Bringing the Railway to Daming

After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Zhu Biao also smiled.

The Ming Dynasty is indeed not short of money and food now.

As for money, the gold and silver mines on Sado Island are still being mined, and Japan will also be able to harvest them in a few years. By then, the imperial court will be able to develop Iwami Silver Mine, greatly increasing the annual silver income.

In terms of food, in addition to the comprehensive promotion of planting of American crops such as sweet potatoes in 17 provinces this year, the Ministry of Revenue's Agricultural Department has also collected advanced planting experience of crops such as rice, wheat, and millet from various places, compiled them into a book, and passed them on to farmers who are unaware of them.

In addition, in recent years, local governments have been carrying out water conservancy projects under the instructions of the court, and the harvests of traditional crops such as rice and wheat have been getting better year by year. Many places have achieved bumper harvests of grain for several consecutive years.

With money and food, and given the current population base of the Ming Dynasty, there will be no worries about lack of soldiers and horses.

Thinking of this, Zhu Biao continued, "According to what Father said, should the Western Regions be directly established as a province?"

"That's right." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, then asked, "How do you think the Western Regions Province should be established?"

Zhu Biao thought for a moment, then came to the map of the Western Regions and said, "It would be inappropriate to simply divide the former Eastern Chagatai Khanate's territory into a province. Besides, the Gansu Regional Command is a bit too large now."

"Therefore, I think it would be better to use the line from the eastern foot of Tianshan Mountain to the southern foot of Jinshan Mountain as the dividing line. The southwestern area would be designated as Anxi Province, and the northeastern area, which is the Moxi Grassland and the Seven Guards of Guanxi, could be designated as Beiting Dusi."

"The remaining part of the former Gansu Regional Command, which later became Gansu, most of Qinghai, and Ningxia, can be changed into Gansu Province."

While speaking, Zhu Biao drew several dotted lines on the map of the Western Regions.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "That's feasible. This way, our Ming Dynasty will have 19 provinces and 29 military governors (each province also has a military governor, which I forgot to mention above)."

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "Even if we exclude overseas territories, the vastness of our Ming Dynasty's territory far exceeds that of the Han and Tang dynasties."

"Hahaha," Zhu Yuanzhang laughed heartily upon hearing this, "Not bad!"

Although the Han and Tang dynasties were powerful, they were unable to make U-Tsang (Tibet) surrender, nor could they conquer the entire prairie and the Northeast region. Now the Ming Dynasty has made U-Tsang surrender, and has established direct rule over the prairie and the Northeast. The Western Regions will also be included in direct rule. The vastness of its territory is indeed far beyond that of the Han and Tang dynasties.

After laughing, Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard and said, "Go ahead and tell Liu Kuan about the war in the Western Regions first, so that he can be happy too."

"The Emperor doesn't want us to announce the victory?"

"Wait until Nahudai Da officially surrenders and Feng Sheng takes over the cities of Hashihar and Yaerkan. It won't be too late to report the victory then."

Zhu Biao understood that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to wait until the great victory was confirmed before announcing the victory - if Hu Daida changed his mind halfway, it would be a joke to spread the news of the great victory in the Western Regions in the capital so early.

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When Liu Kuan learned of the successive victories in the Western Regions, he was happy but not surprised.

The Ming army is now so powerful that not only the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, but even the Western Chagatai Khanate (Timur Empire) usurped by the lame Timur is no match for the Ming army.

So after being happy, he continued to busy himself with the things he was in charge of.

That day, he brought several officials from the Tiangong Academy and fifty guards to the eastern foot of Mount Qixia, west of the capital.

Last year, the Tiangong Institute established the "Three Acids and Two Bases Research Institute" here. The reason for choosing the eastern foot of Qixia Mountain is that, firstly, the land available in Beijing is not as abundant as it was a few years ago; secondly, the institute has at least five research laboratories under its jurisdiction. It is a large institute and has certain requirements for the surrounding environment.

So Liu Kuan simply had it built outside the city.

Speaking of which, Liu Kuan had the worst grades in chemistry when he was in middle school. After entering university and working, he basically had no interest in anything related to chemistry, and he basically forgot all the chemistry knowledge he learned in middle school to the teacher.

Therefore, when he arrived in Daming, there was very little chemistry-related knowledge on his mobile phone, tablet, and computer, and at most some content about traditional methods of making soap.

Even when he later connected to the Internet, he downloaded relatively little chemistry-related content.

But he also knew that if the Ming Dynasty wanted to develop industry, it had to develop chemistry - otherwise, the industry would be like a tripod with one leg missing and would not be able to stand.

Therefore, the first two times he specially downloaded some chemistry-related videos and other materials to guide the Ming Dynasty to develop the chemical industry.

As the foundation of the chemical industry, three acids and two alkalis naturally became the beginning of the development of chemistry in the Ming Dynasty.

Qixia Mountain was only about ten miles away from the capital. Liu Kuan and his entourage all rode horses, and they arrived at the destination shortly after leaving the city.

To facilitate the distribution of supplies and safeguard security, the institute's several laboratories are currently located in a valley at the eastern foot of Mount Qixia. In the future, as the laboratories expand and new facilities are constructed, they will gradually move out of this small valley.

Now that several research laboratories are together, it is convenient for Liu Kuan to inspect.

This was not Liu Kuan's first visit here, and the officials and other staff here also knew his habits, so only the institute's ambassador Xu Yong brought a few officials to the valley entrance to greet him.

"Greetings, Dean." Liu Kuan bowed in return and said, "Is the sulfuric acid laboratory convenient now? If so, let's go there first."

Xu Yong said, "I will send someone to ask right away."

The matter was then handed over to a minor official.

Liu Kuan took advantage of the break and asked, "Has there been any accidents in the station recently?"

Xu Yong didn't know much about chemistry, but was in charge of the institute's administrative affairs, or rather, management. Hearing this, he said, "Each laboratory has always strictly followed the experimental requirements set by the institute, and no accidents have occurred."

Liu Kuan said, "Even if we strictly follow the rules and regulations set by the institute, it is impossible to avoid all accidents, so researchers still need to be more careful."

"It's important to note that acid and alkali experiments are inherently dangerous. Although the current experiments are small, if something goes wrong, it could cause casualties."

"These chemistry researchers were all carefully selected by our Tiangong Academy. Losing even one of them is heartbreaking."

Xu Yong said seriously, "What the director said is true. I will definitely pay close attention to the safety precautions in each laboratory and ask the researchers to pay more attention."

Afterwards, Liu Kuan asked about some logistical matters of the institute, and then he saw the clerk who had left earlier came back.

"Reporting to the Director and Ambassador, the sulfuric acid laboratory is now convenient for inspection."

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Okay, let's go and take a look."

It's no wonder Liu Kuan is cautious - acid-base research experiments do have certain risks. He repeatedly warned the researchers to be careful, so he couldn't be careless himself, right?
Not to mention, his safety was of particular importance to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao.

The sulfuric acid research laboratory is called a room, but it is actually a courtyard. However, it is not a Ming Dynasty style courtyard. Instead, it is built entirely of bricks, cement, steel bars and other materials.

The tallest building on the ground has only two floors, but there is another floor underground. Although the courtyard is not big, it has dozens of rooms, each with its own function.

The laboratory has one chief researcher, one deputy chief researcher, several researchers, several graduate students, and some clerks in charge of duties.

When Liu Kuan arrived outside the yard, Sun Dayou, director of the sulfuric acid research laboratory, had already come out with everyone to greet him.

As technicians, Sun Dayou and Liu Kuan didn't exchange many pleasantries. After a simple greeting, Sun Dayou took Liu Kuan into the yard, inspected each laboratory, and talked about the current progress of the laboratory's tasks.

Speaking of which, although there was no chemical industry foundation in the Ming Dynasty, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, soda ash, and caustic soda could all be produced in small quantities through various traditional methods. However, the purity was insufficient, making it difficult to produce on a large scale.

The purpose of Liu Kuan setting up the Institute of Three Acids and Two Bases was to hope that these "chemical talents" collected from the Ming Dynasty could overcome a series of difficulties in the industrial production of "three acids and two alkalis" through the relevant information he provided.

The time required to accomplish this may be long, but it is not impossible.

Although Liu Kuan didn't know much about chemical engineering, he learned about the development history of three acids and two bases in the East and the West from the information he downloaded.

The production of small quantities of chemicals of any purity was achieved very early on in both the East and the West - there was alchemy in the West, alchemy in the East, and there were also traditional industries such as dyes that had intersections with the chemical industry.

Taking sulfuric acid as an example, the West made a major breakthrough in industrial production in the 18th century and it was realized. However, compared with the industrial production of sulfuric acid in later generations, it had many defects.

The same is true for nitric acid and soda ash, both of which were industrially produced in the 18th century.

The current industrial level of the Ming Dynasty is actually not much different from that of the late Ming Dynasty, and in some aspects it even exceeds that of the West in the 18th century. In terms of industrial level, it is no more than half a century behind that of the West in the 18th century.

The industrial production of hydrochloric acid and caustic soda is more difficult and was not achieved until the 19th century.

However, the Institute of Three Acids and Two Bases has been established for less than a year. Although the researchers were carefully selected, they still have to learn and conduct experimental research when faced with information related to the three acids and two bases.

For example, the sulfuric acid research laboratory is still in the stage of researching various sulfuric acid laboratory production methods, and is still a long way from achieving industrial production.

It was almost noon when Liu Kuan left the Institute of Three Acids and Two Bases.

He did not stay in the institute for meals - the institute was not a factory, the food in the cafeteria was very good, and he did not have to worry at all.

After entering the city, when he was about to reach Taiping Street, Liu Kuan saw a young newspaper boy selling books along the street with a basket on his back.

"The latest issues of 'Selected Current Affairs' and 'Tianxia Shuo' are out. Only a few copies are left. Hurry and buy them if you want to read them!"

Liu Kuan immediately stopped his horse and said to the accompanying servant, "Go and buy a copy for each of us."

The servant immediately dismounted, and the newspaper seller ran over and quickly bought two copies of the magazine. (End of this chapter)