Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Qu Yuan, whose courtesy name was Lingjun, was a politician of the Chu State during the Warring States Period. He was also a poet with a strong spirit of inquiry. He once made a series of summaries of his confusions in his poem Tianwen.

How can we verify the origin of ancient times? What was the scene like at the beginning of the universe? Why did day and night alternate? How were the stars arranged?

When Gonggong was angry, why did the earth tilt to the southeast?

Houyi shot down the sun. Where did the sun fall?

Why does the moon wax and wane?

Is it true that a woman’s infertility is related to her moral character?

How can we determine the gender of a child? Is the gender of a wise ruler determined by some mysterious force?

Qu Yuan's more than 170 questions covered a wide range of topics, almost involving astronomy, geography, meteorology, human relations, medicine, etc.

These questions remained unanswered, not to mention two thousand years ago when Qu Yuan lived, even in the Ming Dynasty at that time.

Qu Yuan wrote Heavenly Questions, naturally for the purpose of seeking, but he also wanted to know the answers.

Qu Yuan must have known that these doubts might not be clarified for a very long time.

He wrote down these questions, hoping that one day his descendants would figure out the answers to all the questions and tell him.

The book written by Zhang Shikang almost perfectly answered all of Qu Yuan's doubts. It is called "Reply to Lingjun" and is indeed more profound than "Book of Answers".

"Well, this is a good name. Let's call it this." Zhang Shikang nodded.

"To prevent leaks, I believe that after the book is reorganized according to the subject, a blacksmith can be ordered to forge a storage box out of fine steel.

"If anyone wants to read it in the future, they must get our consent," Song Yingxing said to everyone.

It will be reorganized according to categories. Some unimportant topics can be circulated throughout the Ming Dynasty, and some important topics can be circulated among senior craftsmen of the General Manufacturing Bureau or the Royal Academy of Sciences.

However, Song Yingxing still felt that some important topics related to the safety of the court should not be circulated widely. Apart from them, other senior craftsmen needed their approval if they wanted to check it.

Wang Zheng and others nodded after a moment of hesitation. There was nothing they could do about it. If they spread the word, more people would naturally delve into it.

However, the probability of information leakage caused by this will certainly increase proportionally, so we must treat it with caution.

"Gentlemen, have the Manufacturing Administration made any breakthroughs in their previous projects?"

Seeing that Song Yingxing and the others finally stopped holding the book and ignoring him, Zhang Shikang asked.

In the past two years, Zhang Shikang has spent most of his time fighting outside and has rarely had time to supervise the General Administration of Manufacturing.

But in fact, Zhang Shikang is still very concerned about the projects that the General Administration of Manufacturing is currently working on, such as paper shell bullets, rifling, cement, smokeless gunpowder, blast furnace steelmaking, crop improvement, etc.

After all, all of the above projects are almost directly linked to the combat effectiveness of the Ming army.

Every technological breakthrough will partially rewrite the rules of war, and technologies such as glass cement can also benefit the people when used for civilian purposes.

"Your Highness, we have some gains. Please wait a moment." After Song Yingxing finished speaking, Wang Zheng and others left the house with him.

When Wang Zheng reached the threshold, he stumbled and almost fell. Fortunately, Song Yingxing supported him. Bi Maokang also coughed frequently.

This made Zhang Shikang's heart skip a beat.

In the founding team of the General Administration of Manufacturing, Wang Zheng and Bi Maokang are the oldest. They are the same age and are both 72 years old this year.

It is rare for a person to live to be seventy years old. As he is not from a professional background, Zhang Shikang does not know exactly when the two big guys died, but at this age, it is indeed worrying.

At that time, there was no advanced medical equipment like in later generations. Not to mention medical equipment, even the medical system was quite imperfect.

Apart from the Imperial Medical Service established by the court, which gathered a group of imperial physicians with decent medical skills, there were few hospitals or even doctors in the local areas.

It seems that if the court waits a little longer, we will have to consider setting up public hospitals, Zhang Shikang thought.

Not long after, Wang Zheng and others came again, dragging their hunched bodies, followed by several craftsmen, each holding something in their hands.

Song Yingxing pointed at what one of the craftsmen was holding and said:

"I wonder if the cement that Your Highness mentioned two years ago is this kind of stuff?"

What the craftsman was holding in his hands were two smaller blue bricks, which were glued together with a dirt-gray adhesive.

Zhang Shikang walked closer to observe and even used his fingernails to pick at the adhesive between the two bricks.

The Ming Dynasty actually had a lot of adhesives, but whether it was rammed earth, lime, or cement, these adhesives were still not hard enough after drying, and some of them could always be picked off with fingernails.

However, the adhesive between the two blue bricks was extremely hard, and its touch was very similar to the ordinary cement he had seen in later generations.

Observing its color, he found it was similar to cement in later generations. He asked the craftsman to turn around and put it on the ground, and then pour the tea he had not finished drinking on the bonding area.

After a while, there was no change and the adhesive was still extremely hard. He simply picked up the teapot and poured water on it. The adhesive did not dissipate due to the infiltration of water and remained strong.

So Zhang Shikang's expression immediately became a little excited.

"Mr. Song, this is cement! You actually succeeded in developing it!"

Compared to Zhang Shikang's excitement, Song Yingxing was much calmer. He just waved his hand and said modestly:

“This is all thanks to His Highness.

It has been two years. According to Your Highness's original idea, I have conducted more than two hundred experiments before finally achieving the current results.

The core ingredient of this cement is volcanic ash, which took a lot of effort to obtain. I finally collected it from the deep mountains of Yunnan with the help of the Duke of Qian.

The reason why it has not been reported is that Song Yingxing felt that the formula could still be improved, because he found that in addition to volcanic ash, other materials also have similar effects.

For example, the slag produced after smelting iron ore and copper ore, and the fly ash produced after burning coal stone, etc., require countless experiments in terms of proportion, and also require sturdiness and reliability, especially experiments on corrosion resistance, moisture resistance, and fire resistance.

In fact, every great invention, from its invention to its mass production for the benefit of the public, cannot be completed overnight.

“Well, although volcanic ash cement is not the best cement, it is already very good considering the current situation of the court.

This thing can not only be used to build city defenses, but can also be used for water conservancy projects, building houses, etc.

Now that it has been successfully developed, I will have the Ministry of Industry build the corresponding workshops for mass production. As for the raw material volcanic ash, it will still be provided by the Duke of Qian, and the cost will be covered by the General Manufacturing Bureau."

Zhang Shikang said after thinking for a moment.

There are not many volcanoes in the Ming Dynasty. In fact, it is not surprising for Zhang Shikang to find volcanic ash in Yunnan, because that place is located in the Himalayan earthquake belt.

Yunnan is far away from Beijing due to the high mountains and long roads, so the transportation cost is naturally not low and the output is naturally not high.

This means that in the short term, cement will not be able to be used for civilian purposes.

However, Zhang Shikang was not in a hurry. Technological progress cannot be rushed. Of course, he wanted to directly develop railways and trains, then build roads in Yunnan and use trains to transport resources out.

But he won't. Technology needs to be iterated and done step by step.

First, develop a usable steam engine, then gradually improve it for use in warships. Once the power of the steam engine reaches a certain level and can drive heavier machinery, it can be used for railway transportation.

Zhang Shikang did not dare to be too ambitious, and only hoped that he could see the scene of Ming Dynasty trains running all over the ground in his lifetime.

In fifty years, he believes that this is still very likely to be achieved.

After the cement display, Bi Maokang brought over a small wooden box. When the box was opened, there were stacks of paper tubes as thick as an index finger and about two inches long.

Zhang Shikang picked up one of the papers to examine it. The texture of the paper was very similar to the common kraft paper in later generations. It was thicker and more plastic than rice paper. One end of the paper was tied with a thin thread.

Zhang Shikang brought the thing close to his nose and sniffed it. It smelled like black gunpowder, so he looked at Bi Maokang as if to confirm and said:

"Fixed paper shell bullet."

Bi Maokang nodded calmly.

……