Scientific Research Department.

Zhu Ying was not just making an excuse, he did often monitor the progress of the train in the Research Department.

"Your Highness, please look. The hook that Your Highness mentioned earlier has now been successfully made."

"When the two carriages collide, the two hooks will connect directly together, so that the train carriages can be disassembled and assembled at will."

"However, according to our current tests, the coupled carriages are more bumpy than the whole train. Therefore, I think that the train in the capital will be more stable if all the carriages are connected together."

Huang Guan reported the progress of his work.

It is not difficult to hook the carpentry, especially for a carpenter who is proficient in carpentry. Zhu Ying has already given a brief description of it before. They only need to design and construct it according to this method.

Zhu Ying looked at the hook in front of him. It was not made of iron but a wooden model.

In the Scientific Research Department, there are many carpenters with exquisite craftsmanship. After all, the Scientific Research Department today can be regarded as a holy land for craftsmen in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Basically all the craftsmen who are slightly famous and have real skills will come here.

A high status is one thing, but the key is good treatment.

Food and accommodation are provided, there is a monthly salary, and children can go to school free of charge.

There has never been such a good thing in all dynasties.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty was now so powerful that even craftsmen from overseas came here to visit.

Zhu Ying developed the Scientific Research Department as the research institute of later generations. Science is the primary productive force, so such a result will naturally occur.

"In the future, we will build trains and railroad tracks in all parts of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, this hook will be much more useful."

"Especially in freight transport, it will not leave the carriages empty and can temporarily carry more cargo."

"During wartime, it can also ensure a large amount of logistics supplies for our army."

"How is the work progress on the whole train now?"

Zhu Ying took a sip of tea and asked casually.

Next to him were Queen Aida and her mother and daughter.

Basically, whenever he left the palace, the three of them would stay by Zhu Ying's side.

He must have a strong kidney, otherwise ordinary people would have been ruined by such night-time reveling.

Huang Guan reported: "According to our previous plan, there are a total of nine carriages. In order to make the train run faster and to prevent things like stalling, we installed a steam engine at the rear."

"When the two steam engines are running at the same time, the train can still travel more than 300 miles per hour even when fully loaded with cargo."

One hour, two hours.

According to later calculations, with the power of two steam engines, the current train speed can reach 80 kilometers per hour.

In the steam age, this was also a bottleneck.

If you want to go faster, you need to provide enough power, such as improving the engine to an internal combustion engine.

But this is very difficult.

Because there was no basic science in the Ming Dynasty at that time, the ability to build a steam engine was completely forced, rather than promoted by the entire basic industrial knowledge system.

To put it simply, this is the black technology of today's era.

Perfecting basic scientific theories is not something that can be achieved in just a few years.

But now, this is enough for the Ming Dynasty today.

"From the Beijing Railway Station, it's only about 20 miles to the Nanjing Port. At this speed, it will only take less than a quarter of an hour to arrive, right?"

Zhu Ying asked.

The current railway tracks have only been completed to the port of Nanjing on the Yangtze River.

"Your Highness, yes, we can reach Nanjing Port within a quarter of an hour." Huang Guan answered seriously.

They have already run it, and the round-trip train journey takes only fifteen minutes, which is extremely fast.

A quarter of an hour in the Ming Dynasty is roughly equivalent to 15 minutes in later generations.

Zhu Ying nodded with satisfaction.

“There are still some areas that are not perfect.”

Huang Guan replied: "At present, only the carvings on the front of the train and the decorations on the carriages are slightly worse."

"Due to time constraints, the dragon head is carved from wood this time. When there is more time, it will be cast in steel."

Zhu Ying shook his head and said, "It's not necessary. The train can't just sit there waiting for the royal family to use it. A wooden dragon head is fine. Let's do it this way. Will three days be enough?"

Huang Guan bowed and said, "It won't take three days. It can be completed tomorrow."

Zhu Ying said, "Okay, then the day after tomorrow. The court meeting will be held here then."

Huang Guan bowed and said, "I obey your order."

Left the Research Department.

On the way, Zhu Ying said to Queen Aida: "I won't come over these few days. There are things to arrange in the palace. I have informed the Jinyiwei. You can enjoy the capital."

Aida bowed slightly and said, "Thank you, Grandson."

Amyra asked beside him: "Your Highness, when can we take the train? I really want to ride it and have some fun."

Yibaiti also looked expectantly.

Zhu Ying smiled and said, "I will take you there in a few days. The railway we have built now is too short and we can't go very far. With more time, we can go to faraway places to play."

During the time he was with the mother and daughter, Zhu Ying also talked about the matter of conferring the title of concubine.

However, although Amira and Ibaiti were curious about life in the palace, they were unwilling to live in the palace.

Because they grew up in the palace of the Fox Hu Kingdom, they yearn for freedom even more.

And after going to the palace, it would be difficult to meet the queen mother again.

Since they were born till now, they have not been separated from their mother.

Zhu Ying knew what the sisters were thinking, but she didn't force it.

The ideas of the Western Regions are very different from those of the Ming Dynasty. They have no concept of status, so let them be.

Returned to the palace.

Zhu Ying reported the situation to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Now that the train is finished, all that's left is some carving and decoration, which will be done within today or tomorrow."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "How many people can sit in the nine carriages of this train?"

Zhu Ying replied, "The seven carriages at the back have a total of 140 seats. The two carriages at the front are reserved for the royal family, so they have fewer seats and can accommodate about a dozen people."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Okay, let's issue an edict and the court meeting the day after tomorrow will be held directly at the Scientific Research Department."

"You don't know, grandson, that many of these officials are impeaching the Research Department, saying that they spend too much money every year. Now that they see the appearance of the train, they should be able to shut up."

"If anyone keeps nagging me, he should go to the countryside and farm instead of occupying this high position."

The annual funding for the Research Department starts at 100 million treasure notes, and has been even higher in recent years.

Salaries and wages are just the foremost of this appropriation.

For example, in order to get more steel to manufacture trains, Zhu Ying built twenty steel mills in the surrounding areas.

These steel mills do not have any business operations. They are all affiliated with the Scientific Research Department and are solely responsible for producing steel for the Department.

The operation of the steel plant relies on multiple steam engines.

These steam engines also require a large amount of coal.

The procurement expenses will naturally be included in the total expenses of the Research Department.

Why can trains be built so quickly?

Many people just saw that the Scientific Research Department was making rapid progress, and Zhu Ying casually said that a hook could be made in a few days.

However, what is overlooked is that behind this are 100,000 people working in three shifts.

Once the task of hooking was given, eighty master carpenters, under the leadership of Huang Guan, tried various construction methods.

There were eighty carpenters and nearly two hundred apprentices helping them.

As for the train, almost every part has a dedicated team responsible for it.

It is a real hand-rubbed train.

No matter how much it costs, Zhu Ying thinks it is all worth it.

But many officials don't think so.

Tens of millions of silver coins were easily involved, which simply subverted their worldview.

For example, an official pointed out that the total cost of disaster relief for the Henan flood was less than 20 million strings of treasure notes, but in the Science and Technology Department, this amount might be gone in a month in many cases.

From their own perspective, it feels right.

Having been brought up with Confucianism, the crown prince believed that these were nothing more than ** techniques, which made him too obsessed with them.

"So, Liu Sanwu's reform of education is imminent."

"These officials of the older generation have no modern thinking in their minds. They are confined to the past and have no idea of ​​the significance of trains to the Ming Dynasty."

"They don't even understand how profound an impact these products created by the Research Department will have on Ming Dynasty and even the whole world."

"The Research Department has already produced its first lathe. In the future, the processing and polishing of parts will be more meticulous. This not only represents a huge increase in the production of our Daming firearms, but also indicates that the reform and upgrading of firearms is about to come."

"The firearm will become a thing of the past. When the Ming army is equipped with flintlock rifles, we will be able to conquer any place in the world."

Zhu Ying's tone was full of confidence.

When building a train, the grinding and processing of parts are basically done by hand.

Zhu Ying finally remembered how to use the lathe.

In fact, lathes were not a new thing in the Ming Dynasty. For example, the arrowheads of crossbows were made using manual lathes.

Hand-cranked and pedal-operated lathes had already been invented.

Now that we have steam engines, they can be modified into mechanical lathes.

In the past, it was necessary for a master craftsman to rub the flintlock by hand to completely finely construct the parts.

Now with a lathe, it can be easily produced.

With precise molds, the flintlock can be broken down into multiple parts and made simultaneously.

However, because the main focus has been on building trains recently, not too many people have been invested in forging flintlock rifles.

"Can flintlock rifles be mass-produced?" Zhu Yuanzhang was a little surprised.

He also had a flintlock rifle, which was a gift from his eldest grandson on his 71st birthday, which was the 31st year of Hongwu.

When I first got it, I couldn't let it go and played with it often.

Because it is used frequently, we know how good this flintlock rifle is, but it is too difficult to make.

Unexpectedly, now the crown prince said that it can be mass-produced.

"The Research Department is developing very fast now. Since the lathe was invented, the firearms produced have become more accurate." Zhu Ying responded.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked curiously, "Has the flint problem been solved?"

Naturally, he was also concerned about firearms.

Zhu Ying explained: "The Research Department has come up with a compromise to make it easier to replace flints. There are relatively few high-quality flints at the moment, and those with acceptable quality can basically ignite the fire for the first ten or so times."

"The soldiers will just need to carry some flint with them when the time comes."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "This is also a solution, but we still need to find a way to solve the problem of flint, so that the whole army can be equipped."

Zhu Ying could only smile bitterly.

Flint sounds simple, but it is actually not that easy. If you want to synthesize it artificially, it involves basic chemistry.

In this regard, the Ming Dynasty is now completely blank and has no scientific concept.

Zhu Ying had no way of completing basic science, and could only create an environment to cultivate it slowly.

Zhu Ying encountered a problem here.

If we continue to develop the current Central Plains civilization, can we develop a natural science foundation and achieve the level of modernization in later generations?

Thinking in this light, Zhu Ying found it difficult.

It cannot be said that there is no hope, but it is very slim.

This is the influence of the general environment. Strictly speaking, the Central Plains civilization is more inclined towards idealism, such as the "beauty of artistic conception".

There are many philosophical things mixed in it, such as ideology, thinking patterns, and free thought.

There is also the stability of imperial power, the stability of agricultural civilization, ideological inertia, and so on.

The development of science is not necessarily inevitable.

Perhaps there is a lot of randomness involved.

The spark of European science was largely due to the presence of so many countries and the fierce competition among them, which constantly forced everyone to explore industry and science.

This is also related to the formal logic system invented by Greek philosophers.

If the trend is towards unity and stability, it will be difficult to produce such changes.

The Mohist school during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was actually a kind of scientific school, which included Shennong's tasting of hundreds of herbs, anatomy, and so on.

However, these are not conducive to a unified and stable country, and therefore they were gradually marginalized or even eliminated in the changes of imperial power over the dynasties.

Even now, it is very difficult for Zhu Ying to force this process forward.

Because basic natural science is not developed overnight, perhaps Zhu Ying could consolidate the strength of the Ming Dynasty during his few decades of life, but what about his descendants in future generations?

Will it be possible that hundreds of years later, we will embark on the same historical path again?

The present glory is but a brief blip in history.

Perhaps in the history books of later generations, there will be an account of the revival of the Ming Dynasty by the Grandson of the Ming Dynasty.

Back then, Genghis Khan incorporated almost half of the Eurasian continent into his empire. What about now?

"If that doesn't work, then we can only treat Europe as our Ming's breeding ground."

There was a sharp light flashing in Zhu Ying's eyes.

With the support of steam locomotives and steam ironclad ships, the Ming Dynasty could fully extend its reach into Europe.

How can those scattered small countries confront the current Ming Dynasty?