You have truly caused me great suffering!

After leaving the Forbidden City, Chen Shao was not far from the capital this time, and summer was easier to travel than winter.

So the officials came more frequently.

In fact, the imperial city was completely isolated from the common people only after the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The royal family became an ethereal entity, detached from worldly affairs.

Take the imperial city of Bianliang in the Song Dynasty as an example. Three-quarters of the area of ​​the imperial city was occupied by various central government offices as their offices.

The Forbidden City only occupied a small area in the northwest corner of the Imperial City. Its area was so small that only two gates, Huitong Gate and Xuanyou Gate, were open. The series of palaces south of Huitong Gate and Xuanyou Gate, such as Jiying Hall, Huangyi Hall, Chuigong Hall, and Wende Hall, were not used nine out of ten years. Except for the grand court sessions, they were just left there to gather dust.

The Great Jing Dynasty was similar, with all the various government offices and ministries located in the imperial city.

However, the Zichen Hall and Chuigong Hall were used more frequently than those of the Song Dynasty, especially by Emperor Huizong of Song.

Although Chen Shao came from a later era, he always paid great attention to and carefully observed the system of rites.

This is the source of his status.

Sometimes, when the officials who came to pay their respects to him came, Chen Shao could truly feel their love and devotion.

Some of his ministers were genuinely happy to see him, and they were also pleased to see that he was in good health.

In this world, the person who receives the most affection from strangers is not a stunningly beautiful woman, but the emperor of the Central Plains.

If you were to ask which profession in the world has the most people willing to die for you, the emperor would definitely be number one.

Loyalty to the emperor and love for one's country are indeed just a facade, a slogan, in the mouths of some. But you can't deny that many people do indeed uphold them as principles of life.

Especially when they encounter an emperor they consider a wise ruler.

After Li Shimin's death, Qibi Heli, the leader of the Tiele Qibi tribe, and Ashina She'er, the Turkic king, both drew their swords and wanted to commit suicide to be buried with him.

If Li Zhi hadn't stopped them, they would have really slit their throats.

Chen Shao increasingly felt that being loved and respected was actually a very good thing.

It can even eliminate the anger in one's heart and make one more forgiving of one's loved ones, which is a positive cycle for the emperor.

If the officials oppose you and the people wish you dead, then the emperor will most likely become increasingly autocratic and tyrannical.

He grew increasingly fond of and fascinated by the position of emperor.

Anyone who has been an emperor knows that the throne brings not only the pleasures of food and women, but also a captivating sense of accomplishment.

Traditional masculinity emphasizes domination, conquest, and procreation, with the emperor representing the ultimate goal.

As Han Feizi once said, "The ruler is the most powerful weapon in the world."

Now, Chen Shao, dressed in light casual clothes, is enjoying himself with his children and concubines by the mountains, forests, and springs.

On ordinary days, he would also teach his children calligraphy and painting, and together with them, he would learn to distinguish musical notes from Li Shishi, enjoying a harmonious family life.

For the past two weeks, Chen Shao has mostly stayed at the Summer Palace, only occasionally going down the mountain two or three times to Baozhen Temple to burn incense and cultivate Taoism.

Chen Shao enjoyed immense popularity both within the palace and in the court.

Whether they were princesses, princes, empresses, palace maids, guards, or eunuchs, they were all extremely loyal and respectful to him.

After teaching the children to write for a while, Chen Shao went to an extremely clean and elegant room, where he lazily leaned back on a soft couch and flipped through scrolls of memorials.

His mind was completely blank at that moment. He didn't want to think about anything, and he was too lazy to think about anything. Instead, he stole half a day of leisure. The worries that had been lingering in his mind these past few days seemed to have vanished like smoke.

Indeed, there were many times when he was no longer as diligent as before, and he would only pay extra attention to important and urgent matters.

This wasn't because he was lazy, but because he was building a system for his successors.

Perhaps among the descendants, there will be a few who prefer centralized power, or perhaps some who are exceptionally capable.

But Chen Shao had to make plans for those mediocre emperors.

The foundation of the Great Jing Dynasty must not be destroyed by the emperor; our policies must continue steadily and reliably.

This is the 'ancestral law' that Chen Shao has always wanted to establish for future generations.

After sitting like this for about an hour, Chen Shao felt a little tired, especially his lower back and hips, which were sore and he needed to stretch.

Not long ago, Huanhuan hired a group of courtesans from Nanjing to serve in the Forbidden City for six months to a year, according to the contract, and then they would take the money and leave.

I haven't even had a proper chance to see it yet.

In this respect, the Great Jing Dynasty was the same as the Great Song Dynasty. It did not keep a group of court musicians in the palace. When there was trouble, it hired them from the capital.

Zhao Kuangyin built the Song Dynasty from the ruins of the Five Dynasties. He regarded the drawbacks of the Five Dynasties as a fierce tiger and was quite strict with his descendants.

Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang, Li Cunxu, favored actors and heavily relied on them, but ultimately died at the hands of actors.

Therefore, after the Zhao family established the Song Dynasty, they strictly prohibited the keeping of courtesans in the palace.

Chen Shao thought this was a good point, so he continued it.

Just as he got up to go listen to the opera, he suddenly heard heavy footsteps, and a number of people were walking towards the elegant room.

Most people stopped a few doors away. Only two footsteps approached the elegant room.

One footstep was thumping, clearly a light jog, while another was much lighter, seemingly trying to keep up with the jogger.

Two young girls dressed in plain-colored dresses gracefully entered.

As Chen Shao lay on the couch, he couldn't help but sigh, even Le'er had grown into a young woman.

Her features were exquisitely proportioned, and her large eyes were dreamlike. Dressed in traditional Hanfu, she was completely unrecognizable as a girl from another ethnic group.

In fact, the Han and Qiang peoples are of the same origin, but they are different streams from the same source.

The two sides share a common ancestry and a high degree of genetic overlap; however, due to geographical and livelihood differences, they have developed different traditions with significant differences.

Most of the beautiful women among the Qiang people have oval or melon-shaped faces with soft features, high nose bridges, slightly deep eye sockets, and eyes that are mostly double or single eyelids.
The lips are well-defined, and the skin tone is fair (the mountain area has strong ultraviolet rays but high humidity, so it is not easy to get tanned).

These characteristics align with the traditional Chinese aesthetic standards of "refined elegance" and "dignified bearing."

Behind her was a charming little girl who was somewhere between a loli and a young girl. Although she was very young, she was adorned with a head full of jewels and her slightly chubby face was carefully decorated with floral patterns.

This kind of girl pretending to be an adult often makes people feel especially cute—of course, the girl must first be pretty enough.

"Your Majesty, the craftsmen you sent to install the machines have arrived!" Jin Le'er was the only girl in the harem who really liked those noisy machines, so she came specifically to find Chen Shao.

Because Chen Shao usually takes her with him.

"Who is this?" Chen Shao glanced at the little girl behind her.

Jin Le'er turned around, hugged the little girl and kissed her on the forehead, and said with a grin, "This is my little sister Jin Zhu'er, isn't she cute? I picked out her hairstyle and jewelry."

The little girl blushed and bowed gracefully, saying, "Greetings, Your Majesty." Her voice was like a silver bell, crisp and clear as if pearls were falling.

Chen Shao narrowed his eyes slightly, shook his head with a wry smile, and thought to himself, "Old Zhu, are you never going to stop?"

Chen Shao knew that he absolutely could not bring another daughter from the Jin family into the palace. It was extremely rare in history for the Jin family to have one imperial concubine and two concubines in the harem.

If another one is chosen, what will the other officials think?
Chen Shao naturally had no reason to doubt Jin Ling; he had no reason to rebel, especially since he was a Qiang person.

However, Chen Shao would never allow himself to have an excessively large family that would cause trouble for his descendants.

Back in Hengshan, there was absolutely no problem with what Lao Zhu did; they believed in the survival of the fittest there.

Those in lower positions must endlessly flatter and fawn over those in higher positions; strength is paramount, and everything else is meaningless.

Thinking that by this time, Old Zhu had already set off for Hetao, Chen Shao began to doubt himself, wondering if he was overthinking things.

It's also possible that she just came to have fun with her older sisters.

Many of the concubines in the imperial harem brought their female relatives to the Tangshan Imperial Palace, and many others came here as well.

Looking at her head full of jewels, it's clear she was forced to work, using Le'er as a model for a dress-up game.

It was rare to find someone interested in the machines he valued most, so Chen Shao chuckled and said, "Let's go take a look together."

The guards escorted them to a valley where craftsmen were setting up a place for the emperor, making sure that even a display of machinery would look as nice as possible.

Chen Shao spotted the steam engine almost immediately. He walked over quickly and saw that the machine had changed somewhat compared to the last one.

Because he was closely monitoring the situation, Chen Shao was very familiar with it and knew about every small improvement.

The original steam engine of Dajing Institute of Technology was a "double-cauldron alternating suction and discharge machine" made in imitation of ancient methods: one cauldron was filled with water to heat and generate steam, and the water was pushed to a high place; the other cauldron sprayed cold water to condense steam, forming a vacuum to suck up well water.

The one we have now was modified by a cannon foundry. The double furnace was abandoned and replaced with a single cylinder with a piston. Steam pushes the piston up, cold water is sprayed into the condensed steam, and atmospheric pressure pushes the piston down, driving the connecting rod to pump water.

The craftsmen burned coal, and soon after, white steam billowed out.

The sound of the machine operating was harsh and noisy; the sound of metal rubbing together was actually quite unpleasant.

But Chen Shao actually felt a sense of familiarity.

To be honest, this wasn't something from his era. In his previous life, steam engines were long gone.

But he felt a sense of familiarity, and almost burst into tears.

After the water was successfully pumped out, Chen Shao asked, "What's the maximum depth this thing can pump?"

“About fifty zhang,” Wang Shu, the supervisor of the engineering college, answered truthfully.

His Majesty is not someone who can be fooled. He is not high above the clouds, but he is very clear about these matters and takes them quite seriously.

If you mention a certain progress, he insists on seeing the results in person and is extremely patient.

With this kind of emperor, you'd better tell him the truth and not try to deceive him.

Upon hearing this, Chen Shao realized that he had indeed made significant progress, increasing his height by a full twenty zhang compared to the last time!
Actually, this thing is already very practical now, especially when pumping water in mines.

Although its cost is still too high.

The next step is to minimize costs and then make it widely available.

Looking at the machines in front of him, Chen Shao noticed another problem: the people shoveling coal into them were almost never stopping.

That's such a waste of fuel.

In my memory, the alternation of heating and cooling in the cylinder seems to cause a huge waste, with about 80% of the heat being wasted.

It wasn't until Watt made improvements that a real leap forward occurred.

Chen Shao started to think about it, trying to recover this memory, since he had learned those principles when he was in school.

But at this moment, he was like a cultivator whose cultivation had been completely exhausted; he had forgotten all the knowledge from the textbooks.

After a long silence, he could only choose to trust the wisdom of his ancestors and said to Wang Shu beside him, "Next, I'd like to give you a reminder. You need to figure out how to reduce fuel consumption."

Wang Shu quickly memorized it. When he got back, he would definitely write it down and frame it on the wall of the engineering college to constantly remind everyone.

For the craftsmen, Chen Shao's words were not only a decree in substance, but also a decree in their hearts.

Just the fact that he can be considered an ancestor of all artisans is enough to make him a god worshipped by every family.

Chen Shao then thought that it was best to gather ideas from all sides for such matters, and that now was also the time to reform the official gazette.

The official gazette of the Song Dynasty was not only a channel for the imperial court to issue decrees, but also an important window for the scholar-official class to understand national affairs and participate in politics.

However, it is generally not available to the general public.

According to regulations, only mid- to high-ranking officials (usually of the fifth rank or above) were allowed to read it. However, it actually spread widely, circulating among scholars, wealthy merchants, monks, and Taoists through copying and recitation. Even when Su Shi was demoted to Huangzhou, he was still able to "see the report and send it to Wenshang," which shows how widely it circulated.

This also shows the public's enthusiasm for participating in major political affairs.

At the very least, I want to know more about it.

Moreover, in previous dynasties, the number of farmers was overwhelmingly higher, so they probably didn't care much about these important matters.

However, during the Song and Jing dynasties, the number of ordinary citizens, merchants, artisans, and workshop workers increased significantly.

Their actions all require information, and they have more energy, enthusiasm, and money to understand national affairs.

For example, it would be very helpful for merchants to know in advance where there would be disasters, where roads would be blocked, and what decrees the imperial court would issue.

Reforming the official gazette and expanding the newspaper industry could create a large number of jobs.

This would solve the predicament of scholars who failed the imperial examinations, rendering their studies essentially futile, and create more opportunities for them to make a living.

Talented poets and writers could also gain fame and earn some royalties by publishing their work in newspapers, thus avoiding a tragic situation like Du Fu's youngest son starving to death.

Showcasing technologies like steam engines, cannons, and handguns to the public can spark their interest and perhaps even unlock the potential of a hidden genius.

It's important to understand that technological innovation and scientific research are rooted in a heroic view of history.

We need heroes, we need geniuses, we need someone who can break the ice.

The emergence of Mendeleev alone could elevate chemistry to a whole new level; you can't argue with that.

Ordinary people may never have the opportunity to think about these things in their lifetime, unless they learn about them. The 'newspaper' that Chen Shao envisioned should play this role.

To connect the hearts of superiors and inferiors, and to enlighten the minds of all people!

Thinking of this, Chen Shao's expression grew increasingly solemn; this was another major event.

The task is arduous and the road ahead is long. (End of Chapter)