Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1220 Epilogue : Railway Development

On the second day of the Chemistry Conference, discussions on the compilation of new textbooks began.

This should have been led by the Ministry of Rites, but the final implementation still depends on chemists. The chemistry community is in chaos today, and the general content of the course must be finalized as soon as possible, otherwise chemistry teachers across the country will not be able to teach at all.

After ten days of discussion, everyone finally finalized the textbook outline.

During these ten days, Xie Yan did not teach again, leaving the teaching task to the teaching assistants. In fact, he did not teach anything important, just taught the students how to use the experimental equipment correctly.

An old student like Li Dunshi, who studied hard, had already mastered it before entering the Imperial College, so he could only find something to do on his own.

"After ten days of heated discussions and proposals from scholars across the country via telegram, the chemical community has unanimously decided to establish a new system for chemical research and teaching. I will submit the results of the meeting to the Royal Society, which will then forward them to the Ministry of Rites."

Ma Changnian, president of the Chemistry Association, announced: "The new chemistry curriculum is as follows—"

"The chemistry courses before the Imperial College, that is, the chemistry knowledge that science students need to master when taking the imperial examinations, include: the changes and properties of matter, molecules and atoms, molecular formulas and chemical equations, air and oxygen, water and hydrogen, carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen."

"For reasons that are well known to all, students of the Imperial College also need to relearn this knowledge. Therefore, in the next six months, all chemistry courses in the country, whether they are students of the Imperial College or not, must first learn the above content."

"Until the end of this semester, we will hold another chemistry conference to summarize and discuss the lecture notes of chemistry teachers across the country, as well as the upcoming experimental results, and use the spring break to compile new chemistry textbooks as soon as possible. The specific process will be based on the official document of the Ministry of Rites."

Xie Yan was delighted when he heard this and silently mourned for the science students in his heart.

Regardless of whether they were science scholars or juren, they had to relearn the chemical knowledge they had mastered before they could continue to take the imperial examinations.

After this news was announced, not only science students will cry, but chemistry teachers across the country will also cry.

Because those chemistry teachers also have to learn again with their students!
Fortunately, it doesn’t cheat the poor.

Most poor scholars tend to choose liberal arts.

They started their education in five types of schools: village schools, private schools, clan schools, charity schools, and community schools. If their grades were not good enough to be admitted as government-funded students, and they had no money to attend private academies, or they did not want to be self-funded students in government schools, then they could only continue their studies in clan schools, charity schools, and community schools that offered advanced courses.

It’s okay to study clan studies, as there is support from the family.

The teaching quality of charity schools and community schools was worrying, and without exception, they all focused on liberal arts. They only taught pure theoretical science knowledge, and it was possible that there was not a single scale or beaker in the entire school, and even one teacher was responsible for the three subjects of mathematics, physics and chemistry in the whole school.

A charity school is a private charitable school that is established and operated for a long time with donations from gentry and wealthy people.

Although the community schools were public schools, they had limited teaching staff and were funded purely by local governments. Some community schools even only had literacy courses. This type of school focused more on promoting education, so that the children of the common people could read and calculate, and understand the law, etiquette and morality.

As a result, poor scholars who had been studying in charity schools and community schools for a long time were forced to choose to become liberal arts students. Their dropout rate was extremely high, and they went to work after studying for two or three years. Only a few of them could pass the examination to become a scholar.

This type of poor scholars mostly came from families of small citizens and self-employed farmers who had enough food and clothing for the time being but did not have much extra money. They lacked long-term support from their families and also wanted to cross the social class barrier.

It was almost evening and Xie Yan took a car back to the city.

Li Dunshi caught up and said, "Sir, do we have to change all the chemistry courses?"

Xie Yan asked with a smile: "You are well-informed."

Li Dunshi said: "It has spread all over the Imperial College. It is said that there have been meetings in the past few days to discuss how to re-edit the chemistry textbooks."

"It's okay, just listen to the class carefully." Xie Yan said.

Li Dunshi added: "In the past few months, officials from the Ministry of Works have come to my cement factory seven or eight times. They also soaked the concrete cast with new cement in acid and alkali solutions to observe its corrosion resistance. Two days ago, another group came and bought several hundred kilograms of new cement produced by my family to do experiments. I heard that they are all railway and bridge experts."

Xie Yan nodded and said, "I know, they want to use Qin's cement to build a railway bridge."

"Won't the sales of our cement increase significantly?" Li Dunshi said happily.

Xie Yan said, "Building a railway will require a huge amount of cement. Once the route of the new railway is determined, a cement plant will definitely be built nearby to supply it. If you want to use cement from our two companies, you have to build the Luoyang-Zhengzhou-Kaifeng railway."

"Oh, I see." Li Dunshi was immediately disappointed.

Luoyang, Zhengzhou and Kaifeng are connected by the Luo River, the Yellow River and the Bian River. It is impossible to build a railway in a short period of time.

First, there are many places where railways are urgently needed.

Second, the number of people who make a living from the water transport in these three cities is at least over 100,000, and the number of people employed in related fields may exceed 200,000. Once the railway is connected, many people will lose their jobs, and this is the number of unemployed people in the core area of ​​Daming! ...

cabinet.

Minister of Industry Chen Wenzhao was reporting to the ministers in front of a map:

"Due to the improved performance of steam trains in recent years, the construction plan of the railway from Taiyuan to Zhending can be changed. The railway will have more curves and steeper slopes, which can reduce the number of tunnels to 20 and the number of railway bridges to more than 1100."

In another time and space, this section of railway was built in the late Qing Dynasty. In order to meet deadlines and save money, the railway was built to a total length of 243 kilometers, with 23 tunnels and more than 1200 bridges of various sizes.

Cabinet minister Yang Zhengfu frowned and said, "There are more than 1100 railway bridges over miles of railway. This number of bridges is still too many. I saw that many of the bridges in your proposals are designed to be very short, just crossing a very narrow ravine. Can we just fill up the ravine?"

"It cannot be filled, otherwise it may cause mountain torrents and blockages," Chen Wenzhao said. "In the past few decades, scholars have been investigating along the line, and many stones for bridge construction can be obtained locally. With the addition of Xie Xueshi's new cement and Wan Xueshi's converter steelmaking, the Zhentai Railway can now be built."

There are a lot of high-quality stones in Taihang Mountains.

Historically, when the Zhengtai Railway was built in the late Qing Dynasty, many railway bridge piers were not made of reinforced concrete, but high-quality stones along the line were taken locally. In order not to destroy the internal structure of the stone, even explosives were deliberately not used, and the most primitive wedge-driving method was used to remove the stone.

Zhang Yu, a cabinet minister, asked, "Isn't it said that steel produced in converters has a lot of impurities, is not strong enough, and has a short lifespan?"

Chen Wenzhao said: "So the converter cannot be promoted for the time being and can only be used in Xuzhou and Zunhua. Even if the converter is used in these two places, a lot of scrap steel will be produced. The phosphorus content of Xuzhou iron ore is lower, and the good steel produced by the converter is enough for building railways."

"Can the cement production keep up? We may have to build a few cement plants along the line first," said Deng Gongwu.

Chen Wenzhao said: "Xie Xueshi has contacted the Cizhou Steam Engine Factory to jointly develop a ball mill, which is said to improve the efficiency of cement production. This ball mill can also be used to grind other ores such as iron ore, and can also be used to grind raw materials before firing glass and ceramics."

Yuan Huaiyi, who had been dozing off, suddenly asked with a smile: "Can he perform magic tricks? Just invent a machine if you say so."

Chen Wenzhao bowed and said, "I have seen the drawings. The structure is relatively simple, but the idea is unique. Nowadays, the machines for crushing iron ore all use steam engines to pound. However, Mr. Xie's ball mill uses centrifugal force, gravity and friction."

Deng Gongwu asked: "Do you think it is feasible?"

Chen Wenzhao said: "It is very feasible. But according to Mr. Xie, the speed of the ball mill should be changed accordingly when grinding different materials. It cannot be too fast or too slow. The specific details need to be determined through experiments."

Deng Gongwu said: "If the Zhentai Railway can be successfully built, I think the Liangjing (Luoyang, Kaifeng) railway can also be put on the agenda."

"No."

"I agree. The railway between the two capitals should have been built long ago."

"Once the railway between the two capitals is completed, what will happen to the people who rely on river transportation for their livelihood? I'm afraid that more than half of the people will not be able to switch to relying on railways for their livelihood. That's tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of mouths waiting to be fed! Each of them has a family behind them. If all their family members are included, the number of people involved will be even greater!"

"It has to be built eventually. During the summer and autumn flood season, if the Yellow River floods, the water transportation between the two capitals will be temporarily cut off. After the railway is built, the two capitals will be connected, and Luoyang can also be connected to Xiangyang by rail."

"Immigration, increase immigration! All those people who can't get enough food should be shipped overseas. The railway between the two capitals must be built!"

"..."

Although the ministers of this cabinet were secretly corrupt and allowed their relatives to get involved in various business and industry, they were all ambitious and capable ministers after all.

If the railway between the two capitals is built, it will surely be one of their most glorious political achievements.

Tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people in the Central Plains are unemployed, which is just a temporary development pain. There are various ways to solve the hidden dangers. Moreover, as long as there is crazy immigration, those who bring hidden dangers can be solved.

Among the seven cabinet ministers, four agreed to build the railway between the two capitals, while the other two opposed it and one abstained.

"Very good," Deng Gongwu said with a smile, very happy, "Once the Zhentai Railway is completed, we will issue national bonds and build the Liangjing Railway and the Jizhou-Liaoyang Railway at the same time!"

At that time, there was already a Yanzun railway connecting Beijing and Zunhua, passing through Jizhou. If another railway was built from Jizhou to Liaoyang, Beijing and Liaoning would be connected.

Zhang Yu asked: "After the railway is completed, there will be so many unemployed people in the Central Plains. Where do you plan to migrate to?"

Ge Congxin, who had always had some conflicts with Deng Gongwu, supported Deng Gongwu in building the railway this time: "Didn't the Indian Governor's Office just conquer a country? Throw all those Indian natives into the swamps at the mouth of the Ganges to reclaim wasteland, and use the freed-up land to settle immigrants from the Central Plains! Anyone who dares to rebel will be suppressed by force. Kill more natives, and even the boat fare to transport them to the mouth of the Ganges can be saved."

This move was against the harmony of nature, so the cabinet ministers no longer discussed it, but all of them acquiesced in this practice.

(End of this chapter)