Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 33: Science and Technology Department Lesson [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

Because Liu Kuan used simplified characters from later generations, although they were similar to the cursive and vernacular characters of the time, there were also differences.

In addition, he wrote casually - some were written horizontally, some were written vertically, and connected together with a context structure diagram, which was purely used to help him think about the problem.

Therefore, Su Quan took a few glances, but could only guess from a few words such as "train" and "steelmaking" that Liu Kuan was thinking about building a train.

He then withdrew his gaze and looked at Liu Kuan, saying, "Have you made up your mind about building the train?"

"Well, I only have a rough idea at the moment," Liu Kuan answered first, then asked, "How much does Doctor Su know about building trains?"

Su Quan pulled a chair over and sat opposite Liu Kuan, then motioned for Liu Kuan to sit down as well.

"I was appointed by His Majesty as a doctor in the Department of Science and Technology just the day before yesterday. It was then that His Majesty mentioned the matter of building a train."

"Your Majesty first said that the railway came with the cross-river bridge and stretched for thousands of miles, most likely from Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture to Peking."

"He also said that the railway was not for ordinary carriages, but only for trains. At that time, I asked Your Majesty what a train was. What do you think your Majesty replied?"

After hearing this, Liu Kuan, drawing on what he had learned about Zhu Yuanzhang's character over the past few days, speculated, "Could it be that Your Majesty has asked Doctor Su to ask me this?"

Su Quan laughed, "Hahaha, you are really smart, you guessed it right at once!"

Liu Kuan also laughed, but his laugh seemed a little helpless.

Sure enough, Lao Zhu pushed the responsibility of explaining to him.

Of course, it is also possible that Zhu Yuanzhang still had a vague understanding of trains and was afraid of saying something wrong and embarrassing himself in front of his ministers.

Su Quan then added, "Your Majesty also said that although I am a doctor in the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Science and Technology should regard you as the backbone."

"His Majesty even stated that the reason he transferred me to the Department of Science and Technology was to help you resolve some of the problems you face in the court and officialdom, and to assist you in building the train as quickly as possible."

"However, I still don't know what a train is. Even if I wanted to help you, I don't know where to start. I can only trouble you to explain it to me."

Liu Kuan felt quite uncomfortable when he heard Su Quan always addressing him with the honorific "Your Excellency", and at the same time he had some doubts.

So he asked, "Does Doctor Su know my origins?"

To Liu Kuan's surprise, Su Quan shook his head and said, "Your Majesty only said that you came to the Ming Dynasty with the cross-river bridge and the railway. You are not some immortal banished from heaven, but a mortal like us."

"As for where you are from, His Majesty did not say, and it seems that he does not want me to ask."

Having said that, Su Quan looked at Liu Kuan deeply.

The look on his face was very clear: Don’t tell me your origins, I don’t want to hear it!

"It seems that Old Zhu doesn't want others to think of me as a banished immortal, nor does he want to reveal my identity as a later person."

"As expected, you're still wary of me."

Liu Kuan sighed in his heart, but was not too surprised by this result - after all, Zhu was a feudal emperor.

After coming to his senses, Liu Kuan decided to talk about work directly, but when he was about to open his mouth, he suddenly remembered that if he explained to Su Quan now, he would probably have to explain again when other officials from the Science and Technology Department came in the future.

In that case, I don’t know how much repetitive work will have to be done.

It’s better to think of a permanent solution.

He first asked, "Doctor Su, as far as I know, the Science and Technology Department should have a Shangshu and other officials. I wonder when these colleagues will arrive?"

Su Quan shook his head. "The Department of Science and Technology will no longer have a Shangshu. His Majesty issued an edict the morning before yesterday, reverting the six ministries to their old system of having only one Shangshu, assisted by a Shilang, and a Langzhong as the head of each department."

"As for the other colleagues in the Science and Technology Department, His Majesty appointed another Deputy Director at the morning court this morning. They will probably be here later."

"As for the remaining officials, such as the chief clerk and the steward, His Majesty said that you can recommend them after you take office."

Recommended by me?

It seems that they want me to choose the person myself.

Liu Kuan thought to himself.

He tapped the table with his fingers out of habit and said, "Doctor Su, how about this? Call the four clerks from the office over here."

"Let them listen to me explain what a train is, and then write it down in a book. That way, when other officials join the Science and Technology Department in the future, they can learn about trains by reading the records. How do you do that?"

Su Quan nodded, "This is a good idea."

After saying that, he was about to go out and call for help.

Liu Kuan was speechless when he saw this - he was not a rookie in the workplace, so how could he let his boss do errands?
He immediately stood up and said, "Doctor Su, please sit down. I will go and call them."

Su Quan was stunned for a moment, then sat down with a smile.

Liu Kuan came to the courtyard and saw Liu Yan and the other three still cleaning the yard, so he said, "Everyone, please stop cleaning and bring your pens, ink, paper, and inkstone."

"Yes."

The four of them responded, put down their brooms and other tools, and went to the west wing to get pens, ink, paper, and inkstone.

When Liu Kuan brought the four people back to his "office", he saw Su Quan also brought a set of writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone, and sat at a nearby desk with a calm expression.

Seeing Liu Yan and the other three standing there, looking a little reserved, Liu Kuan said, "Please find a seat and take a note of what I say later."

The other three obediently found seats, but Zhao Wenyuan glanced at Su Quan first. Seeing that Su Quan didn't react, he belatedly followed suit and found a seat. Clearly, Zhao Wenyuan hadn't figured out who the real "boss" of the Science and Technology Department was.

Liu Kuan was not prepared to argue with a clerk.

He took out the information on steam engines and trains that Qiuyue had copied, cleared his throat, and began to explain.

"As you all probably know, a few days ago, a railway appeared along with the cross-river bridge."

"According to the investigation of the personal army, this railway is very likely to run from Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture to Peking, and is over 2,000 miles long."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yan and the other three were obviously shocked - although they knew about the existence of the railway before, they only just realized that it was so long!

Liu Kuan continued, "Even an ordinary official road can bring great convenience to the people of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention the railway that the Ming Dynasty does not yet have."

"Some people might ask, what is the purpose of railways? Since they are roads, they are naturally used for transportation."

"But the railway is not for people, horses, or carriages. It is for trains."

"The first task of our Science and Technology Department after its establishment was to build a train so that this railway could be put to use."

"Then comes the main point of what I am going to talk about today - what is a train."

"Train is actually a common name. Its official name should be 'steam train'. So what is a steam train?"

"Like a horse-drawn carriage, it's a carriage pulled by horses, hence the name. Similarly, a steam train is a train consisting of multiple carriages pulled by a steam engine, hence the name!"

Having said that, Liu Kuan noticed that Su Quan, Liu Yan and other clerks were writing quickly, so he stopped.

In fact, he had been speaking quite slowly just now, but he had said too much after all, and Su Quan and the others were not necessarily used to dictation, so it was difficult for them to write down everything he said.

But if they are smart, they will know that not every word needs to be written down - just remember the key points and organize them later.

After a while, Liu Kuan continued, "There are two key points in building a steam train: one is steelmaking, because whether it's the steam engine, the train wheels and other components, or the railway tracks, they all need to be cast with steel."

"The second is to build a steam engine - this is a very complicated machine for Ming Dynasty craftsmen, but with the structural diagram I provided and guidance, it can be replicated..."

Then, Liu Kuan found the structural diagram of the steam engine and explained the working principle of the steam engine to Su Quan and others based on the diagram.

After finishing his speech, Liu Kuan saw that everyone was busy writing, so he wanted to have some tea.

It turned out that he didn't even know whether there was any tea in the Science and Technology Department - there was a thermos on the table not far away.

This Ming Dynasty kettle is a porcelain bottle wrapped in lacquer, or a porcelain bottle wrapped in cotton cloth wrapped with rattan to achieve a certain insulation effect.

Liu Kuan had not yet developed the habit of ordering his subordinates to serve him, so he stood up to pour water.

The sound of him pouring water was heard before others noticed.

Zheng Zhiliang was the first to speak up: "If the clerk wants to drink water, he can ask me to do it. There is no need to do it yourself."

As he spoke, he hurried over and took the thermos from Liu Kuan.

Liu Kuan had already put it down and said to Zheng Zhiliang, "Why would you need my help with such a small matter? Go back to your seats."

"Yes." Zheng Zhiliang stepped back again.

"Doctor Su, would you like some water?" Liu Kuan asked again.

Su Quan smiled and shook his head, saying, "I don't talk as much as you do, so I'm not thirsty."

Liu Kuan nodded and sat back in his seat with his teacup.

Finding that the water was not hot, he took a small sip.

He thought to himself that for safety reasons, it would be better to bring his own thermos. It wasn't that he was afraid someone would poison him, but mainly because he didn't know if the water was hygienic since it hadn't been boiled and had been there for a few days.

Putting down his teacup, Liu Kuan asked, "Is there anything you don't understand about what I just said?"

Liu Yan and others remained silent for a while.

Su Quan asked, "Why must this train run on the railway? Can it run on the official road?"

Liu Kuan said: "When the speed of the train is increased, it will run very fast. Even if we build the first generation of trains, it may be as fast as a galloping horse."

"Plus, it pulls trains consisting of multiple carriages, each carrying tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of kilograms of cargo."

"Doctor Su, you can imagine that kind of situation and then think about whether the train is suitable for running on the official road."

Liu Kuan’s words are straightforward and easy to understand.

Su Quan immediately imagined it, and then his expression changed slightly. He said, "If it is as you said, the train is running on the official road, I am afraid it will be very bumpy, and it may cause the trains to scatter and collide with each other."

"If someone were hit by a train on the highway, they would be crushed to pieces and the train would overturn."

"Also, the official road is probably not strong enough to withstand the trains. I'm afraid it will become difficult to drive on after a few trains."

Perhaps encouraged by Su Quan's question, Zhao Wenyuan spoke up.

He asked, "Excuse me, Vice-Lieutenant Liu, why don't you just have the steam engine pull one carriage? That way it should be able to travel on the official road, right?"

　Please collect, read and vote.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)