Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 188 The Secret of the Southern Cape (Part 2)

Xu Guangqi has been away from the capital for more than a year.

This year was also the year of the fastest development in the capital.

The area around Tongzhou City and along both banks of the Tonghui River has changed so much that even those who don't visit often might lose their bearings.

Standing at the bow of the boat, Xu Guangqi looked at the factories lining both banks of the Tonghui River as the sun rose, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of emotions.

The current emperor is truly a rare and wise ruler. If the Ming Dynasty continues to develop like this, it will surely be revived within ten years!

He watched and sighed all the way, and around 9:00 AM, his fleet entered Taiye Pond and arrived at Yuhe Bridge Wharf.

This wasn't because they timed it perfectly.

The key point is that even if they traveled by ship day and night, it would still take more than two days to get from Jinling to the capital. They set off around 5 a.m. two days ago, so it's normal for them to arrive around 9 a.m. two days later.

Zhu Jue knew that Xu Guangqi would be there today, so he didn't rush out after reviewing the memorials.

He simply changed into the uniform of an Imperial Guard officer and waited in the main hall of the Jade Palace.

Sure enough, not long after, Xu Guangqi strode in, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue immediately raised his hand and said, "Zixian, you must be tired from your journey. Come sit here, it's cool here."

Xu Guangqi could already feel the coolness in the main hall of Yuxi Palace, as if it were two different worlds from the outside, one in the height of summer and the other in spring.

He also saw the threshing windmill that was spinning loudly, and he was a little surprised that there were things from a farmer's house in the Yuxi Palace.

He did as instructed and sat down in front of him, instantly understanding.

So the cool breeze was blown out by this threshing windmill.

He looked up again and saw a row of cast steel pipes inside the vent that looked like they were covered in dew, and he immediately understood.

The barn must have contained ice, and the cast steel pipes must have been filled with ice water.

Seeing this, Zhu Jue said with considerable pride, "Well, Zixian, what do you think of the method I came up with?"

Xu Guangqi nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. The wind blown out by adding ice to this windmill is indeed refreshing."

That's not the case.

Zhu Jue glanced at the faint sweat on his forehead and his full head of white hair, and said with concern, "Zixian, you must be feeling very hot from the journey. Why don't you go to the back palace to rest? They have these ice fans there too, it's very cool."

Uh, that's where you rest. How could I dare to rest there?

Xu Guangqi shook his head repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I am not tired. I did not need to steer the boat along the way. Moreover, after the modification of the wheeled boat, the cabin at the front is not very hot. It is even a bit cool at night and in the morning."

The boats and ships have already been modified. A steel plate, a layer of cotton, and a layer of wood have been added between the boiler and the front cabin for insulation. If water-cooled fans are installed later, it will be even cooler.

However, this was not the matter he summoned Xu Guangqi back to discuss.

There was no need to ask about the sweet potatoes and potatoes; Xu Guangqi frequently had Wang Yingchao report back that three million mu each of sweet potatoes and potatoes had already been planted in Zhejiang, Zhili, and Fujian. They were just waiting for this year's harvest so that next year they could purchase the improved varieties and promote them to tens of millions of mu.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then said solemnly, "Zixian, since you're not tired, let's get down to business."

The reason I summoned you back this time is to have you take Zhibao's fast ships and 20,000 to 30,000 troops to Qiongzhou Prefecture to conduct a thorough investigation, specifically regarding farmland, mountains, water conservancy, and what high-profit crops are suitable for planting.

That area is perfect for rubber tree growth, so I want to relocate the disaster victims from the Northwest there to develop the area. However, it won't work to just grow rubber trees there, because rubber trees take seven or eight years to mature before they can be tapped.

Over the next seven or eight years, we can't just let the relocated disaster victims grow some grain and make do. We also need to promote other fast-growing crops that can yield profits within a year there.

It turns out they wanted to develop Qiongzhou Prefecture.

Very few prisoners were exiled there!

This is because it's too hot there, and the population is already very sparse. There aren't enough people to guard the large number of prisoners that are exiled there.

Xu Guangqi glanced at the cool breeze blowing from the ice fan and seemed to understand.

He pointed carefully at the ice fan and said, "Your Majesty, Qiongzhou Prefecture is unbearably hot. Do you intend to use this kind of fan to help the disaster victims cool off?" Indeed, he was a clever man; he thought of this as soon as he mentioned relocating disaster victims to Qiongzhou Prefecture.

If there is nothing to cool off the disaster victims, and they are simply moved there without any regard for their health, who knows how many people will die from the heat.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "Yes, I am planning to install fans for the disaster victims, but not these small ice fans, but large water-cooled fans. Chang Geng has installed quite a few in the outer city of the northeast. Shall we go and take a look now?"

So there are water-cooled ones too.

No wonder His Majesty considered relocating the disaster victims to Qiongzhou Prefecture.

If it's just cold ice, that won't do. There's no ice in Qiongzhou Prefecture; it doesn't freeze in winter. If we wanted to transport enough ice to cool off hundreds of thousands or even millions of disaster victims, we don't know how much the transportation costs would be. We might as well spend that money to buy food for disaster relief; there would be no need for migration at all.

Xu Guangqi nodded, then respectfully stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I really would like to go and see."

Zhu Jue immediately got up and led Wang Chengen and Fang Zhenghua onto the fleet assigned to Xu Guangqi.

This fleet consisted of ten 800-ton wheeled boats, which he specially assigned to Xu Guangqi, mainly for the convenience of sending messages back and forth.

If Xu Guangqi went to Qiongzhou Prefecture, then Wang Yingchao's fleet would not be able to make a special trip there every time, as that would be too time-consuming.

Therefore, he specially assigned Xu Guangqi ten wheeled boats, and the boatmen were all carefully selected elites from the Beijing Garrison, who were extremely familiar with the capital.

Before long, the fleet arrived in the northeast city.

When Xu Guangqi saw the magnificent scene in the northeast city, he couldn't help but show a hint of shock. The development of the capital was indeed astonishingly fast.

This area used to be farmland, but now there are more factories under construction or already built than along the banks of the Tonghui River. They are so densely packed that you can't see the end of them.

This time, Zhu Jue didn't go to the sand casting factory because there was too much fine sand and coal dust there. When the water-cooled fan blew, dust was inevitable, and he would be covered in it in no time.

Nowadays, everyone working there has to wear masks. He wanted to have a detailed chat with Xu Guangqi, but wearing a mask was not an option. Therefore, he took Xu Guangqi directly to a factory that specializes in producing steam engines.

It's much cleaner here, there's not a speck of dust, and apart from a few bits of fine copper slag that have splashed out, the ground looks like it's been washed.

When Xu Guangqi looked at the scene again, a look of shock appeared on his face.

There are no boilers here, only steam pipes. And in the sweltering summer, it's surprisingly cool inside, even cooler than on a ship!
He glanced again at the row of large, spinning fans along one side of the wall and realized that those must be water-cooled fans.

Seeing that Xu Guangqi had roughly finished looking at the layout of the factory, Zhu Jue solemnly said, "Zixian, if we build such large houses for the disaster victims, install water-cooled fans for them, and then divide the large houses into small houses for each family, it should be no problem for the disaster victims to endure the scorching heat there."

The reason I summoned you back this time is to have you bring a batch of steam engines, boilers, and water-cooled fans over there, so that we can build a few houses similar to these for the common people there as a trial.

You also need to consider the ease of sourcing materials, because it's unlikely we can transport building materials from elsewhere; it would be best to build it using local materials.

This house will definitely be cool enough to beat the heat. The factory has many steam pipes that emit heat, while the disaster victims' houses don't have steam pipes. Even if it were built in Qiongzhou Prefecture, it would probably be very cool inside.

As for the materials used to build the house.

Xu Guangqi looked up and then pondered, “Your Majesty, the houses that ordinary people live in don’t need to be built so high, nor do they need to be reinforced with steel beams. The glass can also be omitted. Just cover the windows with gauze, and the ventilation will be better that way.”

In this way, both the large houses and the smaller houses inside can be built with wood, stone, bricks, tiles, etc. No special materials are needed, as Qiongzhou Prefecture should have all of these.

However, building such a house is definitely more troublesome than building an ordinary house. If the local civilians and young men were organized to build it, it would probably take two or three months to complete.

Moreover, the population there is not large to begin with; the number of able-bodied men is estimated to be only forty to fifty thousand. They all have to do farm work, and it would be good if they could be recruited to work for five or six months a year. If too many people migrate, it would be difficult for the able-bodied men there to build enough houses.

The number of people they need to relocate is not small; the first batch alone involves hundreds of thousands of households, requiring the construction of tens of thousands of large and small houses.

If we let the able-bodied farmers there build it, with four or five people building one set, it would take forever to finish.

Zhu Jue pondered for a while, then decisively said, "Then you should recruit artisans from Guangdong and Guangxi. Guangdong and Guangxi are hot, and it's already August. By the time you finish building the model and start mass production, it will be late September or even October at the earliest. It shouldn't be too hot there by then, and the artisans from Guangdong and Guangxi should be able to handle it."

"You should conscript all the artisans and craftsmen you can from Guangdong and Guangxi, and have them use this cool six-month period to rebuild the houses for the 100,000 disaster victims and their own homes. Once these 100,000 disaster victims have moved there, you'll have more manpower to conscript, and construction should be completed much faster."

As they were talking, Song Yingxing arrived upon hearing the news, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

(End of this chapter)