Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

After chatting for a while, Zhu Guoxiang stood up and said, "I'll show you something."

"What?" Zhu Ming followed curiously.

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "I guarantee you will be shocked when you see it."

In the middle of winter, it’s windy and snowy.

The father and son took a carriage and headed to Dongkuo City.

There is a small courtyard there, which was used to hide BMW cars. Zhu Guoxiang also led craftsmen to make inventions there.

Although Zhu Guoxiang has moved away several years ago, the small courtyard has always remained.

"Gah!"

The courtyard door opened and several young people came forward.

One is the son of Zhu Guoxiang and Wen Xiaomei, named Zhu Wenzhu, and titled King of Fujian.

One is Yu Ang, a top craftsman who stands out among many craftsman apprentices.

One was Zhang Congdao, who had studied at Taixue for ten years and was proficient in astronomy and geography, the Four Books and Six Classics, and mathematics and physics.

The courtyard door is closed and the room door is open.

On the table in the center of the main room, there is an object about one foot high.

Ju Ming looked at the wires next to the object, suppressed his excitement and asked, "Battery?"

"Not bad." Zhu Guoxiang nodded.

Ju Ming said: "How did you do it?"

"You vaguely understand the principle, so just do the experiments slowly." Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile.

Zhu Guoxiang invented the battery and worked hard for five years.

At the beginning, I used a coil to crank it by hand, but it didn’t feel like the right way to go at this stage. He temporarily gave up on physical methods, then turned to chemical methods, trying to recall the periodic table of elements. Copper was chosen first, and other materials were slowly experimented with.

Zhu Guoxiang pointed to the battery and said: "A copper sheet, a zinc sheet, a hydrochloric acid sheet sandwiched in the middle, and then stacked repeatedly, with a graphite rod in the center."

"Is zinc easy to make?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The copper coins cast by the Daming Mint contain zinc. The tin coins cast by Cai Jing are even more severe, with a lead content of 26% and a tin content of 13%. The current zinc-making process has been able to meet the requirements, but it can continue Improve."

In Chinese history, zinc-making technology reached its peak during the Jiajing period.

Later, a sunken ship from the mid-Qing Dynasty was salvaged, and the purity of the zinc ingots on the ship reached 98.99%.

"Where's the hydrochloric acid?" Ju Ming asked again.

"At first I used salt water, but then I remembered..." Zhu Guoxiang turned to look at the others, "You know, I changed it to hydrochloric acid. It took me more than a year to prepare hydrochloric acid, and there are currently two types. Method. One is to use lead to catalyze the pyrite, and the other is to use bile alum to obtain sulfuric acid and then add salt to obtain hydrochloric acid.

Ju Ming looked at the battery carefully: "It seems to have a very simple structure?"

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "As long as you make one battery, you can make countless more. It is countless times easier than developing a sewing machine. Wenzhu, let me demonstrate it to your imperial brother."

Zhu Wenzhu immediately stepped forward, connected the positive and negative poles with wires, and the electromagnet sucked up an iron nail.

Ju Ming stared at the battery for a long time, and suddenly felt a little dazed.

Cotton hasn't been fully promoted here yet, but Zhu Guoxiang actually came up with batteries.

Should we skip the steam age and go directly to the electric age?

After a long time, Ju Ming said: "A battery like yours has a limited power output, right?"

"It is indeed very limited," Zhu Guoxiang said. "In fact, I have already made the most primitive hand-operated generator. But if you want to use it on a large scale, you must first generate electricity through a steam engine, that is, build a coal power plant. Now The shortcomings are actually steelmaking and improving steelmaking technology.”

The technological trees that Zhu Guoxiang climbed did not follow the normal trajectory at all, and seemed a bit magical to Ju Ming.

At the turn of the Song Dynasty, steam and electricity were actually available. Although it is still in the laboratory stage and is still early to be put into large-scale use, what will it develop into in a hundred years?

Ju Ming could not imagine it.

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "The food must be eaten one bite at a time, and the road must be walked step by step. This battery can be used first, and I plan to invent wired telegraphy next."

"Cable telegram?" Ju Ming looked at the other three people and pretended not to understand.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The three of them and I are already working on it and are currently designing the code."

Ju Ming found it very strange: "How can you, a person who studies farming, know this?"

Zhu Guoxiang put his arms around his son and whispered: "It's all about physics and chemistry in middle school and high school. I know the general principles. If I lead a large group of people and study hard for several years, wouldn't I be stupid if I still can't figure it out?" "

Ju Ming whispered to his father and asked, "Where is the light bulb?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I've tried it, but it doesn't light up. I guess I have to evacuate the light bulb. Anyway, I tried it many times and it still doesn't light up."

"Is the cable telegraph reliable?" Ju Ming asked.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Wired telegraphy is very simple. I had the idea when I was studying hand-operated generators. But I don't know how to do wireless telegraphy. I only know that it uses electromagnetic signals. Do you know how to send and receive electromagnetic signals?"

"I'm a liberal arts student, and you're a bit pushy." Zhu Ming reminded me.

The father and son hugged each other and communicated in low voices, which made the three young people next to them look dumbfounded.

Zhu Wenzhu, in particular, envied the royal brother's deep relationship with his father. He had only been so close to his father when he was a child.

Ju Ming asked: "When will the cable telegraph be available?"

"Within half a year." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Zhu Ming was speechless again. He could not imagine what a strange experience it was to send a telegram to Yue Fei on the front line to convey military orders.

Yue Fei, telegram...

The combination of the two words is outrageous, full of the absurd beauty of steampunk.

The question now is that the steam engine and the battery have been developed, what should be done next?

After thinking about it, Zhu Ming felt that it was best to let nature take its course.

The steam engine was first used in government-run factories and mines, such as forging iron and coinage. The use of batteries began with wired telegraphs.

It did not actively promote it to the public, but it did not prohibit the spread of it among the public. At the same time, it used the Imperial Academy to teach relevant knowledge.

Zhu Ming let the public develop as much as they could and how fast or slow they could learn without interfering.

It is possible to continuously break through the technology by relying on Zhu Guoxiang and his team, but it is difficult to cover all aspects of specific application and expansion. There are smart people in the public who will fill in these details and expand the use of steam engines and batteries.

This is a long process.

Zhu Ming could imagine what kind of sensation the teachers and students would cause when the battery and electromagnet were brought to the Imperial College.

These two things are simple in structure, and the teachers and students of the Imperial College will be able to copy them in large quantities very quickly. Then they will continue to study electricity, treat this as a novel toy, and try various uses.

Leaving the courtyard, the father and son rode in one car, and the others rode in another car.

Zhu Ming sighed: "In the late Northern Song Dynasty, the development of muskets and artillery was a bit outrageous. Now you have steam engines and battery telegraphs. What will China look like in fifty years?"

Zhu Guoxiang could not answer, and could only remind again: "Steel, steelmaking technology must catch up. I really don't understand this, and I don't know how to start if I want to study it."

"Take your time, don't rush, we are developing too fast." Zhu Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "That Zhang Congdao is very good, absolutely a genius. And he is not married, reading and researching all day, and has no interest in being an official. I plan to marry my third daughter to him."

"You decide this yourself." Zhu Ming didn't care.

…

In Dali, a princess was also getting married at this time.

The first wife of Prime Minister Gao Liangcheng died of illness, and Duan Yu married his daughter to him as a successor, deepening the cooperation between the monarch and his subjects.

However, the monarch and his subjects could not suppress the Gao family.

Gao Liangcheng could intimidate other major families in Dali, but he could not suppress the various forces within the Gao family.

Now, Gao Liangcheng's marriage to the princess has not only failed to calm the dispute, but has intensified the conflict!

Now a group of Duan's descendants and a group of Gao's descendants are looking for allies to fight for power.

The descendants of the Duan family all want to be the heir to the throne.

The descendants of the Gao family all want to be the heir to the Gao family.

Duan Yu has already designated the crown prince, but the other sons don't care about this. Gao Liangcheng is already the head of the Gao family, but the other Gao's sons don't care about this.

The reason for this complicated situation is that Queen Gao died of illness without leaving a legitimate son.

Now all the princes of Dali, including the crown prince, are all illegitimate. No matter who is appointed as the crown prince, the other princes will not accept it, and they have the confidence to refuse to accept it.

That confidence comes from the Gao family.

The father of Prime Minister Gao Liangcheng was a bastard, and his grandfather abolished the eldest and appointed the youngest, which caused turmoil in the Gao family, and even Empress Gao was involved at that time.

Now, Empress Gao, who supported Gao Liangcheng, is dead, and the various factions of the Gao family are in turmoil again.

The descendants of Gao Taiming, the descendants of Gao Taiyun, the descendants of Gao Shengxiang... each of them has territory and troops, and none of them accept Gao Liangcheng. They took advantage of the fact that Empress Gao died without a legitimate son, and each chose to support a prince, helping the prince to fight for the throne, and also fighting for the position of the head of the Gao family for themselves.

"Your Majesty, no one from the Gao family came to the princess's wedding this time, and only sent people to send some gifts casually." The eunuch who was responsible for sending the princess to marry came back to report.

Duan Yu was extremely angry: "No one came?"

The eunuch replied: "No one came to congratulate in person, and they made excuses for various reasons. Some claimed to be sick and recuperating, and some had to suppress the bandits, anyway, no one showed up."

"I know." Duan Yu took a deep breath and asked the eunuch to leave for the time being.

He had no idea how to solve it.

He didn't even dare to kill the extra sons, or let other sons other than the prince become monks. Because behind each son, there is a Gao family force supporting him, and it is very likely that those people will rebel if he acts recklessly.

Gao Liangcheng is indeed the strongest among the Gao family, but he can't withstand the combination of other Gao families.

After thinking about it, Duan Yu decided to leave it alone and hand over the state affairs to Gao Liangcheng completely.

When Gao Liangcheng can control the situation, Duan Yu plans to abdicate and become a monk.

If Gao Liangcheng can't control the situation, then Duan Yu will continue to be the emperor in a muddle. Whoever loves who, maybe he can outlast a few of his sons!

The premise is that no one takes risks.

Duan Yu even decided not to leave the palace again, so as to avoid encountering assassins on the streets. He did not know how to use the Six Meridians Divine Sword.