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Chapter 459 New Road

We set off at dawn and returned as the sun set. The actual patrol time was only one and a half hours, and the rest was wasted on the road. There is still an official road to go here, and the weather conditions are good. If it rains or snows again, it is estimated that it will be difficult to make the trip back and forth to Tongzhou Camp in one day.

"Delsis, I heard that you participated in the construction of aqueducts in your hometown?"

With this resentment, Hong Tao sent people to Nanhaizi the next day to summon Xiong Sanba into the palace. The missionary’s real name was Sabadino Delsis. When discussing more formal issues, Hong Tao tried to speak Latin as much as possible, mainly because he was afraid that their limited Chinese proficiency would cause them to get the meaning wrong.

"Yes, Your Majesty, in addition to the aqueduct, I also participated in the design of the church. It is just a small church. In my hometown, it is very small."

Xiong Sanba has been presiding over the daily affairs of the Jesuits in China at the Europa Temple in Nanhaizi for the past few years. The most important thing is to register the identities of the Jesuit priests who come to the Ming Dynasty, and then tell them what kind of cultural differences there are. How to interact with Ming people.

How should I put it, I worked very seriously, especially after installing a large telescope in the chapel. I hardly mentioned the matter of becoming a disciple of Li Zhizao. When I had some free time, I went to chat with the stars.

To be honest, Hong Tao really has no experience in astronomy, not even second-hand. But the more this happens, the more people in the association have to support them, for example, by building a large telescope and encouraging people to look carefully at all the stars in the sky. It's best to draw it all and find out the interrelated details.

"I would like to ask a personal question. If you had the opportunity to become an architect and preside over a huge project, would you be interested?" But what we want to talk about today is not a star map or a telescope, but another completely related to the stars. Irrelevant things.

"Your Majesty wants me to go to Guangzhou to supervise the construction of a church? It's absolutely impossible. I can only build a small church with a height of more than ten meters. No matter how big it is, I can't do anything. But I can write to the church and ask for designers and architects. The Holy See There should be strong support.”

Although the emperor didn't say it clearly, Xiong Sanba felt that he had already guessed it. Albrecht VII was accompanied by himself during his stay in Beijing. Although he did not reveal much about the content of the talks, church matters were still discussed.

It is said that being able to hold this position is a lucrative job with both fame and fortune. It doesn't matter if you don't know it. There is no shortage of architects in the Roman Church. As long as you open your mouth, they will definitely send someone, and they are the best.

You can get some benefits during the construction of the church. When the church is completed, you can gain fame. Then you can return to Europe with the money. With a little bit of management, you can become a bishop. If you don't pay enough, you can become a cardinal.

But, I really like my current life and work. There is a lot of food in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and the treatment given by the emperor is also very generous. In addition to observing and recording the starry sky, I have a lot of time to read various books every day, which can be said to be leisurely and leisurely.

With the telescope sponsored by the emperor, stars that were previously invisible can now be seen clearly, and stars that were invisible before can now be discovered from time to time. If you return to Europe, let alone whether there are people willing to pay to watch the stars by yourself, even if there is, there will be no place to find such a high-end telescope.

"You are quite self-aware, but I am not a fool. I will leave the church to you to blindly command. I want you to build a road, a new road that has never been tried before.

If it is completed, I can grant you a formal official position and lead the construction of new roads across the country. If it's not too successful, then you can continue to go back to Nanhaizi Church to take charge of Jesuit affairs. "

Xiong Sanba guessed wrong. The job the emperor wanted to assign had nothing to do with the church, but it sounded like it was more important than the church. The reward for success was actually the appointment of an official. This is the only thing scorpions do. Matteo Ricci had a relationship with the emperor when he was the crown prince, and he didn't even hold an official position. "Can I build roads?" But Xiong Sanba didn't feel happy at all, mainly because he had a relatively realistic understanding of his own abilities.

"If you can build the diversion canal, you can build the road. These are the drawings and process requirements. You can choose 50 people from the Haikou Department to take with you. First, spend two months surveying the line and making a budget. When the funds are available, you can recruit people to start the work. .”

The reason why Xiong Sanba was asked to build roads was because he had told stories about building canals in his hometown. Is there any necessary connection between building roads and building canals? Of course, measuring the gap over a long distance is the core technology.

Of course there were craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty who knew this technology. Not to mention the distance, the measurement of the drop along the central axis of the capital was very precise. But Hong Tao didn't know any of them, and even if he did, he wouldn't want to use them. They have too many interests tied to them, and they don't have a lonely ghost like Xiong Sanba to manipulate them.

As for how someone who is unfamiliar with the place can lead a big project, it is too easy. By using the title of Royal Horse Supervisor and sending two royal guards to follow each hundred households, the problems faced by local officials can basically be solved. The rest of the things that can't be put on the table will be taken care of by Haihu from the Haihu Division. Xiong Sanba only needs to do the project itself.

"...What's the point of laying a ladder on the ground?" People who engage in science and engineering are not all bad in their character. They are very difficult to fool around on specific issues. They focus more on the matter itself and always like to put the specifics into practice. Make a decision after clarifying the content.

Although Xiong Sanba was a missionary, he preferred to study astronomy. He didn't pay much attention to the emperor's lie. Instead, he read the drawings and engineering instructions carefully, and then the problem arose.

According to the description in the drawings and instructions, this road starts from Dongbianmen in the capital and ends eastward at Tongzhou Pier. It is almost a straight line, with a total length of about 40 miles.

It sounds like it shouldn't be difficult. There are plains along the way, and there are ready-made bridges on three or four rivers. The roadbed is only ten steps wide, and the amount of work is very average. If the construction schedule is not too tight, it should be considered a small project.

However, the craftsmanship requirements of this road are a bit special. It is neither a dirt road nor a masonry road. Instead, it is paved with a thick layer of gravel, with crossbars set up on top, and then two parallel wooden bars are set up on the crossbars, one step apart. It's shaped like a very long ladder.

"Have you ever ridden in a four-wheeled carriage?" As usual, the emperor did not give a direct answer to this question, but asked a habitual rhetorical question.

"I once drove a carriage alone to the canal dock of Tianjin Wei. I have to say that the four-wheeled carriage invented by your Majesty is indeed more comfortable and faster than any other vehicle in the world. Even on rugged dirt roads, the rider does not feel too uncomfortable. Big bump.”

Although Xiong Sanba didn't know why the emperor asked, he could only answer truthfully. There are several four-wheeled carriages in Nanhaizi Church, two of which were specially awarded to Matteo Ricci and are now used by himself.

(End of this chapter)