices such as levers, crankshafts, and gears. It is driven by four people, with two people in the front and two people in the back holding the handle with both hands and pressing it up and down alternately. The car can move forward at a speed of 12 kilometers per hour.
Although the power of the "hand roller" is far from enough to be used for transportation, it also provides people with new ideas and opens a window.
If the power is sufficient, wouldn't it be possible to pull many carriages? Even a simple steam car that can only move back and forth seems to be able to be used.
Of course, the emperor didn't have high hopes at the moment. Railroad cars, pulled by horses or oxen, were still several times more efficient than current road transport.
"Very good." The emperor put down the document and said to Sun Yuanhua with a smile, "Since the experiment has proven feasible, let's speed up the implementation! I will find a way to solve the funding problem."
After a pause, the emperor reminded: "The most urgent task is to train a group of railway construction talents, and through them, promote the construction of railway tracks throughout the country."
Sun Yuanhua bowed and said, "If Your Majesty wishes so, I suggest establishing a specialized school."
The emperor nodded slightly and said, "Yes. Gather some people and get this done!"
The country needs scholars, but not just those who read the Four Books and Five Classics or those who pass the imperial examinations. Various professional talents will play an increasingly important role in the construction of the Ming Dynasty promoted by the emperor.
As for official positions, they were nothing to the emperor. This was also to accommodate the social customs and inherent concepts of the time. You say academicians and engineers are awesome, but people only recognize their ranks.
If this were not the case, how could the Academy of Sciences be so attractive? Regardless of whether one truly possesses a scientific spirit, as long as one possesses professional expertise, one will be granted a position and rank, and enjoy the benefits of an official.
It seemed that the officials were being appointed indiscriminately, and there would be a worry about redundant officials in the future. However, the emperor did not think so. The official titles and ranks used for technical officials were not much different from the titles of later generations.
Sun Yuanhua bowed in response, paused, and then continued, "Your Majesty, the development of rifles has been slow. Although we have produced a real rifle, it is labor-intensive and time-consuming, making large-scale production very difficult."
The emperor's attention to military industry was obvious to all, and his ideas and suggestions were sound. Despite the immense effort involved, a prototype rifled musket was produced, and the results of live-fire tests were encouraging.
But as Sun Yuanhua said, it is time-consuming and laborious to manufacture, and there is no way it will ever be equipped to the army. It can only exist in the world as a small number of samples.
The emperor knew what Sun Yuanhua's report meant and was afraid that he would be too anxious and would punish him.
He waved his hand and said, "To do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools. Only after developing a machine to pull the rifling threads can the manufacture of rifled guns be scaled up. This is the same principle as the manufacture of musket barrels in the past. From manual labor to machinery, we have equipped our Ming army. There is no rush for this work, you can take your time to develop it."
"I understand." Sun Yuanhua breathed a sigh of relief.
The flintlock musket was already the most advanced in the world, and the emperor was in no hurry to switch to rifled muskets. However, the technology tree must be continuously climbed, and the transition from smoothbore to rifled muskets was also the normal trajectory of historical development.
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