The Great Industrial Ming Dynasty Started from Beiping

Chapter 256 The Changes Brought by the Butterfly's Wings

The advancement of any civilization must be supported by various foundations, and it is definitely not a castle in the air.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, also known as the Cao River in the Ming Dynasty, began a major project to fully restore many sections that had been silted up in the Yuan Dynasty, including the territory of Shandong, in the early Ming Dynasty.

As the longest and largest canal in the world, the Grand Canal passes through half of China. Of course, there are countless problems.

One of the most difficult problems is that there are many sections of the river that are of different heights.

For example, in the Baita River area, Guazhou area, and Yizhen area, the water level of the Cao River is higher than that of the Yangtze River.

Then the entrance needs to be remodeled.

The traditional technique is to build it with stones in the shape of a slope. In order to enter the Cao River, the boats must first unload the goods, and the coolies will carry the goods along the Cao River to the shore.

The boat is then winched up and dragged across the slope by hand.

This ancient technology is inefficient, and it is not uncommon for ships to wait for ten days and a half months at the entrance, and it is not easy to operate the winch.

The largest double winch requires up to 100 people to work together.

When the ship slips into the water, it is very easy to damage the ship because of the huge impact generated by the Yangtze River falling into the low water level.

With the continuous advancement of technology, there are many problems, such as installing railings on the bow and fastening strong straw mats to the bow to protect the boat.

Zhu Gaochi finally met several officials from the Ministry of Industry who came to the steam engine factory from Yingtianfu for inspection.

They saluted the prince, and at the headquarters of China Heavy Industries, they talked about the new ideas proposed by the officials in charge of water conservancy of the Ministry of Industry.

Zhu Gaochi was speechless for a long time after hearing this.

Butterfly wings flapped.

Let the huge sluice project that was supposed to appear in the middle of the Ming Dynasty 100 years later, which took 27 years to complete, come out ahead of schedule.

Officials from the Ministry of Industry came up with a plan to build huge sluice projects in these places.

The function is to let the ship drive into a special waterway, and then control the water intake and release of the sluice to keep the horizontal lines of the two places consistent.

It not only saves the cost and time required for unloading and reloading, but also improves the efficiency of ship traffic.

Every time the gate is opened, thousands of grain-filled grain boats can pass through quickly, and more than a hundred can enter in a day and night.

This huge and magnificent project shocked the world.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, in the fourth year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, the diary written by the Dutch diplomatic mission contained a description of this project.

Later Missionary Le Conte and his colleague Amond Montanas, according to the contents of the journal of the Dutch Mission.

"If the incomparable ability of the Chinese is not fully affirmed, the Europeans will not realize the function of these good sluice gates, and the solidity of the tall and thick guardrails."

And the technology certainly doesn't stop there.

Because of the emergence of sluice technology, many problems have been brought about, and many new technologies to solve the problems have been produced.

For example, prevent the Yellow River from carrying excess sediment and overtaking the Cao River at its entrance.In the sixth year of Wanli, Pan Jixun, the Governor-General of the river, played a performance to kick off the curtain of river sand control.

For example, building drainage ditches, installing flood control gates, formulating flood diversion plans, flood discharge areas, etc. This set of Ming Dynasty plans was implemented for a full 400 years and ran through the Qing Dynasty.

Regarding the ideas of several Ministry of Industry officials, Zhu Gaochi made a supportive idea.

"The reason why the Jianghuai area is economically prosperous is not only the hard work of the local people, but also the dense waterways that greatly reduce transportation costs."

"And the importance of the canal can be called the most important weapon of the country. Its role in promoting economic productivity is unparalleled."

Zhu Gaochi commented.

Several officials from the Ministry of Industry came into contact with Prince Yan for the first time, and they were not used to his style of work, but they felt that there was something to be said.

"The addition of steam engines to the construction of the locks speaks to the acumen and initiative of the proposing officials and should be highly commended."

After Zhu Gaochi asked the person's name, he continued to boast in front of everyone.

Several people were very touched.

"According to your plan, to build a sluice 220 feet high, [-] feet wide at the bottom, and [-] feet long, only one steam engine can satisfy the force required to open and close the gate."

"And I think that the steam engine can play more than that. You can ask the technicians of the steam engine factory to fully combine the needs of the sluice technology to develop more steam engines with special functions."

Several officials from the Ministry of Industry said hastily: "In the steam engine factory, we have seen many steam engines that have never seen before and can play various functions. It is indeed an eye-opener and has many new ideas."

Zhu Gaochi nodded and said with satisfaction: "China Heavy Industry supports the construction of the sluice gate, and we can send technicians to the local area to understand it."

Naturally, several Ministry of Industry officials would not refuse.

Craftsmen from all over the world are on the list of the imperial court. Famous craftsmen are naturally treasures. The officials of the Ministry of Industry were originally arrogant and did not pay attention to the technical level of China Heavy Industry.

But reality wakes them up.

Under the model of China Heavy Industry, there are countless skilled craftsmen, and they are full of good ideas. The important thing is that they are willing to express themselves.

"His Royal Highness, I heard that the engineering department under China Heavy Industry is very capable of construction projects. Can you send it to Yingtianfu to support the sluice project?"

An official suggested.

Zhu Gaochi glanced at the official, unable to know whether the person had other ideas, but Zhu Gaochi vetoed it.

It's not that he is unwilling to contribute, but that he is concerned about the court's model.

Zhu Yuanzhang's agriculture-based national policy cannot be said to be wrong, but Zhu Yuanzhang's production model is different from Zhu Gaochi's.

If Zhu Gaochi wants to use the Ministry of Engineering to build the sluice project, it is a means of macro-control under the industrial system.

And Zhu Yuanzhang used the method of serving.

In short, if Zhu Gaochi agrees to the official's request, the court will not pay wages, but ask for military service.

Over the years in Peiping, Zhu Gaochi managed to minimize the intensity of his service, and he would not turn back.

As for persuading Zhu Yuanzhang to change his mind, Zhu Gaochi didn't have the confidence, and he didn't want to make extra troubles. He just wanted to honestly guard the one-acre three-point land to lay a solid foundation.

So Zhu Gaochi said with a smile: "The Ministry of Engineering is unable to catch up. Trying to do it is not good for the people. It should not be a waste of money."

Hearing Shizi's words, several officials of the Ministry of Industry showed astonished eyes. They did not expect Shizi to object with such a reason.

However, they could not force the prince to make the decision they wanted. With seven points satisfied, two points disappointed, and one point otherwise, several officials left China Heavy Industries.

Day two.

The general business conference was grandly held in the large conference hall of the Zhonghua Headquarters.

For the mode of holding the conference, the factory area of ​​the China headquarters is already handy, and the manpower of other departments has been mobilized half a month in advance to arrange it.

The factory guard team in the headquarters factory area has expanded from 500 people to 1000 people, and there is no concentration.

Instead, in each important factory, the factory guard team members are dispatched according to the importance and scale of the factory.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the general business meeting, the headquarters factory area transferred hundreds of members of the factory protection team to assist in the order and arrangement of the meeting.

Hundreds of businessmen from all over the world, some casually dressed in silk and satin, some discreetly dressed in coarse cloth.

They looked around curiously, looking at the surrounding scenery, and many of them participated in this kind of meeting for the first time.

The large conference hall adopts various traditional sound reinforcement technologies to ensure that the speech on the stage can be heard even in the corner.

The building is made of cement materials, the windows are bright large glass, red curtains are hung, and the walls of blue bricks are painted with bright white paint.

On the walls, there are also various paintings.

There are imitation versions of paintings such as "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains", "Spring Dawn of the Han Palace", and "Fu of Luoshen".

Before the meeting started, many people stood in front of the wall, fascinated by the paintings on the wall.

The staff in the crowd shuttled back and forth, trying to tell everyone the rules of the meeting.

If you are in a hurry, please leave your seat silently, go around to the sides and walk back. There is a public toilet outside the gate at the back.

The teacups on the table in front of each seat are sterilized by boiling water, and the cups have been filled with tea, so you can drink with confidence.

And there will be a staff member who pours water. During the meeting, details such as water will be added according to the time.

In fact, it has been clearly written on the bulletin board at the door, but not everyone will read it.

In order to avoid anything, the staff of China Heavy Industries strives for excellence and is willing to put in more effort.

at last.

Many people have already arrived in the entire conference hall, and there have been no newcomers for a long time, and the time for the meeting has come.

Without extra movement, Zhu Gaochi followed a group of people and walked in through the gate, and the people in the front row stopped talking.

The disappearance of the sound spread back, and everyone returned to their seats, looking forward.

On the stage.

There was only one mahogany stand upright, and Wang Ren acted as the host of the meeting. He was the first to go on stage and greeted the audience.

"First of all, welcome to the convening of the Second General Business Conference."

"Crash."

Driven by some people, everyone applauded.

Wang Ren waited for the applause to stop, and continued to say loudly with a smile: "Secondly, I would like to thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to attend the conference."

This time, the applause in the conference hall became proficient, and no one was needed to drive it. Everyone knew what to do.

After all, a businessman is a businessman. The experience of traveling to the north and the north is beyond the reach of ordinary people in terms of acceptance of new information.

Finally, Wang Ren began to read the main topic.

"Coal is a resource-based industry with dual attributes of energy and industrial raw materials, and is the fuel for industrial development."

"It is the most important basic energy that supports the rapid development of the social economy. For the support of the coal mining industry, China Heavy Industry will still give the most firm support in the future!"

……

(End of this chapter)