Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 172 The Situation in Japan is Serious
In addition to issues concerning people's livelihood, Yang Chen's railway carriage is also on the agenda.

Nowadays, there is a curved rail carriage with a length of 20 miles, or 10 kilometers, between Zhenjiang Prefecture and counties.

After being soaked, specially treated wood is used as the track, and some individual places are covered with iron sheets to minimize the damage caused by the carriage during its operation.

Of course, these are not surprising. What can really change people's livelihood is that Yang Chen developed something that is enough to surprise Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Light fixtures!"

That's right, it's the light.

But this lamp is not that lamp.

Originally, Yang Chen also planned to use his existing abilities to directly create the light bulb for future generations.

He can forge strong magnets.

Using Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction, when a conductor moves in a magnetic field, an electromotive force is generated in the conductor, thereby generating an electric current.

Yang Chen used the powerful magnetic field generated by natural lightning to generate electric current in the copper wire wrapped around an iron block.

According to Oersted's experiment, a magnetic field will be generated around a current-carrying conductor. Yang Chen passed electricity through the copper wire to place the iron block in the magnetic field generated by the current-carrying conductor.

Under the action of continuous lightning strikes and electric current, the magnetic domain structure inside the iron block changes, and the originally chaotic magnetic domains become orderly arranged, making the iron block magnetic and becoming a strong magnet.

This process is an industrial magnetization method used in many modern societies, which can produce magnets far exceeding those found in nature in the shortest time.

Unfortunately, magnets alone are not enough. Copper wire is also needed as electrical wires to connect the light bulbs, which is even more difficult. The light bulbs must be in a vacuum state so that the filaments will not melt directly due to high temperature.

The vacuum problem was one of the culprits that troubled Yang Chen in making industrial light bulbs.

Yang Chen wanted to make the light bulb in the first place in order to help the people of the Ming Dynasty overcome the darkness. You know, with a light bulb, human working time can be extended many times.

It's not like there's nothing to do when the sun goes down.

After the failure of developing modern equipment, Yang Chen had to settle for the next best thing and choose the simpler "calcium carbide lamp".

Many people may not have come across this thing, but in the 1870s and 1880s in China, electricity was not well developed and most rural areas used calcium carbide lamps for lighting.

This thing has many advantages, among which being cheap and durable is the best reason why Yang Chen chose it.

Nowadays, most people use candle lamps. Candles are very expensive, and most of the time people are reluctant to use them except for lighting at night when necessary.

This is a daily necessity like salt and is very expensive. Good candles are made of sesame oil, and one candle can feed ordinary people for a day.

Most people use crude candles made from tung oil, which is the oil extracted from tung trees. Compared with sesame oil candles that have no odor when burned, candles made from tung oil are very unfriendly.

Even so, people were reluctant to use them, let alone kerosene lamps, which were simply not affordable for ordinary people.

In contrast, a calcium carbide lamp only requires calcium carbide, which is calcium carbide, to react with water to decompose acetylene and hydrogen. When the gas is extracted and a little flame is given, it can burn.

The raw material calcium carbide is simpler to make than candles and its cost is also cheaper than candles.

There are two ways to make it, one is the calcium carbide method and the other is the carbon-electric method.

The carbon-electric method uses coke and limestone as raw materials.

Coke and limestone are placed in an electric furnace for reaction. Under the action of high temperature, high pressure, high electric arc and other conditions, the limestone and coke react to produce calcium carbide.

Yang Chen can create these three conditions: high temperature, high pressure, and high electric arc. He only needs a special steel furnace to produce a steady supply of calcium carbide.

At present, calcium carbide lamps have become a mainstream commodity for the people in Zhenjiang Prefecture. People only need to spend one hundred coins to get about twenty kilograms of calcium carbide. As for the iron lamps filled with calcium carbide, it only costs thirty coins.

All these things together are so much cheaper than a few candles which cost only a dozen cents.

"Calcium carbide lamp? Yang Chen really made such a magical thing?"

Empress Ma looked at the exquisite metal shell that Zhu Yuanzhang had hidden from somewhere and brought to the table, as well as a wooden box filled with calcium carbide.

Old Zhu had already witnessed the magic of the calcium carbide lamp. While Empress Ma was unaware of it, he took the calcium carbide with his bare hands, opened the metal device that loaded the calcium carbide lamp, and threw the fragmented calcium carbide into it.

The two metal devices are put together and tightened, and a small metal tube for conducting the reaction gas is passed into them.

Queen Ma's eyes were shining with confusion and curiosity, wanting to see what would happen next.

Unfortunately, for a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to have forgotten the next steps. He scratched his ears and cheeks, and couldn't proceed no matter what he did.

"just this?"

What a man values ​​most is his self-esteem. When Zhu Yuanzhang heard Empress Ma say that she was gone, he became furious.

He immediately said with a solemn oath:

"Girl! Who said it's gone like this? We're just about to light a fire!"

When his voice fell, Zhu Yuanzhang had already skillfully checked the final installation steps of the calcium carbide lamp. After confirming that everything was correct, he fixed the lampshade made of metal sheet iron.

Find the water basin under the teapot, hold some water in both hands, and let the water slowly flow into your mouth through the gaps between your fingers.

Judging subconsciously, Zhu Yuanzhang found that it was almost time, so he quickly opened the air outlet, allowing the acetylene produced by the reaction of water and calcium carbide to spray out from the lamp mouth.

Find the candle lamp on the table and place it close to the air outlet of the calcium carbide lamp.

Pfft!
The flame instantly burned under the metal lampshade. Seeing this magical scene, Queen Ma couldn't help but exclaimed in admiration:

"What a magical calcium carbide lamp. It can turn fire into fire by relying on 'stones' and water. Yang Chen is really capable. Is this the only way this lamp can work? The flame looks a bit erratic. Will it go out on its own after a while?"

The flame under the lampshade of the calcium carbide lamp was flickering because the nozzle was not adjusted to allow acetylene to be ejected at high pressure, just like a candle swaying in the wind, which could go out at any time.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not say anything, but continued to tinker with the carbide lamp. He found a gear that could be converted and slowly adjusted it. After a while, the flickering flame suddenly became like a rocket-like firework.

It can maintain the form of flames in a state that would horrify Empress Ma.

When Old Zhu saw the happy expression on Empress Ma's face, he felt extremely satisfied and spoke in a relaxed voice:
"That guy Yang Chen said that the internal reaction would cause the gas pressure to be different from that outside. The gas inside is called acetylene or something, anyway, it's something that can ignite. Once this thing burns, it can burn for a long, long time. I wonder how much money the people can save." Queen Ma kept carefully observing some details of the calcium carbide lamp, and at the same time looked at Old Zhu with satisfaction and smiled.

"It's a good thing. If I give it to Xiongying tomorrow, he will definitely be very happy. Don't worry, I will tell him later that this is a treasure his grandfather gave him!"

Zhu Yuanzhang, feeling affirmed in his heart, just smiled a few times.

"Oh, Chongba, now that everything is ready, I wonder when the Ming Dynasty will send troops to Japan to search for the gold and silver mountains?"

Although she stayed in the harem and ignored state affairs, it did not mean that Empress Ma did not care at all.

What happens in Japan represents the economy of the Ming Dynasty.

The two important locations, Iwami Silver Mine and Sado Gold Mine, must be controlled by the Ming Dynasty so that the Ming Dynasty's local treasure notes can maintain their value. Even after the Ming Dynasty possesses a large amount of physical silver and gold, the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes can be printed without limit.

It is not impossible to reap the benefits of other countries without waging war.

Zhu Yuanzhang had already made plans regarding Japan.

Lao Zhu patted his chest and said:

"Don't worry about this matter, sister. As the saying goes, food and fodder must be prepared before troops move. Food and other things have been prepared long ago. To tell you the truth, four months ago, Biaoer found the descendants of Wang Dayuan in Jiangxi.

The two brothers and some ship merchants from Jiangnan crossed the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean to Europe. After a short rest in Europe, they took advantage of the Westerners' inattention and set off directly to the Atlantic Ocean, where they successfully found the legendary America.

We also found cocoa beans, corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes on it. Didn’t the third brother set out from Fujian to look for the guano island in Southeast Asia some time ago?

The two happened to meet near Luzon. After being away for a few months, this young man, Wang Haihan, came back like a completely different person. We were completely unrecognizable.

Life at sea is really difficult, but the food was delivered in time, and in a few months, the first batch of new food can be harvested.

By then, it will only be a matter of time before we conquer Japan and take it down.”

Upon hearing this, Queen Ma gradually calmed down and said:
"That's good. Now the Ming Dynasty is becoming more and more prosperous. I have a feeling that I will be able to see the flag of the Ming Dynasty planted in every corner of the world in my lifetime. The Ming Dynasty will always live under the glory of the sun and become the empire on which the sun never sets.

There is no problem with food, but what about ships?
At that time, Fang Guozhen's former subordinates took away many skilled shipbuilders from the Central Plains. Can the Ming Dynasty build a treasure ship that can rival the most powerful in the world?"

Upon hearing this, Lao Zhu said with even greater confidence:
"Don't worry about this, sister. We have already ordered people to take care of the boat since the third brother went to Wanli Shitang to look for Guano Island."

Regarding the supervision of shipbuilding, he asked the Ministry of Works to arrange a number of people to go to the south to look for strong wood. At the same time, he used Yang Chen's suggestion to recruit a number of refugees through work-for-relief. These refugees were not shipbuilders, but shipbuilding laborers.

To put it bluntly, all the work that requires moving things is contracted to them.

This can also save a lot of civil engineering corvee labor.

The ship was built at the Longjiang Shipyard in Jiangsu Prefecture, which was also the place where Zheng He's treasure ship was cast.

Ever since Zhu Yuanzhang suffered losses in naval battles with Chen Youliang, Fang Guozhen and other heroes, since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he ordered the Ministry of Works to build a shipyard as quickly as possible.

To prevent the Ming Dynasty from suffering losses when facing water enemies in the future.

Longjiang Shipyard is a place where the government builds ships. There is no need to say much about the craftsmanship of the craftsmen, as it is a perfect inheritance of the methods of the Song Dynasty.

In addition, along the coastal areas, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other regions have seven or eight docks of various sizes, which can build powerful ships at the fastest speed.

It was a shipyard built by Zhu Yuanzhang after he saw the coastal residents being tortured by pirates formed by Fang Guozhen's former subordinates and ronin who drifted over from Japan.

Since Zhu Gang wanted to leave the Ming Dynasty and go to Southeast Asia, these shipbuilding yards have almost never stopped.

These shipyards worked together to form an assembly line to build 400-ton warships at the fastest speed. The average cost of each warship was 75 taels of silver.

If it were in the past, the imperial court would definitely not be willing to spend so much money.

However, now that the Ming treasury had the money seized from the Jiangnan region as a blood bag, the Du Shuisi could do whatever he wanted to Zhu Yuanzhang without blinking an eye.

At present, the Ming Dynasty has a total of about a dozen treasure ships left over from the Yuan Dynasty that can be used. These treasure ships are huge ships that can carry two to three thousand tons.

It can still be used after a little repair, which saves a lot of time, manpower and resources.

Although the problems of food and ships had been solved, Queen Ma always felt that something was missing, and she felt uneasy about it.

After a moment he added:
"Does the Ming Dynasty know about the specific situation in Japan? Back then, you, Chongba, sent several envoys to Japan to tell them that as a vassal state of the Central Plains, they must bow down to the Ming Dynasty and become a vassal state.

However, the Japanese are so ambitious that they not only have no intention of surrendering, but they are angry and injure people, and have imprisoned all our envoys. If we rashly go there with such barbaric people, nothing will happen, right?

More importantly, the Central Plains has had only minor exchanges with Japan since the Yuan Dynasty, and we don’t know much about Japan. According to Yang Chen’s original explanation, Iwami Silver Mine and Sado Gold Mine are both in many places.”

Although Empress Ma lived in the harem, she often looked at the world map drawn by Yang Chen, and even read the records of some navigators to get this world map.

At present, we have a general understanding of what many places in the world are like, especially the South China Sea and the East China Sea region of the Central Plains. Queen Ma knows very well how many islands there are in these two sea areas.

To say that there are several thousand is already an understatement.

There are nearly 3,000 small islands and reef islands in the waters near Japan in Ryukyu alone.

There are at least a thousand islands where minerals can be hidden. Finding what you want from these islands is no more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.

Zhu Yuanzhang had expected this when he heard Empress Ma's reminder, and he said calmly:
"We have considered that the Ming Dynasty does not know much about Japan, so when we send Wu Zhen to escort the third brother from Quanzhou Port in Fujian to Southeast Asia, we will also stop by Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong to capture pirates and Japanese pirates in the sea."

What is war?
The battle-hardened Zhu Yuanzhang knew very well that war is all about information asymmetry.

This was not only the experience he had summed up, but also the conclusion Yang Chen came to from chatting with Zhu Di. He also learned it from the Jinyiwei he had sent out.

If you want to win a battle, you must have a stronger ability to obtain information than others.

Both pirates and Japanese pirates did not appear until the middle of the Ming Dynasty when Emperor Jiajing lived.

Instead, it started from the Hongwu period when Zhu Yuanzhang was alive. Japan was in a period of confrontation between the North and the South. The whole of Japan was in turmoil, causing a small number of Japanese ronin or fleeing Japanese samurai to flee to the Central Plains waters to avoid the Civil War.

(End of this chapter)