The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 472: New Tales of the World
Song Yingxing hurriedly left the Shenyang Palace with an imperial decree to develop a steam engine for two months, officially starting the steam journey of the Great Qi Empire.

Emperor Wu Ding sat on the armchair and read for a while, feeling uneasy. It was not because he had no confidence in making the steam engine, but an inexplicable sense of insecurity surged into the time traveler's heart.

Starting from September, the retired emperor and his army will embark on a new journey, going to war with Korea, Japan, Southern Ming and other forces, and strive to restore the order that the empire deserves in the Eurasian continent.

Order is what Emperor Wuding values most now.

For the sake of a stable order, he can sacrifice everyone, including himself.

Fortunately, after the Great Purge, order in the empire is being steadily restored.

A large amount of silver and money flowed from the hands of local tyrants and evil gentry into the homes of ordinary people. Stimulated by consumption, the empire's business prospered unprecedentedly.

After hundreds of failed attempts in the workshop, Liu Zhaosun finally realized that the ancient version of cement was probably one of the most unreliable inventions in time-travel novels, and it was impossible to produce modern cement in ancient times.

Modern cement has a complex composition. First, limestone and clay must be calcined together at high temperatures, which requires temperatures above 1500°, and the temperature must be maintained for a sufficient period of time (which is costly).

It is difficult for manual air blowing equipment to reach 1500℃, and even if it can be achieved, it cannot be maintained for long.

In short, it is difficult to achieve under the technological conditions of this era.

After repeated exchanges with Ginnigo and Francesco, Liu Zhaosun decided to manufacture "ancient Roman mortar" with simple technology and relatively low cost.

The miners mined a large amount of cheap quicklime, which was fully mixed with volcanic ash transported from Changbai Mountain, Iwo Jima and other places. After adding water, it formed slaked lime + silicate, which is the "ancient Roman mortar".

This type of cement has low strength and is slow to produce. Its only two advantages are its high durability and relatively low cost.

In August, as a huge amount of volcanic ash arrived in Kaiyuan, the Ministry of Works began to use Kaiyuan as a pilot to renovate the old city with cement, pave roads, and build houses and fortresses.

A street and houses in the north of Kaiyuan City were replaced with cement and bamboo reinforcements. Workers set up dense scaffolding in the city and were busy.

Once the renovation of the old city is completed, Kaiyuan will no longer have to suffer from dust, dirt, mud and filth, and the city's appearance will be completely new.

In early August, the first cement road from Shenyang to Kaiyuan was completed, marking the advent of the Daqi Highway era.

A new type of shock-absorbing carriage was invented by the workshop, which greatly improved the comfort of riding in the carriage.

As for the invention and production of new products such as distilled liquor, cement, soap, whalebone skirt perfume, etc., there is no need to elaborate.

These goods will follow the swords and artillery of the imperial army, cross mountains and rivers, be invincible, and be sold to surrounding areas.

More resources were invested in workshops and schools, and new weapons were produced in the workshops.

North Korea and Kuyi Island will be their testing grounds.

The ocean whaling industry flourished, and the number of fleets involved in whaling grew from a single small boat in the 47th year of the Wanli reign to dozens of fleets today.

With the whaling industry as the center, upstream and downstream industries are developing rapidly.

From the baleen used to make tutu skirts to the whale skin that is the core material of hot air balloons, the whaling industry that the time travelers began to plan five years ago has finally undergone a qualitative change and started to burst out with amazing energy.

With the rise of the whaling craze, the popular clothing of women in the Great Qi Dynasty quickly changed from "horsetail skirt" to whalebone skirt.

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The future of the empire is bright, although the power is firmly in the hands of the time traveler, and although he is becoming the absolute controller of this time and space.

However, faced with unpredictable fate and the cruelty of destiny, tiny individuals always feel an inexplicable fear.

After enjoying the pleasure of fine wine and beautiful women, when he woke up, the tragic scene of the great plague in the capital appeared before his eyes, keeping him awake at night.

In order to overcome his fear, he had no choice but to keep getting stronger and make himself stronger.

Not only must you crush all your opponents, but you must also be able to fight against this strange and unpredictable fate.

~~~~
The palace maid Amber stretched out her slender waist and swayed as she walked forward to urge the retired emperor to go to bed early, her bright and charming eyes full of expectation.

Emperor Wu Ding was still reading under the lamp at night. Reading before going to bed was a habit that the time traveler had kept for many years and had never changed.

"Your Majesty, what is painted on this? Could it be the Taishang Laojun's alchemy furnace?"

Amber snuggled up to the retired emperor, her waist resting on the armrest of the armchair, trying to get closer to Liu Zhaosun.

A musky smell wafted over, and he frowned slightly, because this precious spice was sent all the way from Jakarta by the East India Company and was one of the materials Francisco used specifically to make mummies.

It was originally intended for Dudu, but somehow it ended up in the hands of this scoundrel.

"That's not some Bagua furnace. This is the sun, and this is Mercury and Mars."

Liu Zhaosun unfolded Copernicus's "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres", pointed to a diagram of the nine planets in the solar system, and patiently explained it to Amber.

Amber was confused by what she heard. In order not to appear stupid in front of the emperor, she pretended that she understood.

"I want to be closer to here."

Liu Zhaosun pointed to a small moon next to the earth and said casually to his beautiful concubine, "The image of the former Ming Dynasty adventurer Wan Hu (Note 1) sitting on a chair full of rockets, holding a kite, and ordering his servants to ignite the rocket for takeoff appeared before his eyes."

"Your Majesty, do you want to cultivate immortality? I know a divine being named Ke Zhen'e..."

"It's not about cultivating immortality. That's the moon. I want to ascend to the sky."

Amber glanced at the emperor as if she had seen a ghost, and then immediately regained her charming look.

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand impatiently and said to Dongfang Zhu who was standing in the distance:
"The Empress Dowager West will serve you tonight, and the Empress Dowager East will also come. Everyone else, please leave."

Seeing that she was being treated coldly, Amber said with an unhappy face: "Your Majesty, Queen Jin was still pleading for Qiao Yiqi the day before yesterday. There are rumors in the palace that she is colluding with the Kang Party. Your Majesty, why..."

Liu Zhaosun stood up in anger.

"Qiao Yiqi is certainly guilty, but he is still my minister. How can you call him by his name?"

Amber blushed, knowing she was in the wrong, and turned away.

The emperor looked at the beauty's retreating figure and recalled the story of Cao Cao killing a beautiful concubine in Shishuo Xinyu (Note 2). The desire that had just risen in his heart disappeared without a trace:

"You are arrogant because of your favor, and your virtue is unworthy of your position. I should do as Cao Mengde did and find a more beautiful woman before killing you."

The emperor put away his murderous intent and turned his attention back to the book.

The gold-stamped cover is engraved with the name of the original book's author, Copernicus, written in elegant Italian, full of medieval style.

The book "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" was brought from Macau by Ginico. It has been a hundred years since the original book was published.

In order to make it easier for the emperor to read, Ginige and Xu Guangqi translated the original book from Italian. Liu Zhaosun was not interested in what was happening in the solar system.

He was just curious why Copernicus and Galileo appeared in Europe.

The time traveler doesn't know much about European history, only limited to high school history knowledge, and has long forgotten most of it.

“If you can’t stay ahead of them forever, nip them in the bud, in the cradle.”

Putting down the astronomer's work written more than a hundred years ago, Emperor Wu Ding was worried.

He was planning to annex Korea. After occupying Jiangnan, he felt that he did not have much advantage in comparing the power of Da Qi with that of European countries.

Perhaps, as the Heshang School said, Eastern civilization has inherent flaws.

If we cannot stay ahead of the West for a long time, then we will destroy them.

It might be because he was about to see the Empress Dowager Cisi, whom he hadn't seen for several months, or it might be because the musk emanating from the scheming bitch Amber aroused his desire.

The emperor couldn't sit still and looked towards the palace gate again and again.

After a long time, Dongfang Zhu's shrill and hoarse voice finally rang out from the door:

"The Empress Dowager Cisheng has arrived! The Empress Dowager Yi'an has arrived!"

Looking at Jin Yuji and Yang Qing'er standing at the door, looking at the woman he loved most, he felt a fire burning in his heart and his whole body was restless, as if he had returned to the moment of his first love.

Note:
Wan Hu, whose real name was Tao Chengdao, was the principal of Tao Family Academy in Wucheng, Zhejiang Province. He was known for his dedication to alchemy. He achieved remarkable feats in numerous battles and was awarded the title of "Wan Hu" by Zhu Yuanzhang, becoming known as "Wan Hu." In his later years, Tao Chengdao strapped 1 homemade rockets to a chair, sat on it, and held a large kite in both hands, then ordered someone to ignite and launch it. He envisioned the rocket's thrust combined with the kite's power to launch the rocket. Unfortunately, the rocket exploded, costing him his life. He is considered the world's first astronaut.

2. "A New Account of the Tales of the World" - Cao Cao Kills a Singing Courtesan: "Wei Wu had a courtesan with a very noble voice, but her nature was cruel and evil. He wanted to kill her because he loved her talent, but he wanted to keep her because she was unbearable. So he selected a hundred people and taught them all at once. After a while, one of them, whose voice reminded him of her, was killed by the evil one."

Emperor Cao Cao of Wei had a singing girl with a melodious voice and stunning beauty. She was the most beautiful of all his courtesans. She was always required to sing at banquets, and her songs always drew applause from the crowd, often earning her many rewards. However, she had a bad temper and was easily offended, sometimes embarrassing even Cao Cao. Cao Cao was tempted to kill her, but because her singing voice was unmatched, he temporarily restrained himself. Cao Cao selected a singing girl, and after a period of training, one of her voices surpassed hers. One day, the singing girl lost her temper again, and Cao Cao decided not to tolerate her and ordered her execution.

(End of this chapter)