My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 269 Wonderful Idea

The railway project was personally supervised by Li Min. For this purpose, under the order of Zhu Yuanzhang, a new government office was established - the Daming Railway Bureau.

With the assistance of the Ministry of Personnel, Li Min selected several elite craftsmen and officials proficient in industrial management from the Industry Department and various machinery factories to join the Daming Railway Bureau.

The Railway Bureau is under the jurisdiction of the Industry Department, and has two institutes under it, namely the Steam Locomotive Institute and the Rail Institute, which are specifically responsible for the research and development of locomotives and rails.

Although the construction drawings clearly explained what kind of steel materials were needed for each structural part, and even the refining process was listed in detail, progress was once very slow due to the lack of elite workers.

Li Min, Wei Zuoqian and others tried every possible means, and their managers and craftsmen worked day and night to forge and trial-produce, just to see the train speeding on the railway as soon as possible.

In the end, it was Liu Sanwu who proposed a solution, which allowed the project to move forward.

According to him, when the Type 56 semi-automatic machine was first trial-produced, the various parts were trial-produced in batches at the beginning, but once a certain part got stuck, the entire project had to be stopped.

Later, Liu Sanwu gritted his teeth and decided to classify the various parts from difficult to easy, and then start from the easiest one, concentrating his efforts on solving them one by one, so that the new gun was successfully manufactured.

So can the same approach be used in the development of locomotives?

When Li Min and others heard this, they immediately thought it made sense and decided to adopt Liu Sanwu's method and start from the core of the locomotive, the steam engine.

The steam engine was already available, and it only needed to be improved according to the requirements of the drawings. Soon, a steam engine suitable for locomotives was trial-produced.

Then they started various trial runs, such as fatigue tests, etc. Seeing that a breakthrough had been made, Li Min was overjoyed and wanted to promote Liu Sanwu to the position of assistant minister and have him participate in the development of the train, but Liu Sanwu politely declined.

His mind was entirely on firearms, and after being baptized by the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, his mind had been completely opened up.

The gas-operated structure was like an epiphany for him. Since the hot air generated during shooting could push the slide forward, eject the bullet shell, and then automatically return to the original position, it could achieve semi-automatic shooting.

So if we go a step further, if there is semi-automatic, is there also fully automatic?
One shot allows the heat to push the bolt to move. So if you hold the trigger and complete the series of actions such as unlocking, ejecting the shell, loading the bullet, and locking, can you achieve fully automatic shooting?

This is the goal that Liu Sanwu is striving for now.

Now, the Ordnance Bureau, which he is in charge of, has delegated all functions of gun manufacturing to the ordnance factories under the Industry Department, and the Ordnance Bureau has become a pure gun research institution.

No longer having to worry about production, Liu Sanwu was able to focus all his attention on the research of fully automatic shooting methods.

While the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue were working hard on the construction of the railway, Zhu Yuanzhang was alone in his bedroom, watching the video.

Because he suddenly remembered that in the video that Li Han sent him, there was mention of railways.

That was a video about the Anti-Japanese War, and trains seemed to appear in several of the scenes.

He reopened the video. Although he had watched it several times before, when Zhu Yuanzhang saw the Japanese invaders burning, killing and looting on Chinese land again, the anger in his heart burst out again.

Restraining his anger, he watched carefully. When the video came to the Northeast and the Japanese invaders transported soldiers by train via railways, he suddenly realized that this was a train!
When I first watched it, my mind was entirely on the Japanese invaders. Although I was somewhat curious about the train, I did not take it too seriously. But now when I watch it again, I have a different feeling.

The Northeast China mentioned in the video should include the eastern part of the desert, southern Liaoning, eastern Liaoning, and the Nurgan area further north. Today, the Nurgan area is under the control of the Haixi Jurchens, and the areas further north are the territory of the Wild Jurchens.

The word Nurgan comes from the Jurchen language, which means landscape painting.

Unexpectedly, in the future, the first places invaded by the Japanese invaders would be these places. It was there that they supported the Qing Emperor Puyi and established the so-called Manchukuo in order to achieve behind-the-scenes control over the Northeast region.

Humph, this tactic is exactly the same as the one used by the Muromachi shogunate to control Emperor Komatsu, it's just a different name but the substance remains the same!
It seems that hundreds of years have passed, and the Japanese haven't made any progress!

But the point is that the Japanese invaders controlled the Northeast through railways, and could even quickly transport troops to Shanhaiguan through railways.

The Japanese invaders can do it, and the Ming Dynasty can do it even better!

The Japanese could transport troops into the interior of the country via railways, while the Ming could use railways to transport forces outside the country.

While thinking, Zhu Yuanzhang took out the world map that Li Han gave him, and ran his finger northward along the map, from the northeast to East and West Siberia, and then from East and West Siberia to Siberia.

If the Ming Dynasty built railways in all these places, wouldn't it mean that the mineral resources here could be transported back to the Ming Dynasty in an endless stream?

Even, the Ming Dynasty could establish a military headquarters there?

Then he followed Siberia and pointed his finger westward, crossing the Ural Mountains and the Caucasus Mountains, all the way across the Rhine River!

What if we could build one or even several railways from Ming Dynasty to Europe?
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but feel his scalp tingling and goose bumps all over his body. This idea was simply too wonderful!
Take a deep breath and force yourself to calm down. Lao Li once said that when looking at the world, one should start from the perspective of geography.

Geopolitics includes two aspects: land power and sea power. Sea power is achieved through ships and shipping routes, while land power relies on railways!

Without considering that Europe is so far away, at the very least, the railway to the east can control the Northeast and the Korean Peninsula, and to the west, it can quickly transport troops to the Chagatai Khanate, capture it in one fell swoop, and re-incorporate the Western Regions into China's territory!

The basis for achieving all this is the continued growth of Ming Dynasty's industry, which requires a huge number of workers!
Those damn corrupt scholars are so rotten that they should all be swept into the dustbin of history!
When Zhu Yuanzhang thought of the faces of those so-called upright Confucian officials in the court, he felt so angry that his teeth itched. Why couldn't these damn guys be killed?
Alas, there are so many literati in the world. Even if we kill a few of them, how can we stop the gossips of the people?

Can't they see the changes in the Ming Dynasty? Industrialization is the need of the times and the trend of historical development. No, it's not that they can't see it, they just don't dare to face it!

Once workers replace Confucian scholars as the main living force of the Ming Dynasty, science replaces Confucianism, and factories replace landlords, the literary world will completely lose its dominant position.

They actually see it very clearly!

I wonder what Lao Li thinks about this?

Alas, it’s a pity that this guy is only interested in enjoying himself. How nice it would be if he were here, serving the Ming Dynasty peacefully, and calling on me as his father-in-law whenever he has time!
At this moment, the voice of the eunuch Wang Jinghong was heard outside the hall.

"Your Majesty, the craftsmen from the Industry Department have delivered the Dragon Controlling Heavenly Secret Furnace you requested."

(End of this chapter)