The Luoyang shovel was made by a man named Li Yazi in the early 20th century. It was originally used for tomb robbing, and later it was widely used in archaeological excavations. Kangxi and his men naturally had never seen such a shovel.
"You mean this shovel can get the soil from deep underground without digging?"
Look at the question, isn't this what people were created for? So after hearing Kangxi's question, Yinzuo nodded without hesitation.
"Khan Ama, if you don't believe your son, just send someone to take the blueprints to the Ministry of Industry and have them make a few to test, and you'll know for sure."
Kangxi naturally believed in his son Yinzuo. He asked that question just now because he was too surprised. You know, although his son looked quite unreliable on weekdays, he was never vague when it came to serious matters. Since he said that this strange-looking shovel could bring up soil from deep underground, he must have been somewhat confident.
"Liang Jiugong, have someone take these blueprints to the Ministry of Works and instruct them to quickly craft the shovels according to the blueprints. After testing, if they can indeed bring up soil from deep underground as Sixth Prince said, make more and give them to the teams going out to search for water."
Liang Jiugong naturally knew that the drought was severe and time was precious. He took the drawings from Kangxi and hurried out of Qingxi Book House with his men without asking anyone else to do anything.
"Yinzuo, do you have any good ideas about this drought?"
The reason why Kangxi didn't ask Yinzuo just now was because he thought that his son had been pampered since childhood and had never suffered any hardship. After growing up, he was not interested in court affairs and usually loved to study eating and drinking. He thought that his son should know nothing about disaster relief. Unexpectedly, he turned around and gave him a surprise.
Yinzuo thought to himself, you ask me, what good idea can I have? I am not the Dragon King, how can I make it rain? Yes, Dragon King, Marshal Zhang, why didn’t you think of it before? Our Marshal Zhang is the first person to make artificial rain.
"Khan Ama, I do have a solution that may not seem like a solution, but I have to tell you in advance that it may not work. Do you still want to listen to me?"
Kangxi was desperate at this time and wanted to hear what Yinzuo had to say, no matter whether it was useful or not. What if the solution was feasible?
"Don't keep me in suspense. Tell me about it."
Yinzuo knew that Kangxi was anxious at the moment, so he naturally would not keep it a secret.
"Khan Ama, you can gather the people from the Imperial Observatory now and have them observe the sky at night to calculate the most likely rainy days. Then, find some high, open hilltops near the capital and bring all the red cannons from our suburban camp there. Position them on the hilltops. As soon as they see clouds, regardless of whether it's raining or not, fire a few cannons. Who knows, maybe there will be a surprise."
When Yinzuo said this, not only Yinzhi and the others, but even Kangxi was dumbfounded. What a guy, he just fired a few cannons at the clouds when he saw them. Is he asking them to use red cannons to scare the Dragon King?
"Yinzuo, listen to Khan Ama and go over there to have some snacks and drink some tea. I and your brothers will be fine here."
When Yinzuo saw Kangxi like this, he knew that he thought he was making trouble, so he immediately became unhappy. What's the matter? It was you who asked me to give him advice, and when I finally came up with a feasible solution, you drove me away. Hey, I really won't leave today. I must have a good talk with you.
"Khan Ama, do you think your son is fooling around? Let me tell you, what I'm doing might be the only way to make it rain. Do you know why we often see dark clouds when it rains? That's because rain is the water vapor in the clouds that cools down and turns into liquid particles. Through constant collisions, it combines into larger water droplets. When the weight of these water droplets reaches a certain level, the clouds can no longer support them, and they fall down to become the rain we see. Now it's not raining because the water droplets in the air are too small to become rain that can fall. What we have to do is to artificially supplement them according to the laws of natural rainfall to form some necessary conditions for precipitation, prompting the water droplets in the clouds to quickly condense or collide and expand, so that they fall to the ground quickly. The specific method is as my son said before. Let the Imperial Astronomical Observatory observe the sky at night to find the time when it is most likely to rain in the near future. Then find some high and open places to deploy red cannons. When you see clouds, don't hesitate, just fire the cannons, and maybe there will be a sweet rain."
Kangxi had been exposed to Western learning a lot in recent years, and he thought he had a strong ability to accept new things. But now he was asked to use a cannon to attack the Dragon King, and he felt that he still could not accept it. But after listening to his son's explanation just now, although he did not understand it, he felt it was impressive. So, Kangxi was silent for a while due to the dilemma.
"Sixth brother, although I don't understand what you said, I still feel that if we really did that, God would definitely blame us..."
Yinzuo naturally understood the concerns of Kangxi and others. You know, people nowadays have an almost obsessive awe of ghosts and gods, so the method of artificial rainmaking naturally made them feel embarrassed.
"Well, first, I'll have people select a few high, open hilltops around the capital and deploy the red-coated cannons as you instructed. Then, I'll have the Imperial Observatory calculate the likely rainy days. If the team searching for water doesn't proceed smoothly, I'll consider using this method again."
After much deliberation, Kangxi decided that this method should not be used unless absolutely necessary. However, it could be prepared in advance to avoid being too late to make arrangements when the day came when it was needed.
Yinzuo naturally had no objection to Kangxi's decision. After all, if the previous process of finding water went smoothly, this trick would not be used. If Kangxi really decided to use this trick later, he would definitely try his best to eliminate those opposing voices.
"Khan Ama, my son thinks we don't have to think of countermeasures every time a disaster strikes. Instead, we should prepare in advance. Just like this drought, if we had thought of solutions and made sufficient preparations in advance, there would be no drought even if it didn't rain now."
Kangxi naturally knew the importance of preparing for a rainy day. After listening to Yinzuo's words, he nodded slightly, looked at Yinzuo with encouragement, and motioned him to continue.
"I think we can gradually build water conservancy facilities across the country, such as reservoirs. Water from abundant rainfall can be stored in these reservoirs, and used to irrigate farmland during droughts. We can also encourage the people to plant more drought-resistant crops and save enough seeds for future use after each harvest. Furthermore, we can assign dedicated personnel to observe the weather. While it may not be as accurate as predicting solar and lunar eclipses, long-term records may reveal some patterns."
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