Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"Which one?"

Shangluo told him about the spiritual liquid soda.

"So this is it! I heard about the installation last month, and it's surprisingly quick. Have you seen the real thing? I haven't."

"The one in the golden can is the health drink, and the one in the red can is the spiritual fluid. Inside this..."

He looked at the vending machine. After a closer look, there was nothing special about it; it looked quite ordinary.

That’s right, in addition to the common drinks, there are indeed two more empty slots, but they have not been filled with spiritual liquid yet.

"I'll have to check it out when I get back. It's really convenient to have this thing right next to my house. I just don't know if there's a map that can help me find the nearest one."

"Well, don't worry, I'll push one." He asked Apollonia, "Is it difficult to make a map software?"

[Would it be possible to mark the locations where Ichor can be purchased? That's easy. It could also be more comprehensive, like the locations of public restrooms, street names, etc.]

"You can still do all this? Do you have that much free time?"

[Hey, why don't you just set up the map server and let them mark it themselves?]

"That makes sense." Shangluo suddenly remembered—this is how the internet should have started. Open, collaborative, and shared—this is what the internet was originally meant to be, just like the saying "man is inherently good," with a kind of wild innocence. But later, this spirit was gradually crushed by reality, and even listening to a single song required searching through multiple copyright platforms.

When did it all begin? Shangluo didn't know, because he hadn't actually experienced the Internet's "innocent" days. But here, he could recreate it.

"Well, so when we're just starting out, we can use more of everyone's help."

Shangluo plans to mark this point by hand and sign his name at that time.

"By the way, would you like something to drink?" he asked Wen Yuan. He had walked her all the way back, and Shang Luo was going to treat him to a drink.

"Wait a minute, the vending machines on the street are quite expensive. Let's go buy them in the store."

"In a store? What store?"

"The shop that pays your bills. Oh, you haven't been there before. It must be fun to go there for the first time. When I was little, I loved paying my bills myself and then using the change to buy lots of pine nuts. Okay, first, go pick up the bill from the mailbox at your door."

Familiar streets and alleys, familiar doorways, a small red mailbox hanging outside the door, and a nameplate with the word "Shang" hanging on the mailbox. This is the door of his home.

I used the key to open the mailbox, and with a "bang" a bunch of flyers, water bills, and newspapers popped out, just like opening a treasure chest.

"Wow." Wen Yuan helped him catch half of the message. "Have you never opened this mailbox before?"

"Ah, I don't seem to have the habit of opening my email."

If he had an email mailbox, he would check it frequently, but he still couldn't get used to checking his "physical mailbox" every day.

"At least check once a week. Maybe there'll be some notices or allowances that I can confirm by email. Let me take a look at your water bill. The Imperial Guards sorted out your utilities before you came back, so there are only two months' worth. Let me take a look. The water, electricity, sewer, gas, and radio subscription fees—about 420 wen."

"Is it so expensive? I haven't been home for long in the past two months."

"That's how it is in the capital. Yujing earns a lot, but also spends a lot. But it's actually not that expensive, because even if you don't use it after you activate it, there's still a base fee."

"How much does your family earn per month?"

"Five taels, about that."

“Is your house so expensive???”

"My family's twelve square meters of land is equivalent to twelve times the area of your home. After all, it is the residence of the Minister of Rites."

“Isn’t that bigger than the imperial palace?”

"No, Changchun Palace, including the garden, is about 30 square meters, but Jiuhua Tower only has nine square meters. But if you calculate it that way, then any residence above the fourth rank is larger than the imperial palace—and you can't think of that as a palace, it's just a villa. The proper sleeping palace is the Qianqing Palace, but he just didn't live there."

"By the way, why does the Emperor live there?"

"Because no one can see. When no one is around, he can spend money when he wants, and he's not afraid of people talking about it. He can save money when he wants, and he's not afraid of people talking about it. As the Son of Heaven, if he spends too much or too little, it's a problem. Rather than being watched all day long, it's better to move out. But this guy right now, he neither spends money nor saves money. He probably lives there because it's convenient for refining pills."

He sorted out Shangluo's water and electricity bills and other bills.

"I remember the state-owned store here is in this direction." He led Shangluo to the other end of the alley. Shangluo himself had rarely walked here.

"State-owned store? Are there still such places?" Shangluo had walked that road before, but he had not seen any place with a state-owned store sign.

It's just after turning left at the entrance of the alley. Wen Yuan stopped at the first store on the street.

"Here we go, this is it."

"So this store is state-owned?" Shangluo didn't walk around much, but he had passed by it more than once, and he hadn't noticed it was state-owned. There were a bunch of vending machines in front of the store, including two or three beverage machines. One of them had been painted a striking red, and there was an empty slot for spiritual fluid.

But besides drinks, there were a host of other machines. Some sold bubble gum balls, boxed puffed snacks, canned goods, and capsule toys. Leaning against the wall, Shangluo even spotted a familiar machine.

[Oh!!! What is that?!] Apollonia was stunned.

Against the wall, a vending machine featured a painting of snowflakes and crabs, with the words "Crab Vending Machine" written in cursive script. A large pile of crabs were neatly packed in small boxes and refrigerated. They looked dead, but if there were that many dead crabs, the machine would have smelled unbearably foul. This meant that the crabs were all alive.

He seemed to have seen this thing before, but not in this Yingtian, but in another one.

[Come closer! Come closer, let me see! Wow! It's a real crab! And it's alive! How did you do that? Can you just refrigerate it?]

Chapter 264: Yujing's Convenience

Shangluo replied, "Because crabs hibernate in low temperatures, they won't die even if they're put into a small box. The key is to tie the crabs tightly so they don't struggle or break. As long as they're properly secured and refrigerated, these simple creatures are quite resilient and won't lose much weight."

Shangluo took a quick look at the prices. The crabs in this machine were priced by weight, sex, and species. Rows of different crab categories were stacked, priced from 15 to 120 wen. And they seemed to be selling well: the 50-wen section had already sold more than half, and several boxes of the 120-wen section had also been sold.

"When did this crab machine become available?" Shangluo turned around and asked him.

"Last year, or maybe the year before last? I forget." Wen Yuan thought for a moment. "Back then, I thought it was just a gimmick. I only saw it in a few major subway stations. I didn't expect it to be such a hit. Hey, don't stand here blocking the way. Let's go in first."

Holding the water and electricity bills, the two men went into the state-owned store - inside, there were still a lot of vending machines, but the categories were different.

Against the wall stood a row of vending machines selling 12-packs of roasted nuts, including sunflower seeds, pine nuts, pistachios, and cashews. Next to them were paper bags. Insert a coin and twist them, and a fixed amount of nuts would fall out. These bags were placed inside, apparently to protect them from moisture and light, preventing the oil-rich nuts from spoiling.

At the other end of the store is a vending machine selling 8-packs of bulk candy, colorfully displayed on a wall, as well as boxes of chewing gum and cigarettes.

There was one machine in use, making a clanging sound. It was a "change machine," used to exchange large coins for smaller ones. This was important because among the coins were silver dollars, the size of one tael of silver, with a face value of 1000 wen, and this change machine could exchange the silver dollars without going to the bank.

There were still people in the shop. Near the back, there was a large glass cabinet that ran the width of the shop. Inside, there were clocks, plates, ornaments, and other items that wouldn't fit in the vending machines, as well as fragile items like various bottles of alcohol. There were also neatly folded fabrics and ready-made clothes in the cabinet.

There was an old man sitting behind the counter, reading a newspaper. Since most of the items in the store were vending machines, this old man's state was similar to many old men seen in Shangluo subway stations. It was estimated that he didn't have much to do in a day.

"Stamp, stamp," Wen Yuan muttered as she searched for the machine. "Oh, here it is, the stamp vending machine. This is it."

Stamp vending machine - Shangluo. When I walked up to it, I had no idea what it was for. It looked older than the other vending machines, with some paint peeling off the metal, showing its age. Only the knob had become shiny from constant use.

"Use this to pay?" Shangluo asked him.

"Well, use this."

Shangluo pulled out several copper coins, ranging from 5 to 50 yuan. Wen Yuan compared the amount on his utility bill and bought a round number slightly larger than the amount. Every time he inserted a coin, he turned the knob, and a few "stamps" fell out.

Shangluo had never seen such things, but these "stamps" were very similar to the stamps he knew, only they looked much more refined. The paper used was similar to banknotes, like miniature banknotes. These stamps, as the name suggests, were printed with the denomination. If you put in 5 wen, you'd get a stamp with 5 wen written on it. If you put in 100 wen, you'd get a stamp with 100 wen written on it.

"Is this a stamp?" Shangluo asked him.

"Stamps? They can be used as stamps, but they can't be used as stamps. Any public payment can be made with stamps. You might need to pay for documents like certificates, contracts, or vouchers, and those will also be handled with stamps. Just buy the stamps and stick them on."

He found the communal workstations in the shop, where there were communal supplies of paste, scissors, glue, and the like, just like at the post office.

He helped Shangluo post the corresponding amount according to the payment amount. The electricity bill was 117 wen, and he posted a 100 wen and two 10 wen notes.

"The extra amount will be transferred to next month, so the total cost is about 500 yuan." Wen Yuan handed the wallet back to Shangluo.

"Is that all?" Shangluo looked at the pile of colorfully stamped water bills on the table. "Do we still need to mail them back?"

"You can mail it, or you can deliver it yourself. But it's too troublesome to mail so many things separately - do you want to deliver it yourself?"

Shangluo shook his head. He was too lazy to go out.

"That's easy, just buy a public service."

"How many?"

"10 cents will do. This is my treat, but please don't fight with me. I really like playing this."

He fished out a ten-yuan copper coin from his pocket and, carrying a pile of taped utility bills, walked to a corner of a state-owned store. There stood a vending machine embedded in the wall, a faint humming sound coming from inside, and it seemed as if there were pipes connected to it.

"Tear off all the original tickets and give me the duplicate tickets with the stamped paper on them."

"Okay." Shangluo tore along the dotted line. Just as he finished, he heard a "bang" sound, as if something heavy fell out of the machine in front of him. Judging from the weight, it's not something that can be bought with 10 coins now -

It was a capsule-shaped copper tube, the size of a thermos. It was shiny and golden, bright enough to reflect a person's reflection. One end had a cap, and the other was a combination disk, but it wasn't used for encryption, but for displaying numbers.

"Ah! This is..." Shangluo understood immediately after seeing the jar. "Is this pneumatic transmission?"

The pneumatic conveying system is a complete urban logistics system consisting of a conveying bottle, pneumatic piping, a steering device, and a centrifugal fan. The humming sound inside the machine is the underground centrifugal fan providing air pressure. The bottle inside the pipe is the conveying bottle, the carrier of the goods. Once the object is placed in the bottle, the pneumatic pipe uses air pressure to transport the object to the destination.

"Yes, so you knew."

"So this thing really exists!" Shangluo had only heard of it but had never seen it.

"You can see it when you're riding the subway. There are a lot of pneumatic pipes running along the subway line, and there are a lot of bottles running inside them. Okay, put the torn coupons in the bottle. I've entered the zip code into the post office. Once the post office receives it, it will be just like paying in person. No problem. Very convenient, right?"

"Ah~~~" Shangluo was shocked. He hadn't expected it to be so convenient without online payment—but it was true. He could just walk out a few steps, buy a "stamp," and stick it on. It was like transferring money. Then, he could send the bill through a pipe, and he could get the job done just a hundred meters from home.

"Actually, if you're even lazier, you could try mail order. There's a mail order book in your mailbox. If you want to buy something, just cut out the corresponding page, stick it in this transport bottle, and stuff it in. This thing is super fast. It arrives within Yujing on the same day, and some department stores can deliver it to you in just half a day. You drop it in the morning, and someone will deliver it to your door in the afternoon. Convenient, right? Oh, don't tell me I taught you that. My master doesn't like this kind of life. He says it's too lazy."

Chapter 265 Exchange

The last step in sending a stamp is to stamp it, which Shangluo has always had. He has a small seal for himself, the size of a fingernail, which he uses to stamp his name.

After stamping, the effect is similar to the postmark of the post office, and these stamps are considered to have been used.

"Okay, now we can send it out. I'm telling you, it's super fun."

Wen Yuan took the stamped forms from him, placed them in the transfer bottle, and then aimed it at the pneumatic pipe opening:

"Boom"

The bottle was sucked in.

"This sound seems strangely touching."

"Yeah, that's the 'pop' sound. Just turn a handle and a huge system will work for you for a moment. Ah~~ Such a tax evasion. Too bad you can only play it once a month, and it costs ten coppers each time."

"This thing is very expensive, right?"

This thing is very useful at first glance, because it is the only transportation system that can deliver "items" between "customers" "almost instantly".

There are three elements here: customer to customer, almost instant, and item.

Water and electricity pipes transfer electricity, not goods. Water and electricity don't flow from customer to customer; it's obvious that two neighbors can't use wires to generate electricity for each other. While telephones can connect people, they can only transmit information, not goods. For example, running errands can transfer goods from customer to customer, but it's too slow.

The closest analogy to this system is actually the fax machine. If the purpose is to transmit documents, the fax machine can almost perfectly replace the pneumatic transmission system. However, the fax machine cannot also cover the transmission of "original documents" and "other items."

The primary purpose of delivering original documents is encryption and mutual authentication. However, with the introduction of electronic certificates and biometrics, pneumatic transmission systems are left with only one irreplaceable function: delivery.

However, the pneumatic transmission system's demise was far less complex. There was no substitution or competition. Almost as soon as it was launched, it reached the end of its technological lifespan, leaving only a fleeting memory in human history, a revelation about the "steampunk" era.

Shangluo believes the most crucial reason is that it's too expensive. The sheer cost alone is enough to make the entire system unviable.

Such immature yet ambitious projects were not uncommon in the "early modern era." Take, for example, seaplanes and airships. These technologies, after a golden age of just a dozen or even a few years, quickly faded from the historical stage. This was not simply due to the rapid advancement of technology at the time, but also because human engineering was generally less advanced, leading to a lack of reasonable estimates for the subsequent budgets of a project.

The same is true of this pneumatic transmission system. When it's first established, its cost can be relied upon and supported by new buildings, making it relatively inexpensive. However, over time, its maintenance costs become prohibitively expensive, becoming unacceptably so.

Then, it was gone.

"Hmm," Wen Yuan thought for a moment, "Is it expensive? It seems quite expensive."

“Is this project roughly breaking even?”

"It seems so. But we're only using the incidental functions. The real big customer for the pneumatic transmission system is the section from the telegraph office to the stock exchange. Well, private calls have been increasing in recent years, so this fun system will probably gradually decline - never mind, I've already played with it, and it's been in service for decades. It wouldn't be a bad thing to retire it all when its service life reaches the end. My grandmother's family is installing a new switchboard."

"Switchboard?" Shangluo caught the key word. "Didn't we already have a phone number before? Isn't that a switchboard?"

"No, those were actually Feixin signals, completely utilizing the spiritual network for communication. Think about it, do you have a landline at home? No, right? I do. They're extremely expensive because each phone line requires a manual interface at the post office, and then the connections have to be transferred one level at a time. Sometimes a long-distance call would require the coordination of several stations. But just last year, we figured out how to dial using phone numbers outside the spiritual network."

"Oh? How did you do that?"

"Well, I heard about it from my grandmother. It's called a 'stepping switchboard.' I've never seen one, but I heard it's a machine about the size of a room. By dialing the dial, you can find the house you want to call. It works like this: you dial the number on the phone, and when you dial 0 to 9, the angle and timing of the dial are different. Then the switchboard recognizes the number and dials it."

"Recognize the numbers. How do you read them afterwards?"

"That's complicated, but not impossible to understand. It's 'stepping'—have you ever played with a small steel ball machine? It's like that. It goes down one level at a time, but this one is fixed. For example, Yujing's area code is 01, and Fengjing's is 02. Only these two numbers start with 0. So when you dial 0, the switchboard will only select numbers from Yujing and Fengjing as alternatives. The next level, 1 is Yujing, and 2 is Fengjing. And then it goes on and on, one level at a time. The first person dials 4, and numbers starting with anything other than 01-4 are filtered out. The second digit is 5, and numbers starting with anything other than 01-45 are filtered out. And then it 'steps' down one level at a time until a unique number is found, like 01-456789. This is a stepping switchboard. Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"Didn't you say there was an office?"

"Oh, the East Factory, right?"