I want to be emperor

The problem of information transmission has always been a major problem that has plagued the Chinese dynasty.

In order to solve the problem of information transmission, people have used many different methods, such as pigeons, beacons, and post systems.

After thousands of years of development, the postal system has reached a relatively mature level in China.

After entering the era of the Da Chu Empire, based on the needs of transmitting official documents and military information, the post system of the Da Chu Empire developed to its peak.

Especially after the emergence of trains and ships, the post station system of the Chu Empire also began to develop rapidly relying on more convenient transportation.

Moreover, the postal system of the Dachu Empire was not only used to transmit official documents and military information. Because the postal system of the Dachu Empire was too large, the cost was too high for purely official use. In order to reduce costs, the Dachu Empire had The government-run postal system accepts letters and goods from the private sector and charges a certain fee.

Later, the remittance business was developed, which further increased the operating income of the postal system and was able to cover the costs of the huge postal system.

It can be said that the postal system of the Great Chu Empire has reached its peak development and is almost spread all over the world. There are post stations in all the areas controlled by the Great Chu Empire, including the mainland, overseas directly administered territories, overseas colonies, and indirectly controlled indigenous countries. .

Including the European regions that the empire had just controlled, more than 200 inns have been set up now, widely distributed throughout the control area.

But even so, the transmission of information in the Chu Empire is still very inconvenient and slow...and this is fatal for a global empire!

For example, if there is an emergency in Europe, it will take about a month and a half for the local Jinling side to get the relevant news.

This is a level that can be achieved by using the navy's fast communication ships all the way, only replenishing coal, fresh water and other supplies in limited ports along the way, without making any unnecessary stops.

This situation has not happened yet, because the cost is too high. Unless the troops stationed in Europe directly rebel, or aliens attack, the navy will not do this.

The navy's fast communication ships often stop at large ports along the way and send and receive letters and official documents during the stops. Although their speed is faster than ordinary merchant ships, they cannot really go all the way... Just like the current ones of the Dachu Empire The technical level of the steam engine allowed the ship to drive continuously for [-] kilometers with the steam engine... and it had to be overhauled after the run.

Just like a battleship cannot maintain its maximum speed for a long time, the same is true for a fast communication ship. In order to save coal and reduce steam engine failures during most of the sailing time, it is still possible to use both sails and steam engine power. The transoceanic voyage can reach an average of ten Six knots or so is pretty good.

But even so, it has great advantages over pure wind sailing boats.

Clipper boats, which are relatively fast among pure wind sailing boats, can reach an average speed of sixteen knots under very smooth conditions, but this is when the ocean current and wind direction are very suitable, and sometimes they can directly cross The distance in a certain sea area needs to be shortened a lot, but this cannot be done because there are no ocean currents and winds in the middle sea area. If the ship enters, it may not be able to get out, or it may enter at a slow speed.

However, the steam ships of the Da Chu Empire did not need to consider these issues too much. They could rely on steam engines to directly cross all sea areas to shorten the distance.

As the saying goes, if you can use sails, use sails. If you can't, use steam engines.

For example, on the route from Singapore to South Africa, for traditional sailboats, if they want to cross the Indian Ocean, they can only go all the way along the coastline, starting from Singapore, then walking along the coastline of the Bangladesh Sea, then going around the Indian Peninsula, and then heading to Ala. The coastline of the sea will eventually go south along the east coast of Africa before finally reaching South Africa.

However, the large-tonnage steam ships of the Chu Empire do not have to be so troublesome. They can set off directly from Singapore, cross the Indian Ocean and arrive at Ceylon Island. After stopping for supplies, they continue across the Indian Ocean and then go straight to South Africa.

In comparison, it can save thousands of kilometers of flight.

However, the Chu Empire, which owned steam ships, needed to transmit information over long distances, and the time required was calculated on a monthly basis.

Not to mention overseas, even local information transmission takes a long time. For example, Xihai City, the empire's westernmost strategic support point city, is located southeast of the Ural Mountains, along the northeastern coast of the Caspian Sea, and at the mouth of the Ural River. (Atyrau, Kazakhstan)... This poor place is far away from Jinling City, the heart of the empire. The straight-line distance is a full [-] kilometers!

In the early years when there were no railways, it would still take several months for the information from Xihai City to be transmitted to Jinling City, even if there was a post system to support it along the way.

Many times, after a battle between the Chu army and the Russians on the front line of Xihai City, Luo Zhixue on the Jinling City side did not know the relevant news until three or four months later.

When the railways gradually extended to the west, the railway from Jinling City to Chang'an was built first, then the northwest railway section from Chang'an to Yining was built, and finally the Central Asia Railway section from Yining to Xihai City was built.

Finally, in the 37th year of Chengshun, the longest railway trunk line in the Chu Empire was completed, starting from Haining Port in Jiangbei Province in the east to Xihai City in Lianghe Province in the west, with a total length of more than 500 kilometers, connecting a series of important railways. cities and regions.

When the railway is built to Xihai City, military news from Xihai City can also be transmitted quickly along the train. The speed is much faster, but it still takes about 20 days.

After all, with such a long journey, it is impossible to dedicate a train to deliver a letter, right? The letters all travel eastward with the long-distance trains along the way, and many trains are often required to be changed along the way.

And trains don't always run. They need to pick up and drop off passengers at the stations they pass, replenish coal and fresh water, and they basically don't run at night... That's right, trains these days generally don't run at night for safety reasons, unless they are extremely special. situations, such as emergency needs and military needs.

Large-scale night driving has only occurred in a few large-scale military long-distance attack exercises.

Therefore, the long-distance running speed of trains is really not as fast as that of high-speed passenger ships.

High-speed passenger ships can now often reach sixteen or even eighteen knots, which is faster than warships... and they sail day and night.

In addition to not being able to go ashore, long-distance transportation these days, especially ultra-long-distance transportation, sea transportation is beyond the speed and cost of trains!

Information from Xihai City can reach Jinling City in more than 20 days. This speed is almost unimaginable in the traditional era, but even so is not enough.

With such a long information exchange interval, too many changes would occur in the middle, and the empire's center's control over the empire's border areas would also be greatly restricted.

In response to this series of problems, Luo Zhixue knows how to solve them!
There is no doubt that the solution is simple, and even anyone with basic common sense in later generations will blurt out: telegraph!
Luo Zhixue is naturally no exception. In fact, he has been instructing the Royal Institute of Technology to conduct theoretical research on electromagnetism very early.

If you want to engage in telegraphy, you must first do some research on electromagnetism. How can you study telegraphy if you don't even understand electromagnetism?
After 30 to [-] years of continuous basic theoretical research, many scholars with the Royal Institute of Technology as the core have initially established and improved the subject system of electromagnetism. Although this system is still very primitive from the perspective of later generations, it This is not important. What is important is that with these basic theoretical supports, you can create a telegraph.

At the beginning of Chengshun 38, the Dachu Imperial Institute of Technology conducted the first telegraph experiment in human history and achieved great success.

Although the original experimental telegraph line was only a few hundred long, and because it used a large number of new technologies, new equipment, and new materials that were not available on the market, the cost was extremely high, and mass production could not be achieved in a short period of time.But its significance is significant, and its impact is even more significant!

After the wired telegraph test was successful, Luo Zhixue personally gave instructions to invest sufficient resources to further improve the telegraph technology and continue to carry out technical research to achieve mass production.

With the strong support of Luo Zhixue, in the winter of 38, the Royal Institute of Technology conducted a second test. The test line was increased to [-] kilometers, and information coding was applied to facilitate the sending and receiving of information.

In the 39th year of Chengshun, progress was made in the mass production of related technologies, especially the breakthroughs in mass production of batteries and generator-related technologies, which directly laid the foundation for the development of telegraphs in the Dachu Empire. During this period, In order to continue to carry out experiments, it is also to explore early applications.

Led by the Royal Institute of Technology, a limited telegraph line from Jinling City to Dangtu Industrial Zone was laid. The telegraph line was laid along the railway line, with a total length of more than 60 kilometers... This process is not just as simple as a theoretical experiment, but more important. It is to explore large-scale applications.

Therefore, it is impossible to do it regardless of cost like the previous two experiments... All types of costs must be strictly controlled. For example, all parts must be products that can be mass-produced. They cannot be the same as before. If you need any parts, A group of senior engineers rubbed their hands directly in the laboratory...

As a result, the construction of the test line from Jinling City to Dangtu will encounter more difficulties than the first hand-rolled test line, and it will be more difficult to solve.

In this process, it is said that it is building a test line, but most of the time and funds are actually used to solve the mass production problems of various parts.

Although there were many bumps and bruises, with the Royal Institute of Technology, the most powerful research institution in the Chu Empire, and the cooperation of many large-scale enterprises under the Ministry of Industry for research and development, it was finally completed.

On the 41th of the first month of the 26st year of Chengshun, the experimental telegraph line from Jinling City to Dangtu Industrial Zone was completed and the test was successfully completed.

After hearing the news, Luo Zhixue went to the experimental telegraph station set up in the Xijiao Railway Station the next day to inspect.

This time it was a surprise inspection. People from the Railway Corporation thought something had happened. But when they asked, they found that it had nothing to do with them. The emperor was here to inspect the construction of the telegraph.

Just because when the test telegraph line from Jinling City to Dangtu Industrial Zone was laid, in order to reduce construction costs, the line was laid directly along the railway line. Because it was a test line, the telegraph stations at both ends were temporarily set up in the train station. .

Luo Zhixue took a group of people to the Xijiao Railway Station and saw the telegraph machine. The telegraph machine looked very primitive and crude at first glance, but Luo Zhixue didn't care much about the appearance, as long as it was easy to use.

Soon, the engineers conducted a telegram sending and receiving test in front of Luo Zhixue. When Luo Zhixue looked at the telegram translation in his hand, he said yes twice in a row!
There was even a courtier on the side who complimented: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, with the telegraph and other magical communications that can travel thousands of miles, the empire's thousands of miles of territory will be worry-free!"

Luo Zhixue has not been paying attention to the telegraph for a day or two, and it has been two years since the telegraph appeared. The role of the telegraph is not hidden, and many people know it.

The senior officials of the empire are even more aware of the benefits of this thing.

Just imagine, if something happens outside, you can send a telegram and Jinling City will know about it on the same day. Then Jinling will make a decision and then pass it on to the local government via telegram. This back-and-forth transmission of information can even be said to span a distance.

The military strategic role it brings is huge.

And it can be used not only in the military, but also in administration. Some urgent administrative matters can be communicated directly through telegrams. There is no need to use the five-hundred-mile expedited method as before!
At the same time, the role of telegraph in business is also huge. Business information represents money in many cases. Convenient information allows companies to respond faster and adjust quickly.

Even ordinary people have huge needs, especially the contemporary Chu people. With the development of industry, there are many migrant workers. Communication between these people and their families can only rely on letters in the postal system. The delivery speed of ordinary letters But it is very slow, far inferior to official documents and military information.

If you live far away, it's common to write a letter and have your family receive it months later.

Therefore, the benefits of telegraphy are very obvious, both for the country and the people, and there is a huge demand.

The telegraph can change the world!
Even ordinary people can see these situations, let alone the elites of the empire.

The successful construction and testing of the experimental telegraph line between Jinling City and Dangtu Industrial Zone allowed the empire's senior officials to see the many benefits of large-scale construction of telegraph lines.

Luo Zhixue, who returned to the palace, summoned the relevant personnel responsible for the telegraph research project the next day to inquire and discuss the feasibility of large-scale promotion and construction of telegraph lines.

After getting affirmative answers from many technical experts at the Royal Institute of Technology, Luo Zhixue summoned relevant personnel from the Ministry of Transport, the Railway Corporation, the Royal Institute of Technology, the Ministry of Industry and even the military, as well as some business leaders, and started a telegraph matter Imperial meeting.

The construction plan, operation plan and many other details of the telegraph were discussed in detail.

On February 40, Chengshun [-], the Chu Empire officially issued an imperial edict to begin large-scale construction of wired telegraph lines.

The first long-distance line is the line from Jinling City to Songjiang. At the same time, other telegraph lines will be constructed along the railway line.

The reason why it was not rolled out all at once was mainly due to the production capacity constraints of various equipment related to telegraphy.

After all, many of the equipment required for telegraphy, including production equipment, have only just solved many problems in industrial production. The current production capacity is still relatively small, and there are many other problems.

It takes time to increase production capacity and solve problems.

Therefore, we can only build telegraph lines, increase the production capacity of related equipment, and solve the exposed problems at the same time.

But even so, the construction speed of telegraph will still be very fast, and it will be much easier than when we started building railways in the early years... After all, for telegraph, all you need to do is build a pole, pull a wire, and get a telegraph machine. If it is really possible, In fact, the amount of work is not large.

Even the early telegraph line construction plan planned a full [-] kilometers... mainly along the railway lines to connect major large cities, such as Chengdu, Chang'an, Guangzhou, Hantian, Jinling City, Songjiang, Xuzhou , Zhengzhou, Xuzhou, Tianjin, Shenyang and other places.

In the long-term plan, the senior officials of the Da Chu Empire planned to connect every county with telegraph, but this would be too huge and would take a very long time.

But even if it is difficult, the empire will still firmly promote this plan, because it is a powerful tool to maintain the empire's rule, and it brings strategic advantages greater than expanding the army by one million!