The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 581: I started to be idle again
The Ji Hai Imperial Examination was completed.

The emperor personally appointed Song Yingsheng as the top scholar.

This was followed by the parade of the top scholar, the Qionglin Banquet, and the selection of Hanlin scholars, etc.

The capital city was bustling for several days.

At this time, Wanli actually took his entire family to the Summer Palace.

It seems that he has started to be idle again. He actually ignored such an important matter as cleaning up corrupt officials and took his whole family out for fun!
At about 3 p.m. that afternoon, in a newly built workshop in Miyun County, Wanli, Yongnianbo Wang Wei, Bi Maokang and others were standing in front of a huge machine, seemingly waiting for this monstrous machine to start.

Xiao Zhu Changxun, Song Yingxing and several newly-appointed Jinshi also stood aside waiting with excitement on their faces.

Old Zhao, the craftsman, was directing several young men to help carry cotton into a huge copper trough.

This is actually a spinning machine, which they improved based on the water-powered spinning machine, but this time they spun cotton instead of wool.

Cotton has a longer fleece than wool, so it should be easier to spin.

This steam spinning machine simply changed the power source and improved the rollers for brushing the wool.

Wanli's face was full of calmness. He believed that for Yongnian Earl Wang Wei and Old Zhao, a craftsman who had been making spinning machines for more than ten years, this small modification should not be a problem for them.

Old Zhao worked for a while and was finally ready. He picked up the wooden hammer and looked at Wanli carefully.

Once you are ready, let’s start.

Wanli waved his hand without hesitation and said, "Send the air."

Upon hearing this, Old Zhao immediately struck the ball with a hammer.

This huge machine, which was more than ten feet long, wide and high, immediately started moving on its own like a monster.

The strands of cotton yarn soon fell down.

This cannot be fully automated. In the beginning, the cotton yarn still needs to be manually passed through many fine holes, hooks and even rollers.

The craftsmen under Old Zhao were specialized in making spinning machines, and they were extremely skilled at it. With several people working together, nine strands of cotton yarn quickly passed through the entire machine and were slowly wound around the outermost row of spindles.

There really was nothing wrong with the steam spinning machine.

The current manufacturing level of the Ming Dynasty is so awesome.

Seeing this, Wanli couldn't help but nodded with a look of relief on his face.

The main reason why he brought his family to the summer resort was to see this large steam-driven machine.

This is just the beginning. They will apply steam engines to more machines in the future.

This important task will be entrusted to Song Yingxing and several newly promoted Jinshi.

This machine has reached the limit of Yongnianbo Wang Wei and craftsman Lao Zhaotou.

After all, they are just craftsmen and have no basic knowledge. They are just experienced. If there is someone to guide them, there will be no problem. However, it is unlikely that they will develop new machines on their own.

Song Yingxing was different from several newly-appointed Jinshi scholars. They were all scholars who had studied hard and had a lot of knowledge in their heads.

Although most of this knowledge has little to do with machines, they at least have a foundation for learning and development, and can learn machine-related knowledge very quickly.

Song Yingxing's eyes lit up at this moment, and he kept staring at the huge machine, as if he wanted to put the entire machine into his mind.

He must have understood a lot of things, because he was thinking about the hand spinning machine and simple processing machine tools a few days ago.

This is also one of Wanli's teaching methods. He would let him think about it first, and then look at the finished machine after a few days. This way he would learn faster.

Seeing that he had almost finished reading, Wanli instructed him, "Changgeng, if you have any questions, you can ask the father-in-law and Old Zhao. They were the ones who made this machine."

Upon hearing this, Song Yingxing immediately ran to Old Zhao and pointed at the things he didn't understand and started asking questions.

At this moment, Shan Sinan suddenly walked in quickly and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, Lord Zhu and General Li are back."

Zhu Guozuo and Li Guozhu?
These two guys are finally back. He has been waiting for them for half a year.

He thought the two guys had encountered a terrible storm at sea.

There were no means of communication in those days, and even he, the emperor, had no way of knowing what was happening on the sea thousands of miles away.

Fortunately, these two guys finally came back.

Upon hearing this, Wanli immediately raised his hand and said, "Announce."

Soon, Zhu Guozuo, Li Guozhu, Li Zhizao and Wang Zheng came together.

When they saw the huge spinning machine in the workshop, they were all stunned.

When Wanli saw that there were four instead of two, he was stunned.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli couldn't help but ask, "Why did you come back together?"

Fortunately, you didn't blame me for coming back late.

Li Guozhu simply looked at Li Zhizao and Wang Zheng.

Wang Zheng quickly explained, "Your Majesty, I have made a prototype steamship, but it is a modified version of a 400-ton wheel boat. It is not safe to sail long distances.

I know that General Li's fleet passes through Dongfan every few months and comes near the capital, so I sent someone to Dongfan to wait and ask General Li to bring back the sample ship I made.

Li Zhizao also explained: "Your Majesty, there are too many islands in the south of the South China Sea. Last year, I estimated that we would have to wait until the weather warms up this year before we could follow the ocean currents to return.

Therefore, I have also sent a 2,000-ton Fuchuan warship and ten centipede ships to Dongfan to see if General Li's fleet can wait for me."

Oh, it turns out they were waiting for you two guys.

Upon hearing this, Wanli couldn't help but ask curiously, "It's fine for Liangfu to ask Guozhu and the others to wait, but why did you ask them to wait for you, Zhenzhi? You brought so many 2,000-ton Fuchuan warships with you, are you afraid that you won't be able to return to the capital?"

Uh, this.

Li Zhizao explained carefully, "Your Majesty, I want to continue with General Li's fleet to survey and map America.

The last time I went there, I only mapped the waterway. I hadn't even had time to map the vast landmass over there. "So you're going to America with Li Guozhu to map the continent. Do you know how long you've been worrying me?"
Okay, there are some things an emperor cannot say, it will scare you if I say them.

I'm glad you're okay.

By the way, the steamship was made.

Wanli suddenly realized what was happening and asked excitedly, "Liangfu, where is the steamship?"

Wang Zheng said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, the steamship is docked at the pier outside the city."

Upon hearing this, Wanli immediately waved his hand and said, "Let's go and take a look."

A large group of people immediately poured out of the workshop and headed towards the dock outside the city.

When Wanli walked to the dock and took a look, he was stunned again.

This steamship is completely different from the steamship he has in mind.

The steamships he had in mind had no wheels, at least the wheels were not exposed, and the boilers were not exposed either.

This steamship is indeed a bit like the cars of later generations. It has four large water wheels on both sides that are almost as tall as a person, and the boiler stands upright in the middle. There is no cabin, and there are only two things like awnings on both sides.

Okay, can't ask for too much, it's good enough if you can do it.

He walked in and took a closer look, then asked, "Liangfu, how fast can this steamer go?"

This one doesn't run fast.

Wang Zheng said rather embarrassedly, "Your Majesty, this steamship can only travel forty to fifty miles an hour, and only about five or six hundred miles a day."

so slow?
Steamships in later generations can travel more than forty or fifty miles in an hour. Yours is more than half as slow, so one hour is two hours.

Wanli looked at the boiler standing in the middle and said in confusion: "Such a large boiler drives two steam engines, the power should be very strong.

Why don't you make the drive gear bigger so it can go faster?"

This is not that simple.

Wang Zheng pointed to the axle in the middle of the large water wheel and said, "Your Majesty, if this water wheel turns too fast, smoke will come out from the fixing hole where the axle passes through the side of the ship.

Originally, the axle was made of wood. I tried to replace it with iron, but it still didn't work. Later, I added two smooth copper sleeves into the hole, but it still didn't work."

Oh, it turns out there is a problem with the connection between the axle and the hull.

You definitely can't do it by grinding like this.

Wanli thought for a moment, then raised his hand and gestured, "It's useless to just add two copper sleeves. If the copper sleeves rub against each other too much, they will get so hot that they will smoke.

You have to find a way to prevent the two sleeves from rubbing against each other directly. The way to do this is to add a circle of cylinders in the middle that are about the size of a finger.

Then punch two shells on both sides to cover the cylinder, so that the cylinder is evenly distributed between the two copper sleeves.

This way, when the copper sleeve holding the axle in the middle rotates, the cylinder will rotate with it, and you just need to add a little oil inside, and it won't get so hot that it smokes."

There is such a good thing!
Wang Zheng's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he nodded repeatedly, saying, "I understand."

Wanli turned around and explained to everyone, "This thing is called a bearing. It can be added to any axle that rotates too fast, including the axle of a carriage."

This is indeed a good thing.

However, such a big lump must weigh at least one or two kilograms.

Bi Maokang hesitated for a moment after hearing this, but then he said carefully, "Your Majesty, this seems to cost a lot of copper. The wheel I have also costs a lot of copper. How much copper is this?"

This bronze statue was bought by Li Guozhu.

Upon hearing this, Wanli asked directly, "Guozhu, have you bought the copper?"

Copper was bought, but not much.

Li Guozhu said carefully: "Your Majesty, the Spanish don't have much stock, so I only bought a little over 200,000 kilograms this time.

Of this, 100,000 jin was sent to Lord Wang to be sent to Jinling, and I brought back only a little over 100,000 jin."

This time you only brought back this little?
Upon hearing this, Wanli frowned slightly and asked, "Have you placed an order with them?"

Li Guozhu nodded repeatedly and said, "I've placed an order with them, but they said they can only produce 100,000 catties a month at most. I estimate that if we can buy 500,000 to 600,000 catties next time, it would be good."

These colonial bandits are only good at stealing things, but they are really not good at producing anything.

If possible, he really wanted to lead his troops to seize the copper mine over there right now.

But it can't be done. We can't fight this war so recklessly.

Wanli frowned and thought for a while, then asked, "How much gold did you bring back this time?"

This is quite a lot.

Li Guozhu said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, this time I have collected four million taels and brought them back."

well.

The Nurgan Regional Administration will produce a large amount of grain this year.

Gold also began to be produced in large quantities in the Americas.

He will have money and food soon, so there is no need to rush.

Wanli thought about it carefully again, then asked, "Zhenzhi, where is the map of the area south of Nanyang?"

Upon hearing this, Li Zhizao hurried over to the nearby centipede boat and carried down a large scroll. He bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this is the new map I have mapped this time."

Wanli nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Let's go back to the palace and talk."

(End of this chapter)