Chapter 78: Barbarians on the Coast
Song Yuzhu picked up her sister and was extremely happy.
Although the ceremony was just for good luck, Tongtong grabbed the small seal that he had deliberately placed in the corner. Isn't this fate?
Zhao Xiao looked at the seal in Song Yutong's hand. He looked at Song Yuzhu in surprise, lowering his head and thinking slightly.
After the one-year-old banquet was over, the two returned to the palace together. Zhao Xiao finally asked, "You...you plan to let Tongtong become the crown princess?"
"How is it?" Song Yuzhu stopped and looked up at him.
Zhao Xiao was silent for a while and said, "It will definitely be difficult, but I am here. Even if everyone in the world opposes, I will stand by you."
Song Yuzhu laughed and held his hand: "With a husband like this, what else can I ask for?"
*
On the second day of the holiday, the Ministry of Industry sent them something, which was the bicycle that Song Yuzhu had drawn before. They actually copied it and made it...
Song Yuzhu pushed the bike and tried it out, and found that except for the lack of rubber tires on the wheels, it was almost the same as the bicycles he was familiar with in later generations.
After trying to ride around outside the temple, Song Yuzhu's face was blue when he came back. It was so bumpy that he felt like his little brother was about to be thrown away.
This is on a flat road. If you ride on a dirt road in the countryside, you might get thrown to pieces.
The reasons are, first, there are no tires, and second, the car has no shock absorbers, and there was no such thing as springs in that era.
The Minister of Revenue came over with a big smile on his face and said, "Your Majesty, is this two-wheeled cart still usable?"
"It's okay." Song Yuzhu wiped his hands and asked the eunuch to move the car into the warehouse.
When Song Yuzhu drew the blueprint, they were very worried. A group of people worked for more than two months to build such a car.
The wheels are made of red sandalwood and the fine iron used for vehicles, which are chiseled out piece by piece. The most troublesome part is the gear and chain in the middle. The small chain is polished out bit by bit by the master and then connected together.
After the car was made, everyone couldn't believe that it could move. Unexpectedly, the emperor could actually ride the car. It was simply amazing!
Song Yuzhu knew clearly that this epoch-making product could not be mass-produced today. Manual production was time-consuming, labor-intensive and costly, making it totally unsuitable for popularization among the general public. They could only make it after machines were invented.
After rewarding the Ministry of Works, he told them not to study these small issues anymore and to solve the irrigation problem as soon as possible because spring ploughing would begin soon.
Although there is not a severe drought this year, there is still not much rain. In order to avoid a reduction in grain production, Song Yuzhu has ordered the Ministry of Industry to build water conservancy and irrigation equipment in various places.
Nowadays, most people use the lever for irrigation, commonly known as a hanging pole, which is a simple frame with a thin pole in the middle. A wooden barrel is hung on one end and a heavy object is hung on the other end.
This irrigation tool is inefficient. If the land is far from the water source, you have to carry the water bucket by bucket, which is time-consuming and laborious.
Song Yuzhu asked the research department to make some improvements and add a steam engine system to the original ordinary waterwheel.
As long as the steam engine is burned, it can drive the water wheel to turn, bringing out water continuously, greatly increasing the efficiency of irrigation.
The Ministry of Industry was responsible for promoting the use of steam engine water wheels throughout the country.
*
The examination ended at the end of February, and the papers were not graded until April.
The reason why it took so long this time was, firstly, that the number of people taking the imperial examination was more than before, and secondly, the emperor added two more examinations, mathematics and craftsmanship, which required more people.
There were too few people who could mark these two types of test papers, so it took a lot longer.
The imperial examination admitted 300 candidates, and the files of the top 20 were sent to the emperor for review. His Majesty personally selected the first place as the champion.
These tribute scholars will then have to take part in the palace examination, which is mainly composed of the emperor personally interviewing these students and then selecting the top three. The first place will be awarded the title of Jinshi Jidi, the second place will be awarded the title of Jinshi Chuan, and the third place will be awarded the title of Tong Jinshi.
No matter what kind of Jinshi you are, as long as you pass the exam, it is equivalent to having one foot halfway into the court.
Even the worst fellow Jinshi could still be appointed to serve as county magistrate, county magistrate and other official positions in various places.
The county magistrate is equivalent to the county governor in later generations. You must know that this is the real official who is in charge of the population, land and taxation of an area.
No wonder the ancients studied hard for exams, and some even took exams until they were old and gray, but still did not give up.
The examination papers were brought to Song Yuzhu's desk for him to look at. To be honest, any one of them was better than his.
Every profession has its own specialty. Song Yuzhu knew that he was not good at his studies, so he naturally did not spend too much time on it. With a great talent like Qin Fengtu and many Hanlin scholars around, they would naturally choose the best from the best and select the best one.
However, he read every test paper carefully after selecting thirty candidates based on mathematics and craftsmanship.
There were unexpected discoveries. Among them was a young man named He Zhao, who discovered the distillation method and was able to extract high-concentration alcohol through this method.
This discovery made Song Yuzhu ecstatic, and she immediately sent someone to summon him into the palace.
He Zhao just turned twenty this year. He is a short and thin young man. The first time he was summoned to the palace, he was so scared that he trembled all over, lay on the ground and almost wet his pants.
Song Yuzhu comforted him softly, "Where did you find out that this distillation method can be used to extract liquids?"
He Zhao said in a trembling voice, "I used to make fire in the home of a local wealthy businessman. One time when I was cooking wine lees, I found that small water droplets would condense after the lid of the pot cooled down. I tasted it and found that the taste of these water droplets was stronger than ordinary wine, so I collected them and went back to study them slowly."
He used the principle of condensation to make a simple ceramic distillation vessel that could speed up the collection of alcohol.
Alcohol is very useful. The most common medical use is disinfection and sterilization. It also has a wide range of uses in industry, such as printing, electronics, hardware, spices and chemical synthesis.
However, alcohol is not the most important thing, what is important is the distillation method. Song Yuzhu remembered that stones can also be separated by distillation!
With this method, he can refine gasoline and diesel as fuel. Unfortunately, there is no internal combustion engine now, so the role of gasoline is greatly reduced, but it is better than nothing. I just hope these people can develop the machine as soon as possible and speed up the pace of development.
Song Yuzhu personally appointed this person to the scientific research department so that Chen Lun could train him well and not bury him early.
The rest of the people were also sent to the Research Department, with ten people in each department. These people will be the first batch of leaders for Daqi's innovative development.
Industrial development is inseparable from various minerals. Song Yuzhu selected more than a dozen coal mines and iron mines and sent local governments to develop them.
The mined coal and iron ore were transported to the Jizhou Iron Factory for unified processing and forging.
Although the output is still pitifully small compared to modern times, it has increased more than ten times compared to the previous dynasty!
The price of ironware gradually dropped, and ordinary people could use iron pots and various iron tools at home.
Song Yuzhu took some time to look at the system's technology tree and found that the technology value on the trunk had changed from 506 to 746. He didn't know where these 240 points came from, but it was still a long way from 10,000 points.
If you want to get the first reward, you have a long way to go.
*
In the blink of an eye, it was June and the weather was getting hotter.
This season is probably the most leisurely time of the year in the court, and Song Yuzhu also has time to bring her sister to the palace to play.
Early this morning, Song Yuzhu sent someone to drive to pick up her sister and bring her to the palace.
The weather was hot, and the little girl was only wearing a light yellow thin sand skirt. She had her hair tied into two little buns with two tender yellow flowers on them. She looked very cute.
Song Yutong was a little crazy kid who had no idea what shyness was. As soon as he entered the palace gate, he ran around like crazy, scaring the eunuchs behind him so much that their faces turned pale, for fear that he would fall.
At almost one and a half years old, Song Yutong can already speak coherent sentences. Although he still stutters, he can express what he means.
Children of this age are the most playful and curious about everything. When he ran into the study and saw Song Yuzhu writing, he climbed onto his legs using his hands and feet and stared at him with his big eyes.
Song Yuzhu held her chubby little hand and pointed at the words on the memorial and read: "This is East, the East of East, South, West and North."
Little Yutong shook her little body and said in a baby voice, "Dong, Dongnian Xibai Dong."
Song Yuzhu laughed so hard that her stomach hurt because of her thick tongue.
The memorial was submitted by Dongzhou, saying that the salt field had been reorganized after the last incident.
The newly appointed prefect was named Shang Rui. His ancestor was very famous, and was Shang Rong, who compiled the "Book of Shang".
Although this person did not have the abilities of his ancestors, he was a rare pragmatic talent. Knowing that the emperor attached great importance to the salt industry, he immediately sent people to rebuild the salt field and recruit workers to dry and boil salt after taking office.
Because of the mess left behind, it became very difficult to recruit workers. In the end, Shang Rui had no choice but to visit the people in person. He took the lead in drying and boiling salt, and made a vow that as long as he was in Dongzhou, he would never delay the payment of wages to the people and ensure their safety.
The salt fields gradually recovered, and the wages of the people increased from 10 coins per stone to 15 coins per stone. After a busy month, they could earn about 2 taels of silver. In the first half of this year, the salt tax increased by three levels, making it a real major taxpayer.
Song Yuzhu marked the words happily, and his expression gradually froze as he continued to read.
Several ships were found in the coastal areas of Dongzhou. These ships were different from those of Qi Dynasty. They had pointed bows and sterns with huge sails hanging on them.
Some fishermen went over by boat to check and found that there were barbarians with yellow hair and green eyes on the boat. They spoke incomprehensible words and held strange tools in their hands.
Shang Rui has been sending troops to guard the seashore and not allow these foreigners to go ashore.
"Tongtong, you play with Li Banban first. I have something to do."
Song Yutong nodded obediently and climbed down from his legs.
□□ quickly stepped forward and said: "Princess, I will take you to ride a big horse."
After her sister left, Song Yuzhu closed her eyes and opened the map of Dongzhou. After a short screen loading, she heard the sound of heavy rain.
Today in Dongzhou, light rain will turn to cloudy, with temperatures ranging from 27 degrees to 31 degrees.
Song Yuzhu controlled his sight and looked around the coastal area, and sure enough, he saw five or six wobbly wooden boats in the waves.
The people on the boat were typical Europeans, with white skin, blond hair, and blue-green eyes. They wore the kind of tops and trousers that people wear in later times, but the material of the clothes was very rough, and you could see through the trousers.
They all wore some strange big-toed boots on their feet. The raindrops that fell on the boots actually rolled directly to the sides. If I'm not mistaken, these looked like rain boots?
Although the black rain boots look weird and ugly, they are made of real rubber. You should know that rubber plays an absolutely key role in the development of science!
Song Yuzhu didn't know where these people came from or what their purpose was. Now he just wanted to meet them immediately.
He immediately wrote a letter and ordered someone to rush it to Dongzhou over a distance of 800 miles, asking them to make sure these people were sent to the capital, as he was afraid that they would leave if it was too late.
(End of this chapter)
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