At the end of Song Dynasty: I want to be the master of ZTE

Chapter 315 Advantages
The real gold returned to the court, and Kublai Khan took the initiative to take the Zen position. Such important news was quickly sent back to the territory of the Song Dynasty with the spare no effort of the staff.

After receiving the news, Li Tingzhi, Lu Xiufu and others immediately went to report to the emperor.

Slightly surprised.

In the original history, the 72-year-old Kublai Khan was still wandering on the northern grasslands, fucking Naiyan all the time, and the real golden grass on the grave was already three feet high.

Now, Kublai Khan was fucked to the point of being seriously ill. Zhenjin, who escaped the Zen throne crisis, traveled to the West and returned with countless wealth and great prestige, and is about to succeed to the throne.

I have to say, I still feel very proud.

"The prince who has been crowned for many years has finally ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, but I don't know what good things he can do." Zhao Shi chuckled.

"Based on your Majesty's opinion, it seems that you don't take real gold seriously?" Li Tingzhi asked.

Zhao Shi said: "It's not that we underestimate Zhenjin, but in the current situation, there is no difference between Zhenjin and Kublai Khan. After all, they are competing in terms of hard power.

As long as the country works hard to practice its internal strength and ensures that the people live and work in peace and contentment, even if Temujin is reborn, there will be nothing he can do. "

"What your Majesty said is true." Lu Xiufu said: "The territory of our country is certainly not as good as that of the pseudo-Yuan Dynasty, but it has a large population, rich products, and sharp guns. As long as the court does not make big mistakes, the pseudo-Yuan Dynasty is not a concern."

"Thinking about those days when we rushed south in a hurry, who could have imagined that we would be here today?" Chen Wenlong said.

"It's all thanks to His Majesty's sage that the country and the dynasty are what they are today." Wang Yinglin continued.

"No more gossiping." Zhao Shi waved his hand and said: "It just so happens that all the ministers are here, I will take you to see something good."

"But there are new weapons?" Lu Xiufu immediately became interested.

Zhao shook his head and said: "It is more important than a mere weapon."

The emperor kept his secrets, so naturally everyone didn't ask too many questions, so they just followed along.

After leaving the city, we arrived at the Zhongshan (Purple Mountain) iron mine. The mine supervisor and Shaofu Qing Li Xiangzhi came to greet him after being notified.

After the ceremony, Li Tingzhi asked: "I haven't seen Mr. Li for a long time, but I don't want to be here. What business is there?"

Li Xiangzhi gave it up and said: "It is His Majesty's order to test new machines here. Prime Minister Li will know it as soon as he sees it."

The Shaofu can be said to be the emperor's private factory and laboratory, so Li Xiangzhi could joke with Li Tingzhi, and of course, no one would care.

Following Li Xiangzhi to the entrance of the mine, he saw a huge machine spitting out hot air, and two workers were shoveling coal in.

Everyone looked carefully and saw a flywheel next to it, a real wheel that rotated very fast, and there was a belt connected to a pipe on the flywheel, and turbid water gushes out from the mouth of the pipe.

"My lords," Li Xiangzhi said with a hint of showoff: "This is a steam engine. Your Majesty gave instructions. It took the Shaofu five years to complete it. It has been trialed here for more than half a month.

Originally, it took 60 people to carry water to prevent it from being submerged, but now there are only three people.

Now, the Shaofu is laying tracks in the mine. Once completed, steam engines will be used to pull trucks to transport the ore. The Shaofu estimates that one steam engine can be worth 300 manpower! "

"Really?" Li Tingzhi was surprised.

He knew that the Shaofu was responsible for the emperor's whimsical ideas other than weapons, and they were fruitful, such as the hydraulic lathe used to drill gun barrels, but such a powerful machine still surprised him.

One machine can support 300 people, so the Zhongshan Iron Mine has more than 3000 people, which can be maintained with only nine steam engines and 300 people.

The other 700 people can produce value whether they are farming, fighting, or doing work.The large-scale application of steam engines meant that the same population could have more human resources.

With the same population of 5000 million, the Song Dynasty used steam engines and only needed 8000 million people to complete farming and production, while the Yuan Dynasty did not have steam engines and needed [-] million people for farming and production.

All the extra 2000 million that were created out of thin air were used to fight the war. How will the Yuan Kingdom fight?
This is the advantage!
"It's guaranteed to be a fake one." Li Xiangzhi turned his head to look at the steam engine, and said, "It's just not fully mature yet, there's a reason..."

Before he finished speaking, there was a bang on the steam engine, countless steam rushed out, and the flywheel immediately stopped.

"There are many faults and need to be improved, especially the sealing." Li Xiangzhi said helplessly.

Li Tingzhi asked: "Your Majesty, how to solve the problem of sealing?"

"Rubber." Zhao Shi replied: "I sent a fleet to Dongzhou, and this is the species I must look for. I think we will have results in a year or two."

"Three to five years of cultivation will be enough to perfect the steam engine. Ten years later, pseudo-yuan will become a disease of ringworm and scabies." Wen Tianxiang said cheerfully.

"It's just such a sharp weapon, how can your Majesty use it here?" Chen Gangzhong asked.

Li Xiangzhi responded quickly: "Your Majesty's decree, the number of machines depends on the output of iron ore, so it will be used for mining first. As long as there is enough coal and iron, the machines will naturally be used for all applications."

"Your Majesty is wise." Everyone bowed in admiration.

People in the Song Dynasty were very flexible in their thinking. They were willing to work on anything that could make money. They did not mind the noise of steam engines, so they just built them.

However, in addition to the key rubber, manufacturing steam engines also requires a large amount of steel and a large amount of coal as fuel. Artificial mining alone cannot meet this demand.

Therefore, the emperor decreed that the first finished steam engine was used for mining, and the first batch of steam engines were used for this purpose.

Trains and armored ships were pushed back. An experimental train easily cost 30 to [-] kilograms of iron. Adding the rails would cost a million kilograms, which was equivalent to the two-year output of the Zhongshan Iron Mine. It was unnecessary.

When the steam engine is used, the annual iron output of Zhongshan Iron Mine will increase to tens of millions of kilograms, and it will naturally be possible to build cars and ships with ease.

Everyone gathered around Li Xiangzhi and asked a lot of questions. After quickly cleaning him up, they remembered the key problem - sealing.

The seal of this machine is a mixture of peach glue and isinglass. The effect is only average, not durable, and the price is high. It can only be used in emergencies.

"Your Majesty, no news has been sent back from the Dongzhou Fleet. I think it is a foolproof plan and I might as well send two more fleets there." Li Tingzhi said.

"I second the proposal." Everyone agreed.

Not only for rubber, but also for the high-yield food species the emperor said.

There is an upper limit on the country's cultivated land, and there is also an upper limit on the output of cultivated land. If you can harvest more buckets of grain from one acre of land, you can feed more people.

Population is national strength, and a large population naturally leads to an advantage. Therefore, the significance of sweet potatoes and corn is not inferior to that of steam engines, at least until the emergence of new hybrid grains.

Zhao Shi thought about it briefly and said: "The war is tense and the navy ships can barely cope with it, so I will send an additional fleet with the same configuration as before."

"The Privy Council will fully cooperate." Lu Xiufu immediately stated his position.

Enhancing national strength is fundamental and is indeed more important than a new weapon. Among other things, steam engines replace water power in lathes, which can remove gun barrels faster and more stably.

(End of this chapter)