New Ming Empire mixed in America

Looking at the wireless telegram in front of him, Li Mingqi scratched his head.

In terms of theory, Li Mingqi can still cheat and recite the principles in advance, but if it comes to hands-on operation, Li Mingqi will definitely be blind.

But it doesn't matter, there aren't many other things in the Royal Academy, and there are many white technical talents of all kinds.

These people live in large, safe houses surrounded by barbed wire fences, and travel with special carriages, accompanied by royal guards.

With such high-standard treatment, it is normal to contribute some achievements to the Xinming Empire.

"So these big guys are the wireless telegraphs you created?"

After Li Mingqi fiddled with the buttons and big box telegraph accessories a few times, he shook his head in disappointment.

Although this kind of telegraph machine has been considered a success, the toy wireless telegraph that can be purchased on a certain website is much better than this thing.

It’s no wonder that Li Mingqi was disappointed because he followed his homework and came up with this thing.

"How is the situation at the base station? Can the communication range of the walkie-talkie be increased?"

Li Mingqi put aside this kind of wireless telegraphy and asked about designing a large antenna base station for walkie-talkies.

"Long live my lord, if this kind of base stations are installed all over the territory of the Xinming Empire, it will cost a lot. It is better to use the walkie-talkies with wires."

When Zhang Yu heard Li Mingqi ask about the walkie-talkie base station, he could only give careful advice.

"Oh, that kind of phone has been researched?"

Li Mingqi became interested and quickly asked: "Can we produce telephone lines independently now?"

Zhang Yu smiled awkwardly and said:

"The telephone line is still as good as the one provided by Long Live. Not only is the sound clear, but it is also very stable. In addition, the molded machines given by Long Live can already be used in practice."

"If we produce it independently, the effect will be much worse, and it is not very refined. The machine is a bit large, and the call can only be made by shaking the handle, which is not as convenient as dialing."

While talking, Zhang Yu took Li Mingqi to another laboratory.

Here, Li Mingqi saw the main researcher Mei Wuqi.

He was demonstrating his hand-cranked telephone to some young people from the New Ming Empire, the kind often seen in movies.

The cord itself of a hand-cranked telephone has no power, so you have to crank the handle a few times to allow the built-in generator to energize the battery.

After standing nearby and listening for a while, Li Mingqi asked curiously: "Why not just install the battery directly?"

Zhang Yu replied with a smile and explained: "This is to explain the principle to the students. Adding batteries will cause them to misunderstand."

After speaking, he pointed to a phone connected to a wire next to him and said to Li Mingqi:

"What we just said is as far as our empire can achieve with completely independent production. But if we add a hydropower station, it will be a telephone that does not require a hand crank and uses a rotary dial."

Looking at the telephone with the disc dial switch, Li Mingqi had the illusion that he had returned to the Republic of China.

Now the phones of the Xinming Empire can basically be used smoothly in the laboratory.

However, if it is to be used in practice, more mature experiments are needed. In other words, this kind of phone needs to be popularized first, and then improvements can be made through feedback from the people.

"Okay, let's start installing these rotary dial phones for the people." At this point, Li Mingqi stopped talking.

Looking at Zhang Yu with a dry smile on his face, he realized that this kind of matter should be discussed with Liu Youcai. Zhang Yu is just the dean of the research institute.

Soon, Liu Youcai came to the Royal Academy after receiving the notice.

“Can we now install one hydropower station in every town?”

After hearing this question, Liu Youcai thought for a moment and said: "Because of the need to supply power to factories, basically major towns now have hydropower stations."

Nodding, Li Mingqi asked Liu Youcai to look at the phone again and asked: "Can this kind of intercom be popularized?"

"Long live the phone, I think this kind of phone should be installed in government departments first. After the government departments have tried it for a period of time, it can be used by civilians."

Liu Youcai continued without thinking: "After we have better communication devices, we will open a state-owned communication company to popularize it for civilian use. It is still too early, and it will be bad if the technology is leaked."

Li Mingqi thought for a while and felt that this was also the case.

For military use, a walkie-talkie plus an antenna base station, paired with an old-fashioned telephone, is enough.

Government departments now use telegraphs. As long as the telegraph wire is modified and another wire is installed, it can be used as a loop and can be used with telephones.

"It seems that civilian use will have to wait a while. By the way, if the telephone lines are set up, I hope they will be placed underground so that they will not be cut off easily."

After Li Mingqi discussed with Liu Youcai and Zhang Yu for a while, he was ready to go to the Royal Battleship Design Bureau to supervise the work.

But unexpectedly, Liu Youcai chased him out and said, "Long live my lord, the empire's finances are tight now. After the telephone is put into civilian use, can the revenue be transferred to the national treasury?"

Li Mingqi was stunned when he heard Liu Youcai's question.

The current finances of the Xinming Empire are indeed as Liu Youcai said. Revenue mainly relies on taxation, and the benefits of state-owned banks and state-owned factories are still limited.

Companies that make a lot of money still have royal titles, and all the income goes into Li Mingqi's internal funds.

This is why Li Mingqi established the Royal Company because he did not want his descendants to be in the money-poor dilemma of Emperor Chongzhen.

I am afraid that the ministers will make some mistakes and use the lack of money in the treasury to restrict the emperor's hands and feet.

"Okay, but the royal family will account for 60% of the income. In addition, some luxury goods companies should be state-owned. The royal family will also only account for 60%."

After thinking about it for a while, Li Mingqi agreed to Liu Youcai's suggestion. After all, the Xinming Empire was now on the right track, and it was not a problem to keep the treasury poor.

And we can’t always let the royal family pay for the construction of roads, railways, and urban construction in various places, right? For the time being, the royal family only needs to be responsible for the military’s expenses.

In the future, the expenditures of local armies will gradually be returned to the imperial court, and it will be enough for the imperial family to only be responsible for the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Guard.

The local troops were maintained by the imperial court. If some treacherous officials took control of the army in the future and threatened them with military pay, the imperial family could directly take over the army.

After all, soldiers' pay now does not go through the hands of generals, and even logistics are divided separately.

Soldiers' military pay is paid directly to their own bankbooks. They only need to go to the Royal Bank to complete the procedures with their military status on the day when the military pay is issued.

The idea of ​​returning military expenses to the imperial court was not a whim of Li Mingqi. Now the Xinming Empire has a small army and can still rely on the royal family to support it.

But in the future, the number of soldiers will be hundreds of millions, and with the emergence of various new equipment, such as aircraft, tanks, missiles and other big money-burning enterprises, it will be difficult for the royal family to support them.

We can’t let the royal family monopolize all profitable business, right?

That would definitely not be conducive to the economic development of the empire. It would not be beautiful if a foolish king appears in the future generations and creates a courier named Li.